Ok, I'll look into some more lands. The Ugin lands seem very useful, I forgot they existed.
How many nonbasics would you suggest? 2-3?
I'll move the draconic Roar to the mainboard. I'll try a few games without the dragonspeakers. I used to have more things like Shivan Dragon and Volcanic Dragon, but I long since cut those.
Still, the T3 shaman into 2 dragons happens a lot more than you'd think. If I don't get two dragons I still get a dragon and a 2 drop.
Fire diamond is perfectly fine, dragons have those in their throats to ignite sparks to breathe fire.
Tormented Voice is a good idea. I'll pick up a few of those. Thoughts on Avaricious Dragon as a one-of and then 3 Voices?
If I understand things correctly I can ditch things with Avaricious and then return Archwing after I discard, right?
I tried playing without Archie and I feel like he's such a huge part of the way the deck works. The repeatable ETB trigger for Valkas and Tempest makes him a hilariously good mana sink and immune to all sorcery speed removal.
He's pulled me out of a lot of normally unwinnable situations, and while a lot of the deck feels very 'win-more' at times he's one of the few cards that is fantastic to have at any time.
I guess it's just been my experience prototyping, but I've never felt bad about picking up one or two of him at any point in the game.
You'd suppose its fine to just cut the Thundermaws and Rorix for bigger, scarier dragons for more utility like Tormenting voice and Roar, and move some shamans or whisperers out? Or just cut the Outcasts?
How I want the deck to function/What I want to use the deck for
Put down some early solid blockers in Dragonlord's Servant and Dragon Egg.
Get some early high value dragons out, and get a Dragon Tempest or Scourge of Valkas.
Finish things off with the hard-to-remove Archwing Dragon. Thunderbreak Regent is there to dissuade removal, or to force opponents to remove him before my more-important dragons.
I'll be using this as my go-to basic deck to play against when I go to places for some good ol kitchen table magic.
Some people are fine with sideboards and others are not, so I'll have a sideboard just in case. I'd like the main deck to be as self-sufficient as possible, but there are other cards in the SB I'd like to be able to play with.
Stipulations for new card suggestions
Every card is related to dragons in some way, with the exception of Mountains. Budget isn't really much of an issue, I ended up acquiring a bunch of scourges and thunderbreaks already, which prompted me to make the deck. I have all the cards except for the Thundermaws and Rorix in the sideboard.
Mana base
I tried a green splash and a black splash and a both splash, but found that I needed so many red symbols and needed lands the turn I played them that straight mountains were the way to go. Slumbering Dragon is hot garbage IMO, leaving only Dragonmaster Outcast as my only potential dragon-related one-drop.
I eventually just figured I could sideboard them in the case of I'm up against a fast paced deck.
Lots of 2 and 3 drops with a curve topping out at 5 (for the MB) seemed fine, as well as my 24 land count. I don't know if there's a way to fine tune the numbers for the curve, and that's a lot of what I'm asking for help on.
Is having no one drops in the main board asking for trouble, or is it really not big of a deal?
Card's I'm not so sure about/Concerns I have
-Dragon Whisperer: An efficient card and a mana sink, I'm just not sure if its worthwhile. It doesn't really contribute to my overall goal of the deck, but does help me have something to do early turns as well as break stalemates as a different version of Dragon Roost.
-Dragon Egg: With no reliable way to actually make him an attacking dragon, sometimes he's just a dragon ETB proc. I'm not sure if that's actually an issue though, but sometimes he just feels like a somewhat useless card, unless I use a Scourge proc to hatch him and use his firebreathing.
-A bad Dragon support to Actual Dragon ratio: Sometimes I'm just stuck with a bunch of shamans with no actual dragons to do anything. Sometimes I have no way to get my dragons out fast or make their entrances meaningful. Slumbering Dragon and Dragon Hatchling don't seem good enough as dragons to substitute them for my shamans.
-Thundermaw Hellkite: A hilariously good dragon and amazing at breaking stalemates, but I'm not sure whether or not he's sideboard or mainboard material. He's great against decks with lots of flyers, but otherwise I'd prefer lower cost dragons like Thunderbreak.
-The sideboard in general needs work. Utvara is for breaking big stalemates, but feels like a win-more card sometimes. Crucible is hilarious, but garbage if I have no dragons out. Rorix is literally there as a placeholder, I don't even own him. Just wanted a curve topper other than Utvara for longer games.
-Running out of gas: Even with my firebreathing manasinks, sometimes I just run out of cards and can't continue. Avaricious Dragon could potentially solve this problem, but I fear he would be more dead than any other card if I don't topdeck him. Maybe as a one or two-of (sideboard maybe?) and tutor him with Sarkhan's Triumph when the time comes. Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker is another potential solution, but like Whisperer, doesn't really contribute to the overall game plan (no ETB trigger, but can add to my dragon count) other than just being a generically good card.
I'd love to get some feedback on how I can really fine tune the deck. Anyone with more experience at deckbuilding, if you see any glaring flaws or problems, please fill me in. I'm not too good at this stuff.
Is what I've come up with so far. I also have a tappedout link.
Any advice with the lands, or other cards I should consider for the deck? I feel like Propaganda would be a little too much of the same thing and I'd rather have more removal in the form of O-ring and D-sphere. Once I hit a Heliod, if they aren't running anything to stop him, I can just roll out clerics until I overwhelm them, since they won't be able to attack me. Sphinx's rev is simply there to stabilize. I think I'd be in trouble if I just got hit with counterspell after counterspell or something that removed heliod and luminarch from my deck before they turned on. Or enchantment wipes.
Keranos is exactly what we needed: a durable wincon. Young Peezy and Spellheart as backup they should be able to handle whatever until keranos gets down to business.
Heck, I could see a stricly burn deck with just him, guttersnipes, and lots of draw and burn and tempo and counter.
I swapped out the chainwalkers for Magma jets in the second build and I'll see how it goes. Chainwalker seems underwhelming right now, so I'm cutting him completely.
In the meantime, I'd love thoughts on Dark Betrayal vs. Ultimate price. Betrayal is one mana and hits nightveil and Obzedat (and with the case of obzedat I actually literally have no other way to deal with him other than just attempt to run my opponent over before obzedat kills me - but I've been seeing less and less of him lately).
Ultimate price hits MoW, Demon, Arbor Colossus, etc. Meta Dependent then?
I'll try running less Exavas even though I love her. Maybe I'll just throw shocks in or something for her. I just like seeing her in my hand, and the only time its a problem are when I see all four in one game, which isn't that big of a problem. She's prime removal target and needs hard instant removal (UP, Doom Blade, Lightning Strike, Last Breath all miss her) and a second copy after they kill her or wrath is usually awesome. Plus she's about the only thing that can deal with Fiendslayer.
I was thinking Marauder and pain seer go together quite well. Give him intimidate and attack mostly without fear (heh, its funny because intimidate), draw into some removal/another marauder (hopefully) and repeat. They even curve right into each other.
Also, the Necromancer deck just shuts down after an Anger of the Gods. Man, that was not a fun game.
EDIT: The second list actually has been holding its own quite well against mono black and UW/esper, and is pretty good against mono blue. It's not the be all end all best deck or whatever but it doesn't really get run over by much because of all the tools. One of my best plays was vs. mono black, they dropped a desecration demon t4 with no other creatures on the field. Act of Treason was something they did not expect at all and it ended up costing them the game because they didn't play around it.
I guess I should be clear and say that I have both incarnations pretty much sleeved up (missing like a mizzium mortars and a dreadbore for the second build, the other one has a few more cards to get that I've just been proxying). I'm tending towards the second build BUT if pain seer gets more friends in BNG and new cards come out that will really support the first list I'll probably play that more.
Mostly though I'm playing (basically) the second list and want to know if the first list is worth getting the cards for instead of proxying.
