I will start off by addressing the purpose of this decklist. By no means do I expect my deck list to be the best. I wish only to discuss what optimal cards there are to choose from; to produce a great deck list and many great variant cards and interactions to use to mold it to any meta.(i.e. I wish to create an "Omni-board" to use with different multiplayer metas, with emphasis on interacting with my opponents and creating "good times.") At nearly all costs, I want to avoid combo, and I refuse to run anything whose sole purpose is to produce game stealing effects (such as the ever popular Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion combo). Therefor, any card inclusion must be optimal, even when not interacting with some form of degenerate combo.
I would also like to address the common pitfall of Karador. I have seen many decklists that really go overboard with reanimation, running just about every "good" peice of reanimation Junk colors provide, and I feel that does not do this commander justice. With the colors this commander has access to, I feel that reanimation should be secondary, and concentrating on resilience is priority.
Now down to business: The deck and my theories on playing it. (my decklist will contain only cards that I own, but in the card discussion section, I will list alternatives of cards that are not in my collection.)
3 Corpse Dance - This is an amazingly powerful card. It takes a little bit to set up, but dump a fattie into the yard, and for 4B you can continuously reanimate with haste AT INSTANT SPEED! Just make sure to have a sacrifice outlet ready or whatever you reanimate will get exiled at End of Turn (EOT). Avenger of Zendikar and Yosei, the Morning Star are my two favorite targets.
3 Loyal Retainers - Wonderful bit of tech here, and with the Commanders Arsonal reprint it is now at a decently affordable price! Very useful for reanimating your legendary creatures (and this deck has some tasty ones at that). Remember to cast this from your graveyard instead of your legendary creatures with Karador to save your mana for spells in your hand.
4 Dread Return - There are better reanimation spells out there, but this one is reusable, which is why it made the list instead of the others. I do a lot of discarding, and this allows me to discard this and still have the option of casting it for sacrificing three dues. This also acts as a pseudo sacrifice outlet in desperate times.
5 Living Death - - This is your haymaker, and the most powerful reanimation spell in the deck. Dump as many dudes in the yard, and sacrifice your whole field before casting this! Before sacrificing your board, do make sure there isn't anyone with open mana who has access to counterspells. As this will most assuredly eat a counter should one be available. If you have a blue heavy meta, grab a Boseiju, Who Shelters All as this will be a wonderful boon to your instants and sorceries that have at least 1 in their casting cost.
5 Karmic Guide - This is among my favorite cards in MTG, out-favored only by Yawgmoth's Will and Eternal Witness. Cast this from your yard with Karador to reanimate your more expensive creatures (e.g. Ashen Rider). And then after reanimating something for you, it kindly places itself back in your graveyard because of it's Echo cost, ready to be cast again.
5 Reveillark - This guy will net you all kinds of advantage, grabbing back many of your utilities creatures to be reused again, most notably, the aforementioned Karmic Guide. Now, with a free sacrifice outlet, such as Viscera Seer, this can generate an arbitrarily large cycle of Enters the Battlefield (ETB) triggers, and with something like, Acidic Slime, this can get degenerate real fast. Now I will fully admit my hypocrisy here. I hate combos, and I feel that they steal the game away from players; would you pull off a combo and take everyone's money in Monopoly after only the 6th die roll? No, that would suck. No one would play Monopoly with you anymore. You're a jerk; I am a banana. But, I would still suggest you play this card as it is just too good on it's own not to. However, keep the combo a rare occurrence.
2 Life from the Loam - As much as it pains me, land destruction is a thing, and you will likely be the biggest target at the table for it. Luckily, this card is awesome at combating it. Gaea's Cradle, Bazaar of Baghdad, and other assorted Fetch Lands will be your most frequent targets. I chose this over Crucible of Worlds because it can't be broken, and has the added utility of dredging more dudes into your yard. However, Crucible would work just fine, and might even warrant an inclusion along side Life from the Loam in a land destruction heavy meta.
3 Eternal Witness - This is my favorite card in the deck. All of your creatures are easily brought back with Karador, Ghost Chieftain, but it takes this bad girl to reuse your non-creature spells. Such as Living Death, which by the way, if Witness is in your graveyard when Living Death resolves, you can pick the Living Death right back up to cast again after a board wipe.
5 Genesis - As powerful as this card is in other decks, it is rather lackluster in this deck when reanimation is so readily available. However, you can only cast ONE creature per turn with Karador. This allows you to nab your smaller guys to cast in conjunction with your Karador's casting per turn. Also, having this in your yard allows you to function when Karador is too expensive to cast, or has been tucked by something like Oblation.
6 Sun Titan - This alongside E-Wit is your only option for reusing your non-creature spells. It is also worth noting that Sun Titan allows for you to nab said E-Wit, which is a wonderful interaction. The most powerful interaction Sun Titan has in this deck is with Pernicious Deed. You can easily pop deed for x=<6. Alternatively, you can use Saffi Eriksdotter to target Sun Titan and use deed for however much you need. This decklist, however, does not run Saffi because there were other cards I would rather be running, and it opens up too many combo plays.
1 Entomb - There are 46 creature cards in this decklist, and the vast majority of them LOVE to be reanimated from your yard with your general. It is also worth noting, that casting this card will reduce the casting cost of Karador by 1 if you grab a creature, but Life from the Loam or Dread Return, even Riftstone Portal. Just something to keep in mind when managing mana.
1 Vampiric Tutor - The Second best tutor ever printed.
2 Demonic Tutor - The best tutor ever printed, bar none.
2 Diabolic Intent - Essentially a Demonic Tutor, but allows you to sacrifice a dude. Sacrifice an Ashen Rider and tutor for a Animate Dead for a back breaking play.
2 Eladamri's Call - I chose this over Worldly Tutor because you can't have them all, and putting the creature directly into your hand is worth the extra mana. Also note that this card is an instant; many people forget that.
2 Living Wish - This is a very complex card to use properly. Unless you are running Riftsweeper, you won't be using this a second time in the same game, so choose well. This will nab a creature or a land from you sideboard, though it is only 2 mana you should typically wait till late game to cast this card; It essentially reads 6BBBG: Each opponent discards their hand. i.e. just add this casting cost of this spell to whatever card you nab.
2 Survival of the Fittest - This is probably the most broken card in the deck, next to Bazaar of Baghdad. It will fill up your yard with creatures, making Karador cheaper, and netting you whatever creature you need.
3 Knight of the Reliquary - This little guy can get a sizable body on himself, but his main purpose is to fix your mana and ramp a little bit (you can tap the land you sacrifice to it, then tap the land you tutored). Grabbing sacrifice outlet lands, such as Phyrexian Tower, is rarely a bad idea.
3 Yavimaya Elder - Advantage topped with Advantage, coated in Advantage! It's cheap, can block, tutors you up two basic lands, and draws you a card. Also Clampable.
4 Birthing Pod - You don't even need to work in a creature chain with 46 creatures in the deck. If it is allowed to stay around for long, you will net more advantage than you have turns to use. It is worth noting that this card is above the Converted Mana Cost (CMC) of Gaddock Teeg, and if your game plan is to put Gaddock Teeg into play as early as possible, this might warrant cutting for another tutor, such as the Worldly Tutor that was cut for Eladamri's Call.
6 Rune-Scarred Demon - A Demonic Tutor on a stick. At first, he seems a little pricey, but he does everything this decks wants to do.
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder - Cheap and gets the job done, rather uninteresting, but there isn't much that does it better.
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking - I chose to run this over Exploration because it is a creature, and allows for one more extra land per turn. While not as good early game as exploration, it has synergy with massive card draw such as Disciple of Bolas or small creature recursion such as Reveillark.
3 Krosan Tusker - Similar to Kodama's Reach, but it only nabs you one land to hand, and lets you draw a card. Why run this over Reach? Because it makes Karador Cheaper and makes Living Death better, and is tutored with all of the creature tutor effects in the deck, while also being more useful late game when you already have all of the land you need. All of these factors combined makes Tusker far more versatile than a Cultivate effect.
3 Wood Elves - On par with Sakura-Tribe Elder, this will grab one of your Dual Lands and put it into play UNTAPPED, which allows you to possible cast a second spell that turn.
3 Yavimaya Granger - This is one of the weaker cards in the deck, but land ramp is needed.
4 Crypt Ghast - Similar to Cabal Coffers, but better! Loads better. First off, it's a creature, so it's recastable with your general, and secondly, it does not require a score of swamps to be useful, as it does not have that hefty 2 activation cost every turn that Coffers has. Not to mention in a 3+ person multiplayer game, this card can rack up 3+ damage and gain you equal life every spell you cast!
4 Oracle of Mul Daya - Par none, the most powerful way to ramp mana in EDH. It not only ramps you into loads of mana, it also card fixes, meaning you will rarely ever draw into a land, meaning you are always drawing gas! This card also gets bonkers with Azusa, lost but seeking.
4 Solemn Simulacrum - This is one of those staple EDH cards that you will see in just about any deck list for any deck you look at. This is because this guy does it all. He ramps you a land, fixes your mana, blocks for you, and finally after serving you so well, he will draw you a card when he dies.
7 Eternal Dragon - Typically, I run at LEAST 35 land cards in a deck. I run 34 lands in this one, because I dropped a land for this guy. Why? For the same reason I'm running Krosan Tusker. Then why not drop a land for Tusker as well? Because this guy does not require you to have G to use, and costs one mana less, meaning if found in your opening hand, it can easily be your third land drop. Which you typically are not doing anything before that anyway. And in dire situations, he can be brought back from the yard to cast as a blocker, or pitch to Survival of the Fittest to tutor up that desperatly needed creature.
0 Bazaar of Baghdad - This is probably the most powerful card in the deck. With 46 creatures that make your general cheaper and are readily reanimated or cast from the yard, this card has almost no drawbacks at all! And drawing two cards for the price of nothing is crazy good. Also note the synergy with Life from the Loam, which can grab you three discarded lands from the yard, to discard to Bazaar, netting you no card lose, and allows for more dredging fun. You could potentially be throwing six creatures into you yard per turn for only 1G! Note that unlike the other lands, this card's CMC is listed as 0, instead of 1. This is because I do not count this card as part of my landbase, as it does not tap for mana. Keep that in mind when structuring your manabase, as this card will rarely (hello Urborg) help you cast spells, and will often set you back a land.
1 Skullclamp - Wonderful for getting extra utility out of your weaker creatures, such as Eternal Witness. But don't stop there. Attach this to any creature you are about to sack to get some extra goodies. Even attach it to a creature you don't expect or want to die before you end your turn, as often enough, the things you don't want to die, three other players want dead.
4 Disciple of Bolas - This is probably your biggest hitting draw card in the deck. Use it to sacrifice your larger dudes, such as Ashen Rider so that you can recast them with your general, or reanimate them with something like Karmic Guide.
4 Erebos, God of the Dead - Typically, you aren't killing anyone in one swing. You are playing a game of control and attrition. So players gaining life can be a problem. This guy stops them dead in their tracks, and is often impossible for your opponents to get rid of. He often sits around an entire game. And he also provides a VERY good card drawing engine similar to Greed.
4 Graveborn Muse - Similar to Phyrexian Arena, but costs B more to cast, and comes with a 3/3 bodie to block. You also can't recast Arena from your yard!
1 High Market - It doesn't cost you any mana, and is sometimes difficult for your opponents to get rid of. Don't forget to keep up with that one extra life it gives you, it may just be the difference between defeat and victory.
1 Phyrexian Tower - Same as high market, but it generates you lots of mana when used as a sacrifice outlet.
1 Viscera Seer - She is cheap, recastable from the yard, and the scry is always useful, especially when you have an Oracle of Mul Daya in play.
2 Korozda Guildmage - What I look for in a sacrifice outlet is low CMC, and utility beyond just sacrificing things. And in that regard, this guy is a powerhouse. He is a reasonably cheap sacrifice outlets, that leaves plenty of dues around to block and swing. Don't forget his first ability! You can even give an opponent's creature intimidate to potentially knock out another opponent! Something to keep in mind when this guy is on the field.
4 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord- So this guy is a great sacrifice outlet that generates you a lot of damage. Usually, he will only be sacrificing a 3-5 p/t dude, but multiply that by 3 or 4 other players, and this damage starts to rack up. Not to mention, that oftentimes he will be over a 15/15, which is no small threat.
1 Bojuka Bog - Every deck needs graveyard removal. Deck's like this one are a nightmare for decks without it. And don't think you're the only player at the table who is going to abuse the graveyard! Just about every good EDH deck will do so to some degree. And this land is a Tormod's Crypt Attached to a Swamp.
1 Swords to Plowshares - Even though you have PLENTY of creature removal with your own creatures, sometimes you need a cheap removal spell, and this one is the best.
3 Fleshbag Marauder - Is your opponent playing a voltaren general with next to no other creatures in their deck/board? Just laugh at them as you make them sacrifice it every single turn!
3 Harmonic Sliver - Heavy synergy with Necrotic Sliver, this is a very cheap way to remove artifacts and enchantments. If you are not running the Necrotic Sliver, then you are better off running Qasali Pridemage. Be careful that when you have this guy come into play, there are other artifacts and enchantments to target if you have a Skullclamp or Survival, as it is not a "you may" claus. Targeting an Erebos, God of the Dead is just About always a safe option.
3 Pernicious Deed - One of the best board wipes out there, it eats more than just creatures, and is a wonderful card to bring back with Sun Titan.
4 False Prophet - A risky card to use in a deck that NEVER wants to see a creature exiled. But your opponents also don't want to see their creature exiled. Try to have either no other creatures in play when this is on the field, or have a free sacrifice outlet in play to sacrifice your entire field before you sacrifice this guy. This is essentially a reusable Final Judgment for 2WW instead of 4WW.
4 Mindslicer - You are pretty much counting your graveyard as your hand, and pretty much no one else is. So making everyone discard is hardly a disadvantage to you. You will win pretty much every game you can get this guy going.
5 Archon of Justice - A decent body for a reasonable casting cost, that takes something with it! A great peice of removal if you have a sacrifice outlet in play.
5 Shadowborn Demon - Again, a decent flyer for a reasonable casting cost, that eats a creature, and can act as a pseudo-sacrifice outlet when your graveyard is skimpy.
5 Shriekmaw - Excellent removal, it's a Terror on a stick. I rarely cast this card for it's 4B casting cost, instead I evoke to remove a creature. Don't forget that you can evoke from the graveyard with [/CARD]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/CARD].
6 Bane of Progress - You aren't running many enchants or artifacts. In fact, you're only running 7, and half of them either aren't affected, or wouldn't be in play anyway.
2 Gaddock Teeg - This guy can control an entire board all on his own. There are only 4 spells in this deck that this card does not permit, whereas there are MANY more spells in your opponent's deck I'd be willing to bet. This will hinder those high CMC decks with lots of green or artifact mana ramp.
2 Skirsdag High Priest - Cheap, and with minimal investment he can begin to produce an army of 5/5 demons. With all of your sacrifice outlets and echo costs, it won't be hard generate a seizable army in a few turns.
3 Stonecloaker - For the same reasons I included Bojuka Bog, I included this techy little guy. He really does it all, and I believe he belongs in just about every deck that runs white. He fights graveyards, flashes in to bounce a utility creature, like Eternal Witness to be cast again, or protecting a powerful card from being exiled, such as Yosei, the Morning Star.
5 Glory - Okay, so here is a guy I never see anyone run, and I can't believe it! He can make your army unblockable with protections, or keep your army alive from spot removal or effects like Blasphemous Act. He does a great job of keeping your general in play, and is difficult to get rid of (unless your opponents are smart and are packing graveyard removal as well).
4 Spike Weaver - Similar to graveyard hate, with cards like Craterhoof Behemoth running rampant, you need fog effects to stay alive. While Constant Mists is my usual go-to card, with so much creature synergy, I figured I'd just run this guy.
6 Kokusho, The Evening Star - He can win games all on his own. Play him, block, attack, and sacrifice, to gain 10, 15, and even more life in larger games. He will make you an instant target, so make sure you can do some things with him before he gets Swords'ed.
6 Yosei, The Morning Star - Similar to Kokusho with being able to hand you games. Typically used to lock a player out of a couple of turns when they become problematic, if there is only one or two players left, with ample mana, you can keep both of them from doing anything for the rest of the game. Keep in mind however, that this card can be used to similar effects to combos when you are preventing one or two players from doing anything at all, which really should not be done often, if at all!
For the most part, I will not comment on the mana lands, as they explain themselves pretty well as is. Though I will comment on a few.
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire - The Fetchlands are expensive, and are by no means necessary to run this deck. But nothing mana fixes better than these lands, and they all have excellent synergy with Life from the Loam. I run six fetches in my list, and up to nine can be run. However, with limited slots for land, and only 6 of them being devoted to basic land, I would not run more fetches than basic lands in the deck, just to make sure you have enough targets throughout the game.
1 Cavern of Souls - I typically call spirits with this land, as there aren't any other centaurs, and there are 6 other spirits. But in a pinch, you can call whatever creature type to push a creature through a counter war.
1 Command Tower
1 Fetid Heath
1 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle - This is honestly not needed in the deck, it rarely produces much mana to make too much of a difference and it has a hefty price tag. Still, if you have one, throw it in, as it does have nice synergy with Avenger of Zendikar and Korozda Guildmage.
1 Godless Shrine
1 Krosan Verge - In my opinion, this is a must have land! Though it does keep your mana tied up early, it still fetches you two lands, for the price of one. Multiplayer games are usually slow enough to make this land nothing short of a powerhouse.
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Murmuring Bosk - You have no treefolk in this decklist, but that doesn't matter, early game things coming into play tapped is no big deal, and this land taps for all three of colors!
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Plains
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Riftstone Portal - You don't really want to play this land, you want to discard it! turing all your lands into Savannahs or better!
The sideboard is a monster all on it's own. Often harder to construct than the deck itself, the sideboard is constructed entirely based on the meta you are in. The sideboard I have listed here will, for the most part, be useful in all metas. However, since I have included Living Wish in the decklist, I will give a short explanation of the mechanics of the sideboard in EDH and a short explanation for each of my card choices.
Living Wish is a very powerful card that allows you to pull cards you own from outside the game and put them into your hand. Just as in any tournament, a wish card cannot grab any card that would make your deck illegal, and to conserve time, must be a card present in your sideboard when the game started. The official EDH format does not support a sideboard, though there are official variant rules that allow for a 10 card sideboard. So ask your playgroup if they are okay with you using a "wishboard" as it is called, before including Living Wish in your deck.
The cards you choose for your sideboard should be both brutal, and precise. That is to say, each choice should have a specific deck or strategy in mind that the card is especially brutal at punishing players for playing that type of card or strategy. So including a Fracturing Gust in your sideboard to combat artifact or enchantment heavy decks is a good choice. But we are running a Wish Board, so all (well, most) of our choices need to be obtainable via our Living Wish. You could also run Glittering Wish as an alternative, as there are many great multicolored card options.
0 Glacial Chasm - Great for combating aggro decks late game when they could be swinging you for game in a single turn easily.
4 Angel of Finality - Wonderful when you really need to get rid of an opponent's graveyard, it is also reusable after your first casting. Just be careful that someone doesn't use this card against you with their own Animate Dead.
4 Nighthowler - This is in here to turn your general into a one shot kill, or to add massive damage to one of your creatures when your graveyard is full of 20+ creatures.
5 Desolation Angel - If you feel that you just need to be "that guy" and end a game by building up a powerful board state, and sealing the deal by breaking all the lands, leaving you mop up the victory.
5 Phyrexian Delver - When you are in desperate need of a reanimation spell.
3 Last Rites - This is not a target for Living Wish. This is for when you are playing 1v1. This is often more powerful than a Mind Twist early game, and can set up an Ashen Rider for a Animate Dead and destroy your opponent's hand and land all for a measly 3BB.
3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped - This is for when you are in desperate need of a sacrifice outlet, which you will find yourself in quite often.
8 Craterhoof Behemoth - If you find yourself with many tokens in play, grabbing this guy will often end the game right then and there.
8 Myojin of Night's Reach - Find that you have a living wish in hand, and lots of mana? Can't think of anything else to do? Why not just have all of your opponent's discard their hand! This is what I Living Wish for the least, but it usually ends the game when it lands. Mainly for when you can't get your Mindslicer going for whatever reason.
Chord of Calling - It just seems too good not to run, but I can't think of something to take out for it. Caller of the Claw - This guy is a nice defence against board wipes, though it's not really that great in multiplayer, I still think it would be a killer card to run. Loaming Shaman Overexertion is a big problem players of this deck will face, even experienced players. Sometimes it's best to retreat and protect your assets. There have been many times that I could see a Tormod's Crypt or some similar effect coming the next turn, or have had half my library in my graveyard, and it would have been the perfect play to tutor this guy up. Perhaps I should remove Stonecloaker, as the shaman can also be used to combat my opponent's graveyards, I still can't see this card being better than the cloaker.
*This section will be finish next weekend, I am in college and don't currently have the time to finish it, as I want to make it very thorough*
So the previous decklist is pretty damn expensive, and isn't casual all about just having fun? My collection happens to be pretty large, but most people don't really have a couple of thousand dollars to spend on a casual format. So, for each card in my list that is, on average, above $10 in it's cheapest printing, I will create an entry with cheaper alternative suggestions. This list will be updated at least once every couple of weeks.
Okay, so you really can't replace this card outright because it serves as both a tutor, and a sacrifice outlet, but you could replace with either/or, depending on what your decklist seems to be lacking. But seeing as in general, Karador, Ghost Chieftain needs more sacrifice outlets, here is a list of some of the alternative sacrifice outlets:
I recomend Hell's Caretaker - $2.00 - It has a similar effect, except it grabs creatures out of your yard, instead of your deck, and requires you to wait a turn, but it still a solid choice. Also, Greater Good - $7.80 - is one of the most powerful sacrifice outlets ever printed, and you deck will never be at fault for running this card, I highly recomend this card to be played in general, let alone as a Birthing Pod replacement. But Incase these cards are already in your deck, or you really don't like that summoning sickness, then here are some other great alternatives.
With conspiracy just out, I expect Exploration to soon go below $10, and should be readily available in trade, but until that happens, here is a list of other efficient and cheap mana ramp spells.
6/15/14 Knight of the Reliquary > Fierce Empath - The empath was just not carrying his weight, and I hated to see him early game. The knight on the other hand, is really useful early game, and continues to be useful well into the game's final turns, as it is great for tutoring out sacrifice outlets.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord > Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter - Jarad needed a place in the deck, and I felt one sacrifice outlet for another was the right move, and I rarely found myself using Vish Kal.
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter moved to sideboard. The only games he was winning me where the games where I had massive amounts of resources to spare, and it was too damn tempting to Karmic Guide and Reveillark him to game ending swings. So I've set him in the sideboard, so that I can have access to the beast when needed with Living Wish.
*Sideboard* Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter > Last Rites - I just don't seem to play single player anymore, and the games where I do, I'm well aware that I will be playing single player long before the game itself, so having this card in sideboard has not been any help.
I run Karador also, he's great! Your list and mine have a lot in common.
Just FYI, Lark + Guide + any repeatable sac outlet goes infinite for both sac activations and 2-drop recursion triggers. This could involve turning Viscera Seer into a Vampiric Tutor, an infinitely huge Vish Kal and no opposition, or an Acidic Slime machine gun.
Something I've found from experience is that there are decks that just cannot beat Spore Frog. Or, for that matter, Solitary Confinement.
I did not feel the need to mention all of the combos around Reveillark and Karmic Guide, as most of them go without saying once you explain the combo.
You're right, Spore Frog is great, and I've used him in place of Spike Weaver in many metas, but I find that Spike Weaver gives you more utility. I forgot to mention, in my initial review, Weaver's interactions with Woodfall Primus and his persist mechanic, probably because I don't currently run the primus.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is a wonderful sacrifice outlet, and I run him in my deck list from time to time, but with the exception of the Kamigawa Dragons and Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter, there really isn't enough p/t in my creatures to warrant running him, and I especially would not run Lord of Extinction in this list as all it does is have a big body. Though it would do a lot of work with cards like Disciple of Bolas, at that point you are drawing *too* much. I have not written my playstyle guide (I'm working on it right now), but overextension is a mistake many people make in control/attrition decks. The guildmage has been consistently useful in generating lots of field advantage, but If I had a Massacre Wurm heavy meta, I would run Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord in place of the guildmage.
P.S. the more I think about it, the more I'd actually like to retract my statement about not running Lord of Extinction, he might actually be pretty useful with being made unblockable by Glory, or Korozda Guildmage's ability. I will post my findings later this month, after I have tested him at my local card shop. I can't imagine what I'd take out, though. any suggestions?
I've been thinking about it all day, and I think you're right, Jarad deserves a place in the deck, but the guildmage is also a wonderful resource, I don't feel like it should be replaced by Jarad. Instead, I feel that Jarad should simply be put into the deck itself. I think I'm going to take Vish Kal out for the same reason I wasn't going to put Jarad in. There aren't too many high p/t creatures to sacrifice, and while Vish Kal is quite a beatstick, he comes out rather late game, and eats removal like nobody's business. Of late, I've not been able to get in a swing with him, as he never survives a turn around the board. i.e, he does not seem to be winning me any games that I would not have won anyway. I'll test that as well this week.
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I will start off by addressing the purpose of this decklist. By no means do I expect my deck list to be the best. I wish only to discuss what optimal cards there are to choose from; to produce a great deck list and many great variant cards and interactions to use to mold it to any meta.(i.e. I wish to create an "Omni-board" to use with different multiplayer metas, with emphasis on interacting with my opponents and creating "good times.") At nearly all costs, I want to avoid combo, and I refuse to run anything whose sole purpose is to produce game stealing effects (such as the ever popular Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion combo). Therefor, any card inclusion must be optimal, even when not interacting with some form of degenerate combo.
I would also like to address the common pitfall of Karador. I have seen many decklists that really go overboard with reanimation, running just about every "good" peice of reanimation Junk colors provide, and I feel that does not do this commander justice. With the colors this commander has access to, I feel that reanimation should be secondary, and concentrating on resilience is priority.
Now down to business: The deck and my theories on playing it. (my decklist will contain only cards that I own, but in the card discussion section, I will list alternatives of cards that are not in my collection.)
