Removal: the Gathering

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Control

LivingThing

Creature (21)

• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Carnifex Demon
• 1x Corrosive Mentor
• 1x Dusk Urchins
• 1x Festering Mummy
• 1x Flayer of the Hatebound
• 1x Fume Spitter
• 1x Kulrath Knight
• 1x Midnight Banshee
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Necropede
• 1x Necroskitter
• 1x Plague Myr
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Skinrender
• 1x Soul Snuffers
• 1x Soulstinger
• 1x Stigma Lasher
• 1x Tilonalli's Summoner
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Instant (9)

• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Blur of Blades
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Scar
• 1x Splendid Agony
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Torment of Venom
• 1x Virulent Wound

Land (35)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 9x Mountain
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 13x Swamp

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x By Force
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Incremental Blight
• 1x Lethal Sting
• 1x Reforge the Soul
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Commander (1)

Artifact (13)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Contagion Clasp
• 1x Contagion Engine
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x The Ozolith
• 1x Thought Vessel

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Attrition
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Blowfly Infestation
• 1x Crumbling Ashes
• 1x Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1x Everlasting Torment
• 1x Glistening Oil
• 1x Nest of Scarabs

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Primer still in progress

"I bet the only thing holding back your deck is the available card pool, the current meta, and your ability to pilot it." - Kathleen De Vere

"Well I know how to solve one of those problems." - Graham Stark

Today, we embrace our inner Graham and solve one of those problems

The Scorpion God is probably the most overlooked and underrated commanders in Rakdos right now. His effect is streamlined to give you the most value each activation and unlike most BR commanders, The Scorpion God bounces back extremely quickly from sweepers and board wipes with his busted activated ability synergies. Easily some of the most fun i've had playing commander, and I really hope this guy gets more attention with the boom the format is going through. Anyway here's a quick primer on how the deck does the cool things it does.

The Scorpion God (Start Here)

The Scorpion God Is one of the most interesting commanders in BR. For a fairly cheap 5 mana, you get a very value based commander. For 3 mana, we can put a -1/-1 counter on any target creature and he gives you a card when a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it dies. Already, this seems good. Getting a card whenever a creature dies in black, where you're already running Blood Artist and Midnight Reaper is awesome.

This sets up what our deck wants us to do: get creatures out, preferably ones that gives us a strong ETB and death effect, then put a counter on them for value when they die. This'll get explained more through the rest of the primer.

The Scorpion God also has a really good insurance policy, and this deck practically enjoys sweepers and board wipes to be played. First off, pumping your mana into a few counters on creatures that'll die anyway and getting cards and other value if you already have sac outlets on board seems really good. Second, due to the recursive and value based nature of the deck, you'll be refilling your hand every time the board gets reset and you will be winning any game of Attrition . What i've noticed playing rakdos is that you tend to not have a good repsonse aside from sacking it for minimal value when it comes to your own creatures getting removed, and having a commander that gives you card (and most of the time even more value) advantage each time someone tries to interact with your board is what is so fun about this commander.

Another thing to note is the final piece of text on The Scorpion God . We are effectively able to never pay commander tax if we wait one turn, which usually shouldn't be too problematic for a deck that is focused on controlling an opponent's board. This is a huge boon when we only have 35 lands in the deck, and a limited number of mana rocks, and shouldn't be overlooked.

As you can see, the primer is incomplete, as the deck still needs a lot of help. I would appreciate any suggestions on includes, cuttables, and ways to make the deck more consistent. I'm pretty stuck here, so any input would be greatly valued. Just to note, the deck is built on a loose budget, so I couldn't fill the deck with tutors or more fetch lands, though those would be included if funds allowed.

Deck Weaknesses (Help)

• Sac fodder (getting creatures on the battlefield to sac)

• Ramp

• Consistency (Hard to do without tutors)

Any suggestions to help these issues are very much appreciated

(Mana curve is wonky, I know, trying to fix that)

Top Ranked	Achieved #36 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #29 position in Commander / EDH 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	City's Blessing, Construct 1/1 C Token w/ Defender, Elemental 1/1 R, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Insect 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Ideas, edh