Cut Mikaeus, the Unhallowed in favour for Scourge of the Throne. I didn't have the Mike and Trike combo, so I didn't feel like I should keep him in. Mike by himself wasn't that good, as I found that Rakdos made a mess by himself. Sure, Mike was great when I had an overcommitted board but that's not the best reasoning "He made my bad plays not as bad." With the decision to play a bit better, I don't think I need Mike. I also convinced myself to play him in my Marchesa, the Black RoseEDH deck so I moved him over.
One of the things I noticed is that I usually had a lower life total than my opponents until just about turning the game entirely in my favour. There wasn't a Dethrone creature I really wanted until I read Scourge of the Throne. The amount of damage and Rakdos mana he could generate alone is insane! So, tossed the dragon in. At the very worst off of its trigger, I can swing and then have Vigilance if the board is very dangerous. More likely, I'll just be able to drop bigger Grenzo, Dungeon Warden.
Swamp for a Piranha Marsh is just another way to get Rakdos primed to go. I cut the Guildgate for Smoldering Marsh instead of a basic because I want as few ETBT Lands. It's imperative I have a damage source going off with 2 red and 2 black on turn 4. It's why I still use a Lantern-Lit Graveyard. If you land the Rakdos, you're halfway there to unleashing a horde on the table.
Strands of Night has been a little lacklustre. Indulgent Tormentor replaces it because it provides Stax or Gas. It's also an evasive 5 power creature, meaning it's something that I like either pre- or post-Rakdos.
Homura was fun but he had his run, Myr Battlesphere does lots of damage, hits hard, is easy to cast with its colorless mana cost and is fetched by a Conduit of Ruin. The synergy is much stronger.
Nothing is more Staxsy than 'everybody discard your hands', which is quite possible to pull of with Rakdos. Even if I just sit pretty on a 5/2 Indestructible, it's not bad. The cut bothered me. I finally settled on Diabolic Servitude, making me double down even harder without a safety net. I was thinking of cutting Sheoldred, Whispering One because I don't have that many creatures in my yard, but her sacrifice requirement each Upkeep kept her in. Yes, she's phenomenal, just don't know if she fits in Rakdos.
I've been transitioning a Sedris reanimator deck over to a Rakdos design. Right now I'm in the cutting phases with my deck being somewhere between a Rakdos, Lord of Riots typical good-stuff, and an early reanimator attempt.
After connecting with Rocky once you can get a free 6-cmc reduction, but a double-strike effect on him makes the inevitable commander damage a good win-con, and enables a free blightsteel/darksteel/kozi/ulamog to go after the other opponent(s) with. Makes those cloudstone curio combos a bit easier.
I realized that I had some really janky removal spells and decided to improve them, giving me options to get rid of Planeswalkers or Chaos Warping something away. This drastically improves the removal suite.
I cut Victimize because I need slightly more consistency of a T4 Rakdos. Plague Spitter is something that can wipe out weenies, but also puts a clock on the entire board. More importantly, it generates the coveted 3 Rakdos mana on the turn he comes out without swinging. That's great.
To answer to your question, Macabre, I don't put big stock into one shot effects in a multiplayer format. Sure, all of those Double Strikes can result in massive Rakdos mana, but if Rakdos is dead, then I have a card I can't even hardcast for good effect. I don't find Voltron very satisfying, I prefer to play beaters and win via face smash instead of cultivating some clever combo to count to 21. The spot removal is literally for cards B/R can't handle usually or something I'd have to waste my combat step on, instead of hitting a player to play something big.
Right now, the 'all-in' strategy isn't very satisfying. Sure, when it works it's awesome smashing the entire table to smithereens; however, just a little bit of targeted hate sent my way brings everything to a screeching halt.
I'm thinking of building a Stax version. If I keep the pod at only a few lands; well, I win because I have a huge discount. Then if we go into late game, I still have things to do.
Lands were an easy choice. I've always leaned towards Black but I felt like I had just a tad too much, so the Spinerock replaced a Swamp. I can't afford to have ill-timed tapped lands, so the Temple replaces another unconditional ETBT land.
