[Primer] Dos Rakis

[LP, of the Fires]

I'm off the opinion that you only need 2 mutavaults as you're already threat dense in the dual colored agro decks such as this *shrug*

[redthirst]

T-Maw Hell-Kizzy, why can't I quit you?

[deck]Creatures: 28
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
2 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
3 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells: 8
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear

Lands: 24
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Mutavault
3 Swamp
10 Mountain[/deck]

Basically the old list with Phoenix over Reckoner and Mutavault, and honestly, it's not that greedy.

14 Turn 1 [mana]R[/mana] sources, 18 Turn 2+ [mana]R[/mana] sources, and 11 [mana]B[/mana] sources.

18 R sources is probably enough (though the bare minimum) to warrant Stonewright - which isn't incredibly synergistic with Mutavault, but fuck it - they're both good enough on their own.

[hamfactorial]

[Deck]Creatures:26
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells:11
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley

Lands:23
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Mountain
1 Godless Shrine
3 Mutavault

Sideboard:15
3 Dreadbore
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Olivia Voldaren
[/deck]

This list trims the black splash to a minimum, which removes Spike Jester but gives access to Boros Reckoner out of the sideboard. No guildgates here, so more reliable buddy lands.

Mutavault at 3 still gives some fun manland goodness but hedges against drawing them in multiple. 1 Godless Shrine gives us a little extra black without screwing with Reckoner. 19 red sources is enough for Ash Zealot.

Legion Loyalist is gone but Ratchet Bomb in the sideboard gives some game
against hexproof and tokens.

2 Hellkite for reach and 23 land to cast them reliably.

BTE gives us pseudo-haste if we have a spear or pillar in hand. It chains effectively into Chandra's Phoenix or a turn 3 Ash Zealot if you draw the 3rd colored land.

[Valdarith]

[Deck]Creatures:26
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells:11
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley

Lands:23
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Mountain
1 Godless Shrine
3 Mutavault

Sideboard:15
3 Dreadbore
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Ratchet Bomb
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Olivia Voldaren
[/deck]

This list trims the black splash to a minimum, which removes Spike Jester but gives access to Boros Reckoner out of the sideboard. No guildgates here, so more reliable buddy lands.

Mutavault at 3 still gives some fun manland goodness but hedges against drawing them in multiple. 1 Godless Shrine gives
us a little extra black without screwing with Reckoner. 19 red sources is enough for Ash Zealot.

Legion Loyalist is gone but Ratchet Bomb in the sideboard gives some game against hexproof and tokens.

2 Hellkite for reach and 23 land to cast them reliably.

BTE gives us pseudo-haste if we have a spear or pillar in hand. It chains effectively into Chandra's Phoenix or a turn 3 Ash Zealot if you draw the 3rd colored land.

No need for Godless Shrine without Boros Reckoner. If you're wanting an extra black source, try Overgrown Tomb since you can cast BTE with it.

EDIT: and I now see the Reckoners in the side. The suggestion stands though. I'd move Godless Shrine to the side so you can bring in 21 sources for Reckoner since you'll be running four of them postboard.

[stuffydollfan]

I know reckoners are no longer in the main but why not just run godless shrine instead of swamp?
We will still need to cast him whenever we side him in.

[Link]

BTE seems odd in that deck, Im a bit skeptical at first ham <.<

[hamfactorial]

I looked for a red 2 drop that provides some value. Shred-Freak is fast but weak, Chainwalker is good on offense but terrible on defense, Lightning Mauler is no better than Shred-Freak when all the other creatures in the deck are hasty.

BTE provides some ETB value (acceleration of threats) which fits with the Dos Rakis glass cannon approach. It's not as good as Spike Jester, but better than many other options.

[hamfactorial]

I think that Chandra, Pyromaster might be a really good maindeck option over Hellkite. I've been goldfishing a 22 land list with 3 Chandra and I think it's quite powerful. Her +1 is extremely relevant in a fast deck like ours with fragile creatures. Recurring Phoenix is also really nice. 5 loyalty means she'll survive the clowns playing Warleader's Helix.

[stuffydollfan]

As far as the 22 land list goes, i think either Chandra or Hellrider seem like great ideas.
Hellrider because there are a lot more early game creatures in the deck.
And Chandra because she helps out a bunch with blockers which the deck often has trouble with.
It is also worth the shot to try BTE in the deck in place of the Jesters. We got enough 1 & 2 drops to make it work.

Though I got to ask, how are those side boards working out for you guys.
This was one of my concerns for the 22 land decks.
Especially when we have black splashes and the mana intensive Olivia.

[Nuwen]

This was one of my concerns for the 22 land decks.
Especially when we have black splashes and the mana intensive Olivia.

I think you're right. I decided to drop Olivia to make room for skull crack. Olivia Voldaren is a very powerful card, but she doesn't fit into the blitzkrieg racing plan of the 22 land list.

Here's the full list I've settled on:

[deck]All-in Rakis[/deck]

The 3x Brimstone Volley are flexible because they're part of the mainboard burst package, then get boarded out against non-control. Hellrider seems wicked for higher threat density (Fate uses our playset IRL, so I only have goldfish experience with this card choice here).

Sideboard reverted to Reckoners because we're down to 2 mutavaults from 4. You can play 3 Mutavaults if you want to - the effective number of hands you'll mulligan only goes up by a fraction of a percent.

Skullcrack made it into the sideboard because we don't have a fat lategame plan via Hellkite, Stonewright, Olivia. We need to outrace our opponent for this deck to win.

Overall, this deck is very well-positioned against stable competitive decks in the format: Jund, UWR Control. I'll probably keep using this list in small/medium IRL cash tournaments to sneak into top 8, then beat the 40-50% Jund density up there.


Would you guys agree that All-in Rakis isn't as competitive in the MGTO environment? I hear aggro is more prolific in the daily events, and this deck's loss% in the mirror is awful.

[redthirst]

For what it's worth, I like the older version of the deck better after testing a bit.

I think we should leave the super-aggro strategy to mono R and Blitz.

[PirateKingAtomsk]

For what it's worth, I like the older version of the deck better after testing a bit.

I think we should leave the super-aggro strategy to mono R and Blitz.

Felt the same so I'm running 2 T-maws and 24 lands to be on the safe side though you could run 23 if your ok with possibly casting them later.

[Nuwen]

The midrange version keeps more hands and plays better per-slot card quality.

Was a lot of fun to tune/optimize a niche all-in deck though.

[RDW]

It's hard to make it all-in when the two creatures adding to the all-in-ness are of conflicting colors (i.e., BTE and Spike Jester). I think this deck definitely wants to be on the 7-fliers plan.

[stuffydollfan]

pretty much feel the same way as everyone regarding the All-In deck. Other decks are already doing it better than ours so no use in trying.

So I'm thinking of playing in a PTQ this Saturday. I'm might need some help with the sideboard, maybe need help with making a few adjustments to the main. The deck list I plan on using is the one i posted earlier. But without the 4 mutas.

[Valdarith]

What do you guys think of this?

[deck]
Creatures (27)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Hellrider
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Spells (10)
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Dreadbore

Lands (23)
1 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Swamp
12 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 Duress
1 Appetite for Brains
1 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Hound of Griselbrand
1 Slaughter Games
2 Zealous Conscripts
1 Rakdos Guildgate
[/deck]

I like Exava here because MTGO and my local meta is infested with Lingering Souls at the moment.

[Valdarith]

Just played this deck, mono red, and Gruul and enjoyed the Rakdos deck the most. So many quality cards and the curve has so much haste. I really like having Dreadbore as well. I've killed Loxodon Smiters, Desecration Demons, Wolfir Silverhearts, and other creatures I wouldn't dream of killing in mono red and Gruul. Also, Exava is a house. Didn't miss Aristocrat one bit.

[zemanjaski]

Doom Blade might be better maindeck?

[zemanjaski]

Deck looks real nice though.

[Valdarith]

There's definitely an argument for Doom Blade over Dreadbore here. There were a couple of situations where the instant speed of Doom Blade would have come in handy, namely vs Restoration Angel, but other times the Dreadbore was best, like vs Desecration Demon which apparently is now a thing. Also was able to kill Cartel Aristocrats with no support, but that is not something that is typical. The planeswalker clause has not been irrelevant either.

I do think Ill try some split of Doom Blade and Dreadbore main. One other thought I'm having is Spike Jester vs Knight of Infamy. I love that all my 2cmc+ creatures have haste but there are SO MANY white creatures being played right now that he seems very well positioned. Exalted isn't irrelevant either, helping me get through bigger dudes. One drawback to Jester is that, despite his speed, he folds to Augur of Bolas and Lingering Souls. KoI has no such problem.

[Link]

spike jester at least trades with augur and isnt awkawrd like having a LM on the field. I think what breathed life into this deck was spike jester, and you really can't cut him.

Being able to spike jester against a creature deck and just pillar, spear, dreabore your way there is huge. He's an insane clock

[Link]

if your meta is infested with lingering souls I'd also reccommend Thundermawinkites and 24 land version. Also Falkenrath-souls or not (I mean is literally EVERYONE playing lingering souls in their deck? Ash zealot has game against them already to and they dont always have it. This may be acase of the FEAR) is an unfair brual magic card at the moment, playing Exava over her is a slap in the face to the dos rakis gods and may just make rotation come sooner out of blasphemy.

[Link]

oh you're playing hellrider over aristocrat. That's more reasonable, but I'd still want hellkites over Exava <.<

[PirateKingAtomsk]

My current list:
[deck]RakhammerLite[/deck]

Stonewright, while optimized at 20 sources should be fine as a 2 of with 18 and will help to give my smaller creatures more reach ( still great for dumping excess mana and pairs well with phoenix).
Hellkite's still a 5/5 flying haste that pings and taps opposing flyers which is still as effective as it previously was (i.e. still poops on all the
lingering souls tokens) and is even more relavent with the addition of phoenix, though hes bumped down to a 2 of to accommodate for volleys which are pretty much 3 mana single shot dragons to your opponents face when one of your 1-2 cmc guys dies.
Carverns provides flex mana (zealot and jester are both warriors)in a pinch and helps stick kites and crats.

For the sideboard I went with a standard loadout of spells/creatures to deal with the general populace of decks in my meta with KoI included because, while not as bursty as jester hes still a 2 drop 2/1 with pro-white (relevant against a number of creatures and spells) and exalted (suedo haste) and is a human to pump/save aristocrat.

[PirateKingAtomsk]

Also saccing phoenix to crat for morbid volley getting back phoenix is pretty cool.

[Valdarith]

I'm taking this to gameday tonight:

[deck] Creatures (27)
4 rakdos cackler
4 stromkirk noble
4 ash zealot
4 spike jester
4 Chandra's phoenix
4 hellrider
3 exava, rakdos blood witch

Spells (10)
3 pillar of flame
4 searing spear
3 dreadbore

Lands (23)
1 rakdos guildgate
4 dragonskull summit
4 blood crypt
2 swamp
12 mountain

Sideboard (15)
3 duress
1 pillar of flame
2 electrickery
2 doom blade
3 burning earth
2 zealous conscripts
1 sire of insanity
1 rakdos guildgate
[/deck]

Sire of Insanity is, well, insane vs UWR. I found I'd rather have him than Rakdos's Return since they can't mitigate with Revelation and it puts them in topdeck mode which is never where they want to be. They never expect it either. I usually sandbag and bait them to Helix one of my dudes before resolving him. I also like having Burning Earth against them and Jund. I took out Flames for two Electrickery
since I only really use it for x/1s anyway. I have found that the best way to compete with Jund is to just go big with them.

[stuffydollfan]

Finished 1st again at another FNM. Went 4-0-1 split the last game with my friend. Played for fun and he beat me 2-0. He was playing a new grul aggro deck that I was unfamiliar with. It had Strangleroot, Scavenging Ooze, Flintwood Boars, Hellrider, Domri Rade, Reckoners, and toped out at Hellkites. The deck is like a fast mid-range, like ours. Didn’t go to the PTQ *It was a 3 hour drive and I had to work early the following morning* but I know my friend won the event piloting Naya mid-range.

I see a lot of people here adding Dreabore to the main. I’ve been wanting to do that too since most the time I’m siding them in. There’s also Mizzium Mortars but for the most part, Dreadbore is the superior choice. Doom Blade is also good but it doesn’t hit other Aristocrats, Demon, Obzedabt, Blood Barron, or Planeswalkers, but it does deal with enough to make them worthwhile. To be fair, Dreadbore doesn’t hit most of that stuff anyways and
instant speed is always good.

Where does this leave Searing Spear? It’s still a good card in the deck. Really good against faster aggro decks. It helps us punch out the last points of damage we need. And its another way to get back Phoenix. It is sub par when it cant deal with bigger creatures that we need to deal with. I think there is room enough for a spear/bore+mortars+blade split. Just gotta figure out the right amount. We can also cut some pillars out but that leaves us more vulnerable against voice ad a bunch of other X/2.

Next thing I wanted to discuss was Phoenix vs Reckoner. Both of them are really good cards. Phoenix gives the deck 11 flyers, has haste, and can come back. It can even play some defense. The downsides are that Scavenging Ooze and pillar of flame exist and as decent as it may be defensively, Reckoner is way better. Reckoner has a bigger body, is better at defense, and can attack into bigger threats more profitably, and acts as a deterrent to bonfire, mortars, and that 13
damage. Also with having Reckoners back on main will free up some sideboard space. On the other hand, he is less resilient, 3 turns slower, and is more mana intensive and might make us cut Mutavault altogether. Sadly there is only room for one and I’m not sure who’s getting it. Both have their merits and flaws.

Sideboard wise I’ve been shying away from Burning Earth, mainly because our list runs at least half non basic lands *mines running 13* but I can see a good case for it considering there are many decks it hurts. I can easily see a spot for both Electrickery and Rolling Tremblor. Legion Loyalist can also be good here. Rakdos Return has been kinda irrelevant for me. Might drop those. I’m running 3 Tribute to hunger for the Bant Hexproof match and against other fast aggro decks. Chandra has been surprisingly good for me, both her +1 and +0 have helped out. Doomblade also would be good in the side or main. Olivia is great, not much else to say about it. Reckoners also fantastic on the side.

I
still think this is one of the stronger decks in the game right now. I agree when someone else said that Spike Jester has been one of the main reasons for this decks upswing. This deck will put lots of pressure on our opponents. They have to get the right draws, have some good top decks, make the right plays. They don’t get much room to mess around with or cant take bad hands. It might not have the quickness of some of the other aggro decks, but what it gives up in speed it makes up for in, flexibility, reliability and relentlessness

[Valdarith]

I finished first at Gameday with my previously posted list except with Bonfire in place of Electrickery in the side. Went 3-0 with ID in fourth round since my opponent who was in second agreed to give me all of the store credit for the playmat.

Round 1 vs UGR homebrew: my first match was against a guy I regard as one of the strongest players within a 50 mile radius. It seems like every time we face off we have some very interesting matches. He was playing a homebrew with Huntmasters, Scavenging Oozes, Opportunity, Think Twice, Ground Assault, Spears, Pillars...basically a bastard child of Naya and UWR. I win the roll and plow through him in game one as he gets stuck on three land with four Huntmasters in hand.

In: +3 Burning Earth, +2 Duress, +2 Doom Blade
Out: -4 Stromkirk Noble, -1 Dreadbore, -1 Pillar of Flame, -1 Rakdos Cackler

It took me awhile to settle on a good sideboard here. I didn't see Scavenging Ooze game
one or else I would have kept the third Dreadbore in and likely taken out a Spear. Game two I keep a hand with three land, Ash Zealot, Duress, Phoenix, and Exava. He plays a shockland tapped and passes. I play a Blood Crypt tapped and pass. He plays a checkland and passes. I play Zealot and swing for two. EOT he plays Think Twice. His turn he plays a checkland and passes. I topdeck an Ash Zealot, so I play a checkland and Duress. I see a hand with three lands, Huntmaster, and Opportunity, ditching Opportunity. I play the Ash Zealot and swing for four. EOT he declares that he's flashing back Think Twice. I tell him to take six, pointing at the Zealots. He gets pissed at himself for not catching that and goes to 8. His turn he plays a land and casts Huntmaster to go to 10 and get a wolf. My turn I topdeck a Phoenix and play it. He blocks the two Ash Zealot and takes two to go back to 8. He Ground Assaults my Phoenix, plays Ooze and a land and passes. I play Exava and swing. He blocks and kills the Zealot by
giving him two counters and gaining two life and takes six, going to 4. He plays a land and passes. I topdeck Burning Earth, think for a moment, then play the Burning Earth guessing that he doesn't have a counter. He sighs and responds by removing dudes from our yards to gain three life and make his Ooze to make him 6/6. I swing for the fences and he blocks Exava and goes to 5. His turn he Spears my Zealot, taking two from Burning Earth to go to 3, removes my two Zealots and makes his dude a 8/8 and swings for eight and passes. I topdeck a land and pass. He swings again and passes. I topdeck a Spike Jester and swing for lethal. He was mad at the end because if he had not flashed the Think Twice he would have been in a winning position. I was just happy to win.

1-0

Round 2 vs Naya Midrange: could not have gotten a worse matchup, or so I thought. I was able to scout this guy out in Round 1 and he was running Wolf Run, Reckoners, Loxodon Smiters, Selesnya Charms, Domri, and other good stuff. I was
licking my chops looking at his mana base of zero basic lands (once again). To top it off, he won the roll. I make a very loose keep of three lands, a Pillar, Hellrider, Dreadbore, and Exava. He plays a shock and a Pilgrim and passes. I draw a Searing Spear, play a shock and Pillar the dork and pass. He plays a shock tapped and pass. I play a checkland and pass. He plays a Reckoner and passes, and I EOT Spear it. I play a Guildgate and pass. He plays a land and passes. I play land and Hellrider and get in for four. He plays Smiter, land, and passes. I topdeck Ash Zealot, Dreadbore the Smiter, play the Zealot and get in for eight, putting him at 8. He plays Domri and +1s him, revealing nothing and passing. I play Exava and win.

In: +3 Burning Earth, +2 Doom Blade
Out: -4 Stromkirk Noble, -1 Searing Spear

I don't remember much about the second match besides keeping a hand with Burning Earth, curving out with Cacklers and Zealots, Doom Blading a Smiter on my EOT, casting Burning Earth on turn four, and
winning immediately. When I landed it, he asked to look at it, chuckled, and pretty much gave up. Yeah, that card is good.

2-0

Round 3 vs WB weenie: I knew very little about this deck or the player going in. As I was shuffling I discovered she was the girlfriend of the guy I beat in Round 2. She wins the roll and plays a Plains and passes. I play Noble and pass. She plays another Plains and a Precinct Captain. I swing with Noble, get a counter, Pillar the Captain, play a shock tapped and pass. She plays a Swamp and a Doomed Traveler and passes. I play Chandra's Phoenix and get in for three, getting another counter and putting her at 16. She plays another land and Sublime Archangel and swings for three. I play Hellrider and swing for the fences. She blocks my Phoenix and goes to 7. She plays a couple of dudes and swings with the Doomed Traveler for a lot and passes. I play Exava and win.

In: +1 Pillar of Flame, +2 Doom Blade, +1 Zealous Conscripts
Out: -4 Cackler

I thought she may be running
Fiendslayer Paladins and the like so I took out my Cacklers. Turns out she was actually a token deck running [card]Cathar's Crusade[/card] and Mikaeus, and I got overwhelmed by spirit and human tokens in game two, giving me my first game loss of the night.

In: +4 Cackler, +2 Bonfire of the Damned
Out: -1 Zealous Conscripts, -4 Spike Jester, -1 Chandra's Phoenix

She puts up a valiant effort in game three, casting Mikaeus, Fiend Hunter, etc, but I have all the answers and curve out brilliantly.

3-0

Round 4 vs Naya Blitz: as stated earlier, we ID. I get $65 store credit and he gets the playmat. We play it out for fun and he wins 2-1. I played the control role in all three games but he had a pretty sick hand in games two and three. The computers say I win since I was in first when we took the ID, but whatever.

Some Observations:
1) I like Electrickery more than Bonfire. I had Bonfire stuck in my opening hand vs Naya
Blitz and that ultimately cost me a game. I could have used it on Champion and Lightning Mauler to 2 for 1 him but instead it sat in my hand useless the whole game. I hate variance, and so this is unacceptable to me.

2) Exava did exactly what I needed her to do. She was a strong four drop that complemented my Hellriders while giving a body that could power through Loxodon Smiter, Thragtusks, etc and come out on top. An argument can be made for Hellkite in this slot and it may be correct, but it was good insurance to be able to cast her on turn four instead of waiting for a fifth land for Hellkite.

3) Burning Earth: if you are not running this card in your sideboard, you are wrong. Point blank. I won last night because of this card. It makes UWR and Jund a laughingstock if we can resolve it. My Sire of Insanity should actually be a fourth Burning Earth for the UWR matchup so it can come down earlier and I can make sure I see it. I would literally keep a hand with three lands and four Burning Earths
against UWR and never have a second thought about it.

4) Dreadbore: loved it main deck. Deals with Loxodon Smiter, Boros Reckoner, and the occassional pesky planeswalker. Was always excited to see this in my hand.

5) Doom Blade: loved bringing this in from the sideboard. Not a lot of black creatures in the meta currently so may move to the main and move one Pillar and one Dreadbore to the side. The instant speed is really nice.

6) Pillar of Flame: the exile clause did not matter for me tonight, and I think Voice is starting to lose its presence in my local meta, so I may drop to two in the main here but keep three in MTGO to deal with Doomed Traveler, Strangleroot Geist, and Blood Artist.

[photodyer]

Just a word of warning to all who are jamming hasty RB...two different articles that I read tonight are promoting Blind Obedience in reaction to the dominance and prevalence of Kibler's aggro deck. One even suggested that it would be appropriate in Boros aggro strategies as a means of stalling out their big hits and allowing sorcery-speed mitigators to come online and also level damage races. Regrettably RB doesn't have many options for dealing with enchantments, but I thought it worth at least calling it to attention as the card is rotten to play against.

[stuffydollfan]

First let’s go over Doomblade. After playing last week I realized how good Doomblade would have helped in my matches. Most of the best creatures *the ones that gives us the most problems* in the Standard are non-black creatures. A lot of these creatures come out pretty early and act as annoying road blocks for our ground pounders. Because of that I think it should be a main deck card. The only question now is Dreadbore still worth running on the side? This one might vary from meta to meta.

I still don’t think Exava is better than Aristocrat. And Hellrider in this deck seems like a mistake. I haven’t play tested them myself lately but let’s go over the pros and cons of each creature...

Pros
Falkenrath: 4 power; 4 Mana; haste; has flying; Sac outlet ability is very important; When there are other creatures on the battlefield, she’s very hard to deal with; Can pump herself up; Non-Legendary.

Exava: 4 Mana; 4 power/toughness;
First Strike; Dodges plenty of removal; Hard to block.

Hellrider: 4 Mana; 3/3, haste; can make you faster in the right conditions; Ability will make your crappy creatures to be able to deal damage; Ability stacks.

Cons
Falkenrath: has trouble with lingering souls and other annoying x/1 token flyers; very vulnerable when its by itself; Not very good defensively.

Exava: No flying; Ability that grants creatures haste is not relevant; Legendary creature; Not very good defensively.

Hellrider: Very easy to block. Can be killed very easily by cheap removal. needs lots of creatures to work at its best. Not as good as the other two when working alone.

I’ve done testing with Hellrider before, and he was good. The problem with him is that our deck isn’t as swarmy as some of the other decks, and often times he ended up being underwhelming. I had to get real lucky to get that magical 4th turn kill draw. I Haven’t play tested Exava all that much to be honest but she has a lot less going for her than
Falkenrath does on paper. Also, Hellkites are just too good not to run. It is the Ace of Spades in the deck. If there is one thing people hate most about this deck is a 4th turn Risto followed by a 5th turn Dragon. Part of the main reason why they are so much better is because they have flying.

Cutting out both Aristocrat and Hellkite in favor of Hellrider and Exava just seems like a big mistake to me. The deck is still can still be strong but it loses out on so much power. I truly believe that Falkenrath is the main reason this deck works. She was built for this deck. She is the reason why Green needs Thragtusk to have any chance. She’s the one that will give our opponents nightmares. She is the real deal.

[stuffydollfan]

How worried are we about Blind Obedience? I have played against it before and it was pretty annoying but mot entirely back breaking. Though the decks that played it were control decks.

[Valdarith]

First let’s go over Doomblade. After playing last week I realized how good Doomblade would have helped in my matches. Most of the best creatures *the ones that gives us the most problems* in the Standard are non-black creatures. A lot of these creatures come out pretty early and act as annoying road blocks for our ground pounders. Because of that I think it should be a main deck card. The only question now is Dreadbore still worth running on the side? This one might vary from meta to meta.

I still don’t think Exava is better than Aristocrat. And Hellrider in this deck seems like a mistake. I haven’t play tested them myself lately but let’s go over the pros and cons of each creature...

Pros
Falkenrath: 4 power; 4 Mana; haste; has flying; Sac outlet
ability is very important; When there are other creatures on the battlefield, she’s very hard to deal with; Can pump herself up; Non-Legendary.

Exava: 4 Mana; 4 power/toughness; First Strike; Dodges plenty of removal; Hard to block.

Hellrider: 4 Mana; 3/3, haste; can make you faster in the right conditions; Ability will make your crappy creatures to be able to deal damage; Ability stacks.

Cons
Falkenrath: has trouble with lingering souls and other annoying x/1 token flyers; very vulnerable when its by itself; Not very good defensively.

Exava: No flying; Ability that grants creatures haste is not relevant; Legendary creature; Not very good defensively.

Hellrider: Very easy to block. Can be killed very easily by cheap removal. needs lots of creatures to work at its best. Not as good as the other two when working alone.

I’ve done testing with Hellrider before, and he was good. The problem with him is that our deck isn’t as swarmy as some of the other decks, and often times he ended up being
underwhelming. I had to get real lucky to get that magical 4th turn kill draw. I Haven’t play tested Exava all that much to be honest but she has a lot less going for her than Falkenrath does on paper. Also, Hellkites are just too good not to run. It is the Ace of Spades in the deck. If there is one thing people hate most about this deck is a 4th turn Risto followed by a 5th turn Dragon. Part of the main reason why they are so much better is because they have flying.

Cutting out both Aristocrat and Hellkite in favor of Hellrider and Exava just seems like a big mistake to me. The deck is still can still be strong but it loses out on so much power. I truly believe that Falkenrath is the main reason this deck works. She was built for this deck. She is the reason why Green needs Thragtusk to have any chance. She’s the one that will give our opponents nightmares. She is the real deal.

Try it before you knock it. I've played Dos Rakis since it's inception and I absolutely loved Aristocrat
every moment, but after testing my Hellrider/Exava build heavily over the past couple of weeks, it is much more well-positioned in both my local meta and on MTGO. As it turns out, my deck IS swarmy with 27 creatures and Hellrider does serious work for me. Exava is just an excellent beater for me and I love that she comes down a turn sooner than Hellkite. There were plenty of times throughout the past year where I had a Hellkite sitting in my hand at four mana, just waiting to hit my fifth land on time. That was really awkward. Exava offered me redundancy at the four slot, and I found that she increased the overall power of my draws. There were a lot of hands I kept in the Hellkite build that had three lands, a couple of 1cmc-3cmc drops, a burn spell, and a Hellkite, and just never ended up getting there due to not curving out in time. Exava solved this problem. She also turns my Cacklers into hasty beaters which has not been irrelevant.

One problem with Aristocrat now is that Kibler's RG aggro build is
becoming much more heavily favored in competitive play, and that list hoses Aristocrat due to running four Hellkites. This is another situation where running Exava helps us out.

Again, try it before you knock it. And don't for a second think Exava isn't powerful. That's just nonsense.

As for Blind Obedience, I'm not worried about it in the least. People that shove BO in their lists immediately make their non-aggro matchups MUCH worse, and their lists will lose competitiveness accordingly. Besides, the lists that may run BO will likely be running three colors as well, and those lists simply can't beat Burning Earth.

[stuffydollfan]

I have given both Exava and Hellriders a try. Early versions of this deck played 3 Hellriders. When he came out, he gave the deck a chance to win by turn 4. But the problem with our deck was that we didn’t have the resiliency that the Zombie decks had and so when the opponent had blockers, we couldn’t just send them all in like with the grave crawlers or messengers. The grul decks can spit out more early creatures than us, thanks to BTE and have pump to help punch through more damage. They rely on the “All In” strategy, we don’t. Our creatures will run into walls and die.

I never said Exava was terrible. But I just don’t think she does as much as either Aristocrat or Hellkite. Flying is a huge thing. Most of the time I ended up winning because I flew over my opponents ground blockers. Our ground game is ok too but it gets really outclassed really fast. This is where the fliers finish the job. I never felt like I’ve lost many
games because I couldn’t get my fifth mana to cast Hellkite. It sucks when it happens but its part of the game. Heck I’ve even opened up with 3 lands and Aristocrat and was never able to cast it.
I realize I haven’t played your deck list yet but I’m also not some dude that doesn’t know what he’s talking about either. I’ve been playing this deck way back from almost its beginning as well. I just don’t think its Exava’s turn to shine just yet. Though I do have most the deck list online so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.

The card that would help us out most against the new Keibler deck is Doomblade. I will be running between 3-4 of them in the main. Electrickery and Rolling Tremblor also worth a look for that match up. I’m leaning more towards Electrickery because of instant speed and it doesn’t hurt my guys.

[Valdarith]

Don't say anything else until you run the deck. If you still feel the same way, I'll chalk it up to differences in playstyle and perhaps even luck of the draw in matches. I've seen far too many Lingering Souls lately to go back to Aristocrat. I'd run Hellkite instead, but that would change the idea of the deck which is to keep the curve lower and more consistent.

