Hey Everyone,
This is my first time trying to build a Rakdos deck. I thought I was going to build a scorpion god, but decided to go with Rakdos instead.
Here is a link to my current deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rakdos-blood-for-the-blood-god/
Please let me know if any suggestions!
Posted Jul 19, 2017, 11:43 AM UTC
Off a quick glance it doesn't look too bad. Crypt ghast I'd not overly necessary as cost reduction from rakdos takes care of casting costs for the most part. Razaketh and Neheb ftom HOU do WORK in rakdos though. First time playing with them in the deck last night
Other suggestions , walking ballista and sire of insanity,sheoldred,avatar of slaughter
I've found retreat to hagra to be really meh. You want a damage to your opponent's source reliably by turn 3 so you can turn 4 rakdos. Necropotence does very well in the deck. At work so sorry if my response seems disjointed lol. Rushing.
Also, I've found volcanic fallout works very well for early game sweep of dorks + opponent damage for rakdos.
Sheoldred seems excellent.
What do you recommend I replace for these creatures? Should I cut back on some of my spells/artifacts?
Personally I would cut:
Crypt ghast (like I stated. Rakdos cost reduction usually takes care of mana costs.I try to play with fatties with low actual color requirements in casting )
Blood speaker- replace him with razaketh
Goblin fires linger - I actually prefer vulshok sorcerer to him. Since she has haste.
Burnished hart - not really that neccesary . I've never really had mana issues (outside of rakdos dieing multiple times. But by that point you should be able to hard cast other tbings )
Indulgent tormentor - letting my opponents have the choice in letting me draw cards never usually works out well.
Plague spitter/Shepard of rot - these are both underwhelming in rakdos , from my testing with them anyways.
Non creature spells:
Blasphemous act - isn't really neccesary, try to aim for wipes that won't wipe your own board as well. Stuff like black sun zenith or toxic deluge where you can Control what dies.
Faithless looting/sign in blood etc- personally with arena and your other draw sources I'd scrap these for a Necropotence and maybe a couple other creatures . You always wanna have a fatty to drop off Rakdos.
Skull rend - is just bad. 5 mana is a lot to make people randomly discard 2 cards plus a little damage. I assume it's to activate rakdos cast trigger. But there's much better cheaper ways.
Staff of NIn- ok in certain decks. Not great in rakdos . 6 is a lot for a 1 dmg ping and an extra card .
Rakdos keyrune- it's meh . If you are really hurting for colored mana that bad it's ok I guess. But at 36 or 37 lands you can stand less rocks. I'd swap it for something more impact full
Cryptolith fragment- same with this . It seems like it wold be easy to flip. But by the time you do get it to, you don't even need it. Plus it comes In tapped. I hate mana sources that make me wait a turn to use them.
Palace siege/animatedead/whip of erebos - reanimation isn't really where you want to be with rakdos. I mean it is good to get bodies back .and if it works for you that's great. But you can get reanimation effects of bodies too. And rakdos makes them cheaper :p
Warstorm surge - again if it works for you that's awesome. I like the card . But I'm a slave to mana curve. And I hate paying a lot for something that isn't immediately impactful.
A lot of my suggestions are just personal preference, if it works for you, play it. It's about you enjoying the deck, not me :)
Noticed you have swift foot boots. Lighting greaves are also a good include. You want rakdos attacking the turn he's out if you can.
Couple decent lands too Winding canyons Nykthos,shrine to Nyx Urborg , Tomb of Yawgmoth
Try to have as few come in to play tapped lands as possible , if neccesary swap them for basics.
Blood moon and magus of the moon do work too if your table won't hate you out over them lol.
Another couple good creatures are Duplicant , noxious gearhulk and inferno titan and as mentioned below knollspine dragon (is a house) and sandstone oracle.
I'm sure I can give more tips, I'm just checking this in between work stuf lol
Oh, forgot. Sneak attack is fun too.
Disagree with the Blood Speaker cut. It lets you grab Razaketh which then lets you grab whatever. Plus it lets you chain Demons-into-Demons. Play Blood Speaker for B, sac him to Razaketh, find Demon, play Demon, return Blood Speaker, play him for B and keep going.
Also disagree with Shepherd of Rot. This does a lot of damage if there are any Zombie tribal. Also, Zombies are an incidental tribe. I do agree with the Plague Spitter cut but that's because it tends to kill all your other Enablers.
And I cannot believe you suggested to cut Cryptolith Fragment. That's probably Rakdos' best Enabler, bar none. By itself, it generates "4 mana" and of either colour which is important because of the RRBB of Rakdos. Unlike a lot of the other Enablers, it isn't a Creature so it can't be easily destroyed.
Like I said these are all only suggestions based on my own experiences . If they work for him that's awesome . My meta has no zombie tribals and my creature base has very few demons .
Also there is a lot of targeted removal in my playgroup so artifacts easily end up dissappearing before next untaps. Side affect of having somone who loves Swords in all their decks. Lol.
Also Cryptolith only taps for 1 mana. Yes it pings . So you get your rakdos cast trigger and reduction of 2 or 3 (colorless portion of casting cost) on your other creatures . But it only taps for 1 colored mana. You can't get 4 "colored" mana out of it.
Cryptolith Fragment isn't just a 3-drop mana source. Its also an enabler. Its a house in Radkos. Must include.
Why would he want to cut a one-drop for a three-drop that does the same thing but has haste? I don't run either, but Fireslinger > Sorcerer
Looting & sign in blood: I really like having quick card draw. I don't think these are terrible includes (even if I only have one of them in my Rakdos deck).
Burnished Hart isn't completely terrible. Its normally a free cast, so a chump that can be sac-ed for two lands? I'll take that.
Really appreciate some of these suggestions.
I'll likely hang on to shepard and Fragment, these seem like some of the easiest enablers right now. but I will swap plague spitter out for sure.
Overall looks pretty good. I think there's two things you should think about. The first is card draw. You have some, but Rakdos can really run out of gas fast. I'd consider [[knollspine dragon]], and [[sandstone oracle]] and other similar creatures. Second, I'd think about the mana base a little. I found that I really wanted to get Rakdos down on turn 4, and since he takes some set up, I might have earlier plays too, because of this, any lands that enter the battlefield tapped were risky, so I tried to minimize them. It's important to have lands that tap for both colors too, but I just think there's better options than Rakdos guildgate and the like.
knollspine dragon - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
sandstone oracle - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call ^^^- ^^^Updated ^^^images
I thought I got most of of the non-tap lands in except for badlands. There is the one that enters tapped and gains me one life, but that's it.
What do you suggest I substitute to put in Knollspine?
I think think you did a good job including the non-tap lands, I think my issue is that I'd probably rather have a swamp or mountain than a rakdos guildgate or gain land. Flamekin village will never enter untapped, so I think I'd rather have a mountain. I'm sure you're using it for haste, but I just don't think that it's worth it. Some of your other lands depend on swamps / mountains to enter untapped anyway, so you're kinds screwing up the lands that could enter untapped by adding more lands that enter tapped (like smoldering marsh, dragonskull summit, tainted peak).
You could maybe replace [[Ob nixilis, unshackled]] with Knollspine dragon. His effect is definitely cool, but I don't see it necessarily helping you out. Maybe if people tutor a lot in your meta keep him.
Ob nixilis, unshackled - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call ^^^- ^^^Updated ^^^images
I'll throw my list on tapped out when I get home so you can take a look. May give you some ideas on cuts to make
Looks pretty good. A couple things I would add:
[[combustable gearhulk]] - with the threat of what's in your deck people are very unlikely to take the risk. So you'll get good card draw on a good body.
[[rune-scarred demon]] - A diabolic tutor on a stick, a flying stick at that.
[[torrent of souls]] a spell that allows you to bring back a creature from your graveyard, buffed and with haste.
[[tunneling geopede]] He curves perfectly into rakdos, allowing your land drop on turn 4 to enable rakdos.
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combustable gearhulk - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
rune-scarred demon - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
torrent of souls - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
tunneling geopede - (G) (SF) (MC) (ER)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call ^^^- ^^^Updated ^^^images
Here is my Rakdos
I have a lot low cost (3cmc or less) because I want to bring him out when I drop my 4th mana source. I see you have a few of them as well, but feel free to look at my list for more ideas.
I see Boots, but no Greaves?
[[Sizzle]] and [[Flame Rift]] are REALLY good.
[[Ancestral Statue]] lets you get another cast or EtB trigger off your fatties. And, he's almost always free to cast.
I don't know how useful Heartless Hidetsugu is in your deck, but I never found much value in him. You can do much less damage cheaper and still cast your fatties for free.
Crypt Ghast seems unnecessary. You can replace that with just about anything else.
Overall, your deck looks like it can be very explosive. Good luck.
Thanks for the suggestion. There seems to be a consensus for cutting Crypt Ghast for sure.
Sizzle and Flame Rift looks great! Not sure how I missed those.
I'm overhauling my Rakdos right now, but here's the latest version of it. Should give you an idea of what I'm trying to do and how I do it.