RTR #1 - Easy rakdos

  Pack 1 pick 1:


Cards I'm considering: Lobber Crew, Wild Beastmaster




This pack kinda sucks in terms of power level. Other interesting cards besides the two I mentioned are Common Bond (which is very good) and Azorius Charm, which is probably better than I think it is (but I still think it's not that good). The reason I'm not considering them is because I don't really feel like they're a good foundation for a deck. Beastmaster and Lobster Crew, on the other hand, are decent cards to build around.

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  Pack 1 pick 2:


Cards I'm considering: Stab Wound, Call of the Conclave

Both of these cards are excellent. Stab Wound is the best common in my opinion, and Call of the Conclave might be the best uncommon (it's definitely in the top 5). Call doesn't really go with Lobber Crew, but it's so strong and such a key component of the populate deck that I decide to take it over Stab Wound. I'm not sure how good this pick was. It might have just been bad all around to not take Stab.

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  Pack 1 pick 3:


Cards I'm considering:  Hellhole Flailer, Centaur's Herald

The Flailer is a premium uncommon, especially in the Rakdos deck. The populate deck needs a ton of early token makers, so the Herald is one of the premium green commons and I generally don't feel too bad about taking it as early as this. I'm not sure if other people are caught up to the Herald yet though, so it's not as strong of a signal as the Flailer is. I definitely wish I had taken that stab wound, since it looks like I'll be drafting Rakdos.

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  Pack 1 pick 4:


Cards I'm considering:  Spawn of Rix Maadi, Ogre Jailbreaker

Fortunately, the best card for the populate deck in this pack is Chorus of Might, which is kind of bleh. Spawn is way better than he looks, because he is absolutely enormous. Jailbreaker is very good too, but it's hard to get a lot of gates to make him a reliable attacker, especially if you're shooting for a 2 color Rakdos deck. He's best in a G/B/x deck with lots of Gatecreeper Vines.

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  Pack 1 pick 5:


Cards I'm considering: Frostburn Weird, Assassin's Strike

 Lots of good cards in this pack for R/B. The best two are the Strike and the Weird. Frostburn Weird is one of the premier commons in the set, even though he's a little tough to cast in the Rakdos deck. By himself, he can put a lot of pressure, but he's almost unstoppable with pumps like Deviant Glee and Pursuit of Flight.

The Strike is really strong removal and I hate to pass it, but right now I'm more interested in building a solid creature base.

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  Pack 1 pick 6:


Cards I'm considering:  Traitorous Instinct, Explosive Impact

Both of these cards are fine in my deck but not excellent. I decided to go with the impact because it can be both strong removal and a good finisher, vs. the instinct which is most of the time just a strong finisher (and easier to pick up later anyway).

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  Pack 1 pick 7:


Cards I'm considering: Rakdos Guildgate

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  Pack 1 pick 8:


Cards I'm considering: Dead Reveler, Assassin's Strike

Perilous Shadow and Cobblebrute are also good dudes, but the best two cards in the pack for my aggro R/B deck are the reveler and the strike. Rakdos Charm kinda sucks.

As far as Dead Reveler vs. Assassin's Strike, it's much harder to pass the strike for Dead Reveler, but I still feel like I need more good creatures (and especially good 3 drops like the Reveler) before taking expensive spells.

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  Pack 1 pick 9:


Cards I'm considering: Rakdos Shred-Freak

Shred-Freak is a way better 2 drop than Swindler (and I don't like him that much either). Sewer Shambler is fine, but he's the Tavern Swindler of 3 drops. I'd only prioritize him if I felt like black was very deep in the draft and I wanted to get an edge on swamp mirrors.

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  Pack 1 pick 10:


Cards I'm considering: Rakdos Shred-Freak

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  Pack 1 pick 13:


Cards I'm considering: Deviant Glee

This card is much better than it looks. 4 toughness is a recurring theme in this format and this card gives decks like R/B aggro a way to punch through those tough guys.

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  Pack 2 pick 1:


Cards I'm considering: Launch Party, Frostburn Weird

Korozda Guildmage is excellent but I'm not interested in splashing. Launch Party is removal, but it's crappy removal, and Frostburn Weird is a super strong 2 drop. Easy decision.

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  Pack 2 pick 2:


Cards I'm considering: ugh

Zero cards for my deck unless I plan on splashing (which I don't) so I just cack the Detention Sphere.

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  Pack 2 pick 3:


Cards I'm considering: Rakdos Cackler, Annihilating Fire

I got excited because I saw the cackler first and I love taking him for aggro R/B decks, but when I saw the fire it was night-night.

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  Pack 2 pick 4:


Cards I'm considering: Slum Reaper

I don't love this card but it's the only card I'll reasonably play since I think Electrickery is a sideboard card at best.

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  Pack 2 pick 5:


Cards I'm considering: Splatter Thug, Dead Reveler

I like the Locust too but I'm building an aggro deck and I need a 3 drop. I have no clue which one is actually better so I just went with the one that I didn't already have. I'd love some input on this.

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  Pack 2 pick 6:


 Cards I'm considering: Spawn of Rix Maadi, Rogue's Passage

Spawn is good and I'm generally happy to have two, but I feel like this is a good spot to try out Rogue's Passage. It can be good in my deck if I need some way to punch through defenses in the late game, and my colors aren't too demanding (I only need lots of red, for the two Weirds).

