My Karador deck is the oldest surviving deck I have, and probably my favorite. Its age means it contains a number of relics that should have been discarded, but have hung on in the deck out of fondness. The curve is too high, and the manabase is somewhere between greedy and foolish. The maybeboard reflects a great number of ideas I have for a large scale deck overhaul.
As it already stands, though, the deck is great. Your chances of winning go up with each turn that passes, due to the unmatchable card advantage and consistency present in the deck. You have an incredible toolbox of answers. Aggro and Voltron have a terrible time dealing with a recurrable Spike Weaver, and Combo tends to fall apart after a Mindslicer into Bojuka Bog. On top of all that, I run 2 powerful, versatile combo wins that are both made up entirely of cards you want to run anyway. (Living Death + Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Reveillark + Karmic Guide) On top of all that is layers of backup plans, including but not limited to:
Worm Harvest and Gavony Township demanding a board wipe every turn.
Using Glory to make every creature you control unblockable
Reanimating an opponent's Laboratory Maniac, then going nuts with Greater Good.
Knight of the Reliquary, especially if she brings her good friend Svogthos. Seriously, these guys can be 20/20 easily.
Attacking 7 times with Karador for the saddest commander damage win this side of Slobad, Goblin Tinker.
In my experience with the deck, there are four cards that will win you the game almost every time they get to do their thing. They are Skullclamp, Birthing Pod, Living Death, and Hermit Druid. Any Karador deck, or even any BGx deck with creatures, would be handicapping themselves greatly if they didn't play these 4 cards, I feel.
Birthing Pod places constraints upon how you build your deck. You need to make sure you have enough creatures at each mana cost that you can always turn something into something better, no matter the state of the game. However, the consistency it gives you is actually absurd. Every single creature you play is an enormous threat with a birthing pod out. A control player literally cannot let you get a single creature on the table without a chance at losing on the spot.
Hermit Druid, despite having one ability, actually does 3 things. The first two are positive. He gets you an extra card, every turn, ensuring you never, ever miss a land after he hits, and he fills your graveyard up with good things to reanimate. The third thing is he makes people very, very afraid of you. If why this happens is not immediately apparent, it is because a notorious combo deck runs hermit druid and no basics, so that his activation mills his entire deck and wins through Dread Return.
Skullclamp turns all your small utility guys into Ancestral Recall. Farhaven Elf now reads "Get a land, draw 2." False Prophet: "When it dies, exile all creatures, draw 2" Karmic Guide: "Reanimate target creature, draw 2 at your next upkeep." It's really, really gross.
Living Death has always been a strong card in graveyard decks, but the printing of Gray Merchant means casting Living Death actually just wins the game on the spot. Never forget this card isn't just a mass reanimate, but also a board wipe.
If I owned one, and I hope to soon, Survival of the Fittest is the fifth pillar of this strategy. This card needs no introduction and runs away with games very, very quickly.
As to the rest of the deck
Your ideal creature has 2 or less power, one toughness, costs 3 or less mana, and triggers when they enter the battlefield. This magical combination means they can be cast for their effect, skullclamped for two cards, then recurred with either Sun Titan or Reveillark. Creatures that don't meet at least 2 of these criteria should be really, really good.
Bane of Progress, Mindslicer, False Prophet:
These 3 are all stars. By recurring them, you can reliably knock every other player out of the game. Very few decks can win with no creatures, artifacts, enchantments or hands. Meanwhile, all your stuff is safe in your graveyard, ready to come back.
Karmic Guide, Reveillark, (Saffi Eriksdotter):
I put Lark and Guide in my deck for value reanimation chains, actually unaware of the nonsense they get up to together. Reveillark and Guide together already get back all the 2 or lower power guys from your graveyard over and over, and with the addition of Saffi you can, at instant speed, repeatably reanimate every single creature in your deck. Play all 3. I will be as soon as I can find a Saffi. This is your combo win if you have a Gray Merchant and a point where you think you can go off.
Deadbridge Chant, Debtors' Knell, Oversold Cemetery, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Genesis, Sun Titan, Karador:
These guys are the reason this deck is so inevitable. Any of these will build an untenable advantage if left unchecked for a turn or 2. Karador is your general, Genesis can only be stopped by grave hate, and Sheoldred can be recurred, so keeping you off these effects for any length of time is actually really hard.
Greater Good, Dimir House Guard, Carrion Feeder, Sadistic Hypnotist, Phyrexian Plaguelord:
Repeatable sac outlets. Greater good is by far the best, but all the rest have an upside of their own. Carrion Feeder costs just one, Plaguelord can kill a bunch of annoying guys, House Guard tutors for most of the best cards in your deck, and Hypnotist usually wins the game if you play him with a couple creatures in play. Never just cast the Guard if you can, transmute him for something then cast him from your graveyard.
Knight of the Reliquary, Life from the Loam, and the land bros:
Knight is a magnificent card, and lets you run a land toolbox in addition to your creature toolbox. Life from the Loam lets you recur the lands you sac to the knight. If you really like the land theme, you can run Weathered Wayfarer in addition to the Knight. There are an absurd number of lands you can play, so I'll just go over a few that are particularly good.
Secluded Steppe, (Barren Moor, Tranquil Thicket):
I honestly thought I was playing all 3, but for some reason 2 are missing from my list. Play all 3. Cycle them if you have access to the color they produce, play them if not. Recur them with loam to draw a ton of cards. It feels great.
Bojuka Bog:
Don't let other people get big scary things when you cast Living Death, keep that to yourself.
Vault of the Archangel, Gavony Township:
Your deck has a LOT of tiny, useless Skullclamp fodder. These can turn them into real threats. Hilarious with Worm Harvest.
Svogthos, the Restless Tomb:
A land that regularly attacks for 20.
Acidic Slime, Archon of Justice, Ashen Rider, Big Game Hunter, Bone Shredder, Butcher of Malakir, Fleshbag Marauder, Massacre Wurm, Ulvenwald Tracker, Necrotic Sliver, Qasali Pridemage:
Removal guys. I probably run too many, but you want a bunch. Big Game Hunter is the single most friendly creature in the deck. He has a really good ETB, gets clamped, larked, titaned, feeds Gray Merchant for 2, and to top it all off, can be cast for his madness cost when you discard him to Greater Good, Tortured Existence, or Survival of the Fittest. He's seriously fantastic.
Solemn Simulacrum, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Farhaven Elf, Seedguide Ash:
Ramp guys. I want to run a few more if I can. Seedguide Ash is really bad if your games are usually fast, but if you can actually kill him once or twice you'll have enough mana to do whatever you want.
Sepulchral Primordial, Grave Titan, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed:
Big jerks. Mikaeus especially is an absolute all star. Titan and Primordial I could take or leave. Both can potentially run over a game on their own, but do very little for the rest of the deck.
Gray Merchant of Asphodel:
Considering the number of times I've mentioned him, you've probably ascertained that this guy is important. He is the card that pushed this deck over from a highly resilient pile of dudes into something that actually wins the game sometimes. Karador's weakness has always been actually closing out games once your opponents are out of gas, and Gary here is just the ticket. If you can, try to keep the total black mana symbols in the creatures in your deck above 40. If you do, and the game goes long enough, a living death for your deck will one shot everyone, regardless of boardstate.
Cards worth considering:
Academy Rector and her package:
Rector is one of those cards that, depending on the cards in your deck, can be either horrifying or terrible. If I ran her, I'd also run Necromancy and Animate Dead. Both can be Sun Titaned as well as Rectored, and the Rector can also get Debtors' Knell, Survival of the Fittest, and Greater Good. Other things to consider if a rector is run: Defense of the Heart and Pattern of Rebirth, because they're nuts.
Riftsweeper:
I want to run this guy for the following play: Rector dies, getting Survival and exiling itself. Discard a creature for Riftsweeper, putting Rector back into your deck. Discard a creature for Rector. Get more enchantments, feel good. He also gets back important bits after someone exiles your graveyard.
Iona, Shield of Emeria, Reya Dawnbringer, or the [NullStone Gargoyle]]:
All 3 of these are appealing for one reason--you can pod Karador into them. Reya is better in a fair playgroup, where she adds another inevitable card advantage mess, while Gargoyle and Iona are great against unfair combo/control decks. Which one is better depends on the nature of the offending deck. Azami, Azusa, etc. will care a lot more about Iona, while 3+ color decks will usually be hurt more by Nulstone Gargoyle. Gargoyle is also approximately 1% as many dollars as Iona. These guys are extra good if you run Necromancy, Animate Dead, Reanimate and/or Victimize to bypass their large mana costs.
Spirit of the Hearth and True Believer:
Protection against this deck's one real weakness, grave hate.
Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker:
If you can get enough tiny Skullclamp-fodder into play at once, this guy is the best. He is best friends with Sakura-Tribe Elder and is in a steady relationship with Bone Shredder. May be too cute.
Yosei, the Morning Star , Triskelion, Woodfall Primus, Tooth and Nail:
Despite these being very different, they share the same disclaimer. You MUST play these cards if you want your Karador deck to be competitive, BUT if you want to play casually, you don't want them. Yosei locks are super consistent, strong, and reliable. Woodfall Primus is the king of land destruction, and 2 card combos with Mikaeus to blow up the world. Along the same line, Mikaeus and Triskelion form a well known combo called "Mike and Trike," which deals infinite damage to all your opponents, and both halves of which can be fetched with Tooth and Nail. Like I said, not the most fun, but really powerful.
Scavenging Ooze, Withered Wretch:
Play at least one of these if you have other scary graveyard decks to worry about. Ooze can be tutored for with Green Sun, gains life and gets big, while Wretch is easier to activate in a deck with 3 colors and a bunch of utility lands, and adds 2 black to Gary
Green Sun's Zenith, Dryad Arbor:
My build is very black-creature-heavy. If you run a few more green guys, run these 2. Arbor turns Zenith into a turn 1 ramp spell, and gets whatever you need late game.
The lands:
Ok, don't be me. Run shocks. There is huge difference between a Seedguide Ash dying, getting 3 basic forests and getting Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden and Murmuring Bosk. Run Wood Elves and Oracle of Mul Daya. Finish off the filter land cycle if you can. Phyrexian Tower and Volrath's Stronghold are both nuts in a Knight package. If you can get you hand on any fetches, they're especially good in a deck that likes to cast Loam as much as this one. Especially considering the suicidal number of colorless lands I run, you want your mana as good as possible.
http://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveEDH/comments/1yurml/i_won_four_out_of_five_of_my_starcitygames_pods/
