[Deck Share / Advice Sought] Modern Wildfire Red

Wildfire Red, also known as Wildfire Superfriends, Girls Gone Wild, Bigger Red, Homemade Dynamite, Pyromancers Be Casting Bordered Posts, and The Crazy World of Chandra Brown, is a thoroughly weird deck. You look at the list, you see a manabase of 15 basic Mountains backed up by some forgotten Limited fixing from 2010, you see no creatures and hardly any burn and a handful of janky planeswalkers, and you ask, "what, this is a Modern list?"

Then it punishes your hubris by blowing up your entire board presence on turn four and proceeding to burn you to death slowly over the next several turns while you beg for mercy.

Wildfire Red is a mono-red control deck that uses cheap mana rocks to ramp into Wildfire or Destructive Force, breaking the symmetry of the effect as you keep those rocks in play while your opponent's creatures die and their mana production crumbles. Deploying a variety of resilient threats that live through these sweepers, you'll keep controlling the board and locking down your opponent as you chip away at their life total. One of Wildfire Red's greatest assets is the multiple angles of attack it has to close out the game, from beating down with Guardian Idol to casting, recurring and copying Lightning Bolt for a more explosive finish.

With few staples and no nonbasic land at all, most versions of Wildfire Red are very, very cheap for Modern. Since the whole point of the deck is mana denial, it has little need for expensive hate cards like Blood Moon, and the planeswalkers it plays are pretty bad not really used anywhere else. It's not a competitive list by any stretch, but it has at least a fighting chance against a big chunk of Modern, it's a lot of fun to play, and, perhaps most importantly to me, it feels red as all get-out. You're a cunning, scrappy pyromancer, fighting a scorched-earth battle fuelled by long-forgotten technology against mages far richer and more powerful than you. What's not to love?

I'm sharing this deck here for two main reasons: spreading the word about what's been one of my pet strategies for a while now, and getting advice on fine-tuning it for when I put the deck together properly in paper over the weeks to come. Please do pitch in with questions, suggestions, critiques, and anything else you feel like saying. I love this deck, and I'm always on the lookout for anything that can make it slicker and stronger.


This isn't a full-scale primer so much as an exercise in sharing and fine-tuning, so, rather than going through all the options for how you can build this deck, I'll be running through my own build of Wildfire Red. A more detailed breakdown follows, but here's the raw list:

Wildfires (9)
4 Wildfire
3 Destructive Force
2 Anger of the Gods
Mana Rocks (21)
4 Veinfire Borderpost
4 Firewild Borderpost
4 Guardian Idol
4 Mind Stone
3 Everflowing Chalice
2 Pyromancer's Goggles
Planeswalkers (7)
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Jaya Ballard
Utility (8)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrade
2 Tormenting Voice
Land (15)
15 Mountain
Sideboard (15)
3 Orbs of Warding
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
3 Vandalblast
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Guttural Response


The pieces of Wildfire Red can be divided into four categories: Wildfires, mana, planeswalkers, and utility cards.


The heart of your game plan. Break your opponent's back and leave your own intact. For brevity, this primer refers to Wildfire and Destructive Force together as Wildfire because their function is more or less identical.

4 Wildfire: The deck's namesake card is an obvious 4-of. Wildfire sweeps away most creatures and will often blow up an opponent's whole mana base in one fell swoop. You should aim to resolve your first Wildfire effect somewhere between turns four and six, depending on the speed of your opening hand and how aggressive your opponent's start is.

3 Destructive Force: Wildfire copies 5-7. This is Wildfire plus one in every sense: one extra mana, one extra damage, and one extra land lost on each side. It's usually worse than Wildfire, since the gap between 4 and 5 damage isn't especially relevant (Siege Rhino is the main case where it matters) and the extra mana can be a pain.

2 Anger of the Gods: Okay, it's not strictly a Wildfire, but Anger of the Gods is great for blunting very aggressive starts as well as shutting down recursive creatures like Prized Amalgams and Bloodghasts. It's very affordable compared to Wildfire, too - you'll rarely be unable to cast it on turn three. Sweltering Suns is a possible alternative or split option, but I generally favor Anger's exile clause over Suns' cycling.


Wildfire Red devotes a lot of space to building a mana base that will survive your Wildfires.

15 Mountain: Yep, the Wildfire Red land package is 100% basics. No fetches, no utility lands, no nothing. Is this a budgetary concern? Well, yes, partly, but the deck functions very, very well with the all-basic base. The life payments from early game fetches can really add up, especially in a deck which is often more or less defenseless until it resolves its first Wildfire. As for utility lands, Ghost Quarter and Field of Ruin are largely unnecessary for the same reasons Blood Moon is - you're already blowing up lands - and Mutavault is upstaged by Guardian Idol on account of not living through a Wildfire.

The high basic count is also vital to enable the Borderposts, and to make sure your deck has lands in it even if you have to sac quite a few to Wildfires. With fetches taking the place of some basics, there could be a very real risk of running out of lands. Plus, you're immune to Field of Ruin and never risk having your mana disrupted by Leonin Arbiter.

