Red creatures in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic: The Gathering are known best for their speed, aggressive stats, and ability to take over the skies in the late game. That's mostly thanks to the ever-present printing of a big red dragon in each set. Keywords like haste and first strike are most commonly seen in play on red creatures, as these abilities coincide with the red portion of the color pie's game plan to kill the opponent quickly.
Like all Magic creatures as of late, though, red creatures have seen improvements in a variety of ways thanks to the use of out-of-the-box design spaces such as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:enchantment꧅s that later become creatures and strange creature abilities that function more like spells than anything. All that being said, let's take a look at the best red creatures in Standard.
10 Manaform Hellkite ꦅ
Starting off the list, M✅anaform Hellkite is a cheap Dragon capable of quickly ending the game in the right deck. The power of this Dragon comes from its ability to create hasty, fဣlying Dragon creature tokens every time you cast a noncreature spell.
If you're able to fire off enough noncreature spells with Manaform Hellkite on the battlefield, it can quickly lead to game-winning combat. Unfortunately, no one has managed to build an extremely successful deck that can leverage this powerful ability. This is likely due to the deck needing enough counterspells to protect Manaform Hellkite 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:from removal spells, paired with the fact that you can't attack with your Dragon tokens created by counterspells while it's your opponent's turn. Nonetheless, this card still has the potential to have a Standard deck built around it if proper support is printed.
9 Moonveil Regent ꧃
Like Manaform Hellkite, Moonveil Regent is a Dragon that can excel in a very specific build. Also, like Manaform Hellkite, such a build has yet to emerge. The idea here is to get maximum value out of Regent's triggered abilities by playing it as a top-end threat in an aggressive three color deck.
That way, the Dragon 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:offers card draw and a Lightning Strike on death that can potentially finish off the opponent. The only problem is that aggressive decks and playing three colors don't really go hand in hand. In order to consistently have access to three color mana, you really need to play tap lands on the first few turns. As a result, Moonveil is more likely to rear its head out of the sideboard as a value engine in some kind of three color Midrange build.
8 🦹 Reckle𒁃ss Stormseeker
A powerful card prior to Standard rotation, many players have forgotten about the existence of Reckless Stormseeker ever since Gruul (Red/Green) decks fell out of popula🌟rity. Thanks to it🥂s triggered ability, this Werewolf functions as a 3/3 haste creature the turn you play it.
It also has the benefit of possibly flipping into its more powerful backside later in the game. If this occurs, Stormseeker's attack bonus increases, and he provides the all-important trample keyword to whatever creature you target the ability with. Stormseeker has likely seen a heavy decline due to the printing of a harsh removal counter in the form of Cut Down, but it's still a powerful red threat.
7 Thunderin😼g Raiju
Similar to Reckless Stormseeker, Thundering Raiju is another red card that saw a🅠 decent amount of play prior to Standard rotation. However, Mono-Red decks have since evolved to either be too aggressive for Thundering Raiju or 🎃too slow for it.
The sad truth is that aggressive creature-based decks are in a fairly bad place in Standard at the moment due to the slew of cheap removal spells available in just about every color. As a result, Raiju's combat trigger often only finds a target in itself. We all know what happens when you're forced to put your Magic eggs in one basket.
6 🦩 Tyrant Of Kher Ridges
The newest big red Dragon to come to Standard, Tyrant of Kher🐷 Ridges has yet to make itself known as a contender in the Standard meta. However, like many Dragons, this creature has a lot to offer in the right deck.
It's a built-in two-for-one thanks to its enter the battlefield ability, and firebreathing on a creature this big can end the game in a single attack if you have access to enough red mana. Perhaps there's a Big Red deck build waiting in the wings somewhere. If so, we'll likely see the Tyrant take flight as a star finisher.
5 ♔ Etching of Kumano
This creature is the backside of the enchantment Kumano Faces Kakkazan, which is arguably one of the most important cards in hyper-aggressive Mono-Red strategies. The turn-afterꦑ-turn value that this enchantment 𝔍provides is incredible, and the counter it offers manages to put opponents in very awkward spots when it comes to making successful blocks.
If you've tested hyper-aggressive Mono-Red decks at all, the games where you open turn one with Kumano Faces Kakkazan feel miles ahead of any other turn one play. Additionally, the exile clause on Etching of Kumano is surprisingly relevant in a number of matchups. All in all, this is an all-star creature.
4 Monaꦅstery Swiftspeꦛar
Returning from its original printing in Khans of Tarkir, Monastery Swiftspear doesn't feel nearly as oppressive as it did during Khans. That being said, this is still a great creature that's another key component of hyper-aggressive Mono-Red decks.
Considering its prowess ability, there ought to be a place for Monastery Swiftspear in some sort of Izzet (Blue/Red) tempo deck. However, such a build has yet to make itself known in the meta. Here's to hoping.
3 Bloodthirsty Adversary 🧸 ♔
Bloodthirsty Adversary is probably the red creature that sees the most💃 play across a variety of decks. This Vampire works perfectly well as a turn two play, but its real power comes from getting value out of its mana sink ability.
Midrange decks have been using Bloodthirsty Adversary to two-for-one opponents with an efficient hasty threat and a second casting of a removal spell ever since this card was printed, and there's no sign of this trend ending anytime soon. Alternatively, a deck with an efficient and cheap draw spell could use Adversary to continue looking for gas. Unfortunately, there's no such spell available in Standard at the moment.
2 🐻 Atsushi, The🍌 Blazing Sky
Atsushi is a Dragon that's even more impressive than its bigger and newer cousin, thanks to a cheaper casting cost and built-in insurance against removal. The decks that this Dragon works best in have a way to take advantage of either of its death triggers.
Depending on your draw, the treasure tokens may allow you to ramp out a threat that's difficult for opponents to handle, or the exile clause will provide you with additional gas that keeps the opponent on the defensive. It's also worth mentioning that trample is relevant very often here as many flying creatures have low toughness.
1 🌺 Reflection Of Kiki-Jiki
Yet another creature flipside of an enchantment, Reflection of K𝐆iki-Jiki and its source Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is one of the most powerful cards printed in Standard in recent memory. Pretty much any deck playing red includes this creature due to the ridiculous amount of value it offers.
Speaking on Reflection of Kiki-Jiki in particular, this creature presents a must-remove threat as long as you have just one other creature on the battlefield with some sort of trigger. Every time you use Reflection to copy that creature, you get an extra trigger on whatever its ability might be. As a result, the opponent quickly becomes buried in value. Considering the controversial banning of Kiki-Jiki, the Mirror Breaker in Modern years ago, it's quite fitting that this character has seen a glorious return to form in the Standard meta.