Might help if I actually link the build:

Oh, and Boros Reckoner in the mainboard because the colors match very well and he's a body that can replace Lightning Strike and still be very dangerous in other ways. Also, Anger of the Gods makes him go off with an extra bang as an added dirty trick. Additionally, I was missing a faster creature drop in the <4 CMC spot.

Obviously I think in a different direction than you, Regulus1010, because my own Rakdos build is geared very much more for a beatdown deck despite multiple similarities in main board. You're right in assuming that your deck is built much better for the long haul, with the capacity for outright win with Master of Cruelties if he manages to get through. All your creatures but Pack Rat are also serious instant threats, pack rat taking time to build. I would appreciate your own comments on my build, Rakdos Midrange - Bestow the Blood Witch, where one of my primary objectives was to make removal less damaging to me.

On a specific point, I disagree with the inclusion of Slaughter Games in the main board unless you already know the metagame in the arena you bring this deck into. It seems to me, and was advised to me, that Slaughter Games is best left in the sideboard until you know what it is you would be attempting to surgically remove. Azorius's Sphinx's Revelation for instance. If you already know the people and decks you are likely to face, then no worries, keep it in, but any time you put this deck out in an unknown scenario, it is probably a dead card until game two.

One last point, and that is the question of why Lifebane Zombie is in your sideboard. It surprises me because standard abounds in legal and powerful targets including Xenagos, God of Revels , Ephara, God of the Polis , Brimaz, King of Oreskos , Polukranos, World Eater , and a half a dozen other powerful cards likely to be seen as well as a bunch of powerful fringe cards like Aurelia, the Warleader . Any metagame reason as to why they are in the side, or did they simply not fit into your more controlling tempo as well as you would like?

+1 from me, as I thrive in these colours, though I'm definitely not averse to playing anything. Well done, and good luck. I'd appreciate your comments on my deck if you would.

Hi nyctophasm, thanks for you feedback and the +1! I +1'd your deck the other day but haven't had time to properly review and comment. I shall try and do so shortly.

To your points, I've given Slaughter Games a lot of thought as a 1-of in my MB and in my meta, I know a lot of the decks being played/people playing them. So on game 1, I can search for what I either 1. Know they have or 2. Think they might have and even if I'm wrong and/or they're a new face, get to search their library and literally get their entire decklist for pinpoint sideboarding on games 2 and 3. I can't tell you how many times I thought I've had a deck pinned down just to find out that on games 2/3, there were key cards on a variant build that didn't show up in game 1, and have gotten caught with my pants down. All of that being said, it's a stylistic/flavor preference of mine and an effort to differentiate this decks for others of this nature.

You make a good point with Lifebane Zombie , as there are many targets for it and it certainly does fit my tempo - you mentioned how much it just tears up most any non-black deck in standard right now. But, I don't MB it because my meta has been running black very heavily lately (as in, almost all I've played) and Lifebane is essentially useless - I don't wanna pay 3 just to see their hand when I have Thoughtseize / Duress and could have pulled something else out of deck in game 1....handy removal, for example.

I was actually hoping to have gotten more feedback on my splash white concept in the below posted deck. I'm finding the utility awesome and wanted to hear what others thought:

Thanks again!

I like this, +1!

I think I'd rather run the Lifebane Zombie mainboard, along with a second Slaughter Games . The extra info on their hands can give you enough ideas to call Slaughter Games on, and together it just rips the deck apart. And 3/1 intimidate is very good for 3CMC.

How does sire of insanity work out for this deck? I feel like discarding the hand can be quite scary playing a control style deck

Actually, if enchantments/artifacts are causing this deck trouble, it has all the appropriate colours to sideboard Wear / Tear , which gives you an answer to all of them except gods. Otherwise, Revoke Existence or Gild of course, but Wear / Tear gives you a little more versatility.

Sorry, forgot that Gild was entirely useless against gods unless they've got enough devotion to be turned on. My bad, just revoke their diplomatic immunity then.

