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When I Was Done Dying

Commander / EDH Aggro Combo Exalted Landfall Primer Voltron

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Lands (35)

Utility (5)

Pump (13)

Vaguely Dork Shaped (9)

Toolbox (6)

Goin Wide (5)

Sweepers (4)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Karona, False God

Landfall (9)

Power Matters (7)

Turns/Combats (6)

Maybeboard

General (25)

No (5)

“Changes far greater than the turning of the leaves await us at season’s end.” —Colfenor, the Last Yew

Hi. This list, formerly "TM Shift" or "That Many Shift", is a synergy-focused list that uses cards and effects like Xyris, the Writhing Storm and Scapeshift which scale with a "number" for increased effectiveness. Be it power for Cold-Eyed Selkie, lands for Scapeshift, creatures for Surge to Victory, or even combat steps for additional Karona, False God buffs, much of this deck directly snowballs with the number of it's own resources. The end result is typically a victory through combat through chains of extra turns, gigantic boardstates with Felidar Retreat complimented by a boost from Karona, False God, or a high number of extra combat steps from combos like Gaea's Balance + Moraug, Fury of Akoum .

For the sake of technicality this can be considered a "Voltron" list, though it wants to Voltron up maindeck creatures rather than Karona, False God herself. It isn't just limited to a single strategy, though; a strong politics game can be played with creatures like Breena, the Demagogue while simultaneously buffing up important creatures like Glint-Eye Nephilim, and, depending on what's drawn, mass landfall enablers like Gaea's Balance and Scapeshift can combo with Field of the Dead and Felidar Retreat to go wide quick. Work out the kinks of summoning sickness, cast Karona, False God, and overrun the table with a swarm of zombies, cats, bugs, whichever!

"Karona, False God was the manifestation of all Dominarian mana, brought into being by the aggregation of Akroma, Phage, and Zagorka being slain by Kamahl's Soul Reaper. During her brief existence she further devastated the already war-torn continent of Otaria and disrupted the very fabric of magic on Dominaria. Her abilities stemmed from that of faith, that anything a being could believe of her, she could accomplish."

"Karona became misguided in her role as magic incarnate, reflecting basic human emotions such as fear, greed, and aspiration. Karona discovered that nearly every creature, human or beast, praised her completely and without hesitation. Karona soon assumed that she must be a goddess due to her phenomenal powers and the praise she received. A misconception propagated by all those who bent their knee to her."

When I was done dying, my conscience regained

So I began my struggle, a nothingness strained

Out a flash made of time, my new form blasted out

And it startled me so and I burst out a shout

At which my legs ran frantic like birds from a nest

And I ran until drained, leaving no choice but rest

So I fell asleep softly at the edge of a cave

But I should have gone in deeper but I'm not so brave

Karona, False God, at all points of the game, can be considered a hasty 8/8 which each turn player gains control of. This means that if the table wills it, a player who cannot block her can die in a single turn cycle. This means you too, of course, but there's more on that later. Anyways, Karona, False God can also just straight up one-shot players. This is done by stacking her own buff along with some other scaling damage buff like Exalted. Her having haste makes these combos somewhat viable, though you'll usually have to telegraph your intentions a turn ahead of time with something like Finest Hour.

5+3+1 = 9 for first swing, 9+3+1 = 13 for the second swing, totaling out at 22 damage. +1/+1 counter and an extra combat totals 21.

This deck doesn't have a shortage of win-cons. Here are some fun ones to add on top of general beatdown.

Those are the general "big" synergies and power combos. Some more situational ones are:

Key combos so they appear on the side are below. These are pretty modular and a lot of different cards work in each slot to great effect:

Struggling with Constant Mists? Here's some extremely niche options to combat it!

yo can u spot me bro?

The initial reason I chose Karona, False God as my commander was because she could buff Glint-Eye Nephilim, a creature I was testing a number of builds around. She also worked well with the other Nephilim, since they're mostly combat focused. This deck still wants to buff creatures and she's great for that, but it's now also got some other intuitive ways to do it.

