









Overview:
This Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls deck focuses on incremental life loss and damage amplification to trigger the commander's card draw/counter engine. While lacking infinite combos, it leverages redundant ping effects, damage multipliers, and delayed triggers (e.g., Wound Reflection) to grind opponents down. The deck operates at a midrange pace with moderate interaction and resilience.
Primer:
Core Strategy: This Rakdos deck aims to trigger Valgavoth's ability ("first life loss per opponent turn") through 40+ damage-on-life-loss sources like Blood Artist, Kederekt Parasite, and Roiling Vortex. Key phases:
- Early Setup: Deploy pingers (Harsh Mentor, Stormfist Crusader) and mana rocks to enable Valgavoth casts by T3-4.
- Midgame Amplification: Resolve damage multipliers (Solphim, Mayhem Dominus, Fiery Emancipation) and delayed triggers (Wound Reflection, All Will Be One).
- Late Finishers: Convert accumulated counters/draws into lethal via Gray Merchant of Asphodel recursion, Heartless Hidetsugu bursts, or Blasphemous Act + damage enhancers.
Mulligan Priorities:
- 3 lands (prioritize untapped BR sources)
- 1-2 early enablers (Blood Seeker, Fellwar Stone)
- At least 1 midgame payoff (Mogis, God of Slaughter, Solphim)
Key Tips:
- Sequence Valgavoth after establishing 1-2 passive damage sources to guarantee immediate triggers.
- Use Bolt Bend/Armor of Shadows to protect key pieces during critical turns.
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare sacrifices artifacts/lands when opponents are tapped out to force life loss.
Avoid Traps:
- Overextending with fragile pingers into board wipes
- Casting Valgavoth without protection in removal-heavy metas
- Forgetting Wound Reflection doubles ALL life loss (including fetchlands, Sign in Blood, etc.)
Weaknesses:
Moderate:
- Vulnerable to lifegain strategies (limited answers to Exquisite Blood/Authority of the Consuls)
- Relies on board presence for triggers (weak to mass removal)
- Mana base has 8 enters-tapped lands (slows early development)
Most Important Cards:
- Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
- Wound Reflection
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Fiery Emancipation
- Heartless Hidetsugu
- All Will Be One
- Mogis, God of Slaughter
- Roiling Vortex
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare
- Kardur, Doomscourge
Attribute Ratings:
Speed: 5/10
- Earliest kill T6-7 via Heartless Hidetsugu + damage doubler (24-48 damage)
- Grindier wins typically T8-10
Resilience: 6/10
- Redundant pingers (12+ "when opponent does X, lose 1 life" effects)
- Limited recursion (Suspended Sentence, Chandra, Awakened Inferno emblems)
Consistency: 6/10
- 8 card advantage engines tied to life loss (Valgavoth, Florian, Theater of Horrors)
- 4 tutors (Grab the Prize, Cathartic Reunion, Bedevil, Vandalblast)
Interaction: 5/10
- 6 targeted removal (Infernal Grasp, Bedevil)
- 2 board wipes (Blasphemous Act, Massacre Wurm)
- No free counterspells; relies on redirects (Bolt Bend)
Rating Justification:
This deck sits between "Focused Casual" (4.5) and "Optimized Casual" (5.0) on the rubric. It has:
- Better redundancy/wincons than precons (4.0)
- Synergistic damage multipliers akin to upgraded jank (4.5)
- Lacks the speed (T8-10 vs T7-9) and protection of optimized lists (5.0)
Power level: 4.5 - 5.0
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