Holy crap, there have been a lot of posts here! I've been a little lackluster in paying attention lately, but I will make no excuses for my behavior. On a brighter note, all of the posted lists in here look really powerful in their own ways. Keep up the good work guys! Okay, let's take some of these and see what we can do with them.
Greater Good - Honestly, I was thinking of cutting Mind's Eye for this powerhouse. Gives me another sac outlet, and draws me cards, plus it could get some dudes into the graveyard for Karador. It might be worth testing, since I believe I have a spare lying around.
Debtors' Knell - I had no real ways to tutor for this phenomenal card, and no ways to reliably recur it. Now that I have Sheoldred, Whispering One in the deck, I felt the redundancy wasn't necessary. I haven't really looked back since; it was a good cut, and worked out well.
Big Game Hunter - Now that I have Survival of the Fittest, this guy looks a wee bit better than Bone Shredder. He does wear Skullclamp like a pro, and has potential to kill the big-bad's that I run into, but I worry about not hitting small, utility guys. Might be worth a try, since he's so cheap to pick up.
Saffi Eriksdotter - Yes, the omission of this little fiend was to avoid the combo. I am aware of the power it can produce, but it just isn't what I want the deck to do. Not fun, in my opinion, and I have a hunch my opponents will agree.
Genesis - I used to run this guy. He was fun, and reasonably good for a while, but I've found that Karador, Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Sheoldred all seem to reanimate people for cheaper, and without tying up my lands. Personal call; the power is obvious with this guy, I just prefer not to use him.
Puppeteer Clique - I've tested him. Honestly, he's been okay, but nothing overwhelming. Granted, he may be better with Karador, so what would you suggest cutting?
Yosei, the Morning Star - This guy can do absolutely nutty things to people, but I find myself hesitant to run him. I feel like there are too many tricks I can do to lock people out permanently (even without the Saffi combo), and that's just not fun for anyone, especially when I play the deck 1v1.
Solemn Simulacrum, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Reap and Sow - Part of my agrees that Sad Robot is too good to ignore. Cultivate and Kodama's Reach have always been good to me, but maybe it's time to move to the Tin Man and possibly Reap and Sow. Sure, I only get one land, but it grabs non-basics, puts them into play untapped, and can destroy lands if needed. I may look into this option. What other ramp would you suggest? Journey of Discovery could be good also.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, and I hope you keep 'em coming. Also, I am VERY excited to put a Rune-Scarred Demon in here asap. Thing looks BONKERS in this deck.
Greater Good also has synergy with Big Game Hunter. I felt that my deck just got ridiculously stronger when I put it in here. It fills your hand and graveyard with gas which is always nice.
I can see what you guys are saying about Debtors' Knell being redundant but I feel that its good enough for the deck, just a personal preference.
I like to use creatures to ramp personally, it helps turn Karador into a 3 drop, even after you've played him a few times. I use Wood Elves, Kor Cartographer and the Sad Robot for this purpose. Its working out pretty well for me.
I tried Birthing Pod and I did not like it at all, but that's just me.
Huh, turns out I don't have a copy of Greater Good lying around. Something to look for certainly. It's cheap and not that big a deal. If I test that I'll test Big Game Hunter as well. I may try another ramp creature as well, but we will see. I too have tried Birthing Pod, and I find it's too slow and unnecessary.
I wouldn't say Sheoldred, Whispering One is strictly better than Debtors' Knell. The praetor is more likely to get hit (creature are more fragile than enchantments). But more importantly, in a multiplayer game, she can draw a lot of hate. Nobody wants to see an opponent reanimating every upkeep... but it stings all the more when I'm forced to sac. I play Debtor's Knell and Reya Dawnbringer for that exact reason.
I haven't tested Birthing Pod. A friend uses it and I could see it being good, but only if I included a package of things to hit with it. Some sort of chain to go for if it got online early. Skinny Santa Clause into Sad Robot into Archon of Justice into Primeval Titan into Rune-Scarred Demon for Avenger of Zendikar could go well but I don't think anyone is gonna just sit and watch as you do that.
I really liked Reya Dawnbringer and Debtors' Knell when I first made this deck, but they were just outclassed. I personally have found Sheoldred to be better, but it's really a matter of preference. Also, Birthing Pod has been lackluster in every deck I try it in, including this one. If I smoothed out the curve properly, it could be a house, but I don't wanna change the entire list for one card.
Daras, that foil Archon must be pretty sexy. Glad you picked up a Defense of the Heart, it's such quality every time I play it. I think the first two cards you cut are really strong choices, and I'm curious about Reap and Sow myself (my list might want a little more LD), but it's probably a good call. Lemme know how the new Garruk plays out, since I'm probably dropping my own at some point in the near future.
Primary) Act as a tutor, which help to Karador too.
Secondary) Act as a sac outlet to reuse Ur more powerful ETB ability creature.
Tertiary) Evasive sword carrier
With that said, since the graveyard is pretty full most of the time, i thought Oversold Cemetery as a less mana-intesive Genesis could b useful too
Dimir House Guard is a pretty sweet deal. I would need to check out how many cards in here cost 4, then reconsider what I would cut for him. But it's an excellent suggestion, and I appreciate it.
As for Vampiric Tutor, I only have one copy, and it is going in another deck presently, one that sorely needs the draw/tutor power. It's a solid card, but I don't think I would necessarily run it over any of my other tutors.
One problem with Karador is getting your own graveyard hosed. Have you considered cards that utilize other opponent's graveyards? Beacon of Unrest or the Crime half of Crime // Punishment will still give you options if your graveyard gets exiled and with enough removal, Crime will have some juicy targets. The Punishment half is also really good to a Rock strategy and the entire card just reeks of utility; it will never be a dead draw except in your opening hand.
Crime also might make you reconsider Debtors' Knell although I've been thinking about cutting it as well as it doesn't do anything until you take your next turn and that's a long time to wait for something that costs 7.
I don't run any of the transmute cards in my Karador deck. If I draw them late game, I always use them to tutor for something better and if I draw them early in the game, I'm looking to ramp my mana or cast bombs. I only get 1 turn to my opponents' 3 and Dimir House Guard just doesn't cut it as a creature. Also, early in the game, the transmuting cost (1BB is expensive since my deck is based around getting green mana and casting green ramp spells to find my swamps and plains.) If you are looking for additional tutors, I'd suggest Grim Tutor, Diabolic Tutor and/or Demonic Collusion.
Since you like Avenger of Zendikar so much, have you ever also considered Verdant Force? Verdant Force scales with the amount of opponents you have while the Avenger doesn't. The Avenger also needs to combo with something (either a land drop, equipment, or Mirari's Wake, etc.) before your plant creatures get good. Verdant Force's tokens are decent right out of the gate but obviously don't get pumped up by land drops. I'm not saying you should replace one or the other just that your reasoning for playing the Avenger also applies to Verdant Force. They are both good.
Why no Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite? Whenever anyone talks about her, they always talk about the combos with her(like Massacre Wurm) but no one talks about how she's awesome on her own. Giving all your opponent's creatures -2/-2 is a good thing in itself (even Decree of Pain charges 3BB for the effect). Usually, Elesh is the first creature I pick when Tooth and Nail or Defense of the Heart goes off.
