[Primer] Dos Rakis

[windstrider]

Nice! Glad to see that Dos Rakis midrange is working well for you.

[RDW]

Nice! Glad to see that Dos Rakis midrange is working well for you.

Thanks, it was pretty awesome. Anyone here to playtest against my DRM?

[windstrider]

Took Dos Rakis to a 3-2 finish last night. Anticipating a lot of G/W, U/W, and just W in general, I replaced Rakdos Cackler with Knight of Infamy. In the side, I replaced Tribute to Hunger with Flames of the Firebrand since I also expected a lot of aggro or Lingering Souls tokens.

Lost to my friend's Gruul deck when he topdecked a Traitorous Blood to steal a Falkenrath from me when I had lethal on the board. The sideboard plan of putting in lots of removal can shut that deck down hard.

I beat a budget B/R deck with vampires and, I kid you not, Slumbering Dragon that got out of hand in game one with Mark of the Vampire. I figured I could just race the stupid dragon with a hand
full of Spike Jesters, a Reckoner, and a Falkenrath. And then she put Mark on it, and I had no way to stop it.

I then taught some guy that Supreme Verdict doesn't work so well against Falkenraths. He remarked later that he hadn't seen so many haste creatures in a deck. I got a Stonewright bonded to a Knight of Infamy in game three, and his look of despair was so worth it when it got in for ten damage before he Verdicted the field. I then followed up with an Ash Zealot and a Falkenrath followed by a second Falkenrath. Good times.

I raced a control deck using Spike Jesters and Knights of Infamy to run him down, later topdecking two Thundermaws to seal the round. Again, Spike Jesters kept him from stabilizing. In one game I got three of them out and just ran him over with hasty damage. [card]Toil // Trouble[/card] nailed him for four in the third game, and then
the dragons munched him.

And then lost to a reanimator deck when he got the Angel of Serenity + Thragtusk loop going in both games. Ouch. I'm thinking we either need some way to interact with the graveyard (Rakdos Charm) or some form of discard (Appetite for Brains or Slaughter Games) to deal with that nonsense. He had Voice of Resurgence, but Pillar kept it in check.

Thoughts: I like the Knights back in the deck. They're not as explosive as Cackler, but when they shine, they really shine. With the prevalence of W stuff, I'm probably keeping them in. Spike Jester remains one of my favorite new creatures. The amount of pressure they can exert is incredible.

[Valdarith]

Why didn't you sac the Aristocrat in response to the Traitorous Blood?

[RDW]

2-2 at an IQ, but T8 was locked after R4 so I didn't play R5. Lost to 4C Rites, Junk Rites; beat Junkcrats, Grixis Control, and Barely Boros in some fun games. Ran the stock list and never felt out of the game. Punted the round against Junk, but the 4C variant was a very close 1-2.

[windstrider]

Why didn't you sac the Aristocrat in response to the Traitorous Blood?

He had lethal on the board already with a Flinthoof Boar and a Stromkirk Noble. I was going to use the Aristocrat to block and kill the Boar, and then kill him next turn with a Thundermaw. Once he was able to deal with the Aristocrat, I was sunk.

[rcwraspy]

My current deck is:

[deck]Dos Rakis by RDW[/deck]

With the usual sideboard plan.

Later in the thread you asked for suggested changes to the list. I'll just quote this since it's your list (I'm assuming it's current).

I like Exava, and I find no Cacklers intriguing, but I think Fate's
right about Cackler and Jester stealing a very relevant %age of game 1s. So maybe Exava in the SB?

Consider this:
MB: -2 Exava, -1 Stensia, -1 Thundermaw, +4 Cackler
SB: -1 Mizzium, -1 Slaughter Games, +2 Exava

Now you can have your cake and eat it too. When you board out 1-drops you can bring Exava right in. She's not exactly what the deck's normal SB plans are, but she's a freaking 4/4 haste first striker.

[Self Medicated]

I will hopefully attend a GPT this Saturday and I am trying to tune my deck for the meta. Grixis and Esper control will be represented, along with Reanimator and a few Aggro decks. Here is the latest version of my deck:

[DECK]
Lands (23)
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Godless Shrine
11x Mountain

Creatures (29)
4x Ash Zealot
4x Boros Reckoner
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Spike Jester
4x Stromkirk Noble
2x Stonewright
3x Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells (8)
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Searing Spear

Sideboard (15)
3x Dreadbore
3x Knight of Infamy
3x Mizzium Mortars
2x Olivia Voldaren
2x Rakdos's Return
2x Tribute to Hunger
[/DECK]

All constructive feedback would be appreciated.

[Bouncin12]

Just wanted to say I managed to pilot the Dos Rakis list to a 5-0 finish to take first at my local store. Coincidentally, a different r/b aggro took first place the week before. I didn't have the board complete as I wanted, so I'll post more as I get accustomed to the site.

