Hot DAMN that's a hot Razzy chain. And I thought I was using him well
Don't be discouraged with the primer process being a bit bumpy. For what it's worth, my Patron primer got rejected the first time around, and then I mirrored its style for my Daxos write-up, thinking that if it was good enough to net me primer status once it'd do so again, and instead I ended up being rejected twice just listen to their feedback, tweak some stuff, resubmit, and eventually it'll make it.
When I have a bit more downtime, perhaps I'll give another crack at it. It was discouraging about the feedback, but also the last few comments have been interesting suggestions I'd like to test out and I haven't found my suite of expensive discard effects, so I don't want to buy them; I'm waiting to find them. A variety of my cardboard is in storage, so I have no idea where's what. But thank you for the encouragement.
One of the comments that has really stuck out in my head was when I complained about a deck's lack of reliability, a buddy said 'add more draw'. That's why I decided I rather have the Oracle's hand refill than the Ravager's life loss. It's evasion is also nice and with the addition of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, I'm looking for more effects that I would be happy to random cheat an ETB.
Don't worry mate. I've been following your thread here and there, and your deck and your thread has come a long way. I believe that primer status is right around the corner for you, even if it seems like you still need to correct a few things - and besides, if it makes your thread be better and get better feedback, who cares? You still come out ahead. Don't let it get to you
Several recommendations:
Is it enough for Herald of Anguish to make your opponents discard at your end step? After all that's the most you'll get out of him, and now that you're getting rid of the discard theme it loses significance. I feel like if you're already spending all the time and resources to reduce the cost of stuff - you might as well get bang for your buck.
For example, Steel Hellkite is definitely not amazing, but it's removal for anything in colors that lack ways to deal with enchantments, and also very good against token swarms - which can easily become a weak spot for you. Pox is an old card, yet seems possibly very strong in your deck. It's an enabler for Rakdos to enter the battlefield, chunks your opponents for a ton of life, and forces them to get rid of a bunch of cards on the field and in their hand. It's like the Dire Fleet Ravager you just tested, but is always cheap and gets rid of much more cards for your opponents. Keep in mind your round up each time, so everyone has to get rid of something.
I have an Ur-Dragon deck in my meta, and it's reminded me how useful Bogardan Hellkite is. I think it would be awesome in your deck.
Bump. Saw Underworld Cerberus and thought of this deck.
Are you still playing this deck? It would be a shame if you took it apart.
Haven't dissembled the deck but I don't play it too often. I find that it is a pubstomp deck - something that crushes casual decks but folds to anything remotely serious. It is hard to find a fair game in that so I don't tend to play Rakdos too often. I don't dissemble decks too often. I'm currently building a Horde deck based off of the Face the Hydra Theros Event deck, so Rakdos and Jarad got cut from my storage when I go to my store.
I thought of Underworld Cerberus when I first saw it but I don't think it is that good.
Currently, I am thinking of two possible upgrades in Rivals:
Twilight Prophet - Draw, pain, flying and comes down early. The question is if I realistically would earn the City's Blessing.
Etali, Primal Storm - Efficient body that lets me play more of my mean stuff, sometimes I'll hit jackpot off of my opponents too.
Don't worry mate. I've been following your thread here and there, and your deck and your thread has come a long way. I believe that primer status is right around the corner for you, even if it seems like you still need to correct a few things - and besides, if it makes your thread be better and get better feedback, who cares? You still come out ahead. Don't let it get to you
Several recommendations:
Is it enough for Herald of Anguish to make your opponents discard at your end step? After all that's the most you'll get out of him, and now that you're getting rid of the discard theme it loses significance. I feel like if you're already spending all the time and resources to reduce the cost of stuff - you might as well get bang for your buck.
