Dies to Removal

Herald of Torment really doesn't go together with the burn we have. The games where Phoenixes just won the games for one lousy Shock to the face cannot be counted enough, not to mention their haste. Going with Br makes the deck entirely different thing - not saying it won't work, since Raida posted the working list.

AFAIK we're facing three problems roght now: manabase, creature composition and the overal direction the deck should be taking. I was trying Z's Burn list yesterday in a daily and few 8man, but with the number of GR Monsters people are playing, you're bound to get fucked here - and even though I like the list very much and as the posters in Burn topic showed you can score pretty good with it it's just very weak against a good part of the online meta right now. This on the other hand is favorable against GR but with the loss of Cackler the matchup with Bdevo is slightly weaker.
I haven't had serious problems with monoU after SB: either with Mortars or Devour Flesh we have enough creature removal to severely give them a bad day. Aggro matchup on the other hand is just horrible with the midrange version - I am finding myself unable to eep up with the number of creatured AIR or GR blitz (yep, met that too) throw at us. In online these decks are only a few % of the meta... but in paper (which I have to consider for PTQ this Saturday) there will be much more of them. I am currently keeping one Anger in the SB, thinking of going up to two. Ash Zealot helps there but strains our manabase even more - currently running YP here. But still the matchup is currently our greatest Achilles' heel aside from the manabase

I don't really like the exchange for Pyrewild Shaman. In my experience the card just always ends up less useful than initially thought.

As for the manabase, the Vaults are powerful, but I am seriously consider
taking them out (actually, will do that in today's daily) simply because I had mroe game losses due to mana than game wins due to damage from Vaults. If we keep them we either need to come to terms with the variance alawys being our bad side or we either go heavy R or heavy B.

but with the number of GR Monsters people are playing, you're bound to get fucked here

Well this is the whole point. The meta is mainly G/R, Mono-B and U/w now. The trusty R/x lists are a lot worse in this meta because G/R has gone bigger (so we can't burn out their threats any more) and has Caryatid's to block out 2/x's and MBC now has sweepers to hose our swarm strategy.

B/r is good in this meta as we get LBZ for G/R, which is the best possible turn 3 against those guys. Their threat density is relatively low, so if we get an early thoughtseize and LBZ off, then their opening hand is probably bare now and they are topdecking (and we have a lot of terror effects if they do manage to draw a new threat).

Against MBC we have
thoughtseize and possibly duress as a hedge against sweepers. The other option is to try and play control, but they have better inevitability than us with packrat, underworld connections and grey merchant (and possibly the whip post-board), so my gut feel is beatdown is better (although another interesting angle if we want to go more midrange is to use Rakdos Keyrunes to ramp in to Rakdos returns).

I love Chandra and her Phoenix, they've been mainstay's in my decks for the whole of Theros, but just not sure they can cut it in the new meta.

I do not think going the controul route against MBC is viable. For that matter, I do not think Duress is a card for us. Thoughtseize could be, but Duress doesn't get rid of any creature which is our main problem - we will always be the beatdown in that match.

I've gone up to 25 lands and replaced YP with Spiteful Returned so far. Also cut Read the Bones for today's DE. That card is good because it offers us a way to generate CA when we need it which without Chandra we have no way of doing so... I do really miss her I must admit and even though after SB she is not what she used to be, her +0 solves many of our problems... But she shines in a more heavier R version.

Still trying Shock MB and Anger SB. We'll see how it goes.

As for the manabase, the Vaults are powerful, but I am seriously consider taking them out (actually, will do that in today's daily) simply because I had more game losses due to mana than game wins due to damage from Vaults. If we keep them we either need to come to terms with the variance alawys being our bad side or we either go heavy R or heavy B.

This mirrors my experiences as wells.

Here is the list I went with last night:

[deck=MDU's Rakdos Beats]Lands 24
8 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
2 Rakdos Guildgate

Creatures 19
3 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
2 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
n3 Stormbreath Dragon

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

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

3-0, beating Gr, Gw and Bx Devotion

@RaidaTheBlade: I like devour flesh, except it didn't work the way I wanted it too vs BW since Elspeth is annoying - I decided to stick with MM.

