Rebuilding Rakdos

The Do Over Project: I decided that I hated one of my original Chromatic Project (the effort to build a deck of each of the 27 possible color combinations). I hated my Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck (the list is still in the database if you want to take a look).

Every time I played it, it seemed reductive to surviving long enough to cast Repay in Kind and then deal some damage. Or Necropotence myself down. It played weirdly, undedicated to anything but at its heart a combo deck, which isn’t really my style. In order to happy move on and build a new R/B deck for the Do Over, I had to get it right on the first one. Perhaps when I come back to Rakdos on the Do Over, I’ll try to once again leverage the themes that were there (I love me some Kulrath Knight).

Shadows over Innistrad made me realize that I didn’t have a Vampire deck, so Vampire tribal it is. And who better to lead a tribe of blood suckers than the original party himself, Rakdos, Lord of Riots? I imagine the thumping music of the first scene of Blade, which Rakdos himself spinning the discs. Blood everywhere, and we’re off to the riots.

The deck is Vampire tribal, but not quite as slavishly so as I’ve done in the past. I wanted to capture a few things which can use the value of Rakdos’s ability to cast big stuff on the cheap. There’s also a lifegain sub-theme (by bleeding you, we get stronger). Here’s the 99:

As you can see, it’s narrowly focused on doing what it does: damage with (mostly) Vampires and gaining life. Given that black/red isn’t all that great at getting lots of lands onto the battlefield, I tried to keep the mana curve moderately tight. Let’s break down the individual card choices.

CREATURES (26)

Solemn Simulacrum: During my Shadows over Innistrad update, I did go more thematically by removing Solemn Simulacrum from my Lord of Tresserhorn Zombie deck. Vampires are smarter.

Blood Artist: Blood Artist has been a favorite ever since Avacyn Restored came out, and I don’t see anything changing that. I like the choice of damnations players might have when Blood Artist and a bunch of other Vampires are on the battlefield—take a bunch of damage to the face or get drained if you kill them.

Blood Seeker: Half of a Suture Priest is all the way fine by me.

Bloodline Keeper: There will be plenty of Vampires to transform Bloodline Keeper into Lord of Lineage, at which time the beatings really begin. Note that the transform ability doesn’t require it to tap, so you can create the fifth Vampire with the first activated ability and still transform with the second.

Bloodlord of Vaasgoth: We’re dealing damage so that we can cast Rakdos, so why not get even more value out of it. Bloodthirst for everyone!

Butcher of Malakir: I don’t have as many sacrifice outlets in this deck as I otherwise might, so we’ll have to see how it runs. If there aren’t enough to leverage Butcher of Malakir and Dictate of Erebos, we’ll adapt.

Captivating Vampire: Clearly, we need a “Vampires you control have vigilance” card. This control effect is permanent, unlike Olivia Voldaren. This seems like the way to get the utility which the deck lacks—just charm other peoples’ creatures into doing it for you.

Crypt Ghast: The mana issues the deck might have can be mitigated by Crypt Ghast, plus there’s the extort angle. Seventeen Swamps is enough to make it worthwhile without needing to play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (although any number of other players I frequently find myself in games with play it, so there’s that).

Falkenrath Aristocrat: A sacrifice outlet that does something more than just buff the creature, I thought a bit about going with a human sub-theme, but it seemed like it was going to water down the deck some. Perhaps in the future there will be a Mardu deck with a viable Vampire commander.

Falkenrath Noble: A larger, flying Blood Artist.

Fiend of the Shadows: What I like about Fiend of the Shadows is that you get to play the card(s) even if the Fiend leaves the battlefield. It’s like a mini, repeatable Praetor’s Grasp.

Harvester of Souls: The big boss is a Demon, so I thought it’d be okay to have one of his Demon buddies ride along. Of course, Harvester of Souls draws cards, so I wouldn’t care if it’s a Platypus.

Indulgent Aristocrat: You know I like my sacrifice outlets to cost no mana, but this one seems reasonable since it can buff up the whole team. I can see a scenario in which Chain Reaction is about to go off and I can do some combination of sacrificing a few creatures and reduce the Chain Reaction’s damage plus make my creatures larger and thus more able to survive.

It That Betrays: I wanted an Eldrazi for Rakdos to help me cast for free. People sacrifice stuff all the time, so I’m interested in seeing how it goes. I had It That Betrays in my Thraximundar deck for a while, but that deck had trouble casting it. This should be a little easier.

Kalastria Highborn: Sure, it’s Blood Artist that you have to pay for, but at least it’s double Blood Artist.

Malakir Bloodwitch: It’s never going to drain the kind of life which Gray Merchant of Asphodel can, but it’s a Vampire, it flies, and it has protection from white.

Mephidross Vampire: No, there’s no Triskelion to go along with it. I just like the idea that chump blocking becomes a little more awkward. Plus, now everyone is a Vampire.

Necropolis Regent: It doesn’t take long or that many other creatures for this to get really silly quite quickly. I just hope that no one else is playing Thief of Blood.

Nirkana Revenant: Swamp doubler. That is all.

Pawn of Ulamog: Trying to run the rebuild after the inevitable battlefield wipe, it also gives me something to sacrifice to trigger Butcher of Malakir or Dictate of Erebos.

Sangromancer: Sure, I could be That Guy and play Myojin of Night’s Reach, but I want my friends to play the game, too. I did, however, consider the “everybody discards” options of Mindslicer and Sire of Insanity so that everyone lives off the top. Maybe for some future deck.

Stromkirk Captain: Simple, makes my creatures beefier.

Thief of Blood: We learned the value of Thief of Blood in our Commander 2015 League—and the hilarity ensued as two different players had it. Here, it does the work that it would normally do, plus it serves to get all the counters off of my creatures so that Mikaeus, the Unhallowed can do his thing. By the way, cumulative upkeep puts age counters on permanents. Thief of Blood can reset them. Glacial Chasm, anyone?

Vampire Hexmage: I saw you scrolling back up to see if there’s a Dark Depths on the list. Huh. Dark Depths/Thief of Blood.

Vampire Nighthawk: Loves this little night stalker when it was in Standard, like it now.

Vein Drinker: This is a card which I’ve tried numerous times to make work in decks. I think this is its last chance.

Viscera Seer: Sacrifice outlet plus scry, all in one easy-to-cast package.

LEGENDARY CREATURES (13)

Anowon, the Ruin Sage: Sure, occasionally I’ll end up sacrificing one of my few non-Vampire creatures, but I’ll get along. Especially if it’s Solemn Simulacrum.

Ascendant Evincar: Since it makes everyone’s black creatures larger, I’m not sure if it has the same value—but it keeps all those Plant and Pegasus tokens off the battlefield. Another “we’ll see.”

Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: Sure, she can get rather large, but the point is the repeated creature removal via reducing its toughness. In a world in which Avacyn, Angel of Hope lives, you gotta run it.

Drana, Liberator of Malakir: If my creatures are so large that I don’t care about Mikaeus bringing them back, it seems like a good day.

Erebos, God of the Dead: Gaining life is for me. Hope nobody else gets the idea to play it.

Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet: Another one which I’m taking a “let’s see how it goes” approach on since, like Vein Drinker, I’ve tried it a number of times and it just hasn’t quite gotten there.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet: This card is just so remarkable that I can understand why it’s expensive. Super wow. And, as a sort of “hey, by the way,” it’s also a sacrifice outlet. Sure, it can get Cloned and hurt me, but I’ll take the chance.

Liliana, Heretical Healer: It will be the rare thing when Liliana, Defiant Necromancer gets to use her ultimate, but when she does, it will be something.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: With all the +1/+1 counters running around, I’m a little leery about running it. I didn’t intentionally put in Thief of Blood just for Mikaeus, although it’s a techy side benefit.

Olivia Voldaren: You simply can’t have a Vampire deck without her.

Olivia, Mobilized for War: The deck might need a slightly stronger reamination theme in order to take better advantage of the new Olivia.

Purphoros, God of the Forge: This was the 99th choice; it was either Purphoros or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (since I could cast it for free via Rakdos), but I wanted to see what our favorite hammer-wielder would do in a deck that’s not necessarily built around putting a swarm of creatures onto the battlefield.

Sheoldred, Whispering One: A part of the reanimation sub-theme, reactions to Sheoldred have mellowed quite a bit in the years that it’s been out. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a call to ban it. No one really wants it to stick around that long, but it’s no longer the boogeyman it once was.

ARTIFACTS (9)

Darksteel Ingot: If Olivia and Captivating Vampire are going to help me steal other creatures, it’ll be nice to be able to activate their abilities.

Eldrazi Monument: Vampires should fly, dammit. Oh, and be indestructible.

Elixir of Immortality: Emergency life gain and emergency graveyard shuffling, I also thought the immortality part of the name went with the deck’s motif.

Mind Stone: B/R needs some mana help, until it doesn’t, and then I can trade this for a card.

Rakdos Signet: Ditto on the mana.

Rakdos Cluestone: Ditto on the mana and drawing a card.

Staff of Nin: Draws an extra card per turn, plus lets me cast Rakdos in a pinch.

Wayfarer’s Bauble: A little colorless mana ramp.

Well of Lost Dreams: Gain a little life, draw a few cards. Even one for one is just fine with me.

ENCHANTMENTS (5)

Exquisite Blood: No cheesy combos to go with this, just me gaining scads of life. There are better things for you to disenchant.

Dictate of Erebos: The good Grave Pact (the 8th Edition one) is expensive in foil, and I can do tricks with this one.

Grave Betrayal: I’m just going to take a Sharpie and write Vampire over Zombie on the card, because that’s good, right? Actually, next time I see Richard Garfield, I’ll have him do it, because there’s a longstanding rule that if the creator of Magic mods a card, that mod takes precedence. True story.

Oversold Cemetery: No real reanimation strategy, just putting cards back into my hand, since we know they’re getting killed every now and again.

Palace Siege: Same, but if I’m headed the other direction, it will always let me cast Rakdos. The card is just perfect for the deck. Too bad I can’t choose which one applies each upkeep.

INSTANTS (1)

Fated Return: I was looking at an immortal/indestructible theme, this card came up, and I decided to keep it. Someone else will definitely have a great card worth putting to work for me.

SORCERIES (5)

Damnation: A simple battlefield wipe, which of course is even better if I have Mikaeus running around.

Decree of Pain: Card draws in big bunches are always great. It makes me a little concerned that I don’t have a Reliquary Tower, but I imagine it won’t come up enough to matter.

Exsanguinate: Even for a small investment like seven mana, that’s twenty or 25 life gained, which is well worth it. Of course, with the big Cabal Coffers plus Nykthos, it’s a finisher. I suspect that won’t happen nearly as much as I’d like.

Patriarch’s Bidding: There aren’t that many tribal decks running around in the gang I play with. Shea has his Shapeshifters, Anthony has a Human deck, but that’s about it. Patriarch’s Bidding should always net me an advantage.

In Garruk’s Wake: It’s Plague Wind, only better.

PLANESWALKERS (2)

Liliana of the Dark Realms: Like most of the planeswalkers I run, it’s only the first and last abilities which tend to get used.

Liliana Vess: Same.

LANDS (14)

Blood Crypt: Pretty sure I don’t have any extra Badlands laying around, so Blood Crypt will have to do.

Bojuka Bog: Even though I’d like to snag everyone’s graveyard with Liliana Vess, their graveyards will likely be more dangerous more often.

Cabal Coffers: I think I might play it in just two decks. We’ll see what all the fuss is about.

Command Tower: There should be a Command Tower plus Reliquary Tower in an upcoming Commander product. That’d be awesome.

Dragonskull Summit: Nothing out of the ordinary.

Exotic Orchard: Like with Darksteel Ingot, I want to be able to produce other peoples’ colors of mana too.

Myriad Landscape: Krosan Verge for the non-green folks.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: The deck is mostly black, so this should frequently be as good as Cabal Coffers or better.

Strip Mine: Homeward Path burns us.

Tectonic Edge: Burns us.

Temple of the False God: Yada, yada, yada.

Vesuva: Copying Cabal Coffers or Nykthos seems like it’s the thing to do. Or maybe someone’s Reliquary Tower.

Wasteland: I will use Cabal Coffers responsibly. I’m not all that sure about anyone else.

Westvale Abbey: Steal some creatures with Captivating Vampire or Olivia, sacrifice them all to Westvale Abbey. Putting this card in makes me wonder if I have room for Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder.

I didn’t want to jump on the original Innistrad bandwagon (hearse?) when everyone else was building Vampire decks. Now that that furor has died down but Shadows over Innistrad has given us some new toys to play with, the time seemed right. The deck should be reasonably fun to play, not terribly pricey to build.

There are only a few expensive cards. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Damnation are both great cards, but you can replace them without wrecking the structure of the deck. Life’s Finale might be interesting instead of Damnation, especially if you want to then use Fated Return. There’s nothing like Kalitas, but I suppose you could use Leyline of the Void to do the same basic work for you. But you’re worth it. Splurge and pick up both of those goodies anyway!

This week’s Deck Without Comment is The Altar of Thraximundar:

Check out our awesome Deck List Database for the last versions of all my decks:

ADUN’S TOOLBOX;
ANIMAR’S SWARM;
AURELIA GOES TO WAR;
CHILDREN of a LESSER GOD;
DEMONS OF KAALIA;
EREBOS and the HALLS OF THE DEAD;
GLISSA, GLISSA;
HELIOD, GOD OF ENCHANTMENTS;
DREAMING OF INTET;
FORGE OF PURPHOROS;
KARN, BEATDOWN GOLEM;
HALLOWEEN WITH KARADOR;
KARRTHUS, WHO RAINS FIRE FROM THE SKY;
KRESH INTO THE RED ZONE;
LAVINIA BLINKS;
LAZAV, SHAPESHIFTING MASTERMIND;
ZOMBIES OF TRESSERHORN;
MELEK’S MOLTEN MIND GRIND;
MERIEKE’S ESPER CONTROL;
THE MILL-MEOPLASM;
MIMEOPLASM DO-OVER;
NATH of the VALUE LEAF;
NYLEA OF THE WOODLAND REALM;
OBZEDAT, GHOST KILLER;
PURPLE HIPPOS and MARO SORCERERS;
ZEGANA and a DICE BAG;
RITH’S TOKENS;
YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF;
RURIC THAR AND HIS BEASTLY FIGHT CLUB;
THASSA, GOD OF MERFOLK;
THE ALTAR of THRAXIMUNDAR;
TROSTANI and HER ANGELS;
THE THREAT OF YASOVA;
RUHAN DO-OVER;
KARADOR DO-OVER;
KARRTHUS DO-OVER

If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a campaign that’s been alive since 1987 and this summer will be running a prequel to our saga The Lost Cities of Nevinor), ask for an invitation to the Facebook group “Sheldon Menery’s Monday Night Gamers.”