I streamlined my early game from expendable pingers to more normal. Instead of poking with 1/1s, I am drawing cards to find enablers or fatties. I don't have time to dick around with Skullclamp and I'm going more 'all in' on my normal strategy by removing both boots. Instead I've got more reliable damage and in the case of the Drone, I hit multiple players which can add up, especially with the colourless creature count. Also, Phyrexian Reclamation is all that and more in creature based strategies, it doesn't matter if Rakdos is online or off, it makes recycling my threats way easier.
Cut the Wheel of Fortune because I plan on pitching my hand to make everybody else pitch their hand. Wheeling would be counterproductive. Going by the cuts section, I am still removing petty enablers while I am entering beaters stage on my additions. The Shadow Rats, Banshee and the Specter all make my foes discard, getting rid of answers and threats. These effect every player so I don't need worry about leaving one player alone and they help get rid of disruption for when I go for my real plays.
Kothophed draws a lot of cards if someone Wraths the board, or just tries to stop my onslaught. That could be from cracking fetchlands, which also net me a card. Sire of Insanity is another MVP. You lay him down and watch players rewind the turn, but if they don't you won the game right there. Demon of Dark Schemes clears the board of chump blockers, but also synergizes with Kothophed and Harvester of Souls. He is the first fatty cut for a fatty. Scourge would sometimes be awesome, othertimes just be a dragon. I am pushing the deck towards Stax and Dethrone shenanigans is not that.
Butcher of Malakir and Duplicant do something similar of clearing out a creature threat. Butcher also has Evasion which is important for Rakdos Pain Mana, but more importantly makes trading with me something untenable. Most of my creatures are bigger than my opponents', so if they kill one of mine to slow my tide, they probably lose a chump blocker for my ground pounders.
Geth is awesome but in the wrong deck. I want to starve the world, I shouldn't have time to use his ability. With that in mind, I put in another Stax piece with Nullstone Gargoyle. Making your first noncreature spell countered is brutal, especially since it might be your only solution. It also cuts down on counterspells for my own creatures. If they're trying to land a haymaker, they might not have the necessary mana to burn some chump spell. Or if they do, they needs to run through a lot of cards. He's quite the mean Control piece.
Void Winnower makes half of everyone's deck useless. Exactly the type of card I'm looking for. Sepulchral Primordial was a tough call to make, but a lot of the time not every graveyard was filled with awesome creatures to fetch, especially since my goal is to explode right out of the gate. I couldn't risk on a maybe miss, so the Primordial got cut.
When grabbing cards from my Type 4, I decided to put Kozilek in Rakdos as gas is a requirement. He's also great at removing mill win cons but I mostly use him to Annihilate and draw me cards. The amount of gas he provides is outstanding, especially when the follow ups are also colorless. He's the 2nd most expensive thing in my deck, if I can afford Kozilek I can probably afford the rest as well. Artisan got cut, sadly, but for the same reasons as the Primordial. I need something that for sure lands its ability, and sometimes I don't have a yard or something worth bringing back.
Oh man, Banshee of the Dread Choir is so freaking bad. There are so many better options you could be running, even a simple search on Specter in the name turns up a number of less abysmal choices. Hell, you could go for a combination of discard and Rakdos enabling and try out some of the 3CMC ones like Hypnotic Specter. Set down turn three, swing at someone evasively turn four and strip a card from their hand at random, play Rakdos. Another option is Liliana's Specter, which looks horrible but fulfils a similar enabler role with being a shot of table-wide discard if topdecked later on. On the whole, seems like a pretty cool idea though, blending Rakdos with some discard.
I just couldn't find another 'Specter' that hits multiple players, repeatedly. Your two Specters are probably better. The Cunning Lethemancer might be a better pick but it doesn't have Evasion for that crucial poke to get Rakdos online. There's also Mindslicer but I'm not running sac outlets.
Other disruption I looked at was non-creature or cost 4. Costing 4 really sucks since that's supposed to be Rakdos' time. Though Creeping Dread could be great, and it does get Rakdos online. I've seen various Subversion or Palace Siege, but that seems too expensive.
Nezumi is good utility but that isn't what I'm quite looking for with my low mana cost creatures. It is to help put Rakdos into play, and while over the years the 2/1 body has swung to get the damage, I like the reliability of Lim-Dul's Hex more. It's less damage to a single source but more in a bigger pod. I can also prevent the damage if I really need to, but it's such a small amount most people will just take the ping.
Price of Glory is a card I wanted to use to keep up the Stax. A lot of the time my guys get countered or killed, this makes my opponent pay for that. Keldon is another small utility guy when I need to clear the path for Rakdos. Nothing quite clears the path than "I don't want to sacrifice my entire board state".
Kyren Sniper is a simple upkeep ping. I'm not sure if he's a permanent slot or just a placeholder for Vial Smasher the Fierce. In theory, Grenzo is super flexible and useful. In reality, it made me make bad decisions or plays because of the thought of 'what if his X is 15?' Or activating him when his power is 3-4. I'll miss his flexibility but I'll enjoy reliability of Rakdos coming online.
Keldon Firebombers is the next piece of Stax. While I may be mana starved for double black, or triple black with some double red for good measure, I won't miss staring down 6+ lands on each of my opponent's fields. Shriekmaw was another awesome flexible piece that was cut just for the sake of the curve.
Archfiend of Depravity shuts down one of Rakdos' weaknesses, when my opponent goes really, really wide. Replacing Butcher of Malakir hurt, but the two serve the same function of killing creatures. The difference is that if my opponent has a lot of tokens, Butcher doesn't really hurt him while Archfiend is devastating. Another factor is Archfiend's cost of 5, meaning he would swing to get Rakdos online on turn 6 or back online if he ate removal on Turn 4. Flying evasion is really helpful here.
Banshee is bad, despite my love affair with Myriad, so I cut it for a card I know is good: Combustible Gearhulk. This thing is absurd. Card draw in Rakdos is something you want to prevent, as there's nothing worse for my opponents than to dump more monsters on the field. Or they can take the other option and take damage. With the CMC average being 4.4, that's 12 damage on average which is nothing to take willingly, with damage capping out at 31 with Magical Christmasland. It kind of reminds me of Fact or Fiction, where no matter what you choose it was the wrong decision.
Bane of Bala Ged replaces the Steel Hellkite because often I didn't have time to destroy some permanent, the Exiling Annihilator on the Eldrazi should make up for it. Plus that's part of the Stax package in resource denial.
For some reason Ob Nixilis, Unshackled wasn't in the OP. He's been in my deck for a few months and is great. The increasing size is nice, but mostly it's making my opponents pay 10 life if they want to search. Sacrificing a creature is a bonus.
Vial Smasher the Fierce is a maybe thought. It's something that would come down after Rakdos. I'm just really toying with the thought of including her. A card that I've just realized I might want back in, but don't know what to cut, is Blood Speaker. With the imperative of emptying my opponent's hands, Blood Speaker lets me search for Sire of Insanity. Once I got a Sire lock, the Speaker can begin looping to continually grab more and more threats. My Demons are a lot of my Stax/fuel package.
For the Kyren Sniper, I just put in something that pings effortlessly. Perhaps the Tormented Soul is a better card, but it involves attacking and gives my opponent opportunities to remove it. The Sniper is a trigger on the stack, much more difficult for my opponents to respond to.
For the Kyren Sniper, I just put in something that pings effortlessly. Perhaps the Tormented Soul is a better card, but it involves attacking and gives my opponent opportunities to remove it. The Sniper is a trigger on the stack, much more difficult for my opponents to respond to.
"In the end step before your turn, remove Kyren Sniper".
Soul enables all of the Attacking Creatures Removal, Kyren doesn't. The EOT remove that creature applies to each and every Creature-based enabler I've got. The difference is the guys who need to swing in might be penalized in some fashion.
Though I think it's time I upgraded to a Nether Traitor over any and all of these options.
Creeping Dread is a slower Rakdos enabler, but perfect to add to the Stax-package and enable. Hell, if I have an empty hand it still makes my opponents discard. I realized I never had time to play and use the Quicksilver Amulet, so I cut it for Creeping Dread's Enabling and Staxing.
Indulgent Tormentor rarely did what I wanted it to, which is obvious when you've got 3 options. I want their Creatures to die, they made me draw a card or paid life. If I wanted Rakdos to come on board, they'd sacrifice a creature or give me life. When I wanted to draw for Gas, they paid with the creatures or life. Blood Speaker makes his return, to help me search up for the Demon I need for each situation. The fact that I can loop him means if left unmolested I am going to be continually grabbing threats.
Mass Land Destruction is a big no-no in many play groups, but I'm getting a lot less merciful when I play my decks and my opponents don't let me do things. That's when I reach for my Rakdos and he especially dislikes players messing with him. The Myojin would make sure that they wouldn't have mana to do so. Also, it's not like his massive cost is a problem in comparison to Blightsteel. If I couldn't cast Blightsteel, I couldn't cast Myojin. Though I've had games where I'm sitting at 5-6 lands but everybody else is at 12. If they need 10+ lands to really get going, then rebuilding from that is definitely going to hurt them more than me.
Though in my experience, a lot of the Ramp decks have already blown their load by that point. This means we're all equally floundering. Also, I know it's coming so I sandbag a land or two. And while we're all sitting at one or two lands, I could still cast things after punching them in the face. Rakdos' men tend to be bigger and meaner, so I'm probably fine if I remove my opponent's ability to cast spells and try to answer me with what they've got on the board.
At first I wondered why I should include a Thermo-Alchemist, I don't run that many Instants and Sorceries but then I realized it's just another way to ping to put Rakdos into play. Kyren Sniper pings only for one, the Thermo can deal 3 damage.
I don't have that much ramp because most of my ramp is from face punching which means that Black Sun's Zenith can't actually be used to kill. That's why Animate Dead replaces it as utility, if my creatures die or are discarded the Animate Dead
I've cut the Blightsteel because I never wanted to tutor for it and it doesn't fall in line with my Stax strategy. Artisan of Kozilek is much easier to cast, 3 damage to all opponents from one of my pingers plus Rakdos is 9 Pain Mana which is from a perfect curve. It gets back one of my dead creatures, it has Annihilator and it's easier to cast. I cut Maga because he was difficult to justify casting at triple Black, Noxious is much easier to cast, has Evasion if he has to Activate Rakdos and destroys a creature.
After recounting my mana base I leaned heavily towards Black so I put in a lot of Swamps. With the heavy lean, I made sure to cut Swamps over Mountains once there's more of an equilibrium. Three of these are more mana filters, the Leechridden Swamp can ping which can help with putting Rakdos back into play at later turns.
Noxious Gearhulk is a neat point and click but I rather go with a Balefire. Noxious has lower power and toughness with Menace as its evasion. Balefire Dragon is a 6/6 which is noticeably tougher than 5 toughness, much less than 4. Flying is one of the best forms of evasion; however, the Balefire's ability to deal damage to each creature if it hits a player is what brought my interests. As I've stated before, decks going wide can be a weakness; this resets their board and if they block, not many things in the sky can trade. With pain mana, the difference between 4 and 5 is negligible due to Rakdos serving up 6 damage.
I've been unhappy with Staff of Nin. Card draw is great, sure; however, this is a 6 mana Artifact that does a single point of damage and draws a card. Artifacts are one of the most hated-upon Types making its intentional and accidental destruction assured. At the point where I need to cast Rakdos but I still have 6 mana on the field is just an awkward game state. That's when I rediscovered Guild Feud. Enchantment hate is much less packed and the Staff made me felt cheated that I couldn't reduce its cost. Guild Feud lets me cheat my creatures into play and fills my graveyard to enhance Artisan of Kozilek and other reanimation. Finally, my guys are big, bigger than most other players - when I Feud I'll probably come out on top. Going to give this a whirl!
With the shift towards more red and taking out some black, I've cut a Mountain for a Swamp.
You might notice the front page looks a bit bare and not filled out, I'm going to try to get this into Primer shape and submit it to the committee. I'm surprised that despite all of the brewing when Rakdos came out, no one has put two and two togther to make a Staxdos version. Whenever I mention this build on Reddit, people ask for a link and primer. So we'll see how that goes...
Myr is a seven cost and Enables me to replay Rakdos with that free damage. The only holdup is that the Battlesphere is a seven drop so its probably come down after Rakdos with a horde. If there is a horde, they can replay Rakdos when random swings and the Battlesphere didn't feel like it contributed much to the deck's strategy. Ulamog's Crusher's Annihilator 2 fits so much more into the Staxdos strategy; the fact it must attack each turn doesn't feel like a real disadvantage. In a way, players must chump block him and therefore he kind of has Annihilator 2. Initially, I was tempted to cut Artisan of Kozilek due to the one more cost and the potential for me being a bad player and try to hold onto the Artisan to get a really good Cast trigger off. Instead, I decided to steel myself to sometimes just toss the Artisan out there and try to Annihilate instead of do something else.
Foreboding Ruins is just another way to ensure that I have RRBB on Turn 4, hopefully with a way to hurt the table. Another Swamp gets cut to even out the basics a bit more. Soon I think I'll be pushed into cutting Mountains but unless they come up with stronger, affordable duals this is probably the best the land base will get.
Nice write-up, cool to see how the pieces come together to get things done. Your current choice of enablers seems to work pretty well - more damage, more discount, bigger things come in for free. Speaking of bigger things come in for free, why not upgrade the Crusher to his head honcho instead? You already run Kozilek, and this fella is indestructible, annihilates like a truck and melts any permanent on cast. Seems like a pretty good deal, especially in RB.
Your mana base features a couple of pretty questionable options. Given the fact you're in two colours, Rocky Tar Pit is no better than a guildgate or something (in fact, often it's actively worse). I can see why you'd want Lantern-Lit Graveyard in theory, but in practice it seems like it would be very shoddy. In terms of includes without breaking the bank, you could add City of Brass, Mana Confluence and Reflecting Pool.
Rumpy, you are absolutely correct about Rocky Tar Pit being worse than a Basic. I had it in the deck as a way to grab one of my two duals, but those also have ETBT shenanigans of their own. I also balk at the idea of using a generic Guildgate or somethinng, so basic land it is. Here are the changes I've made:
As much as I like the idea of upgrading Ulamog's Crusher to his head honcho, I think getting rid of Guild Feud is better. This is a card that inadvertently gives my opponents resources which is an antithesis to the strategy of the deck. Also, under every circumstance I have to pay 6 mana for the Feud while Ulamog feels like a great deal if I have to pay 6 for him as well. Though more likely it'll be 2-4 and sometimes when I'm really lucky, nothing at all. Annihilator is part of the central theme of Staxdos, I don't want to lose any more than I need to.
I think I've tapped out on Eldrazi I can use, too many of them would just make my already high curve too high. Annihilator 4 on Ulamog is going to be a welcome addition. Just seeing my opponents' board melt on declare attacks is just so satisfying.
One of the things I noticed is that I usually had a lower life total than my opponents until just about turning the game entirely in my favour. There wasn't a Dethrone creature I really wanted until I read Scourge of the Throne. The amount of damage and Rakdos mana he could generate alone is insane! So, tossed the dragon in. At the very worst off of its trigger, I can swing and then have Vigilance if the board is very dangerous. More likely, I'll just be able to drop bigger Grenzo, Dungeon Warden.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Indulgent Tormentor
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Swamp
1 Strands of Night
1 Homura, Human Ascendant
1 Rakdos Guildgate
Strands of Night has been a little lacklustre. Indulgent Tormentor replaces it because it provides Stax or Gas. It's also an evasive 5 power creature, meaning it's something that I like either pre- or post-Rakdos.
Homura was fun but he had his run, Myr Battlesphere does lots of damage, hits hard, is easy to cast with its colorless mana cost and is fetched by a Conduit of Ruin. The synergy is much stronger.
Also, Fire-Horn of Assault from Commander 2016 is catching my eye.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Myojin of Night's Reach
1 Diabolic Servitude
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I like the route your deck takes!
Have you ever considered any combat tricks to enable Rocky? Something like psychotic fury/temur battle rage/savage beating/hatred?
After connecting with Rocky once you can get a free 6-cmc reduction, but a double-strike effect on him makes the inevitable commander damage a good win-con, and enables a free blightsteel/darksteel/kozi/ulamog to go after the other opponent(s) with. Makes those cloudstone curio combos a bit easier.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
1 Dreadbore
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Chaos Warp
1 Plague Spitter
1 Chill to the Bone
1 Rend Flesh
1 Wrecking Ball
1 Victimize
I cut Victimize because I need slightly more consistency of a T4 Rakdos. Plague Spitter is something that can wipe out weenies, but also puts a clock on the entire board. More importantly, it generates the coveted 3 Rakdos mana on the turn he comes out without swinging. That's great.
To answer to your question, Macabre, I don't put big stock into one shot effects in a multiplayer format. Sure, all of those Double Strikes can result in massive Rakdos mana, but if Rakdos is dead, then I have a card I can't even hardcast for good effect. I don't find Voltron very satisfying, I prefer to play beaters and win via face smash instead of cultivating some clever combo to count to 21. The spot removal is literally for cards B/R can't handle usually or something I'd have to waste my combat step on, instead of hitting a player to play something big.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Right now, the 'all-in' strategy isn't very satisfying. Sure, when it works it's awesome smashing the entire table to smithereens; however, just a little bit of targeted hate sent my way brings everything to a screeching halt.
I'm thinking of building a Stax version. If I keep the pod at only a few lands; well, I win because I have a huge discount. Then if we go into late game, I still have things to do.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Temple of Malice
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Night's Whisper
1 Read the Bones
1 Nettle Drone
1 Stronghold Rats
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Banshee of the Dread Choir
1 Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Scythe Specter
1 Demon of Dark Schemes
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Nullstone Gargoyle
1 Void Winnower
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Swamp
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Tormented Soul
1 Skullclamp
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Murder
1 Plague Spitter
1 Scourge of the Throne
1 Duplicant
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Artisan of Kozilek
I streamlined my early game from expendable pingers to more normal. Instead of poking with 1/1s, I am drawing cards to find enablers or fatties. I don't have time to dick around with Skullclamp and I'm going more 'all in' on my normal strategy by removing both boots. Instead I've got more reliable damage and in the case of the Drone, I hit multiple players which can add up, especially with the colourless creature count. Also, Phyrexian Reclamation is all that and more in creature based strategies, it doesn't matter if Rakdos is online or off, it makes recycling my threats way easier.
Cut the Wheel of Fortune because I plan on pitching my hand to make everybody else pitch their hand. Wheeling would be counterproductive. Going by the cuts section, I am still removing petty enablers while I am entering beaters stage on my additions. The Shadow Rats, Banshee and the Specter all make my foes discard, getting rid of answers and threats. These effect every player so I don't need worry about leaving one player alone and they help get rid of disruption for when I go for my real plays.
Kothophed draws a lot of cards if someone Wraths the board, or just tries to stop my onslaught. That could be from cracking fetchlands, which also net me a card. Sire of Insanity is another MVP. You lay him down and watch players rewind the turn, but if they don't you won the game right there. Demon of Dark Schemes clears the board of chump blockers, but also synergizes with Kothophed and Harvester of Souls. He is the first fatty cut for a fatty. Scourge would sometimes be awesome, othertimes just be a dragon. I am pushing the deck towards Stax and Dethrone shenanigans is not that.
Butcher of Malakir and Duplicant do something similar of clearing out a creature threat. Butcher also has Evasion which is important for Rakdos Pain Mana, but more importantly makes trading with me something untenable. Most of my creatures are bigger than my opponents', so if they kill one of mine to slow my tide, they probably lose a chump blocker for my ground pounders.
Geth is awesome but in the wrong deck. I want to starve the world, I shouldn't have time to use his ability. With that in mind, I put in another Stax piece with Nullstone Gargoyle. Making your first noncreature spell countered is brutal, especially since it might be your only solution. It also cuts down on counterspells for my own creatures. If they're trying to land a haymaker, they might not have the necessary mana to burn some chump spell. Or if they do, they needs to run through a lot of cards. He's quite the mean Control piece.
Void Winnower makes half of everyone's deck useless. Exactly the type of card I'm looking for. Sepulchral Primordial was a tough call to make, but a lot of the time not every graveyard was filled with awesome creatures to fetch, especially since my goal is to explode right out of the gate. I couldn't risk on a maybe miss, so the Primordial got cut.
When grabbing cards from my Type 4, I decided to put Kozilek in Rakdos as gas is a requirement. He's also great at removing mill win cons but I mostly use him to Annihilate and draw me cards. The amount of gas he provides is outstanding, especially when the follow ups are also colorless. He's the 2nd most expensive thing in my deck, if I can afford Kozilek I can probably afford the rest as well. Artisan got cut, sadly, but for the same reasons as the Primordial. I need something that for sure lands its ability, and sometimes I don't have a yard or something worth bringing back.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I just couldn't find another 'Specter' that hits multiple players, repeatedly. Your two Specters are probably better. The Cunning Lethemancer might be a better pick but it doesn't have Evasion for that crucial poke to get Rakdos online. There's also Mindslicer but I'm not running sac outlets.
Other disruption I looked at was non-creature or cost 4. Costing 4 really sucks since that's supposed to be Rakdos' time. Though Creeping Dread could be great, and it does get Rakdos online. I've seen various Subversion or Palace Siege, but that seems too expensive.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Lim-Dûl's Hex
1 Price of Glory
1 Kyren Sniper
1 Keldon Firebombers
1 Archfiend of Depravity
1 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Bane of Bala Ged
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Keldon of the Third Path
1 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
1 Shriekmaw
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Banshee of the Dread Choir
1 Steel Hellkite
Price of Glory is a card I wanted to use to keep up the Stax. A lot of the time my guys get countered or killed, this makes my opponent pay for that. Keldon is another small utility guy when I need to clear the path for Rakdos. Nothing quite clears the path than "I don't want to sacrifice my entire board state".
Kyren Sniper is a simple upkeep ping. I'm not sure if he's a permanent slot or just a placeholder for Vial Smasher the Fierce. In theory, Grenzo is super flexible and useful. In reality, it made me make bad decisions or plays because of the thought of 'what if his X is 15?' Or activating him when his power is 3-4. I'll miss his flexibility but I'll enjoy reliability of Rakdos coming online.
Keldon Firebombers is the next piece of Stax. While I may be mana starved for double black, or triple black with some double red for good measure, I won't miss staring down 6+ lands on each of my opponent's fields. Shriekmaw was another awesome flexible piece that was cut just for the sake of the curve.
Archfiend of Depravity shuts down one of Rakdos' weaknesses, when my opponent goes really, really wide. Replacing Butcher of Malakir hurt, but the two serve the same function of killing creatures. The difference is that if my opponent has a lot of tokens, Butcher doesn't really hurt him while Archfiend is devastating. Another factor is Archfiend's cost of 5, meaning he would swing to get Rakdos online on turn 6 or back online if he ate removal on Turn 4. Flying evasion is really helpful here.
Banshee is bad, despite my love affair with Myriad, so I cut it for a card I know is good: Combustible Gearhulk. This thing is absurd. Card draw in Rakdos is something you want to prevent, as there's nothing worse for my opponents than to dump more monsters on the field. Or they can take the other option and take damage. With the CMC average being 4.4, that's 12 damage on average which is nothing to take willingly, with damage capping out at 31 with Magical Christmasland. It kind of reminds me of Fact or Fiction, where no matter what you choose it was the wrong decision.
Bane of Bala Ged replaces the Steel Hellkite because often I didn't have time to destroy some permanent, the Exiling Annihilator on the Eldrazi should make up for it. Plus that's part of the Stax package in resource denial.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Vial Smasher the Fierce is a maybe thought. It's something that would come down after Rakdos. I'm just really toying with the thought of including her. A card that I've just realized I might want back in, but don't know what to cut, is Blood Speaker. With the imperative of emptying my opponent's hands, Blood Speaker lets me search for Sire of Insanity. Once I got a Sire lock, the Speaker can begin looping to continually grab more and more threats. My Demons are a lot of my Stax/fuel package.
For the Kyren Sniper, I just put in something that pings effortlessly. Perhaps the Tormented Soul is a better card, but it involves attacking and gives my opponent opportunities to remove it. The Sniper is a trigger on the stack, much more difficult for my opponents to respond to.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
"In the end step before your turn, remove Kyren Sniper".
