Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Ravnica Allegiance, where I’m sending off the week with a look at some sweet new cards to fit in to your new Rakdos deck.
Rakdos is often associated with death, whether that's in dealing with its own creatures, or enforcing that death onto others. Today I want to talk about three upcoming creatures that could see some play in Limited and perhaps even Standard. There are already so many cards in the Rakdos card pool for Standard that it’ll be tough to crack that lineup, but there are usually a couple of cards from each new set that fit into existing deck types.
I want to start off by talking about an interesting Elemental that has doubled my excitement for the set. Let's take a look at Amplifire:
Anytime I see a 1/1 creature for four mana with no activated abilities, it makes me go, "Wait, what? What makes this card a rare or even slightly powerful?"
Let me tell you the power of Amplifire. Let’s say you have it in a deck with a bunch of big beefy Dinosaurs. How about revealing Ghalta, Primal Hunger and having a 24/24 creature for a turn? Even if you can’t attack through a chump blocker, Thud will finish off your opponent with one spell. True, you could reveal something like a Llanowar Elves and it becomes a 2/2 instead, but that’s the price you pay for this risk/reward type of card. It could pay off big time, or fizzle and die to Shock. Either way, I would play this in Limited just for the chance of hitting it big and attacking with a huge creature!
Next up is a skeleton that just won’t die. Welcome to the fold, Gutterbones:
This creature is a good sacrifice if you have a sacrifice outlet or need to sacrifice a creature to Plaguecrafter. Returning from your graveyard won’t be that difficult as Rakdos and Black have a lot of easy ways to deal damage to your opponent. You can also discard it if you need to early on and be able to get it back later in the game.
This card will work well in an aggressive deck or if you just need a repeatable chump blocker. If there happens to be a free, no mana, sacrifice outlet that makes its way into Standard, it's sure to increase in value. But for now I’m not too convinced that this should be a rare. Though I am ready to be proven wrong.
Finally, I want to talk about a fun Spirit that adds a little extra punch to your instant and sorcery spells. Here is Pestilent Spirit:
This is a creature that needs Rakdos to be successful.
Currently there's only one Black spell in Standard that deals damage to creatures, and that's the terrible five-mana Dark Nourishment. But in Red? There are over 20! And if you look at ones that deal damage to multiple targets, Shake the Foundations becomes a sweeper. Even better is Radiating Lightning, which even spares Pestilent Spirit and deal some damage to your opponent. And if you need to clear the battlefield, there's always Fiery Cannonade.
All in all, Pestilent Spirit has quite the arsenal of spells to give deathtouch, but almost all of them reside under the red umbrella. But even without spells, it still gives your evasion with Menace, and the ability to kill both blocks with deathtouch making it something you won't want to block with your creatures.
Rakdos is set to deal some damage at your local Prerelease tournament a week from now. Are you ready to be the aggressive player? These cards should help you narrow down your decision on what guild to play.
Thanks again for joining me on the Daily Dose of Ravnica Allegiance. Join me again next week for prerelease week here on the Daily Dose!
