Rakdos: perhaps the most aggressive two-color combination in Magic. With red’s speedy creatures and black’s strong removal, it’s difficult for fair decks to withstand a Rakdos assault for very long. You might think that a color pair so typically tied to Aggro would be lackluster in Commander: a format where games typically go too long for early aggression to matter. If you do, you’d be sorely mistaken. Rakdos is an excellent choice for the MTG Commander format, and these are the five best Commanders you can grab if you want to try it for yourself.
#5 | Chainer, Nightmare Adept
- Mana Value: 2BR
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/2
- Text: Discard a card: You may cast a creature spell from your graveyard this turn. Activate only once each turn. Whenever a nontoken creature you control enters, if you didn’t cast it from your hand, it gains haste until your next turn.
Discarding cards is usually a downside in Magic. Not in the topsy-turvy circus tents of the Rakdos, however. Whether it’s the Hellbent mechanic or Madness synergies, red/black has always had ways to leverage this action for their benefit. If you’re looking to build an entire Commander deck around discarding, then Chainer, Nightmare Adept is likely your best choice.
First of all, Chainer is a free discard outlet once per turn. You’ll only get to take advantage of the ‘cast from graveyard’ part on your own turn, but you can play Madness cards at instant speed. This gives you the opportunity to respond to your opponents’ plays with cards like Terminal Agony. Interaction is extremely important in Commander, and Chainer gives you a new way to do it.
His second ability is also more useful than it looks at first. It counts any creature that wasn’t cast from your hand, which opens up a lot of possibilities. Reanimator effects, cards like Gravecrawler and Forsaken Miner, anything that cheats creatures out from your hand. All of these will gain Haste thanks to Chainer, which lets you pile the pressure on. While he may look linear on the surface, Chainer is actually very flexible. Said flexibility is what lands him a spot among the best Rakdos Commanders in MTG.
#4 | Kardur, Doomscourge
- Mana Value: 2BR
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 4/3
- Text: When Kardur, Doomscourge enters, until your next turn, creatures your opponents control attack each combat if able and attack a player other than you if able. Whenever an attacking creature dies, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Kardur is a really interesting case. Its name, art, and second ability all suggest a very aggressive playstyle, but in reality, it’s more of a political tool. By finding ways to repeatedly put Kardur into play, you can turn the rest of the table against each other, giving you plenty of time to brew up all manner of schemes.
It’s easy to overlook the power of this etb effect, but it essentially says ‘Goad all creatures your opponents control.’ Goad is an effect that usually comes at a premium price, so getting it at this scale on a four-mana 4/3 is excellent. By using cards like Conjurer’s Closet, you can keep it going over multiple turns. Your opponents will find it difficult to maintain board presence when they’re forced to crash their creatures together every turn.
Then there’s that second ability to consider. Not only does it play extremely well in Aristocrats lists, something Rakdos excels at, but it also synergizes perfectly with the first ability. As your opponents make their forced attacks, they’ll also be draining themselves out. If you’re looking for a Rakdos Commander that really takes advantage of the social aspect of the format, then Kardur is for you.
#3 | Rakdos, Lord Of Riots
- Mana Value: BBRR
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 6/6
- Text: You can’t cast this spell unless an opponent lost life this turn.
- Flying, Trample. Creature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn.
It wouldn’t be a ‘Best Rakdos Commanders in MTG’ list without Rakdos himself. Most Rakdos decks, in every format, are pretty low to the ground. This incarnation of the guild’s leader, however, lets you go in a different direction. His cost reduction effect, which scales up based on the damage you deal to your opponents each turn, lets you play more like a Ramp deck. Albeit one with no green in sight.
Said effect is incredibly flexible. Rakdos doesn’t care if you deal combat damage or burn damage, it’s all going towards your discount. Considering he’s a 6/6 Flying Trampler alone, it’s easy to see how quickly things can get out of hand. Especially with purely generic mana creatures like the Eldrazi titans.
Of course, it’s not all upside. Rakdos has an extremely color-intensive casting cost. On top of that, you can’t cast him at all unless an opponent has lost life this turn, which introduces an additional barrier. Thankfully, you can easily address this issue by including repeatable ping effects like Spear Spewer and Stormfist Crusader. These will pull double duty, helping you get Rakdos out and make use of his ability once he is.
As with Ramp and Reanimator decks, the potential for early highrolls with Rakdos, Lord of Riots is huge. You can drop him on turn four, then easily cast an Emrakul on turn five. Even at high-power tables, that’s nothing to sniff at. Of the many Rakdos incarnations we’ve seen, this is the most powerful and explosive by far.
#2 | Juri, Master Of The Revue
- Mana Value: BR
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 1/1
- Text: Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Juri, Master of the Revue. When Juri dies, it deals damage equal to its power to any target.
We mentioned it earlier, but Aristocrats is one of the defining archetypes of Rakdos as a color combination. This is a strategy all about sacrificing creatures for profit. Very late-stage capitalism, but also very effective. There are a number of great Rakdos legends to support such a deck in Commander, but for my money, Juri of the Revue is the very best.
There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, he’s only two mana, so he can come down and start affecting the game early. Second, his scaling ability triggers whenever you sacrifice any permanent, not just creatures. Anyone who’s played against Korvold, Fae-Cursed King will know how powerful a trigger like that is. Treasure tokens, Fetch Lands, Food tokens; all of these and more will help grow your Juri.
With this in mind, it’s trivial to get Juri to double-digit stats very early on. Once he’s there, he becomes a lose-lose scenario for your opponents. Either they let him live, and deal with a massive creature attacking every turn, or they remove him, at which point he’ll dome them in the face for huge damage. Once you get your engine going, Juri can easily take a player out with his death trigger single-handed. That’s a lot of power for a two-mana investment.
#1 | Prosper, Tome-Bound
- Mana Value: 2BR
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 1/4
- Text: Deathtouch. Mystic Arcanum — At the beginning of your end step, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card. Pact Boon — Whenever you play a card from exile, create a Treasure token.
The other four Rakdos Commanders on this list all serve specific archetypes, but the best of all of them simply does what every MTG deck wants to do. It makes mana and draws cards. There’s been a lot of criticism of self-contained ‘engine’ Commanders like Prosper, Tome-Bound in recent times, and I’m inclined to agree with a lot of it. That said, it’s hard to deny just how powerful Prosper is, and how much fun he can be to play.
Prosper does two things. He ‘Impulse Draws’ you a card at the end of your turn, and rewards you with a Treasure each time you play a card from exile. That doesn’t sound too impressive on the surface. Only one card and one Treasure a turn cycle? What is this, 2010 Magic? His real power, however, emerges when you pair him with other Impulse Draw effects. With the right setup, you can create turns where every card you play, your land drop included, gets you a Treasure. This Treasure can then be spent on more Impulse Draws or just other spells from your hand.
There are a ton of Treasure synergies available now, too which makes the whole engine even better. To say nothing of the surprising number of ‘cast from exile’ cards we’ve seen lately. Basically, Prosper gives you great card draw and mana fixing/acceleration in one neat package, making him ideal for grinding out fair games or rushing toward combo wins. Live long and Prosper, indeed.
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