Burn Down the House

Sorcery

Choose one —

• This deals 5 damage to each creature and each planeswalker.
• Create three 1/1 red Devil creature tokens with "When this creature dies (is put into the graveyard from the battlefield), this deals 1 damage to target creature, player or planeswalker." They gain haste until end of turn.

Tokens

• Devil 1/1 R

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (18)

Czarnian90 on Hellegion (Raphael)

2 months ago

Commander Update: Shadows Rise, Flames Burn

After several games against tough opponents, I’ve made a few changes to the deck and, more importantly, swapped the commander of the Hellegion. The Balrog, Durin's Bane is still very much part of the deck—playing him as a commander was fun and flavorful, but I wanted a leader who can impact my board more directly and help set the pace of the game. The Balrog remains a force of nature, and having him lurking in the deck, ready to be unleashed, still feels great. I believe he’ll continue to be a major threat even when he's not always leading the charge.

Raphael, Fiendish Savior steps in as the new commander, supporting the game plan more consistently. He helps stabilize the board, buffs my army, and sets the stage for the Balrog’s arrival. I run several cards that can fetch him straight from the deck—Blood Speaker, Demonlord Belzenlok, Rune-Scarred Demon, Icon of Ancestry, Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted, and others—so even as a lurking horror, he’s never too far away.

I also added more damage-dealing spells for better control and direct pressure on opponents. Beyond classics like Devil's Play, Terminate, and Dreadbore, I’ve added Hell to Pay and Rakdos's Return to punish hands and boards alike. On top of that, I doubled down on devil token synergy and death-triggered burn effects. These little fiends now serve not just as blockers or sac fodder, but as a win condition on their own—especially when paired with Raphael’s lifelink boost. Every dying devil becomes pain for the enemy and healing for me.

I’ve now included four versions of Ob Nixilis — yes, it’s a bit much, but each fills a unique role. This one Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted punishes card draw and bolsters removal. Tibalt, Rakish Instigator is still here too, classic devil support: fueling tokens and preventing opponents from healing the damage my demons and devils dish out. They don’t live long, but if timed right, their impact is massive.

I’ve also added some recursion (Oversold Cemetery) and a spicy alternate wincon in Liliana's Contract.

Some bigger demons were swapped out for stronger synergy or pure flavor—welcome Asmodeus the Archfiend, Balor, Kardur, Doomscourge, and others to the Hellegion.

Sadly, a few cards had to go — Imskir Iron-Eater, Archfiend of Sorrows, some regenerating skeletons, and a handful of artifacts are no longer marching with the legion.

I still have a few cards waiting on the bench—Burn Down the House, Rakdos Keyrune, Doom Whisperer, Overseer of the Damned, Skirsdag High Priest, Spawn of Mayhem, Breath of Malfegor — and I’ll be testing space for them soon.

In the long run, I’d love to add some heavier hitters and staples like Kindred Dominance, Altar of Shadows, Bontu's Monument, Krav, the Unredeemed, Rite of Belzenlok, Demonic TutorGC, Sudden Spoiling, Grave Pact, Dark Prophecy, Attrition, Vilis, Broker of Blood, Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Pestilence Demon, Lord of the Void, Archfiend of Depravity, and especially Karlach, Fury of Avernus.

We’ll see where the Hellegion marches next—and who joins, or falls, along the way.

Bookrook on Battle Hymn of the Seraphim

6 months ago

Burn Down the House and Hour of Devastation are better cards than Inferno. Also, you need to be less concerned about the average converted mana cost of cards. If you have an absurdly high average cmc then I can understand, but it shouldn’t be that big of a worry. The new Explosive Getaway should be a good card. Vedalken Orrery doesn’t fit inside every single deck. Simply giving everything flash isn’t that valuable in a deck like this. For other cuts, the {W}{W}{W}{W} on Phyrexian Vindicator is rough, especially when the damage incoming is halved from Gisela, so your actually getting less damage.

