As the spoiler season starts to draw to a close, I have created an official description of the deck:
As a part of the Ravnica Allegiance set, a new Rakdos mechanic was created: Spectacle. While Rakdos is meant to be a fast, aggressive creature deck 'hellbent' on eradicating the opponent while taking great risks, I have discovered a strong potential for colors, and mechanic, for burn. In the past, I have experimented with RB burn decks, and even created a couple for different formats; here is a link to my modern version, which is outdated for now. However, with the release of Spectacle, I believe that burn is the best deck to utilize this mechanic because of the raw, and often cheap, damage it can output to trigger it. RNA Standard has created a great environment for burn to function in, with many small-creatured, aggressive decks in the format, as well as minimal lifegain (Orzhov did not get that much, and neither did Selesnya/Boros). In addition, Standard is abound with burn spells aplenty to use. With this in mind, here is a deck rundown:
Standard Burn Spells:
-
The standard burn spells in the deck are
Lightning Strike
,
Sovereign's Bite
,
Shock
, and
Skewer the Critics
, these burn spells all deal 2-3 damage consistently while at a cheap price of one or two mana. (Skewer will almost always be used in conjunction with its spectacle cost. More on that later)
-
The second half of
Carnival / Carnage
is very powerful, being a
Blightning
(one of my favorite burn cards) with some extra cost. This serves as a great finisher, leaving the opponent with less cards in hand to deal with your threats.
-
Risk Factor
is great for several reasons. First of all, early on, the opponent will not want to fill your hand with cards, so they will take the four damage. Free four damage on turn 3! In addition, this spell serves as a way around a significant problem of burn; which is, quite literally, burning out, of spells. With Jump-Start, all those extra lands simply fuel the punishment more. The final quirk is that, in addition to most likely dealing a guaranteed four damage, Risk Factor also presents the opponent with the danger of Spectacle being activated.
Spectacle Enablers:
-
The first, primary enabler for Spectacle is, not surprisingly, the first half of
Carnival / Carnage
. A one mana spell that can kill a small creature is alright, but the second part is great for activating Spectacle in a cheap way.
-
Spawn of Mayhem
can often come down on Turn 4, with the help of cards like the one mentioned above, and is a constant Spectacle activator. In addition, a three mana 4/4 flying trampler is very difficult to deal with early on. The final part of Spawn of Mayhem will almost never be used, thanks to how fast the deck is and the lifegain from Sovereign's Bite, but it is an added bonus if the game ever lasts long enough.
-
Shock is also good at activating Spectate, but is more of a burn spell, so I included it with the other burn spells in that section.
Card Advantage:
-
The advantage of playing black in burn, in contrast to white or mono red, is that you get access to all sorts of card advantage. What better card to use than
Theater of Horrors
! With this enchantment, you in essence draw two cards a turn, one of which basically gets a spectacle cost. As a burn deck, activating the ability to cast those spells and play those lands is not that difficult; the activated ability of the enchantment is not that necessary, but it can be used for last resort, attrition circumstances. In addition, the opponent losing life on their turn, such as through shock lands, allows you to cast any instants you have stockpiled under Theater of Horrors, turning a casual mana advantage into a damage overload!
-
Rix Maadi Reveler
is, in essence, a reprinted
Bedlam Reveler
but for a cheaper cost. At worst, it is a savior for mana floods or shortages, allowing you to cycle a card in your hand while also getting a body on the battlefield. At best, it refills your empty (or useless) hand with three more cards, or three more burn spells for more damage.
-
Light Up the Stage
is the final spectacle cost of the main deck, allowing you to get a significant amount of card advantage later on in the game, when you have more mana to cast more spells. Essentially, with the help of Spectacle enablers, this card turns into one mana draw two cards, which can provide more ammo for the burn, or find lands in the event of a mana shortage.
Removal:
-
There are more
Bedevil
s in the sideboard, but having one in the main deck helps to deal with troublesomely large creatures, artifacts, or even Planeswalkers. An all around good card, and invaluable in any RB deck in RNA Standard.
-
Lava Coil
is standard removal, exiling a usually troublesome creature if it dies to four damage. This really helps against decks like Golgari, which have tons of reanimation. However, Lava Coil becomes really powerful with the next card...
-
This one card turns almost every single burn spell in the deck into a typical black removal spell. While not the first to give non-creature spells creature-based abilities,
Pestilent Spirit
turns over this whole deck in an instant. The first half of
Carnival / Carnage
becomes a one mana Murder, Lava Coil almost becomes Vraska's Contempt for two mana, and any pinging across the board into a wrath. The power of this card is substantial, but its weakness is that it dies to just about anything. Use this card carefully, and it may just take a match against a creature-based deck.
Sideboard:
-
The sideboard contains answers against typical decks in the Standard metagame.
-
Banefire
is for those control matchups, where they allow you to get in that last bit of damage without getting it countered.
-
More Bedevils for the excellent utility.
-
Cast Down
is a backup removal spell, but only a one-of because of the amount of removal in the deck already.
-
One of my favorite wraths from this set,
Cry of the Carnarium
is devastating to reanimator decks. Against Golgari or maybe even Orzhov, simply sacrificing the creature doesn't save them from imminent exile. Great graveyard hate and small board wipe.
-
Similar to Skewer the Critics,
Drill Bit
is a
Thoughtseize
without the life cost. While there is a spectacle cost attached to it, the card is extremely invaluable, and can often come down on turn two and disrupt the opponent.
-
Ritual of Soot
is for aggro/token matchups, where the board gets filled quickly and abundantly. The boardwipe also ignores
Spawn of Mayhem
, so that demon can remain to harass and Spectacle spells.
-
Finally,
Vraska's Contempt
is backup planeswalker removal, and useful for getting to creatures that usually avoid normal removal, as well as pesky planeswalkers.
As more RNA spoilers come out to finish the spoiler season, this deck might get some updates, but for now it is complete. And as always, tips and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Changes:
1/23/19: Trying out some copies of
Electrostatic Field
instead of
Pestilent Spirit
for more damage overall.
