We ran it for a while, but while it was okay, it was often missing the cut. The three drop spot just seems to have become the utility slot, especially for aggro decks that want aggressive drops on T1 and 2, and to bomb it out on T4. Turn three is just a great time to blow up that signet, drop an equip, remove a blocker, or blow up a land. Can you imagine a Rakdos aggro deck where you choose to run this guy over Fire Imp? Either Vandal? Bone Shredder? Chandra's Phoenix ? Pillage? Liliana of the Veil even?
I would run (and often play if given a choice of this card versus those listed) this card over those in an aggressive RB deck in a heartbeat. I'm a sucker for more power than casting cost and it's something that is way underrated by most cube designers in my humble opinion (I mean, I had Watchwolf in my cube up until Theros... Putting pressure on cannot be understated in it's importance for aggro. I love this card and Ashenmoor Gouger (I like the 4/3 Unleash guy as well, but he was the worst of the three I felt) and they are unlikely to ever leave my cube unless BR gets some truly nutty cards.
I run hybrid cards like Rakdos Cackler in a mono-color section in order to make some space for gold cards but if I was not, I think that the little devil would be number 1.
IMO I'd rank them Command, Cackler, Dreadbore, Aristocrat, Storm's Fury, Redcap, Grenzo, with the wild card of Blightning being anywhere from three down depending on your feelings on high variance cards. Terminate is a fine card but less important than Dreadbore and I don't think multiples of that effect should make tight gold sections.
After playing with Kolaghan's Command I agree with Zetsu_Sensei and would put it ahead of everything but Rakdos Cackler. Each mode has been relevant (even the Raise Dead which I fully underestimated). We played Grenzo for about half a year and as much as we liked him, we ultimately stuck with Falkenrath. She's a really fast clock thanks to flying and haste (only other creature we run with both is Thundermaw) and her resiliency makes her a dependable/consistent aggro finisher. I'd rank them like this:
I think Command, Cackler, and Dreadbore are easily the three 360 staples for Rakdos. A solid aggro guy and two really good utility spells. This is exactly what decks that normally play these colors want. The next three can be shifted around as you see fit. I'm currently running Grenzo and Redcap as numbers four and five, but I can see Grenzo getting the axe for Aristocrat.
I believe this is the right place to post this... I hope.
So I was looking for advice on how to make Rakdos Aggro stronger. In my cube Aggro does pretty well, but its centered in Naya (boros, gruul, and even selesnya aggro decks). When people try to make rakdos aggro decks they kind of just... suck. It actually has an ok winrate but its usually being completely carried by card advantage engines like BoB and Library, and just barely wins.
In my experience, just picking the good B and R aggro cards results in a very strong deck. Red brings burn and useful two drops to the table, and black brings CA, one drops, curve toppers and good-stuff. The best Rakdos cards like Cackler, Command, Grenzo and Dreadbore all fits nicely into aggro and Aristocrat is an amzing four drop if you go deeper. I posted at length about what black brings to aggro, among other things:
* Large number of very efficient one drops and three drops
* Discard, which is the easiest way for aggro to deal with tricky 'walkers and Wrath effects
* Efficiently costed effects at the cost of life, which are at their best in aggro where the drawback is often irrelevant
* Good curve toppers like Nether Void and Master of the Feast
Lots of generic 'goodstuff' for any deck type:
* Efficient and non-cardtype specific tutoring effects
* Discard to cover your deck's weakness, whatever that is
* The usual suspects with really high power, like Bitterblossom, Rec. Nightmare, the Tutors, Braids, Bob... Black has a lot of first pickable cards if you want P1P1's to draw you into it.
* Decent removal for large creatures and hexproof/shrouded ones
Primary reanimator colour:
* Entomb, Exhume, Reanimate etc., discard outlets, and this is a 'combo' deck that can just slot into a midrange or control shell
* Tutors to get the missing pieces
Making grindy/stax decks:
* Good token production effects and ways to abuse that via sacrifice outlets
* Recurring creatures like Bloodsoaked Champion, Gravecrawler etc.
* Tutors to get the missing pieces if you're going a combo route.
Overall black has some unique effects that no other colour gets, so it has a strong identity. It's my favourite colour to play overall and left to my own devices I will often end up with a B/W or B/R aggro deck, a B/R reanimator deck, or some kind of Junk or B/U control.
Black's discard is probably the single biggest attribute to aggro, since you can't get those effects anywhere else and let you preemptively deal with all sorts of problem permanents. Red complements it very well with most of its effects, in my experience.
Looking at your cube, black's great aggro cards are really short. There are a lot of one drops in black which are missing (you have only 3!) that are a sight better than ones you are running in other colours; that would be a place to start. You're also lacking discard effects like Inquisition of Kozilek. Your black curve is kind of high too so it may be coming up short on aggro playables.
What are your best Rakdos cards for a cube that would be 100% modern-legal (so no supplemental products), but also without the banlist? I'm resetting my cube into a guild-oriented one and beginning with our hedonist friends, as I just said that's based on the Modern pool but without banlist restriction. It's been a while since I did the exercise so any help is appreciated! I'm going for a 540.
As we get better one drops in black and red, do we reach a point where Rakdos Cackler no longer makes sense, despite being objectively stronger than other Rakdos cards? If so, what is that point.
I'm already running eight two power one drops in both black and red at 450 and am considering cutting him for a more interesting card.
