Rakdos standard so R/B

[the3rdH0kage]

OKay well here we go. This is a Rakdos deck that has a bunch of Burn spells. That summarizes this deck up.

Red:
Creature:
1x- Zealous Conscripts

Other Spells:
3x-Thunderbolt (Pegs 3 damage as early as Turn 2, can't hate that)
1x-Pilar of Flame (I need 3 more of these.)
1x-Traitorous Instinct
1x-Traitorous Blood
2x-Searing Spear
2x-Annihilating Fire
1x-Fervor

Black:

Creatures:
4x- Vampire Nighthawk (Finally found all 4 of mine )
2x-Hunted Ghoul
1x-Bloodline Keeper/Lord of Lineage
1x-Xathrid Gorgon
1x- Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
1x-Knight of Infamy
1x-Evernight Shade


Other Spells:
1x- Mind Rot
1x-Blood Reckoning
2x-Murder
1x-Launch Party

Planewalker:
1x-Liliana of the Dark Realms

Multi-Colored:
1x- Carnival Hellsteed
1x-Rix Maadi Guildmage
1x-Rakdos Charm
2x-Rakdos Keyrune
1x-Skull Rend
1x-Rakdos Cackler
1x-Dreadbore


Lands:
1x-Blood Crypt
1x-Shimmering Grotto
1x-Cavern of Souls
1x-Dragonskull Summit
10-Swamps
10-Mountains

[Kamotz]

You have an interesting setup. The problem I see is that you're trying to do too many things at once. You trying to play Control, Midrange, and Aggro...and that just doesn't work. There are cards here that just don't belong in a constructed format because there are just simply better things out there. Annihilating Fire, Hunted Ghoul, Fervor, Launch Party, Evernight Shade, Xathrid Gorgon, and Blood Reckoning are downright unplayable.

Skull Rend and Mind Rot also don't do enough for their costs. And Rakdos Charm is a strictly-sideboard card.

I think you need to decide what direction you want to go with this deck. It's fine to be on a budget and it's fine to want to do something different. But pick a direction (aka Strategy) and go with it. If you try to do too many things at once, you end up not doing enough of anything.

[the3rdH0kage]

well I won today using the Aggro cards in like 8 turns (hehehe). So I'll go with that.

[Kamotz]

That's kinda slow for aggro. But yeah. Focus on the aggro instead of the other weird stuff and you'll do WAY better.

[the3rdH0kage]

I was testing but turn 8, that is kinda fast. I trolled him mainly with the Traitorous cards. I used them against him then Murdered them. Was so fun.

[Kamotz]

For aggro it's actually kinda slow. By the time you hit turn 8, they can already drop a wrath, a Thragtusk, and resto it.

[the3rdH0kage]

dang turn 8 is slow. Thats just.........damn. But anyway I'm trying to get 3 more Rakdos Charm, at least 2 Rakdos, Lord of Riots, and a few Pillar of Flames and other burn spells.

[Kamotz]

Then you need to sort of rethink whether or not you're playing Aggro. Because the Charms are strictly sideboard, and you only really need 2. Rakdos, Lord of Riots is just too slow to be aggro, and you only need about 8 burn spells total (4 Pillar, 4 Spear).

Nighthawk is also a sideboard card for Aggro (sided in for the mirror match). Again, an aggro deck focuses on playing cheap, fast, aggressive cost-effective creatures.

[the3rdH0kage]

ooohhh ok then never mind that.

[Kamotz]

Though you can go a different route and try for a midrange approach...or even control if you want to splash Blue (it makes it Grixis). Midrange would let you play the Rakdos, Lord of Riots, and Control (with Blue) gives you cards like counterspells, Nicol Bolas, etc. And both let you play the Nighthawks.

[the3rdH0kage]

I'll keep it aggro.

[Kamotz]

In that case I suggest picking up Rakdos Cackler and Rakdos Shred-Freak (common and uncommon). 4x each. Those are some very aggressive cards and form a solid base for an Aggro deck. After that you have some other options (I'm assuming you're trying to be a bit more budget conscious? The "*"s are Rares over $2)

1cmc:
Vexing Devil*
Diregraf Ghoul
Reckless Waif
Stonewright
Stromkirk Noble*

2cmc:
Ash Zealot*
Ashmouth Hound
Crimson Muckwader
Gore-House Chainwalker
Knight of Infamy
Lightning Mauler
Rix Maadi Guildmage
Thrill-Kill Assassin

3cmc:
Dead Reveler
Fervent Cathar
Hellhole Flailer
Kruin Outlaw
Pyreheart Wolf
Splatter Thug

4cmc:
Archwing Dragon
Bloodfray Giant
Hellrider*
Hound of Griselbrand
Instigator Gang

5cmc:
Rakdos Ragemutt
Zealous Conscripts

6cmc:
Carnival Hellsteed
Chaos Imps

Again, this is sort of just a list of everything you might play (creature-wise) in Rakdos colors.

[the3rdH0kage]

I have 2 or 3 or the Rakdos Cackler/Shred Freak. There awesome. But anyway I'll be getting some Christmas money so I'll go after Christmas I'll go and get probably 3 of each of the cards that are over $2 on that list.

[Kamotz]

Just my opinion, but of the 4 I *'d, Ash Zealot, Stromkirk Noble, and Hellrider are the "necessary" ones. Vexing Devil is sort of fringe. Zealot and Noble are around $3 each. Hellrider is probably $9ish. It's the most powerful, but if you're clever enough with your mana curve and creatures, it's possibly replaceable.

Of the cards I listed, these are my "prime" choices.

1cmc
Stormkirk Noble & Rakdos Cackler (4x each) - 1st place
Stonewright - 2nd place

2cmc
Ash Zealot & Rakdos Shred-Freak (4x each) - 1st place
Gore-House Chainwalker, Knight of Infamy, & Lightning Mauler - 2nd place
Rix Maadi Guildmage - 3rd place

3cmc
Pyreheart Wolf - 1st place
Kruin Outlaw & Hellhole Flailer - tied for 2nd place

4cmc
Hellrider 4x - 1st place
Archwing Dragon (2x?) - 2nd place

5 cmc
Zealous Conscripts - 1st
Rakdos Ragemutt - (close) 2nd

6cmc
Carnival Hellsteed (2x?) - 1st

Because you might not have the Falkenrath Aristocrats ($20 ea.) and Thundermaw Hellkites ($38.50 ea.) that take this into really expensive territory, you'll want to try and replace them with strong-enough budget cards. The good thing about Budget is that people you play won't necessarily see the deck coming. It will take a few turns for them to figure out what you're playing, and even then you can surprise them with every new thing you play. Rakdos and mono-red are actually well set-up to use budgets effectively.

[the3rdH0kage]

Yay! But anyway I'll keep this deck budget.

[Kamotz]

That's fine. The biggest challenge, then, will be finding the budget-conscious cards that replace what you'd be missing with the expensive version. Specifically, the 3 copies of Hellrider, 3x Thundermaw, and 4x Falkenrath Aristocrat.

Not only do those cards have to be replaced in the budget version, but you need to replace them with similarly-costed (mana-wise) cards to fill out your curve. And then they need to compensate for simply not being as overwhelmingly powerful as those 3.

Cards like Rakdos Ragemutt are decent as a 5-drop. It's much better in limited, but it can pass in Budget Rakdos. What's most relevant is the lifelink and haste. It lets you compete with the life-gaining of other decks. Archwing Dragon is something that you can cast over and over again, and by returning to your hand end-of-turn, it avoids all sorcery-speed removal and board-wipes. The downside is that they can eventually hit it with a counterspell (if they play them).

Zealous Conscripts is good because it lets you steal the cards you don't have. Any cards. Creatures, planeswalkers, lands, enchantments...any sort of permanent. You can wait until they're just about to Ultimate a Tamiyo, steal it, and then Ultimate it yourself! Then you just use Pillar of Flame over and over and over until you win. Cheap? Maybe. But if you do that on a budget it feels pretty good. Or you need to punch through that last bit of damage so you steal one of their creatures that would otherwise block and swing for lethal.

Carnival Hellsteed is something to consider. I normally wouldn't advise it, but sometimes you just need a creature with pure power. It's a pretty effective blocker if you don't unleash it, and it has significant power/toughness either way.

[the3rdH0kage]

I got $50 Christmas money early. So I'll spend 30 of it on other things then the rest on cards for this deck.

[Kamotz]

Because most are commons and uncommons, you can probably get people to just donate them to you. Or pick them up for 25 cents from the un/common box/binder at your LGS.

[the3rdH0kage]

Yeah and I'm getting another Hellsteed later probably. I'll probably just pick up Pokemon Black 2 and a deck or something.

[Kamotz]

You only need 2 Hellsteeds (at most). The rest should probably be picked up commons and uncommons or purchase the few more expensive rares. The hardest part is the Lands: Dragonskull Summit and Blood Crypt. But again, smart trading makes them easier to get your hands on. And you can work with Basics and Guildgates until then. The good news is that the lands are cheaper now than they've ever been.

So yeah, the money is probably best spent on things that'll just be harder to find or rares that you can't find. I wouldn't buy another preconstructed deck. There isn't much there for this deck anyway. You're better off buying the cards as singles. And if you need to buy a deck, buy the Event Deck, not the one with the 2 extra boosters (theme deck).

[the3rdH0kage]

I would buy the event deck but my shop doesn't have the Rakdos one. I was considering the precon because I have had good pack pulls from the decks not buying single boosters. and I wasn't going to get Rakdos. I collect also so it would help my collection.

[Kamotz]

Overall it's probably cheaper to just ebay a common/uncommon playset of RTR for around $20-30 instead of dropping $ on all the packs and decks hoping to pick things up.