So the concept of the deck is to punish people for common value generation. This deck can technically be piloted with three different commanders (Kaervek the Merciless, Vial Smasher the Fierce, Mogis, God of Slaughter).
Someone in my meta used to run Kaervek and it was a monster of a deck. His CMC means he's probably dodging the first wave of removal and board wipe. Your deck looks great! I was always a fan of red's pestilence, Pyrohemia and got good mileage from Vicious Shadows. Life gain runs rampant in our group so Erebos, God of the Dead and Sulfuric Vortex are all stars. Also, I cannot hide my love for X spells. Since your life total is likely to be higher than most, maybe Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake, and Fault Line can double as board wipes and game enders.
Someone in my meta used to run Kaervek and it was a monster of a deck. His CMC means he's probably dodging the first wave of removal and board wipe. Your deck looks great! I was always a fan of red's pestilence, Pyrohemia and got good mileage from Vicious Shadows. Life gain runs rampant in our group so Erebos, God of the Dead and Sulfuric Vortex are all stars. Also, I cannot hide my love for X spells. Since your life total is likely to be higher than most, maybe Earthquake, Rolling Earthquake, and Fault Line can double as board wipes and game enders.
First, I want to thank you, this is great feedback.
I intentionally did not add Pyrohemia due to it's heavy red mana cost to use. I also thought of Vicious Shadows shortly after I posted this deck. I think I am solid for win conditions but that card is very high on my list to include should I need it.
We don't have rampant life gain tactics in my group, but I did consider these cards (Erebos and Sulfuric). I decided to exclude the because they might push people past just paying the toll, and focusing me to death. I also run some life gain, and theft would be an issue due to their statuses as Enchantments (Red/Black does not deal with those easy).
Lastly, I feel that the amount of X spells I have in deck are already approaching high levels (I count the pestilence effects as X spells as well). It would be hard to justify these additions and would require value cards get cut.
I will inform you that when I find clunky cards through play testing, I will be referring to your post for any possible changes. Thanks for the great feedback!
I assume you aren't running Heartless Hidetsugu because he needs to tap for the ability, right?
What are the pros for having Kaervek as the commander instead of the other legendaries?
Indeed, if he was ETB I would totally run him. The issue is, he requires you to tap and he has such a huge effect, that it makes people lock on until you are dead. Even if you get to use his ability, it doesn't make you win, and now everyone is pissed off at you for doing tons of damage. The good news, is that there is a spoil for the next set that reduces everyone's life by 1/3. I will be adding it to this list after it is confirmed, and I have play tested the deck as is.
Kaervek the Merciless has several pros compared to the other legendaries I mentioned. He sets up well after wraths, he doesn't interfere with the early game (The deck is fairly mid game oriented), and he is much more condemning if he is allowed to stay. Vial Smasher the Fierce/Mogis, God of Slaughter might have higher potential for damage over time but Mogis doesn't do much against token decks, and Vial Smasher is random. Vial Smasher would likely make the deck more aggressive (I would also change add Sword of the Animist and remove Thran Dynamo) but requires you to be much more proactive (constantly playing cards to fully utilize his effect). Mogis, God of Slaughter is more a cast and forget commander and slowly tax everyone. In this way, Mogis is more similar to Kaervek because you don't need to use resources to get value but Mogis is much more situational.
Which one you use is likely based off your play-group/playstyle. If you need to be faster, I would consider Mogis, just because the deck is more situated around control and wearing people down. Vial Smasher would likely work as the commander, but I feel that you would likely want to make the deck much more proactive than this version is.
As for why I chose him, I have three other decks (displayed in my signature). They all basically take the commander, and jam them into people till they die. While, I love this type of play. People have been putting in more removal, combat ignoring, and defenses. I also love the heck out of Rakdos and decided this is a way I can murder people, without worrying about combat but still get that 'murder' feeling. In short, Kaervek lets me play less proactively, gets me out of what I am constantly doing, and lets me get to share the Rakdos love.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Guys!
So I got some play testing with this! I might want a few more board clears as I was finding a lot of times where I wanted to play my hate cards into an empty board state. Having said that, I think moving towards Vial Smasher might be a much better choice for commander than Kaervek. Kaervek has the issue where he is a good bomb shell when you need it, but I found that Vial Smasher does a ton of damage. Most of the time people don't go insane about him either. As such, the deck just needs two changes to transition to a Vial Smasher deck. Sword of the Animist needs to go in, Kaervek needs to come out completely, and Thran Dynamo seems less important now that Kaervek isn't in the list.
I am going to try this list with Mogis now instead of Vial Smasher. Vial Smasher is cool and all, but I keep having issues where I want to clear the field but am unable. Seeing as I run a lot of clear, so I think Mogis will end up either chewing on a lot of life or eating a bunch of potentially decent creatures. Mogis will also live through the wraths and pestilences.
1x Mogis, God of Slaughter
Creature (19)
1x Will-o'-the-Wisp
1x Harsh Mentor
1x Crypt Rats
1x Imperial Recruiter
1x Scab-Clan Berserker
1x Vampire Nighthawk
1x Zo-Zu the Punisher
1x Crypt Ghast
1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Dire Fleet Ravager
1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1x Thrashing Wumpus
1x Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Myojin of Night's Reach
Artifact (9)
1x Expedition Map
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Relic of Progenitus
1x Sol Ring
1x Mind Stone
1x Worn Powerstone
1x Oblivion Stone
1x Whip of Erebos
1x Batterskull
1x Bitterblossom
1x Necromancy
1x Necropotence
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Spellshock
1x Manabarbs
1x Pestilence
1x Painful Quandary
1x Polluted Bonds
1x Havoc Festival
1x Price of Knowledge
Instant (9)
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Abrade
1x Starstorm
1x Terminate
1x Chaos Warp
1x Crypt Incursion
1x Kolaghan's Command
1x Silence the Believers
1x Wretched Confluence
Sorcery (12)
1x Vandalblast
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Exsanguinate
1x Night's Whisper
1x Sign in Blood
1x Torment of Hailfire
1x Beseech the Queen
1x Read the Bones
1x Damnation
1x Disrupt Decorum
1x Fiery Confluence
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Land (38)
1x Arid Mesa
1x Badlands
1x Blood Crypt
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Cabal Coffers
1x Canyon Slough
1x Command Tower
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Graven Cairns
1x Marsh Flats
1x Myriad Landscape
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
1x Smoldering Marsh
1x Strip Mine
1x Tainted Peak
1x Temple of the False God
1x Thespian's Stage
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wasteland
1x Wooded Foothills
12x Swamp
2x Mountain
So the concept of the deck is to punish people for common value generation. This deck can technically be piloted with three different commanders (Kaervek the Merciless, Vial Smasher the Fierce, Mogis, God of Slaughter).
Kaervek the Merciless -> Sword of the Animist
Thran Dynamo -> Blasphemous Act
Rakdos's Return -> Harsh Mentor
Vial Smasher the Fierce -> Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Sword of the Animist -> Dire Fleet Ravager
Any feedback is welcome!
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
First, I want to thank you, this is great feedback.
I intentionally did not add Pyrohemia due to it's heavy red mana cost to use. I also thought of Vicious Shadows shortly after I posted this deck. I think I am solid for win conditions but that card is very high on my list to include should I need it.
We don't have rampant life gain tactics in my group, but I did consider these cards (Erebos and Sulfuric). I decided to exclude the because they might push people past just paying the toll, and focusing me to death. I also run some life gain, and theft would be an issue due to their statuses as Enchantments (Red/Black does not deal with those easy).
Lastly, I feel that the amount of X spells I have in deck are already approaching high levels (I count the pestilence effects as X spells as well). It would be hard to justify these additions and would require value cards get cut.
I will inform you that when I find clunky cards through play testing, I will be referring to your post for any possible changes. Thanks for the great feedback!
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
What are the pros for having Kaervek as the commander instead of the other legendaries?
Indeed, if he was ETB I would totally run him. The issue is, he requires you to tap and he has such a huge effect, that it makes people lock on until you are dead. Even if you get to use his ability, it doesn't make you win, and now everyone is pissed off at you for doing tons of damage. The good news, is that there is a spoil for the next set that reduces everyone's life by 1/3. I will be adding it to this list after it is confirmed, and I have play tested the deck as is.
Kaervek the Merciless has several pros compared to the other legendaries I mentioned. He sets up well after wraths, he doesn't interfere with the early game (The deck is fairly mid game oriented), and he is much more condemning if he is allowed to stay. Vial Smasher the Fierce/Mogis, God of Slaughter might have higher potential for damage over time but Mogis doesn't do much against token decks, and Vial Smasher is random. Vial Smasher would likely make the deck more aggressive (I would also change add Sword of the Animist and remove Thran Dynamo) but requires you to be much more proactive (constantly playing cards to fully utilize his effect). Mogis, God of Slaughter is more a cast and forget commander and slowly tax everyone. In this way, Mogis is more similar to Kaervek because you don't need to use resources to get value but Mogis is much more situational.
Which one you use is likely based off your play-group/playstyle. If you need to be faster, I would consider Mogis, just because the deck is more situated around control and wearing people down. Vial Smasher would likely work as the commander, but I feel that you would likely want to make the deck much more proactive than this version is.
As for why I chose him, I have three other decks (displayed in my signature). They all basically take the commander, and jam them into people till they die. While, I love this type of play. People have been putting in more removal, combat ignoring, and defenses. I also love the heck out of Rakdos and decided this is a way I can murder people, without worrying about combat but still get that 'murder' feeling. In short, Kaervek lets me play less proactively, gets me out of what I am constantly doing, and lets me get to share the Rakdos love.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Guys!
So I got some play testing with this! I might want a few more board clears as I was finding a lot of times where I wanted to play my hate cards into an empty board state. Having said that, I think moving towards Vial Smasher might be a much better choice for commander than Kaervek. Kaervek has the issue where he is a good bomb shell when you need it, but I found that Vial Smasher does a ton of damage. Most of the time people don't go insane about him either. As such, the deck just needs two changes to transition to a Vial Smasher deck. Sword of the Animist needs to go in, Kaervek needs to come out completely, and Thran Dynamo seems less important now that Kaervek isn't in the list.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another update guys!
I am going to try this list with Mogis now instead of Vial Smasher. Vial Smasher is cool and all, but I keep having issues where I want to clear the field but am unable. Seeing as I run a lot of clear, so I think Mogis will end up either chewing on a lot of life or eating a bunch of potentially decent creatures. Mogis will also live through the wraths and pestilences.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW