The (Flying) Circus of Pain (RETIRED)

Commander / EDH Aristocrats BR (Rakdos) Combo Reanimator

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor

Creature (27)

• 1x Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 1x Balthor the Defiled
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Gutterbones
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Mayhem Devil
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Woe Strider
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Land (36)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Detection Tower
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x High Market
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 12x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (12)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Mob Rule
• 1x Nightmare Unmaking
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Victimize

Commander (1)

Artifact (13)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Gorgon's Head
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Instant (7)

• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Into the Core
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

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Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Garna, the Bloodflame
• 1x Goblin Sharpshooter
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Squee, the Immortal *f-pre*
• 1x Tenacious Dead

Instant (2)

• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Word of Seizing

Land (1)

• 1x Barren Moor

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Demonic Tutor

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NOTE: this deck has been retired and transformed into an Erebos, Bleak-Hearted aristocrats list because holy crap is Erebos fun/strong. The new deck can be found here

I was immediately interested in brewing with Judith, the Scourge Diva when I saw her. Here is the deck breakdown.

Judith the Scourge Diva and Her Stagehands

I am a big fan of the aristocrat's style of deck, but I just find W/B to be boring, so when Judith, the Scourge Diva was spoiled you could imagine my excitement. My only complaint with Judith is that she doesn't trigger off of tokens dying, but as you will see, there are ample ways around that.

The main focus of this deck is to continuously trigger Judith's ping ability to win games. However, she isn't the only one we call upon to to achieve this goal. Mayhem Devil serves as Judith's understudy providing an additional targeted ping source. Aristocrat classics like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, as well as the new Syr Konrad, the Grim also lend their services.

Tokens? We Don't Need No Stinking Tokens

Since we can't sacrifice tokens to win with Judith we need to instead use creatures that easily comeback repeatedly. Here we use Bloodghast, Gutterbones, Nether Traitor, and Reassembling Skeleton to achieve that goal. Each of these have a relatively low cost to bring back which is perfect when attempting to revive them multiple times a turn.

Since we don't want to completely rely on just recurring those four cards, additional ways to recur other creatures are included. Some of them provide us a mass revival for one big turn (Balthor the Defiled and Living Death), while others provide more gradual revival (Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Phyrexian Reclamation, Dread Return, Victimize, and Reanimate).

Executing the Game Plan

The deck runs ample ways to sacrifice creatures: Carrion Feeder, Viscera Seer, Goblin Bombardment, Woe Strider, Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Tower and many more one shot effects. Phyrexian Altar is the last and most important sac outlet. It is a key component to win-cons in the deck.

Profit

It is important to profit from all of this death.

Additional ramp (and creatures to sacrifice) comes from Pawn of Ulamog, Phyrexian Altar, and Pitiless Plunderer

Card advantage is provided by Grim Haruspex, Harvester of Souls, Phyrexian Arena, Ayara, First of Locthwain, and Skullclamp. Lastly we have the new Erebos, Bleak-Hearted who provides a massive sac/value engine.

Dictate of Erebos help keep the board clear, as well as dropping either Basilisk Collar or Gorgon's Head onto Judith or Mayhem Devil.

C-c-c-combos

Yes the Mikaeus, the Unhallowed+Murderous Redcap+sac outlet is included in this deck....I feel dirty for saying that, but it's include for when this deck has to take on high powered lists. Trust me in saying that this deck doesn't really need them to win.

The primary combo for this deck is some amalgamation involving Phyrexian Altar + Reassembling Skeleton, Nether Traitor + Pitiless Plunderer, Pawn of Ulamog. Then proceed to win with Judith and her gang or Exsanguinate.

Super-secret Tech

You really should have expected this if you looked at the title of this deck :P.

Mob Rule takes audience volunteers from our opponents to participate in the show.

Rakdos Charm wreck's token decks and can get in that finishing bit of damage, or it can just deal with a problematic graveyard deck.

I think the deck is near completion, but suggestions for improvements are always welcome! Please +1 if you like the deck!

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 30 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.91
Tokens	Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Goat 0/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure
Folders	Test, Deck Ideas, Deck Goals