For example, Steel Hellkite is definitely not amazing, but it's removal for anything in colors that lack ways to deal with enchantments, and also very good against token swarms - which can easily become a weak spot for you. Pox is an old card, yet seems possibly very strong in your deck. It's an enabler for Rakdos to enter the battlefield, chunks your opponents for a ton of life, and forces them to get rid of a bunch of cards on the field and in their hand. It's like the Dire Fleet Ravager you just tested, but is always cheap and gets rid of much more cards for your opponents. Keep in mind your round up each time, so everyone has to get rid of something.
I have an Ur-Dragon deck in my meta, and it's reminded me how useful Bogardan Hellkite is. I think it would be awesome in your deck.
I haven't given up on the idea of Discard, it's just that the Discard Enchantments that have been suggested are expensive. I already have copies of them, so I'm not going to buy new copies. I just need to dig them out of storage.
You're right about Herald of Anguish, it is a little slow. Though I do feel like Steel Hellkite is also slow, but it would be an answer for all of those pesky Enchantments that can make things difficult for me.
Pox is a fantastic suggestion, fits everything I want to do. Now I'll have to look for an appropriate cut.
I won't use Bogardan Hellkite because I don't want to rely on my opponents for when I can cast things, I'll just use my own abilities.
Twilight Prophet seems very unreliable IMO, not just in your deck but in general. Yes, you can find several decks that will easily ascend, but most other decks will have a hard time getting this state to happen, even in EDH. It reminds me of the Delirium mechanic.
I think I would take out Ulamog's Crusher for the Hellkite. The difference is 2 less for a 6/6 instead of an 8/8, but with evasion and firebreathing. The Annihilator, which triggers when attacking but lets the player choose what to sac, is replaced with a post-combat-damage effect, with a possibly different number of targets - and you choosing what to kill, even if you do pay mana for it. Also, not being forced to attack each turn might be nice.
I think I'd remove the Herald of Anguish for Underworld Cerberus anyway. It's bigger, its evasion is actually still respectable, it has a much more taxing effect that's static and doesn't have to wait for your EOT. When it dies, it gives everyone all their creatures back - that could be either good or bad, but I think it's definitely better than the Herald.
Speaking of slow cards, what's Graveborn Muse doing for you? Seems woefully underwhelming in my opinion, and a perfect candidate for slotting in Pox. Instead of trying to catch up with grindy blue decks, just take away everything they've got!
I went into storage and found my suite of discard Enchantments. I'm going to change the deck up, so that it is slower but far more controlling. The last few suggestions of discard and graveyard recursion has been helpful.
I realized part of the reason I haven't updated Rakdos was that it was huge pain in the ass to edit. I cut out all of the Primer bits and put it at the bottom, so now I'm more inclined to play, test and revise Rakdos.
Once pointed out, Herald became obvious as too slow.
When I was on the opposing side of the Ferocidons, I discovered that they effectively have evasion which enables Rakdos. If someone blocks, then the Enrage trigger enables my Stax strategy.
By playing more often, I'll be able to pinpoint more weak spots and make changes.
I'm not interested in making my guys smaller, though it does a lot of backup but part of the appeal of the deck for me is when I just explode with power out of the gate. I'm not interested in Angrath, not a Creature I can cheat out nor does he come down prior to Rakdos to set him up. Lili doesn't do damage early and I don't use Rise from the Grave either.
I decided to add more 'sustain' to the deck with the following changes:
Instead of one shot kill, I've added Overseer that can keep generating Creatures and Demon of Wailing Agonies who sets up for a T6 Rakdos comeback. Wailing also hits their board and Overseer lets me have a Zombie swarm after a Wrath, which means I can probably hit an open player to replay Rakdos.
I ran the hypergeometic on a discard suite and it doesn't look good with the deck's necessity to hit RRBB on Turn 4, have a pain source come down on T2/3 and start using Discard Enchantments which I would need to hard cast. Instead, I'll focus entirely on blowing up the board, hence the repeated kill above and Scythe Specter getting the axe. Etali, which would let me play the silly stuff from deck and my opponents too, adds to the deck's threat and gives me sustain.
Outpost Siege is a decent followup when I don't have much to do to keep me getting gas if the game drags out. I've lost the last few games with Rakdos because of being outraced in a slugging match when we both went into topdeck mode. Siege should help me out there.
Faithless Looting was consistently a card I did not like seeing unless it was Turn 1. Sure, it helps me dig for what I need but I rather get something consistently good. I just cut Aggravated Assault from my Akiri, Line Slinger/Kraum, Ludevic's Opus deck and I figure I should try it out in Rakdos. Sometimes I have spare mana, nothing to cast and a board; getting another swing would be awesome, especially since I have so many Annihilators. With Neheb, the Eternal I even have an Infinite.
Kiki-Jiki was difficult to cast with the Black bias the deck has. I also found that he died a lot from random -2/-2s or damage, so I replaced him with something bulkier in the form of Chainer. I can pay some mana and life to get any Creature back into play. Considering the entire deck is trying to cheat Creatures, this seems like a good option.
Shermanido87's suggest of Pox fits what this deck wants to do: blow up lands and get Creatures off of the board to help kill. The 1/3rding of life is good in theory, I'll have to see how it goes in practice. Discard on top of that is just the cherry on the whip cream.
Erebos draws cards, but more importantly he stops my opponents from gaining life, I don't want them to get out of range for when I attack. Erebos being Indestructible on top of this, plus relatively easy to turn on Devotion, he'll make a good beater. Read the Bones gets cut as I'm replacing it with on demand draw.
I think you could try swapping Demon of Wailing Agonies for Steel Hellkite. Hellkite might cost 1 more but it's easier colorwise, bigger, and not reliant on you having Rakdos in play - plus you choose what you want to kill.
EDIT: Also, I feel like thinking in the direction of Manabarbs or Ankh of Mishra could be interesting. When you're behind you don't play a lot of stuff, so you take less damage. When you're ahead you tap less lands for more stuff. If there are any battlecruisers in your meta they might really hurt from this card, however if they're more reliant on artifacts it might not work out. But then you could just play Vandalblast.
Garna, the Bloodflame
3BR
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
3/3
Flash
When Garna, the Bloodflame enters the battlefield, return to your hand all creature cards in your graveyard that were put there from anywhere this turn.
Other creatures you control have haste.
I feel like this could be a really interesting card here. Your opponents will never expect BR to have a flasher when they wrath you, especially not one that does this.
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
6BB
Legendary Creature — Avatar
7/6
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This spell costs 2 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.
When Torgaar, Famine Incarnate enters the battlefield, up to one target player's life total becomes half their starting life total, rounded down.
Can easily be used to heal you, and may not be useless in a pinch since you can sac creatures instead of paying mana.
Nelzenlock is beefier and more in-theme, even if he isn't as free as Oracle is. But he also draws a lot more than Oracle. A quarter of the deck is under 4 CMC, so this shouldn't kill me...
I wouldn't replace Oracle, since it's still a good draw spell and also potentially free. However, it's also important to keep in mind that Demonlord Belzenlok will never help you find land drops.
Reflecting Pool takes the terrible Lantern-Lit Graveyard's spot. It's quite the day. I started this deck many years ago when I didn't have access to as many Magic cards, so I had to get creative.
Archfiend makes my job half as hard and goes in due to having two Black Pips. Demon of Dark Schemes' triple pips were too much for what he did; as he is competing with Myojin of Night's Reach and Razaketh, the Foulblooded. I liked the Infest but the mana cost was too demanding.
Neheb has been lacklustre over the last few times he's popped up. So when I added War's Toll after its price dropped in Battlebond, I cut colour for colour. Currently, I can't really see a Noncreature that suits War's Toll more.
I feel like Tectonic Instability is basically the same as War's Toll, just not as good. Curious at the thought of removing Neheb.
I added it in for redundancy. I feel like I don't consistently land a Stax piece to slow my opponents.
I cut Neheb because while he does make Red Mana, that doesn't actually let me cast more Creatures unless they're Red. I either have something Black, which doesn't need Red mana to be cast due to its price being reduced. Or its colorless, and the majority of the time, Neheb's Red mana also just sits unused. I like him, but he doesn't really do much for me. If I was more Red focused, or did go with that Enchantment/Raise Dead build I mused over previously, he would probably be in a better spot. As for now, it's not the case.
What is the purpose of mana rocks? Colour correction and mana acceleration; you want Ramp so you can make more powerful plays earlier. Rakdos is two colours, so I'm not aiming for correcting my mana. Rakdos brings his own mana acceleration in the form of pain mana, the only catch is making sure he hits the yard. It's not like I got Turn 2 Rock, Turn 3 Rakdos. No, I spend Turn two and three playing Stax or Pain Enablers, Rakdos always comes down on Turn 4. These Rocks, aside from Cryptolith Fragment, don't actually Ramp Rakdos. With that in mind, I've decided to cut the two Rocks, I started with the Signet because it is inferior to Talisman of Indulgence. I decided to add Plague Spitter over any other option because it wrecks dorks, hits all of my opponents and can Block if need be.
For the second Rock, I don't think I need to add in another Pain Enabler. I'm currently eyeing Sunbird's Invocation, with the high CMC most of my team is at, that thing will be absurd.
In a way, it's a little funny how you're eyeing Sunbird's Invocation for inclusion, given the fact that you've got no way to cheat the mana cost and have started targeting what snippets of ramp have been lurking around the deck. Playtest the hell out of it, I guess, and see how it fares.
was also kinda surprised that Zo-zu the punisher and ankh of Mishra weren't in but upon further consideration they are more reactive than proactive like the stax deck your trying to build.
In a way, it's a little funny how you're eyeing Sunbird's Invocation for inclusion, given the fact that you've got no way to cheat the mana cost and have started targeting what snippets of ramp have been lurking around the deck. Playtest the hell out of it, I guess, and see how it fares.
The irony is not lost on me. I've just seen some absurdities if a Sunbird sticks, or even if it just gets one card off. Considering how much colorless Creatures I have, I can see spending my turn playing Sunsbird's, playing some colorless Creature and digging deep into another behemoth that hits the field. If they answer the Sunbird's, they need to content with whatever I put into play. If they dealt with what I put into play, then I might have a whole turn to Sunbird on the next turn. I think it is worth trying out, at the very least.
was also kinda surprised that Zo-zu the punisher and ankh of Mishra weren't in but upon further consideration they are more reactive than proactive like the stax deck your trying to build.
I don't think Angrath is worth spending a turn playing, even if he is a repeated-able pain source. As for the Ferocidons and Hidetsugu, the deck gets focused quickly and fast as it has a reputation when I bring it to the table. I need the lifegain from the Ferocidons, even if it gives my opponent breathing room. With life halfing, the Hidetsugu would put me even lower than my opponents. I have seen Hidetsugu being used against other pain-based decks like Neheb, the Eternal.
As for why I don't have Zo-Zu the Punisher et. al, it is as you guessed: I want pain on my turn. I don't have a Winding Canyons to cheat Creatures out on other turns. I also feel like a lot of decks that put slots towards that sort of pain strategy then don't have room for what the premise of the deck is: hatebears, if they were 5/5 and probably flied. I rather stick some Demon that stops players from doing particular plays than something that just reduces their life total.
As soon as Meteor Golem was spoiled, I knew it was going into this deck. There's just too many things that can cause a hiccup, this solves that. As with my decision to cut Rocks, it made sense to axe the last one I want to.
I did contemplate War's Toll after shermanido comparison being too similar to Tectonic Instability. I decided to go with a like-for-like cut, trading a card advantage engine for Sunbrid's.
Don't be discouraged with the primer process being a bit bumpy. For what it's worth, my Patron primer got rejected the first time around, and then I mirrored its style for my Daxos write-up, thinking that if it was good enough to net me primer status once it'd do so again, and instead I ended up being rejected twice just listen to their feedback, tweak some stuff, resubmit, and eventually it'll make it.
