morgoth424

i think the lightning axe just rocks against a creature heavy meta, it's always relevant and kills goyfs almost as well as abrupt decay. also it fills your gy with creats and discards unwanted lands.

faithless looting is just one of many great turn one games, and also it allows for an oppurtunity for MULTIPLE DREDGES that is hugely important imagine you play looting, dredge on the first draw, discard the same stinkweed imp, and flashback it for even more insane dredge. it's really one of the best cards in the deck.

i considered dregscape zombie, but it's too weak, i'd rather be unearthing extractor demons or hardcasting bloodghasts. i run enough zombies to turn crawler on, i like to save lotleth troll till late for that express purpose, because its probably the worst card to have in your gy besides BoP. also, if you land a troll, it's basically impossible to get rid of outside of path to exile/terminus.

diabolic intent offers a quick and easy way to get mortal kombat into your hand, seeing as you have so many tasty creatures to sacrifice :)

what do you mean?

i can see you didnt even read what i wrote in the discussion section. please read it and come talk to me. i am not trying to argue here- i just dont understand what you are saying. dimir is better? your point still stands? what is your point?? i want to make a monoblue deck centered around jin gitaxias. i still dont understand what you are talking about.

i'm not sure if i follow. arcanis is good yes, but he is not my primary source of card draw (also if he dies, which isnt often cause of his bounce effect, i always have riptide laboratory). blue really has never been the source of reliable card draw (for that i direct you to black, e.g. greed, phyrexian arena, necropotence, etc.), but of large bursts of card advantage. i have fact or fiction, gush, brainstorm (which can be imprinted on isochron scepter), consecrated sphinx, future sight, blue sun's zenith, temple bell, heck, i even have an arena effect with staff of nin, plenty of tutor effects and buyback cards. if that is not card advantage i dont know what is. also, to your point on commanders that synergize with what i want to do, i'm really just trying to make a jin-gitaxias edh deck, period. of course i get a target over my head when i cast him, but by that point i'm winning anyway and i can protect him cause if they havent dealt with him by my endstep, guess what, i have 7 cards in my hand to protect him. mind over matter first came to mind (no pun intended) cause of the awesome card advantage jin gives me, and when i have all my opponents with nothing in their hand and only what they have on the board, its game over cause i just lock them down with MoM. azami is a good idea, but i dont think i run enough wizards to make too much good use out of her.

ball lightning is a great card, i am very well aware of the tempo boost you can get from it, but it seems like a hard card to cast consistently, i'd recommend hellspark elemental over him if you really like the idea of an out of nowhere huge tempo gain, partially cause it has a great flashback cost. ash zealot is also a good card, dont get me wrong, but i never liked it just because i feel the 3 power on the spike jester and hellspark elementals are more relevent than firststrike in a deck like this. anyway, why would any rakdos player care about blocking lol? also rift bolt is a great card in its own right, but lightning bolt plain outclasses it. but it does have some of the same synergies seal of fire has with rakdos and cryptborn horror, so it seems like a good idea! turn one rift bolt is my favorite play in legacy burn :)

lyzolda is great because she adds much needed card advantage to the deck, and can help against removal. i've had many a game where i attack with her and sacrifice her for extra damage and the card draw. also, master of cruelties is there as tech against life-gain decks. i originally played havoc festival, but that was usually too much mana or came too late. master is great because it not only has a hefty life swing, but serves as a great blocker and can combo with rixmaadi guildmage for the win. the dying wish combo does sound interesting though, it might have a place in the deck i definitely will try it out, but besides flailers and lyzolda, i dont have a really consistent way to use it proactively. it does seem like good rattlesnake though against removal. thanks for commenting!

hey, i love rakdos, and i love the fact you chose to build around his ability, i've never really used it to the extent that i could in my decks. also, great card choices, browbeat into rakdos would be crushing, as is sign in blood, although i really think that three copies of toil//trouble would serve you a lot better. you can draw with toil whenever you want and you can turn it into a browbeat with trouble when you need the damage, and entwining it on an opponent is evil especially after a sphinx's revelation. also, i am puzzled by the ball lightnings and ash zealots. are they just there for the hasty damage? if so, i would think something like spike jester or exava would serve you better, since you got guys running around with +1/+1 counters anyway, those cacklers wont be dead draws ;) my last suggestion is taking out the lightning bolts (yes, i know, heresy) and putting in some seal of fires. they are AMAZING in an aggro deck as they take the spot of the one drop and can be sacrificed for a free shock at instant speed. imagine, on the curve, casting rakdos lord of riots turn 4, or craking two of them to cast a 4/4 cryptborn horror on turn three. yes, its that good, and its not even counting any attacking creatures you got. and did i say its FREE?

anyway, if you wanna take a look at my deck (i've had it since original ravnica) i think you might like some of the ideas, especially fists of the demigod since it makes any BR creature a major threat. http://www.mtgvault.com/morgoth424/decks/unleash-the-rakdos-fury/
please leave a comment on it yourself if you feel so inclined, i'm always willing to listen to the advice of a fellow rakdos mage!

yes, that is the intention

in a mirror match its all about being the controlling deck. keep his dragons from overwhelming you with speed bumps like ajani vengeant (works very well with lands, and hey, free helix) and destroying his inevitable artifact acceleration, cause if he resolves a kaalia before you and sticks it he will win. targeting exile like StP and PtE are your best friends here. and of course, baneslayer is a great rattlesnake, especially since its not that hard to hard-cast it. thats why i like some early game dragons like archwing dragon or some card advantage engines like blood gift demon and phyrexian arena.

i like all the graveyard recursion, but usually i find it unnecessary in a kaalia deck cause you should be slinging dragons and demons from your hand too much to care about which of your creatures get killed. i do like the amulet of vigor, combos well with bounce lands and guildgates, but at the same time 43 land is a bit steep. i always keep my lands in my edh decks around 36-38 so i can fit as much goodstuff in my decks as possible. reforge the soul is a very interesting idea in a kaalia deck to reload your hand with angels, i like that. but a couple of your other choices puzzle me. if you are worried about attracting aggro, play some rattlesnakes like ghostly prison or prison term, and not cards like nevermore and soul link. also, you need more utility against problem permanents like the random o-ring or humility that can ruin your day. besides that, seems like a normal kaalia list. +1

thanks for commenting! i'm glad you find my list interesting, i find most kaalia decks tend to blend together with the same cards, so i tried to come up with some different options. Oblivion ring i find is a great catch all for problem permanents, so it's always useful whenever i draw it, especially if everyone has already wasted their enchant removal.

haha, the only other goat card is trading post, used to have it, not that good imo. a lot better on paper. secondly, maw of the obzedat was an idea, but zealous persecution is the same thing basically and acts as removal. thirdly, i like my goats, not touching them lol. thanks for your comment though :)

good point. the axebane guardians do a lot of work in this deck

the more gimmicky the deck the more it needs to be on point with the curve in my experience. other goodstuffs decks can roll with it cause of their inherent card advantage, but you're playing with walls mate. consistency will win you more games than your gameplan unless elite arcanist is just so mindblowingly broken that it doesnt matter.

ooo that mana curve got thrown off a bit though :/

in that case, would rather have oppurtunity than sylvan primordial. that pure card advantage is king

i think murmuring phantasm could come out for wall of frost as an even bigger roadblock with more utility. also, why play divination when forbidden alchemy is standard? either way, great deck, seems fun +1

vexing devil is dead draw lategame. early he is alright but he suffers from diminishing returns especially since they can just kill him with a removal spell.

thank you :)