Shadowmoor Red In the past couple of months, Red has really become quite the viable color in standard with Countryside Crusher and straight burn decks making some top eights and even taking home the gold some of the time. So you can understand that I was happy to know that I would be able to review the Red cards in Shadowmoor. It's one of my favorite colors overall if only because it has some nice simplicity built in. One of the oldest archetypes around is simply burn to the head. It's also the color of decks that I made most often while I was still playing paper Magic (way back when Visions was coming out), partly because I was younger, and Dragons are cool. Some of you probably remember what I did with the black cards in Morningtide, but I'll include a refresher anyway. I'm going to review each card in three ways: Limited, Constructed, and PDC. Constructed will mostly be focused on the standard format, but we should also start to look at the block format since that will soon be quite relevant. Limited is fairly self-explanatory, sealed and drafting. PDC is a format which uses only commons. We've had a number of articles on this site about it, and there is also a whole site pretty much dedicated to it over at pdcmagic.com. There are a bunch of tournaments a week that you can play in for free. Each format will be rated on a five-star rating:

Stars	Constructed	Limited	PDC
	Get Four. Now.	Grab as many as you can get your hands on.	Build your deck around it.
	Will be played in 2-3 decks.	Decent second or third pick.	Decent for a common.
	You could see this card in the finals, but I wouldn't bet on it.	If it tables, Red is open.	Step 1: Build around 3-star card. Step 2: ? Step 3: PDC Tourney win.
	Fringe card, probably not viable.	Not that great, but playable.	The only reason you're even considering this card is because it's PDC.
	If someone pays you for it, take the tix and run.	Won't make your 40 cards.	Are there any other cards you could put in? Are you sure you have enough land?
	Burn them for winter heat.	Take as long as there isn't a juicy basic land.	You'll only have these because it's easier to buy full sets.

With that out of the way, on to the review! There are only 27 red cards in Shadowmoor so it will be a little bit shorter than normal. These are in alphabetical order.

Blistering Dieflyn

Creature - Imp 0/1, 3R
Flying
{B/R}: Blistering Dieflyn gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

So we start with a card that isn't going to be playable in many decks at all unforunately. Red is famous for fast mana, but there are much better ways to spend 3R than this. If you for some reason have a death wish, I suppose you could play this and pump it with black and red. For my money, I would play Loch Korrigan in Limited instead and hope I have enough black cards to support that strategy. In constructed, there are much better cards. For the commonslingers, Flying is not exactly the most common ability in Red, so it may be slightly more playable.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Bloodmark Mentor

Creature - Goblin Warrior 1/1, 1R
Red creatures you control have first strike.

For my money, this is the best Mentor card in the cycle. At two mana, it's the cheapest, and it grants a pretty useful ability. Unfortunately the two-slot of many decks is pretty crowded in standard nowadays with nice Warrior cards like Bramblewood Paragon, and lots of decks in green-red are trying to skip the two drop entirely with a mana elf or two. First strike is powerful enough to see some play though, especially since it comes attached to a body. In limited this guy is a high pick, because most everything is decided by creature combat, and hitting first will put the math in your favor.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Bloodshed Fever

Enchantment - Aura, R
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature attacks each turn if able.

The only use that I can even consider for this card is to force your opponent to tap a creature they would rather hold back as a blocker, that won't actually harm you that much for them to attack. Otherwise, this is strictly win-more because if you need to force them to attack into you, they are already defending against your horde. This is the kind of card that I would be happy to see at uncommon in limited, just because I would rather not see it that much.

Constructed:	(no stars)
Limited:
PDC:

Boggart Arsonists

Creature - Goblin Rogue 2/1, 2R
Plainswalk
{2}{R}, Sacrifice Boggart Arsonists: Destroy target Scarecrow or Plains.

The viability of this card really depends on whether there is a viable scarecrow deck in the format that you are playing in. In Limited, if you are in red, I would pick this guy on the wheel because there are a lot of artifacts, and a lot of those are scarecrows, which can have some scary abilities sometimes. The fact that this guy has Plainswalk isn't really relevant because noone is playing plains. No, seriously, White is bad - there are less plains in decks than Tarmogoyfs in standard, and you can have as many Plains as you want in your deck. This is definitely a sleeper. In PDC, Plains are played more because of the excellent Aven Riftwatcher which is also a common. I don't know that Plains are worth 4RR to destroy though.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Burn Trail

Sorcery, 3R
Burn Trail deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Conspire

Finally, a card that I expect to see in a bunch of decks in the coming months. Three damage to a player for four mana doesn't seem like quite the strong effect, but Conspire is a mechanic that makes cards that look bad when you evaluate them without thinking that you can double the effect if you have a couple of wimps you don't need on the board. It's definitely possible for you to deal six damage to a player with this spell, and that is a very good ratio for damage. The fact that you can kill two small creatures with a conspired version of this spell will mean that you can fit this very nicely into a Red Deck Wins archetype to clear the way for your beaters. In limited, this is splashable removal, and that will be worth it even for four. In the world where commons are king, everything I said for constructed applies, but doubly so.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Cragganwick Cremator

Creature - Giant Shaman 5/4, 2RR
When Cragganwick Cremator comes into play, discard a card at random. If you discard a creature card this way, Cragganwick Cremator deals damage equal to that card's power to target player.

Four mana for a 5/4 isn't a bad ratio at all, and I think it is why this is why the card is rare. You can expect to see this cheap Giant in block decks that are hurting for some low mana cost creatures, and they would be right to pick this guy for their deck. The 187 ability can potentially be abused as well, can you imagine holding a late-game gargadon in your hand just so you can setup a 10 damage for 2RR later? I certainly can, and I am sure there are some decks out there that are attempting to abuse it already. I can see this guy being used with Momentary Blink in a possible red-white giants deck as well. In limited, I wouldn't discard a card at random very often, and there are a lot bigger creatures available that could actually block this guy and live in green that will actually get played because it is a slightly slower format.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Crimson Wisps

Instant, R
Target creature becomes red and gains haste until end of turn.
Draw a card.

I won't say much about this. If you need to cast a creature and attack with it on the same turn, you could do better than this in limited. If it granted first strike, it would be much better. At any rate, it costs R and says "Draw a card." so it might be able to be used as a storm enabler.

Constructed:	(no stars)
Limited:
PDC:

Deep-Slumber Titan

Creature - Giant Warrior 7/7, 2RR
Deep-Slumber Titan comes into play tapped.
Deep-Slumber Titan doesn't untap during your untap step.
Whenever Deep-Slumber Titan is dealt damage, untap it.

If I thought that a 5/4 for four mana was good, I should be extatic about this huge beater, shouldn't I? Unfortunately the downside of this guy makes him one of a two card combo in a constructed deck. This makes him subpar, and in many ways worse than the cremator. There are some things you can think about this card though - if the opponent decides to block him on the way to his face, our sleeper will untap ready for another beating next turn. In limited, his RR cost and the fact that you basically need to draft or open a Power of Fire and also draw it in the same game as him makes him quite the jank rare. He gets a star just because you won't see him much.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Elemental Mastery

Enchantment - Aura, 3R
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "{T}: Put X 1/1 red Elemental creature tokens with haste into play, where X is this creature's power. Remove them from the game at end of turn."

As far as Auras go, this one is much better than the Bloodshed Fever covered earlier. It's not a bad card to put on a big fattie just because you don't care if the creatures generated will die, so you can turn them all sideways with impunity. As a bonus, they are actually creatures, so I you might expect to see this one on a nice fat creature (or even a smallish one) comboed with something like Nantuko Husk to enable quite the beating. Thankfully they don't go to the grave in their normal state, or this card would quickly find it's way into the goblin decks which are currently abusing Grave Pact to excellent effect. In limited, the effect is really good, considering some of the green/red hybrid fatties that you can cast this on. The effect doesn't even always need to be used for attacking - chump blocking 4 creatures instead of one is not bad trade.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Ember Gale

Sorcery, 3R
Creatures target player controls can't block this turn. Ember Gale deals 1 damage to each white and/or blue creature that player controls.

This card could be used as a finisher when you have lethal damage in creatures on the board, even ignoring the small mass damage that this gives you against some white and blue. I can see it alongside decks that run Empty the Warrens after storming up some stuff, in order to attack for the win.. especially in the PDC realm, where blocking is much more prevalent. Other than that, it is a decent wheel limited card because of the no-blocking effect and the possibility that your opponents will be playing X/1s. It costs a bit too much in regular constructed, as Sulfurous Blast does a better job of wiping the board of faeries.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Flame Javelin

Instant, {2/R}{2/R}{2/R}
({2/R} can be paid with any two mana or with {R}. This card's converted mana cost is 6.)
Flame Javelin deals 4 damage to target creature or player.

This is, in my opinion, one of the top ten cards in the set. You will definitely see this card in the constructed realm when Shadowmoor gets released, because there is a deck that would be thrilled to have four damage for three mana. The ability to play it with some colorless mana will enable some burn strategies in non-red decks, which is exciting. It's definitely the best card in the mono-hybrid cycle, and the only one in the cycle which is an Instant. The card is well balanced and I am happy to see it printed in uncommon, because that means that there is a good chance that you will see it two or three times in a draft. If you are drafting mono-red -- something which is definitely possible thanks to hybrid mana -- getting a couple of these will give you reach that you will be happy to find. Oh, and it's converted mana cost is 6 even if you play it for three most of the time, meaning you will win clashes, and send six to the head when discarding it to the Cremator.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Furystoke Giant

Creature - Giant Warrior 3/3, 3RR
When Furystoke Giant comes into play, other creatures you control gain "{T}: This creature deals 2 damage to target creature or player" until end of turn.
Persist (When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to play under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

Mark my words, this guy will hit a stagnated board and end up finishing the game for a player in standard this year. He's a bit more costly than you would generally like to see in a finisher, but has quite the powerful ability that you can use more than once thanks to Persist. This is the only mono-red card to have Persist, and only one of two cards that has persist available in red at all. It's not splashable into any other color in limited unfortunately so you had better be playing red in order to pick this card - but if you play it you will probably at least decimate the opposing side's board. Some people are already trying to break this card with crazy combos including Elemental Mastery and killing this guy with your own creatures.

Constructed;
Limited:
PDC: N/A

Horde of Boggarts

Creature - Goblin */*, 3R
Horde of Boggarts's power and toughness are each equal to the number of red permanents you control.
Horde of Boggarts can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.

Horde is the red card in the cycle that grows with the number of permanents that you have of that color. Each of them has an ability in addition to setting their power and toughness, but I don't think this one is particularly good. At four mana, you can expect him to hit the board a little late to be dodging a block because they don't have enough creatures out, and in many red decks you won't have enough other creatures around. The only way that this card is any good is if you are playing a swarm deck, and this will make the fourth or fifth time that I will mention Empty the Warrens in this article, but it is definitely the cheapest and most well-used way to get a bunch of red tokens. Another thing you might consider is the possibility of Elemental Mastery, which will help this guy grow as he taps. If you can find a way to untap him, you can grow him exponentially.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Inescapable Brute

Creature - Giant Warrior 3/3, 5R
Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
Inescapable Brute must be blocked if able.

Big man on campus, and quite the mana cost to boot. Costing six mana and not having "You win the game" in the rules text will probably rule this giant out of most of the constructed decks which will exist in the PEs this season, but it will definitely not remove him from the limited card pool. Wither is a powerful mechanic, and forcing blocks is quite strong with this ability. You can view this as removal if you want, because you will essentially be removing a creature every turn, or at least making it a lot less of a threat. He's common too, which means that the PDC people will be able to take a shot at him - but I don't think he will be very useful. Even at common, there are creatures which are more efficient and some of the games in PDC are well decided by the time you get six mana available on the board.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Intimidator Initiate

Creature - Goblin Shaman 1/1, R
Whenever a player plays a red spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, target creature can't block this turn.

Yet another cycle card, this guy is willing to give you an effect for a tax. It's a one drop as well, which makes him a bit more viable than some other one-drop because in the late game you can screw up the combat math when you play a burn spell on the turn. It may be useful in some situations, but the effect is too conditional to make the decks or even sideboards of the top decks in constructed. In limited, the other initiates have better effects I think, but if you need a low cost creature in order to make your mana curve, you can do worse than this guy in Shadowmoor.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Jaws of Stone

Sorcery, 5R
Jaws of Stone deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players, where X is the number of Mountains you control as you play Jaws of Stone.

You have to be kidding me, right? Six damage, divided any way I want between anything on the board, for only six mana? The only way that this card could be better in constructed is if someone was crazy and decided to make it an instant. Wiping the board at the top end of the mana curve is not a bad thing at all, and this card is even good in the case that you just want to toss a bunch of damage at the head. If you have ever had the pleasure of tapping eight lands and using a Bogardan Hellkite to decimate the opponent, you will be happy with this card, which is just two mana less, but gets better in the later game. Granted, you don't want to be dropping a ton of land once you hit six in any game, but sometimes the board just stalls. One thing to remember is that there is some unique type of color fixing in the Shadowmoor set. Not only is there PureMTGO preview card Prismatic Omen which will put this card at full power, but you can surprise the opponent with a Elsewhere Flask, which is what makes this card even viable in Limited non-mono-red at all. All in all, I am thrilled about this card.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Knollspine Dragon

Creature - Dragon 7/5, 5RR
Flying
When Knollspine Dragon comes into play, you may discard your hand and draw cards equal to the damage dealt to target opponent this turn.

Heck yea. Dragons are awesome. The art on this card is quite sweet, making me think of the Shivan Dragons that were printed in some of the later core sets. Unfortuantely at seven mana, most would just want to wait for that eighth mana to come online so they could cast the Bogardan Hellkite I was so fond of mentioning in the last card's review. This means that you won't see this guy in constructed for a while - at least until October. However, with evasion and 7/5, he is solid real estate (he burned the house down) in limited. I've been playing a bit on the Shadowmoor beta, and this card is an "I win" card way too often for you to pass it by if you even have a small chance of playing him.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Knollspine Invocation

Enchantment, 1RR
{X}, Discard a card with converted mana cost X: Knollspine Invocation deals X damage to target creature or player.

It turns discarded cards into direct damage! Erm, wait, no, it turns spare mana into direct damage! Erm, no, wait, you need to do both. Three mana? I'd rather just drop a Cremator and get the direct damage for FREE thanks. Man, this has got to be one of the worst cards in the set. Even in limited, you probably want to avoid this. You might be able to clear some of the board with this repeatable direct damage, but I wouldn't want to count on it as a strategy or anything.

Constructed:	(no stars)
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Mudbrawler Cohort

Creature - Goblin Warrior 1/1, 1R
Haste
Mudbrawler Cohort gets +1/+1 as long as you control another red creature.

Turn 1: Raging Goblin, attack for 1. Turn 2: this. Attack for three. Suddenly your opponent is at sixteen and you're not even to the meat of your agressive strategy yet. I am actually kind of happy that this guy is playable. Most of the time he will be a grizzly bear with haste, and that is a good thing, even as a late game creature in a Limited format. However, beyond the possible early turn shenanigans, this guy is kind of lackluster, and many times you might want to put a Keldon Marauders in your deck instead. And oh, let's not forget that that little tempo madness up there also works in PDC.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Power of Fire

Enchantment - Aura, 1R
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "{T}: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player."

Look, it's Fire Whip, but a little worse. The fact that you can't sac this for one more damage will keep it out of the constructed arena until thw whip rotates, but that isn't so bad. Repeatable pinging damage is a pretty good thing to have in Limited though, and this enchantment is quite the crazy when it is connected to a creature that has Wither. Red has quite a few creatures with Wither, so you might be able to see this early. It's also a common - bringing Fire Whip to the people who make so much of so little. It might see some play there, but Prodigal Pyromancer doesn't, so I wouldn't bet on it.

Constructed:	(no stars)
Limited:
PDC:

Puncture Bolt

Instant, 1R
Puncture Bolt deals 1 damage to target creature. Put a -1/-1 counter on that creature.

