Best Mono Red Tutor Cards in MTG Magic: the Gathering
Red's tutors match the color perfectly. They're hasty, reckless, and can be self-destructive. If you're looking for the best mono red tutor cards in MTG, you've landed on the right page. Everything from Gamble to Dragonstorm, to Deathbellow War Cry is covered in depth to help you choose the best red tutor cards for your deck.
The ability to trade a card in your hand for any card in your library of your choosing, affectionately known as “tutoring” in Magic: the Gathering, was initially reserved for the black side of the color wheel, the phrase based on Demonic Tutor. However, over the years many new tutor options have emerged. All colors can now boast some of the best tutors, there are even some colorless options!
Some of red's best tutors search for specific card types or are tribal-based, such as dragon tutor cards and goblin tutor cards. Let's take a look at what red has to offer in the way of tutors, and how they can help you find a winning mono red strategy without relying on the top of your deck.
Any deck needs to have access to the right cards at the right time to execute its strategy. Mono red has a bad reputation of fizzling out if it doesn't win quickly, leaving the player top decking and cursing the Planeswalkers.
Whether you're looking for a specific creature, spell, or artifact, having a tutor card can make all the difference. Red has many options available, and it may be difficult to know which cards are worth including in your deck. That's where Mono Color Magic comes in – I'll be breaking down the top mono red tutor cards and explaining why they're so valuable for your 60 card or commander deck.
If you're looking to take your mono red deck to the next level, then you won't want to miss this guide. From classic cards to newer additions, I'll be covering all the best options for any type of mono red deck. So shuffle up, and let's check out the best mono red tutor cards in MTG.
Understanding Mono Red in MTG
The Philosophy of Red Mana
When I play mono red usually I want a deck that is overly aggressive and fast. Red mana is all about speed, direct damage, and chaos. It's not about playing the long game, but rather about dealing as much damage as possible as quickly as possible.
Red mana is also known for its impulsive nature. Red cards are all about taking risks and making bold moves. This means that sometimes you'll win big, but other times you'll lose big. That's part of the fun of playing mono-red.
Goblins, one of the main red tribes, are made to attack your opponents with reckless abandon. Goblin cards will help you hit quick, and throw anything within reach for direct damage.
Dragons can be an exception to these rules and you can build around them being not so speedy, but even they are full of direct damage and chaos, especially the mono-red variety.
Key Strategies and Archetypes
There are a few key strategies and archetypes that are common in mono-red decks. One of the most popular is burn. Burn spells deal direct damage to your opponent, and they're a great way to finish off your opponent quickly.
Another popular strategy is aggro. Aggro decks are all about playing small, fast creatures and overwhelming your opponent with sheer numbers. Another great strategy if you want to win quickly and decisively with a more creature based approach.
Then there's the control archetype. Control decks are all about slowing down your opponent and disrupting their plans. This is a great strategy if you want to play the long game and outlast your opponent.
In mono-red, the key to success is to find the strategy that works best for you and your play style. Whether you prefer burn, aggro, or control, there are plenty of cards and strategies to choose from that will help you dominate your opponents.
Mono-red is a fun and exciting way to play MTG. With its emphasis on speed, direct damage, and chaos, it's a great choice for players who want to win big and take risks. So if you're looking for a new challenge, give mono-red a try and see what kind of damage you can do!
Essential Mono Red Tutors
Time to take a look at some of the best mono red tutors in MTG that will help you light up the board, or your opponents!
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Goblin Tutoring Squad
Goblin decks are a popular choice in mono-red, and goblins have some exceptional tutor options.
Goblin Recruiter is a must-have, allowing you to search your deck for any number of goblins and stack them on top in any order.
Moggcatcher: Mogg's ability to consistently fetch key goblins directly to the battlefield makes it a necessity for many goblin decks.
Goblin Matron: Search your library for a goblin card and put it directly in hand. Basic tutor that comes in a goblin body, right? Wrong! Because this can search for tribal goblin cards too, not just creatures!
Goblin Ringleader: a powerhouse in mono red, adept at refilling your hand with goblin allies, ensuring a relentless stream of resources. Not a tutor in the search your whole library sense, but it dives pretty deep and grabs all the goblins found, including noncreature tribal cards.
Imperial Recruiter: is another great option, allowing you to search your deck for a creature with power 2 or less and put it onto the battlefield. Will help you get out that early Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
Dragon Seekers
Dragons are another popular choice in mono-red, and dragons bring with them tutor power.
Sarkhan, Dragonsoul: Ultimate ability that can tutor and unleash a devastating army of dragons onto the battlefield.
Dragonstorm: The storm mechanic can replicate into multiple dragon summons, turning a single spell into an overwhelming aerial onslaught.
Zirilan of the Claw: A powerful dragon tutor, allowing you to search your deck for a dragon card and put it onto the battlefield. It gains haste, then is removed from the game at end of turn.
Imperial Hellkite: Keep them guessing with the morph ability. Imperial Hellkite not only brings a formidable dragon to the skies but also expertly tutors for another dragon card, keeping your draconic momentum soaring.
Magda, Brazen Outlaw: Adept at quickly accumulating treasure tokens that can be traded for any dragon or artifact, seamlessly bridging your strategies from early game ramp to late-game power plays.
Sarkhan’s Triumph: This instant spell is a tailor-made tool for mono red dragon decks, offering precise and immediate tutoring for any dragon creature in your deck for 3 mana.
Dragon’s Approach: Not only deals damage to each opponent but later serves as a tutor for your most formidable dragons.
Artifact Fetchers
Having the right artifact tutors can help you exploit some incredible mono red strategies as well. These powerful artifacts will do the trick!
Kuldotha Forgemaster: Sacrifice three artifacts to search your deck for any artifact and put it onto the battlefield. A sac outlet and an artifact tutor!
Inventors' Fair: A land with lifegain, colorless mana, and artifact tutor abilities.
Hoarding Dragon: Search for an artifact, exile it, and then when the dragon dies the exiled artifact goes into your hand.
Goblin Engineer: Search your library for an artifact and put it into your graveyard. This can be especially useful if you have cards that benefit from having artifacts in your graveyard, or recursion spells and effects.
Reckless Handling: Stands out for its ability to sift through your deck at high speed, selectively discarding cards to set up powerful graveyard synergies or to simply find key pieces more efficiently
Mangara's Tome: Offers a unique approach to tutoring by allowing you to curate a mini-library of five cards, ensuring consistent access to your most crucial spells or creatures over several turns.
Tamiyo's Journal: Sacrifice three clues to tutor for any card. This one may be the easiest to break wide open, considering you can get clue tokens from other cards and effects, possibly allowing massive tutoring.
If you're looking for a more powerful option, Planar Portal is a game-changer. It allows you to search your deck for ANY card and put it into your hand, but it comes with a high mana cost.
Other Tribes
Tribal tutors generally grab tribal cards. Just like the goblins and dragons above these great tutors may fit perfectly into your deck, or give you a new idea to build around a type of card you hadn't previously considered.
Dwarven Recruiter: Excels in mono red by meticulously stacking your deck with an array of dwarves, setting the stage for consecutive, powerful dwarf-centric plays in subsequent turns.
Deathbellow War Cry: An incredibly powerful tutor effect only held back by the type of creatures it enables you to search for, minotaurs.
Forerunner of the Empire: A mono red dinosaur tutor!
Flamekin Harbinger: Lets you search your library for an elemental and put that card on top. One of the best mono red tutor cards for elementals.
Conduit of Ruin: While not technically a tribal tutor, this one works best with Eldrazi or giant artifact creatures, and is itself an Eldrazi. Conduit makes them cost less to cast and lets you grab a colorless creature from your library that's 7 mana cost or greater, and put it on top for your next draw.
Whether you're playing goblins, dragons, elementals, grabbing utility artifacts, or maybe even an Eldrazi, there are plenty of options to choose from. Find the mono red tutor card, or a few, that fit your deck and watch your win rate dramatically improve!
Chaotic and Specialized Mono Red Tutor Cards
Fervent Mastery: Red giveth, and red taketh away. Tutor for 3 cards, then discard 3 cards at random.
Chandra, Heart of Fire: Ultimate ability allows tutoring for any number of instants or sorceries to be played immediately (otherwise they remain exiled,) from both your library AND graveyard!
Goblin Tutor: Not legal in most formats, you'll probably need to rule 0 with your group to play it, but this tutor from the UN sets is both random and a fun tutor.
Gamble: A true gamble, with odds based on your hand size. Tutor for any card then shuffle your hand and discard one at random.
Mono Red Land Tutor Cards
There and Back Again: Step 2 of this saga lets you grab any Mountain card. Step 3 though, brings the dragon.
Alpine Guide: Search for any Mountain card upon entering the battlefield.
Cleansing Wildfire or Geomancer’s Gambit: you can use these to take out your opponent's lands, sure. But these can be just as effective used on your own as land tutors!
Oliphaunt: Mountaincycle for 1 is unheard of, and beatstick to boot if you don't need the land.
Koth, Fire of Resistance: First ability is a basic Mountain tutor each time you activate it.
Top Tutor Cards for Mono Red Commanders
Some tutors make great commanders, some commanders need great tutors. Let's take a look at the MTG tutors and commanders that somehow live harmoniously in mono red.
Godo, Bandit Warlord's Arsenal
Godo, Bandit Warlord is a popular commander for mono red decks, and for good reason. His ability to search for an Equipment card and put it onto the battlefield is incredibly powerful. To take full advantage of this ability, you'll want to include some of the best Equipment cards in your deck, such as:
- Helm of the Host: Creates an infinite combo with Godo
- Sword of Fire and Ice: This powerful Equipment card gives your creature protection from red and blue, as well as dealing 2 damage to any target and drawing a card whenever the equipped creature deals combat damage to a player.
- Umezawa's Jitte: This versatile Equipment card can give your creature a boost of +2/+2, deal 2 damage to any target, or gain you 2 life, all with just a single charge counter.
- Batterskull: This Equipment card can create a 4/4 Germ token with lifelink, which can be a great way to gain some life and stabilize the board.
Kiki-Jiki's Combo Pieces
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is another popular commander for the mono red combo player. Kiki-Jiki's ability to create token copies of creatures can be incredibly powerful, especially when combined with certain other cards. Some of the best combo pieces for Kiki-Jiki include:
- Zealous Conscripts: This creature can gain control of any permanent for a turn, including your opponent's creatures. When combined with Kiki-Jiki's ability, you can gain control of multiple creatures in a single turn.
- Combat Celebrant: This creature can untap all your creatures after combat, giving you another chance to use Kiki-Jiki's ability and create even more token copies.
- Dualcaster Mage: This creature can copy any instant or sorcery spell you cast, which can be incredibly powerful in the right situation. And you can do at least one per turn that you have both Kiki-Jiki and Dualcaster simultaneously on the board.
Magda's Treasure Trove
Magda, Brazen Outlaw is a newer commander for mono red decks, but she has quickly become a fan favorite. Magda's creature tutor ability to search for a Dwarf card and put it onto the battlefield can be incredibly powerful, especially when combined with some of the best Dwarf cards in the game. Some of the best Dwarf cards to include in your deck with Magda include:
- Dockside Extortionist: This creature can generate a large amount of treasure tokens if your opponents have a lot of artifacts and/or enchantments on the battlefield, speeding up Magda's tutor ability.
- Dwarven Recruiter: This creature can search your library for any number of Dwarf cards and put them on top of your library. They'll be buffed by Magda and make treasure tokens.
- Dwarven Blastminer: This creature can destroy any nonbasic land, which can be incredibly powerful in the right situation. And they're a dwarf so the Recruiter can go get them and Magda buffs them and makes treasure from them.
By including these top tutor cards and combo pieces in your mono red EDH deck, you'll be able to find the perfect card for any situation and gain a strategic advantage over your opponents.
Tutoring for Specific Situations
Ever have that mid game thought “man if I only had ___ in my hand this game would be over!” Add the right tutor to your deck to ensure your combo is never left unfinished!
Fetching the Perfect Burn
When you need to close out a game quickly, burn spells are your best friend. Gamble is a great tutor card to find your favorite burn spell. It's cheap to cast and can help you dig through your deck to find that finishing blow, with a pretty high success rate on the odds based on hand size. Ring of Three Wishes is another option that can help you find the perfect burn spell. It's a bit more expensive, but it allows you to tutor for any card in your deck, not just a specific type.
Finding Key Equipment
Equipment can be a game-changer in mono red. Outside of the artifact and equipment tutor options listed above, Skyship Weatherlight is a great tutor card for finding equipment. It's a bit slow, but it can help you find the perfect piece of equipment to give your creatures an edge in combat.
Urza's Saga is another great option. It can help you find equipment or other artifacts to help you win the game.
Unearthing Combo Enablers
Combos can be tricky to pull off in mono red, but with the right tutor cards, you can make it happen.
Conspicuous Snoop is a great card to tutor for when you're looking to combo off. It allows you to play goblin spells from the top of your library, which can help you find the pieces you need to pull off your combo.
Tamiyo's Journal is another great option. It's not the most mana efficient on its own, but instead of one tutor it may give you several. It can also help you find the perfect card to enable a combo. It may even be a part of your combo!
Surprised yet by the tutoring abilities of mono red decks? Between red itself and artifacts there are lots of sorcery speed, even instant speed tutor options to choose from.
Comparing Red Tutors with Other Colors
Black's Tutor Arsenal
When it comes to tutoring cards in MTG, black is often considered the king. Cards like Demonic Tutor, Entomb, Cruel Tutor, Buried Alive, Diabolic Tutor, Rhystic Tutor, and Grim Tutor are all staples in black decks. Red has a few tricks up its sleeve, but it's hard to keep up with a fast one black mana tutor for anything such as Vampiric Tutor.
The Best Black, Blue, White, and Green Tutors
Blue, white, and green also have several honorable mentions. Cards like Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Sylvan Tutor, and Worldly Tutor.
Blue is great at finding instants and sorceries, while green excels at finding creatures and lands. The best white tutors will easily net you an artifact or enchantment card. Then there's black tutors, easily the best in the game at searching for any card. And if you want a tutor for any color or combination, check out the best colorless tutors!
Red falls somewhere in between, with the ability to find a creature card or artifact, equipment or a sorcery card. Red's most versatile tutors often come with a downside, such as requiring you to discard a card or pay life. This can make them riskier to use than blue, white, or green tutors.
Red tutors' abilities to find specific types of cards, popular tribes like goblins and dragons, cheaper casting costs, and unique additional effects make them a valuable addition to any mono red deck.
If you found a couple red tutors you like, pair them with one of the top 100 mono red commanders! We can also help you with your red card draw needs.
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