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Last week, I took you through my analysis of the Planar Chaos Blue commons, and shared my pick orders. Today, I'll do the same with Red.

My test partners and I have been drafting for more than a week now, and we believe we've made quite a lot of progress in understanding the format. Everyone has a different set of opinions regarding the good cards and the best cards.

As with the theme of the block, Red gains abilities usually not found in its arsenal. It now has two bounce effects to deal with sizeable threats, and a strong pump spell in the shape of Brute Force. Such cards give non-Green color combinations the chance to win in combat, and keep up the tempo advantage that the color's already-cheap removal creates.

List of Red Commons

Brute Force
Battering Sliver
Firefright Mage
Fury Charm
Dead / Gone
Dust Corona
Keldon Marauders
Needlepeak Spider
Prodigal Pyromancer
Simian Spirit Guide
Skirk Shaman
Stingscourger

Three really powerful commons - Dead / Gone, Prodigal Pyromancer, and Stingscourger - make Red arguably the best color in the set. Along with five other playables, the Red mages will be waiting for the third booster with high expectations. Unfortunately, it seems that not all the combinations work out so well:

Red/Blue

See my previous article for a rundown of the Red/Blue archetype and pick order.

Red/White

Red/White has always had the same problem. It usually lacks late game plans, and can rarely recover from a bad land draw in the early game. Slow R/W decks almost always end up pretty bad, unless you have a couple of bomb rares. And by bomb rares I mean Sacred Mesa, either Akroma, Pentarch Paladin, and a few others. While not being an exciting color combination, it is greatly improved with Planar Chaos. The fast, aggro version of this archetype is a lot more viable than the control version, and Planar Chaos provides a good share of cards that fit the archetype: Dead / Gone, Stingscourger, Prodigal Pyromancer, Sunlance, and Brute Force give it a reason to shine.

Red/Black

While Red picked up a lot of playables in the last pack, Black loses the frequency of its efficient removal spot in the common slot: Tendrils of Corruption, Strangling Soot, and Feebleness have been replaced by Cradle to Grave, Melancholy, and Midnight Charm. Prodigal Pyromancer makes up for the loss, as Red/Black now has access to a common board control card.

Red/Green

Red/Green is a solid combination. Both colors picked up evasion creatures in the new set, and some extremely useful spells. Might of Krosa sometimes found a slot in R/G decks, but was somehow a little too weak. Brute Force, however, definitely makes the cut. Red also provides good ways to take care of big blockers for little mana, in the form Stingscourger and the “Gone” part of the common split card.

Red Commons Review

Brute Force

Except in control Black/Red and Red/Blue decks, this card always makes it into your main deck. In the early game, Red/White and its many two-drops can send in the team against a big blocker, and for R they can kill it and play other creatures on the same turn. Pretty much what a Lightning Axe or a Rift Bolt would have done, except that the latter examples won't protect your creatures against direct damage or Strangling Soot. In Red/Green, it's the best trick available after Strength in Numbers. In both Red/Black and Red/Blue, it might be the most surprising trick you can play - no on really expects pump spells from those archetypes.

Battering Sliver

A 4/4 for 5R is a reasonable deal. In Red/Black, it provides the big creature you might need to finish the games. In Red/Green, when played alongside its peers, it's not about the ability it grants: it's about how big it becomes. With a Bonesplitter Sliver alongside, it becomes quite a good deal for six mana.

Dead / Gone

Probably the best Red common. A cheap removal spell on one side, and a reasonable priced bounce spell on the other. Most archetypes running Red want to pick it. Except in Blue/Red, where you might want to pick Shaper Parasite, there are no commons you'd want to pick above it. Sometimes though, in a very controlling deck packing enough removal already, you might want to pick Prodigal Pyromancer instead.

Dust Corona

You'll never really want to play this card, even if you are desperate.

Keldon Marauders

I've never been excited by this card. While I can see why some players might want to play it - in Red/White along with Whitemane Lions - I don't think I would really consider this card as playable under any circumstance.

Firefright Mage

I saw it dominating some Sealed Deck game back at the prerelease, but draft is another story. The only archetype in which you would want it is Red/Green... but even there, there are far more interesting cards in both sets that would allow you to do the same thing.

Fury Charm

This card seems to be a decent sideboard card against artifacts. A Shatter that can sometimes save your creatures might be worth your maindeck... if only there were dangerous artifacts in Planar Chaos. The “remove counters” part will very seldom be useful, expect maybe in a U/R Suspend deck. The most interesting is the “+1/+1 and Trample” part. If you are low on tricks in your Red/Green build, you might want to run it. If you are running a lot of cards like Keldon Halberdiers, or high-powered creatures, you will find this card useful. Overall, it's never a card I am very excited to play, but it can sometimes be worth the slot.

Needlepeak Spider

A Bonesplitter Sliver that doesn't pump other Slivers... and you are never excited to run Bonesplitter Sliver when you don't have any other Slivers. The Spider is a passable filler when you don't have enough creatures, and an average card against Blue decks running lots of flyers.

Prodigal Pyromancer

Tim was a first pick when it was Blue, and he will still be in Planar Chaos. So many decks cannot deal with it, and he just ruins some strategies as soon as he loses summoning sickness.

Skirk Shaman

The “fear guys” are the bane of removal-free decks. In the new format, all the decks get a piece of removal to take care of it, but it could still win the game by itself against “removal-light” deck. Red is usually the secondary color of a two-color deck, due to its cheap removal spells with a single R in their cost. With RR in its cost, some Red players would rather pick a card they are likely to play more easily over this guy.

Simian Spirit Guide

An upgraded Grey Ogre. Its mana ability is mostly irrelevant. Nothing really exciting.

Stingscourger

This goblin, along with Dead / Gone, gives Red a lot more versatility. The last two big sets were missing an efficient Red common card with a “Falter” effect (Cards like Falter and Demoralize, that allow attacks without being blocked). Stingscourger sort of fixes this problem, by removing a blocker for a short period of time. It also gives you a huge tempo advantage when you bounce an expensive creature; the echo cost being mostly a fair price to pay on the next turn. In a racing game, your opponent will be likely to wait a turn before attacking you back as he is often afraid to trade a guy for it before you commit to paying the echo.

Pick Orders

Red/White

Dead / Gone
Sunlance
Prodigal Pyromancer
Stingscourger
Brute Force
Shade of Trokair
Whitemane Lion
Sinew Sliver
Saltfield Recluse
Poultice Sliver
Skirk Shaman

Special Notes

• Empty the Warrens becomes better in R/W due to the cheapness of the new spells.
• Fortify, which was already a premium in this archetype, gets even more value.
• The Sidewinder Sliver from Time Spiral becomes quite a solid one-drop. Both common White
• Slivers are above average, and a fast R/W deck can easily use the synergy in an aggressive strategy.

Red/Black

Dead / Gone
Prodigal Pyromancer
Rathi Trapper
Stingscourger
Cradle to Grave

Then, in no particular order:

Midnight Charm, Melancholy, Battering Sliver, Blightspeaker, Brute Force.

Special Notes

• One of the particulars of Red/Black is that there are many ways to draft it. You can either go control or aggro. I personally believe that the aggro version of Red Black is mostly unreliable.
  
• In R/B control, Cradle to Grave is quite a fine card, as you don't have much to do on turn 2. In the late game, when you've established control and are just waiting for a way to deal damage, this is a perfect removal spell to sit on. It's not a great card, but definitely more than fine in R/B Control
  
• As mentioned above, Brute Force can be a very surprising card in R/B. However, as you usually lack creatures in this archetype, I would often play a bad removal spell over it.
  
• Blightspeaker is okay as long as you have something to look for: Big Game Hunters, Rathi Trappers, or even Dunerider Outlaws. I have been quite impressed by the latter. Widely underrated, it provides a great defence against Green decks and is a great turn 2 play when you can back it up with removal... usually quite easy in R/B.

Red/Green

Dead / Gone
Prodigal Pyromancer
Giant Dustwasp
Stingscourger
Mire Boa
Uktabi Drake
Brute Force
Citanul Woodreaders
Utopia Vow
Evolution Charm
Skirk Shaman

Special Notes

• All the cards mentioned above are good picks. The R/G pool is very deep, giving access to evasion creatures and bounce.
  
• Thick-Skinned Goblin used to be an above-average card without Planar Chaos, but with the addition of Stingscourger and Uktabi Drake, the pro-Red goblin gets a much higher value.

Red probably provides the best commons in the set, but not all of its archetypes are as reliable as the Blue ones. A Red/White deck that goes wrong might easily end up posting an 0-3 record. Aggressive Red/Black is a tough archetype to draft (and usually not too hot). The other problem is that other archetypes, like U/G or any combination of Green, might be tempted to steal your first picks for their splash color.

Next week is Pro Tour: Geneva, so we'll see if our efforts are rewarded!

Until then,

Raph