This deck is an experiment to build a legitimate aggro deck in Commander. This isn't trying to be Voltron of any sort; this deck wants to play dudes, then play more dudes to beat up your opponents. With efficient beaters, a tad of reanimation, and one boss General, this deck will push your opponents' removal suites to their limits.
You Should Play This Deck If...
-You enjoy playing creatures of all sizes
-You enjoy the colour combination
-You want an efficient removal suite
-You want reanimation effects without being too graveyard based
-Your strategies are creature based
-You enjoy dishing out damage
-You don't want to fully rely on your General
You Shouldn't Play This Deck If...
-You enjoy lifegain
-You enjoy control decks that go into the very late game
-You enjoy comboing off before letting your opponents play Magic
-Your strategies are based off of instants & sorceries
-You want your General to be the linchpin of your deck
The General Rakdos, Lord of Riots was introduced in Return to Ravnica as big-bad Rakdos after some beauty sleep. As depicted in Rakdos's Return, the Ravnica parun is back and is ready to party. There are three main aspects that should be kept in mind while building around Rakdos, Lord of Riots: his stats, setback, and static ability.
First off, he is a 6/6 flying trample for the super under costed price of [sym:b][sym:b][sym:r][sym:r]. This mana cost should be no trouble to achieve on turn four, especially in ally colours. The last creature with these stats was Abyssal Persecutor, which prevented you from winning the game while you had control of it. Although Rakdos cannot kill a single opponent in three shots without assistance, there is plenty of support within his two colours to get the job done.
The second thing to note is Rakdos's "setback," which requires an opponent to lose at least 1 point of life before you can cast him. You do have to connect with a creature to cast him (unless an opponent helps you out,) but that should not be too much of an issue. Cards like Magmatic Force can also be an enabler.
Last but not least, we have the reduction cost for your creatures. Our main source of damage is simple: attack with your creatures. Outside of that, the deck plays a few ways to get in a good spread of life loss outside of the combat phase: Rakdos Charm, Slagstorm, Bloodfire Colossus, Rakdos's Return, Volcanic Fallout, Massacre Wurm, Flayer of the Hatebound, and Hellrider. While this ability turns on some disgusting early plays, it is not a requirement for the deck to work. Due to the grindy-ness of Commander games, it's not difficult to make land drops and hard cast all of our creatures for their full costs.
Playing the Deck
I don't want to build up the stereotype that aggro strategies don't require much though. There is a lot of processing that goes into making decisions throughout the game whether your general is Rakdos, Lord of Riots, Azusa, Lost But Seeking, or Merieke Ri Berit. With that said, your general strategy is to play creatures and eat at your opponents life total. Keep all options open to your reanimation effects and know what will be the most effective use of your Terminate. I tried to build the deck to have versatile games while keeping consistency in mind. The best advice I can give is playtest with the deck.
Shepherd of Rot is awesome with Rakdos 2.0. It comes down early and if you can get it and Lightning Greaves out before turn four then you can drop Rakdos on turn 4, equip him, swing with him, and start the riots early.
Lightning Reaver is my favorite card that I've never played. I'm always looking for space for him, but he never seems to make the cut lol. He was a card I cut from my Rakdos build because he deals damage on your end step which doesn't help Rakdos. Deathbringer Thoctar might be a better option for this deck, unless Lightning Reaver is a pet card.
I don't really like Rakdos Runekey or Gilded Lotus if you're trying to get Rakdos out quickly. Charcoal Diamond and Fire Diamond are better because they come down on turn two. If you're just playing them cuz they're good or fun and you're not worried about turn four Rakdos as often as possible then go for it.
Flayer of the Hatebound is a really cool card (and it's amazing in reanimator decks), but are you running enough graveyard shenanigans to justify it over something like Pandemonium or Warstorm Surge? Just a thought.
Shepherd of Rot is awesome with Rakdos 2.0. It comes down early and if you can get it and Lightning Greaves out before turn four then you can drop Rakdos on turn 4, equip him, swing with him, and start the riots early.
Lightning Reaver is my favorite card that I've never played. I'm always looking for space for him, but he never seems to make the cut lol. He was a card I cut from my Rakdos build because he deals damage on your end step which doesn't help Rakdos. Deathbringer Thoctar might be a better option for this deck, unless Lightning Reaver is a pet card.
