Pioneer Rakdos Cauldron by Noah Huizinga, Swish Gaming

Hello everyone! Today I want to share a pioneer list I've been working on and playing a lot the past few days and have been having an absolute blast with Rakdos Soul Cauldron.

4 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

2 Anje, Maid of Dishonor

4 Ayara's Oathsworn

3 Blackcleave Cliffs

3 Blightstep Pathway

4 Blood Crypt

4 Bloodtithe Harvester

2 Bonecrusher Giant

1 Castle Locthwain

1 Den of the Bugbear

4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker

4 Fatal Push

3 Haunted Ridge

2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant

1 Immersturm Predator

2 Mountain

1 Pack Rat

1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance

2 Swamp

1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

4 Thoughtseize

2 Tree of Perdition

4 Voldaren Thrillseeker

1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Sideboard:

2 Duress

2 Go Blank

2 Go for the Throat

1 Kenrith, the Returned King

3 Necromentia

2 Rending Volley

3 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

At first glance this deck is just your usual Rakdos Midrange cards that everyone has seen dozens of times, Fable, Thoughtseize, Bonecrusher giant, Fatal Push etc. But past that backbone of cards is where things get fun. The main card in this deck is, obviously, Agatha's Soul Cauldron. With the addition of Voldaren Thrillseeker we can give the decks tons of reach in the late game and make combat miserable for our opponent. The other big addition for the Cauldron is Ayara's Oathsworn. A fairly aggressive 2 drop that gets counters on its own to get the benefits from the Cauldron while also pairing nicely with the Thrillseeker to allow some explosive draws if left uninterrupted, being able to use the tutor ability of the Oathsworn as soon as turn 4. Because we are playing 4 more vampires than normal (4 Bloodtithe and 4 Thrillseeker), we can give Bloodtithe Harvester's ability to all our creatures. Anje, Maid of Dishonor felt like a nice way to get some extra blood, have a decent sized creature, and even a little more extra burn to put under the Cauldron. Tree of Perdition allows you to steal some games by putting it under the Cauldron and can be tutored with the Oathsworn and get discarded with all our blood tokens. So having a couple in the deck is nice to have. Also, you get to play with Tree of Perdition, which is outstanding.

And last, we have a couple of one-ofs in the deck. Immerstrum Predator and Yahenni, Undying Partisan both have similar functions. Both can be cast and gain counters naturally, but they provide additional value as a worthy target for Cauldron to protect our creatures. Pack Rat acts as a flip side of Fable under the cauldron because it's ability to make copies of itself will make copies of the card gaining the ability, not the Pack Rat itself. And at the end of the day, if all the fun stuff doesn't work out, this is still a Fable, Thoughtseize deck so how bad can it really be? If you're looking for something different and really fun to play in pioneer, I would highly recommend giving this deck a try!

Sideboard guide:

Mono G:

In: 2 Go for the Throat 2 Duress

Out: 1 Pack Rat 2 Bonecrusher Giant 1 Immersturm Predator

Rakdos Midrange:

In: 3 Sheoldred 2 Go for the Throat 1 Kenrith

Out: 2 Tree of Perdition 2 Bonecrusher Giant 2 Thoughtseize

Izzet Phoenix:

In: 2 Duress 2 Go Blank 3 Sheoldred

Out: 4 Ayara's Oathsworn 2 Tree of Perdition 1 Pack Rat

Hidden Strings Combo:

In: 2 Duress 2 Go Blank 3 Necromentia

Out: 4 Fatal Push 1 Pack Rat 1 Yahenni 1 Immersturm Predator

Azorius Spirits:

In: 2 Rending Volley 2 Go for the Throat

Out: 2 Tree of Perdition 2 Anje, Maid of Dishonor

Abzan Greasefang:

In: 2 Rending Volley 3 Necromentia 2 Go for the Throat

Out: 2 Tree of Perdition 1 Yahenni 2 Bonecrusher Giant 1 Pack Rat 1 Fatal Push