Is Burning Inquiry or Faithless Looting better for my Rakdos madness deck?
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on Aug. 10, 2015, 2:52 p.m. by SirFowler
Don't get me wrong, I love Faithless Looting. To be able to draw 2 cards and discard 2 cards to trigger madness and to be able to put multiple Demigod of Revenges and Bloodghasts is always nice. Not to mention I am able to recast it late game to gain an advantage on my opponent. However, I just remembered Burning Inquiry can give me more cards while providing extra discard effects to trigger the madness.
There are a couple of things that bother me though. It makes me discard at random and it gives the opponent more advantage which can hurt me in the long run. It does make them discard at random which is always nice if they happen to discard their win con, but I'm not sure if this is enough of a reason for me to add it instead of the looting.
I have been working on this deck for a long time and I feel I have it pretty much perfected for the flavor of it all. These are just 2 cards I have been wondering about which is better. Can anyone help? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Reindeer Games Playtest
Modern*
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Just a quick side note. I have built this deck around Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded, so he is an integral part in the deck for anyone who was wondering. The reason being I love Tibalt and always will, mainly because he's not meant to be good.
Thank you for the advice. Is there any other advice you could give to improve the deck?
August 10, 2015 3:12 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #4
Sure- I think Dark Withering is pretty good in this context. I would run 4. Fiery Temper is a worse Lightning Bolt. I don't see anything wrong with running 4 Bolts 2 Temper, or no Temper (this would probably negate any use for Lavamancer, btw). Zombie Infestation is good, Bloodghast is good, Demigod of Revenge is good, Reckless Wurm is decent here.
I think the weak spots are Viscera Seer (there to cycle Phoenix?) and Demonfire. I could be misinterpreting what you're doing with Seer, but i don't think Demonfire is good in any context. Lastly, it feels like you need a way to replenish your hand (note- I don't mean draw cards, I mean replenish hand size) - if you have access to Dark Confidant, that might be a good idea.
Last point - have you considered a 3-color Life from the Loam build with some of these elements? It might be a tough one with 6 walkers, but Loam is an incredible engine for decks that want to get their own stuff in the graveyard, and can keep you stocked for discard abilities. Best of luck.
August 10, 2015 3:37 p.m.
You should definitely splash some green into this deck. That way, besides Life from the Loam (which is guaranteed Zombie Infestation fuel and helps bring Bloodghast and Demigod of Revenge to the graveyard faster), you get an amazing discard engine in Lotleth Troll, plus Abrupt Decay, Eternal Witness and some handy sideboard tech (Ray of Revelation, Ancient Grudge, Gnaw to the Bone). You have more than enough fetchlands to fix your mana, so give it a try!
Another card I think has a place in any Madness deck is Grave Scrabbler. 2 mana for recursion and a 2/2 body is a lot of bang for your buck.
August 10, 2015 4:50 p.m.
@formayor Thank you for your suggestions.
I actually prefer the Temper tbh. I can create a 2 for 1 surprise with Zombie Infestation and other discard effects. If I happen to discard the temper with Tibalt, I can still be able to use it instead of it being useless. Not to mention I've had games where the opponent casts an Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize and the temper is all I have that they can choose. This allows me to still be able to use it to bolt them or one of their creatures.
As for the Viscera Seer, this allows me to scry which is very useful when I'm trying to draw into a Demigod of Revenge for the final blow. Plus it allows my Bloodghasts, Squee, Goblin Nabob, and my Flamewake Phoenix to be put into the graveyard only to be returned when I see fit. Not to mention it allows me to avoid Path to Exile against my demigods, which has be relevant in my current testing.
As for the Demonfire, I do feel like it has been lacking in my testing. By the time I get to a point where it becomes relevant, I get multiple demigods on the board and a significant loss in the opponents' life. I do like it because it has the potential to be uncounterable and the damage can't be prevented, but those are only useful against certain decks. So I will consider replacing them, but for now I like them for a possible game ender. I just don't know at the moment.
For some of your suggestions, I don't think I would go for a Loam style deck. If I did, I would remake this deck entirely to a point where it just becomes the typical Loam decks. I would probably add in a couple other dredge cards like Darkblast or Golgari Grave-Troll. It just doesn't seem worth it to add in here.
The Dark Confidant is nice, but I'm not sure if it's right for this deck. I'll test a couple to see how they do, but with a few high cost cards like the Withering and Demigods, it would be devastating in certain situations. I would probably go with a Phyrexian Arena if I had to go with card advantage because it's a little harder to get rid of than the Confidant and less life loss.
And lastly, the Dark Withering is nice, but it only limited to nonblack creatures. That's why I only have a couple. I will test with more, but I feel like 4 is excessive. If I happen to play against more decks that require removal, I'll adjust accordingly.
August 10, 2015 5:01 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #7
All good points, and I think I understand the deck a lot better (Demonfire notwithstanding) now.
I guess what I was ultimately getting at was that your disruption vs creature balance might be a bit off. In other words, if your main wincon is to land 2+ Demigod on turn 5, you might need to do more in early turns against faster aggro decks or tempo decks, and more of the madness cards will go a long way toward doing that. You can always sideboard Dark Withering for Terminate or something, as I think your only major common problem with Withering is Tasigur, which is often a 1 or 2 of in your opponent's deck. I think between more madness spells and Zombie Infestation, you should be able to handle a lot of early threats better. Without more madness spells, you can't disrupt opponents that well, and Zombie Infestation isn't nearly as good.
I'm more sold on Seer, but it still seems a bit slow and reliant on other cards, and thus perhaps inferior to another Faithless Looting or even an extra Infernal Tutor, but that's just an impression.
You're totally right about Demigod and Dark Confidant. Bad idea. I almost suggested Phyrexian Arena instead, but it really doesn't do anything until turn 4, and I don't think you're built for a particularly long game as it stands. And I don't think it's so necessary to draw more cards if you throw in more madness spells - allow me to explain...
When I first looked at the deck, I imagined that you consistently had to pitch cards to Zombie Infestation to help you survive until turn 5 against fast decks. And I assumed that you were only seeing 1-2 madness cards per game through turn 4. But if you see 3 or more instead, by running more of them and more card filtering, I think you get a bunch more value out of ZI without needing to refill your hand. For the same reason, I think you'd be better of with 4x FL.
But these are finer tweaking points, I think the deck is fundamentally pretty good, and what you learn from testing is more important than advice you get from a forum.
August 10, 2015 7:03 p.m.
One point not brought up yet is Delve. You REALLY do not want your opponent getting three free cards in their yard in a format with Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Become Immense, and Gurmag Angler. Not to mention, Snapcaster Mage, Living End, and Past in Flames being real threats.
I'm sure a lot of the time, it won't really matter (especially against decks like Tron or Affinity). However, you are bound to lose a non-zero amount of games due to feeding your opponent's yard.
As for other suggestions on your deck, one other card I'd recommend is Conflagrate. If you can refill your hand quickly and pitch cards you don't need, it becomes a super version of Forked Bolt. You can use it to blow up a medium-sized, 3-toughness creature or wipe your opponent's board of all its 1-toughness critters. It works even better if you have multiple Squee, Goblin Nabob in your deck.
I also don't think you want Dark Confidant in this deck. There's too many 3, 5, and 6-drops. If you want more card draw beyond Faithless Looting, I'd suggest Night's Whisper or Tormenting Voice.
August 10, 2015 7:05 p.m.
formayor and sylvannos: I really appreciate your feedback. The biggest problem I have about making decks is that I can never create descriptions that actually represent the deck well. So sorry if I wasn't clear on the direction on how to play the deck. This deck is actually not about overwhelming the opponent but more about holding them off until get the right combination of cards to create a counter attack.
You both make an excellent point about Tasigur. I was actually thinking about adding a Big Game Hunter to either the main or sideboard, but I'm not sure what I would want to take out for it at the moment. The sideboard is designed for game 2 or 3, so each card is difficult for a possibility of replacement. I'm not sure on the Slaughter Games, but there are those moments where you need to remove spells without the fear of counters. I don't know, what are your guys' thoughts on BGH?
As for Conflagrate, that is a nice card, I'm just not sure what to take out though. Maybe 1 Demonfire? Or maybe 1 Tibalt? Idk, I'll have to do some testing and see how it does. It does well with Squee, but I'm not sure if I want to add any more Squees or not. They do well in here, but they don't really serve a purpose besides just being a card to discard. I don't know. What are your thoughts on this?
August 10, 2015 7:39 p.m.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #10
BGH makes sense as a 1 or 2, maybe split with the sideboard.
Squee is a lousy creature, but decent card because you can keep recycling him for Lili or other efffects if you're low on cards, or just low on cards you want to discard - for free. I think he's worth 1 spot. I might actually consider a deck based on Squee and Infestation.
Conflagrate is a decent idea, and way better than Demonfire because it can be used as a 1-sided Pyroclasm, or you can dump your hand if you really need a quick finisher.
August 11, 2015 12:59 a.m.
I have been play testing the deck and it is do really well. I went up against a Life from the Loam deck and won 2-1. The one card that really helped me was the Viscera Seers actually. Every time I get it out on the field, it becomes an automatic target because of the synergy with Bloodghast. It helped me get to my Demigod quicker.
I did add an extra Faithless Looting and an extra Infernal Tutor. The extra looting really helped out alot and the extra tutor gets me to my Demigod. I did take out 1 Zombie Infestation because I noticed that I was drawing more than 1 more often than not and it felt like a dead card later on. It's still a great way to get rid of my cards so I kept a couple.
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #2
I think that's an easy one. You only run 7 cards with Madness costs. You probably need to be selective to hit them. Burning Inquiry's one extra trigger isn't worth the randomness. Faithless Looting's flashback ability is also a serious advantage in a deck that is constantly discarding.
August 10, 2015 3:04 p.m.