The 19 Best Rakdos Card Draw Cards in Magic Ranked

Anje Falkenrath | Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard

Rakdos’s mana combination generates a very particular identity. Rakdos represents some of the more impulsive, chaotic, and violent aspects of Magic. This is strongly represented in the mechanics associated with the color pair.

The first ever mechanic that was printed for the Rakdos guild was hellbent. This mechanic made cards better by having no cards in hand. This means card draw not only isn’t a priority for Rakdos, it can even prove to be a hindrance. Although the color pair has gotten just a tiny bit less reckless with time, card draw is still far from being its strong point.

Both red and black individually have some reasonable ways to draw cards. Red has things like Reckless Impulse or Faithless Looting; red card draw is usually impulsive and anything that isn’t used is immediately discarded. Black, on the other hand, has things like Altar's Reap, Read the Bones, or Phyrexian Arena; the constant in black card draw is that everything can be turned into a resource to push you closer to victory.

Now let’s go ahead and take a look at what the combination of these two colors has to offer in terms of drawing cards.

What Is Rakdos Card Draw in MTG?

Greven, Predator Captain | Illustration by Zack Stella

For this list I’ll be specifically looking at spells in the Rakdos color pair that let you draw cards. This means, no mono-colored cards or three-colored cards. Any additional effects or costs the cards may have will ultimately influence their final score, but what I mainly care about is how good they are at making you draw cards.

#19. The Bloodsky Massacre

This is one that makes me kind of sad to put in last place. The Bloodsky Massacre is arguably one of the most metal cards in an already ridiculously metal set. Back when Kaldheim was still in Standard, my Rakdos berserker typal was extremely fun and unironically really good. But outside of Standard or Limited, the archetype starts losing speed.

In addition to that, the card draw that this card brings to the table is pretty circumstantial. Not only do you lose life, but you also have to be attacking with one or more creatures of a type that isn’t all that common to begin with.

A fun card for sure, but not the best card draw you could have in a Rakdos deck.

#18. Ob Nixilis, the Adversary

Bear with me. A lot of the entries on this list suffer from “great card but not that great card draw engine” syndrome. Ob Nixilis, the Adversary is an absolute unit of a card for a Rakdos planeswalker. In a color pair that only has seven planeswalker cards and for a long time Sarkhan the Mad was the best we could hope for, this card shines.

That said, it falls short when it comes to using it as a card draw engine. Ob Nixilis, the Adversary only lets you draw cards with its final ability, which can take a while to get to. Plus, it also costs you 7 life, which definitely isn’t ideal either. That’s what we get for trusting the demon who all but destroyed the Maestros, one of Capenna’s coolest families.

#17. The Beast, Deathless Prince

One of the things I’ve always liked about Rakdos is that they get a lot of designs that put emphasis on very specific or unconventional mechanics. I’ve already talked about how much I absolutely love Prosper, Tome-Bound a million times. What? You thought I’d go an entire article about Rakdos without mentioning my favorite Rakdos commander?

The Beast, Deathless Prince is yet another example in a long list of really fun but really niche Rakdos commanders. I honestly don’t think an Act of Treason EDH deck is really viable, but this card really makes me wish it was.

This lack of support is what puts this card so low on the list. The abilities on The Beast, Deathless Prince are really fun, pushing you to steal your opponents’ creatures and using them to attack their owners. It’s unconventional and fun, and with the right resources it can even turn this card into a great draw engine. However, this is an archetype that doesn’t have all that much support, so it’ll run out of gas relatively quickly.

I sincerely hope this’ll become a viable commander eventually. I can’t wait to build around it.

#16. Greven, Predator Captain

The problem with unconventional cards or strategies is that they can be very hit or miss. Greven, Predator Captain’s abilities are… kind of hard to play around.

For this card to truly be good, you need to be willing to pay in both life and creatures. You could build a reserve of “high power, low toughness” sacrifice fodder in order to draw plenty of cards without draining your life away too fast, but then Greven, Predator Captain wouldn’t get a proper power bonus. You could try to get as many ways to gain life into your deck as possible, but there isn’t exactly an excess of those in Rakdos.

This card is ultimately perfectly playable, but far from the best thing you could have in your deck. What’s worse, it came as part of the Anje Falkenrath madness deck. Who thought this had anything to do in a madness strategy?

#15. Garna, Bloodfist of Keld

A thing to keep in mind for most of these cards is the meta for Rakdos. At first glance, Garna, Bloodfist of Keld can feel a bit pointless. You only draw cards if your attacking creatures die, and that’s usually not very good. The thing is, Rakdos decks tend to attack a lot and in the most reckless ways.

Almost any self-respecting Rakdos deck should aim at attacking constantly and having ways to benefit from their own creatures dying. This makes this card a lot more viable when put into context. It still suffers as a card draw engine because it’s too circumstantial and you won’t necessarily be able to control if and when you draw cards. That said, it’s still pretty decent, especially for Rakdos.

#14. Rakdos, Patron of Chaos

It’s always fun to talk about the best Rakdos cards and have Lord Rakdos himself show up for the party. Rakdos, Patron of Chaos is the latest incarnation of the supreme leader of the Cult of Rakdos. It’s technically still unreleased, as it’ll show up in Murders at Karlov Manor but we can still talk about its abilities.

This card’s ability may not be the strongest a Rakdos card has ever had, but it’s definitely a fun way to force your opponents into a hard choice. Whatever they ultimately choose, you’ll get some form of advantage.

While good as an ability, this isn’t the greatest card draw engine you could ask for. You’ll definitely get some card advantage, but you’re bound to your opponents’ decisions at the end of the day.

#13. Azra Oddsmaker

Azra Oddsmaker suffers from the same issues most of the cards I’ve already mentioned do: It’s way too circumstantial. Having to discard a card and then deal damage with a specific creature to an opponent is a lot of things to prepare for just so you can draw two cards.

Sure, drawing two cards is great, especially in a color pair that doesn’t have the strongest card draw, but you won’t be doing it all that regularly. Whispersilk Cloak is your best option to pair with this. Choosing a creature isn’t targeting, so you can protect your creature from removal while also making it unblockable.

#12. The Scorpion God

Will I ever shut up about Rakdos and commanders for unconventional strategies? Not in this list, that’s for sure. This isn’t even the last card here that applies to that category.

The Scorpion God is a commander that’s all about -1/-1 counters. It places said counters on other creatures, it goes back to your hand when it dies, and, more importantly for our purposes, it draws you cards whenever a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it dies.

This makes this card somewhat hard to include in almost any other Rakdos deck, but since you’ll only want to play it as a commander, you can ensure a nice amount of card draw with it.

#11. Toil // Trouble

The Toil half of Toil // Trouble is what we care most about. It’s pretty much just a more expensive Night's Whisper or a worse Read the Bones. If you have enough mana to fuse it with the Trouble half, you’ll be able to truly take advantage of it. But in a pinch, it’s still a way to draw two cards at sorcery speed, which is far from bad.

#10. Fatal Grudge

I mentioned earlier that both colors that make up Rakdos usually have some particular conditions for drawing cards. Fatal Grudge sort of falls into that group. In a similar vein to Altar's Reap, which requires you to sacrifice a creature, this card also requires you to sacrifice one of your own permanents. The big difference is that instead of drawing two cards, you only draw one but also force all your opponents to sacrifice a permanent.

Having some card draw at sorcery speed for only 2 mana with an additional effect is considerably convenient.

#9. Moria Scavenger

Moria Scavenger is an honestly good card. Requiring you to discard a card to draw a card can be a harsh price to pay. There’s specific cards and decks that can work around this issue, but we’ll talk about those later.

What places this card this high is the fact that most Rakdos decks either don’t care or actively benefit from having cards going into the graveyard. It’s a color pair with a pretty good amount of graveyard recursion, so discarding cards isn’t always the worst that could happen. Additionally, Moria Scavenger also amasses orcs 1 whenever you discard a creature. If your deck has good synergies, this can be a great payoff. Plus, it’s always good to get some extra benefits from discarding a card.

#8. Stormclaw Rager

I think the biggest drawback of Stormclaw Rager’s effect is the fact that it can only be used at sorcery speed. Sure, having to sacrifice an artifact or creature can be a notable drawback, but Rakdos has tons of ways to generate tokens, either creatures or Treasure.

With enough sources to create tokens, the sacrifice cost becomes pretty much insignificant while you consistently draw cards and buff up your creature.

#7. Spiteful Visions

I really like this card thematically. Knowledge and foresight comes at a price for Rakdos. Spiteful Visions ensures everyone at the table gains some additional knowledge during each of their turns, but every time they do they’ll lose life.

