We will now look at the potential commanders for the black/red combination. Black and red are really good at a few things; destroying creatures, generating low-cost high risk/high reward effects, and burning opponents with direct damage. The Rakdos color pairing is all about agression and hostility, and as you will see with some of their better commander options they are all less about subtlety and more about brute force.
Axelrod Gunnarson: For an eight mana commander, he is too underpowered for the cost.
Barktooth Warbeard: Although the flavor text says otherwise, running Barkstooth Warbeard as your commander is neither devious nor cunning.
Bladewing the Risen: Bladewing the Risen is a fairly good card for a Dragon-themed Reanimator deck. You are obviously restricted to only using Dragons in black and red, but some of the best options are in those colors anyway. Black offer several options for getting Dragons into the graveyard to begin with, and also offers a lot of options for reanimating them in case your commander gets shuffled into your library and or is otherwise unavailable. Bladewing is also one of the few commanders that I would let go to the graveyard instead of the command zone when killed, because reanimating him is a 2 for 1 almost every time. Bladewing the Risen also really likes any effect that blinks it out of play, allowing you to reuse its 'enters the battlefield' effect. I think that if you want to go Dragon Tribal, that perhaps
Scion of the Ur-Dragon or
Kaalia of the Vast may be better commander options, but Bladewing the Risen definitely has a some merit as a commander that goes in a slightly different direction.
Boris Devilboon: There are many more effiicient options for putting 1/1 tokens into play that paying Boris makes little sense.
Kaervek the Merciless: Kaervek is kinda awesome in that he punishes every opponent for wanting to do ther thing they want the most; play their spells. He's not particularly splashy and he is hard to defend, but if you dedicate some slots in your decks to help protect him from removal (black discard spells or red Redirection effects), then you can really frustrate your opponents as they take damage trying to deal with Kaervek. Just don't be surprised when everyone turns on you, even though Kaervek isn't know for any combo shenanigans.
Lady Orca: At least she has seven power...
Lyzolda, the Blood Witch:
Lyzolda has a couple of things going for her. First off, she is very inexpensive to cast (never call her cheap, btw). Second, she is a good source of card advantage. Third, she is a sacrifice outlet making her fairly immune to "tuck effects". With lots of ways to generate tokens for both sacrificial fodder and for mana, Lyzolda can be the centerpeice of a player-killing engine that plays somewhat like a combo deck without actually being a combo deck.
Malfegor: If you need a 6/6 flyer for 6, there are better options. If you need a Wrath effect for 6 mana, there are much better options. Having to discard your hand in order to get both stapled onto one card is insanity.
Olivia Voldaren: Awkward three-legged artwork aside, Olivia Voldaren is probably one of the best black-red generals available. Out-of-the box, she's a 3/3 Flyer for 4 mana which is a decent enough deal on its own. Tack onto that a "Masticore" ability that adds +1/+1 counters to her, and she can simultaneously grow huge and keep the board clear of small creatures. But the real kicker is the third ability that (when coupled with the first) allows you to outright steal any creature too big to shoot down. I think that Olivia also gets the benefit of the doubt as the tribal leader for a Vampire tribal deck.
Pavel Maliki: Just compare Pavel Maliki to a
Shivan Dragon and you know all you need to know....
Rakdos the Defiler: Cool ability that ends up defiling your permanents while costing your opponents an instant removal spell.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots: In a properly built Rakdos deck, the casting restriction should not be a problem. These same measures that you put into place to cast Rakdos should also help with making your creatures uber-cheap once Rakdos hits the battlefield. The only real decision you have at that point is how greedy you want to be, either by running some high-cost fatties that you can sneak into play on the cheap (think
Kozilek or
Ulamog) or by dumping tons of mid-size creatures that you may have an easier time casting if your Rakdos Plan A doesn't work out. Either way, Rakdos can lead you down deckbuilding paths that lead to some highly entertaining games where your opponents are playing at breakneck speed to try and keep up.
Rohgahh of Kher Keep: Coupled with the land of
Kher Keep and perhaps some other Kobold cards, I would guess that you may have a "so bad that its good" tribal deck on your hands. That actually doesn't sound too bad after all...
Tor Wauki: A glorified
Heavy Ballista is not my idea of a good time...
Tsabo Tavoc: Generals such as Tsabo Tavoc and the previously reviewed
Empress Galina hold a special place in the Commander format in that they can hit right at the heart of an opponent's deck by being able to consistently remove their commander. Having protection from Legends also allows Tsabo Tavoc to be immune to some of their effects, making for some potentially interesting situations.
Wort, Boggart Auntie:
The nice thing about Wort being your general for a Goblin-tribal deck is that you not only get access to some decent goblins in black but your also get access to some much better spells options in black. One of my first decks was a RB Goblin tribal deck with Wort at the helm, and even though Krenko can give her a run for the money power-wise I think that the added color makes Wort a better choice.
Top 5 Rakdos Commanders
1. Olivia Voldaren
2. Bladewing the Risen
3. Lyzold, the Blood Witch
4. Wort, Boggart Auntie
5. Rakdos, Lord of Riots
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