I don't see the point of cutting it. There aren't many 1 drops in mono red or black that are actually better in a dedicated aggro deck, so Cackler is going to make your deck basically every time as long as you are aggro and in either of those colors. The flexibility is worth a fair amount.
I don't think so. Cackler is still better than several of the 1-drop options in both black and red. Not only that but he provides a solid 1-drop option to twice as many decks because of his hybrid mana cost.
Critical mass has already been reached. But I'd rather keep Cackler around and cut a gold card than keep another good black or red card out of my cube. I'd cut my worst red 1-drop or my worst black 1-drop and add in an extra mono-colored card instead.
Moving Cackler to red or to a rainbow section IMO is fine if you want to free up space in the guild section. Hell, run one extra Rakdos card. Whatever. Just don't cut it.
It's arguably the best aggro support card available because it's hybrid and therefore is playable in twice as many decks as virtually every other 2 power 1 drop. That assumes black aggro exists in your cube of course. If it doesn't or you are purging hybrid cards for some reason, then by all means cut it if you have to. Otherwise, I highly suggest a different course of action.
Grenzo isn't legal for the list that he asked for, and the "utility" 4cc creature section has filled out for black since then. Kalitas has filled the black "4cc body that fends off early pressure creatures" role that Redcap might've done.
Does anyone else rate Fire Covenant as one of the top Rakdos cards? I rarely see it discussed, yet it is unique, powerful, and has the ability to provide a huge amount of tempo and card advantage in a colour pair that can struggle to find even one on a card.
In the least I find it a much more interesting card than Dreadbore.
Fire Covenant is powerful, but black and red are already saturated with good creature removal spells, including multiple dividable damage cards. So it doesn't provide enough utility that might be worth splashing for. Whereas a direct bullet for planeswalkers (especially the bigger and higher-loyalty planeswalkers) is something that both colors really want to have access to.
I still like Terminate over Fire Covenant since I already have a lot of dividable burn in mono red with Arc Trail / Arc Lightning / Flames of the Firebrand.
I am looking to replace Redcap and Olivia, neither of them have done much in a long time. Hoping to replace one with Kolaghan's Command but I don't know what to replace the other with.
Grenzo has been good for us, I personally haven't ran him much but that's because my drafters pick it highly. He gets good reviews from players because he can fill any gap in your curve with on curve P/T, if you untap he can start generating a bunch of value and he loves to hold equipment (temporary at least).
I would run (and often play if given a choice of this card versus those listed) this card over those in an aggressive RB deck in a heartbeat. I'm a sucker for more power than casting cost and it's something that is way underrated by most cube designers in my humble opinion (I mean, I had Watchwolf in my cube up until Theros... Putting pressure on cannot be understated in it's importance for aggro. I love this card and Ashenmoor Gouger (I like the 4/3 Unleash guy as well, but he was the worst of the three I felt) and they are unlikely to ever leave my cube unless BR gets some truly nutty cards.
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1. Kolaghan's Command
2. Dreadbore
3. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
4. Falkenrath Aristocrat
I run hybrid cards like Rakdos Cackler in a mono-color section in order to make some space for gold cards but if I was not, I think that the little devil would be number 1.
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1. Rakdos Cackler
2. Kolaghan's Command
3/4. Dreadbore/Falkenrath Aristocrat (it just depends on which your cube needs more)
5. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
02 Kolaghan's Command
03 Dreadbore
04 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
05 Murderous Redcap
06 Falkenrath Aristocrat
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So I was looking for advice on how to make Rakdos Aggro stronger. In my cube Aggro does pretty well, but its centered in Naya (boros, gruul, and even selesnya aggro decks). When people try to make rakdos aggro decks they kind of just... suck. It actually has an ok winrate but its usually being completely carried by card advantage engines like BoB and Library, and just barely wins.
thats my cube
Black's discard is probably the single biggest attribute to aggro, since you can't get those effects anywhere else and let you preemptively deal with all sorts of problem permanents. Red complements it very well with most of its effects, in my experience.
Looking at your cube, black's great aggro cards are really short. There are a lot of one drops in black which are missing (you have only 3!) that are a sight better than ones you are running in other colours; that would be a place to start. You're also lacking discard effects like Inquisition of Kozilek. Your black curve is kind of high too so it may be coming up short on aggro playables.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
02 Kolaghan's Command
03 Dreadbore
04 Olivia, Mobilized for War
05 Falkenrath Aristocrat
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I'm already running eight two power one drops in both black and red at 450 and am considering cutting him for a more interesting card.
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It's arguably the best aggro support card available because it's hybrid and therefore is playable in twice as many decks as virtually every other 2 power 1 drop. That assumes black aggro exists in your cube of course. If it doesn't or you are purging hybrid cards for some reason, then by all means cut it if you have to. Otherwise, I highly suggest a different course of action.
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In your post from last may I see you have both Grenzo and Redcap above Aristocrats. What's changed your opinion about them?
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In the least I find it a much more interesting card than Dreadbore.
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Murderous Redcap
Olivia Voldaren
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
I am looking to replace Redcap and Olivia, neither of them have done much in a long time. Hoping to replace one with Kolaghan's Command but I don't know what to replace the other with.
Grenzo has been good for us, I personally haven't ran him much but that's because my drafters pick it highly. He gets good reviews from players because he can fill any gap in your curve with on curve P/T, if you untap he can start generating a bunch of value and he loves to hold equipment (temporary at least).