[Valdarith]

I'm tired of auto-loses to Hexproof, so I'm making some sideboard changes. I also made a few mainboard changes after taking note of some meta shifts.

[deck]Creatures (27)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Hellrider
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Spells (10)
2 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Dreadbore
2 Doom Blade

Lands (23)
1 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blood Crypt
2 Swamp
12 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
2 Duress
1 Electrickery
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Dreadbore
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Burning Earth
2 Zealous Conscripts
1 Rakdos Guildgate
[/deck]

Blasphemous Act seems like the only way to deal with Bant Hexproof. Skullcrack doesn't work because a second or third turn Fiendslayer Paladin just stops me in my tracks anyway, so by the time he gets it enchanted up I can't hope to race him. I literally cannot beat that card and I hate
that. The plan is to sandbag my threats once he lands the Paladin and bait him into loading him and his board up. Usually Bant Hexproof just shits its hand on the table so if I can pull off a Blasphemous Act and put him in top deck mode I can actually have a chance to win. Of course, I also have to make sure he isn't at 40 life before I do it.

Thoughts? Bant Hexproof is such a big player on MTGO now that I no longer feel like I can just ignore the matchup.

I'm also seeing a lot of BW Humans running around on MTGO. That's a difficult matchup for us as well. If they get a sac outlet and Blood Artist out it's pretty much over. Doom Blade is cold to them. No good BW player will send out Aristocrat on an empty board so nabbing it is impossible, and she stonewalls every creature we play below 3cmc.

Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if we should be playing Ratchet Bomb? That would take care of the Hexproof AND the Aristocrats matchup with a lot less collateral
damage. Now that I think about it, I like that a lot more than Blasphemous Act. Then I could turn one Electrickery into another Pillar of Flame so I could run a full playset postboard to deal with Xathrid Necromancer, Voice, etc. Or maybe find a way to run four Ratchet Bombs since we REALLY want to see it in these matchups.

List edited accordingly. Right now I'll stick with three Ratchet Bomb.

[coffeecolder]

I know he's old, but could Knight of Infamy coming in from the board be an answer to the paladin?

[Valdarith]

I know he's old, but could Knight of Infamy coming in from the board be an answer to the paladin?

It's funny that you mention that because I typed up an entire diatribe on considering MAINDECKING KoI over Spike Jester due to how bad these matchups are for us, but then I realized I'd only be harming almost all of my other matchups in doing so and withdrew the idea. There's really not much room in my sideboard for this guy unfortunately, so if he were to be in my 75 he'd be in the main. He's just suboptimal against Jund and Naya Blitz, the former because we have to race Jund before they can stabilize (and do enough damage before we land Burning Earth so that it becomes a wincon) and the latter due to
eating removal out of the gate.

[photodyer]

Val, I've always found Tribute to Hunger to be a great answer to Hexproof. The card is all but tailored to the matchup because you can let them get their dude all suited up and then hit them for and x-for-1 as well as a healthy chunk of lifegain. Since it doesn't target, Paladin is not immune to the card. Tribute is also perfectly functional against other "one threat at a time" decks like Jund and B/G Control, so you're not killing your board for one deck. It's actually even a reasonable side-in against fast aggro when you are playing the control deck to their beatdown as even small increments of lifegain can be the difference in racing them to dead.

[LP, of the Fires]

Granted I don't play this deck anymore and haven't touched it in months, but how bad does switching jester and KoI skew your matchup percentages? If something like jund goes from favorable to even or whatever, that would invalidate KoI right there in my eyes, but I personally would think the card does enough vs. UWR, and hexproof to make up those percent points depending on what your local meta looks like and black knight is fantastic against blitz. They run maybe 4 spears to answer him and he walls things like champion/boros elite/thalia, etc. while making your x/2s big enough to swing through fiend hunters when your in that defensive posture but trying to get value out of rak cacks.

As far as stuff to deal with hexproof, other options are ratchet bomb, Boros reckoner(damage trigger hits fiendslayer) and rolling temblor, and edicts. with the middle two options being rather mediocre.

[Valdarith]

I don't like Tribute because good hexproof players will keep a second creature out to eat edicts while loading up their primary threat. I think Ratchet Bomb is better positioned for this reason, not to mention that it is more relevant on multiple matchups like BW humans and Naya Blitz.