In Magic: The Gathering🎃, Red decks are often characterized by their speed and aggressive nature. Red decks often want to📖 cast as many quick and punchy cards as soon as possible and defeat an opponent before they can truly establish themselves.
For this reason, one-mana spells are often integral to red-centric decks, as they can be cast in a game's earliest turns and in larger quantities than spells with higher converted mana costs. So today, we're going to examine the strongest and most worthwhile red one-drops from across Magic: The Gathering's history!
Updated April 21, 2022 by Paul DiSalvo: It's no secret that Red decks are capable of serving as among the most efficient and quick decks Magic has to offer in a wide range of formats. As Magic is a game that is constantly changing and evolving, incredible new cards are printed with the release of each set. It should be no surprise that as Wizards of the Coast releases powerful Red one-drops, these efficient and cheap cards can make massive splashes in numerous formats.
15 Unlu🍷cky Witness
A new inclusion featured in Streets of New Capenna, Unlucky Witness is an excellent card that can provide great card advantage through the use of "impulsive drawing." Impulsive drawing is a traditionally red mechanic in which a player exiles one or more cards from atop their library, gaining the ability t0o cast those cards as if they were in that player's hand until the end of the turn. A 1/1 for one mana, when Unlucky Witness dies, its controller exiles the top two cards of their library, gaining the ability to play one of those cards until the beginning of that player's next end step. For a single mana, Unlucky Witness can provide a player access to additional cards that can help supply additional answers.
14 Monastery 🎐Swiftspear
Few one-mana creatures (let alone uncommon one-mana creatures) have possessed the notable power of the Monastery Swiftspear. First appearing in Kahns of Tarkir, the Swiftspear is straightforward yet deadly. A 1/2 for one, Monastery Swiftspear has both haste and prowess, gaining +1/+1 until the end of the turn whenever its controller casts a non-creature spell. This pairing allows this creature to deal large sums of damage seemingly out of nowhere, often even on the turn it's cast!
13 ♛ Legion Loyalist
Many red decౠks seek to "go wide" attacking an opponent with as many creatures as possible. Legion Loyalist is a pe♏rfect addition to these types of decks, providing noteworthy benefits to a player attacking with numerous creatures.
A 1/1 goblin with haste, whenever Legion Loyalist attacks, if its controller is attacking with at least two other creatures, all other creatures under that player's control gain first strike and trample, and cannot be blocked by creature tokens. This provides one's entire forces with major advantages at the expense of few resources.
12 ꧑ Dragonmaster Outcast 𒀰
Dragonmaster Outcast is a red one-drop t🍨hat is most commonly used in the Commander for🎀mat. While red decks tend 🐭to want to close out a gꦉame as quickly as possible, the larger scale of Commander lends games in that format to have higher turn counts.
While Dragonmaster Outcast is an underwhelming body as a 1/1 for one, its power lies in its ability. At the beginning of the outcast's controller's upkeep, if that player controls six or more lands, they create a 5/5 dragon token with flying! As this is an upkeep trigger, for one measly mana, Dragonmaster Outcast can slowly amass numerous sizable and threatening tokens!
11 🐈 Faithless Looting
Recently banned in Modern, Faithless Looting is an exceptional and versatile one drop that can fill one's graveyard and draw new answers for its caster. Upon being cast, Faithless Looting allows its caster to draw two cards, then discard two cards, pairing well with mechanics such as Madness and Flashback. Faithless Looting itself even possesses the latter of these abilities, toting a madness cost of three, allowing it to be cast from the grave in a pinch.
10 Brightstone Ritual 𝕴 🍌
While Red is not a color known for its mana ramping capabilities, Brightstone Ritual is a stellar mana-producing instant for a single red mana. An impressive inclusion in Goblin-Tribal Commander or Pauper decks, Brightstone Ritual adds one Red mana to its caster's mana pool for each goblin they control. As goblins are a creature type known for their large numbers and tokens, this low-mana spell can often produce massive amounts of mana when used in the right deck.
9 Goblin Lackey🐬
Goblin Lackey is one of the strongest cards that can be utilized 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:in a goblin-tribal strategy. While Goblin Lackey itself is a 1/1 for one mana without noteworthy combat potential, its ability is one of the strongest in the arsenal of goblin-tribal players. Upon dealing damage to an opponent, Goblin Lackey's controller can put any goblin card from their hand into play, completely for free.
8 🌞 Pyroblast And Red Elemental Blast 𒁏
Two spells with nearly identical effects, Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast are two of red's premier sideboard options. When playing against blue decks, these spells can be used to answer nearly any problem. Each of these spells possesses two modes: one which allows the caster to counter a blue spell, and one which allows the caster to destroy any red permanent. In the correct match-up, these spells can be beyond useful, with their only drawback being their linearity. Despite this, both of these spells have become definitive and iconic sideboard options for mono-red decks.
7 Mass Hysteria ൩
An enchantment for one Red mana, Mass Hysteria is a solid inclusion in any highly aggressive deck looking to close out a game as quickly as possible. Simple yet effective, this enchantment provides all creatures in play with haste, regardless of their controller. While this may mean that Mass Hysteria's controller is providing their opponents' creatures with haste as well, when used against creature-light decks or those that aren't aiming to win via combat damage, this is a fantastic benefit for a negligible cost.
6 🦩 🌠 Curse Of Opulence
A popular Red mana ramp option in the Commander format, Curse of Opulence is an aura that like all other curses, is used to enchant an opponent. For only one mana, whenever this curse's controller or another player attacks the enchanted opponent, the curse's controller creates a gold token that is mechanically identical to a treasure token. This means that by simply playing into an aggressive, creature based strategy, Curse of Opulence can reliably provide access to additional mana.