A very aggressive creature to start off red. Ahn-crop Crasher is the creature you want in limited when you've hit both your one and two drops and are on the attack and nothing else. I could see Ahn-crop Crasher making its way into constructed but it would be in some sort of all-in red deck, that being said there are better three drops in standard like Depala or Pia Nalaar.
Battlefield Scavenger
More bears with upside here with rummage jackal. This isn't a creature you Exert whenever it can attack, this is a little different from, say, Ahn-crop Crasher's Exert ability being used to force damage through. You Exert Battlefield Scavenger when you're either looking for a specific card or you want to trigger any effects by discarding a card. Other than that you always play battlefield Scavenger in limited as it's just a two mana 2/2 and that's always good.
Blazing Volley
It's smaller Pyroclasm but even better because it doesn't hurt your creatures. Blazing Volley will do more work in limited than it will in constructed but I could see making it as there will be point when it becomes destroy more than one creature in the early game and that's worth it. However, it may be eclipsed by another card we'll look at later.
Bloodlust Inciter
A great one drop for those super aggro decks in limited. If you hit this turn one and stay in curve with your creatures, playing one per turn, you can stay one step ahead of your opponent because you get to attack with something from turn two onward.
Bloodrage Brawler
The perfect creature for turn two after your turn one Bloodlust Inciter. Yes you're losing a card but getting a four power creature that will be dealing with most opposing creatures for the next couple of turns. Bloodrage Brawler will be very powerful in limited and as big as it is, it could make it into constructed in a very aggressive red deck.
Brute Strength
A good, aggressive combat trick for those times when you need to push the last point of damage through. Other than that, there isn't much more to say about Brute Strength, you're going to play it in limited every time.
By Force
By Force is a card that exist to reign in any artifacts that proved to be too good from Kaladesh. In Amonkhet limited it will probably act as a two mana destroy target artifact which is ok, but the lack of instant speed play-ability does weaken this card a bit. I don't think By Force will see play in constructed as you don't often have a situation where you have to deal with multiple artifacts at once, in which case release the gremlins hasn't gone anywhere.
Cartouche Of Zeal
The red Cartouche is another card in Amonkhet that lends itself nicely to an aggressive type of deck. For only one additional mana on top of however much the creatures you've cast costs, you can give it haste and +1/+1 and on top of that reduce your opponents blocking options. Even if you don't play it on a freshly cast creature, you still gain the power/toughness boost and stopping a creature from blocking, and if you have Trials to return than its value just grows.
Combat Celebrant
Combat Celebrant is a very flimsy creature with it only having one toughness, but if left unchecked the Exert ability can have a devastating effect. On top of getting another attack step you can utilize Combat Celebrant's effect that would untap your other creatures and abuse any Exert effects on your other creatures, effectively giving them vigilance while still getting the most out of them. All that said, Combat Celebrant won't see competitive constructed play as it would die to easily.
Consuming Fervor
Consuming Fervor looks like it would be a very aggressive one mana aura but, if you have a blocker big enough to hold off your opponents creatures, it could be used as a very slow removal spell by enchanting your opponents creature and waiting for the -1/-1 counters to build up. That's worse case scenario though and most of the time you will be putting it on your own creature early on and dominating the battlefield.
Deem Worthy
A very splashable removal spell and another effective Cycling card. Five mana to deal seven damage or four mana to deal two damage and a card, Deem Worthy can deal with most creatures quite easily and you'll only Cycle it if you need the card or to use the two damage to finish off a creature. I don't think it will make it into constructed as it does cost a lot and can only target creatures.
Desert Ceredon
The first thing I thought when I saw desert Ceredon was that living end had just gained a great, cheap to Cycle creature. It's nothing special but it is another card that is ok to play in multiples as you can Cycle any early game ones your find and still have a late game creature to keep the pressure up with.
Electrify
Electrify is the red removal spell that you want in limited. Four damage for four mana at instant speed and sits nicely on your curve, on top of that it's easily splashable. You always play this because it's very powerful in limited, constructed on the other hand has more, better options.
Emberhorn Minotaur
Even without it getting a power/toughness boost, Emberhorn Minotaur's Exert ability giving it Menace makes it a formidable creature. Having a five power creature that can only be blocked by two or more creatures can make for a quick clock but at the cost of it not untapping the turn after attacking.
Flameblade Adept
Aggressive one drops in red are pretty standard and most of the time they are quite good; Dragonmaster Outcast, Goblin Guide, Figure Of Destiny, Inventors Apprentice and Monastery Swiftspear to name but a few. I'm not saying Flameblade Adept is on the power level of all or those creatures, but a 1/2 menace for one is above the curve and it just gets better if you can Cycle a card or two each time it attacks or blocks, not to mention putting auras or equipment on it. In limited, it's a slam dunk to play as it will be better than most of the other one drops you open. I could see Flameblade Adept making it in a super aggressive red deck in constructed if it could find a way to abuse it's discard or Cycle ability.
