MTG Salvation

So as everyone knows the only Rakdos commander is Rakdos the Defiler, sadly he forces you to sac permanents.

The solution is easy first Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Blanket of Night to make all you lands swamps, then Kormus Bell makes all lands creatures. When paired with Conspiracy you don't sac lands or creatures. Now the easy part is over, but you have to protect the artifact and enchantment.

This relies on mana Xenic Poltergeist and Liquimetal Coating. Liquimetal Coating lets you turn the enchantments into artifacts and Xenic Poltergeist taps to turn one artifact into a creature. To speed it along and untapped you can go Umbral Mantle and Illusionist's Bracers.

At this point thought it's getting excessive and I would probably need to Cloudstone Curio, Priest of Gix, Priest of Urabrask and Panharmonicon to go infinite then Diabolic Revelation to get all the cards and at that point I might as well as hit with a crazy Fireball.

Any ideas on how to stream line the Xenic Poltergeist or a better solution. Thanks in advance!

It occurred to me I forgot to mention that the Umbral Mantle and Illusionist's Bracers drop as a stat-based action when you turn them into creatures so Xenic Poltergeist will have to tap to save then so Umbral Mantle needs to fall of last.

I usually just drop him with Kaalia of the Vast :).

Fair enough, however, in Kaalia of the Vast I like to run Master of Cruelties, or Conspiracy and Ebonblade Reaper or Raving Dead with Wound Reflection. But, it might be fun to fun Rakdos the Defiler with Flameshadow Conjuring.

and Break Through the Line to make them unblockable for one red in the declare attackers stage.

Lifeline lets you keep things after they go, but it also benefits your opponents as well :(. But this is generally a good card to keep the game interesting until you get your tutors.

I do love Rakdos the Defiler, but from years and multiple builds playing him, believe me that it is a waste of effort to try and mitigate his drawback. If you want to make his combat trigger any part of your gameplan, then you need to build a somewhat control(ish) style deck that is designed to manipulate the board and opponent(s) hands until it is safe to cast + attack with Rocky.

The biggest issue with running this Rakdos is that he can just be removed after his declare trigger, before he connects in combat. In multi-player this will basically remove you from the game.

The most important cards you will need are;

1.) swiftfoot boots, lightning greaves and champion's helm to protect him.
2.) thoughtseize/duress/mind twist effects to remove removal before you attack
2.5 possibly taxes like defense grid
3.) imp's mischief & ricochet trap sort of effects, so you can redirect targeted removal.

Past that there are a few very good key cards you can add like psychotic fury and temur battle rage to help make his connection trigger double. Other cards like rage reflection may work for a more casual meta, but higher cmc situational cards can sometimes just be giving your opponents a free time walk since you are in colors that don't ramp easily.


If you absolutely feel compelled to try and mitigate his drawback, then one route I did try a few years ago was using something like goblin offensive and firecat blitz in a more token based deck, using Purphoros, God of the Forge and various burn effects for a win-con. Insurrection is another fun way to give you sac fodder to use with Rakdos.

No mater what although, if you are building this for multi-player, then you need to build the deck to do something other than just attack with rakdos the defiler, otherwise you are just removing yourself and one opponent out of the game and king-making.

As a point of reference, I do run rakdos the defiler still, but currently as a 1v1 storm commander (decklist). He's fun because the deck sometimes sees a ridiculous amount of fast-mana-rituals and can resolve Rakdos on turn-2. That tends to end a game in 1v1 if he survives