Overview:

This Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck focuses on leveraging life-loss triggers to cheat out high-cost Demons and Devils while applying constant pressure. The primary win conditions involve overwhelming combat damage from discounted threats and incremental life drain, supported by planeswalker value engines and occasional alt-win enablers like Liliana's Contract. While lacking infinite combos, it utilizes cost reduction (Heartless Summoning, Bontu's Monument) and damage amplifiers (Furnace of Rath) to accelerate its game plan.

Primer:

Core Strategy:

1. Early Damage Setup: Use cards like Sin Prodder, Perforating Artist, and Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos to enable Rakdos' cost reduction by T3-4.
2. Threat Flood: Deploy discounted Demons (Archfiend of Despair, Balor) and recursive threats (Blood Speaker loop) to pressure life totals.
3. Value Engines: Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath and Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire provide card advantage/tutoring to maintain momentum.
4. Alt-Wins: Liliana's Contract serves as a backup wincon with sufficient Demon diversity. Exsanguinate can close games with accumulated mana.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 1-2 early damage sources (e.g., Vexing Devil, Rain of Gore).
• Ensure at least 3 lands with black/red sources.
• Prioritize T2-3 enablers over high-cost Demons.

Key Tips:

• Sequence life-loss effects before casting Rakdos to maximize discounts.
• Use Dream Devourer to foretell high-cost Demons for later cheating.
• Protect critical cost reducers (Heartless Summoning) with Undying Evil.

Avoid Traps:

• Overcommitting to board before establishing damage engines.
• Holding Rakdos without guaranteed cast triggers.
• Relying solely on Liliana's Contract without redundancy.

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Commander dependency (3+ removals cripples cost reduction)
• Limited protection against board wipes
• No infinite combos/instant-speed wins

Moderate:

• Slow recovery from stax (e.g., Archon of Emeria)
• Vulnerable to life-gain strategies pre-Rain of Gore

Minor:

• Adequate artifact/enchantment removal (Feed the Swarm, Abrade)

Most Important Cards:

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Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can deploy 6+ mana Demons by T4-5 with optimal draws, but lacks T3 kills. Ad Nauseam provides late-game burst potential.

Resilience: 4/10

• Fragile to commander removal and wraths. Limited recursion (Victimize, Necromancy) and no free protection spells.

Consistency: 5/10

• Moderate tutor density (Varragoth, Wishclaw Talisman) and card draw (Sign in Blood), but relies on top-decks for key pieces.

Interaction: 5/10

• Spot removal (Terminate, Bedevil) and board wipes (Black Sun's Zenith), but lacks counterspells and struggles against resolved enchantments.

Rating Justification:

This deck sits between "Focused Casual" (5.0) and "Optimized Casual" (5.5) on the rubric. It has a clear game plan with synergistic cost reduction but lacks the redundancy, speed, and protection of higher-tier decks. The T8-10 win benchmark aligns with needing 1-2 combat phases with discounted Demons but falters against early interaction.

Power level: 4.5 - 5.0