Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is an extremely powerful new Legendary creature from Throne of Eldraine that is certain to be played often as a Mono-Red Commander in Brawl. However, it also has an application in an existing deck that is going to survive and even improve with the rotation: Cavalcade of Calamity red.
Cavalcade of Calamity with Throne of Eldraine
We won't waste too much time on the older cards, since everyone knows the general strategy. Play a bunch of 1-drops, drop a Cavalcade of Calamity, and threaten to kill your opponent immediately if you ever get to connect with a Chandra's Spitfire. Let's just take a look at some of the new options from Throne of Eldraine:
There's plenty of 1-power 1-drops in Standard to play, but Fervent Champion is nice to have. We're completely ignoring its equipment abilities (though perhaps there are some sideboard applications), but a 1-mana creature with First Strike and Haste with some small upside if you ever draw multiple copies is pretty nice. Gingerbrute is essentially the same card as Tin Street Dodger with the upside of being able to gain life in a mirror match.
Torbran is a ridiculously powerful card that should just end the game on the spot if it ever resolves. It competes with powerful cards such as Experimental Frenzy for limited curve-topping slots, but while Experimental Frenzy is card that generally wins you the game if left unchecked for 2-3 turns, Torbran just wins you the game on the spot if it goes unchecked the turn you cast it. With Cavalcade of Calamity in play almost any board is instantly lethal, but even without it your army of tiny dorks is suddenly quite capable of finishing the job. It also helps your burn and Footlight Fiend triggers go that much farther if you are stalled out against an opposing creature deck.
Castle Embereth is a sweet new pickup that this decks gains access to for free. It gives us one more way to turn our tiny creatures into more legitimate threats. It's also nice that it's a way to buff the team that lets you attack and cash in on the Cavalcade triggers first.
Mono Red has been a tier 1 deck in Standard for several years in a row now, and there's no reason to believe the Throne of Eldraine format will be any different. It remains to be seen if this combo version is the best possible configuration for the aggressive strategy, but it's already proven itself to be a contender and we'll definitely be keeping an eye on it. Check out this quick video of us piloting Cavalcade Red in the new metagame:
