TheSwarmer

I've a playset of stomping grounds, any combination of mana dorks tou can think of, any removal package you can think of as well as Obstinate Baloths and Goblin Dark-Dwellers. Not really cards that are going to cut into the price of the deck too much. Oh, and 2 Magus of the Moon. By all means not all of those are staples though.

The issue of cascading into mana ramp is indeed an issue, but my interest in Ponza is minimal without bloodbraid. That's why I was asking, and I'll be sure to look for answers in the primer. I'll be getting my moons so I thought to purchase the whole deck while I'm on it.

All that said, I hope someone will do the statistics for me as I really want to play Bloodbraid without paying full on aggro or breaking the bank. And while the nostalgia weighs a lot, money weighs more, and I am not willing to *weigh* down my deck with sub-par choices just yet.

Oh man I did not even thing of Command, beautiful. Prefect in fact. Yeah.

As well versed as the Rakdos colors are at killing creatures, Lightning Strike is terrible in modern.
Doom Blade, Victim of Night, Dreadbore, Go for the Throat are all better, even as all have drawbacks.
I do understand the desire for Pain Magnification synergy, but the reality is, as you put it, that they will recognize the discard aspects of your deck and dump their hand. 3 mana for one or two discards, even at instant speed is not what you'd call good. Not next to Funeral Charm anyways.

Paying 2 mana for having them discard a single card is quite bad in most cases, Wrench Mind is way better than Distress UNLESS you see a lot of artifacts running around.

Shrieking Affliction.... have you tested it? Because even in decks that play lands, dsicard and 6 removal pieces the card is sometimes a blank draw.

Hitting 5 mana with 20 lands seems tougher to do than a deck can bear.

Instead of goblins as measly 1/1s I'd opt for removal and boardclears to help in the early game. Anger of the Gods, Lightning Bolt. They deal with flyers and work around combat tricks.

Demigod is a card I spent a lot of time considering, but I concluded that wihout Jarad's orders the card is too heavy to run. But it is an avenue that might be worth exploring further.

Boardclears don't seem particularly good in the current metagame, and are far from synergistic with the rest of the deck. Which to be honest, the deck is not exactly good, Rakdos as a control shell does not have a lot to offer without Blood Moons and Liliana.

I'd probably just make a new deck instead of improving on this one, it really does seem draw dependent and lack luster.

I find it difficult to imagine finding someone who is more well versed in GR Ponza decks in modern, especially when I consider your budget(s) making for a much more focused approach and knowledge pool. I've a question; BLOODBRAID ELF? I am looking to build Ponza on about a 300$ budget, give or take, including Bloodbraid Elf as a playset. The issue, besides a severe lack of statistics on such a deck, I also know little about the different ratios of Moons and Rains and threats.
So thoughts? Lists? Maths? Anything on such a deck?

I am certain that was not meant as a compliment, but I take it as one. To answer the question, even as it likely did not want an answer; I try. You need not take it as an insult, in fact many people would not even recognize it in there.

I suppose people are too used to other sugarcoating advice in words that I deem pointless and the use of which I deem inefficient. Rudeness is rarely my intent but I often come across as blunt and crude.

From the cards included it was obvious that this was never an attempt at 8rack nor was it intended to be the best possible mixture of midrange and discard in black. Yet another obvious fact is the fact of the Miser cards being really, really bad and ineffective AND counterproductive in a discard deck, especially when you consider that even control decks usually hover around 4 or 5 cards in hand, you reach the conclusion of the cards really lacking any attractive quality.

Furthermore, I act not to make every deck competitive in its respective format. Rather, I simply point out imperfections, mistakes, objectively stupid decisions. I do not enforce my will upon you, I merely speak logic. Either the deck improves, or the creator simply wants it the way it is despite its now glaring flaws, or I am proven wrong. Either way a victory for me.

Traumatize is a peculiar card. Only good in a mill deck, yet only good as the first mill spell you cast in a game. You know what that means? That it's never good.

Thing is, reducing a hand size and making someone discard is REALLY counterproductive. What's the point of half your deck making his maximum hand size 4 when he plays 1 card a turn and you make him discard at least as much on every one of your turns. The math says, as everything always does, that Kamigawa, save for a few cards, sucks ass.

Other thing being that anything remotely aggressive will trample over this as if it were a marshmallow. Hand size reduction is very, very rarely good.

I am pretty sure that the deck description + the how to play + my first most comment go into enough detail. But it is a midrange deck, so you play it as such, the spin that this one has is monarchy and pestilence. Which make turn 4, and the setup it requires vital to success. Oftentimes you'll find that a turn 4 Sentinels or Pestilence can lead to a game loss due to your being too far behind. Likewise, not being bold enough to risk and slam those 4 drops can cost you the game.

Kinda, sorta present, only once or twice or day after I get back home when I am here.
And of course you can, with or without credit, even I just took 3 ideas and made 1 of my own out of the mix.

Depending on what you are up against. If you are playing a deck that is faster than you, that you know you can go over the top of, then you play not to lose, until you turn the corner and stomp over them due to your deck producing more value. You'd do this to Elves, Stompy, Delver, Mono White, Boros Monarch. In a lot of these matchups you can easily win by just using Pestilence.

The other side of the coin are decks that will go over you and produce more value than you can. In these games you either leverage the monarchy and actually beat them on value, or you try and play it fast, dealing enough damage in the early game to have a Pestilence finish them off in two fell swoops.

I would never have checked out a Shu Yun EDH deck if not for the name xD You got a like just for that.
That said, I think some really decent cards like Young Pyromancer or Etheral Armor are missing, the latter would need a bit more support, but you got the right colors for that

Hands down the best non-Bloodbriar list I have seen. Acknowledges the power of Rancor, the necessity of Tragic Slip, superiority of Bequeathal to any other form of card draw, whilst playing all the necessary support and payoff cards.
Beautiful.

Instead of spellbook I have to argue for Reliquary Tower. Plus congrats on making a deck not legal in any format,

This needs Sphere of Safety I think

While I love the odd inclusions of Rabblemaster or GDD, or Kalitas that Jund offers. I think that maindeck Liliana, the Last Hope and Chandra, Torch of Defiance are too often better.
But this is a metagame thing I suppose. Rabble spits in the face of planeswalkers in many metagames.

I can completely agree on everything except two things:
1. 3 Ob Nix seems heavy to me in a deck with no mana ramp, it feels too slow for modern, but I would go for it and see how it goes, the reason being that any draw spell that is not an instant or a creature is really slow in modern xD

2. The curse is always either amazing and close to game winning, especially if you can get it on turn 4, or it is the worst card in your deck. And seeing as how your deck already deals with creatures in a beautiful manner, I tend to believe that it would be on the useless side more often than not.