I'm inclined to agree with you on the Downfall point. There are just so many key creature threats that need killing, but reach is important, and strike can do the killing job from time to time.
Your list makes me want to make a Young Peezy + removal + a few humans + xathrid + tymaret + pheonix + chandra + pack rat thing. Peezy makes tokens, is a human, and likes spells; phoenix also likes spells and chandra, can be discarded to rat (who also makes tokens); and tymaret loooves tokens. That might be asking too much though.
I think this deck could become a thing and If I remember correctly there was a B/R list that won a GP not too long ago. Probably a fluke but nevertheless a good finish.
Here's my version (similar to the one that won the GP). No sideboard at the moment
A couple things about the deck. One obvious problem with the deck (or with any aggro deck) is that if you get him low and run out of gas then you're in trouble. I've thought about either adding in 2-3 Read the Bones or a playset of Pain Seer. Rakdos Shredfreak is a nice hastey human but a 2/1 isn't really all that impressive and I think the Seer has some big time potential.
For me personally I've gone with 8x Burn in the main because I feel that in g1 I wanna try and end the game as fast as possible and side in black removal for games 2 and 3 if needed.
With regards to your deck I like the first deck simply because Necromancer just adds value to almost every creature in the deck.
That's a good list. How is madcap skills working out for you? I can't bring myself to maindeck it, and I had it in my sideboard for a while, but I just didn't know who to bring it in against. It's a lot of damage sure but I'd rather just play lightning strike than get two-for-one'd. Some people like it though.
Pain Seer looks awesome in that build, I might try him. The way I play aggro is to try and go with a 3-2 ratio (keep two things in hand to beat face with for later and beat face with three things currently on the field). That way even after removal or board wipe or something big comes down you can (potentially) have a way to deal with it. Best example for me is just holding on to exava until they wrath/use a bunch of removal spells so she's getting in for some damage. I also hold burn until the last minute to remove blockers if I need to. Strangely, I find being patient is the best way I play aggro.
The last thing you said is my biggest issue. Necromancer is really really good, and he does add a ton of value to all the cards, but many of the cards are inferior or just not as fast as the ones in the other list. The first list really needs necromancer to take over, and there will be many games where he just doesn't show or gets removed. The other list just needs to play guys. The only real synergy is Exava and Cackler/Flailer, and that's about it.
I think 8 burn maindeck is a good call the longer I think about it. The scry can really help close out games too if I get the right draws. Usually though I'm perfectly happy with the top two cards.
EDIT: Oops. I was thinking of Jet, mostly because that is my biggest concern right now (gorehouse vs jet). Shock makes sense as well.
I would take out the satyr is the list you end up playing, I would also recommend adding in ash zealot in the second list
Personally I think Satyr is better than tormented hero because I have nothing to heroic him, and the pump thing is relevant enough to be useful to me. I'll think about it though.
As I mentioned, I took Ash Zealot out of the second list because the mana was too shaky with basic swamps, and I needed the basic swamps because guildgates are too slow for this deck.
Basically I'm having a hard time choosing what to play. Originally I put some Xatrhid Necromancers into my already human-heavy rakdos deck, and then went from there just focusing on supporting the Necromancer with humans, Tymaret, and Mogis's Marauder. Here's the current incarnation:
It's ok. I keep misplaying it because it's very weird but if it can get rolling its incredibly crazy. It can get stalled, but its excellent at breaking those stalls via Tymaret or Marauder. I'm not sure if I need Skullcracks/Thoughtseizes/Whips of Erebos/Madcap Skills/Ultimate price in here.
However, I also have this brew that I've been tweaking and has become pretty good actually:
Originally I was more red focused and had Ash Zealots, but with the mana being so bad and guildgates being too slow I changed her to dreadbore and slightly upped the swamp count. I felt that without support, Necromancer wasn't as good, and the only matchup I brought him in against was control, and in testing I found Toil//Trouble was a far better card to bring in, so I made the swap. I threw in boatloads of removal in the board to bring in for matchups where I just needed to kill stuff (looking at you, devotion builds) and the deck has been doing great.
Things of note: 20 land is good. This is something I've been wrestling with for quite some time now, and 20 land is exactly where I want to be. EDIT: forgot to mention that I tried guildgates and they are too slow in this build. I doubt the scry lands would help.
4 Exavas at the top of the curve. I tried 2x Underworld Cerberus, who was slow and gave my opponent advantage as well, then 2x Stormbreath (@ 22 land) and found him usually dead, and without that fifth land to cast him. Why run 4 of a legendary creature? Basically because she's the most aggressive 4 drop in my colors, and she usually puts the game to an end. She's the only 4-drop in RB that has haste, actually. She's not the biggest (hello Rakdos, Awaken the Ancient, and Desecration Demon) but the big thing is the haste and giving pretty much everyone save firedrinker satyr haste. Answering a Jace or a Supreme verdict coming out swinging is huge. Unless BNG gives me another good 4 drop (with guaranteed haste, sorry mr. phoenix), I'm sticking with her. Although, there is another...
The biggest question burning in my mind is whether or not I want Mrs. Pyromaster in here, along with her bird and magma jet.
I was thinking, "Man, Gore-house is cool and all, but without haste he seems sorta meh. Plus he doesn't work with Marauder. Maybe I should run magma jet."
Originally in my Red splash black for exava build I had some serious burn in here, 8 main board and the 3 toil and trouble in the SB. I was able to make pretty good use of Chandra's Pheonix, but when I started going more black for things like Spike Jester, Hellhole Flailer, and Doom Blade, I cut the Jets and decided Marauder was a better 2/2 Haste Evasion guy because he gave it to the entire team for the turn. Of course there's always the possiblity of running into creatures of the same color, but there's also always the possibility of Pheonix getting Exiled, so that point is kind of moot.
Anyway, I'm thinking -4 Chainwalkers +4 magma jet for the extra reach, killing things, and scry 2. But then is Pheonix worth it over Marauder? Is Chandra herself then worth it over Exava? Have I gone to far, should I just play Ash Zealot and go back to Red? Black seems worth it with mono red just rolling over and dying to MoW/Frostburn weird. without doom blade.
TL;DR: Which deck is better? Any advice for either deck? Thoughts on Ultimate Price vs. Dark Betrayal?
I put rakdos aggro on the backburner for this and did well with neither. Have to agree with you codex, based on spoilers so far it seems ill be sleeving up my blood crypts again. I cant wait for keranos and his potential goodies though.
Codex, remind me to compare rakdos notes with you sometime.
She's very good in a white based Azorius weenie deck, among other things. What she lacks in aggression the other aggro/weenie four drops have she makes up for in sustainability and gas. Heliod is similar, but drawing cards and white to protect your creatures will be a very good strategy as opposed to making tokens. The two do work well together if you choose to do something along those lines. You can slow down opposing aggro long enough to out-gas them with card draw and with cards like Azorius Arrester, Imposing Sovereign, Fiendslayer Paladin and Soldier of the Pantheon. Midrange you should fly over and have the tools to kill before they get rolling and you also should have the tools necessary to dodge control's removal and wipe and kill them before they go big.
She's a cool card with a lot of cool interactions and a lot of cool decks she could fit into. Will she be taking the metagame by storm? No. Can she be built around to have a semi-competitive deck capable of holding its own and bringing something new to the table? I believe so. I would definitely not say she's uninteresting or bad.
How many nonbasics would you suggest? 2-3?
I'll move the draconic Roar to the mainboard. I'll try a few games without the dragonspeakers. I used to have more things like Shivan Dragon and Volcanic Dragon, but I long since cut those.
Still, the T3 shaman into 2 dragons happens a lot more than you'd think. If I don't get two dragons I still get a dragon and a 2 drop.
Fire diamond is perfectly fine, dragons have those in their throats to ignite sparks to breathe fire.
Tormented Voice is a good idea. I'll pick up a few of those. Thoughts on Avaricious Dragon as a one-of and then 3 Voices?
If I understand things correctly I can ditch things with Avaricious and then return Archwing after I discard, right?
I tried playing without Archie and I feel like he's such a huge part of the way the deck works. The repeatable ETB trigger for Valkas and Tempest makes him a hilariously good mana sink and immune to all sorcery speed removal.
He's pulled me out of a lot of normally unwinnable situations, and while a lot of the deck feels very 'win-more' at times he's one of the few cards that is fantastic to have at any time.
I guess it's just been my experience prototyping, but I've never felt bad about picking up one or two of him at any point in the game.
You'd suppose its fine to just cut the Thundermaws and Rorix for bigger, scarier dragons for more utility like Tormenting voice and Roar, and move some shamans or whisperers out? Or just cut the Outcasts?
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
ANYWAY
24 Mountain
Creatures
4 Dragon Whisperer
4 Dragonlord's Servant
4 Dragon Egg
4 Dragonspeaker Shaman
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Archwing Dragon
4 Scourge of Valkas
4 Dragon Tempest
1 Crucible of Fire
Instants
3 Sarkhan's Triumph
1 Crucible of Fire
4 Draconic Roar
4 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Rorix Bladewing
1 Sarkhan's Triumph
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
2 Utvara Hellkite
How I want the deck to function/What I want to use the deck for
Put down some early solid blockers in Dragonlord's Servant and Dragon Egg.
Get some early high value dragons out, and get a Dragon Tempest or Scourge of Valkas.
Finish things off with the hard-to-remove Archwing Dragon.
Thunderbreak Regent is there to dissuade removal, or to force opponents to remove him before my more-important dragons.
I'll be using this as my go-to basic deck to play against when I go to places for some good ol kitchen table magic.
Some people are fine with sideboards and others are not, so I'll have a sideboard just in case. I'd like the main deck to be as self-sufficient as possible, but there are other cards in the SB I'd like to be able to play with.
Stipulations for new card suggestions
Every card is related to dragons in some way, with the exception of Mountains. Budget isn't really much of an issue, I ended up acquiring a bunch of scourges and thunderbreaks already, which prompted me to make the deck. I have all the cards except for the Thundermaws and Rorix in the sideboard.
Mana base
I tried a green splash and a black splash and a both splash, but found that I needed so many red symbols and needed lands the turn I played them that straight mountains were the way to go.
Slumbering Dragon is hot garbage IMO, leaving only Dragonmaster Outcast as my only potential dragon-related one-drop.
I eventually just figured I could sideboard them in the case of I'm up against a fast paced deck.
Lots of 2 and 3 drops with a curve topping out at 5 (for the MB) seemed fine, as well as my 24 land count. I don't know if there's a way to fine tune the numbers for the curve, and that's a lot of what I'm asking for help on.
Is having no one drops in the main board asking for trouble, or is it really not big of a deal?
Card's I'm not so sure about/Concerns I have
-Dragon Whisperer: An efficient card and a mana sink, I'm just not sure if its worthwhile. It doesn't really contribute to my overall goal of the deck, but does help me have something to do early turns as well as break stalemates as a different version of Dragon Roost.
-Dragon Egg: With no reliable way to actually make him an attacking dragon, sometimes he's just a dragon ETB proc. I'm not sure if that's actually an issue though, but sometimes he just feels like a somewhat useless card, unless I use a Scourge proc to hatch him and use his firebreathing.
-A bad Dragon support to Actual Dragon ratio: Sometimes I'm just stuck with a bunch of shamans with no actual dragons to do anything. Sometimes I have no way to get my dragons out fast or make their entrances meaningful. Slumbering Dragon and Dragon Hatchling don't seem good enough as dragons to substitute them for my shamans.
-Thundermaw Hellkite: A hilariously good dragon and amazing at breaking stalemates, but I'm not sure whether or not he's sideboard or mainboard material. He's great against decks with lots of flyers, but otherwise I'd prefer lower cost dragons like Thunderbreak.
-The sideboard in general needs work. Utvara is for breaking big stalemates, but feels like a win-more card sometimes. Crucible is hilarious, but garbage if I have no dragons out. Rorix is literally there as a placeholder, I don't even own him. Just wanted a curve topper other than Utvara for longer games.
-Running out of gas: Even with my firebreathing manasinks, sometimes I just run out of cards and can't continue.
Avaricious Dragon could potentially solve this problem, but I fear he would be more dead than any other card if I don't topdeck him. Maybe as a one or two-of (sideboard maybe?) and tutor him with Sarkhan's Triumph when the time comes.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker is another potential solution, but like Whisperer, doesn't really contribute to the overall game plan (no ETB trigger, but can add to my dragon count) other than just being a generically good card.
I'd love to get some feedback on how I can really fine tune the deck. Anyone with more experience at deckbuilding, if you see any glaring flaws or problems, please fill me in. I'm not too good at this stuff.
4x Detention Sphere
4x Ghostly Prison
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Hallowed Fountain
3x Heliod, God of the Sun
1x Island
2x Luminarch Ascension
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Pacifism
13x Plains
4x Sphere of Safety
3x Sphinx's Revelation
4x Supreme Verdict
4x Temple of Enlightenment
Is what I've come up with so far. I also have a tappedout link.
Any advice with the lands, or other cards I should consider for the deck? I feel like Propaganda would be a little too much of the same thing and I'd rather have more removal in the form of O-ring and D-sphere. Once I hit a Heliod, if they aren't running anything to stop him, I can just roll out clerics until I overwhelm them, since they won't be able to attack me. Sphinx's rev is simply there to stabilize. I think I'd be in trouble if I just got hit with counterspell after counterspell or something that removed heliod and luminarch from my deck before they turned on. Or enchantment wipes.
Let me know what you think.
Keranos is exactly what we needed: a durable wincon. Young Peezy and Spellheart as backup they should be able to handle whatever until keranos gets down to business.
Heck, I could see a stricly burn deck with just him, guttersnipes, and lots of draw and burn and tempo and counter.
Man, I'm excited to actually play standard again.
In the meantime, I'd love thoughts on Dark Betrayal vs. Ultimate price. Betrayal is one mana and hits nightveil and Obzedat (and with the case of obzedat I actually literally have no other way to deal with him other than just attempt to run my opponent over before obzedat kills me - but I've been seeing less and less of him lately).
Ultimate price hits MoW, Demon, Arbor Colossus, etc. Meta Dependent then?
I'll try running less Exavas even though I love her. Maybe I'll just throw shocks in or something for her. I just like seeing her in my hand, and the only time its a problem are when I see all four in one game, which isn't that big of a problem. She's prime removal target and needs hard instant removal (UP, Doom Blade, Lightning Strike, Last Breath all miss her) and a second copy after they kill her or wrath is usually awesome. Plus she's about the only thing that can deal with Fiendslayer.
Also, the Necromancer deck just shuts down after an Anger of the Gods. Man, that was not a fun game.
EDIT: The second list actually has been holding its own quite well against mono black and UW/esper, and is pretty good against mono blue. It's not the be all end all best deck or whatever but it doesn't really get run over by much because of all the tools. One of my best plays was vs. mono black, they dropped a desecration demon t4 with no other creatures on the field. Act of Treason was something they did not expect at all and it ended up costing them the game because they didn't play around it.
Mostly though I'm playing (basically) the second list and want to know if the first list is worth getting the cards for instead of proxying.
I'm inclined to agree with you on the Downfall point. There are just so many key creature threats that need killing, but reach is important, and strike can do the killing job from time to time.
Your list makes me want to make a Young Peezy + removal + a few humans + xathrid + tymaret + pheonix + chandra + pack rat thing. Peezy makes tokens, is a human, and likes spells; phoenix also likes spells and chandra, can be discarded to rat (who also makes tokens); and tymaret loooves tokens. That might be asking too much though.
