Rakdos, Patron of Chaos
– Murders at Karlov Manor
Date Reviewed: February 19, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.63
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4.75
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I have a book called The Batman Files which is presented as exactly what it sounds like – Batman’s personal case files, with profiles of all his famous villains and his personal thoughts on his notorious adventures. The character profiles in particular use a very similar formatting to the card treatment shown in the image above, though many of Murders at Karlov Manor‘s case files are more sarcastic than we’d expect from the Caped Crusader. Although, perhaps he’d find it a reasonable response to the madness that is Gotham . . .
We’ve come a long way from demon creatures that actively hurt their caster, and the newest version of Rakdos is another step in the “good vs good” kind of dilemma. I’m at risk of getting a little sarcastic myself, so I’ll just point out that six-drops have not recently been considered one of this color combination’s strengths (aside from outliers like Grave Titan). This might be just what your deck in these colors is calling for, and even if the reanimator target category is as unexpectedly crowded as the peak of Mount Everest, just remember that Kaalia always needs more friends!
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Back for another outing, Rakdos’s fourth card is maybe one of his better ones…which is not the highest bar to get over, though he has had some intrigue with past versions. Patron of Chaos is a punisher effect of sorts at the end of each of your turns: someone bins two things, or you draw two cards. Of note is that this does target, meaning it can scale quite well to multiplayer, and they can’t just throw away their Clues and Treasure tokens to pay for this. Forced sacrifice isn’t always the most efficacious form of removal, but it’s not flagrantly awful and can be great for bypassing irksome protective abilities. And, of course, Rakdos himself is a 6/6 with evasion and trample, and those help a bit.
That you get his trigger immediately (unless he dies immediately) is definitely a reason I’m higher on him than I might otherwise be. You’re usually going to get at least one proc of this ability, and six mana to draw two cards or get rid of two things and force opponents to dig for answers is a pretty nice place to be. If Rakdos colors are a thing, the Patron of Chaos might make for a solid top-end finisher, and he’s a solid enough threat that can both try to turn around a bad board and solidify a good one.
Constructed: 3.75 (my only concern is if Rakdos is a good deck right now)
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
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