Tarkir: Dragonstorm is only a couple weeks away, and the set looks chock full of exciting designs. Whether you’re a fan of big Dragons or unusual build-arounds like The Sibsig Ceremony, Tarkir: Dragonstorm has you covered.
As we continue to get bombarded by spoilers, one recently revealed Demon has really caught our attention. This creature is efficient and enormous. Sure, it comes with a major drawback, but there are plenty of ways to get your money’s worth.
Rot-Curse Rakshasa at a Baseline
The creature we’re discussing is Rot-Curse Rakshasa. Rot-Curse Rakshasa’s stat line is obviously incredibly pushed. A 5/5 with Trample for two mana is quite scary. The problem is that thanks to Decayed, it doesn’t actually stick around for long in most cases.
Chances are, you’ll be able to get one big attack in before Rot-Curse Rakshasa goes away. From there, you get to make use of its renew ability. Putting decayed counters on opposing creatures is quite annoying, so long as you’re ahead in the race.
With this in mind, using Rot-Curse Rakshasa in an aggro deck is not out of the question. Even a two-mana Lava Axe isn’t necessarily terrible if you can back it up with additional burn spells and efficient beaters. The renew ability makes sure that your opponent’s biggest creatures won’t be able to block anymore, which helps the cause.
Rot-Curse Rakshasa also pairs nicely with fight spells like Bushwhack in Standard and can crew big vehicles like Lumbering Worldwagon at little cost.
Unfortunately, these synergies by themselves probably don’t get Rot-Curse Rakshasa over the hump to see Constructed play. The good news, though, is that there are a handful of three-drops that play perfectly on curve with Rot-Curse Rakshasa that might put it over the top.
Curving Out with Rot-Cursed Rakshasa
Right away after Rot-Curse Rakshasa was spoiled, players were quick to brainstorm some cool ways to abuse Rot-Curse Rakshasa to get around the downside of decayed. Staying in black, Rot-Curse Rakshasa pairs perfectly with Unholy Annex. Assuming Rot-Curse Rakshasa sticks around, Unholy Annex will reliably net you card advantage and drain the opponent since Rot-Curse Rakshasa is a Demon.
What’s nice about this combination is that, even though you aren’t attacking or blocking with your two-drop creature, Unholy Annex will run away with the game if left unchecked. A 5/5 isn’t the easiest thing for most decks to remove, and having a two-drop that outsizes Nowhere to Run or Lightning Strike is a big deal.
As a two-drop that’s difficult to remove or block profitably, it also works well in conjunction with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. Kaito is one of the strongest cards in Standard. Rot-Curse Rakshasa is big, and because of decayed, your opponents are disincentivized to block it when you attack.
Well, once you connect in combat for five, you can ninjutsu Kaito into play on turn three during the end of combat step before Rot-Curse Rakshasa hits the graveyard. Not only do you now have a Planeswalker in play, but Rot-Curse Rakshasa is back in your hand to redeploy on a future turn.
Once you venture into red, there’s also a neat synergy between Rot-Curse Rakshasa and Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate. On turn three, you attack with Rot-Curse Rakshasa, likely connecting for five damage. In your second main phase, you can cast Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate. At the beginning of your end step, raid will trigger, and you can resurrect Rot-Curse Rakshasa to play since it has a mana value of two.
Obviously, Alesha does suffer from being a three-drop that’s incredibly easy to remove. Nonetheless, it’s not out of the question that a Rakdos aggro deck could arise utilizing these cards, considering the value of Rot-Curse Rakshasa’s Renew ability we described in the last section.
Rot-Cursed Rakshasa in Commander
Speaking of the renew ability, there are a few Commanders that will welcome Rot-Curse Rakshasa as an addition. At the top of that list, we have Horobi, Death’s Wail.
Horobi is a strange card with an ability that affects all creatures at once. The goal with this Spirit is to target a bunch of opposing creatures at once, as they will all perish as a result. With Rot-Curse Rakshasa in your graveyard and Horobi in play, you basically get to pay XBB and blow up X creatures of your choice.
The renew ability also combos with Commanders that force your opponent’s creatures to attack. For instance, after putting a bunch of decayed counters on opposing creatures, casting Kardur, Doomscourge will force all creatures that your opponents control to attack each other. The creatures with decayed counters will then die.
While unrelated to the renew ability, one Commander deck that Rot-Curse Rakshasa should be a slam dunk inclusion in is a Jon Irenicus, Shattered One deck. Jon Irenicus ensures that Rot-Curse Rakshasa won’t get sacrificed to its decayed ability after being goaded. Your opponents will continue to attack each other with a ginormous trampling monster, and you’ll get to draw cards via Jon Irenicus in the process.
Ultimately, Rot-Curse Rakshasa takes some work to maximize, but there’s hope for the card to shine in a variety of circumstances. We’ll just have to wait and see how well this flashy mythic rare Demon ends up performing.