The current Standard/Modern dynamic in Magic: The Gathering is a total inversion of expectations. Typically, the latter is in more trouble, owing to the higher overall power level of cards in the format. Right now, however, Standard is drowning in Vivi’s Cauldron, while Modern seems to be doing just fine. There are a good number of top-tier decks available, as well as room for rogue brews to shine. This week, one such brew, a funky Rakdos Delirium concoction, has made its mark on MTG Modern.
This is a very aggressive list, putting even Boros Energy to shame with its sheer volume of early-game plays. It’s not your typical mindless Aggro deck, either, mind you. There’s a ton of graveyard synergy here, and figuring out optimal lines in the first few turns is an art unto itself. While it has a lot of competition, a deck like this, that can get under the format’s top Aggro lists, has serious potential in current Modern.
Rakdos Delirium In MTG Modern
Today’s Rakdos Delirium deck comes via Deific, who piloted it to a 5-0 finish in yesterday’s MTG Online Modern League. While similar builds have been run in the format before, this specific version is relatively new.
This deck aims to achieve two key objectives: to get on board quickly and to activate Delirium as soon as possible. For the former, there are a ton of one-drops here. Dragon’s Rage Channeler may well be the best of the lot. Its triggered ability gives you regular Surveils, which help you get Delirium going soon. It also benefits from Delirium itself, becoming a 3/3 Flier in a scarily short space of time.
Supporting Channeler we have Nethergoyf and Cecil, Dark Knight. The former is a cheap chunky beater, very much a one-mana Tarmogoyf in this deck specifically. The latter is just an efficient early threat without any graveyard synergy, but it can flip surprisingly quickly here, as we’ll get to later.
Moving further up the curve, Fear of Missing Out is a Channeler-level synergy piece for the deck. It rummages on entry to set up your graveyard, and gives you extra combat steps once you hit Delirium. It’s also an enchantment creature, so it counts as two types when in the graveyard itself. Like Channeler, this is a card you’re happy to see at any point in the game.
Speaking of enchantment creatures, Detective’s Phoenix is another great one here. As a creature, it’s a fine aggressive option, but that one-mana Bestow is the real juice. Giving your Nethergoyf +2/+2, Flying, and Haste is going to finish off a lot of games. As with FOMO, it’s also great at turning on Delirium itself.
Fueling The Madness
Of course, enchantment creatures alone aren’t going to get you to Delirium consistently. You need other MTG cards for that, and to this end, Deific’s Rakdos Delirium list is well-stocked indeed.
The obvious ones here are Mishra’s Bauble and Street Wraith. Both are free cyclers, Wraith literally and Bauble figuratively, that put a card in your graveyard at no cost to yourself. Bauble is a bit better, since you can get creatures in your graveyard in other ways, but Wraith makes you pay two life, which is relevant for Cecil.
On top of this pair, the deck also runs Tarfire, which is a Shock that counts as two card types due to the Kindred element. With this, a Fetchland, and a Mishra’s Bauble, you can get Delirium going on the very first turn of the game. Normally, you won’t want to go so all-in without a body on the board, but the fact that you could is fantastic.
Other cheap interaction, like Unholy Heat and Thoughtseize, helps a ton here, too. Unholy Heat is another beneficiary of Delirium, taking out everything up to Phlage once it’s online. Thoughtseize is as good here as it always has been, with the added benefit of pushing you closer to a Cecil flip. With a Fetch/Shock play, a Thoughtseize, and a Street Wraith, you’re only three life away from flipping it. Once you do, your assaults become literally unstoppable.
That’s the core of the deck, but there are also some interesting one and two-ofs in the list worth mentioning. Kolaghan’s Command is a brilliant multi-tool, essentially being a sideboard slot in your main deck. Graveyard Trespasser and Cling to Dust give you an edge against opposing graveyard strategies, and Ragavan adds a welcome final touch of aggression.
Crazy Enough To Work?
Deific’s Rakdos Delirium is clearly a powerful deck, running some of the best MTG cards in Modern in a rich, synergistic soup. With a similar Boros Delirium deck doing well last month, there’s definitely room for this one to continue to grow in the format.
It helps that it’s very well-positioned against the rest of the field right now. Boros Energy and Domain Zoo are the top decks in Modern currently, and Rakdos Delirium is fast enough to keep up with both of them. In fact, it should be able to get underneath the pair a lot of the time, since they lean more into the Aggro/Midrange hybrid playstyle than pure Aggro. With a strong start, both of these matchups are more than manageable.
Amulet Titan is a solid matchup too. While there is always the chance that they land their combo early and crush you, you can apply enough pressure to prevent that a lot of the time. You even have Ashiok, Dream Render out of the sideboard to shut their Titan turns down if need be.
The deck does suffer a lot against lists packing ample graveyard hate, and there’s a lot of that in Modern right now. Whether it’s Thraben Charm in Boros Energy or Nihil Spellbomb in Domain Zoo, there are cards that can catch you out around every corner. It’s not a total death sentence for the deck, since these cards are generally played in low quantities, but it is certainly something to bear in mind.
While Rakdos Delirium may not be dethroning Boros Energy any time soon, it’s yet another great Modern option for the dynamic current metagame.
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