This is my newest EDH creation. It follows a very simply three-step process:
Step 1: Damage an opponent.
Step 2: Play Rakdos.
Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until all your fatties have been played.
- You want to cast overpriced fatties for cheap.
- You like dealing direct damage to the entire table and everything on it.
- You like throwing caution to the wind and casting whatever's in your hand.
- You like playing non-traditional EDH color combinations.
- You don't like playing fatties.
- You like playing non-creature spells.
- You like playing a more cautious, reactive game.
- Once I get Rakdos into play, the casting cost of most creatures is reduced very quickly. I cast Ulamog for free on my first game.
- However, the cost of abilities on creatures is NOT reduced, so things like Hellkite Charger are probably not going to make it, even if it is very enticing to attack multiple times with a horde of demons and dragons.
- Furthermore, since Rakdos essentially gives me tons of free mana to cast creature spells, my hand gets emptied out pretty fast. So, anything that draws extra cards (from my library, graveyard, or elsewhere) is even more crucial.
NOTE: Since this deck is still fairly new, I haven't worked out all the kinks yet. A lot of these options are just things I haven't had a chance to test out yet.
- Avatar of Woe: A fatty with its own means ability to reduce its casting cost, but I don't want to have to choose between attacking with it and leaving it back to kill something else.
- Balefire Dragon: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Deathbringer Thoctar: A fatty with some upside. This one will probably find a home in here at some point, just needs a chance to be tested.
- Hateflayer: Yet another fatty with some upside who's cost is greatly mitigated by Rakdos. Haven't tested it yet, but the untap requirement seems a little clunky to assemble.
- Kaervek the Merciless: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Molten Primordial: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Necropolis Regent: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Platinum Emperion: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Scion of Darkness: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Scourge of the Throne: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Skyline Despot: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Stalking Vengeance: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Steel Hellkite: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Worldgorger Dragon: Mostly just a combo piece, and not great outside of the degenerate combo application.
- Wurmcoil Engine: Not sure if this guy actually has enough upside to warrant a spot. He's kind of just a dumb beater, and while the lifelink is cool, it's not unique enough to put him ahead of so many other fatties.
- Disaster Radius: A sweeper that doesn't hit my own stuff, but requires me to hold onto a fatty.
- Avaricious Dragon: There were too many times when I would have preferred to keep something in my hand.
- Bloodfire Colossus: A wrath effect on a creature, but it also hits all my own stuff, including Rakdos.
- Bogardan Hellkite: The flash part is not as good here unless my opponents can make Rakdos work for me.
- Bontu the Glorified: This deck doesn't want sac outlets.
- Combustible Gearhulk: See Mogis.
- Cyclops of Eternal Fury: A slightly-worse version of Dragonlord Kolaghan.
- Deathbringer Regent: See Bloodfire Colossus.
- Furnace Dragon: Most of my acceleration is in the form of artifacts, so this effect will probably have too much incidental damage to my own board.
- Hellkite Charger: While his casting cost might be lowered by Rakdos, his triggered cost is not, and this deck is pretty hungry for mana already.
- Indulgent Tormentor: See Mogis.
- Mogis, God of Slaughter: The opponent never makes a choice that strictly benefits me.
- Pestilence Demon: By the time I cast this, Rakdos should already be on the table, so his ability isn't necessary.
- Thrashing Wumpus: There are enough enablers that require no mana to activate that this type of effect doesn't cut it.
- Skullclamp: Ordinarily a format staple, I found early on that my guys were just too big to make much use of this, so I cut it.
- Palace Siege: Consistently enables Rakdos, enchantments are usually harder to remove, but it costs more than Rakdos does and comes down after turn 4.
- Pestilence, Pyrohemia: See Thrashing Wumpus.
- Sneak Attack: Part of the upside of casting all these large threats is forcing an opponent to answer them. Sneak Attack makes it so that they don't really have to do that.
- Subversion: See Palace Siege.
- Flame Rift: Rakdos makes cards like this into a super-Dark Ritual. However, damaging someone for the sake of playing Rakdos is not difficult.
- Price of Progress: See Flame Rift, only bigger.
07/24/2015:
- First draft of the list, more to come!
02/14/2018:
- Lots of updates, need to make a couple cuts for some new stuff.
08/06/2018:
- More updates, finally acquired some rotating Standard staples.
As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated.