[windstrider]

@S_M – I like the Knights in the sideboard. I was fairly well impressed with them the last time I played the deck. I'm not so sure about going to 23 lands with three Thundermaws mainboard. I feel that 24 lands is the sweet spot for this deck. In the side, if you're expecting reanimator, then I'd recommend replacing Tribute with Rakdos Charm. Is Hexproof that big of a deck around you?

@Bouncin – Welcome aboard! Congrats on the finish! What choices did you have in your deck?

[Valdarith]

I'm beginning to get a little tired of my Gruul deck. It's high variance is really starting to bug me and I want something more consistent and powerful. I really enjoyed playing my Rakdos block constructed list and am considering playing a similar build. This is a bit lower of a curve than the other decks presented here.

[deck]
Creatures (27)
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Spike Jester
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Spells (11)
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
4 Dreadbore

Lands (22)
4 Blood Crypt
2 Godless Shrine
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rakdos Guildgate
10 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
1 Stonewright
1 Pillar of Flame
3 Knight of Infamy
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Traitorous Blood
[/deck]

Any thoughts?

[rcwraspy]

I'm beginning to get a little tired of my Gruul deck. It's high variance is really starting to bug me and I want something more consistent and powerful. I really enjoyed playing my Rakdos block constructed list and am considering playing a similar build. This is a bit lower of a curve than the other decks presented here.

[deck]
Creatures (27)
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Spike Jester
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Spells (11)
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
4 Dreadbore

Lands (22)
4 Blood Crypt
2 Godless Shrine
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rakdos Guildgate
10 Mountain

Sideboard (15)
1 Stonewright
1 Pillar of Flame
3 Knight of Infamy
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Traitorous
Blood
[/deck]

Any thoughts?

I feel that 4x Dreadbore main could become 3x Falkenrath Aristocrat and 1 more land.

[Self Medicated]

@S_M – I like the Knights in the sideboard. I was fairly well impressed with them the last time I played the deck. I'm not so sure about going to 23 lands with three Thundermaws mainboard. I feel that 24 lands is the sweet spot for this deck. In the side, if you're expecting reanimator, then I'd recommend replacing Tribute with Rakdos Charm. Is Hexproof that big of a deck around you?

I haven't seen a lot of hexproof, but that doesn't mean I won't see it this time. Hence the Tributes. I think I might be falling into the old trap of switching to a different deck right before a big tournament. I'm now leaning towards Gruul because of how explosive it can be, plus green for Naturalize. [card]
Blind Obedience[/card] is kind of a pain in the ass in my meta right now.

EDIT: Or I could just put Duress in the SB and call it good.

Something like this:

[DECK]
Lands (24)
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Godless Shrine
12x Mountain

Creatures (28)
4x Ash Zealot
4x Boros Reckoner
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Spike Jester
4x Stromkirk Noble
1x Stonewright
3x Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells (8)
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Searing Spear

Sideboard (15)
3x Dreadbore
2x Duress
3x Mizzium Mortars
2x Olivia Voldaren
1x Rakdos Charm
2x Rakdos's Return
2x Tribute to Hunger
[/DECK]

Really could use some help with this. My brain is fried right now and it's all I can do just to stay awake.

[Bouncin12]

[deck]Post-GTC[/deck]

This is the deck that I ran. I only had access to one Olivia at the time (I used the first place finish to get the second) and our store is sold out of Reckoners, so that slot will be the Devil's Play until I can find another. The Devil's Play came in handy against Naya Aggro, burning out a 1/1 CotP and then closing the game out when my opponent had forgotten about it in the yard.

As a disclaimer my meta is heavy aggro of varying kinds, but I've never played them until recently. I always
get matched against the control or midrange players, so having a board that could deal with aggro was a godsend.

Match 1: Boros Aggro. I won the dice role and completely blew him out of the water with a crazy draws. Cackler, into Jester, pillar a blocker second Jester. Game 2 Sure enough he boarded to deal with an aggro match, so while he was a bit slower it was just a removal slugfest until I stuck an Aristocrat and Ash Zealot. He draws and says go. Thundermaw off the top. He draws his own Thundermaw and I'm forced to sac the zealot. He holds his back to block mine, but the Aristocrat with a spear finishes him.

Match 2: R/G Aggro. Winning off a starting hand of two stromkirk nobles on the play. Expermient One into double BTE, but I was able to outrace using Zealots on defense. Game 2 we both mull to 5 just to get land. He lands Loyalist and Zealot I dont see land and call it done. Game 3 he gets wrecked by Rakdos' Return. He had been sandbagging his plays and I manage to hit two thundermaws and a
rancor. He scoops as he's at 3.

Match 3: G/W Aggro This one was a homebrew build that the person had been refining for some time. I finally lose a dice roll but draw a good aggressive hand with Cackler,Jester,Zealot, 3 Land and Aristocrat. He plays a t2 thalia, but ends up getting land screwed after keeping a 2 lander. I draw a pillar and bring the beats. Game 2 Another sideboard success. T2 Loxodon Smiter eats a dreadbore. Pumping out so much removal on other things that his Arbor Elf gets in for 6 damage until he lands a sigarda. Im forced to swing in with an Aristocrat, saccing a Weird and then overload mortars to kill it. The Aristocrat brings home the gold.

Macth 4 : Naya I'd been dreading this one. I watched this guy go Cotp, BTE, BTE, Mayor and just destroy his opponent during Match 3. Sure enough on the draw he lands a t1 Cotp. Devils Play stops that dead as he drops a mayor on his turn and passes. I play a reckoner and on his turn he plays a land and passes to flip his mayor and start
getting wolves. FA comes down but hes got a spear to force me to sac a Cackler. He starts crowding the ground with wolves, but Aristocrat plus burn seals the deal. Game 2 he got his god draw. Made it to t4 before he killed me however with the kill coming from him Ghor Clanning over a weird (Which is an excellent blocker in game 3). Game 3 I owe to the Weirds and Reckoners forming a wall of deterrence while i pump out removal. Devils Play Cotp, spear on mayor, dreadbore on smiter, mortars on 2nd smiter, another dreadbore on his 3rd smiter. I'd finally exhausted his hand before a stonewright/ash zealot started forcing even more trades in my favor. I wasnt drawing any Aristocrats or Maws, but I'd swung for enough to flashback Devil Play's post combat for the win.

Match 5: Mono Red I won this off knowledge of the deck itself. Legion Loyalist has become a thing for some of the newer players here, who telegraph when they're about to trigger that batallion. However, I'm on the play and decimate him with
Cackler Cackler Jester. He doesn't see any early removal so I just straight race him. Game 2 I love you guys again for the board idea. He went for his midrangey stuff like Hounds and his own weirds. My weirds and reckoners just made his look awkward. I end up swinging my reckoner into his while I have the mana for first strike and he doesnt. He's forced to ping my reckoner, while i get to ping his face. Rakdos' Return managed to hit a Hound and Conscripts. I show him a spear with open mana and he scoops.

[Link]

This deck got 1st in Japan, its pretty dedicated midrange and has some interesting choices:

[deck]
Main Deck
60 cards

4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Godless Shrine
9 Mountain
4 Rakdos Guildgate
25 lands

4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Knight of Infamy
1 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
21 creatures

3 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Dreadbore
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Pillar of Flame
14 other spells

Sideboard
2 Barter in Blood
2 Curse of Death's Hold
2 Olivia Voldaren
3 Rakdos's Return
2 Slaughter Games
4 Vampire Nighthawk
[/deck]

4 MB Liliana, 4 guild gates (no 1-drops) no stonewright, no spears.

[Bouncin12]

My lgs has seen a surge of Izzet Staticasters to get through the prominece of lingering souls and blood artists. This had the unintended side effect of ruining my jesters and aristocrats. Would some combination of Exava/Falkenrath be a suitable change to make? Also at last FNM I got stuck on two land, and actually missed my land drop. Managed to pull a win from landing all 4 Spike Jesters and a searing spear. Best game all night.

[shpedoinkle]

4 MB Liliana

Rakdos Control?
Liliana, Dreadbore and Bonfire should keep the board under control for the 4 and 5 drops to do their thing. I do like this deck!

[Nuwen]

Saw my first tournament results with this sexy deck. Fate and I took 5th and 6th yesterday (I was seeded 1st going into the top 8 cut w00pw00p), walked away with $100/each. Sure beats sitting in an office for a day's work.

[deck]
Land (23)
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
11 Mountain
2 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Godless Shrine

Dudes (28)
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
3 Stonewright
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Boros Reckoner
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat

Spells (9)
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Dreadbore

SB: 2 Mizzium Mortars
SB: 2 Dreadbore
SB: 2 Tribute to Hunger
SB: 2 Olivia Voldaren
SB: 2 Rakdos's Return
SB: 1 Pillar of Flame
SB: 2 Bonfire of the Damned
SB: 2 Traitorous Blood
[/deck]



Round 1 vs. dega homebrew

1. His deck was incoherent and thrown together last minute.
2. G1: [b:
   221pxb35]Draw; kept Aristrocrat, Ash Zealot, spear, Stonewright, guildgate, mountain, blood crypt[/b]. Missed my land drop turn 4, so instead I bait-swung into his 4 open mana angel with my ash zealot, had a searing spear to answer with first strike damage. Couldn't figure out what else he kept, only saw dreadbore+resto and RWB lands before winning. Gave myself a pat on the back for predicting a resto angel in some random-assed deck?
3. G2: Draw; boarded out 8x one drops for Olivia, Bonfire, Rakdos' Return, Tblood. Spent awhile debating my mainboard pillars <-> dreadbore or mortars. I didn't know what he was playing so I kept the pillars in - I didn't want dead removal in my hand, even though he revealed resto angels.
   
   Kept searing spear, aristocrat, reckoner, ash zealot, 3x lands I didn't note. Ash zealot gets in for 6 damage before he finds a pillar. I curve into my aristocrats and draw pillar, 2nd zealot along the way. He casts [b:
   221pxb35]NEVERMORE SPIKE JESTER, then NEVERMORE STROMKIRK NOBLE[/b]. Turn 5 he act of treason+flings my own Reckoner at me. Aristocrats and spear spear pillar kill him after the cute shenanigans. Easy?

Round 2 vs. Gruul sligh

1. G1: Draw; mulled to spike jester, ash zealot, pillar, spear, mountain+summit. Pillar removes the noble he shocked himself to play, spearing spear removes boar from shock->emissary->boar. Drew a Reckoner AND the land to get him online along the way. Sat back and let my first strikers clear his gas, then spike jester got in for 9. No rampager to clear out my Reckoner.
2. G2: Draw, boarded out 8 one drops for pillar, dreadborex2, tribute to hungerx2, mortarsx2, and a lucky Tblood. Opted not to play bonfire because I think mortars is more consistently strong in my possible hands against low-variance aggro;
   Bonfire is not a hardcast in this matchup, and Gruul can punish me for keeping a hand with it.
   
   He kept rampager, cackler, volcanic strength, ???. Not much to highlight here. I kept a hand with tribute but no early on-board presence. He put volcanic strength -> cackler vs my empty board. I played nothing turn 3 to see if he would bloodrush the cackler for empty damage... and he did. I gain 10, you get 3-1'd? He scooped afterwards.

Round 3 vs. Gruul sligh

1. G1: Draw, ??? . I don't remember what happened this game or what I kept. Life totals go 20/20, 18/18, 13/16, 9/13, 9/11, 9/9, 9/4 and I win. Looks like a Reckoner ground stall and minor swingback into a topdecked hellkite @ 9/9.
2. G2: Draw, ???. Bad notes on this entire set, sorry. Life totals go 20/20, 13/18, 11/15, 9/11, 12/11, 12/10, 12/8, 12/3. Do remember that the bonfire I
   miracle for 3 lethal could have been any card, including land, for a secure win. Looks like spike jester into 2 hits with aristocrat, aristocrat is naked & removed, tribute to hunger, ash zealot, Hellkite, miracle bonfire/dead.

Round 4 vs. RDW

1. G1: Play, keep Noble, Spike jester, Stonewright, landx2. She doesn't spear noble until he's a 3/3 and spike jester survived to deal 9 damage while she burns me with 2 vexing devils. Stonewright comes down and pumps for lethal. Easy?
2. G2: Draw, sideboard out cacklers for my 4th pillar, 2x tribute, 1x dreadbore. I keep the nobles in because they can block her own nobles in an opening hand, and they're sacrificial fodder for crats against her heavy burn. I mull down to 6 but don't see the interactive cards I need (ash zealot, landx3, spike jester). Both of my creatures die to pillar and I don'
   t rip any good answers. Should have mulled to 5 for science, because I knew my 6 card hand would die to any combination of low-end pressure and removal.
3. G3: Play, keep Noble, ash zealot, aristocrat, searing spear, pillar, land2x. Snap keep for pillar-spear and first strike, plus a noble that didn't get answered. He grew into a 5/5 before game's end. Made a serious misplay this game when I did math with my noble as a 4/4 (instead of 5/5) and didn't win because I thought my all-in would leave her at 1 life instead of lethal. A lot of people were watching our game at this point because I was undefeated, so I was very nervous. Instead of passing, I could have cast mortars on my own Reckoner for lethal (or mortars a blocker + speared her face). Didn't get punished for my mistake (but I could have - I passed to her @ 5 health w/ thunderous wrath, pillars, spears, hellkites in her deck). Won next turn and made a solemn oath to calmly count the things in
   front of me, no matter how many eyes are on me.

Round 5 vs. Junk Rites (3 color)

1. Up until this point, I was seeded 3rd and got paired down to guy who was x/0/1. The first and second seed ID'd with each other R5 - because I proceeded to win this set, I entered top 8 with the first seed.
2. G1: Please make me swift and deadly, mountain gods. Mulled until I saw one drops @ 5 on the play. A cackler and noble went the distance while he ramped and hit dead RNG with salvage. Two topdeck spike jesters close this horseshit out before anything gets online.
3. G2: Draw, sideboarding against rites is a trap. Against the 4 color rites without chumpie dorks, play all your one drops even on the draw. They will get in & win against faithless looting durdle. I only play nobles against 3 color rites. Spike jester is ALWAYS a hero.
   
   My plan was -4
   spears -4 cacklers, +2x bonfire, +2xmortars,+2x traiterous blood, 2xdreadbore. Spears can't burn out Rites' lifegain and only kill fiend hunters and one side of Thragtusk. When Rites is on the play, you need to keep their ramp under control so you aren't outclassed by valuable cards. Pillar and bonfire are essential. Dreadbore keeps fiend hunters under control and is this deck's only solid out against AoS, and is absolutely necessary if you spot Rhox Faithmender. Mortars kills everything, including smiters and can be overloaded against souls/dorks.
   
   imo, Rakis vs. Rites on the draw is one of this deck's hardest matchups. I think the midrange versions of this deck with 4 hellkites and enough mana to fuel Olivia have a better chance here. Often, I feel like rites steps up to outclass my plays MUCH faster than I can realistically do 20-25 life damage. The lower curve that I play probably needs electrickey instead of mortars to keep the board open and dorks dead. Lingering souls can stall out a
   fodderless Arisocrat for an eternity.
   
   Anyway, I lost game 2.
4. G3: Play, mull to (noble, stonewright, traiterous blood, landx3). Noble and stonewright pump past shock-pilgrim shock-pilgrim, into fiend hunter -> noble. Drew an aristocrat, dreadbore, into summit. I was lucky to get the Aristocrat online just as he unbound my Stonewright. He played a Thragtusk to stabilize, so I dreadbored + Tblood'd lethal for style.
   
   Round 6
   1. ID'd to top 8
   Top 8 vs 4 color junk rites
   1. G1: Seeded first, so I took the play. Quick hand got there while he looted and mulched: shockx2, spike jester, ash zealot, then drew into a traitorous blood that didn't get deboarded and alpha struck in for lethal. Everyone had JUST gotten deckchecked before the top 8 rounds began, so I have no idea how Tblood snuck in. I didn't
      put it in intentionally, so I didn't feel bad about playing it. Second mistake of the day that could have seriously burned me (either through DQ, or that Tblood could have been ANY other dead card in my sideboard). Judged watched our entire game and didn't say anything. A pretty face will always be a dirty advantage at the local tournament level.
   2. G2: Draw, mull to bonfire, 3 land, ???. Tired and stumbling hard at this point. I realized that I made another mistake sideboarding (I took out ALL of my one drops, when ALL of them should have been live). Didn't think about it until I had already mulled deep. Still kicking myself - I had the potential to close out this set G2, but my own fatigue led to stupid autopilot. I limited my own outs and neutered the only successful plan my deck has vs. 4 color rites. Fuuuuuck.
   3. G3: Play, mull to Noble, Cackler, Ash Zealot, Aristocrat, landx2. My hopes are high
      because this hand has the gas to get there, especially if I see any combination of land, spike jester, more ash zealot, stonewright, tblood in my following draws. His first salvage puts an angel and rites in his graveyard. I don't play my aristocrat at 4 mana because he can untap to Angel of Serenity the next turn. I hold my crat until I find an answer to angel or force it with smaller dudes... thragtusk comes down, resto angel, 2nd hardcast thragtusk. I eat 5 -> 10 damage from thragtusk and start throwing my ground fuel away to chump the incoming damage. My outs close because ground forces are no longer threatening enough to draw out the Angel. I play Aristcrat just to play her at 6-27 health before taking lethal the next turn.
      
      My relative hand strength for game 3 was worse than turn 4 Angel of Serenity, which is one of the more powerful plays rites can make. I think my hand could have fought through thrag reanimation, but my hand was also dead to Fiendhunter in addition to Serenity (although it may
      have been easier to get him to respond to early pressure with Fiendhunter - we'll never know. 2 Thragtusks to hardcast probably means he's safe to my ground army and would always have saved Fiend/Aos for an evasive threat).

Dos Rakis hands are usually high relative strength at 7 and 6 cards in any given matchup. I went down to 5 in situations where I needed specific cards/card speed in a given matchup, or because manabase was irreparable (saw guildgate+summit once or twice). This tells me that each individual card is strong on a card-for-card basis, but also that a wide variety of cards in my deck play together well. We don't rely on narrow combos; each element contributes strength and/or flexibility.

Being on the draw against aggro is less lethal for Dos Rakis than other similarly-curved creature decks like Naya, probably because of strong mainboard removal. This deck can lose a dice roll and still consistently steal game 1 from
R/G if I keep a hand that prioritizes removal and first strike (16 cards mainbaord, 24 postboard).

I didn't play any control, although there were quite a few Bant & America decks out there. I suspect these matchups require good reads above all else. Abuse and overextend when he's not sitting on board wipe, draw out counterspells to protect Rakdos' Return, read Az charm so fodder doesn't greedswing in and leave crat alone, etc.

whew

[RDW]

Nuwen, thanks for the report. Just some remarks: If you draw a sideboard card, you should still let the judge know. If they really had done deck-checks and they glossed over that, I'm not sure what would happen. They might swap it with the real card, shuffle the deck, and let you draw a new card. Additionally, just a small note, you can't Mizzium Mortars your own Boros Reckoner; most (all?) of the overload spells read "target... an opponent controls." In any case, very nicely done in your tournament. Hope to hear more from you.

[Nuwen]

Additionally, just a small note, you can't Mizzium Mortars your own Boros Reckoner; most (all?) of the overload spells read "target... an opponent controls."

I'm a pretty big scrub, but learning every day.

[RDW]

Additionally, just a small note, you can't Mizzium Mortars your own Boros Reckoner; most (all?) of the overload spells read "target... an opponent controls."

I'm a pretty big scrub, but learning every day.

Cheers to that.

[windstrider]

Nuwen -- congratulations. Thanks for the report. That was certainly not scrub Magic.

I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on Tribute to Hunger. I'm just not satisfied with that card, but it looks like it's been doing some good work in the deck.

[finn62]

Nuwen -- congratulations. Thanks for the report. That was certainly not scrub Magic.

I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on Tribute to Hunger. I'm just not satisfied with that card, but it looks like it's been doing some good work in the deck.

I'm thinking about adding it back in to my SB. Had a couple in a few weeks ago, and missed Frostburn Weird. This past FNM could have used Tribute vs. Predator Ooze. Ooze with Rancor etc was my only loss. But Frostburn was good vs aggro, so basically I'm torn. I'm no help at all, have a nice day...

[Nuwen]

Tribute to Hunger: Going to the Races

vs. Bant Hexproof & Bant Flash. Geist is a solid value card that people enjoy playing (especially w/ Advent and populate in the Flash version); I see people trying to get their value out of these decks before rotation. Tribute is a trump card among our outracing tools.

vs. R/G aggro. I include 2x Tribute on the draw. Clock buffer is important in this matchup because it has a lot of clock acceleration in the form of BTE and Hellrider. I find it too difficult to cast on the play, when I look to keep faster hands with re-boarded Nobles and moar Tblood.

vs. Naya midrange. Valuable on the draw. Another out vs. unflinching courage if creatures keep the board clear, which tends to happen in this matchup with two sets of Reckoners firing lasers.

Basically, Tribute is a good card if the opposing deck presents a hard clock on the play. At instant speed, it clears a racer AND relieves
hp pool.

[Nuwen]

How do you guys fare against RWU control & Bant Control? Any approximations of your win% on the play/draw? I have a hard time fighting past any hand with common combinations of Snapcaster + Pillar, Renounce the Guilds, Azorius Charm or Augur cantrip -> relevant spell.

How aggressively do you mulligan? I prioritize my 1 & 2 drops on the play AND draw, which usually takes me to 6 or 5 cards. Do you keep your 7 cards; if so, what's a good example of minimum playable power vs. control? Fate thinks Dos Rakis can't 'sneak under' RWU control because we don't play BTE acceleration, so card advantage is more important than early aggression.

I'm going to test a variety of sideboard options, because right now I'm winning <30% of games both pre AND post-board. This tells me that our sideboard plan (Rakdos' Return x2, Olivia as an additional threat) isn't significant enough to affect win rate.

Reckless Waif
might do work on the play, but she's a terrible top deck. I'd probably remove her on the draw, so she'd be dead in 1/2 of her relevant matchup. Seems like a waste of SB slots.

Toil/Trouble is in alpha testing. Theoretically, this is another powerful tapout finisher with a weak utility mode of +1 card/3 mana. At sorcery speed, it can never be played in response to Sphinx's.

Blood Scrivener encourages Rakis to get x-1'd by Terminus and Verdict. I wouldn't want to be in a situation where Scrivener's value must be excised by playing poorly. Might playtest because he's an extra 2/1 dude instead of a spell, but I don't think our midrange curve complements this card at all.

Rakdos' Return as a 3-of SB is possibly the best solution of all.

Is this just the area where I accept being rock to someone's paper?

[Valdarith]

How do you guys fare against RWU control & Bant Control? Any approximations of your win% on the play/draw? I have a hard time fighting past any hand with common combinations of Snapcaster + Pillar, Renounce the Guilds, Azorius Charm or Augur cantrip -> relevant spell.

How aggressively do you mulligan? I prioritize my 1 & 2 drops on the play AND draw, which usually takes me to 6 or 5 cards. Do you keep your 7 cards; if so, what's a good example of minimum playable power vs. control? Fate thinks Dos Rakis can't 'sneak under' RWU control because we don't play BTE acceleration, so card advantage is more important than early aggression.

I'm going to test a variety of sideboard options, because right now I'm winning <30% of games both pre
AND post-board. This tells me that our sideboard plan (Rakdos' Return x2, Olivia as an additional threat) isn't significant enough to affect win rate.

