Cruel Intentions

Format: Commander

Commander: The Infamous Cruelclaw

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 30

Deck overview

This deck is a Rakdos aggressive midrange strategy commanded by The Infamous Cruelclaw. The core game plan focuses on casting Cruelclaw on Turn 3 and ensuring it connects in combat on Turn 4, utilizing menace and evasion artifacts such as Brotherhood Regalia, Bilbo's Ring, and Vorrac Battlehorns. Upon dealing combat damage, Cruelclaw exiles through the library to cast high-impact nonland cards for the cost of discarding a card. The list capitalizes on this discard trigger through payoffs like Bone Miser, Archfiend of Ifnir, Containment Construct, and Glint-Horn Buccaneer, transforming discarded resources into board presence, card flow, and direct damage. While the deck boasts explosive top-end ceiling plays like In Garruk's Wake and Rise of the Dark Realms, it lacks hard infinite combos and fast stack interaction, relying instead on compounding combat pressure and discard burn to close out games across multiple turns.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ajani's Anguish
  • 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
  • 1 Amonkhet Raceway
  • 1 Anger
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archfiend of Ifnir
  • 1 Ares, God of War
  • 1 Avacyn, Angel of Horror
  • 1 Avishkar Raceway
  • 1 Bag of Holding
  • 1 Big Score
  • 1 Bilbo's Ring
  • 1 Blazemire Verge
  • 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
  • 1 Blood Crypt
  • 1 Bloodsoaked Insight // Sanguine Morass
  • 1 Bloodstained Mire
  • 1 Bone Miser
  • 1 Bone Shards
  • 1 Brass's Tunnel-Grinder // Tecutlan, the Searing Rift
  • 1 Brotherhood Regalia
  • 1 Cabal Coffers
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Containment Construct
  • 1 Cool but Rude
  • 1 Cryptcaller Chariot
  • 1 Currency Converter
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Dolmen Gate
  • 1 Dragonskull Summit
  • 1 Dying to Serve
  • 1 Embercleave
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 1 Faithless Looting
  • 1 Feast of Sanity
  • 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Filth
  • 1 Garna, Bloodfist of Keld
  • 1 Glint-Horn Buccaneer
  • 1 Haunted Ridge
  • 1 High-Society Hunter
  • 1 Howlsquad Heavy
  • 1 Idol of Oblivion
  • 1 In Garruk's Wake
  • 1 Ivora, Insatiable Heir
  • 1 Jagged Barrens
  • 1 Kimoyo Beads
  • 1 Lady Spider, Maybelle Reilly
  • 1 Laelia, the Blade Reforged
  • 1 Loyal Apprentice
  • 1 Luxury Suite
  • 1 Magmakin Artillerist
  • 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
  • 1 Marauding Mako
  • 1 Master of Cruelties
  • 1 Mithril Coat
  • 1 Monument to Endurance
  • 1 Moonstone, Harsh Mistress
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 5 Mountain
  • 1 Muraganda Raceway
  • 1 My Precious // Allure of Power
  • 1 Phyrexian Arena
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Searslicer Goblin
  • 1 Shivan Gorge
  • 1 Siege-Gang Lieutenant
  • 1 Smoldering Marsh
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Spider-Man, New Champion
  • 1 Spinerock Knoll
  • 1 Sunscorched Desert
  • 6 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
  • 1 Tainted Peak
  • 1 Talisman of Indulgence
  • 1 The Infamous Cruelclaw
  • 1 The Raven Man
  • 1 The Soul Stone
  • 1 The Ten Rings
  • 1 Thrill of Possibility
  • 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
  • 1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge
  • 1 Veronica, Dissident Scribe
  • 1 Vorrac Battlehorns
  • 1 Witch's Clinic
  • 1 Withering Torment
  • 1 Zoyowa Lava-Tongue