Rakdos, the Muscle

Legendary Creature — Demon Mercenary

Flying, trample

Whenever you sacrifice another creature, exile cards equal to its converted mana cost/mana value from the top of target player's library. Until your next end step, you may play those cards, and mana of any type can be spent to cast those spells.

Sacrifice another creature: Rakdos, the Muscle gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it. Activate this ability only once each turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Freeform	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
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (6)

Flarhoon13 on Unleashing the Maelstrom: Yidris' Controlled Chaos

9 months ago

Nov 23

Yidris: Controlled Chaos, budget power won a long, kind of crazy game. Darryl cast Jokulhaups via Discord, Lord of Disharmony, which looked like it was handing Nolan the game, since he was able to make his Rakdos, the Muscle commander indestructible. I drew well and cast the greatest thief in the multiverse, Dack Fayden, to steal Darryl's Sol Ring. I cast an Aetherflux Reservoir, and a Sunbird's Invocation. The next turn, I cast a Berserkers' Onslaught, Sunbird's Invocation revealed an Inevitable Betrayal, which I used to get Nolan's Molten Primordial. That stole the Rakdos, the Muscle, a Professional Face-Breaker and an OG Jodah, Archmage Eternal. I attacked Nolan with his own commander and Darryl's Tainted Strike made it lethal, even as I attacked him with Jodah, Archmage Eternal, also for lethal (he was at three life). Doug had enough on board to kill me but I untapped and played Karn's Temporal Sundering, bouncing my Dualcaster Mage. In my extra turn, I had the Dark Petition to grab Ghostly Flicker. Ghostly Flicker copied by Dualcaster Mage does go infinite. Infinite mana, then Seasons Past meant I was totally infinite. I could recur the Dark Petition for Seasons Past and cast them infinitely plus so many more, Aetherflux Reservoir was a win condition

Gleeock on I'm semi-giving up magic

9 months ago

I've been slowly selling off the "collection" as well, getting out of buying new toys, & just playing a few decks I am happy with. So a couple of pointers that have been good for me on my remaining decks that I rarely get out to play:

1) Randomized but impactful effects, to guarantee you always end up playing a different game. Higher budget examples: Etali, Primal Conqueror  ^Flip, Breach the Multiverse

2) Par down your color pie. Your mono {U} example is not for me, but it does run in-line to this idea. This is a great opportunity to sell off a couple of specific-color staples & get rid of that WUBRG land base (if you had all that).

3) Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls not really control.. But IMO groupslug, done right, can be fun for your opponent specifically because you are NOT controlling their gameplay. Though, if you wanted Rakdos control suite, you can find a few cards that will accomplish that while drawing you a card.

4) Play off opponent's topdeck will not mess with their hand/limit resources. If you make a deck that does this, you have less need to "stay caught up/enfranchised" because you are as "caught up" to MtG as your opponents' are with this deck. This will be impactful, but always play differently (good qualities if you play infrequently). Eg. Rakdos, the Muscle

Sorin_Markov_1947 on Sorin_Markov_1947

1 year ago

Commanders I want to build from Thunder Junction:

Kambal, Profiteering Mayor, Kellan, the Kid, Rakdos, the Muscle, Gisa, the Hellraiser

ThassaUpYo@ssa on Be'Elz A'Boot

1 year ago

Profet93

I made the swap primarily because Rakdos, the Muscle provides additional card advantage for me if I need to fish through my own library or, depending on how things are going with my opponent(s), I can hit another player's library to potentially disrupt someone who may be manipulating their top deck and/or who seems to be on a roll with their draws. I anticipate I'll primarily target myself for additional card access which will most likely lead me to more removal/tutor spells and is why I think the ceiling for the Muscle is much higher than that of the Showstopper.

Cyclonic Rift has always had a seat on the plane, I just swapped card version.

This list is honestly very strong and I've been having a lot of success. It's not quite cEDH, but I'd estimate its power level at around an 8/10. Even when I lose, it's incredibly fun and almost always productive - I never really feel "dead in the water" and seem to always have something I can do.

Profet93 on Be'Elz A'Boot

1 year ago

ThassaUpYo@ssa

I noticed you swapped Rakdos, the Showstopper for Rakdos, the Muscle, cool choice. Do you find yourself needing the "draw" more than the potential removal, or is it a test swap?

Great cyclonic rift inclusion, also a lot of your swaps through the revision seem good from my perspective. Keep it up, let us know how your games go.

EDIT: Thoughts on Kindred Discovery or is it too difficult given it's not a may?

Gleeock on Fuck it, late Outlaw of …

1 year ago

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds is intriguing, I will be curious to see what it looks like to optimize the fine line of running the most upkeep trigger items vs. boosting Obeka.

The "Joins up" enchantments pack a punch, & some of them may be nice low-cost singles to pick up. Annie Joins up is a particularly potent mix between kill spell & triggered ability doubler. My Atla burn deck (dmg doublers/triplers) will go bonkers with that.

Roxanne, Starfall Savant is indeed a "titan" in ability. I may actually consider her for my {RG} commander to helm a deck. I like the ability to take out hatebears, Esper Sentinel, and planeswalkers; all this while ramping is pretty slick. Though I am not much for artifacts or extra combats, which I'm guessing she will naturally lean toward in many decklists.

Rakdos, the Muscle is probably most my speed. But, not sure I have a home for him.

Barron Bertram Greywater Haha, that name. My goodness, I will probably just call him "Barron Taintjuice" ... Makes me wonder if that card designer actually knows what "Gray water" is.

None of the "Face" commanders really do it for me. It seems like they often have conceptual troubles settling on a wedge for an archetype... So, is Jund going to be the land/graveyard colors or is Naya going to be?

One little keyword on the cactusfolk token that changes the game for Yuma though is that reach that little additiion to those tokens is a bit of a game-changer.