That's a good list. How is madcap skills working out for you? I can't bring myself to maindeck it, and I had it in my sideboard for a while, but I just didn't know who to bring it in against. It's a lot of damage sure but I'd rather just play lightning strike than get two-for-one'd. Some people like it though.
Pain Seer looks awesome in that build, I might try him. The way I play aggro is to try and go with a 3-2 ratio (keep two things in hand to beat face with for later and beat face with three things currently on the field). That way even after removal or board wipe or something big comes down you can (potentially) have a way to deal with it. Best example for me is just holding on to exava until they wrath/use a bunch of removal spells so she's getting in for some damage. I also hold burn until the last minute to remove blockers if I need to. Strangely, I find being patient is the best way I play aggro.
The last thing you said is my biggest issue. Necromancer is really really good, and he does add a ton of value to all the cards, but many of the cards are inferior or just not as fast as the ones in the other list. The first list really needs necromancer to take over, and there will be many games where he just doesn't show or gets removed. The other list just needs to play guys. The only real synergy is Exava and Cackler/Flailer, and that's about it.
I think 8 burn maindeck is a good call the longer I think about it. The scry can really help close out games too if I get the right draws. Usually though I'm perfectly happy with the top two cards.
EDIT: Oops. I was thinking of Jet, mostly because that is my biggest concern right now (gorehouse vs jet). Shock makes sense as well.
Personally I think Satyr is better than tormented hero because I have nothing to heroic him, and the pump thing is relevant enough to be useful to me. I'll think about it though.
As I mentioned, I took Ash Zealot out of the second list because the mana was too shaky with basic swamps, and I needed the basic swamps because guildgates are too slow for this deck.
Basically I'm having a hard time choosing what to play. Originally I put some Xatrhid Necromancers into my already human-heavy rakdos deck, and then went from there just focusing on supporting the Necromancer with humans, Tymaret, and Mogis's Marauder. Here's the current incarnation:
4x Blood Crypt
3x Mountain
4x Rakdos Guildgate
11x Swamp
Creatures (32)
3x Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4x Mogis's Marauder
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Rakdos Shred-Freak
3x Spike Jester
4x Thrill-Kill Assassin
4x Tormented Hero
2x Tymaret, the Murder King
4x Xathrid Necromancer
3x Dreadbore
3x Hero's Downfall
2x Act of Treason
3x Dark Betrayal
4x Doom Blade
3x Lightning Strike
3x Mizzium Mortars
(For all you who like sample hands and ratios, here it is on tappedout)
It's ok. I keep misplaying it because it's very weird but if it can get rolling its incredibly crazy. It can get stalled, but its excellent at breaking those stalls via Tymaret or Marauder. I'm not sure if I need Skullcracks/Thoughtseizes/Whips of Erebos/Madcap Skills/Ultimate price in here.
However, I also have this brew that I've been tweaking and has become pretty good actually:
4x Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4x Firedrinker Satyr
4x Hellhole Flailer
4x Mogis's Marauder
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Rakdos Shred-Freak
4x Spike Jester
4x Blood Crypt
9x Mountain
7x Swamp
Not-Creatures (12)
4x Magma Jet
4x Lightning Strike
4x Dreadbore
2x Act of Treason
3x Dark Betrayal
4x Doom Blade
3x Mizzium Mortars
3x Toil / Trouble
(tappedout link again)
Originally I was more red focused and had Ash Zealots, but with the mana being so bad and guildgates being too slow I changed her to dreadbore and slightly upped the swamp count. I felt that without support, Necromancer wasn't as good, and the only matchup I brought him in against was control, and in testing I found Toil//Trouble was a far better card to bring in, so I made the swap. I threw in boatloads of removal in the board to bring in for matchups where I just needed to kill stuff (looking at you, devotion builds) and the deck has been doing great.
Things of note: 20 land is good. This is something I've been wrestling with for quite some time now, and 20 land is exactly where I want to be. EDIT: forgot to mention that I tried guildgates and they are too slow in this build. I doubt the scry lands would help.
4 Exavas at the top of the curve. I tried 2x Underworld Cerberus, who was slow and gave my opponent advantage as well, then 2x Stormbreath (@ 22 land) and found him usually dead, and without that fifth land to cast him. Why run 4 of a legendary creature? Basically because she's the most aggressive 4 drop in my colors, and she usually puts the game to an end. She's the only 4-drop in RB that has haste, actually. She's not the biggest (hello Rakdos, Awaken the Ancient, and Desecration Demon) but the big thing is the haste and giving pretty much everyone save firedrinker satyr haste. Answering a Jace or a Supreme verdict coming out swinging is huge. Unless BNG gives me another good 4 drop (with guaranteed haste, sorry mr. phoenix), I'm sticking with her. Although, there is another...
The biggest question burning in my mind is whether or not I want Mrs. Pyromaster in here, along with her bird and magma jet.
I was thinking, "Man, Gore-house is cool and all, but without haste he seems sorta meh. Plus he doesn't work with Marauder. Maybe I should run magma jet."
Originally in my Red splash black for exava build I had some serious burn in here, 8 main board and the 3 toil and trouble in the SB. I was able to make pretty good use of Chandra's Pheonix, but when I started going more black for things like Spike Jester, Hellhole Flailer, and Doom Blade, I cut the Jets and decided Marauder was a better 2/2 Haste Evasion guy because he gave it to the entire team for the turn. Of course there's always the possiblity of running into creatures of the same color, but there's also always the possibility of Pheonix getting Exiled, so that point is kind of moot.
Anyway, I'm thinking -4 Chainwalkers +4 magma jet for the extra reach, killing things, and scry 2. But then is Pheonix worth it over Marauder? Is Chandra herself then worth it over Exava? Have I gone to far, should I just play Ash Zealot and go back to Red? Black seems worth it with mono red just rolling over and dying to MoW/Frostburn weird. without doom blade.
TL;DR: Which deck is better? Any advice for either deck? Thoughts on Ultimate Price vs. Dark Betrayal?
In all seriousness I may switch to GR or GW if I have to deal with both this and anger.
Then again, rakdos midrange does get some new toys...
Wait
You're right.
Dang, this card just became not as cool as I thought it was.
Codex, remind me to compare rakdos notes with you sometime.
T2 Precinct Captain. Swing with elite if you can.
T3 Lyev Skyknight/Detention Sphere/Banisher Priest, hit a creature so you can get in with precinct for a token. Optional Elite Attack.
T4 Ephara. Devotion is up. Swing with everyone you can, hopefully get in with Captain for a token to draw a card. Battalion should be online.
T5 Draw two cards and keep beating face by playing more cheap evasive creatures like Daring Skyjek and Cavalry Pegasus. Deputy of Acquittals and Brave the Elements can protect your creatures. You also have Rootborn Defenses (populates your soldier tokens) and Frontline Medic if you need more staying power. Attempt to go for the kill with your fat 6/5 and small army of 3/1 and 2/1s.
She's very good in a white based Azorius weenie deck, among other things. What she lacks in aggression the other aggro/weenie four drops have she makes up for in sustainability and gas. Heliod is similar, but drawing cards and white to protect your creatures will be a very good strategy as opposed to making tokens. The two do work well together if you choose to do something along those lines. You can slow down opposing aggro long enough to out-gas them with card draw and with cards like Azorius Arrester, Imposing Sovereign, Fiendslayer Paladin and Soldier of the Pantheon. Midrange you should fly over and have the tools to kill before they get rolling and you also should have the tools necessary to dodge control's removal and wipe and kill them before they go big.
She's a cool card with a lot of cool interactions and a lot of cool decks she could fit into. Will she be taking the metagame by storm? No. Can she be built around to have a semi-competitive deck capable of holding its own and bringing something new to the table? I believe so. I would definitely not say she's uninteresting or bad.