Standard: Rakdos Monument - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

The Lorwyn Eclipsed season has been a breath of fresh air for Standard. Since the Pro Tour results, new archetypes have emerged more frequently both in and out of Challenges.

Such is the case with Rakdos Monument, which found in Iron-Shield Elf a way to consistently trigger Monument to Endurance, letting players build a more aggressive deck around one of Standard's most powerful artifacts.

This is the list player Hamuda used to win the Standard Challenge on February 1st, with a 9-0 result.

The Rakdos variant of Monument to Endurance plays much closer to how players experienced the artifact last season, using free discard sources to generate value repeatedly each turn cycle while establishing board presence with hard-to-remove creatures.

This approach gives you three distinct paths to victory: classic beatdown paired with strong removal, recurring threats you discard from the graveyard, and Monument to Endurance triggers providing reach and card advantage.

Maindeck

Iron-Shield Elf was Lorwyn Eclipsed's main addition, giving the archetype exactly what it needed to return to the competitive radar, while Moonshadow has proven itself a reliable staple in this strategy when we have so many permanents and ways to put them in the graveyard consistently.

We typically want Moonshadow with power four or greater—ideal for surviving most combat while also triggering Flamewake Phoenix, one of the key payoffs for our discard outlets.

With a more aggressive variant, we can use Bloodthorn Flail as another recurring discard source during our turn. The equipment also helps reach the four-power threshold for Flamewake Phoenix.

Tersa Lightshatter provides two discards from a single effect and a body with immediate impact on the battlefield. The spell-reuse ability triggers easily in this list, though we shouldn't rely on it.

Flamewake Phoenix benefits from our strategy as a recurring threat we can discard and still generate positive value. It also serves as an immediate board impact threat with ease.

Bloodghast also returns from the graveyard when discarded or destroyed through Landfall. We can use Bloodthorn Flail with it to return Flamewake Phoenix to the battlefield on the same turn, giving us more consistency in keeping creatures on board.

Playing Monument to Endurance in this version isn't much different from how we played it in Izzet Lessons or Greasefang decks in Pioneer. The priority, in most cases, will be Draw, Damage, Treasure unless a specific trigger can win the game immediately, or if we need the extra mana for a more explosive play.

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun generates card advantage whenever we discard a card. Keep in mind he doesn't draw cards, so he doesn't fuel our outlets for keeping the deck's engine running.

Marauding Mako is another payoff for discards, but there are scenarios—especially in the late-game — where Cycling it away is a more reliable option than putting a one-drop on the board that does nothing on its own.

Bitter Triumph also contributes to our discard count while handling creatures and Planeswalkers unconditionally. Meanwhile, Requiting Hex, another important new card from Lorwyn Eclipsed, makes interaction much easier against Badgermole Cub decks, Dimir Midrange, and Mono Red Aggro.

The Rakdos color combination gained more consistency with the reprint of Blood Crypt, which now complements the dual land package. Restless Vents stands out in the mana base, working as both a threat and a discard source for Monument to Endurance.

Sideboard

With the Shock Land cycle now complete, players have been getting quite greedy with their mana bases. Just as happened in Pioneer, Sunspine Lynx exploits this trend to punish opponents in longer games—just remember we also run a considerable number of non-basics ourselves.

Case of the Crimson Pulse fuels Monument to Endurance on its own in longer games. It also provides extra resources each turn, letting us maintain the attrition war for longer.

Duress remains a classic Standard sideboard staple for delaying the opponent's game plan by a turn or ensuring we can resolve our key cards unimpeded.

Soul-Guide Lantern was already necessary against Sultai Reanimator and has become even more so now that players are using Superior Spider-Man with Doomsday Excruciator and other powerful cards. It also serves as a strong answer against Lessons.

Pyroclasm clears the board early against go-wide strategies, from Badgermole Cub / Nature's Rhythm lists to Mono Red Aggro. Since our creatures can gain indestructible, grow beyond two power, or return from the graveyard, we can leverage a sweeper to our advantage.

Shoot the Sheriff rounds out our spot removal package, especially against archetypes where we need to deal with specific threats that carry the game, or creatures outside Requiting Hex's range.

Dimir Excruciator

IN

OUT

Izzet Lessons

IN

OUT

Simic Rhythm

IN

OUT

Mono-Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Reanimator

IN

OUT

Jeskai Control

IN

OUT

Bant Airbending

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!