Long time, no see, some new deck stuff. Rasputin originally got to my radar (as many other too I think) based on this 2021 Winter Derby decklist by Thomas Ashby https://sentineloldschoolmtg.com/2021/03/17/2021-old-school-magic-winter-derby-results-and-deck-photos/

Back then, I did some testing with Rasputin builds myself, but only got two of the guys in my binder. The winter derby decklist was interesting to play with (though I still wonder about the purpose of those Lions), and on the other hand a more comboish build sacrificing Su-chis to Sages seemed to lead to obscene amounts of mana, but with two Rasputins and mainly looking at UW deck, I did not get that far. Think some Archaeologists were also involved in these builds. No deck pics sadly were recorded.

This spring I picked up third Rasputin and decided to have a second look what I could do with them. The first try was not that great success, trikes and Rasputins with their toughness of 1 are not that good fit with Diamond valley. It felt like this deck had two competing decks fighting inside in it - one Focused on Eggs and Valleys, and another on big fireballs and Rasputins. And both of those decks would like some Animate Deads and/or Copy artifacts.

So I decided to bring the great flaming balls of Rasputin to FOYO 2024 like below, cutting eggs and Valleys. This deck felt coherent to play, and is actually quite combo-like to play, with also some turning of creatures sideways involved. Was also fun to play! Highlight perhaps was surprise about 20-point fireball to the head of the Deck…

If you want to play with this one, she notes:

• Single priest of Yawgmoth was there quite close to the end. Makes those balls even bigger.

• Would not play this with less than 3 Rasputins, really. Might consider even fourth.

• Could easily play this without the Workshop.

• Ashnod’s Altar could be interesting, see decks below.

Well, I mentioned there was also another deck inside the first build? Have not tried it out myself yet, but regarding Eggs and Valleys, Joni Niemi played something in the FOYO 2024 which is quite close to what I envisioned also, though of course far more refined.

If you want more Valley action, ”rio666” in the Discords shared this really cool-looking version, which looks so nice I decided to show it here. Note that both of these decks play the single Altar.