Rakdos Midrange: Piloting The Best Deck In Pioneer
Todd Anderson takes us through the ins and outs of Pioneer's current reigning champ, Rakdos Midrange.
Rakdos Midrange is the best deck in Pioneer.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about why Rakdos Midrange is the best deck, and how it operates in the Pioneer format. For starters, Rakdos shines because its cards are flexible without sacrificing strength. You’ll notice most of the threats have utility across a wide array of matchups. Their abilities are good against creatures, but their stats are good against opposing midrange, control, and combo decks. The threats are really what set Rakdos apart from the other midrange decks. They will be the primary draw to the archetype. Let’s take a look at what we’re working with.
Rakdos Midrange
Pioneer
5 mythic
45 rare
6 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (19)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$613.06
Sideboard
15 Cards
$16.19
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is easily the best card in this deck. It gives you two threats for three mana. Those two threats each have abilities that force your opponent to interact, lest they get overwhelmed by micro-advantages. Those two effects are pretty darn good, but the second chapter pays for it all.
One downside of playing a midrange deck is that you usually have to load up on mana sources to cast all your spells on curve. If you fail to play your three-drop on the third turn, chances are you’re in some amount of trouble against virtually every opponent. Three-drops are where we start to shine, because that’s where our threats go from troublesome to terrifying.
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker allows you to include “extra” lands in the deck, because you get to discard them when you’re flooding out. If you notice, we don’t have a ton of cards that have synergy with the graveyard. Outside of Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger, our graveyard is mostly used as fodder for Graveyard Trespasser. Opponents that hit us with Rest in Peace or similar effects are not interacting in a way that is damaging to our primary game plan. If our deck did use the graveyard, the strength of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker would be out of control.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
When Sheoldred was first spoiled, people in my Twitch chat kept telling me it was bad. They were disappointed that a Praetor would be so weak! It doesn’t even have an ability that triggers when it enters the battlefield! Our opponents will just kill it before it does much of anything! In reality, Black decks with Thoughtseize tend to slow the game down, which allows for late-game threats that will actually stick around. Your opponents are too busy killing Graveyard Trespasser to have anything left in the tank once Sheoldred first hits the battlefield.
The truth of the matter is that Sheoldred is excellent. It is hard to kill via damage, hard to block thanks to high toughness and deathtouch, and hard to race if you don’t kill it thanks to the life gain. The life loss it deals to the opponent is so hard to race sometimes that I feel like you’d be a fool to attack all out against it without presenting lethal. The swing back is usually so much damage when you factor in Den of the Bugbear, direct damage like Stomp from Bonecrusher Giant, and a host of other small ways to deal damage. If the game is at parity, Sheoldred can easily win you the game through a stalemate. If you’re ahead, you can squeeze your opponent’s life total in no time. If you’re behind, the card plays defense extremely well, and the card draw gaining you some life can save you in tough situations. It is truly a magnificent card.
Bloodtithe Harvester
While Bloodtithe Harvester might seem “just fine,” it is secretly the only reason the deck is playable! Bloodtithe Harvester literally does everything you need it to do. Casting it early allows you to chain them together to kill larger creatures. The back side of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker lets you clone them to use like a machine gun on your opponent’s threats. The blood token gives you flood protection. It all works well, every single time. Drawing two or three every game is awesome.
The entire draw of Rakdos Midrange is that it has no disastrously bad matchups.
The other part of Bloodtithe Harvester that makes it so good is the sizing. At two mana, you’re given three power and two toughness. You should be able to challenge most one and two-drop creatures in combat, meaning it doesn’t even really have summoning sickness if you’re using it to trade. However, against slower opponents or folks who aren’t playing creatures, the three power means you will hit the ground running and actually be able to apply real pressure. Alongside disruptive elements like Thoughtseize and Fatal Push, the three power on that body can deal some serious damage in a short period of time. In other midrange decks, you just don’t have that type of efficiency or pressure in your early game pieces.
Bonecrusher Giant
Bonecrusher Giant is another strong piece to the puzzle on why Rakdos Midrange is great. Not only does it have an efficiently-sized body, but it offers you something most creatures don’t: cheap interaction. For two mana, you can Stomp an opposing Llanowar Elves or other threat, and follow it up with a sizable body. While Bonecrusher Giant isn’t winning any awards for “best aggressive threat,” it gives you the ability to use all five of your mana on the second and third turn. Mana usage is key to winning games in Pioneer, and having a card like Bonecrusher Giant specifically ensures you’re able to use all your mana from the second and third turn is so helpful. It makes mulliganing a lot easier too, as being down a resource hurts less when your curve is happening on schedule.
The coolest thing about Rakdos Midrange is that it has so few “dead draws” in any given matchup. The most polarizing cards are Thoughtseize and Fatal Push, as they will attack two different types of opponents in a very specific way for one mana. As the game progresses, you can pitch them to Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or some blood tokens to turn them into real resources. The entire draw of Rakdos Midrange is that it has no disastrously bad matchups. Everything can be attacked by Fatal Push or Thoughtseize. The creatures are flexible across the board, and best in slot for their cost. Bonecrusher Giant is a huge part of that system, but it is just another player in the archetype that adds to that flexibility.
Helping Hands
The creatures are the primary reason to play the archetype, but it wouldn’t be nearly as powerful without help from the interactive spell elements. As I’ve said already, both Fatal Push and Thoughtseize are important parts of the deck, but what makes them so special?
Fatal Push
For one mana, you can kill any creature that comes down for one or two mana. However, this spell scales nicely as the game progresses. If your opponent kills your creature, Fatal Push now doubles in range of castability. If you pop a blood or treasure token, Fatal Push now starts to look a little more like Swords to Plowshares without the life gain! There aren’t a lot of creatures in Pioneer that cost more than four mana, so a Fatal Push with revolt should handle most opposing threats.
For one mana, it is difficult to ask for more. In fact, I think Fatal Push is one of the only reasons why black is playable! The red removal is actually pretty good right now, as Fiery Impulse, Strangle, and even Lightning Axe do unique stuff and handle a lot of different threats that can come your way. White even has Portable Hole and Temporary Lockdown now, but nothing compares to the efficiency of Fatal Push. Any draw against a creature-based deck that has one or more Fatal Push in it is always going to be an uphill battle.
The downside of Fatal Push (and Thoughtseize) is that it will lose value in the “wrong” matchups. Efficient cards tend to be less flexible than expensive counterparts, but that’s what makes them so strong in the first place. In a world where you can play eight Llanowar Elves, you need efficiency to keep up with the degenerate archetypes. In the past, playing Fatal Push was still good, but you had fewer ways to turn it into a real game piece against an opponent without creatures. However, in a world with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, these high-impact efficient interactive spells are easy to play with four copies because we can always pitch them later.
Thoughtseize
The other side of the proverbial coin is Thoughtseize, a card that is traditionally weaker against aggressive strategies because the two damage it deals can swing a game. Thoughtseize is still fine against most aggro opponents, but it will often be a dead draw later in the game and occasionally too detrimental to your life total to cast in the middle turns. The first turn Thoughtseize on the play will almost always be good against any opponent, making Thoughtseize the premier way to elongate the game and disrupt what your opponent is doing.
It’s cool to see virtually all Black decks in Pioneer play four copies of Thoughtseize and Fatal Push. They are almost mirror opposites in how they operate in the game engine, but both are so efficient at what they do that you can play both and cover yourself from multiple angles. You will have the occasional game where you draw two Thoughtseize and no Fatal Push against aggro, but those games are few and far between. Plus, if you can cast Thoughtseize early enough, you might be able to snipe their best spells from hand before they come down. See? Even at their worst, they’re still viable. That’s what makes a truly great Magic card.
The Sideboard Guide
Rakdos Midrange
| In | Out |
| +3 Reckoner Bankbuster | -2 Misery's Shadow |
| +2 Abrade | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +1 Extinction Event |
In midrange mirrors, games can go long, and both players can get down to empty-handed pretty quickly. Thoughtseize helps enable that mode of “playing from zero resources,” which Rakdos decks are so adept at doing, but it doesn’t really matter who is casting the Thoughtseize in that scenario. Both players will be trying to get the most out of all their cards, but you don’t want to have dead draws in the later turns of the game.
One thing I like to stress about sideboarding is that some cards are just naturally better in the first game, and are okay to side out once both players get access to better interaction. In this case, I like cutting Thoughtseize because you can miss later in the game pretty easily. All your spells are pretty powerful, and offer potential two-for-one trades with the opponent if given the ability. That means Thoughtseize can be fine in a lot of spots, but I just don’t want to be the person drawing discard spells when I’m far behind on the battlefield.
Reckoner Bankbuster is not new to the archetype, but it is new in these numbers. Three is a lot, but it is excellent against any opponent giving you time.
While Extinction Event is hurting you as much as the opponent, there are some games where you fall so far behind that only a sweeper can catch you back up. I don’t recommend going overboard on Extinction Event, but it is certainly fine when you’re on the draw. If you’re ahead, just discard it to blood tokens or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.
Reckoner Bankbuster is not new to the archetype, but it is new in these numbers. Three is a lot, but it is excellent against any opponent giving you time. Drawing cards and winning the attrition battle is so powerful, but it does much more than that. Don’t be afraid to get a little aggressive with it in the right spots.
Izzet Phoenix
| In | Out |
| +2 Go Blank | -2 Misery's Shadow |
| +2 Duress | -4 Bonecrusher Giant |
| +3 Reckoner Bankbuster | -1 Swamp |
Games tend to go long against Izzet Phoenix because you’re breaking the game down to both players having very few resources. Discard effects essentially put both players in “topdeck mode” in a hurry, so it is important we have cards that can recoup card advantage. It is also important that we don’t flood out, so I’m cool to trim one land here. Go Blank and Duress work well alongside Thoughtseize to strip their best spells, but don’t think for a second that discard will always “beat” Izzet Phoenix. Any time they topdeck Treasure Cruise, you’re usually in trouble. That’s why we must keep in a lot of creatures to actually apply pressure.
While Bonecrusher Giant isn’t truly a “bad” card in any matchup, it is at its worst when Stomp is not good. Here, Stomp has few good targets, so I’d rather trim them. However, Graveyard Trespasser is actively sick in this matchup, offering a solid body, protective ability, and graveyard interaction.
Reckoner Bankbuster is slow, but both decks will be configured in such a way to best present pressure alongside their interaction. In this matchup, your opponent will likely take an aggressive stance with some kind of sideboard pivot. Some people play Crackling Drake, and those are the toughest configurations for us to beat. However, most people just play Young Pyromancer or Thing in the Ice, which can both be contained via our cheap spot removal. Losing Stomp hurts against specifically Young Pyromancer plans, so if you see that card in the second game, I would consider moving away from Duress and Reckoner Bankbuster back toward Stomp and Bonecrusher Giant.
Mono-Green Devotion
| In | Out |
| +3 Extinction Event | -2 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger |
| +1 Pithin Needle | -4 Graveyard Trespasser |
| +2 Duress |
This matchup used to be pretty tough, but I think the added pressure of Misery’s Shadow does wonders. In fact, the static ability turns Old-Growth Troll into a manageable threat, all while offering you tons of potential pressure at varying points in the game.
Extinction Event is great here, dealing with virtually all of their creatures all while exiling them, which prevents their triggered abilities from working. It just so happens that their deck is built in such a way that Extinction Event is backbreaking, but it won’t always be a hammer. You need to use it aggressively to stifle their Nykthos turns, as them sticking a Karn with 8+ mana is usually game over.
Pithing Needle is mostly for this matchup to name Karn, the Great Creator. If they can’t use Karn, they usually can’t win the game against you. They will have 1-2 Boseiju that can kill Pithing Needle, but it is so powerful for just one mana in this specific matchup.
Mono-White Humans
| In | Out |
| +2 Abrade | -2 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger |
| +1 Hidetsugu Consumes All | -2 Thoughtseize |
| +3 Extinction Event | -2 Misery's Shadow |
I like trimming on Thoughtseize, but you don’t want to cut them all. It can be important for taking Brave the Elements before killing their creature. It can be fine in the early turns of the game. Mostly, I just think that Kroxa and Misery’s Shadow are much worse. Neither of these threats does much against Mono-White, so I’d rather be “too interactive” and try to break their draw down rather than try to stabilize by playing weak blockers.
Extinction Event and Hidetsugu Consumes All give you some breathing room against some of their early explosive starts. Your goal should be to kill most things as your opponent plays them. Use your mana efficiently, try to play around Brave the Elements when you can, and protect yourself from the worst case scenario as much as you can.
Note: Dauntless Bodyguard can be sacrificed even if they did not choose a creature when it was cast. That means if you target it with Bonecrusher Giant, they can sacrifice it and counter the spell so it goes to the graveyard instead of the adventure zone. That is also how Stomp works against Brave the Elements when you target a creature. Also important to note that you can use Stomp on opponent’s face after blocks if they use Brave the Elements while blocking, and the clause on Stomp will prevent their protection from saving their creatures from damage.
In this matchup, I like to use Bonecrusher ONLY in situations where I think it will resolve. However, don’t be afraid to cast your spells. If you’re behind on board and flush with cards in hand, feel free to stomp Dauntless Bodyguard. It’s not that bad.
Azorius Control
| In | Out |
| +2 Go Blank | -4 Fatal Push |
| +2 Duress | -2 Power Word Kill |
| +3 Reckoner Bankbuster | -2 Graveyard Trespasser |
| +1 Pithing Needle |
This matchup is pretty simply “in good cards, out bad cards.” You have tons of dead removal. I would recommend approaching this matchup with caution. Don’t overload your battlefield into Supreme Verdict if you can help it. However, their whole deal is trying to squeeze you. Don’t be afraid to cast stuff into counterspells. If you don’t, they’ll use that mana to play card draw stuff. Their deck is designed to use mana at instant speed, so you not casting anything means they can use that mana to draw cards instead of countering your stuff. That’s exactly where they want to be!
Pithing Needle isn’t a surefire way to win the game, but you can certainly use it as bait before they play a backbreaking The Wandering Emperor, but mostly you should just name Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.
Abzan Greasefang
| In | Out |
| +1 Rending Volley | -2 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger |
| +2 Abrade | -4 Bonecrusher Giant |
| +2 Go Blank | |
| +1 Pithing Needle |
They’re likely to have Can’t Stay Away in some number, so the static effect of Misery’s Shadow is okay. Bonecrusher Giant has few targets for Stomp, so it comes out. Rending Volley and Abrade are more instant ways to deal with Greasefang before they get their creature online. Kroxa is bad because they can discard any card, including Parhelion II!
This matchup can be scary. Their deck is consistent and powerful, requiring specific answers at specific times. I think Go Blank is fine but Duress is not. Go Blank isn’t super powerful, but it can hit their graveyard after they’ve gone through a few iterations of self-mill.
Mono-Blue Spirits
| In | Out |
| +1 Rending Volley | -4 Graveyard Trespasser |
| +1 Hidetsugu Consumes All | -2 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger |
| +3 Extinction Event | -1 Misery's Shadow |
| +2 Abrade |
Our deck is designed to interact heavily after sideboard. It’s okay to cut a bunch of threats because they won’t have removal. One or two threats is all you need to get the job done. This matchup is usually okay for Rakdos, because their strongest draws include playing an Aura on their cheap creature. With Thoughtseize and a bunch of cheap removal, protecting their creature can be quite difficult, which makes their best draw mediocre against you.
I would even go so far as to say that Rakdos is one of the worst matchups for Mono-Blue.
Bant Spirits
| In | Out |
| +1 Rending Volley | -4 Graveyard Trespasser |
| +2 Abrade | -2 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger |
| +3 Extinction Event |
These six removal spells give you some game against them. While they are similar in nature to Mono-Blue Spirits, they are not vulnerable to the exact same stuff. In fact, Hidetsugu Consumes All is much weaker here, but Extinction Event and spot removal are great. This matchup is harder, but still decent. Collected Company can help them catch up in the games where you’re hitting all their creatures with removal. That isn’t the case with Mono-Blue, so that alone changes the nature of the matchup.
In both matchups, Graveyard Trespasser is mediocre because they can just ignore it. They deal damage in large swaths, and can ignore it completely in the combat zone. When your opponent can ignore Graveyard Trespasser, and you need to reduce your threat count to be more interactive, it is usually the first place I look. While Graveyard Trespasser is good against most aggro decks, it is weak to Spirits specifically because it doesn’t fly and can’t play defense.
Selesnya Angels
| In | Out |
| +2 Abrade | -4 Graveyard Trespasser |
| +1 Rending Volley | -2 Power Word Kill |
| +3 Extinction Event |
This matchup is very similar to Bant Spirits, except it keeps going in the bad direction. Collected Company is excellent against you, but Kayla’s Reconstruction is even worse. They’re similar effects for a similar deck, but hitting three or four things at once often leaves you in an unwinnable position. It’s been getting worse lately, as the Angels decks are starting to sideboard Reckoner Bankbuster, a card that is great against Rakdos. The fact that they can find it off Kayla’s Reconstruction is terrifying.
I would classify this as a “bad matchup,” as your removal doesn’t always line up well against them, and your sweepers won’t always help you out when you’re losing. They are designed to go over the top of people trying to interact, and cards like Collected Company and Kayla’s Reconstruction are so difficult for grindy midrange decks to fight through. We’re not doing anything crazy or over the top, so all the value their cards generate will be things we have to fight through.
Gruul Boats
| In | Out |
| +2 Duress | -4 Graveayard Trespasser |
| +2 Abrade | -2 Misery's Shadow |
| +2 Extinction Event |
Misery’s Shadow tends to shrink in the face of Red removal. If the static effect doesn’t do anything and the body dies to Stomp or Fiery Impulse, I usually cut it. Graveyard Trespasser is another card that just doesn’t cut it in this matchup, mostly because it gets outsized by Lovestruck Beast. Extinction Event and Abrade are both solid here, but I don’t want the full suite of Extinction Event since you will often have more creatures on the battlefield than your opponent, and it will be harder to control the outcome.
Duress is solid in this matchup, as many of their haymakers and threats also happen to be non-creatures while in hand. Esika’s Chariot, Skysovereign, and The Akroan War are all vulnerable to Duress. Overall, I think this matchup is a little bad, but certainly not as bad as most people think. I win with Rakdos plenty, and many of those wins are due to my opponent flooding out, having mana issues in general, or getting bulldozed by Sheoldred. Their weak point will be attacking their Elves, or stripping one or two of their relevant threats with discard.
Lotus Field Combo
| In | Out |
| +2 Go Blank | -2 Power Word Kill |
| +1 Pithing Needle | -4 Fatal Push |
| +2 Duress | -2 Dreadbore |
| +3 Reckoner Bankbuster |
With Lotus Field making a comeback in Pioneer, it is important we can side out all our dead removal for real cards. Discard effects like Go Blank and Duress can buy you a full turn, which is sometimes all you need to close the game. Your threats are so big for their cost that you can usually kill an opponent on the fifth or sixth turn if they aren’t blocking or killing your stuff. Against Lotus Field, you should expect them to be trying to combo in the face of discard, and they will usually just ignore all your creatures.
Reckoner Bankbuster isn’t great here, but it can attack for large chunks when you’re just applying pressure. If you need to find specific interaction, you can start using it to draw cards, but overall your goal is to kill them as quickly as possible. Lean on keeps with Bloodtithe Harvester, as it can deal a massive amount of damage in a very short period of time.
Enigmatic Fires
| In | Out |
| +2 Go Blank | -4 Fatal Push |
| +2 Duress |
This matchup is almost impossible. You’ll find yourself feeling ahead, and suddenly they play Leyline Binding into Enigmatic Incarnation, stealing your Sheoldred with Agent of Treachery. Enchantments are also really hard to deal with for Rakdos colors in general, meaning most of our effects are weak against their marquee card.
Enigmatic Incarnation boasts a great win percentage against Rakdos, so don’t expect to win much against them. However, if you can strip them of the right card at the right time and apply some real pressure with your creatures, anything is possible. Honestly, that’s the biggest draw for me with Rakdos, in that any matchup is winnable thanks to Thoughtseize and Fatal Push combined with such efficient threats.
Keruga Fires
| In | Out |
| +2 Go Blank | -4 Fatal Push |
| +2 Duress |
Any Fires of Invention archetype is going to be naturally favored against Rakdos. We’re both “midrange” strategies, but they’re trying to go over the top of people playing fair. Keruga builds use Cavalier of Flame and Kenrith, Returned King to give haste, so they kill you in big swings. That also means sweepers like Extinction Event aren’t that effective, even if their deck is entirely made of 3‘s and 5‘s.
While the Fires of Invention decks are usually mediocre to bad matchups, they aren’t prevalent in the current meta thanks to their weakness to Mono-Green Devotion and some aggressive strats.
Mono-Red
| In | Out |
| +1 Hidetsugu Consumes All | -2 Misery's Shadow |
| +2 Abrade | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +3 Extinction Event |
Games go long, and Kroxa can actually close things out quickly. It’s nice for getting one of the last few cards in the opponent’s hand, but I’m not casting it until I have nothing else to do with my mana. Misery’s Shadow dies too easily to Play with Fire and Stomp. Thoughtseize is a liability against Eidolon of the Great Revel.
This is one of the most difficult parts of sideboarding, in that this sideboard guide isn’t going to be the best against every build of Mono-Red. In fact, Mono-Red in Pioneer can mean many different things. Some play Atarka Red, going low to the ground with tokens. Others play Eidolon of the Great Revel, and punish you for playing spells that don’t kill Eidolon. Some versions go bigger with Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Anax, Hardened in the Forge, and Embercleave. These builds are weaker to Thoughtseize than others, but there is a sliding scale. You won’t be sure on the best sideboard plan until you know exactly what your opponent is playing. Recognizing key factors in their deckbuilding can give hints on the best sideboard options.
Rakdos Sacrifice
| In | Out |
| +1 Pithing Needle | -4 Bonecrusher Giant |
| +2 Abrade | |
| +1 Hidetsugu Consumes All |
Bonecrusher Giant has so few relevant targets in this matchup, and often gets counterfeited by Witch’s Oven. I would rather not draw them. All your sideboard options are good against Witch’s Oven, but Abrade doubles as an answer to their other best card: Mayhem Devil. The deck just doesn’t look all that scary most of the time until Mayhem Devil comes to party. Once it hits the battlefield, all bets are off, and you’re at their mercy until you untap or kill the Mayhem Devil itself.
This matchup can be tough, as Claim the Firstborn is a good way for them to blow up your spot. Them stealing and using Bloodtithe Harvester is so devastating that I’ve considered cutting them over Bonecrusher Giant, but it’s just too strong against every other part of their deck. It also just so happens to be your best card.
Final Thoughts
Rakdos Midrange is the best deck in Pioneer for multiple reasons, but my favorite is that it is so flexible. It seems like every card can double as removal or threat, or be interactive against a wide variety of opponents and cards. There are some opponents who will bury you with card advantage, and others that will falter in the face of such brutal and efficient disruption. Pioneer is full of different archetypes that will attack you in various ways.
I’m excited to play just about any deck with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, but this one seems to utilize the aggressive nature of having two creatures well, and the flood protection from the loot effect makes up for playing so many mana sources. Fable is likely in the five best cards in Pioneer, and it’s excellent here even though we aren’t abusing any of the off-beat parts of the card (think Indomitable Creativity or Greasefang).
What I love most about Rakdos is that it can be built in a number of different ways. Any problem that you have can potentially be solved by changing the sideboard a few cards. While one card can only do so much for a bad matchup, there is proof that a cohesive plan with multiple moving parts can get the job done, even when that matchup was deemed “bad” in the past. If you’ve ever been a “Jund Guy,” and are trying to figure out what deck to play in Pioneer, I highly recommend picking this deck up. It’s a ton of fun, and allows the wielder an immense amount of agency in both deckbuilding and gameplay.
Some decks ask the question: Can you beat me? Can you find the right interaction to stop my combo or kill my creatures? Rakdos doesn’t ask that question. It answers that question, and the answer is almost always “yes.”
