The results from GP Nagoya marked a high point for Red/Black aggressive decks. Although [card]Chronic Flooding[/card] Reanimator (featuring the Nightshade Peddler-Izzet Staticaster combo that I discussed in my last article) won it all, there were a whopping eleven Red/Black decks in the top 16.

One issue, for those players who are not part of the Rakdos camp, is that almost all of those decks in the top 16 were radically different. How do we know what to prepare our deck against?

This is probably the most familiar list, which runs the same exact creatures as Tyler Lytle’s and Jon Bolding’s GP-winning decks:

[deck title=”BR Zombies by Hajime Nakashima”]
[Creatures]
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Gravecrawler
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Geralf’s Messenger
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Hellrider
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Tragic Slip
4 Searing Spear
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Cavern of Souls
7 Swamp
1 Mountain
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Appetite for Brains
2 Cremate
2 Underworld Connections
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Bonfire of the Damned
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Then we see decks that eschew the zombies in favor of a more consistent manabase and spells that are better in the mirror. This list is able to play [card]Ash Zealot[/card], [card]Cathedral of War[/card], and even [card]Annihilating Fire[/card] out of the sideboard:

[deck title=”RB Aggro by Ryuji Murae”]
[Creatures]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Hellrider
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Bonfire of the Damned
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Cavern of Souls
8 Mountain
1 Swamp
3 Cathedral of War
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
2 Tormod’s Crypt
1 Appetite for Brains
1 Duress
2 Tragic Slip
1 Dreadbore
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Ultimate Price
2 Volcanic Strength
2 Annihilating Fire
1 Bonfire of the Damned
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

And this last deck almost reaches the control end of the spectrum, playing the full set of [card]Olivia Voldaren[/card] and bigger spells like [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card] and [card]Rakdos’s Return[/card], plus [card]Staff of Nin[/card] and [card]Curse of Death’s Hold[/card] post-sideboard:

[deck title=“RB Aggro by Makoto Miyauchi”]
[Creatures]
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
3 Knight of Infamy
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Olivia Voldaren
4 Thundermaw Hellkite
[/Creatures]
[Artifacts]
2 Rakdos Keyrune
[/Artifacts]
[Spells]
3 Pillar of Flame
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Searing Spear
2 Rakdos’s Return
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Rakdos Guildgate
10 Mountain
2 Cathedral of War
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Appetite for Brains
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Knight of Infamy
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Staff of Nin
1 Rakdos’s Return
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

There isn’t a perfect way of grouping all of the types of Rakdos decks. Even more variation in card selection among these 11 decks could have us wondering if cards like [card]Blood Artist[/card], [card]Mark of Mutiny[/card], [card]Sign in Blood[/card], and [card]Victim of Night[/card] are in our Rakdos opponent’s deck.

If you want to beat Rakdos decks, which should definitely be one of your goals going into any Standard tournament, it’s not going to be easy. Now that they’ve evolved to beat [card]Thragtusk[/card], it’s time to look for other antidotes. Analyzing the decks from the SCG Invitational in Los Angeles, which featured not a single Red/Black Aggro deck (and one Mono-Red deck) in the top 16, reveals a plethora of different strategies for beating Rakdos.

The key points for deck selection and deckbuilding that I’ve come to, and that I’m sure many of the Invitational competitors considered, are:
· Ability to interact early against a horde of two-power one-drops
· Having answers to the four- and five-drops: Aristocrat, [card]Hellrider[/card], and Hellkite
· After stabilizing, have a plan to end the game quickly or out-attrition

A deck that is well-positioned, but not skewed, to beat Rakdos is Naya Humans. The human tribe has an aggressive curve that can keep up with other low-end decks. [card]Selesnya Charm[/card] deals with [card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/card] and sometimes [card]Falkenrath Aristocrat[/card]. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben; Knight of Glory; and [card]Restoration Angel[/card] match up well against Rakdos’s creatures.

[deck title=”Naya Humans by Ben Wienburg”]
[Creatures]
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Knight of Glory
4 Mayor of Avabruck
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Borderland Ranger
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Silverblade Paladin
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Restoration Angel
2 Zealous Conscripts
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Selesnya Charm
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Temple Garden
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Rootbound Crag
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Plains
3 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Gavony Township
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Rest in Peace
2 Intrepid Hero
3 Nevermore
2 Silverblade Paladin
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Angel of Glory’s Rise
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

This deck has the tools to beat Rakdos but follows a clear, aggressive gameplan going into any matchup. The manabase isn’t as consistent as other three-color decks (or even some four-color decks), but four [card]Cavern of Souls[/card] and some fairly conservative color requirements helps to alleviate that issue. [card]Fiend Hunter[/card] and [card]Zealous Conscripts[/card] are decent substitutes for removal some of the time, but at other times they’re terrible. I’ve tried a heavier red splash for cards like [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card] and [card]Slayers’ Stronghold[/card], but the mana just doesn’t work out as often as you need it to. Still, Bonfire might be worth a try if you expect to play against a lot of aggro. This is where I would start:

[deck title=”Naya Humans by Alex Bianchi”]
[Creatures]
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Mayor of Avabruck
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Borderland Ranger
1 Fiend Hunter
3 Silverblade Paladin
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Restoration Angel
1 Zealous Conscripts
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Selesnya Charm
3 Bonfire of the Damned
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Temple Garden
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Plains
3 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Gavony Township
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Rest in Peace
2 Nevermore
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Rootborn Defenses
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Angel of Glory’s Rise
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

The [card]Chronic Flooding[/card] Reanimator deck that won GP Nagoya reigned victorious among a field full of Red/Black Aggro, and is an especially good choice if people aren’t packing enough graveyard hate. Staticaster and Huntmaster are excellent roadblocks against Rakdos, and any zombies that show up will suffer some pretty mean splash damage from [card]Angel of Glory’s Rise[/card]. One development from Magic Online that I’m fond of is [card]Kessig Malcontents[/card] to sometimes let you skip attacking altogether and go directly to the dome.

[deck title=”4C Reanimator by snoogms”]
[Creatures]
4 Nightshade Peddler
4 Izzet Staticaster
4 Kessig Malcontents
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Zealous Conscripts
4 Angel of Glory’s Rise
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
3 Faithless Looting
3 Chronic Flooding
2 Izzet Charm
4 Mulch
4 Unburial Rites
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple Garden
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Rootbound Crag
3 Hinterland Harbor
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Sunpetal Grove
3 Cavern of Souls
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
4 Cathedral Sanctifier
2 Izzet Charm
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Goldnight Commander
1 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Zealous Conscripts
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

While Reid Duke’s Bant Control deck splashing for [card]Nephalia Drownyard[/card] won the event in Los Angeles, I’m more interested in control decks moving past [card]Thragtusk[/card] and adopting [card]Curse of Death’s Hold[/card]. The Black enchantment kills all sorts of Rakdos creatures present and future, including the harder to deal with or more threatening ones such as [card]Gravecrawler[/card], [card]Falkenrath Aristocrat[/card], [card]Knight of Infamy[/card], and [card]Stromkirk Noble[/card]. Notice all of the Humans in the Naya deck and Reanimator deck that have one toughness. I think that Nick Spagnolo’s Esper Control list hit the sweet spot with his spread of removal and ability to win a [card]Nephalia Drownyard[/card] war versus Bant Control.

[deck title=”Esper Control by Nick Spagnolo”]
[Planeswalkers]
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
4 Azorius Charm
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Negate
3 Think Twice
2 Ultimate Price
2 Detention Sphere
2 Dissipate
1 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Lingering Souls
2 Supreme Verdict
1 Curse of Death’s Hold
3 Terminus
4 Sphinx’s Revelation
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Evolving Wilds
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
1 Dispel
2 Feeling of Dread
3 Negate
3 Rest in Peace
1 Detention Sphere
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Curse of Death’s Hold
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Terminus
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

I like the shift back towards [card]Terminus[/card] over [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], considering how much better it is at dealing with [card]Gravecrawler[/card]s, Aristocrats, and all of the undying creatures. I would consider cutting the maindeck [card]Negate[/card] to get down to 60 cards, but the rest of the list looks solid for controlling any kind of aggression from Red/Black.

Finally, Brian Kibler’s deck from the Invitational revisits [card]Predator Ooze[/card] and [card]Ulvenwald Tracker[/card], a pair of old friends from the Avacyn Restored Block Constructed “Fight Club” deck.

[deck title=”G/B Aggro by Brian Kibler”]
[Creatures]
4 Arbor Elf
3 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Lotleth Troll
3 Strangleroot Geist
3 Dreg Mangler
4 Predator Ooze
2 Wolfir Avenger
3 Deadbridge Goliath
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
4 Rancor
1 Tragic Slip
3 Ultimate Price
[/Spells]
[Lands]
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
3 Golgari Guildgate
11 Forest
1 Swamp
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
3 Deathrite Shaman
2 Ranger’s Guile
2 Tragic Slip
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Appetite for Brains
4 Duress
2 Sever the Bloodline
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

This list can outmuscle Red/Black Aggro decks with a giant [card]Predator Ooze[/card] or any creature that has been scavenged onto plus Rancor. A mix of [card]Tragic Slip[/card]s and [card]Ultimate Price[/card]s serve as answers to Aristocrat and Hellkite, respectively. But the most attractive aspect of this deck is its resiliency against sweepers like [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card], and [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card].

Archetypes like Bant Control, Frites Reanimator, and UWR [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] decks have been passable at adapting to fight Red/Black Aggro, but there’s advantage to be gained by adopting different strategies to position yourself better against a Rakdos-infested field. This Standard format has been an interesting one to watch evolve each week, and I fully expect to see Rakdos return in force in the upcoming weeks.

Alex Bianchi
Gemmanite on Twitter and MTGO