This deck started as a Ultra Budget entry into Standard because I never play Standard, ever. I just don't, won't, can't... Oh well, anywho...
The result is a "hybrid" Red Deck Wins/Devotion deck that targets the most dominant net decks in the format and is fast enough to severely trouble anything out there that might even be considered to be a top tier deck!
The record of this deck against pre Sideboarded net deck worthy clones of Mono Black and Blue Devotion and UW control is 12 to 4, and 2 of those losses were likely caused by poor play on my part! Not what you would call a bad score for what is at it's heart a major budget deck. Post SB Mono Black is by far the most troublesome deck to face followed by a distant UW Control.
So, after the original deck had been terrorizing the local FNM scene for a while I decided to kick it up a notch by pulling Young Pyromancer and Purphoros to sharpen the focus of the deck by inserting Prophetic Flamespeaker and Eidolon of the Great Revel. Man, did that turn out to be a good move! Flamespeaker is a beast and the card draw you get out of him definitively increases the overall speed of the deck.
The deck contains lots of simple stuff:
Cackler hits hard early unleashed and if you need a chump blocker later then just don't unleash him, (chose him over Firedrinker Satyr due to the self inflicted Eidolon damage and because he can't be Doom Bladed). Fanatic is pseudo burn with a big stick to follow, 3 of them seems to be the right number unless you are facing a deck that don't have mass removal, (then 4 would be better). Flamespeaker thrives off the Warhound bestow and as such will give you an extra draw each turn it can swing, (the Fanatic and Frostburn also loves being bestowed by a Hound).
Eidolon assists in tipping the opponent over the edge damage wise and makes any spot removal of your critters very costly indeed. It also puts a major hurt on other devotion decks in the format. As it is early in my playtesting with him I have not yet arrived at a definite number but 4 seems to be too many as his efficiency is somewhat dependent on your opponents deck, so I'm currently settling for 3 in the main and 1 in the SB.
Revelry is one of the most powerful removals in the format for a RDW deck now that all the high power enchantments, (and annoying centaurs and sheep), are being played but because it is situational the rest of the playset sits in the SB until you need it.
The other burn is a mix that has evolved as it is through LOTS of playtesting to fit most occasions and early removal requirements. Stoke the Flames is the new entry replacing the, (in this deck without a lot of First Strikers), sub-par Shock. It is aimed directly at post rotation but already works bloody miracles as you can use your summoning sick critters to cast it, and it is another Burning-Tree outlet!.
The only thing missing is a targeted exile effect like Magma Spray but I could not recall a lot of persist effect critters I would fear, (besides Voice and to a lesser degree Chandra's Phoenix in the mirror), so I left it out, additional playtesting showed it was the right call, but that may easily change if I run into something post rotation that needs to be exiled.
Scry is there because a RDW normally has no way of drawing cards so the only thing we can do is facilitate them. However, a timely scry before Flamespeaker deals damage is in many cases like a free play!
SB pack the vital Skullcrack that nixes any random life gainer or fog effect, and Harness for ramped stompy style decks. Have you noticed all those scry lands being added into all these 3 color decks? Well, Burning Earth kills them!
The Plummets are straight up Demon, Angel and Dragon removers.
Mind you:
If you want to upgrade this deck further by dropping a couple of bucks on it then Xenegos, God of Revels turns a modest Frosburn or Fanatic into something quick and huge. Domri Rade is never a bad play in this decktype, Boros Reckoner is an upgrade and Chandra's Phoenix also work great in this deck.
Rotation will also likely bring some candy that will slip right in to replace the few items that will be lost. Red always gets some cheap critters worth playing although Burning-Tree is going to be impossible to replace...!?
Have fun!
How you start off and how this deck performs early is the key to your success. Luckily that is something you can largely control by manipulating your starting hand and early draw/s.
NEVER keep a starting hand that does not have 2 guaranteed plays by turn 2, ever!
Example sequences: Mountain, Cackler, Mountain, Eidolon + 3 cards or; Land, Mountain, Burning-Tree, another playable creature + 3 cards.
Temple allows you to expand on this as an early drop often works as a play by facilitating the next draw: Temple, scry to ensure that your next draw is not a dud, Mountain, Frostburn + 4 cards and a much higher probability that your 8th card is what you want.
A hand like Mountain, Cackler and Maaka + 4 kickass nonland cards may seem immensely playable but unless you are on the draw I would not even consider it for a second, (trust me on this, I tried it several times during playtesting and it generally does not end well). A mulligan to 5 is not a disaster for this deck, not something you want to do, but not game ending by any means.
Note that removal cards does NOT count as a guaranteed play as you can not be certain that there will be something to remove on your turn 2. However; in a game 2 or 3 situation where you know you will be dealing all your burn directly to the opponents head you MAY count a burn spell as a play, (weather you actually play it or not would be situationally dictated).
Warhound curves into the 3 slot with it's Bestow cost as you don't want to play it as a creature only, if you find yourself doing that then most likely something went wrong 2 turns ago... Prime targets are the Flamespeakers but Frostburn and Fanatic also work great. However, an early Burning-Tree bestowed is not a bad play either.
Note that there is some tech available to you here as you can bestow your opponents annoying critter to force him to run into one of your bigger guys and get your Warhound back as a critter or just get it out of the way as a blocker for your next attack wave.
The Maaka sort of curves into the 1 slot as you extremely rarely will ever play it as a critter, (although having the option is nice), but because it does require you to have an attacking critter in play before that can happen it is not really a true 1 drop.
Use removal in opponents turn if possible to have available mana to drop new threats in your turn. Burn to the opponents head should normally not happen until you are either close to winning or it is forcing the opponent to not use a resource that costs him life. Note that this happens often when facing this deck so understanding exactly when to deliver the damage is a major factor as the tempo swing it can induce is often a game changer.
Careful about over extending, keep in hand a permanent that can help you recover after a board wipe. Example: If a Burning-Tree played mid game does not give you a board state that dominate then it might well be a good idea to hold back as it is one of the better rebuilders to have in hand after a wipe. The Fanatic is also good to hold back if you have little to no devotion.
Never empty your hand just because you can. A untapped Mountain in front of you and another one in hand may signal to your opponent a Shock that forces them to evaluate their next play carefully...
That said: The deck is fast enough that it mostly just swarms the opponent early and create a board state that slower decks has a hard time recovering from in time. Against pricier mirrors the lower casting cost of your permanents gives you an early edge that it is vital that you capitalize on by timely burn to the head and removing ONLY their superior critters. The longer the mirror matches go, the worse off your deck will be positioned.
BTW: After playtesting and a quite a few FNMs the Allstar of the main deck is the Warhound and what it does to whatever it bestows, (Flamespeaker in particular)! The surprise Superstar of the Sideboard is Burning Earth. I'd mulligan my butt off to have that in hand versus pretty much any multi colored deck besides Zoo types, (for those: more burn to the head with Skullcracks in for Revelrys). Skullcrack also rules against White lifegain and protection shenanigans. Eidolon number 4 comes in against any other devotion deck or anything with lots of cheap removal, (mostly against heavy white and black decks).
I also trimmed the lands from 21 down to 20, (scrapping 1 Nykthos as it is mostly useless until turn 3 and in most cases you do not really want to see it until turn 4/5). While playing with 21 lands I did get flooded a few times and likely lost a match or three as my momentum stopped. This is however a very risky move as it puts you on a knife edge when it comes to mana supply, (as 4 of those lands come in tapped and 2 does not give you red right off the bat), and is pretty much only possible to get away with because of the tempo grabber that is Burning-Tree...
Post rotation I am suspecting that a couple of Hammer of Purphoros will fix the flooding issue by turning the excess land into Golems while assisting with the Devotion count so I'll likely return to 21 lands and run full playsets of Eidolon, Fanatics and Flamespeaker, (especially if I locate a Maaka replacement superior to Titan's Strenght). If nothing surfaces as playable in Khans then I guess I'll just load up with Mistcutter Hydras and hope the Haste they bring will make up the difference or splash Blue in place of Green and run something like: http://www.mtgvault.com/magicviking/decks/post-rotation-rudwdevotion/.
The two biggest hits to this deck post rotation, (before we know what Khans will bring), is Burning-Tree in the main and Skullcrack in the SB. The rest can be replaced without much, (if any), loss of speed, flexibility and power.