Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Rakdos, the Showstopper
Rakdos, the Showstopper
Legendary Creature — Demon · {4}{B}{R} · Black/Red commander
Flying, trample
When Rakdos enters, flip a coin for each creature that isn't a Demon, Devil, or Imp. Destroy each creature whose coin comes up tails.
Build a Rakdos, the Showstopper deck →
What Rakdos, the Showstopper 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 · etbWhen Rakdos enters, flip a coin for each creature that isn't a Demon, Devil, or Imp. Destroy each creature whose coin comes up tails.
- Keyword · flyingflying
- Keyword · trampletrample
What a Rakdos, the Showstopper deck needs
Plays as demons. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- Demons, Devils and Imps (they are spared by its entry)
- blink and recursion aimed at the commander
The Rakdos, the Showstopper deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 12× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 8× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- 16× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 6× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 2× Answer a whole board at once
- 8× Refill your hand
- 3× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Rakdos, the Showstopper
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.
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Norin the Wary1 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Voyager Staff1 mana
- Golden Argosy4 mana
- Clive, Ifrit's Dominant // Ifrit, Warden of Inferno6 mana
- Diabolic Servitude4 mana
- Eldrazi Confluence4 mana
- Ashnod's Intervention1 mana
Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- Glaring Spotlight1 mana
- Cultist of the Absolute1 mana
- Inquisitorial Rosette2 mana
- Predators' Hour2 mana
- Crash Through1 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar3 mana
- Goblin War Drums3 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Cauldron Familiar1 mana
- Dualcaster Mage3 mana
- Fleshbag Marauder3 mana
- Imperial Recruiter3 mana
- Plaguecrafter3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Terminate2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
Refill your hand
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Rakdos Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana