This card has a couple of truly impressive
effects, for sure. However, the cost is dire.
Black/Red decks already have a habit of
sacrificing all defense in the attempt to win
before it matters. This card makes things even
more dangerous. It's quite possible that you
could be put in a position where you life total
is so low that you can't afford to attack. And
that's no position for a Rakdos player to be in.
This card has a high cost attached to it as
well, but that's of less concern since you don't
really want to play this until Hellbent is a
real possibility anyway. This is the kind of
card you don't ever want in your hand, but it
would be very nice to topdeck sometimes.
However, I think that another Rakdos rare -
Demonfire - excells while this does not. I would
avoid using this under almost any situation.
Oof...seems a bit expensive to see any real
constructed play. But if you can get it on the
board in limited or casual play, it has
potential. You just have to be careful not to
hurt yourself too much in the process. More
potential in Casual than other arenas, imho.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 3
Limited - 2.5
BMoor
Anthem of
Rakdos
This card makes every attack a lot more painful,
for both players involved. The 1 damage you take
for each attacker might discourage you from
attacking, since the more creatures attack, the
more damage you take and the less blockers you
have, thus the easier it is for the opponent to
pounce and finish you off. On the other hand,
the +2/+0 means that your opponent will probably
have to block as much as possible (and lose
creatures in the process). This card lets you
effectively say "one way or another, this game
is ending soon". Ideally you play a Falter or
Incite Hysteria the next turn and swing for
lethal damage.
The Hellbent ability just makes the sense of
urgency that much more powerful, since four 1/x's
could deal 24 damage if they attack together.
But what's interesting is that it doubles all
damage from all sources, not just creatures
attacking. Meaning pingers are now twice as
lethal, and if you topdeck a burn spell, fire it
off for twice the effect. I can see this easily
going in Red Burnout decks that play out all
their cards by turn 4 and then just hope to
topdeck enough Shocks to finish the job.
Constructed- 3.5
Limited- 3
Casual- 4.5
IQ
corrupted
Anthem of
Rakdos
2BRR-- Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control attacks, it gets
+2/+0 until end of turn and Anthem of Rakdos
deals 1 damage to you.
Hellbent- As long as you have no cards in hand,
if a source you control would deal damage to a
creature or player, it deals double that damage
to that creature or player instead.
CONSTRUCTED
Before I say anything else let me mention how
much I dislike this card, not because of what it
does but because of what it makes you think it
can do. This card and Mr. Pit Dragon had me
looking at the Hellbent mechanic and no matter
how hard I tried those two cards were simply too
expensive. I’m very well aware you have Avatar
of Discord and Drekavac to help you empty your
hand but from what I’ve seen a Hellbent deck
simply works a lot better built around Taste of
Mayhem.
With a decent red/black rush all you’ll need by
turn five is a bit of direct damage to seal the
deal and until somebody proves me wrong I’ll
take Char/Flames of the Blood Hand over this.
2/5
LIMITED
hmm... I’ve seen my share of weenie decks that
can hit you before you know what’s what, because
a lot of the times everyone will overlook the
little guys that cost one or two. This card
could be a gift from the heaves to the guy
willing to try a suicide rush but so far the
most successful decks I’ve seen that can
accomplish that have been white/green. Red has
some potential and after this set so does black
which makes me think it might be doable. I’ll
have to draft a bit before I can give this card
the thumbs up or down but there’s definitely
some potential in there.
