The rise of Esper back as the tier one deck of Standard made me decide on adjustments on certain decks. The first I’ve discussed was Red Green Monsters, and for this post, the spotlight will now be turned to Rakdos Aggro. First off, here is an updated decklist:

Rakdos Aggro by Mark Ian Alloso
Standard

Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
1 Rakdos Guildgate
9 Swamp
4 Mountain

Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Tormented Hero
4 Spike Jester
4 Pain Seer
3 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
4 Lifebane Zombie
3 Mogis’s Marauder

Spells
3 Dreadbore
3 Lightning Strike
2 Madcap Skills
4 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
3 Burning Earth
2 Doom Blade
2 Duress
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Slaughter Games
1 Ultimate Price

The list of creature choices was somewhat a crossbred of a typical Rakdos aggro deck and that of the recent Mono Black aggro build. I like that my creatures are not only aggressive but also gain me card advantage. Pain Seer and Lifebane Zombie do the major work for that purpose. The zombie together with the playset of Thoughtseize lets me check what threats my opponent holds and which I can plan my next plays.

I bought Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch back in the party as she can hammer through defenses in the late game and can win you games by herself. She does not have Flying or Intimidate but First Strike seems decent enough.

The sideboard plan features Burning Earth again as my trump card versus Esper decks. It might not even look enough, with Duress, Erebos and Slaughter Games already added in the list. The rest are for boarding versus the current aggro deck matchups in the metagame.

Here is what the sideboard in-and-outs would look like against the current Standard top decks. You will notice the variance in the cards that are boarded out as per the given Control matchup.

Versus Esper Control

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-3 Mogis’s Marauder
-1 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

+3 Burning Earth
+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games

Versus Mono Black Devotion/Orzhov Control

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-2 Mogis’s Marauder

+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games
+1 Ultimate Price

Versus Blue White Control

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-1 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
-2 Mogis’s Marauder

+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games
+2 Doom Blade

Versus Jund Monsters

-3 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills
-1 Tormented Hero

+3 Burning Earth
+2 Doom Blade
+1 Ultimate Price

Versus Red Green Monsters

-3 Lightning Strike
-1 Madcap Skills
-1 Tormented Hero

+2 Doom Blade
+2 Mizzium Mortars
+1 Ultimate Price

Versus Mono Blue/Azorius Devotion

-2 Madcap Skills
-3 Rakdos Cackler

+2 Doom Blade
+3 Mizzium Mortars

Versus Boros Burn

-3 Dreadbore
-1 Lightning Strike
-2 Madcap Skills

+2 Duress
+2 Erebos, God of the Dead
+2 Slaughter Games

Versus Orzhov Aggro

-2 Madcap Skills
-4 Spike Jester

+2 Doom Blade
+3 Mizzium Mortars
+1 Ultimate Price

I hope these sideboard plan help if ever you will pilot the decklist on your next FNM or any other Standard tournament. I also do hope that you Burning Earth those Esper net deckers lol.

I guess this will be a wrap on this deck update. Until the next post and thanks for reading.