I know you said you wanted to play test Mogis, God of Slaughter, but trust me, he's pretty much essential to this deck.
Vedalken Orrery demands a spot if you're planning on playing multiplayer.
@Gut Shot, etc: There are plenty of other more sustainable means of damaging an opponent out there. Flame Rift wasn't even all that good in early testing, and it provides way more impact for the mana cost.
@Vedalken Orrery: I've had a Yeva list for several years now, so I can appreciate the extreme value of the keyword "flash", but I don't know if I'll be able to find the room for an Orrery in here.
I've been playing Rakdos for a while now, and I agree that burn-based spells are not great. Flame Rift is the best option and it's barely playable. I do plan to test Chandra's Ignition, though.
Pilgrim's Eye is a great card to make sure you hit your 4th land drop as well as enabling that T4 Rakdos.
Some way to play creatures at instant speed is also a good idea. Quicksilver Amulet and Sneak Attack (if your budget allows it) are great at cheating in dudes, and Winding Canyons lets you cast them on an opponent's turn. If you can get a Sneak Attack, one thing to remember is that the sacrifice happens at the beginning of the end step, so putting a creature into play during the end step means it sticks around until the next one.
You should limit the amount of lands you run that produce only colorless mana and those that come into play tapped. Colorless lands do not cast Rakdos or help you pay the colored cost of creatures when Rakdos is in play, and having too many tap lands can prevent you from being able to cast Rakdos when you need him. Other B/R land options include Reflecting Pool, Mana Confluence and Shadowblood Ridge. A decent utility land to include is Shizo, Death's Storehouse, especially if you include some more legendary creatures like Sheoldred, Whispering One and Sidisi, Undead Vizier.
Shivan Gorge's effect is too expensive because you're using 4 mana (cost + tapping Gorge) to deal 3 damage in a 4-player pod, so you're better off just using that mana to cast a creature. I'd be fine with it if it generated R, but 1 doesn't cast Rakdos.
@Disciple of Bolaas: That's a good idea. I was gonna try out the new Avaricious Dragon once it comes in the mail, but Disciple seems like it would be good.
@Sneak Attack: I had it in my original list, but it seemed to rot in my hand a couple of times, and I eventually cut it because I usually had all the mana I needed to hard-cast all my creatures.
@Shivan Gorge: Haven't drawn it yet, but you're right about the cost being a little steep.
@Pilgrim's Eye: Good catch, can't believe I missed that one.
I'll have to take some time to read through your thread as well. Thanks for the advice!
Sneak Attack sucks as a top deck, but it's invaluable with a full hand. Paying R to slam an Ulamog/Kozilek into play early can make a huge impact. If you have Mikaeus, the Unhallowed on the field, the creature comes back because Sneak Attack doesn't exile. My list does crazy stuff with it, Cloudstone Curio, and Priest of Urabrask.
Sneak Attack sucks as a top deck, but it's invaluable with a full hand. Paying R to slam an Ulamog/Kozilek into play early can make a huge impact. If you have Mikaeus, the Unhallowed on the field, the creature comes back because Sneak Attack doesn't exile. My list does crazy stuff with it, Cloudstone Curio, and Priest of Urabrask.
Yeah, I get the random synergies with Mikaeus and Curio, but more often than not I just empty my hand the old-fashioned way.
I had Grinning Ignus for a little while, but again I didn't like the colorless mana it produced.
Every now and then I consider Priest of Gix, but my build needs red mana to combo off or get extra Sneak Attack activations.
If you find yourself being able to hard cast creatures without Rakdos's help, you definitely need more ways to give your dudes haste. Anger, Urabrask the Hidden, and Lightning Greaves are common, but I also like Ogre Battledriver for the pump.
Im not particularly great at cuts but some suggestions would be some of the single target damage options, weaker pestilence effects like Lobber Crew, Maybe the Grinning Ignus or the Basilisk Collar/Goblin Sharpshooter combo, which is powerful but requires you to have both pieces. If you do that I'm not sure if Godo is still worth keeping. I think Magmatic Force and Magmaw are a bit weaker as well so they could be on your chopping block
Now, I'm normally pretty good at making cuts, but 11 cards is a little much, even for me. Any thoughts on what to remove here?
I'm not too keen on Furnace Dragon because it's just a 5/5 flyer after the ETB trigger, and you risk it exiling your own artifacts (especially your creatures). I also don't like Necropolis Regent because it wants to be played before combat which would leave you with less mana to play dudes off Rakdos's cost reduction.
