At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Zhao, Ruthless Admiral
- Colors: Black / Red (BR)
- Archetype: Rakdos aristocrats sac-aggro (budget)
- Power tier: competitive
- Competitive Brawl: ⚠️ Not legal — banned/illegal: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer (casual/regular play only)
Not Competitive Brawl-legal
This deck can’t be played in Competitive Brawl — it contains a banned/illegal card: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. It’s fine for casual/regular play.
Strategy
Flood the board with cheap, expendable bodies and goblin/thopter token swarms, then attack with Zhao, Ruthless Admiral to tap down a blocker, add {R}{R}, and chain a second spell mid-combat. Cheap sac outlets (Goblin Bombardment, Blood Aspirant, Vampiric Rites) turn that fodder into damage and cards while a stacked drain wall (Vengeful Bloodwitch, A-Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance, Falkenrath Noble, Sling-Gang Lieutenant, Syr Konrad) bleeds the table on every death. Mayhem Devil and Judith punish each sacrifice, and Kardur plus Skullport Merchant grind out extra value and cards to replace the missing rare bombs. Token engines Krenko Mob Boss, Hordeling Outburst, Young Pyromancer, Beetleback Chief and Dragon Fodder keep the fodder flowing, and the firebending seeds (Firebending Student, Fire Sages, Heartfire Immolator, Malakir Cullblade) reward the second-spell combat pattern. Owned midrange threats Massacre Wurm, Vein Ripper, Rekindling Phoenix and Ragavan close games.
Upgrade path
PLAYABLE-NOW build: commander is an owned uncommon, so ZERO rare/mythic crafts are required (unlimited common/uncommon crafts + owned cards only). Substituted uncommon/common in-role pieces for the ideal’s unaffordable rares/mythics: Krenko, Mob Boss (owned) for Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin; Hordeling Outburst / Young Pyromancer / Beetleback Chief for Goblin Rabblemaster, Bitterblossom, Ophiomancer token engines; Sling-Gang Lieutenant + Blood Aspirant + Bloodtithe Harvester for the Priest of Forgotten Gods / Ashnod’s Altar sac layer; Kardur + Skullport Merchant for Sheoldred card advantage. The power version (C:/Users/mikayla/mtg/data/decks_json/brawl-firebending.json) is the ideal upgrade: craft Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Grave Pact, Ashnod’s Altar, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Bitterblossom, Ophiomancer, Goblin Rabblemaster, and Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Zhao, Ruthless Admiral
Deck
1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
1 A-Blood Artist
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Bastion of Remembrance
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Mayhem Devil
1 Judith, the Scourge Diva
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Village Rites
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Fake Your Own Death
1 Scavenger's Talent
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Bloodghast
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Fanatical Firebrand
1 Bile-Vial Boggart
1 Infestation Sage
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
1 Cult Conscript
1 Firebending Student
1 Fire Sages
1 Malakir Cullblade
1 Azula, On the Hunt
1 Azula Always Lies
1 Heartfire Immolator
1 Pitiless Plunderer
1 Reckless Fireweaver
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Big Score
1 Seize the Spoils
1 Deep-Cavern Bat
1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
1 Fatal Push
1 Go for the Throat
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Abrade
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Heartless Act
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Torch the Tower
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Vein Ripper
1 Sengir Vampire
1 Rekindling Phoenix
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Hordeling Outburst
1 Sling-Gang Lieutenant
1 Bloodtithe Harvester
1 Young Pyromancer
1 Blood Aspirant
1 Kardur, Doomscourge
1 Skullport Merchant
1 Beetleback Chief
1 Command Tower
1 Den of the Bugbear
1 Rockface Village
1 Vector, Imperial Capital
1 Blood Crypt
1 Blazemire Verge
20 Swamp
11 Mountain
Ideal build (upgrade target)
The power-ceiling build (multi-agent workflow output) — every premium payoff and the full combo/synergy package. The current list is the playable-now budget version; craft toward this as your wildcards come in.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 9 (3 mythic, 6 rare)
- Mythic: Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Grave Pact, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
- Rare: Ashnod’s Altar, Bitterblossom, Goblin Rabblemaster, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, Ophiomancer, Priest of Forgotten Gods
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Zhao, Ruthless Admiral
Deck
1 Vengeful Bloodwitch
1 A-Blood Artist
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Bastion of Remembrance
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
1 Mayhem Devil
1 Judith, the Scourge Diva
1 Grave Pact
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
1 Village Rites
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Fake Your Own Death
1 Scavenger's Talent
1 Bitterblossom
1 Ophiomancer
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Bloodghast
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
1 Fanatical Firebrand
1 Bile-Vial Boggart
1 Infestation Sage
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
1 Cult Conscript
1 Firebending Student
1 Fire Sages
1 Malakir Cullblade
1 Azula, On the Hunt
1 Azula Always Lies
1 Heartfire Immolator
1 Pitiless Plunderer
1 Reckless Fireweaver
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Big Score
1 Seize the Spoils
1 Deep-Cavern Bat
1 Lord Skitter's Butcher
1 Fatal Push
1 Go for the Throat
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Abrade
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Heartless Act
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Torch the Tower
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Vein Ripper
1 Sengir Vampire
1 Rekindling Phoenix
1 Command Tower
1 Den of the Bugbear
1 Rockface Village
1 Vector, Imperial Capital
1 Blood Crypt
1 Blazemire Verge
23 Swamp
8 Mountain
Card images & data via Scryfall.