Overview:

This Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion deck is a high-octane, aggressive red build focused on leveraging combat damage, discard synergies, and explosive mana generation to fuel massive instant/sorcery payoffs. Neheb serves as the linchpin, enabling card draw and mana acceleration through its discard-triggered ability. The deck combines creature-based aggression (e.g., Balefire Dragon, Toralf, God of Fury) with spell-slinging finishers like Crackle with Power and Banefire, amplified by damage multipliers such as Fiery Emancipation and Solphim, Mayhem Dominus. Secondary engines like Birgi, God of Storytelling and Leyline Tyrant provide redundancy for mana storage and card advantage, while rituals (Mana Geyser, Seething Song) enable game-ending turns.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-3): Deploy mana rocks (Sol Ring, Ruby Medallion), low-cost creatures (Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar, Sardian Cliffstomper), or rituals to cast Neheb by Turn 3-4. Use Thrill of Possibility or Demand Answers to cycle into key pieces.
2. Neheb Activation (Turns 4-6): Attack with Neheb to trigger discard/draw, ideally discarding high-impact instants/sorceries (e.g., Apex of Power, Jeska's Will). Use the generated mana to:
   • Cast massive X-spells (Crackle with Power, Banefire)
   • Deploy threats like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus or Toralf, God of Fury
   • Activate Backdraft Hellkite to recur spells from the graveyard
3. Win Conditions (Turns 5-8):
   • Combat Overkill: Pair Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar with Neheb or Balor to spread damage. Use Glamdring to cheat out spells mid-combat.
   • Mana-to-Damage Combos: Generate infinite mana via Neheb, the Eternal + Aggravated Assault (missing, but hinted by Repeated Reverberation synergies) or Birgi + Grinning Ignus (not present), then funnel into X-spells.
   • Damage Amplification: Stack Fiery Emancipation, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, and City on Fire to turn any burn spell into a table kill.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Prioritize hands with 2-3 lands, early ramp (Sol Ring, Ruby Medallion), and a path to cast Neheb by Turn 4.
• Keep hands with rituals (Seething Song, Battle Hymn) or card draw (Thrill of Possibility) if Neheb is present.
• Avoid hands lacking red mana sources or with only high-CMC spells.

Key Tips:

• Discard Strategically: Use Neheb’s ability to discard high-cost spells (e.g., Apex of Power) for later recursion via Backdraft Hellkite or Past in Flames.
• Stack Multipliers: Resolve damage doublers/triplers before casting X-spells or triggering combat damage effects.
• Protect Critical Mass: Use Bolt Bend or Chaos Warp defensively to preserve Neheb or key enchantments.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Heavily commander-reliant: Repeated removal on Neheb cripples the deck’s engine.
• Minimal stack interaction: Lacks counterspells or ways to stop opposing combos.

Moderate

• Vulnerable to graveyard hate: Rest in Peace disrupts Past in Flames, Backdraft Hellkite.
• Struggles against stax: Rule of Law effects limit spell chains; Damping Sphere taxes rituals.

Minor

• Limited card advantage outside Neheb triggers.
• High variance: Relies on explosive turns that require specific card sequences.

Most Important Cards:

• Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion (Engine: draw, mana, discard outlet)
• Fiery Emancipation (Damage tripler for OTKs)
• Crackle with Power (Primary X-spell finisher)
• Birgi, God of Storytelling (Mana generation and graveyard recursion)
• Mana Geyser (Explosive mana for X-spells)
• Solphim, Mayhem Dominus (Damage doubler with protection)
• Jeska's Will (Mana/card advantage burst)
• Past in Flames (Recurrence for spells)
• Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar (Damage multiplier via Neheb)
• Toralf, God of Fury (Board wipe payoff and damage redirection)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 7/10

• Capable of T5-6 kills via X-spells amplified by damage multipliers, but requires setup turns.

Resilience: 4/10

• Fragile to commander removal; limited protection and recursion outside Leyline Tyrant.

Consistency: 5/10

• High variance due to reliance on Neheb triggers and few tutors (only Ring of Three Wishes).

Interaction: 3/10

• Minimal disruption (Abrade, Chaos Warp) and no counterspells; struggles against combo decks.

Rating Justification:

This deck has high burst potential (T5-7 wins) through X-spells and damage multipliers but suffers from inconsistency and vulnerability to interaction. Its reliance on Neheb and lack of robust protection place it in the Optimized Casual tier, closer to focused strategies when uninterrupted.

Power level: 5.5 - 6.0