I don't really like Rakdos Runekey or Gilded Lotus if you're trying to get Rakdos out quickly. Charcoal Diamond and Fire Diamond are better because they come down on turn two. If you're just playing them cuz they're good or fun and you're not worried about turn four Rakdos as often as possible then go for it.
Flayer of the Hatebound is a really cool card (and it's amazing in reanimator decks), but are you running enough graveyard shenanigans to justify it over something like Pandemonium or Warstorm Surge? Just a thought.
Hope some of that helped out.
I'll definitely have to try out Shepherd of Rot. A lot of these choices were due to card availability i.e. Gilded Lotus and Rakdos Runekey. I was actually considering Deathbringer Thoctar, I'll have to playtest with it. Falkenrath Aristocrat's primary position in the deck is as a creature-based sacrifice outlet. Black and red can hardly recur anything other than creatures. I'd rather have an effect stuck on a creature in this type of deck; it has the capacity to activate Rakdos, Lord of Riots. That's why I have Flayer of the Hatebound over Warstorm Surge as well. The way it is worded, if my stuff is reanimated by ANY player, I get the bonus. That and it survives many wrath effects. I'd like to switch out Slagstorm for Pestilence Demon, but I want to playtest Volcanic Fallout. Tokens are a big nuisance in my group, which makes me wonder why I'm playing Slagstorm over Chain Reaction...
To be honest, this deck is very unconventional, but I have a feeling this type of aggro strategy can work. Only testing will tell.
Great start. I've been working on a very similar list to try out a new aggro deck. I'll post mine later this week. A few recommendations from what I've found.
While I haven't really play tested anything yet, I'm assuming the plan is to get Rakdos out, swing then dump every creature in your hand hyper aggressive style. Red is awesome for this because of Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul.
Gratuitous Violence and Furnace of Rath also seem like all stars because we're most likely the most aggressive deck at the table and it makes Rakdos nuts in terms of dropping fatties.
So far, my concerns are that the deck is really top heavy without Rakdos, and if the table is insistent in him not staying around until your next turn, we'll probably be twiddling thumbs. Darksteel Plate is finds its way into most of my decks, and it fits perfectly on Rakdos.
Great start. I've been working on a very similar list to try out a new aggro deck. I'll post mine later this week. A few recommendations from what I've found.
While I haven't really play tested anything yet, I'm assuming the plan is to get Rakdos out, swing then dump every creature in your hand hyper aggressive style. Red is awesome for this because of Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul.
Gratuitous Violence and Furnace of Rath also seem like all stars because we're most likely the most aggressive deck at the table and it makes Rakdos nuts in terms of dropping fatties.
So far, my concerns are that the deck is really top heavy without Rakdos, and if the table is insistent in him not staying around until your next turn, we'll probably be twiddling thumbs. Darksteel Plate is finds its way into most of my decks, and it fits perfectly on Rakdos.
My only issue with cards like Flame Rift is that it spends an extra card to cast a creature that could get countered anyways. I don't mind playing cards like Slagstorm and Rakdos Charm because they have extra utility on top the option for damage.
If you can find them, I would highly suggest including Dragon Mage and Knollspine Dragon, since they do double duty as wheel effects and big flying dudes.
1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
Creatures
1 Necropolis Regent
1 Cryptborn Horror
1 Chaos Imps
1 Carnival Hellsteed
1 Rix Maadi Guildmage
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Rakdos the Defiler
1 Flayer of the Hatebound
1 Hellrider
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Sheoldred, the Whispering One
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Kulrath Knight
1 Lightning Reaver
1 Bloodfire Colossus
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
1 Urabrask, the Hidden
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Anger
1 Grave Titan
1 Filth
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Visara the Dreaful
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Inferno Titan
1 Shriekmaw
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Dreadbore
1 Terminate
1 Murder
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Word of Seizing
Sorceries
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Barter in Blood
1 Torrent of Souls
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Decree of Annihilation
1 Void
1 Victimize
1 Volcanic Fallout
1 Slagstorm
1 Living Death
1 Rakdos's Return
Enchantments
1 Grave Betrayal
1 Everlasting Torment
1 Underworld Connections
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rain of Gore
1 Havok Festival
1 Guild Feud
Artifacts
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Rakdos Runeky
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Rakdos Riteknife
1 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Temple of the False God
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Barren Moor
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Command Tower
15 Mountain
15 Swamp
This deck is an experiment to build a legitimate aggro deck in Commander. This isn't trying to be Voltron of any sort; this deck wants to play dudes, then play more dudes to beat up your opponents. With efficient beaters, a tad of reanimation, and one boss General, this deck will push your opponents' removal suites to their limits.
