Introduction
Trying to come up with a description for this deck is impossible, so i'll just put up logs of some games i've had with the deck recently.
T1: Play dual land untapped, pass. End of opponent's turn, Demonic Consultation for Sol Ring. End up exiling majority of deck, 8 Cards left in library.
T2: Play Swamp, Tap 1, Sol Ring, Tap Sol Ring and Swamp, Demonic Tutor. Look through my remaining 7 cards, grab a Rakdos' Return.
T3: Play a Swamp, Tap for 5, play Master of Cruelties. 5 cards remaining in deck.
T4: Draw a card, 4 cards remaining in deck. Attack with Master, Opponent takes. Cast Rakdos for win. Game set and match.
Opponent speaks. "You're crazy dude"
T1: Play swamp, pass. End of opponent's turn, Entomb. Search for It that Betrays.
T2: Play a land. Tap swamp, Reanimate It That Betrays. Lose 12 Life.
T3: Swing. Opp sacs 2, i gain them. Opponent concedes.
T1: Play swamp, tap for Sol Ring.
T2: Play land, Tap for 4, play Dark Ritual, Hellcarver Demon
Swinging randomly for the next three turns leading to a win.
So as you might be able to tell now, this Rakdos deck requires you to have a few screws loose in order to helm effectively, and you need to be a huge risk taker to enjoy it. The deck employs a Demon Tribal with a sacrifice theme in order to pump up big spells and creatures. The deck also contains combos with Hellcarver Demon/Doomsday to surprise kill opponents. When you play this deck, you need to prepare yourself mentally to take risks.
There will also be games where you play Demonic Consultation and lose immediately, play cards like Infernal Contract too much and end up killing yourself, or getting your Rakdos the Defiler killed post attack and pre damage. (Hasn't happened though!). Listen to your gut feeling on whether or not to play a certain card at a certain time, unless of course your gut sucks.
The Creatures
Most of the Demons have a really good cost to effect ratio or allow you to cheat them out via sacrificing or morph etc. I will skip past most of them and just mention the notables.
Master of Cruelties: Makes for a really strong rattlesnake blocker. When you manage to get an attack off with him, finish the game off with Leechridden Swamp, or any of the other spells that do damage. Sire of Insanity: Acceling into this card early in the game can put your opponents on top-deck mode, allowing you to safely play your commander and go for the win. Malfegor: Solid mass removal for the deck. Clears the way for cards like Hellcarver Demon to push through, or helps dump creatures into the GY for recursion later. Hellcarver Demon: 6 free spells each turn, at the cost of losing everything else. Oh yeaaa. Lord of the Void: Nets you free creatures to use as sacrifice fodder or additional aggro. Rune-scarred Demon: Free card tutor. Allows us to set up comboes with Doomsday/Hellcarver or accel for Exsanguinate/Rakdos's Return/Death Cloud etc. Abhorrent Overlord: Our devotion count usually gets up pretty high in this deck, so this card creates a ton of fodder. Phyrexian Obliterator: Yet another one of those crazy rattlesnakes. Punishes decks that have creatures which "must attack". Usually goes unblocked when attacking and gives a nice bump to devotion. It That Betrays: The superstar of the deck. Synergizes with everything that makes opponents sac permanents. Resolving a single pox will usually result in the rest of the table scooping. Plays nice with rakdos, lord of riots and rakdos the defiler. Sacrifice-ing it nets more mana than you know what to do with.
Instants and Sorceries
Not going all that much into specifics here.
The accel cards are there to generate enough mana to play something that disrupts your opponents like Sire of Insanity or Rakdos the Defiler, among others. They also fuel Exsanguinate and Death Cloud.
The card draw helps you maintain gas and refuel your hand after discards. They also help you draw into your Doomsday package if played. Lastly they help drop your lifepool down if you plan on playing Repay in Kind.
The tutors help find specific threats that will cause the most disruption or set up combos with Hellcarver and Doomsday. Especially something like Insidious Dreams is perfect to find a wincon for Hellcarver Demon since it puts stuff onto the top of the library.
Lands
I have 36 Lands in the deck along with 7 Mana Accel cards, which puts my effective land count between 39.5 to 40 (the ideal number). The deck runs alot of triple B or even quad B cards, so alot of black producing lands are required. To ensure I am able to do this, I run a comprehensive suite of dual lands (all the good ones)and added in the painlands like mana confluence and city of brass. I run only 1 mountain, to enable my fetchland incase i already have the shockland in field, and 14 swamps.
Mana Bomb: Pull cards like Exsanguinate(Or Death Cloud etc)/Burnt Offering/It That Betrays(Or any high cost Demon)/Shallow Grave/Ill-Gotten Gains depending on which pieces you already have available. Dump the creature to GY. Recur it, sac it for mana, cast something like Ill-Gotten Gains to repeat the process until you have enough mana to cause an Exsanguinate kill. If going for death cloud, you can float enough mana to recast the creature after or recur with something like reanimate instead. With a doomsday stack it costs about 8+ predraw to generate up to 20 or so mana. If you have an additional card already in your hand, you can accel up to 30+ mana. Most doomsday stacks have prerequisites like having a card draw in your hand and/or having a SDT.
Demon Rush: Final Fortune/World at War/Insurrection/Abhorrent Overlord/Savage Beating/Lord of the Void. Played with Hellcarver Demon, you gain a 7/7, a 6/6 and 8 1/1s. Then you gain control of all your opponents' creatures. Everything you control gains haste and you gain 2 additional combat phases this turn with double strike, an extra turn, and an additional combat phase for that turn as well. If 4 combat phases aren't enough to bring home the game, you deserve to lose! Remember not to attack with Hellcarver Demon on the remaining combat phases.
I'll post more as I think of them, and please do the same if you have ideas.
What's Next
I've probably missed a ton of good cards that could probably go into the deck. Let me know if you can think of any. As i gain more experience with the deck, i'll continue tweaking cards and posting new synergies and interactions that i find or add. I'll also add more to explanations to the card choices as people ask me questions. More Doomsday/Hellcarver combos will be posted as i play them and learn. Please feel free to question,discuss,critique,flame or disregard as always. Check out my other builds located in the signature below as well!
The storm Doomsday/Hellcarver Demon win doesn't work, btw. Storm is looking for the number of spells cast, and copying Bitter Ordeal for Gravestorm doesn't count as casting the spell. You'll get six Tendrils copies no matter how many Gravestorm copies were generated.
I love this deck so much. It's pure Rakdos, in the best way possible. How does this deck play in multiplayer?
I haven't gotten any multiplayer games in atm. In my opinion the deck is going to scale up really well. Archfiend of Depravity, Sire of Insanity, Malfegor, Reaper of the Abyss, It That Betrays, Pox, Death Cloud, Exsanguinte and Repay in Kind all scale up with number of players. Resolving a Pox with It That Betrays in play is going to be 4x more effective in a 4 player game than in a 1v1. I have combos in place that also kill all opponents at the same time rather than just one.
Rakdos the defiler himself is going to be abit more risky to attack with in multiplayer, so he will probably have to take a backseat more often, until you have something in place to ensure a hit. Something like Sire of Insanity for example.
The storm Doomsday/Hellcarver Demon win doesn't work, btw. Storm is looking for the number of spells cast, and copying Bitter Ordeal for Gravestorm doesn't count as casting the spell. You'll get six Tendrils copies no matter how many Gravestorm copies were generated.
Must have had a freudian slip. The 2nd Demon was meant to be Demon of Death's Gate. Thanks!
Thanks for pointing that out, i took out the Tendrils from the combo and left it as a Gravestorm combo instead. Dosen;t result in an immediate win anymore but Bitter Ordeal is still too good to pass up. Thinking of replacement cards to go into that slot, i've been looking at Bloodchief Ascension, Liability, patron of the Nezumi and Last Laugh. I heavily dislike the Patron and bloodchief dosen't work specifically with the combo. The other two are most likely gonna end up killing me. Last Laugh still seems like it could be fun to run, if we don't mind a game resulting in a draw that is. It can somewhat be played around if we sac it at some point maybe.
Okie so i decided to make some changes to the deck today.
- Promise of Power: The deck already alot of card draw, so it makes sense to cut back a little. Promise is the most mana hungry of the options. Moonlight bargain is more flexible since it can be cast eot and dump stuff to GY.
- Tendrils of Agony: The storm combo dosen't work as pointed out. I can't justify having the card in the deck any longer.
- Mountain
- Swamp
+ Insurrection: Synergistic with Rakdos, the Defiler and Forbidden Ritual along with other sac spells. Can also be a pseudo-haste enabler
+ Final Fortune/Last Chance/Warrior's Oath: Could potentially help finish off games relatively well. We only need to swing 3 times with the commander. Fits the high risk theme when we use it without knowing if we will win. Gonna test it out for now.
+ Tainted Peak
+ Sulfurous Springs
I am also tempted to cut Treacherous Pit-Dweller. Even though it's a 2 drop thats pretty good in the early game, it's not all that use full later on. I also feel like it's not extremely important to have an early creature drop in EDH. I'll give it a bit more time, but put it on the shortlist for cutting.
Another card on the shortlist for cutting would be Bloodgift Demon. It gives me card advantage if it lives a round, but i currently feel that there is sufficient card draw in the deck. Will see how it goes.
If i am happy with how insurrection plays out, I may consider cards that give extra combat phases instead. However i'm not entirely convinced of this direction. In the end, i might just cut Insurrection out again if it dosen't work out well for me.
EDIT: Added World at War in as well to provide a better testing synergy.
Final Fortune/World at War/Insurrection/Abhorrent Overlord/Demon of Death's Gate/Lord of the Void. Played with Hellcarver Demon, you gain a 9/9, a 7/7, a 6/6 and 11 1/1s. Then you gain control of all your opponents' creatures. Everything you control gains haste and you gain an additional combat phase this turn, an extra turn, and an additional combat phase for that turn as well. If 3 combat phases aren't enough to bring home the game, you deserve to lose! Remember not to attack with Hellcarver Demon on the remaining combat phases.
and one for Doomsday, if you already have enough creatures on the field but just need some more time.
Deadline Extension: Temporal Extortion/Final Fortune/Ill-Gotten Gains/Yawgmoth's Will/Necropotence. Play Final Fortune to guarantee an extra turn. Then cast Temporal Extortion to force your opponent to either lose half his life (pushing him closer to death) or give you another. If he doesn't give you an extra turn from Extortion, then use Ill-Gotten Gains or Yawgmoth's Will to cast the Extortion again. If he loses life again he'll probably be in lethal range from combat within this 2 turns. If he gives you an extra turn. You will have 2 free turns to attack with. If i am not mistaken, you can recur and cast Temporal Extorion again on the next turn to extend gain another turn before that Final Fortune one comes into effect. Cast Necropotence to skip the draw step on next turn to prevent suicide. Mana needed would be 9+ predraw to pull off.
Alright so I just had an awesome game last night which i thought i should share. The game was against my Norin deck, piloted by a friend. Basically he was about to win me in 2-3 turns from the outlook of the board state.
I casted Insidious Dreams at his eot discarding 3 cards (everything i had). I searched for Hellcarver Demon, Shallow Grave and World at War thinking that my opponent wouldn't let Hellcarver survive a round (It dosen't have haste). On my turn I draw and play Hellcarver Demon. On his turn he attacks me and wraths the board destroying my 3 demons including Hellcarver while putting me down to 6 life. His boardstate is enough to kill me on the next turn. I draw my Shallow Grave and cast it, bringing my Hellcarver Demon back as I predicted. The only card that i know is on the top of library is World at War. I decide that luck/fate or whatever is going to be my only chance to stay in this game. I swing and hit, my opponent is pretty much still at full life due to some wurmcoil engine copy shenanigans earlier. I exile the following cards: World at War, Ill-Gotten Gains, Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis, Sacrifice and 2 Lands. It takes about 10 seconds, but something suddenly clicks. I order the cards as such: Sacrifice/Nefarox/Ill-Gotten Gains/World at War. So World resolves, giving me an additional combat phase. Ill-Gotten Gain resolves, allowing me to pitch nothing and take back 2 random cards in GY + Insidious Dreams. Nefarox resolves and is then sacrificed for 6 mana. I cast Insidious Dreams at instant speed (can i still do this in combat phase?) pitching the 2 random cards and searching for Lich and Repay in Kind. I swing with Hellcarver Demon with the biggest grin on my face.
Just had another epic game tonight which i wanted to share.
I was playing against a lazav deck.
Last turn i had traded my Herald of Torment for my opponent's Lazav. He was at up 12 because of a Loxodon Warhammer. He then fabricated into a sword of vegeance.
Turn 6. I had entomb,demonic tutor,reanimate,final fortune and burnt offering in hand. My board is empty apart from 6 lands.
My opponent was trash talking me about making the best out of my turn because he's gonna control me for the rest of the game. I decided that i should maybe take his advice and do something splashy this turn.
I tap 1, reanimate Herald of Torment and pay 3 life. I tap another 1 and then burnt offering it for 3 mana. I tap 3 mana, cast entomb and demonic tutor, fetching hellcarver demon and shallow grave.
I cast shallow grave to recur hellcarver demon then cast final fortune for an extra all or nothing turn. I swing with hellcarver, exiling Swamp/Necropotence/Cull the Weak/Rune-scarred Demon/Temporal Extortion/Archfiend of Depravity.
I leave the swamp and cull the weak exiled and play the rest. My opponent decides that I wouldnt be able to win even with an extra turn so he lets me have it. I decide to search for Sacrifice with Rune-scarred Demon and i payed 8 life on necropotence to hopefully draw into a land + something usable. EoT, hellcarver dies. In the 8 cards i drew, i had a Tainted Peak and a Repay in Kind. I go bat***** insane with laughter. I take my extra turn from temporal extortion. Tap 1 for black, take 1 dmg, cast Sacrifice targeting Rune-scarred Demon. I'm at 16 life. Opponent is still at 46 life. I have 7 black mana floating. I pay 15 life to drop down to 1 with necropotence. Repay in Kind. Declare attack with Archfiend of Depravity.
Opponent stares at me in disbelief while i continue laughing like a maniac. Still had one whole extra turn that i didnt need.
Hey Silenciaco, this is a great decklist you've got here. I also have a Rakdos decklist in here, and reading yours has really given me some good ideas. Keep up the good work and thanks for the ideas.
I really like this deck. A few things I might change or optimize, but this looks hella fun to play. And I think it would do good in multiplayer as well.
I really like this deck. A few things I might change or optimize, but this looks hella fun to play. And I think it would do good in multiplayer as well.
Let me know what you might like to change or how you might optimize it further when you think of it, always nice to have a fresh set of eyes to spot some inefficiencies in my deck!
Not really much in particular but I feel like more mana accel would do wonders in here considering the highend costs of a good chunk of your deck. I would def try to fit in Blood Speaker though. Recurrable searching is really strong here. Also choice of damnations may be a decent choice.
i'm usually quite a slow-controlly kinda player, but this is way too awesome to not try.. and try i did, completely wiping the table! my list is slightly different though; i don't have any tutors except doomsday. caught everyone completely off-guard, since i wasn't playing the typical slow deck
keep up the good work!
i'm not sure how willing you are, but i'm sure it wouldn't be much work to turn this into a primer. that'd be completely epic
I love this deck so much. It's pure Rakdos, in the best way possible. How does this deck play in multiplayer?
Assault Suit+ goblin diplomats+general/hellcarver is one of my favorite interactions in this sort of deck nothing quote beats making people sack half+ of peoples perms
Looking to get more into rakdos in commandr though I might do malfegor instead. I hope this becomes a premier there are not many rakdos lists out there
The deck does look great, but why not make Rakdos, Lord of Riots your Commander and put Rakdos the Defiler in as a one of creature? Seems like you'd lose less permanents (lands seem to be a difficulty when he goes off) and keep your board state a bit better. Just my two cents.
You migt concided reprocess as a draw spell even though you have a lot of draw as is
since you run alot of 2-4 black costing cards where is Gary(Gray Merchant of Asphodel) he seems to me like a prime slot for this deck i know hes not that big but hes good off the back of hellcarver which is minimum 5 damage easily 8+ for your deck. it also allows you to pay more life into necropotence(as if you care about having a life total) and just does nice things for you that works well in 1v1 and amazing in multiplayer
i highly recommend necromancy as a reanimation spell i consider it top tier due to the multiple modes
if you have no objections to just winning out of no where for multiplayer concider rise of the dark realms also insane off the back of hellcarver
Not really much in particular but I feel like more mana accel would do wonders in here considering the highend costs of a good chunk of your deck. I would def try to fit in Blood Speaker though. Recurrable searching is really strong here. Also choice of damnations may be a decent choice.
I do have Blood Speaker under my considerations list. Just haven't decided what i'm not happy with, to pull out in it's place. That said, i have considerations that bloodspeaker might feel too slow or clunky when actually put into the deck. It'll need testing for sure. Choice of Damnations is one of the cards i really wanted to put into the deck solely based on theme. The card just isn't good enough in my opinion. Most players are gonna have between 5-10 permanents on the field in an average game against rackdos before it goes off. When it goes off, that number goes down to between 1-5 permanents. Paying 7 mana for the spell for what will almost always be your opponent choosing a number = to their permanents and losing that small bit of life seems lackluster in this format. If any of you guys run the card and have a positive experience with it, i would love to hear it!
I removed Demonic Consultation because it happened 2 out of 3 times that the card I was looking for was in the first 6. The third time it was in the last 10 cards. So for me it was an "auto loss" card.
Purely on a meta call, I removed Insurrection and Rakdos Riteknife.
I also removed Bitter Ordeal because on a Doomsday stack, it doesn't work for me, because I don't win on the spot.
Those cards all seem like solid picks to put into the deck. Let me know how it works out for you. Removing Demonic Consultation from your deck makes me a sad panda but i can understand that the level of risk that comes with the card is not for everyone.
Love the Hellcarver Demon combos though, will definitely try to build this list in the near future! Thanks for posting.
Ad Nauseam, Dark Confidant and Sarkhan aren't in the deck because the average cmc of cards gets up pretty high. With the amount of card draw i already have, i don;t need additional stuff that draws one extra card per turn, especially with a hefty life tax involved. If you wanted additional draw for any reason, i'd suggest Promise to Power, which i played with initially but removed since i felt i had too much draw. Sneak Attack is good in any red deck basically, and i wanted to avoid putting cards in just because they are staples. Doesn't change the fact that is good and would be decent in the deck.
As to Rakdos the Defiler over Lord of Riots, there are many reasons.
First off, the general EDH populace dosen't belief that a workable deck around Rakdos the Defiler can be good. This deck proves them wrong while staying entirely true to the theme of the commander, being mass sacrifice on ALL sides. This is basically THE reason i built the deck and the inspiration behind all the cards in it.
Secondly, since people do not take Rakdos the Defiler seriously, they are more likely to underestimate it, and leave you to play your joke deck without heavy interruption. Lord of Riots has a much higher threat value attached to it. This psychological effect allows us to take full advantage of our Rakdos and Pox and all that other lovely sacstuff.
Third. Rakdos the Defiler is deceptively powerful. With so many ways to power out an early Rakdos, getting a single hit in usually ends games if its a 1v1. We have cards like Dark Ritual, Consume the Meek, Burnt Offering, and Sacrifice which not only help to power out an early Rakdos, but also help us cast our other spells even when all we have on the board is a single land and a demon to spare. The commander is a 3 turn clock, getting off a hit on turn 4 or so will set your opponent so far back he cannot recover. With additional Pox or Death Cloud support, taking out multiple opponents at a table becomes a breeze. With It That Betrays, they just scoop.
All in all, Rakdos the Defiler is the heart of this deck and everything from the mana accel to the removal was picked to interact well with the commander. Switching it out for the other version would just hamper the deck.
i'm usually quite a slow-controlly kinda player, but this is way too awesome to not try.. and try i did, completely wiping the table! my list is slightly different though; i don't have any tutors except doomsday. caught everyone completely off-guard, since i wasn't playing the typical slow deck
keep up the good work!
i'm not sure how willing you are, but i'm sure it wouldn't be much work to turn this into a primer. that'd be completely epic
The deck plays solid in multiplayer. It does becomes less aggressive since you dont want to take big risks like a turn 3 or 4 swing with Rakdos when there are 2 other players around. That said, so many of the removals in the deck scale to multiple players. The biggest being pox and death cloud. It also gives you more time to set up a Hellcarver or Doomsday win than you would have in a 1v1.
I'm not sure about turning the thread into a primer atm. I have over 10 decks that I play, which means that I won't be able to test card changes as fast nor play as many games as i would like to with the deck. We'll see how it goes i guess.
I love this deck so much. It's pure Rakdos, in the best way possible. How does this deck play in multiplayer?
Assault Suit+ goblin diplomats+general/hellcarver is one of my favorite interactions in this sort of deck nothing quote beats making people sack half+ of peoples perms
Looking to get more into rakdos in commandr though I might do malfegor instead. I hope this becomes a premier there are not many rakdos lists out there
Malfegor is a solid card that has won me quite a few games on resolution. The thing is, it serves way better as part of the 99 than it does as a commander. It's main role after all is as mass creature removal and to pitch cards from your hand into the yard to be recurred later.
The deck does look great, but why not make Rakdos, Lord of Riots your Commander and put Rakdos the Defiler in as a one of creature? Seems like you'd lose less permanents (lands seem to be a difficulty when he goes off) and keep your board state a bit better. Just my two cents.
I explained this a few quotes up if you are interested to read it.
You migt concided reprocess as a draw spell even though you have a lot of draw as is
since you run alot of 2-4 black costing cards where is Gary(Gray Merchant of Asphodel) he seems to me like a prime slot for this deck i know hes not that big but hes good off the back of hellcarver which is minimum 5 damage easily 8+ for your deck. it also allows you to pay more life into necropotence(as if you care about having a life total) and just does nice things for you that works well in 1v1 and amazing in multiplayer
i highly recommend necromancy as a reanimation spell i consider it top tier due to the multiple modes
if you have no objections to just winning out of no where for multiplayer concider rise of the dark realms also insane off the back of hellcarver
Thanks for the suggestions. I've looked into reprocess, and i do indeed like the card alot. At this point i'm not sure i'll ever need more card draw, but with the inclusions of cards like insurrection, reprocess might still end up finding a slot in the deck.
Gary is basically good in any black deck. I decided not to include him for thematic reasons. A) not a demon and B)Lifegain goes against that "i'll kill you at any ******* cost, even if the world burns in the process" feel the deck has going on.
Additional recursion is always something to think about in the deck. I'll probably test out Necromancy and perhaps Animate dead as cheap sources of recursion first and see how it plays.
Thanks for the feedback guys and keep them coming. I'm looking forward to hearing stories of how the deck has played out for you as well.
Insidious Dreams into Living Death seems like an epic play, and it's on curve as well. You've sold me on trying out Living Death and Faithless Looting in the deck. The tutors is something i've limited myself on intentionally since i prefer games playing out differently each time. If i feel the need to increase consistency or the power level of the deck in the future, they'll probably be an easy addition.
Leyline, i'm not feeling that hot about. It's great when you get to play it for free. On the other hand, i almost always would not want to cast it on turn 4 or so. Also that card has major tendencies to cause things to go infinite, which i do not aim for.
Haste is also something I want to give more thought. In many circumstances, playing and swinging with Rakdos the Defiler/Master of Cruelties/Hellcarver Demon/Lord of the Void/It That Betrays would create an enormous advantage gap.
If your answer was yes to the question above, put this song on loop and start reading!
1 Rakdos the Defiler
Demons - 18
1 Master of the Feast
1 Abyssal Persecutor
1 Desecration Demon
1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
1 Archfiend of Depravity
1 Master of Cruelties
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Malfegor
1 Hellcarver Demon
1 Reaper from the Abyss
1 Lord of the Void
1 Rune-scarred Demon
1 Abhorrent Overlord
1 Defiler of Souls
1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1 Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
1 Kuro, Pitlord
Non-Demon Creatures - 4
1 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 It That Betrays
1 Anger
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Instants and Sorceries - 31
1 Dark Ritual
1 Rain of Filth
1 Songs of the Damned
1 Sacrifice
1 Burnt Offering
1 Sign in Blood
1 Read the Bones
1 Pain's Reward
1 Cruel Bargain
1 Infernal Contract
1 Faithless Looting
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Doomsday
1 Insidious Dreams
1 Pox
1 Death Cloud
1 Curse of the Cabal
1 World at War
1 Savage Beating
1 Living Death
1 Mizzix's Mastery
1 Past in Flames
1 Ill-Gotten Gains
1 Shallow Grave
1 Reanimate
1 Exhume
1 Repay in Kind
1 Final Fortune
Artifacts - 5
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Whip of Erebos
Enchantments - 4
1 Necropotence
1 Lich
1 Mass Hysteria
1 Fervor
1 Liliana of the Veil
Lands - 36
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Graven Cairns
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Temple of Malice
1 Tainted Peak
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Mana Confluence
1 City of Brass
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Lake of the Dead
1 Foreboding Ruins
1 Badlands
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Mountain
14 Swamp
Introduction
Trying to come up with a description for this deck is impossible, so i'll just put up logs of some games i've had with the deck recently.
T1: Play dual land untapped, pass. End of opponent's turn, Demonic Consultation for Sol Ring. End up exiling majority of deck, 8 Cards left in library.
T2: Play Swamp, Tap 1, Sol Ring, Tap Sol Ring and Swamp, Demonic Tutor. Look through my remaining 7 cards, grab a Rakdos' Return.
T3: Play a Swamp, Tap for 5, play Master of Cruelties. 5 cards remaining in deck.
T4: Draw a card, 4 cards remaining in deck. Attack with Master, Opponent takes. Cast Rakdos for win. Game set and match.
Opponent speaks. "You're crazy dude"
T1: Play swamp, pass. End of opponent's turn, Entomb. Search for It that Betrays.
T2: Play a land. Tap swamp, Reanimate It That Betrays. Lose 12 Life.
T3: Swing. Opp sacs 2, i gain them. Opponent concedes.
T1: Play swamp, tap for Sol Ring.
T2: Play land, Tap for 4, play Dark Ritual, Hellcarver Demon
Swinging randomly for the next three turns leading to a win.
So as you might be able to tell now, this Rakdos deck requires you to have a few screws loose in order to helm effectively, and you need to be a huge risk taker to enjoy it. The deck employs a Demon Tribal with a sacrifice theme in order to pump up big spells and creatures. The deck also contains combos with Hellcarver Demon/Doomsday to surprise kill opponents. When you play this deck, you need to prepare yourself mentally to take risks.
There will also be games where you play Demonic Consultation and lose immediately, play cards like Infernal Contract too much and end up killing yourself, or getting your Rakdos the Defiler killed post attack and pre damage. (Hasn't happened though!). Listen to your gut feeling on whether or not to play a certain card at a certain time, unless of course your gut sucks.
The Creatures
Most of the Demons have a really good cost to effect ratio or allow you to cheat them out via sacrificing or morph etc. I will skip past most of them and just mention the notables.
Master of Cruelties: Makes for a really strong rattlesnake blocker. When you manage to get an attack off with him, finish the game off with Leechridden Swamp, or any of the other spells that do damage.
Sire of Insanity: Acceling into this card early in the game can put your opponents on top-deck mode, allowing you to safely play your commander and go for the win.
Malfegor: Solid mass removal for the deck. Clears the way for cards like Hellcarver Demon to push through, or helps dump creatures into the GY for recursion later.
Hellcarver Demon: 6 free spells each turn, at the cost of losing everything else. Oh yeaaa.
Lord of the Void: Nets you free creatures to use as sacrifice fodder or additional aggro.
Rune-scarred Demon: Free card tutor. Allows us to set up comboes with Doomsday/Hellcarver or accel for Exsanguinate/Rakdos's Return/Death Cloud etc.
Abhorrent Overlord: Our devotion count usually gets up pretty high in this deck, so this card creates a ton of fodder.
Phyrexian Obliterator: Yet another one of those crazy rattlesnakes. Punishes decks that have creatures which "must attack". Usually goes unblocked when attacking and gives a nice bump to devotion.
It That Betrays: The superstar of the deck. Synergizes with everything that makes opponents sac permanents. Resolving a single pox will usually result in the rest of the table scooping. Plays nice with rakdos, lord of riots and rakdos the defiler. Sacrifice-ing it nets more mana than you know what to do with.
Instants and Sorceries
Not going all that much into specifics here.
The accel cards are there to generate enough mana to play something that disrupts your opponents like Sire of Insanity or Rakdos the Defiler, among others. They also fuel Exsanguinate and Death Cloud.
The card draw helps you maintain gas and refuel your hand after discards. They also help you draw into your Doomsday package if played. Lastly they help drop your lifepool down if you plan on playing Repay in Kind.
The tutors help find specific threats that will cause the most disruption or set up combos with Hellcarver and Doomsday. Especially something like Insidious Dreams is perfect to find a wincon for Hellcarver Demon since it puts stuff onto the top of the library.
Lands
I have 36 Lands in the deck along with 7 Mana Accel cards, which puts my effective land count between 39.5 to 40 (the ideal number). The deck runs alot of triple B or even quad B cards, so alot of black producing lands are required. To ensure I am able to do this, I run a comprehensive suite of dual lands (all the good ones)and added in the painlands like mana confluence and city of brass. I run only 1 mountain, to enable my fetchland incase i already have the shockland in field, and 14 swamps.
Hellcarver Demon and Doomsday Combos
Lifeloss Scene: Lich and Repay in Kind. Lich drops your life down to 0. Repay in Kind sets all your opponents life down to yours (since it's the lowest). They drop to 0 and die. Something similar can be done with Necropotence/Master of Cruelties/Pain's Reward, Repay in Kind and Leechridden Swamp. (Abit more complicated with Hellcarver since you can't play exiled lands)
Mana Bomb: Pull cards like Exsanguinate(Or Death Cloud etc)/Burnt Offering/It That Betrays(Or any high cost Demon)/Shallow Grave/Ill-Gotten Gains depending on which pieces you already have available. Dump the creature to GY. Recur it, sac it for mana, cast something like Ill-Gotten Gains to repeat the process until you have enough mana to cause an Exsanguinate kill. If going for death cloud, you can float enough mana to recast the creature after or recur with something like reanimate instead. With a doomsday stack it costs about 8+ predraw to generate up to 20 or so mana. If you have an additional card already in your hand, you can accel up to 30+ mana. Most doomsday stacks have prerequisites like having a card draw in your hand and/or having a SDT.
Demon Rush: Final Fortune/World at War/Insurrection/Abhorrent Overlord/Savage Beating/Lord of the Void. Played with Hellcarver Demon, you gain a 7/7, a 6/6 and 8 1/1s. Then you gain control of all your opponents' creatures. Everything you control gains haste and you gain 2 additional combat phases this turn with double strike, an extra turn, and an additional combat phase for that turn as well. If 4 combat phases aren't enough to bring home the game, you deserve to lose! Remember not to attack with Hellcarver Demon on the remaining combat phases.
I'll post more as I think of them, and please do the same if you have ideas.
What's Next
I've probably missed a ton of good cards that could probably go into the deck. Let me know if you can think of any. As i gain more experience with the deck, i'll continue tweaking cards and posting new synergies and interactions that i find or add. I'll also add more to explanations to the card choices as people ask me questions. More Doomsday/Hellcarver combos will be posted as i play them and learn. Please feel free to question,discuss,critique,flame or disregard as always. Check out my other builds located in the signature below as well!
- Promise of Power + Insurrection
- Tendrils of Agony + Final Fortune
- Mountain + Tainted Peak
- Swamp + Sulfurous Springs
- Bloodgift Demon + World at War
- Rix Mandi, Dungeon Palace + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- Shivan Gorge + Cabal Coffers
- Moonlight Bargain + Faithless Looting
- Harvester of Souls + Living Death
- Yawgmoth's Will + Past in Flames
- Rakdos, Lord of Riots + Mass Hysteria
- Treacherous Pit-Dweller + Dragon Tempest
- Demon of the Death's Gate + Anger
- Liege of the Pit + Blood Speaker
- Demon of Wailing Agonies + Savage Beating
- Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis + Defiler of Souls
- Sensei's Divining Top + Mana Crypt
- Rakdos Riteknife + Rakdos Signet
- Bitter Ordeal + Talisman of Indulgence
- Culling the Weak + Wheel of Fortune
- Temporal Extortion + Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
- Rakdos's Return + Korthophed, Soul Hoarder
- Heartless Summoning + Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Temple of Malice + Smoldering Marsh
- Necropotence + Sneak Attack
- Dragon Tempest + Fervor
- Blood Speaker + Whip of Erebos
- Herald of Torment + Mizzix's Mastery
- Exsanguinate + Necromancy
- Forbidden Ritual + Animate Dead
- Leechridden Swamp + Kuro, Pitlord
- Cabal Coffers + Badlands
- Shizo, Death's Storehouse + Foreboding Ruins
- Insurrection + Ancient Tomb
Void
Cauldron Dance
Havoc Demon
Buried Alive
Generator Servant
Grinning Ignus
Flamekin Village
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Draft my Mono-Blue Cube!
lichess.org | chess.com
WU Bruna UW | R Kiki-Jiki R | RB New Chainer BR
Legacy - Burn | Pauper - Reanimator | Aristocrats | Burn
@votechainer2016
The storm Doomsday/Hellcarver Demon win doesn't work, btw. Storm is looking for the number of spells cast, and copying Bitter Ordeal for Gravestorm doesn't count as casting the spell. You'll get six Tendrils copies no matter how many Gravestorm copies were generated.
I haven't gotten any multiplayer games in atm. In my opinion the deck is going to scale up really well.
Archfiend of Depravity, Sire of Insanity, Malfegor, Reaper of the Abyss, It That Betrays, Pox, Death Cloud, Exsanguinte and Repay in Kind all scale up with number of players. Resolving a Pox with It That Betrays in play is going to be 4x more effective in a 4 player game than in a 1v1. I have combos in place that also kill all opponents at the same time rather than just one.
Rakdos the defiler himself is going to be abit more risky to attack with in multiplayer, so he will probably have to take a backseat more often, until you have something in place to ensure a hit. Something like Sire of Insanity for example.
Must have had a freudian slip. The 2nd Demon was meant to be Demon of Death's Gate. Thanks!
Thanks for pointing that out, i took out the Tendrils from the combo and left it as a Gravestorm combo instead. Dosen;t result in an immediate win anymore but Bitter Ordeal is still too good to pass up. Thinking of replacement cards to go into that slot, i've been looking at Bloodchief Ascension, Liability, patron of the Nezumi and Last Laugh. I heavily dislike the Patron and bloodchief dosen't work specifically with the combo. The other two are most likely gonna end up killing me. Last Laugh still seems like it could be fun to run, if we don't mind a game resulting in a draw that is. It can somewhat be played around if we sac it at some point maybe.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
- Promise of Power: The deck already alot of card draw, so it makes sense to cut back a little. Promise is the most mana hungry of the options. Moonlight bargain is more flexible since it can be cast eot and dump stuff to GY.
- Tendrils of Agony: The storm combo dosen't work as pointed out. I can't justify having the card in the deck any longer.
- Mountain
- Swamp
+ Insurrection: Synergistic with Rakdos, the Defiler and Forbidden Ritual along with other sac spells. Can also be a pseudo-haste enabler
+ Final Fortune/Last Chance/Warrior's Oath: Could potentially help finish off games relatively well. We only need to swing 3 times with the commander. Fits the high risk theme when we use it without knowing if we will win. Gonna test it out for now.
+ Tainted Peak
+ Sulfurous Springs
I am also tempted to cut Treacherous Pit-Dweller. Even though it's a 2 drop thats pretty good in the early game, it's not all that use full later on. I also feel like it's not extremely important to have an early creature drop in EDH. I'll give it a bit more time, but put it on the shortlist for cutting.
Another card on the shortlist for cutting would be Bloodgift Demon. It gives me card advantage if it lives a round, but i currently feel that there is sufficient card draw in the deck. Will see how it goes.
If i am happy with how insurrection plays out, I may consider cards that give extra combat phases instead. However i'm not entirely convinced of this direction. In the end, i might just cut Insurrection out again if it dosen't work out well for me.
EDIT: Added World at War in as well to provide a better testing synergy.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Final Fortune/World at War/Insurrection/Abhorrent Overlord/Demon of Death's Gate/Lord of the Void. Played with Hellcarver Demon, you gain a 9/9, a 7/7, a 6/6 and 11 1/1s. Then you gain control of all your opponents' creatures. Everything you control gains haste and you gain an additional combat phase this turn, an extra turn, and an additional combat phase for that turn as well. If 3 combat phases aren't enough to bring home the game, you deserve to lose! Remember not to attack with Hellcarver Demon on the remaining combat phases.
and one for Doomsday, if you already have enough creatures on the field but just need some more time.
Deadline Extension: Temporal Extortion/Final Fortune/Ill-Gotten Gains/Yawgmoth's Will/Necropotence. Play Final Fortune to guarantee an extra turn. Then cast Temporal Extortion to force your opponent to either lose half his life (pushing him closer to death) or give you another. If he doesn't give you an extra turn from Extortion, then use Ill-Gotten Gains or Yawgmoth's Will to cast the Extortion again. If he loses life again he'll probably be in lethal range from combat within this 2 turns. If he gives you an extra turn. You will have 2 free turns to attack with. If i am not mistaken, you can recur and cast Temporal Extorion again on the next turn to extend gain another turn before that Final Fortune one comes into effect. Cast Necropotence to skip the draw step on next turn to prevent suicide. Mana needed would be 9+ predraw to pull off.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
I casted Insidious Dreams at his eot discarding 3 cards (everything i had). I searched for Hellcarver Demon, Shallow Grave and World at War thinking that my opponent wouldn't let Hellcarver survive a round (It dosen't have haste). On my turn I draw and play Hellcarver Demon. On his turn he attacks me and wraths the board destroying my 3 demons including Hellcarver while putting me down to 6 life. His boardstate is enough to kill me on the next turn. I draw my Shallow Grave and cast it, bringing my Hellcarver Demon back as I predicted. The only card that i know is on the top of library is World at War. I decide that luck/fate or whatever is going to be my only chance to stay in this game. I swing and hit, my opponent is pretty much still at full life due to some wurmcoil engine copy shenanigans earlier. I exile the following cards: World at War, Ill-Gotten Gains, Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis, Sacrifice and 2 Lands. It takes about 10 seconds, but something suddenly clicks. I order the cards as such: Sacrifice/Nefarox/Ill-Gotten Gains/World at War. So World resolves, giving me an additional combat phase. Ill-Gotten Gain resolves, allowing me to pitch nothing and take back 2 random cards in GY + Insidious Dreams. Nefarox resolves and is then sacrificed for 6 mana. I cast Insidious Dreams at instant speed (can i still do this in combat phase?) pitching the 2 random cards and searching for Lich and Repay in Kind. I swing with Hellcarver Demon with the biggest grin on my face.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
That's a solid card that i didn't know existed. I'll put it under consideration for the next time i cut cards from the deck.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
I was playing against a lazav deck.
Last turn i had traded my Herald of Torment for my opponent's Lazav. He was at up 12 because of a Loxodon Warhammer. He then fabricated into a sword of vegeance.
Turn 6. I had entomb,demonic tutor,reanimate,final fortune and burnt offering in hand. My board is empty apart from 6 lands.
My opponent was trash talking me about making the best out of my turn because he's gonna control me for the rest of the game. I decided that i should maybe take his advice and do something splashy this turn.
I tap 1, reanimate Herald of Torment and pay 3 life. I tap another 1 and then burnt offering it for 3 mana. I tap 3 mana, cast entomb and demonic tutor, fetching hellcarver demon and shallow grave.
I cast shallow grave to recur hellcarver demon then cast final fortune for an extra all or nothing turn. I swing with hellcarver, exiling Swamp/Necropotence/Cull the Weak/Rune-scarred Demon/Temporal Extortion/Archfiend of Depravity.
I leave the swamp and cull the weak exiled and play the rest. My opponent decides that I wouldnt be able to win even with an extra turn so he lets me have it. I decide to search for Sacrifice with Rune-scarred Demon and i payed 8 life on necropotence to hopefully draw into a land + something usable. EoT, hellcarver dies. In the 8 cards i drew, i had a Tainted Peak and a Repay in Kind. I go bat***** insane with laughter. I take my extra turn from temporal extortion. Tap 1 for black, take 1 dmg, cast Sacrifice targeting Rune-scarred Demon. I'm at 16 life. Opponent is still at 46 life. I have 7 black mana floating. I pay 15 life to drop down to 1 with necropotence. Repay in Kind. Declare attack with Archfiend of Depravity.
Opponent stares at me in disbelief while i continue laughing like a maniac. Still had one whole extra turn that i didnt need.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Rakdos The Defiler: A Zero-Sum Game
Varolz, The Scar-Striped
Thanks,
MattHonkylips
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Let me know what you might like to change or how you might optimize it further when you think of it, always nice to have a fresh set of eyes to spot some inefficiencies in my deck!
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Love the Hellcarver Demon combos though, will definitely try to build this list in the near future! Thanks for posting.
BRWC Mardu Shops - Tymna and Akiri Artifacts BRWC
keep up the good work!
i'm not sure how willing you are, but i'm sure it wouldn't be much work to turn this into a primer. that'd be completely epic
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Assault Suit+ goblin diplomats+general/hellcarver is one of my favorite interactions in this sort of deck nothing quote beats making people sack half+ of peoples perms
Looking to get more into rakdos in commandr though I might do malfegor instead. I hope this becomes a premier there are not many rakdos lists out there
since you run alot of 2-4 black costing cards where is Gary(Gray Merchant of Asphodel) he seems to me like a prime slot for this deck i know hes not that big but hes good off the back of hellcarver which is minimum 5 damage easily 8+ for your deck. it also allows you to pay more life into necropotence(as if you care about having a life total) and just does nice things for you that works well in 1v1 and amazing in multiplayer
i highly recommend necromancy as a reanimation spell i consider it top tier due to the multiple modes
if you have no objections to just winning out of no where for multiplayer concider rise of the dark realms also insane off the back of hellcarver
I do have Blood Speaker under my considerations list. Just haven't decided what i'm not happy with, to pull out in it's place. That said, i have considerations that bloodspeaker might feel too slow or clunky when actually put into the deck. It'll need testing for sure. Choice of Damnations is one of the cards i really wanted to put into the deck solely based on theme. The card just isn't good enough in my opinion. Most players are gonna have between 5-10 permanents on the field in an average game against rackdos before it goes off. When it goes off, that number goes down to between 1-5 permanents. Paying 7 mana for the spell for what will almost always be your opponent choosing a number = to their permanents and losing that small bit of life seems lackluster in this format. If any of you guys run the card and have a positive experience with it, i would love to hear it!
Those cards all seem like solid picks to put into the deck. Let me know how it works out for you. Removing Demonic Consultation from your deck makes me a sad panda but i can understand that the level of risk that comes with the card is not for everyone.
Ad Nauseam, Dark Confidant and Sarkhan aren't in the deck because the average cmc of cards gets up pretty high. With the amount of card draw i already have, i don;t need additional stuff that draws one extra card per turn, especially with a hefty life tax involved. If you wanted additional draw for any reason, i'd suggest Promise to Power, which i played with initially but removed since i felt i had too much draw. Sneak Attack is good in any red deck basically, and i wanted to avoid putting cards in just because they are staples. Doesn't change the fact that is good and would be decent in the deck.
As to Rakdos the Defiler over Lord of Riots, there are many reasons.
First off, the general EDH populace dosen't belief that a workable deck around Rakdos the Defiler can be good. This deck proves them wrong while staying entirely true to the theme of the commander, being mass sacrifice on ALL sides. This is basically THE reason i built the deck and the inspiration behind all the cards in it.
Secondly, since people do not take Rakdos the Defiler seriously, they are more likely to underestimate it, and leave you to play your joke deck without heavy interruption. Lord of Riots has a much higher threat value attached to it. This psychological effect allows us to take full advantage of our Rakdos and Pox and all that other lovely sacstuff.
Third. Rakdos the Defiler is deceptively powerful. With so many ways to power out an early Rakdos, getting a single hit in usually ends games if its a 1v1. We have cards like Dark Ritual, Consume the Meek, Burnt Offering, and Sacrifice which not only help to power out an early Rakdos, but also help us cast our other spells even when all we have on the board is a single land and a demon to spare. The commander is a 3 turn clock, getting off a hit on turn 4 or so will set your opponent so far back he cannot recover. With additional Pox or Death Cloud support, taking out multiple opponents at a table becomes a breeze. With It That Betrays, they just scoop.
All in all, Rakdos the Defiler is the heart of this deck and everything from the mana accel to the removal was picked to interact well with the commander. Switching it out for the other version would just hamper the deck.
The deck plays solid in multiplayer. It does becomes less aggressive since you dont want to take big risks like a turn 3 or 4 swing with Rakdos when there are 2 other players around. That said, so many of the removals in the deck scale to multiple players. The biggest being pox and death cloud. It also gives you more time to set up a Hellcarver or Doomsday win than you would have in a 1v1.
I'm not sure about turning the thread into a primer atm. I have over 10 decks that I play, which means that I won't be able to test card changes as fast nor play as many games as i would like to with the deck. We'll see how it goes i guess.
Malfegor is a solid card that has won me quite a few games on resolution. The thing is, it serves way better as part of the 99 than it does as a commander. It's main role after all is as mass creature removal and to pitch cards from your hand into the yard to be recurred later.
I explained this a few quotes up if you are interested to read it.
Thanks for the suggestions. I've looked into reprocess, and i do indeed like the card alot. At this point i'm not sure i'll ever need more card draw, but with the inclusions of cards like insurrection, reprocess might still end up finding a slot in the deck.
Gary is basically good in any black deck. I decided not to include him for thematic reasons. A) not a demon and B)Lifegain goes against that "i'll kill you at any ******* cost, even if the world burns in the process" feel the deck has going on.
Additional recursion is always something to think about in the deck. I'll probably test out Necromancy and perhaps Animate dead as cheap sources of recursion first and see how it plays.
Thanks for the feedback guys and keep them coming. I'm looking forward to hearing stories of how the deck has played out for you as well.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Leyline, i'm not feeling that hot about. It's great when you get to play it for free. On the other hand, i almost always would not want to cast it on turn 4 or so. Also that card has major tendencies to cause things to go infinite, which i do not aim for.
Haste is also something I want to give more thought. In many circumstances, playing and swinging with Rakdos the Defiler/Master of Cruelties/Hellcarver Demon/Lord of the Void/It That Betrays would create an enormous advantage gap.
Norin the Wary (BRB) R
Blind Seer (Hose Everything) U
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy (Double Dipping) UBR
Borborygmos Enraged (Crush Mountains, Eat Forests) GR
Kresh the Bloodbraided (Get Wild) GRB
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician (Test Your Math) WUR
Toshiro Umezawa (Instant Reanimation) B
Dralnu, Lich Lord (Mill then Will) UB
Rakdos the Defiler (Death at any Cost) BR
Iwamori of the Open Fist (Wheel and Deal) G
Crovax, Ascendant Hero (Balancing Eggs) W
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom