The Rakdos mechanic in Ravnica Allegiance is spectacle. There are
five commons, three uncommons, one rare, and one mythic with this mechanic.
Spectacle is the only mechanic in Ravnica Allegiance that
requires jumping through hoops. Adapt, riot, addendum, and afterlife just
have bonus value through the course of a game. But you won’t always be able
to cast a spell for the spectacle cost. This means that your Rakdos decks
will need to prioritize cards that can turn on spectacle, and how important
that is depends on the evaluation of the commons and uncommons listed
above.
Spikewheel Acrobat and Rafter Demon aren’t particularly great, but some of
these cards have an incredibly high ceiling. Light Up the Stage and Skewer
the Critics are absurd for just one mana, but it’s not crucial that those
are cast in the early stages of the game. Hackrobat is also a very powerful
card but not off the rate for three mana. That said, playing Hackrobat on
turn 2 puts you far ahead, which does increase the value of one-mana
spectacle enablers. Unlike Hackrobat, which is always an above par
creature, Blade Juggler ranges from very above rate to mediocre. Paying
five mana for that card is not exciting but playable. However, at just
three mana, the card might just be better than every common.
There are a good chunk of cards designed to help enable spectacle. The
crucial ones to the strategy can turn it on for a turn 3 Blade Juggler.
While Vindictive Vampire and Bloodmist Infiltrator are powerful cards, they
often fill other roles than enabling spectacle. However, you should only
include Spear Spewer in your deck if you’re looking to enable spectacle.
Ill-Gotten Inheritance has been fairly impressive so far. While it isn’t
great against Gruul, most of the other decks don’t hit hard and are
planning for the long game. Draining for the rest of the game is nothing to
scoff at, and always turning on spectacle is a great bonus. I
underestimated the density of reach that Rakdos had access to before
playing with the cards. I won’t make that mistake again.
In fact, I think the best Rakdos decks may try and hide behind cards that
slowly bleed their opponents’ life to zero. If you play a lot of Magic,
you’ve probably heard the phrase “one is not zero.” Somebody says this when
they win a game where they stabilized at one life. This won’t happen
against a Rakdos opponent in Ravnica Allegiance Draft. Just look
at all the cards that are very good at dealing one damage. That damage adds
up!
When you consider the amount of cards that incidentally deal damage, the
lack of good combat tricks, and the abundance of removal, Rakdos may be
best suited as a lategame deck. I know that sounds odd, but so far the best
Rakdos decks I have seen in this format haven’t been as aggressive as I
expected. Below is an example of a removal-heavy Rakdos deck that still
utilizes spectacle well. While the format has only been out for a couple
days, it won’t be long until we come to a consensus on the archetypes.
What’s good, what’s bad, and what’s not as it seems. I’m betting that
Rakdos isn’t what it seems and will take a bit longer to learn exactly how
it functions.
