Rakdos - Devil in a Midnight Mass

Commander / EDH* BR (Rakdos) Combo Competitive Eldrazi Primer

RNR_Gaming

Creature (36)

• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Blightsteel Colossus
• 1x Combustible Gearhulk
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Emrakul, the Promised End
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Knollspine Dragon
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Kozilek, the Great Distortion
• 1x Lobber Crew
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Nettle Drone
• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Oblivion Sower
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Plague Spitter
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sandstone Oracle
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Sire Of Insanity
• 1x Spear Spewer
• 1x Stormfist Crusader
• 1x Thermo-Alchemist
• 1x Thought-Knot Seer
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Void Winnower
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Land (31)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Eye of Ugin
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Sanctum of Ugin
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Cloudstone Curio
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence

Instant (7)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Withering Boon

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Impact Tremors
• 1x Lim-Dul's Hex
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Sanctum of Stone Fangs
• 1x Underworld Breach

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Sideboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Bane of Bala Ged
• 1x Darksteel Colossus
• 1x Demonlord Belzenlok
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Kozilek's Pathfinder
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Ulamog's Crusher
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden

Instant (3)

• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Savage Beating

Artifact (2)

• 1x Hammer of Purphoros
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Aggravated Assault
• 1x Mass Hysteria
• 1x Sneak Attack

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Vandalblast

Land (1)

• 1x Shivan Gorge

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Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Mana Vault

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Rakdos, Lord of Riots is one of the most popular rakdos commanders to date. However, this commander has been pushed to the way side by all of the shiny new commanders but has gotten a good bit of new toys. Our aim is to hit fast and hard. While we may not have good resilience or recovery, we can definitely be explosive enough to eliminate players with either hellishly stylish beats or an over the top flash combo. If you like this deck consider giving it an upvote :)

• if you have any Criticism or critiques feel free to leave a respectful comment below.

Side Note

This is a budgetless build. The aim is to max out the commander to its' full potential. Removing cards like bad lands, Mana Crypt, Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox won't prevent the deck from doing what its gunna do, it'll just do them less quickly and inefficiently; though this will reduce the cost of the deck to be relatively reasonable.

Why you may like this deck

• you like to attack and being rewarded for it

• you like big fatties at a discount

• you like fast games

• you like being the threat and on everyone's radar

Game Plan

Not much has changed. We use pingers that deal 1 damage to each opponent then smack the biggest threat with our fatties and then play more fatties at a reduced rate.

Post Combat Combos

After we've pinged and smacked we're going to need a way to win. Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge play huge parts in this; paired with Ancestral Statue and assuming we've done at least 4 damage we should be able to end the game.

Alternatively, we can use Cloudstone Curio and colorless creatures to achieve the same effect; but note that the colorless creature CAN NOT be an artifact. My recommendation for this loop are Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Oblivion Sower you can nuke all permanents and mill everyone out.

Buried Alive

This is an alternative win if you aren't getting there with beats

Pile - Zealous Conscripts, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and Phyrexian Delver

Step 1 - reanimate Phyrexian Delver

Step 2 - use Phyrexian Delver's etb to reanimate Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Step 3 - active Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and copy Phyrexian Delver

Step 4 - with the copy of Phyrexian Delvers etb reanimate Zealous Conscripts

Step 5 - make infinite Zealous Conscripts and go ham

Philosophy/notable exclusions

As stated this is a budgetless deck. We've adopted the cedh mantra but have applied it to a less than optimal commander; all the cards in the deck are meant to be high impact and proactive.

Things that are excluded

1) High ceiling, low floor cards

Extra combat shenanigans; Aggravated Assault and Savage Beating are wonderful if we're ahead but do little if we're behind. Additionally, our commander does not help us cast enchantments or sorceries. - though I'm aware some people may like this type of strategy so I've added them into the sideboard but strongly urge you to play a different commander like Neheb, the Eternal if that's what you'd like to go for.

2) Generic Beater creatures

Darksteel college and Ulamog's Crusher while menacing don't do anything until they're able to attack and offer little utility; while there are worse things to put in the deck these big dudes just don't make the cut.

Other Jank you can do

So, with this deck comes a hefty sideboard of cards that don't quite make the cut but are still relevant enough to mention and for the most part can be a solid budget replacement for the more expensive cardboard in the deck.

Heartless Hidetsugu + Walking Ballista + Rakdos, Lord of Riots do a pretty nifty job of closing out the game but to get the activation off and bringing it all together might be a bit tricky. Thousand-Year Elixir can be clutch in some cases but since our commander himself doesn't have a nifty activated ability and giving something sudo vigilance feels lack luster we've excluded it from the main; but it does have the potential to slot in if we were to get some more juicy activated abilities that weren't just pings.

Ideal Opening Hand

Proactive beats

1) pinger, cards like Thermo-Alchemist are essentially for casting our commander and ensuring a decent cost reduction

2) A hand reloader, cards like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth keep us in the game. A long with being a nice beater it gives us 4 fresh cards on cast

3) colored rocks, Arcane Signet or Rakdos Signet do wonders for that crazy cost our commander has going on

4) a stax peice things like Void Winnower and millstone Gargoyle do wonders against control

5) 3 lands

proactive combo

1) Entomb

2) a Reanimate effect

3) mana rocks

4) 2-3 lands

5) good decision making

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 7 Mythic Rares 48 - 9 Rares 19 - 3 Uncommons 9 - 2 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.07
Tokens	Copy Clone, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Enchantment Golem 3/3 C, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure