Rakdos Sacrifice has been gaining popularity as a Commander archetype for some time and now it has an exciting new option for the Command Zone! Zhao, Ruthless Admiral is a Rakdos legend that pumps your creatures whenever you sacrifice a permanent. This Commander reminds me heavily of Judith, Scourge Diva, a legend focused on sacrificing with the upside of making your creatures larger. Zhao, however, can be a little more explosive. Sacrificing a couple of treasures can quickly mimic an Overrun effect for our team while not even putting a single spell on the stack! The other thing to remember is that you can sacrifice at instant speed most of the time making combat extremely treacherous for your opponents. Let's dive into this brand-new legend and bring about the rise of the Fire Nation.

Zhao's Fleet | Commander | Nigel Kurtz

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zhao, Ruthless Admiral

• Creatures (43)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 1 Boomer Scrapper
• 1 Breeches, Eager Pillager
• 1 Broadside Bombardiers
• 1 Captain Lannery Storm
• 1 Chittering Witch
• 1 Decadent Dragon
• 1 Elegy Acolyte
• 1 Evendo Brushrazer
• 1 Generous Plunderer
• 1 Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1 Goldhound
• 1 Goldlust Triad
• 1 Gravelighter
• 1 Grim Hireling
• 1 High-Society Hunter
• 1 Junkyard Genius
• 1 Kellogg, Dangerous Mind
• 1 Knuckles the Echidna
• 1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
• 1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
• 1 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
• 1 Loyal Apprentice
• 1 Nested Shambler
• 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1 Orochi Soul-Reaver
• 1 Professional Face-Breaker
• 1 Prosperous Bandit
• 1 Raven Eagle
• 1 Reckless Lackey
• 1 Redcap Gutter-Dweller
• 1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider
• 1 Ruthless Knave
• 1 Siege-Gang Commander
• 1 Siege-Gang Lieutenant
• 1 Sunset Strikemaster
• 1 Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender
• 1 Umbral Collar Zealot
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Voracious Fell Beast
• 1 Warren Soultrader
• 1 Woe Strider

• Spells (10)
• 1 Glimpse the Impossible
• 1 Indulge // Excess
• 1 Nahiri's Lithoforming
• 1 Seize the Spotlight
• 1 Song of Totentanz
• 1 Strike It Rich
• 1 Taste of Death
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Great Train Heist

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Blood Fountain
• 1 Executioner's Capsule
• 1 Fountainport Bell
• 1 Mishra's Research Desk
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1 Bitterblossom
• 1 Bitter Reunion
• 1 Descent into Avernus
• 1 Obsessive Pursuit

• Lands (35)
• 1 Blazemire Verge
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Midgar, City of Mako
• 11 Mountain
• 1 Shire Terrace
• 11 Swamp
• 1 Treasure Vault
• 1 Volatile Fault
• 1 Westvale Abbey

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Sacrifices to be Made

There are lots of ways to sacrifice permanents in Magic. There are plenty of free sacrifice outlets such as Viscera Seer, Woe Strider, and the brand-new Umbral Collar Zealot. All three of these cards are valuable pieces that allow you to sacrifice creatures whenever you need to. Having the flexibility and option to sacrifice creatures inside combat is extremely relevant with Zhao, Ruthless Admiral.

Treasure tokens are also extremely useful for a deck such as this. Rakdos has the most treasure generation out of any of the color combinations for Commander. Professional Face-Breaker, Knuckles the Echidna, and Grim Hireling are cards that will generate treasure tokens with a focus on combat. Goldlust Triad, Captain Lanery Storm, Breeches, Eager Pillager, and Prosperous Bandit create treasures during combat and also happen to benefit more from Zhao's pump effect.

Creatures that generate treasures and provide sacrifice effects are perfect for this deck, but you don't have to rely solely on creatures. Seize the Spotlight is a powerful spell that most of the time will be refunded instantly. If your opponents choose to give you control of a creature they control, you will have the opportunity to sacrifice it to one of your free sacrifice outlets. Great Train Heist, Deadly Dispute, and Big Score are the only three instants in this list, but they all generate some amount of treasure tokens.

Fountainport Bell will make sure you hit a land drop on your next turn and can be sacrificed for a card at any time. Mishra's Research Desk provides some card selection while being able to be sacrificed more than once with its unearth effect. Blood Fountain can bring creatures back into your hand that might die in combat, and generate some sacrifice fodder in the form of blood tokens. Bitter Reunion can be sacrificed to give all your creatures haste which is nothing to overlook, especially in this aggressive agro shell.

Nahiri's Lithoforming and Descent into Avernus will hopefully win you the game. Nahiri's Lithoforming is a huge splashy overrun thanks to your Commander. Descent into Avernus will deal damage to your opponents while also generating a consistent amount of treasure tokens. These two spells will hopefully win you the game if they resolve.

There are lots of ways to make sure that sacrifice trigger goes off, but now we should take a look at cards that flood the board with creatures we want to swing with.

Making an Army

The Fire Nation seems to have a never-ending supply of troops. You are looking to mimic this with making a never ending supply of creatures. Cards that create bursts of creature tokens or generate them consistently will help you close out the game when you sacrifice your permanents and Zhao boosts your whole team.

Siege-Gang Lieutenant and Loyal Apprentice are amazing consistent creature token generators. As long as you control your Commander, these will generate creatures during your turn and they have haste! Lord Skitter, Sewer King is a similar effect that also removes some cards in your opponent's graveyards. Bittlerblossom is a generically great card for a lot of different strategies, but shines even brighter in this deck.

Bonehoard Dracosaur is a decent flying threat that generates card draw, more creatures, and potentially some treasure tokens as well. Orochi Soul-Reaver is a value piece similar to Professional Face-Breaker that not a lot of people seem to play. I believe this card to be incredibly powerful and fits perfectly in a deck focused around combat and sacrifice. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin will eventually snowball you into a win if not dealt with in a number of turns. He is literally a one man army.

There are also some cards that create a small burst of creatures once. Siege-Gang Commander and Redcap Gutter-Dweller are great examples of token bursts that also happen to synergise with the sacrifice gameplan. Ghoulcaller Gisa is one of the best top end pieces for this build. It will create a massive board of zombies in no time. In a similar vein, Nested Shambler can act in a similar way thanks to Zhao's effect.

Taking the Victory

There are a couple of cards to help close out the game in this Fire Nation themed deck. Nahiri's Lithobreaking and Descent into Avernus were two spells that I mentioned earlier to help close the gap to victory, but there are a couple more. Warren Soultrader is a crazy little goblin. Being able to sacrifice a creature to generate a treasure that also sacrifices will generate a lot of Zhao triggers. Ruthless Knave is a very similar card that can draw cards with your treasures if you don't need them for mana. Junkyard Genius will give your entire team +1/+0 and menace if you sacrifice something to him. Knuckles the Echidna also technically can win the game. If you control 30 or more artifacts he just wins on his own. That isn't impossible in a list as focused as making treasure tokens as this one, but I would rely on the other win conditions above for victory.

That finishes up our look at Zhao, Ruthless Admiral. I think these brand new Uncommon Commanders from Avatar: the Last Airbender are incredibly powerful, so don't overlook them! I hope you enjoy the rich world of Avatar as it breaches into Magic soon!

See you on the battlefield!

-Nigel