This is my third EDH deck I made, based around reanimation and graveyard mechanics. I simply wanted to share it with MTG Salvation community in hopes to make it even more powerful.
Why I Chose Karador
BGW seems to be one of the best color combination for graveyard mechanics, as black andwhite host awesome recursion for creatures, and green has recursion for instances and sorceries, which is actually really awesome.
Karador, Ghost Chieftain, weak by himself, serves to be an increible way to reanimate creatures.
The main reason that Karador, Ghost Chieftain made the cut above Teneb, the Harvester is because you can activate his ability soon after he enters the battlefield instead of having to wait for an attack. It is also really cool how Karador can potentially be a 3 drop every time you cast him.
The deck has 10 cards to tutor, some of them being the standard tutors like Demonic Tutor while others dump creatures in graveyards, like Entomb and Buried Alive, which synergise with Karador exceptionally, using one mana to drop a creature in the graveyard causes Karador to become one mana cheaper. It is a great way to find what you need.
Karador is great at permenantly fogging enemies to by time. Cards like Spore Frog and Kami of False Hope prevent combat damage and can be replayed turn after turn with Karador. Yosei, the Morning Star essentially locks down enemies until you win.
I run quite a bit of recursion in this deck, both for creatures and for intants/sorceries. Karador can reanimate only once a turn, and sometimes, I need more than that. Karmic Guide is an all-star in this deck, with Karador, it basically lets me play anything in my graveyard for 3WW once a turn.
I am currently looking for a Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and a Survival of the Fittest for this deck but that may not be a likely possibility due to price.
I am also considering a sort of Dredge sub-theme to get my graveyard fatter faster. Don't know what to cut for it though.
Thanks for looking, and please comment if you have a question or a critique.
Yes! I see another Tri-colour project in the making The lists are looking great so far!
A few small suggestions.
Vigor Mortis seems a little subpar as a reanimation spell. I think Animate Dead is much better here.
Phyrexian Tower and High Market are both great for this deck. There are definitely times when you'd want to be able to kill your own creatures at instant speed. The best example is Yosei.
This is all I can think of right now. THe list does look really solid. Keep it up!!
I like the look of it. Some cards I think you could benefit from:
- Teysa, Orzhov Scion: She's a potential candidate for Reveillark + Karmic Guide combos, and provides her own sac outlet to boot. Being as you already have the other pieces in your deck, this is definitely a good way to go.
- Mindslicer: This card is both a huge deterrent to keep people from attacking you and a great way to dump cards into the yard. It works especially well with Greater Good, as because of the way the triggers stack, you'll still end up with one card in hand, while your opponents will have none.
- Sacrifice Outlets: I'd say you're a bit short on them, and the only free one in the deck is Greater Good (which is probably the best one, but you could benefit from more). I'd recommend Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Phyrexian Tower and High Market. I'd also probably cut Ghave, Guru of Spores. He doesn't really do enough in this deck to justify running him. If you were running edict effects such as Grave Pact or Martyr's Bond (among others), it would be a different story. A couple other potential candidates are Attrition and Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter.
- Wraths: A few great wraths that are almost always worth including if you're playing the colors are Rout, Austere Command and Decree of Pain. Rout can be thrown down at instant speed, Austere Command can hit nearly anything on the board and Decree of Pain can draw a ton of cards. Choose to taste.
- Debtors' Knell: Let's be clear off the bat, this card is a gigantic rattlesnake. It will make people hate you. However, chances are that if you're constantly clearing the board and making people ditch their hands, you'll be able to net some pretty sweet creatures with this card.
- Anti-GY Hosers: Your graveyard is your lifeblood with Karador, and it must be protected. The most common hosers you'll come across are probably Withered Wretch, Nezumi Graverobber and Scavenging Ooze. They can be shut down by Linvala, Keeper of Silence, although Cursed Totem also works in a pinch. From there, you'll run into Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb. Null Rod or Stony Silence shuts those down nicely. Probably the hardest card to protect against is Necrogenesis. The only option I can think of there is Ground Seal.
- Privileged Position and/or Asceticism: I'm just a big fan of this card in general, so I'm probably biased, but giving all your other permanents hexproof can be really powerful, especially if your meta is replete with exile effects. YMMV.
Thank you guys for looking and replying, I appreciate it. Sac Outlets: Definately lacking that in this deck. I think I would be better off with land ones like Phyrexian Tower and High Market, mabye even Miren, the Moaning Well. Since I can just cut basic lands.
Also, I never realized Mindslicer's potential, thanks for bringing that up, I will definitely use it.
I have Debtors' Knell but I never ran it because I was always afraid of someone blowing it upbefore I got to use it, but it may be worth a try.
Thanks again for the comments, and if you are bored, I would love it if my other two EDH decks got a review.
I would run more creatures, for example I would cut some of the artifact ramp for Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf. Saffi Eriksdotter and Fiend Hunter allow infinite loops with sac outlets such as Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ashnods Altar or the almighty Vish-Kal, Blood Arbiter (I would run him instead of Divinity of Pride: He may cost two more mana but is much less mana intensive and while he still is a big dumb lifelinking beater he also acts as sac outlet and removal). I've described all the broken possibilitys with sacrifice loops in my own Karador thread (in the sig).
Another card I must absolutely recommend for Karador is Birthing Pod: It's a repeatable tutor that lets you dump your creatures into the GY to play them again. It's also still very underrated and thus doesn't draw too much hate ehich is great because an unanswered Pod can win games in a few rounds, especially if paired with some discard like Mindslicer.
Why I Chose Karador
The Deck's Strategy
And Now the Deck
1 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Artifact Ramp
1 Sol Ring
2 Golgari Signet
3 Lightning Greaves
4 Orzhov Signet
5 Selesnya Signet
6 Sakura-Tribe Elder
7 Coalition Relic
8 Cultivate
9 Kodama's Reach
10 Solemn Simulacrum
Tutor
1 Entomb
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Fauna Shaman
4 Buried Alive
5 Fierce Empath
6 Diabolic Tutor
7 Corpse Connoisseur
8 Increasing Ambition
9 Rune-Scarred Demon
10 Tooth and Nail
Recursion
1 Mimic Vat
2 Victimize
3 Eternal Witness
4 Vigor Mortis
5 Reveillark
6 Unburial Rites
7 Karmic Guide
8 Sun Titan
9 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
10 Teneb, the Harvester
11 Sheoldred, Whispering One
Card Draw
1 Skullclamp
2 Phyrexian Arena
3 Graveborn Muse
4 Greater Good
5 Harmonize
6 Bloodgift Demon
1 Condemn
2 Path to Exile
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Qasali Pridemage
5 Krosan Grip
6 Aura Shards
7 Harmonic Sliver
8 Mortify
9 Necrotic Sliver
10 Putrefy
11 Acidic Slime
12 Angel of Despair
Board Wipe
1 Fleshbag Marauder (+Mikaeus and Karador)
2 Wrath of God
3 Damnation
4 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Win Conditions
1 Kami of False Hope
2 Spore Frog
3 Genesis Wave
4 Ghave, Guru of Spores
5 Divinity of Pride
6 Yosei, the Morning Star
7 Primeval Titan
8 Sorin Markov
9 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
10 Avenger of Zendikar
Mana Lands
1 Plains
2 Plains
3 Plains
4 Plains
5 Plains
6 Plains
7 Vivid Meadow
8 Swamp
9 Swamp
10 Swamp
11 Swamp
12 Swamp
13 Swamp
14 Vivid Marsh
15 Forest
16 Forest
17 Forest
18 Forest
19 Forest
20 Forest
21 Vivid Grove
22 Horizon Canopy
23 Razorverge Thicket
24 Selesnya Sanctuary
25 Wooded Bastion
26 Fetid Heath
27 Isolated Chapel
28 Orzhov Basilica
29 Golgari Rot Farm
30 Twilight Mire
31 Woodland Cemetery
32 Command Tower
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Gavony Township
3 Grim Backwoods
4 Reliquary Tower
5 Vault of the Archangel
I am currently looking for a Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and a Survival of the Fittest for this deck but that may not be a likely possibility due to price.
I am also considering a sort of Dredge sub-theme to get my graveyard fatter faster. Don't know what to cut for it though.
Thanks for looking, and please comment if you have a question or a critique.
BGWKarador, Night of the Wood God
UBRMarchesa, The Black Rose
BRGProssh, Suicide Crew
A few small suggestions.
Vigor Mortis seems a little subpar as a reanimation spell. I think Animate Dead is much better here.
Phyrexian Tower and High Market are both great for this deck. There are definitely times when you'd want to be able to kill your own creatures at instant speed. The best example is Yosei.
This is all I can think of right now. THe list does look really solid. Keep it up!!
- Teysa, Orzhov Scion: She's a potential candidate for Reveillark + Karmic Guide combos, and provides her own sac outlet to boot. Being as you already have the other pieces in your deck, this is definitely a good way to go.
- Mindslicer: This card is both a huge deterrent to keep people from attacking you and a great way to dump cards into the yard. It works especially well with Greater Good, as because of the way the triggers stack, you'll still end up with one card in hand, while your opponents will have none.
- Sacrifice Outlets: I'd say you're a bit short on them, and the only free one in the deck is Greater Good (which is probably the best one, but you could benefit from more). I'd recommend Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Phyrexian Tower and High Market. I'd also probably cut Ghave, Guru of Spores. He doesn't really do enough in this deck to justify running him. If you were running edict effects such as Grave Pact or Martyr's Bond (among others), it would be a different story. A couple other potential candidates are Attrition and Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter.
- Wraths: A few great wraths that are almost always worth including if you're playing the colors are Rout, Austere Command and Decree of Pain. Rout can be thrown down at instant speed, Austere Command can hit nearly anything on the board and Decree of Pain can draw a ton of cards. Choose to taste.
- Debtors' Knell: Let's be clear off the bat, this card is a gigantic rattlesnake. It will make people hate you. However, chances are that if you're constantly clearing the board and making people ditch their hands, you'll be able to net some pretty sweet creatures with this card.
- Anti-GY Hosers: Your graveyard is your lifeblood with Karador, and it must be protected. The most common hosers you'll come across are probably Withered Wretch, Nezumi Graverobber and Scavenging Ooze. They can be shut down by Linvala, Keeper of Silence, although Cursed Totem also works in a pinch. From there, you'll run into Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus and Nihil Spellbomb. Null Rod or Stony Silence shuts those down nicely. Probably the hardest card to protect against is Necrogenesis. The only option I can think of there is Ground Seal.
- Privileged Position and/or Asceticism: I'm just a big fan of this card in general, so I'm probably biased, but giving all your other permanents hexproof can be really powerful, especially if your meta is replete with exile effects. YMMV.
GGG [Primer] Omnath, Big Green Beatstick Machine GGG
Sac Outlets: Definately lacking that in this deck. I think I would be better off with land ones like Phyrexian Tower and High Market, mabye even Miren, the Moaning Well. Since I can just cut basic lands.
Also, I never realized Mindslicer's potential, thanks for bringing that up, I will definitely use it.
I have Debtors' Knell but I never ran it because I was always afraid of someone blowing it upbefore I got to use it, but it may be worth a try.
Thanks again for the comments, and if you are bored, I would love it if my other two EDH decks got a review.
BGWKarador, Night of the Wood God
UBRMarchesa, The Black Rose
BRGProssh, Suicide Crew
Saffi Eriksdotter and Fiend Hunter allow infinite loops with sac outlets such as Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ashnods Altar or the almighty Vish-Kal, Blood Arbiter (I would run him instead of Divinity of Pride: He may cost two more mana but is much less mana intensive and while he still is a big dumb lifelinking beater he also acts as sac outlet and removal). I've described all the broken possibilitys with sacrifice loops in my own Karador thread (in the sig).
Another card I must absolutely recommend for Karador is Birthing Pod: It's a repeatable tutor that lets you dump your creatures into the GY to play them again. It's also still very underrated and thus doesn't draw too much hate ehich is great because an unanswered Pod can win games in a few rounds, especially if paired with some discard like Mindslicer.
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer