Greetings, Planeswalkers! This Magic Monday, we’re delving into the devious depths of Rakdos with The Infamous Cruelclaw. This legendary Weasel Mercenary is a master of chaos and free spells, making it a fun commander to build around.
Cruelclaw brings a unique twist to the battlefield. Whenever it deals combat damage, you can cast a random spell from your deck for free by discarding a card instead of paying its mana cost. With menace, Cruelclaw is harder to block, ensuring that you get those free casts more often than not.
The Rakdos (Black and Red) colour set offers a ton of really great cards to include in your deck and a ton of potential strategies to employ. Let’s go ahead and explore some of these cards ‘n’ concepts, eh?
To maximize Cruelclaw’s potential, we need to think about exactly how we intend to use him. You could consider these strategies as just some of the options on the table:
- Combat Tricks: Enhance Cruelclaw’s ability to deal combat damage, and thereby trigger his ability, with cards like Whispersilk Cloak and Rogue’s Passage. These ensure Cruelclaw can slip past blockers and trigger its ability consistently.
- Big Spells: Fill your deck with high-impact spells like Rise of the Dark Realms and Army of the Damned. Casting these for free can turn the game in your favor instantly. Black in particular has a ton of really cool spells to use here.
- Discard Synergy: Utilise cards that benefit from discarding, such as Bone Miser and Archfiend of Ifnir. These cards turn your discards into additional value, making each activation of Cruelclaw even more potent.
Personally, I’d be filling this deck with all the big spells. Massive creatures would be the order of the day! I just love the idea of a nice, simple deck that can cheat this stuff out!
Here are some key cards that I’d really want to include in this deck:
- Lightning Greaves: Protect Cruelclaw and give it haste to start triggering its ability immediately.
- Etali, Primal Storm: Another creature that benefits from free casts, doubling down on that ability to play cards for free.
- Chaos Warp: A versatile removal spell that fits perfectly into any Rakdos deck.
Protecting Cruelclaw is really important. You can’t use his ability if he isn’t on the board, after all. I also really love the idea of doubling down on the free cards with Etali. I’m starting to wonder why he’s not in any and all decks I have that have some red in them…
Finally, let’s consider a couple of parting thoughts, about what you really need to do to make a deck led by this commander work:
- Manipulate the Top of Your Deck: Use cards like Sensei’s Divining Top and Scroll Rack to control what spells Cruelclaw might cast. This ensures you hit the most impactful spells when you trigger its ability.
- Protect Cruelclaw: Keep Cruelclaw on the battlefield with protection spells like Swiftfoot Boots and Supernatural Stamina. The longer he stays around, the more value you generate.
- Aggressive Playstyle: Embrace an aggressive strategy. Cruelclaw thrives in decks that can apply pressure and capitalize on the chaos it creates.
There have been a few players in our local player group who have flirted with the idea of building a Commander deck around The Infamous Cruelclaw, but nobody has yet taken the plunge. I’ve got some other ideas I’d want to pursue before turning my attention to Rakdos, so I don’t think I’ll be jumping in either. If anyone does use this dapper chap, let me know!
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