I think you should really cut all the Necrogen Mists for more Thougthseize or IoK .. When I tested normal 8 Rack with the Mists, I always felt Necrogen was underwhelming or just a dead draw.. Same can be said about IoK or TS.. but at least you have early game interaction.. Unless you are willing to change your Funeral Charm for them..

I would maybe change the Dreadbore for Terminate unless your meta is full of planeswalker.. Having instant speed removal is really nice.. But I don't know your meta..

I really love Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace here.. It's a good budget replacement for Liliana.. never thought about it..

+!

metalemmanuel:

Dreadbore is mostly there because I don't have a lot of ways to address planeswalkers (just The Rack), and there are some that really slow me down or hurt me (Ajani Vengeant wrecks me). I know it's not super common, but I mostly play at sorcery speed anyway.

I think you're right about the Necrogen Mists. They are great for stopping my opponent from hoarding when we get to top decks, so that I can keep my damage up, but Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace does that too and is harder to remove.

Yeah Having Turn 1 "selective" discard is really nice to get the big threats of the other player.. at least from my experience..

And yeah I see your point about having planeswalker removal.. Why not Hero's Downfall though? I know this is a turn slower..

And Yeah lands are harder to destroy unless you have for Ghost Quarter Mainboard :D

It may be a little janky, but have you considered Madness cards? I could see Big Game Hunter or Dark Withering being useful, especially if you're using Necrogen Mists and Rix-Maadi. Asylum Visitor could give you some card advantage, which you're lacking in the deck.

I like it.

I like it a lot.

I don't actually play Modern competitively so I don't automatically recognize all of the traditional modern builds, and 8-Rack I'd seen as a HUB option on here but never really knew what it was. I'm really disappointed that I never looked it up because way back in the day I used to move around my 4 copies of The Rack between about 3 black decks that I played. It's probably my favorite artifact of all time. I reminisce of the times when I could play a Rack on turn 1 and then turn 2 play another swamp, Dark Ritual, and then 2x Hymn to Tourach (or any 2-3 other discard options like Duress, Ostracize, Funeral Charm, etc...). Back then I liked to run Megrim as a main damage source as I get them down to 0 cards, but now there's Liliana's Caress for 1 less mana. Bottomless Pit was my main mid game card to keep hands down, but now I see Necrogen Mists does basically the same thing, just not at random. Ensnaring Bridge is amazing protection for a creatureless deck, especially one that intends to top deck on purpose. I used to use Crawlspace from Urza's Legacy to limit attackers, but this is way better. Defense Grid was fun too since almost everything I played was at sorcery speed anyway and it put the brakes on those stupid counterspells...

I suppose the only real suggestion that I have that I don't already see up there is in the removal department. I used to run Diabolic Edict, but have you thought of or tried Geth's Verdict? It's nice because at 2 cost and instant speed it can get around indestructible or disrupt early creatures, especially nice if you are on the play. The life loss just helps your cause slightly as well even if it doesn't have an ideal "target". Maybe a sideboard option, or maybe just not good enough to run here. I like it because you get two things in one kind of like your Blightning.

I'm curious why you have Rain of Gore in the Maybe pile and not in your sideboard in place of Tainted Remedy? I assume it's just that you don't have one, or maybe that red mana symbol is the issue? Also, the Shattering Spree makes more sense than the Vandalblast unless you play against folks that can have more than 5 artifacts out by the time you use it, right? Is it because you only splash the red and would need more consistent mana? And I guess Affinity is a thing, isn't it lol. I guess it also depends on when you plan to use it. Later on when you are top decking the Vandalblast cost doesn't really matter and it can wipe Affinity off the board, where as an early Shattering Spree can help slow down Affinity from building up. I suppose that one completely depends on the local meta, but I can see how Blast is probably more usable here. It's nice that it isn't a hard cast 5 and you can choose to just pay the 1 to get rid of something specific.

Anyway, my ramblings aside, I really like this build. If I had an extra $450 laying around to build a competitive modern deck, I'd look to something like this. It's everything I used to love about good old fashioned Black Magic, and the splash of Red adds some very interesting flavor that all looks like it comes together in a fun way. I'm glad I clicked on the featured link and got to see this, it was a fun read. +1

Hobbez9186: You are right on both Shattering Spree and Rain of Gore, those cards are $4-5 each and their alternatives I already had available. I've been spending my 'upgrade' money on things like fetch lands and Ensnaring Bridge and I just haven't gotten around to upgrading those sideboard cards. Geth's Verdict could be worth trying, only downside is that my opponent gets to choose what to sack.

MasterVash: I had definitely looked into Madness cards, especially with the new set coming out. Part of the problem is that a lot of the good ones are creatures, and I'm trying to keep this creature-less. Dark Withering is good, but very situational, and I get a lot more versatility out of Dreadbore for one more mana.

Thanks for the comments and ideas to consider.

Nah, that's fair. I can respect going creatureless. Putting in mooks will turn on your opponents' removal cards, whereas they're all but useless pre-sideboard if you have none.

I'd be careful about putting in Rain of Gore; it's a global effect that hurts you as well, not just your opponents. Syphon Life turns into a bad Rabid Bloodsucker without the body. Funny enough, though, you'll still gain life if your opponent makes you gain life, via Nature's Claim or something.

That's what it was! Rain of Gore is a world effect, Tainted Remedy is opponents only. Thank you for reminding me.

Bro, you need to call this Rak-rack

This deck is sweet but have you considered collective brutality?

+1 up vote for a sweet deck and a sweet name.

Collective Brutality has been brought up a few times in my playgroup. The downside is the very real potential to miss the discard. The upside is it can do a variety of things and dump your hand to enable your bridge earlier. Also, I'm not sure what to cut for it.

That is the tough part and I'm just not familiar enough with rack to know what is cutable

...add more ravens crime, its freaking great. if i have one in my opening hand theres a good chance i keep it.

This deck makes me cream with horror!

replace s marsh with a fast land, you only wanna get too a few lands anyway

No Urborg or Blood Moon?

NO Lightning Bolt! J/K. +1 I have a Rackdos land destruction that I just turned into an 8 Rack since it need more consistency. I do like the build!

I used to run Lightning Bolt, but it shockingly didn't seem to do enough. I'll have to check out your deck if it's on TappedOut. Always interested in seeing more neat brews.

Quick note: This is currently about a year out of date. I'm currently deckcycling and doing some consideration to account for new cards and/or metagame shift.

Might shift a Rakdos Charm or Kolaghan's Command to main board to account for Chalice of the Void in UW Control and Hollow One.

Dreadbore might be a good sideboard since there are a lot more walkers running around and it seems that they are making even more.

I'd highly recommend Kolaghan's Command, you definitely need at least two. I see Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger in the maybeboard which I also recommend in the main. And lastly Urza's Saga is a little more rough with two colors, but if you cut smallpox I think slotting in 3-4 is a good idea.