Fling
Trusty fling. It comes and goes every couple of sets and it's always just ok. It's great In those situation where you steal one of your opponents creatures, attack them with it and then Fling it at them for extra damage/makeshift removal spell, but most of the time you're going to be Flinging your own creature to finish off one of their big creatures. The upside to this is that Amonkhet is teeming with Embalm creatures so Fling just adds even more value to those creatures.
Glorious End
I'm not quite sure what to say about this card. It's a Time Stop that makes you lose the game at the beginning of your next end step. I think this is one of those cards that Johnny's love to mess about with, finding the perfect combo to play it in, but I think that's as far as it goes, you won't play it in limited and definitely not in competitive constructed. Glorious End is going to be confined to the kitchen tables in afraid.
Glorybringer
The big red bomb you want and at a reasonable cost of five mana. Ignore its ability for now, a five mana 4/4 with haste is super powerful and will always get played. Now add onto that creature the ability to shoot down a creature when it attacks every other turn and it becomes a juggernaut that isn't easy to block. Obviously the impact Glorybringer is going to make in limited will be immense but this will almost definitely see constructed play as the top end of midrange aggro decks.
Harsh Mentor
I'll keep saying it, bears are so good nowadays. This is the two drop you want for an all in red deck that does as much damage as possible as quickly as possible and maybe even for those midrange decks that want to get value from every creature they play. Unfortunately Harsh Mentor doesn't have much of an immediate impact but it can come down early enough for that to be somewhat negligible, especially when you think that there fetch lands turn into Lightning Bolts to their face and when you have multiples they become bonkers.
Hazoret The Fervent
Meet the red god of Amonkhet, Hazoret. It comes with the god rider can't attack or block unless... In this case unless you have one or fewer cards in hand, but it does give you a sweet ability to get rid of those pesky cards so it can attack. For three mana you can discard a card and Shock each opponent which isn't bad as it stands. Even if you don't get to the point where you can attack with Hazoret, it can still do a lot of damage, plus all the advantage you can get by discarding cards from triggers in Amonkhet, Embalm creatures or just good old Madness cards, I think there is a lot of mileage to get out of Hazoret in both limited and constructed.
Hazoret's Favour
Onto Hazoret's Favour which unfortunately isn't as powerful as the god itself. It has the potential to be good but you have to provide a lot of creatures and one after another sacrifice them after they get the power boost. It does give them haste as well so when you've run out of creatures you can still have a freshly cast creature getting into the red zone. Keep in mind this is a may ability so you don't have to do it every turn but that's where the power of Hazoret's Favour comes in as it keeps up the pressure on your opponent.
Heart-piercer Manticore
Another one or those creatures that, if you take at its base states in this case a four mana 4/3, you would almost always play it anyway. Heart-piercer Manticore comes with the added bonus as doubling as a removal spell, provided you have a creature to sacrifice, but the even crazier thing is that late on in the game you can Embalm it and have another removal spell or even win condition to finish your opponent off with. My last words in this guy will be this: imagine you have one in play and then cast another and then the turn after, Embalm the first one...in my mind that's pretty sick.
Hyena Pack
Speaking of decent base stats, here we have Hyena Pack. It's good. What more can I say, you're going to play it in limited because it's great in combat, hard to attack past and and easy to cast.
Limits Of Solidarity
Effects like this in the past have been underplayed because it's pretty situational, you either use it early to get a blocker out the way and gain an attacker or you wait and wait for your opponents bomb creature that never comes. The fact that limits of solidarity has Cycling makes it infinitely better than any spell that has done this before, not only because of triggers when you Cycle cards but just to get it out of your hand when it becomes useless.
Magma Spray
Magma spray could be one of the most effective removal spells in limited. Maybe not the most powerful, but the exile on it will do a lot more work when you have creatures that return from the graveyard, so in limited it permanently deals with Embalm creature and in constructed it deals nicely with Scrapheap Scrounger and Dread Wanderer.
Manticore Of The Gauntlet
Manticore Of The Gauntlet is a very aggressive creature. Five mana for a 5/4 is very solid, however because of its ability, sometimes it may be a 4/3 which is still nothing to scoff at, especially when it instantly hits your opponent for three damage. It's easily to splash and when you've had a really fast start, this is the creature you want on your top end in limited to finish your opponent off.
Minotaur Sureshot
One of the few answers red has for flyers and, in the late game when you have more mana to sink into it, is pretty strong on the offensive as well. You probably don't want to play too many as they can become quite mana intensive in combat but Minotaur Sureshot will do a lot of work and almost always trade up.
Nef-Crop Entangler
I'm not a big fan of Nef-Crop Entangler, two mana gets you a 2/1which is below the curve but it does has trample. The Exert ability gives it +1/+2 but that just about puts it on the good side of playable for me, and at the point it doesn't untap. I would only play this in limited if I really needed another creature in the two drop slot.
Nimble-Blade Khenra
This is a better two drop red creature that I would play over Nef-crop Entangler all day. It blocks better and you can abuse it's Prowess ability anytime you have instants to play and it still gets to untap next turn.
Pathmaker Initiate
Pathmaker Initiate can help to get in some early damage past annoying little blockers and push the last points through to secure you the game. It's also worth noting that if you have any pump spells or enchantments that give a power toughness boost, you can use Pathmaker Initiate's ability before that creature has power over 2, meaning you can get an unblockable creature that hits for more than two damage. It's always worth having one if you can as it really helps in ground stalls, though it is fragile.
Pursue Glory
Red's Overrun-esc ability with added Cycling. It's not quite Overrun as Overrun was sorcery and gave your creatures a better attack bonus and Trample, whereas Pursue Glory is an instant but only gives an attack bonus and only effects your attacking creatures meaning you have to play it as a combat trick. None the less it's still very playable and with the added Cycling I mentioned earlier it just means you can play multiples in limited and get away with it.
Soul-Scar Mage
We've already touched on powerful one drop red creatures and at first glance you might not think Soul-scar Mage fits in with the rest of that group, but let me assure you, it definitely does. It might not have haste or start with more than one power, but being able to turn all of your non combat damage towards opposing creatures into permanent -1/-1 counters will be a nightmare for your opponent especially in combat. Unfortunately I don't think they work in multiples, which would effectively turn every Shock you play targeting an opposing creature into four -1/-1 counters. Expect to see this in an all in red deck as it's a great way of dealing with creatures which traditionally in those types of decks isn't the top priority.
Sweltering Suns
It's better Pyroclasm for one more mana and has Cycling. I love this card, it's getting close to essentially being Wrath of God in red, yes you will probably lose most of your own creatures when you play it but that just means you had to get out of a tough spot. You ideally should be playing this when you have little to no creatures and that are having an effect on the game in play as a way to cripple your opponents defenses, and at three mana it's easy enough to rebuild after casting it. You play this in limited all the time and you can get away with playing the full four in constructed as they have cycling so they won't get clogged up in your hand.
Thresher Lizard
You play three mana 3/2s always as they are on curve and will happily trade with something in the early game. The end game of Thresher Lizard is when you start running out of cards in your hand and it becomes a three mana 4/4 which is above the curve and can be hard to deal with. You always play this in limited even if you don't end up making it a 4/4 because there will always be the opportunity for it to happen.
Tormenting Voice
We first saw Tormenting Voice back in Kahns of Tarkir. Back in those days it was nothing more than a Delve enable or just a way to get rid of unwanted cards, whereas in Shadows Over Innistrad it was a good Flashback enabler and way of discarding reanimation targets. In Amonkhet, Tormenting Voice is going to get you some cards with almost no drawback as hopefully the card you are discarding most of the time will have Embalm or maybe Aftermath. With Cathartic Reunion still in standard its difficult to say whether you would rather ditch two cards or one card but it will depend on the build of your deck, expect to see this in constructed maybe in a tier two level deck, as for limited, I would only play one as you don't want to end up in a situation where you cast one and draw into another.
Trial Of Zeal
If you have enough Cartouches to abuse Trial Of Zeal then it can demolish your opponents creatures very quickly. Three mana for three damage is alright, it's no Lightning Bolt, but you couldn't reuse Lightning Bolt over and over again, if you have enough on colour Cartouches, or mana fixing for this off colour ones, Trial of Zeal can easily win you a game; it can deal nicely with creatures like I said, and when you run of out creatures to target you can start shooting it at your opponent, and those three damage shots all add up.
Trueheart Twins
Trueheart Twins is the creature you want when you've opened a lot of Exert creatures and want to play them all. It's easy to splash so you don't have to build your deck around it and attacking with even just two Exert creatures can be enough to overwhelm your opponent and in multiples, these guys are nuts and will surely win you the game the moment you attack and exert them.
Violent Impact
Meh, four mana to destroy an artifact or land is ok, it's kind of what red does. You have better options for destroying artifacts and in limited you probably won't use the destroy a land part of Violent Impact anyway. It would play better in constructed against the man lands, the problem there is that it costs four mana which is too much just to take out one land in constructed. I don't really like Violent Impact, even with Cycling it still feels bad, only play this if you really need to.
Warfire Javelineer
A creature and a removal spell rolled into one, Warfire Javelineer plays nicely for the late game when you've either used or Cycled a lot of your instants and sorcery spells. You really only need about two or three to make this guy viable but the more you have the more likely you can take out their giant bomb creature. Ability aside, it blocks decently and is easily splashable which makes it more playable for those heavy blue decks where you will have more instants and sorceries.
That's all the red cards of Amonkhet, next we'll be looking at the green cards and then onto the multicoloured/split cards, so stay tuned.
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