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Ledger of Ashes

A grindy Rakdos control deck that answers everything one-for-one, then sweeps the leftovers with a one-sided board wipe before closing out with recursive threats.

Standard · by @evilBOD · 2026-07-28

Key cards

Zealous Lorecaster Zealous Lorecaster Artistic Process Artistic Process Pox Plague Pox Plague

$11.06 total value · €5.73 · prices as of 2026-09-15

Value over the last 8 price days: $11.18 → $11.06 (-0.12)
Most expensive cards
  • Great Hall of the Biblioplex$0.87
  • Pox Plague$0.34
  • Bitter Triumph$0.33
  • Terramorphic Expanse$0.27
  • Burst Lightning$0.26
  • Burrog Banemaker$0.22
  • Abrade$0.19
  • Artistic Process$0.18
  • Mountain$0.18
  • Seize the Spoils$0.18
60 cards 35 spells 25 lands avg CMC 3.0 B24R16

Mana curve

0
0
6
1
9
2
7
3
7
4
4
5
2
6
0
7+

mana value · lands excluded

Card types

  • Creature 18
  • Instant 13
  • Sorcery 4
  • Land 25

Colors

  • B 60% (24)
  • R 40% (16)

🎴 Goldfish (test draw) 🖨 Proxy sheet

Strategy

A Rakdos (B/R) control deck that plays a patient, attrition-based game: trade one removal spell for one threat, keep the board clear, and let card advantage from Seize the Spoils and Zealous Lorecaster carry you into the late game. Artistic Process and Pox Plague act as safety valves — one-sided or symmetrical resets you can pull the trigger on when you're behind on board, buying time until your removal-dense hand and recursive threats take over.

Roles

  • Threat: Sneering Shadewriter, Zealous Lorecaster, Tackle Artist
  • Removal: Wander Off, Foolish Fate, Last Gasp, Bitter Triumph, Abrade, Burst Lightning
  • Sweepers: Artistic Process, Pox Plague
  • Card draw: Seize the Spoils, Melancholic Poet (drip damage/value off targeted removal), Zealous Lorecaster (spell recursion)
  • Protection: Burrog Banemaker's deathtouch discourages attacks and trades up into anything
  • Lands: 25 total — Great Hall of the Biblioplex, 2 Terramorphic Expanse, 13 Swamp, 9 Mountain

Synergies & curve

Melancholic Poet triggers off any of your removal spells that target a creature (which is most of your removal suite), converting one-for-one trades into extra life drain on the side. Rubble Rouser and Tackle Artist both scale with the graveyard, and every removal spell you cast feeds fuel for Zealous Lorecaster to return later. The curve is low and reactive early (1-2 mana removal and Burrog Banemaker as a deathtouch speed bump), builds toward Sneering Shadewriter and Artistic Process in the 4-5 slot, and closes with Zealous Lorecaster rebuying your best spent removal spell.

Hold up Wander Off and Last Gasp through the opponent's turn, sweep their overextended board with Artistic Process, then land Sneering Shadewriter to drain them out from a position of total board control.

Weak spots

The deck has very little proactive card advantage outside of a handful of spells, so if the removal suite gets outpaced by resilient threats (recursive creatures, hexproof/ward permanents) it can run out of answers. Pox Plague is symmetrical and can backfire if cast from a position of parity rather than genuine desperation. There's also no dedicated dual land for the colors — mana comes entirely from basics, Terramorphic Expanse, and the colorless Great Hall, so early-game color screw is a real risk in a two-color deck this removal-hungry.

Decklist (60 cards)

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📦 Find in your boxes — by set

SOS · Secrets of Strixhaven · 55 cards

⚫ Black · 19
4× Burrog Banemaker #75
2× Foolish Fate #83
2× Last Gasp #86
4× Melancholic Poet #90
1× Pox Plague #94
2× Sneering Shadewriter #101
4× Wander Off #104
🔴 Red · 11
1× Artistic Process #108
3× Rubble Rouser #128
2× Seize the Spoils #129
3× Tackle Artist #133
2× Zealous Lorecaster #137
🏞 Lands · 25
1× Great Hall of the Biblioplex #257
2× Terramorphic Expanse #265
13× Swamp #277 · only 2 here
9× Mountain #279 · only 2 here

SOA · Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive · 5 cards

⚫ Black · 1
1× Bitter Triumph #26
🔴 Red · 4
2× Abrade #37
2× Burst Lightning #41

Grouped by the set of the copies in this deck's build-pool lists, then by color the way a sorted box is — # is the collector number inside the set.

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