MTG Cube: Rakdos Discard

I have been trying to get a discard themed deck working in the cube for as long as I can remember. Madness has always been under supported, both in terms of cards that use the mechanic, and in cube playable ways you can discard those cards. Even in constructed settings the madness decks I built for cube would fail due to low card quality, insufficient interaction, and being quite easy to pick apart themselves. We have had a dash more of the madness cards and a pile more that supports them in recent years, much like everything else! Not to mention generic good graveyard cards and mechanics. There presently isn't even that much in the way of cards in the cube for a discard deck that shouldn't be. Regardless, I finally got a sealed pool with a sufficient seeming mass of cards to build a discard based deck and it did not disappoint. So much so that I feel I may legitimately be able to bring back some of the narrower cards to further support the archetype. We might have finally hit that critical mass turning point where I am no longer trying to push or force and archtype and instead move to just naturally supporting it.

My list was about two thirds discard synergy stuff and about a third generic good stuff. I would say I managed to get most of the key low cost cards in my pool resulting in it feeling like it was all much more synergic than it was. There are at least enough discard themed cards in the cube that I could run to make it a fully themed deck in the unlikely event that I got everything in a sealed or draft setting. I also splashed white rather ruining the aesthetic of a nice pure example list. My lands were a bit too good not to include teh white, it felt free and I had a couple of very powerful well suited things to bring in. My ideal list however would be straight Rakdos. Below is what I played, everything marked with an * is something I would cut from the "Platonic" or example version of this archetype, be it for being off colour or just not discard themed.

24 Spells

Marauding Mako

Asmoranaculdicarcaisdar

Stalactite Stalker

Deathrite Shaman

Dragon's Rage Channeler

Nethergoyf

Faithless Looting

Currency Converter

Underworld Cookbook

Skullclamp*

Flametongue Yearling*

Scrapwork Mutt

Invasion of Tarkir*

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun

Phlage*

Lingering Souls*

Bastion of Remembrance*

Tersa, Lightshatter

Fable of the Mirrorbreaker

Liliana of the Veil

Broadside Bombardiers*

Sheoldred*

Lethal Scheme

Rankle, Prankster

16 Lands

Ash Barrens

Marsh Flats

Godless Shrine

Plateau

Elegant Parlour

Sacred Foundry

Badlands

Blood Crypt

5 Swamp

3 Mountain

You may note that the cards with an * are often role fillers. A lot of them are removal as that is where there is the most deficiency in synergy and support discard tools. I have tried somewhat to supplement the deck with a range of different types as there are delirium components. Mako is a premium one drop that does exactly what you are looking to do and is provided some lower power redundancy from Stalker. Then we have the generically good DRC, DRS, and Nethergoyf who all tie in to the game plan delightfully well with top end power right where you need it on the curve. Asmo and the Cookbook are the cards that perhaps do not deserve a cube slot and are my present nod to trying to force this archetype. Cookbook has actually done some good work by itself but this is the first time Asmo has performed in cube, even if she has been played once or twice beforehand. These one drops are broadly the most important cards to have a good mass off and what this list did so well. All the missing things where thankfully not from this group and why the deck was so potent.

The best one drop by far however is the Currency Converter. This really makes the whole deck tick along. It turns all your discards into extra value while offering utility at the same time. You can even just use it as a looter itself if you get really stuck for things to do! It really feels like a one mana artifact you can tap to make a Treasure or a 2/2 token each turn in this deck. Perhaps not quite the consistency and burst of a Sol Ring but certainly outclassing it in overall power and utility. The next best card in the list, in no small part thanks to how well it pairs with the Converter is Ash Barrens. It is a cheap, instant speed, card neutral, discard trigger. It is also fixing obviously. Further to that it is a land that discards to get a land which allows for mana production with DRS and Treasure production with converter. It lets you have and play lands comfortably while stocking the discards with lands at the same time. Certainly a higher ceiling than a sac land in the deck, presumably better overall as well. I didn't have any of the LotR land cycling dorks which are also pretty cute if being a little way off as potent as Ash Barrens. You are rarely casting teh top end so it is mostly just an EtB tapped land with a discard trigger and a bit of yard fuel, mostly useful for collecting evidence. This deck is all about tempo and EtB tapped lands are a big cost, I would try and keep them to a minimum. The real trick with this deck is not to get too carried away with big powerful top end stuff and rely on the fact that your early stuff is able to carry pretty hard compared to normal. I was pretty happy with my curve. You get a bit more flexibility than most archetypes as you will have a bunch of looting and discard to toss away unwanted stuff but that doesn't give you licence to be sloppy in deck design.

The deck works much like the various high tempo decks that use synergies or the graveyard to get a little extra out of their cards. Most of the cards are decent in their own right while also supporting each other in both power and utility. You get lots of options while packing a pretty good punch. It doesn't lean so hard on the synergy like old Madness decks that it can be shut down with a little disruption. Even though the curve is low I prefer a slightly higher land count as discarding lands is something you actively want to be able to do early on and flooding out late is a little less likely. Another quirk of the deck is that you get to really vary how much you want out of a card. Sometimes you simply want to toss something in the bin to get some counters on some dorks, perhaps turn on delirium or threshold etc. Other times you hold the card to cast it. You can afford to toss away top end because your one drops can become game ending threats. You can afford to have cards in your hand just being a +1/+1 counter worth of value as you have novel ways to obtain extra value. On the flip side of all this, the deck does not mulligan well. You really want those cards ust as bits of cardboard. Another reason to play a bit land heavier and ensure you have a strong mana base.

Below is the list of cube cards you will often find in most cubes that I would consider good synergy options for this archetype. The kinds of cards I would like to replace the * cards with so as to move towards a purer synergy build. Each with their own pros, cons, and specific synergies that they perform best with.

Bomat Courier

Lava Dart / Firebolt

Voldaren Epicure

Bloodtithe Harvester

Ivora, Insatiable Heir

Fear of Missing Out

Collective Brutality

Phyrexian Dragon Engine

Seasoned Pyromancer

Detective's Phoenix

Smuggler's Copter

Bitter Triumph

Bone Shards

Troll of Kazadum

Oliphant

Vengevine

Bloodghast

Unearth

Reanimate

Urza's Saga (probably, if you got Converter in your pool!)

And here is a list of cards which are not commonly found in cubes that are especially good in this kind of deck that I will now be considering for a trail (re)run in cube. Of which I am only really expecting the first three to have any real hope. The others are really too narrow and look like they are not going to offset that with payoff. The first three are convenient and/or powerful enough that they can make a meaningful impact to the archetype and perhaps see some play outside of it too.

Hobgoblin, Mantled Marauder

Blazing Rootwalla (and I guess Basking...)

Burning Inquiry

Goblin Lore

Hollow One

Ovalchase Daredevil

Squee, Goblin Nabob

Fiery Temper

Street Wraith

Flameblade Adept

Finally, here is my realistic idea of roughly what I'll be aiming at for this archetype within my cube when drafting it next;