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  Pack 2 pick 7:


Cards I'm considering: Cobblebrute

This guy is way better than he looks.

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  Pack 2 pick 8:


Cards I'm considering: Grim Roustabout

Surprised to see Syncopate and Knightly Valor still in the pack. I like both of those cards a lot.

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  Pack 2 pick 9:


Cards I'm considering: Grim Roustabout, Tenement Crasher

Roustabout is good but my 2 drops are good enough already, and Tenement Crasher is another card who's way better than he looks. I'm happy to have one to occupy the top of my curve.

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  Pack 2 pick 10:



GO HARD OR GO HOME BACK TO YOUR RESIDENCE

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  Pack 3 pick 1:


Cards I'm considering: Gore-House Chainwalker, Golgari Longlegs

Longlegs is yet another guy who's deceptively strong, but I'm concerned about the double black in my 2x Frostburn Weird deck, and the Chainwalker is one of the better 2 drops for this deck anyway.

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  Pack 3 pick 2:


Cards I'm considering: Lobber Crew, Cryptborn Horror

I'd be willing to take Transguild Promenade here if I were 3 colors, or even had a measurable splash. As is, it comes down to the 0/4, who I like a lot even in this deck, and the rare, and I have no idea how good the rare is. I guess it could be strong but I'd rather not risk it and go for the safe pick. Is that guy good?

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  Pack 3 pick 3:


Cards I'm considering: Ultimate Price

Easy pick. This is a great removal card. The only other card I kind of want is Lobber Crew and I don't need a third one.

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  Pack 3 pick 4:


Cards I'm considering: Ultimate Price

Wow! Now that my deck has lots of nice removal I think it could be excellent.

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  Pack 3 pick 5:


Cards I'm considering: Thrill-Kill Assassin

I love this card. The only other reasonable card is Ogre Jailbreaker and I don't have enough gates to make him work.

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  Pack 3 pick 6:


Cards I'm considering: Assassin's Strike, Augur Spree

I got a little excited because I thought I was finally gonna get to take an Assassin's Strike, but the Augur Spree is just a better removal card in R/B I think.

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  Pack 3 pick 7:


Cards I'm considering: Daggerdrome Imp

Underwhelming pack. The 3/1 guy sucks. I probably won't play any of these, but I'll take the imp just in case.

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  Pack 3 pick 8:


Cards I'm considering: Launch Party

I'm not sure what to make of Dark Revenant. For now he's in that class of cards that I take only if there's nothing else in the pack. I can see myself playing a Launch Party in my deck so I decide not to cut that criminally late Centaur Healer.

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  Pack 3 pick 9:


Cards I'm considering: Guttersnipe

Slug is a reasonable sideboard card at times but since I picked up those two Ultimate Prices, I can see Guttersnipe maybe making it in.

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  Pack 3 pick 10:


Cards I'm considering: Traitorous Instinct

I'm pretty happy to have one of these. I'll probably play it.

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I think this deck is pretty good. It would have been much better with that Stab Wound, but as is I think this is a good example of an aggressive Rakdos deck.

R1

Game 1
I curved out with Roustabout, the 4/3 and Splatter Thug while he got stuck on a mountain and a swamp and died very quickly.

Game 2
It turns out he was more of a U/R deck, because he drew islands and mountains this game. He mounted a solid defense of doorkeeper and hover barrier, which was hard for me to break through until I drew Ultimate Price. After that, it was easy for me to break through with my giant men thanks to Deviant Glee.

R2

Game 1
My opponent had a U/W deck. I only had two creatures and my opponent defended against them with a Tower Drake and a bunch of plains, and defended the Tower Drake with a Dispel. Eventually I found more removal and set up a nice Slum Reaper / Traitorous Instinct combo to get a huge advantage on him, even through his Blustersquall. The game was a sweat towards the end because he peeled a single forest and back to back Centaur Healers, but they couldn't stop my 3/4 Dead Reveler and 3/2 Chainwalker.

Game 2
No action from the opponent in the first few turns, which was fine for him because all I could muster was a Lobber Crew. He found a New Prahv Guildmage and snuck some damage in, but I unleashed a Spawn of Rix Maadi and started pounding. He took some damage, flashed in a 3/4 flying drake, bounced my 6/4 with Voidwielder and went aggro, but I was able to kill him with Annihilating Fire, Traitorous Instinct and one more lob from the crew after he tapped out.

R3

Game 1
My opponent has a G/W deck. His draw wasn't that great. he only drew 6 spells and the best one was Golgari Decoy, which was no match for my draw which had 3 dudes and 3 removals.

Game 2
I had an OK draw, but got brick walled by Armory Guard with Knightly Valor on it. Knightly Valor is way way better than it looks. I had two unleash guys and couldn't really stand up to his army of dudes (which later included the 5/5 scavenge rare for 2GG).

Game 3
I opened with Gore House Chainwalker and Rakdos Flailer vs. his nothing. I misclicked and didn't attack with the flailer on turn 4, which ended up being insane because I got to fade his Avenging Arrow (which killed my 3/2), and his turn 4 Eyes in the Skies couldn't trade with my 4/3. He had more birds and a Knightly Valor, but I had Tenement Crasher, Traitorous Instinct and Augur Spree which was good enough.

I won the draft and I only lost one game. Not bad! I liked every card in my deck. I never drew Rogue's Passage, which is a card I've been wanting to try. I haven't played with it yet, only against it, where it has been very good.