Keen Duelist
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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
Freeform Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Keen Duelist

Creature — Human Wizard

At the beginning of your upkeep, you and target opponent each reveal the top card of their respective libraries. You each lose life equal to the converted mana cost/mana value of the card revealed by the other player. You each put the card you revealed into your hand.

Arch-Angel2006 on Big, Bad and Mad! Rakdos, Lord of Riots [2025]

4 months ago

Been A minute Forgot my password to Archangel200600 so this is my new account I have a few recommendations/questions about some new cards you might like 1st of all how do you feel about the mh3 titans (Emrakul, the World Anew,Kozilek, the Broken Reality,Ulamog, the Defiler) 2nd how about Wandering Archaic  Flip as it helps alot for some more protection, and then 3rd how do you feel about some different Rakdos Enablers like Creeping Bloodsucker,Keen Duelist, or Orcish Bowmasters. For card draw how do you feel about The One Ring

EvolutionBaby on Soothsayer of Disaster

1 year ago

I love the splash of mana-matters cards. Have you considered putting cards like Keen Duelist to spice it up a little bit? :D

DreadKhan on This Is Going To Hurt

1 year ago

Kaweiwu not quite sure what you mean by that, Keen Duelist punishes your opponent for your high MVs, and punishes you if your opponent has high ones too. It's very different than Dark Confidant type effects.

Spell_Slam on This Is Going To Hurt

1 year ago

Good list! I got some ideas for my own, so thanks!

In terms of enablers, Keen Duelist and Descent into Avernus are quite strong. Walking Ballista (and to a lesser extent Hangarback Walker) also makes a great enabler in the early game or a giant threat in the mid/late game. Cryptolith Fragment  Flip is great as a ramp spell that fixes and also enables casting Rakdos. I am also playing Insolent Neonate, which has worked out surprisingly well, though there may be better options out there. I see you're not running Heartless Hidetsugu, which I think is a must-have for this deck. It makes dumping out your hand and killing every opponent trivially easy.

When it comes to payoffs, I really like playing as many colourless cards as possible to really take advantage of Rakdos. I see you're missing Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and Emrakul, the Promised End in your top-end. In terms of other colourless cards, I like Duplicant as a potentially free removal spell, Wurmcoil Engine for the value, Myr Battlesphere for early damage output and Steel Hellkite as a flying threat that can wipe out huge chunks of the board.

When it comes to coloured payoffs, I stopped playing cards that cost more than or in their costs, as they wouldn't play well with the Rakdos discount. I do like Sheoldred, Whispering One, Knollspine Dragon and Balefire Dragon.

With Whip of Erebos and Exquisite Blood in the deck, is seems like Sanguine Bond would be a great include as a combo finisher.

In terms of cuts, Lightning Bolt seems like an easy one to let go. I stopped playing haste-givers because I found myself playing creatures post-combat most of the time anyways, so something like Rising of the Day could be an easy cut. Read the Bones seems like a really weak card that could be replaced with better card draw or recursion (Necropotence?). I see the combo with Tectonic Hazard and Death-rattle Oni, but that seems pretty niche otherwise and could be replaced with more reliable/repeatable enablers instead. Spawn of Mayhem seems pretty awkward in this deck, as you'll rarely be able to cast it before turn 4 even with Spectacle (and we know what turn 4 is for! :) ). The triple-black on Bloodletter of Aclazotz and Dread Cacodemon are pretty restricting, in my opinion. Indulgent Tormenter seems very unreliable and probably not worth the cost.

Jet Medallion and Ruby Medallion are not at their best here, as they reduce colourless costs instead of adding mana, which means that with Rakdos out they may not even do anything.

DemonDragonJ on Mind Over Matter

1 year ago

I have replaced Helm of the Ghastlord and Steel of the Godhead with Blind Obedience and Keen Duelist, which reduced this deck's average converted mana cost from 3.94 to 3.89, which is very nice, because the latter cards far better match the theme of this deck than did the former cards.

ghostfire86 on Kaalia's Bounce House

2 years ago

I use to run a land destruction version of Kaalia years ago. Since then she’s move to faster kills by bleeding the opposition. Ravages of War is another mass land d card but will cost you $.

I’m surprised you’re not running Dragon Mage as a wonder wheel draw effect. Keen Duelist helps kill your opponents due to your higher cmc while offering increased draw.

Dragon Tempest is a staple for Kaalia and abused by incorporating Utvara Hellkite and Ancient Gold Dragon, amplified with running Terror of the Peaks. I don’t run a ton of dragons so I chose to keep out Utvara as it’s more situational in my deck.

You might find use in Mudslide and Circle of Flame. I run Mudslide and Moat.

Talismans > Signets, try hitting about 10-11 mana rocks. In Archenemy games where you’re the threat, Kaalia is just the decoy for removal while you more easily hard cast your threats. Quicksilver Amulet and Sneak Attack are good avenues around losing Kaalia as well, but have you considered Sundial of the Infinite which gets rid of sneak attacks drawback and opens combat combos and infinite turns to your arsenal? Maybe too much of you want to keep casual.

The Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood aren’t honestly needed in here. Archfiend of Depravity, Wound Reflection, Sower of Discord, Scourge of the Skyclaves, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight,and Heartless Hidetsugu are functionally better choices to utilize and synergize/combo.

griffstick on Creatures that do Damage Over …

2 years ago

multimedia on Rakdos, Lord of Riots Demon Tribal

3 years ago

Hey, with Rakdos as Commander then consider some effects that make an opponent lose life without attacking? Rakdos can't be cast without first an opponent losing life and effects that cost no additional mana as well as being repeatable are nice since you want to use your mana on your turn to cast Demons or draw. Get repeatable value while also making your opponent or each opponent lose life.

Cryptolith Fragment  Flip is ramp and an enabler for Rakdos. Plague Spitter is a hidden gem, repeatable 1 damage to each creature at your upkeep can wreck opponent token strategies especially Spirits who are flying blockers against Demons and opponent's green mana dorks. Lower mana cost options, less than 4 mana, are better since they can potentially be cast before Rakdos.

With Rakdos as Commander and playing Demons you need less ramp because he's a source of ramp for Demons. For this reason I would make draw more important then ramp. Still play some ramp, but more draw lets you draw Demons to cast using Rakdos mana cost reduction.

For more draw my advice is make cards with repeatable effects a priory for upgrades. Draw spells that are a single effect are fine too, having both is best. Seize the Spoils, Big Score and Unexpected Windfall is loot (draw and discard) and ramp with treasures, that's really helpful for Demons to get three effects with one card.

If you're interested I offer more advice in another comment. Would you like more advice?

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