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Karador, Chieftain of the Selfless | V-ZNR

Commander / EDH Aristocrats BGW (Abzan, Junk) Dredge Infinite Combo Multiplayer Value Engine

Beebles

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Commander: foil Karador, Ghost Chieftain

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"There is always more to give."

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The army of the selfless

I started out this Karador deck when I just started playing EDH. The core idea at the time was to try and avoid playing a lot of ETB creatures and instead to focus on creatures that are able to put themselves in the graveyard while doing something cool. Creatures like Yavimaya Granger , Selfless Spirit or Loyal Retainers . I figured if I would run a lot of these "selfless" creatures that end up in the grave by sacrificing themselves, I wouldn't need any sacrifice outlets to get good use out of Karador, enabling a different kind of aristocrats build.

I messed around with that idea for a long time, but I could not get it to a place I liked. I decided to dissassemble it and try out some other ideas. Years later, during the Ikoria spoiler season, there were a lot of cool Abzan cards being added to the cardpool, like Lurrus of the Dream-Den , Luminous Broodmoth and Eerie Ultimatum . These made me excited to look back at Karador and create an Abzan deck again.

I took inspiration from Beezy's list for the base of this deck. I liked that he doesn't run that many sacrifice outlets and focuses on many small utility creatures. Similar to the main idea behind my old build, just way more refined and focused.

A deck reanimated

Looking back at the old list, it was all over the place: there were way too many ideas floating around. Several of the themes that were in that deck ended up in new decks that I've built since. This opened up room to create a much more streamlined version this time around.

This new iteration is really embracing the graveyard, which is something I have never done before because my meta runs quite some graveyard removal. However, I'm just going overboard with it this time, focusing on filling the grave and getting a lot of stuff back. The emphasis on selfless creatures remains, but there are also some ETB creatures and sac outlets to create a more all round package.

The Combo's

The deck wins through creature sac loops and a card like Blood Artist . There are many loops here that we can assemble:

If the sac outlet was Altar of Dementia we can also win without a card like Blood Artist .

Another way to go for the win is to sac and recur Kokusho, the Evening Star several times a turn, via cards like Loyal Retainers , Saffi Eriksdotter and Animate Dead in combination with a sac outlet and recursion cards, such as Sun Titan , Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Karador.

Closing comments

With all the new Abzan cards coming out, I'm excited to give Karador another go. The list will likely evolve over time as I figure out what direction I want to take this deck next. Feel free to leave a comment if you have suggestions!

GL & HF,

Beebles

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Back from the dead — April 10, 2020
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After years in disassembly, I recreated this deck with the Ikoria set incoming, which contains many exciting new Abzan goodies I want to try! I revamped the list and created a new description.

My thoughts on the Ikoria inclusions:

  • Luminous Broodmoth can double up our creature ETB, LTB or sac effects, and also works as a board insurance.
  • Lurrus of the Dream-Den it's a baby cat Karador! With the upside of getting back other permanent spells, such as Animate Dead.
  • Eerie Ultimatum is the perfect dumb big mana spell for a self-mill deck. I love ridiculous tempo-swing cards like that, and this one is just absurd in a deck like this.
  • Vivien, Monsters' Advocate is pretty sweet in this here as well. Half of our deck is a creature card, so we should get plenty of value from her static ability. And her -2 synergizes perfectly with Karador, as regardless of the discount we get, the CMC of Karador will always be 8. This allows us to basically get any creature card from the deck into play.
A lingering thought — July 27, 2017
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More triggers — May 6, 2017
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Changes — Nov. 30, 2016
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Revision 54 See all

(3 years ago)

-1 Dauntless Escort main
+1 Selfless Spirit main
Date added 8 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

9 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

20 - 0 Uncommons

18 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.81
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Companion Zone, Experience Token, Goat 0/1 W, Illusion */* U, Morph 2/2 C, Pest 1/1 BG, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders Fun deck ideas, Playtest
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