@Zhalor: Sire Of Insanity was a trial-run idea that Im not finding not worth it for the same reasons you mentioned its in there for a control matchup but like you were getting at, Im often keeping cards in my hand and dont have a desire to discard them as often as I had originally though just to empty my opponents hand. Ive temporarily put Lightning Strike back in to fill the spot for a little extra removal that can double as a finisher when opponents life totals get low, but having recently playtested against my own Rakdos aggro deck that ripped this one up in 4-5 turns consistently, Im thinking something else will work better in these slots. Taking suggestions!

@nyctophasm: Revoke Existence is preferable for me because it just straight out exiles artifacts and enchants rather than destroys them. Enchantment creatures can be exiled with it, and I dont want a Boros Charm or Golgari Charm stopping my removal because I chose destroy with Wear / Tear . Thats my primary motivation for that card, not to mention that it exiles indestructible Gods, whether they are active or not.

Im actually really interested in your guys feedback on what to sideboard to deal with aggro, as well as whether Aurelia, the Warleader fits given her demanding mana cost alongside Obzedat, Ghost Council (who I do want to keep). Current SB replacement ideas for Lightning Strike , bearing in mind I only have 2 slots to mix and match:

- Drown in Sorrow Good sweeper + scry, but not as effective for the CMC as Anger of the Gods

- Blind Obedience Great for aggro because nothing with haste hits you immediately

- Illness in the Ranks Token destruction against white aggro, especially Brimaz and Heliod tokens, not to mention Master of Waves

- Electrickery - its cheap to overload

- Shock Turn 1-2 Elvish Mystic , Soldier of the Pantheon and Rakdos Cackler removal, and any other cheap creature with Madcap Skills on it (which is what my Rakdos aggro deck did to rip this deck up).

Welcoming feedback!

Also:

• Pithing Needle : Although with all my removal, I'm not sure whether I'd need it for anything other than Underworld Connections (which I run) and artifacts (which I can SB in Revoke Existence for). Maybe AEtherling ?

• I could SB my mainboarded Slaughter Games and add a 4th Anger of the Gods to the SB. Main board another Desecration Demon , Stormbreath Dragon or Blood Baron of Vizkopa in its place, or possibly a 4th Devour Flesh .

Hmmmm....

I am pro white for this type of deck. I have a RWB control deck that I've had some great success with over the last four weeks, 16-3 in 4 FNM's. My main board has Boros Charm and Celestial Flare , still trying to fit in Rakdos's Return in the side board. I also use whip and having that with ghost council is a nice added bonus.

love the deck format! its awesome you ever thought of Mogis, God of Slaughter in the deck

@Lacken: I like your deck idea as well! I +1'd it, and would appreciate the same from you in return. If you'd like, I'd be happy to provide some constructive feedback on the deckpage. To your comments, our angles are similar but a tad different with removal choices/count, etc. Celestial Flare is something white generally uses because it doesn't have a choice, as direct removal is lacking in the format. Black it's more versatile in this regard so I have Devour Flesh for the "sacrifice" angle, but it doesn't require attacking and can therefore get rid of things like Sylvan Caryatid and Elvish Mystic that you don't want on the board but also generally don't attack. To your other points, Rakdos's Return is instrumental and devastating against control and mid-range. I regularly make my opponents drop their entire hand, leaving them to rely on topdecks

@Titan630: Thanks for the vote! Before I did a comment cleanup, Mogis was suggested twice and my explanation for not including him was not only does he butt heads with other cards on my curve, namely Desecration Demon and Chandra, Pyromaster in MB and Slaughter Games in the SB, but to be effective, he needs to actually be in play ASAP. In playtesting, I found myself holding him in favor of needing removal or larger creatures on the battlefield, thereby making him useless by the time he's safe to cast. He will never have devotion high enough to be a creature in the battlefield and doesn't have an immediate impact on the game when cast, so he doesn't fit, unfortunately.

@Regulus1010. I use both because I see a lot of blood barons at the two location I play at, just to get the percent chance for removal on that card. I do like your deck, +1. If you could look at my black/green I have together and leave me your thoughts I'd appreciate it.