Though I think it's time I upgraded to a Nether Traitor over any and all of these options.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Creeping Dread
1 Blood Speaker
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Indulgent Tormentor
Indulgent Tormentor rarely did what I wanted it to, which is obvious when you've got 3 options. I want their Creatures to die, they made me draw a card or paid life. If I wanted Rakdos to come on board, they'd sacrifice a creature or give me life. When I wanted to draw for Gas, they paid with the creatures or life. Blood Speaker makes his return, to help me search up for the Demon I need for each situation. The fact that I can loop him means if left unmolested I am going to be continually grabbing threats.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Mass Land Destruction is a big no-no in many play groups, but I'm getting a lot less merciful when I play my decks and my opponents don't let me do things. That's when I reach for my Rakdos and he especially dislikes players messing with him. The Myojin would make sure that they wouldn't have mana to do so. Also, it's not like his massive cost is a problem in comparison to Blightsteel. If I couldn't cast Blightsteel, I couldn't cast Myojin. Though I've had games where I'm sitting at 5-6 lands but everybody else is at 12. If they need 10+ lands to really get going, then rebuilding from that is definitely going to hurt them more than me.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Though in my experience, a lot of the Ramp decks have already blown their load by that point. This means we're all equally floundering. Also, I know it's coming so I sandbag a land or two. And while we're all sitting at one or two lands, I could still cast things after punching them in the face. Rakdos' men tend to be bigger and meaner, so I'm probably fine if I remove my opponent's ability to cast spells and try to answer me with what they've got on the board.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Thermo-Alchemist
1 Animate Dead
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Blood Crypt
1 Command Tower
1 Leechridden Swamp
1 Tainted Peak
1 Kyren Sniper
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Swamp
I don't have that much ramp because most of my ramp is from face punching which means that Black Sun's Zenith can't actually be used to kill. That's why Animate Dead replaces it as utility, if my creatures die or are discarded the Animate Dead
I've cut the Blightsteel because I never wanted to tutor for it and it doesn't fall in line with my Stax strategy. Artisan of Kozilek is much easier to cast, 3 damage to all opponents from one of my pingers plus Rakdos is 9 Pain Mana which is from a perfect curve. It gets back one of my dead creatures, it has Annihilator and it's easier to cast. I cut Maga because he was difficult to justify casting at triple Black, Noxious is much easier to cast, has Evasion if he has to Activate Rakdos and destroys a creature.
After recounting my mana base I leaned heavily towards Black so I put in a lot of Swamps. With the heavy lean, I made sure to cut Swamps over Mountains once there's more of an equilibrium. Three of these are more mana filters, the Leechridden Swamp can ping which can help with putting Rakdos back into play at later turns.
I've skipped the Myojin of Infinite Rage due to MLD stigma.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Guild Feud
1 Mountain
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Staff of Nin
1 Swamp
I've been unhappy with Staff of Nin. Card draw is great, sure; however, this is a 6 mana Artifact that does a single point of damage and draws a card. Artifacts are one of the most hated-upon Types making its intentional and accidental destruction assured. At the point where I need to cast Rakdos but I still have 6 mana on the field is just an awkward game state. That's when I rediscovered Guild Feud. Enchantment hate is much less packed and the Staff made me felt cheated that I couldn't reduce its cost. Guild Feud lets me cheat my creatures into play and fills my graveyard to enhance Artisan of Kozilek and other reanimation. Finally, my guys are big, bigger than most other players - when I Feud I'll probably come out on top. Going to give this a whirl!
With the shift towards more red and taking out some black, I've cut a Mountain for a Swamp.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Ulamog's Crusher
1 Foreboding Ruins
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Swamp
Foreboding Ruins is just another way to ensure that I have RRBB on Turn 4, hopefully with a way to hurt the table. Another Swamp gets cut to even out the basics a bit more. Soon I think I'll be pushed into cutting Mountains but unless they come up with stronger, affordable duals this is probably the best the land base will get.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Your mana base features a couple of pretty questionable options. Given the fact you're in two colours, Rocky Tar Pit is no better than a guildgate or something (in fact, often it's actively worse). I can see why you'd want Lantern-Lit Graveyard in theory, but in practice it seems like it would be very shoddy. In terms of includes without breaking the bank, you could add City of Brass, Mana Confluence and Reflecting Pool.
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Swamp
1 Guild Feud
1 Rocky Tar Pit
I think I've tapped out on Eldrazi I can use, too many of them would just make my already high curve too high. Annihilator 4 on Ulamog is going to be a welcome addition. Just seeing my opponents' board melt on declare attacks is just so satisfying.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs