|
Home Decks Combos Articles Visual Spoilers Features Art Links Search BLOG Forum |
|
|
|
|
Alright everyone, I’m back from an extended hiatus. I mean, I already did six of the ten guilds so I might as well finish the rest of them, right? You’ve been introduced to the Boros and Selesnya guilds, as well as the three featured in the Guildpact set and of course, the Simic. So what’s left you say? Well, the other…four…I suppose…and to top it off, my personal favorite guild, the Cult of Rakdos The Cult is led by the original parun, Rakdos himself, and they dwell in the undercity plaza of Rix Maadi. It’s a flaming city deep beneath Ravnica’s streets that loves fire, pain, and antagonizing everyone who stands against them. The Cult uses the mechanic Hellbent, which benefits you when you have no cards in hand.
Gorgeous, eh? I love it; demons rock. Not too bad either, just make all your permanents have a Demon subtype and you’ll start wrecking the board in no time. And, since you’re playing red (with some black) you should be able to get him out quickly. That’s beside the point though, what Rakdos represents within himself and his guild is destruction. The Rakdos love chaos, and they love watching others suffer because of their acts. Hellbent is great for them because it shows that even when you have nothing, it’s better than anything. So…
Ah Black, my second-favorite color in the pie. Black’s historic for many things, including death, torture, and suffering. It’s also responsible for sacrifice (as seen above) and just overall destruction. These cards show just how interesting Hellbent can be…or how horrible, depending on your view.
Oooohhh…Hellbent….I’m sorry, I got distracted. Anyways, the Jester is a basic flier, a 2/2 for four. Hmm…ok, why play it? Well, if it’s your last card in hand it becomes a 4/3 flier for four. Seems a bit fairer, right? Well, I’m not favorable on it very much, but it works, it’s simple, and it’s an Imp. What could go wrong? The Shade is definitely a chump, unless you have no cards. Then it’s a massive chump; the same Shade but a different approach. The best thing about it is it’s a potential first-turn drop that can get as big as you want it each turn, and when you’re out of cards, you should have a boatload of black mana you can use to make this baddie as big as you want, then attack. I love this Tutor because either way, it’s useful. If you need another card you have in hand you can use it. If you have no cards in hand, you can get the one you want. No matter the situation, you’ll most likely get what you want, and for only two mana it’s a bargain!
When you have a color as vibrant and destructive as Red there’s no end to what you can accomplish when you have nothing to lose. Red loves to destroy; smash, bash, whack, anything will do, as long as the result is in pieces…or on fire.
So you’ve got a basic Aura when dealing with Taste for Mayhem. Slightly worse than other Auras such as Rancor, and slightly better than Riot Spikes (though Riot Spikes can go in either black or red decks). It’s still solid pump, and when you have no other options to play, it triggers the Hellbent function and further pumps. Who can argue with that? The Flames is an interesting card because it’s pretty bland without Hellbent, and even with it, it still average. There are many better burn spells around that can do great damage besides this card, but if it’s late game and a single draw then it may help you out. I’m a big fan of Demonfire (I got a foil one J) so it’s natural I’d describe it. It’s a burn spell that can get as big as you want it and when you want it. And, if you’re out of cards, there’s not much another player can do but watch as them or their creatures get eviscerated.
This is what I’ve lived for ever since the guild system was designed back when Ravnica: City of Guilds came out. I’ve always had a black/red deck and having a guild based solely around those two colors made me leap for joy. When I saw the Rakdos cards, I fell in love. They’re exactly what I wanted to play with.
Gobhobbler Rats are a good example of basic Rakdos instinct: A tough, solid creature influenced by its surroundings when there is nothing left. The Hellbent function on it really gets it going because it ends up as a 3/2 with B: Regenerate for two mana as long as there’s nothing in your hand. Not bad, not bad at all. Your first instinct when playing with Jagged Poppet is deciding whether or not the cards in your hand are worth discarding. If you said yes, then get that Poppet as hurt as you can get it because once you do, your opponent will start to feel it. If you said no, well, why are you playing this card without protection from its effect? You have to make a bargain when playing with Anthem of Rakdos because it has two effects that can eventually balance out. At first, it’s pump with a downside: You take 1 damage per attack. Once you have nothing left, you have to ensure that you deal more damage than the card deals to you (2 per attack!). Make sure when you strike that it’s the last!
So this time around, you have an Aura and an Avatar backing up the Guildmage during his adventures, and the Rakdos have some pretty sick Hybrid cards. The Spikes lead the charge with pump and a tiny drawback whereas the Avatar is the best one in a long time.
I’ve already kind of discussed the Spikes earlier, but it deserves its own intrigue. At first, I thought it gave the creature +2/+1 which made me very happy. When I actually looked at it, the -1 didn’t matter because black and/or red already have drawbacks on creatures so why not make an enchantment embodying that? This is that embodiment. Ahh…the guildmage…what to say? Well, first of all, it’s the only Zombie guildmage which kicks so hard. The effects may be a bit costly, but putting a lesser Spark Elemental into play or using Echoing Decay on something. I’d say use the effects if you need to; not something that you do right away. If it’s late-game then go crazy with them and create a lot of 2/1’s. Enjoy that. Ok…onto the Avatar. What can I say, really? The two-card discard is such a small thing (while working with Hellbent!) that it can just be ignored totally. This is a 5/3 flier for three mana…and not just any three mana, three mana of your choice between black and red! Besides having sweet alternate art, this is a staple in any Rakdos deck or any deck that revels in discard.
I had a revelation during this hiatus, a revelation that the common guild lands could possibly serve their purpose. I am unbeknownst to that purpose right now, but we have formed a bond beyond mere friendship.
The common land was already kind of discussed (it’s no different than the others aside from black/red mana) so there’s not much to talk about. It comes into play tapped and you return a land. Woo? It produces the same amount of mana the next turn as you would have if you played lands regularly. I suppose if you had some assistance from some card that allowed an extra land per turn this would roxorz. I love Rix Maadi because it has a cheap effect and assists Hellbent. If you have a card that you just need in your graveyard and you know your opponent has a really good counter in his/her hand, you can take those chances and use its three mana effect. Cheaper than other discards, eh? What can I say about Blood Crypt besides its gorgeous artwork and function ability in my black/red deck? Not much, that is. It’s a dual land. It’s a Swamp and a Mountain. It’s expensive to get. I like them odds.
Some cards that work to empty your hand to enable the Hellbent mechanic include:
While you are discarding cards, why not take full advantage of the discard and play with cards with Madness. Just from Time Spiral, we get five new Madness cards in black. These cards include Call to the Netherworld, Dark Withering, Gorgon Recluse, Nightshade Assassin and Psychotic Episode. The best for the Rakdos cards is call to the Netherworld, as it becomes a free Raise Dead upon being discarded. Dark Withering is nice too but it's Madness cost if one black mana. Of course, you could always go the recursion route with cards like Patriarch's Bidding, Living End, Living Death and so on. While discarding lots of cards, you're sure to be throwing creatures into the grave. Mass recursion effects will allow you to take full advantage of the cards that enable hellbent. At this point, I could reiterate some of the combos from the MDV Ravnica block combo page, but I’ll just summarize them below:
You can find out more information on these combos by going here – you’ll have to browse the page to find the combos, as they aren’t in any particular order. Well, that’s all I have for Rakdos combos for now. I’ll return the show back to Ghurhgs. ~Streetz~
Alright, well, all I can really do now is thank you for sticking with me and I hope you enjoyed this article. I hope it made you want to at least try out the Rakdos and the power they hold with their demon-god. I can’t physically force you to play black/red (unless you live in Rhode Island, then I’ll find you…) so I’ll just assume you all go and bust it out. So, until next time, this is Taking Charge and I’m Ghurhgs. Tune in next time when I go old-school and explain the laws of physics to you. Until next time, Ghurhgs You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here. Articles
Spotlights from 2006 |
|
The
Rakdos Guild is a tough one to work with in terms of combos. The majority of the
cards you are working with all care about one thing: an empty hand. While I
could boast that One with Nothing is great for the Rakdos, it isn't. There are
much more efficient ways of empting your hand to get the big effect. One of my
favorites is Suppress – which is an Instant that removes someone’s hand from the
game, only to return those cards next turn. Ignorant Bliss, is almost the same
thing except cheaper and red.
