Legacy: Rakdos Aggro - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

Greetings, dear Legacy friends! Today, we'll talk about a deck that takes advantage of one of Lost Caverns of Ixalan's "sleeper" cards: Stalactite Stalker! But, Eltinho, what the hell is a sleeper card?

We call sleeper cards, the cards that are "slept on" after the first wave of new set reviews is published, but somehow they surprise us and gain more value and popularity later on. Some even become the most important cards in their set! We have a few examples of sleeper cards with Cursed Scroll, Rishadan Port and, maybe the most famous of all, Tarmogoyf. Sleeper cards are cards that didn't have a role of their own at a first glance; cards that became better because of interactions with cards that were released later on, such as Flash, an obscure instant from Mirage which became a powerhouse in Legacy after Protean Hulk came along, aren't what we call Sleeper.

But our sleeper card right now, Ixalan's new black Goblin, offers us an evasive threat that grows quickly and easily in the decks that include it, be it through Fetch Lands, Troll of Khazad-dûm, or artifacts you can sacrifice. The main decks that have used this card lately are Dimir Shadow, Dimir Scam, Grixis Delver, and today's theme - Rakdos Scam!

What stood out the most to me in this archetype were the two Brazilian players who are currently League Trophy leaders in Magic Online this season, faustosouza and GuiBonella, which used this deck to get 5-0s in Leagues. They've kept the base from Dimir Scam - Grief, Troll of Khazad-dûm and Reanimate - but they also chose to add some aggression by swapping Blue for Red and adding Dragon's Rage Channeler, Lightning Bolt and Molten Collapse.

They also added to this base Stalactite Stalker and Dauthi Voidwalker, which has a particular synergy with discard strategies. The omnipresent Orcish Bowmasters tend to pop up in the main deck, like in the list we presented in this article, or in the sideboard. Animate Dead complements Reanimate both as an option to cheat out Grief or Troll of Khazad-dûm in game and as an option to fish out a creature that your opponent killed or discarded.

Snuff Out and Thoughtseize added redundancy to this deck, and, finally, Lotus Petal is the main difference if we compare this list to the Dimir list because it allows us even more explosive openings, such as playing a Reanimated Troll on turn 1, besides having synergy with our 1-drops.

Other cards that showed up as options for the main deck were Seal of Fire, Sheoldred's Edict, Kolaghan's Command, Bloodbraid Marauder, Fury and Mishra's Bauble.

As we can't access Brainstorm or Ponder, knowing which mulligan to keep is more important while playing this deck than the Dimir version. We need this hand to already have some action to play on turn 1, and we need it to be independent of our topdeck afterward. Grief is a significantly useful card to decide our game plan with the options we have available.

Examples of starting hands:

This hand is a bit complicated, but I would keep it because a Grief (exiling Molten Collapse) will open up the way for you: if you're facing a Wasteland deck, tap and sacrifice Polluted Delta to look for a Swamp, and you'll find the other land with the Troll to play the Orc on 2. If the path is free for you, Delta will already look for Badlands to play Dragon's Rage Channeler and, on turn 2, you can cycle the Troll to find another dual land and play the second Channeler.

Verdict: Keep.

Grief (exiling the Goblin), Wasteland (to guarantee Badlands on the next turn), Lotus Petal, Animate Dead. It is the "Scam starting hand" this deck wants.

Verdict: Keep.

This hand isn't viable and should be returned if your removals aren't very efficient against the decks that you're facing. But, against other decks (or against unknown decks), you have a Stalactite Stalker, which will already grow on turn 1, and you already have fuel to grow it on turn 2 too. You'll also have disruption through Wasteland and removals too.

Verdict: Careful keep.

This hand is a trap. Everything seems great: you have Dragon's Rage Channeler with Grief as backup and Wasteland to delay the opponent and... nothing else. There's nothing to activate Dragon's Rage Channeler's triggered ability, and you have 4 lands for a deck that wants more actions.

Verdict: Mulligan, but it looks deceptively like a good hand.

The first section regarding the sideboard we built is relatively straightforward: we have Faerie Macabre to play against graveyards, Null Rod against artifacts, and Blasts (Pyroblast/Red Elemental Blast) to deal with those problematic blue spells.

The card that most stood out to me in this sideboard for a while was a forgotten instant from a cycle in which Force of Negation and Force of Vigor are constantly present in Legacy: Force of Despair came along as an answer that costs zero to deal with the new threat in this format - Goblin Stompy. The Muxus, Goblin Grandee lists boosted with _____ Goblin have achieved success in this format, particularly in Magic Online, and being able to deal with a lethal board attacking you on turn 2 or 3 became an incredibly valuable commodity.

Closing this sideboard, Plague Engineer is useful both as a hybrid removal against creatures with 1 toughness and as an answer against typal decks. Finally, Blood Moon is still a true threat against the several multicolor control decks and Dark Depths or Urza's Saga decks. Keep in mind that Troll of Khazad-dûm is useful to find your basic Swamps.

Grixis / Temur / 4C Delver

Against these decks, you have enough removals to deal both with small threats and the big threat that is Murktide Regent. Orcish Bowmasters is a big problem for their cantrips, but the Orcs that come from their side don't interfere with your plan.

Post-side, the most inefficient cards will open the way for you to add the Blasts and Blood Moon - if they resolve, they basically end their game plan.

In:

Out:

Reanimator

If there's a deck that wouldn't like to face our Rakdos Aggro in this format, that deck is Reanimator. Not only can you use their same tools to steal their Reanimation targets, you also have access to Dauthi Voidwalker, which is practically a pre-sideboard card against graveyard decks.

Molten Collapse is useful as an escape valve to deal against some creature that goes through your defenses. Post-side, you'll only tighten your grip over their strategy even more.

Against lists with Blue:

In:

Out:

Against lists without Blue:

In:

Out:

Boros Initiative

Trolls and Goblins are great to take control of the Initiative and Wasteland can delay them significantly. As per my understanding as a Boros player, this is a relatively tough opponent.

Orcs don't do much in this match, and that is why I recommend you remove them to add more removals. Force of Despair, in particular, is quite cruel against Forth Eorlingas!! (I should know, I got hit with it).

In:

Out:

Beanstalk Control

The plan will be to take down their hand and carry the game with one creature alone, preferably a Troll, to get ahead of them on time. If you stumble, they have enough mechanisms to get some gas back and take you out of the game.

Post-side, most of your removals don't align with their threats, and that's why they'll come out and our Blasts and Blood Moons will come in. Depending on their build, you'll remove more Bolts instead of Collapses.

In:

Out:

Goblin Stompy

If the game against Reanimator is great for you, in this match you're disadvantaged. You'll try to discard their ways of placing a Muxus, Goblin Grandee in play quickly and Lightning Bolt or Snuff Out are ways of killing _____ Goblin as an answer to its triggered ability, which prevents them from creating outrageous amounts of mana.

Even still, Goblin Matron and Goblin Ringleader push our backs against the wall fast, and it isn't difficult for them to create a horde of Goblins, even though it is a bit tiresome. Force of Despair is there particularly because of this deck.

In:

Out:

It is undeniable that Troll of Khazad-dûm created a whole branch of new archetypes in Legacy by pushing Reanimate out of closed-off Reanimation decks and placing Grief among the best cards in this format.

Rakdos Scam is already one of the strongest decks in modern, and its Legacy version shows a lot of potential, considering it created another home for another great Goblin.

See you next time!