THE GYM

THE SPOTTERS: CREATURES THAT BUFF

THE EQUIPMENT: ARTIFACTS & ENCHANTMENTS THAT BUFF

CREEPY OR WET: LANDS THAT BUFF

ARNIE GANG -- CREATURES THAT WANNA GET BIG

GAINS FOR DAYS -- EXTRA TURNS OR COMBAT STEPS

WHAT WE'VE BEEN TRAINING FOR: SPELLS WHICH CARE ABOUT OR IMPROVE POWER

THE FANS: CARDS WHICH CREATE THINGS TO BUFF OR CARE ABOUT COMBAT

Each turn, Karona, False God defects to the current controlling player. Since she can do 8 damage with a swing with no other buffs, it's entirely possible for a player to be dealt 24 commander damage in one rotation. This is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing for the times another player begins to get too far ahead and a curse whenever we begin to get ahead. Thankfully, deterring attacks can be done while simultaneously advancing other parts of the gameplan.

  1. Agitator Ant // Goads, buffs for creatures that want power, and zero additional mana investment -- makes playing an early Karona, False God a breeze, but is still good without her. Jon Irenicus, Shattered One can be considered if you're playing in a sacrifice-heavy meta, just know that he clashes with the majority of creatures in the list.
  2. Knight of Glory & Knight of Infamy // Exalted for creatures that want power and Karona, False God. Can infinitely block Karona, False God without killing her. Irreplaceable
  3. Xyris, the Writhing Storm // Very similar to Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor in the notion that more damage = more creatures. Here, however, the snakes immediately come into play under your control, letting you play a turn 5 Xyris then a turn 6 Karona, False God, resulting in 6 draws, 6 snakes, and by extension, 6 blockers
  4. Felidar Retreat // Sometimes one chump blocker is all you need. This deck has plenty of landfall and avoids giving Karona, False God unblockable outside of Protection, so chump blockers work fine!
  5. Field of the Dead // Generally brought out by Scapeshift, this single land can provide all of the blockers one will ever need. Any zombies remaining after a turn cycle can then be buffed with the same thing they were created to defend from.
  6. Sword of Feast and Famine // A fantastic pump card on it's own, when equipped to a creature, the protection this gives will allow them to block Karona, False God without taking damage. Just be sure that the creature it's equipping isn't over 3 base power or it will kill Karona, False God when blocking.
  7. Brash Taunter // You know 'em, you love 'em. Fantastic defensive toolbox that doubles as a way to get past pesky pillowfort decks. Buff a creature up to high hell and fight 'em with the taunter, blast face with the recoil effect.

Honorable mentions:

  • Wand of Orcus // Currently omitted from the list. Creates plenty of chump blockers. When equipped to Karona, False God, it will continue to create zombies whenever she does damage since the control of the equipment doesn't change even when she does. Because of this, you'll get punched a maximum of one time before a flood of zombies spawns in to protect you.

And the earth looked at me and said "Wasn't that fun?"

And I replied "I'm sorry if I hurt anyone"

And without even thinking cast me into space

But before she did that she wiped off my own face

She said better luck next time don't worry so much

Without ears I couldn't hear I could just feel the touch

As I feel asleep softly at the edge of a cave

But I should have gone deeper but I'm not so brave

Dan Deacon - When I Was Done Dying

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Updates Add

finally getting around to updating this! — May 24, 2024
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yoyo, lots of time has passed since i last gave this deck a proper overview. so, so many new cards... baby steps are the only way any progress will be made without harming the deck's core philosophy haha.

anyways, Collector's Cage instantly stood out to me when i saw it as a card for this deck. pumps, instant speed, lets you ignore timing restrictions... fantastic stuff here. additionally i'd like to swap out Carpet of Flowers for something but i'm not sure what. the deck really needs one or two additional sources of mana early to get going so i need to be careful there.

perhaps The Necrobloom will be a nice include once it's out. deck already loves Field of the Dead. i'll keep an open mind for things to swap in and out going forward here since i'm satisfied with my other decks.

woot — Nov. 12, 2021
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back — Oct. 20, 2021
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goldfishing shenanigans — Sept. 30, 2021
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95% Casual

Competitive

Revision 49 See all

(1 month ago)

+1 Keldon Flamesage maybe
Top Ranked
Date added 3 years
Last updated 1 month
Key combos
Legality

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

9 - 0 Mythic Rares

68 - 0 Rares

12 - 0 Uncommons

5 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.71
Tokens Bird 2/2 U, Cat Beast 2/2 W, Copy Clone, Faerie 1/1 U w/ Only Block Flying, Insect 1/1 G, Snake 1/1 G, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
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