Hello and welcome to my toolbox version of a deck for Karametra, God of Harvests.
FIRST OFF: WHY KARAMETRA?
One might wonder why not Captain Sisay, Gaddock Teeg or even Selvala who are all good selesnya commanders on their own. As one of the 15 gods of Theros, Karametra has always interested me in the inherent way she allows one to ramp to bigger creatures due to fetching more lands out of your deck during play. Sure, you want some assistance early game to assist you in getting her out to get the machine rolling, but once she is rolling, you will find it almost impossible not to have the mana to cast spells.
How does one get through the deck quicker
Selesnya has one downfall I have noticed through extensive playing in that it can be problematic to draw through ones deck to keep cards in hand at times. While it is impossible to guarantee one won't be topdecking at times in their matches, it is possible to offer quite a few different methods of alleviating this issue hopefully. Below we shall go through both the creature and non creature based ways on allowing you to draw extra cards and achieve your hopeful end goal of victory.
Creature methods of drawing cardsBefore I go into further detail of these methods below, let me just state that as long as you are CASTING a creature for any of these following ways of draw power, you also get the added benefit of karametra's ability resolving first while the creature is on the stack, allowing you to fetch a land out of your deck and thus lessening the chances you draw into a land.
Soul of the Harvest is the best creature based draw engine in the deck as it doesn't care about power or toughness, only that a non token creature enters the battlefield under your control.
Garruk's Packleader Packleader is different from Soul in that the creature can be a token creature to allow you some draw power. The biggest change in the two is that the creature has to have at minimum a power of three either by itself or through static pumping abilities contained within the deck such as Elesh Norn or Marshal's Anthem.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth A big fattie, annihilator scares people, the ability to shuffle him and your entire graveyard into your library when he goes to grave is always useful. However, his ability to draw 4 is triggered on cast, so it is interchangeable with karametra's trigger and resolves even if the creature gets countered unless someone stifles the trigger or something similar to that.
Lifeblood Hydra A cards that the size only depends upo9n how much mana one can dump into it. if it dies and goes to the graveyard, you both gain life equal to its power, but also draw cards equal to the same amount.
Solemn Simulacrum Sad Robot makes the last spot on the creature side of this list as it allows you to draw a card when it dies and people usually don't care too much to waste spot exiling on a Solemn so youll usually net a card from it. The land fetch for a basic is just an added bonus with him.
Non Creature Ways of Drawing Cards
Elemental Bond This is a mixture of Garruk's Packleader and Soul of the harvest as it still requires power of 3 or greater, but the creature can be a token at the same time.
Tower of Fortunes Alot of people question me about this card and why I run it, it is simply because alot of times I find myself with alot of excess mana and what better thing to do than draw cards that allow me to hopefully better my board state.
Garruk, Primal Hunter The plus one ability is useful at times to give ones self a blocker. His minus three ability is the most used thing in this deck however as you drop him, use the minus 3 to kill him and then draw cards equal to the biggest fattie you have upon your board state. Unless you have a way for unlimited hand size, you probably will have to discard cards to graveyard, but to fill your hand and then also change the threats around you are holding can always be useful.
Greater Good Nothing is a better draw power for this deck over Greater Good. The ability to sacrifice your creatures at almost any given time and draw equal to the creature's power ands then discard three cards from anything in your hand is such a useful ability. Allows you to get around exile effects, get rid of a creature under a kill spell and make better use of them, whatever. Just that you can at the cost of losing a creature assist your hand in getting bigger most likely is very great.
So how do you win with this deck?
Aggro is the best way to win with this deck of course. However, there are a few different alternate ways to assist your victory.
StaxWithin the toolbox you have ways of counteracting different things people do and possibly plain out shutting them out. Void Winnower limiting the spells they can cast is always great. They literally can not even. Iona, Shield of Emeria is great in locking a person or a few people out of one specific color of spells in their deck from being cast. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite makes people think about what they play due to some creatures not having enough toughness to survive her static -2/-2 she gives to all opposing creatures. Linvala, Keeper of Silence great way to shut down pesky things such as Captain Sisay or Krenko a great bit. Dragonlord Dromoka stops them from playing spells on your turn only and allows you to not worry about counterspells while you are going through your phases. The fact he cant be countered either makes it even better. Angelic Arbiter Not the best in any means, but the fact it makes people think about casting spells or atacking and what is better whilst it is on the field is a godsend in so many ways. Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger awesome way to limit the mana your opponents can make usually and help further you getting ahead on average. Don't forget that his ability catches any lands while he is in play and it lasts on them even after he leaves, so any lands tapped prior to him leaving while he was on the battlefield still would stay tapped for 1 turn extra if used for mana.
How do you win via aggro though aside of just having bigger creatures?
Sometimes your opponents will have fatties themselves they will cast which makes a major issue for us overall. The first way is through.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa who has two great abilities. Someone wraths with him on the field and you can turn opponent's lands into creatures that will hopefully die as well. The second ability is for every five mana you dump into him, three of it always having to be green, your dudes each gain +3/+3 and trample until the end of turn. So you easily can do this until you can't any more and wind up with +9/+9, +18/+18 or possibly even bigger.
Pathbreaker Ibex The best goat in all of Magic The Gathering. With him, when you attack, he looks at every creature you have and how strong they are, choosing the strongest one. he then gives every creature you control a temporary power and toughness boost equal to the strongest power of any one creature you control at that time. he also gives them trample until end of turn which usually means you can hope for a good amount of damage.
Akroma's Memorial This artifact gives all your creatures the following abilities. Flying to get over non flyers and those without reach. Vigilance so they don't tap and are able to still block. First Strike so unless the opposing creature has first strike or double strike, they will then deal damage first always. Trample so any excess damage floats over. Haste so they can attack the turn they come in. Protection from red and black. The ability to not be dealt damage by, enchanted by, blocked by, or targeted by anything of the two colors mentioned.
Deck Changes
- 6/30/16
- Minus marshal's Anthem
- Tireless tracker
Cards Suggested but turned down
Whitemane Lion People suggested this to help me ramp my lands out even quicker when it is drawn, but alas, it doesn't fit what I am aiming to do. The fact I have a Lotus Cobra, Avenger of Zendikar, Nissa, Vastwood Seer, Emeria Shepherd, plus debating about a tireless tracker to add more draw power to my deck, it just adds up quickly as to reasons why I would rather not.
