I don't like the look of how it lists your decklist, but the idea of simulating hands is pretty cool.

Demonic Kill-Stealers

Creatures: 16

Gurmag Swiftwing x4
Malakir Cullblade x3
Nantuko Husk x3
Blazing Hellhound x3
Priest of the Blood Rite x2
Erebos Titan x1

Instants/Sorceries: 23

Bone Splinters x4
Fiery Impulse x3
Fiery Conclusion x3
Reave Soul x3
Necromantic Summons x3
Act of Treason x3
Rise From the Grave x2
Traitorous Instinct x2

I'm short on time and want to visit this a little later, but I figure I want to get some input while I'm away. What's an ideal direction to take a Nantuko Husk/Blazing Hellhound deck? Seems like you could dip into either an aggressive type or lean towards a midrange playstyle.

Some cards (mostly creatures) that jump out at me in the colors are the following.
Red:
Goblin Arsonist
Foundry Street Denizen or Goblin Glory Chaser
Abbot of Keral Keep
Dragon Fodder
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh?
Thopter Engineer
Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Embermaw Hellion

Black:
Thornbow Archer
Despoiler of Souls
Deadbridge Shaman
Liliana, Heretical Healer
Gravedigger
Priest of the Blood Rite

Artifacts:
Perilous Myr
Runed Servitor
Alchemist's Vial
Juggernaut?

Artifacts mix well into red with the advantage of Pia+Kiran and Thopther Engineer. I like certain black options against a more controlling opponent. I'm also curious on what kind of removal seems better. Red and Black offer pros and cons between Fiery Impulse and Reave Soul. Bone Splinters might push me towards black, but I'm not sure how I feel about playing more than 2 copies, especially if I wanted to focus on being an aggressive strategy.

Not really into loading up on 8 Treasons and a million sacs, but I'm open to 2-3 Act of Treason if it plays well.

Shadows of the Past as a single copy? How about Read the Bones or Bitter Revelation to try and refuel? Is there a preference to one if running Despoiler of Souls.

Thanks
(more might get added.)

Infectious Aggressiveness ()

4 x Perilous Myr
3 x Malakir Cullblade
2 x Shadows of the Past
3 x Fiery Conclusion
4 x Nantuko Husk
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
4 x Act of Treason
4 x Gravedigger
3 x Enthralling Victor
1 x Erebos's Titan
2 x Languish
3 x Nightfire Giant
2 x Priest of the Blood Rite


2x Dragonskull Summit
4x Rakdos Guildgate
8x Mountains
10x Swamps

This deck is a Rakdos steal and sacrifice deck, but it has the benefit of working with its own creatures.

Liliana and the Gravediggers ensure that your engine of death continues endlessly.

It will have probably some disadvantage against aggro. That is why Languish is a good choice, specially since some creatures can survive it and some can grow big enough to survive it.

I chose Enthralling Victor over Traitorous Instinct, because it will not be a dead draw sometimes and you can pick him again from the graveyard using Gravedigger.

My Rakdos control list that 8-0's week three of Duels Origins, mentioned in my Duels Diaries week three thread.

4 Goblin Arsonist
1 Bone Splinters
4 Perilous Myr
3 Ravaging Blaze
2 Twinbolt
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Nantuko Husk
4 Read the Bones
2 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Gravedigger
2 Languish
3 Cruel Revival
7 Mountain
7 Swamp
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Foundry of the Consuls
1 Rogue's Passage
4 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Evolving Wilds

17 dudes, 17 spells, 26 lands
19 black, 11 red, 4 colorless
5 one drops, 9 two drops, 12 three drops, 5 four drops, 3 five drops

Most similar decks can't resist including some big creatures. Those aren't necessary. They die just as easily to most removal. My finisher is Ravaging Blaze, which also kills a creature. Myrs and Arsonists create enough incremental damage to make burning them out possible.

thanks! Can't wait to take that for a spin....once I have the cards.......and the game


also I officially really miss Mr. P's deck presenter

I think this is the first deck I want to get my hands on and tinker with. I really like the look of it.

Thanks for sharing your build, Blue. It is definitely slightly different than mine.

I've cobbled together a build based on the skeleton you shared earlier, and this is what I've got so far:

4 X Goblin Arsonist
2 X Fiery Impulse
2 X Bone Splinters
4 X Perilous Myr
2 Twin Bolt
2 X Reave Soul
1 X Liliana, Heretical Healer
4 X Nantuko Husk
1 X Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
4 X Read the Bones
2 X Exquisite Firecraft
4 X Act of Treason
2 X Languish
2 X Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
9 X Swamps
9 X Mountains
2 X Dragonskull Summit
4 X Rakdos Guildgate

17 spells, 15 spells 4 Myrs.

There's enough lands that we don't get mana screwed, and Reading aids us in finding answers.

The most questionable inclusion would have to be Chandra. Honestly, she can probably be replaced, along with at least one copy of the Hoarder, for the playset of Blazes. She also is a giant target for removal, as soon as she lands, and with fewer spells than spells, it may prove a tad bit difficult to flip her.

However, I find I often have enough spells in hand to theoretically flip her, mostly a combination of Arsonits and Bolts. I also don't mind losing her, as she eats removal that could otherwise be dedicated to my actual beaters, in the Husks and Hoarders. I also included her because I really am enamored with the Planeswalkers, and honestly, experience has taught me that her upside is worth it.

I've been playing this deck since almost two days ago, and it has performed quite well. Once I learned which hands to keep, how to mulligan appropriately, it's been undefeated.

Thoughts?

Have you been pretty happy with Nantuko Husk?

If it plays reasonably well, has any thought been given to Chandra's Ignition? Four sacs in one turn is (basically) 20 if the opponent can't interact with you. Goblin Arsonist/Perilous Myr at the low end would make the required one turn kill require likely less creatures to sac at once. Having an on board Husk with creatures seems like it would have to force your opponent to respect your 5 mana whenever they'll consider tapping out.

You'd have to shift the focus a bit, less control and go a bit more midrange token I suspect, but it seems like a number of things stay the same.

I am satisfied with Husk. He serves as the primary sac outlet. I wouldn't mind further forced sacs, though. Probably in the form of Fleshbag and as a last resort Bloodflow Conniseur.

But the deck has been performing admirably, so I've not needed to make too many adjustments.

I'll try it out, been looking for a good Chandra deck.

After playing my Jund Control deck I was facing mana problems and the additional green didn't give me any advantage, I decided to cut green and go Rakdos. The added color consistency makes the deck much better and smoother.

The list is a bit similar to what has been posted, but focuses more on spells than on creatures. The red instants are especially helpful vs aura decks as myrs and goblins are avoidable.

4 x Fiery Impulse
2 x Ravaging Blaze
4 x Twin Bolt
3 x Reave Soul
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 x Graveblade Marauder
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
1 x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
4 x Read the Bones
2 x Exquisite Firecraft
1 x Erebos's Titan
2 x Languish
3 x Cruel Revival
2 x Chandra's Ignition
2 x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder

10 x Swamp
9 x Mountain
2 x Dragonskull Summit
3 x Rakdos Guildgate


Curve 0-4-9-13-3-5-2
Red 15
Black 21

Creature 10
Spells 26
Lands 24

Isn't a creature count a little too low? With no Gravediggers, Corpse Haulers or Necromantic Summons and only a singleton of Liliana it would be hard to reliably get them back after losing to removal. I get that burn is a more likely wincon here instead of creatures but still.

I feel I have finally managed to get my Rakdos deck where I want it! I am staying away from the typical steal/sack ideas of rakdos here. I will post the current list once my computer is fixed tomorrow.. Dropped a speaker on the monitor..

After having my Aura decks beaten up by "Sac and Steal" I decided to join them

I like playing Control, so this deck is designed to go a bit slower and survive Aggro, until you can pull the trigger on the Steal strategy, with a few fatties in there if you need a Plan B.

All Mine
4 x Thornbow Archer
2 x Bone Splinters
4 x Child of Night
1 x Liliana, Heretical healer
2 x Graveblade Marauder
4 x Bloodflow Connoisseur
2 x Nantuko Husk
1 x Read the Bones
4 x Act of Treason
1 x Erebos's Titan
2 x Gravedigger
3 x Enthralling Victor
2 x Languish
2 x Priest of the Blood Rite
2 x Gilt-Leaf Winnower
1 x Rise from the Grave

9 x Swamp
5 x Mountain
2 x Dragonskull Summit
3 x Rogue's Passage
4 x Rakdos Guildgate


There are a lot of Sac outlets, because I really want to drop one on turn 3, either as a blocker against aggro or to steal some enchanted flyer on turn 4 if necessary.
There are enough chump blockers against Aggro, although I am considering adding Perilous Myr. Not sure what to take out though.

The hardest matchup is Control, the answer seems to be to drop a lot of creatures and try to overrun the opponent.

I'd appreciate your suggestions on how to improve it, and turn it into a more versatile, Control style deck. I've considered adding more of the Resurrection cards, but they make it a bit too slow.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

Nish

FYP

I'm running a steal and sac Rakdos control deck right now and it's doing pretty good so far.

Here is the list:

4 x Bone Splinters

4 x Perilous Myr
2 x Shadows of the Past
4 x Dragon Fodder

1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 x Bloodflow Connoisseur
1 x Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
2 x Read the Bones
4 x Act of Treason

3 x Blazing Hellhound
2 x Languish
2 x Traitorous Instinct

2 x Embermaw Hellion

2 x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder

9 x Swamp
9 x Mountain
2 x Dragonskull Summit
4 x Rakdos Guildgate


Blazing Hellhound performs really well in this deck, it's a great sac outlet that adds more value to stolen creatures or your Perilous Myrs and Goblin Tokens. Having Embermaw Hellion in play gives him a lot more reach as well.

Key wincons are:

- Kothophed, Soul Hoarder: Once you get him in play you can beat down the opponent every turn with a 6/6 flying, there aren't many big creatures in this meta so against some decks this will simply do the job. If he gets out of control with the life loss (can happen if you have Blazing Hellhound, lots of fodder and Embermaw Hellion) you can just sac him to whatever sac outlet you have and potentially get him back at the end of turn with Liliana's ultimate.

- Liliana, Heretical Healer: This one is pretty obvious. This deck also has a few ways to sacrifice a creature at instant speed (Bloodflow Connoisseur, Blazing Hellhound) in case your opponent aims removal at her so you can respond an transform her.

- Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh and other burn creatures/spells: If you get the right start you can also burn your opponent's face with her. With all the removal and the steal effects, it shouldn't be to hard to have her get through. Worst case scenario, you can still use two red spells in a turn and flip her. With the other burn effects (Perilous Myr, Blazing Hellhound and potentially Shadows of the Past) burning out your opponent can be a viable strategy if things get stalled too much, especially if you have Embermaw Hellion in play.


This deck obviously doesn't like aggro very much although it has a few early plays to hold it off somehow. And when everything else fails there is still Languish. Fliers can also be a pain so you may want to make them a priority for your removal and steal effects.

The deck is also a bit hard on the mana early on the curve from my experience (mainly because of Chandra, Liliana and Languish). If you don't get lucky with the colors on your starting draw you could get stuck with unplayable cards in the first few turns, so mulligan wisely.

I am interested in Rakdos for the combination of aggression + removal. Shadows of the past is a great way of adding a little reach. I am sure Rakdos control is viable, but I want a way to grind packs as quickly as possible.

Act of treason can be meh against weenies, but I have come up against so many midrange decks that I am comfortable relying on perilous myr + arsonist as early weenie "removal" and using more steal / sac effects to clear the rest of the field.

I think nantuko husk + the various thopter guys can be an amazing combo. This will allow you to put a bunch of bodies on the field and pump husk up as big as he needs to be on demand.

I need to sit down and come up with a list, unfortunately I am missing a bunch of cards I would want (0/4 dragon fodder 0/2 chandra's parents).

Enthralling victor should be amazing under the right circumstances. Steal perilous myr, sac it with bone splinters, get a 3 for 1.

Why would you play Bloodflow Connoisseur over Nantuko Husk? Husk can become a 4/4 in response to Reave Soul, Fiery Impulse, and Twin Bolt out of the box. It's natively immune to Cruel Revival and you can get it back with your own Revivals if you're into that. It also hits pretty hard. I think it's a much better card.

And I would love to sac my entire board to it then Ignite it and one-shot them. That's on my to-do list.

The answer is simple, I have only 9 packs left to open and haven't got any husks in those, but as soon as I get them I'll probably make the change. At first I almost thought they didn't put Nantuko Husk in the game but then I realized the RNG just screwed me hard.

In the meantime, Bloodflow Connoisseur is the only alternative I have for this slot. A 1/1 for 3 is pretty bad but at least I get the instant speed sac and I get to keep the counters.