4 Veinfire Borderpost, 4 Firewild Borderpost: This is the part of the deck that raises the most eyebrows. You will almost always be casting these for their alternate cost: pay 1 generic mana, return one of your Mountains to your hand (often the one that generated that mana, but not necessarily), and play out the Borderpost. Functionally, they're taplands that require a basic, but they're extremely important to the plan because they're your only Wildfire-proof sources of red mana besides Pyromancer's Goggles. You pretty much never care about the other color, but, in a pinch, you can use it to hard-cast another copy of a Borderpost you already have if you don't have a Mountain to bounce.

4 Guardian Idol: Mutavault: Rock Edition. Entering tapped is a pain, but this is still a ramp piece and a finisher in one clean, Wildfire-proof package. Attacking with Guardian Idols will give you a surprisingly high percentage of your wins.

4 Mind Stone: Untapped rocks you can cash in later. Don't be afraid to crack them relatively early if your hand's drying up.

3 Everflowing Chalice: This is not an Everflowing Chalice megaramp deck, and you should not hold back your Chalices in the hope of casting them for more later. There's nothing at all wrong with a one- or two-counter Chalice in the early game when getting to Wildfire mana is your top priority.

2 Pyromancer's Goggles: The goggles do quite a lot, actually. Copying a Wildfire or Destructive Force brings down Titans and other massive threats and can compromise even a hardcore ramp deck's manabase. Copying Lightning Bolts and other spot removal is a great value play, and hitting your opponent with doubled Bolts, especially if you can recur them with a Jaya emblem, is one of the many ways this deck can win. Being legendary means you really can't play more than two, though.


In most matchups, Wildfire Red's planeswalkers are its primary win conditions. There are only seven of them, but they're all powerful.

3 Chandra, Pyromaster: This probably wasn't the four-mana Chandra you were thinking of, and honestly subbing in one or two Torches of Defiance may prove to be correct, but this Chandra does a lot of work. Unlike Torch, her impulse-draw ability lets you play lands, and she can ping creatures as a plus ability, which can get rid of tokens or keep down an annoying blocker. Her ult is potentially very strong but should be used with caution: all the cards stay exiled, so you don't get them in your graveyard for Jaya's ultimate, and there's a very real chance of whiffing. Keep an eye on how many Bolts or Wildfires are left in your deck, depending on what you're hoping to hit; the odds are only sometimes in your favor.

2 Chandra, Flamecaller: This Chandra is the card you're probably most likely to win with thanks to the fantastic clock she presents. 6 damage per turn, often unblocked, is an intimidating prospect, and your opponent may end up having to spend valuable creature removal on those hasty Elementals rather than the Guardian Idols that really need it. The -X is also a good way of dealing with sudden wide boards if you find yourself without a Wildfire or Anger. You probably shouldn't be 0ing this Chandra unless you're hellbent, though, since spending the turn applying more pressure or killing creatures is generally a better option than digging for more action that you don't really need.

2 Jaya Ballard: Jaya's a new addition to the deck, and has quickly become one of the best cards in it - it was her contribution that inspired me to write this primer. Taking the place of a third Flamecaller and a fourth Destructive Force, Jaya offers substantial Wildfire-proof mana production, much-needed card selection, and a thoroughly scary ultimate that makes the "flurry of Lightning Bolts" avenue of victory much easier to achieve, especially paired with Pyromancer's Goggles. Triple red can sometimes be a problem post-Wildfire if you don't have enough Borderposts, but Jaya is unquestionably a star in this deck and well worth including.


Rounding out the deck, we have some spot removal and just a touch of card selection.

4 Lightning Bolt: Wildfire Red may be a thoroughly weird deck, full of cards nobody else plays, but sometimes you have to know when to follow the crowd. Bolt is too good not to include, especially thanks to the aforementioned Pyromancer's Goggles synergy. Generally, you should spend your Bolts on problem creatures that can't wait for a Wildfire.

2 Abrade: Until very recently, this slot was Roast, but there were too many misses against flyers and it wasn't doing enough things a Bolt couldn't. Abrade is mostly a two-mana Bolt, but it can snipe a problem artifact or two if necessary (don't forget it kills Hollow One!) and is generally just good to have around.

2 Tormenting Voice: We play Tormenting Voice over Cathartic Reunion for flexibility. You're not always going to have two cards you want to cycle away, but one is far more likely.


Wildfire Red usually gets worse post-board as opponents bring in artifact hate, but it has some tools to steel it against specific matchups. This is the most meta-dependent part of the deck, and I don't recommend running it as-is unless you also happen to be playing at my LGS, but it's included here for completeness.

3 Orbs of Warding: Wildfire Red's toughest matchups pre-board are fast aggro and burn. These decks can rebuild quickly from a Wildfire thanks to their low curves, and their damage output can often get out of hand even against a very efficient shutdown. Orbs of Warding is a foil to these decks first and foremost, but it may also be worth bringing in against black decks that are very heavy on targeted discard (especially since Wildfire Red is so painfully vulnerable to Duress).

3 Sorcerous Spyglass: You can afford the extra mana over Pithing Needle (unless you really need to be able to resolve one on turn one) and the information it gets you is invaluable: a Spyglass can be a very good barometer of how well an opponent will be able to rebuild from a Wildfire.

3 Vandalblast: A deck this reliant on artifacts can't play Shatterstorm, but it can absolutely run to Vandalblast. Overloading it is pretty easy, and, alongside the two main-deck Abrades, it deals with problem artifacts about as well as you can hope for.

3 Relic of Progenitus: Aside from Jaya's ultimate, this deck really doesn't care about its own graveyard, so it's safe to run Relic over targeted options. Hosing the Jaya flashback flurry plan isn't too bad when you have so many other options to kill your opponent.

3 Guttural Response: Counterspells are very tough for Wildfire Red to fight through. Getting an early Borderpost countered is a horrible tempo hit, and having Wildfires stutter and die on you at the wrong time can cost you a lot of games. Guttural Response is far from a perfect solution, but bisecting the fish can help the spells you really need get through.


Wildfire Red plays fairly linearly - ramp with rocks, Wildfire, threats, attack, repeat as necessary. That said, there are a few things to bear in mind.


Ideally, you want a hand that lets you cast a mana rock on turn two. That means two lands, or one land and a Borderpost, plus at least one actual two-mana rock (a Mind Stone, Idol or Chalice) to play, preferably another for turn three. You'd also like to have a Wildfire or Destructive Force, or the means to dig for one (Tormenting Voice or Jaya Ballard). Any land with one or fewer mana sources should almost always be mulliganed, as should anything without at least two artifact mana sources, be it a Borderpost or another rock.


The mana you use to swap in a Borderpost doesn't have to come from the land you're swapping out. You can, for instance, tap a turn-two Mind Stone to swap out one of the Mountains you used to pay for it. Plays like these ensure that you'll have plenty of mana production left after your first Wildfire.

It sounds obvious, but always Wildfire before animating Idols and making Flamecaller tokens, if you're planning to do both. It's a painfully easy mistake to make.

Hang onto extra lands. If you have enough mana on the board for your next Wildfire, just playing out extra lands is usually less productive than keeping them in hand to be cycled away with Voice or Jaya.


This isn't even close to a comprehensive list.

Hate-based / lock decks (Blue Moon, Ponza, Prison): Pretty good. Since you have multiple ways to win, many of which don't rely on attacking, and your manabase is completely immune to Blood Moon and resistant to land destruction, strategies that rely on halting attacks or mana denial don't have much game against you. You can even attack through Ensnaring Bridge a decent amount of the time, since your opponent will wind up with cards stuck in hand after you blow up their lands.

Slower combo (Taking Turns, Ad Nauseam, Elves): Pretty good. You can blow up the world before these decks get the chance to go off a decent percentage of the time. Against these decks, be willing to play follow-up Wildfires early to make absolutely sure they can't build back up to a point where they can steal a win.

Fast combo (Storm): Questionable. This is pretty much just a race, and, sadly, not one you're well positioned to win. Prioritise Bolt, Abrade and Anger in your opening hand to kill Baral, but know that it still might not be enough. If you can get the first Wildfire off you're probably in a good place, but that's a big if.

Midrange (Jund, Mardu Pyromancer, Bant or WB Eldrazi): Good. This is one of your best matchups. Weather the initial storm of hand attack and a lot of midrange decks are dead in the water against you: they're too slow out of the gates to kill you before they get Wildfired, their threats can be taken down by either spot removal or planeswalkers, and they ought to be easy pickings for your Chandras and Idols.

Ramp (Titan Shift, Tron): Poor. You don't have green, which means the dedicated ramp decks will definitely outramp you. Wildfire does punish Utopia Sprawl strategies if you can time it right, but there's a certain point past which you can't destroy enough of their mana base to matter, and they're perfectly capable of reaching that point before you can blow up the world. Tron in particular can be a nightmare, and may be the one situation where you find yourself wanting Blood Moon.

Fast aggro (Hollow One, Affinity, 8-Whack, Humans): Not great, but better post-board. While you theoretically have the tools to deal with a wide board of attackers, they may end up being too little too late against the sheer speed some Modern decks are capable of. You're definitely not doomed to failure, though. Orbs of Warding does a lot if you can resolve it; if your meta's aggro-heavy, you may also want to consider Pyroclasm or Blasphemous Act for the sideboard.

Control: Poor. Wildfire Red is unusual in that it's a control deck that's highly vulnerable to other control decks. Counterspells hit you hard, and the Guttural Responses in the sideboard are the only tech you have. If you can find a window to resolve a Wildfire before they can get too many lands down, you may be in with a chance, but they can usually take over the game better than you can. Can't win 'em all.