Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Commander / EDH

ItsWatson

Creature (27)

• 1x Ancestral Statue
• 1x Artisan of Kozilek
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Hypnotic Specter
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Lobber Crew
• 1x Nettle Drone
• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Priest of Gix
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Sandstone Oracle
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Sire Of Insanity
• 1x Thermo-Alchemist
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Void Winnower

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Unmask

Land (37)

• 1x Akoum Refuge
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodfell Caves
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cinder Barrens
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Everglades
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Flamekin Village
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Leechridden Swamp
• 6x Mountain
• 1x Piranha Marsh
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shadowblood Ridge
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Honden of Infinite Rage
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Retreat to Hagra
• 1x Underworld Connections
• 1x Warstorm Surge
• 1x Wound Reflection

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Charcoal Diamond
• 1x Cloudstone Curio
• 1x Cryptolith Fragment  ^Flip
• 1x Fire Diamond
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Rakdos Cluestone
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Instant (6)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Terminate
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana Vess

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Straightforward Rakdos: Hurt your friends, play Rakdos, hurt them more.

Some notes -

Cryptolith Fragment   is the best mana rock for Rakdos, hands down.

Stax effects like Thorn of Amethyst, Nullstone Gargoyle, Ob Nixilis, Unshackled, Void Winnower and to some extent Sire Of Insanity or Kaervek the Merciless really help buy the time you need to win via beat down against combo decks, or just fast decks in general. The fact that the effects are stapled onto creatures (with the exception of the Thorn, which is just cheap) makes them worth playing. With Rakdos as commander, having creatures with effects stapled onto them is pretty much always a benefit because you can negate the higher cost.

Razaketh, the Foulblooded leads to some silly shenanigans with Rakdos' discount and colorless creatures in general, but particularly with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. When you pay Razaketh's ability cost and sacrifice Kozilek or Ulamog, they immediately get shuffled back into your library, and you pay the life. Then Razaketh's ability resolves, and you can tutor for them and play again. If you have enough life, you can cycle Ulamog until you've destroyed all your opponent's lands. If not, you can do the loop with Kozilek a few times until you've got half your deck.

RECENTLY DISCOVERED INFINITE COMBO WITH RAZAKETH

Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Rakdos, Lord of Riots, Priest of Gix, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Requires Razaketh, Rakdos, and any other creature on the board. Sac the creature to Razaketh to tutor for Priest of Gix, get 3 black into the pool. Sac the Priest to fetch Gray Merchant, drain the board. Sac the Gray Merchant for Ulamog, Sac Ulamog to shuffle the graveyard into the library and fetch the Priest again. With Rakdos discount the Priest of Gix gives you the black you need to do the loop as many times as it takes for Gray Merchant to kill everyone.

Always mulligan for land and an enabler if possible. Ideally you want to have RRBB on turn four and to have played an enabler in one of the previous three turns so that you can play Rakdos as soon as possible. It's technically possible to get Rakdos out a turn early with a Sol Ring and another mana rock, but I've played this deck a lot and I've yet to see it happen. You need that on top of an enabler, and if any of that land enters tapped it doesn't really work.

There's a lot of draw, but I feel often like I don't have enough. Once you dump most of your hand onto the table you need to fill it back up immediately. If you don't, one board wipe ends the game for you. Harvester of Souls is nice board wipe insurance, Underworld Connections and Phyrexian Arena keep you consistently drawing cards, and stuff like Dragon Mage or a nicely timed Sandstone Oracle can fill your hand completely back up. Being able to pick up steam again after a board wipe is vital, because people will save board wipes against Rakdos. It's going to happen, so you need to be prepared with more gas.

Changes I plan on making -

Add Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 31 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.29
Tokens	Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Cool decks, immediate make, Under 400, maio's deck, Rakdos's Rage, EDH