This is my sealed Rakdos deck from the Return to Ravnica prerelease. I played in Uppsala, Sweden, which was the biggest RtR prerelease in Sweden with 129 contenders. I finished in the Top 8 with only one loss of eight rounds, which was against a very similar deck. (Alas, I was knocked out in the first round of the single elimination draft that ensued.)
The name of the game is aggression and removal. I couldn't believe my luck when I opened Dreadbore and
Mizzium Mortars
, and I got to use both to take me to the top. Dreadbore got rid of Jace, and Mizzium Mortars got rid of several boards. Furthermore, spells like
Ultimate Price
,
Auger Spree
and
Annihilating Fire
are awesome for controlling the board, or even winning the game over the table with burn.
Traitorous Instinct
is also an amazing game-winning form of hostile takeover removal in the format. Hence I ran two of them. Without Mind Rot, I wouldn't have advanced, as I at one point rotted my opponents last two cards, one of which being
Mizzium Mortars
the turn before he had mana to clear my board.
I didn't even really need the Chromatic Lantern, which is awesome in its own right, though it did provide nice acceleration towards late game as well as made sure I could overload my
Mizzium Mortars
.
Chaos Imps
helped with the end-game as well, and even though it probably won't see constructed play, it served my strategy well. Trample on flying dudes is just awesome.
The
Rix Maadi Guildmage
is my favorite of all the guildmages, as you can get great value for him in all stages of the game - from turn 2 to turn 20. The Rakdos Keyrune is also my favorite of the keyrunes, since the aggressiveness of a 3/1 first strike is just so much faster than for instance a 2/2 deathtouch.
In the Top 8, we were three Rakdos, three Selesnya and two Golgari. Izzet and Azorious, you got some 'splainin to do.
