alfindeol

I'm running Garruk right now in a test slot and I like him. Never hurts to have another "Survival of the Fittest" effect. Thanks for giving me some cards to test and play around with. I know the deck is pretty solid as is, but it never hurts to get new eyes on it to see if there are any sweet interactions I missed.

You really have the right idea and I think Rakdos is a really cool general, but you're overall card quality in the deck is pretty low. Unless you are playing 1v1 EDH all the time, having your deck curve out at 2 is probably not going to cut it. There are better ways to be able to deal a little damage on command to make sure you can cast Rakdos than loading your deck with subpar burn spells. All of the tiny burn spells that target single creatures and players are really not going to be enough to win you games without some way to abuse them, but even with an Isochron Secptre or something similar, you should consider finding bigger, splashier effects to play. An example, in EDH Syphon Flesh or Fleshebag Marauder is pretty much always better than Doomblade. Shoot even run something like Rakdos Charm just to get some versatility instead of simple burn.

Honestly, I'd think about Winding Canyons or Vedalken Orrery. Giving him flash means that just from the game happening (people will take damage from something) you can cast him.

I'll make this clear, I understand what you want to do, paying a little mana to reduce the cost of your fatty's and cast them at low low prices because of Rakdos' ability, but blowing a card to shave off a little mana cost is a bad idea. Vicious Shadows on the other hand...

38 Lands is kind of the magic number. I usually run 38 lands and 10 cards, whether they be creatures or artifacts, that let me ramp or produce mana on their own.

There are a couple auto-includes for token decks that you may want to try and get your hands on. Hour of Reckoning is stupid in a token deck. So is Doubling Season. I generally like Overwhelming Stampede as well. It's probably the best "overrun" effect in a deck with tons of little creatures and a couple of big ones.

Insurrection seems like a good solid game ender for you. Shattering Spree also seems like it has awesome synergy with your general.

I also think your mana base needs a little work. I honestly don't think you have enough mana sources to be consistently hitting your first 5-8 land drops. I'd like to see you go to 38 lands, and increase the quality of them. You don't need to spring for true duels or anything, but I feel like some of the more budget duels would improve your consistency. Once Sulfur Falls rotates out of standard that's a good choice. Even something like Shivan Reef would be nice. Hell, even basic comes into play tapped duel lands would help pull it all together. In addition, I'd like to see you go up to 5ish mana producing artifacts. There are lots of great budget solutions like the signets from Ravnica, the Keyrunes from RoR and the borderposts from Alara

I think you may be muddling your strategies a little bit. Niv-Mizzet draw is a fun deck, U/R Steal Stuff is a fun deck, U/x copying is a fun deck. I think the deck needs some focus on one of those strategies. I do like the unconventional general though. Really punishes token and weenie decks, but maybe some storm style stuff would let you really tear up the board with them. Assume that you need to do 4 damage to each creature to really have a shot of wiping most critters off the board, and that's a lot of spells in one turn unless you have storm or a similar mechanic that allows you to cast or copy spells.

Goblin Welder seems good here. I feel like the deck relies pretty heavily on Crucible of Worlds to power it's engine and Goblin Welder is one of the few red cards that will help you get it back. I like the deck, it has character.

I think you might need a few tweeks with the deck. The combo is very easy to disrupt, so anything that can speed it up is essential in making it work. Right of Consumption makes a turn 3 kill since you don't need to attack. Mercy killing is a turn 3, or instant speed solution to removal, that makes infinate tokens. I have found the deck works best with 4 Spikes, 4 Druids and a lot of hand/creature disruption. Play it like suicide black and you will do much better. Right now the deck plays more of a midrange game, but you lack the disription or CA engine to really get much done.

You need 4 Entombs or some sort of repeatable discard to get cards into your graveyard. The deck is cool with the Palinchron, Recurring Nightmare thing going on, but I think you should take some clues from other re-animator style decks. Other forms of recursion, along with reliable ways to put cards into your graveyard is what really makes these decks work.

Pretty much any deck using Devour should consider Doubling Season... Twice the tokens to eat and twice the 1/1 counters when eaten. How can you say no?

alfindeol