Rakdos's Return
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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
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Rakdos's Return

Sorcery

Rakdos's Return deals X damage to target opponent or planeswalker. That player or that planeswalker's controller discards X cards.

Czarnian90 on Hellegion, Shadows and Flames (Raphael)

6 days 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 Tutor, 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.

multimedia on Rakdos, Lord of Riots Demon Tribal

2 years ago

In my last comment suggested a lot of cards to add, now here's some cards to consider cutting. For cards to consider cutting I would start with all the lower mana cost nonDemon creatures. I would simply replace these with other lower mana cost cards that can better enable Rakdos without attacking and reduce creature mana costs without attacking.

Rather than playing a lot of single creature removal spells, rely more on Demons who can destroy or remove creatures? Especially Demons who have repeatable removal effects. You could cut many creature removal spells and replace them with more draw.

Searing Spear, Shock, Disintegrate can target a player to make them lose life, but you have Lightning Bolt for that and you can make opponent lose life better ways then playing single burn spells. Some budget single removal spells are helpful such as Chaos Warp and Feed the Swarm because these spells can remove an enchantment, Warp any permanent. When attacking is important to your game plan these can remove Ghostly Prison, Propaganda and others.

Rakdos can only reduce the mana cost of creatures therefore play very few noncreature high mana cost spells or spells that require a lot of mana to be useful. Spells that need a lot mana paid to make them decent is not really what you want when playing many high mana cost creatures. Could cut these for more draw and ramp.

Rolling Earthquake is a budget spell like this that's worth playing because you can control how much damage each creature is going to take, most Demons including Rakdos have high toughness. You could cut a few of the lesser Demons.

Master of the Feast is really bad card in multiplayer Commander because only your opponents draw. Awaken the Sky Tyrant, Wretched Confluence and Seal of the Guildpact are subpar for the mana costs.

In my last comment I recommended adding a lot of loot effects for draw. Loot is excellent with Blood Speaker and Speaker is a good reason to play Demon tribal since it's a tribal tutor that can be repeatable, return to your hand from your graveyard. Rakdos can reduce Speaker's mana cost to only 1 mana, making it a mana efficient way to repeatedly tutor for Demons.

Loot can be an enabler for reanimation and recursion which are helpful effects to have with Demons. Reanimation is a way to get Demons onto the battlefield without having to cast them, a backup for when Rakdos is disrupted. Recursion is getting Demons back into your hand or casting them from your graveyard. Patriarch's Bidding can reanimate all Demons in your graveyard. Persist and Exhume can reanimate for only two mana.

Chainer, Nightmare Adept has interaction with looting, getting Demons into your graveyard to cast them using Rakdos mana cost reduction. If you discard a Demon using Chainer's ability you can cast that same Demon giving it haste to attack. Rakdos also gains haste from Chainer when he's cast from the Command Zone. Any creature you reanimate gains haste from Chainer.

Chainer has excellent interaction with creatures who can sac themselves for value such as Magus of the Wheel and Doomed Necromancer. With Chainer these creatures gain haste when cast from your graveyard allowing them to tap and activate their abilities right away. Doomed Necromancer can reanimate even at instant speed. Chainer is good with Blood Speaker as discard outlet that can keep coming back to your hand.

Some more budget Demons to consider adding:

Some budget land upgrades to consider:

Temple of the False God is not a good land when you have no land ramp. It will not tap for mana until at least turn five and that's if you make all your land drops. Even if playing green and land ramp such as Cultivate I still wouldn't play Temple of the False God, it's just not a good enough land in the early turns of a game.

Crow_Umbra on [retired] Action Painting Spellslinger

3 years ago

That's another cool one Cornonjacob07. I brewed up a Zevlor, Elturel Exile list, and have Rakdos's Return in that list, since I think it can get a bit more mileage with Zevlor's ability. I'll def keep it in consideration for this list.

Cornonjacob07 on [retired] Action Painting Spellslinger

3 years ago

Alternatively, another strong discard spell could be Rakdos's Return, also doing some damage

DrunkT on [Primer] Political Subterfuge - Marchesa Aikido

3 years ago

Great deck, it's low to the ground and fast. I adapted this list to fit with my collection and now have a cheaper version of this deck.

My Marchesa

I've played like 5 games and i think i won 4 of them. One on the back of Breena counters, another in a war of attrition with all the "fog" effects until a big Inkshield happened and a couple getting to a 1v1 and outresource my opponent with card draw and/or Rakdos's Return.

The thing is, every spell feels very relevant and when they think they got you... they don't.

DawnsRayofLight on Breya in the Sky with Thopters

3 years ago

You could run some Threats still in line with your them:

Wurmcoil Engine

Kaldra Compleat

Karn, the Great Creator: I love this tool box card but it depends on how people feel about the 10 card sideboard, it isn't officially allowed exactly but cEDH may change that. you can fill the board (10 is generally the accepted number I have seen for the "side") with situationally useful artifacts.

The only other thing I would think of is maybe considering a bit more control like

Dovin's Veto

Render Silent

Counterflux

Swan Song

to give a bit more protection for your strats

Rakdos's Return is always funny but may or may not work here

Sevinne's Reclamation could give some recursion Academy Ruins and Trading Post Too

Aetherflux Reservoir and Time Sieve with Thopter Assembly if you want some combo wombo

Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast seems to fit the theme

I am not a fan of the wellsprings, they do fit the them somewhat but can seem dead at times.

I had a couple of others that were in mind but lost them, I will comment if I think of them

BrassLord on Rakdos Dragon actual

4 years ago

Looks like a fun deck to pilot.

In reviewing the deck in it's current form, I can see a few different ways of trying to approach your problem. The first would be to double down on discard and reanimation effects to cheat the cards into play. Stuff like Winds of Change Wheel of Misfortune Wheel of Fate help filter through your deck and pair well with those other looting effects you already have. Adding in reanimation redundancy like Animate Dead could could also go.

I think the dragon...er... elephant in the room is the mana curve. Your commander incentivizes you to play big beefy dragons, but that skews your mana curve. Currently you have a LOT of low to the ground single mana producing artifacts (2cmc) and a few later game payoff ones, with the rest of your curve being around the 4-6 CMC. Another way to approach the mana problem is to double down on the big boy ramping artifacts, like Gilded Lotus . Then pair it Voltaic Key and Manifold Key so when it's online, you could actually hard cast some of those late game dragons!

The way mentioned above addresses the mana production head on. It'd also help if you paired some of this with some early game disruption to prevent opponents from getting ahead TOO quickly so you can't catch up. Cards like Mind Twist and Rakdos's Return can be backbreaking when ramped into early, shutting down the scariest player and allowing you to catchup with your dragons. Along those same lines, Torment of Hailfire is another staple big mana sink card to close games (though honestly, your dragons seem like they don't need that much help!) In a multiplayer game, cards like Fleshbag Marauder , Merciless Executioner , and Plaguecrafter can be removal in the early game and make utility spot removal reanimation targets later on.

Cuts I personally struggle with as well! I'd focus on whether or not the cards further your gameplan or promote you winning. For example, in the current list Dragon Mantle feels like a win more card, despite the fact that it cantrips. Unholy Indenture also feels the same way. But you should play the cards you like!

Happy Burninating!

BrassLord on This Demon Brings the Slap Party!

4 years ago

Neat commander! Could also look into cards that create temporary tokens of the commander, as he doesn't really care if he sticks around. Heat Shimmer , Twinflame .

Monarchy also seems to work really well with your commander, as you're forcing everyone to attack someone other than yourself. Court of Ambition , Skyline Despot , Emberwilde Captain , Court of Ire . Captive Audience is also a rude card, as you'll force your opponents to attack eachother with the zombies, giving you five zombies to run amok.

General rude Rakdos cards, something like Mind Twist or Rakdos's Return can cripple a player. Combined with having to attack someone else leaving themselves open seems like it'd be really backbreaking!

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