Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Rakdos the Defiler

Rakdos the Defiler

Legendary Creature — Demon · {2}{B}{B}{R}{R} · Black/Red commander

Flying, trample Whenever Rakdos attacks, sacrifice half the non-Demon permanents you control, rounded up. Whenever Rakdos deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices half the non-Demon permanents they control of their choice, rounded up.

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What Rakdos the Defiler actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

• Triggered ability · attackWhenever Rakdos attacks, sacrifice half the non-Demon permanents you control, rounded up.
• Triggered ability · deals_damageWhenever Rakdos deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices half the non-Demon permanents they control of their choice, rounded up.
• Keyword · flyingflying
• Keyword · trampletrample

What a Rakdos the Defiler deck needs

Plays as demon typal. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

• Demons (its attack sacrifices half your non-Demon permanents)
• evasion (each hit makes that player sacrifice half their permanents)

The Rakdos the Defiler deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

• 12× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
• 8× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
• 9× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
• 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
• 3× Answer a whole board at once
• 12× Refill your hand
• 5× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
• 11× Get ahead on mana
• 20× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality

Best cards for Rakdos the Defiler

Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing