“Mono-Red Madness is a burn-focused combo-aggro deck that leverages discard outlets like Faithless Looting and Lava Dart to cast Fiery Temper at its madness cost, triggering damage-on-cast payoffs such as Kessig Flamebreather and Guttersnipe to rapidly accumulate lethal damage. Voldaren Epicure provides an early discard outlet and incidental life drain, while the deck chains cheap spells and looting effects to maintain card velocity and keep the damage pipeline flowing. The gameplan is to overwhelm the opponent before they stabilize, using the madness engine to generate mana-efficient damage well above the rate of the spells' face costs.”
Missing sideboard cards? The full 15-card sideboard runs about $74.35.
Buy sideboard on ManapoolThis mirror comes down to who sets up their damage engine faster and survives the race, so Searing Blaze comes in as efficient removal with landfall upside against their Voldaren Epicure and Guttersnipe while also hitting them for damage. Relic of Progenitus can proactively exile their graveyard to deny Lava Dart flashback and Faithless Looting flashback, though it does nothing against their madness-cast Fiery Temper since that card is exiled, not cast from the graveyard. Guttersnipe is a liability here since both decks are racing and a 2/2 that dies to any burn spell is a poor rate when you're both topdecking for reach; trim to a leaner, faster plan. Sazacap's Brew is slow card draw in a matchup decided by tempo, so cut it for the more impactful interaction.
Dimir Control is full of blue cards (Counterspell, Brainstorm, Lorien Revealed, Spellstutter Sprite) so Red Elemental Blast is excellent, countering their Counterspell or destroying blue permanents like Spellstutter Sprite and Murmuring Mystic. Relic of Progenitus helps strip their Gurmag Angler's delve fuel and Sneaky Snacker's graveyard recursion while cycling itself away. Guttersnipe is a 2/2 that dies to their removal suite (Cast Down, Snuff Out, Agony Warp) before it can trigger much value, and Fiery Temper gets Counterspelled or traded down against their efficient removal, so trim some copies for better interaction. Keep the burn aimed at their small creatures and face since they have very few blockers.
Affinity floods the board with artifacts, so Smash to Smithereens is premium, destroying key permanents like Refurbished Familiar, Utrom Monitor, Baleful Strix, or a problematic Cryogen Relic while dealing 3 damage to the controller, directly advancing your clock. End the Festivities deals 1 damage to each opponent and each creature and planeswalker they control, which is enough to pick off their many 1-toughness-adjusted threats after a Dispatch or combined with other burn, and chips at their life total regardless. Sazacap's Brew and Highway Robbery are too slow against a deck that can fill the board quickly with cheap artifact creatures and card draw from Thoughtcast, so they come out in favor of proactive removal. One Guttersnipe comes out since it dies easily to their removal suite (Dispatch, Cut Down) and the matchup rewards efficient interaction over a fragile payoff creature.