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It's time to party with the Rakdos! Party at your own risk, they live by the YOLO code. I'll be going over the Rakdos and Black cards from Ravnica Allegiance today. I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard. For example, cards like Azorius Skyguard and Senate Griffin will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and saying, "This is just a Limited card" repeatedly gets old rather fast. Don't worry though, I will be covering all the rare and mythic cards in the set. So, if you like a certain rare or mythic, it will be mentioned in the review.
Keep in mind I'm rating all these cards for Standard playability. I may mention Modern/Legacy applications, but my goal is focused on Standard.
Each card will be listed by color/guild, then alphabetically by name.
Each card will given a rating of 1-5. If a card would receive a 0, meaning it will see no play in that format ever, its rating is left off the list.
Rating - Explanation - Standard - Examples
0 - Will never see play in this format (0 ratings are not listed).
1 - Unlikely to see play. (Light of the Legion)
2 - Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card. (Drowned Secrets)
3 - Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Wildgrowth Walker, Disdainful Stroke)
4 - Format staples. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (History of Benalia, Settle the Wreckage, Arclight Phoenix)
5 - If you're in these colors, you should almost assuredly be playing that card. (Teferi, Hero of Domanira, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Carnage Tyrant)
Let the festivities begin!
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4 - Bedevil is a great removal spell, it's nice to have something else like Vraska's Contempt. It is a bit restrictive to cast but it is just Hero's Downfall with upside in the decks that can play it. This card is a staple in the decks that are able to cast it. |
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2.5 - Captive Audience has a lot of powerful abilities, but it is just slow. Both in mana cost and as your opponent chooses what they are doing. It is nice that this cannot be targeted by Conclave Tribunal or Ixalan's Binding but Teferi is still a player. The best hope for this is going to be a grindy   or Mardu Deck. |
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3 - Solid threat with haste and turns on Spectacle when your creatures cannot get through anymore or you just want to play around Settle the Wreckage. Works very well with Gutterbones. |
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3.5 - A creature anthem with upside. Judith can deal one damage to any target, I missed that when I first read the card. This allows your 1/1 creatures to trade with creatures that have 3 toughness, that is a huge jump. The only problem with Judith deck is you will have to ask yourself if you are just playing a worse Mono-Red burn deck since both strategies are similar. |
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2 - A mini Searing Blood on a creature is solid. It just costs 4 mana and has a restrictive cost. I just do not think your aggressive Rakdos decks wants this and if it does you need to ask, "Is this really better than something like Rekindling Phoenix?" Probably not. |
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2 - Yogg-Saron is trying to make his way into MTG. Rakdos does make for some amazing spectator content, watching Rakdos being cast on Twitch and in videos is always going to be hilarious to watch for the spectator, so I do enjoy that aspect of the card. It is just a hard ability to control. The home I see for Rakdos would be a  control deck where you do not play many creatures and Rakdos is your threat that kills "half" your opponent's creatures. |
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3.5 - This is my sleeper card for Rakdos. It is just a better Phyrexian Arena if you build your deck correctly. The ability to ping off Planeswalkers and the fact that it can turn itself on while giving you reach is all amazing for just 3 mana. |
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2.5 - This gives you twelve 1-drops with Gutterbones and Fanatical Firebrand to turn on your Spectacle cards. You may only want eight but if you are looking for more, Footlight Fiend fits that bill well. |
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3 - Early Nameless Inversion is a fine removal spell, especially against cards like Adanto Vanguard. Then against control decks you can blow up Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin or cut them off from a color if they are a three color deck. |
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2 - Decent turn one removal spell while also being a Blightning later. It is overcosted but having both options is what makes split cards fantastic. |
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2 - This is a meme card if I've ever seen one. You will need to ramp into something first like a planeswalker or some sort of enchantment before you can play this if you want to play it main deck. Honestly the best home for this is most likely in the Sideboard to bring in against control decks, just make sure you can deal with 2/2 zombies. |
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3 - This spell is going to be played main deck and in sideboards. It exiles annoying creatures that are indestructible and things like Arclight Phoenix. For the entire turn that you cast Cry of the Carnarium creatures will be exiled, even creatures that died before Cry of the Carnarium. Cry of the Carnarium also turns of creatures that have abilities when they die like Rekinding Phoenix and creatures with Afterlife. It also stops Judith. |
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2.5 - A Thoughtseize you need to work for, but Thoughtseize has always been good in decks that can apply pressure. You won't be able to play it turn one or turn two without pressure, but I think that's an okay drawback for when the card is just Thoughtseize without life loss. |
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1 - You must work really hard for this Doom Blade and it only triggers when you pay life, not when you take damage. Standard is going to be very aggressive, if people can't play Arguel's Blood Fast, they definitely will not be able to play Font of Agonies. It's a terrible top deck to boot mid to late game. |
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3 - Did you know Gutterbones can block? Well it can! This card is great for spectacle, aggressive, or the deck that wants to sacrifice its creatures. |
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2 - Neat ability but overcosted and extremely fragile body. Maybe in the Sideboard of decks so you can bring it in against Green creature decks. This will allow your Lightning Bolts to kill things like Steel Leaf Champion. |
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2.5 - I thought Pestilent Spirit had a unique ability, but Priest of Forgotten Gods trumps it. It seems hard to set up and to build the deck where Priest of Forgotten Gods will be good but the payoff is huge. I'd keep my eye on this card. |
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4 - Woooof! This is the reason to play Rakdos aggro over Mono-Red aggro. Spawn of Mayhem is your payoff card. It is essentially a 3 mana 4/4 that starts hitting your opponent for five as early as turn four. All the while triggering spectacle and possibly even growing larger if your life total is low. This is the definition of power creep. |
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2.5 - The sacrifice/aristocrats deck really wants a Blood Artist type of card. Vindictive Vampire is no Blood Artist but it's the only option people have for that kind of deck. |
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2 - This buy a box promo looks fun but fragile for 6 mana. I do like that it doesn't die to Lightning Strike and that it is fun to play in a mill deck. I will try this in Chromatic Black as a way to stabilize against aggressive decks, but I feel like it is going to fall short. |
Top 5 Rakdos and Black Cards
We had a good number of cards tied for 5th place. Alongside Cry of the Carnarium we had Gutterbones, Fireblade Artist, and Bedeck // Bedazzle. Rakdos made out well. They got a lot of tools to do their party shenanigans. Make sure to tune in tomorrow where I will go over the Gruul and Red cards from Ravnica Allegiance.
As always, thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
