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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Rakdos Rush

Sept 18, 2
006

Hey, this is a deck I've been tinkering with since the Dissension Release, and now I feel it's time to unleash it into some type 2 mayhem.
 
This is what I've come up with.
 
Mountain x11
Swamp x9
Rakdos Carnarium x4
 
Stormscale Anarch x2
Rakdos Augermage x4
Lyzolda the Blood Witch x3
Rakdos the Defiler x2
Crypt Champion x2
Rakdos Ickspitter x4
Gobhobbler Rats x4
Kill-Suit Cultist x4
 
Final Punishment x2
Skullmead Cauldron x1
Wrecking Ball x2
Rakdos Riteknife x4
Rakdos Signet x2
 
Sideboard
 
Drekavac x4
Sengir Vampire x2
Rukh Egg x3
Dark Banishing x2
Grave Pact x1
Rakdos Guildmage x3
 
 
Thanks in advance!
You're welcome in advance!  This looks like it has the potential to be a pretty slick, powerful deck, but I see a few particularly bad cards that are likely weighing you down.  I'd also like to isolate the strategy of this deck (obvious as it may seem, Rakdos does have multiple strategies and I want to make sure my adjustments will bring out the right ones) and increase overall synergy.  Increasing synergy is almost never a bad thing.
 
First things first: several cards that just aren't good enough for nearly any deck, much less yours.
 
First on the chopping block is Stormscale Anarch.  Three mana and a card in hand for two damage?  And what are the odds you'll get 4 damage?  19 out of 60 cards here are multicolored, so the odds are slightly less than a third.  You can hold multicolored cards back to improve those odds, but when you pay 2R and discard that card, you're essentially casting Yamabushi's Flame for what has at least as much chance of being 2 damage as 4.  Why cast Yamabushi's Flame when you can cast Wrecking Ball?
 
Next is Rakdos Riteknife.  This card has no effect until you sacrifice a creature.  When you do sacrifce a creature you get +1/+0 for your trouble.  Then you can sacrifice the Riteknife itself to make your opponent sacrifice permanents.  In a token producing deck, this might conceivably work, but here, it's a waste of creatures.
 
Next to go is Final Punishment.  This is, essentially, an expensive burn spell that can only hit players.  It could be alright if you can punch through a lot of damage as a finisher, but Demonfire does that a lot better.  The only other thing Final Punishment has going for it is that it's life loss, which means it can get around Worship.  But that's a job for a sideboard card.
 
So, what does that leave us with?  Well, most of your creatures are still here, plus your Signets and Skullmead Cauldron.  So then what's your strategy?  Is it Hellbent?  I hope not, the only Hellbent card in the deck is Gobhobbler Rats.  I think this deck is trying to be a quick beater deck-- Crypt Champion supports the weenie rush strategy, and Lyzolda flourishes when your creature were going to die anyway.  but then you have the Ickspitter/Cultist combo, plus Rakdos Augermage and Skullmead Cauldron, which would suggest Rakdos control.  But when in doubt, I always use what my clients tell me about the deck.  That isn't much in this case, but since the deck's name is "Rakdos Rush", I'm leaning towards a rush beatdown deck. 

First, let's bring the number of Wrecking Ball up to 4, since it's a very powerful card.  Next, we need four copies of Rakdos Guildmage, for quick 2/2 beats and later, reusable 2/1 beats plus Lyzolda sacrificial tokens or -2/-2 potshots at opposing creatures.  That's eight cards removed and six added, so with the final two slots, we need a card that will give a squad of little cultists the oomph they need to seal the deal.  That card is Anthem of Rakdos.  This deck looks like it will often have several 2/2's, 3/2, and maybe 3/1's swinging away.  WIth the Anthem powering them all up, the game will be over in short order.  Of course, Lyzolda and the Ickspitter aren't attackers, but they do help finish the opponent off anyway, plus take out creatures in the process.  Besides, between the Augermage's first strike and the Champion's double strike, +2/+0 will be a beautiful thing, definitely worth the 1 damage you'll take.  And you've got a Skullmead Cauldron anyway if things get hairy.
 
That should just about do it.  The individual card choices are all improved, and the synergy between then is better now as well.  This deck should cause plenty of mayhem at your next tournament.  Good luck!
 
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