Rakdos // Dos Rakis

[coffeecolder]

Hey guys, was looking to port the standard Rakdos // Dos Rakis deck to the modern format. I came up with this prior to Gatecrash:

[deck]

4 Ash Zealot
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Goblin Guide
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Thundermaw Hellkite

3 Arc Trail
3 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
10 Mountain[/deck]

I'm not too familiar with the modern format so some guidance would be appreciated.

Thoughts on the deck:

Creatures

---

Ash Zealot has haste, first strike and graveyard triggers as her strengths and for 2 mana, she's really good. She may be replaceable though.

Falkenrath Aristocrat epitomized the speed and efficiency this deck was looking for. 4 for 4 is no joke, and her indestructibility was sick paired
with Traitorous Blood and/or Brimstone Volley. With a wider card pool, her position could change though.

Goblin Guide gets the game going and ends it fast.

Grim Lavamancer may be useless without fetches. I'm unsure about his spot but he is a tried and true dependable 1 drop.

Knight of Infamy was the secret/not so secret tech that was stumbled upon in the old R/x forum. He is definitely replaceable but i don't know white's presence in modern and he may be required to be called upon again.

Thundermaw Hellkite: Lava Axe with wings. Taps flyers. Best 5 drop red has had (ever?)

Spells

---

I fell in love with Arc Trail when we were all trying to force burn in a hostile environment. To be able to knock
off a blocker/dork and go upstairs is the type of value this deck wants.

Incinerate is definitely questionable. I don't know if i should put Doom Blade instead or if that would mess with the color balance. Or maybe Brimstone Volley in this slot so i could still go upstairs. I'm definitely unsure.

Lightning Bolt is our business card. It's why we play the game.

If we just want something dead, Terminate looks like the go to card to me.

Lands

---

I honestly just threw in Blackcleave Cliffs, Blood Crypt and Dragonskull Summit in there because they made B & R. Maybe [card]Lavaclaw Reaches[/
card] makes it, i dunno. Cavern of Souls may be needed to just stick whatever needs to be on the field.

[hamfactorial]

Here's where I left off with the deck -

[deck]Modern Dos Rakis[/deck]

[Kazekirimaru]

Sideboard Blood Knight?

[hamfactorial]

Protection from white is nice, but red is the preferred removal in Modern. I'd consider Phyrexian Crusader over Blood Knight as a defensive sideboard option to swap for Gouger. Having fought through it a few times, he's extremely difficult to kill.

[zemanjaski]

Card may as well have "protection from format"

[Zooligan]

Any progress on this lately?

[hamfactorial]

I haven't played with it lately, but I can't stay away from RB for long.

RakSink is a similar deck, but not as aggressive as this.

[hamfactorial]

Did some work on the old list, running this currently -

[deck]Modern Dos Rakis[/deck]

Aggro is less prevalent, and most of the decks I'm fighting against are combo or midrange strategies, where Deathrite Shaman is favored over Goblin Guide. Most of my maindeck noncreature spells are dedicated to pushing through damage or removing blockers, and the hasty 3-4 drops finish the job.
Chandra, Dark Confidant and the sword provide card advantage attached to a threat.

[Valdarith]

Looks good. Confidant with six four drops seems icky, but you're running Deathrite Shaman so it's probably okay.

[hamfactorial]

Yeah, Confidant definitely hurts when you flip Chandra, but this deck is looking to put the game away quickly so he shouldn't be on the field long.

[hamfactorial]

Ran a few test matches and confirmed that Aristocrat and Phoenix play very well together. Chandra is also awesome, does everything I want in this deck.

[Zooligan]

Why Scalding Tarn instead of Arid Mesa?

[hamfactorial]

Because it gives me that "I paid more money" swag. It makes no difference, they both find the same lands in this deck.

[Zooligan]

Because it gives me that "I paid more money" swag.

Exactly as I suspected

[hamfactorial]

[hamfactorial]

I went 5-0 (vs real decks, also beat a few bad homebrews) in the practice room yesterday with the following test list:

[deck]Modern Dos Rakis[/deck]

I'm wondering now if Mutavault might be better in place of Lavaclaw Reaches. It has better synergy with FA and doesn't ETB tapped, but can't make any colored mana. Figure of Destiny was too slow and I was hurting my mana base by making everything
tap for red, so I bumped up the Lavamancer count and put in 2 man lands. This version is less vulnerable to Blood Moon effects.

The card counts are a bit clunky and could use some tuning, and the sideboard is unrefined, but there's potential here.

