Hellcarver Demon

Creature — Demon

Flying

Whenever Hellcarver Demon deals combat damage to a player, sacrifice all other permanents you control and discard your hand. Exile the top six cards of your library. You may cast any number of nonland cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

MightyPox on Demon Till Your Dreams Come True

4 months ago

Hi Rocketman! How is it going?

Nice to see your Rakdos primer is still active and updated!
I appreciate the new section about Rakdos Game Theory!
Haven't played Magic for some time now but my buddy and I will be getting back at it soon. In preparation for that I went through the Rakdos-coloured demons on Gatherer and saw that there are new demons to consider for the deck.

Bloodletter of Aclazotz
We can always use effects like Archfiend of Despair/Fiery Emancipation, so this one's really good.
My deck does most of it's damage during my turn anyhow. Definitely adding it to the deck.

Infernal Sovereign
An effect in the vein of Recycle/Null Profusion on a 6/6 flying, trampling demon may help us in a pseudo combo turn.
I'm usually always playing a land and/or spell each turn or drawing/filtering cards in other ways so skipping the draw step is not a great set back. Not sure about this one but will be testing it.

Bringer of the Last Gift
Living Death is one of my favourite cards in this deck and here it is stacked on a 6/6 flying demon.
The only draw back is that it has to be cast for {6}{B}{B} which is a steep price as most of the expensive demons are reanimated. Only Hellcarver Demon may cheat it into play.
Nevertheless I will try this one out, maybe in place of Patriarch's Bidding.

Scourge of the Skyclaves
This one has been around for a while now and most of the time it will be {5}{B}{B}: everybody loses half of his or her life.
In an earlier iteration of the deck I ran Havoc Festival which was nice because it speeds up things and my opponents would lose the life before me and not simultaneously.
Still for this deck I'm always looking for demons that do "crazy things" and maybe one day I will test this guy.

Concerning The Balrog of Moria: I read that you had this one on and off your deck and I think I like it.
All of it's abilities are relevant to us. If I find space for him I will test him for sure!


I read through your change log/Rakdos Game Theory/user comments and I understand that you emphasize playing the commander and therefore divert slightly away from the demon-theme.
While I think that your success proves you right, I just can't bring myself to cut a lot of demons from this deck - I'm a flavour freak on this one. :D
I'm really light on Rakdos protection (Tibalt's Trickery, Lightning Greaves and Not of this World are the only ones right now). Maybe if I could find room for Bolt Bend and Deflecting Swat I could see myself casting Rakdos more often.
On the other hand: since I've been playing this deck 1vs1 most of the time, connecting with Rakdos is devastating for my opponent and almost always leads to victory.
I also had situations when I had the mana to cast Rakdos very early in the game but had also options to do crazy stuff that could potentially win me the game.
Albeit risky I mostly tried the crazy things because this is my only deck that can do this kind of thing - the Rakdos thing. :D

I'm looking forward on reading what you think about the demon suggestions I made in this post!

77hi77 on Defile Me Daddy Rakdos

8 months 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 Demon Till Your Dreams Come True

9 months ago

In addition to the low average CMC of the deck, the deck runs the following 17 non-land cards to satisfy its mana requirements: Jeweled Lotus, Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Dockside Extortionist, Dream Devourer, Hellcarver Demon, Herald of Slaanesh, Rakdos, Lord of Riots, The Balrog of Moria, Treasonous Ogre, Burnt Offering, Cabal Ritual, Dark Ritual, Sacrifice, Songs of the Damned, Jeska's Will, and Seize the Spotlight.

Because many of the effects are single use or sacrificed to Rakdos, we also run 22 cards that can find or draw the above cards in addition to more lands: Burning-Rune Demon, Doom Whisperer, Immersturm Raider, Rune-Scarred Demon, Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire, Villis, Broker of Blood, Demonic Consultation, Entomb, Thrill of Possibility, Valakut Awakening  ^Flip, Buried Alive, Cathartic Reunion, Demonic Tutor, Doomsday, Faithless Looting, Jeska's Will, Mizzix's Mastery, Reforge the Soul, Seize the Spotlight, Wheel of Fortune, Wheel of Misfortune, and Liliana's Contract.

Unha110w3d on the gift that keeps on gifting

1 year ago

Dazard Excellent questions. In an ideal situation i can set myself nicely to have heavy beaters such as Blightsteel Colossus early into the game and infect people to death, otherwise i can try and set it up where i gift Leveler to people in response to them drawing cards (in commander everyone uses card draw spells) and then use one of my removals or hopefully if i set up correctly Avatar of Woe to keep destroying leveler so it goes to my yard instead of exile at the end step and keep using leveler. The deck needs careful piloting i think, so you know what to give to who like giving someone Hellcarver Demon to destroy their shit. I don't have infinite combos yet in the deck, not sure if i need them, other than that i believe you win by setting yourself up nicely and fast, let your opponents kill each other and whoever remains beat him down with infect. I will be updating this deck as i keep playing it and i will get more info on the best way to win with it. Good luck on your deck build can't wait to see it.

griffstick on Does Rarity Matter?

2 years ago

I'd also like to add that Mythic rares aren't always good. Sometime Mythic rares are rule bending cards. Or some groundbreaking design. For instance Hellcarver Demon is a bad card, but breaks or bends the rules of magic. Omniscience is an example of a powerful card, so its Mythic rare. Then there's the cards that get a special treatment. With cards like Zuran Orb. It is an uncommon in every set except from the Vault relics. in That set its a Mythic rare.

Crow_Umbra on Prosper, Rome-Bound: An Italiefling Vacation

2 years ago

I like your deck list! The only cards I personally find kinda non synergistic at first glance are Fain, the Broker and Hellcarver Demon.

Fain is a bit slow and durdley, but if you like it, then no worries. Hellcarver is... very high risk for minimal reward. I think Hellcarver is better suited in 1v1 formats like Modern. Depending on your playgroup, I imagine most people would let you roll the dice on Hellcarver's trigger, which can likely leave you without a hand or board state after.

I highly recommend both Marionette Master as a finisher when you sac your treasures, Nadier's Nightblade, or maybe even Draugr Necromancer if you want to lean into the theft/play from exile theme.

If you're interested, check out my Prosper deck!

toothlessthedragon on This deck plays all the EPIC spells.

3 years ago

ihazpie it is because when proteus staff is used on the demon he will re-enter the battlefield, thus giving him summoning sickness (if he didn't have it already). In situations where he does not have summoning sickness already, you can activate and target a man-land to reveal then stack your entire deck in an order of your choosing before proceeding directly to combat with Hellcarver Demon

blfngl on blfngl

4 years ago

Hey burferking, the only combo I had listed publicly was this one:

Hellcarver Demon + High Market + Vampiric Tutor / Enlightened Tutor / something that can put a card on top of your library

All of this is to win with Barren Glory. A jank wincon that I enjoy :P