Two damage for two mana is way under the curve for direct damage in constructed, there are better choices even within the cards that I just talked about. The only question is if the -1/-1 counter will somehow be more important than the direct damage itself. I can say that it is useful in limited, where almost all direct damage is at a premium. The fact that it adds a counter does help a bit there, turning off Persist, which may mean that this is worth 2 life if you take out, say, Kitchen Finks.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Pyre Charger

Creature - Elemental Warrior 1/1, RR
Haste
{R}: Pyre Charger gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

Let's evaluate this card against the other two drop hasty creature that we just saw. This one is theoretically more to cost because it requires that you have both colored sources of mana, but negligibly so. The fact that it is hasty is a bit more relevant because it can act as a sort of Fireball to the head if your opponent doesn't have any creatures on the board (say you just Pyroclasmed or something). Plus it stays around for another beating if you don't get rid of it fast. In limited, the small end of this guy is not encouraging - I don't expect him to get into the red zone any more than once.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Rage Reflection

Enchantment, 4RR
Creatures you control have double strike.

Well, red was bound to get the short end of the stick in a couple of the cycles. This card isn't great in any format that I can think of. It simply costs too much mana, and doesn't really effect the board by itself. Probably the worst enchantment in the "double" cycle.

Rustrazor Butcher

Creature - Goblin Warrior 1/2, 1R
First strike
Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)

Mono-red is just chock full of the two-drops isn't it? This guy is not bad at all when you consider that he can safely block a (Grizzly Bear) and be around to tell the tale, and leave the bear with a permanent scar for his trouble. This in itself makes him a virtual 2/2. Add a Power of Fire and you have yourself a formidable creature in Limited on a pretty early turn.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Slinking Giant

Creature - Giant Rogue 4/4, 2RR
Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
Whenever Slinking Giant blocks or becomes blocked, it gets -3/-0 until end of turn.

By my count, this is the third Giant that we have seen at four mana in this review, and it is probably the worst of the bunch. Yes, it has the nice Wither mechanic attached, but it will only permanently demote a creature by one every time. This sets up a bunch of blocking scenarios which aren't fun for many. On the other hand, this guy hits pretty hard when you can get him on the board with not many other creatures. The name of the game in red is: print a Giant at four mana. Give him a "drawback". Limited people love 4/4s for four mana, and the downside is negligible.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

Smash to Smithereens

Instant, 1R
Destroy target artifact. Smash to Smithereens deals 3 damage to that artifact's controller.

Wizards.. what exactly is wrong with Shatter? You keep printing cards that are strictly better than the card. I have fond memories of casting a Shatter on an opponent's artifact and being happy. I guess people just can't be that happy with just 1R: destroy anymore. The viability of this card in constructed depends on whether Reveillark decks will survive the shadowmoor standard. If they do, you can expect to see this as a sideboard, taking out vulnerable Mind Stones and burning for three. In limited, this isn't even a bad maindeck card, because of the prevalence of artifact creatures in the form of Scarecrows in the set. Artifacts are also played alot in PDC, where they can be used for mana fixing (Prismatic Lens) or some good beats in the form of Equipment, so this may be a pretty good card to have around to keep some of that in check.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:

Wild Swing

Sorcery, 3R
Choose three target nonenchantment permanents. Destroy one of them at random.

Well, we've made it to the last card in the set for mono-red. I prefer to refer this card as Stone Rain plus a creature every once in a while, because you will most likely be targetting at least one land with the card. Thankfully, if one of the targets of the card goes away before this resolves, you still get to choose at random between the other two permanents. This makes it decent against creatures that can sac themselves because it basically says "okay, sacrifice it, I'll just get something else instead". However, as a rule, Land Destruction is basically in the land of the casual specifically because we don't have a nice turn 2 Stone Rain waiting in order to keep the opponent down.

Constructed:
Limited:
PDC:	N/A

If you're still reading this, you must be crazy because I am sure that I have made some bad predictions. Tell me that I was totally wrong in the comments please, or hunt me down on MTGO v3 (jamuraa) and give me a piece of your mind. I am always ready to hear some other opinions. Thanks for letting me give you a piece of my mind on these twenty seven cards of a very exciting set.