Nov 3, 20223 min read

World Champion Deck of the Week: Explorer Rakdos Sacrifice

Deck Overview

Nathan Steuer is your World Champion for the Magic World Championship XXVIII! He has rightfully earned a place in our deck of the week with his take on Rakdos Sacrifice in Explorer, which helped push him into the final four!

The deck is a classic sacrifice build, with the Witch’s Oven-Cauldron Familiar combo supported by sacrifice-value creatures and spells. Unlucky Witness pairs very well with Deadly Dispute and Village Rites to gain an incredible card advantage. If you can’t find any of your witnesses, you can also steal your opponent's creatures with Claim the Firstborn and sacrifice them instead.

Bloodtithe Harvester serves a triple purpose in the deck, allowing you to remove your opponent's pesky creatures and create a blood token that you can either crack to rummage or sacrifice to Deadly Dispute. Suppose you are lucky enough to play Fable of the Mirrorbreaker and flip it to the Reflection of Kiki-Jiki. In that case, it becomes a massive problem for your opponent when you create a new Bloodtithe Harvester every turn that either turns into a kill spell or additional damage and creates more value with blood tokens.

Mayhem Devil, Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger, and Jegantha, the Wellspring are the heavy hitters for the deck. Mayhem Devil turns into a busted Prodigal Sorcerer that can either remove all of your opponent’s creatures or go straight to their face for the win. Kroxa not only gives you a sacrifice trigger but also attacks your opponent’s hand and comes back later on as a 6/6 beater. It feels excellent to trade off a bunch of cards with your opponent and then reanimate this in the late game to lock out your opponent and kill them quickly. And, of course, it always helps to start the game with an eighth card in your hand, which is why Jegantha continues to prove why the Companion mechanic may not have been the best idea for Magic.

The lands in this deck are often overlooked but lead to a good portion of its wins. Nathan ran four creature lands in his deck, three Hive of the Eye Tyrant and one Den of the Bugbear, which can continue attacking your opponent after a successful boardwipe and dodges sorcery-speed removal. There are also the surprise spirits from Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance that provide you with sacrifice fodder and additional attackers and blockers in times of need. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire can be very powerful in the late game when your opponent removes a Mayhem Devil or Jegantha, and you buy it right back.

Rakdos Sacrifice has been a tier-one deck in multiple formats for over three years because of the inclusion of the Witch’s Oven-Cauldron Familiar combo, and it is evident that it is not going anywhere. While some lines are hard to master, this deck provides a straight line to victory. Play the oven, play the cat, sacrifice the cat, sacrifice the food, rinse and repeat.