That is the most Rakdos way to win

Pioneer Aristocrats BR (Rakdos) Combo Competitive Sacrifice

Pheardemons

Creature (20)

• 4x Cauldron Familiar
• 4x Dreadhorde Butcher
• 2x God-Eternal Bontu
• 4x Mayhem Devil
• 2x Murderous Rider
• 4x Zulaport Cutthroat

Instant (3)

• 3x Fatal Push

Artifact (4)

• 4x Witch's Oven

Land (21)

• 4x Blood Crypt
• 2x Castle Locthwain
• 4x Dragonskull Summit
• 4x Fabled Passage
• 5x Mountain
• 2x Swamp

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 2x Claim the Firstborn
• 3x Light Up the Stage

Planeswalker (6)

• 4x Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
• 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1x Zariel, Archduke of Avernus

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Sideboard

Sorcery (7)

• 2x Bontu's Last Reckoning
• 1x By Force
• 2x Extinction Event
• 2x Lost Legacy

Artifact (3)

• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 2x Sorcerous Spyglass

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Tibalt, Rakish Instigator

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Leyline of the Void

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Maybeboard

Instant (3)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Kolaghan's Command
• 1x Village Rites

Creature (1)

• 1x Woe Strider

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Angrath's Rampage
• 1x Feed the Swarm

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Zariel, Archduke of Avernus

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Welcome to my pioneer Rakdos Mayhem deck. When pioneer was revealed I KNEW I wanted a deck centered around Mayhem Devil. He was one of my favorite cards in standard and pioneer allows me more cards to try and reach his full potential. This style of deck is exactly what I love about magic (see any of my EDH decks).

This deck is meant to be grindy. It is not necessarily about overwhelming the opponent, but continuously chipping away. I am doing my best to make this as efficient as possible and would love any and all criticism and feedback. Thanks for looking!

Mainboard Show

Mayhem Devil/Zulaport Cutthroat - These two are grouped together because they do very similar things. Mayhem Devil is obviously more powerful since it can hit any target, but if either one stays on the board it is what allows me to put my opponent on the defense.

Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven - This is a great combo by itself, let alone adding Mayhem Devil and/or Zulaport Cutthroat. This combo gives me a constant blocker, gain life, AND drain my opponent. Adding any of the other cards to this combo makes it that much more powerful.

Claim the Firstborn - On the subject of Witch's Oven this is a small removal package that's pretty fun. I can take any small creature, attack with it, the sacrifice it to give me food while forcing my opponent to lose their creature. Even without Witch's Oven, this can allow me to take a blocker out of the way to swing in.

Dreadhorde Butcher - This is probably my favorite card in the format. It may not be the best, but it is the most fun for me. A turn two Dreadhorde Butcher NEEDS to be answered or it will take over the game. What is great about it is that I can sacrifice it in case my opponent tries to exile or bounce him. This will ensure his damage pulls through.

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame - It is pretty obvious that she is here for her second 0 ability. These tokens have multiple purposes that are very useful in this deck. Attacking in each turn is not to be overestimated even if they are only 1/1s. Also, even if my opponent has blockers, they are sacrificed at the end step which still allows me to continually drain my opponent with Mayhem Devil and/or Zulaport Cutthroat. Her -2 allows for multiple uses for a majority of my instants and sorceries when needed.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance - This one may seem a little off synergy, but she is so powerful it has shown to be worthwhile. One fault I noticed with this deck was the lack of card draw. I would be out of a hand and if any combo piece was removed I was a sitting duck. I have since added Light Up the Stage as well, but her utility as shown to be useful.

Zariel, Archduke of Avernus - This card is in testing but I believe it to be promising. I wanted it for the additional fodder and the fact the he can not make my Cats and Elemental Tokens more damaging on attacking.

Fatal Push/Murderous Rider - Standard removal in the format. Murderous Rider's lifelink has also come in handy.

God-Eternal Bontu - A 5/6 with menace that recurs itself is powerful and a draw engine on top of that. Combos with Zulaport Cutthroat and the even more powerful Mayhem Devil.

What is the most Rakdos way to win? Show

My FAVORITE way to win is if I have Mayhem Devil on the battlefield and God-Eternal Bontu's trigger resolves. This allows me to sacrifice ALL of my permanents (yes, including lands) in order to ping my opponent with lethal damage. When I did this the first time against a friend of mine his mouth dropped and he said my favorite quote for the deck, "That is the most Rakdos way to win." This is exactly the kind of thing I love to do in magic. Midranged deck to just come out of nowhere if needed.

Sideboard Show

Bontu's Last Reckoning/Extinction Event - Bontu's Last Reckoning is here because I want to ensure my opponent's creatures die since a lot of the black removal is "restrictive" such as Languish, Crippling Fear, Bile Blight, ect. The drawback can be hurtful, but if it is needed to be played it is worth it. Extinction Event is there to get past indestructible creatures. I wanted a couple of options to wipe my opponent's board. We'll see how well these do together when events pick back up.

By Force - Obvious why this is in the sideboard. I'm not quite sure how big of an influence artifacts have in pioneer, but I come from playing a lot of modern where it is never bad to have some sort of way to deal with artifacts.

Leyline of the Void - Free gravehate? Hell yes! I can also cast this later on if drawn. Powerful card.

Lost Legacy - Since this deck is meant to be grindy, combo decks can hurt. This is a way to slow them down or cripple them by taking their pieces. Not to mention, works against any and all decks if there is anything I don't want to see.

Sorcerous Spyglass - This is definitely more for planeswalkers.

Tibalt, Rakish Instigator - This is here against lifegain decks. It stops them, and gives me devils that are perfect sacrifice fodder. We'll see if he stays depending on how many decks care about lifegain.

Ratchet Bomb - More of a catch all card. Also, an easy way to get rid of tokens.

Weaknesses Show

Lifegain decks. I'm not sure if they're rampant in the format, but this is a grindy deck that pings. For those that may not know, "ping" is meant to imply that it is one damage at a time. That is easily nullified by lifegain decks which can make my combos almost useless. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator is here to give me a chance to combat this.

Gravehate. This stops both Cauldron Familiar and Zulaport Cutthroat which REALLY hurts. Ratchet Bomb is my way of getting rid of enchantments and I am considering Feed the Swarm but we'll wait to see. My backup plan is just to beat face.

Top Ranked	Achieved #24 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #2 position in Pioneer 2 years ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Pioneer legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 24 - 12 Rares 24 - 3 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.28
Tokens	Devil 1/1 R, Elemental 1/1 R, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Emblem Zariel, Archduke of Avernus, Food
Folders	Interesting Pioneer, Pioneer Wishlist, Cool Stuff