The Complete Guide to Pioneer Rakdos Tree Combo
Due to the DC Regional Championship Approaching and Modern’s unhealthy state the last couple of months, I have been playing a lot of Pioneer! I have been playing Rakdos Tree Combo and been working with other successful players on the archetype such as Jupiterbrando, the inventor of the deck, and Ryan Normandin, who won the Super Qualifier on Monday the 2nd. I also have trophied 5 times with different versions of tree the past 3 months and top 8’d the Monday Night 110 player challenge also on Monday the 2nd. The deck’s first iteration was seen on May 12th in the 5-0 League dumps with this list by Jupiter Brando. In under a week he also top 8d a challenge with a very similar list. On May 18th, this list top 8’d. Over the past couple of months the deck has continued to gain traction and though certain versions played Sorin-Vein Ripper, the recent bannings have put the deck in an even better position than before.
The Combo
The deck’s combo is Agatha’s Soul Cauldron with Tree of Perdition. Giving a Bloodtithe Harvester or Voldaren Epicure the ability of Tree of Perdition to tap to set their life total to 2 or 3 makes it incredibly easy to kill your opponent. Voldaren Thrillseeker is the honorary third combo piece to create the kill instantaneously with Thrillseeker under the cauldron or on the field you can tap the creature with tree abilities to set their life total to 2 or 3 then sacrifice to fling for the final points of damage.
Why Play The Deck?
Rakdos Tree is a midrange combo deck with one of its pieces being a strong card on its own both in the deck and against the top deck of the format, Phoenix. Midrange Combo decks propose the difficult question to opponents of how they would like to dedicate their resources. If an opponent brings in too much graveyard hate or focuses too heavily on disrupting the combo they will easily lose to it’s midrange gameplan. Additionally, the Phoenix matchup for this deck is incredibly favored. Maindeck Soul Cauldron with Fatal Push and Thoughtseize makes it very difficult for a Phoenix opponent to gain much traction because Phoenix’s will be removed from the yard. Post sideboarding we have an even higher density of removal, making it hard for their sideboard threats like Crackling Drake to connect. Though some lists have interaction like Prismari Command, savvy play will hold hostage their mana by threatening tree combo if they try to destroy it. The deck also has a favorable matchup vs Control and an even Mono-G matchup.
The Midrange Plan
As previously mentioned, Rakdos Tree Combo sports a very good midrange gameplan. With generally powerful Rakdos cards like Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Fable backed up by cards that synergize with Discard/Cauldron but are also reasonable on their own like Inti, Bloodtithe, and Misery’s Shadow, the core of the deck is incredibly strong. The only cards left are Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, Tree of Perdition, and Voldaren Thrillseeker. Cauldron is a card that is generally pretty good on its own but it completely broken when combined with tree. Tree is terrible by itself but with the density of looting in the deck its high cost and weak ability are made up for by “breaking” it with Cauldron once placed in the graveyard. Voldaren Thrillseeker is a card that is slightly below the typical powerlevel of constructed play but when a deck plays 4 Agatha’s Soul Cauldron such a statement is no longer accurate. Thrillseeker provides a key amount of reach for the deck and when combined with Misery’s Shadow under Cauldron can present large amounts of damage.
Card Choices
Voldaren Epicure looks like the weakest card in the deck by itself, but is actually an extreme over performer. The one damage on ETB is key when opponents frequently only have 2-3 life. A small body for Cauldron to give Tree abilities to, and a Blood token to discard Tree makes the card a perfect inclusion.
The most efficient removal spell in the format. Killing two drops for one mana or more conditionally three and four drops makes it broken and a very powerful spell.
A contender for the most powerful spell in the format. It can take an opponents best spell, punch a whole in their gameplan, or completely shred their hand by taking the card that holds it together. Seize is incredible and I believe uncuttable.
The best two drop in the format. Harvester provides card filtering, can act as removal, and is a very real threat as a two mana creature with aggressive stats. There are other two mana creatures that are good but have a higher deckbuilding cost such as Flamecache Gecko.
Inti acts a discard outlet, card advantage engine with the Blood tokens, and a threat. Inti discarding Tree to get another card is great and it does so while also being a great threat. Inti with Misery’s Shadow or a creature with Shadow’s abilities presents a very problematic creature.
Misery's Shadow is a card choice that works well with Cauldron but also is a beater against Mono-G and Sacrifice as two decks with high metagame shares. Shadow is increasingly valuable vs Mono-G the more removal the deck plays. This leads into the next card:
Triumph is included as a one-of to reach a greater density of removal spells for Shadow and can act as a discard outlet for tree. Triumph is great but multiples is very punishing vs aggro decks and more aggressive draws from midrange opponents.
Cauldron is the reason this deck exists. Cauldron without any activated abilities makes combat hard by being able to grow creatures at instant speed. At its highest power it ends the game as soon as it lands. There are many hands that this deck plays that are sporting a very strong midrange gameplan and then Cauldron is drawn and the game ends immediately. It acts as an “oops I win” card incredibly frequently. It also is fantastic vs Phoenix and other graveyard decks.
Winning almost every single Pro-Tour it has been legal in, with the exception of the Nadu Pro Tour, Fable is incredible. It turns non games into games, discards Trees, and is a two for one every single time. A flipped Fable in this deck has plenty of great copy targets such as Bloodtithe, Shadow and Thrillseeker. Thrillseeker and Fable deals a lot of damage very quickly.
Almost never cast Tree of Perdition unless a big blocker is necessary vs Mono-Green. Tree is generally pretty terrible except when it’s in the graveyard and a crazy powerful combo piece.
Lands
An overperformer and a hard card to include given the color requirements of the deck, such as Bloodtithe Harvester, but incredibly important at pushing damage. Once an opponents life total is two or three a creature that cost nothing to cast but now can appear from the lands can quickly spell death for opponents.
An absolute beating against control. A turn two uncounterable Bloodtithe or a late game uncounterable Thrillseeker is incredibly good. I would like to fit in two Caverns to the mana base however I believe it would be too great a cost and hurt two many games.
Valuable Utility lands are better than the 3rd, 4th or 5th basics.
Cards Not Being Played In This Shell
Gecko is a card that when enabled is incredibly powerful but when it doesn’t make mana it is a worse option than Bloodtithe Harvester. I could see it being played alongside of Bloodtithe such as the list that won the Super Qualifier with two copies. Gecko with Inti creates a lot of card advantage very cheap and can churn through the deck for both digging for combo or a midrange game plan.
Forsaken Miner goes great with Flamecache Gecko and enables a far more aggressive strategy. A turn-one Miner into a turn-two Gecko + Inti is a very problematic aggressive start that also can win a longer midrange game. Additionally, Forsaken Miner works great with Cauldron to repeatedly commit crimes and return them to the battlefield. When Miner, Thrillseeker, and Cauldron are combined it effectively locks out creature decks because a repeated ability to throw 3 damage around keeps creatures off the board and kills opponents. Miner is a strong synergy piece but because it is so weak on its own I am not inclined to play it.
I am a D1 Kroxa Hater. I think that the card does not do enough because this deck does not fill its graveyard incredibly quickly. Though the deck has a lot of looting, I would far prefer a card that plays to the board and synergizes with the decks plan against top decks.
Stitcher’s Supplier fills the yard efficiently, is a cheap creature opponents are not incentivized to kill and is small. Perfect for more aggressive and graveyard-centric builds of Tree. It is not a midrange card remotely but can certainly be played in other versions of this deck.
Sorin is banned now so no Vein Ripper either :(
Matchups (Sideboard and Card Considerations)
UW Control
In an open decklist format, post board your Tree and Cauldron will lose significant value. Because of this it may be a good idea to trim some numbers of each.
+2 Duress, +2 Ob Nixilis, the Adversary +1 Feed the Swarm, +1 Bitter Triumph, +1 Reckoner Bankbuster
-4 Fatal Push, -2 Misery’s Shadow, -1 (Tree or Epicure)
UR Phoenix
Phoenix is a great matchup. Preboard between Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, and Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, it is hard for Phoenix to present a real threat. Postboard it gets better for them but still isn’t fantastic because we have a sheer density of removal and Extinction Event which wipes all their threats.
+2 Extinction Event, +2 Leyline of the Void, +1 Bitter Triumph
-2 Thrillseeker, -2 Misery’s Shadow, -1 Voldaren Epicure
Mono-Green
This matchup comes down to landing a threat and Tempoing them out with well-timed removal or an Extinction Event. Misery’s Shadow is very key to this as it stops the death trigger of both Troll and Cavalier.
+2 Extinction Event, +1 Bitter Triumph, +1 Feed the Swarm
-4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Rakdos/Jund Sac
Leyline of the Void can slow them down, and removal spells will keep them off-kilter enough to kill with the midrange game plan or combo. Many sacrifice lists run Leyline of the Void for Phoenix so it is reasonable to expect the combo gameplan to not work every time. The maindeck Misery’s Shadow contributes to disrupting them as well.
+2 Leyline of the Void, +1 Bitter Triumph, +1 Feed the Swarm
-2 Thrillseeker, -2 Epicure
Rakdos Aggro
This Matchup is by far the hardest. They are effectively a combo deck. For that reason Thoughtseize is good because if you can take a combo piece the two life is far less important than their ability to fling a creature at you and deal 7-12 damage out of nowhere. Vadmir has been removed from this deck because he is not able to turn on fast enough. Rakdos aggro can kill turn 3 and as such our interaction needs to be before that. If rakdos aggro continues to grow in its popularity there is a real chance that the flex slots of the deck will have to change to accommodate for it dominance.
+3 Path of Peril, +1 Bitter Triumph, +1 Feed the Swarm
-1 Thoughtseize, -3 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, -1 Tree of Perdition
Gruul Plot Aggro
Simply buy time until you can board wipe. From there its pretty easy to shut them down.
+3 Path of Peril, +1 Bitter Triumph, +2 Extinction Event
-4 Thoughtseize, -2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Mono-White Humans
On the Play
+3 Path of Peril, +1 Bitter Triumph, +2 Extinction Event
-4 Thoughtseize, -1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, -1 Misery’s Shadow
On the Draw
+3 Path of Peril, +1 Bitter Triumph, +2 Extinction Event
-4 Thoughtseize, -2 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Quint
A Cauldron w/ Voldaren Thrillseeker underneath effectively locks them out from ever comboing because all your creatures can kill the Elephant.
+2 Duress, +1 Bitter Triumph, +1 Feed the Swarm, +1 Reckoner Bankbuster
-4 Fatal Push, -1 Misery’s Shadow
Lotus Field
Need to keep a hand that aggressively combos or or has disruption plus a real threat.
+2 Duress, +1 Feed the Swarm, +1 Reckoner Bankbuster
-4 Fatal Push
UW Spirits
+3 Path of Peril, +1 Bitter Triumph
-3 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, -1 Misery’s Shadow
Rakdos Midrange
+1 Reckoner Bankbuster, +1 Bitter Triumph, +1 Feed the Swarm
-2 Misery’s Shadow, -1 Tree of Perdition
Niv to Light
This is a matchup where the combo is very necessary. Bankbuster can provide some ability to grind but overall you are trying to kill quickly with a Tree or Thrillseeker under cauldron.
+2 Duress, +1 Reckoner Bankbuster, +1 Feed the Swarm
-4 Fatal Push
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