Back at it again with another super grindy aggro Rakdos Anvil pile. This time, in addition to focusing on making and saccing artifacts, we want to be sacrificing our own creatures in order for the deck to function, with a big focus on spells with Casualty and forcing the opponent into combats where 5 or more creatures need to die for them to survive, to power Lagomos. As a plan B we have our old faithful, Ob Nixilis, the Adversary which is much stronger against control/midrange matchups.
This deck is meant to be a low to the ground creature and artifact based Casualty deck that tries to clog up the board and rack up damage early, and closes out the game by assembling massive engines that crush the opponent with a wall of value. How much removal this deck runs is really up to my discretion, but I've found the x4 Grisly Sigil and x4 Fatal Grudge to be sufficient against creatures our deck really wants to see leave play. However I was considering Yotia Declares War as a potential option in earlier iterations.
~~~Maindeck~~~
Blood Fountain is great for this deck. Creates artifact fodder for our Sokenzan Smelter and Oni-Cult Anvil and is relevant late game for 2-for-1s against aggro and midrange decks by recurring two of our creatures. Each and every one of our creatures has a pretty vital use so we want to save the fountains themselves if we expect the game to be a grindy one.
Experimental Synthesizer is straight up gas in the form of a 1 mana artifact. It gives us an extra card when we play it and sac it, which can lead to some insane plays with the right board state. Ultimately you'll be wanting to play this for the most value you can, which would mean playing this card on turn 2-4 to smooth out draws, and saccing it with your anvil later on in the game for an extra card's worth of value. In a vacuum this card is a 2/2 vigilance and a draw 2, all for an initial 1 mana investment.
Grisly Sigil is one of the reasons this deck exists at all. Compare to a card like Voltage Surge, a one mana removal spell that allows you to sacrifice a permanent you control to deal extra damage to a creature or planeswalker. Sigil is a lot better in this deck for a variety of reasons, but in a vacuum this card lets you sac a creature to deal 4 damage to a creature or planeswalker and have you gain 4 life, which is huge. In a less common case, it can be used to deal 1 damage to two different 1-power creatures and attempt a 2 for 1. The only drawback is this card being a sorcery, but in matchups where life total is important (cough cough Sheoldred, the Apocalypse) this card is still a much better choice.
Unlucky Witness is super cool. When it dies, we essentially get to play another card in the current turn cycle out of the top two cards of our library. Because of these types of effects, it pays to sac the witness to effects early on in the turn to guarantee you're operating with full information and extending your hand appropriately. Use to help battle in the early game, then sac to a casualty spell later on for some extra card draw.
Weatherlight Compleated. The amount of value this generates in our deck is so absurd that I'm making the call to include three (and maybe four later) copies in the maindeck. This is a card that forces the opponent to interact with it before it gets out of hand and draws you 20+ cards. Getting four creatures killed on our side is child's play in this deck, so we pretty much guarantee that it's at least a 5/5 flier that we can bean them in the air for, or hold back to block as a last resort. Essentially one of the first cards you'd want to try resolving if it's in your hand. Has tons of synergies with your various sac outlets in the deck.
Sokenzan Smelter is, in my humble opinion, one of the strongest Grizzly Bears printed to date. Does nothing on curve, but when resolved on turn 3 allows you to spend your extra mana to animate one of the junk artifacts lying around into a 3/1 haste creature, and remains as a mook maker each subsequent turn until removed by the opponent. This card eats planeswalkers and control lists for breakfast, but is less effective if the opponent has an army of chumps of their own, like Wedding Announcement
. Also, paying 1 to kill a 3/1 and turn it into a 3/1 triggers death effects for Lagomos and Weatherlight.
Mukotai Soulripper is a terrifying addition to this deck. I have yet to exhaustively test this card in this deck, but on paper it should be a 2-mana haymaker that lets us junk our creatures/artifacts to try and bean the opponent for 5+ menace damage each turn when necessary. A great aggro piece to close out the game, as in the earlier iterations this deck had much fewer wincons and as a result pressured the opponent's life total much less. Crewing this with a 2/1 Lagomos elemental and sacrificing it to the Soulripper's ability is a particularly nasty interaction. After some testing this card performs excellently in this deck. Crewing can be an issue at times, but we're always able to sacrifice something to the ripper to make it that much harder to deal with, and to attempt to bean the opponent for 5+ damage each turn, which is exactly where we want to be for a 2-mana card like this.
