Primer Description Isn't Finished

“Spider-Man, I've made several fortunes via the practice of using people like you. Idealists. Optimists. Trusting idiots who believe there is happiness to be had on this planet. Fools who believe in justice. I trade on the hopes and dreams of the righteous.” - Wilson Fisk

Karlov is a deck I’ve been playing for roughly seven years now, and to be honest, I’ve never found a Karlov deck that focuses on targeted removal as much as this one does. Most Karlov decks I’ve seen focus too much on how to utilize the life they’ve gained through cards such as Sign in Blood or Phxyrexian Arena without a clear win condition, or Karlov Voltron decks that use life gain, enchantments, and equipment to get the ol’ jolly ghost as buff as possible and swinging out at opponents. When really gaining life is good for 2 things: instantly winning and exiling creatures.

Karlov’s ability allows us to completely pummel creatures, and I think that too many people overlook that fact. It just happens that Karlov is one of the best Ozhov commanders (alongside Teysa and Tymna ) and people see the words “...when you gain life…” and think that they have to triple down on the just gaining life and using it with the aforementioned cards. Karlov’s activated ability also highlights what Orzhov does best, removing permanents. I tried to lean into that with this deck, and the title of the deck kind of gives that away. I’ll be going through and explaining every card and why I chose those cards, as well as early, mid, and late-game strategies, and win conditions.

Fetch Lands Show

Dual Lands Show

Utility Lands Show

Soul Sisters and Gaining Life Show

Utility Permanents Show

Stax Pieces Show

Ramp Show

Removal (in the form of a Permanent) Show

Win Conditions Show

Targeted Removal (Instant and Sorcery Speed) Show

Boardwipes Show

Tutors Show

Utility Instants and Soceries Show

I hope you've enjoyed this deck, and if you did then do me a favor and Up Vote it. Thank you!

Suggestions

Updates Add

Cuts: Liliana of the Dark Realms, Idyllic Tutor, and Rhox Faithmender

Additions: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Imperial Seal, and Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a powerhouse. I've ran Liliana of the Dark Realms since the dawn of this deck, so I'm a little sad to see her go. With the recent inclusion of so many fetch lands, we don't need so much fixing. Plus beefing up Karlov with her -3 isn't the goal of the deck, and there's a variety of ways to destroy creatures without using it as a -X/-X. Additionally, causing opponents to lose two life from drawing cards can just destroy mass card draw decks, and us gaining 2 life when we draw cards is just good. Karlov gets bigger meaning we can exile more creatures, we still draw our card, and everything works out!

Idyllic Tutor is a good card, but Imperial Seal costs less mana, and it doesn't cause us to reveal. The downside is that we have to put it on top rather than in our hand. Other than that, it's overall a better card. It'll let us set up combos more efficiently for less mana, earlier in the game.

Rhox Faithmender is another card that's been in the deck for a while. The Doubling Life effect is good for cards like Test of Endurance, Celestial Convergence, and even Aetherflux Reservoir,. But with Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim being a Soul Sister for our creatures entering the battlefield and pinging all opponents for 1 each time one of our creatures dies, Karlov will get bigger and our opponents' life total will get smaller. This also brings the average CMC of the deck down, which is something I always love doing. Overall, this just seems all-around better for the deck.

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Casual

88% Competitive

Top Ranked
Date added 7 years
Last updated 1 year
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

30 - 0 Mythic Rares

40 - 0 Rares

14 - 0 Uncommons

2 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.77
Tokens Ajani's Pridemate, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Construct 0/0 C, Horse 5/5 W, Treasure
Folders EDH Ideas, Edh ideas, Deck Ideas, Built Decks, Compare to.... , Find later, Fun Decks, Concepts that could be useful, EDH Decks, Interesting Commander Decks
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