1-0 vs Tempo Twin (with Grim and a bolt / Dismember in hand, they're not winning by combo, and Chandra keeps picking off their x/1s)
1-0 vs Scapeshift (they're slow, have to fight my Deathrite gaining life, and the sword making them discard really hurts)
1-0 vs Death and Taxes (be careful fetching with an untapped AEther Vial, otherwise the matchup is easy)
1-0 vs Junk Pod (Deathrite turns off persist, the rest is straightforward)
1-0 vs Affinity (a bit raw game 1, but sideboard makes the matchup laughable)

[Zooligan]

So.... with Bloodstained Mire becoming Modern-legal, is it time to bring Dos Rakis in full-force?

[hamfactorial]

Fetches weren't holding Dos Rakis back, mostly that's a fault of my brewer's ADD

I'll take another look at the deck, but losing DRS was a blow.

[hamfactorial]

With the fall of Twin and the rise of UR YP durdle decks, I'm going to tweak on Dos Rakis a bit.

Since I last played with the deck, we've gotten some very important pieces: Bloodsoaked Champion, Eidolon of the Great Revel and my new favorite "BREAK ME!" card, Mardu Ascendancy.

Eidolon replaces Ash Zealot, Bloodsoaked Champion replaces Rakdos Cackler / Stromkirk Noble, and Ascendancy replaces Chandra's Phoenix / Ashenmoor Gouger.

I'm playing Zealous Persecution in place of Searing Blaze for 1-sided board wipe against Delver / Affinity and possibly Pod, and a pump against decks running Electrolyze, Forked Bolt and Pyroclasm.

I dismissed Mardu Ascendancy upon reading the first line, then recently noticed the activated ability to give my whole team Bolt/Anger of the Gods protection. Plus, in a deck so dedicated to attacking, free tokens seem nice.

You know who loves free tokens? Falkenrath Aristocrat

She also likes free recurring Humans. I expect she and Bloodsoaked Champion are going to have a nice time together.

[deck]Modern Dega Rakis[/deck]

The mana probably is too white heavy, and the removal mix could use some Slaughter Pacts (maybe in place of Bolt, the 4th ZP or the 4th Mardu Ascendancy). 24 land may be too high, 22 or 23 is probably better.

There is some flex in the deck, this is all just a thought exercise and a place to start brewing.

I expect this will be weak to Burn in G1, but some Dragon's Claw could fix that. I might just be faster than them but time and testing will tell.

[coffeecolder]

Hey Ham, just some quick thoughts since i've been out of the scene:

- Blood Soaked and Eidolon look to be excellent additions

- Not too up on adding white. I don't know, how has it been for you? Should we might as well go full Mardu?

- My red side wants more burn in the event i need it... unnecessary?

Definitely gonna pick some of these pieces up soon.

[Valdarith]

Champion and Eidolon play nicely together.

[hamfactorial]

Hey Ham, just some quick thoughts since i've been out of the scene:

- Blood Soaked and Eidolon look to be excellent additions

- Not too up on adding white. I don't know, how has it been for you? Should we might as well go full Mardu?

- My red side wants more burn in the event i need it... unnecessary?

Definitely gonna pick some of these pieces up soon.

Dos Rakis was always about creature combat more than burn, so 8-10 burn/removal spells were all we wanted.

The white splash was basically free, and I liked having access to better sideboard cards. I think I'd keep a Godless Shrine and a Sacred Foundry for SB, and maybe Path to Exile if needed. PtE is great removal, but maybe not well positioned in the land of Pyromancer tokens.

BSC and Eidolon are both great additions to the deck. Mardu Ascendency was only OK, probably should be a better creature instead.

[Valdarith]

I will say I don't like Grim Lavamancer alongside Bloodsoaked Champion. Lavaman is not a creature that really likes attacking and Champion takes up one less graveyard slot for exile by Lavaman. I think Lavaman is the better card in the meta currently since Champion is so ineffective vs Delver and Burn.

[hamfactorial]

I think this is a great deck to play Darkblast. Fills up the GY and kills Delver / YP all day.

[hamfactorial]

[deck]Modern Dega Rakis[/deck]

[Valdarith]

Reprint Entomb so I can tutor for Darkblast on turn 1 please.

[hamfactorial]

I played for a few hours and found that Liliana of the Veil is a nice option for the 3-spot. I trimmed the white out just to test curve and mana base stuff, but I still think the straight RB deck is weak to a lot of things that SB white cards would fix.

The RB deck hits like a truck and is very consistent (I usually win T4 or T5 with any reasonable draw curving into FA).

The deck takes a lot of damage with fetches and Dark Confidant, and can sometimes lack reach with only 4 Lightning Bolts, but that's true of all small aggro decks. If there was an instant speed burn spell on the same power level of Slaughter Pact, I would just jam that.

