Dies to Removal

Standard Elimination Report (Event 6765020)
Standard Elimination R1 Rakdos Aggro vs Bx Devotion Event 6765020
Standard Elimination R2 Rakdos Aggro vs Ux Devotion Event 6765020
Standard Elimination R3 Rakdos Aggro vs Naya Tokens Event 6765020

The G1 vs. Mono B Devotion was bizarre.

12 duals, 1 swamp, 8 mountains can cast AZ and Spike Jester. Probably restricted to Cackler only though.

[deck]MDU Young Radkos[/deck]
I strongly believe that the Flame-Wreathed Phoenix should be the 4th Lifebane Zombie.

Standard Elimination Report (Event 6775423)
Standard
Elimination R1 Young Rakdos vs Bx Devotion Event 6775423
Standard Elimination R2 Young Rakdos vs Bx Devotion Event 6775423
Standard Elimination R3 Split

I strongly believe that the Flame-Wreathed Phoenix should be the 4th Lifebane Zombie.

100% agree, I made exactly that switch earlier today Currently much prefer the Young version of the list

Question:

Br Aggro. Do I go with 3 Exava, or 4 Desecration Demon? Just in general. If it's matchup specific, would it be intelligent to just sideboard the DD's for matchups where Exava fails?

I wouldn't have DD at all.

@MDU you r2 of your most recent videos: I think you get a little risky by putting out 2 pyromancers together. Also, I tend not to like play YP$ on T2. U usually wait for a demon to appear so I can play YP$ then use burn to get a token. If they have open mana on t2, you can bet whatever you cast is going to be killed. I'd rather Spike Jester always be killed over YP$

12 duals, 1 swamp, 8 mountains can cast AZ and Spike Jester. Probably restricted to Cackler only though.

Yeah no biggie, I just wanted a way to keep playing AZ because of the high amount of aggro in my meta

Do you have the math on this? I thought 16 sources were enough for RR on turn 2.

Tyrael, for consistency you need around 20

Have a look at

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... ur-spells/

it's a very good article on the matter (and quite relevant for this deck actually)

Bleh

[deck] zealot experiment[/deck]

Swamp count might be a little low for zombie/downfall though... I guess this deck is all about being greedy

I wouldn't have DD at all.

@MDU you r2 of your most recent videos: I think you get a little risky by putting out 2 pyromancers together. Also, I tend not to like play YP$ on T2. U usually wait for a demon to appear so I can play YP$ then use burn to get a token. If they have open mana on t2, you can bet whatever you cast is going to be killed. I'd rather Spike Jester always be killed over YP$

I'm just greedy as ****, I view YP$ more as a mind**** for G2-3 rather then my primary tool for winning since it pleases me when my Bx Devotion Opp. brings in Drown, Doom Blade and Dark Betrayal at the expense of Underworld Connection and discard.

I wouldn't have DD at all.

@MDU you r2 of your most recent videos: I think you get a little risky by putting out 2 pyromancers together. Also, I tend not to like play YP$ on T2. U usually wait for a demon to appear so I can play YP$ then use burn to get a token. If they have open mana on t2, you can bet whatever you cast is going to be killed. I'd rather Spike Jester always be killed over YP$

I'm just greedy as ****, I view YP$ more as a mind**** for G2-3 rather then my primary tool for winning since it pleases me when my Bx Devotion Opp. brings in Drown, Doom Blade and Dark
Betrayal at the expense of Underworld Connection and discard.

It's all about that #value, high risk, high reward!
have you thought about going 3 skullcracks and maybe a toil/trouble or rr in the side? or is 4 skullcracks the way to go?

I don't like [card]Toil // Trouble[/card] unless its against UWx Control, so I'll use Skull Crack since it hits both Bx Devotion and UWx Control.

RR is better with 25 lands and 3+ Mutavaults, we won't get as much value from it with our limited creatures.

I don't think we really need much help vs UWx anyway, considering the amount of haste (and pro-white!) creatures we're running. If you can keep pressuring them a well timed skullcrack should be just as good.

@ MDU, you have tested FWF extensively, do think it's worth running in a top-heavy build or is replacing it with an extra Zombie/Dragon/Exava a better idea?

FWF sucks. Lifebane is better.

Coming to the same conclusion after I switched Chandra back to Phoenix. I would rather always have LBZ or Exava (or Dreadbore) whenever I had the bird.

Have to grind the last 7 QP today, probably gonna try both versions again, since I have to do it via 8man.

