Need help with EDH deck.
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on June 25, 2016, 8:33 p.m. by timckmorse
So I'm making a Karador deck and I have a lot Of really good cards in there. Problem is, whenever I test it, I never get creatures out early and I don't get why. There's like 30-something creatures in there. Please take a look and see if you see any problems and make suggestions if you can. Thanks.
timckmorse says... #3
Maybe it was just bad draws then because I kept getting little to no creatures early in the playtests. Any recommendations on what 3 cards to cut to get the extra land?
June 25, 2016 10 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #4
Wow I missed your 2 sorcery ramp spells btw, I still think 36 is a good number although you could get away with 35. I would cut Voice of Resurgence, Maelstrom Pulse, and Living End. Then again I don't like casting cards for less than full value and those are the cards I feel you are never going to get full value for lol.
June 25, 2016 10:08 p.m.
timckmorse says... #5
Yeah Voice never really gets to maximize its effect in this deck. Maelstrom is hit or miss. Was there anything in my maybe board that you'd rather see in there than the cards I have now?
June 26, 2016 2:09 a.m.
PookandPie says... #6
I agree with Gidge. So, I see what your issue is with not being able to get creatures out early, and I'm going to state it plainly and without mincing words:
You have the number of lands of a competitive Karador deck, and you have a competitive Karador's acceleration (somewhat). However: You have both of those things without a competitive Karador's mana curve and that is your problem.
Your mana curve is simply way too high to support how few lands and accelerants you run.
This deck here: Karador Primer on MTGSalvation runs 11 ramp and 32 lands for a total of 43 mana sources in a deck with a mana curve 1.35 lower than yours. You run 33+9 for a total of 41 with an average cmc of 3.60, while the other is 2.25. This isn't even speaking to the fact that you have 2 lands that don't even produce mana, and a third is useless without 4 other lands on the battlefield- you're essentially running 31 lands. That's not enough for my Arcum or Zur decks, and most certainly not enough here (they're 35+11, roughly, and they try to win on the 3rd-5th turns).
You may find that going up to 36+ lands and adding 3-4 more accelerators will greatly help you in getting creatures out earlier. My Ghave deck runs 35 lands but 10 accelerators (with about 5 more cards that can function as ramp, such as Green Sun's Zenith into Dryad Arbor, or Earthcraft, which I'm not counting in the 10 because they're more conditional), has a lower mana curve than yours, and I rarely have an issue with not being able to get creatures out early- in fact, it's only real defense in multiplayer is that it can combo out before other decks in my meta stabilize to control the game.
You also have a bunch of lands that come in tapped- the Terrmorphic Expanse twins and the three temples. These can also impact your ability to play creatures early because they're a stark loss in tempo. I get that the Evolving Wilds duo is for Deathrite Shaman, but the 3 Temples are meh. You can replace them by finishing your set of Shadowmoor filters (Twilight Mire, Fetid Heath), and maybe a Phyrexian Tower or something.
Dropping chaff like Tireless Tracker, Tamiyo's Journal (you're in a good color for drawing cards. You may as well run Diabolic Tutor over the Journal, but especially Demonic Tutor), Rise of the Dark Realms (unless the games go on absurdly long, I don't really see this being that beneficial), Craterhoof Behemoth (your top curve is extremely high, and I don't see you having 5-8+ creatures out at one time, honestly. You may as well run Overwhelming Stampede if you want that kind of effect, and you're not running Tooth and Nail, so I don't see Avenger shenanigans happening often), Avacyn, Angel of Hope, who is nice but also extremely expensive and it's not like you can't recover from destruction already, Leyline of Sanctity or Living End (seems weird for the former to be maindecked, and as for the latter, Living Death is the one you want in Commander if it's an extra boardwipe/recursion you need), etc.. And then add in about 5 lands- because again, 2 of your lands in the deck don't make mana and your cards cost way too much to cast on 31 lands, so your land total should read 38 when you're done, because it's really 36. As for the acceleration, I'm sure you can find some ideas and things to remove- you run 3 accelerators that allow you to play additional lands while running way too few lands in the deck- maybe one of those should become a Nature's Lore. To further cheapen your costs, World Breaker could probably become Reclamation Sage for most intents and purposes.
That said, this comment has gone on way too long. Hope this helps. Good luck, have fun, and hopefully, if you make changes, they work out for you.
Gidgetimer says... #2
You are a bit mana light, with only 33 lands and 7 accelerators. I would add in another 3 lands with that number of accelerators. Especially with one of the accelerators being lotus cobra and the amount of cards you have that give extra land drops.
You have 15 creatures with cmc <=3 so you should be fine on having creatures to play early.
June 25, 2016 9:56 p.m.