Streamlined Rakdos Reanimation Deck That Avoids Graveyard Hate and Bad Card Draws!

Most Reanimatable Cards Have Now Alternate Casting Costs!

Updated to 30 June, 2025, bans!

Introduction

This is a second version of a Rakdos reanimation deck, which plays the best cards in the Standard format and aims at reanimating Valgavoth, Terror Eater or Phyrexian Fleshgorger with Zombify. The idea of the second version is to lower variance and bad combination of cards by having alternate, cheaper casting cost on most reanimatable creatures. Also, all creatures can be cast from hand, which helps to bypass graveyard hate.

Source

This is my own brew.

Format

• The deck is for the Standard format with Final Fantasy being the last legal set.
• The deck should be Tier 1 caliber.
• The deck can be played in both Bo1 and Bo3.

Deck Design

Reanimation

• Count: 3

The best reanimation spell in the format.

Discard Outlets

• Count: 9

Fear of Missing Out is great as a discard outlet and for providing extra attack turns. Also, if you have no cards in hand when you cast it, you will draw a card and discard nothing.

Reanimation Targets

• Count: 6

Phyrexian Fleshgorger can be cast with 3 mana and is immune to Go for the Throat.

Valgavoth is the most powerful creature that you can reanimate at the moment. It is also a Demon, which is helpful with Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber.

Surveil Lands

• Count: 3

Milling and Graveyard Recursion

• Count: 4

Spot Removal

• Count: 9

Bitter Triumph is a great removal spell that also works as a discard outlet.

Hand Hate

• Count: 2

Duress is useful against counterspells and such.

Life Gain

• Count: 8

Sheoldred works nicely with looting-type of effects.

Phyrexian Fleshgorger and Valgavoth both have lifelink.

Direct Damage

• Count: 4

Sheoldred can deal final points of damage in some scenarios. Unholy Annex also deals direct damage, when you have a demon in play.

Card Draw

• Count: 2

Man-Lands

• Count: 4

Soulstone Sanctuary is great in that it counts as a Demon for Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber.

Mana Base

Overview

• 25 lands in total

Land Types

• 4 dual-color fast lands
• 4 dual-color pain lands
• 3 dual-color tapped surveil lands
• 4 dual-color Verges
• 6 basic lands
• 4 colorless man-lands

Design

Primary Color: Black

• 17 black-mana-producing lands that can be played untapped on turn 1.
• 20 black-mana-producing lands in total.

Secondary Color: Red

• 12 always-red-mana-producing lands.
• 4 red-mana-producing lands, when a Swamp or a Mountain is in play (there are 9 lands that count as a Swamp or Mountain in the deck).
• 16 red-mana-producing lands in total.

Card Types

• 25 lands
• 19 creatures (of which 4 artifact creatures and 8 enchantment creatures) 
• 2 enchantments
• 9 instants
• 5 sorceries

Sideboard

1-Mana Spells

Duress

Against control and combo decks.

Soul-Guide Lantern

Graveyard hate that can also by "cycled".

2-Mana Spells

Cruelclaw's Heist

Against Kutzil's Flanker and stuff.

Molten Collapse

Against creatures, planeswalkers, and 1-mana artifacts, such as Ghost Vacuum.

Obliterating Bolt

Against Enduring Curiosity.

Pyroclasm

Against token decks.

Suplex

Other Spells

Unholy Annex

Against slower decks.

Sideboarding

Against Control Decks

Removed Cards

• -4 Cut Down
• -3 Go for the Throat

Added Cards

• +2 Duress
• +2 Cruelclaw's Heist
• +2 Molten Collapse
• +1 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

Against Jeskai Oculus

Removed Cards

• -2 Duress
• -1 Go for the Throat

Added Cards

• +2 Soul-Guide Lantern
• +1 Anoint with Affliction