January MIQ Recap, Exerting Historic

Another MIQ came and went on the 16th, and unfortunately I was only able to win a grand total of 1 game in three matches. Disappointing, but it definitely happens. I ran 4C Midrange, considering it was the deck I liked most in Historic, and the deck I was most comfortable with. I chose 4C over Sultai because I believed that Jund Sacrifice would be very prevalent that weekend (which it was), and I was really confident in that matchup based on recent Mythic ladder results. Here’s the list I ran.

After a strong week or so of testing, on Friday the 15th I went 6-9 on the ladder, and it just seemed like one of those days when absolutely nothing could go right for me. Lots of Sultai, lots of Gruul, and in general, lots of losing. The losses against Sultai were to be expected, as I tuned my maindeck to be better positioned to deal with aggro, moving Narset and Shark Typhoon back to the sideboard. I had several 2-1 match wins against Sultai that week, so I didn’t want to make any drastic changes based on one bad day of laddering. I shrugged off the 6-9 Friday and took my list to war on Saturday, which was potentially the first mistake I made.

The second mistake was taking lightly what my ladder results were showing me: a very, very poor win rate against CoCo decks. I increased the number of board wipes in the list and figured that would address the aggro problem. I couldn’t have been more wrong, and so I asked for it.

In any event, here’s how the MIQ went. Notably, no matches against Gruul or GW Company, and only one against Jund.

Esper Doom: Loss 0-2. Kudos to the opponent for identifying a strong deck that most players wouldn’t be prepared for. On the play for Game 1, my draws in G1 were very awkward, showing me most of my creature removal and no Thoughtseize. In G2 I kept a 5-lander with Nissa and Uro, and proceeded to draw more lands.

Sultai: Loss 1-2. Not much to note here. Again, I knew that G1 would almost always be a loss, but I’m usually able to win this match simply out of experience. Fortunately I didn’t make any notable misplays in G3, but lost the game in mirror fashion - my opp drew better than I did.

Jund Sac: Loss 0-2. I drew lots of lands and not enough pork or board wipes. My opp saw lots of chocolate though, and swarmed the battlefield early and often.

I can’t say for sure what I would have done differently here. I still think that 4C was very capable of getting me to Day 2 and beyond, but perhaps I should have went back to running Grafdigger’s Cage in the sideboard as I had this past fall. In that case, I probably would have just switched back to Sultai and improved my chances in the mirror. Lessons learned.

So, Where to Now?

With the MIQ over, no tournaments to prepare for and a new set about a week and a half away, I found myself in a sort of limbo. I played a bit more 4C on the Mythic ladder on the 18th, but I realized that this downtime I had before the release of Kaldheim was a great opportunity to try something different in hopes of achieving some overall improvement.

I was hellbent on taking a break from Uro, but I also wanted to play a deck I knew that I would like. So, I tried something different, but not entirely new - RB Aggro/Midrange.

It wasn’t so long ago when this deck was at its height - summer-ish of 2018. It went by RB Chainwhirler and occupied some astronomical portion of the metagame. I made my first ever GP Day 2 with the deck, so I definitely have some great memories playing it. I decided it was time to dust it off, renovate it and take it for a spin on Arena.

Fire It Up

I knew that the deck would need to look fundamentally different than its 2018 version in order to be able to compete in a fast Historic meta. I had tried a version of it and Mardu Vehicles when Kaladesh Remastered came out, and I was disappointed to learn that Heart of Kiran was no longer the town’s star running back. I realized that the 4/4 beater had become a meek and sensitive propane salesman that has no place in a hard-hitting CoCo world.

Knowing that I’d be cutting Heart of Kiran, I also realized that Unlicensed Disintegration would no longer be worth the cost. I knew that we had some great 2 mana removal available in Heartless Act and Eliminate, so I decided to add those instead.

Another key change I made was eventually removing Scrapheap Scrounger. Though I played maybe 10-15 matches on the ladder with it in the deck, I realized that it just wasn’t fast enough against Sultai. More importantly, it’s simply not a good idea right now to play any creatures in Historic with the text “can’t block.” Hazoret is the only exception to this rule, because unlike Heart of Kiran, Hazoret is an ageless playmaker that this deck absolutely needs.

The last fundamental difference in my new build was not including Goblin Chainwhirler. The casting cost is a bit of a liability, and at the 3 CMC slot, Bonecrusher Giant is much more congruent with what this deck is trying to do: keep the opponent’s battlefield clear so that we can safely turn our creatures sideways.

One last point before I share the decklist - the deck is surprisingly GOOD.

It required a bit of tuning, but as you can see, the deck has everything you need to compete and succeed on the ladder. This deck is analogous to the 2012 and 2013 Seattle Seahawks defense. It runs very straightforward gameplans, but each player executes its role perfectly. No frills, all kill.

We don’t run any 4+ mana bombs that cheat an army of creatures onto the battlefield at once. We don’t run any spineless 1 mana artifacts that circulate an even more spineless 1-mana cat in and out of the graveyard. Rather, the 1-mana artifact we run is a clean and efficient answer to such opposing shenanigans. Yes, Grafdigger’s Cage is the shutdown nickel DB of this deck, and so much more. On more than a few instances I’ve dealt the final blow to a Gruul or Jund player after they passed the turn 2-3 turns in a row with no play and two cards in hand. And that’s a great feeling.

The Gameplan

In it’s purest form, this is an aggro deck, positioning it fairly well against decks like Sultai and UW Control. Keep fast, aggressive opening hands with 2-4 lands and draw into Chandra and Glorybringer. Simple enough.

However, we have the flexibility to do a 180° against other creature decks and jam a heavy duty midrange/hybrid control game. In those matchups, I’ll go as low as 14 creatures post-board and load up on as much removal as possible. I may also cut a single Chandra, Torch of Defiance in these cases since I have less ways to protect her.

The Manabase

It might need some work, but overall I’m very happy with it. Considering there are so many haste creatures in the deck, we really don’t want too many lands that enter the battlefield tapped, which is why I’m currently playing zero copies of Temple of Malice. However, I’d suggest adding a couple if you lean more midrange with this deck. The single Bojuka Bog may be a slight reach, but it’s a pretty good thing to be doing in Historic right now, so one copy is definitely doable.

We also get Blightstep Pathway with Kaldheim, so I can see adding some quantity of that when the set releases.

Sideboarding

As is the theme of this deck, sideboarding is pretty straightforward as well, but it does highlight the overall vulnerabilities of the deck. It generally doesn’t hold up well against other aggro decks, but there’s enough Sultai and 4C currently out there that an aggro maindeck is absolutely justifiable. Here’s how I tend to sideboard:

Vs. Sultai/4C: -4 Bonecrusher Giant, -1 Eliminate, -2 Heartless Act, -3 Earthshaker Khenra; +3 Thoughtseize, +3 Grafdigger’s Cage, +1 Angrath, +3 Noxious Grasp

Vs. Jund Sac: -4 Bomat Courier, -4 Earthshaker Khenra; +3 Grafdigger’s Cage, +2 Abrade, +2 Fatal Push, +1 Redcap Melee

Vs. Rakdos Lurrus: -4 Bomat Courier, -4 Earthshaker Khenra, -2 Ahn-Crop Crasher; +3 Grafdigger’s Cage, +1 Redcap Melee, +3 Thoughtseize, +2 Fatal Push, +1 Angrath

Vs. Auras: -4 Bomat Courier, -4 Earthshaker Khenra; +3 Grafdigger’s Cage, +3 Thoughtseize, +2 Fatal Push

Vs. Gruul: -4 Bomat Courier, -4 Earthshaker Khenra, -1 Chandra, -1 Ahn-Crop Crasher; +3 Grafdigger’s Cage, +2 Fatal Push, +2 Noxious Grasp, +1 Redcap Melee, +2 Abrade

Vs. GW Company: Same as Gruul, but replace the Redcap Melee with a third Noxious Grasp.

Vs. Goblins: -4 Bomat Courier, -4 Earthshaker Khenra, -3 Ahn-Crop Crasher; +3 Thoughtseize, +1 Redcap Melee, +3 Grafdigger’s Cage, +2 Abrade, +2 Fatal Push

Vs. Mirror: Just kidding. I promise you won’t face the mirror with this deck.

Potential Changes

Bomat Courier is probably the weakest card in the deck, and mostly because it simply doesn’t line up well against the other aggro decks of the format. There aren’t many other 1 drops that are better though, but it may be possible that they should come out for some quantity of Fatal Push in the main, or for Soul-Scar Mage. It may also be right to maindeck Cage since it comes in for just about every matchup, but I didn’t have great results when I previously did so. Still, don’t let my experience dissuade you from exploring that option.

Earthshaker Khenra is also an awkward card right now that comes out fairly often, but it’s just so good when you’re on the play. It also gives you some greater long game, and when eternalized, can pacify a wealth of relevant creatures, including lands animated by Nissa.

It may be ideal to play some quantity of Extinction Event or Cry of the Carnarium in the sideboard for Gruul, Jund and Rakdos Lurrus. However, we’re playing so much spot removal for the sake of efficiency that board wipes may not be necessary.

I did not like Kroxa in this deck, mostly because it’s missing that essential keyword: haste. More importantly, the deck is very, very reliant on Cage in most matchups, so that’s a non-bo you really don’t want to have to think about. Just play Rakdos Lurrus if you’re hellbent on playing Kroxa.

Otherwise, the beauty of this deck is that you have an enormous pool of strong cards to choose from since it’s Rakdos. And it looks like Kaldheim is bringing a slew of sweet tools to the table, though they seem to lean more midrange.

Other Notable Points & Gameplay Tips

Watch out for authorities. I’ve seen players jamming Authority of the Consuls from the sideboard quite often lately, so make sure you’re playing that Turn 1 Thoughtseize whenever you’re against a white-based deck.

Angrath is a Gift! Angrath, the Flame-Chained was one of my favorite cards in RB Chainwhirler, and it’s actually a solid card in Historic too. You haven’t power tripped until you’ve had an opponent refuse to escape Uro or Kroxa because you have an Angrath on board.

I Can’t Believe This is Happening! The surprise factor is definitely real with this deck, whether you’re playing against opponents who started playing MTG in the past two years, or against seasoned veterans who can’t believe that they’re once again facing a horizontal Hazoret. Don’t be surprised if it seems like your opponent is underestimating this deck and plays a soft game 2.

“Open your prize. Go on.” You can activate multiple Bomat Couriers at once by going full control. Don’t be afraid to ditch a couple bombs in your hand if you have 4 or 5 total cards beneath multiple Couriers.

Don’t be afraid to race. When against another creature-heavy deck, you’re going to be tempted to exert Glorybringer every time it attacks. However, considering just how removal-heavy this deck is, sometimes it’s better to try to race with Glorybringer, Hazoret and Ahn-Crop Crasher if you can do so without the threat of losing on the crackback. Look out for those scenarios before you exert ol' GB.

That’s really it. While I wouldn’t recommend this deck right now for any major event, it definitely has a ton of potential and can compete well on the ladder. As of Monday night I was in the high 600’s after playing the deck exclusively for roughly a full week, so it has some game for sure.

Ultimately, killing every creature and attacking with yours is just good clean fun. And in a format fraught with undead felines, elder giants and end step ambushing, it just feels good to play Magic the way it was meant to be played.

Enjoy the new Rakdos, and let me know what you think on Twitter - @JeffSheerin

Thanks for reading.