Overview:

This Rakdos deck helmed by Deadpool, Trading Card focuses on chaotic token duplication, death triggers, and life-drain synergies. The commander's text-swap ability enables flexible adaptation by borrowing key creature abilities (e.g., Gray Merchant of Asphodel's drain, Pitiless Plunderer's Treasures). The primary strategy revolves around creating exponential value through myriad tokens (Blade of Selves, Dalek Squadron), temporary clones (Delina, Wild Mage, Flamerush Rider), and recursion engines (Feldon of the Third Path, Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink). Secondary win conditions include Mirkwood Bats/Blood Artist pings, Gray Merchant recursion, and forced combat chaos via Kardur, Doomscourge. Deadpool acts as a strategic chameleon rather than a build-around, with his sacrifice ability synergizing with death payoffs.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-3): Deploy ramp (Sol Ring, Ruby Medallion, Fellwar Stone) and value creatures (Morbid Opportunist, Professional Face-Breaker). Use Demonic Tutor to find key pieces like Blade of Selves or Helm of the Host.
2. Token Proliferation (Turns 4-6): Equip Blade of Selves to high-impact creatures (Gray Merchant, Dualcaster Mage) or deploy Flameshadow Conjuring/Mirror March to multiply ETB triggers. Activate Feldon of the Third Path to reanimate creatures from the graveyard as hasty tokens.
3. Win Conditions (Turns 5-8):
   • Life Drain: Amplify Gray Merchant ETBs with cloning effects. Pair Mirkwood Bats with Treasure/Token generation.
   • Combat Overload: Use Kardur, Doomscourge to force opponent attacks, then wipe with Blasphemous Act + Blood Artist triggers.
   • Infinite Mana: Dualcaster Mage + Molten Duplication (copying a ritual spell) → Fuel Walking Ballista-style finishers (though absent here, replaced by drain effects).

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands and at least one ramp artifact.
• Prioritize early enablers: Morbid Opportunist, Pitiless Plunderer, or a clone engine.
• Avoid hands without creature synergy or excessive high-CMC cards.

Key Tips:

• Use Deadpool’s text-swap to steal abilities like Xantcha, Sleeper Agent’s card draw or Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls’ counters.
• Saw in Half on Gray Merchant doubles devotion triggers.
• Helm of the Host on Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink creates exponential token armies.
• Sacrifice Deadpool to Pitiless Plunderer for Treasures while denying opponents value.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Token Wipes: Cursed Totem/Torpor Orb nullifies ETB cloning. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite shuts down token strategies.
• Graveyard Hate: Rest in Peace disrupts Feldon, Gray Merchant loops, and Resurrection Orb.

Moderate

• Slow Setup: Minimal fast mana beyond Sol Ring delays key turns.
• Life Loss: Deadpool’s upkeep penalty and Feed the Swarm self-damage strain life totals.

Minor

• Limited Stack Interaction: Relies on Bedevil/Chaos Warp for removal; no counterspells.
• Volatile Clones: Many effects rely on coin flips (Delina) or temporary tokens.

Most Important Cards:

• Gray Merchant of Asphodel (Primary life-drain engine)
• Blade of Selves (Myriad enabler for ETB duplication)
• Feldon of the Third Path (Graveyard-to-battlefield recursion)
• Mirkwood Bats (Token/death ping payoff)
• Demonic Tutor (Consistency for key pieces)
• Kardur, Doomscourge (Forced combat enabler)
• Pitiless Plunderer (Treasure generation for ramp/recursion)
• Flameshadow Conjuring (Low-cost token cloning)
• Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink (Mass token generation)
• Helm of the Host (Non-legendary clone engine)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten lethal via Gray Merchant loops or token swarms by T6-7, but lacks turbo mana for faster wins.

Resilience: 5/10

• Recursion (Feldon, Resurrection Orb) and protection (Swiftfoot Boots) exist but folds to repeated wipes.

Consistency: 7/10

• Strong tutor suite (Demonic Tutor, Saw in Half as pseudo-tutor) and redundant clone effects.

Interaction: 5/10

• Targeted removal (Bedevil, Deadly Rollick) and board wipes, but minimal stack interaction.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates at a Focused level, leveraging efficient cloning and recursion to threaten wins by T7-8. While it lacks the speed and protection of cEDH decks, its synergy density and multiple angles of attack elevate it above casual builds.

Power level: 6.0 - 6.5