Welcome to my post and deck list to possibly my favorite card ever printed, Karador, Ghost Chieftain. Since I started the game in old Ravnica block, I have always loved reanimation strategies, not only is it a way to cheat super powerful creatures into play for cheap, but it is also a great way to reuse something that died and just a great way to have another pool of cards to play from other than your hand.
When Karador first came out, I immediately bought the precon and played it, making it my third Commander deck and my oldest one still together. It has changed drastically over time, but now it is sort of a etb based deck with sac and recur elements. When the deck was first built, it was a kind of fatty deck that cheated creatures into play with reanimation sorceries and saccing them to Greater Good effects. It was fun, but with the banning of Primeval Titan and finding cards like Lim-Dul, the Necromancer being too slow for my tastes, the bigger cards have been replaced with creatures with enter the battlefield triggers to ramp, destroy permanents, and recursion, then killing them for value.
Why play Karador?
You love reanimation, seeing the graveyard as a resource to be used frequently.
You like playing defensively, removing threats nearly every turn and when it comes time to win, you can win explosively.
You like having many paths to victory. You have the option to win through gradual attrition if you have to.
You like commander centric decks.
You like having creatures with etb effects and like running creatures you don't mind, or even prefer, to die once they hit the battlefield.
You like combo decks.
You don't want a combo deck. Karador is still very powerful without combos. I choose to run them as an alt wincon.
You love expensive, powerful lands, and the shenanigans they can create.
Why not play Karador?
You like blue, you would rather draw a ton of cards than mill yourself and feel unsafe without countermagic.
You prefer instants and sorceries and the stack to creatures and graveyards. It is aggrivating at times to be limited to creatures and trying to avoid instants and sorceries.
You like decks that play cards every turn and not just your turn. If you prefer to play a "land, go" style and react to opponents on their turn, Karador isn't for you.
You like playing the commander for their colors only, and only having to use the commander on a rare basis.
You don't want to / have the money to buy an expensive land base. Karador is incredibly powerful with his lands, and they are actually slightly fundamental to his power level.
Creatures:
The core of the deck, for Karador is only as good as the creatures he returns. I will divide this by cmc.
1: Deathrite Shaman: Haven't had time to test him yet but he seems decent as grave hate. With 9 fetches, he may be useful as ramp as well.
2: Lotus Cobra: Incredible by itself, but even better with 9 fetches. Sakura-Tribe Elder: Can get the one color you are missing, fill the graveyard faster, and is a nice early reanimate target with Karador. Qasali Pridemage: Exalted means little, but fills the yard faster and removes threatening artifacts and enchantments. A must have in Karador.
3: Big Game Hunter: I rarely find myself wanting to kill a creature less than 3 cmc, and the madness is more relevant than you imagine in this deck, between Liliana, Greater Good and Survival. Farhaven Elf: Simply here to grab a basic land then die to a sac outlet or skull clamp. Having a blocker is nice too. Wood Elves: Grabs a non-basic, and has a clamp-able body. Eternal Witness: Potential combo piece, but really just an all-star in this format. Harmonic Sliver: Artifacts and enchantments are usually problematic to us. This gets both, and plus, Slivers are kind of cool, right? Knight of the Reliquary: A huge creature for 3 mana in this deck, but also consistently gets us Gaea’s Cradle, Phyrexian Tower and Cavern of Souls.
4: Solemn Simulacrum: Ramps us and draws a card. 2 for 1s are always good in any format. Dimir House Guard: I found myself needing more creature based sac outlets for the Reveilark and Karmic Guide combo so that my walkers can grab them. This one also can tutor up my best cards, like Greater Good or Birthing Pod. Testing for now but have been impressed thus far. Disciple of Bolas: Pure insanity in this deck. We hurt ourselves a lot, so this refills hands and life totals. One of the best cards in the deck. Erebos, God of the Dead: Creatures with draw power are insane in this deck, and I can draw cards as long as I can afford it. Not to mention, it can hurt a lot of strategies, crushing Oloro, Trostani, both Ghost Councils, and Vish Kal decks, making Wurmcoils, Whips of Erebos, and Life-link all together laughable. I can’t ever imagine cutting this card, it’s that good. Mindslicer: I don’t really care about my hand 9 times out of 10, as my graveyard is also my hand. Opponents 9 times out of 10 really like their hand. Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: My favorite character from the old Ravnica story, and I am so pumped he got a card, and to boot, a really good card. Sacrificing creatures, especially before they die, is the best thing you can do in this game, and Jarad can murder opponents with creature on the way to the grave. He mostly flings Lord of Extinction, but doesn’t need lord to be good.
5: Karmic Guide: Part of a combo, but this card is just insanity in Karador by itself. All creatures are five drops in the graveyard, so with 8 mana, you can cast your commander, play Karmic Guide, then grab a finisher like Ashen Rider, Craterhoof, Avenger, or a titan.
Reveilark: Combo piece but it’s also good by itself. Can return a lot of our removal creatures from our yard, it gets Jarad, Eternal Witness, Disciple of Bolas, etc. Just a decent card. Grey Merchant of Asphodel: Until recently, this slot was Obzedat, the Ghost Council, a difficult cut but Merchant is strangly better in every cirmumstance. Draining from everyone and being able to be reanimated by Reveilark is the deal breaker for him. Pretty much one of the most powerful commons ever printed, especially for this deck. Shadowborn Demon: I love this card dearly. Great body for five mana, and great removal to boot. Often, his “six creature cards in graveyard” clause is sated, but when it isn’t, the liability is easily played in our advantage. Shriekmaw: My god is this card fantastic. You can evoke it from Karador’s ability, and the body is alright when you are in a pinch. Limited in its targets, but you can get artifacts with other cards and black creatures are somewhat uncommon (in my meta at least). Acidic Slime: As I said before, 2 for 1s are good in any format. The option to get a land is nice too. Lord of Extinction: Simply a huge creature, and nothing really more. He isn’t incredible by himself but with Jarad, he wins the game. Good enough to keep around for sure.
6: Duplicant: Exile removal is awesome. He is lark-able, and he can double as a beater. Sun Titan: Gets fetches, gets a lot of our removal, gets our artifact, and some enchantments and walkers. Yosei, the Morning Star: You can lock opponents out of the game easily with dragon friend here, all you need is a sac outlet and your commander. Even if you only use his ability once, he can slow things down enough to turn a losing situation around. Grave Titan: A personal favorite of mine, but isn’t 100% necessary for this deck. I like him because he adds a lot of power for 6 mana instantly, and more even later. The tokens work great with Gaea’s Cradle, Craterhoof Behemoth, and even Greater Good to some extent. If you don’t like him, you don’t really need him. Harvester of Souls: Seems kind of weak, but try him if you have any doubts. I find when he is out, I can usually get 3+ cards a turn doing what I normally do in this deck. At worst, he blocks an oponnent's creature, trades, and you still draw a card. Also, he makes every board wipe a Decree of Pain, which I think is pretty cool. Massacre Wurm: This is an underrated card in commander. There are a ton of token strategies in this format and can easily hit opponents upward of 30 damage regularly, and even 8-10 damage is a good deal. After a board wipe, many opponents are hit even harder. In the Eternal Witness + mass reanimate combo, he at least wipes the board, sometimes straight out kills opponents. Bane of Progress: Kind of a dead draw if I really need to keep my Altars, but most of the time, this card will simply destroy an opponent's board while barely effecting ours. He is also usually a 10/10 or bigger, so he is perfect fodder for Greater Good and Disciple of Bolas.
7: Angel of Serenity: You can exile 3 creatures with this card, and with a sac outlet, keep them exiled forever. Even without one, this card sends them back to hand when it dies which is still a huge setback to an opponent. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: A personal favorite and is insanely powerful in this build. A mini board wipe in of itself, but also a powerful anthem for your creatures. When Grave Titan spits 4/4s, Avenger expels 2/3s that grow, you replay your small removal creatures late game, the +2/+2 turns a few creatures into murder machines, no matter what size they initially were. Sheoldred, Whispering One: Removal of opponents’ creature, reanimation of your own, and a difficult to block body, it’s no wonder this card is hated out so fast. If she stays alive, she can win the game in 2-3 turns at the slowest. Avenger of Zendikar: Many green mages know the raw power behind this elemental. With fetches, Sun Titan, Knight of the Reliquary, and Crucible of Worlds, I can easily make these tokens swing in upwards of 4 damage each the turn after they are played. By itself, Avenger can win a game, but really shines with Gaea’s Cradle and Craterhoof Behemoth. Angel of Despair: Dark angels are incredibly cool, and Angel of Despair is a great sized, evasive creature that vindicates. As stated, artifacts and enchantments are hard to deal with from time to time, and the option to remove them is great.
8: Craterhoof Behemoth: If this dinosaur friend resolves, there usually isn’t a game afterwards. Usually you just swing for the win with him, but when you can’t for any reason, Jarad fixes that. Ashen Rider: This is probably my favorite card of the Theros block by no small margin. I love Archons, I love wolves, I love etb triggers, I love death triggers, and I love exiling any permanent. This guy is all that on a pricey, yet under costed body. You also have ways of cheating this guy out for cheaper.
9: Iona, Shield of Emeria: Against 1 or 2 color decks, she is a clear wincon in of herself and against a 3 color deck, she can be a huge hindrance if you choose the right color. The main reason she is in here is that Karador can be podded into her.
Instants:
Very few instants. I find myself tapping out frequently and this deck doesn’t suffer from over extending to the same degree others would.
Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares: Here for the same purpose, to quickly snipe of problem creatures that won't normally die to destruction based removal. 1 mana is a small price to pay to save yourself from a huge threat. I have also used Path to get myself a land when in a pinch. Entomb: Basically instant speed demonic tutor in this deck. Early game is gets Life from the Loam, but late game it gets whatever I need to win.
Sorceries:
I would prefer these effects to be on a creature, but one does what one must.
Life from the Loam: Dredge isn’t incredibly reliable in a format littered with grave hate, however, 3 lands for 2 mana is a good bargain, and early game dredging is awesome for getting Karador out earlier. Life's Legacy: Just trying out for now, but it seems like it could be a decent addition to my draw suite. A dead draw with Greater Good, but I feel like an early play sacing a sad robot would be a decent play. Buried Alive: Tutor in this format is incredibly relevant, and this also makes Karador 3 less to cast, basically making itself free if played at the right time. Unless you know you can get away with playing it that turn, be very cautious when tutoring it. Yawgmoth’s Will: A lot of time, you will accidentally dredge a non-creature you need from Life from the Loam or Grisly Salvage, and other times, things will get blown up that you wish to have. Yawgmoth’s Will can get them all. Worst case scenario, it is a 3 drop Snapcaster Mage that gets any card, which is still awesome. Wrath of God / Damnation: Same card different colors. Every deck needs board wipes, and Karador can benefit from his own creatures dying fairly often. I wouldn’t ever run the deck without both. Living Death: Mass reanimation and board wipe for 5 mana and a potential combo piece. That’s absurdly powerful when used at the right time. Be care full however, occasionally, an opponent has a creature that can ruin your strategy tucked away in the yard. Still, one of the better cards in the deck. Rise of the Dark Realms: This card is so good, if you don’t believe me, try it anyway. Think about it, most reanimation spells are 5 mana, while some of the more powerful ones are 3, or even 1 mana. If you get 3 creatures, the absolute bare minimum, that’s still 3 mana for one creature. We play Karador though, so we often times get upwards of 9 creatures of our own plus any opponents have in their graveyard. With Eternal Witness and sac outlets, you can do this any number of times and infinitely reuse any etb. Most of the time, this card’s resolution results in an opponent scooping, even without the combo set up.
Artifacts:
Undeniably powerful, these artifacts bring the deck from good to great.
Sensei’s Divining Top: A format staple, fixes your draws every turn and almost un-removable. With 9 fetches, this card even better, shuffling away cards un-need at the present time. Skullclamp: Many creatures in this deck die to this equip, an enough sac outlets exist to kill the rest. Drawing two cards in exchange for a creature that has already served its purpose is unbelievably powerful. Sol Ring: A format staple, pays for itself and more. Usually feels like a Time Walk early game. Altar of Dementia: An infinite mill with the Reveilark + Karmic Guide combo, but saccing creatures that are about to die can mill you and fill the grave with creatures faster, or just mill an opponent if they are close to decking. Ashnod’s Altar / Phyrexian Altar: Sac outlets that add mana are insanely powerful in commander. Sacrificing a Harmonic Sliver and a Farhaven Elf, for example, to cast a Wood Elves is pure value. Sacrificing the Wood Elves to help play Karador, then replaying a dead creature is even better. Also creates infinite mana with Reveilark and Karmic Guide. Crucible of Worlds: As long as 1 fetchland is in the yard, Crucible ensures you will never miss a land drop. If someone is irritating you, you can Strip Mine their precious field away. If destroyed, Sun Titan gets it back. Birthing Pod: My favorite artifact to play in this deck, and any deck for that matter. It makes the grave bigger for Karador, turns a creature into a better one once its purpose is served, and is incredibly mana efficient. A cornerstone in the deck for sure.
Enchantments:
Mainly the draw and tutor power I require to function.
Survival of the Fittest: Any green deck could run this efficiently, but reanimator decks use it the most efficiently. Discarding creatures you can’t afford to play now to get ramp creatures is very powerful and the definition of synergy, all the while making Karador more affordable. Late game, just discard a creature to get the one you need to win right now. Sylvan Library: Early game, the best possible play. Fixes your top deck just as efficiently as top while allowing you the option to draw instead. You have 40 life in this format and you shouldn’t really be concerned until you have around 10 or lower. Don’t be afraid to pay life into this. Greater Good: Sacrificing a creature that has no further use at the moment, or is about to die anyway, and netting a bunch of cards and a way to fill the yard is the best play for this deck. In order to play Karador, you must have this card.
Planeswalkers:
Creatures would be better, but some I just can’t cut. I don’t have many but the ones I have are powerful.
Lilianna of the Veil: Can act as removal or a discard outlet upon entry, can be retrieved by Sun Titan, and the ultimate wins you the game. This card does everything this deck needs and easily my favorite walker ever printed. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Maybe not the greatest choice for this deck, but I really love the art, the effects, and the character on this card. He draws cards, he pumps tiny friends into large friends, and his ultimate is fun and makes you unreachable to some decks. With 38 creatures and 4 walkers, most of the time, his draw plus gets you some nice variation to fit the situation at hand. The deck can run without him, but I love him dearly and commander is really about playing the cards you love. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion: All of her abilities are surprisingly relevant in this deck. Her plus makes tokens perfect for clamping, drawing up to 6 cards, or they are perfect for the altars, producing up to 6 mana. Her small minus is a powerful board wipe, sometimes one sided. Her ultimate isn’t the best ultimate, but it isn’t bad either. All around a very good card. Garruk, Caller of Beasts: This is a very good walker for this deck, almost a necessity. His plus draws up to five creatures, usually at least 2 or 3, his small minus makes a rather expensive creature free to play, and his ultimate turns any creature in your hand into a combo piece.
Land:
Basic: I run 2 of each. I have a few ways to fetch for them, but I would rather grab duals and shocks. This is just enough to grab when all 6 others are out.
Fetches: All 9 are run, I can play them from the yard, extra duty off of Lotus Cobra, and make sure I never run short of colored mana. The core of this deck for sure.
Original Duals: With 9 fetches, simply too good not to run.
Shocks: Basically originals, 2 life means nothing in edh.
Buddy Lands: Essentially original duals, with 9 fetches, 3 originals, 3 shocks, Murmuring Bosk, Urborg and 6 basics, 23 of 36 (64%) lands have a basic land type.
Filter Lands: They come in untapped, can turn one mana into two of another, and can always tap for mana, they are just fantastic for making those double and triple colors easy to hit.
Bojuka Bog: Karador is a big reason for opponents to run this ironically, but sometimes opponents has goodies in their yard you just can’t allow.
Phyrexian Tower: Sacrificing a creature is more often than not an advantage and not a liability here. Double black is very nice.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Black is the most important color for this deck and this makes sure we always have enough. As a nice bonus, it also makes sure Sheoldred is never blocked.
Gaea’s Cradle: Early game, this is sometimes just a forest, but mid and late game, dropping this ends the game.
Strip Mine: Sometimes a land just needs to go, and it is nice utility with Crucible of Worlds and Sun Titan.
Cavern of Souls: Makes sure our general is uncounterable is amazing, but this also gives us a safe way to play Yosei and Karmic Guide, all of which are large step towards victory.
Murmuring Bosk: Can be fetched and taps for all colors. Usually not the best late game but I almost always fetch for this turn one, unless, of course, I have a Sol Ring in hand.
Reflecting Pool: Most of the time, another command tower. Not the best in opening hand, but it isn’t bad either.
Deck Strategy
Early Game
Early game, just focus on the ramp game and card draw. Make sure you hit those land drops, try to play and recur you mana elves and tribe elder as often as possible. It is hard to lose with a skullclamp in the opening hand, allowing you to draw insane amounts of cards early on. An ideal opening hand has a skullclamp, crucible of worlds, a few fetches and a tribe elder. Try to fill up your grave if you can too, do not be afraid of over drawing.
Mid Game
At this point, you want Karador to be out, replaying your ramp creatures or your Big Game Hunter variants, busting all threatening permanents your opponents control. Try to hate opponent that the rest of the table thinks is the main threat. This makes people think you are running out of resources and think that you aren't a threat. That's fine, you want to kill people under the radar.
Late Game
Get your wincons, if graveyards are big, go for Jarad and Lord of Extinction or a Rise of the Dark Realms. If you have black permanents, get the Grey Merchant and play it a few times. Lots of creatures? Drop a Craterhoof and crush your enemies. If you are about to lose, grab a combo and go.
Win Conditions:
How I usually win games in this deck.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord + Lord of Extinction: Many times on an opponent’s end step, I Survival of the Fittest away some cards to grab these two, next turn, tap out and win. You only need 12 mana to do so, which isn’t hard here. Even if one creature is in your hand, you can reanimate one with Karador, or if the general is away, you can use Jarad’s ability to bring him back to your hand.
Craterhoof Behemoth: Avenger of Zendikar usually helps a lot, but isn’t always needed. Avenger can also be podded into Craterhoof, which is very useful.
Yosei, the Morning Star: With a sac outlet and a Karador, you can keep an opponent locked out of the game. If you have alternate reanimation methods, like Sheoldred, you can lock two out.
Rise of the Dark Realms: Most people fold when they see I returned upwards of 20 creatures with this, but even if they don’t, that is enough resources to often win the next turn.
Combos:
I use combos as a backup win condition if any of my main are exiled or I need to win this turn. Many people hate playing against combos so I try to not use them regularly. It is nice to have them when you really need them however.
Karmic Guide + Reveilark + Sac Outlet: This loop allows you to return all little creatures from the grave, but often, the sac outlet is more useful than the returned creatures. An altar generates infinite mana, Greater Good dumps your library into your graveyard (nice setup to Rise of the Dark Realms). Grey Merchant will ebb the life of your opponents very quickly.
Rise of the Dark Realms / Living Death + Eternal Witness + Phyrexian Altar: With this, you can reuse all of your creature’s etb effects infinitely. Cast your mass reanimate, return it to your hand with Eternal Witness, and sac all your creatures to generate enough mana to cast it again, rinse and repeat. If Grey Merchant is in here, you win the game.
Noteworthy Exceptions:
These are all the cards that I don’t run in here that are common in Karador and reasons I don’t run them.
Saffi Eriksdotter: I realize she is crazy good at combos, but as many of you have noticed, she is not a great singleton otherwise. I play at a game store that penalizes you for comboing, therefore, each card should be good in of itself. Saffi isn’t very good by herself.
Genesis Wave: I really should run this, and not sure why I don’t. I don’t find it super fun to use, to be honest, and I have a card store that penalizes you for paying more than 8 on any X cmc spell.
Tooth and Nail: I only have one, and it is in my Prossh deck, simple because Prossh uses it more effectively. Also, I try very hard to keep as many creatures as possible in the list, and I currently run 25 non-creature, non-lands, which is very high for this kind of deck.
After some testing, I decided to cut Life's Legacy from the deck. It didn't quite cut it because most only creatures net me only 1 or 2 cards. Later game, I usually have Greater Good to draw more efficiently or I can be cycling Disciple of Bolas over and over again.
In its place, I am going to try Deathrite Shaman. I liked in in modern before it got banned, and I also found a copy I never new I had, so I saw it as a sign to try it out. With the 9 fetches, I'm sure it can be used regularly as ramp, and the extra grave hate may be good.
Cool list! How did Deathrite Shaman end up working out? Also, what's your reasoning behind not running Spore Frog or Kami of False Hope? Most Karador lists I have ever seen run at least one or both. Lastly, what's your strategy against grave hate?
With Karador you just have to be cautious sometimes if you suspect people may be packing multiple GY hate cards. Thats why I like TnN personally, if your GY gets hated on.
Most often though, even with GY hate, you can usually just play through it since you aren't actively trying to get every creature in your GY. So many of our creatures do good things, that you can normally just keep chugging along after some g'hate.
When Karador first came out, I immediately bought the precon and played it, making it my third Commander deck and my oldest one still together. It has changed drastically over time, but now it is sort of a etb based deck with sac and recur elements. When the deck was first built, it was a kind of fatty deck that cheated creatures into play with reanimation sorceries and saccing them to Greater Good effects. It was fun, but with the banning of Primeval Titan and finding cards like Lim-Dul, the Necromancer being too slow for my tastes, the bigger cards have been replaced with creatures with enter the battlefield triggers to ramp, destroy permanents, and recursion, then killing them for value.
Why play Karador?
Why not play Karador?
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Wood Elves
1 Eternal Witness
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Mindslicer
1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Shadowborn Demon
1 Shriekmaw
1 Acidic Slime
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Duplicant
1 Sun Titan
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Grave Titan
1 Harvester of Souls
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Bane of Progress
1 Angel of Despair
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Ashen Rider
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Entomb
1 Life from the Loam
1 Buried Alive
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Living Death
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Sense's Diving Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Altar of Dementia
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Birthing Pod
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Sylvan Library
1 Greater Good
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
2 Swamp
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
1 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Arid Mesa
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scrubland
1 Bayou
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Twilight Mire
1 Fetid Heath
1 Command Tower
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Strip Mine
Card Analysis
Creatures:
The core of the deck, for Karador is only as good as the creatures he returns. I will divide this by cmc.
1:
Deathrite Shaman: Haven't had time to test him yet but he seems decent as grave hate. With 9 fetches, he may be useful as ramp as well.
2:
Lotus Cobra: Incredible by itself, but even better with 9 fetches.
Sakura-Tribe Elder: Can get the one color you are missing, fill the graveyard faster, and is a nice early reanimate target with Karador.
Qasali Pridemage: Exalted means little, but fills the yard faster and removes threatening artifacts and enchantments. A must have in Karador.
3:
Big Game Hunter: I rarely find myself wanting to kill a creature less than 3 cmc, and the madness is more relevant than you imagine in this deck, between Liliana, Greater Good and Survival.
Farhaven Elf: Simply here to grab a basic land then die to a sac outlet or skull clamp. Having a blocker is nice too.
Wood Elves: Grabs a non-basic, and has a clamp-able body.
Eternal Witness: Potential combo piece, but really just an all-star in this format.
Harmonic Sliver: Artifacts and enchantments are usually problematic to us. This gets both, and plus, Slivers are kind of cool, right?
Knight of the Reliquary: A huge creature for 3 mana in this deck, but also consistently gets us Gaea’s Cradle, Phyrexian Tower and Cavern of Souls.
4:
Solemn Simulacrum: Ramps us and draws a card. 2 for 1s are always good in any format.
Dimir House Guard: I found myself needing more creature based sac outlets for the Reveilark and Karmic Guide combo so that my walkers can grab them. This one also can tutor up my best cards, like Greater Good or Birthing Pod. Testing for now but have been impressed thus far.
Disciple of Bolas: Pure insanity in this deck. We hurt ourselves a lot, so this refills hands and life totals. One of the best cards in the deck.
Erebos, God of the Dead: Creatures with draw power are insane in this deck, and I can draw cards as long as I can afford it. Not to mention, it can hurt a lot of strategies, crushing Oloro, Trostani, both Ghost Councils, and Vish Kal decks, making Wurmcoils, Whips of Erebos, and Life-link all together laughable. I can’t ever imagine cutting this card, it’s that good.
Mindslicer: I don’t really care about my hand 9 times out of 10, as my graveyard is also my hand. Opponents 9 times out of 10 really like their hand.
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord: My favorite character from the old Ravnica story, and I am so pumped he got a card, and to boot, a really good card. Sacrificing creatures, especially before they die, is the best thing you can do in this game, and Jarad can murder opponents with creature on the way to the grave. He mostly flings Lord of Extinction, but doesn’t need lord to be good.
5:
Karmic Guide: Part of a combo, but this card is just insanity in Karador by itself. All creatures are five drops in the graveyard, so with 8 mana, you can cast your commander, play Karmic Guide, then grab a finisher like Ashen Rider, Craterhoof, Avenger, or a titan.
Reveilark: Combo piece but it’s also good by itself. Can return a lot of our removal creatures from our yard, it gets Jarad, Eternal Witness, Disciple of Bolas, etc. Just a decent card.
Grey Merchant of Asphodel: Until recently, this slot was Obzedat, the Ghost Council, a difficult cut but Merchant is strangly better in every cirmumstance. Draining from everyone and being able to be reanimated by Reveilark is the deal breaker for him. Pretty much one of the most powerful commons ever printed, especially for this deck.
Shadowborn Demon: I love this card dearly. Great body for five mana, and great removal to boot. Often, his “six creature cards in graveyard” clause is sated, but when it isn’t, the liability is easily played in our advantage.
Shriekmaw: My god is this card fantastic. You can evoke it from Karador’s ability, and the body is alright when you are in a pinch. Limited in its targets, but you can get artifacts with other cards and black creatures are somewhat uncommon (in my meta at least).
Acidic Slime: As I said before, 2 for 1s are good in any format. The option to get a land is nice too.
Lord of Extinction: Simply a huge creature, and nothing really more. He isn’t incredible by himself but with Jarad, he wins the game. Good enough to keep around for sure.
6:
Duplicant: Exile removal is awesome. He is lark-able, and he can double as a beater.
Sun Titan: Gets fetches, gets a lot of our removal, gets our artifact, and some enchantments and walkers.
Yosei, the Morning Star: You can lock opponents out of the game easily with dragon friend here, all you need is a sac outlet and your commander. Even if you only use his ability once, he can slow things down enough to turn a losing situation around.
Grave Titan: A personal favorite of mine, but isn’t 100% necessary for this deck. I like him because he adds a lot of power for 6 mana instantly, and more even later. The tokens work great with Gaea’s Cradle, Craterhoof Behemoth, and even Greater Good to some extent. If you don’t like him, you don’t really need him.
Harvester of Souls: Seems kind of weak, but try him if you have any doubts. I find when he is out, I can usually get 3+ cards a turn doing what I normally do in this deck. At worst, he blocks an oponnent's creature, trades, and you still draw a card. Also, he makes every board wipe a Decree of Pain, which I think is pretty cool.
Massacre Wurm: This is an underrated card in commander. There are a ton of token strategies in this format and can easily hit opponents upward of 30 damage regularly, and even 8-10 damage is a good deal. After a board wipe, many opponents are hit even harder. In the Eternal Witness + mass reanimate combo, he at least wipes the board, sometimes straight out kills opponents.
Bane of Progress: Kind of a dead draw if I really need to keep my Altars, but most of the time, this card will simply destroy an opponent's board while barely effecting ours. He is also usually a 10/10 or bigger, so he is perfect fodder for Greater Good and Disciple of Bolas.
7:
Angel of Serenity: You can exile 3 creatures with this card, and with a sac outlet, keep them exiled forever. Even without one, this card sends them back to hand when it dies which is still a huge setback to an opponent.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: A personal favorite and is insanely powerful in this build. A mini board wipe in of itself, but also a powerful anthem for your creatures. When Grave Titan spits 4/4s, Avenger expels 2/3s that grow, you replay your small removal creatures late game, the +2/+2 turns a few creatures into murder machines, no matter what size they initially were.
Sheoldred, Whispering One: Removal of opponents’ creature, reanimation of your own, and a difficult to block body, it’s no wonder this card is hated out so fast. If she stays alive, she can win the game in 2-3 turns at the slowest.
Avenger of Zendikar: Many green mages know the raw power behind this elemental. With fetches, Sun Titan, Knight of the Reliquary, and Crucible of Worlds, I can easily make these tokens swing in upwards of 4 damage each the turn after they are played. By itself, Avenger can win a game, but really shines with Gaea’s Cradle and Craterhoof Behemoth.
Angel of Despair: Dark angels are incredibly cool, and Angel of Despair is a great sized, evasive creature that vindicates. As stated, artifacts and enchantments are hard to deal with from time to time, and the option to remove them is great.
8:
Craterhoof Behemoth: If this dinosaur friend resolves, there usually isn’t a game afterwards. Usually you just swing for the win with him, but when you can’t for any reason, Jarad fixes that.
Ashen Rider: This is probably my favorite card of the Theros block by no small margin. I love Archons, I love wolves, I love etb triggers, I love death triggers, and I love exiling any permanent. This guy is all that on a pricey, yet under costed body. You also have ways of cheating this guy out for cheaper.
9:
Iona, Shield of Emeria: Against 1 or 2 color decks, she is a clear wincon in of herself and against a 3 color deck, she can be a huge hindrance if you choose the right color. The main reason she is in here is that Karador can be podded into her.
Instants:
Very few instants. I find myself tapping out frequently and this deck doesn’t suffer from over extending to the same degree others would.
Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares: Here for the same purpose, to quickly snipe of problem creatures that won't normally die to destruction based removal. 1 mana is a small price to pay to save yourself from a huge threat. I have also used Path to get myself a land when in a pinch.
Entomb: Basically instant speed demonic tutor in this deck. Early game is gets Life from the Loam, but late game it gets whatever I need to win.
Sorceries:
I would prefer these effects to be on a creature, but one does what one must.
Life from the Loam: Dredge isn’t incredibly reliable in a format littered with grave hate, however, 3 lands for 2 mana is a good bargain, and early game dredging is awesome for getting Karador out earlier.
Life's Legacy: Just trying out for now, but it seems like it could be a decent addition to my draw suite. A dead draw with Greater Good, but I feel like an early play sacing a sad robot would be a decent play.
Buried Alive: Tutor in this format is incredibly relevant, and this also makes Karador 3 less to cast, basically making itself free if played at the right time. Unless you know you can get away with playing it that turn, be very cautious when tutoring it.
Yawgmoth’s Will: A lot of time, you will accidentally dredge a non-creature you need from Life from the Loam or Grisly Salvage, and other times, things will get blown up that you wish to have. Yawgmoth’s Will can get them all. Worst case scenario, it is a 3 drop Snapcaster Mage that gets any card, which is still awesome.
Wrath of God / Damnation: Same card different colors. Every deck needs board wipes, and Karador can benefit from his own creatures dying fairly often. I wouldn’t ever run the deck without both.
Living Death: Mass reanimation and board wipe for 5 mana and a potential combo piece. That’s absurdly powerful when used at the right time. Be care full however, occasionally, an opponent has a creature that can ruin your strategy tucked away in the yard. Still, one of the better cards in the deck.
Rise of the Dark Realms: This card is so good, if you don’t believe me, try it anyway. Think about it, most reanimation spells are 5 mana, while some of the more powerful ones are 3, or even 1 mana. If you get 3 creatures, the absolute bare minimum, that’s still 3 mana for one creature. We play Karador though, so we often times get upwards of 9 creatures of our own plus any opponents have in their graveyard. With Eternal Witness and sac outlets, you can do this any number of times and infinitely reuse any etb. Most of the time, this card’s resolution results in an opponent scooping, even without the combo set up.
Artifacts:
Undeniably powerful, these artifacts bring the deck from good to great.
Sensei’s Divining Top: A format staple, fixes your draws every turn and almost un-removable. With 9 fetches, this card even better, shuffling away cards un-need at the present time.
Skullclamp: Many creatures in this deck die to this equip, an enough sac outlets exist to kill the rest. Drawing two cards in exchange for a creature that has already served its purpose is unbelievably powerful.
Sol Ring: A format staple, pays for itself and more. Usually feels like a Time Walk early game.
Altar of Dementia: An infinite mill with the Reveilark + Karmic Guide combo, but saccing creatures that are about to die can mill you and fill the grave with creatures faster, or just mill an opponent if they are close to decking.
Ashnod’s Altar / Phyrexian Altar: Sac outlets that add mana are insanely powerful in commander. Sacrificing a Harmonic Sliver and a Farhaven Elf, for example, to cast a Wood Elves is pure value. Sacrificing the Wood Elves to help play Karador, then replaying a dead creature is even better. Also creates infinite mana with Reveilark and Karmic Guide.
Crucible of Worlds: As long as 1 fetchland is in the yard, Crucible ensures you will never miss a land drop. If someone is irritating you, you can Strip Mine their precious field away. If destroyed, Sun Titan gets it back.
Birthing Pod: My favorite artifact to play in this deck, and any deck for that matter. It makes the grave bigger for Karador, turns a creature into a better one once its purpose is served, and is incredibly mana efficient. A cornerstone in the deck for sure.
Enchantments:
Mainly the draw and tutor power I require to function.
Survival of the Fittest: Any green deck could run this efficiently, but reanimator decks use it the most efficiently. Discarding creatures you can’t afford to play now to get ramp creatures is very powerful and the definition of synergy, all the while making Karador more affordable. Late game, just discard a creature to get the one you need to win right now.
Sylvan Library: Early game, the best possible play. Fixes your top deck just as efficiently as top while allowing you the option to draw instead. You have 40 life in this format and you shouldn’t really be concerned until you have around 10 or lower. Don’t be afraid to pay life into this.
Greater Good: Sacrificing a creature that has no further use at the moment, or is about to die anyway, and netting a bunch of cards and a way to fill the yard is the best play for this deck. In order to play Karador, you must have this card.
Planeswalkers:
Creatures would be better, but some I just can’t cut. I don’t have many but the ones I have are powerful.
Lilianna of the Veil: Can act as removal or a discard outlet upon entry, can be retrieved by Sun Titan, and the ultimate wins you the game. This card does everything this deck needs and easily my favorite walker ever printed.
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: Maybe not the greatest choice for this deck, but I really love the art, the effects, and the character on this card. He draws cards, he pumps tiny friends into large friends, and his ultimate is fun and makes you unreachable to some decks. With 38 creatures and 4 walkers, most of the time, his draw plus gets you some nice variation to fit the situation at hand. The deck can run without him, but I love him dearly and commander is really about playing the cards you love.
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion: All of her abilities are surprisingly relevant in this deck. Her plus makes tokens perfect for clamping, drawing up to 6 cards, or they are perfect for the altars, producing up to 6 mana. Her small minus is a powerful board wipe, sometimes one sided. Her ultimate isn’t the best ultimate, but it isn’t bad either. All around a very good card.
Garruk, Caller of Beasts: This is a very good walker for this deck, almost a necessity. His plus draws up to five creatures, usually at least 2 or 3, his small minus makes a rather expensive creature free to play, and his ultimate turns any creature in your hand into a combo piece.
Land:
Basic: I run 2 of each. I have a few ways to fetch for them, but I would rather grab duals and shocks. This is just enough to grab when all 6 others are out.
Fetches: All 9 are run, I can play them from the yard, extra duty off of Lotus Cobra, and make sure I never run short of colored mana. The core of this deck for sure.
Original Duals: With 9 fetches, simply too good not to run.
Shocks: Basically originals, 2 life means nothing in edh.
Buddy Lands: Essentially original duals, with 9 fetches, 3 originals, 3 shocks, Murmuring Bosk, Urborg and 6 basics, 23 of 36 (64%) lands have a basic land type.
Filter Lands: They come in untapped, can turn one mana into two of another, and can always tap for mana, they are just fantastic for making those double and triple colors easy to hit.
Bojuka Bog: Karador is a big reason for opponents to run this ironically, but sometimes opponents has goodies in their yard you just can’t allow.
Phyrexian Tower: Sacrificing a creature is more often than not an advantage and not a liability here. Double black is very nice.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Black is the most important color for this deck and this makes sure we always have enough. As a nice bonus, it also makes sure Sheoldred is never blocked.
Gaea’s Cradle: Early game, this is sometimes just a forest, but mid and late game, dropping this ends the game.
Strip Mine: Sometimes a land just needs to go, and it is nice utility with Crucible of Worlds and Sun Titan.
Cavern of Souls: Makes sure our general is uncounterable is amazing, but this also gives us a safe way to play Yosei and Karmic Guide, all of which are large step towards victory.
Command Tower: Any mana, any time. Very good.
Murmuring Bosk: Can be fetched and taps for all colors. Usually not the best late game but I almost always fetch for this turn one, unless, of course, I have a Sol Ring in hand.
Reflecting Pool: Most of the time, another command tower. Not the best in opening hand, but it isn’t bad either.
Deck Strategy
Early Game
Early game, just focus on the ramp game and card draw. Make sure you hit those land drops, try to play and recur you mana elves and tribe elder as often as possible. It is hard to lose with a skullclamp in the opening hand, allowing you to draw insane amounts of cards early on. An ideal opening hand has a skullclamp, crucible of worlds, a few fetches and a tribe elder. Try to fill up your grave if you can too, do not be afraid of over drawing.
Mid Game
At this point, you want Karador to be out, replaying your ramp creatures or your Big Game Hunter variants, busting all threatening permanents your opponents control. Try to hate opponent that the rest of the table thinks is the main threat. This makes people think you are running out of resources and think that you aren't a threat. That's fine, you want to kill people under the radar.
Late Game
Get your wincons, if graveyards are big, go for Jarad and Lord of Extinction or a Rise of the Dark Realms. If you have black permanents, get the Grey Merchant and play it a few times. Lots of creatures? Drop a Craterhoof and crush your enemies. If you are about to lose, grab a combo and go.
Win Conditions:
How I usually win games in this deck.
I use combos as a backup win condition if any of my main are exiled or I need to win this turn. Many people hate playing against combos so I try to not use them regularly. It is nice to have them when you really need them however.
Noteworthy Exceptions:
These are all the cards that I don’t run in here that are common in Karador and reasons I don’t run them.
BGWKarador, Night of the Wood God
UBRMarchesa, The Black Rose
BRGProssh, Suicide Crew
In its place, I am going to try Deathrite Shaman. I liked in in modern before it got banned, and I also found a copy I never new I had, so I saw it as a sign to try it out. With the 9 fetches, I'm sure it can be used regularly as ramp, and the extra grave hate may be good.
BGWKarador, Night of the Wood God
UBRMarchesa, The Black Rose
BRGProssh, Suicide Crew
Most often though, even with GY hate, you can usually just play through it since you aren't actively trying to get every creature in your GY. So many of our creatures do good things, that you can normally just keep chugging along after some g'hate.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015