interesting. I hadn't really realized. With SFM in the format now the equip thing could definitely be relevant. I will be testing this. Have you tested with vines? Any results?
I've played some modern games this WE at magic fest Ghent and I'd like to share my lessons learned.
The most important is probably that I realized (more) the power of stony silence in the meta. It's great against whirza which is a very problematic match-up. Against Tron it acts preventively against lattice, which I didn't realize previously (lattice and stony into play means no mana for anyone. So if you have a creature and Tron player doesn't, he looses). Not mentioning ravager decks. I'll up to 4 in sideboard.
Stoneforge package confirmed its power. I've tested viridian longbow and indeed I won't take it out anymore. Still not convinced by lightning greaves. Some players use also sword of light and shadow, I haven't tried yet but will very soon because it looks strong.
Infinite life via kitchen finks rarely happened and in the rare cases it did, it wasn't relevant. But I won 2 games thanks to infinite-big carrion feeder, so I'm still not sure whether to drop the finks package or not. I'd like to keep it with 2 finks.
1 eternal witness main was totally useless. So was 1 knight of autumn main (well, this one is never really useless, but it was a weak play).
After sideboard, having multiple knights of autumn is really not sufficient for the whirza matchup.
1 Gavony township main was useful multiple times. I'd like to make room for a 2nd one.
1 scavenging ooze main was very often great, and I've tutored it multiple times. I'll never drop it ;-)
Burrenton was good because blocker against burn and prevents anger of the gods against valakut.
My sideboard against UW control is 1 Vivien champion of the wild and 2 sin collector. It could certainly be better but I don't have a lot of inspiration about other options.
I wasn't always happy when having Shalai in hand, not sure if it belongs to maindeck or sideboard. I currently play 1 main.
Any feedback is welcome
Any chance you could include a list? Alot of this seems like great info. Would love some context. Also, how did you do at magic fest?
thanks
I've had alot of luck recently with this list in my meta (It's heavy on midrange and tron primarily along with some prowess/burn)
The deck trades some redundancy and speed for a higher curve that really punishes the more controlling decks that usually pose problems for us. Let me know your thoughts on this but so far it has been very nice to have that backup plan of eldritch evolution into wilt-leaf liege which can sometimes just close out a game in 2ish turns against the matchups where a combo finish is often out of reach.
(This is sort of similar to the idea of having the stoneblade alternate wincon but I have found that this one is a bit less disruptable and very damaging against Liliana of the veil
Thoughts and comments? thanks
So a little while ago, I came across this deck, RB control in pauper and I began developing the list. Would love any input you guys can offer. Card selection and deck primer to come.
Rakdos control is a deck that seeks to play powerful removal and build tempo with cards that either filter your draws to smooth out the late game, such as Magma Jet, build tempo against aggressive decks like Moment of Craving, or gain lots of value Evincar's Justice. Eventually, the plan is to drop a creature that makes you the monarch (Thorn of the Black Rose or Crown-Hunter Hireling) and get so ahead on tempo that you can just drop a Gurmag Angler and pound in for the win.
Card Selection
Creatures
Thorn of the Black Rose - Our essential card draw engine. With the level of board control and removal in the deck, Thorn is usually just a 4-mana Phyrexian Arena. Additionally, Thorn survives Evincar's Justice and often trades with a creature in the late game. 4-of.
Crown-Hunter Hireling - Another great draw spell but not nearly as powerful or essential as Thorn. Decent beater but only if the opponent is consistently taking the monarchy from you. 1-2 alongside Thorn.
Burning Prophet - A new and relatively untested card filtering engine. If you drop prophet early she can be a decent 2 or even 3 power beater. Often, prophet will just eat a removal spell but is an instant 2-for-1 as long as you can pop off an activation before she dies.
Gurmag Angler - Fairly self explanatory. 5/5 beater for 1-2 mana in the late game. Just be careful not to exile that Chainer's Edict!
Magma Jet - The epitome of what this deck wants to do. Kills most pesky early beaters in the format and filters our mana. A+ 2-for-1. 4-of.
Chainer's Edict - An essential Pauper removal spell. Great against big mana decks and Ulamog's Crushers. In the long game, edict can really come back to bite the unsuspecting opponent. Plan for the future and be careful not to exile them with your Gurmag Anglers. 4-of. If your meta is incredibly geared towards tiny leaders or elves, the argument could be made to cut 1-2 of these for different removal but this should be very rare.
Terminate - Our main catch-all removal spell, Terminate does wonders against matchups that grind out big creatures or stall the game out with tough to burn walls. Generally you want to be playing 4. If big mana decks are rare in your meta then the argument could be made for 2-3 in favor of more Evincar's Justices or Moment of Cravings.
Hey I'm not a major standard player but I love the current standard pool and I'm a big fan of rakdos/mardu midrange in modern and in Pauper. Saw an opportunity for an interesting deck that I would love to play at fnm so I thought I'd hop on over here and get some thoughts. Thanks in advance!
I think hireling is the only super relevant one but the question here is whether or not that makes the thunderous wrath/burning prophet synergy bad enough that we don't play it. Thoughts? I've really liked it in the past.
Just wondering
I'm considering building hollow one and I'm wondering why we dont play cathartic reunion? seems like it would be good to discard two grave synergy cards and draw into a hollow one etc.
I really love burning prophet with thunderous wrath. I've been able to cast it fairly consistently for 1. I wouldn't go up to 3 because that would make it worse but I feel like we need more tech against MBC. I've been doing very well with the deck
recently but against MBC I'm something like 1 and 7
I was considering swirling sandstorm back in the sideboard since it's a much better late game sweeper than martyr and it might be handy in the longer MUs when we are a bit outclassed on the board.
Also thoughts on renaming the thread? How would we do it?
hey guys working on setting up my SB for MBC (just recently put it together) and I was wondering what the tough matchups are for us (there's no real explanation on the primer) just looking to understand the sideboard layout better.
by the way, @upkeep I saw your videos on Rakdos control and was wondering if there was a primer somewhere for that or if you were just tinkering? How did it feel in comparison to Mono Red? Obviously alot of great stuff comes from black ie Gangler and Thorn
This is the list I fielded at pauper (paper) this weekend
Went 30 against BW Edge of the Divinity , Golgari Aristocrats, and Elves
Edge was tough and I had to fight back from like 2 life game 1, he got to like 48 life and I beat him down with 4 minotaurs.
Game 2 he got there like turn 4 and I had no chance
Game 3 he just didn't get enough gas and I got ahead and won with 3 prophets on board
Aristocrats was pretty easy, with the number of 2 for 1s in the deck, I just kept him off of his resources and he ended up with a 1/1 carrion feeder both games
Elves is pretty much an auto win, I just kept him off his one drops and he didn't have any gas for his better creatures in the matchup.
I'm taking burning prophet down to a 3 of and not sure what to add it to but arc lightning was better than usual so maybe a fourth there. Otherwise, I'm going to go back to 4 firebolt. I would just cut prophet games 23 in removal heavy matchups.
Loving carnarium, lots more keepable hands and fewer mana problems in general because long games have more mana. Also, I returned forgotten cave in the late game for nice card advantage twice which was nice. Finally, I'm gonna stay off of skred because of the damage to the manabase and because in my other testing I havent had much problem dealing with Gurmag angler and with thunderous wrath we have a decent 1 for 1 in a pinch.
So I played a pauper (paper) event this weekend with burning prophet and she actually played quite well. She will require more testing but overall she was good early game pressure and value while not being dead late game. She never lasted long enough to be a "closer" but she almost always triggered at least twice before she ate a removal spell.
In general having creatures is bad because blanking removal is one of the strong points of this deck so maybe prophet doesn't deserve a major spot in the main but I'm currently playing 3 and it feels pretty good.
Not currently on skred. I played a few casual games with it and I pretty rarely was able to get real value out of it where I wouldn't have preferred flame slash or another spell.I also missed carnariums which I currently have 4 of in the main. Really liking the four carnariums. I never felt punished by them and they almost always helped out a mana tight hand when I got them.
Any chance you could include a list? Alot of this seems like great info. Would love some context. Also, how did you do at magic fest?
thanks
The deck trades some redundancy and speed for a higher curve that really punishes the more controlling decks that usually pose problems for us. Let me know your thoughts on this but so far it has been very nice to have that backup plan of eldritch evolution into wilt-leaf liege which can sometimes just close out a game in 2ish turns against the matchups where a combo finish is often out of reach.
(This is sort of similar to the idea of having the stoneblade alternate wincon but I have found that this one is a bit less disruptable and very damaging against Liliana of the veil
Thoughts and comments? thanks
1 Walking Ballista
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
4 Devoted Druid
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Vizier of Remedies
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Ranger-Captain of Eos
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Giver of Runes
3 Assassin's Trophy
3 Eladamri's Call
3 Eldritch Evolution
2 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Giver of Runes
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Spellskite
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Ranger-Captain of Eos
1 Assassin's Trophy
3 Lingering Souls
2 Burning Prophet
4 Thorn of the Black Rose
1 Crown-Hunter Hireling
4 Gurmag Angler
1 Firebolt
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Raven's Crime
4 Chainer's Edict
4 Magma Jet
3 Night's Whisper
4 Terminate
3 Evincar's Justice
3 Pristine Talisman
4 Bloodfell Caves
6 Mountain
4 Rakdos Carnarium
7 Swamp
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Duress
4 Pyroblast
4 Molten Rain
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Pristine Talisman
Creatures
Thorn of the Black Rose - Our essential card draw engine. With the level of board control and removal in the deck, Thorn is usually just a 4-mana Phyrexian Arena. Additionally, Thorn survives Evincar's Justice and often trades with a creature in the late game. 4-of.
Crown-Hunter Hireling - Another great draw spell but not nearly as powerful or essential as Thorn. Decent beater but only if the opponent is consistently taking the monarchy from you. 1-2 alongside Thorn.
Burning Prophet - A new and relatively untested card filtering engine. If you drop prophet early she can be a decent 2 or even 3 power beater. Often, prophet will just eat a removal spell but is an instant 2-for-1 as long as you can pop off an activation before she dies.
Gurmag Angler - Fairly self explanatory. 5/5 beater for 1-2 mana in the late game. Just be careful not to exile that Chainer's Edict!
Lost Legion
Spells
Lightning Bolt - 4-of. 'nuf said.
Magma Jet - The epitome of what this deck wants to do. Kills most pesky early beaters in the format and filters our mana. A+ 2-for-1. 4-of.
Chainer's Edict - An essential Pauper removal spell. Great against big mana decks and Ulamog's Crushers. In the long game, edict can really come back to bite the unsuspecting opponent. Plan for the future and be careful not to exile them with your Gurmag Anglers. 4-of. If your meta is incredibly geared towards tiny leaders or elves, the argument could be made to cut 1-2 of these for different removal but this should be very rare.
Terminate - Our main catch-all removal spell, Terminate does wonders against matchups that grind out big creatures or stall the game out with tough to burn walls. Generally you want to be playing 4. If big mana decks are rare in your meta then the argument could be made for 2-3 in favor of more Evincar's Justices or Moment of Cravings.
Firebolt
Evincar's Justice
Raven's Crime
Duress
Sideboard
4 Footlight Fiend
4 Dreadhorde Butcher
3 Priest of Forgotten Gods
3 Judith, the Scourge Diva
4 Legion Warboss
3 Mayhem Devil
2 Plaguecrafter
3 Spawn of Mayhem
2 Angrath's Rampage
4 Heartfire
3 Light Up the Stage
3 Theater of Horrors
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodfell Caves
5 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
7 Swamp
2 Midnight Reaper
3 Bedevil
4 Cry of the Carnarium
2 Drill Bit
4 Leyline of Combustion
I mainly saw the opportunity to just get ahead on a not quite aggro speed aggressive ish value based build around spectacle and sacrifice.
I'm considering building hollow one and I'm wondering why we dont play cathartic reunion? seems like it would be good to discard two grave synergy cards and draw into a hollow one etc.
thanks in advance
I really love burning prophet with thunderous wrath. I've been able to cast it fairly consistently for 1. I wouldn't go up to 3 because that would make it worse but I feel like we need more tech against MBC. I've been doing very well with the deck
recently but against MBC I'm something like 1 and 7
I was considering swirling sandstorm back in the sideboard since it's a much better late game sweeper than martyr and it might be handy in the longer MUs when we are a bit outclassed on the board.
Also thoughts on renaming the thread? How would we do it?
thanks in advanceBBB
Went 3
Edge was tough and I had to fight back from like 2 life game 1, he got to like 48 life and I beat him down with 4 minotaurs.
Game 2 he got there like turn 4 and I had no chance
Game 3 he just didn't get enough gas and I got ahead and won with 3 prophets on board
Aristocrats was pretty easy, with the number of 2 for 1s in the deck, I just kept him off of his resources and he ended up with a 1/1 carrion feeder both games
Elves is pretty much an auto win, I just kept him off his one drops and he didn't have any gas for his better creatures in the matchup.
I'm taking burning prophet down to a 3 of and not sure what to add it to but arc lightning was better than usual so maybe a fourth there. Otherwise, I'm going to go back to 4 firebolt. I would just cut prophet games 2
Loving carnarium, lots more keepable hands and fewer mana problems in general because long games have more mana. Also, I returned forgotten cave in the late game for nice card advantage twice which was nice. Finally, I'm gonna stay off of skred because of the damage to the manabase and because in my other testing I havent had much problem dealing with Gurmag angler and with thunderous wrath we have a decent 1 for 1 in a pinch.
4 Martyr of Ashes
4 Burning Prophet
3 Firebolt
2 Flame Slash
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Magma Jet
3 Arc Lightning
3 Staggershock
3 Flurry of Horns
2 Thunderous Wrath
3 Pristine Talisman
4 Curse of the Pierced Heart
2 Forgotten Cave
2 Quicksand
4 Rakdos Carnarium
13 Mountain
4 Pyroblast
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Hordeling Outburst
4 Molten Rain
2 Fissure
1 Pristine Talisman
In general having creatures is bad because blanking removal is one of the strong points of this deck so maybe prophet doesn't deserve a major spot in the main but I'm currently playing 3 and it feels pretty good.
Not currently on skred. I played a few casual games with it and I pretty rarely was able to get real value out of it where I wouldn't have preferred flame slash or another spell.I also missed carnariums which I currently have 4 of in the main. Really liking the four carnariums. I never felt punished by them and they almost always helped out a mana tight hand when I got them.
decklist to follow soon.