Legendary Creature — Demon

Rakdos, the Showstopper

Mana value6EDHREC#5,979

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The 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.

Guide

Gameplan

Rakdos is a 6/6 flyer with a board-wipe stapled on—when it enters, every non-Demon/Devil/Imp creature has a coin-flip chance to die, including your opponents' boards. Build a Devil/Imp/Demon tribal shell so your creatures dodge the wipe, then beat down through the air while opponents rebuild. You can also lean into coin-flip payoffs to weaponize Rakdos's trigger and turn variance into raw power.

Strengths

Repeatable asymmetric board wipe if you protect Devils/Demons/Imps and reuse Rakdos via blink or recursion
Strong evasive body with flying and trample that ends games on its own
Rakdos colors pack the format's best removal and ramp (Treasure, rituals, Dockside-style payoffs)
Coin-flip tribal payoffs (Krark, Okaun, Zndrsplt) reward leaning into the flipping theme

Weaknesses

The wipe is symmetrical and random—it can whiff entirely or kill your own non-Demon creatures
Six mana for a creature that's easy to remove before the ETB resolves or each subsequent cast
Variance-heavy: relying on coin flips can lose you games you should win
Demon/Devil/Imp tribal is shallow, forcing some mediocre creature picks

Key Cards

Krark, the Thumbless — Lets you re-flip and copy spells, turning Rakdos's coin flips and your whole deck into a value engine.
Krark's Thumb — Doubles every coin flip, hugely improving Rakdos's wipe odds and any flip payoff.
Okaun, Eye of Chaos — Pairs with coin-flip flips to grow into a one-shot beater alongside Rakdos's evasion.
Conspiracy — Names Demon to make your entire board immune to Rakdos's coin-flip destruction, making the wipe fully one-sided.
Ophidian Eye — Combos with reliable coin-win engines for card advantage in flip-centric builds.
Sneak Attack — Cheats Rakdos in to fire the wipe repeatedly without paying six mana each time.

Upgrade Path

Decide whether you're a tribal beatdown deck or a coin-flip combo deck and commit—mixing both dilutes consistency. Add manipulation like Krark's Thumb and Conspiracy to make the wipe one-sided, plus blink/reanimation (Sneak Attack, Goryo's Vengeance) to re-trigger Rakdos cheaply. Round out with premium BR ramp (Dockside, rituals, Treasures) and interaction so you can land Rakdos early and protect it.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Beating down with Rakdos's 6/6 flying trample plus other evasive Demons
▸Repeated asymmetric wipes grinding opponents out while your tribal board sticks
▸Okaun/Zndrsplt or other coin-flip payoffs going wide or huge for lethal
▸Commander damage and finishers like Craterhoof-style overruns through the air

Archetypes

Demon/Devil Tribal Aggro — Your creatures dodge Rakdos's wipe, letting you swing freely while opponents lose their boards.
Coin-Flip Combo — Rakdos is a natural flip payoff, slotting into Krark/Okaun/Zndrsplt chaos shells.
Blink/Reanimator Control — Repeatedly flickering or recurring Rakdos turns the ETB into a recurring asymmetric board wipe.
Stax/Disruption — Use the wipe plus BR removal to keep opponents' boards thin while your fliers connect.