"Entertain Me" - Rakdos (EDH / Commander)

This deck is one of my all time favorites for casual EDH. The higher mana curve is a self limiting factor on the deck, but there is enough card advantage and ramp to make the deck play reliably. Demons are also a very powerful tribe and often have answers stapled to them for problems you didnt know you had. This Makes them very adaptable. Having a one-sided board wipe in the command zone is nothing to underestimate either.

Early game its hard to drop creatures since they dont even start until 3 CMC. Therefore, ramp and set up and if anyone gets of hand, just drop Rakdos once you get there. That said, there are several ways to crowd control the board state if it gets out of hand early. Cards like last one standing, Pestilence, Hour of Devastation, Bloodthirsty Blade, Fault line, and Archfiend of Depravity do nicely at this. Rakdos colors struggle with enchantments, so including Unstable Obelisk and Chaos Warp were a must. The deck desperately requires ramp so Obelisk fulfilled both needs over something like Nevinyrral's Disk which I considered as well.

Mid game is all about dropping big threats and an intimidating board-state, while keeping the board clear with Rakdos when needed. Momentum and tempo can be maintained with Blood speaker as well the copy effects. Copying demons turned into one of my guilty pleasures when building this deck. Helm of the host, Molten Echoes, and Blade of Selves have very interesting interactions with many of the demons in this deck. They also make Rakdos' board wipe more efficacious. I am trying to find good spot to slot in Twinflame as well for the same reasons.

Since a major theme for demos is "power at a cost" life can dwindle rapidly. For this reason, I included Whip of Erebos and Shadowspear. The whip has the added benefit of recursion in a pinch but can score a lot more life gain and Shadowspear can prep the board for Rakdos, or any other board wipe effects. Besides that though, just try to win before you die. The Demons themselves make a great win condition but Savage Beating is certainly the most satisfying win con in the deck. Captive Audience is just a flavor win for the deck and one of my favorite pet cards.

Side notes: I do play EDH 1v1 more often the multiplayer nowadays given the Pandemic. cards like Blade of Selves and Bloodthirsty Blade do literally nothing in these circumstances. While i don't normally have a sideboard, i would consider swapping lightning Greaves and Scroll Rack in to replace them. I also made another cut that was quite difficult. Kothophed, Soul Hoarder is a great draw engine most of the time. However, with the prevalence of Smothering Tithe out there, it is a very dangerous include. Smothering Tithe alone can kill a player who has Kothophed on the field with an infinite loop.