I really like Sire of Insanity for disruption, and Avaricious Dragon is respectable for card draw. However, their discard effect instantly kills Psychosis Crawler and leaves you with nothing in-hand to use for Deathrender, so keep that in mind.
Cuts:
3 lands - you currently have 40, but 37 would be perfectly fine due to your mana rocks Dimir House Guard - your best transmute target is Strands of Night, and that's not really a game winning play on its own Godo, Bandit Warlord - you only have 3 targets, and they're only great when equipped to specific creatures Solemn Simulacrum - I know it sounds crazy, but I've found his effects to not be THAT great in Rakdos. I like Pilgrim's Eye better because it can help get that 4th land for Rakdos. Staff of Nin - draws cards and pings stuff, but it's extremely expensive for a noncreature spell in the deck Sanguine Bond - it combos with Exquisite Blood, but you only have 4 other ways of gaining life and 2 ways to tutor for the other piece of the combo PyrohemiaorPestilence - drawing both is bad and having both on the field is useless. You only need 1 of these effects.
I'm not too keen on Furnace Dragon because it's just a 5/5 flyer after the ETB trigger, and you risk it exiling your own artifacts (especially your creatures). I also don't like Necropolis Regent because it wants to be played before combat which would leave you with less mana to play dudes off Rakdos's cost reduction.
I really like Sire of Insanity for disruption, and Avaricious Dragon is respectable for card draw. However, their discard effect instantly kills Psychosis Crawler and leaves you with nothing in-hand to use for Deathrender, so keep that in mind.
This all makes a lot of sense.
- I do rely on artifacts for fixing, so Furnace Dragon would probably get awkward.
- When you put it that way, Necropolis Regent really just makes other guys bigger. In this deck, they should already be enormous.
- I still haven't managed to cast Psychosis Crawler or Deathrender yet. I did cast Avaricious Dragon once last time, and the extra draw was worth it.
@the cuts:
- I made a few updates that did not get reflected on my list in the OP. Magmaw became Chandra, Pyromaster, Grinning Ignus became Pilgrim's Eye.
- Dimir House Guard: As I recall, the only time I drew him, he sat in my hand and didn't do much. Easy enough to cut.
- Godo, Bandit Warlord: The equipment package was kinda cute, but not really necessary when all these fatties are already, well, fat. Probably don't need any of the equipments, either.
- Solemn Simulacrum: I can't do it...he does everything a card needs to do in this deck, and half the time he's basically free to cast.
- Staff of Nin: You're right about the casting cost, which is a thing that gets easily overlooked for non-creature spells because of the ease at which I can reduce the cost of creature spells.
- Sanguine Bond: Another "cute" idea that probably isn't worth it without more ways to dig up the combo. Best reserved for an enchantment deck.
Updated the list with all the new changes. Thanks for all your help! I'll report back after some games tonight.
I completely understand your reluctance to cut Solemn Simulacrum. For me, it just felt underwhelming to cast a 2/2 in the same turn as a Grave Titan or some other big fatty. You do have a few more reanimation effects, though, so you might get more mileage out of him than I did.
What are your thoughts on Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh? I want to try her out in my build, but I haven't gotten my hands on one yet.
What are your thoughts on Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh? I want to try her out in my build, but I haven't gotten my hands on one yet.
Eh, not great. All of the guys from Origins take a considerable amount of work to flip, and their PW abilities aren't really worth the extra effort. Plus, I almost never buy cards at Standard-format prices. I think I'd probably try other Chandras before that one.
Back with some notes on some recent games:
- First of all, I should mention that my meta is very Simic-based. That is, nearly all of my opponents are playing heavy green ramp and blue card draw. I saw more copies of Prophet of Kruphix and Consecrated Sphinx than I care to remember.
- Overall, things did not go well over the weekend. I played several games in a row with Rakdos (all with 3-5 people) and the overwhelming theme of the night was my inability to keep Rakdos on the table long enough to capitalize on his effect.
- Without Rakdos on the table, the rest of my hand turned into a pile of very slow, expensive sorceries. A great deal of the creatures in my deck assume that Rakdos will be able to help out with the casting cost, and since that didn't happen, I spent a lot of time not doing much of anything.
There were a few positives on the night:
- Even without its partner Sanguine Bond in the list, Exquisite Blood was able to combo quite well with a lot of other cards. Between enablers like Palace Siege and other people attacking each other, my life total stayed nice and high as long as this card was out there.
- Speaking of Palace Siege, it was a pretty nice way to enable Rakdos for free on subsequent future turns, without much risk of disruption.
- Overseer of the Damned also put in some work, netting me several extra bodies before a wrath happened.
Some other cards were not so good:
- Flameshadow Conjuring was a total win-more card, and I was not winning at any point in any game, so it never did anything.
- Avaricious Dragon and Bloodgift Demon were kinda slow. Being creatures also made it easier to kill them before they could net any benefit, unlike enchantments such as Palace Siege.
- Creature-based ways to enable Rakdos like Plague Spitter were easy to disrupt and therefore less reliable.
- Deathrender was also extremely clunky. In order for this to work, I needed to have a body in play, six mana to cast + equip Deathrender, and another reasonable body in my hand. All in all, it was just too much setup to become viable.
I'm probably going to give the current list another round of testing before I make any drastic changes, but right now I'm looking at more cards with immediate impact on the board (such as Phyrexian Gargantua instead of Bloodgift Demon), or just cheaper spells that don't force me to rely so much on having Rakdos in play (such as Shriekmaw instead of Magmatic Force).
Phyrexian Rager may be better than Phyrexian Gargantua, as you have a very high curve and rager sits quite low, as well as the new ob nixilis
also, if there are a lot of wraths, Soul of New Phyrexia might be a notable inclusion
Rager should probably get in there as well. The body on the Gargantua isn't all that impressive, so the body on the Rager shouldn't be an issue either.
I've tried out Soul of New Phyrexia in nearly every list I've ever built, and every time I end up cutting it because the activation cost is so high. This deck was no exception.
Been awhile since I've updated this list, and BFZ has brought some very nice Eldrazi toys for Rakdos to cheat into play.
Some more notes from my last round of play-testing:
- I was able to acquire several of the cheaper fatties that were missing from previous versions of this deck, most notably Platinum Emperion and Grenzo, Dungeon Warden.
- Speaking of Grenzo, he's been nothing short of amazing. The first time I cast him, X was equal to 23! And I still had enough mana untapped to activate him four times!
- Our new Eldrazi overlords have also been stellar. Conduit of Ruin is now the default target of Eye of Ugin. Still need to acquire new Ulamog.
- Exquisite Blood continues to exceed expectations. My life total almost hit triple digits in a 5-player game from that card. It got so much attention that another player chose to take it with Blatant Thievery.
- Another card that really shined in my testing was Sire of Insanity. My hand was naturally empty quite often, so bringing others down to my level was a big advantage for me.
- Another new addition from BFZ, Retreat to Hagra, was also excellent. Unlike similareffects, it's cheaper casting cost gives it excellent timing with Rakdos.
- Cards I still haven't been able to properly test out:
Overall, pretty happy with the direction that this deck is heading. Like most decks, it's easily disrupted if it gets too much heat, but it gets pretty out of control if it ever gets a head of steam. As always, comments and questions are very much appreciated.
- Stalking Vengeance and Urabrask the Hidden are two of many red fatties on my list of things to try out.
- Greaves will probably be more/less appealing if Rakdos gets a bigger target on his head.
- Is Sidisi really all that good? Normally, I don't have a lot of fodder to sacrifice, so it'd be more like a second copy of Demonic Tutor. Is that still good enough?
- Stalking Vengeance and Urabrask the Hidden are two of many red fatties on my list of things to try out.
- Greaves will probably be more/less appealing if Rakdos gets a bigger target on his head.
- Is Sidisi really all that good? Normally, I don't have a lot of fodder to sacrifice, so it'd be more like a second copy of Demonic Tutor. Is that still good enough?
If nothing else you can sacrifice Sidisi to herself.
She's good, especially since you have a few ways to reanimate her. The fodder is typically a non-issue as you want to aggressively vomit threats and take over the field. She's just another way to chain-summon things along with Rune-Scarred and Kozilek.
Another creature I forgot to mention is Knollspine Dragon, it's just bonkers in this deck.
She's good, especially since you have a few ways to reanimate her. The fodder is typically a non-issue as you want to aggressively vomit threats and take over the field. She's just another way to chain-summon things along with Rune-Scarred and Kozilek.
Another creature I forgot to mention is Knollspine Dragon, it's just bonkers in this deck.
Really...I cut Knollspine because I thought it was too clunky and expensive. The effect does seem like it could be worthwhile based on how much combat damage this deck can dish out.
Speaking of clunky, over-priced cards, are there any other fatties that should get cut from my list?
Another card that's been high on my list to try is Netherborn Phalanx. Has anyone else tried him out?
This is my newest EDH creation. It follows a very simply three-step process:
Step 1: Damage an opponent.
Step 2: Play Rakdos.
Step 3: Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until all your fatties have been played.
- You like dealing direct damage to the entire table and everything on it.
- You like throwing caution to the wind and casting whatever's in your hand.
- You like playing non-traditional EDH color combinations.
- You like playing non-creature spells.
- You like playing a more cautious, reactive game.
1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
Creatures (34):
1 Walking Ballista
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Conduit of Ruin
1 Duplicant
1 Meteor Golem
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Void Winnower
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
1 Thermo-Alchemist
1 Lobber Crew
1 Nettle Drone
1 Plague Spitter
1 Sin Prodder
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Ogre Battledriver
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Demonlord Belzenlok
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
1 Etali, Primal Storm
1 Grave Titan
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Inferno Titan
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Overseer of the Damned
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
1 Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
Artifacts (12):
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Charcoal Diamond
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Fire Diamond
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
1 Cryptolith Fragment
Enchantments (9):
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Lim-Dul's Hex
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Retreat to Hagra
1 Sarkhan's Unsealing
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Sunbird's Invocation
1 Warstorm Surge
Other spells (5):
1 Gamble
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Chain Reaction
1 Chandra's Ignition
Basics (10):
5 Swamp
5 Mountain
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Canyon Slough
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Flamekin Village
1 Graven Cairns
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Molten Slagheap
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Rocky Tar Pit
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Tainted Peak
1 Temple of Malice
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volrath's Stronghold
- However, the cost of abilities on creatures is NOT reduced, so things like Hellkite Charger are probably not going to make it, even if it is very enticing to attack multiple times with a horde of demons and dragons.
- Furthermore, since Rakdos essentially gives me tons of free mana to cast creature spells, my hand gets emptied out pretty fast. So, anything that draws extra cards (from my library, graveyard, or elsewhere) is even more crucial.
- Avatar of Woe: A fatty with its own means ability to reduce its casting cost, but I don't want to have to choose between attacking with it and leaving it back to kill something else.
- Balefire Dragon: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Deathbringer Thoctar: A fatty with some upside. This one will probably find a home in here at some point, just needs a chance to be tested.
- Hateflayer: Yet another fatty with some upside who's cost is greatly mitigated by Rakdos. Haven't tested it yet, but the untap requirement seems a little clunky to assemble.
- Kaervek the Merciless: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Molten Primordial: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Necropolis Regent: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Ob Nixilis, Unshackled: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Platinum Emperion: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Scion of Darkness: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Scourge of the Throne: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Skyline Despot: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Stalking Vengeance: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Steel Hellkite: See Deathbringer Thoctar.
- Worldgorger Dragon: Mostly just a combo piece, and not great outside of the degenerate combo application.
- Wurmcoil Engine: Not sure if this guy actually has enough upside to warrant a spot. He's kind of just a dumb beater, and while the lifelink is cool, it's not unique enough to put him ahead of so many other fatties.
- Outpost Siege: Both modes seem like fine choices for this deck.
- Vance's Blasting Cannons: See Outpost Siege.
- Disaster Radius: A sweeper that doesn't hit my own stuff, but requires me to hold onto a fatty.
- Bloodfire Colossus: A wrath effect on a creature, but it also hits all my own stuff, including Rakdos.
- Bogardan Hellkite: The flash part is not as good here unless my opponents can make Rakdos work for me.
- Bontu the Glorified: This deck doesn't want sac outlets.
- Combustible Gearhulk: See Mogis.
- Cyclops of Eternal Fury: A slightly-worse version of Dragonlord Kolaghan.
- Deathbringer Regent: See Bloodfire Colossus.
- Furnace Dragon: Most of my acceleration is in the form of artifacts, so this effect will probably have too much incidental damage to my own board.
- Hellkite Charger: While his casting cost might be lowered by Rakdos, his triggered cost is not, and this deck is pretty hungry for mana already.
- Indulgent Tormentor: See Mogis.
- Mogis, God of Slaughter: The opponent never makes a choice that strictly benefits me.
- Pestilence Demon: By the time I cast this, Rakdos should already be on the table, so his ability isn't necessary.
- Thrashing Wumpus: There are enough enablers that require no mana to activate that this type of effect doesn't cut it.
- Skullclamp: Ordinarily a format staple, I found early on that my guys were just too big to make much use of this, so I cut it.
- Palace Siege: Consistently enables Rakdos, enchantments are usually harder to remove, but it costs more than Rakdos does and comes down after turn 4.
- Pestilence, Pyrohemia: See Thrashing Wumpus.
- Sneak Attack: Part of the upside of casting all these large threats is forcing an opponent to answer them. Sneak Attack makes it so that they don't really have to do that.
- Subversion: See Palace Siege.
- Flame Rift: Rakdos makes cards like this into a super-Dark Ritual. However, damaging someone for the sake of playing Rakdos is not difficult.
- Price of Progress: See Flame Rift, only bigger.
- First draft of the list, more to come!
02/14/2018:
- Lots of updates, need to make a couple cuts for some new stuff.
08/06/2018:
- More updates, finally acquired some rotating Standard staples.
Lightning Bolt????????????????
You should probably also include Shock.
Blightsteel Colossus needs to be in here.
I know you said you wanted to play test Mogis, God of Slaughter, but trust me, he's pretty much essential to this deck.
Vedalken Orrery demands a spot if you're planning on playing multiplayer.
@Gut Shot, etc: There are plenty of other more sustainable means of damaging an opponent out there. Flame Rift wasn't even all that good in early testing, and it provides way more impact for the mana cost.
Blightsteel Colossus and his darker brother probably merit a spot on the "to be tested list".
@Vedalken Orrery: I've had a Yeva list for several years now, so I can appreciate the extreme value of the keyword "flash", but I don't know if I'll be able to find the room for an Orrery in here.
Triskelion as well
cool deck!
[EDH In Development] Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Queen Marchesa | Ruhan of the Fomori | Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[EDH Retired] Ertai, The Corrupted | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
[Modern] Stuffy Doll Combo Burn | Demigod of Revenge
Pilgrim's Eye is a great card to make sure you hit your 4th land drop as well as enabling that T4 Rakdos.
I recommend some more card draw. Disciple of Bolas is great, as is Wheel of Fortune and/or Reforge the Soul.
Some way to play creatures at instant speed is also a good idea. Quicksilver Amulet and Sneak Attack (if your budget allows it) are great at cheating in dudes, and Winding Canyons lets you cast them on an opponent's turn. If you can get a Sneak Attack, one thing to remember is that the sacrifice happens at the beginning of the end step, so putting a creature into play during the end step means it sticks around until the next one.
You should limit the amount of lands you run that produce only colorless mana and those that come into play tapped. Colorless lands do not cast Rakdos or help you pay the colored cost of creatures when Rakdos is in play, and having too many tap lands can prevent you from being able to cast Rakdos when you need him. Other B/R land options include Reflecting Pool, Mana Confluence and Shadowblood Ridge. A decent utility land to include is Shizo, Death's Storehouse, especially if you include some more legendary creatures like Sheoldred, Whispering One and Sidisi, Undead Vizier.
Shivan Gorge's effect is too expensive because you're using 4 mana (cost + tapping Gorge) to deal 3 damage in a 4-player pod, so you're better off just using that mana to cast a creature. I'd be fine with it if it generated R, but 1 doesn't cast Rakdos.
@Sneak Attack: I had it in my original list, but it seemed to rot in my hand a couple of times, and I eventually cut it because I usually had all the mana I needed to hard-cast all my creatures.
@Shivan Gorge: Haven't drawn it yet, but you're right about the cost being a little steep.
@Pilgrim's Eye: Good catch, can't believe I missed that one.
I'll have to take some time to read through your thread as well. Thanks for the advice!
Yeah, I get the random synergies with Mikaeus and Curio, but more often than not I just empty my hand the old-fashioned way.
You might try Grinning Ignus in addition to Priest of Urabrask, or the original Priest of Gix.
Every now and then I consider Priest of Gix, but my build needs red mana to combo off or get extra Sneak Attack activations.
If you find yourself being able to hard cast creatures without Rakdos's help, you definitely need more ways to give your dudes haste. Anger, Urabrask the Hidden, and Lightning Greaves are common, but I also like Ogre Battledriver for the pump.
- Deathbringer Regent
- Disciple of Bolas
- Furnace Dragon
- Necropolis Regent
- Ogre Battledriver
- Sire of Insanity
- Soul of Innistrad
- Flameshadow Conjuring
- Chandra's Ignition
...plus I still have to fit in Avaricious Dragon and the Pilgrim's Eye that I "forgot" to add.
Now, I'm normally pretty good at making cuts, but 11 cards is a little much, even for me. Any thoughts on what to remove here?
I'm not too keen on Furnace Dragon because it's just a 5/5 flyer after the ETB trigger, and you risk it exiling your own artifacts (especially your creatures). I also don't like Necropolis Regent because it wants to be played before combat which would leave you with less mana to play dudes off Rakdos's cost reduction.
I really like Sire of Insanity for disruption, and Avaricious Dragon is respectable for card draw. However, their discard effect instantly kills Psychosis Crawler and leaves you with nothing in-hand to use for Deathrender, so keep that in mind.
Cuts:
3 lands - you currently have 40, but 37 would be perfectly fine due to your mana rocks
Dimir House Guard - your best transmute target is Strands of Night, and that's not really a game winning play on its own
Godo, Bandit Warlord - you only have 3 targets, and they're only great when equipped to specific creatures
Solemn Simulacrum - I know it sounds crazy, but I've found his effects to not be THAT great in Rakdos. I like Pilgrim's Eye better because it can help get that 4th land for Rakdos.
Staff of Nin - draws cards and pings stuff, but it's extremely expensive for a noncreature spell in the deck
Sanguine Bond - it combos with Exquisite Blood, but you only have 4 other ways of gaining life and 2 ways to tutor for the other piece of the combo
Pyrohemia or Pestilence - drawing both is bad and having both on the field is useless. You only need 1 of these effects.
This all makes a lot of sense.
- I do rely on artifacts for fixing, so Furnace Dragon would probably get awkward.
- When you put it that way, Necropolis Regent really just makes other guys bigger. In this deck, they should already be enormous.
- I still haven't managed to cast Psychosis Crawler or Deathrender yet. I did cast Avaricious Dragon once last time, and the extra draw was worth it.
@the cuts:
- I made a few updates that did not get reflected on my list in the OP. Magmaw became Chandra, Pyromaster, Grinning Ignus became Pilgrim's Eye.
- Dimir House Guard: As I recall, the only time I drew him, he sat in my hand and didn't do much. Easy enough to cut.
- Godo, Bandit Warlord: The equipment package was kinda cute, but not really necessary when all these fatties are already, well, fat. Probably don't need any of the equipments, either.
- Solemn Simulacrum: I can't do it...he does everything a card needs to do in this deck, and half the time he's basically free to cast.
- Staff of Nin: You're right about the casting cost, which is a thing that gets easily overlooked for non-creature spells because of the ease at which I can reduce the cost of creature spells.
- Sanguine Bond: Another "cute" idea that probably isn't worth it without more ways to dig up the combo. Best reserved for an enchantment deck.
Updated the list with all the new changes. Thanks for all your help! I'll report back after some games tonight.
What are your thoughts on Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh? I want to try her out in my build, but I haven't gotten my hands on one yet.
Eh, not great. All of the guys from Origins take a considerable amount of work to flip, and their PW abilities aren't really worth the extra effort. Plus, I almost never buy cards at Standard-format prices. I think I'd probably try other Chandras before that one.
- First of all, I should mention that my meta is very Simic-based. That is, nearly all of my opponents are playing heavy green ramp and blue card draw. I saw more copies of Prophet of Kruphix and Consecrated Sphinx than I care to remember.
- Overall, things did not go well over the weekend. I played several games in a row with Rakdos (all with 3-5 people) and the overwhelming theme of the night was my inability to keep Rakdos on the table long enough to capitalize on his effect.
- Without Rakdos on the table, the rest of my hand turned into a pile of very slow, expensive sorceries. A great deal of the creatures in my deck assume that Rakdos will be able to help out with the casting cost, and since that didn't happen, I spent a lot of time not doing much of anything.