A single change:
1 Sandstone Oracle
1 Dire Fleet Ravager
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Several recommendations:
Is it enough for Herald of Anguish to make your opponents discard at your end step? After all that's the most you'll get out of him, and now that you're getting rid of the discard theme it loses significance. I feel like if you're already spending all the time and resources to reduce the cost of stuff - you might as well get bang for your buck.
For example, Steel Hellkite is definitely not amazing, but it's removal for anything in colors that lack ways to deal with enchantments, and also very good against token swarms - which can easily become a weak spot for you.
Pox is an old card, yet seems possibly very strong in your deck. It's an enabler for Rakdos to enter the battlefield, chunks your opponents for a ton of life, and forces them to get rid of a bunch of cards on the field and in their hand. It's like the Dire Fleet Ravager you just tested, but is always cheap and gets rid of much more cards for your opponents. Keep in mind your round up each time, so everyone has to get rid of something.
I have an Ur-Dragon deck in my meta, and it's reminded me how useful Bogardan Hellkite is. I think it would be awesome in your deck.
Are you still playing this deck? It would be a shame if you took it apart.
I thought of Underworld Cerberus when I first saw it but I don't think it is that good.
Currently, I am thinking of two possible upgrades in Rivals:
You're right about Herald of Anguish, it is a little slow. Though I do feel like Steel Hellkite is also slow, but it would be an answer for all of those pesky Enchantments that can make things difficult for me.
Pox is a fantastic suggestion, fits everything I want to do. Now I'll have to look for an appropriate cut.
I won't use Bogardan Hellkite because I don't want to rely on my opponents for when I can cast things, I'll just use my own abilities.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I think I would take out Ulamog's Crusher for the Hellkite. The difference is 2 less for a 6/6 instead of an 8/8, but with evasion and firebreathing. The Annihilator, which triggers when attacking but lets the player choose what to sac, is replaced with a post-combat-damage effect, with a possibly different number of targets - and you choosing what to kill, even if you do pay mana for it. Also, not being forced to attack each turn might be nice.
I think I'd remove the Herald of Anguish for Underworld Cerberus anyway. It's bigger, its evasion is actually still respectable, it has a much more taxing effect that's static and doesn't have to wait for your EOT. When it dies, it gives everyone all their creatures back - that could be either good or bad, but I think it's definitely better than the Herald.
Speaking of slow cards, what's Graveborn Muse doing for you? Seems woefully underwhelming in my opinion, and a perfect candidate for slotting in Pox. Instead of trying to catch up with grindy blue decks, just take away everything they've got!
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Once pointed out, Herald became obvious as too slow.
1 Silverclad Ferocidons
1 Herald of Anguish
By playing more often, I'll be able to pinpoint more weak spots and make changes.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Have you ever considered running Heartless Summoning in order to get your creatures into play more easily? Not only it makes your creatures easier to cast without Rakdos, but it also reduces his commander tax. However, the -1/-1 kills Shepherd of Rot, Nettle Drone, Stronghold Rats, Disciple of Bolas, Pilgrim's Eye and Fleshbag Marauder which feels bad. Maybe some adjustments could be made?
If you mentioned a discard theme earlier, you might be interested in the new Angrath, the Flame-Chained. Both asymmetrical discard and enabling Rakdos for a ton.
Liliana, Death's Majesty is also underrated in my opinion, strictly better than the classic Rise from the Grave.
I decided to add more 'sustain' to the deck with the following changes:
1 Overseer of the Damned
1 Demon of Wailing Agonies
1 Etali, Primal Storm
1 Outpost Siege
1 Terminate
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Scythe Specter
1 Night's Whisper
I ran the hypergeometic on a discard suite and it doesn't look good with the deck's necessity to hit RRBB on Turn 4, have a pain source come down on T2/3 and start using Discard Enchantments which I would need to hard cast. Instead, I'll focus entirely on blowing up the board, hence the repeated kill above and Scythe Specter getting the axe. Etali, which would let me play the silly stuff from deck and my opponents too, adds to the deck's threat and gives me sustain.
Outpost Siege is a decent followup when I don't have much to do to keep me getting gas if the game drags out. I've lost the last few games with Rakdos because of being outraced in a slugging match when we both went into topdeck mode. Siege should help me out there.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Aggravated Assault
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Faithless Looting
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Kiki-Jiki was difficult to cast with the Black bias the deck has. I also found that he died a lot from random -2/-2s or damage, so I replaced him with something bulkier in the form of Chainer. I can pay some mana and life to get any Creature back into play. Considering the entire deck is trying to cheat Creatures, this seems like a good option.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Pox
1 Dreadbore
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Read the Bones
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
EDIT: Also, I feel like thinking in the direction of Manabarbs or Ankh of Mishra could be interesting. When you're behind you don't play a lot of stuff, so you take less damage. When you're ahead you tap less lands for more stuff. If there are any battlecruisers in your meta they might really hurt from this card, however if they're more reliant on artifacts it might not work out. But then you could just play Vandalblast.
From the Dominaria spoilers:
Garna, the Bloodflame
3BR
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
3/3
Flash
When Garna, the Bloodflame enters the battlefield, return to your hand all creature cards in your graveyard that were put there from anywhere this turn.
Other creatures you control have haste.
I feel like this could be a really interesting card here. Your opponents will never expect BR to have a flasher when they wrath you, especially not one that does this.
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
6BB
Legendary Creature — Avatar
7/6
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This spell costs 2 less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way.
When Torgaar, Famine Incarnate enters the battlefield, up to one target player's life total becomes half their starting life total, rounded down.
Can easily be used to heal you, and may not be useless in a pinch since you can sac creatures instead of paying mana.
1 Demonlord Belzenlock
1 Sandstone Oracle
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Stoneshaker Shaman
1 Aggravated Assault
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Archfiend of Despair
1 War's Toll
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Demon of Dark Schemes
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Lantern-Lit Graveyard
Archfiend makes my job half as hard and goes in due to having two Black Pips. Demon of Dark Schemes' triple pips were too much for what he did; as he is competing with Myojin of Night's Reach and Razaketh, the Foulblooded. I liked the Infest but the mana cost was too demanding.
Neheb has been lacklustre over the last few times he's popped up. So when I added War's Toll after its price dropped in Battlebond, I cut colour for colour. Currently, I can't really see a Noncreature that suits War's Toll more.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I cut Neheb because while he does make Red Mana, that doesn't actually let me cast more Creatures unless they're Red. I either have something Black, which doesn't need Red mana to be cast due to its price being reduced. Or its colorless, and the majority of the time, Neheb's Red mana also just sits unused. I like him, but he doesn't really do much for me. If I was more Red focused, or did go with that Enchantment/Raise Dead build I mused over previously, he would probably be in a better spot. As for now, it's not the case.
My first basic Rock axed:
1 Plague Spitter
1 Rakdos Signet
For the second Rock, I don't think I need to add in another Pain Enabler. I'm currently eyeing Sunbird's Invocation, with the high CMC most of my team is at, that thing will be absurd.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
angrath, the flame-chained
rampaging ferocidon
heartless hidetsugu
was also kinda surprised that Zo-zu the punisher and ankh of Mishra weren't in but upon further consideration they are more reactive than proactive like the stax deck your trying to build.
As for why I don't have Zo-Zu the Punisher et. al, it is as you guessed: I want pain on my turn. I don't have a Winding Canyons to cheat Creatures out on other turns. I also feel like a lot of decks that put slots towards that sort of pain strategy then don't have room for what the premise of the deck is: hatebears, if they were 5/5 and probably flied. I rather stick some Demon that stops players from doing particular plays than something that just reduces their life total.
Made this swap:
1 Meteor Golem
1 Talisman of Indulgence
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Sunbird's Invocation
1 Outpost Siege
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs