Rakdos RUSH!
by: Will Dizon
In preparation for Neutral Ground’s MTG Gold Rush 2012, its good to ramp up on the “know” of the metagame that is steadily crystallizing right before every planeswalker. Recently, Yuuji Okita’s new brew, which won him top spot at GP Nagoya, was featured. We looked at the value of rogue decking and the surprise component it provides during crucial tournaments, and, how precision adaptation towards the metagame is important.
Since Julz Burgos of Calamba, Laguna wanted to see a Rakdos agro decklist, here’s Kazumasa Satou’s Rakdos Agro (No zombies).
Mainboard
4 Blood Crypt
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
10 Mountain
3 Swamp
23 lands
4 Ash Zealot
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
23 creatures
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Pillar of Flame
3 Rakdos Keyrune
4 Searing Spear
1 Ultimate Price
14 other spells
Sideboard
2 Appetite for Brains
3 Archwing Dragon
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Duress
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Ultimate Price
2 Zealous Conscripts
15 sideboard cards
This deck was consciously crafted to be well-positioned in the expected metagame of the said tournament while being under the radar of expectations. This deck offers a blazing curve of mayhem and assault at par with any Zombie-based agro deck. Its got the standard amount of burn for removal/reach (11 spells) and 3 Keyrunes to hasten the dropping of Hellkites and casting Mortars on Overload. A total of 3 Caverns helps the deck get through Dissipates (the last of the counterspells to prepare for besides Counterflux (really meant to stop Sphinx’s Revelation) and the occasional Rewinds – terrible due to Cavern). Knight of Infamy is golden tech here as it can pump the cheap-drops for more pressure, plus it can propel a Keyrune through a Restoration Angel, not to mention how it screws Swagtusks.
Against Zombies:
This deck packs just as much pain as any Zombie deck ever built. It runs a more mid-rangey list and is therefore more resilient in the long run against them. Ash Zealot and Rakdos Keyrune are “smarter” creatures compared to the cheaper, yet mostly vanilla-type muscle of Zombies who can barely help when it comes to defending – you can’t block if you’re tapped or if it says you can’t.
Against Flash:
This deck has what it takes to pummel down any deck with Flash strategy. But that could prove to be one of its less preferred match –ups. If the Flash deck survives to turn six, the card advantage it has invested will start to take shape and the game will swing slowly, steadily swing to its favor. Still, Rakdos agro has the midgame brawn to possibly follow through, but I don’t think it can manage if Sphinx’s Revelation resolves the second time (Woo, Tiago, woo!). Removal-heavy and more controllish UW+some-other-color Flash decks are all preparing for agro and have their draw-X spells locked and loaded.
Against Bant:
The deck designed to survive agro. Bant will have an easier time dealing with this deck compared to its counterpart who has access to Undying and Gravecrawler. This deck will board-in Archwing Dragon to avoid sweeps and Zealous Conscripts to ram back Thragtusk gains. Bant will want to cast Supreme Verdict at instant speed to rid of this strategy based on the Viashino-esque dragon. Hopefully it will be able to do so while frying a Keyrune in the process which is another bit it will have problems with given that it will mostly be active during its controller’s turn to attack. With Detention Sphere still packed in the boards, Bant can support itself into stability against this deck more often than not.
Against Midrange Naya/Jund
Since hyper-agro decks are making UW based flash decks shaky choices for tournaments, Midrange Naya and Jund have recently made a comeback a week after the Hoof and Zombies Show and again this past weekend with Brian Page in Las Vegas. Traditional Jund with have more problems with this deck given the Haste component on a lot of the creatures compared to Naya who will have the relative swiftness of Restoration Angel and Selesnya Charm. Still, since these decks both run lots of attrition, they are bound to be able to brave the storm of any agro deck’s initial burst. During midgame, Jund is likely to take a Hellkite swing more often than Naya but with Ultimate Price or perhaps Murder, this shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, it may also be the case that resources must be used for threats that hit the board earlier, and taking the aerial raid is inevitable. Overall, these decks are well positioned against Rakdos agro.
Against Reanimator
Brad Nelson’s version of Critter+Hoof would basically toss-coin with agro. There’s a big chance that whoever drops the first land would also deal the faster 20. Slower reanimator builds are in far worse position as they may be unable to continue defending after turn 4 and 5 – turns where this deck’s assault attempts to pound and finish off. If we look at the celebrated pair-up between this deck and the recent Nagoya champion, we find that Rakdos took the match in three games. In these games, we know that if Satuo’s deck was Zombie-based, Okita would have gone to win. We again see the value of being under the radar of the metagame.
Satuo saw the soft spot to target in Zombies which was its lack of true defensive potency. Zombies are usually the ones on the offense and this has worked tremendously well because nothing is faster than they are – nothing except Red-based decks with lots of haste, burn reach and cheap, talented threats. By hitting Zombies faster and harder, they are put in a situation that they will never be good at (defending).
Additionally, Satuo made a deck that was capable of pushes farther than that of mono-red – Aristocrat’s evasion, Knight of Infamy’s Exalted, overall “midrange-ness” – thereby further improving his position in the metagame even if he is faced with decks who can actually defend if they needed to. The addition of Black also brings to the table the capability of discard which means that you don’t have to deal with the ETB and aftermath of a Thragtusk and you don’t have to find yourself deeply disadvantaged with a Sphinx’s Revelation that you can not hope to stop.
If you are running an RDW deck and find that you come so close yet so short from winning or find yourself terribly oppressed during sideboarding, why not exploring an upgrade towards Rakdos. The additional spells and creatures you can access are likely to be the missing link to more victories.
As 2012 draws to a close, but right before we all anticipate Return to Ravnica’s #2, we all must face the fact that we want to make it big where it matters. Everyone has prepared themselves in countless FNMs, battling more rounds in a day than you would ever in a GP, scouring the scene for information hoping to find the deck-to-screw -them-all, sleep-depriving playtest sessions among peers – sometimes even losing love in the process. We all admit: that ring is precious. We all admit and prowl we all do. The forth coming MTG Gold Rush 2012 tournament is a generous event. See for yourself:
Raffle Prizes:
8 Duelist Abacus Counters
Commander’s Arsenal
Random Promo Cards (10 per round)
RETURN TO RAVNICA UNCUT RARE SHEET
Cash Rewards:
P200 per round won During Day Two’s Five Rounds of Swiss
P30,000 total for the Top 8 Runner-ups
Like every competition with a mighty loot, it will attract not only
the hungry, but also the strong. And no one really shows up aiming not
to be champ. And then you take a stare at this:Happy brewing everyone!
Here's a link to the Syntax Assassin's debut article for the Neutral Ground's Website.
My heart-felt thanks for all the support! Salamat!
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