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Reveling in destruction, death, and chaos, Rakdos mages are great friends to have in Commander. Of all the color combinations inMagic: The Gathering, Rakdos keeps the game interesting. You never know what to expect from Rakdos, and you never have to worry about your Commander game stagnating into a 100-turn odyssey.
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Although Rakdos mages are equally loath to consult anyone for advice as they are to follow a script, there are still some cards that every Rakdos should at least know about when building their Commander decks. If you’re one such red/black mage looking for help, you’ve come to the right place.
Ramp
Black/redramp is mostly fulfilled with the usual suspects.Rakdos Signet,Veinfire Borderpost, and other Commander-focused artifacts are your bread and butter here, with added notes forSolemn Simulacrumas it pairs well with Rakdos’s tendency to sacrifice its own critters and then bring them back later.
Mahadi, Emporium Master,Kalain, Reclusive Painter, andProfessional Face-breakerare all notable for offering mana (or cheaper spells) so long as you keep the pressure on–something that will become a theme as we go through these Rakdos staples.
Removal
Red likes to burn, black likes to kill; combine them, and you have the perfect combination of death and destruction to remove any creature that you can point a finger at.
Dreadbore,Terminate, andBedevilcan kill creatures quickly and efficiently, while cards likeFatal GrudgeandAngrath’s Rampageget around indestructibility by calling for sacrifices instead of mere destruction.
Chaos Warp and Lightning Bolt are still here, as are staple black kill cards likeGo for the ThroatorMurder.Cut/Ribbons,Bituminous Blast, andPhyrexian Purgeoffer a little bit extra. Don’t forget to use removal creatures likeFlametongue KavuandMurderous Redcap.
Card Draw
You’ve got two options with Rakdos card draw. You can rely on the black way of doing things, trading life for cards, or you can throw in some red to make drawing cards a bit weirder and a lot more aggressive.
Florian, Voldaren ScionandTheater of Horrorsboth let you exile cards from your library and play them, while Fevered Suspicion and Lidless Gaze let you do the same for your opponents.Garna, Bloodfist of KeldandAzra Oddsmakerboth reward attacking players, but nothing beatsXantcha, Sleeper Agentfor Rakdos-flavored card draw.
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Board Wipes
Black is the preferred board-wiping color of the Rakdos pair with cards likeToxic DelugeandDamnation, butChain ReactionandBlasphemous Actare both strong ways to clear boards through damage.
As usual, Rakdos makes clearing boards a strange affair.Last One Standingwill most often work out in your favor, but not always.Voidis notable for hitting both artifacts and creatures and also providing you with a bit of control over what gets removed (with some added Discard for value).
Malfegoris double-edged, but potentially capable of clearing the way to victory and if nothing else is a great discard outlet.Ocrus, Prince of Undeathcan either provide board-clearing power or reanimation, depending on your mood. AndToo Greedily, Too Deepcan do both at the same time.
Damage Dealing Critters
Rakdos doesn’t just wait for combat to deal damage. It has loads of smaller creatures that want to get their licks in whenever and however they can.
Mayhem Deviltriggers whenever anyone sacrifices a permanent,Judithtriggers whenever one of your non-token critters dies, andVial Smasherhits whenever you cast your first spell.Juriis similar toJudithbut provides an escalating threat that eventually explodes at a creature, player, or planeswalker.
But nothing beatsAnathemancer. With the number of nonbasic lands Commander games typically contain, Anathemancer will deal double-digit damage for just three mana, and potentially do it twice. And don’t forget to pair all of these with Tor Wauki the Younger to throw in just a little extra damage each time.
Small, But Deadly Creatures
As one would expect from Rakdos, the black/red colors tend to havea lot of smaller creatures that defy categorization. They all tend to follow Rakdos’s themes of randomness and mayhem while enabling either themselves or other cards.
Body Dropperis a perfect example. Lots of Rakdos effects trigger on sacrificing a creature (see many of the creatures from the previous category, but Body Dropper also benefits from the sacrifice through a +1/+1 counter and menace.
Kardur, Doomscourgeis an example of the truly wild and wacky stuff Rakdos can do. Make all your opponents attack each other, and whenever they die, you gain life and opponents lose life. That’s bonkers.
Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin provides cards and an escalating threat,Garna, the Bloodflamereturns all your recently-deceased creatures to your hand, andMaster of Crueltiescan slowly whittle away at opponents or even win games single-handedly with the help of Rogue’s Passage (more on that later).
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Big, Scary Monsters
There’s not a lot to say for most of these creatures. They’re big, they’re scary, and they all do big and scary things when they come into play, die, or attack.
But as usual, Rakdos is full of exceptions.Rakdos, Lord of Riots, for example, doubles as ramp for your creatures.Karazikar, the Eye Tyrantkeeps everyone attacking each other whether they want to or not.The Scorpion Godprovides removal and card draw in a very hard-to-kill package, andKaervekis just downright evil.
Reanimation
Rakdos loves to reanimate, often with a hint of wildness to keep things interesting. And since both your and everyone else’s creatures should be dying all the time, being able to bring yours back can be a huge book.
Black provides the bulk of Rakdos’s reanimation, with cards likeReanimate,Animate Dead, andVictimize.Doomed Necromancerprovides a recursive reanimation engine withPhyrexian Reclamation, but nothing is better thanChainer, Nightmare Adept. Try to keep him alive if you can.
Delightfully Chaotic Spells
There is absolutely nothing funnier than playingRain of Goreand watching everyone at the table groan.Captive Audiencehas a similar effect, but only for a single opponent. Still, you’re making at least one opponent’s night.
Rakdos has a lot of enchantments and sorceries that fall along these lines. They might not win you the game, but they’ll certainly make someone else lose. Rakdos is not a good color combination for making friends, so you might want to wield these spells sparingly.
Lands
Rakdos lands are naturally ones that produce red and black mana, but there are some others that deserve mention.
Bojuka Bogcan shut down opposing reanimation strategies, and if you’re not one to care too much about your own graveyard,Mines of Moriacan offer some much-needed mana ramping.Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, is a great card to include in Rakdos decks thatdocare about their graveyards.
Demolition Fieldis to get rid of problematic lands on your opponent’s sides, andRogue’s Passagecan help get your Commander (or Master of Cruelties) through when all else fails.
