Overview:

This Rakdos deck helmed by Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls employs a life-drain attrition strategy, leveraging continuous damage triggers from opponents' actions (drawing cards, playing lands, casting spells) and synergistic enchantments. Valgavoth acts as a card advantage engine and scaling threat, rewarding the deck's core strategy by drawing cards and growing whenever an opponent loses life for the first time each turn. The deck wins through cumulative damage from multiple passive sources, amplified damage doublers like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Bloodletter of Aclazotz, and combos involving Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond effects or massive Torment of Hailfire.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy mana rocks (Sol Ring, Rakdos Signet), land-based engines (Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers), and early damage sources like Kederekt Parasite or Blood Artist. Prioritize establishing card draw engines (Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena) or key enchantments (Underworld Dreams, Painful Quandary).
2. Amplify Triggers (Turns 4-6): Resolve high-impact permanents that punish opponents' actions: Spiteful Visions, Polluted Bonds, Roiling Vortex, or Mogis, God of Slaughter. Protect key pieces with Lightning Greaves or Mithril Coat. Cast Valgavoth to capitalize on life loss and draw into more threats.
3. Combo/Lock Execution (Turns 5-8):
   • Attrition: Overwhelm opponents with layered triggers (e.g., Sheoldred, the Apocalypse + Spiteful Visions deals 3 damage per draw).
   • Combo: Assemble Exquisite Blood + any "lifeloss-on-gain" effect (Sanguine Bond, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Bloodletter of Aclazotz) for an infinite loop.
   • Finishers: Leverage Cabal Coffers mana for Torment of Hailfire or Chandra's Ignition on a large creature.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3+ lands (including untapped B/R sources) and at least one ramp piece (e.g., Sol Ring, Fellwar Stone).
• Prioritize early damage engines (e.g., Kederekt Parasite, Blood Artist) or card advantage (Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena).
• Avoid hands lacking interaction or with only high-CMC cards.

Key Tips:

• Sequence Triggers: Deploy land-punishment effects (Zo-Zu the Punisher, Nightshade Harvester) before land-centric opponents ramp.
• Protect Combos: Use Bolt Bend or Tibalt's Trickery to defend Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond. Swiftfoot Boots protects Valgavoth to maintain card draw.
• Maximize Damage: Deploy Solphim, Mayhem Dominus or Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might before triggering multiple life-loss effects.
• Leverage Recursion: Recur key pieces with Whip of Erebos, Reanimate, or Malakir Rebirth.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Enchantment removal dismantles the core engine (e.g., losing Exquisite Blood, Underworld Dreams, or Painful Quandary).
• Graveyard hate exiles recursion targets and disrupts Whip of Erebos/Reanimate.
• Lifegain strategies negate attrition damage and delay combo kills.

Moderate

• Board wipes reset creature-based engines (e.g., Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Blood Artist).
• Fast combo decks can outpace this deck's incremental damage.
• Rule of Law effects limit spell-based interaction and combo assembly.

Minor

• Artifact-heavy decks mitigate life loss from noncreature sources.
• Deck struggles if denied card draw engines early.

Most Important Cards:

• Exquisite Blood (Combo cornerstone, enables infinite loops)
• Necropotence (Primary card advantage, fuels combos)
• Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (Mana amplification for finishers)
• Solphim, Mayhem Dominus (Damage doubler, accelerates win conditions)
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (Passive life drain, punishes draws)
• Underworld Dreams (Consistent damage trigger on draws)
• Torment of Hailfire (Scalable finisher)
• Sanguine Bond (Combo piece, direct life loss)
• Bloodletter of Aclazotz (Combo piece, damage doubler)
• Painful Quandary (Disruption and life drain)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten wins via combo or amplified triggers by turns 6-8, but relies on setup and lacks fast mana beyond Dark Ritual.

Resilience: 5/10

• Recursion (Whip of Erebos, Reanimate) and protection (Bolt Bend, Mithril Coat) offer recovery, but core enchantments are vulnerable and removal-heavy metas disrupt synergy.

Consistency: 7/10

• Strong card draw (Necropotence, Phyrexian Arena, Valgavoth triggers) and tutors (Grim Tutor, Gamble) reliably find key pieces.

Interaction: 6/10

• Targeted removal (Terminate, Infernal Grasp, Deadly Rollick) and board wipes (Damnation, Blasphemous Act) are solid, but stack interaction is limited to niche spells like Tibalt's Trickery.

Rating Justification:

This deck demonstrates focused synergy and potent combo finishes, capable of winning via attrition or infinite loops by turns 6-8. Its high consistency and damage amplification elevate it above casual builds, but reliance on vulnerable enchantments and slower setup compared to top-tier combos caps its speed. Resilience is moderate due to key card recursion but remains susceptible to targeted hate.

Power level: 5.5 - 6.0