77hi77 on

2 years ago

Rocketman988 thanks so much! I had a busy couple of weeks so am only just getting to digest everything you've suggested. This is fantastic, thank you again!

Originally I had most of the devil token sorceries you suggested, then I took them out for a similar reason to something we've talked about in your deck's discussions with big demons: it has to be able do something other than be a body. Burn Down the House was the only one that made sense after that, but I think now the deck is at the point where I don't have enough tokens. It's the bad middle ground between how you've built yours, where you're expecting a small board state, and how I was originally planning to go wide and sac things without disrupting my board state. So, you're right as always, I'll put those back in the deck. I had never heard of Carrion, that card is perfect! I love Wand of Orcus, it's in my zombie deck; I think I kept it out of this one because of some idea of theme (that it's devils serving demons), but I literally have Orcus in the deck and he's allowed to play with his wand.

You did break my heart a little bit with the Strionic Resonator news, it was there either as an insurance policy (whether I get to deal damage or not, you're going to sacrifice your permanents), or as a way to share the love and have everyone sac things. Now that I know it doesn't work that way, it's kind of a relief, it opens up space for more cards that lean into the deck's main strategies/more protection for the key pieces.

That's kinda the big issue, I have so many demon strategies I want to play, I have two demon decks, and even then a lot of things don't fit in either. It's the issue with every deckbuilding process, cool cards that don't lend to your main strategy. Originally I had the deck full of possibly inefficient cards with flashback costs to synergize with Lord of the Forsaken, because I wanted to do something similar to what your deck does with Treasonous Ogre (not a demon, so I'm iffy about putting it in this one), Doom Whisperer, and Repay in Kind. That enters life manipulation territory, which my other demon deck focuses on more, but then I can't use Cut / Ribbons because that deck is mono black. Similarly, your Hellcarver Demon combos are some of the coolest bits of synergy I've ever seen, but again it feels like it fits better thematically in my other deck, but yours benefit greatly from having access to extra combats and haste. I've been deciding whether a Pestilence Demon + Shriveling Rot play fits better in this deck or the other, currently it's in the other one because that deck was starting to get boring (ramp, ramp, ramp, ramp, cast Razaketh, the Foulblooded, tutor, tutor, you lose half your life, you lose that much life again. I win). It sounds like I'm going to look closely at both decks and do whatever rebuilding I need to do.

I just bought a box of Commander Masters, so I've spent the weekend upgrading 4 other decks. Today can be Daddy Rakdos day, I'll keep this thread updated as I do it

Rocketman988 on

2 years ago

Hey 77hi77! I love the angle you are going for with the deck, the "playing like a demon" role. I really like the token subtheme, and it feels like you could lean into that even more to give you more breathing room to swing with Rakdos. With more emphasis on a token subtheme, you wouldn't set your board back as much when you swing with Rakdos for "revenge" when your besties turn on you. Instead of resource denial, he'd play as incentive for others to leave you alone OR ELSE. Flavor wise, the legion of tokens would represent your minions that are sacrificed to get what you want.

Burn Down the House, Dance with Devils, and Devils' Playground would fill out the devil token subtheme you have going on, and Asmodeus the Archfiend, Fiendish Duo, Mayhem Devil, and Sin Prodder add even more devil synergy that aligns with the deck goals.

Army of the Damned, Carrion, Curse of Opulence, Dreadfeast Demon, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, Wand of Orcus, and Infernal Genesis are all great token cards that fit the infernal theme. Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer plus pump effects means permanent goaded enemy creatures and treasures for you to ramp with or sac to Rakdos as long as he's on the field. Speaking of pump, Arterial Alchemy can increase the power of your creatures, makes 4 permanents to sacrifice, and gives the deck even more draw power. Bloodthirsty Blade is a great demonic artifact to gift to problematic creatures. Black Market Connections gives you ramp, card draw, or tokens depending on what you need at the moment. Bite of the Black Rose is a super fun "choose your doom' flavor card. Head Games is a terrific demonic deal- while searching their library, see what deals they're willing to give you in order to get what they want. If they don't make a deal with you, they pay the price.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Rakdos's abilities are not targeted abilities, so Wyll's Reversal cannot copy Rakdos's sacrifice triggers. Likewise, you can copy Rakdos's on attack ability, but it will just make YOU sacrifice half your permanents again. Since Rakdos's ability does not target, so new targets cannot be selected for it; copying his abilities just does it again to the same person it would already affect. Additionally, Rakdos's abilities have separate triggers- one that triggers on your attack and one that triggers on dealing damage to an opponent. So you do have to deal damage to an opponent to copy the opponent sacrifice ability with Strionic Resonator or Lithoform Engine. That being said, Maze of Ith is an ability that goes on the stack when activated, so it can be responded to with cards like Bolt Bend, Not of this World, Deflecting Swat, etc. Maze of Ith and instant speed interaction usually targets too, so Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots help a lot with that too.

Rhadamanthus on Burn down the House & …

2 years ago

They all die at the same time. A creature dying from lethal damage and a planeswalker dying from 0 or less loyalty are some of the game's "state-based actions" (SBAs) that are checked right before each time a player would get priority to take another action. In your example these SBAs get checked and executed right after Burn Down the House finishes resolving, so Lolth is already in the graveyard before her triggered ability can add any more loyalty to her.

MushMagic on Burn down the House & …

2 years ago

Hey,

i played a game yesterday an a situation came up where my enemy had Lolth, Spider Queen with 3 loyalty counters and 3 1/1 Tokens and i played Burn Down the House. Now does lolth die at the same time as the Tokens or does she get the loyalty counters from her passive before and therefore survives? And also which mechanic is at work here? I didnt find anything in the magic rules pdf.

wallisface on Help for my version of …

2 years ago

exDeity Cool. I'm no expect in Standard (I generally just play Modern), but if it were me i'd be dropping the following cards:

• Archpriest of Shadows (it's not doing much for 5 mana)

• Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos (this card just seems bad)

• Reckless Stormseeker  ^Flip (the card seems fine, but your build feels very mid-range, so your cards should be aiming to make value-based-plays, not aggro-based ones)

• Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion (its a lot of work to get value from, but maybe this card is fine. idk)

• Burn Down the House & Gix's Command (i'm just skeptical that they're maybe not very useful in your build)

• Duress (the card is probably completely fine. I'm just used to much stronger options in Modern, so the limitations on what you can grab with it feel really off-putting to me. I would suggest figuring out how often its going to whiff, and seeing if those odds make it worth playing)

• Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia (I love this card and actually run it in a modern deck. But I feel without someway to profit from the zombie death/sacrifice triggers, its just not remotely good enough?)

• Maybe Atsushi, the Blazing Sky also (it seems decent, but being a death trigger you're kindof at the mercy of your opponent triggering it, and i'm not sure it's netting you much value for the variability its going to cause)

There's also the chance of being able to go down to 26ish lands if you drop most of those high-mana cards I mentioned, in place of lower-mana cards.

But, as said before, I don't know the standard metagame. All I'm assuming is it's the same as Pioneer where everyone always wants to be running 4x Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  ^Flip. Hopefully my rambling has helped create some food-for-thought in any case.

Barbarian_Sun_Pope on The Floor is Lava

2 years ago

Yeah, this is definitely a casual deck and I did mention it is a bit too slow for the format it is in, but unfortunately since the deck revolves around Manabarbs and Fires of Invention, there's not much wiggle room to lower the MV of the deck. I've considered replacing Burn Down the House and Hour of Devastation with cheaper removal (Flamebreak/Anger of the Gods), but I had a lot trouble with Tarmogorf and planeswalkers like Wrenn and Six. Do you have any suggestions?