Rakdos the Mad - Clay Schubert (10/27/2006)

Here is a black-red aggro deck that aims to quickly bring an opponent down through a variety of fast tricks. It uses a synergy of shadow, burn, madness/discard, and recursion to shave down your opponent’s life total.

Land: 22
11 Mountain

Mountain
	Set: Arabian Nights Color: Land Type: Land Rarity: C Artist: Douglas Shuler Text: Tap to add R to your mana pool.

11 Swamp

Swamp
	Set: Oversize Cards Color: Land Type: Land Rarity: X Artist: Tony Roberts Text: T: Add B to your mana pool.

s

Creatures: 18
4 Trespasser il-Vec
2 Urborg

Urborg
	Set: Legends Color: Land Type: Legendary Land Rarity: U Artist: Bryon Wackwitz Text: T: Add B to your mana poolT: Remove first strike ability or swampwalk ability from target creature until end of turn.

Syphon-Mage
2 Nether Traitor

Nether Traitor
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Spirit Rarity: R Number: 120 Artist: Vance Kovacs Power: 1 Toughness: 1 Text: Haste Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.) Whenever another creature is put into your graveyard from play, you may pay B. If you do, return Nether Traitor from your graveyard to play.

1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Jaya Ballard, Task Mage

Set: Time Spiral Cost: 3 Color: Red Type: Legendary Creature Sub Type: Human Spellshaper Rarity: R Number: 166 Artist: Matt Cavotta Power: 2 Toughness: 2 Text: R, T, Discard a card: Destroy target blue permanent. 1R, T, Discard a card: Jaya Ballard, Task Mage deals 3 damage to target creature or player. A creature dealt damage this way can't be regenerated this turn. 5RR, T, Discard a card: Jaya Ballard deals 6 damage to each creature and each player.

4 Rakdos Guildmage

Rakdos Guildmage
	Set: Dissension Color: Multicolor Rarity: U Number: 145 Artist: Jeremy Jarvis

3 Gorgon Recluse

Gorgon Recluse
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 5 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Gorgon Rarity: C Number: 111 Artist: Darrell Riche Power: 2 Toughness: 4 Text: Whenever Gorgon Recluse blocks or becomes blocked by a nonblack creature, destroy that creature at end of combat. Madness BB (If you discard this card, you may play it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

1 Avatar of Woe

Avatar of Woe
	Set: Prophecy Cost: 8 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Avatar Rarity: R Number: 56 Artist: rk post Power: 6 Toughness: 5 Text: If there are ten or more creature cards total in all graveyards, Avatar of Woe costs 6 less to play.Avatar of Woe can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures. T: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.

*

Other Spells: 18
4 Call to the Netherworld

Call to the Netherworld
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 1 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: C Number: 97 Artist: Vance Kovacs Text: Return target black creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Madness 0 (If you discard this card, you may play it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

2 Dread Return

Dread Return
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 4 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Number: 104 Artist: Kev Walker Text: Return target creature card from your graveyard to play. Flashback-Sacrifice three creatures. (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)

1 Wheel of Fate

Wheel of Fate

Set: Time Spiral Color: Red Type: Sorcery Rarity: R Number: 187 Artist: Kev Walker Text: Wheel of Fate is red. Suspend 4-1R (Rather than play this card from your hand, pay 1R and remove it from the game with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost.) Each player discards his or her hand, then draws seven cards.

2 Lightning Axe

Lightning Axe
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 1 Color: Red Type: Instant Rarity: C Number: 168 Artist: Dan Scott Text: As an additional cost to play Lightning Axe, discard a card or pay 5. Lightning Axe deals 5 damage to target creature.

4 Dark Withering

Dark Withering
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 6 Color: Black Type: Instant Rarity: C Number: 101 Artist: Wayne Reynolds Text: Destroy target nonblack creature. Madness B (If you discard this card, you may play it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

4 RmllcnkgTemper

Temper
	Set: Stronghold Cost: 3 Color: White Type: Instant Rarity: U Number: 120 Artist: Matthew D. Wilson Text: Prevent up to X damage to target creature. For each 1 damage prevented in this way, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.

1 Bad Moon

Bad Moon
	Set: Revised Edition Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Enchantment Rarity: R Artist: Jesper Myrfors Text: All black creatures in play gain +1/+1.

*



Discard Outlets:
Rakdos Guildmage

Rakdos Guildmage
	Set: Dissension Color: Multicolor Rarity: U Number: 145 Artist: Jeremy Jarvis

, Jaya Ballard, Urbrog Syphon-Mage, Tresspasser il-Vec, Lightning Axe

Lightning Axe
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 1 Color: Red Type: Instant Rarity: C Number: 168 Artist: Dan Scott Text: As an additional cost to play Lightning Axe, discard a card or pay 5. Lightning Axe deals 5 damage to target creature.

, Wheel of Fate

Wheel of Fate

Set: Time Spiral Color: Red Type: Sorcery Rarity: R Number: 187 Artist: Kev Walker Text: Wheel of Fate is red. Suspend 4-1R (Rather than play this card from your hand, pay 1R and remove it from the game with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost.) Each player discards his or her hand, then draws seven cards.

Cards to Discard Discard:
Nether Traitor

Nether Traitor
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Spirit Rarity: R Number: 120 Artist: Vance Kovacs Power: 1 Toughness: 1 Text: Haste Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.) Whenever another creature is put into your graveyard from play, you may pay B. If you do, return Nether Traitor from your graveyard to play.

, Gorgon Recluse

Gorgon Recluse
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 5 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Gorgon Rarity: C Number: 111 Artist: Darrell Riche Power: 2 Toughness: 4 Text: Whenever Gorgon Recluse blocks or becomes blocked by a nonblack creature, destroy that creature at end of combat. Madness BB (If you discard this card, you may play it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

, Call to the Netherworld

Call to the Netherworld
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 1 Color: Black Type: Sorcery Rarity: C Number: 97 Artist: Vance Kovacs Text: Return target black creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Madness 0 (If you discard this card, you may play it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

, RmllcnkgTemper

Temper
	Set: Stronghold Cost: 3 Color: White Type: Instant Rarity: U Number: 120 Artist: Matthew D. Wilson Text: Prevent up to X damage to target creature. For each 1 damage prevented in this way, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.

, Dark Withering

Dark Withering
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 6 Color: Black Type: Instant Rarity: C Number: 101 Artist: Wayne Reynolds Text: Destroy target nonblack creature. Madness B (If you discard this card, you may play it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

I put in the Avatar of Woe

Avatar of Woe
	Set: Prophecy Cost: 8 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Avatar Rarity: R Number: 56 Artist: rk post Power: 6 Toughness: 5 Text: If there are ten or more creature cards total in all graveyards, Avatar of Woe costs 6 less to play.Avatar of Woe can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures. T: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.

and a Bad Moon

Bad Moon
	Set: Revised Edition Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Enchantment Rarity: R Artist: Jesper Myrfors Text: All black creatures in play gain +1/+1.

in the last spots of the deck. You can really put anything there as finishers and utility cards. Stronghold Overseer

Stronghold Overseer
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 6 Color: Black Type: Creature Sub Type: Demon Rarity: R Number: 133 Artist: Puddnhead Power: 5 Toughness: 5 Text: Flying Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.) BB: Creatures with shadow get +1/+0 until end of turn and creatures without shadow get -1/-0 until end of turn.

s, Demonfire

Demonfire
	Set: Dissension Color: Red Rarity: R Number: 60 Artist: Greg Staples

, or Bogardan Hellkite

Bogardan Hellkite
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 8 Color: Red Type: Creature Sub Type: Dragon Rarity: R Number: 147 Artist: Scott M. Fischer Power: 5 Toughness: 5 Text: Flash (You may play this spell any time you could play an instant.) Flying When Bogardan Hellkite comes into play, it deals 5 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players.

all make good choices. Also, if you have any shocklands, feel free to replace the basic lands. You can also try Rakdos Carnarium

Rakdos Carnarium
	Set: Dissension Color: Land Rarity: C Number: 178 Artist: John Avon

s. They slow the deck down, but the land you return to your hand can be used to fuel your discard-powered cards.

[Editor’s note: There is also the possibility of adding Conflagrate

Conflagrate
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 3 Color: Red Type: Sorcery Rarity: U Number: 151 Artist: Warren Mahy Text: Conflagrate deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players. Flashback-RR, Discard X cards. (You may play this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then remove it from the game.)

. It can be pitched early to enable the other spells and flashed back at the end of the game for the last few points of damage. Or you could hold onto it to pick off some weenies. Just thought I’d throw that in, since this deck seems tailor-made to handle the flashback cost.]

The traditional weakness of a black-red deck is a defensive white deck. Paladin en-Vec and a Story Circle

Story Circle
	Set: Mercadian Masques Cost: 3 Color: White Type: Enchantment Rarity: U Number: 51 Artist: Bradley Williams Text: As Story Circle comes into play, choose a color.W: The next time a source of your choice of the chosen color would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage.

can completely shut down a deck of this type. To try and counteract that threat, I originally had Blazing Blade Askari

Blazing Blade Askari
	Set: Time Spiral Cost: 3 Color: Red Type: Creature Sub Type: Human Knight Rarity: C Number: 146 Artist: Dan Frazier Power: 2 Toughness: 2 Text: Flanking (Whenever a creature without flanking blocks this creature, the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.) 2: Blazing Blade Askari becomes colorless until end of turn.

to try and bypass the dreaded Paladin. I then realized that this deck had ways to counter the white cleric. If the Paladin en-Vec attempts to block a Gorgon, the Gorgon’s ability will still kill it. The Urborg

Urborg
	Set: Legends Color: Land Type: Legendary Land Rarity: U Artist: Bryon Wackwitz Text: T: Add B to your mana poolT: Remove first strike ability or swampwalk ability from target creature until end of turn.

-Syphon mage can bypass a Story Circle

Story Circle
	Set: Mercadian Masques Cost: 3 Color: White Type: Enchantment Rarity: U Number: 51 Artist: Bradley Williams Text: As Story Circle comes into play, choose a color.W: The next time a source of your choice of the chosen color would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage.

(it might take a while though).

Adding Age to the deck
Strength of Lunacy

Strength of Lunacy
	Set: Torment Cost: 2 Color: Black Type: Enchant Creature Rarity: U Number: 86 Text: Enchanted creature gets +2/+1 and has protection from white. Madness B

, Anger

Anger
	Set: Judgment Cost: 4 Color: Red Type: Creature Sub Type: Incarnation Rarity: U Number: 77 Artist: John Avon Power: 2 Toughness: 2 Text: Haste. As long as Anger is in your graveyard and you control a mountain, creatures you control have haste.

, Null Brooch

Null Brooch
	Set: Exodus Cost: 4 Color: Colorless Type: Artifact Rarity: R Number: 136 Artist: DiTerlizzi Text: 2, tap, Discard your hand: Counter target noncreature spell. Play this ability as an interrupt.

, and Fool’s Tome all make great additions.

Have fun going mad.

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