I really like your suggestions. Especially Ajani, Caller of the Pride seems very useful. I didn't even know this card.

And yes, Anguished Unmaking is the better Utter End and should replace it.

And no, Bitterblossom does not fit this deck for the very reasons you have mentioned already.

Thank you for your suggestions. I will definitely take them seriously!

I would strongly consider Elspeth, Sun's Champion. With all the "gain life when creatures enter" abilities, it would trigger Karlov three times a turn. It would also clear the board of big threats while you can simply make Karlov small enough to survive and most creatures in your deck would too. I might also recommend Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. It shuts down reanimator decks and makes you tokens to gain life with, while also having lifelink itself.

Elspeth I find is too expensive for what it delivers. This is "not" a token deck! When I have no lifegain creature on the field, Elspeth is pretty useless.

Kalitas is nice, but I find there are better options available. I will consider it nonetheless.

Thank you!

Do you find Lightning Greaves useful here? It seems like you have a lot of things that need to target Karlov, and they can't if you have the Greaves on it.

True - but then Karlov also needs protection from being a target.

With equipments I am allowed to attach it to various creatures within one round as long as I pay the equip cost. So what I do is I attach Lightning Greaves to another creature I control, target Karlov with whatever and then re-attach the equipment to Karlov for 0 mana. Works just fine...

Here the rule 702.6a: Equip is an activated ability of artifact Equipment cards. Equip [cost] means [Cost]: Attach this Equipment to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could play a sorcery.

I'm familiar with the rules on e question equipping. I was only trying to point out that at the point where you move the greaves over, someone can easily dispatch Karlov. Maybe it's just the people I play with but generally someone has a removal spell in hand with the means to use it at any time.

Suggestions: Rhox Faithmender and Divinity of Pride

Cool idea with the Rhox - I will play it I think.

Divinity of Pride has been in this deck since it's first hour ...

Thanks for the suggestions!

How about Mikaeus, the Unhallowed or Mikaeus, the Lunarch?

Mikaeus, the Lunarch will help with getting counters across the board.

and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed makes your guys come back, and with Retribution of the Ancients, you can basically make them never die whilst killing your opponent's stuff!

Hmmm ... not too bad, but I find the Unhallowed costs too much in terms of black mana. Quite hard to play in such a fast deck.

And Mikaeus I find too slow as well ... this deck is not about counters but about life-gain that leads to counters. So that is what I am looking for. Thanks anyway!

Love the deck, might want to consider Dazzling Reflection (especially if infect is in the meta in you area)

Elspeth, Knight-Errant could be great, seeing as you can use her first ability to trigger the soul sisters, healer of the pride, etc. as well as giving Karlov +3/+3 and flight when you don't have those creatures out.

Congregate can be insanely broken, especially in multiplayer, however, it seems like you play a lot of edh duels, so I'd throw it in the sideboard.

Considering all the ways you can put +1/+1 counters on your creatures you might also want Abzan Falconer.

Personally I would cut Defiant Bloodlord, a bit too expensive to really use well.

With all the tokens yo make, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim would be a decent add, as well as allowing you to deal some massive damage if you sac Karlov with Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage out.

Finally, Tainted Sigil could hold two purposes, allowing you to ignore a huge swing (as long as it dosent kill you) or, doing a bit of burst heal to either save yourself, or further enable Sanguine Bond or Vizkopa Guildmage

Thanks, these are some great suggestions. However, I find it hard to take out cards that have proven to work just fine.

Considering your life-gain ideas I must say I much prefer Consuming Vapors since it can be used to decimate the opponent's armies and it doesn't depend on anything else but a fat Karlov ...

I think I will give Elspeth a try - sounds like a very reasonable idea!

Having played this deck quite a bit now, I sometimes find Defiant Bloodlord a bit slow too, but sometimes just the thing I needed. I might replace it with something else for a change.

Wow that's a great build! You've given me a few good ideas to add to my Karlov build. Mine isn't nearly as fast but its fun to play and just needing some more Teeth.

Only thing I see that I could recommend would be Beacon of Immortality as an instant and Tainted Remedy Together they become a one hit kill if needed.

Hats off to what you've done.

The Beacon is definitely an option ... Worth thinking about it!

Thanks a lot for your applause :-) Yes, I tried to make it as fast as possible and quite often it leads to a kill before the opponent was able to build up his walls. That is what I call "effective"!

Hatred would be a great choice for this especially on anything with lifelink or for commander damage. High costed & painful if it gets countered but always funny either way.

Have you had an opportunity to playtest Kambal, Consul of Allocation in this deck?

1st turn Soul Warden, 2nd turn Karlov, 3rd turn Kambal seems like it would put a lot of pressure on your opponents.

Both cards are great recommendations. I have not tested them yet but definitely will consider them!

Thanks for your suggestions!

hello again, I had forgotten about this list. nearly a year of testing later, I have more suggestions.

Skullclamp is probably the most powerful draw you could ask for, especially with your token sub-theme

Aetherflux Reservoir is another card that can go infinite with Exquisite Blood while also providing an insane amount of incremental lifegain

Dragon Throne of Tarkir is amazing with the token sub-theme, overrunning your opponents for 20+ each creature in many cases

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is removal for many things orzhov has trouble removing

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Crypt Ghast can lead to some very broken starts

Demonic Collusion is very good at finding the entirety of your combo in one card

Serra Avatar can end games very quickly, and also plays well with all your voltron peices

Sunscorch Regent can just get out of hand in multiplayer, while also growing karlov

and finally Debt to the Deathless can end any serious board stall seriously quick

there might be more and i am sure it would come up were we to play, so I will leave my listThat which is dead will kill you quickly

Aetherflux Reservoir Is something worth considering definitely.

The other suggestions are interesting too. Some are quite expensive in mana, so I'll have to see what goes and what doesn't.

Cheers!

Do you think it would be worth replacing True Conviction with Whip of Erebos? The whip is cheaper to cast, and considering that most of your creatures are small it seems like the lifelink part of True Conviction is the most relevant part. The whip also gives you the ability to pull a creature like Archangel of Thune, Resplendent Mentor, or Silverblade Paladin out of the graveyard for a turn if necessary. I know that the Double Strike from True Conviction would give you more opportunities to get counters onto Karlov, but without your experience with the deck I guess I can't properly judge how relevant that is in most games.

This is a very relevant point you are making. At times I find True Conviction just too expensive to cast. However I love the double strike and it works wonders when it is in play. I guess all I can do is to test out both and to see what works best. Both have their place in this deck.

Or which other card would you remove in order to have both enchantments in this deck? I don't find one I'd like to get rid of ...

Got rid of Holy Mantle in order to re-try the Whip for a while. The Mantle was cool though since it makes Karlov immune against most of the creature's abilities and unblockable at the same time.

Yeah, Holy Mantle is probably the easiest to set aside considering that you have other cards that do similar things and are cheaper to cast. Maybe Claws of Gix could be another card to take out? How often does it perform that way you want it to in the deck?

Probably not often enough :-) It is on my "take out" list, if I find something much better.

Are there any new cards since 2017 that would fit in this deck?