There were a few positives on the night:
- Even without its partner Sanguine Bond in the list, Exquisite Blood was able to combo quite well with a lot of other cards. Between enablers like Palace Siege and other people attacking each other, my life total stayed nice and high as long as this card was out there.
- Speaking of Palace Siege, it was a pretty nice way to enable Rakdos for free on subsequent future turns, without much risk of disruption.
- Overseer of the Damned also put in some work, netting me several extra bodies before a wrath happened.
Some other cards were not so good:
- Flameshadow Conjuring was a total win-more card, and I was not winning at any point in any game, so it never did anything.
- Avaricious Dragon and Bloodgift Demon were kinda slow. Being creatures also made it easier to kill them before they could net any benefit, unlike enchantments such as Palace Siege.
- Creature-based ways to enable Rakdos like Plague Spitter were easy to disrupt and therefore less reliable.
- Deathrender was also extremely clunky. In order for this to work, I needed to have a body in play, six mana to cast + equip Deathrender, and another reasonable body in my hand. All in all, it was just too much setup to become viable.
I'm probably going to give the current list another round of testing before I make any drastic changes, but right now I'm looking at more cards with immediate impact on the board (such as Phyrexian Gargantua instead of Bloodgift Demon), or just cheaper spells that don't force me to rely so much on having Rakdos in play (such as Shriekmaw instead of Magmatic Force).
also, if there are a lot of wraths, Soul of New Phyrexia might be a notable inclusion
[EDH In Development] Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Queen Marchesa | Ruhan of the Fomori | Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[EDH Retired] Ertai, The Corrupted | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
[Modern] Stuffy Doll Combo Burn | Demigod of Revenge
Rager should probably get in there as well. The body on the Gargantua isn't all that impressive, so the body on the Rager shouldn't be an issue either.
I've tried out Soul of New Phyrexia in nearly every list I've ever built, and every time I end up cutting it because the activation cost is so high. This deck was no exception.
Some more notes from my last round of play-testing:
- I was able to acquire several of the cheaper fatties that were missing from previous versions of this deck, most notably Platinum Emperion and Grenzo, Dungeon Warden.
- Speaking of Grenzo, he's been nothing short of amazing. The first time I cast him, X was equal to 23! And I still had enough mana untapped to activate him four times!
- Our new Eldrazi overlords have also been stellar. Conduit of Ruin is now the default target of Eye of Ugin. Still need to acquire new Ulamog.
- Exquisite Blood continues to exceed expectations. My life total almost hit triple digits in a 5-player game from that card. It got so much attention that another player chose to take it with Blatant Thievery.
- Another card that really shined in my testing was Sire of Insanity. My hand was naturally empty quite often, so bringing others down to my level was a big advantage for me.
- Another new addition from BFZ, Retreat to Hagra, was also excellent. Unlike similar effects, it's cheaper casting cost gives it excellent timing with Rakdos.
- Cards I still haven't been able to properly test out:
Avatar of Woe
Balefire Dragon
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Mogis, God of Slaughter
Netherborn Phalanx
Scourge of the Throne
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Tunneling Geopede
Whip of Erebos (will be the first new card added to the deck next time)
Wurmcoil Engine (has anyone else tried this guy in this format?)
Overall, pretty happy with the direction that this deck is heading. Like most decks, it's easily disrupted if it gets too much heat, but it gets pretty out of control if it ever gets a head of steam. As always, comments and questions are very much appreciated.
I like Urabrask the Hidden over Ogre Battledriver as it taps down newly made blockers.
Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots have been great for me, If I chose one it'd be the greaves though.
Stalking Vengeance has been awesome for me.
- Stalking Vengeance and Urabrask the Hidden are two of many red fatties on my list of things to try out.
- Greaves will probably be more/less appealing if Rakdos gets a bigger target on his head.
- Is Sidisi really all that good? Normally, I don't have a lot of fodder to sacrifice, so it'd be more like a second copy of Demonic Tutor. Is that still good enough?
If nothing else you can sacrifice Sidisi to herself.
Another creature I forgot to mention is Knollspine Dragon, it's just bonkers in this deck.
Really...I cut Knollspine because I thought it was too clunky and expensive. The effect does seem like it could be worthwhile based on how much combat damage this deck can dish out.
Speaking of clunky, over-priced cards, are there any other fatties that should get cut from my list?
Another card that's been high on my list to try is Netherborn Phalanx. Has anyone else tried him out?