Rakdos, Lord of Eldrazi

Commander / EDH Aggro BR (Rakdos) Demons Eldrazi

PoisonNectar

Land (34)

• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Eldrazi Temple
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Molten Slagheap
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rocky Tar Pit
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Sanctum of Ugin
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 2x Wastes

CreatureBuffs (6)

• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Forerunner of Slaughter
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

GraveyardInteraction (5)

• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Creature (2)

• 1x Cryptborn Horror
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa

Damage (14)

• 1x Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Goblin Fireslinger
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Lobber Crew
• 1x Nettle Drone
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Retreat to Hagra
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1x Sarkhan's Unsealing
• 1x Sunscorched Desert
• 1x Thermo-Alchemist
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Ramp (8)

• 1x Armillary Sphere
• 1x Belbe's Portal
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Scuttlemutt
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Veinfire Borderpost

Removal (6)

• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Kolaghan's Command
• 1x Oblivion Strike
• 1x Price of Fame
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Terminate

Clear (2)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Vandalblast

InfiniteCombo3 (1)

• 1x Hellkite Charger

Steal (1)

• 1x Stolen Strategy

Commander (1)

FreeSummon (10)

• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Breaker of Armies
• 1x Colossus of Akros
• 1x Desolation Twin
• 1x Endless One
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• 1x Oblivion Sower
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Draw (6)

• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Indulgent Tormentor
• 1x Knollspine Dragon
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rogue's Gloves
• 1x Underworld Connections

Tutor (4)

• 1x Conduit of Ruin
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Eye of Ugin

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Sideboard

Kill (2)

• 1x Dreadbore
• 1x Kozilek's Return

Protection (1)

• 1x Stunning Reversal

SwitchInForLuxurySuite1v1 (1)

• 1x Swamp

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Maybeboard

FreeSummon(Expensive) (7)

• 1x Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Platinum Emperion
• 1x Through the Breach
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Kill (2)

• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Dread Cacodemon

Flash (1)

• 1x Vedalken Orrery

InfiniteCombo2 (1)

• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

Ramp (1)

• 1x Neheb, the Eternal

CreatureBuffs (5)

• 1x Anger
• 1x Chariot of Victory
• 1x Dragon Throne of Tarkir
• 1x Glaring Spotlight
• 1x Helm of the Host

FreeSummon(Budget) (5)

• 1x Ancient Stone Idol
• 1x Geode Golem
• 1x Scuttling Doom Engine
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Void Winnower

Damage (5)

• 1x Angrath, the Flame-Chained
• 1x Lightning-Rig Crew
• 1x Sower of Discord
• 1x Vexing Devil
• 1x Vial Smasher the Fierce

InfiniteCombo1 (3)

• 1x Ancestral Statue
• 1x Flayer Drone
• 1x Impact Tremors

InfiniteCombo3 (1)

• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine

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Deck History:

Okay. This is my third attempt at a Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck.

Iteration 1: Rakommander Show

The first one (Rakommander) just wasn't consistent enough with getting him onto the battlefield (dealing that damage to play him was tough) and lacked the necessary card draw to keep the hand fat with high-drops, all of which were demons, which cost colored mana even if their generic mana cost is reduced to , which limited the amount of them I could summon at once.

Iteration 2: Artifrakdos Show

In the second iteration (Artifrakdos), I added some card draw like Sign in Blood and Read the Bones, but those weren't sufficient, since they were not repeatable. I did get onto the right track in this iteration when I switched a large number of the demons out, and replaced them with artifact creatures, which could be summoned for no cost if enough damage was dealt. I used arcbound creatures like Arcbound Worker or Arcbound Lancer, and other artifact creatures like Bosh, Iron Golem, but artifact creatures just didn't cut it in sheer power and abilities. In addition, I tried to solve the problem of dealing damage to summon Rakdos by adding in some burn like Burst Lightning and Gut Shot, but other than Gut Shot, this ended up being ineffective, as I had to spend more , which often made it impossible to pay for Rakdos' . Even though Gut Shot could be cast without paying , which solved that problem, it was only one spell, and it wasn't repeatable, which made it less than optimal.

Current Version Overview:

That brings me to this iteration. Using my past failures as a lesson, I added some more consistent draw, like Phyrexian Arena, Rogue's Gloves and Underworld Connections; I added mana ramp, with cards like Sword of the Animist and Armillary Sphere; I added more consistent damage to summon Rakdos with cards like Lobber Crew, Triskelion, Retreat to Hagra, and Palace Siege; and I replaced most of the artifact creatures with Eldrazi.

With cards like Kozilek, the Great Distortion, and It That Betrays, it's hard not to win. Simply get a pinger like Goblin Fireslinger out in the first few turns, and make sure to have the right mana, then by turn 4, you've got your commander. Even better, play him with Lightning Greaves, and you can swing with him that turn, and play something like Triskelion or Scuttling Doom Engine (or both!) for free turn 4. That's 2 6/6s and a 4/4 on the fourth turn of the game- and that's not even the limit! You can play anything you've got in your hand- whether it be Conduit of Ruin or Scuttlemutt, and potentially all of the aforementioned creatures, if you've got them all in hand. Then use your new, free buddies to deal more damage, and play more creatures for free, and go from there!

In the best cases, you can deal a bunch of damage before the combat phase with Rite of the Raging Storm paired with ETB Damage cards (Warstorm Surge or Flayer of the Hatebound), pingers, or other sources of damage, summon a bunch of big creatures for free with Rakdos' ability, give them haste with Forerunner of Slaughter, Urabrask the Hidden, or equipment such as Swiftfoot Boots, and swing out for lethal right then and there.

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Card Explanations:

Endless One and Hangarback Walker Show

If you deal damage in a turn, you can play Endless One for free, perhaps as a 10/10 (or more!). For potentially even more fun, play Hangarback Walker for free and get yourself a bunch of little thopters to ping for even more damage!

Ghoulcaller Gisa (and combos involving her) Show

In the right situations, you can use Ghoulcaller Gisa to strong effect to pseudo-counter some of your opponents' attempts to control your board. For example, you might sacrifice Desolation Twin when he's about to die, then bring him back with Torrent of Souls or Sheoldred, Whispering One for 3 10/10 Eldrazi, and 10 2/2 zombies! This works with any creature- if they're about to die, get exiled, or get stolen, just make sure you've got Gisa untapped, and you can get a nice little hoard of zombies from the corpses of your fallen giants!

For some more fun, try playing Cryptborn Horror on an especially damage-heavy turn, and then sacrificing him to Ghoulcaller Gisa for that many little 2/2 zombies, doubling the total attack power across the zombies. (Same works with Endless One). For best results, play with ETB damage cards like Warstorm Surge on the battlefield! You'll deal the normal (X) damage by attacking, then (X) again from Cryptborn Horror or Endless one entering the battlefield, and then double (X) damage: 2 for each zombie that enters the battlefield! If you dealt only 6 damage when attacking, you could end up dealing a total of 24 damage that turn, for as little as just !

Yawgmoth's Will Show

Yawgmoth's Will can be used to potentially bring back every creature in your graveyard in one turn for just the 3 mana it costs to cast it!

Vedalken Orrery Show

Vedalken Orrery is very fun, especially in group games: Oh, an opponent dealt 10 damage to someone else? time to flash in a Desolation Twin- 2 10/10s for free, essentially with haste! Alternatively- having trouble dealing damage on your turn to summon Rakdos? Wait until an opponent deals damage to another player, then flash Rakdos onto the field during their turn- and he'll effectively have haste!

Warstorm Surge and Rite of the Raging Storm Show

Use cards like Warstorm Surge and Rite of the Raging Storm together for miraculous results, both in pure damage, and in summoning some nice big Eldrazi for free by the 10 damage from summoning and attacking- all the while dealing damage to your opponent(s) or their creatures equal to your Eldrazi and Elementals' enormous power with Warstorm Surge! Rite of the Raging Storm and pingers can be useful for summoning Rakdos in a lategame pinch if you're having just a little trouble getting damage dealt to your opponent.

Knollspine Dragon Show

My FAVORITE card in the deck is Knollspine Dragon. Let's say you deal 9 damage by swinging, unblocked with Rakdos, Lord of Riots and Forerunner of Slaughter. You then dump Triskelion and Conduit of Ruin onto the battlefield for free. Using Conduit's ability, you put Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger on top of your deck. Then you tap 2 red mana and play Knollspine Dragon. You discard your hand (which is likely empty from playing the rest of your creatures) and draw 9 cards, the first one being Ulamog, which you play for a simple tap of any land or artifact. You also draw into up to 8 other creatures, all of which you can likely summon for free. This could be done by turn 5 in an ideal game (perhaps even turn 4 if you get a perfect hand). Next turn, you swing for upwards of 40 damage (depending on what creatures you drew and which ones stuck) and play some demons or some more Eldrazi from your hand (if your opponent isn't dead yet).

Maybeboard Show

Anger and Hammer of Purphoros are in the maybeboard because I usually don't summon creatures until after the attack phase, so haste doesn't usually help, but it can certainly be helpful in certain circumstances, like if I summon creatures with mana, and want to use them to attack so I can summon some more high drops that turn- so I'm unsure about it so far. If you have a strong opinion one way or another, let me know.

Glaring Spotlight is good for protecting your creatures and swinging for lethal, but it's not very helpful against board clears and the like, so I'm not sure it's worth taking something else out for it. I would recommend putting it in if you find yourself having difficulty hitting face due to token blockers, targeted removal, or the like.

Molten Slagheap is a good card for when you simply pass your turn because you have nothing you can do. This way, you’re at least saving up some mana for later turns. I took it out because this is a more aggressive deck, and shouldn’t be doing much waiting around, and lands that tapped for colored mana were more desirable, but if you don’t have some of the lands in the decklist, but do have this card, or you find yourself passing your turn a lot, I would recommend putting this card in your deck.

Wurmcoil Engine, Blightsteel Colossus, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Platinum Emperion are in the maybeboard because they're expensive, and aren't necessary for the deck to run well, but are amazing cards, and would be fantastic to add to the deck if I have an opportunity to get them in a trade or for a lower price. If you own them, I would recommend swapping them with some of the other Free Summon creatures in the decklist that you don't have, or are just not as good.

Scuttling Doom Engine, Steel Hellkite Ancient Stone Idol and Colossus of Akros are also some of the better budget artifacts to summon for free if you can't afford some of the more expensive Eldrazi. Colossus of Akros and Ancient Stone Idol are great defenders, but defenders aren't always necessary in an aggressive deck like this. If you find that you're getting killed before you can kill your opponents, perhaps tech these in for that purpose. Scuttling Doom Engine is good because it's difficult to block, and even if it is blocked, if it is destroyed, it deals a free double Lightning Bolt to an opponent.

Walking Ballista is another Hangarback Walker-type card, and those cards can be interchanged if you have one or the other.

Really any of the Free Summon cards can be interchanged and the deck will still run well, so feel free to stay in the budget zone and snag some of the cheaper cards, or go full-out and get Blightsteel Colossus and whatnot for an insane power level.

Infinite Combo 1: (Rakdos + Ancestral Statue + ETB Damage) Show

I also have Ancestral Statue, Flayer Drone, and Impact Tremors in the Maybeboard because I felt like this decklist would be incomplete without at least acknowledging this one, as it is made possible by the commander, so it's more specific to this deck.

The infinite combo requires three cards:

Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Ancestral Statue

and any of the following ETB (Enter the battlefield) Damage cards: Warstorm Surge, Flayer Drone, Flayer of the Hatebound, or Impact Tremors.

The combo is simple: have Rakdos, Lord of Riots and any of the ETB Damage cards on the board, and deal four or more damage spread out among any number of opponents. Then, play Ancestral Statue for , due to Rakdos' effect. The ETB cards will deal damage to one or all of your opponents. Then, have Ancestral Statue or Cloudstone Curio target itself, bouncing it to your hand. Replay it up to infinite times, until your opponents are all dead from the ETB damage.

If you want to play this combo, feel free to remove win-more stat-stick cards like Malignus or Cryptborn Horror, or anything else not integral to the deck's core functionality.

Infinite Combo 2: (Mikaeus + Triskelion) Show

I had Triskelion in the deck as a free pinger to help with the casting of Rakdos, Lord of Riots or a free summon from Rakdos, Lord of Riots before I found this infinite combo, so I figured I'd add Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to the maybeboard just to show that the combo exists. If you don't know how it works, you play Triskelion, and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, and then use Triskelion to ping an opponent until it has 2 counters left. Then have it ping itself with the remaining 2, killing itself. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed brings it back, since you removed all the counters on it. Triskelion gains its 3 counters, and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed gives it an extra one. From there, simply repeat the process.

As with the other infinite combos, I don't think it's integral to the deck or very fun, but I figured I'd mention it, and you can take out one of the non-integral cards (like Malignus or Cryptborn Horror) to add this 2-card infinite combo for some easy wins here and there.

Infinite Combo 3: (Hellkite Charger & Sword of Feast and Famine) Show

I figured I'd mention this infinite combo too, despite it not being specific to this deck, unlike the other 2 combos, because it can be fun to attack infinite times with giant Eldrazi.

Play Hellkite Charger & Sword of Feast and Famine. As long as you have 7 or more lands, you can gain infinite combat phases, by being able to untap your lands, and activate Hellkite Charger's ability.

If you want, feel free to take out one of the non-integral cards (like Malignus or Cryptborn Horror) to add this 2-card infinite combo for some easy wins here and there.

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You probably get the idea by now! It's a fun deck, both to play against, and to use, and when played very well, can be lethal by turn 5 or 6! It's extremely resilient- it can pick itself up from a board wipe and get back in motion in just a turn or two with enough mana. Have fun if you playtest or build this, and let me know if you have any suggestions! Thanks for checking the deck out, and for reading this huge description!

Date added	8 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 2 Mythic Rares 35 - 1 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.31
Tokens	Eldrazi 10/10 C, Lightning Rager, Thopter 1/1 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH - Rakdos, Commander decks, Lists im keeping in mind