8 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Reanimation
2 Animate Dead
3 Corpse Dance
3 Loyal Retainers
4 Dread Return
5 Living Death
5 Reveillark
Recursion
1 Volrath's Stronghold
2 Life from the Loam
3 Eternal Witness
5 Genesis
5 Karmic Guide
6 Sun Titan
Tutors
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Diabolic Intent
2 Eladamri's Call
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Living Wish
2 Survival of the Fittest
3 Buried Alive
3 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Yavimaya Elder
4 Birthing Pod
4 Jarad's Orders
6 Rune-Scarred Demon
Land Ramp/Find
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
3 Krosan Tusker
3 Wood Elves
3 Yavimaya Granger
4 Crypt Ghast
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Solemn Simulacrum
7 Eternal Dragon
Card Draw
0 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Skullclamp
4 Disciple of Bolas
4 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Graveborn Muse
Sacrifice Outlets
1 High Market
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Viscera Seer
2 Korozda Guildmage
4 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Removal
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Swords to Plowshares
3 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Harmonic Sliver
3 Necrotic Sliver
3 Pernicious Deed
4 False Prophet
4 Magus of the Disk
4 Mindslicer
5 Acidic Slime
5 Archon of Justice
5 Shadowborn Demon
5 Shriekmaw
6 Bane of Progress
8 Ashen Rider
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Skirsdag High Priest
3 Stonecloaker
5 Glory
4 Spike Weaver
6 Kokusho, The Evening Star
6 Yosei, The Morning Star
7 Avenger of Zendikar
Mana Lands
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Fetid Heath
1 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Godless Shrine
1 Krosan Verge
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Plains
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
0 Glacial Chasm
3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
4 Angel of Finality
4 Nighthowler
5 Desolation Angel
5 Phyrexian Delver
6 Massacre Wurm
7 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
8 Myojin of NIght's Reach
2 Animate Dead - Cheap Reanimation that can be reused with Sun Titan
3 Corpse Dance - This is an amazingly powerful card. It takes a little bit to set up, but dump a fattie into the yard, and for 4B you can continuously reanimate with haste AT INSTANT SPEED! Just make sure to have a sacrifice outlet ready or whatever you reanimate will get exiled at End of Turn (EOT). Avenger of Zendikar and Yosei, the Morning Star are my two favorite targets.
3 Loyal Retainers - Wonderful bit of tech here, and with the Commanders Arsonal reprint it is now at a decently affordable price! Very useful for reanimating your legendary creatures (and this deck has some tasty ones at that). Remember to cast this from your graveyard instead of your legendary creatures with Karador to save your mana for spells in your hand.
4 Dread Return - There are better reanimation spells out there, but this one is reusable, which is why it made the list instead of the others. I do a lot of discarding, and this allows me to discard this and still have the option of casting it for sacrificing three dues. This also acts as a pseudo sacrifice outlet in desperate times.
5 Living Death - - This is your haymaker, and the most powerful reanimation spell in the deck. Dump as many dudes in the yard, and sacrifice your whole field before casting this! Before sacrificing your board, do make sure there isn't anyone with open mana who has access to counterspells. As this will most assuredly eat a counter should one be available. If you have a blue heavy meta, grab a Boseiju, Who Shelters All as this will be a wonderful boon to your instants and sorceries that have at least 1 in their casting cost.
5 Karmic Guide - This is among my favorite cards in MTG, out-favored only by Yawgmoth's Will and Eternal Witness. Cast this from your yard with Karador to reanimate your more expensive creatures (e.g. Ashen Rider). And then after reanimating something for you, it kindly places itself back in your graveyard because of it's Echo cost, ready to be cast again.
5 Reveillark - This guy will net you all kinds of advantage, grabbing back many of your utilities creatures to be reused again, most notably, the aforementioned Karmic Guide. Now, with a free sacrifice outlet, such as Viscera Seer, this can generate an arbitrarily large cycle of Enters the Battlefield (ETB) triggers, and with something like, Acidic Slime, this can get degenerate real fast. Now I will fully admit my hypocrisy here. I hate combos, and I feel that they steal the game away from players; would you pull off a combo and take everyone's money in Monopoly after only the 6th die roll? No, that would suck. No one would play Monopoly with you anymore. You're a jerk; I am a banana. But, I would still suggest you play this card as it is just too good on it's own not to. However, keep the combo a rare occurrence.
1 Volrath's Stronghold - This card is bonkers, for 2B, you can draw you Eternal Witness or your Disciple of Bolas again!
2 Life from the Loam - As much as it pains me, land destruction is a thing, and you will likely be the biggest target at the table for it. Luckily, this card is awesome at combating it. Gaea's Cradle, Bazaar of Baghdad, and other assorted Fetch Lands will be your most frequent targets. I chose this over Crucible of Worlds because it can't be broken, and has the added utility of dredging more dudes into your yard. However, Crucible would work just fine, and might even warrant an inclusion along side Life from the Loam in a land destruction heavy meta.
3 Eternal Witness - This is my favorite card in the deck. All of your creatures are easily brought back with Karador, Ghost Chieftain, but it takes this bad girl to reuse your non-creature spells. Such as Living Death, which by the way, if Witness is in your graveyard when Living Death resolves, you can pick the Living Death right back up to cast again after a board wipe.
5 Genesis - As powerful as this card is in other decks, it is rather lackluster in this deck when reanimation is so readily available. However, you can only cast ONE creature per turn with Karador. This allows you to nab your smaller guys to cast in conjunction with your Karador's casting per turn. Also, having this in your yard allows you to function when Karador is too expensive to cast, or has been tucked by something like Oblation.
6 Sun Titan - This alongside E-Wit is your only option for reusing your non-creature spells. It is also worth noting that Sun Titan allows for you to nab said E-Wit, which is a wonderful interaction. The most powerful interaction Sun Titan has in this deck is with Pernicious Deed. You can easily pop deed for x=<6. Alternatively, you can use Saffi Eriksdotter to target Sun Titan and use deed for however much you need. This decklist, however, does not run Saffi because there were other cards I would rather be running, and it opens up too many combo plays.
1 Enlightened Tutor - Skullclamp, Pernicious Deed, Animate Dead, Birthing Pod, Solemn Simulacrum, and Erebos, God of the Dead; These are the few targets this tutor can hit. But each one of them are among the most powerful cards this deck boasts. This could be replaced by Imperial Seal or Worldly Tutor.
1 Entomb - There are 46 creature cards in this decklist, and the vast majority of them LOVE to be reanimated from your yard with your general. It is also worth noting, that casting this card will reduce the casting cost of Karador by 1 if you grab a creature, but Life from the Loam or Dread Return, even Riftstone Portal. Just something to keep in mind when managing mana.
1 Vampiric Tutor - The Second best tutor ever printed.
2 Demonic Tutor - The best tutor ever printed, bar none.
2 Diabolic Intent - Essentially a Demonic Tutor, but allows you to sacrifice a dude. Sacrifice an Ashen Rider and tutor for a Animate Dead for a back breaking play.
2 Eladamri's Call - I chose this over Worldly Tutor because you can't have them all, and putting the creature directly into your hand is worth the extra mana. Also note that this card is an instant; many people forget that.
2 Fauna Shaman - Similar to Survival of the Fittest. While not nearly the powerhouse that Survival is, it is re-useable with Karador.
2 Living Wish - This is a very complex card to use properly. Unless you are running Riftsweeper, you won't be using this a second time in the same game, so choose well. This will nab a creature or a land from you sideboard, though it is only 2 mana you should typically wait till late game to cast this card; It essentially reads 6BBBG: Each opponent discards their hand. i.e. just add this casting cost of this spell to whatever card you nab.
2 Survival of the Fittest - This is probably the most broken card in the deck, next to Bazaar of Baghdad. It will fill up your yard with creatures, making Karador cheaper, and netting you whatever creature you need.
3 Buried Alive - Same as Entomb, but times three!
3 Knight of the Reliquary - This little guy can get a sizable body on himself, but his main purpose is to fix your mana and ramp a little bit (you can tap the land you sacrifice to it, then tap the land you tutored). Grabbing sacrifice outlet lands, such as Phyrexian Tower, is rarely a bad idea.
3 Yavimaya Elder - Advantage topped with Advantage, coated in Advantage! It's cheap, can block, tutors you up two basic lands, and draws you a card. Also Clampable.
4 Birthing Pod - You don't even need to work in a creature chain with 46 creatures in the deck. If it is allowed to stay around for long, you will net more advantage than you have turns to use. It is worth noting that this card is above the Converted Mana Cost (CMC) of Gaddock Teeg, and if your game plan is to put Gaddock Teeg into play as early as possible, this might warrant cutting for another tutor, such as the Worldly Tutor that was cut for Eladamri's Call.
4 Jarad's Orders - A Demonic Tutor and Entomb rolled into one sorcery. Well, for creatures anyway. Which is no drawback in this deck! Nab Loyal Retainers and Yosei, the Morning Star. Drop the Yosei into the yard and bring it back with the Retainers, and sacrifice with a Phyrexian Tower for a backbreaking 7CMC play.
6 Rune-Scarred Demon - A Demonic Tutor on a stick. At first, he seems a little pricey, but he does everything this decks wants to do.
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder - Cheap and gets the job done, rather uninteresting, but there isn't much that does it better.
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking - I chose to run this over Exploration because it is a creature, and allows for one more extra land per turn. While not as good early game as exploration, it has synergy with massive card draw such as Disciple of Bolas or small creature recursion such as Reveillark.
3 Krosan Tusker - Similar to Kodama's Reach, but it only nabs you one land to hand, and lets you draw a card. Why run this over Reach? Because it makes Karador Cheaper and makes Living Death better, and is tutored with all of the creature tutor effects in the deck, while also being more useful late game when you already have all of the land you need. All of these factors combined makes Tusker far more versatile than a Cultivate effect.
3 Wood Elves - On par with Sakura-Tribe Elder, this will grab one of your Dual Lands and put it into play UNTAPPED, which allows you to possible cast a second spell that turn.
3 Yavimaya Granger - This is one of the weaker cards in the deck, but land ramp is needed.
4 Crypt Ghast - Similar to Cabal Coffers, but better! Loads better. First off, it's a creature, so it's recastable with your general, and secondly, it does not require a score of swamps to be useful, as it does not have that hefty 2 activation cost every turn that Coffers has. Not to mention in a 3+ person multiplayer game, this card can rack up 3+ damage and gain you equal life every spell you cast!
4 Oracle of Mul Daya - Par none, the most powerful way to ramp mana in EDH. It not only ramps you into loads of mana, it also card fixes, meaning you will rarely ever draw into a land, meaning you are always drawing gas! This card also gets bonkers with Azusa, lost but seeking.
4 Solemn Simulacrum - This is one of those staple EDH cards that you will see in just about any deck list for any deck you look at. This is because this guy does it all. He ramps you a land, fixes your mana, blocks for you, and finally after serving you so well, he will draw you a card when he dies.
7 Eternal Dragon - Typically, I run at LEAST 35 land cards in a deck. I run 34 lands in this one, because I dropped a land for this guy. Why? For the same reason I'm running Krosan Tusker. Then why not drop a land for Tusker as well? Because this guy does not require you to have G to use, and costs one mana less, meaning if found in your opening hand, it can easily be your third land drop. Which you typically are not doing anything before that anyway. And in dire situations, he can be brought back from the yard to cast as a blocker, or pitch to Survival of the Fittest to tutor up that desperatly needed creature.
0 Bazaar of Baghdad - This is probably the most powerful card in the deck. With 46 creatures that make your general cheaper and are readily reanimated or cast from the yard, this card has almost no drawbacks at all! And drawing two cards for the price of nothing is crazy good. Also note the synergy with Life from the Loam, which can grab you three discarded lands from the yard, to discard to Bazaar, netting you no card lose, and allows for more dredging fun. You could potentially be throwing six creatures into you yard per turn for only 1G! Note that unlike the other lands, this card's CMC is listed as 0, instead of 1. This is because I do not count this card as part of my landbase, as it does not tap for mana. Keep that in mind when structuring your manabase, as this card will rarely (hello Urborg) help you cast spells, and will often set you back a land.
1 Skullclamp - Wonderful for getting extra utility out of your weaker creatures, such as Eternal Witness. But don't stop there. Attach this to any creature you are about to sack to get some extra goodies. Even attach it to a creature you don't expect or want to die before you end your turn, as often enough, the things you don't want to die, three other players want dead.
4 Disciple of Bolas - This is probably your biggest hitting draw card in the deck. Use it to sacrifice your larger dudes, such as Ashen Rider so that you can recast them with your general, or reanimate them with something like Karmic Guide.
4 Erebos, God of the Dead - Typically, you aren't killing anyone in one swing. You are playing a game of control and attrition. So players gaining life can be a problem. This guy stops them dead in their tracks, and is often impossible for your opponents to get rid of. He often sits around an entire game. And he also provides a VERY good card drawing engine similar to Greed.
4 Graveborn Muse - Similar to Phyrexian Arena, but costs B more to cast, and comes with a 3/3 bodie to block. You also can't recast Arena from your yard!
1 High Market - It doesn't cost you any mana, and is sometimes difficult for your opponents to get rid of. Don't forget to keep up with that one extra life it gives you, it may just be the difference between defeat and victory.
1 Phyrexian Tower - Same as high market, but it generates you lots of mana when used as a sacrifice outlet.
1 Viscera Seer - She is cheap, recastable from the yard, and the scry is always useful, especially when you have an Oracle of Mul Daya in play.
2 Korozda Guildmage - What I look for in a sacrifice outlet is low CMC, and utility beyond just sacrificing things. And in that regard, this guy is a powerhouse. He is a reasonably cheap sacrifice outlets, that leaves plenty of dues around to block and swing. Don't forget his first ability! You can even give an opponent's creature intimidate to potentially knock out another opponent! Something to keep in mind when this guy is on the field.
4 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord- So this guy is a great sacrifice outlet that generates you a lot of damage. Usually, he will only be sacrificing a 3-5 p/t dude, but multiply that by 3 or 4 other players, and this damage starts to rack up. Not to mention, that oftentimes he will be over a 15/15, which is no small threat.
1 Bojuka Bog - Every deck needs graveyard removal. Deck's like this one are a nightmare for decks without it. And don't think you're the only player at the table who is going to abuse the graveyard! Just about every good EDH deck will do so to some degree. And this land is a Tormod's Crypt Attached to a Swamp.
1 Swords to Plowshares - Even though you have PLENTY of creature removal with your own creatures, sometimes you need a cheap removal spell, and this one is the best.
3 Fleshbag Marauder - Is your opponent playing a voltaren general with next to no other creatures in their deck/board? Just laugh at them as you make them sacrifice it every single turn!
3 Harmonic Sliver - Heavy synergy with Necrotic Sliver, this is a very cheap way to remove artifacts and enchantments. If you are not running the Necrotic Sliver, then you are better off running Qasali Pridemage. Be careful that when you have this guy come into play, there are other artifacts and enchantments to target if you have a Skullclamp or Survival, as it is not a "you may" claus. Targeting an Erebos, God of the Dead is just About always a safe option.
3 Necrotic Sliver - It's a Vindicate on a stick! What more could you ask for? well, TWOOOO Vindicates!
3 Pernicious Deed - One of the best board wipes out there, it eats more than just creatures, and is a wonderful card to bring back with Sun Titan.
4 False Prophet - A risky card to use in a deck that NEVER wants to see a creature exiled. But your opponents also don't want to see their creature exiled. Try to have either no other creatures in play when this is on the field, or have a free sacrifice outlet in play to sacrifice your entire field before you sacrifice this guy. This is essentially a reusable Final Judgment for 2WW instead of 4WW.
4 Magus of the Disk - It's a recastable Neviyananarreal's Hand Octopus, which is pretty awesome.
4 Mindslicer - You are pretty much counting your graveyard as your hand, and pretty much no one else is. So making everyone discard is hardly a disadvantage to you. You will win pretty much every game you can get this guy going.
5 Acidic Slime - Decently costed removal that hits those ridiculously powerful lands. It also synergies with Reveillark.
5 Archon of Justice - A decent body for a reasonable casting cost, that takes something with it! A great peice of removal if you have a sacrifice outlet in play.
5 Shadowborn Demon - Again, a decent flyer for a reasonable casting cost, that eats a creature, and can act as a pseudo-sacrifice outlet when your graveyard is skimpy.
5 Shriekmaw - Excellent removal, it's a Terror on a stick. I rarely cast this card for it's 4B casting cost, instead I evoke to remove a creature. Don't forget that you can evoke from the graveyard with [/CARD]Karador, Ghost Chieftain[/CARD].
6 Bane of Progress - You aren't running many enchants or artifacts. In fact, you're only running 7, and half of them either aren't affected, or wouldn't be in play anyway.
8 Ashen Rider - I took out Angel of Despair for this guy, and I never looked back.
2 Gaddock Teeg - This guy can control an entire board all on his own. There are only 4 spells in this deck that this card does not permit, whereas there are MANY more spells in your opponent's deck I'd be willing to bet. This will hinder those high CMC decks with lots of green or artifact mana ramp.
2 Skirsdag High Priest - Cheap, and with minimal investment he can begin to produce an army of 5/5 demons. With all of your sacrifice outlets and echo costs, it won't be hard generate a seizable army in a few turns.
3 Stonecloaker - For the same reasons I included Bojuka Bog, I included this techy little guy. He really does it all, and I believe he belongs in just about every deck that runs white. He fights graveyards, flashes in to bounce a utility creature, like Eternal Witness to be cast again, or protecting a powerful card from being exiled, such as Yosei, the Morning Star.
5 Glory - Okay, so here is a guy I never see anyone run, and I can't believe it! He can make your army unblockable with protections, or keep your army alive from spot removal or effects like Blasphemous Act. He does a great job of keeping your general in play, and is difficult to get rid of (unless your opponents are smart and are packing graveyard removal as well).
4 Spike Weaver - Similar to graveyard hate, with cards like Craterhoof Behemoth running rampant, you need fog effects to stay alive. While Constant Mists is my usual go-to card, with so much creature synergy, I figured I'd just run this guy.
6 Kokusho, The Evening Star - He can win games all on his own. Play him, block, attack, and sacrifice, to gain 10, 15, and even more life in larger games. He will make you an instant target, so make sure you can do some things with him before he gets Swords'ed.
6 Yosei, The Morning Star - Similar to Kokusho with being able to hand you games. Typically used to lock a player out of a couple of turns when they become problematic, if there is only one or two players left, with ample mana, you can keep both of them from doing anything for the rest of the game. Keep in mind however, that this card can be used to similar effects to combos when you are preventing one or two players from doing anything at all, which really should not be done often, if at all!
7 Avenger of Zendikar - The one man army.
For the most part, I will not comment on the mana lands, as they explain themselves pretty well as is. Though I will comment on a few.
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire - The Fetchlands are expensive, and are by no means necessary to run this deck. But nothing mana fixes better than these lands, and they all have excellent synergy with Life from the Loam. I run six fetches in my list, and up to nine can be run. However, with limited slots for land, and only 6 of them being devoted to basic land, I would not run more fetches than basic lands in the deck, just to make sure you have enough targets throughout the game.
1 Cavern of Souls - I typically call spirits with this land, as there aren't any other centaurs, and there are 6 other spirits. But in a pinch, you can call whatever creature type to push a creature through a counter war.
1 Command Tower
1 Fetid Heath
1 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle - This is honestly not needed in the deck, it rarely produces much mana to make too much of a difference and it has a hefty price tag. Still, if you have one, throw it in, as it does have nice synergy with Avenger of Zendikar and Korozda Guildmage.
1 Godless Shrine
1 Krosan Verge - In my opinion, this is a must have land! Though it does keep your mana tied up early, it still fetches you two lands, for the price of one. Multiplayer games are usually slow enough to make this land nothing short of a powerhouse.
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Murmuring Bosk - You have no treefolk in this decklist, but that doesn't matter, early game things coming into play tapped is no big deal, and this land taps for all three of colors!
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Plains
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Riftstone Portal - You don't really want to play this land, you want to discard it! turing all your lands into Savannahs or better!
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
2 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
The sideboard is a monster all on it's own. Often harder to construct than the deck itself, the sideboard is constructed entirely based on the meta you are in. The sideboard I have listed here will, for the most part, be useful in all metas. However, since I have included Living Wish in the decklist, I will give a short explanation of the mechanics of the sideboard in EDH and a short explanation for each of my card choices.
Living Wish is a very powerful card that allows you to pull cards you own from outside the game and put them into your hand. Just as in any tournament, a wish card cannot grab any card that would make your deck illegal, and to conserve time, must be a card present in your sideboard when the game started. The official EDH format does not support a sideboard, though there are official variant rules that allow for a 10 card sideboard. So ask your playgroup if they are okay with you using a "wishboard" as it is called, before including Living Wish in your deck.
The cards you choose for your sideboard should be both brutal, and precise. That is to say, each choice should have a specific deck or strategy in mind that the card is especially brutal at punishing players for playing that type of card or strategy. So including a Fracturing Gust in your sideboard to combat artifact or enchantment heavy decks is a good choice. But we are running a Wish Board, so all (well, most) of our choices need to be obtainable via our Living Wish. You could also run Glittering Wish as an alternative, as there are many great multicolored card options.
0 Glacial Chasm - Great for combating aggro decks late game when they could be swinging you for game in a single turn easily.
4 Angel of Finality - Wonderful when you really need to get rid of an opponent's graveyard, it is also reusable after your first casting. Just be careful that someone doesn't use this card against you with their own Animate Dead.
4 Nighthowler - This is in here to turn your general into a one shot kill, or to add massive damage to one of your creatures when your graveyard is full of 20+ creatures.
5 Desolation Angel - If you feel that you just need to be "that guy" and end a game by building up a powerful board state, and sealing the deal by breaking all the lands, leaving you mop up the victory.
5 Phyrexian Delver - When you are in desperate need of a reanimation spell.
3 Last Rites - This is not a target for Living Wish. This is for when you are playing 1v1. This is often more powerful than a Mind Twist early game, and can set up an Ashen Rider for a Animate Dead and destroy your opponent's hand and land all for a measly 3BB.
3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped - This is for when you are in desperate need of a sacrifice outlet, which you will find yourself in quite often.
6 Massacre Wurm - This guy will make those Rhys the Redeemed players go home.
8 Craterhoof Behemoth - If you find yourself with many tokens in play, grabbing this guy will often end the game right then and there.
8 Myojin of Night's Reach - Find that you have a living wish in hand, and lots of mana? Can't think of anything else to do? Why not just have all of your opponent's discard their hand! This is what I Living Wish for the least, but it usually ends the game when it lands. Mainly for when you can't get your Mindslicer going for whatever reason.
Chord of Calling - It just seems too good not to run, but I can't think of something to take out for it.
Caller of the Claw - This guy is a nice defence against board wipes, though it's not really that great in multiplayer, I still think it would be a killer card to run.
Loaming Shaman Overexertion is a big problem players of this deck will face, even experienced players. Sometimes it's best to retreat and protect your assets. There have been many times that I could see a Tormod's Crypt or some similar effect coming the next turn, or have had half my library in my graveyard, and it would have been the perfect play to tutor this guy up. Perhaps I should remove Stonecloaker, as the shaman can also be used to combat my opponent's graveyards, I still can't see this card being better than the cloaker.
*This section will be finish next weekend, I am in college and don't currently have the time to finish it, as I want to make it very thorough*
So the previous decklist is pretty damn expensive, and isn't casual all about just having fun? My collection happens to be pretty large, but most people don't really have a couple of thousand dollars to spend on a casual format. So, for each card in my list that is, on average, above $10 in it's cheapest printing, I will create an entry with cheaper alternative suggestions. This list will be updated at least once every couple of weeks.
I recomend Hell's Caretaker - $2.00 - It has a similar effect, except it grabs creatures out of your yard, instead of your deck, and requires you to wait a turn, but it still a solid choice. Also, Greater Good - $7.80 - is one of the most powerful sacrifice outlets ever printed, and you deck will never be at fault for running this card, I highly recomend this card to be played in general, let alone as a Birthing Pod replacement. But Incase these cards are already in your deck, or you really don't like that summoning sickness, then here are some other great alternatives.
Altar of Dementia - $1.89, Martyred Rusalka - $0.18, Worthy Cause - $0.42, Attrition - $1.69, Dimir House Guard - $0.16, Disciple of Griselbrand - $0.15, Mindslash - $0.23, Phyrexian Plaguelord - $0.30, Sadistic Hypotist - $0.24, Soldevi Adnate - $0.15, Ashnod's Altar - $0.69, Claws of Gix - $0.24, Culling Dais - $0.16, Miren, the Moaning Well - $7.99, Spawning Pit.
Cultivate - $0.85, Kodama's Reach - $0.77, Skyshroud Claim - $1.28, Hunting Wilds - $0.24, Ranger's Path.
Card In > Card Out
6/14/14
I picked up a few more fetchlands, and the buddy lands were the weakest link, so I cut them out.
Windswept Heath > Sunpetal Grove
Verdant Catacombs > Woodland Cemetery
Misty Rainforest > Isolated Chapel
6/15/14
Knight of the Reliquary > Fierce Empath - The empath was just not carrying his weight, and I hated to see him early game. The knight on the other hand, is really useful early game, and continues to be useful well into the game's final turns, as it is great for tutoring out sacrifice outlets.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord > Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter - Jarad needed a place in the deck, and I felt one sacrifice outlet for another was the right move, and I rarely found myself using Vish Kal.
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter moved to sideboard. The only games he was winning me where the games where I had massive amounts of resources to spare, and it was too damn tempting to Karmic Guide and Reveillark him to game ending swings. So I've set him in the sideboard, so that I can have access to the beast when needed with Living Wish.
*Sideboard* Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter > Last Rites - I just don't seem to play single player anymore, and the games where I do, I'm well aware that I will be playing single player long before the game itself, so having this card in sideboard has not been any help.
Just FYI, Lark + Guide + any repeatable sac outlet goes infinite for both sac activations and 2-drop recursion triggers. This could involve turning Viscera Seer into a Vampiric Tutor, an infinitely huge Vish Kal and no opposition, or an Acidic Slime machine gun.
Something I've found from experience is that there are decks that just cannot beat Spore Frog. Or, for that matter, Solitary Confinement.
How has the Guildmage been treating you? I feel like you might be better served by Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, maybe alongside Lord of Extinction?
You're right, Spore Frog is great, and I've used him in place of Spike Weaver in many metas, but I find that Spike Weaver gives you more utility. I forgot to mention, in my initial review, Weaver's interactions with Woodfall Primus and his persist mechanic, probably because I don't currently run the primus.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is a wonderful sacrifice outlet, and I run him in my deck list from time to time, but with the exception of the Kamigawa Dragons and Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter, there really isn't enough p/t in my creatures to warrant running him, and I especially would not run Lord of Extinction in this list as all it does is have a big body. Though it would do a lot of work with cards like Disciple of Bolas, at that point you are drawing *too* much. I have not written my playstyle guide (I'm working on it right now), but overextension is a mistake many people make in control/attrition decks. The guildmage has been consistently useful in generating lots of field advantage, but If I had a Massacre Wurm heavy meta, I would run Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord in place of the guildmage.
P.S. the more I think about it, the more I'd actually like to retract my statement about not running Lord of Extinction, he might actually be pretty useful with being made unblockable by Glory, or Korozda Guildmage's ability. I will post my findings later this month, after I have tested him at my local card shop. I can't imagine what I'd take out, though. any suggestions?