Voldaren Bloodcaster
is a creature that's perfect for our deck. 2/1 flier for 2, and when it or any other nontoken creature you control dies, you get a Blood token. At 5 tokens she transforms and starts creating creatures of her own out of artifacts every turn, much like Sokenzan Smelter and Oni-Cult Anvil. Good in matchups like mono blue where an evasive, 2-power flier can really make a difference blocking early game, and lets you get extra value from your creatures if you decide to sacrifice them.
Oni-Cult Anvil is our other mook maker, and another reason this deck exists at all. Spawns 1/1 artifact creatures, deals damage to the opponent and gains you life, and lets you cache in useless artifacts for blockers and eventual death triggers. This kind of card is good in pretty much any context and helps you close out the game, so it's one to prioritize over more durdle-y options in the later game.
Yotia Declares War. I was iffy on in the beginning, but then I realized that each chapter on this card is massively useful to us in some way. For starters, this Saga has Read Ahead, which lets us choose one of three different modes with varying levels of value. With the modes themselves, let me explain:
I - Create a creature that's a flying artifact with toughness 2. Fodder to sac, essentially, or in rare cases a blocker for Phoenix Chick or an unflipped Delver of Secrets
.
II - Tap any number of artifacts to deal that much damage to a creature of planeswalker. Grisly Sigil specifies noncombat damage in its conditional, so you're able to ping a creature or planeswalker for one or more damage with the second chapter, and then cast a Sigil to deal up to six additional damage to that target, and gain up to 6 life. A powerful interaction in this deck for sure, but in a vacuum it's a removal spell with a massive ceiling and very little downside with all our artifact payoffs.
III - An artifact you control becomes a 4/4 creature until end of turn. This lets you use Casualty cards where you couldn't normally while also attempting to Boros Charm an opponent with the massive attack. A few insane interactions we have with this final mode are saccing the 4/4 after attacking to Ob Nixilis, the Adversary for a 4 loyalty Ob. We can also animate nontoken artifacts, like Blood Fountain or Experimental Synthesizer, and sac them with Voldaren Bloodcaster
in play for extra blood token value. I'm sure there are even more reasons to run this card, but believe me when I say this saga is insane for us.
Lagomos, Hand of Hatred is a lot like Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia with a few key differences. We can use Laggy as a blocker early game, sac the elementals with our Casualty cards, and tutor for any card we want late game. Pretty much a do-it-all creature for all the stuff this deck wants to do, and a creature that the opponent is more or less forced to answer in the late game.
Ob Nixilis, the Adversary is our other 3-mana wincon. Two planeswalkers for 3 mana with our deck 99% of the time, which can immediately pressure an opponent's life total and card advantage by forcing them to lose value one way or the other. Making more creatures with Ob's -2 is also a great option if you're looking to stabilize against an aggro deck and power your other Casualty spells. A fantastic card that benefits greatly from clogging up the board with creatures and artifacts, which our deck is prone to do.
~~~Sideboard~~~
Fatal Grudge is right at home in our deck. Think a more expensive Innocent Blood that has a lot more value and flexibility attached. We like a card like this against a deck that tries to resolve powerful nontoken creatures on turns 3 onwards, such as Raffine, Schemeing Seer or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. After that happens, we pretty much attempt to edict those powerful creatures away with this card. Alternatively, we can try to attack the opponent's artifacts or planeswalkers in a similar way.
Rotten Reunion; meme or dream? In a vacuum this creates 2 2/2 decayed zombies, and exiles up to 2 cards from a graveyard at instant speed. The zombies can crew and have Casualty synergies, so its a form of graveyard hate that's very on-brand with Casualty.
Unlicensed Hearse is the real deal. Brutal against mono blue and reanimator strategies, it does the job and does it well. Crash in with this card in the late game for the best results.
Ob Nixilis, the Adversary. The other Obs are all here in case we run into a Farewell matchup or are up against control. Also useful in any matchup where gaining a bunch of life could be relevant.
Duress is another card very effective against mono blue and control.
Drag to the Bottom is for when we're up against tokens and they somehow manage to out-token us, we have this as a last resort to reset the score.