[deck]Dos Rakis[/deck]

Illness in the Ranks is a nice card out of the SB, and Slaughter Games helps me poop all over Scapeshift.

I'm certain that Burn is a weak matchup, but I haven't faced it in testing yet. Any ideas for a good SB hoser? Dragon's Claw is my first and only idea. I'm interested in trying some janky Bloodchief Ascensions.

[hamfactorial]

Who knew Dos Rakis could be so grindy?



Bloodchief Ascension is great in this deck.

It's giving me easy wins vs. Burn and Scapeshift that I have no business getting. I brought it in just as a test against Martyr of Sands from Soul Sisters and it just took over the game.

[hamfactorial]

The testing list, for reference -

[deck]Dos Rakis v. 1.01[/deck]

The Bloodchief Ascensions could be burn, but I've found them useful enough that I like and want to see them in G1. A T1 or T2 Ascension is brutal, very difficult for opponents to stop.

[Valdarith]

You may be on to something with that. Seems very good against Delver and Burn while making Confidant stronger.

[hamfactorial]

Yeah, it was a surprise to me when I saw how quickly it came online and started kicking ass.

It's also difficult to interact with since enchantment removal isn't heavily played in Modern.

It rewards me for attacking with dudes and burning face, which I wanted to do already.

[hamfactorial]

Oops, just saw that my screencap has Burst Lightning in the GY. I was running a test build with Monastery Swiftspear and extra burn, minus Vexing Devil.

Swiftspear isn't as good in this deck, so I dropped it after a few games. If Vexing Devil doesn't work out, I may start looking for a different 2 power 1-drop.

[coffeecolder]

Re: Vexing Devil, is the 1 mana cost something that you're finding is necessary? Something like Ash Zealot as an immediate threat was something i liked back in the day.

[hamfactorial]

I've never liked Vexing Devil, and I still don't. I was just playing around with efficient 1-drops to test the idea.

I prefer that my creatures stick around, especially with Falkenrath Aristocrat to chew on them.

I've since replaced the 4 Vexing Devils with 2 Stonewright and 2 Death's Shadow, which still might be wrong! Both suck in the early game.

[hamfactorial]

Ash Zealot is a great creature, she is happy in this kind of shell but fights for space with Dark Confidant and Eidolon of the Great Revel. 8 2-drops is correct in my estimation, so it's hard to justify her just for haste/FS. The flashback hate isn't relevant in Modern.

[Valdarith]

Figure. Of. Destiny.

/petcard

[hamfactorial]

In the 22 land build, FoD isn't very good, but if I bumped the land count up I would and could run him all day every day.

[hamfactorial]

I tested it last night, FoD isn't so bad in a 22 land build. He likely won't be an 8/8 very often, but a 4/4 is fairly guaranteed, and he has pseudo-haste as a 2/2. It's my favorite card, so #yolo.

I'm going to test out Bitterblossom if I can find someone willing to lend them online. I think it might be a good fit, but not enough to spend $100 on them.

[hamfactorial]

I've been sick for the last 2 days, so I just played a ton of MTGO and figured out the list. I had the most success with this -

[deck]Modern Dos Rakis v. 1.03[/deck]

I was worried about Burn and Delver before, but I'm faster than them (T4 kills are common) and having access to Darkblast does a lot for me. Bolts aren't as scary when 8 of my guys can be recurred from the GY.

The Darkblast used to be Grim Lavamancer, but he consistently died before I got to use him. The Darkblast picks off mana dorks and tokens, which Grim Lavamancer was never fast enough to do. Darkblast can even be saved for an upkeep-dredge-draw to kill a 2 toughness creature.

The worst matchup was Pod because they gum up the ground so well, committing me to Falkenrath Aristocrat beatdown. As a compromise, I put in Pillar of Flame to help deal with Kitchen Finks. If you played Dos Rakis vs. Zombies in Standard, just think of Finks as a better version of Geralf's Messenger. You need Pillar here. Pillar deals with Swiftspear and a flipped Delver, too.

Bloodchief Ascension is fantastic, and the Scapeshift/Burn matchups are nearly impossible to lose once it becomes active. I bring it in for Liliana against these sorts of decks, plus a few Spellskite and Slaughter Games.

I had 59 cards, so I put a sword in over a 23rd land.

[hamfactorial]

Further testing reveals that Bloodghast is good, but not great. Occasionally, it combos with Liliana and a fetchland, but it's usually just a slow 2/2. Kind of meh compared to the other great 2-drops.

With the 14 non-creature spell package I have now, I'm going to try Swiftspear in Bloodghast's place.