Reckless Waif might do work on the play, but she's a terrible top deck. I'd probably remove her on the draw, so she'd be dead in 1/2 of her relevant matchup. Seems like a waste of SB slots.

Toil/Trouble is in alpha testing. Theoretically, this is another powerful tapout finisher with a weak utility mode of +1 card/3 mana. At sorcery speed, it can never be played in response to Sphinx's.

Blood Scrivener encourages Rakis to get x-1'd by Terminus and Verdict. I wouldn't want to be in a situation where Scrivener's value must be excised by playing poorly. Might playtest because he's an extra 2/1 dude instead of a spell, but I don't think our midrange curve complements this card at all.

Rakdos' Return as a 3-of SB is possibly the best solution of all.

Is this just the area where I accept being rock to someone's paper?

n
This deck is really a meta decision. Right now I feel like both paper and MTGO are beginning to favor more midrange and control strategies. This may or may not change with the release of M14 as I'm having a hard time evaluating just how good red will be at that time.

It could just be that you may want a less creature-heavy build and perhaps even a black-heavy deck. Alternatively you could move to more of a sledgehammer build so that your cards are more powerful individually and can deal with UWR a lot more easily. More lands, more Stonewright, more Devil's Play, more Rakdos's Return, more Olivia, more Mizzium Mortars, more Underworld Connections...maybe even Bloodgift Demon.

These could all be terrible suggestions and also out of the scope of what Dos Rakis wants to do, but sometimes you have to adjust to the meta to be successful. I ran Dos Rakis for awhile and started running into the same issues with UWx, so I moved back to a lower curve mono red deck and bashed their face in.

[PirateKingAtomsk]

my planned deck for m14 up until the rotation will be
[deck]Creatures
2 Legion Loyalist
2 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
3 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Dynacharge
4 Searing Spear

Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Swamp
12 Mountain
2 Cavern of Souls

Side Board
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Dreadbore
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Bonfire of The Damned
2 Traitorous Blood
2 Rakdos's Return[/deck]

I really wanna run AiR but I love me my crats and t-maws so I took a base Dos Rakis shell, flavored it with 20 haste creatures, added a touch of dynacharge, and sprinkled on some vampires and dragons. The results are a deck that has a quick start game backed up with some pumps to get you through turns 3-4 (with hasty/evasive/recurring birds instead of slow clunky reckons), then you step it up with the
aristocrats and hellkites to close out the game. Caverns are for flex mana and in the off chance your opponent runs counters they help stick your beaters, loyalist is in because he fits in with the hasters and is generally played t3+ to ensure battalion (hes also in there cause I really hate cackler). The side board is pretty much stock with some meta calls.

[Nuwen]

Thanks for the analysis, Valdarith. Your suggestion to beef into midrange seems like the way to go; RDW posted awesome results with a bigger landbase, more fatties, and more tap-out. His extra threats come in the form of Exava (4/4 first strike is no joke), more Hellkites, and Stensia.

I want Bloodgift Demon to work, but I think his place is in a different deck (without access to Hellkite).

[windstrider]

Underworld Connections is better for card draw than Bloodgift Demon. It's not as easy to remove, plus you get to control the card draw.

Alternatively, the new Chandra might be a good fit here. Her +1 to ping weenies and tap down blockers will help our bigger threats get through. And her 0 card draw doesn't hurt us since we can use it to cast Rakdos's Return from it. After a sideboard switch, we could even make use of her ultimate.

Any thoughts on Ogre Battledriver? The haste won't help as much since the deck has so much haste already, but the +2 power lets our little guys take on creatures our of their weight class, and it's a beating with Thundermaw, Aristocrat, or Exava.

[rcwraspy]

Underworld Connections is better for card draw than Bloodgift Demon. It's not as easy to remove, plus you get to control the card draw.

Alternatively, the new Chandra might be a good fit here. Her +1 to ping weenies and tap down blockers will help our bigger threats get through. And her 0 card draw doesn't hurt us since we can use it to cast Rakdos's Return from it. After a sideboard switch, we could even make use of her ultimate.

Any thoughts on Ogre Battledriver? The haste won't help as much since the deck has so much haste already, but the +2 power lets our little guys take on creatures our of their weight class, and it's a beating with Thundermaw, Aristocrat, or Exava.

The two worst late-game top decks, Stromkirk and Cackler, don't
have haste though. I think Battledriver might make sense to simply beef up most things and help those 2 not suck as much late game. Exava can give Cackler haste anyway, but the +2 from Battledriver is very nice.

[Self Medicated]

Looking at running this but want opinions:

[DECK]
Lands (24)
4x Blood Crypt
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Godless Shrine
12x Mountain

Creatures (28)
4x Ash Zealot
4x Boros Reckoner
2x Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Rakdos Cackler
3x Spike Jester
4x Stromkirk Noble
3x Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells (8)
4x Pillar of Flame
4x Searing Spear

Sideboard (15)
2x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Dreadbore
2x Mizzium Mortars
2x Olivia Voldaren
2x Rakdos's Return
2x Traitorous Blood
2x Tribute to Hunger
[/DECK]

[rcwraspy]

Does Chandra's Phoenix take Reckoner's place once it's legal again? Maybe multiple Reckoners to the side, Phoenix main? I like that Reckoner can play O or D, but do we want to have a 2/2 haste flying recursion dude in game 1 instead?

[redthirst]

Does Chandra's Phoenix take Reckoner's place once it's legal again? Maybe multiple Reckoners to the side, Phoenix main? I like that Reckoner can play O or D, but do we want to have a 2/2 haste flying recursion dude in game 1 instead?

I think I'll be playing the Phoenix. It's faster and more resilient/relevant in a meta with Doom Blade.

[deck]Creatures: 27
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat

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

Lands: 22
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Mutavault
8 Mountains[/deck]

[windstrider]

I'll be updating the primer soon with new cards from M14. I'm looking at adding the following:

[deck]
Chandra's Phoenix
Ogre Battledriver
Young Pyromancer
Mindsparker
Scourge of Valkas
Shadowborn Demon
Chandra, Pyromaster
Burning Earth
Barrage of Expendables
Shock
Doom Blade
[/deck]

From my perspective, these are the most relevant cards for consideration. We should also discuss older cards that have potential added value in the upcoming months.

[rcwraspy]

Does Chandra's Phoenix take Reckoner's place once it's legal again? Maybe multiple Reckoners to the side, Phoenix main? I like that Reckoner can play O or D, but do we want to have a 2/2 haste flying recursion dude in game 1 instead?

I think I'll be playing the Phoenix. It's faster and more resilient/relevant in a meta with Doom Blade.

[deck]Creatures: 27
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat

Spells: 11
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
n
Lands: 22
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Mutavault
8 Mountains[/deck]

O_o Redthirst that list has more new spice in it than just Phoenix!

It looks like you like Loyalist over Stonewright, and Brimstone Volley over Thundermaw. After dropping the 5-cmc dragon you also dropped the land count, but included 4x Mutavault. Care to elaborate on those changes, or did you already and I just need to revisit previous pages?

[PirateKingAtomsk]

I'm thinking loyalist because it works better with all the haste creatures and brimstone because triggering morbid on t3 isn't outrageous then post combat your throwing a dragon in their face.

[redthirst]

Does Chandra's Phoenix take Reckoner's place once it's legal again? Maybe multiple Reckoners to the side, Phoenix main? I like that Reckoner can play O or D, but do we want to have a 2/2 haste flying recursion dude in game 1 instead?

I think I'll be playing the Phoenix. It's faster and more resilient/relevant in a meta with Doom Blade.

[deck]Creatures: 27
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Legion
Loyalist
4 Ash Zealot
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat

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

Lands: 22
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Mutavault
8 Mountains[/deck]

O_o Redthirst that list has more new spice in it than just Phoenix!

It looks like you like Loyalist over Stonewright, and Brimstone Volley over Thundermaw. After dropping the 5-cmc dragon you also dropped the land count, but included 4x Mutavault. Care to elaborate on those changes, or did you already and I just need to revisit previous pages?

Mutavault goes in because it's fucking Mutavault and I think I can afford the change (original Dos Rakis ran 8 B spells at the same cc with 10 r/b sources - and the latest version ran 4 non r sources with little issue, so I think the deck can handle it).

At the same time, Loyalist goes in because I'm not sure how much mileage I'll get out of SW with less r
sources and plenty of mana sinks/ways to spend my mana every turn - but I do still like having another 1cc dude with a relevant and immediate impact on the game.

Thundermaw was dropped because I wanted to squeeze in another Phoenix and the only real way to do that was to lower the mana count - which meant I couldn't afford to keep my favorite 5cc beater. I replaced the creature slots with Brimstone, which is a great finisher/removal spell that also has nice synergy with Phoenix and Aristocrat.

The deck has 11 burn spells, 31 creatures (including Mutavault), 19 Haste guys, and 8 extremely resilient Flyers (which also happen to have a pseudo synergy with each other).

[windstrider]

Sac the Phoenix to the Aristocrat to keep her alive. Bring back the Phoenix and do it all over again. Nice tech.

[PirateKingAtomsk]

I wanna run thirst deck with dyna charges MD and the volleys in the board. I think with 3 loyalists to give your smaller creatures trample and fs it might be worth it though iI'm not sure if the creature base is fast enough for it to make the difference. I'll prolly build it anyways to do science with it and adjust accordingly.

[Valdarith]

Mutavault is sexy here, especially considering it helps mana flood by being a creature to sac to Aristocrat. Oh, and it gives Aristocrat a +1/+1 counter.