[Decklist] Rakdos Dragon Blade

So recently Norm played a Hero's Blade deck.

Although it was'nt consistent, I was quite piqued with the potential of Tymaret

In particular it I was interested because my Hot Dogs! deck is made to have its critters die, so Tymaret seems to fit nicely. Moreover Tymaret was in Rakdos colours, so it seemed a shoo in.

It may seem an oversight, i mean Tymaret has been around since Theros! And there was some initial love from players and in fact I think it did gain some traction in a Zombie deck.

Still, what piqued me was Tymaret's interaction with Bloodsoaked Champion. Now I have always liked Bloodsoaked champion,  it being a self recurring 2/1 for 1cc. Whats not to like? :p

In fact with Tymaret and Bloodsoaked Champion, you get inevitability ! The two together allows you to ping for 2 damage for as long as you have mana or it allows Tymaret to sit as a blocker forever for six mana each turn.

So I tried to squeeze Tymaret into my Hot Dogs! deck, where it has some added usage in saccing critters that are doomed anyways. The update is here.

But in messing with Tymaret, I also got a closer look at Hero's Blade. Norm's deck had three colours and it was heavily dependent on Hero's blade. Too heavy.

Hence my initial focus was to have the deck not die when it does not get the blades. This is actually a challenge if you are fixated on getting the bonus of playing Legendary dudes. In fact my first take was that it is simply not possible in standard and I looked to the modern pool first. I found Isamaru and a whole bunch of other Legends. I found myself going multi-coloured and the result was something cute, but awfully casual in modern.

So I decided that going the Legends route was a trap (like Sam mentioned) and snapped back to standard and and decided to use a limited band of colours when building the deck. Its interesting (or duh) to note that different colours provide different advantages. Norm's route seem to want to exploit Surrak's formidable ability. which at 4cc or earlier can be nasty. So green was a very plausible route.

Remember I was enamoured with Tymaret? (well aside from the fact that his ping ability cannot hit critters) So I wanted to utilise Tymaret in a Hero's Blade deck. Tymaret's advantage? Aside from his sacrificial nature in pinging? he also has recur potential and with two Tymarets, one in play and one in grave and 4 mana; you have an eternal blocker! Remember the synergy with Bloodsoaked Champion? Yeah. Its not rocket science.

I realised that half of my Hot Dogs! deck was actually a warriors deck. And aside from Tymaret, Rakdos colours have Alesha and Zurgo. Kolaghan is just too cool to not plug in when I can! And hey they (yes both the Elder dragon and the FRF versions) are Legendary! So a draconic theme was simmering too!

So mucking around this was what I got: 

std_20150427_heroesBlade

Instant
4 x Draconic Roar
4 x Lightning Strike

Sorcery
1 x Roast

Artifact
4 x Hero's Blade

Land
4 x Mana Confluence
7 x Mountain
4 x Bloodstained Mire
7 x Swamp

Legend
2 x Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
1 x Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
4 x Zurgo Bellstriker
2 x Dragonlord Kolaghan
3 x Tymaret, the Murder King

Creature
2 x Blood-Chin Fanatic
4 x Thunderbreak Regent
3 x War-Name Aspirant
4 x Bloodsoaked Champion

I like it quite a bit. It can inevitably ping for 2 and gain life (not in one step in case you are confoozed). It has awesome dragons and lots of heat. The warriors and dragons theme ensures that the deck does'nt just roll over if the blades don't show. And one important thing to keep in mind is... you can actually equip for 4 =)  Also double or triple blades is an awesome trigger! Alesha brings back the tiny warriors (there is a slight nonbo with war-name aspirant... but I guess thats minor). The dash of Storm's Fury can be relevant.

And after building it. I realised it contains the warriors from Khans, including the Mardu Khan (Alesha), it had the FRF bloodsoaked Champion (who was mentioned in the mothership storyline), the FRF Kolaghan and the Elder Dragon Kolaghan. Even little Zurgo! Now given that Alesha ran alongside Kolaghan in the storyline, the deck actually plays pretty close to canon! Well Tymaret kinda sticks out like a sore thumb, but hey death comes to all, so the Murder King can't be too oddly placed in a Rakdos deck no?