Night's Whisper seems weak unless you're looking for a cheap way to draw a card. Even then, you're better off cycling Krosan Tusker or casting a creature that draws a card as it comes into play. Why not relegate the cheap stuff in your deck to mana ramping and deck thinning and using more expensive card draws such as Ambition's Cost or Harmonize (which is probably better for a 3 color deck using green to fix its colors). Personally, I don't play dedicated card draw cards in my deck. If I ever run out of cards in my hand, I can just play Karador and play something from my graveyard.
I'm not a fan of Beast Within, Terastodon or Oblation since it benefits your opponents to cast those spells. Have you considered Desert Twister? (I totally understand your reasoning for Vindicate). Also Woodfall Primus and Brutalizer Exarch are good for non-creature permanents.
I also had Magus of the Disk in my deck once but I hated having to give my opponents a turn to get rid of it before I could get it off. Additionally, it drew a lot of hate my way and acted more of a rattlesnake card. The most my opponents would do is bait me into blowing it up. I was better off just blowing it up the turn after it untapped and even then it gave each of my opponent's a chance to kill the Magus; return their creatures to their hand, or prepare for the destruction. My suggestion is you replace it with Akroma's Vengeance (3 to cycle if you don't need it). The fact that the card gets better because of another (singleton) card in your deck is not a good reason to play a card. Also he blows up Seedborn Muse.
I don't think you're using Seedborn Muse to its fullest. Based on your explanation, you'll get better mileage out of Akroma's Memorial, Oathsworn Giant, or Serra's Blessing (lol). Seedborn Muse is best in a deck that can do a lot of things on your opponents' turn such as cast Flash spells or use activated abilities of creatures and artifacts.
I'd also recommend replacing your planeswalkers and Iona. EDH is supposed to be a friendly and social format. Playing competitively and playing to win isn't the primary reason to play. Dropping a person's life total to 10 with a single card that can't be stopped by a non-blue deck or locking a player completely out of the game makes the game unfun, not just for them but for the unaffected people who are also playing. If you're going to kill someone in this format, put creatures in the red zone or fling many, many spells at their face. There's a reason why commanders don't have to deal all 40 points of damage to someone in order to kill them.
I typically use Sorin to gain life and try to mind slaver people. I only use his put them at 10 if they are the d-bag first.
Dimir House Guard was underwhelming for me, I prefer to play a real tutor.
The best card in my deck, imo by a mile, is Marshal's Anthem. I finally put it back in and I won multiple games because of that card. It is absolutely ridiculous.
Dimir House Guard is a pretty sweet deal. I would need to check out how many cards in here cost 4, then reconsider what I would cut for him. But it's an excellent suggestion, and I appreciate it.
As for Vampiric Tutor, I only have one copy, and it is going in another deck presently, one that sorely needs the draw/tutor power. It's a solid card, but I don't think I would necessarily run it over any of my other tutors.
I'd run it over Eladamri's Call. Then you can have multiple small tutors to tutor Survival of the Fittest and phyrexian arena and or other necessary cards that are not creatures and do what your creatures cannot.
I'll address your concern first, Mr. Wycliffe. I agree, Vampiric Tutor could sit in Eladamri's Call's slot quite easily, but as I said, I just have the one copy, and it's in another deck. I would be willing to at least test out the switch if I knew I had another one lying around.
Daras, I'd love to try out the Primal Hunter at some point, once (read: if) the price goes down. The thing about House Guard is that he also acts as a sac outlet. I'd need to look into how bad the deck needs one, plus how much it needs a tutor for 4cmc things. Worth a look. Marshal's Anthem is really sweet, and I could attempt it, but I'm not sure what I would cut in its place.
Disruptive, you made some suggestions I liked, and some that I questioned pretty heavily. I'll try to address all of them, starting with the good:
Crime // Punishment - This is a solid pick. It reanimates my opponent's stuff, and could blow unnecessary things up as well. An all around useful and flexible card.
Brutalizer Exarch & Woodfall Primus - Also excellent choices. I think I cover non-creature removal pretty well as is, but if I need to, then I will find room for these guys.
Now for the not-as-good picks/decisions:
Debtors' Knell - I'm not sure how Crime really effects this at all (it will be in your graveyard, not your opponent's), nor do I know if you approve of, or disapprove of the card. Some clarification here might help.
Dimir House Guard - As stated above, I may want to look into him, or I may not. You're also saying you want to play bombs in the early game, and that this doesn't do that? I don't mean to sound ignorant, but it doesn't seem like the proper (or plausible) game plan in any deck. And without seeing your list, I can assure you that the only time I get screwed on colors is when I don't see lands at all. I usually can fix my colors pretty well.
Demonic Collusion - Sadly, a little too expensive. All of my tutors cost 2 or are creatures that get cheated into play. Still, the discard is pretty nice since it enables the strategy itself and allows for multiple uses. A pretty solid choice, just not one I would put in here.
Diabolic Tutor - Costs too much, only gets one use. No thank you, there are better options.
Grim Tutor - So you understand my statement on not using Vindicate, but this is a perfectly valid suggestion? Hey, if someone else wants to foot the bill, I'll take 'em both gladly, but until then I will pass.
Verdant Force - The reason I like Avenger of Zendikar is because he makes all his dudes at once. They can become absurd really quickly, while the Force's tokens never get bigger, and you don't really generate enough to make them worthwhile (in my opinion), especially in a deck that doesn't make tokens.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Honestly, as good as she is, she just doesn't do enough in my opinion. She does nothing for my strategy, and I can think of no situations where she (he? it?) would be the creature I grab. A solid card in every way, but just not good enough to merit a spot here.
Night's Whisper - Right off the bat, you figured out what I wanted out of the card: cheap draw. I'm looking into better means of doing so, but for now it's been pretty solid. Harmonize used to be in here, but just wasn't good enough to hold a slot.
Beast Within - It's an instant speed Vindicate with a drawback that doesn't matter in this format. It blows up any permanent you need to, any time you need it to. Probably the most solid removal choice in the deck.
Terastodon - He's huge, efficiently costed for his size, blows up troublesome artifacts, enchantments, lands, and planeswalkers, and then gives you a beefy blocker for those pesky 3/3's. Maybe Woodfall Primus would be better here, but the ability to nuke someone's land base and then Wrath the board is too good to pass up.
Oblation - Another underrated piece of removal, albeit with the biggest drawback. Still, facing down an indestructible, unblockable 11/11 Rafiq of the Many becomes a lot less scary when this gem is in your hand.
Magus of the Disk - This guy is a new recruit, and has been pretty handy thus far. An easily tutorable Wrath that combos with Seedborn Muse. Sure I lose 'em both, but Reveillark gets 'em both back. A fair trade, in my opinion, but I understand the concern. He may yet be taken out for something better.
Speaking of Seedborn Muse, part of why she's so effective is her synnergy with Mind's Eye, Survival of the Fittest, and any instant speed spell. It goes beyond untapping my creatures, or giving them vigilance; it also poses the potential threat of instant speed spells, allowing me to force my opponents into playing more cautiously.
As for my planeswalkers and Iona, Shield of Emeria neither is particularly unfair, believe it or not. Iona is a resource, in case one player is able to pull some dumb combo and I can stop them from playing key cards. I use her as a potential threat, and even then every deck can packremovalagainsther. Sorin Markov, I use as a finisher. He acts as a buffer for my life total, potential removal, and yes I can make peoples' lives hell at me leisure. But I also don't combo out and instantly lock everyone out of a game. Plus, I'm used to playing against a potential turn 2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth with haste. The decks in my meta are well tuned, and difficult to beat, but not brokenly unfair. I need to pack the best protection I can against them.
I appreciate all of the suggestions and ideas guys. Keep 'em coming. Also, please suggest what you'd cut in addition to what you would add. Thanks, and I hope to keep hearing from you.
Ice Bear, if I could hug you over the internet I would. Me and my friends play pretty much only EDH these days, and I was horrified when I realized what the format has developed into outside the confines of my living room. It's just nice to see other people out there actually, you know, playing EDH for fun.
I also loves me some W/B/G, and have been thinking a lot about Karrandor, but for now I'm gonna make a Riku deck. Just out of curiosity, how much graveyard hate do you usually have to deal with? The other thing I'm wondering about is mana cost. If Karador is getting a lot of hate mid to late game, are you usually able to drop him and still cast one or two cards in your turn? There's nothing worse than having your general popped two turns in a row while everyone builds stuff up.
Also, I would imagine that the best way to deal with graveyard hate is by actually slow-playing what you have in your hand; if that's the case, how quickly can you usually drop Karandor (with, say, 7 or 8 mana) and recover from the graveyard after a Wrath effect?
Hmmm, my personal Karador list is similar, buy why not Loyal Retainers? It is an amazingly strong and efficient way to get Sheoldred or Iona out with Survival.
And Karador lets you play them again to get those creatures back at 2W instead of a ton.
I've also been running Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and loving him with Karador out.
I know they are expensive P3K cards, but they are really useful in a deck like this.
Ah icebear, I see where you want to go with this deck now. I currently play Teneb, the Harvester and the deck plays very similar to the way you want to play karador. the deck plays cards that I can get multiple uses out of almost every creature by turning them into engines. I'll give you a run down on what I think are useful.
Birthing pod: I've replaced mimic vat with this card and haven't looked back. Filling my grave while searching out more creatures to abuse is insane. I've done things like saffi >> bone shredder >> dimir house guard >> Reviellark >> sun titan getting shredder, guard, and saffi back >> karmic guide and I go infinite there. That's just my ideal scenario but you get the idea that you can constantly abuse CIP creatures.
As expensive as it is, I can't tell you how many times I've transmuted for diabolic tutor. having a second demonic tutor is too strong to pass up.
Debtor's Knell: Although you may be hesitant of using it, this is the most powerful reanimation card in all of magic. It will single handedly win you games and stealing other people's creatures is awesome. Other reanimation in your deck, as you have karador, should target your opponents which your general can't do.
Later I'll try to post my list so you can see what the whole deck looks like.
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Happybounce, I would return the hug gladly. Your praise is most welcome, and an absolute pleasure to receive. If you play online at all (I only use LackeyCCG to play online sadly) I would love to face off against you sometime. The same offer is out to everyone, and since multiplayer games are possible, we could make some things happen.
Yawg, I agree that both Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and Loyal Retainers are powerful reanimation cards, they are unfortunately expensive. I have yet to splurge on a Vindicate, which would be one of my top priorities, so these guys are further down the list. Incredibly powerful though.
Hivetyrant, there are some good points you raise. I'll address them each in turn, and I would love to see your list sometime. Feel free to PM it to me, or post it here. Anywho, your suggestions:
Birthing Pod - I've made statements on this card before, and may include it in the front page eventually, but I will repeat it here: at the present moment, I don't want to completely reevaluate my curve and smooth it out just to take advantage of one card. It's quite good, but this is not the ideal place for it.
Reassembling Skeleton - Here, I would probably just play Bloodghast, but your point remains valid. Either of these options could replace Night's Whisper, to be used as strong (repeatable) draw spells. There's potential here, so I will look into it. Plus, one more creature to chuck to Survival of the Fittest doesn't hurt. Only thing I worry about is that they are not that useful on their own.
Dimir House Guard - Again, I've previously discussed this, but will repeat it. He is a powerful card. I gotta run through my list again, but he could very well make it in if I have enough 4cmc cards floating around (though I still abhor Diabolic Tutor; my second Demonic Tutor comes in the form of Diabolic Intent or Rune-Scarred Demon).
Debtors' Knell - A powerful card to be sure, and one of the best, but I just couldn't find a way to keep it in when it was so hard to get/recur. Your point about reanimating my opponent's stuff since my general reanimates mine is a good point, but none of my spells really reanimate my guys (except my guys who reanimate my guys... who reanimate more guys...), so I will need to look into it.
Thanks for the support guys, I really appreciate it. Let's me know there's a reason for all the mindless drivel I post on here. Thank you, and keep up the suggestions!
EDIT: Also (forgot to mention this), how do you guys feel about Viscera Seer? Is he worth a look at all, or is he just weaksauce all over the place? Just curious about people's $.02 on the matter. Anywho, cheers!
I think Viscera Seer would suck in your deck. He would shine in a deck that made tons of tokens but not in a Rock-type deck. I'm curious as to why you're so concerned with sacrificing your creatures. Are you doing it just so you can say that Karador has a reason to be in your deck? If you want a dude to die, just chump block. Or let the creatures build up so your opponents will try to race you and then drop a wrath. Cycling dudes in and out of your graveyard when another opponent hasn't touched you really doesn't accomplish much that can't be accomplished later in the game and it draws hate from other players ("That guy is doing something funny, I think I'll poke him with my 10/10 guy and see what happens").
Plus, you need chump blockers on the board. Karador doesn't come online until later on in the game when you plan on winning. Once he's in play, then you start the recursion process. If you start it sooner, some guy playing with swamps is going to tutor up some graveyard hate and your game will be finished. The way I see the Karador.dek working is this: play lands and search library for more lands to put in play. Chump block to save life. Start playing wrath effects; kill creatures, artifacts, enchantments. Hard cast your big creatures and big spells and win the game. Karador is for when my deck starts to run out of steam. If I run out of stuff to cast, then I bring out Karador and start playing spells from my graveyard. There's no good reason to dedicate slots to card drawing spells because Karador fills that role all by himself (Mind's Eye being the exception because it's that damn good). Just something to think about.
Now, some more suggestions.
Argothian Elder over Garruk Wildspeaker. Untaps your lands and doesn't draw hate. If you're playing enough creatures where his ultimate comes into play, then you've already won the game (his ultimate is just a win more ability). As for his second ability, it will always be a waste because untapping two lands will generally be the better play (because the spells you'll cast are going to be better than a vanilla 3/3 creature).
I just played a game and faced off against a player who dropped a turn 4 Uril. I was able to drop a Pernicious Deed which none of the other opponents stopped (because they didn't like the board state either), and I blew up Uril a turn later. The next turn, the opponent replayed Uril and I figured (and this is what would have happened) that Uril would get a few auras on him and then smack me for a ton of damage. I got lucky on my turn and top decked a Spike Weaver who comes with a built-in fog effect. Uril's controller felt it would be a waste to attack me and attacked someone else. This gave me time to build up my mana and find another wrath effect.
Have you considered Spike Weaver? The power of Uril and other decks that put their commander in the red zone along with decks that have a strong and possibly fatal early game to you makes Spike Weaver a nice way to give you a few turns to stabilize. Late in the game, you can always drop his +1/+1 counters onto other creatures (combos well with a persisted Woodfall Primus).
Also, misread Crime // Punishment in that it only affects your opponent's graveyard. Woops. It's still an awesome card though.
If you want to see my deck, it's somewhat of a work in progress. Unlike your deck, I don't use my graveyard too much until the late game because I don't want to get neutered by some random Nezumi Graverobber or Withered Wretch. Early game it's just wrath effects and mana ramping. When I've got the mana, then I start asserting myself and playing bombs. I play against strangers online which is why I don't run certain cards that will piss people off or prevent others from having fun playing their deck (i.e. Sorin and Iona); I dislike it when people scoop to singleton cards.
Looking over your list, I noticed you don't have Restock or Regrowth. You can recur anything to your hand with these, including wrath effects, stuff that was destroyed, etc. Regrowth is kind of like a green Demonic Tutor but for your graveyard. Your Genesis Wave doesn't hurt as bad when you know you'll be able to recur any juicy instants or sorceries that were dumped into your graveyard.
Why not replace Night's Whisper with Masked Admirers? You get one less card right away, but you get a creature that recurs itself and over the course of the game, you'll likely draw more cards than you would with a single casting of Night's Whisper (and you're not going to cast it more than once per game since you won't want to waste a Regrowth effect on it).
If you're playing Mirari's Wake for the mana, you should also play Mana Reflection. It's silly with cards like Fetid Heath. Unfortunately having both enchantments out only allows your lands to produce 3 when they originally produced 1 without the enchantments (Fetid Heath produces 5, however, with both enchantments).
I'm not liking your mana base. From my count, you have the following:
6 Forests
5 Plains
6 Swamps (hard to activate your 'Tainted' lands which should never go a turn unactivated)
Out of the cards in your deck you have
4 ways to find a Forest card
6 ways to find a Plains card
3 ways to find a Swamp card
and
You also have 3 spells which can find a total of 7 basic lands in a deck that has 9 basic lands (and this excludes recursion effects which allow you to use the ability again). Then you have Life from the Loam which is going to what, get back your cycling lands? Fetch lands are useless because there won't be anything left to fetch. Many of your late game draws will be useless when you're drawing a card to fetch lands in your deck that don't exist. Dead draws are really, really bad in EDH (4 player) as you'll be drawing one dead card to your opponent's 3 cards.
You may want to consider playing/buying a Rupture Spire and Exotic Orchard (which is good for decks with 3+ colors in multiplayer games).
You really shouldn't be worrying about doing fun stuff with your mana base. Karador needs lots of mana and he needs it quickly (specifically 1 land per turn on average; you should have 10 lands by turn 10). Your cycling lands are silly. When playing Karador, you should never cycle away a land because playing the land, even with other lands in your hand is more important than drawing a card. You need to be able to fuel your end game as soon as possible. You want to get every land in your deck out on the board and not in your graveyard. I'm personally not a fan of too many fetch lands since they don't produce mana and lowers your maximum mana production. I'm even less a fan of the fetch lands when you already have spells and effects which thin your deck of land.
Anyways, I decided to see if I could make a better land package for you. Even without changes to the rest of your deck, your spells and Yavimaya Elder will not run out of stuff to search for. With this package, you can replace Life from the Loam with more land fetch spells or upgrade some of your spells so they can find 2 or more lands each (such as Explosive Vegetation, Far Wanderings, and Journey of Discovery.
Disruptive, I don't really appreciate the insinuations that my land base or card choices aren't good, based on your own personal preferences (or the yelling at me in bold lettering, for that matter). Every land in this deck, as with every other card, has been tested to ensure its potential. The cycling lands, as well as the fetch lands, have been invaluable, and Life From the Loam has been an absolute all-star.
That said, your suggestions usually give me some new stuff to consider, which I appreciate. However, our philosophies on how the deck itself play out differ greatly. For me, a general isn't something to use when I'm on the ropes. It's the core of the deck, the reason you built it in the first place. You have permanent access to your general, which means, at least to me, that you should use it to its fullest, and sculpt the deck to work with it, synnergize with it, and play to its strengths.
I feel my list works hand-in-hand with what Karador does. Yes, I want creatures who can sacrifice themselves or others for some benefit because they help with the theme and core of the deck. If you believe that you should just play good stuff and then play Karador when you're out of other methods, and it works for you, that's great, and you should play that way. But I would appreciate it if you didn't tell me my card choices or methods weren't good simply because it isn't how you want to play the deck.
So, I've been piling cards together to make a Karador deck and this has been very helpful. Two cards that I found that I thought I'd ask about:
Dauntless Escort: I seems like the deck wants to wrath the board over and over again, and this guy makes you immune to the board wipes, which seems awesome. Plus, if you have Karador in play, you can just replay him and do it again. I get that sometimes you want the leaving play-coming into play interaction of playing things over and over again, but he seems like good utility.
Mortality Shift: Ok, this does seem like putting all your eggs in one basket, but if you have True Believer in your deck, and Karador in play, you play the shift and then the Believer using Karador so that no one can Bojuka Bog and it's ilk. Suddenly, every creature in your deck is at your disposal.
Hey GM, I'm glad this has been a help to you, and I'd love to see your list sometime if you have more questions. Now as to your suggestions, I'll be honest, I never tested Dauntless Escort, but he could be extremely powerful (even if it's just letting your dudes chump block like pros for a turn). Even more so if you drop him and then a Wrath to absolutely crush your opponents in board advantage. He is worth consideration, though I wish he had 2 toughness. I'll try him out and see how it goes.
Morality Shift is a powerful card. A friend of mine plays Balthor the Defiled, and it's just an absolute house for him. My only problem is when someone plays Withered Wretch or Relic of Progenitus, and absolutely owns the gameplan. It's a really sweet card, but I'm just not a fan most of the time. Still too vulnerable.
Solid list, how many creatures do you run? I feel like Karador and animar are really similar, they need a very high creature count to be utilized at 100%. That being said, i feel yosei or stonehorn dignitary are autoincludes in this deck. Birthing bod is bananas in this deck. I feel like some of the mana ramping spells like farseek can be replaced with creatures. I see no attrition or bloodghast. Fauna shaman is incredible in this deck. Night's whisper could be graveborn muse. Vengeful pharaoh and wurmcoil engine are solid as well. Overall, I would say cut the number of non creature spells down, but that is my opinion on how to play karador.
Hey Overbeing, thanks for the suggestions! I agree, Karador and Animar both need a bunch of creatures to make them good. Right now I believe I have 26 cretures in my list, with Karador being 27. A quarter of the deck is pretty good, all things considered. There are so many tutors in here, it just makes it work.
Yosei, the Morning Star is a really powerful card. My only potential problems with it are the fact that they can essentially lock people out of the game, and I have the power to abuse that. But maybe it's worth a slot anyway, since it's just really boss, and I don't have all of the pieces to go infinite with it. I don't like the Stonehorn Dignitary as much, but it's an interesting thought.
Birthing Pod, as I have said before, has never been all that promising in this deck. I've tested it over and over, since I have 2 copies anyway, and it just hasn't gotten there like I wish it would. It's sad, since I think in the right list it could be really strong, but it just hasn't done well here.
Farseek has been pretty solid thus far, but it and Kodama's Reach/Cultivate are the next cards in that area to go. Yavimaya Dryad is also up there on the list of things that could come in instead. Most of the other creatures who ramp (except for Primeval Titan) just aren't that good. That said, I do prefer to replace sorcery spells with creatures when possible, so we will see.
Attrition is good, but I sadly feel like I just don't have the room for it. Bloodghast is under heavy consideration at the moment, and I only have one Fauna Shaman at the present, so I doubt she's coming out of my other deck to go in this one.
Graveborn Muse is pretty good, but I dunno if I would drop it in here. Same thing with Vengeful Pharaoh, who would be so much better if he went back to your hand. Wurmcoil Engine is insanely powerful, since it makes so many more of itself, but I don't own one anymore, and they're not necessary enough that I wanna go out and buy one.
All of these have been really good suggestions. When I get a chance to sit down and playtest, I'm gonna try a bunch of these out. Thanks for your help, and I hope to keep hearing suggestions from you, and all the other posters out there.
Also, my own question of the day, what does everyone think about Grand Abolisher? Not even what to cut, just whether or not you think it would be good in this list. Cheers!
One of the coolest things about Karador is that even though he seems like he costs 3 mana, he actually costs 8! I know you dislike Birthing Pod, but I found it amazing in my Karador deck just because it turns your general into an Iona. I also really liked Food Chain, it turns your general into a repeatable 9 mana dark ritual if you have enough creatures in your graveyard.
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Greater Good - Honestly, I was thinking of cutting Mind's Eye for this powerhouse. Gives me another sac outlet, and draws me cards, plus it could get some dudes into the graveyard for Karador. It might be worth testing, since I believe I have a spare lying around.
Debtors' Knell - I had no real ways to tutor for this phenomenal card, and no ways to reliably recur it. Now that I have Sheoldred, Whispering One in the deck, I felt the redundancy wasn't necessary. I haven't really looked back since; it was a good cut, and worked out well.
Big Game Hunter - Now that I have Survival of the Fittest, this guy looks a wee bit better than Bone Shredder. He does wear Skullclamp like a pro, and has potential to kill the big-bad's that I run into, but I worry about not hitting small, utility guys. Might be worth a try, since he's so cheap to pick up.
Saffi Eriksdotter - Yes, the omission of this little fiend was to avoid the combo. I am aware of the power it can produce, but it just isn't what I want the deck to do. Not fun, in my opinion, and I have a hunch my opponents will agree.
Genesis - I used to run this guy. He was fun, and reasonably good for a while, but I've found that Karador, Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Sheoldred all seem to reanimate people for cheaper, and without tying up my lands. Personal call; the power is obvious with this guy, I just prefer not to use him.
Puppeteer Clique - I've tested him. Honestly, he's been okay, but nothing overwhelming. Granted, he may be better with Karador, so what would you suggest cutting?
Yosei, the Morning Star - This guy can do absolutely nutty things to people, but I find myself hesitant to run him. I feel like there are too many tricks I can do to lock people out permanently (even without the Saffi combo), and that's just not fun for anyone, especially when I play the deck 1v1.
Solemn Simulacrum, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Reap and Sow - Part of my agrees that Sad Robot is too good to ignore. Cultivate and Kodama's Reach have always been good to me, but maybe it's time to move to the Tin Man and possibly Reap and Sow. Sure, I only get one land, but it grabs non-basics, puts them into play untapped, and can destroy lands if needed. I may look into this option. What other ramp would you suggest? Journey of Discovery could be good also.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, and I hope you keep 'em coming. Also, I am VERY excited to put a Rune-Scarred Demon in here asap. Thing looks BONKERS in this deck.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Fetches for utility creatures and give some ammo to Karador!
I can see what you guys are saying about Debtors' Knell being redundant but I feel that its good enough for the deck, just a personal preference.
I like to use creatures to ramp personally, it helps turn Karador into a 3 drop, even after you've played him a few times. I use Wood Elves, Kor Cartographer and the Sad Robot for this purpose. Its working out pretty well for me.
I tried Birthing Pod and I did not like it at all, but that's just me.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
I haven't tested Birthing Pod. A friend uses it and I could see it being good, but only if I included a package of things to hit with it. Some sort of chain to go for if it got online early. Skinny Santa Clause into Sad Robot into Archon of Justice into Primeval Titan into Rune-Scarred Demon for Avenger of Zendikar could go well but I don't think anyone is gonna just sit and watch as you do that.
UBR Thrax
Daras, that foil Archon must be pretty sexy. Glad you picked up a Defense of the Heart, it's such quality every time I play it. I think the first two cards you cut are really strong choices, and I'm curious about Reap and Sow myself (my list might want a little more LD), but it's probably a good call. Lemme know how the new Garruk plays out, since I'm probably dropping my own at some point in the near future.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Primary) Act as a tutor, which help to Karador too.
Secondary) Act as a sac outlet to reuse Ur more powerful ETB ability creature.
Tertiary) Evasive sword carrier
With that said, since the graveyard is pretty full most of the time, i thought Oversold Cemetery as a less mana-intesive Genesis could b useful too
As for Vampiric Tutor, I only have one copy, and it is going in another deck presently, one that sorely needs the draw/tutor power. It's a solid card, but I don't think I would necessarily run it over any of my other tutors.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Crime also might make you reconsider Debtors' Knell although I've been thinking about cutting it as well as it doesn't do anything until you take your next turn and that's a long time to wait for something that costs 7.
I don't run any of the transmute cards in my Karador deck. If I draw them late game, I always use them to tutor for something better and if I draw them early in the game, I'm looking to ramp my mana or cast bombs. I only get 1 turn to my opponents' 3 and Dimir House Guard just doesn't cut it as a creature. Also, early in the game, the transmuting cost (1BB is expensive since my deck is based around getting green mana and casting green ramp spells to find my swamps and plains.) If you are looking for additional tutors, I'd suggest Grim Tutor, Diabolic Tutor and/or Demonic Collusion.
Since you like Avenger of Zendikar so much, have you ever also considered Verdant Force? Verdant Force scales with the amount of opponents you have while the Avenger doesn't. The Avenger also needs to combo with something (either a land drop, equipment, or Mirari's Wake, etc.) before your plant creatures get good. Verdant Force's tokens are decent right out of the gate but obviously don't get pumped up by land drops. I'm not saying you should replace one or the other just that your reasoning for playing the Avenger also applies to Verdant Force. They are both good.
Why no Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite? Whenever anyone talks about her, they always talk about the combos with her(like Massacre Wurm) but no one talks about how she's awesome on her own. Giving all your opponent's creatures -2/-2 is a good thing in itself (even Decree of Pain charges 3BB for the effect). Usually, Elesh is the first creature I pick when Tooth and Nail or Defense of the Heart goes off.
Night's Whisper seems weak unless you're looking for a cheap way to draw a card. Even then, you're better off cycling Krosan Tusker or casting a creature that draws a card as it comes into play. Why not relegate the cheap stuff in your deck to mana ramping and deck thinning and using more expensive card draws such as Ambition's Cost or Harmonize (which is probably better for a 3 color deck using green to fix its colors). Personally, I don't play dedicated card draw cards in my deck. If I ever run out of cards in my hand, I can just play Karador and play something from my graveyard.
I'm not a fan of Beast Within, Terastodon or Oblation since it benefits your opponents to cast those spells. Have you considered Desert Twister? (I totally understand your reasoning for Vindicate). Also Woodfall Primus and Brutalizer Exarch are good for non-creature permanents.
I also had Magus of the Disk in my deck once but I hated having to give my opponents a turn to get rid of it before I could get it off. Additionally, it drew a lot of hate my way and acted more of a rattlesnake card. The most my opponents would do is bait me into blowing it up. I was better off just blowing it up the turn after it untapped and even then it gave each of my opponent's a chance to kill the Magus; return their creatures to their hand, or prepare for the destruction. My suggestion is you replace it with Akroma's Vengeance (3 to cycle if you don't need it). The fact that the card gets better because of another (singleton) card in your deck is not a good reason to play a card. Also he blows up Seedborn Muse.
I don't think you're using Seedborn Muse to its fullest. Based on your explanation, you'll get better mileage out of Akroma's Memorial, Oathsworn Giant, or Serra's Blessing (lol). Seedborn Muse is best in a deck that can do a lot of things on your opponents' turn such as cast Flash spells or use activated abilities of creatures and artifacts.
I'd also recommend replacing your planeswalkers and Iona. EDH is supposed to be a friendly and social format. Playing competitively and playing to win isn't the primary reason to play. Dropping a person's life total to 10 with a single card that can't be stopped by a non-blue deck or locking a player completely out of the game makes the game unfun, not just for them but for the unaffected people who are also playing. If you're going to kill someone in this format, put creatures in the red zone or fling many, many spells at their face. There's a reason why commanders don't have to deal all 40 points of damage to someone in order to kill them.
Garruk, Primal Hunter is absurd, i suggest everyone go get a copy.
I typically use Sorin to gain life and try to mind slaver people. I only use his put them at 10 if they are the d-bag first.
Dimir House Guard was underwhelming for me, I prefer to play a real tutor.
The best card in my deck, imo by a mile, is Marshal's Anthem. I finally put it back in and I won multiple games because of that card. It is absolutely ridiculous.
I'd run it over Eladamri's Call. Then you can have multiple small tutors to tutor Survival of the Fittest and phyrexian arena and or other necessary cards that are not creatures and do what your creatures cannot.
Daras, I'd love to try out the Primal Hunter at some point, once (read: if) the price goes down. The thing about House Guard is that he also acts as a sac outlet. I'd need to look into how bad the deck needs one, plus how much it needs a tutor for 4cmc things. Worth a look. Marshal's Anthem is really sweet, and I could attempt it, but I'm not sure what I would cut in its place.
Disruptive, you made some suggestions I liked, and some that I questioned pretty heavily. I'll try to address all of them, starting with the good:
Crime // Punishment - This is a solid pick. It reanimates my opponent's stuff, and could blow unnecessary things up as well. An all around useful and flexible card.
Brutalizer Exarch & Woodfall Primus - Also excellent choices. I think I cover non-creature removal pretty well as is, but if I need to, then I will find room for these guys.
Now for the not-as-good picks/decisions:
Debtors' Knell - I'm not sure how Crime really effects this at all (it will be in your graveyard, not your opponent's), nor do I know if you approve of, or disapprove of the card. Some clarification here might help.
Dimir House Guard - As stated above, I may want to look into him, or I may not. You're also saying you want to play bombs in the early game, and that this doesn't do that? I don't mean to sound ignorant, but it doesn't seem like the proper (or plausible) game plan in any deck. And without seeing your list, I can assure you that the only time I get screwed on colors is when I don't see lands at all. I usually can fix my colors pretty well.
Demonic Collusion - Sadly, a little too expensive. All of my tutors cost 2 or are creatures that get cheated into play. Still, the discard is pretty nice since it enables the strategy itself and allows for multiple uses. A pretty solid choice, just not one I would put in here.
Diabolic Tutor - Costs too much, only gets one use. No thank you, there are better options.
Grim Tutor - So you understand my statement on not using Vindicate, but this is a perfectly valid suggestion? Hey, if someone else wants to foot the bill, I'll take 'em both gladly, but until then I will pass.
Verdant Force - The reason I like Avenger of Zendikar is because he makes all his dudes at once. They can become absurd really quickly, while the Force's tokens never get bigger, and you don't really generate enough to make them worthwhile (in my opinion), especially in a deck that doesn't make tokens.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Honestly, as good as she is, she just doesn't do enough in my opinion. She does nothing for my strategy, and I can think of no situations where she (he? it?) would be the creature I grab. A solid card in every way, but just not good enough to merit a spot here.
Night's Whisper - Right off the bat, you figured out what I wanted out of the card: cheap draw. I'm looking into better means of doing so, but for now it's been pretty solid. Harmonize used to be in here, but just wasn't good enough to hold a slot.
Beast Within - It's an instant speed Vindicate with a drawback that doesn't matter in this format. It blows up any permanent you need to, any time you need it to. Probably the most solid removal choice in the deck.
Terastodon - He's huge, efficiently costed for his size, blows up troublesome artifacts, enchantments, lands, and planeswalkers, and then gives you a beefy blocker for those pesky 3/3's. Maybe Woodfall Primus would be better here, but the ability to nuke someone's land base and then Wrath the board is too good to pass up.
Oblation - Another underrated piece of removal, albeit with the biggest drawback. Still, facing down an indestructible, unblockable 11/11 Rafiq of the Many becomes a lot less scary when this gem is in your hand.
Magus of the Disk - This guy is a new recruit, and has been pretty handy thus far. An easily tutorable Wrath that combos with Seedborn Muse. Sure I lose 'em both, but Reveillark gets 'em both back. A fair trade, in my opinion, but I understand the concern. He may yet be taken out for something better.
Speaking of Seedborn Muse, part of why she's so effective is her synnergy with Mind's Eye, Survival of the Fittest, and any instant speed spell. It goes beyond untapping my creatures, or giving them vigilance; it also poses the potential threat of instant speed spells, allowing me to force my opponents into playing more cautiously.
As for my planeswalkers and Iona, Shield of Emeria neither is particularly unfair, believe it or not. Iona is a resource, in case one player is able to pull some dumb combo and I can stop them from playing key cards. I use her as a potential threat, and even then every deck can pack removal against her. Sorin Markov, I use as a finisher. He acts as a buffer for my life total, potential removal, and yes I can make peoples' lives hell at me leisure. But I also don't combo out and instantly lock everyone out of a game. Plus, I'm used to playing against a potential turn 2 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth with haste. The decks in my meta are well tuned, and difficult to beat, but not brokenly unfair. I need to pack the best protection I can against them.
I appreciate all of the suggestions and ideas guys. Keep 'em coming. Also, please suggest what you'd cut in addition to what you would add. Thanks, and I hope to keep hearing from you.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
I also loves me some W/B/G, and have been thinking a lot about Karrandor, but for now I'm gonna make a Riku deck. Just out of curiosity, how much graveyard hate do you usually have to deal with? The other thing I'm wondering about is mana cost. If Karador is getting a lot of hate mid to late game, are you usually able to drop him and still cast one or two cards in your turn? There's nothing worse than having your general popped two turns in a row while everyone builds stuff up.
Also, I would imagine that the best way to deal with graveyard hate is by actually slow-playing what you have in your hand; if that's the case, how quickly can you usually drop Karandor (with, say, 7 or 8 mana) and recover from the graveyard after a Wrath effect?
Anyways, keep up the good work dude.
And Karador lets you play them again to get those creatures back at 2W instead of a ton.
I've also been running Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and loving him with Karador out.
I know they are expensive P3K cards, but they are really useful in a deck like this.
Birthing pod: I've replaced mimic vat with this card and haven't looked back. Filling my grave while searching out more creatures to abuse is insane. I've done things like saffi >> bone shredder >> dimir house guard >> Reviellark >> sun titan getting shredder, guard, and saffi back >> karmic guide and I go infinite there. That's just my ideal scenario but you get the idea that you can constantly abuse CIP creatures.
Reassembling Skeleton
+
Sadistic Hypnotist or Skullclamp: So engines. Skeleton is so abusable and this will wipe out hands or draw your deck.
Dimir House Guard: I will absolutely never drop this card because of its versatility. He tutors, is a sac outlet, and if worse comes to worse, a decent chump blocker. My tutor targets are: graveborn muse, diabolic tutor, wrath of god, gravepact, and solemn simulacrum.
As expensive as it is, I can't tell you how many times I've transmuted for diabolic tutor. having a second demonic tutor is too strong to pass up.
Debtor's Knell: Although you may be hesitant of using it, this is the most powerful reanimation card in all of magic. It will single handedly win you games and stealing other people's creatures is awesome. Other reanimation in your deck, as you have karador, should target your opponents which your general can't do.
Later I'll try to post my list so you can see what the whole deck looks like.
Legacy
:symb::symr:Vial Goblins:symr::symb:
:symu::symb:Dredge:symu::symb:
EDH
:symg::symb::symw:Teneb, the Harvester:symg::symb::symw:
:symb::symb::symb:Skittles, The Blight Dragon:symb::symb::symb:
Yawg, I agree that both Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed and Loyal Retainers are powerful reanimation cards, they are unfortunately expensive. I have yet to splurge on a Vindicate, which would be one of my top priorities, so these guys are further down the list. Incredibly powerful though.
Hivetyrant, there are some good points you raise. I'll address them each in turn, and I would love to see your list sometime. Feel free to PM it to me, or post it here. Anywho, your suggestions:
Birthing Pod - I've made statements on this card before, and may include it in the front page eventually, but I will repeat it here: at the present moment, I don't want to completely reevaluate my curve and smooth it out just to take advantage of one card. It's quite good, but this is not the ideal place for it.
Reassembling Skeleton - Here, I would probably just play Bloodghast, but your point remains valid. Either of these options could replace Night's Whisper, to be used as strong (repeatable) draw spells. There's potential here, so I will look into it. Plus, one more creature to chuck to Survival of the Fittest doesn't hurt. Only thing I worry about is that they are not that useful on their own.
Dimir House Guard - Again, I've previously discussed this, but will repeat it. He is a powerful card. I gotta run through my list again, but he could very well make it in if I have enough 4cmc cards floating around (though I still abhor Diabolic Tutor; my second Demonic Tutor comes in the form of Diabolic Intent or Rune-Scarred Demon).
Debtors' Knell - A powerful card to be sure, and one of the best, but I just couldn't find a way to keep it in when it was so hard to get/recur. Your point about reanimating my opponent's stuff since my general reanimates mine is a good point, but none of my spells really reanimate my guys (except my guys who reanimate my guys... who reanimate more guys...), so I will need to look into it.
Thanks for the support guys, I really appreciate it. Let's me know there's a reason for all the mindless drivel I post on here. Thank you, and keep up the suggestions!
EDIT: Also (forgot to mention this), how do you guys feel about Viscera Seer? Is he worth a look at all, or is he just weaksauce all over the place? Just curious about people's $.02 on the matter. Anywho, cheers!
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Plus, you need chump blockers on the board. Karador doesn't come online until later on in the game when you plan on winning. Once he's in play, then you start the recursion process. If you start it sooner, some guy playing with swamps is going to tutor up some graveyard hate and your game will be finished. The way I see the Karador.dek working is this: play lands and search library for more lands to put in play. Chump block to save life. Start playing wrath effects; kill creatures, artifacts, enchantments. Hard cast your big creatures and big spells and win the game. Karador is for when my deck starts to run out of steam. If I run out of stuff to cast, then I bring out Karador and start playing spells from my graveyard. There's no good reason to dedicate slots to card drawing spells because Karador fills that role all by himself (Mind's Eye being the exception because it's that damn good). Just something to think about.
Now, some more suggestions.
Argothian Elder over Garruk Wildspeaker. Untaps your lands and doesn't draw hate. If you're playing enough creatures where his ultimate comes into play, then you've already won the game (his ultimate is just a win more ability). As for his second ability, it will always be a waste because untapping two lands will generally be the better play (because the spells you'll cast are going to be better than a vanilla 3/3 creature).
I just played a game and faced off against a player who dropped a turn 4 Uril. I was able to drop a Pernicious Deed which none of the other opponents stopped (because they didn't like the board state either), and I blew up Uril a turn later. The next turn, the opponent replayed Uril and I figured (and this is what would have happened) that Uril would get a few auras on him and then smack me for a ton of damage. I got lucky on my turn and top decked a Spike Weaver who comes with a built-in fog effect. Uril's controller felt it would be a waste to attack me and attacked someone else. This gave me time to build up my mana and find another wrath effect.
Have you considered Spike Weaver? The power of Uril and other decks that put their commander in the red zone along with decks that have a strong and possibly fatal early game to you makes Spike Weaver a nice way to give you a few turns to stabilize. Late in the game, you can always drop his +1/+1 counters onto other creatures (combos well with a persisted Woodfall Primus).
Also, misread Crime // Punishment in that it only affects your opponent's graveyard. Woops. It's still an awesome card though.
If you want to see my deck, it's somewhat of a work in progress. Unlike your deck, I don't use my graveyard too much until the late game because I don't want to get neutered by some random Nezumi Graverobber or Withered Wretch. Early game it's just wrath effects and mana ramping. When I've got the mana, then I start asserting myself and playing bombs. I play against strangers online which is why I don't run certain cards that will piss people off or prevent others from having fun playing their deck (i.e. Sorin and Iona); I dislike it when people scoop to singleton cards.
Looking over your list, I noticed you don't have Restock or Regrowth. You can recur anything to your hand with these, including wrath effects, stuff that was destroyed, etc. Regrowth is kind of like a green Demonic Tutor but for your graveyard. Your Genesis Wave doesn't hurt as bad when you know you'll be able to recur any juicy instants or sorceries that were dumped into your graveyard.
Why not replace Night's Whisper with Masked Admirers? You get one less card right away, but you get a creature that recurs itself and over the course of the game, you'll likely draw more cards than you would with a single casting of Night's Whisper (and you're not going to cast it more than once per game since you won't want to waste a Regrowth effect on it).
If you're playing Mirari's Wake for the mana, you should also play Mana Reflection. It's silly with cards like Fetid Heath. Unfortunately having both enchantments out only allows your lands to produce 3 when they originally produced 1 without the enchantments (Fetid Heath produces 5, however, with both enchantments).
I'm not liking your mana base. From my count, you have the following:
6 Forests
5 Plains
6 Swamps (hard to activate your 'Tainted' lands which should never go a turn unactivated)
Out of the cards in your deck you have
4 ways to find a Forest card
6 ways to find a Plains card
3 ways to find a Swamp card
and
You also have 3 spells which can find a total of 7 basic lands in a deck that has 9 basic lands (and this excludes recursion effects which allow you to use the ability again). Then you have Life from the Loam which is going to what, get back your cycling lands? Fetch lands are useless because there won't be anything left to fetch. Many of your late game draws will be useless when you're drawing a card to fetch lands in your deck that don't exist. Dead draws are really, really bad in EDH (4 player) as you'll be drawing one dead card to your opponent's 3 cards.
You may want to consider playing/buying a Rupture Spire and Exotic Orchard (which is good for decks with 3+ colors in multiplayer games).
You really shouldn't be worrying about doing fun stuff with your mana base. Karador needs lots of mana and he needs it quickly (specifically 1 land per turn on average; you should have 10 lands by turn 10). Your cycling lands are silly. When playing Karador, you should never cycle away a land because playing the land, even with other lands in your hand is more important than drawing a card. You need to be able to fuel your end game as soon as possible. You want to get every land in your deck out on the board and not in your graveyard. I'm personally not a fan of too many fetch lands since they don't produce mana and lowers your maximum mana production. I'm even less a fan of the fetch lands when you already have spells and effects which thin your deck of land.
Anyways, I decided to see if I could make a better land package for you. Even without changes to the rest of your deck, your spells and Yavimaya Elder will not run out of stuff to search for. With this package, you can replace Life from the Loam with more land fetch spells or upgrade some of your spells so they can find 2 or more lands each (such as Explosive Vegetation, Far Wanderings, and Journey of Discovery.
Razorverge Thicket (costs $0.50)
Sunpetal Grove (costs $0.90)
Verdant Catacombs
Fetid Heath
Temple of the False God
Selesnya Sanctuary
Command Tower
Krosan Verge
Vesuva
Temple Garden
Overgrown Tomb
Murmuring Bosk
Marsh Flats
Bojuka Bog
High Market
Strip Mine
Windswept Heath
Reflecting Pool
Orzhov Basilica
Golgari Rot Farm
Wooded Bastion
Twilight Mire
Godless Shrine
8x Forest
4x Plains
2x Swamp
Anyways, tell me what you think and I'll respond with more suggestions.
That said, your suggestions usually give me some new stuff to consider, which I appreciate. However, our philosophies on how the deck itself play out differ greatly. For me, a general isn't something to use when I'm on the ropes. It's the core of the deck, the reason you built it in the first place. You have permanent access to your general, which means, at least to me, that you should use it to its fullest, and sculpt the deck to work with it, synnergize with it, and play to its strengths.
I feel my list works hand-in-hand with what Karador does. Yes, I want creatures who can sacrifice themselves or others for some benefit because they help with the theme and core of the deck. If you believe that you should just play good stuff and then play Karador when you're out of other methods, and it works for you, that's great, and you should play that way. But I would appreciate it if you didn't tell me my card choices or methods weren't good simply because it isn't how you want to play the deck.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Dauntless Escort: I seems like the deck wants to wrath the board over and over again, and this guy makes you immune to the board wipes, which seems awesome. Plus, if you have Karador in play, you can just replay him and do it again. I get that sometimes you want the leaving play-coming into play interaction of playing things over and over again, but he seems like good utility.
Mortality Shift: Ok, this does seem like putting all your eggs in one basket, but if you have True Believer in your deck, and Karador in play, you play the shift and then the Believer using Karador so that no one can Bojuka Bog and it's ilk. Suddenly, every creature in your deck is at your disposal.
Morality Shift is a powerful card. A friend of mine plays Balthor the Defiled, and it's just an absolute house for him. My only problem is when someone plays Withered Wretch or Relic of Progenitus, and absolutely owns the gameplan. It's a really sweet card, but I'm just not a fan most of the time. Still too vulnerable.
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Yosei, the Morning Star is a really powerful card. My only potential problems with it are the fact that they can essentially lock people out of the game, and I have the power to abuse that. But maybe it's worth a slot anyway, since it's just really boss, and I don't have all of the pieces to go infinite with it. I don't like the Stonehorn Dignitary as much, but it's an interesting thought.
Birthing Pod, as I have said before, has never been all that promising in this deck. I've tested it over and over, since I have 2 copies anyway, and it just hasn't gotten there like I wish it would. It's sad, since I think in the right list it could be really strong, but it just hasn't done well here.
Farseek has been pretty solid thus far, but it and Kodama's Reach/Cultivate are the next cards in that area to go. Yavimaya Dryad is also up there on the list of things that could come in instead. Most of the other creatures who ramp (except for Primeval Titan) just aren't that good. That said, I do prefer to replace sorcery spells with creatures when possible, so we will see.
Attrition is good, but I sadly feel like I just don't have the room for it. Bloodghast is under heavy consideration at the moment, and I only have one Fauna Shaman at the present, so I doubt she's coming out of my other deck to go in this one.
Graveborn Muse is pretty good, but I dunno if I would drop it in here. Same thing with Vengeful Pharaoh, who would be so much better if he went back to your hand. Wurmcoil Engine is insanely powerful, since it makes so many more of itself, but I don't own one anymore, and they're not necessary enough that I wanna go out and buy one.
All of these have been really good suggestions. When I get a chance to sit down and playtest, I'm gonna try a bunch of these out. Thanks for your help, and I hope to keep hearing suggestions from you, and all the other posters out there.
Also, my own question of the day, what does everyone think about Grand Abolisher? Not even what to cut, just whether or not you think it would be good in this list. Cheers!
WBG Karador, Ghost Chieftain