This deck originally started as jund and after playing decided it was better suited in rakdos.

My concern with surge is that it isn't a require to win but it is amazing if it does get on the table. There are some games though where it sits in my hand while I cast other cards or revive something. This is the reason I am currently running it as a singleton.

If you look at my post edit before your last post here, you will see I have cut 1 blasting station. I felt the same.. often times when I drew one I drew another which isn't good in duplicates. I think two is probably a better option here overall.

Banefire was here precisely for creature removal or to the face options. I like the versatility of it. I currently have it as a singleton while I test the edits I made in the post before yours.

The rockslides just never do anything for me in my play testing generallly because they are removed rapidly. Considering that most opponents don't throw removal at my other creatures here, there are surely to be removed. I do see the potential here with all the dying going on but I just don't like paying 3 mana for a 1/1. Maybe ONE DAY I may bring them here but I have never been thrilled with them in the normal steal/sac builds and feel they probably are less needed here.

I really feel this is a great home for the quests as things die A LOT in this build so getting the 5/5 token in play is virtually NEVER an issue.

I am finding a lot of enjoyment in tweaking out this build. It probably wont be a TOP TIER build, but it has a lot of potential and am happy with the win rate as of yet.

I do feel you might be right in dropping a bomber potentially. I don't know if I feel 4 are truly needed, but for now I will be keeping them as they are.

I do feel cutting a Station and 1-2 Bombers would be wise. You could then either put in more sac outlets, or splash another colour.

Thorn-Thrash Viashino isn't a bad card here. It's a sac outlet and you can still get value from it even if you don't draw any Green mana (or just use Shardlands as a source) but if you do, Trample is very hard to deal with, and as it will always enter as a big card, it does limit what can remove it. If they can't (topdecking for example) it could easily kill the next turn. Mycoloth is obviously absurdly good, and one of the best cards in the game. It's also nuts with Warstorm. Kresh is great too, but has the same drawbacks as Rockslides, so if you aren't sold on them, you won't be on him.

Otherwise Chasm Skulkers are very, very, very good with Blasting Station as if you change the settings and turn auto resolution off, you can sac every Squid the turn they enter.

My advice would be to cut some of the fat and return to Jund!

-2 Bombers
-1 Blasting Station
-1 Quest for the Gravelord (or other card)

+2 Mycoloth
+2 Thorn-Thrash Viashino

In regards to Rockslides, I agree, they aren't fantastic in sac/steal decks as they can be too slow to grow, but you're in a pure sac deck, where I feel they are exceptional. I run a Blasting Station deck in Izzet colours (using Skulkers, and with Jalira as my alt outlet), and he's an MVP there. I'd strongly urge you to at least give them a try.

So to be a little cheeky here, your wording implies there is a circumstance in which it does work (or would be considered better). What case is that?

The case I'm thinking of is cards that are throw away or recur. Here I'm only suggesting it solely as a Lightning Bolt on top of unearth targets (primarily) and that it 'can' synergize with other cards in Hakeem's list. It's also why I was suggesting Fling.

Even if it's just cast on Hellspark Elemental or a Viscera Dragger, it's still 6 haste dmg output in an aggro deck. Heck you could hard cast a Viscera, add the Appetite to it for a swing, sac it the next turn and then unearth. Do the same sort of thing on a Bloodghast when their life total is 10 or less. Lets even go to Magic Christmas land where we T1 Rakdos Guildgate, T2 Tormented Hero and Swamp or another Guildgate, T3 Demonic Appetite x2 and T4 Fling on upkeep.

I'm not defending the card or saying it's 'good', just trying to think of new angles and ways to use cards in the pool that don't normally see play.

elk

I agree, and if you also has Furor then I'd say consider it. But otherwise, if you have access to Red (and a 1 mana p/t boosting Aura) there's virtually no reason to. I'd rather have a Shock that can recast for free next turn, and every turn after, than a Lightning Bolt, to carry the analogy further.

The rare circumstances are stuff like being able to kill them with that 1 extra damage. But then why not just use Skullcrack, unless your curve is super tight? You're essentially using it to push through damage, in a deck that also contains Red and therefore has many more efficient ways of doing so.

It's known to be a bad card in general, with only a narrow upside of being a (weak) sac enabler, but we have plenty of better sac enablers in the game, so its use is very limited, especially in Red. If this was a Dimir or Mono deck, then it's a different conversation, but even then, it's of minimal use.

A lot happened while I was asleep, but it's nice to see this thread finally getting some love. I played five games with my list last night and went 3-2, which is okay but not great. Sometimes I drew great and curved out beautifully while in others I just fell flat on my face with bad draws (not RNG but suboptimal deck).

One thing I can say with absolute certainty is that Steve is right about the Bombers; I'm sure they're a fine utility card for a Devour deck but for aggro they're just waaay too slow. I put them in there because "Unearth as virtual cards" was my initial reason to build the deck but it's a bad virtual card.

I'm going to agree with 2bestest on Rockslide Elemental, though, I've rarely had a problem playing against them and this deck doesn't have enough high-priority targets to tax my opponent's removal. I think he'll just die a lot himself.

About Agent of the Fates, I'm not so sure. To me he's just a three-mana three-power guy with deathtouch who has a marginal upside. Coordinated Assault is a pretty busted card so I'm definitely playing it, and every now and then I'll get a bonus Edict. I do think Agent is good enough on his own in a beatdown deck, though, and there aren't a lot of other impressive three-drops in these colors. I am definitely not cutting him until I get some solid testing in with him, but I'm not about to make this a Heroic deck either and start adding Auras. He's just a dude here.

Cunning Sparkmage was a thought to clear the way for my little guys while providing some reach so I may just sub them in for the Bombers.

I also thought about Juggernaut and Viashino in the four-spot (with Savage Lands for trample support) but ultimately chose the five-drops instead. I just don't have enough room for much above 3CMC but it's possible I could cut to 22 land and play fours instead of fives. I'm going to test with the fives and keep this in the back of my mind, though. I just like that Tormentor and Stormbreath have flying to close games if I untap with them.

The all-star of my testing last night was Goblin Shortcutter, he was fantastic at letting my Heroes and Ghasts connect which is very important.

The one thing I felt the deck was lacking was a bit of cheap removal like Shock, so I have to get them in there somehow. Not sure how the potential addition of Sparkmage lines up with that, but I'll see. I'm definitely cutting one Viscera Dragger, though, maybe two because it's not on the list of this deck's early plays. It's more of a later card where you cycle and Unearth it on the same turn to close the game so 2-3 copies feels right.

I also want one Banefire in here somewhere to fight control decks and mana flood.

Thoughts?

Stevo, the recommendations you added to my list were where I originally started with my build minus the rockslide. After playing several matches I decided to focus far more on what was winning matches. That is where this deck came from.

I have had a number of games where the bomber has been a key role believe it or not. And he shines far greater since the addition of juggernaut!

I should probably try your build then, but on paper i've never been impressed with them in lists like these, however as we all know, live play does strange things to a card!

Yeah, I mean I am not opposed to other options but he has been working well mostly. There are some games where he does little but those are pretty rare. Especially since addition of juggernaut. He plays key roles in untapping the naut often. The build is probably far funner then what it was before. I dunno if I have updated the list to reflect the additions of juggernaut yet. Will later..

Your Jund is lots of fun though for me now.

Here's a fine line I just had while testing out my deck a bit more:

T1 Tormented Hero
T2 Attack (18), Krenko's Command
T3 Hellspark Elemental, attack, Coordinated Assault targetting Hero/token (8)
T4 Unearth Hellspark, attack, Coordinated Assault targetting Hero/token (-2)

I was on the play and my opponent just played taplands for three turns in a row and died.

So here's where I am after testing out the previous list over about 15 games or so:



EDIT - Cut the Shadowborn for a second Banefire.

I cut the Bombers and the Draggers entirely because they were too slow. I also cut the five-mana guys and dropped to 22 land because in most of my games I just didn't need them. I opted for an even more aggressive strategy by subbing in Shocks, Devouring Swarms, Graveborn Muses, Shadowborn Demon, and a single Banefire (which can be a one-mana Edict with Agent of the Fates). I've also moved the mana a bit more into black, which is ultimately why I cut the Stormbreath Dragon. I think he's probably better than Shadowborn here but I'm unsure of the mana. If I can consistently get , I may sub him back in.

I'm gonna take this out into the lobbies now to get a feel for the changes.

I've gone 6-0 with this deck VERY quickly, it's pretty strong. Not quite RDW obviously, but it's good enough for me to most likely keep the deck in my rotation. The reason I came to update so fast was the win I just got.

My opponent is on 5 life after my initial onslaught and is staring down two Devouring Swarms. He plays Triplicate Spirits and basically bricks my air assault, but I have Coordinated Assault in hand so I attack and kill two of his fliers. On the next turn I topdeck Goblin Shortcutter like a pro, target his only remaining flier, swing for four, then sac the Shortcutter in order to get in for lethal. So yeah, beating Triplicate Spirits felt pretty damn good.

One thing I'll say is that I don't think I'll ever need the Shadowborn Demon because I have the Shortcutters, so I think I want a second Banefire. Mana flood has been a minor issue and I don't have any way to draw out of it besides the Muses. It's only a small sample and I can see the deck stalling just short of lethal, so having both Banefires gives me a nice sink for any excess land that I draw. I'm still not sure if I can cast Stormbreath, but it's possible that he's the correct choice here. Opinions on this slot?

Goblin Shortcutter is officially insane. I'm 9-0 and he has been an absolute workhorse the entire time.

Needs video proof : )

Just suffered my first loss on a mulligan to three. The mana is a slight issue but I'm not sure how to improve it.

Sample size, man, sample size. The deck will even itself out!

You could probably cut Shadowborn and a Mountain for 2 Savage Lands.

How much value are you getting out of Muse in a speed deck like this?

Not much value overall but it's only two slots and it helps me fight through disruption. If I'm winning then I don't need her, but if I pressure into a sweeper then I can drop her and restock. Don't forget that she's a 3/3, either, I will attack with her pretty freely on a lot of boards.

Shadowborn is already gone for Banefire #2.

I don't think I want more taplands, four is already too many but I have to play them.

You can have speed or color consistency, but you can't have both : )

You have a crapload of double black, and are trying to play red creatures and use red instants with limited red sources. I think Taplands and smart management of your regular lands is the best option.

More Taplands could also allow for the return of Stormbreath.

It's possible that you're right, but the issue has been minor rather than major so I'm standing pat for now. It's definitely in the back of my mind, though, and when I hit the inevitable losing skid I'm sure Savage Lands will make the deck.

Right now I have 16 black sources so I feel I can support all the cards, but it's my inability to play multiple red cards on the same turn that's the real issue. I can cast all my cards off a single red source, but I can't regularly Hellspark + Shock.

Stay tuned.

After megabeast's exhortation, I decided to take a snap of a winning board. I can't record everything because talking is exhausting but here I am beating an early Baneslayer Angel with a Shortcutter. Card is sick.