You Should Play This Deck If...
-You enjoy playing creatures of all sizes
-You enjoy the colour combination
-You want an efficient removal suite
-You want reanimation effects without being too graveyard based
-Your strategies are creature based
-You enjoy dishing out damage
-You don't want to fully rely on your General
You Shouldn't Play This Deck If...
-You enjoy lifegain
-You enjoy control decks that go into the very late game
-You enjoy comboing off before letting your opponents play Magic
-Your strategies are based off of instants & sorceries
-You want your General to be the linchpin of your deck
The General
Rakdos, Lord of Riots was introduced in Return to Ravnica as big-bad Rakdos after some beauty sleep. As depicted in Rakdos's Return, the Ravnica parun is back and is ready to party. There are three main aspects that should be kept in mind while building around Rakdos, Lord of Riots: his stats, setback, and static ability.
First off, he is a 6/6 flying trample for the super under costed price of [sym:b][sym:b][sym:r][sym:r]. This mana cost should be no trouble to achieve on turn four, especially in ally colours. The last creature with these stats was Abyssal Persecutor, which prevented you from winning the game while you had control of it. Although Rakdos cannot kill a single opponent in three shots without assistance, there is plenty of support within his two colours to get the job done.
The second thing to note is Rakdos's "setback," which requires an opponent to lose at least 1 point of life before you can cast him. You do have to connect with a creature to cast him (unless an opponent helps you out,) but that should not be too much of an issue. Cards like Magmatic Force can also be an enabler.
Last but not least, we have the reduction cost for your creatures. Our main source of damage is simple: attack with your creatures. Outside of that, the deck plays a few ways to get in a good spread of life loss outside of the combat phase: Rakdos Charm, Slagstorm, Bloodfire Colossus, Rakdos's Return, Volcanic Fallout, Massacre Wurm, Flayer of the Hatebound, and Hellrider. While this ability turns on some disgusting early plays, it is not a requirement for the deck to work. Due to the grindy-ness of Commander games, it's not difficult to make land drops and hard cast all of our creatures for their full costs.
Playing the Deck
I don't want to build up the stereotype that aggro strategies don't require much though. There is a lot of processing that goes into making decisions throughout the game whether your general is Rakdos, Lord of Riots, Azusa, Lost But Seeking, or Merieke Ri Berit. With that said, your general strategy is to play creatures and eat at your opponents life total. Keep all options open to your reanimation effects and know what will be the most effective use of your Terminate. I tried to build the deck to have versatile games while keeping consistency in mind. The best advice I can give is playtest with the deck.
Card Interactions
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Filth - This combo is just filthy. (Eh? Eh? Get it? Okay, no more jokes.)
Black Sun's Zenith + Kulrath Knight - What BSZ doesn't kill will Pacify the rest. Sometimes you don't want to kill a nice reanimation target, so you BSZ for 1.
Decree of Annihilation cycle + Rakdos, the Defiler (or any good board presence) - This usually will just close out the game. Not too much to it.
Necrotice Ooze + Fulminator Mage, Avatar of Woe, Visara, the Dreadful, Bloodfire Colossus, and/or Olivia Voldaren - Super strong utility creature is super strong.
Flayer of the Hatebound + any creature from your graveyard - Due to the Flayer's wording, anything that is reanimated from your graveyard activates the burn trigger, whether it's from a Sheoldred activation an opponent using Dance of the Dead on one of your creatures.
Bogardan Hellkite + damage on your opponents' turns - Rakdos, Lord of Riots is active on all players' turns. This allows you to flash in Bogardan Hellkite on another player's turn for as low as two mana. Value town, here we come!
Puppeteer Clique + Necropolis Regent - As long as you keep connecting, your Clique never dies.
9/21/12 - As of now, the deck has been proxied and playtested with the new Return to Ravnica cards. A few games has revealed the need for more cheaper creatures to activate Rakdos quicker. Potential options include Hellhole Flayer, Ash Zealot, Guttersnipe, Reassembling Skeleton, Bloodghast, and Nether Traitor.
1 Furnace of Rath
1 Gratuitous Violence
1 Magmatic Force
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Destructive Force
1 Wildfire
1 Darksteel Plate
Signature by | Scion of Zendikar
Lightning Reaver is my favorite card that I've never played. I'm always looking for space for him, but he never seems to make the cut lol. He was a card I cut from my Rakdos build because he deals damage on your end step which doesn't help Rakdos. Deathbringer Thoctar might be a better option for this deck, unless Lightning Reaver is a pet card.
Slagstorm and Volcanic Fallout are a bit underwhelming. They're okay with Rakdos out, but without him...eh. Pestilence, Crypt Rats, Thrashing Wumpus, Pestilence Demon, and Pyrohemia are probably better choices. They're great with Rakdos and they're way better than those two when he's not around.
Falkenrath Aristocrat is a beating in Standard, but it's just not gonna make enough of an impact in EDH. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, It That Betrays, Blightsteel Colossus, Darksteel Colossus, Wurmcoil Engine, and Steel Hellkite are all better as big beaters. They're more expensive, but EDH games tend to run long enough to hit large amounts of mana...plus they're all colorless so they interact really well with Rakdos.
I don't really like Rakdos Runekey or Gilded Lotus if you're trying to get Rakdos out quickly. Charcoal Diamond and Fire Diamond are better because they come down on turn two. If you're just playing them cuz they're good or fun and you're not worried about turn four Rakdos as often as possible then go for it.
Flayer of the Hatebound is a really cool card (and it's amazing in reanimator decks), but are you running enough graveyard shenanigans to justify it over something like Pandemonium or Warstorm Surge? Just a thought.
Hope some of that helped out.
Whatever I build from my Box-o-EDH stuff
Legacy
Sneak and Show
UR Delver
Scapeshift Nic Fit
Modern
Merfolk
I'll definitely have to try out Shepherd of Rot. A lot of these choices were due to card availability i.e. Gilded Lotus and Rakdos Runekey. I was actually considering Deathbringer Thoctar, I'll have to playtest with it. Falkenrath Aristocrat's primary position in the deck is as a creature-based sacrifice outlet. Black and red can hardly recur anything other than creatures. I'd rather have an effect stuck on a creature in this type of deck; it has the capacity to activate Rakdos, Lord of Riots. That's why I have Flayer of the Hatebound over Warstorm Surge as well. The way it is worded, if my stuff is reanimated by ANY player, I get the bonus. That and it survives many wrath effects. I'd like to switch out Slagstorm for Pestilence Demon, but I want to playtest Volcanic Fallout. Tokens are a big nuisance in my group, which makes me wonder why I'm playing Slagstorm over Chain Reaction...
To be honest, this deck is very unconventional, but I have a feeling this type of aggro strategy can work. Only testing will tell.
Signature by | Scion of Zendikar
Flame Rift is insane with Rakdos out if your playing multiplayer. If your in a 4 person game with Rados out, thats a Darksteel Colossus or Blightsteel Colossus for 2 mana.
While I haven't really play tested anything yet, I'm assuming the plan is to get Rakdos out, swing then dump every creature in your hand hyper aggressive style. Red is awesome for this because of Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul.
Gratuitous Violence and Furnace of Rath also seem like all stars because we're most likely the most aggressive deck at the table and it makes Rakdos nuts in terms of dropping fatties.
So far, my concerns are that the deck is really top heavy without Rakdos, and if the table is insistent in him not staying around until your next turn, we'll probably be twiddling thumbs. Darksteel Plate is finds its way into most of my decks, and it fits perfectly on Rakdos.
EDH
WWUBruna, Light of AlabasterWWU
:symub::symub: Sygg, River Cutthroat:symub::symub:
BBKorlash, Hier to BlackbladeBB
BBRRRakdos, Lord of RiotsBBRR
My only issue with cards like Flame Rift is that it spends an extra card to cast a creature that could get countered anyways. I don't mind playing cards like Slagstorm and Rakdos Charm because they have extra utility on top the option for damage.
Signature by | Scion of Zendikar
Also, Razing Snidd would be pretty cool.