[deck] Zealot experiment V1.1[/deck]

All right, thanks to all of you. I'll be spinning this next saturday

Still contemplating the Shocks tho

FWF sucks. Lifebane is better.

my problem with FWP is that the "no tribute penalty" is an ETB trigger, so if you play it and I have lightning bolt or helix, I don't pay the tribute and then in response to the ETB trigger I just bolt it.

LBZ is a house, especially with B/W and Ephara decks becoming more popular now.

3 Qp left! And Pyromancer really is sweet. Probably gonna switch to it.

RR is better with 25 lands and 3+ Mutavaults, we won't get as much value from it with our limited creatures.

I'm missing something here What does the number of Vaults and creatures have to do with getting value from Rakdos's Return please?

More lands for bigger RR.

If you're running RR your creature base will suffer, automatically diverting you to a more 'control-ish' playstyle

And vaults complement that perfectly since you can use them as attackers during your control plan!
Yay!

OK, I've made 36 QP and still fighting in a daily for one more. Tried the Pyro variant and I must say I do feel it being more potent: Pyromancer leads to even more nutdraws and he can be backbreaking against some decks (for me today he shined against U devo and the tokens chumped RG all day).

I do have a few remarks in regards to matchups, specifically the new Burn and BG Reanimator. The first one feels like a cointoss, after trying to be the control and finding that not working at all I tried the other approach yet it still feels like they can be faster if we don't draw into Cackler/Jester. Searing Blood with [card]Chandra's Phoenix[/card] can be backbreaking against us, even more than Bile Blight, since you can play around the Blight, but you have to race the Burn. They do suffer from bad starts though.

The reanimator matchup is just
one crazy ride. Met it twice today and boy... if they happen to get their things going (faced 16/16 Golgari Lich Lord today), their creatures will be mightier than even what RG has to offer. Haven't seen any reliable removal in their decks although I am guessing the're playing an assortment of terrors like we do + Putrefy (not sure about Abrupt Decay). I lost even though I saw zero removal though, which I admit may be due to being afraid to be more aggresive.

So far these two decks are giving me the most headache. Burn being the race with them having access to Helix and it's lifelink usually ends up us being few points of damage short. Reanimator I don't think will emerge as a real deck, but since the season is still new I'll have to suffer through it.

Was thinking of adding one Rakdos Charm to SB especially to combat these decks, since it hoses Reanimator and solves the Phoenix problem in Burn. What are your experiences with these
decks in paper or in MTGO? I'll try to write my SBing (playing the pyrocackler variant):

Burn:
+4 Skullcrack, +2 LBZ (+1 on the play only), -2 HDF, -3 Shock, -1 Cackler on the draw (was thinking about boarding out Jets and leaving Shocks in, but I wanted the scry).

Reanimator:
No goddamn idea. Tried a mix of Doom Blades/Betrayals and LBZs and took out Cacklers and Shocks. Probably should have been -4 Spike Jester since just about anything can chump and kill it. Not sure about Shock... but since they are killing either via Nemesis of Mortals or the Lich Lord (Shadowborn Demon being just a big creature clearing the way) I will try boarding all the Blades and all three Betrayals next time.

I agree that reanimator is very annoying (makes you wish you had Chains) your best bet is racing plus removal.

Vs Burn which one are you talking about? 20 creatures + 14 burns or Dancer + Searing Blood Main, if its the latter I'll say its very much in our favor (it just 'feels' bad, they HAVE to kill our creatures in this MU so after the first 5-7 turns when we gas them we tend to win though I'll life total will usually be close to death point) if its the former I have no idea since I've never played against it.

@Lazerburn: Tyrael has it right about RR, we're in control mode so we have lesser creatures - after will clear the board and hand we will need something to threaten the Opp. so vaults are best for that (have you vs Jund in Modern? that is how they usually win, 8 discards + 4 lilly then Manland beat down).

Played this a little bit tonight on MODO.

[deck]
Creatures (25)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Tormented Hero
4 Pain Seer
4 Thrill-Kill Assassin
4 Spike Jester
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
4 Mogis's Marauder

Spells (14)
4 Thoughtseize
4 Dreadbore
1 Ultimate Price
3 Bile Blight
2 Hero's Downfall

Lands (21)
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
3 Mountain
10 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
3 Duress
2 Dark Betrayal
4 Madcap Skills
2 Doom Blade
4 Pharika's Cure
[/deck]

Sideboard was just thrown together. I'm currently missing Lifebane Zombie and I want it as a three-of in my sideboard. I decided to go with Mogis's Marauder over Herald of Torment for greater speed.

The deck seems about 50/50 preboard vs UWx control. Just can't keep a loose hand against them.

Red-based aggro is almost impossible to beat, especially postboard. Our creatures just fall directly in line to their removal spells. That said, Rx seems
like a very small portion of the MODO meta so I wouldn't hesitate to play this deck despite it's bad Rx matchup.

Mono blue/UW devotion is hilariously easy.

Gr Monsters is hilariously easy.

I think the 60 is pretty solid. It's the sideboard that needs tweaking. Pain Seer is awesome. Thrill-Kill is amazing. The mana here is great. Everything we want in an aggro deck.

I guess Whip of Erebos or Crypt Incursion would be pretty nice tech for red matchups.

Couldn't sleep, so decided to randomly throw something together, like I occasionally do.
This isn't anything too fancy, but I took mdu's Young Rakdos build, and do the thing that was discussed a few pages back about the normal version, aka dropping the cacklers for an extra dragon, land, etc.

So here I dropped the cacklers, and added an extra exava, dragon, land, and hero's downfall.
The extra dragon and downfall stretch the mana base a bit further then before, but since there's no one-drop creatures anymore, I upped it to all 4 gates to help ease the strain.

Since the only thing we'd play turn 1 anyway is a shock, I don't think it's too big a deal, though we would draw cipt lands a bit more often.

I'm greedy as heck, so I added in the second mutavault, though I could switch it to a mountain and not lose much sleep at all over it ;P
It's a mutavault for now, because dropping the cacklers does make our
creature count lower.

[deck]Lands 24
5 Mountain
5 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple Of Malice
4 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Mutavault

Creatures 19
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells 17
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
3 Shock
3 Dreadbore
3 Hero's Downfall

Sideboard 15
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Dark Betrayal
3 Doom Blade
4 Skullcrack[/deck]

So yeah, just a little experiment, but I kinda like it. It has the same value plays as the normal young build, but still has the normal top end.

Matchups that suffer the most from it are vs control, which are already pretty favorable. It hurts the b/x devo a tiny bit, but since cackler is less of a problem for them then before bng it's not much. And yp$ more then makes up for that imo.

Raida what ar eyou playing in the Open?

Couldn't sleep, so decided to randomly throw something together, like I occasionally do.
This isn't anything too fancy, but I took mdu's Young Rakdos build, and do the thing that was discussed a few pages back about the normal version, aka dropping the cacklers for an extra dragon, land, etc.

So here I dropped the cacklers, and added an extra exava, dragon, land, and hero's downfall.
The extra dragon and downfall stretch the mana base a bit further then before, but since there's no one-drop creatures anymore, I upped it to all 4 gates to help ease the strain.

Since the only thing we'd play turn 1 anyway is a shock, I don't think it's too big a deal, though we would draw cipt lands a bit more often.

I'm greedy as heck, so I added in the second
mutavault, though I could switch it to a mountain and not lose much sleep at all over it ;P
It's a mutavault for now, because dropping the cacklers does make our creature count lower.

[deck]Lands 24
5 Mountain
5 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple Of Malice
4 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Mutavault

Creatures 19
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells 17
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
3 Shock
3 Dreadbore
3 Hero's Downfall

Sideboard 15
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Dark Betrayal
3 Doom Blade
4 Skullcrack[/deck]

So yeah, just a little experiment, but I kinda like it. It has the same value plays as the normal young build, but still has the normal top end.

Matchups that suffer the most from it are vs control, which are already pretty favorable. It hurts the b/x devo a tiny bit, but since cackler is less of a problem for them then before bng it's not much. And yp$ more then makes up for that
imo.

I think if you're going to go with this strategy and a bad manabase you want to be playing more powerful cards than Young Pyromancer.

Raida, you might want to try my list

We had a small tourney y-day and I went 5-0 with it :]

Beat R aggro, W/B aggro, Orhzov midrange, mono U and UWr control

all 2-0 ^^

@ Valdarith, have you thought about going with a white splash over red? You lose Dreadbore, Tymaret, and Spike Jester, but you gain Soldier of the Pantheon, Fiendslayer Paladin, Gift of Orzhova, Sin Collector, ect.

edit* after thinking about it probably wouldn't be worth it, the mana base would be too clunky if you wanted to run Thoughtseize as well.

I think red just offers more with Spike Jester and Dreadbore. Hero into Jester on the play leads to a lot of free wins and Dreadbore is probably the best removal spell in Standard right now being so flexible and 2cmc. Sin Collector is nice but that's the obly attractive thing about a white splash.

@RaidaTheBlade: I'll recommend running the 4th Shock over the third Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - I can't say I like 3x MM in a list full of terrors so I'll recommend that the witch takes that slot.

In regards to my list the main change I made was 4th Lifebane Zombie over the Vexing Phoenix and Far // Away over Mizzium Mortars (for MODO to combat Naya Hexproof - I'll keep the MM in MOCS).

I also uploaded another video on my channel in the morning if you missed it

What about swapping out Dark Betrayal in the side board for another, more versatile terror that could be brought in for other matchups? While having the single black cost of Dark Betrayal is great, having something that could be used in that matchup and in other matchups might make the sideboard more flexible. Ultimate Price / Devour Flesh / Away? I've been finding locally that mono black and lists running black in general are falling out of popularity.

I'm going to try to reduce the number by 1 or 2 tonight and see how it goes.

Black still seem to be going strong online, though I do like Devour Flesh for those random Hexproof builds....

Another 3-0, list is quite legit - I feel that hitting lands seems to be the main factor in my wins and loses.

I propose:

[deck=MDU's Young Rakdos]Lands 24
5 Mountain
5 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple Of Malice
4 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Mutavault

Creatures 20
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
2 Lifebane Zombie
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Tymaret, the Murder King

Spells 16
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
2 Shock
3 Dreadbore
3 Hero's Downfall

Sideboard 15
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Lifebane Zombie
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Dark Betrayal
3 Doom Blade
4 Skullcrack[/deck]

Whip is for aggro

Went 4-1 last night at a store for a tie for 4th place. Didn't have a chance to pull the Dark Betrayal, but I'm glad I didn't!
I feel as though I am siding out shock in every G2/G3. Not sure if something else can come in its place?

Playing again tonight. PTQ on Saturday.

Good result Deht

I can see why people dislike Shock in Rakdos Aggro since every other card is powerhouse on its own while Shock barely kills anything.

I personally love Shock and rarely side it out, its solid vs the rare hyper aggro list, Wx and Ux aggro whilst being decent against other build when you have things like Chandra's Phoenix in the graveyard or in combination with Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch +/or Spike Jester to kill most creatures.

Shock is awesome when it's useful and frankly it's useful in many matchups. I still SB it out though aside from Esper Mid, monoU, RDW and possibly R/G depending on my mood. Basically any deck you can kill something with Shock I do think it's worth keeping it... sometimes.

Trying the version without Cacklers now... don't wanna go Ashley since RR I think is too risky for this deck. And like MDU said variance is what makes or breaks the games. I had one guy today mocking me during daily (I played conservatively: I had 5 mana, HDF, HDF, Lightning Strike in hand, Phoenix in grave, opponent had nothing, my table was Pyro and two tokens, he at about 14 life. Didn't cast the Strike on my turn, instead attacked with just what I had. Reason: didn't want to risk blowout by Sorrow. Cons: 2 less dmg via the possible phx attack. Pros: Still had mana to get out of Sorrow and kill a creature had he played one... ofc, drew a
Skullcrack .) for getting everything from the top etc. Had the same experience playing R/w - I just feel like like people expect to beat every deck not in the top 70% of meta by sheer force of will instead of thinking about the matchup. Sent him here to get some reading.

On the other hand, I faced another Reanimator on 3-0 in daily. He eventually won 2-1. This time it was with white splash for the goddamn Angel of Serenity which is a card I hate with burning passion since my getting back to MTG with BTE blitz last season. I was unable to get him in time until Angels started pooping golden shit all over me.

If this trend continues I think people will eventually catch up on it... and the matchup isn't really our strongest one. This the main reason I dropped the Cacklers: they are just blocked 4ever by Caryatids.

Run Crypt Incursion? Its not horrible vs Red and it does a number vs reanimator (which I also hate with a passion) or Needle calling whip? its also decent vs Control.

One of the biggest losses moving from white to black is Chained to the Rocks. Has anyone considered Gild? We ran Sever the Bloodline during Innistrad block at times to exile pesky creatures, so it's not without precedence to run a 4-mana answer.