The Cult of Rakdos forcefully welcomes you to its inaugural Festival of Fire

A brilliant celebration of all things hot, the Rakdos Festival of Fire is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness performances and events unable to be seen anywhere else in the multiverse.

Starring our ringmaster, Kaervek the Merciless *f-etch*!

Including a star-studded lineup of infamous celebrity guests, including:

And much more!

While we may not be officially endorsed by Rakdos, Lord of Riots himself, you may still bear witness to horrors beyond your comprehension as ALL are consumed in this glorious carnival! Get ready to Light Up the Stage and punish your opponents for joining the party, with cards such as Ankh of Mishra, Painful Quandary, Repercussion, and Tainted Remedy! Amplify the pain however you like, whenever you can!

Our headliner, Kaervek the Merciless *f-etch*, insists the show, and the pain, must go on! Thanks to his lovely assistants, Harmonic Prodigy, Fiendish Duo, and Obosh, the Preypiercer, his burn ability will trigger twice and the sting will escalate! Oh, but that's not all. He can also send your opponents to an untimely end in a flash with the addition of Repercussion, which lets you engulf both your creatures and their controllers, and Fiery Emancipation, which triples all your damage, and your damage alone! So, if you happen to control both Kaervek, Prodigy, Obosh, the Duo, and Fiery Emancipation, then Kaervek will be dealing at least SIX TIMES THE DAMAGE, TWICE OVER, but it'll be TWELVE TIMES THE DAMAGE if you target your opponents directly! Plus, if you also happen to control Repercussion and Kaervek's triggered ability targets a creature, then all that damage snowballs all over again, and that results in SIX TIMES THE DAMAGE to a creature, and SEVENTY-TWO TIMES THE DAMAGE to that creatures controller! Phil Swift would be proud!

Or perhaps he would be even more once you say "I JUST SAWED MY CREATURE IN HALF!"

That's right! Saw in Half kills a creature in order to give you two copies of it, allowing you to irritate your enemies twice as much! For example, you can split apart other creatures to get double ETB effects or double activated/triggered abilities for even further value. Why not take a chainsaw to Dockside Extortionist, Fiendish Duo, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Harmonic Prodigy, Solemn Simulacrum, or Zealous Conscripts if you'll get two more copies of it as a result?

And the best creature to force to undergo mitosis is Dualcaster Mage! Why? Because she creates an infinite combo, of course! You flash in Mage with Saw in Half on the stack, getting a copy of it, and then you can saw Mage in half again, getting two more Mages, and two more Saw copies. This results in infinite 1/1 creatures to swing out with, and this can all be done AT INSTANT SPEED, allowing you to full swing with infinite creatures out of nowhere! Together, Dualcaster Mage + Saw in Half is a match made in outer-space-carnival-from-Hell hell!

Keep in mind that this is one of the more expensive commander options out there in terms of mana value. He costs , in total, and that’s before you add any commander tax. So you better believe he'll be protected with artifacts like Lightning Greaves and Commander's Plate. But the wickedest equipment for Kaervek is Basilisk Collar, allowing him to instantly destroy any creature with the damage he deals, and gaining your life back whenever he deals damage!
When it comes to overkill, Toralf, God of Fury  is second to none! He can combo with Kaervek to burn your opponents with the excess damage dealt to their creatures. But if Toralf happens to be equipped with Basilisk Collar, then once he has gained excess damage, he will only deal one to any other targeted creature. Because he now has deathtouch, he can continue to ping other opponent's creatures and act as a pseudo-board wipe! This plethora of damage dealing can also synergize with other wraths and board wipes, such as Blasphemous Act and Rolling Earthquake, and can potentially win you the game on the spot! In addition, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell can continuously add two more damage every time he triggers, snowballing to potentially lethal damage, while Repercussion burns your opponents every time he damages a creature! Work smarter, not harder!
One of our signature performers is none other than the legendary Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. By himself, he can create copies of various non-legendary creatures, and certain creatures have significant synergy with this compelling conjuring! Create infinite tokens with haste, AND steal valuable permanents your opponents control with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts ! Bludgeon your opponents with not double damage, but quadruple damage, with Fiendish Duo + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Force a fight between creatures or make your opponents second-guess attacking you with Brash Taunter + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker ! Generate a vast hoard of treasures with Dockside Extortionist + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker ! Constantly cause annoying life loss ETB effects with Gray Merchant of Asphodel + Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker ! During your opponent's end step, you can ramp for land and draw a card for free with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Solemn Simulacrum , since the copy token will trigger both of Sad Robot's triggered abilities, since it must be sacrificed on that same end step!
Another one of our stars capable of inflicting pain without end is Worldgorger Dragon! He's a big boy, but at the cost of exiling all your other permanents. Fortunately, that's exactly what you want, because the most important permanent we want exiled is Animate Dead! The idea is to bring back Worldgorger Dragon with Animate Dead, and this will cause an infinite loop which will allow you to tap for infinite mana! The loop ends when you target another creature with Animate Dead. Then with your infinite mana, you can finish the game in style with a card like Torment of Hailfire! Together, Animate Dead + Worldgorger Dragon are one of the most revered two-card infinite combos in all of Magic!
What would a game of Commander be without some combos? The Rakdos Festival of Fire has plenty, from lethal blows to infinite loops.

Supply Heartless Hidetsugu with lifelink and hit everyone with the Heartless Hidetsugu + Wound Reflection , Heartless Hidetsugu + Obosh, the Preypiercer , and/or Fiendish Duo + Heartless Hidetsugu one-two punch, or even the Fiery Emancipation + Heartless Hidetsugu one-three punch! Ramp for an extraordinary amount of with Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth ! Drain your opponents of all their blood with the enchantment duo Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond ! Can't access Sanguine Bond? Then Exquisite Blood + Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose , using Vito as a replacement, is just as effective at sapping the life of EVERYONE involved!

And if you wish for something a bit more complicated, look no further than the un-holy trinity of Aetherflux Reservoir + Bolas's Citadel + Sensei's Divining Top ! Bolas's Citadel allows you to cast Sensei's Divining Top from the top of your deck for only one () life. Then you can draw a card and immediately put it back on the top of your library. Rinse and repeat, and Aetherflux Reservoir will gain you "infinite" life and card draw, which you can then use to shoot your opponents directly between the eyes!

These combos not only will allow for quicker games, but will confirm that they will end with your victory!

That's right! If you're missing a vital combo piece, then tutors are your best friend! Dig through your entire library for any combo piece you need to win the game, with any of Black's signature searchers! Stack your deck before you draw with Vampiric Tutor or even Sensei's Divining Top. Search for what you need right away with Demonic Tutor *f-etch*. Or send a creature directly from your library to the graveyard (hint, it's gonna be Worldgorger Dragon) with Entomb. And if you can't search your way through your library, there's plenty of draw power, with cards like Erebos, God of the Dead, Night's Whisper, Sign in Blood, and Stinging Study. Even in Red, there's great mana ramp, draw, and impulse draw sorceries, like Faithless Looting, Jeska's Will, or Light Up the Stage! These crucial staples guarantee you shall see the cards you need to torture anyone who tries to prevent your inevitable preeminence!
The Cult of Rakdos is renowned for its dedication to protect your right to privacy. That's why if your opponent's party gets too out-of-hand, our state-of-the-art board wipes will eradicate all traces of life in the vicinity, no questions asked.

  • Maximum carnage for minimal cost, Blasphemous Act is the best bang for your buck, literally!
  • Short, sweet, and to the point, Damnation is as simple as a board wipe can be! Everything will die!
  • Who needs horsemanship? Rolling Earthquake will deal damage to all creatures and players, guaranteed!
  • Perhaps the most evil of them all, Torment of Hailfire forces your opponents to give up all their resources, OR DIE!
  • It's Slime Time! Toxic Deluge can circumvent and neutralize creatures with Indestructable AND/OR protection from Black spells!
  • Tired of all your opponents' annoying artifacts? Simply overload Vandalblast to explode EVERY artifact you don't control!
    • Optional: You can also opt to use Mycosynth Lattice for the Mycosynth Lattice + Vandalblast combo, to destroy EVERY PERMANENT YOUR OPPONENTS CONTROL!!! However, this is only recommended in Artifact-based builds, and this particular build is not one of those. Plus, it is a surefire way to get kicked out of your play group. Nobody likes having his/her lands destroyed.

And remember, all of these board wipes can be found with the help of our lovely tutors!

And for the grand finale, not only are Blasphemous Act and Rolling Earthquake cataclysmic wraths, but when combined with Toralf, God of Fury  or Repercussion, they’re also the most devilish win conditions yet! As mentioned before, Blasphemous Act + Toralf, God of Fury will deal 13 damage to each creature, while Rolling Earthquake + Toralf, God of Fury will do damage to all creatures without horsemanship, and each player as well. Since most creatures will be overkilled, the excess damage can be dealt right to your opponent's faces! However, the combos of Blasphemous Act + Repercussion and Repercussion + Rolling Earthquake deals either 13 or damage to each creature, and then that damage is also reflected directly onto each creature's controller! Of course, the idea is to play these while you control no creatures (except for Toralf). But if you combine these with Fiery Emancipation, and if your opponents have as few as one () creature or token on the board, then that would be 39 damage to each creature, then 117 damage to that creature's controller if you control Repercussion, or triple the excess damage if you control Toralf! The Cult of Rakdos not only encourages overkill, it revels in it!
The Commander / EDH format should be about long, casual games with your friends first, and caring about winning should come second fiddle. While this deck is very strong, has infinite combos, and contains deadly, powerful creatures that can punish your opponents, keep in mind that you may want to hold back if you want to stay in your play group. Perhaps keep a sideboard with you so you can swap out some of these combos if your friends deem them as too powerful for the table. I may have talked about how this deck is about winning, but that’s mostly for flavor. Play to have fun first and foremost, and if you happen to win, then congratulations!

If you find this decklist entertaining, then feel free to give it an upvote (+1), I appreciate all the support and recommendations from you guys!

The Rakdos Festival of Fire

Coming to a local game store near you!

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