A while ago I made a budget version deck of Karona, False God, an idea I got from forum poster yugular, who has an awesome Karona primer here. While his (at the time) was all about a voltron approach, my own testing and tweaking resulted in a pillowfort deck that forced my opponents to kill each other for my own amusement, all done in an enchantress theme because why not? I wrote about it here and put up some recorded matches.
The idea is basically this:
1) Pillowfort so you are difficult/impossible to attack
2) Watch as your opponents wage war on each other with Karona leading the charge for each one, and if they're shy about attacking, force them to attack with cards like Fumiko the Lowblood
3) Cackle gleefully in your corner as your opponents do all the dirty work for you, then pick off the remaining guy
Usually Karona gets the job done all by herself -- I mean, after my opponents have been killing each other with her first
Master of Waves is going to be too weak. Assemble is interesting, but it seems a bit slow? Bitterblossom looks perfect though. Early flying blockers is always welcome.
I'll find room to test Bitterblossom and throw Assemble into the "maybe" pile. Thanks!
High Priest has always functioned well as a rattlesnake card. No grounded creature would dare attack into me while he was around for fear of retribution. However, he did nothing if killed outside of combat, can't block flyers, and isn't an enchantment.
Bitterblossom is also an early defense. While opponents will have no issues attacking me to kill off a token, it's still better defense against flyers, more resilient to removal, and an enchantment.
I put in a proxy for now and will buy the real thing if some tests prove that it's worth the $35 price tag.
There is some hype in the price of Bitterblossom atm so you should wait anyways
I was wondering about that. I thought Bitterblossom was around $20 last I checked. Is there speculation that it will be reprinted in the last Theros expansion?
I put a proxy in and plan on testing it out on the weekend.
Alright, in an effort to weed out my proxies, I'm going to replace all the cards that are upward of $20 that I do not currently own. So, on the chopping block are:
I haven't really been using this deck since Theros. I've come back to it now and made a huge update. I gutted my expensive manabase for something more affordable and took out other expensive non-essential cards like Vampiric Tutor.
I've also added a bunch of BotG and JOU cards!
I'm on the fence on Doomwake Giant. I don't want to kill off my opponent's armies, I'd rather they be strong and kill each other. And if I do want to board wipe, I want it NOW, not some slow-rolling board lockdown. Soooo... probably ditching that one.
What about Agent of Erebos as repeated graveyard hate? I'm also a fan of Grim Guardian as a way to drain everyone.
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I swapped out Doomwake Giant for Mirri's Guile and played 3 games. My deck is even more consistent than ever before, and there's great synergy with Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya. I feel like it wouldn't be necessary if I had fetchlands to shuffle my library, but the good ones are too expensive for me.
There are so many cards that I want to try but it's so hard for me to figure out what to cut. I think Solitary Confinement would be a house once I got a draw engine out. Conflux seems like a no-brainer as well. Archetype of Endurance could be another silver bullet to my arsenal of hate cards while protecting my creatures. Future Sight could play nice with Oracle and Courser but the triple U cost may be too ambitious.
Chromanticore probably is too silly but I haven't drawn it yet to really see.
Three words: Plea for Guidance!
In an enchantment themed deck this card is insane!
I see you have Sterling Grove, which is great and combos nicely with Privileged Position. Have you thought about Greater Auramancy as a second, albeit somewhat inferior, Grove? It could make it difficult to stick auras on your commander, though.
Wild Research is another often overlooked card that functions as a repeatable tutor, though the Instant side of it isn't useful here.
I have a foil Plea for Guidance sitting in my binder that I was thinking about. I dunno, it seems way too expensive of a tutor. Very thematic though. It'll have to go in for testing.
Greater Auramancy is fine but I'm already running 2 better versions of it and space is getting tight.
Wild Research I have a love/hate relationship with when I played Zedruu. I don't think it's good enough if I don't have instants to fetch with it.
I'll probably take out Vow of Lightning for Plea. It's the weakest of my 3 Vows and I should be fine with two.
I have no intention of buying the revised duals so I took them all out. This left me with some room to add basic lands to the deck for the first time, which is nice since my playgroup is not above ruining my day with Ruination. I decided to take it a step further and remove all my RTR duals, plus the alara tricolors, to get 16 basic lands and run Land Tax. Tax works insanely well with my ramp package of Azusa / Oracle / Exploration / Burgeoning, plus it's a shuffle effect for Courser and Oracle. This may be a bit too far, and I'll probably have to cut some basics for some more mana fixing, but this is what I want to test out. The lone Arid Mesa is because I had one sitting in my binder.
Also of note is I'm now running the evil enchanted evening + cleansing verse combo. I don't have many options to tutor for the combo and I don't know how my playgroup will react to it, so it may very well be removed soon. But both pieces are good enough on their own to merit a shot.
I've decided that I don't like expensive tutors. Plea for Guidance, Three Dreams, Conflux, they're great at being tutors + card advantage but I have more than enough card draw, I want to spend it to cast all the cards in my hand. If I want to tutor, it's for something specific. In comes Wargate, which is a more flexible tutor that also puts it directly into play.
Erebos was in there because we have a regular Oloro player, but it's not necessary and I don't need the card draw option. Out it goes for Genesis Wave, since it's probably the most powerful green card in EDH and my deck whiffs on only 9 possible cards.
Blazing Archon is the best at what he does, which is exactly what this deck wants, but I never liked the 9 mana required to cast him. I'm hoping that my pillowfort package will be good enough without him. In comes Gift of Immortality, something my deck desperately wants. Karona costs a ton of mana, which sucks because people like killing. People love sacrificing her if they can. Gift of Immortality gives her some extra survivability.
My manabase isn't at the best place yet. I want basic lands, but I also want to cast my spells. I'll probably cut a basic (Swamp?) for a Temple Garden at the very least.
I played two games yesterday. I ended up ramping hard both games but running out of steam fast. I may need more card draw, or at least more tutors to get my Enchantress engines.
Two regulars in my playgroup love MLD and they both were playing last night (6-player games). Each game played had at least one Bearer of the Heavens wipe or Armageddon. The last game played had three Bearer of the Heavens wipes, but I was using my zombie deck for that one. There's also Ruination, which is why I run so many basics.
This makes me wonder if I should find ways to combat MLD. I don't know of many possible answers. I think Avacyn, Angel of Hope may be the best answer. The only problem with that is if a person wants to blow up the board, he can wait until Avacyn is dealt with and then do it. So I don't really know what to do.
I'm also not totally happy with my mana base. I remember not being able to cast Leyline of the Void when I wanted to. I may need to replace some basics with more mana fixers.
I'm using Karona at the head of my Pantheon enchantments deck (including all 15 gods) and my strategies can be a lot different, but in regards to ramp and mana fixing, you could try Karametra, God of Harvest. You're certainly running enough G/W to turn her on, and her ability can grab the shock lands, fixing any color you may lack.
I've got tons of ramp. I'm always looking to upgrade, but with Karametra, God of Harvests, I'm not sure if 15 creatures will trigger her enough to be worth it. It is pretty neat that she has a good chance of turning on though.
Speaking of upgrades, I'll be swapping out Trace of Abundance for Mana Bloom. Trace is nice because it can protect Serra's Sanctum from Strip Mine. But Mana Bloom is also great because when I don't need the ramp I can cast it for 0 and replay it over and over to keep drawing cards off my Enchantresses.
Played 2 more games. Lost the first because everything I did was countered/removed and I ran out of gas. Won the second game off a Replenish that let me bounce back and drown everyone in card advantage and board lockdown.
I'm taking out a Forest and Abundance for Garden and Bloom. An easy swap, it makes sense. Bloom is worse than Abundance early game but later I can cast Bloom for X=0 as an easy source of card draw with an Enchantress out.
The other swaps are speculative. I think Grand Melee is the worst of my "must attack" cards, though it's nice that it's an enchantment and forces opponents to block with important weenie utility creatures. Fog Bank has never been bad either. It's the cheapest pillowfort card I run and blocks like a champ, though it always ends up dying to a board wipe whereas my other pillowfort cards usually stick around longer.
I needed to take out something for Eladamri's Call. I don't know if Chromanticore is good, but it's cool looking so I want to try it some more.
So this deck has been stagnate for a couple months now and I'm thinking about making some changes.
On the chopping block:
Bloodchief Ascension: I needed some lifegain so I added this. I don't remember the last time I cast it. Definitely wouldn't cast it until the pillowfort is down, and then I need to force my opponents to attack each other because they otherwise won't so I don't add charges. So maybe this can be replaced with something else.
Chromanticore: It's only here because it's a pet card, which isn't a bad reason. Doesn't syngerize particularly well with Karona because it gives my opponents big life boosts. Goes on a random dork and that's fine.
Blightcaster: It came up one time and did some work, killing random utility creatures, mana dorks, blahblah. Still, looks a bit dorky.
Zur the Enchanter: He's never survived a single turn to swing, ever. So I don't know how good he really is if he would stick.
Doing some quick searching I found two options that may replace Bloodchief Ascension: Grim Feast and Words of Worship. Grim Feast seems like the weakest option I found, but due to the general strategy of the deck it could work out quite well. Any enchantress deck that needs to gain some life needs to run Words of Worship, When you have two draw card effects to play around with, it makes this card a lifegain powerhouse.
Some other options I see that you did not include are Terastodon... This guy turns any creatureless opponent into a threat, although at the cost of removing three of their permanents. Seems pretty awesome. Also Erebos, God of the Dead, this card not only functions as life gain disruption but also allows you to draw ore cards, and is an enchantment. Finally try out Kazuul, tyrant of the Cliffs for more pillowfort protection with the added upside of potential aggression.
Zur the Enchanter doesn't seem to do a whole awful lot in your deck anyway, so maybe just get him out of there and replace him with something functional and interesting, Zedruu the Greathearted? This card will allow you to donate creatures to other players to fuel their RAGE! Seems like a solid option for this deck with the potential token generation and Homeward Path, and the basic functionality of Karona should allow you to put both abilities on the stack during you upkeep so you should be able to draw a card and gain some life before you gain control of Karona. (I could be wrong, but I think that's right}
Also on a more personal note I love the deck and never would have thought of trying to do something like this without your post. Thanks for getting the creative juices flowing.
Doing some quick searching I found two options that may replace Bloodchief Ascension: Grim Feast and Words of Worship. Grim Feast seems like the weakest option I found, but due to the general strategy of the deck it could work out quite well. Any enchantress deck that needs to gain some life needs to run Words of Worship, When you have two draw card effects to play around with, it makes this card a lifegain powerhouse.
Wow, I've never seen Grim Feast before! I think it may suit my needs and not draw hate. I placed an order for it. Not a fan of the Words cycle, it's rare that I'd want to forgo drawing a card for life. Low cmc deck and my ramp comes mostly from dumping lands from hand into play fast, so I always need to refill.
What I ended up doing was replacing Ascension for Spirit Loop. I can put it on Karona and she'd gain me life as she goes around and it bounces itself to hand when it hits the GY. I haven't drawn it in a game yet.
Some other options I see that you did not include are Terastodon... This guy turns any creatureless opponent into a threat, although at the cost of removing three of their permanents. Seems pretty awesome. Also Erebos, God of the Dead, this card not only functions as life gain disruption but also allows you to draw ore cards, and is an enchantment. Finally try out Kazuul, tyrant of the Cliffs for more pillowfort protection with the added upside of potential aggression.
I like your thought process with Terastodon! This I must try out. Removal for my removal-light deck and ammo to get them swinging! Lovely. Not as versatile but you can also run with the "give opponents ammo" idea and do stuff like the ravnica Hunted cycle or Death by Dragons. Maybe Dictate of the Twin Gods too?
Not feeling Erebos. I had him in briefly. He's not bad, but I don't particularly care about opponent's lifegain, and he'd never be a creature. I took him out before I could test.
Kazuul was in my Zedruu deck for a long time. He's good at stopping random attacks, but my group would disregard him when they wanted to attack me and this deck can't take advantage of the tokens.
Zur the Enchanter doesn't seem to do a whole awful lot in your deck anyway, so maybe just get him out of there and replace him with something functional and interesting, Zedruu the Greathearted? This card will allow you to donate creatures to other players to fuel their RAGE! Seems like a solid option for this deck with the potential token generation and Homeward Path, and the basic functionality of Karona should allow you to put both abilities on the stack during you upkeep so you should be able to draw a card and gain some life before you gain control of Karona. (I could be wrong, but I think that's right}
I want Zur to be good! Lil' guy just needs a chance. One attack and he's worth it, like a repeatable Wargate for no mana. Tons of tutor targets. He'll stay for now, though yeah he might get cut soon. You're right about Zedruu stack by the way, they're both "at the beginning of your upkeep" so you can swap them as you like. Puca's Mischief is another cute interaction with Karona.
Also on a more personal note I love the deck and never would have thought of trying to do something like this without your post. Thanks for getting the creative juices flowing.
Glad you liked it! If you end up making a deck like this I'd love to see it.
A while ago I made a budget version deck of Karona, False God, an idea I got from forum poster yugular, who has an awesome Karona primer here. While his (at the time) was all about a voltron approach, my own testing and tweaking resulted in a pillowfort deck that forced my opponents to kill each other for my own amusement, all done in an enchantress theme because why not? I wrote about it here and put up some recorded matches.
The idea is basically this:
1) Pillowfort so you are difficult/impossible to attack
2) Watch as your opponents wage war on each other with Karona leading the charge for each one, and if they're shy about attacking, force them to attack with cards like Fumiko the Lowblood
3) Cackle gleefully in your corner as your opponents do all the dirty work for you, then pick off the remaining guy
It's so oddball, so unique, so deliciously evil.
1 Karona, False God
Ramp:
0 Serra's Sanctum
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
5 Mirari's Wake
Feeding the Ramp Engine:
0 Boros Garrison
0 Azorius Chancery
0 Golgari Rot Farm
0 Gruul Turf
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Selesnya Sanctuary
0 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Land Tax
Card Draw:
1 Mystic Remora
2 Argothian Enchantress
2 Sylvan Library
3 Rhystic Study
3 Mesa Enchantress
3 Verduran Enchantress
3 Enchantress's Presence
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
5 Maelstrom Nexus
5 Future Sight
Tutors:
1 Expedition Map
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Eladamri's Call
2 Sylvan Scrying
3 Defense of the Heart
3 Idyllic Tutor
4 Academy Rector
4 Zur the Enchanter
00 Wargate
0 Kor Haven
0 Maze of Ith
0 Homeward Path
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Propaganda
3 Solitary Confinement
3 Vow of Flight
3 Vow of Wildness
4 Collective Restraint
4 Sphere of Safety
7 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Protecting My Stuffs:
2 Sterling Grove
3 Karmic Justice
3 Gift of Immortality
4 Enchanted Evening
5 Privileged Position
6 Martyr's Bond
Recursion:
4 Replenish
6 Open the Vaults
Disruption:
0 Strip Mine
0 Bojuka Bog
2 Torpor Orb
2 Darksteel Mutation
2 Stony Silence
3 Aura of Silence
3 Energy Flux
3 Song of the Dryads
4 Calming Verse
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Stranglehold
5 Treachery
4 Grand Melee
4 Fumiko the Lowblood
8 Avatar of Slaughter
Winning:
1 Bloodchief Ascension
2 Luminarch Ascension
5 Sigil of the Empty Throne
00 Gensis Wave
Mana Lands:
1 Arid Mesa
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Mana Confluence
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Terramorphic Expanse
5 Forest
5 Plains
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Karona, False God
Land (38):
1 Arid Mesa
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forbidden Orchard
5 Forest
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Gruul Turf
1 Homeward Path
2 Island
1 Kor Haven
1 Mana Confluence
1 Maze of Ith
2 Mountain
1 Orzhov Basilica
5 Plains
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Strip Mine
2 Swamp
1 Terramorphic Expanse
Enchantment (35 / 40):
1 Aura of Silence
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Burgeoning
1 Collective Restraint
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Enchanted Evening
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Energy Flux
1 Exploration
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Grand Melee
1 Karmic Justice
1 Land Tax
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Maelstrom Nexus
1 Mana Reflection
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Mystic Remora
1 Privileged Position
1 Propaganda
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Sterling Grove
1 Stony Silence
1 Stranglehold
1 Sylvan Library
1 Trace of Abundance
1 Treachery
1 Vow of Flight
1 Vow of Wildness
1 Academy Rector
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Avatar of Slaughter
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Blazing Archon
1 Blightcaster
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Fog Bank
1 Fumiko the Lowblood
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Zur the Enchanter
Sorcery (7)
1 Calming Verse
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Open the Vaults
1 Replenish
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Three Dreams
Instant (1):
1 Enlightened Tutor
Artifact (2):
1 Expedition Map
1 Torpor Orb
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Usually Karona gets the job done all by herself -- I mean, after my opponents have been killing each other with her first
Master of Waves is going to be too weak. Assemble is interesting, but it seems a bit slow? Bitterblossom looks perfect though. Early flying blockers is always welcome.
I'll find room to test Bitterblossom and throw Assemble into the "maybe" pile. Thanks!
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Of course!
Deck change:
- High Priest of Penance
+ Bitterblossom
High Priest has always functioned well as a rattlesnake card. No grounded creature would dare attack into me while he was around for fear of retribution. However, he did nothing if killed outside of combat, can't block flyers, and isn't an enchantment.
Bitterblossom is also an early defense. While opponents will have no issues attacking me to kill off a token, it's still better defense against flyers, more resilient to removal, and an enchantment.
I put in a proxy for now and will buy the real thing if some tests prove that it's worth the $35 price tag.
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I was wondering about that. I thought Bitterblossom was around $20 last I checked. Is there speculation that it will be reprinted in the last Theros expansion?
I put a proxy in and plan on testing it out on the weekend.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
11 Lands
The only exception I've made is biting the bullet to buy Serra's Sanctum because that land is absurd here.
So I need more budget-friendly lands and 2 non-land replacements. Hmmm!
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I've also added a bunch of BotG and JOU cards!
I'm on the fence on Doomwake Giant. I don't want to kill off my opponent's armies, I'd rather they be strong and kill each other. And if I do want to board wipe, I want it NOW, not some slow-rolling board lockdown. Soooo... probably ditching that one.
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GWSelvala and the Return to HumanityGW
UWDragonlord Ojutai, Control's Elder DragonUW
UBGTasigur, the God-Pharaoh's Gift to EDHUBG
UBRNicol Bolas and his Super
friendsPawnsUBRModern
UWUW Control/Midrange/Bad JundUW
WUBRGHumansWUBRG
BGMidrangeBG
I was considering Agent but even here he's just a weaker Leyline of the Void. Grim Guardian might be alright but I'm not sold on it.
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WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
There are so many cards that I want to try but it's so hard for me to figure out what to cut. I think Solitary Confinement would be a house once I got a draw engine out. Conflux seems like a no-brainer as well. Archetype of Endurance could be another silver bullet to my arsenal of hate cards while protecting my creatures. Future Sight could play nice with Oracle and Courser but the triple U cost may be too ambitious.
Chromanticore probably is too silly but I haven't drawn it yet to really see.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
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In an enchantment themed deck this card is insane!
I see you have Sterling Grove, which is great and combos nicely with Privileged Position. Have you thought about Greater Auramancy as a second, albeit somewhat inferior, Grove? It could make it difficult to stick auras on your commander, though.
Wild Research is another often overlooked card that functions as a repeatable tutor, though the Instant side of it isn't useful here.
Greater Auramancy is fine but I'm already running 2 better versions of it and space is getting tight.
Wild Research I have a love/hate relationship with when I played Zedruu. I don't think it's good enough if I don't have instants to fetch with it.
I'll probably take out Vow of Lightning for Plea. It's the weakest of my 3 Vows and I should be fine with two.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Out: dual lands, alara tricolor lands, mirri's guile, seal of cleansing, seal of primordium, vow of lightning, chromanticore
In: 16 basic lands, mana confluence, arid mesa, terramorphic expanse, evolving wilds, land tax, enchanted evening, solitary confinement, zur the enchanter, cleansing verse
I have no intention of buying the revised duals so I took them all out. This left me with some room to add basic lands to the deck for the first time, which is nice since my playgroup is not above ruining my day with Ruination. I decided to take it a step further and remove all my RTR duals, plus the alara tricolors, to get 16 basic lands and run Land Tax. Tax works insanely well with my ramp package of Azusa / Oracle / Exploration / Burgeoning, plus it's a shuffle effect for Courser and Oracle. This may be a bit too far, and I'll probably have to cut some basics for some more mana fixing, but this is what I want to test out. The lone Arid Mesa is because I had one sitting in my binder.
Also of note is I'm now running the evil enchanted evening + cleansing verse combo. I don't have many options to tutor for the combo and I don't know how my playgroup will react to it, so it may very well be removed soon. But both pieces are good enough on their own to merit a shot.
I still need to find room for Plea for Guidance. I'll probably remove Stony Silence for it.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
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In: Gift of Immortality, Wargate, Genesis Wave
I've decided that I don't like expensive tutors. Plea for Guidance, Three Dreams, Conflux, they're great at being tutors + card advantage but I have more than enough card draw, I want to spend it to cast all the cards in my hand. If I want to tutor, it's for something specific. In comes Wargate, which is a more flexible tutor that also puts it directly into play.
Erebos was in there because we have a regular Oloro player, but it's not necessary and I don't need the card draw option. Out it goes for Genesis Wave, since it's probably the most powerful green card in EDH and my deck whiffs on only 9 possible cards.
Blazing Archon is the best at what he does, which is exactly what this deck wants, but I never liked the 9 mana required to cast him. I'm hoping that my pillowfort package will be good enough without him. In comes Gift of Immortality, something my deck desperately wants. Karona costs a ton of mana, which sucks because people like killing. People love sacrificing her if they can. Gift of Immortality gives her some extra survivability.
My manabase isn't at the best place yet. I want basic lands, but I also want to cast my spells. I'll probably cut a basic (Swamp?) for a Temple Garden at the very least.
Top cards that I'm considering:
Mana Bloom, Spirit of Resistance, Sun Titan, Genju of the Realms, Greater Auramancy, Pernicious Deed, Eldamri's Call
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
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Two regulars in my playgroup love MLD and they both were playing last night (6-player games). Each game played had at least one Bearer of the Heavens wipe or Armageddon. The last game played had three Bearer of the Heavens wipes, but I was using my zombie deck for that one. There's also Ruination, which is why I run so many basics.
This makes me wonder if I should find ways to combat MLD. I don't know of many possible answers. I think Avacyn, Angel of Hope may be the best answer. The only problem with that is if a person wants to blow up the board, he can wait until Avacyn is dealt with and then do it. So I don't really know what to do.
I'm also not totally happy with my mana base. I remember not being able to cast Leyline of the Void when I wanted to. I may need to replace some basics with more mana fixers.
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WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Speaking of upgrades, I'll be swapping out Trace of Abundance for Mana Bloom. Trace is nice because it can protect Serra's Sanctum from Strip Mine. But Mana Bloom is also great because when I don't need the ramp I can cast it for 0 and replay it over and over to keep drawing cards off my Enchantresses.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
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In: Temple Garden, Mana Bloom, Eladamri's Call, Chromanticore
Played 2 more games. Lost the first because everything I did was countered/removed and I ran out of gas. Won the second game off a Replenish that let me bounce back and drown everyone in card advantage and board lockdown.
I'm taking out a Forest and Abundance for Garden and Bloom. An easy swap, it makes sense. Bloom is worse than Abundance early game but later I can cast Bloom for X=0 as an easy source of card draw with an Enchantress out.
The other swaps are speculative. I think Grand Melee is the worst of my "must attack" cards, though it's nice that it's an enchantment and forces opponents to block with important weenie utility creatures. Fog Bank has never been bad either. It's the cheapest pillowfort card I run and blocks like a champ, though it always ends up dying to a board wipe whereas my other pillowfort cards usually stick around longer.
I needed to take out something for Eladamri's Call. I don't know if Chromanticore is good, but it's cool looking so I want to try it some more.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
On the chopping block:
Bloodchief Ascension: I needed some lifegain so I added this. I don't remember the last time I cast it. Definitely wouldn't cast it until the pillowfort is down, and then I need to force my opponents to attack each other because they otherwise won't so I don't add charges. So maybe this can be replaced with something else.
Chromanticore: It's only here because it's a pet card, which isn't a bad reason. Doesn't syngerize particularly well with Karona because it gives my opponents big life boosts. Goes on a random dork and that's fine.
Blightcaster: It came up one time and did some work, killing random utility creatures, mana dorks, blahblah. Still, looks a bit dorky.
Zur the Enchanter: He's never survived a single turn to swing, ever. So I don't know how good he really is if he would stick.
Would love some ideas to replace these cards.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR
Some other options I see that you did not include are Terastodon... This guy turns any creatureless opponent into a threat, although at the cost of removing three of their permanents. Seems pretty awesome. Also Erebos, God of the Dead, this card not only functions as life gain disruption but also allows you to draw ore cards, and is an enchantment. Finally try out Kazuul, tyrant of the Cliffs for more pillowfort protection with the added upside of potential aggression.
Zur the Enchanter doesn't seem to do a whole awful lot in your deck anyway, so maybe just get him out of there and replace him with something functional and interesting, Zedruu the Greathearted? This card will allow you to donate creatures to other players to fuel their RAGE! Seems like a solid option for this deck with the potential token generation and Homeward Path, and the basic functionality of Karona should allow you to put both abilities on the stack during you upkeep so you should be able to draw a card and gain some life before you gain control of Karona. (I could be wrong, but I think that's right}
Also on a more personal note I love the deck and never would have thought of trying to do something like this without your post. Thanks for getting the creative juices flowing.
Wow, I've never seen Grim Feast before! I think it may suit my needs and not draw hate. I placed an order for it. Not a fan of the Words cycle, it's rare that I'd want to forgo drawing a card for life. Low cmc deck and my ramp comes mostly from dumping lands from hand into play fast, so I always need to refill.
What I ended up doing was replacing Ascension for Spirit Loop. I can put it on Karona and she'd gain me life as she goes around and it bounces itself to hand when it hits the GY. I haven't drawn it in a game yet.
I like your thought process with Terastodon! This I must try out. Removal for my removal-light deck and ammo to get them swinging! Lovely. Not as versatile but you can also run with the "give opponents ammo" idea and do stuff like the ravnica Hunted cycle or Death by Dragons. Maybe Dictate of the Twin Gods too?
Not feeling Erebos. I had him in briefly. He's not bad, but I don't particularly care about opponent's lifegain, and he'd never be a creature. I took him out before I could test.
Kazuul was in my Zedruu deck for a long time. He's good at stopping random attacks, but my group would disregard him when they wanted to attack me and this deck can't take advantage of the tokens.
I want Zur to be good! Lil' guy just needs a chance. One attack and he's worth it, like a repeatable Wargate for no mana. Tons of tutor targets. He'll stay for now, though yeah he might get cut soon. You're right about Zedruu stack by the way, they're both "at the beginning of your upkeep" so you can swap them as you like. Puca's Mischief is another cute interaction with Karona.
Glad you liked it! If you end up making a deck like this I'd love to see it.
Updated the OP deck list. Also the list can be seen here:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/karona-pinball/
Current maybes:
Leyline of Anticipation because flash is always awesome right?
Avacyn, Angel of Hope a way to protect myself against board wipes and another game winner
Embargo none of my stuff needs to tap, and Karona untaps herself. Could be sweet tech!
Also I'll be picking up Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, and Wooded Foothills so that I can cast my stuff easier.
UBRThraximundar, Tribal ZombiesUBR
WURZedruu's Great TradesWUR