I think Aurelia and obzedat work great and deserve to stay. With the amount scary this deck has I have never had a problem with my testing. I have been running a pithing needle in the sideboard and have found it to be rather handy. Underworld connections I don't find myself ever using. Not sure what to put in its place though.

@Zhalor I run Read the Bones instead of Underworld Connections for me it's the cycling of 4 cards compared to the one, 5 if you include your draw phase.

@Lacken: Did you mean for me to take a look at the rats/beasts deck?

Yes please Regulus1010. It's a work in progress and just an idea I had. I dint see anyone play g/b anymore, probably because of the shaman getting banned, so I wanted to give it a try.

Regulus1010, do you think this deck is better than a similar build but Grixis instead of Dega? For example, my deck: The Grixis Strikes Back, but maybe tweaked around a bit?

Have you looked at Elspeth, Sun's Champion at all? I know you're only splashing white, but by t6 having a couple white sources is doable. She can take over the board very quickly, which makes her a nice fit in control decks.

@SpaderAce: I wouldnt say one is necessarily better than the other, but rather very different even if they do have similar feels. You have entirely different wincons than I do and run roughly half the removal I do, instead favoring much more hand control and a longer game with Elixir of Immortality , Jace, Memory Adept and counterspells in your sideboardnot to mention AEtherling . I could give specific feedback on your deckpage, if youd like. I did +1 it, however, and would appreciate the same in return!

@kmcree: I actually have considered Elspeth, Sun's Champion but decided against her because in this deck. Her -4, while normally amazing in the right deck, instead blows up all my wincons (Boros Reckoner isnt really a wincon, so I dont count him), so shes essentially a token generation tool for 6 CMC. Now whether thats STILL worth it after all that is something Im still willing to consider, although my money is on Assemble the Legion taking that slot in my sideboard if I end up going that route. One of the things that scares me in my deck is the occasional game where I draw more than 1-2 creatures in my opening hand, as thats not at all good. The last thing Id want is to draw, say, Obzedaddy and Elspeth in my opening hand: auto-mulligan. My luck last Friday was such that this would happen 2 out of every 3 games, even though I was running an older version of this deck waiting for new cards to come in. For Planeswalkers, I can handle drawing a Chandra, Pyromaster in my opening hand as long as I have some land and removal. Elspeth will take much longer to get out but go ahead, convince me! Also, toss me a +1 if you dont mind Im trying to get this deck into the top 10 on TappedOut.

Thanks again to all for the feedback and please keep it rollin in!

The biggest difference between Elspeth and Assemble the Legion is that Elspeth makes tokens the turn she comes down, and you can also use her -7 to pump all those tokens. Thats essentially GG right there. Assemble can't do that, so you just have to rely on building an overwhelming number of tokens. I run her in Esper and have never actually used her -3. Just the +1 and -7. But in the end its really up to you.

Regulus1010, I just +1'd it, I like how this looks. And if you do have any feedback for my list, I'd be glad if you did comment on it!

@kmcree: I think that's an interesting point. Where do you specifically see Elspeth fitting in this deck? As in, what do I take out? MB or SB? Interested in your thoughts. I don't own one atm, so I'd have to borrow or acquire one (I dropped that bitch at the nearest street corner I could find every time she made her way to my door, and sold her to the nearest pimp taker!). Not the most difficult of tasks to snag one, but it makes the decision to include her a weightier one for me.

I would drop 1 Boros Reckoner , for a couple reasons: You have other things you want to do t3 that contribute more to your overall strategy, like Underworld Connections , Read the Bones , Anger of the Gods , and Hero's Downfall . Removal is key to your strategy, as is card draw to get you to your win cons. Also, while he's good, the Reckoner won't win you games. I think you're better off focusing turns 3-4 on undoing whatever your opponent is throwing out and getting to your win cons. Finally, he has a prohibitive cmc colorwise. I don't know if its hurt you yet at all, but eventually cards with that color intensive of costs can screw your curve, especially while running Mutavault . That makes room for 1 elspeth to try her out and see how you like her. If you hate her, you can dump her and go back to the reckoner. If you really like her you can try to fit another in somewhere.