MTG Salvation

Karametra: Let’s see if this can do anything

Okay, so, the ban hammer has come down on Derevi, and once again my preferred colours (U/G) and my preferred style of play (aggro-control and resource advantage/static abilities) have been banned out from under me. But whatever; everyone knows how I feel about the latest banning, so I’m not going to rage about it here.

I’m specifically picking something that seems janky and Tier 2, because every time I try to pick something competitive it inevitably gets banned or nerfed. Karametra seems pretty fun, but also seems janky enough that no one is going to get ragey about it.

This is my very first draft; I haven’t put the deck together or played it. This is entirely preliminary. I have no idea how this will do in a tournament. I doubt it will be very good, but it seems like the kind of deck that will have a decent win% when I get things going quick enough. I am well aware that a lot of what I’m trying to do here verges on too cute. It is entirely probable that Karametra simply can’t do all that well in DC, and is naturally just a multiplayer general. But I like trying new things, so I want to see what happens if I work at this for a bit.

I’m not looking at this as a conventional ramp deck. Initially I wanted to do that, but then why even play Karametra? If I’m playing pure ramp I may as well play MW. Karametra is not necessarily very well-suited to fast ramp; she seems better-suited to explosive synergy, so I decided that focusing on Landfall effects would make more sense in trying to use her as my general. I welcome all suggestions, but keep in mind, if your suggestion boils down to “play a different general,” then it’s not really a good one. I want to try to make this competitive before I abandon it in favor of something more conventional.

I’m not playing many non-basics; Karametra finds plains and forests, and I want to be able to take advantage of that. It could be that I’m overestimating how many basics I should have with her, so this is something I’ll play around with as I go. But as it is, Wooded Bastion and Command Tower are the only dual-producing lands I’m playing that don’t have Forest or Plains as a type.

The general strategy that I envision is early mana dorks or Lotus Cobra or other creature ramp to get Karametra out on turn 3. Once Karametra comes out, I'm thinking there are a couple of routes open. One is Cataclysm or Armageddon, provided I have a land and a cheap creature in hand. Karametra means I should be able to come back from mass land D very quickly. This strategy is more control-oriented and obviously depends on the board state and the opponent. Whether or not all the lands get blown up, phase 2 is to play a ton of cheap aggressive or utility creatures, and then get to one of the Landfall wincons (Admonition Angel or Avenger of Zendikar) or Craterhoof Behemoth.

I briefly toyed with the idea of a combo using Zuran Orb and Martyr’s Bond to force the opponent to sac all their land, but that just seems too cute to me. Of course, most of what this deck is doing verges on too cute, so who knows.

I've considered Cloudstone Curio as a way of bouncing my own creatures and procing Karametra over and over, but I'm not sure this is necessary. Goldfishing suggests that it shouldn't be hard to keep the synergy up, so Curio is probably a win-more interaction.

After more extensive goldfishing, I've made a bunch of changes:

- Krosan Wayfarer --> meh
- Elesh Norn --> not as good as Emrakul, obvs.
- Planar Birth --> meh. Too narrow unless I made land D/land sacing the central theme of the deck
- Primeval Bounty --> could still be good, but I just ain't playing a non-creature that costs 6 unless it says "you win the game."
- 1 Forest --> Initially I figured I should play more than 40 lands, but that's not really the case. What I need most is creatures to cast to proc Karametra. May go down to 38 or even 37 at some point pending testing.
- Emeria Angel and Rampaging Baloths--> I still think exploiting Landfall is the key here, but these two seem much less optimal than Admonition Angel and Avenger of Zendikar. I think it's more important to have more 1 and 2 cmc creatures to be able to proc Karametra multiple times per turn.

+ Craterhoof Behemoth --> Initially I was trying out Emrakul as a finisher, and the deck can get in position to hardcast him very fast (around turn 7 or 8, sometimes as fast as turn 5 if I have a godhand), but Behemoth seems better to me. I'm not cheating Emrakul in, so, all things considered, I feel like a consistent turn 5 Craterhoof is better than a consistent turn 8 Emrakul.
+ Hero of Bladehold --> I figure packing the deck with a greater density of mid-range threats is a good idea. Since Karametra procs on CASTING a creature, that means all I really have to do is keep trying to cast stuff.
+ Leyline of Lifeforce --> in my paper meta at least, counters are rampant (literally every deck is playing at least 10), so the chance of getting to start with this in play is worth it. And a turn 3 Leyline, turn 4 Karametra is nothing to scoff at. At the very least, it draws out a counter.
+ Sun Titan --> 6 cmc, as it turns out, is nothing for this deck, so I may as well try ST out for the potential recursion (especially interesting that he can return fetchlands and give me potentially 4 Landfall procs in one turn by himself).
+ Vinelasher Kudzu and Scute Mob--> potentially very high threat for 1 and 2 mana; worth trying out.
+ Seer's Sundial --> Initially I was worried this would be too slow, but this deck is surprising me with just how fast it pumps out lands and pukes out its hand, so an extra draw source is good.

I'm mulling over the potential of adding Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Sphere of Resistance, and Thorn of Amethyst and going for a tax/disruption side effect. Once Karametra is out, all that really matters for me is creatures, so it might be a good strategy and make it more difficult for the opponent to deal with my board via spells.

I've got to say, I'm actually pretty surprised at this deck. I didn't think it would do all that much, but after a turn 3 or 4 Karametra, things get nuts real fast. Still haven't tested it against an actual opponent, but will get the chance this weekend.

No Fastbond or Exploration?

Quote from cromonolith

No Fastbond or Exploration?

I'm not sure if I want to use them or not.Certainly they're good, but usually they're only good for turns 1-2. After that, this deck at least won't have enough land in hand to make good use of them.

I'm not sure if it's worth it to use a couple card slots to get an off chance that Karametra comes out on turn 2 instead of turn 3. Perhaps I'll play around with them and see.

Quote from Umex

I find your lack of Gaea's Cradle disturbing.

Yeah, I had it in, then decided against it, because by the time I have enough creatures out to make it worthwhile, I've already got a ton of land thanks to Karametra, so Cradle wouldn't help me cast anything I couldn't already cast, unless I bring Emrakul back in. But I think then I'd need several land tutors, and it would start to feel more like a "cheat out Emrakul" combo deck, in which case why even play Karametra?