Over the course of Modern’s history as a format, there have been a lot of wild decks that emerged. One of the most intriguing decks that definitely fit that description was Rakdos Hollow One. Heavily built to maximize the namesake card, this deck utilized off-the-wall tools like Burning Inquiry that rarely saw competitive play in other archetypes.
Power creep, combined with the banning of Faithless Looting, really put a damper on Hollow One’s metagame presence. Well, surprisingly, recent tournament results suggest this deck may be poised for a comeback. The printing of multiple MH3 powerhouses has revolutionized the shell’s identity, making it even more explosive and resilient than it used to be. With the upcoming ban announcement just a couple days away, perhaps Rakdos Hollow One is in for a resurgence.
Old-School Tools
- Mana Value: 5
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/4
- MTG Sets: Hour of Devastation, Time Spiral Remastered, Mystery Booster 2
- Card Text: Hollow One costs 2 less to cast for each card you’ve cycled or discarded this turn. Cycling 2 (2, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
While this strategy has seen significant changes since it was at its peak, there is still a reasonable amount of overlap. The goal, as you might expect, is to cast Hollow One as efficiently and quickly as possible. A 4/4 may not seem all that scary, but when it comes down on turn one (or better yet, in multiples), the opponent will feel the pressure. Not to mention, many of Modern’s top removal spells, like Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push, cannot take down the potent artifact creature.
To help enable Hollow One, you need cheap ways to discard multiple cards at once. At the top of that list is undoubtedly Burning Inquiry. Burning Inquiry is a deceptively powerful card. Obviously, discarding cards at random is risky. However, your deck is almost certainly better equipped to abuse the discard clause than your opponent’s. There’s variance built into the card, but the upside of getting to cast any Hollow Ones for free that you don’t discard is huge. Plus, as we will see in the next section, discarding cards has extra benefits.
Beyond Burning Inquiry, Goblin Lore accomplishes a similar task. It’s a little more expensive and doesn’t mess with the opponent’s hand, but it adds a nice layer of redundancy. Both Goblin Lore and Burning Inquiry also serve as great follow-ups to Flameblade Adept, which is another tool from back in the day that is making its presence felt once again. Flameblade Adept gives you a nice alternate line of attack when you don’t draw Hollow One.
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Hollow One’s New Tools
- Mana Value: B
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: */1+*
- MTG Set: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Nethergoyf’s power is equal to the number of card types among cards in your graveyard and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1. Escape- 2B, Exile any number of other cards from your graveyard with four or more card types among them. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)
In the last year and a half, Rakdos Hollow One has gotten a multitude of upgrades that help a lot on the consistency front. Part of the reason Rakdos Hollow One died off was it was too reliant on finding Hollow One or Flameblade Adept to close games. Sure, casting Gurmag Angler made a fine plan b a while back, but that card has pretty much grown obsolete at this point. Now, the deck has access to additional elite turn one and turn two plays, as well as extra reach.
In the one-drop slot, Nethergoyf is an unbelievably strong inclusion. Between Fetchlands, Burning Inquiry, and Street Wraith, powering up Nethergoyf in short order is trivial. Nethergoyf gets to play a similar role that Gurmag Angler used to as just a big beater, except Nethergoyf can come down on turn one, doesn’t require Delving cards to enable, and even has the bonus of letting you Escape it later in the game to help win attrition battles.
Speaking of wars of attrition, Inti, Seneschal of the Sun more than delivers on the card advantage front. Inti is great in the long game, yet it doubles as a way to pump your Nethergoyfs, Hollow Ones, and Flameblade Adepts and give them Trample. In this sense, Inti meshes well with the aggressive nature of the archetype while giving it more staying power.
A card that fits a similar mold is Detective’s Phoenix. Cards like Street Wraith help you reliably Bestow Detective’s Phoenix onto your big threats. Even if those creatures get answered, you’re still left with a 2/2 Flier for your troubles. Burning Inquiry and Goblin Lore will continue to fuel your graveyard, allowing you to recast it from the graveyard and give a Hasty boost to any burly body you play in the future. It’s astonishing how much extra damage Detective’s Phoenix can let you deal over the course of a game.
The final addition worth talking about is Orcish Bowmasters. Orcish Bowmasters is a great card individually, but when you pair it with Burning Inquiry, things can really get out of hand. See, Burning Inquiry forces the opponent to draw three extra cards, providing a boatload of Bowmasters triggers. Burning Inquiry synergizes with pretty much everything this deck has going on.
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The Metagame at Large
- Mana Value: 1GU
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/4
- MTG Set: Modern Horizons 3
- Card Text: Flying. Creatures you control have “Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, pu it into your hand. This ability triggers only twice each turn.”
Overall, Rakdos Hollow One has a lot going for it. The deck’s explosive nature gives you a good shot at racing Eldrazi variants. At the same time, your threats are bulky enough that they line up well against Jeskai control’s removal package. They also can create a board stall against Energy variants. In games two and three, adding in Pyroclasm makes your job even easier.
Unfortunately, part of what may be holding Rakdos Hollow One back from enjoying more success is the existence of Bant Nadu. Rakdos Hollow One doesn’t play many removal spells for Nadu, Winged Wisdom, and winning before the opponent assembles the combo can be tough.
Assuming Nadu gets banned on August 26, though, maybe Rakdos Hollow One could continue to grow in popularity. A deck as explosive and versatile as Rakdos Hollow One deserves some respect. It’ll be cool to see how the deck performs moving forward.
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