You Make the Play #1: Attack with Creature Land or Play Bloodthirsty Adversary?
On the Play with $50 Mono Red Aggro
You’re playing the 3rd place Mono Red Aggro deck from a recent Standard Challenge 64. You modified the deck by replacing 2 Witchstalker Frenzy with 2 Scorching Shot.
On game 1 in a Bo3 match, you kept 7 on the play and Villain mulled to 5.
On turn 3, you have a decision to make.
Attack with the creature land or play the 2/2 haste creature?
Answer the question in your head (very important for learning and self improvement).
Then, check out the comments below for my thoughts.
Villain mulled to 5 so it often won't matter which option you choose. But you still want to think optimally to get into the habit of making good decisions.
In this spot, I would attack with the creature land. Villain is down 2 cards and you have a solid start. Therefore, the main way he can win is if you get unlucky by flooding on mana.
Fortunately, you can play around that posibility by saving Bloodthirsty Adversary for turn 5 (or even turn 8!).
Normally, you just jam the 2/2 because you need to kill Villain quickly before his top end creatures take over the game. However, you can save the 2/2 in this spot because of the creature land. The creature land allows you to deal the same amount of damage without having to play the 2/2.
If Villian mulled to 6 or kept the full 7, I still think attacking with the creature land is the right play. You already have 5 lands so you are guaranteed to play Adversary on turn 5. Plus, you have a combo card in Lightning Strike.
Basically, the rest of your hand fits with playing Adversary on turn 5. You are slightly flooding and you have an instant direct damage spell with mana value 3 or less.