Lyzolda, the Blood Witch is an amazing draw engine. Everyone complains about there not being any good Rakdos Commanders for Tiny Leader, but you just have to Rakdos harder. Everything must be B/R cheap creatures, meaning the Shadowmoor Cinders are ideal. The hybrid cards make the mana base very stable, so there's no need for expensive dual lands. That being said, I'd encourage anyone that has one to put in Shizo, Death's Storehouse, but the deck works plenty well at $20 without it. And dear god, if you have a copy of Fulminator Mage, it would be perfect for this deck, but unless the price drops by at least half after this coming reprinting, I'm building this without it. Playtest and see how consistently this deck turns out creatures, burn, draw, and lands every turn!
B/R Creatures:
The deck is loaded with creatures that are both red and black. This allows them to be sacrificed to either do damage to an opponent or take out a creature while maintaining card advantage.
Manaforge Cinder and Rakdos Cackler are, unfortunately, the only hybrid 1-drops out there. However, the former is a great mana fixer early game or after using Seething Song, activating Soulbright Flamekin, or tapping Smokebraider. The Cackler is a quick powerhouse that can take out a 1/1 or 1/2 blocker and survive for sacrifice!
Most of the B/R two-drops are just there for sacrifice, but they are really what power the deck and make the budget mana base work. Emberstrike Duo fits the color theme nicely, and can trigger both abilities most turns, sometimes more than once. Sootstoke Kindler can get a 3-drop moving the next turn or help you recover very quickly from a board wipe. Spiteflame Witch and Rix Maadi Guildmage are decent mana sinks in case you back out of your plan to sacrifice on your opponents turn.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden and Ashenmoor Gouger are great beaters in this format. Each can also be sacrificed as both a red and black creature, and Grenzo, Dungeon Warden can flexibly be cast as size 2 and up (Feels very green to me...) with an ability that works well in a deck that is nearly half creature cards. Ashenmoor Gouger is an elemental, which interacts with Flamekin Harbinger and Smokebraider. As for Kathari Bomber, it provides tokens for sacrifice, and it can be sacked to Lyzolda, after combat damage and token generation, but before its own sacrifice clause resolves!
Ramp:
Lyzolda replenishes your hand for each B/R creature sacrificed, so it's really only mana that is the limiting factor, hence the high land count. The mono-red output from Seething Song isn't too bad, since Lyzolda's ability and most of your creatures don't care about color. Smokebraider can be very useful with 9 other elementals to choose from, and Soulbright Flamekin turns 6 mana into 8 at the cost of... giving your creatures trample. Makes perfect sense. If you can get out both at once, you'll be working with 8 mana on turn 4. Scuttlemutt is mainly in here for its colorshifting ability (actually superior to Painter's Servant in this deck- gasp), but it makes a decent mana rock, too. Laying the scarecrow down turn 3 allows Lyzolda and another B/R creature turn 4.
C-C-C-COMBOS:
There are a lot of options for good card interaction. The deck functions from a top-down perspective. Lyzolda is the big mana sink. You feed her creatures to do burn and draw, which is why I chose Shadowmoor's Cinders as a shell. A lot of them happen to be elementals and shamans, so the Lorwyn Flamekin choices compliment that. Rage Forger interacts with 12 out of the remaining 22 creatures plus Undying Evil. Scuttlemutt interacts with 10 out of 22 remaining creatures, plus Shizo, Death's Storehouse. At the end of the day, though they're all gears in Lyzolda, the Blood Witch's machinery. Here is how most of it works:
Manaforge Cinder+Seething Song/Dark Ritual/Soulbright Flamekin: The high cost and mono-color output can be annoying if you want to be using some of that to cast a card. Mana fixing!
Manaforge Cinder+Smokebraider: There are quite a few elementals in this deck, but the smoke can be manaforged for any purpose.
Smokebraider+Soulbright Flamekin: If your plans demand big mana, 8 mana on turn 4 is possible, although it will be all red.
Rage Forger+Rakdos Cackler/Grenzo, Dungeon Warden/Mortician Beetle/Undying Evil/Shamans: No one said the +1/+1 counter had to come from the Forger itself, but there are 9 shamans sitting below 3 mana to set up with.
Undying Evil+Flamekin Harbinger/Rage Forger: This deck is so combo-heavy that the Harbinger is perhaps the most important card in it after Lyzolda. It's also a cheap body that can be sacrificed twice with Undying Evil, triggering its effect a second time (It's a shame Undying doesn't make it a black zombie). The one downside to the Rage Forger is that it doesn't get a counter itself, which undeath provides, along with the second ETB trigger for any new Shamans on the battlefield.
Fists of the Demigod/Corrosive Mentor+Lyzolda, the Blood Witch: Lyzolda is great at taking out small creatures, but what about the fatties? With wither, you can cripple them down to a manageable size. First strike and the stat boost provided by the Fists are also nice on such an aggressive body that you also don't want to die.
Flamekin Harbinger+Any elemental that forms the second half of a combo: So much interaction. Assess your hand and the board, and tutor up the second half of any of the above combos! It's like a second copy of any elemental you need!
Lyzolda, the Blood Witch+Kathari Bomber: Fun fact, Kathari Bomber doesn't use the "if you do" clause for its triggered effect. So, you can grab the tokens after doing combat damage, sacrifice the bird to Lyzolda, and when Kathari Bomber's sacrifice clause resolves with no target, it doesn't matter. Effectively 4 damage, 2 1/1 tokens, and a card draw for , and you can even unearth it if need be when you hit 7 mana to do it again.
Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep/Shizo, Death's Storehouse+Lyzolda, the Blood Witch/Grenzo, Dungeon Warden/Tuktuk the Explorer (Returned): Leave a land and a Kamigawa land open and attack. If they block, activate, if they don't, sacrifice.
Scuttlemutt+Monocolored creatures: Your red creatures and your black creatures are now B/R. The best part, and the reason why this is the only artifact creature to make the deck, is that it can tap to color itself before sacrifice.
Scuttlemutt+Shadow Alley Denizen/Shizo, Death's Storehouse/Goblin Outlander: You can colorshift your opponent's creatures, too! As opposed to Painter's Servant, the effect overwrites color, allowing Fear and Intimidate mechanics to make your creatures unblockable by nonartifacts.
Shadow Alley Denizen/Shizo, Death's Storehouse+Tuktuk the Explorer (Returned): Read, "When creatures in your deck enter the battlefield or you pay , 5/5 can only be blocked by artifact creatures."
Tuktuk the Explorer+Tymaret, the Murder King: Worth forgoing the T3 Lyzolda, since sacrificing the goblin will simply do 2 damage and leave you with a 5/5 artifact creature either way, and the Murder King is good murder fodder for the Blood Witch.
