Karador: Evil Friends

Commander / EDH BGW (Abzan, Junk) Hatebears Midrange Multiplayer Reanimator Toolbox

tehswede77

Lands (25)

• 1x Bayou
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 2x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Murmuring Bosk
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Plains
• 1x Savannah
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Tutors (10)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Chord of Calling
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Knight of the Reliquary
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Draw (5)

• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sylvan Library

Removal (14)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Ashen Rider
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Maelstrom Pulse
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Pernicious Deed
• 1x Qasali Pridemage
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Vindicate

Ramp (11)

• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Wood Elves

Recursion (9)

• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Life from the Loam
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Saffi Eriksdotter
• 1x Sun Titan

Commander (1)

UtilityLands (12)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Pit
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Dust Bowl
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x High Market
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of the Archangel

Utility (10)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Gaddock Teeg
• 1x Kataki, War's Wage
• 1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Remorseful Cleric
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Underrealm Lich
• 1x Viscera Seer

Finishers (3)

• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

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Maybeboard

Fastlands (3)

• 1x Blooming Marsh
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Razorverge Thicket

Hate (2)

• 1x Anafenza, the Foremost
• 1x Hokori, Dust Drinker

Utility (2)

• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier

Painlands (3)

• 1x Brushland
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Llanowar Wastes

Tutors (2)

• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Survival of the Fittest

UtilityLands (1)

• 1x Strip Mine

Removal (3)

• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Magus of the Disk
• 1x Wrath of God

Recursion (1)

• 1x Renegade Rallier

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Introduction: Deck History and About Me

I've been playing Magic on and off since Apocalypse but I really started getting back into it when my friends introduced me to EDH in the summer of 2012. I built a very budget Karador deck from scratch with cards that I thought would be pretty decent. I originally picked Karador for two reasons. First, Junk is my favorite color shard. I love the removal options it brings to the table, whether it's creatures, artifacts, or enchantments, and I find it has an excellent mix of both spot or mass removal. I also like the access to ramp that green offers, and the threats on the higher end of the curve for all three colors. The second reason I went with Karador is that I am infatuated with Birthing Pod, and Karador is one of the best commanders for playing with Pod by far. When I initially started putting this deck together, Pod had just rotated out of Standard and I wanted to make sure I could keep playing with it. I loved the toolbox approach and getting the maximum value out of my creatures, and that's what the deck is all about. The deck's maiden voyage did not go how I expected.

I got absolutely crushed and immediately started devouring as much material as I could read about EDH. Decklists, articles, anything. I obsessively went over my decklist again and again, adding to it when I had the extra cash. For a long time it was the only deck I had and the only deck I played. Over the years I've been playing this deck it's really grown into a tightly tuned deck that has the potential to absolutely run tables, especially if my opponents are greedy and aren't running grave hate like they should. Keep in mind, this is not a 100% cutthroat competitive build. I believe the most optimal build for Karador is either Boonweaver or Hulk combo, but that’s really boring to play and most people don’t want to play against it at your typical LGS. So this build focuses more on grinding out value and being able to interact as much as possible and leaves out some more feel-bad cards that are insanely good, while still retaining a few combos that are difficult to put together (think 4+ cards) to end the game when it’s going super long.

Why Play Karador?

Karador is not for you if you want to win quickly. My version of Karador is all about the long game, about controlling the table and grinding them down, scraping out small advantage after small advantage until your opponents are all out of gas and your value engine is in full swing. The one thing you really get from playing Karador is a sense of inevitability. Our creatures never really die, they keep coming back again and again until the table is collectively out of answers and we can proceed towards winning the game. Our commander is never truly uncastable, as the reduction in his casting cost ensures he's never too expensive. And if we are casting Karador for his full price, we've got an empty graveyard and there's no point in casting him anyways. Karador is all about always having an answer or a backup plan, and we are in the three best colors to tutor for those answers.

Why NOT to Play Karador

Two answers: grave hate and Torpor Orb. Every deck has its weaknesses, and these are ours. Our most hated card in all of Magic is easily Rest in Peace. Seriously. This hoses pretty much everything we want to do. Not only does it exile all graveyards upon entering the battlefield, but it continues to exile any cards put into the graveyard while it's still around. Torpor Orb slows us down, but does not cripple us. It becomes much harder to abuse reanimating creatures constantly when they no longer have an ETB trigger. A resolved Rest in Peace and Torpor Orb together is our literal worst nightmare. At this point, the game is only about survival and tutoring for ways to kill them. Qasali Pridemage, Pernicious Deed, Anguished Unmaking, Vindicate, and Maelstrom Pulse become our best friends at this point. These cards make it very hard to win, but not impossible. Riftsweeper is a potential answer, but I tested it and really just didn't like it at all. The amount of times it’s a dead draw far outweigh the times I actually want it. I'd rather just run another answer or another threat in its place. The best plan when up against tons of grave hate is just to keep from over extending into the graveyard. Play the deck more like a grindy midrange deck rather than full on graveyard abuse, and keep Karador as a backup plan for when you're really out of things to do. Unfortunately for use, Wizards seems to keep printing more, better grave hate. Rest in Peace is crippling, and now Pharika, God of Affliction is a thing. An indestructible enchantment accessible from the command zone that turns our Sheoldred into a 1/1 snake with deathtouch for GB, at instant speed. Not to mention Anafenza, the Foremost. Having decent graveyard hate in an opposing command zone is bad news bears for us. Thanks, Wizards. Thankfully, neither of these commanders seem to be that popular.

What's the Game Plan?

A great game starts with a great hand. Ideally we want to see about 3 lands, some ramp, removal, and a card advantage engine (Skullclamp, Erebos, Birthing Pod, Fauna Shaman, etc.) or a tutor to find one. In the early phase of the game, we just want to establish our manabase, resolve some cheap creatures, and deal with any problems that arise. We are playing a three-color deck with some prohibitive mana costs, so we want to make sure to hit at least double green, double white, and double black. Lately I've started searching out more basics than not, as our resident mono-red player has discovered the joys of Ruination, Blood Moon, and other assorted non-basic land hate cards. In the mid game, we want to be landing our card advantage engines to either start tutoring for threats or draw cards. Using spot or mass removal to keep the table in check becomes even more important (especially against combo decks as this when they really become a threat to win out of nowhere), and if possible we want to start reanimating our value creatures from earlier to keep generating an advantage. Just keep playing creatures and generating value. We want to always be doing something, whether it's reanimating a Disciple of Bolas repeatedly, moving our way up the Pod Chain, or just boardwiping repeatedly and rebuilding. The late game is where Karador really shines. Ideally, our opponents have been exhausted of answers and can no longer interact with our boardstate. It's at this point where we can start having fun with reanimating a Reclamation Sage or Gray Merchant of Asphodel a few times every turn to start denying our opponents resources and keep pushing them further out of the game. Generally we'll win through combat damage with any of our strong finishers (Sheoldred, Ashen Rider, etc.), but the option exists to combo out. There are a few "combos" that we can end the game with if we have the time to set them up:

Altar of Dementia + some combination of Saffi Eriksdotter, Sun Titan, Karmic Guide, and Reveillark allows us to mill out all of our opponents instantly.

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed allows Vish Kal to continually remove the +1/+1 counter from Undying and then sac himself to wipe our opponent’s boards, including indestructible creatures.

You can also create infinite reanimation loops with a sac outlet, Karmic Guide, Reveillark, Saffi Eriksdotter, and something sweet like Gray Merchant of Asphodel. It's extremely rare if I find myself ending the game this way, as there are just too many moving parts to really get this off the ground, but the combo is there so I thought I'd mention it.

Card by Card Breakdown (Organized by Function)

Ramp

Nature's Lore & Farseek: I originally started off with Kodama's Reach and Cultivate as my non-creature ramp spells, but I prefer to have cheaper ramp spells so I can start dropping utility creatures as early as possible. As an added bonus, both Farseek and Nature's Lore are capable of searching up my Duals and Shocklands which brings much more mana-fixing to the table.

Farhaven Elf & Wood Elves: Karador loves creatures. Not much to say about these guys. They find lands, and then can be used with Birthing Pod or as Skullclamp targets once they're done. Wood Elves has the added bonus of being able to search up Duals, Shocklands, and Murmuring Bosk.

Oracle of Mul Daya: One of the best ramp creatures available. Helps hit extra land drops and filter my draws at all stages of the game, so I am top-decking spells instead of lands. Excellent synergy with Sylvan Library.

Sakura-Tribe Elder: Just an overall great creature. Gets me land, fills the graveyard to make Karador cheaper to cast, and can be used as a chump-blocker in a pinch.

Satyr Wayfinder: A Mulch-effect on a creature is exactly what this deck wants. Fills the graveyard and helps us hit a land drop. The fact that he’s Skullclampable is an added bonus.

Hermit Druid: Similar to Satyr Wayfinder except he is guaranteed to hit a basic land. With only 6 basics in the deck, you can go from having no board state to chugging through your library and casting from the graveyard with Karador in only a few turns. Can be Skullclamped once you’re done with him, too.

Skyshroud Claim: This is probably one of the strongest ramp spells ever printed, it allows me to fetch two of my Forest-type duals or shocks and even play them untapped.

Chromatic Lantern: An excellent mana rock in a deck that has so many color-restrictive mana costs, which I unfortunately do. Having lands that can tap for any type of mana is very powerful.

Card Advantage & Tutors

Birthing Pod: The card that started it all. My personal favorite card, and one of the all-stars of this deck. This card does everything I could ever want it to. It allows me to simultaneously tutor up threats/answers and fill my graveyard for their re-use. To properly abuse Pod I need a lot of creatures with Enter-the-Battlefield/Leave-the-Battlefield effects, which this list is chock full of.

Chord of Calling: Can find any creature in the deck at instant speed and gets better the more creatures I have out. Incredibly useful for sneaking creatures in at the end of my opponents' turns or as instant speed removal.

Demonic Tutor: One of the best tutors in the game, finds any card in the deck. Not much else to say here.

Dimir House Guard: The transmute on this guy is a beast. I’ve specifically kept a small “toolbox” of answers at 4-CMC so that this card is always live. Originally just an additional tutor to find Birthing Pod, we can now find card draw (Erebos, God of the Dead, Disciple of Bolas), a wrath (Wrath of God), and even some creature hate (Linvala, Keeper of Silence). Also does double duty as a great sac outlet.

Disciple of Bolas: This card has single-handedly brought me back from the brink of defeat with the lifegain and card advantage. Can sometimes sit in my hand for a while but it is perfect for topping off once I've ramped and played some threats.

Eladamri's Call: Instant speed creature tutor, which is almost a second Demonic Tutor in such a creature-heavy deck. Great for finding answers at any stage in the game.

Entomb: Life from the Loam is an excellent target to start filling the graveyard, bonus if you have access to one of the cycling lands as well. Can also find any of the great toolbox creatures to reanimate.

Erebos, God of the Dead: He's basically an indestructible Greed that can eventually become a huge beat stick. The fact that Erebos is considered a creature until he resolves allows me to fetch him with Birthing Pod or any number of my creature tutors, and allows me to cast him even with Gaddock Teeg on the battlefield. An added bonus is that Erebos gives Oloro players fits.

Fauna Shaman: I eventually cut Survival of the Fittest for this for two reasons: it’s a creature and plays well with Karador, and because Survival is just plain too good for casual tables. Basically an “I win” button if no one answers it due to the disgusting reanimation chains available. Fauna Shaman, while much slower, is much more fair. Full-on competitive builds should cut this for Sylvan.

Green Sun's Zenith: I really like the utility this card brings. I can fetch a Dryad Arbor on Turn 1 for some ramp, or a Qasali Pridemage to get out from under a Rest in Peace, or any other amount of green utility creatures in the deck. There are over a dozen excellent targets available, and the fact that GSZ gets shuffled back in for multiple uses is just gravy.

Knight of the Reliquary: I'm currently testing this card to see how well it performs. I wanted a way to search up my more useful lands like Phyrexian Tower and Bojuka Bog, and this seems to be the best way to do it. Aside from just grabbing utility lands, the ability to search up a fetch, crack it, and net two lands in the graveyard means it can grow very quickly. This works very well with Disciple of Bolas or just as a beater to finish the game.

Phyrexian Arena: This card is absolutely amazing for keeping my hand full. The life loss is negligible when you start with 40 life, and the card advantage is so worth it.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier: Demonic Tutor on a stick. Puts a creature in the graveyard and makes our commander cheaper to cast. Overall a great addition and the deathtouch is often very relevant (and our opponents often forget about it).

Skullclamp: I personally think this is the best card in the deck. Gives great utility to all of my 1/1s, and when abused with recurrable creatures I can draw absurd amounts of cards.

Sylvan Library: Can create some serious card advantage at the cost of a little life, and has great interactions with Oracle of Mul Daya and Viscera Seer. It is considered a staple for a reason.

Removal

Anguished Unmaking: Exiling any nonland permanent at instant speed for only three mana seems unfair. Especially good against Theros Gods, and the lifeloss is negligible.

Ashen Rider: I was a little light on exile effects for noncreatures, and Ashen Rider is one of the best at this. The solid 5/5 flying body is a huge bonus.

Aura Shards: This card does so much work with how many creatures are in the deck. It really helps to keep the board clear of powerful enchantments and artifacts. Gets shut down really hard by Torpor Orb, however.

Austere Command: One of the most flexible wipes in the game. I don’t know what else to say other than this card is rarely dead, and if it is I’m usually ahead.

Ravenous Chupacabra: decent on its own, but downright dirty when you start recurring it every turn. The fact that it can hit any black and artifact creatures gives this the nod over Bone Shredder. This removal is a flex spot that fluctuates between this and Fleshbag Marauder, depending on my mood, although I would like to find room for both.

Maelstrom Pulse: very flexible removal that has the bonus of hosing tokens or clones.

Path to Exile & Swords to Plowshares: These extremely cheap removal spells each have mostly negligible drawbacks, although the lifegain can be a horrible trade if you use it on a stupidly large creature. Some of the best white removal spells ever printed.

Pernicious Deed: This sweeper is amazing. Often can clear the board of weenies while keeping clear of my fatties, and is even recurrable with Sun Titan for a soft-lock of sorts.

Qasali Pridemage: Great artifact and enchantment hate that fills my graveyard. The Exalted is nice, but I really play it for its other effects. Recurrable with Sun Titan and Reveillark. Torpor Orb is a card that shuts me down hardcore, and this is a nice way to get around it.

Reclamation Sage: Great cheap removal for artifacts and enchantments. Tutorable with Green Sun's Zenith.

Shriekmaw: Evoke is a very unique but powerful ability, and I find that I often cast Shriekmaw for the Evoke cost the majority of the time. Putting itself directly into the graveyard is an excellent way to enable casting a cheaper Karador, and the removal isn’t so bad either.

Toxic Deluge: In my opinion, the single best wrath ever printed for EDH. Gets around indestructible, regeneration affects, and can be cast under a Gaddock Teeg.

Vindicate: Removal that can hit any type of permanent is invaluable in a format with such varied threats. Even kills planeswalkers.

Wrath of God: Sometimes you just need a boardwipe, and with Karador I don't particularly care if my creatures end up in the graveyard. Tutorable with Dimir House Guard. The no regeneration clause is usually very relevant.

Recursion & Graveyard Shenanigans

Journey to Eternity  : I am trying this out over Deadbridge Chant, which was admittedly a non-optimized card. I like the low cost, the immediate payoff, and the repeatable reanimator effect once flipped. The one thing I miss from Chant is stocking my graveyard, but with the inclusion of Hermit Druid and Satyr Wayfinder I can make up for this.

Eternal Witness: An absolute all-star. Can get any type of card out of the graveyard and into my hand, and is reusable with both Sun Titan and Reveillark. I couldn't imagine playing without this card.

Karador, Ghost Chieftain: The big man himself. Very powerful if left alone, and can often be cast for a lowly BGW. I rarely use him to go in for Commander damage, as I generally have much better creatures to do the dirty work for me.

Karmic Guide: Can return any creature in the graveyard to play, and puts herself into the graveyard to be reused when she's done. Recurrable with Reveillark.

Reveillark: This card is super good. There are a lot of excellent targets in the deck and it has excellent interaction with Eternal Witness and Karmic Guide. Definitely a core card.

Saffi Eriksdotter: I've gone back and forth on this card so many times. She just feels too good. I took her out of the deck after I combo'ed out for the very first time, it was cool but it left me feeling slimy and so out she went. Lately, my playgroup has been getting even more degenerate and rude, so she is back in and here to stay.

Sun Titan: He can get back my small utility dudes, artifacts, enchantments, and even lands that get destroyed. And the 6/6 body with Vigilance isn't bad either. Also has excellent synergy with Pernicious Deed, as it allows me to repeatedly crack the Deed for 5 or less.

Utility Cards

Altar of Dementia: This enables everything the deck wants to do. It provides a sacrifice outlet to get our creatures into the graveyard to re-use, while additionally filling our graveyard and finding even more targets for reanimation. If we assemble an infinite loop, we can even mill out our opponents for the win.

Viscera Seer: This is mostly included as a cheap, no-cost sac outlet, but the scrying can help make sure I'm not getting dead draws.

Carrion Feeder: Another cheap, no-cost sac outlet. Bonus points if it gets big and is fed to Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter or Disciple of Bolas.

Remorseful Cleric: Everyone needs graveyard hate, and this guy is insane for us. Low CMC, self-sacrifices, and can wear a Skullclamp not needed. It would be very easy to loop every turn with Karador to ensure graveyards stay empty when you need them to. Previously, Agent of Erebos took this slot, but as our 4 CMC creatures were getting a little crowded this guy was spoiled in the nick of time. Gets around Torper Orb too.

Scavenging Ooze: When I was deciding between this and Deathrite Shaman as part of my graveyard removal suite, and I chose Ooze for a few reasons. While DRS is nuts in the early game and is overall more flexible, Ooze can remove multiple cards a turn, can get huge, and gains me life. A huge Ooze can either get in for some beats or be sacrificed for some extra card advantage with Disciple of Bolas. Of course now I have the opportunity to run both and it’s wonderful. As a bonus, it can be found with GSZ.

Deathrite Shaman: This guy sometimes feels entirely dependent on the quality of your opponents’ decks. When I am the only person using fetchlands, he feels quite lackluster. I’m keeping DRS around for to keep opposing graveyards manageable, but I would say this is a definite chopping-block card.

Gaddock Teeg: Oh, sorry, you thought we were casting fun, splashy spells? Mr. Teeg’s cantankerous presence ensures our opponents are playing fair and not having too much fun. Regrettably, he does stop 5 of our own spells, but there are creatures or spells with near-identical effects that can still be cast while he’s on the field.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed: This guy is a house. Gets double the effect from all of my ETB creatures, protects from boardwipes, and has very interesting interactions with Persist creatures. With a free sac outlet, I can infinitely recur a Persist creature, as the -1/-1 counter is canceled out by the +1/+1 counter from Undying. It also combos with Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter as he can remove the +1/+1 counters from himself.

Liliana, Heretical Healer  : Currently testing her out. She requires a bit of set up and makes you quite the target once flipped. Her ultimate is magical Christmas-land for us, but her +2 is relevant as we often want to get cards out of our hand and into the graveyard, and her -X provides great recursion for our value creatures. Not entirely sold right now.

Life from the Loam: Technically land recursion, but the real value here is filling the graveyard off of dredge triggers and grinding out some card advantage with cycling lands. The possibility to Stripmine someone slowly out of the game exists as well.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence: This card shuts down an incredible amount of broken things in EDH while allowing us to proceed unimpeded. Can be tutored with Dimir House Guard.

Mindslicer: There are few feelings as good as watching a blue player cast a massive draw spell and then dropping this the following turn. Hoses most decks while often accelerating us. One of my favorite interactions is Podding this away into Karmic Guide to cheat in one of the fatties we just discarded.

Spore Frog: Sometimes we just need to stall before we can deal with a boardstate, and this helpful little frog lets us do that over and over again.

Finishers

Gray Merchant of Asphodel: Originally was Kokusho, the Evening Star (RIP) but in my never-ending quest to improve synergy and lower my average CMC, I am trying out Gary instead. While typically not such a huge swing in life totals as Kokopuffs, there is the potential for Gary to be quite nasty and actually drain for more than Kokopuffs ever could hope too. Additionally, Gary plays very nice with Reveillark due to his low power. This is the most common way I end up closing out games.

Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter: Ever since first iteration of this deck, Vish Kal has bounced in and out of the deck many times and I just keep finding myself drawn back to him. He provides a no-cost sac outlet that makes him larger, provides a way to remove opposing creatures, combos with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed to clear opposing boards, and is a 5/5 flyer with lifelink to boot. He just does everything I could possibly want.

Sheoldred, Whispering One: Recurs my creatures, forces opponents to sac theirs, and is even evasive with Swampwalk. This is a card that needs to be answered quickly if my opponents have any interest in winning the game.

Lands

Bayou, Savannah, Scrubland: The OG duals. Not necessary for the deck to function AT ALL but they provide even more consistency, and since I picked up a set for Legacy I also get to play them here.

Godless Shrine, Overgrown Tomb, & Temple Garden: These cards are excellent for improving a manabase, and now that I have them it's hard to think of how I ever played without them. Fetchable with most ramp spells in the deck, they ensure I can cast what I want to cast.

Windswept Heath, Verdant Catacombs, Marsh Flats, Bloodstained Mire & Wooded Foothills: Windswept Heath was the first fetchland I ever purchased and has some of my favorite art of all time. The fetches let me fetch any shockland or basic and even Murmuring Bosk for some mana-fixing. Lategame they let me shuffle away a bad draw that I spotted with either Oracle of Mul Daya or Sylvan Library.

Isolated Chapel, Sunpetal Grove, & Woodland Cemetery: The Checklands are another great addition to make the manabase more consistent. They aren't fetchable with any ramp cards in the deck, but I would prefer to draw them over any basic land.

Fetid Heath, Twilight Mire, & Wooded Bastion: The Filter Lands add more consistency to the manabase and help with restrictive spell costs. So helpful to have.

Tranquil Thicket, Secluded Steppe, & Barren Moor: While I usually prefer to have as little lands that come into play tapped as possible, I’m trying out a Life from the Loam package with these cycling lands. It just allows us to grind and fill our graveyard on another axis than what was already available. Aside from that, they do their job if drawn early in the game although coming in tapped is not ideal. Late game, they can be cheaply pitched to hopefully draw into some action. I may end up cutting the whole Life From the Loam package but for now it stays.

Forest, Plains, & Swamp: Having two of each basic ensures that I can at least hit double green, double white, or double black and cast most of the cards in the deck if I’m playing under a Blood Moon or similar effect. Due to the “Social Contract” nature of EDH, it’s rare that you will run into full-on mass land destruction. Most people seem to compromise by playing cards that only punish non-basics.

Bojuka Bog: Everyone needs some graveyard hate, even Karador. I like that it is target-able so I don't have to exile my own graveyard too, and that it's on a land so I don't have to waste a slot on it in the maindeck. Every black deck should have this.

Command Tower: One of the best lands in the format. Allows me to tap for any color I need.

Dryad Arbor: I love this little dude. Can be fetched Turn 1 with Green Sun's Zenith, wears Skullclamp extremely well late game, and can even chump block in a pinch. Just a cool piece of tech.

Dust Bowl: Debated between this and Wasteland, and chose this simply because it allows us to get multiple uses out of Bojuka Bog and gets cycling lands that we may have had to play early into the graveyard.

High Market: This replaced Grim Backwoods simply because it doesn't cost four mana to activate. Very useful for saving creatures from exile or from being stolen, and also just to get another trigger and send something like Ashen Rider to the graveyard.

Kor Haven: A poor man's Maze of Ith. Definitely on the chopping block. This card rarely pulls its weight.

Murmuring Bosk: I don't actually have any treefolk, so this land always enters tapped, but the fact that it hits all three colors and counts as a Forest is too good to pass up.

Phyrexian Tower: Another sac outlet that also generates some mana in the process. Can't have enough sac outlets in a deck that revolves around putting creatures in the yard, over and over again.

Volrath's Stronghold: Not a target I’ll typically tutor for, but this is great to have when we’re absolutely out of options to get a creature out of our graveyard and back to the battlefield. Possibly on the chopping block, as casting Karador is almost always better.

Strip Mine: Sometimes my opponents have an annoying land like a Gaea's Cradle or a Cabal Coffers, and this takes care of that.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Simply here to smooth out our mana and help us hit all the colors we need, while hopefully not enabling an opponent’s Cabal Coffers.

But Why Aren’t You Playing ___???

Excluded Cards

Sol Ring: This is mostly a personal choice. I just don’t like that this card is ubiquitous in every single EDH deck. Since I’m in green and Karador really likes creatures, Most of my ramp is in that form. Sol Ring cannot wear a Skullclamp or make Karador cheaper to cast.

Golgari Grave-Troll, Stinkweed Imp, and other Dredgers: While dumping our entire library into our graveyard as fast as possible is extremely attractive, it’s the single best way to get blown out and essentially sit out the rest of the game. If you can win before that happens, more power to you, but this deck is designed to go long and be inevitable. Carefully managing the threat level of our graveyard is part of the overall strategy, and dredging too much too fast, while powerful, can leave us too exposed.

Boonweaver Giant & Pattern of Rebirth Combo: it’s a boring, non interactive way to win, and I don’t play competitive EDH often, if ever. Doing it once or twice was enough for me. This deck is designed to have a fun, somewhat varied experience and favors more casual play.

Protean Hulk Combo: See above.

Walking Ballista/Triskelion: See above.

Tooth and Nail: Generally just tutors into a two-card “I Win” combo, which is not fun or challenging to assemble. Casting this dozens of times has gotten stale.

Survival of the Fittest: Again, too easy to win if it isn’t answered. The card is real good and I encourage everyone to run it if they want to be as competitive as possible.

Debtors' Knell: Kind of a trap. Super expensive and doesn’t do anything until your next upkeep.

Riftsweeper: Has never done much for me. I imagine in a combo build you would definitely want this to get back a crucial piece, but this build is threat-dense enough that losing things to exile is still very easy to come back from.

Ground Seal, Leylines, and other ways to protect the graveyard: I would rather just run removal or a threat in place of these. The best way to play around graveyard hate is to not overextend into it. One interesting strategy I’ve seen is to Entomb a shuffling Eldrazi like Kozilek in response to an exile effect to protect the graveyard, but dredging one of these from LftL or having it die feels bad.

Reanimate, Exhume, Animate Dead, Necromancy, & Friends: One-shot reanimation spells are typically not great when we have Karador available in the command zone. Admittedly, the enchantments play very well with Sun Titan so I could see an argument for their inclusion. Necromancy would be my pick, as it is extremely flexible.

Greater Good: I really should but I can’t find room. Pretty similar in function to Altar of Dementia but can’t mill out my opponents and with a higher CMC.

Yosei, the Morning Star: For a while, I did play this card. Typically Yosei either helps close out a game when there’s only one player left, otherwise you kinda just end up picking a player to single out and lock out of the game, which feels bad.

Kokusho, the Evening Star: I love this card but Gray Merchant of Asphodel almost always ended up being better.

Recurring Nightmare: It’s banned. Could you imagine, though?

Potential Additions and Cuts

The Chopping Block

Deathrite Shaman: I just don’t feel like this card makes enough of an impact. I think DRS could be replaced with a Birds of Paradise and the deck would run smoother.

Liliana, Heretical Healer  : My unpopular opinion is that planeswalkers in EDH are just plain bad from a political standpoint. There are exceptions but in my experience, players will target you and your planeswalker over most anything, so you have to be setup to defend from potentially an entire table of hate. Creatures that might be held back to block or to avoid aggro will almost undoubtedly be sent your way to get a planeswalker off the table. One saving grace for Liliana is that she is a creature and can be recurred easily, but with all the setup required to flip and then be good, she doesn’t feel impactful enough.

Potential Additions/Cards to Test

Birds of Paradise: Consistent T1 ramp that fixes my colors and then wears a Skullclamp. I may be liking this more than Deathrite Shaman at the moment.

Avacyn's Pilgrim: Same idea as Birds of Paradise, but not quite as good.

Elves of Deep Shadow: Same idea as Avacyn's Pilgrim but with a slight drawback.

Fleshbag Marauder: This card is nuts and has always been the frontrunner of the “3 CMC Black Creature-Based Removal” Suite that I’m constantly rotating through (Also includes Big Game Hunter and Bone Shredder). Ravenous Chupacabra seems to have outclassed them all, but having a sacrifice effect is something I want access to.

Survival of the Fittest: This card just feels too good and has rotated in and out of the deck over the years. Currently out but that could change.

Deadbridge Chant: I just love this card. The art, the effect, and the recursion. Not optimized but certainly fun. I would love to find room for it again.

Kataki, War's Wage: Kataki seems to be the best artifact hatebear. I only play 4 artifacts, and all of them are powerful enough that I would gladly pay for them.

Manglehorn: Not full-on artifact hate, but a consistent way to slow down artifact-based shenanigans and even just mana rocks that is GSZ’able seems pretty good.

Anafenza, the Foremost: I really like the idea of an aggressive threat that hoses a lot of graveyard decks in the meta. It would be nice to find room for her.

Renegade Rallier: We have a million ways of triggering revolt and a million targets to get back. Really want to give this guy a shot.

Hokori, Dust Drinker: Sac before your upkeep, untap, and reanimate with Karador for a table lock. Too mean? Maybe.

Scattered Groves: Not sure if I want another cycling land, but it’s the best option after the Onslaught cycle of cyclers. Bonus points that Knight can sacrifice it and put it in the yard for use with Life from the Loam.

Vault of the Archangel: Deathtouch and lifegain are often quite relevant, but the cost of the effect is a bit steep.

Date added	11 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 56 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.03
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C
Folders	Built IRL, Karador Deck Ideas, Reference Decks, cool decks, edh Helper deck, EDH - Cocka, test, Commander, Karador ideas, Commander Folder