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Mice are known for being timid, but inMagic: The Gathering’s Bloomburrow they’re anything but. They’re aligned with both red and white mana, similar to the Angels and Minotaurs of Ravnica’s Boros Legion, and are fierce warriors when defending their homes or seeking justice.
The introduction of Bloomburrow shifted the Standard metagame to be faster and more aggressive, and nothing exemplifies this more than Heartfire Hero, an inobtrusive Mouse that grows stronger as you target it and takes revenge on your opponent when it dies. With a little support, this mighty Mouse can overwhelm your opponent before they can even get started.
Sample Decklist
This deck isbuilt to be extremely aggressive, containing only creatures and buffs, and iscapable of delivering a whopping 15 damage on the second turn. There’s a little wiggle room, allowing you to swap in a handful of alternate buffing spells such as Whirling Strike or Felonious Rage, or to swap out some of the creatures for Manifold Mouse or Voldaren Thrillseeker.
Heartfire Hero Key Cards
Heartfire Hero
Heartfire Hero is the namesake of the deck. For one red mana you get a 1/1 Mouse with arguably the best version of valiant in Bloomborrow:the first time you target it with a spell or an ability each turn, it gains a +1/+1 counter. This allows it to grow pretty quickly early in the game.
Heartfire Hero also has a second ability:when it dies, it deals damage equal to its power to each opponent. This can make your opponent wary about destroying it, but also means that you can spend a turn or two pumping up Heartfire Hero, and then sacrifice it to hit your opponent.
This combos especially well with Callous Sell-Sword.
Callous Sell-Sword // Burn Together
Callous Sell-Sword is a 2/2 Human Soldier that comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it for each of your creatures that died under your control that turn. It costs one generic and one black mana, but the sample decklist includes no way to produce black mana. That’s becausethe real value comes from the Adventure, Burn Together.
Burn Together is a sorcery that costs one red mana anddeals damage equal to the power of a creature you control to any target, then sacrifices that creature. This is similar to the classic Fling spell, with a few notable differences: it’s a sorcery instead of an instant, it costs one less mana, it’s legal in Standard, andsacrificing the creature isn’t a cost of the spell.
Since Burn Together targets one of your creatures before sacrificing it, this can trigger valiant on Heartfire Hero, giving it one more +1/+1 counter if you haven’t already targeted it that turn.
More often than not, Burn Together will be your kill spell, allowing you to throw a beefed-up Heartfire Hero at your opponent for damage equal to double its power (one lot of damage from Burn Together, another from Heartfire’s death trigger). This should be done after combat, unless your opponent is already low enough to kill with Burn Together.
Monstrous Rage
Monstrous Rage is the most efficient buffing spell in the deck.For one red mana, it gives a single target +3/+1 and tramplefor a turn, then that creature keeps +1/+1 and the trample keyword from the Monster Role after your turn ends.
If Heartfire Hero is your target, it will get an additional +1/+1 counter from its valiant ability,taking it from a 1/1 to a 5/3 with trample. It also triggers Monastery Swiftspear’s prowess and Slickshot Showoff’s triggered ability without targeting them.
Monstrous Rage isless efficient if you target a Heartfire Hero that already has the Monster Roleattached, since the new Monster Role will replace the old one. Hold it for your next Heartfire Hero.
Monstrous Rage should be directed at your Heartfire Hero, but don’t be afraid to use it to give another creature an unexpected boost after getting past blockers or throwing them in front of your opponent’s attacker.
Heartfire Hero Strategy
Heartfire Hero shares a strategy with less specific Red Deck Wins builds:play so fast and aggressive that your opponent doesn’t have time to respond. Ideally, you should win on turn three, and here’s how.
Your ideal starting hand should contain two Mountains, a Heartfire Hero, a Monstrous Rage, a Callous Sell-Sword, a Monastery Swiftspear, and one other buffing spell, like Mirran Banesplitter or Dreadmaw’s Ire, and you shouldtake a mulligan if you do not have at least two mountains and a Heartfire Hero, or if your hand contains more than three Mountains.
This hand sets you up for a fast win, but as long as you have the ability to play Heartfire Hero on turn one and start buffing it on turn two you should be okay.
Ideally, you shouldgo first and play a Heartfire Hero on turn oneso that you can attack on turn two. Monastery Swiftspear is an alternative, but can still start setting you up for a turn three win. If you need to cast Monastery Swiftspear, ensure you take advantage of haste to attack immediately.
On turn two, if Heartfire Hero was already in play, you cancast Monstrous Rage or another inexpensive spell to buff it and attack. If you use a one-mana spell like Monstrous Rage or Mirran Banesplitter, you may also play a Monastery Swiftspear, use a Shock to remove your opponent’s blocker, or plot Demonic Ruckus for next turn.
If you’re still missing your Callous Sell-Sword, this is a good time to use Blazing Crescendo to fish for it.
Once your Heartfire Hero is has enough power, it’s time tofling it at your opponent. Fling is not currently legal in standard, but Callous Sell-Sword’s Burn Together Adventure does almost the exact same thing at sorcery speed for one mana less.
Since Heartfire Hero deals damage equal to its power to your opponent when it dies,Burn Together effectively does double damage. Combined with combat damage and anything you were able to inflict on the previous turn,this should be enough to secure the win. If not, the decklist includes Shock and Lightning Strike to shore up those last few points of damage.
Blazing Crescendo and Demonic Ruckus are the closest thing you have to card drawin the deck, so it’s a little dependent on drawing the right cards early. Fortunately, there are multiple paths to success available.
Cacophany Scamp offers access to proliferate to power up and number of Heartfire Heros as long as they already have a +1/+1 counter, but also as analternate target for Burn Together. This can be particularly useful in conjunction with Demonic Ruckus, allowing you to deal a few damage to your opponent, buff Heartfire Hero, and draw a card all at the same time.
Dreadmaw’s Ire is another option to provide trample to one of your creatures, anda way to destroy problematic artifacts without dropping any buffs. It’s reasonably easy to swap out for another card in your sideboard if artifacts weren’t an issue in the first game, and another copy can be added to the sideboard if you anticipate they will be a problem.
In the sideboard, Scorching Shot and Rabid Gnaw bothhelp deal with other creature-heavy decks, the latter also allowing you to eliminate a creature while growing your Heartfire Hero. Lithomantic Barrage punishes Azorius control players who manage to slow you down enough to get their own creatures on the board.
Sunspine Lynx shuts down life gain and damage prevention effects, while adding some more burn whichwill not affect you unless you swap some Mountains out for Rockface Villages. Tectonic Hazard deals with token-heavy decks and offspring, whileUmbrask’s Forge adds a little extra longevityin case your opponent was able to hold out their defense in the first game.
