Thornbite Staff is all you need. There's a lot of white tutors for it, too. Sunforger is also excellent in this deck for a toolbox package and it gives anything +4 power.
I tend to sort the cards by groups (mana rocks, tutors, removal, tribal theme, etc) and then ask "Do I really need X cards for this? Should I just cut the most expensive one?". More often, though, it's "Do I have too many pet cards in the deck?"
Actually, my mana has never been a problem. I want "free" damage like Staggershock or Plague Spitter. Lightning Bolt usually takes out a creature, it's just there as an option if you're running thin. I don't like any of the listed creatures that deal damage. I have been looking for a few, cheap, automatic enchantments, though. Lim Dul Hex and Cryptolith Fragment sound like solid options, though.
Hollowborn Barghest is one of the weakest performers in the deck. He's really only there because he's a demon and probably the next card getting replaced.
I picked the updated Rakdos to get the discount on big, fat demons. It works more often than it should. I'm thinking of putting in Patriarch's Bidding in place of some cards that I'm not excited to draw.
I find this deck hilarious to play. For some reason, people just let me have my general for a turn. When I swing in with him, I get to drop three huge demons on the cheap. Turns pass around again, no one draws a Wrath, and I win. This deck focuses on meeting the other prerequisite on Rakdos and then playing big fat dudes.
It's been a while and the deck is still around! People still just let me play Rakdos and hit someone. It's amazing.
I've made a lot of changes, a few of which I can see an immediate improvement on. I'll have to find a few more cards in my mess of a collection and become Strictly Better.
The basic strategy of this deck is simple: make the opponent lose one (or more) life in any manner possible. You can Staggershock on their turn, extort with Crypt Ghast, Flame Jab out of the 'yard, or just attack. Sin Prodder does work in this department as do the obvious options of the enchantments that ping every turn. The options are endless. You may, of course, season your list with more cards that poke your opponent, but I feel you'd be diluting your list. I am making a mental note to look out for Spawn of Mayhem as another enabler that also happens to be a demon.
Once you cast Rakdos, you will win very quickly. Rakdos will discount your demons for about 6 every turn, so you can cast the demons for BB or BBB because you've fetched Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth earlier. On the next turn, you've won.
I once tried to play Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury as a stax deck. I figured since I could pump out Llanowar Elves, I could just keep everyone's lands tapped with various Orbs or sac the tokens to Smokestack. I stuck some proliferate cards in there to help my general and keep Tangle Wire in play.
I have it my Rakdos, Lord of Riots deck. Since most of my stuff is high CMC, chances are that I won't hit my stuff and I get rid of the one thing I needed to stop (plus some collateral damage). Given that it costs 5, though, I'm thinking of replacing it with something cheaper. Maybe another enabler for casting my general.
There is a list for Karlov of the Ghost Council that uses one drops with lifelink to get Karlov to be huge. Soul Warden and friends show up and he's in the right colors. I've tried the idea out a bit and I like it.
A long time ago, I played Secret Force. It was a very bad version of the deck. But Verdant Force was amazing, back in the day. Nowadays, though, getting Craterhoof Behemoth is more satisfying.
Shared Animosity and Crescendo of War pump power. Sword of the Paruns also does this, it's an equipment, and provides an untap effect.
Hollowborn Barghest is one of the weakest performers in the deck. He's really only there because he's a demon and probably the next card getting replaced.
I picked the updated Rakdos to get the discount on big, fat demons. It works more often than it should. I'm thinking of putting in Patriarch's Bidding in place of some cards that I'm not excited to draw.
Demons
1 Grinning Demon
1 Desecration Demon
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Indulgent Tormentor
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Master of Cruelties
1 Shadowborn Demon
1 Harvester of Souls
1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Rakdos, the Showstopper
1 Vilis, Broker of Blood
Other Creatures:
1 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Enablers
1 Plague Spitter
1 Staggershock
1 Sin Prodder
1 Spear Spewer
1 Flame Jab
1 Lim-Dûl's Hex
Draw/Search
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Blood Speaker
1 Night's Whisper
1 Faithless Looting
1 Necropotence
1 Liliana's Contract
1 Belbe's Portal
1 Urza's Incubator
Removal
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Doom Blade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dreadbore
1 Terminate
1 Murder
1 Snuff Out
1 Mutilate
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Damnation
1 Ritual of Soot
1 Shattering Spree
1 Chaos Warp
1 Vandalblast
Mana
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Expedition Map
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Bloodstone Cameo
Reanimation
1 Balthor the Defiled
1 Living Death
1 Patriarch's Bidding
Gravehate
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Anger
1 Stranglehold
Land
1 Arid Mesa
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Polluted Delta
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Temple of Malice
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Urborg Volcano
1 Akoum Refuge
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Tainted Peak
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Bojuka Bog
11 Swamp
7 Mountain
It's been a while and the deck is still around! People still just let me play Rakdos and hit someone. It's amazing.
I've made a lot of changes, a few of which I can see an immediate improvement on. I'll have to find a few more cards in my mess of a collection and become Strictly Better.
The basic strategy of this deck is simple: make the opponent lose one (or more) life in any manner possible. You can Staggershock on their turn, extort with Crypt Ghast, Flame Jab out of the 'yard, or just attack. Sin Prodder does work in this department as do the obvious options of the enchantments that ping every turn. The options are endless. You may, of course, season your list with more cards that poke your opponent, but I feel you'd be diluting your list. I am making a mental note to look out for Spawn of Mayhem as another enabler that also happens to be a demon.
Once you cast Rakdos, you will win very quickly. Rakdos will discount your demons for about 6 every turn, so you can cast the demons for BB or BBB because you've fetched Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth earlier. On the next turn, you've won.
Out:
In:
Out:
1 Void
1 Languish
1 Veinfire Borderpost
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Smolder Tar
1 Mountain
In:
1 Damnation
1 Ritual of Soot
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Command Tower
1 Expedition Map
1 Lim-Dûl's Hex
Mana Severance and Abundance sorts your deck however you want.
Ancestral Knowledge could be bounced and replayed for set up a few cascades.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/forum-1-vs-1-duel-commander/699633-karlov-all-in-aggro-10-10-on-turn-3-yes-its-aggro