Since Rakdos doesn’t necessarily have tons of card draw, there’s a huge chance your opponents suffer a lot more than you because of this card.

#6. Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant

I won’t preface this with “Rakdos has fun commanders for unconventional strategies”. I’ve already said it too much. But Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant is a really fun commander for a goad deck!

This card obviously shines its brightest in a goad deck, but it honestly won’t suffer too badly in any other deck. After all, there’ll be tons of instances in which your opponents attack each other instead of you. This’ll obviously cost you some life, but you can absolutely work around it.

#5. Stormfist Crusader

Stormfist Crusader is somewhat similar to Spiteful Visions. The main difference is that everyone draws a card during your upkeep, instead of each drawing during their own upkeep. This can be advantageous depending on what you play and how your deck works.

I personally like this card more because it’s eventually easier to get rid of if you’re losing too much life or you don’t want to grant your opponents extra cards each turn.

#4. Lyzolda, the Blood Witch

Do I even need to say that you should run this card in a deck that runs mostly, not to say only, Rakdos-colored cards. Lyzolda, the Blood Witch aims to make the most out of each creature you sacrifice with it. Turning a creature into a shock and card draw can prove to be considerably advantageous.

You also get to use this card at instant speed and only whenever you want to, so it won’t force you into any plays you don’t want, and you can use it as a response to your opponents’ moves.

#3. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

Rakdos is a great color for cards that sow chaos and discord between your opponents. Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is great at this. Not only does it attack each turn from an opponent’s side of the field, but it also has an ability that anyone other than its controller can activate. That ability is good enough to tempt almost anyone, but since it hurts its controller, it’ll generate tensions between your opponents.

Good as it is, once this card’s on the field, you only need to pay 2 mana whenever you want to start drawing cards. This’ll definitely put an opponent strongly against you, but it may well be worth the risk.

#2. Blood for the Blood God!

If a card has a big mana value, it better have a big effect. And Blood for the Blood God! definitely has a big effect. If played at the right time, you can play it for a cost as low as 3 mana, which is almost absurd.

This card draws you a ton of cards at once, which almost always will be worth the cost of having to discard whatever you had left in your hand. But even beyond that, it also deals a huge amount of damage to each of your opponents. It’s a great, explosive card.

#1. Anje Falkenrath

What? You thought the number one card on this list would be anything other than a cool commander for a niche strategy? Of course it’s a cool commander for a niche strategy!

I’d argue that Anje Falkenrath was one of the first Rakdos commanders that truly capitalized on the very specific mechanics within the color identity.

We can dedicate a whole other article to talking about how cool a Anje Falkenrath deck can be. In any regular Rakdos deck, this is an okay card draw engine. You need to tap it and discard a card, which isn’t great just to draw a card, but it at least allows you to get rid of any dead weight and replace it with something potentially better, and since Anje has haste you can do so the turn you cast it. But if you pair it up with madness cards, this can be a beast of a card.

Most madness cards get a highly reduced cost when played for madness, so as long as you have a somewhat decent mana base on the field, you can draw a ton of cards while also playing everything you discard.

Best Rakdos Card Draw Payoffs

Since so many of these cards require you to either discard a card or sacrifice a permanent, the biggest payoff you can have for them is graveyard recursion.

Having ways to recover those cards you discard or permanents you sacrifice greatly reduces the cost you pay to draw cards. This is pretty much strictly necessary to make the strategy sustainable.

Madness cards are also considerably good for this since you can discard and play them at the same time, making things like Moria Scavenger a lot better.

Token generators are also pretty solid since they give you cannon fodder for you to sacrifice without having to lose any of your more necessary cards.

Wrap Up

Blood for the Blood God! | Illustration by Artur Nakhodkin

I promise I’ll eventually stop talking about Rakdos cards. Not any time soon, though. Card draw is definitely not the strong suit for Rakdos but it can still have some fun and in-theme ways to fill that space. I do wish there were some better cards for this, but that can ultimately be found in mono-red and mono-black cards.

But enough about what I think. What’s your favorite Rakdos way to draw cards? Did I miss any? Do you agree or disagree with the order of this list? Leave a comment letting us know! And while you’re here, make sure to pay our Discord server a visit. There you’ll find an amazing community of MTG fans to share your hobby with!

That’s all from me for now. Have a good one, and I’ll see you next time!