Standard Elimination Report (Event 6816645)
Standard Elimination R1 Rakdos Beats vs Bx Devotion Event SE 6816645
Standard Elimination R2 Rakdos Beats vs Gr Monster Event SE 6816645
Standard Elimination R3 Rakdos Beats vs Rw Burn Event SE 6816645

Cool, was just wondering if your latest vids would be up yet and as if by magic

Played 3 2-man games with my Rakdos list. Beat Jund and Esper Control, lost to MBD. The MBD game was annoying as I got pack-ratted to death, so I added 3 bile blights (1 MB and 2 SB), purely as anti-rat tech. I also don't have any mutavaults, so playing 1 Encroaching Waste as a ghetto substitute (mainly to blow up Underworld
Connections), may up to 2 as fixing seems fine at the moment. Also increased Exava to 4-of, as never sad to draw her, even in multiples.

Deck feels really good to play. Herald is awesome for tempo beatdown and it's nice getting the bonus damage when you suit up Tormented Hero. Had plenty of turn 1 2/x in to turn 2 Spike Jester. Read the Bones is great. Exava is great.

The Whip is really nice, even against control it is actually similar to the Hammer from Pyro build, in that it lets you keep applying pressure when you've run out of cards. Would consider playing 1 MB, although not sure what to cut.

Early days, but really like this deck and I'm yet to play G/x, which was one of the main match-ups I built it for.

[deck] Rakdos Seer v 1.3[/deck]

Took out the Marauder since the deck already has a really good matchup vs midrange decks which is where he shines the most. Replaced him with DD because the mono black guys are having so much success with him and he dumps on midrange even harder the Marauder. Debating on putting more copies SB...

If you could try to squeeze in Spiteful Returned into those two lists, you may be surprised. That card is really good for what it's trying to achieve, especially when you are able to suit it up on something heroic like Tormented Hero. Not as strong in BR as I noticed but in these lists it would be sweet as a 2 or 3-of.

The idea to add Bile Blight to the Br version is sweet as it is an out to rat infestation and helps tremendously against aggro.

As it stands now I am getting used to playing these new brews people are trying even now - and I hate the green land lifegainer. Had a guy play three copies of it on me on consecutive turns. LBZ is getting better with everyday and as it stands for me it's the main reason to play a black aggro with any combination of colors. Currently (2-0 in daily, won against UWR and Esper controls)
trying this:

[deck]Dos Rakis[/deck]

Yeah, I admit I am pretty tired of getting shreded by blitz aggro.

Looks rather solid, but Spiteful Returned?? Really?? I guess suiting up creature can = 4cc Bump in the Night - Though I think we're better of running Herald of Torment in that slot or Ash Zealot.

Trying stuff. But yeah, after playing with it I admit it does not belong here. Still think it's worth at least trying in the heavy B version though.

Forgot to switch Devour Flesh to Mortars before the daily... which prolonged the game that one time I had to use it (against 4/4 Scavenging Ooze).

Daily went well, managed to get 4-0 beating U devo R3 and GRb Monsters R4. Had the luck on my side this time though: Udevo opponent kept a one lander with 3 MoW, Thassa, Bident and the pesky evolving bird (iLook zombie told me that) in the second game and haven't gotten the second Island even on the fourth turn. Also managed a blowout with Spike Jester suited with Spiteful Returned against BBoV G3 R2 (cracked some skulls).
Opponent even asked how did his guy die.

I am really liking the version with Shock more. It gives us a much bigger chance against aggro decks and isn't really a dead card against anything. Mutavaults I haven't missed today, we'll see in the future. The changes I am gonna do is to cut the Returned, play with the number of Shocks/Dreadbore and probably try either the Herald or Satyr. Also gonna go with 24 lands.

Def. agree about Shock, I'm trying to work out what 3 creatures should be in my 1-2cc slot - I def. want something for Bx Devotion though.

I was going to go with 3x Firedrinker Satyr but burn is seeing more play, thus I may go YP or Ash, hmmm tough choice (maybe I should just run 3 dancers (lol)).

Encase your wondering why I'm back on the Vexing Phoenix plan, its because Jund Monster is a hard MU.

@Jedi_Knight or anyone else please explain why I SHOULD run 3x Spiteful Returned, myyamagat is a greater grinder then me and he 6-0 again with his refined list (he is running 2x pack rats in his 75 which I think is AWESOME) a fair number of cards changed but the 3x Spiteful Returned remained.

Why is that trash card good in a list without 1-drops??? What MU do you want him in?

It's a different kind of pressure. Put it on something small and suicide it into something bigger. They still lose two and potentially a creature while you still have board presence that can still get in for two life even if it's blocked.

It's a different kind of pressure. Put it on something small and suicide it into something bigger. They still lose two and potentially a creature while you still have board presence that can still get in for two life even if it's blocked.

Better then Ash, YP or Dancer in this brew?

Tested an older version of this brew yesterday:
The Mogis in the list is a stand-in untill i can get my 3rd stormbreath, although he actually was decent the one game i got him out, dragon would still just have been better. I played against 2 friends of mine, one played a golgari midrange kinda deck with Lotleth troll, Deathrite Shaman,
Scavenging Ooze and Reaper of the wilds. We played 8 pre-sideboard games with me going 8-0, there was really nothing his deck could do. The other one played W/g aggro with Dryad Militant, Soldier of the Pantheon, Boros Elite, Fleecemane Lion, Voice of Resurgence, Loxodon Smiter and Brimaz, and he crushed me. Both in pre and post sideboard games. Brave the elements was a huge blowout every time and Selesnia Charm was just pure value. Everytime i thought i was ahead one of those cards ruined my day.

Therefore i have two questions: How should i change my deck to stand a better chance in this match-up? I noticed many of you have moved away from Chandra, is she just not strong enough if i don't have the board to protect her?
Also, how do you guys play against the match-up? Control, aggro something in between? And how do you sideboard.

For a start 4 Lifebane Zombie should help a lot. You are definitely not the beatdown in that matchup, you really want to play for time until your dragons and Chandra can take over the board. I'd consider running thoughtseize as a pre-emptive solution for Voice, failing that Annhilating fire is your only option if you don't want to be 2-4-1'd (I prefer thoughtseize though,as G/W has a lot of combat tricks and foreknowledge of these is good, so you can play around them).

I'd definitely consider running Flames of the Firebrand for value against his x/1s and Thrill-kill assassin or Ash could also be good here playing defence. Obviously Exava will generally not be unleashed in this match-up either. Another option is to run Young Pyromancer to complement your Shocks.

That deck sounds like a white weenie varient more so then a normal g/w shenanigans list, but all-in-all the matchups go the same. I'm gonna alk aout vs white weenies here, but a lot of it applies vs other aggro decks too.

White weenies is always kinda a weird matchup when I play it. The key/turning point in most of my games vs it was stormbreath, since they just don't really have an answer to it besides from brave letting them get past. Other big threats do a good impression as well though.

Anyway, this is a match where we are the control deck almost exclusively. You have to aggressively trade and use burn/kill spells to keep them off of their board presence, which makes brave useless.

As far as sideboarding, you drop your cacklers and then your spike jesters. Cards that shine vs them out of the board are doom blade and mizzium mortars for sure. Then lifebane zombie or, in your list, flame-wreathed phoenix are
also pretty good. Lbz since he rips things and trades well, and phoenix cause it blocks well and they have problems blocking fliers.


My normal matches vs white weenie pretty much boil down into 2 or 3 phases. In the begining you are just trying to minimize damage taken. So this stage is all about killing as much stuff as you can, and aggresively trading away your creatures if you have them. For instance, if in game one you don' have a burn to remove a creature, playing a spike jester and just using it as a blocker to trade with is still a good idea. Anything to reduce damage,
A good thing here is to try not to forget that just because your removal is instant speed, that doesn't mean you have to use it on their turn. White weenie is one of the decks where I tend to remove on mine turn, if their tapped out, to prevent brave. Again, that's just part of not playing into it.

After the period of frantic risk reducement, you begin to enter the area where your more powerful creatures begin to matter.
Lifebane zombies, flame-wreathed phoenixes, exavas, and especially stormbreath dragons are very powerful here. This is where you can begin to take the lead, by using these more powerful threats and blockers to either block and kill most all their threats, or to just gum up the board enough to where they're not attacking. We can then go over with fliers and pick away at them.

Now, even if the board's jammed, brave lets them do annoying things. The way to mitigate that is to not rest easy on a stalled board, but to consider it as a limited time extension. Continuing to use burn or kill whenever you can to help thin their stuff out is still very important.
One thing that I also do is if I try to kill one of their threats and they brave, I will use a second removal if I can. Using 2 removal spells to trade for a threat and a copy of brave is a trade I personaly like, because it reduces their chances of doing that huge brave-powered blow-out swing, since they have fewer copies.

The third phase of the
match is once you've stalled the board and thinned their presence. At this point they usually have very few if any cards in hand, and you've got a few left. This is where just oin over the top with fliers tends to get some good damage in. And if you get them low enough with that, eventually you should be able to topdeck enough removal to thin their board and to beat them for lethal.




So yeah, kinda longwinded but it boils down to:
We are the control. Trade and remove as aggressively as possible to reduce board presence and damage taken. Then begin to use our larger topend to get good trades or pressure them heavily, and to establish card advantage if possible. And you always have to play around brave, which sucks but if you remember it's there, you can save yourself some hassle.

It's a different kind of pressure. Put it on something small and suicide it into something bigger. They still lose two and potentially a creature while you still have board presence that can still get in for two life even if it's blocked.

Better then Ash, YP or Dancer in this brew?

I like Spiteful Returned a lot and I think it's better than Dancer - seems anaemic with so little Burn - and possibly Ash in your list - easier to cast, life loss on attacking can be very useful, blanks Caryatids straight away I'm not sure about YP as with so many spells to turn him on he can be very good here. In my experience he also acts to summon immediate removal which leaves your big hitters free to smash face

I do think it's stronger in myyamagat's list. I like this build a lot actually, if I wasn't so happy burning everything and had the cards I'd sleeve it up

@Jedi_Knight or anyone else please explain why I SHOULD run 3x Spiteful Returned, myyamagat is a greater grinder then me and he 6-0 again with his refined list (he is running 2x pack rats in his 75 which I think is AWESOME) a fair number of cards changed but the 3x Spiteful Returned remained.

Why is that trash card good in a list without 1-drops??? What MU do you want him in?

This deck is sexy as hell

[deck]
LANDS (25)
7 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
3 Mutavault
2 Rakdos Guildgate

CREATURES (23)
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Spike Jester
3 Desecration Demon
3 Spiteful Returned
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Pack Rat
2 Herald of Torment
2 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

INSTANTS and SORCERIES (12)
4 Thoughtseize
3
Mizzium Mortars
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Ultimate Price
1 Dreadbore

SIDEBOARD
1 Desecration Demon
2 Rakdos's Return
1 Bile Blight
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Dark Betrayal
3 Doom Blade
2 Duress
1 Erebos, God of the Dead[/deck]

Spiteful Returned might be a bit too cute but we'll see. He's basically a 3/3 for 2 vs control which is a deal I'd take any day of the week.

@Jedi_Knight or anyone else please explain why I SHOULD run 3x Spiteful Returned, myyamagat is a greater grinder then me and he 6-0 again with his refined list (he is running 2x pack rats in his 75 which I think is AWESOME) a fair number of cards changed but the 3x Spiteful Returned remained.

Why is that trash card good in a list without 1-drops??? What MU do you want him in?

As was said it offers a different kind of pressure and is especially good on evasive creature... I am not sold on it either though. I don not think it's bad per se just not good enough to warrant inclusion in any build. By looking at his build he has enough 2 drops to not bother with playing it as 2 drop each time it pops in his hand. It also works much better in a
creature heavier list than what we are currently trying to run, since as a creature it provides an early pressure but does not shine as much as when used like an enchantment.

I wasn't so satisfied with it but then again we're running only 18-20 creatures while he went up to 23 which makes a world of difference as far as I am concerned in regards to SR. As for matchups, it shines against control (no surprise there) while being somewhat useful against GRx and possibly Ux. Useless against aggro.

As for my tries, I am finding that I really do need to up the creature count. Pack Rat and Young Pyromancer are so far my favorites, with Thrill-Kill Assassin, the aforementioned Spiteful and Pain Seer being other options.

I wouldn't run Pain Seer in such a top-heavy deck

unless you like dealing 4-5 damage to yourself on a regular basis

True. Didn't think of that. That leaves one less creature to try then.

Pack Rat is the tits. Seriously. Solves the mana flood problem and craps gold. Most certainly not a card you're gonna play on T2 but it's about the best game turner we can have. Trying two copies now and I am much more happy with it than I was with YP or SR or Herald.

And some people on MTGO are just fucking rude. Does everyone consider trash talking after a game loss normal behavior? Because it certainly isn't yet I had a guy who I offered to split at R4 daily (we were 3-0) refuse only to promptly lose and berrate me for luck and playing thoughtless aggro. Funny thing is, I misclicked before the daily and went in with a PyroRed list from the middle of October when the people here were trying Annihilating Fire and Flames of the Firebrand main. Even had a single Hammer main. And one Mutavault in SB.
I was terrified once a saw my hand G1 R1 (figured WTF is this?) but this guy made it worth it... kinda sad for these people.

That "oldies" deck experience got me thinking though: if anyone here is gonna try Rb, Boros Reckoner is as solid against GRx as it ever was. Probably even a little bit stronger than LBZ since it can attack AND defend with impunity. LBZ helps against UWx which cannot be said about Reckoner. Either way GRx matchup should be favorable.

Also going to try 2x Pack Rats, I think its just a good number since we lack hand disruption.

Spiteful returned doesn't give a shit about Jace +1. TAKE 2 DAMNIT. It's not something I would have thought of, but I like how it's consistently dealing damage through bullshit. It's like a burn spell that also makes creatures bigger.

Suddenly your spike jester trades with courser of kruphix and your exava's laugh at polukranos.

@All

Gahh!! FINE I'll test it, hate you guys on DtR with your convincing arguments though Pack Rat looks so sweet....

@RaidaTheBlade

I wouldn't say stormbreath is the key in winning that weenie MU since depending on your sideboard it maybe better to board them - your goal is just to gas them then proceed to kill them with anything thus the key on winning is "aggressively trade and use burn/kill spells to keep them off of their board presence" which you said perfectly.

Yeah, stormbreath isn't necessarily the key, but he tends to be a very important factor. If I land a dragon vs white weenie, I tend to win.

As far as pack rat, I ran 3-4 of them prebng to great effect, so I do like the idea of 2 here. Siding them out vs u/w/x and vs b/x works.

And then on the spiteful, I like him but I just don't think he's more powerful then the other options. No matter if it's the version with cacklers or not, other stuff just works better. The two creature packages I'm testing are:
24 land:
4 cacklers
4 jesters
4 phoenixes
2 lifebane
3 exava
3 dragon

and/or

25 land:
4 jester
2 rat
4 phoenix
3 zombie
3 exava
4 dragon


All of those creatures just seem better to me. It's not a bad card, I just think our other options are better.

In theory, I'm not going to be an optimist about Pack Rat in this deck.

The card can run away with games all by itself, but it's been a stable of Black Devotion lists for over 3 months now. The issue as I see it is that every deck in the format knows it has to deal with Pack Rat and plays an answer, be it Bile Blight, Supreme Verdict, DSphere, Cyclonic rift, the list goes on and on. This makes going all on it the rat very dangerous, even more so for us when we don't have Underworld Connections and 4 Mutavualts main. Plus we will probably have to ditch high impact spells to churn out rats that may not even end the game, because you don't have thoughtsieze to rip an answer from your opponent.

This is all theory because I haven't tested with Pack Rat in, but my guts tells me to be weary of jamming a card that has such a big bullseye painted on it.

Hmmmm....

Spiteful Returned is strong vs:

Gx, UWx

Spiteful Returned is decent vs:

Bx, Wx and Esper Midrange

Spiteful Returned is weak vs:

Ux and Rx Devotion, plus anything running Searing Blood

I'll give SR a shot, I'm really bias since I love the art on the card and I want an excuse to up my land count into 25 and run 2x vaults.

[deck=(Almost) MDU's Rakdos Beats]Lands 24
8 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
2 Rakdos Guildgate

Creatures 19
3 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
2 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells 17
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
3 Shock
4 Dreadbore
2 Ultimate Price

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

This is the list I'll be trying for FNM on Friday (duuh..!!). I was loathe to give up Chandra and Mutavault (i dropped so much $$ on those) but I feel like you guys are right when you say that they just aren't the optimal fits at this moment.

@MDU I know you don't like giving
side boarding advice but could you tell me your oppinion on bringing in skullcrack vs White weenie (So that their blockers die even when they try to save them with Brave the Elements or should i stick to just bringing in Mortars, Lifebane and Doomblade? (asuming i board out FDS and Jester, and a singleton Jet or Big Phoenix, not sure which)

@mdu, hoeiberg why run satyrs over cacklers? cackler has the same power with more toughness and though you cant block with it unleashed, if you were to block with satyr you'd take that damage anyways. the only pro to satyr is that it can scale up to take out bigger things while it kills you.

The main reason for satyr right now is that it trades with bigger things. Slvan carytid is a bastard.

I personally still use cackler, just for ease of casting, but in that red-based list satyr works fairly well.

Pretty much what Raida said. Satyr isn't walled by Caryatid, can take out something ugly in a pinch and isn't totally dead late game.

makes sense, thanks for clearing that up.

@MDU I know you don't like giving side boarding advice

That's a misunderstanding, I do give sideboarding advice its just that its in my videos rather then directly in the forums.

That said, it seems like I havn't posted any games with Wx Weenies yet (I'll do it tomorrow) anyhow I wouldn't recommend boarding in Skullcrack (unless you have something worthless in your MB) because its doesn't help in your goal of aggressive 1-for-1 trading. Also with vaults, swapping one mountain for 1 vaults in the 24 land build should be safe.

[deck=MDU's Rakdos Aggro]Lands 24
7 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
3 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Mutavault

Creatures 20
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Spike Jester
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Exava, Rakdos
Blood Witch
2 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
3 Stormbreath Dragon

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

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

I've upload some games with my original brew - its really powerful but greedy as hell with the Manabase, if your ok with high risk = high rewards go for it

Standard Elimination Report (Event 6761599)
Standard Elimination R1 Rakdos Aggro vs Casual Brew Event 6761599
Standard Elimination R2 Rakdos Aggro vs Rw Burn Event 6761599
Standard Elimination R3 Rakdos Aggro vs Gru Monster Event 6761599

I
like how similar my original build is compared to my current build (I went full circle it seems) - for those who play on MODO I can't recommend Firedrinker Satyr because burn is becoming a rather common MU, I'm not against running 2x vaults and upping the land count to 25 or running 1 vaults with the 24 land version - nor do I think its horrible to cut one spell for the 20th creature - I'm just struggling to pick what that creature should be....

[deck]Rakdos Seer v. 2[/deck]

Taking this to the saturday tourney in my local game shop, stoked!

Still trying to decide between taking Burn or this to PTQ. Leaning to RB since I am having terrible time piloting Burn and even though it's one hell of a deck it plays entirely different from I've been playing the last three months.

Seems like we've really come full circle. I went back to 2 Mutas on 25 lands too... currently trying one Chandra MD and one in SB (3 reasons: works as an effective health buffer against aggressive decks, is able to ping the small dudes and she still does wonders against UWx). Really happy with the pack rats: even though what Guttler said is true, them being removal magnet works in our favor because frankly every one of our creatures is removal magnet aside from Phoenix.

I ain't getting rid of Anger in SB. Every aggro matchup I pray to Purphoros to draw it and when I do, it works wonders. Another reason is that I really expect more people to pack either weird aggro brews or classic/pyro RDW
to the PTQ than they do online. Solves Xathrid Necromancer problem too.

Also dropped Skullcrack count to three only: I am not that happy with drawing multiples against Bx devo.

And finally I am still having serious issue with Burn online (the meta on that one settled on the 8creature version it seems) - the match is always really tight and confident plays often leads to total blowouts which I learned yesterday (played SBD only to be Helixed eot and Sparked (Troopered) the next one. I felt like a total idiot looking at the Magma Jet and Skullcrack in my hand. Lesson learned.).

[deck]Rakdos Seer v. 2[/deck]

Taking this to the saturday tourney in my local game shop, stoked!

You'll do well. Of note:

1) I really like Thrill-Kill Assassin right now. It's in a very nice place in the meta now that GR/Jund Monsters is a
thing, and doesn't care about a lot of stuff people are playing. I do understand the draw of Pack Rat though.
2) I would go 3 Bile Blight and 2 Hero's Downfall. Bile Blight does basically the same thing as HDF except it's dead against UW pre-Elspeth, but you really don't need 7 planeswalker kill spells preboard against them.
3) You'll love Pain Seer. I know I do.
4) I'm running Mogis's Marauder in place of Herald and Lifebane as sort of an experiment right now and it is really, really good. Herald is obviously better against control and my deck already slaughters GR/Jund so I'm personally not keen on maindeck Lifebane unless you expect a lot of Blood Baron or WW in your meta.