How Rakdos accidentally broke Standard.

[@CodfishJoe]

Ah yes, Azorius Rakdos. A classic archetype.

[@LegenVD]

Rakdos partied too hard and ended up in an Azorius deck.

[@teusz16]

He probably figured the best way to spread destruction and chaos was to infiltrate the Ravnica justice system

[@Irishbaldo2]

😂

[@ryanbolson23]

I know this is a joke, but Rakdos is a character’s name, not just a color identity. The color identity is named after him, not the other way around.

[@CodfishJoe]

​@@ryanbolson23yes I get it. Technically the color identity is named after the guild which is named after him

[@breadnl569]

The only reason people aren't instantly conceding is because, like myself, have no clue what's about to happen.

[@Icameron259]

It also doesn't take long at all, each loop is 18 damage. I'm still not sure how the 9/9 copy can bring back itself since it has to target when the ability goes on the stack, but I guess it's enough to know it does indeed work.

[@RyanIcey]

​@Icameron259 It's because the Legend Rule is a state based action. They basically happen faster than triggered abilities and need to be resolved before anything else, is the easiest way to explain it.

[@davestier6247]

​@RyanIcey nailed it

[@eyeroxers]

Thankfully if you run instant speed removal and/or graveyard hate this deck ideally only works against you once.

[@OMGclueless]

@@eyeroxers I suspect it will become a tempo deck running Spell Pierce and maybe even Negate after a while. Graveyard hate has to be pretty specific because it's pretty easy to sandbag your important pieces in your hand until the opponent's end step and set everything up with Mending -- it's not like just slapping Graveyard Trespasser in your midrange deck for example will make a big difference.

[@madisonking8057]

23:27 rare flustered LVD moment

[@LegenVD]

There's too many cards on screen 😅

[@parkerdixon-word6295]

I appreciate any combo that kills the opponent in less than a dozen triggers. No goofing about goldfishing with your triggers, no death by a thousand cuts machinegunning people with 20 hits, you actually just kill 'em dead with hits for 9.

[@RyanIcey]

LGS's that hate infinite loops and limit it to only 3 iterations of it hate this one easy and simple trick!

[@parkerdixon-word6295]

@@RyanIcey In an LGS, you can demonstraight a loop and explain it to people well enough that they will usually concede. It's more on digital that I feel like there is a reason to want triggers and targeting to be quick and painless so you don't waste both players' time with some combos.

[@madisonking8057]

I was so confused at first when the title said rakdos and the intro said blue white 😂

[@nicholasreifenstein8501]

Shortest infinite I’ve ever seen

[@Blue-starnight103]

classic 999

[@Xzask]

YOU BET

[@vargasmir]

Congratulations on 125k subscribers! This combo is so entertaining

[@LegenVD]

Thanks a ton!

[@violentedward]

29:17 “Our opponent plotting a show off here but it’s our time to show off” YOOOOO!!!

[@CyberBuster93]

Luca messing with the opponents with his choice of card sleeves xD

[@MrRubixscube]

of note, you don't need to "break the loop", you can just arrange the triggers so that the damage happens before the reanimation

[@LegenVD]

It's personal preference at that point!

[@MrRubixscube]

@@LegenVD for sure! i just wanted to mention that possibility existed :p

[@cole3823]

you can also just hit the "decline" button when the metamorph is entering to break the combo. it will sttill ETB but not transformed into the copy of rakdos

[@mr.marker6449]

What I think is funny is how Rakdos the demon was sleeping during the entire phyrexian invasion but is awake when crime is happening

[@supersanttu7951]

> entire multiverse is at risk of being taken over by unholy flesh machines i sleep > chance to larp as wild west outlaws **REAL SHIT**

[@Sir_Master]

Understandable, tbh.

[@astuteanansi4935]

Rakdos when the entire multiverse is on the brink of destruction: I sleep Rakdos when petty theft: *REAL SHIT* Honestly that feels completely appropriate for the lord of chaos

[@michaelpritchett709]

@@supersanttu7951Hilarious

[@tasteoftacos]

Just saw CGB face this deck today and was also highly confused seeing Rakdos in an Azorius deck

[@wyvern-augury]

Did he post that game? I would love to see it lol

[@tasteoftacos]

Yes. It's today's video with gruul dragons at the 26 min mark

[@bigali69190]

Many people already posted video about this cheat many days ago, including CGB..so I guess he was not really surprised😂

[@Sir_Master]

Man the combo is so consistent that LVD pulled it off three times in a single game (but the third soul partition was probably the funniest part)

[@zombieninjapitbull3856]

Had this smack me earlier today, spent about 10 minutes viewing battlefield, trying to figure out wtf happened.

[@00mongoose]

Oh fun! another quick kill combo in standard.

[@CyberBuster93]

Azorius got so fed up with their wincons they decided it's their turn do the burning for once xD

[@perryattack]

Cool deck! Another deck idea that would be cool to see how you put it together is a treasure tribal with some of the new OTJ treasure related cards (Hell to Pay, Goldvein Hydra, Magda, Generous Plunderer, etc.) and something like crime novelist or gleaming geardrake that get huge when you sacrifice your treasures. Love the content!

[@gabriellisi7349]

Watching this immediately after cgb's new video calling this combo bad LOL, can't wait to see it in action

[@nicknick1766]

Votekick has to be one of your best ones, nice showcase

[@vincentvangoo7078]

Not quite what i had in mind for rakdos joins up this one looks fun!

[@jmangan17]

i found this deck the day after the set dropped, was good, but i did what you did here and added some temporary lockdowns as the only thing that gave me problems was red aggro, it was just swarming me before i could get to 4 lands. the lockdowns helped. it's still like a 80% win rate deck.

[@TheGingerbrett]

Worth Considering going into Esper for Lively Dirge. Spree card puts a card into your graveyard from library for 3 mana sorcery.

[@danielstein8769]

played this deck today and i said no to the combo with kutzils flanker and my opponent promptly exploded. there is some really goofy stuff in standard right now lol.

[@alancruz1405]

Finally, i was waiting for this video.

[@vumasster]

22:22 really puts the POWER in powerstone

[@kevinreimnitz8379]

21:20 You can decline the Metamorph trigger so the creature won't get exiled to your own Temporary Lockdown

[@LegenVD]

Good point! I think the 9/9 is still worth it though.

[@kevinreimnitz8379]

@@LegenVD I think it would still be a 9/9. Since the copy is a "may", it would just enter as a 9 CMC Hulking Metamorph 7/7 with 2 +1/+1s. Love your content and big fan btw :)

[@LegenVD]

@@kevinreimnitz8379 Gotcha! Yeah that would've made a little more sense.

[@Garryl367]

If you reorder the triggers so that the damage triggers resolve before the return target creature trigger, you don't have to break the combo at an arbitrary point. May be helpful if your opponent is at a very high life total and you don't want to calculate how many damage triggers you need to actually win. This combo is fascinating to me because the legend rule enables it to bypass typical self-targeting limitations. Thanks to the legend rule, the Metamorph copy of Rakdos Joins Up dies before its own enter the battlefield trigger goes on the stack, allowing it to target itself in the graveyard. If you needed to manually sacrifice the card being returned form the graveyard each cycle, as is the case for many similar combos, you could still do it but only with two copies of the card in the graveyard. This is because by the time you would have priority to perform the sacrifice, the ETB trigger would already be on the stack, and thus have its target locked in. Since the legend rule kill the Metamorph copy as a state-based effect, it actually dies before the targets for its own ETB triggers are selected.

[@scipioafricanus2071]

Just played against this list. Had a "cut down", solved the issue fairly nicely. I'd consider this a meme deck, probably only usable in bo1, since bo3 has a enough graveyard hate in the sideboard. It also doesn't look all that consistent. My oppo had to dig through half his deck before he managed to get rakdos joins up into the graveyard, by that time I had basically already won the match.

[@LegenVD]

While there's certainly a fail rate, you can often see half of the deck by turn 5 or 6. Players that haven't encountered the deck yet might be caught off guard, but this effect will fade over time. It's also possible that those playing the deck will improve it and perfect their sequencing to get the most out of the combo. Lockdown is also one of those all-purpose answers that can exile graveyard hate and we're also allowed to bring in more answers.

[@CyberBuster93]

Rakdos is SO insanely good, even freaking Azorius uses him!!! xD

[@Xorthis]

Oh no, now more people are going to find out about this D: I've been running a similar deck for about a week and people never expect to have to deal with the 1/1 on turn 4... You can also break the loop by selecting decline on the metamorph trigger. The ETB copy ability is a may...

[@apellesjohnson3675]

29:18 "But it's our time to show off" Go off king

[@thosewhoslaytogetherstayto3412]

Now I may need to keep 2 of the 3/1 Cat to exile graveyards in my Esper pile.

[@fisicalimite]

Me thinking "he has a lockdown in hand, he has a lockdown in hand, HE HAS A LOCKDOWN IN HAND" - Okay, find another lockdown anyway 😂

[@dumplingdepinto]

That fella with the infinite supply of Soul Partitions 🙄

[@hiroshiarturolopezsashida6071]

If you can disrupt an instant win combo then why not

[@Say_Tin]

If there's no second creature in your graveyard, you'd have to keep the copy and bin the animated enchantment to stop the loop, right? nevermind lol he did it at 29:45

[@madisonking8057]

Yep, though i think you can also just decline to reanimate

[@dac2007]

@@madisonking8057 You have to reanimate but you don't have to copy anything Also rearranging triggers just kills the opponent before the stack fully resolves

[@skipper7152]

Powerstone coming in clutch!

[@jonathanriebe8887]

21:22 declining to copy keeps the MV above lockdown, and possibly gets you a turn later, soul partition really showing up against you though, likely a wiff just because of the exile on RJU regardless but it would have been awesome to see a win against such odds all really fun games to watch

[@LegenVD]

Indeed!

[@darkanayer5867]

While less effective because of mana costs, I believe encroaching mycosynth should also enable the combo, by making the enchantment (and all your nonland permanents) into artifacts, therefore enable the metamorph to copy the enchantment. Not too efficient, since it's a 3U artifact so that comes a few turns later, and specially worse given the current manabase can't support hard casting Rakdos Joins Up. Idk, it was my first thought while reading the deck tech. A bad one, but hey, someone will find a way to make this work knowing Encroaching mycosynth exists, surely

[@BusinessCat88]

Love the matches ending with Pew Pew Pew

[@budaclees233]

This is one of the most standard combos I've seen in a minute.

[@zeusalternative1270]

Grand abolisher can be a nice tech to protect the combo.

[@LegenVD]

Could definitely see it as a sideboard option!

[@XaeroGames]

Yeah buddy!

[@n30t4zm4n]

You could always stack the triggers so the damage is dealt first.

[@LegenVD]

Sure, it's personal preference at that point! I like to do all the work first and then enjoy the triggers as they resolve. Others prefer the instant gratification of resolving their damage, so to each their own 😉

[@timwcronin]

Seems Case File Auditor would go well in this deck if you add discard effects.

[@dallinhilton3189]

I had this done to me and I thought it was awesome

[@nurikhsan8821]

The only thing to stop its combo is saving a kill/burn spell and killing the 1/1 "Rakdos Joins Up" creature right after it targets Metamorph in the graveyard, (Metamorph not yet entering the battlefield). When the effect resolves, Metamorph will enter the battlefield without any creature to copy, thus it enters as a vanilla 7/7 plus two +1/+1 counters on it. Yes... you'll face a 9/9 creature because of this. But that's still better than died.

[@seanknapp1271]

Came for Rakdos, stayed for the reanimator.

[@abardnamedspoony]

I love your content and videos- top tier stuff as always, but man do I hate facing this on ladder; especially when I just don't draw my graveyard hate and they really do combo off on turn four.

[@juancarlos-hm6wl]

There's a MTG creator named Xaero. Seen him post a VERY similar deck 2 days ago, awesome concept!

[@LegenVD]

Saw people discussing this combo when Rakdos Joins Up was first revealed!

[@rafaelpardinifariabastos4545]

infinite damage is in the second sentence on the video = like

[@CelestialJudgement]

Yay more combos that only blue can stop I love it.

[@LegenVD]

There's more ways to interact with the combo than you might think. And after sideboard everyone has access to graveyard hate if they want it.

[@CelestialJudgement]

@@LegenVD Guess im just tired of playing bo1 non-ranked when im bored and running into decks that do nothing turn 1-3 and then turn 4 end the game. Will keep bringing my best graveyard hate in ranked tho.

[@dac2007]

Just remove the 1/1 in response, any deck can stop it (even monogreen since it's an enchantment still)

[@CelestialJudgement]

@dac2007 This is very true but most decks usually need their turn 3 and four to play out to function. Not every hand can rely on having the exact answer to a one turn combo. Sometimes you just don't draw/mulligan the cards/lands to deal with these combos.

[@dac2007]

@@CelestialJudgement yeah of course, that's the bad part of having combo decks around, but this in particular can be stopped maindeck

[@thebigmammoo]

Totally unrelated, but I played you earlier today in ranked and just noped out and conceded when I saw Kumano. Trust me, it was best for both of us. You would have kicked my ass quick anyway.

[@zunarcorporation1117]

Armored Scrapgorger and Tranquil Frillback has entered the chat.

[@Mrfrenzy1]

This deck is so easy to beat. Literally just hold removal for Rakdos. It was fun to play for a week when noone knew about. I would highly discourage anyone from making it at this point.

[@LegenVD]

If this deck can build up enough mana to cast Awakening for X=2 or more it can play around most removal spells. Setting the combo up twice also isn't out of the question with Founding letting you replay Awakening again. So you also need significant early pressure in addition to holding up your removal spell, which not every deck is capable of.

[@Asmobia]

You need to keep mana open (and you need to have instant removal) since turn 4, and as LVD said once your opponent cast Awakening for X>=2 most of your removal can't beat it.

[@marcantoniosavelli1710]

May a judge please explain exactly why a normal clone does not work, and it needs to be exactly that clone? Thanks.

[@jrwise100]

This deck is fun!

[@davestier6247]

I'm a simple man, i see rakdos joining up, i smash that like

[@haveiszalfaroqie1628]

23:20 the only epic fail you can find in this channel.

[@spencerbell8386]

Secret is out!

[@josephroehl9105]

YES I HAVE WAITED FOR THE DAY I SEE LUCA SO STRESSED HE DOESNT SEE A CARD IN HIS HAND HAHAHA 23:15

[@Pyrotro]

I also noticed you can end the loop by having metamorph just, not enter in as a copy of Rakdos.

[@Pyrotro]

As in you can choose to not have it enter as anything, it can just enter in as itself.

[@Xsasan2001]

Woah, this combo comes from nowhere and hits so hard! That awakening is just a broken card. Nice abuse of the legendary rule. Overall, a deck typically for lvd, but also one I'd expect from the mono black lord because of it's meme-characteristic 😂

[@paulocampino5045]

Grandpa Rakdos still has some kick in it

[@comedyman4896]

Welp, time to add the fourth copy Kutzil's Flanker to my control deck

[@ironmariachi]

Cleanest combo kill on arena

[@Linkwii64]

This set is crazy. OTK outta nowhere everywhere. We're entering Yu-Gi-Oh territory here die turn 3 or get OTK.

[@JEST5R]

I think you should definitely follow up on why we don’t have battlebond lands in precons. Commander being a multiplayer format not having the multiplayer format lands is a little bit of a smack in the face.

[@LegenVD]

I think you left this comment on the wrong video 😅

[@Nicksizzle77]

Ahhh now I see. Went up against this deck yesterday. Was so confused on what their wincon was cuz they casted mending like 6 times before losing and I saw every single card in your list except rakdos. Lol, poor bastard just got unlucky I guess.

[@Did_No_Wrong]

I miss Invoke despair so much. It was such a good card for monoblack, but people kept running it in Esper decks essentially killing that fast.

[@hiroshiarturolopezsashida6071]

Card was too good, specially for a black enchantment removal

[@nomenestomen3452]

This is the type of infinite combo i like. Short and devastating. 💀

[@TheKillaShow]

Love when Wizards makes standard 3 years worth of sets and spent zero time playtesting anything.

[@kevinvanderende3088]

I love watching these and I'm like this is an interesting deck. So I put it together and my next 10 games are going 2nd against mono Black hand hate decks and nothing else

[@jojodelacroix]

I'm generally a fan of the standard expansion, but all of the combo decks are killing me. It feels like every day there's some new combo that pops up that I need to be able to deal with. .-.

[@Zauzzie]

Is this deck feasible in BO3? or does it just get to hosed by graveyard hate?

[@LegenVD]

Will definitely need a good plan for graveyard hate, but Temporary Lockdown already deals with a lot of them. You can also sidestep counterspells by bringing in cards like Silent Arbiter, especially if it's paired with Cavern of Souls. CGB recently ran a modified version with those two in best of one, but you could just have it as a sideboard plan as long as Cavern is already in the manabase.

[@jazzyroam1986]

so op combo

[@comedyman4896]

First the worldsoul deck, now this. Standard is beginning to feel a little bit like modern sometimes.

[@IceTealol1]

''Raktos' broke the meta'' *PLAYS F-ING YORE*

[@LegenVD]

Rakdos the card, not the color combination.

[@IceTealol1]

@@LegenVD ah yes i just figured it out xD

[@billybob01234567]

Onto the next one 😂

[@dracodominus2800]

I love reanimator decks, but it's sad that it works better in blue white than in black.

[@whoogyboogy3966]

Now this is pod racing

[@failprone]

Just lost to this earlier today. I just started playing magic this year. My favorite way to play is draft because the games feel...well like games. A lot of standard seems to be a competition of who's jank is gonna fire first. Is this what WoC intended? Is the standard meta always just cheap jank? I'm legitimately asking.

[@nothing4mepls973]

If it's jank but works, it ain't jank

[@gavinpretorius3564]

Still not sure how this works? Its a legendary triggering itself? Is it just broken??

[@dac2007]

You turn the legendary enchantment in a criature which is still legendary so when you copy it you can sac the copy by legend rule triggering both damage effects then the copy also reanimates itself with the ETB to keep going

[@nairbgolden2008]

Imagine a company that actually playtested their designs first

[@DanyF02]

People are so excited to use Cut Down on a dumb 0/3 who's staring at the wall doing nothing while Cut Down is exactly what they need to stop your combo with only 1 mana. This deck won't look as good when people get used to it.

[@LegenVD]

There's definitely the element of surprise, although Cut Down can also be played around if you can cast awakening for X=2 or more.

[@stephenmoore5390]

Use a card that prevents opponents from casting spells on your turn and it much harder to stop. There is a creature card I faced that does that.

[@davidwhite8052]

Me looking at the thumbnail thinking about current boros in standard. See the white symbol and go huh that isnt rakdos colors. Looks again sees blue and goes wait rakdos breaks standard by not being red black

[@Muertoloco13]

The lockdown in hand: am i a joke to you.

[@AnT_EyE]

Elesh Norn completely shuts this deck down, as I just discovered... :(

[@konachan01]

Control decks are probably this deck worst match up. And has 3 layers of answers: Counter spells for the [Abuelo's Awakening]. [Kutzil's Flanker] for instant speed graveyard exile when [Abuelo's Awakening] is on the stack Instant Speed Enchantment removal like [Get Lost] amongst many others for [Rakdos Joins Up] to break the combo. And it seems like control decks are quite popular now on ladder.

[@LegenVD]

Definitely a tough matchup! Blue/White Control is only 6% of the BO1 ladder at the moment though.

[@alaingamache3908]

The real question is.. does the deck counts toward playing red or black cards to complete quests ? lol

[@LegenVD]

It does not sadly.

[@JDPetersonFLA]

I got hit by this two days ago 😅 I didn't even know what happened

[@L1v3W1r3d]

Title is misleading, I'm sure Rakdos is pleased to have broken a format, and would do it again if he wanted to. He just has such a comfy throne waiting for him on Ravnica he has to get back to.

[@lordstov8592]

Played against this, had no idea what was happening. Thankfully pilot never got to combo

[@rpersha]

I'm upset that you made a video on this deck. Now my opponents will understand what is happening to them...

[@hiroshiarturolopezsashida6071]

Knowledge is to be shared

[@jibrilbetter]

at this point, i think the strongest card is a "counter"

[@user-tb7ml8kz7h]

Yes. The decks of tournament winners are heavy on removal, counters, and generally disrupting the opponents' plans. In this case the [white leyline of "you have hexproof"], or [the black leyline of "exile instead of putting into the graveyard"], or any exile from the graveyard effects, will hard-counter this combo. Even a [Duress], or any other discard-target-card-from-opponents-hand effect is enough to disrupt this combo...

[@Ziegrif]

Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up but then Rakdos joins up

[@Zii_Vii]

Otherworldly Gaze = Alien Homosexuals Now you can't unseen it.

[@All.Alone.In.The.Unknown.]

Busted AF

[@LightCheck70]

I’ve been wreaking this deck so easily it’s too fragile. But cool combo

[@calebsocha4303]

It's a pretty some combo... Once you get everything in place lol

[@Uberriffic.]

Y'know, I think the funniest thing about this deck is how the combo falls apart to literally any instant-speed interaction. Still a fun combo I love pulling off, though.