Rakdos control deck based around using spells and abilities to take control of opponents' creatures and then sacrificing for cheap and gaining whatever I need at that moment after attacking with them.
Card choices:
Steal spells
Mark of Mutiny
- just a great 3 cmc steal spell. The +1/+1 counter is always good assuming a sac outlet is online.
Traitorous Blood
- although the 2 red can be a problem the trample is great for making sure some damage gets through, and isn't just stopped by some 1/1 token.
Mob Rule
- while the cmc is fairly high, with a sacrifice outlet this spell can work as a one sided wrath, if the opponents' creatures have similar power, and can hit hexproof creatures. Also exceptional in multiplayer games.
Zealous Conscripts
- builds up your own board while clearing the larger threat. Can take any permanent, unlike the other spells.
Sacrifice outlets
Viscera Seer
- 1 cmc and free sacrifice. The scry is great for getting the card you need, which can be very good, considering amount of bad cards when used without synergy.
Carrion Feeder
- 1 cmc sacrifice outlet. Can grow fairly large. It needs several sacrifice targets to get really big, which can be problematic, and also can't be used for blocking.
Disciple of Griselbrand
- A bit more expensive than the other sacrifice creatures, but the life gain for 1 mana can be a major part of letting you get to late game.
Culling Dais
- can be used for making any steal spell cycle a card as well. Can be a bit slow, which is the reason for only using 2. Can always cycle creatures that are about to die. Can cycle
Ghitu Encampment
as well to get rid of excess lands. Unlike the other permanent sacrifice outlets this can only be used once per turn. Cashing in on the sacrifices can be done at instant speed though.
Altar's Reap
- Used for fast card advantage, when culling dais is too slow. need at least 5 cmc for comboing with a steal spell, but can help making sure you get value from your own creatures if a removal is used on them
Bone Splinters
- The decks' only real removal spell. perfect with a steal spell, but can be used in a pinch without one.
Beaters
Vampire Nighthawk
- life link for survivability, deathtouch for deterring large creatures, flying for blocking most creatures and 3 toughness for not just trading 1 for 1 with small ones. Quite a deal for 3 cmc.
Abyssal Persecutor
- 6/6 flying trampler for 4 cmc is very strong. The downside is neglilible with so many sacrifice outlets. Simply wait until the opponent goes below 1 life and then sacrifice for the win.
Archfiend of Depravity
- Although a removal magnet, if it survives the opponents' turn it can gain massive value, slow them down immensely and set up for
Mob Rule
on power 4 or higher by clearing all the small creatures, so that no blockers remain.
Lands
Swamp
- Needed for casting the large amount of black spells, many of which require . Preferably down on turn 1 along with
Viscera Seer
or
Carrion Feeder
. Also needed for turning on
Dragonskull Summit
Mountain
- Rakdos decks need . Only using 4 because red mana is not really needed before turn 3, so coming in untapped is not as big a must. Also helps activating
Dragonskull Summit
Ghitu Encampment
- that can be turned into a cheap and evasive blocker. Works great against X/2 creatures because of first strike. Can also be used with
Altar's Reap
or
Culling Dais
for cycling excess lands.
Coming into play tapped is a negative, as is not counting as a mountain, which is the reason for only using 2.
Temple of Malice
- as mentioned under
Viscera Seer
, scry is very good for this deck. Also not too expensive for a coloured land
Dragonskull Summit
- Worst case it's a
Rakdos Guildgate
, best case it's a
Badlands
. On the cheaper end of coloured lands.
Bloodfell Caves
- Not a lot to say about this land. Seemed like the best of the bad cheap coloured lands that I wasn't already using. If someone knows of a better alternative I'd be very interested
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- had one in my folder, otherwise this would be another
Swamp
, figured it would be good for getting mana costs early if I happen to draw it, with only a minor downside. Makes all lands count for
Dragonskull Summit
Sideboard
Still under construction. Possible weak spots in mainboard include tokens, hexproof and creatureless decks, as well as dealing with planeswalkers. Suggestions are very much welcome.
Current version includes:
Bloodgift Demon
- Against decks with low creature count, replaces
Mob Rule
and
Archfiend of Depravity
. Also useful against decks with not enough removal, where the card draw can help grind them out.
Dictate of Erebos
- has the advantage of not targeting, making it possible to deal with hexproof creatures. Makes all steal spells into a 2 for 1. The utility of the flash makes this a great card overall.
Dreadbore
- kills creatures, and most importantly, planeswalkers, giving an option for dealing with them.
Hunted Horror
- works against completely creature less decks, by giving targets to the steal spells.
Pyroclasm
- kills decks trying to go wide. the damage only hits
Disciple of Griselbrand
and
Viscera Seer
.
Tips for playing the deck
-
The deck tries to get down an early
Viscera Seer
,
Carrion Feeder
or culling dias, then follow it up with either of the big demons. If the opponent gets any creature threats down, use whatever steal spell possible to clear it.
-
The deck is quite slow in the early stages of the game, and therefore life can run low.
Vampire Nighthawk
is in the deck to help alliviate some of that problem, while
Disciple of Griselbrand
can gain massive amounts of life for a more permanent solution, , especially if it's possible to keep it alive.
-
Don't forget to attack with the creatures you steal. Most of the sacrifice outlets can be used at instant speed, some of them even several times and for free, which ensures you can sac with priority. The most notable exception is
Bone Splinters
, which works at sorcery speed, which can be a good reason for keeping it back
-
When you start getting counters on
Culling Dais
, keeping 1 mana open for sacrificing it in case of removal can be very useful.
-
githu encampment can be turned into a creature, which allows you to sacrifice it. This can help you get rid of excess lands with
Culling Dais
-
If you plan on sacrificing with
Disciple of Griselbrand
, using
Mark of Mutiny
as the stealing effect results in you getting 1 more life than if using the other steal spells.
-
if you sac a creature with an effect when it leaves the battle field or is put into a graveyard, you gain the effect.
-
Zealous Conscripts
can take control of any permanent. While creatures usually make the best targets, because those are the only ones you can sacrifice it can also have it's uses on other targets. Planeswalker ultimates can make for particularly juicy targets.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my deck. Any good suggestions that I haven't thought about is very welcome here, however, please keep in mind that I try to keep the deck on the cheap end, and I prefer to stick to the theme of the deck.
Flip
