Mind and Musings of a Ferret S1/A3

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OutspokenFerret

31 March 2014

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I have some disappointing news. I have been playing S1: Wreck-It Rakdos!, amassing games against different match-ups, and saving them to do write-ups. Unfortunately they were cycled out of the server they were on. That being said the delay in articles was due to Acedemics, but I swear I am back, and will be speed-rounding the next article. I only, due to the server issue, have one game for you, and unfortunately it isn't even play-by-play. It is just afterthoughts from both players involved. We will return to this deck to finish up the testing at a later date, but without further explanation:

The Thoughts

Spootyone vs. OutspokenFerret

Primordial Soup | Bant Mega-Ramp vs. S1: Wreck-It Rakdos!

 Ferret

Well, I was honestly afraid of this match-up. With access to creatures with large toughness and an abundance of life-gain, I was fretting over whether I could power through. The answer was Mogis's Marauder. That card was put to work. It won, got copied, helped whither the life total, and it sped me up, all of which was needed in the match up. I ended up bringing inrakdos return to keep him off his win conditions, Dreadbore and Ultimate Price to hit the large stuff, and Underworld Cerberus to get my threats back. I came to the realization that we need an answer to enchantments, because Detention Sphere and Blind Obedience went to work on me.

I'd like to say that each game was a fair battle but, we both had our ups and downs. For instance, game 3 Spooty missed land drops and never got much down before Marauder and Firefist Striker denounced what creatures he was able to hold onto. Game 1 I mulled to 5, and drew nothing but gas. Game 2 still makes me cry with Back-to-Back Disciple of Nylea, Courser of Kruphix, and Kiora, the Crashing Wave to stall out for the win.

We didn't see much from Felhide Spiritbinder, and often times I wished he was something else, but in other matches, I found him an incredible boon, forcing decks to deal with just him and not a Marauder and following up with the rest of your hand. The sheer versatility of him, makes him useful, whilst his larger rear allows him to allude some of the more popular kill spells. That being said, I may have moved the deck in a more midrange direction and include something like Carnage Gladiator for further synergy with him.

 Spooty

"For some time now, I've been under the belief that Rakdos Aggro is one of the quickest and most aggressive decks in the format. And I think this stems from the fact that it has full-reign on the haste mechanic, mixed with a plethora of "reach'-type effects like burn (Lightning Strike, Magma Jet), removal (Dreadbore, hero's downfal, Doom Blade) and creature effects. This deck is no exception to that rule. Spiteful Returned, Hellhole Flailer, and Fanatic of Mogis are all perfect examples of creatures that allowed the damage to keep getting through even when blockers were present. Another big player was mogis' marauder. In game one, I decided to (perhaps greedily) play out a Sylvan Primordial instead of leaving overload mana up for Cyclonic Rift, assuming that playing it for its normal cost would be okay for that turn should anything happen. But when the marauder hit the field there was nothing I could do about it anymore. That made me feel pretty terrible haha.

All in all, I think that fellhide spiritbinder does not add a ton to a competitive Rakdos build. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. I love building unique decks and attempting to make them standard-playable, but I have to be honest. I think that there are plenty of synergies that arise out of using the spiritbinder. Namely, those with Fanatic of Mogis and mogis' marauder. The problem lies with its CMC and the stipulation that is must untap for the ability to activate. As a top end, it's okay and can do some great things, but part of me just feels like I'd have been much more afraid of (and dead to) Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch. But perhaps this is just for this particular matchup that this is true.

As for my own deck, I can say that Blind Obedience was one of the single most important cards to sideboard in (and I have it in the side for this matchup, exactly). With so much haste coming at you, one needs a way to counteract that. Then, once you've managed to survive the initial onslaught, the extort ability becomes a bit more relevant. Between this and hitting land drops with Courser of Kruphix, I probably healed a good 10-15 life points, which surely would have spelled death in their absence. If someone wanted to put a card in their sideboard to fend off the aggression of a Rakdos Aggro build like this one, Blind Obedience is my primary suggestion."

Conclusion

To be continued...

Along with articles in the future I may include one more match-up for the deck, and post a follow up article to evaluate the final verdict later. For now however, it remains a future.

Stay tuned for later this week where I will announce the next Centerpiece, until then I bid you all ado.