Budget Rakdos

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Budget Primer

Mekare

Creature (37)

• 1x Anger
• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Bane of Bala Ged
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Carnage Gladiator
• 1x Conduit of Ruin
• 1x Cryptborn Horror
• 1x Deathbringer Regent
• 1x Desolation Twin
• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Dwarven Miner
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Garna, the Bloodflame
• 1x Goblin Fireslinger
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Indulgent Tormentor
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Loyal Subordinate
• 1x Myr Battlesphere
• 1x Nettle Drone
• 1x Oblivion Sower
• 1x Pilgrim's Eye
• 1x Plague Spitter
• 1x Rakdos Firewheeler
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Royal Assassin
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Sin Prodder
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Spear Spewer
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Ulamog's Crusher
• 1x Viashino Heretic

Land (38)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Foreboding Ruins
• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld
• 1x Lavaclaw Reaches
• 15x Mountain
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 15x Swamp

Artifact (8)

• 1x Bontu's Monument
• 1x Cryptolith Fragment  ^Flip
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Pestilence
• 1x Pyrohemia
• 1x Theater of Horrors

Commander (1)

Instant (7)

• 1x Doom Blade
• 1x Murder
• 1x Necrologia
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Tragic Slip
• 1x Unlicensed Disintegration

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Promise of Power
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Sign in Blood

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A budget version of my optimized Rakdos build

I've been asked enough times for a budget version of one of my favorite decks that here it is! Only 3 cards are at or above the 3 dollar mark (being sol ring, pyrohemia, and solemn Simulacrum) all of which I felt are worth an include.


What do I actually need to run this deck?

Pingers
You want to get rakdos out quickly. There’s a few ways go to this, but the most efficient way is small creature that deal damage (ideally outside of combat). Do you have to use the ones I listed? Nope! But several of these are good enough they’re still in my nonbudget version.

Giant Creatures
Rakdos ability gives us a discount on casting. . . To fully utilize this, colorless creatures are ideal, then utility or evasion creatures. But feel free to fill the top end with whatever janky fatties you wish!

Card Draw
If the deck is playing how it is designed to, you will be dumping large amounts of creatures onto the field, and often. Card draw to refill your hand is therefore vital to the deck. I have a combination of single use and multiple turn draw spells. You don’t have to run the exact ones, but I recommend playing as much card draw as you can afford to.

Removal
We’re in some of the best colors in magic to kill things, and keeping our opponents board clear while ours is full is ideal. Included are a combination of single target spells, removal on creatures, and your two most important cards in the deck outside of your commander: pestilence and pyrohemia. Please run these two cards!

That’s the deck! Pingers to cast your commander, ambient/combat/ping damage to cast giant things for free/discounted and win! You out-value the rest of your table with Rakdos’s ability (paincasting) and kill through combat damage.


The difference between the budget and non-budget builds:
- Land base is obviously on the cheap side; you could easily slot in better duals (please don’t run a bunch of tap lands!) or utility lands. MOST of the cost of many decks is actually in the mana base, and the non budget version is no exception.
- Tutors are expensive. They make your decks more consistent, and grab what you need in a given situation. I didn’t include many, since rakdos doesn’t have an I-WIN button or combo, but this should be one of the first upgrades you make if you enjoy the deck. You don’t have to run imperial seal. . . There are plenty of 5-10 dollar black tutors out there.
- Better eldrazi, both praetors, the Gearhulks. . .this is a creature based deck that kills things by combat. When upgrading the creature base of this deck, look for creatures that give you value ON CURVE. . Or dudes that are a 2 for 1. (For example, deathbringer reagent isn’t just a giant flying creature, he’s also a boardwipe on a stick!) Don’t fall into the trap of your entire base being 6+ cmc creatures; what will you do if Rakdos is turned into a moon?


Let me know what you think of my budget build, and if you enjoy our guild leader and demon daddy, please take a look at my optimized version here

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	WUG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.94
Tokens	Demon X/X B, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Human 1/1 R, Myr 1/1 C