The 35 Best Rakdos Commanders Ranked

Last updated on January 17, 2025

Florian, Voldaren Scion | Illustration by Justine Cruz

Commander is a format of choices, and the greatest decision of all aside from choosing your commander is deciding what colors you want to play. With up to 100 unique cards in your deck, it’s important you pick a color or color combo that fits your playstyle and empowers the strategy you find the most rewarding.

Today I’d like to present you with the idea of choosing a Rakdos () commander. I’ll explain just why you should choose a Rakdos card, list the most powerful commanders out there, and even provide a sample decklist that I’ve found to be very powerful at my LGS.

Let’s get started!

Why Go with a Rakdos Commander?

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger | Illustration by Vincent Proce

The Cult of Rakdos is a color combination of emotion, power, and deception. Red offers incredibly powerful cards for cheap while black brings excellent removal and card draw. Together red and black is one of the most powerful aggressive color pairs in Magic that gives you the means to do what you want most to the most potent effect possible.

Rakdos holds a special place in Commander as one of the more consistent aggro-midrange color combinations. It provides a threatening early game and can grind out longer matches against control decks. If you enjoy playing with vampires, minotaurs, goblins, or any kind of aggressive creature-based strategy, you’ve found the right colors.

#35. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

My ranking starts off with a good card in Xantcha, Sleeper Agent, a 3-mana 5/5. As soon as it enters the battlefield, though, you have to pick an opponent to give it to.

Xantcha’s whole deal is that it causes your opponent trouble by attacking other opponents that aren't you, and can cause its controller (not owner) to lose 2 life for . I think this card is really sweet because it completely disrupts play and opens up new avenues for player interaction beyond counterspells or Lightning Bolts.

As for the actual deck it's leading, most players opt to go down the curses route with cards like Curse of Leeches and Curse of Stalked Prey. Not only do I think this is the most powerful strategy for Xantcha, it's also the most fun and on-theme!

#34. Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar

Here comes Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, whose name I bet you didn't read. We’ll call it Asmo, but if you like announcing the names of cards you play, listen to the pronunciation from Wizards staff.

Asmo is a somewhat straightforward commander that can only be played if you’ve discarded a card, which means it's going to lead a madness-based deck. In addition to being a very good Food card given how it can fling Food tokens at creatures, this 3/3 for tutors out The Underworld Cookbook when it enters the battlefield. The Cookbook acts as a discard outlet for your cards with madness while simultaneously fueling your 6-damage Asmo ability.

#33. Sauron, the Lidless Eye

If we talk about the Lord of the Rings cards, we have to mention the big bad guy. Sauron, the Lidless Eye is a nice addition for aggressive Rakdos players. With all the menace and trample abilities of Rakdos creatures, the repeatable mass pump and life drain are great for finishing off opponents.

#32. The Master, Multiplied

Maybe multiplication and myriad are things Magic must mull over before making more cards like The Master, Multiplied. If your Master is permitted to attack a second time before you're board wiped, the chaos ensues. Let's say you have a humble three-person free for all, your first attack gets you one additional copy of The Master, a second attack with both of those asks you what 2×2 is, giving you four more copies, and if your opponents can't handle that, it grows exponentially to be way more 4/3 bodies than you paid for.

The negating of the legend rule turns on most of the clone cards you want to use with The Master, Multiplied. Pick up a Mimic Vat or Mirage Mirror, or switch it up on people and play with permanents that give you one-time use token generators like Daring Piracy and Mordor Trebuchet, except you keep the creature.

#31. Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is a very strong creature overall as a 6/6 that causes each of your opponents to discard a card or lose 3 life every time it enters or attacks. The big drawback to Kroxa is the escape keyword, which is why it sits so low on this list.

Luckily for us, Rakdos supplies more than enough ways to support a discard-themed list that can get Kroxa out on curve with numerous discard outlets and engines. You’re going to want to look at a few specific cards when it comes to benefiting from discarding and making your opponents discard.

The first is Geth's Grimoire, which draws you a card for every discard by an opponent. Second is Painful Quandary, which taxes 5 life or a card whenever an opponent casts a spell. Last but not least is Leyline of the Void, which shuts down any graveyard shenanigans while simultaneously saying goodbye to anything your opponents discard.

#30. The Scorpion God

The Scorpion God has the ability to distribute -1/-1 counters for and then draw you cards whenever a creature with these counters dies. This is decent early game removal, and something that you can take advantage of later on with more mana for bigger creatures. On top of that it comes back to your hand at the beginning of your next end step when it dies, making it effectively immune to the commander tax.

Remember, there’s no reason to have only The Scorpion God as your -1/-1 engine. There are more than enough -1/-1 and synergistic cards to support a general -1/-1 counter strategy. Contagion Clasp, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, and Glistening Oil all come to mind as must-haves, and I’m sure you can think of some more when you build the deck.

#29. Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos

Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos, a legendary ogre demon from Neon Dynasty, is a sacrifice-based commander that likes to fling damage at your opponents and their creatures by exiling cards off the top of your library. But don’t worry, you can still play them!

Hidetsugu‘s first ability is nice but there are better sacrifice outlets in cards like Ashnod's Altar. What we’re after is that delicious second ability. Most of the creatures we want to reanimate after sacrificing are pretty costly, so being able to throw around 5-6 damage at whatever we want is some nice damage-based removal that we’ll never be sick of.

#28. Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin

Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin is a great card before you even consider some of the infinite combos it can create. There are so many ways to deal 1 damage, which allows you to grow Ob Nixilis and get many more cards to play with. You can infinite combo with a card like All Will Be One or just have good synergy with a card like Thermo-Alchemist. We've got a sweet decklist brewed up already!

#27. Mogis, God of Slaughter

The first (but not the last) minotaur typal commander in today's rankings is Mogis, God of Slaughter. Mogis has been swinging that axe since the release of Born of the Gods and is an increasingly popular group slug commander.

This god creature empowers a group slug strategy that aims to actively damage and harm all players at a constant rate, like Purphoros, God of the Forge. Some great cards and damage multipliers in this category are enchantments like Fiery Emancipation, Burning Earth, and War's Toll. If you’re crazy enough you may want to consider running the now-unbanned Worldfire, which is no longer held back from tormenting players by WotC’s gates.

#26. Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury

Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury is the namesake leader of the Kolaghan faction on Tarkir, and that’s good enough to lead our Commander deck! This creature only has about 100 decks listed online which is a huge mistake in my mind. This is a great dragon Commander in the Rakdos colors and the dash plus attack trigger make it an excellent choice as a first commander for new players.

Don’t get me wrong, this commander is nothing to seriously write home about, but I think it deserves more attention than it’s getting. Players get too wrapped up in high-power commanders that have a chapter’s worth of rules text and I think the Storm’s Fury is a great but simple commander that anyone can enjoy.

#25. Kalain, Reclusive Painter

Kalain, Reclusive Painter is the ultimate Treasure commander for Rakdos. It’s a super straightforward commander that buffs creatures for each Treasure used to cast it.

There are a billion ways to make Treasures and Kalain offers a great way to consistently make use of them. That cheap casting cost of is great too because it allows us to get our commander online early.

#24. Kellogg, Dangerous Mind

The aggressive stats on Fallout‘s Kellogg, Dangerous Mind are indeed dangerous, with the same-day-delivery Treasure token basically making this card cost 2. Yes, spending five treasures is a lot, but Mind Control and similar cards are considered premium removal that usually costs a whole card. The clause about only stealing the creature for as long as you control Kellogg makes the 2 toughness a very fragile plan though.

#23. Rivaz of the Claw

Rivaz of the Claw is a wonderful dragon EDH Rakdos commander. It’s cheap and ramps up your ability to play dragons. This card ramps 2 mana at a time, and even lets you recur dragons from the graveyard. However you dice it up, this “Claw” is a dragon’s best friend.

#22. Neheb, the Worthy

Next up is Neheb, the Worthy, a minotaur commander that buffs all your minotaurs with first strike and +2/+0, and it also forces you and your opponent to discard when it connects with combat damage.

Minotaur typal is a very niche archetype to get into, but if there’s a format to do it it’s Commander. There have been plenty of minotaurs to pick through and include in our deck across multiple sets in the last 10 years, Theros and Amonkhet specifically. It’s a very straightforward strategy so we’re just looking for good creatures that have the minotaur creature type. Anything more is a bonus.

The ones that come to mind as staples to me are Neheb, the Eternal, Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion, and Deathbellow War Cry.

#21. Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls

Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls is the face commander from one of the Duskmourn Commander precon decks, Endless Punishment. This Rakdos commander already has a nice built-in defense: Players will have to pay life to circumvent Valgavoth's ward and allow you to draw a card just to target it. It also protects itself from direct damage spells, since it receives a slight buff when targeted by a player for the first time that turn. While this is a more niche form of protection, there’ll be instances when an extra +1/+1 counter can save Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls from being killed by cards like Lava Coil.

Valgavoth also works well with Rakdos burn and/or life drain builds. Cards like Underworld Dreams that consistently ping opponents on their turn can help buff this elder demon over time while also ensuring you maintain a strong card advantage.

Adding in some instant-speed damage spells like Lightning Bolt can also give you a cheap way to ensure a player loses life on a turn. Using a spell like this doesn’t feel so bad, since you’ll get to draw off Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls’s activation, essentially turning it into a cantrip.

#20. Rowan, Scion of War

Rakdos decks have no shortage of cards that allow you to exchange some life for a beneficial effect. Since losing life isn’t all that uncommon, Rowan, Scion of War can frequently discount your spells by at least a few mana. This makes Rowan one of the best X-spell commanders in Magic.

One immediate idea that comes to mind is to use cards like Bolas's Citadel or K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth that allow you to cast spells by paying life. This allows you to ramp up the mana discount you can get from Rowan, Scion of War, pumping it all into a splashy bomb like Torment of Hailfire or Meathook Massacre II.

While this strategy could seem high-risk, high-reward, there are ways to mitigate the risk of losing life. Black has access to lifelink creatures and cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse that can offset loss of life. Exsanguinate is a perfect card for this Rakdos commander, as it gives you a ton more life to play around with and more than cancels out any life you spent to get a discount on it.

#19. Laughing Jasper Flint

Laughing Jasper Flint is a Rakdos commander focused on Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s outlaw batch creature types.

In Magic, outlaws includes assassins, mercenaries, pirates, rogues, and warlocks, and there are plenty of these in Rakdos colors. On top of that, Laughing Jasper Flint also makes any creatures you steal from your opponents into mercenaries, adding them to your count of total outlaws.

What makes Laughing Jasper Flint so powerful is that its ability is a huge help whether you play the spells it exiles or not. Either way, you’re still denying valuable resources to other players. You also get a significant card advantage the more outlaws you have.

While this lizard commander can be pretty powerful, it’ll likely also be a huge target. Players don’t like having their cards exiled, and they like it even less when you use those cards against them. Luckily, Laughing Jasper Flint is a relatively cheap commander, so casting it multiple times isn’t an unreasonable ask.

Still, you’ll want to include some protection to ensure your outlaw commander makes it to your next upkeep!

#18. Rakdos, Patron of Chaos

In a 4-player Commander pod, Rakdos, Patron of Chaos lets you choose your ally that wants to sac stuff, or the Voltron player that only has one creature. Either way, the ability represents big-time card advantage if it lasts a couple of turns. The biggest drawback is the mana value, (a lower cost would probably be unfair) which gives your opponents a chance to account for the demon.

#17. Olivia, Crimson Bride

Olivia, Crimson Bride is a vampire commander with flying and haste that lets you put a creature into play from your graveyard tapped and attacking whenever Olivia attacks. But the caveat here is that the creature goes into exile if you don’t control a legendary vampire at any point. This sets a huge red target on your legendary vampires‘ backs, so make sure to play ample creatures to prevent having to put all your eggs into one basket.

If you’ve played Olivia, Crimson Bride before (or just read the card) then you’ll notice that you can put any creature into play, not just vampires. That includes anything you can target with Entomb.

I like to aim for bomb threats that at the very minimum act as a lightning rod in addition to some enter-the-battlefield effects. Things like Massacre Wurm or Sheoldred, Whispering One come to mind.

#16. Wort, Boggart Auntie

We’re into the great cards now, and to greet us is none other than Wort, Boggart Auntie. The only thing I like more than this card’s name is its art. Wort is a very simple commander that just brings goblins back from your graveyard to your hand, which means it’s goblin typal for us!

You might notice the “fear” keyword on Wort, Boggart Auntie’s oracle text. Fear is a pretty rare and unused keyword that makes it so that the creature can't be blocked except by artifacts or black creatures. This dodges most things you want to get through, but it isn’t like commander damage is your win condition anyway if your opponent has some random black creature.

#15. The Infamous Cruelclaw

Aside from being a real cutie, The Infamous Cruelclaw is a Rakdos commander that can easily help you get ahead in a game. Because Cruelclaw's ability continues to exile cards until you hit a nonland card, there’s no danger of whiffing like there is with other top-decking effects, and it also thins out your deck a bit.

Although you’ll have to deal combat damage to trigger The Infamous Cruelclaw, its built-in menace makes this easier. Quick aside, I’m not sure why this commander has menace instead of deathtouch, given the visible poison dripping from its blade.

There are also ways to make this weaselly commander harder to block than it naturally is. Cards like Whispersilk Cloak or Rogue's Passage can make it much more likely that this commander gets through your opponents’ defenses, and spending some mana on them doesn’t feel so bad since you’ll get a free card in return.

#14. Greven, Predator Captain

Remember all those reasons Rowan, Scion of War worked well as a Rakdos commander? The same is true for Greven, Predator Captain, just in a slightly more direct way. Instead of needing to rely on having another card in your hand to benefit from losing life, Greven itself receives a direct buff from any life lost. This can be a more consistent method of benefitting from paying life, and it can also easily help you eliminate other players with commander damage.

Greven, Predator Captain’s built-in draw engine is among the strongest in Rakdos, another huge plus for a commander. Rakdos also has a good number of cards with higher power than toughness, allowing you to draw more cards while losing less life. Of course, you may want to lose more life to buff this commander. Still, it’s nice to have the option if you’re getting lower on life but still need to draw more cards.

#13. Mahadi, Emporium Master

Mahadi, Emporium Master is your answer to the question: “Can I have a Rakdos commander that gives me a ton of mana ramp?” This is a nice commander for the aristocrat or graveyard player. You can use your creatures for great effects and use them as mana after their deaths.

#12. Mishra, Claimed by Gix

Mishra, Claimed by Gix is a solid Rakdos commander for several reasons. Plenty of Rakdos cards benefit from opponents losing life. Mishra, Claimed by Gix’s attack trigger gives you an easy way to ensure opponents lose life. Since this commander doesn’t have to attack itself, you can throw disposable creatures – like tokens from Urabrask's Forge – at your opponents to get a trigger off. Since Mishra, Claimed by Gix also gains you life, you’ll have more to spend on other cards, or just live slightly longer.

Melding Mishra, Claimed by Gix into Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia isn’t all that difficult if you want to build it into your strategy. Black has plenty of tutors, or you can use a card like Buried Alive to dump Phyrexian Dragon Engine into your graveyard, then use its unearth ability to have it attack with Mishra. Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia can do a lot of damage with its ETB/attack trigger, not to mention it’s a massive 9/9.

#11. Judith, Carnage Connoisseur

Both modes of Judith, Carnage Connoisseur are pretty good, the first making an excellent weapon against token decks out of cards like End the Festivities and Cinderclasm. The second mode makes Judith into a very black-red version of Talrand, Sky Summoner. This is a loud and proud aristocrat commander that loves to sling some spells and send both yours and your opponent's creatures to the graveyard.

#10. Raphael, Fiendish Savior

I love cards that can support multiple creature types or even a combination in one deck. Raphael, Fiendish Savior can support all your underworld creatures. This card pumps your devils, demons, and imps, and tieflings, gives you lifegain potential, and creates useful tokens. I don't know what else you need from a commander? 

#9. Juri, Master of the Revue

Juri, Master of the Revue was at one point the most popular Rakdos commander, and for good reason. It gains a +1/+1 counter every time you sacrifice a creature which will be very often in just about any Rakdos sacrifice Commander deck.

Juri’s second ability is where things get interesting. When it dies it does damage equal to its power to any target. This means you can kill any player at will if you can get the number of counters high enough, possibly through infinite sacrifice triggers.

#8. Strefan, Maurer Progenitor

Strefan, Maurer Progenitor is a superb vampire commander in Rakdos. Its whole deal is that it generates more than enough Blood tokens each turn that you can use them to sneak vampires in, tapped and attacking, from your hand. And there are plenty of ways to generate Blood tokens thanks to Crimson Vow so that you can properly take advantage of Strefan’s second ability the turn it comes in.

Regardless of how you build your deck I’d recommend playing cards like Voldaren Bloodcaster and Falkenrath Forebear to make use of all the Blood tokens you’ll have. Odds are you won’t want or just won’t have an unending number of vampires to put into play and you don’t want those tokens to go to waste.

#7. Anje Falkenrath

Anje Falkenrath took Commander by storm when it first released thanks to its unique second ability. Anje basically allows you to loot through your deck as much as you want in a given turn as long as the cards you’re discarding have madness.

The thing is that cards you discard with madness can still be played for an alternate cost that's usually cheaper. When paired with your commander, you still have access to the cards you discard which means you have access to as many cards as your opponents lets you draw through. This is a great engine for Rakdos combo decks and there are more than enough powerful madness cards to choose from, like Asylum Visitor and Bloodhall Priest.

#6. Kardur, Doomscourge

Kardur, Doomscourge has been terrorizing my local game store for quite some times. It generates chaos by forcing all your opponents to attack one another the turn Kardur enters the battlefield. This can be an extremely profitable exchange because it conveniently leaves you out of it while still letting you help beat down one poor soul at the table.

To top things off, all of your opponents take damage and you gain life whenever creatures die in battle. This forces your opponents to choose between taking the damage or blocking and having everyone lose health together. If they choose the former they’re just that much closer to death. If they choose the latter then everyone is progressively weaker and you’re better off for it.

#5. Chainer, Nightmare Adept

Next is Chainer, Nightmare Adept. Black (and red to a lesser extent) have incredible discard-based mechanics that can help take advantage of Chainer’s ability. Not only is it a discard outlet itself, it can help bring back dead or discarded creatures from earlier in the game. This makes for an excellent reanimator commander in Rakdos colors, and one of the best overall.

There are countless ways to benefit from having a full graveyard, like Anger or Phyrexian Delver. I think classic reanimator is the way to go. Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Persist are your best cards here but there are more than enough out there to pick from.

The real customization comes from the actual creatures you want to win with when you eventually reanimate them. Sheoldred, Whispering One is a classic, and great against non-creature-based strategies that usually only have their commander in play. Noxious Gearhulk is a great value target to kill a high-value threat while gaining some nice life.

#4. Prosper, Tome-Bound

Many of the abilities from the Forgotten Realms set give you choices between two different effects. Prosper, Tome-Bound’s abilities actually work together for a greater effect. You can play with more cards from the top of your deck and create Treasure tokens to help cast these cards even faster.

#3. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden

Grenzo, Dungeon Warden is another commander I view as very powerful but underrated. I think it's definitely got an edge over something like Anje Falkenrath.

You can get things running very quickly with Grenzo and start to kind of storm off on turns 5-6. Its ability depends on power, not mana value, so you can reliably get ultra-powerful combo pieces like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker out if you can get it to the bottom of your library.

There are surprisingly a lot of ways to get a specific card on the bottom of your library too. It’s functionally much worse than the top of your library or your hand, so it’s kind of thrown around a lot more. The clash keyword for instance can be a consistent way to do this, and it’s on a bunch of goblin cards you’ll already want to play like Adder-Staff Boggart.

The scry mechanic also works great if you can get the card to the top as well. And don’t forget about the London mulligan either, which can immediately set you up without any knowledge from your opponents.

#2. Florian, Voldaren Scion

Florian, Voldaren Scion is worthy of the #2 spot and is one of the most underrated, underplayed, and overpowering cards I’ve ever seen in Commander. It brings incredible value to the table for any Rakdos beatdown deck, “drawing” you cards and helping you filter through the top cards of your deck.

Florian's ability can also be a great way to find answers to other opponents’ threats or blockers. It’s always fun to find something like Gray Merchant of Asphodel to play on curve, but sometimes you just need Rakdos Charm against your graveyard-playing friend.

I think Florian could also support some kind of Treasure-based pseudo-storm deck in Rakdos. It offers some great filtering for when you need to find that one specific card and there are a lot of great additions in red and black to support it, like Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, and Birgi, God of Storytelling. 

#1. Rakdos, Lord of Riots

Rakdos, Lord of Riots is heavily underrated and deserves to see much more play across the board. Its discount towards creature spells goes a long way, especially when you build in other ways to guarantee damage to play it on turn 4.

I’ve personally been victim to seeing multiple 10+ mana value creatures come down on turn 6 because my opponent swung with Lord of Riots and one or two other small creatures. You always hope for the best, but you’re better off saving yourself some time and conceding on the spot once Conduit of Ruin, Artisan of Kozilek, and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre all come down on the same turn.

Don’t even get me started on how powerful Florian, Voldaren Scion is in conjunction with Rakdos. You just start flipping off the top cards of your library like it’s nothing, giving you another bomb creature to play for effectively free.

Decklist: Rakdos, Lord of Riots in Commander

Rakdos, Lord of Riots | Illustration by Yigit Koroglu

To get your brain running and showcase just how powerful Rakdos can be in Commander I’ve brought you a powerful Rakdos, Lord of Riots decklist.

This Rakdos EDH list is incredibly potent and can explode out of nowhere if you set yourself up correctly. Your goal is to establish some kind of guaranteed damage early on through something like Spear Spewer or Thermo-Alchemist. This helps you play your commander on curve since Rakdos, Lord of Riots requires somebody to take damage in order to be cast. Once it's in play it helps push extra damage to up your creature discount.

Once you’ve managed to swing with Rakdos and cause some damage in other ways it’s time to get casting. This list has plenty of colorless and high-cost creatures that you can play basically (sometimes entirely!) for free. The included Eldrazi titans (Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth) are the coolest and most powerful, but don’t discount others like Void Winnower or even Meteor Golem.

There’s also a table-wide one-shot combo included (possible Rule 0 violation!) in Blightsteel Colossus and Chandra's Ignition. It gives everyone lethal infect counters since 10 infect is still officially lethal in Commander.

Commanding Conclusion

Anje Falkenrath | Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard

That’s everything I’ve got for you today! I truly enjoyed going through the best of the Rakdos commanders and talking about them, and I hope you found it as informative and entertaining as I did.

What do you think of my rankings and the Rakdos, Lord of Riots list? I’ve crushed a few skulls with it at my LGS in recent months and can personally testify to its potency. Let me know what you think down in the comments or over in the official Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!