Horror, Carnage, and Annihilation. All are Rakdos. (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Horror, Carnage, and Annihilation. All are Rakdos.

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Control Land Destruction Pox Sacrifice Theme/Gimmick

Pheardemons

Land (35)

Annihilation (18)

Horror (25)

Draw (5)

Ramp (4)

Commander (1)

Carnage (21)

Tutor (4)

Maybeboard

Horror (6)

Control (2)

Annihilation (5)

Draw (2)

Carnage (4)

"Just remember, when you stare into the face of Evil, Evil is gonna stare right back at you." - American Horror Story

Basic description Show

Horror Show

Definition - An overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear.

Have you ever had the pleasure to look into someone's eyes and watch as their soul leaves their body?

Most have the connotation of the word horror to be something nightmarish. I've always thought of it as something that slowly grows to become overwhelmingly distinct and powerful because one's mind cannot comprehend what is happening. Something that started out small and logical, but becomes an entity that makes one feel helpless, with any signs of hope being shredded in their mind. I've decided that cards under the horror category either trick down my opponent's life total, have them make choices that are in my favor no matter the decision, or strengthen my board state to a point of overwhelming power. The cards below I believe me help achieve that goal.

Angrath, the Flame-Chained - His uptick fits in the horror AND annihilation categories. His minus could allow me to have an extra attacker if necessary, or just to take something to sacrifice it to Rakdos because it is an annoying creature. And no one should allow me to get to his ultimate. Just...damn.

Berserkers' Onslaught - I play Whispersilk Cloak so I wanted a way to get double strike without having to target. With double strike, Rakdos's trigger will go on the stack twice making my opponent sacrifice half of their permanents twice while I only sacrifice once. Did you feel that shiver?

Captive Audience - Powerful effects that fit into the themes of the deck. The main question is now who has pissed off the almighty Rakdos?

Chandra, Awakened Inferno - Since she is uncounterable that essentially guarantees one emblem. She has a sort-of board wipe that isn't too irrelevant in EDH, and of course her targeted removal for X can definitely be relevant. I think she will be a fine addition to Horror.

Citadel of Pain - Love this against control decks. Also, forces everyone to tap down so I don't have to worry about later removal. If they are willing to take the damage, then I know to play conservatively.

Deflecting Swat - There to protect Rakdos in case I don't already have some protection on him. Of course, can easily be used as a political tool for someone that I need a favor from.

Erebos, God of the Dead - This card is here mainly as another Greed type of effect, but the stopping lifegain is relevant as well. Occasionally I'll get a 5/7 body with indestructible which is powerful as well. He's earned his spot thus far.

Exquisite Blood - God what an insane card. I can sit back with a powerful board, and just let my opponents attack each other and I gain life. This card literately allows me to become powerful by doing NOTHING. Not to mention the cards I have to attack or damage them.

Fiery Emancipation - Turns Rakdos into a one shot kill to any player he connects with. I don't know why they printed this card.

Flaring Pain and Wild Slash are here to stop against fog decks, and anything that could prevent damage. I don't want to sacrifice my stuff but my opponent does not.

Heartless Hidetsugu - Combos with Exquisite Blood so powerfully it wins the game unless it is dealt with immediately. Waiting a turn to activate can hurt, but if it is successful I laugh maniacally.

Insurrection - Powerful card. It can end the game depending on what's on the board, or allow me to sacrifice anything I don't like if I can also attack with Rakdos.

Manabarbs - What can be more of a hate card than a card that damages you when you utilize a resource that you HAVE to use in Magic. Granted it hits me, but the combo here with Exquisite Blood is just too good.

Painful Quandary - Love this card to death. in the words somewhat changed from oprah, "You make a bad choice, you make a bad choice, everyone gets a bad choice!"

Pox - fits literately every fricken theme I have in this deck.

Rakdos Charm - The utility here is great! Tokens? Make you lose life for each of them. Graveyard deck? Let me just change that at instant speed. Plus the flavor of Rakdos Charm in a Rakdos deck.

Reverberate is here to surprise control decks mainly. My playgroup plays a lot of counters so I need a way to stop them. Of course, there is the benefit of copying a powerful spell to get back at someone or to try to put me ahead of the game.

Sadistic Sacrament - Another way to slow my opponents down and take away combos, cards that may hurt me, or just anything that may be annoying to fight against.

Strionic Resonator - This card allows me the potential to have an opponent sacrifice their permanents three times while I only sacrifice once. Rakdos attacks and I sacrifice my permanents. Assuming he connects, his trigger goes on the stack. With it on the stack, I activate Strionic Resonator to copy the effect. If Rakdos has double strike then they should be scooping.

Swiftfoot Boots - Gotta love the hexproof protection on the commander.

Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor - His +1 puts him in the horror category. Manipulating EACH opponent's library is amazing. I can steal their win conditions, their removal, and any other resources that my deck may not have access to.

Whispersilk Cloak - In the deck to protect my commander. Nothing better than attacking my opponent with my commander and they can't do anything about it. There's a certain sigh I'm used to hearing that is music to my ears.

Carnage Show

Definition - The slaughter of a great number of people.

Have you ever had an overwhelming feeling to wash your hands in the blood of your enemies?

Now Carnage is a theme that is pretty simple, destruction of my opponent's creatures. I want to expand that to be the battlefield itself (aside from lands, see Annihilation). Destruction of creatures, planeswalkers, artifacts, even enchantments (the few if any in these colors). The reason for this is because whenever someone uses the word carnage it would paint a picture of an old style battlefield. A gruesome scene of bloody bodies of warriors from both sides. If any towns or villages were caught in the crossfire they would be leveled. The strife, and horror, of war does not discriminate based on ideals, innocence, even loyalty. Anything and everything caught becomes a fair target. I want to paint a picture of a battlefield to my opponent with one difference then what I painted above, Rakdos staring across the battlefield with a smile on his face meaning only one possible thing; victory. The cards below I believe help me achieve this goal.

Bedevil, Dismember, Dreadbore, Hero's Downfall, Ruinous Path, Ashes to Ashes,and Terminate - Staple/standard targeted removal in rakdos colors. Not much extra to say about them. Ashes to Ashes may not be standard removal but it is definitely worth testing.

Blasphemous Act, Damnation, Life's Finale, and Toxic Deluge - Staple/standard board wipes. Each one has its own unique ability that can become useful throughout the game.

Chaos Warp - Can potentially backfire, but usually the card they are getting is less of a threat then the card you're targeting, if they get one at all. Not too many cards in Rakdos colors that can deal with enchantments.

Feed the Swarm - This deserves its own spot because...MONO-BLACK CAN TARGET ENCHANTMENTS!! Man what a great card.

Phyrexian Scriptures - I like the utility this card brings despite the fact that my opponent can see endgame coming. Board wipe and gravehate in one card.

Pox - fits literately every fricken theme I have in this deck.

Shattering Spree and Vandalblast are more ways of getting rid of artifacts. It'll help to lower my opponent's permanent count to make my commander more devastating when it hits.

Snuff Out - Removal even if I'm tapped out. Great surprise against an opponent who may not be ready or expect it.

Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor - His -3 puts him in the carnage category. Exiling is incredibly powerful. Especially on a potentially continuous engine (albeit a slow one). I'm pretty sure he'll get targeted immediately, though.

Ugin, the Ineffable - Another great way to target enchantments in rakdos' colors. Also, he allows me to "draw" cards that can also be fodder for Rakdos.

Annihilation Show

Definition - Destroy Utterly: Obliterate.

Have you ever allowed someone to build a magnificent creation, only to see their face as you tear it apart stone by stone?

I chose annihilation for land destruction because I've always believed it had the implication of no recovery and absolution. Being able to destroy lands (even mine, but my deck is built around it) while destroying my opponent's boardstate all the while building the empire that is Rakdos can only mean one thing to me...perfection. I am also going to include gravehate, discarding effects, and/or hand manipulation in this category. Complete annihilation means that there should be absolutely no hope of coming back. The cards below I believe help me achieve this goal.

Angrath, the Flame-Chained - I love that his uptick makes EACH opponent discard a card. He gets targeted pretty quickly.

Burning Sands - Now that I have taken Krenko out of the deck it is time to try this out. I feel like it will do wanders to slow my opponents down and keep their permanents low to ensure a powerful swing with Rakdos.

Captive Audience - You know why this is in this category.

Head Games - WHY IS THIS NOT WORTH MORE MONEY? No it doesn't discard their hand, but I get to choose the cards they have? Seriously? Mana screwed, I give them nothing but expensive cards. Mana flooded, I give them more mana so they have nothing to cast. Color screwed, give them nothing but the color they already have. Overall just give them cards that don't do anything based on the board state. Amazing card.

Keldon Firebombers - I love playing this card in the main phase before I attack with Rakdos to ensure my opponents have even less to sacrifice. Also a great way to slow the game down if I need to.

Mind Twist, Mind Shatter, and Rakdos's Return - Oh did you think you were going to have a plan to stop me?

Painful Quandary - Love this card to death. in the words somewhat changed from oprah, "You make a bad choice, you make a bad choice, everyone gets a bad choice!"

Phyrexian Scriptures - The last text is the reason it is in the annihilation category. Wipe the board AND I ensure you don't get them back.

Pox - fits literately every fricken theme I have in this deck.

Price of Glory - Control players worst nightmare. I definitely try to get this to resolve if there are any blue players in the pod.

Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace - One of those things that I can use when I may not have anything left to do. Also, great flavor.

Sire Of Insanity - Great card if I have a winning board state. It makes sure my opponents can't keep their reactive cards to ensure my attacks, spells, and everything else doesn't have to worry about being destroyed.

Thought Distortion - Great card against control or combo decks. It can seriously hinder any opponent who becomes targeted.

Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor - His ultimate removing all graveyards puts him in the annihilation category. I don't forsee me getting to this often, if at all, but definitely relevant in EDH.

Wake of Destruction - I love to see mono-colored decks against Rakdos. I don't know why though.

Notable Exclusions Show

Everlasting Torment and Leyline of Punishment - These were tried because of the "damage can't be prevented" clause but overall were fairly useless in my playgroup. I have a couple "surprise" ways of preventing damage with Wild Slash and Flaring Pain and these have worked out just fine.

Ob Nixilis, Unshackled - The punishment he provides makes him a clear target. My opponents always seemed to just play around him or were willing to pay the 10 life to tutor a kill spell. While losing ten life for that isn't too much to laugh at, he just didn't provide enough power to be worth keeping in the deck.

Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast - Can be dead cards if there are no blue players in the pod. If I end up missing these cards I'll come back, but I have liked the utility that Reverberate and Wild Ricochet have provided.

Sanguine Bond - Yes, I know it combos with Exquisite Blood but I've always found that to be too easy of a win. Also, I don't really gain enough life for this to be good by itself.

Mayhem Devil - The IDEA of him is great in the deck. In reality he is subpar. If I am making my opponent sacrifice two or three times he becomes a "win more." If I don't have enough permanents for the damage to be relevant he's worthless. I wanted him to work, though. I really did.

It That Betrays - I get the synergy, but at 12 mana the card is too expensive for the deck. I sacrifice my lands too often to be able to try and get him out, plus I don't reanimate any creatures. If I am truly able to get him out AND attack with Rakdos without any resistance then I was winning anyway.

Krenko, Mob Boss - He was tried as to allow me to only sacrifice the goblin tokens instead of my other permanents. However, he gets targeted immediately, it takes too many turns to get enough goblins in play, and it really only works on one attack unless I want to wait for X amount of turns allowing my opponent to potentially recover.

Assault Suit - I'm putting this here because I've had multiple people recommend this. The problem I've had looking into this is forcing attacks. I like the idea, but I feel like it takes too much to add into the deck which will take away from the themes. If there ever comes a way to simply force attacks that isn't "just" a combo card with this, I'll look into it again. As of right now, I don't feel like I want to add this kind of combo.

Budget Friendly Options Show

This deck was one of the first decks I ever made. I did it without a template and on an extreme budget. It has lasted the tests of time despite how many other decks I have created and taken apart. My knowledge and budget of magic has increased which has allowed me to tune and increase the efficiency of one of my favorite commanders! However, I know that others either don't have the budget or knowledge that I have (not saying I know all or anything). I created this category to allow for younger or newer players that are interested in my list to have other options. If the non-foil version of a card is over $20 then I probably have included it in this list. Cards do spike or gradually increase in price so let me know if I have missed any.

Imperial Seal, Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor - Let's go ahead and get these out of the way. Great tutors, but stupidly expensive. Here are other options: Demonic Collusion, Dark Petition, Mastermind's Acquisition, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, and Diabolic Tutor. Obviously these are more CMC which will slow your deck down a bit, but still tutors that can help increase consistency and efficiency in any black deck.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers are grouped together because Cabal Coffers is not worth playing without Urborg unless the deck is mono-black. While the mana they create is incredibly useful, these can also be replaced with other basics, duals, or even rocks if you need to ramp in rakdos colors.

Necropotence - Necropotence is one of those cards that does NOT have a "good" card that can reaplce it. The engine is just too good. I tried to keep the "engine" (not just a one-time use) options as replacements so that you can continuously draw in some way, shape, or form. However, you can see why Necropotence is worth money when you compare it to some of the budget options that I've found. Some of these require some kind of creature base, but that is what black does in general.

Curse of Vengeance, Skeletal Scrying, Witch's Cauldron, Damnable Pact, Dark Prophecy, Infernal Tribute, Phyrexian Etchings, Dread Presence, Bloodgift Demon, Necrologia, Ob Nixilis Reignited, Seizan, Perverter of Truth, Kothophed, Soul Hoarder, Vilis, Broker of Blood.

Exquisite Blood- Again, not a card that is easily replaceable because the effect is powerful. In a quick look through gatherer I cannot find anything that I would even consider to take either place (with a similar effect). They're all one-time hits. Personally, some sort of lifegain is necessary in this deck as I consistently go to a one-digit life total because I just go all in. However, there doesn't seem to be any solid reaplcements for these. The closest I've found is Sanctum of Stone Fangs but that requires shrines.

Damnation - Man, this card will never stay down in price. Alright, This one is pretty easy to find some replacements for because black likes to do this.

Bontu's Last Reckoning, Force of Despair, Forced March, Crux of Fate, Deadly Tempest, Deathbringer Regent, Necromantic Selection, Decree of Pain, In Garruk's Wake, Plague Wind.

Quotes Show

Always open to any/all criticism and suggestions! Any synergies you believe I've missed or cards that should absolutely be put in the deck please let me know and upvote if you like!

Suggestions

Updates Add

BIG ANNOUNCMENT! I CANNOT THANK Y'ALL ENOUGH!! — Nov. 14, 2020

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The big announcement is...you all have OFFICIALLY made me the HIGHEST RAKDOS THE DEFILER DECK ON TAPPED OUT! Thank you all for the support and upvotes. This deck was one of the first decks I have ever created. It was done without a template or copying other decks because I wanted to stick to the themes I had in mind. It may not be competitive or as synergetic as others, but I am proud that it has lasted the through the ages. Thank you all again!

Due to this milestone for the deck, I've actually gone through and tuned it to my knowledge and budget. Because it was made so long ago, there were many cards that are on the lower budget and clunky side. Example, I have taken out Rakdos Locket and Rakdos Cluestone for Talisman of Indulgence and Arcane Signet. I have switched Beseech the Queen for the strictly better Grim Tutor. While there were a couple cards I have been meaning to add (Ugin, the Ineffable and Feed the Swarm) I've been busy so I was unable to upgrade one of my favorite decks. Don't worry! The integrity of the deck is intact. These changes just allow for more efficiency and hopefully power now that I can deal with enchantments a little easier. Thanks for looking and thank you again for getting me to be there highest Rakdos the Defiler deck on Tapped Out!

10 more upvotes! — March 15, 2020

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Second Highest on TappedOut! Thank you! — July 14, 2018

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Major Update. Tried to increase consistency — Aug. 31, 2016

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Revision 70 See all

(1 year ago)

+1	Necrotic Plague	maybe
+1	Traveling Plague	maybe

Top Ranked	Achieved #45 position overall 8 years ago Achieved #14 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Control 4 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	17 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.54
Tokens	Emblem Chandra, Awakened Inferno, Emblem Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, Spirit 2/2 C, Monarch Emblem, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Help, Interesting, bootylicious, not my decks, Decks I Like, Decks that I like and I want to look at again sometime, maybe, New Deck Ideas, New folder, Awesome Decks
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