Xantcha, Slow Burn

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Budget Burn Casual Group Slug Theme/Gimmick

haikukane

Burn (18)

• 1x Agonizing Demise
• 1x Arcbond
• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Enchanter's Bane
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Heartstone
• 1x Kaervek the Merciless
• 1x Kolaghan's Command
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Pulse of the Forge
• 1x Rain of Gore
• 1x Rakdos Charm
• 1x Sower of Discord
• 1x Thrull Parasite
• 1x Trespasser's Curse

Draw (4)

• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Staff of Nin

Other (36)

• 21x Mountain
• 15x Swamp

Removal (1)

• 1x Terminate

Wipe Out (1)

• 1x Last One Standing

Mana (18)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Braid of Fire
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Burnt Offering
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Iron Myr
• 1x Leaden Myr
• 1x Mana Flare
• 1x Mana Geyser
• 1x Neheb, the Eternal
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Treasonous Ogre

Target Acquired (4)

• 1x Curse of Bloodletting
• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Curse of Vengeance

Recursion (2)

• 1x Garna, the Bloodflame
• 1x Thrilling Encore

Commander (1)

Treason (15)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Attrition
• 1x Barrage of Expendables
• 1x Besmirch
• 1x Conquering Manticore
• 1x Crown of Doom
• 1x Disrupt Decorum
• 1x Grab the Reins
• 1x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1x Gruesome Encore
• 1x Hijack
• 1x Jeering Instigator
• 1x Kari Zev's Expertise
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Mass Mutiny

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Maybeboard

Other (4)

• 1x Basilica Screecher
• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Sire Of Insanity
• 1x Syndicate Enforcer

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Game Plan

Our game plan is simple: amass a store of mana and blast your opponents into smithereens via good ol' fashioned burn.

Curses and good political skills will keep players from identifying you as the most threatening player so long as you're careful about not overextending. Ideally you'll want to assist others in knocking out the biggest threats first, waiting for the perfect turn to knock out two players at once.

The deck is a semi-budget deck and meant to be played at casual tables. You can insert any Rakdos manabase that suits your budget/competition level!

Fuel the Fires

In addition to the mana rocks, dorks, and land-fetching cards, cards like Black Market and Braid of Fire will eventually give us massive amounts of mana to pump into Xantcha, Sleeper Agent's ability—not to mention the other, more generic burn effects.

Neheb, the Eternal can continue the fun post combat after a bit of pre-combat burning.

Politics

It's important to act like a soft threat in the early and mid game, giving you time to build your ramp package. If you go off too early, you'll catch a lot of hate from the table for playing such blatantly aggressive tactics—this includes deploying Xantcha before the time is right.

The Curse cards can help you off set some flack by identifying a better target for the table other than yourself. Otherwise, use your removal options (most of which double a burn) to help keep the pace of the game even.

Try to team up with one player to keep the early game threats in check, and you'll likely make it to the late game where you can go from zero to deadly with minimal effort.

Double the Value

Because your card draw has higher CMC, is chaotic, or tied to Xantcha, most cards in the deck need to pull double duty. Other than the mana-centric cards, the majority of the others simultaneously fulfill at least two of the following roles:

• Control

• Removal

• Ping/Burn

• Recursion

• Politics/Pseudo-protection

Fun Combos

• Xantcha, Sleeper Agent + Braid of Fire: Mana produced by everyone's favorite (but not necessarily efficient) mana engine now always has somewhere to go. Bonus points if you can use this politically ("I could hit you for 9 damage and draw three cards... but what would you do for me if I didn't?"). Braid of Fire also puts in work for the instant-speed burn spells in the deck (Comet Storm, Pulse of the Forge, Rakdos Charm, Barrage of Expendables, etc.).

• Treason -> Mana -> Explosions! Steal your opponent's stuff, build your mana up to critical mass with cards like Neheb, the Eternal, Ashnod's Altar, and Burnt Offering, and then blast your opponents for massive damage with Exsanguinate or Profane Command.

Why Treason?

Treason is a common theme in red that allows us to manipulate the board state a little more by expending our opponents' resources against them. When you pair it with Xantcha, however, it becomes even better. In addition to the normal advantages of temporarily stealing creatures, you always know your opponent is going to have a 5/5 you can steal and swing with thanks to Xantcha's treacherous nature. Note that it's best to do this switcheroo when most of the table is tapped out so they can't burn you with her activated ability. Additionally it's an aggressive and on-theme way of killing Xantcha off if you need to switch her to a more threatening player.

Other Options

Add cards that double up effects like Fork and Bonus Round to more consistently close out games. I personally don't play this deck with these effects because Rakdos already has a giant target on its head, and I don't want my table to automatically delete me first every game.

Other forms of efficient burn, like Price of Progress and Acidic Soil, can replace some of your mana creatures. I'd recommend these efficient options if you want to speed up the deck into aggro-ish territory (if you do this cards like Braid of Fire and Black Market lose a little bit of value).

Any creature that you can sink mana into at instant speed is also a welcome addition. There are a ton of options here, but you'll want to include some of these (replacing the Extort creatures in the deck) so you have a choices when you don't want to activate Xantcha's ability (either from overdrawing or playing soft politics).

Your feedback is very welcome!

Top Ranked	Achieved #63 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.17
Tokens	Gold, Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	EDH, Commander Ideas, Xantcha