I have gotten very tired of seeing Razaketh, the foulblooded. Maintaining a few tokens is not difficult, and even maintaining several handfuls is trivial in this kind of format. The lack of mana cost on his ability means that even with no other mana sources, you can drop him ASAP and sculpt your hand for just a few life. This kind of card advantage feels very reminiscent of Griselbrand and Yawgmoth's Bargain. The life cost is steeper, but you also get to activate it less, since you are tutoring for exactly the cards you need, and don't have to worry about dead draws.
I'm curious to other people's thoughts and impressions though:
Is the creature sacrifice enough of a drawback to make it a reasonable ability?
Is his high cost enough to push him into 'safe' territory?
What are the general reactions when he drops?
How much value does he typically get? Does he win/end games?
Is his high cost enough to push him into 'safe' territory?
There is literally no mana cost that can make a creature "safe" in Commander if its ability is too strong. Even if you add a shuffle replacement effect to it to prevent reanimation (see: Blightsteel), there are still options like Omniscience and Sneak Attack.
That said, while Razaketh is powerful, I don't think he tips the scales to the point of being ban-worthy. I'd rather see Bolas's Citadel get the hammer.
Is the creature sacrifice enough of a drawback to make it a reasonable ability?
Not even close. I agree that maintaining tokens isn't that hard. Or, just having regular creatures. Which isn't hard for black to have.
Is his high cost enough to push him into 'safe' territory?
Not really, though it puts him into "safer" territory. 4 mana vs 8 mana is a big difference, but EDH is built on big splashy plays so CMC alone is not often enough.
What are the general reactions when he drops?
"I need to kill this right now" & "I need to focus on that player that just tutored up 3 unknown cards that will probably kill us". Obviously the latter isn't always true, but the mind set is that I need to assume it is true so we don't just die.
How much value does he typically get? Does he win/end games?
I have only seen him a couple of times. One time he did end the game but that was more due to the insane mana generated by Black Market to fuel the X spell they tutored for. And the other time I don't feel the player was really playing him "right" since I never saw them get anything worthwhile off of him. They might have been setting up a combo that just never materialized I guess.
Is he exciting?
For the player casting him, absolutely. A big demon that can tutor stuff at the cost of your life seems exciting. But, for the other players, I am not so sure.
Answered in the embedded quote above.
Overall, I don't necessarily think he is banworthy, but the few times I did see him he was just part of the 99 and did a lot of work. I wouldn't be sad to see him go since, but I don't think he is there yet.
He's annoying, but he's safer than grisle for a few reasons.
1: He takes more setup. You can drop grisle on an empty board and take over. You actually need some stuff out to take advantage of Raz. It's a very low bar to clear, but I've seen it matter more than enough times to convince me it's a meaningful difference. Even dropping him with a couple creatures out leaves you open to more interaction from opponents (they can remove the creatures while he's on the stack, then him) while grisle could be dropped at any time and required a counter to deal with or else his controller would draw 14 or 21.
2: Because he requires setup, he's less centralizing. It's not a simple matter of bribery for Raz or animate dead Raz for just any deck. Some decks that can play the steal your opponents op card game can't reliably provide enough creatures to make Raz work.
I'm unsure if he should be banned, but he's less problematic than GB or Yawgs Bargain. There's still space for a card to be less problematic than those but problematic enough to eat a ban though. I personally have not encountered it enough online to make a decision, and it doesn't win as much as I'd expect. That alone is probably an argument against banning it, but others have had different experiences. I think it's more popular in stronger groups. I also think Sidisi is better at the job Raz does once you get really competitive
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I'm curious to other people's thoughts and impressions though:
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That said, while Razaketh is powerful, I don't think he tips the scales to the point of being ban-worthy. I'd rather see Bolas's Citadel get the hammer.
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Answered in the embedded quote above.
Overall, I don't necessarily think he is banworthy, but the few times I did see him he was just part of the 99 and did a lot of work. I wouldn't be sad to see him go since, but I don't think he is there yet.
1: He takes more setup. You can drop grisle on an empty board and take over. You actually need some stuff out to take advantage of Raz. It's a very low bar to clear, but I've seen it matter more than enough times to convince me it's a meaningful difference. Even dropping him with a couple creatures out leaves you open to more interaction from opponents (they can remove the creatures while he's on the stack, then him) while grisle could be dropped at any time and required a counter to deal with or else his controller would draw 14 or 21.
2: Because he requires setup, he's less centralizing. It's not a simple matter of bribery for Raz or animate dead Raz for just any deck. Some decks that can play the steal your opponents op card game can't reliably provide enough creatures to make Raz work.
I'm unsure if he should be banned, but he's less problematic than GB or Yawgs Bargain. There's still space for a card to be less problematic than those but problematic enough to eat a ban though. I personally have not encountered it enough online to make a decision, and it doesn't win as much as I'd expect. That alone is probably an argument against banning it, but others have had different experiences. I think it's more popular in stronger groups. I also think Sidisi is better at the job Raz does once you get really competitive
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!