[[Primer]] Korvold's all-you-can-eat buffet

Commander / EDH Aristocrats BRG (Jund) Multiplayer Primer Reanimator Sacrifice Tokens Value Engine

TCG-Player

Land (34)

Draw (5)

Protection (1)

1x Lightning Greaves

Ramp (15)

Removal (9)

Revive (6)

Special (3)

Tutor (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

Token (12)

Damage (6)

Sac Outlet (6)

Sideboard

Other (1)

1x Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire

Maybeboard

Other (43)

Land (20)

Description

Still working on it ^^

Synergies & Combos

Infinite Combo

This deck has an unintentional infinite combo I figured out while playing. It requires:

Eternal Witness
Living Death
Phyrexian Altar OR Pitiless Plunderer + a sacrifice outlet
Five creatures to sacrifice

Get Eternal Witness in graveyard, then cast Living Death. It resolves and gets back Witness, witch returns Living Death to hand. Sacrifice all creatures and generate enough mana to recast Living Death. To actually benefit from this loop you need a pay-off or an additional creature to make infinite mana.

Pod & Evolution

This section covers what's best to get with the cards Birthing Pod and Eldritch Evolution.
The highlighted targets are primarily card draw, removal, reanimation and protection, as well as sacrifice pay-offs.
The cards marked with [(ts) = to sac] are good targets to "climb the ladder" (sacrifice them to your Pod-effect next turn to get the next highest CMC).

CMC 1

CMC 2

CMC 3

CMC 4

CMC 5

Ohran Frostfang

Other notable interactions

Primal Growth + any mana dork: Turn 1 dork, turn 2 pay three mana and sacrifice the dork to Primal Growth. You are still left with two untapped lands (on turn 2) and well set up for Korvold turn 3

Nightmare Shepherd + Puppeteer Clique: "Steal" three creatures out of your opponent's graveyards. Puppeteer Clique comes back twice (one with Persist, one with the Shepherd), getting three creatures. Sacrifice them and Shepherd exiles them and makes copies for you to keep

Nightmare Shepherd + Ghouls' Night Out: Works the same as the interaction with Puppeteer Clique.

Shiny Progress

✨ Shiny ✨ - (93/94)

Foil OG-Printing

Foil: Extras

Zendikar Expeditions

FNM Promos

Secret Lair

Judge Reward Promos

Unstable Foil Basics

Other Foils

Not available in foil - (6)

Commander Precon

Older than foils

Foils to get - (1/94)

Foil OG-Printing

Wild Growth

Changelog

01.08.2021

My playgroup has a self-made deck:https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/casual-banned-list/|"Casual-Banned List", which contains all cards that we deem "unfair" or "non-casual". Some of these cuts are to make the deck conform with this list and to make it less spiky overall, as it often proved to be opressive, compared to your average "casual" EDH deck. Especially the cards that can also be found on our bannedlist caused frustrating losses for many opponents.

Meren of Clan Nel Toth --> Pawn of Ulamog

Getting Meren "online" proved to be difficult sometimes. When you play a card meant reanimate your creatures, having to kill them first can sometimes be a tough hoop to jump through, especially after a boardwipe.
Pawn of Ulamog is primarily meant to help the deck's occasional shortage of things to sacrifice. It also works well on it's own and kinda fills a similar role to Meren, as it gives you value when your creatures die.

Gaea's Cradle --> Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Cradle is definitely one of the more "unfair" Magic cards. It consistenly produces more mana than should be avaliable at that point in the game. It's high price tag makes people like being priced out of the game, which is like adding salt in the wound when cradle just tapped for 8 mana.
Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is mainly meant to help consistently cast dorks turn one. Making Fetchlands able to tap for mana also let's us keep them around till after Korvold is out + it makes the Filter Lands better.

Earthcraft --> Ignoble Hierarch

Earthcraft is crazy good. Just makes to much mana too easily and doesn't require us to keep mana open to respond.
Ignoble Hierarch was made for this deck. It was obvious that he'd find a place in this deck.

Dockside Extortionist --> Nest Invader

It's often hard to resolve Dockside and NOT win in the mid- to lategame. Enables wins with too little setup.
Nest Invader is another solution to the deck's sacrifice fodder-problem: Sometimes Korvold comes out with nothing good to sacrifice and sometimes I just quickly ran out of things to sacrifice. Replaces Dockside as link in our Birthing Pod-chain.

Crop Rotation --> Deadly Dispute

Kinda useless without Cradle. Yes, you could always cycle it with Korvold in play, but there aren't really any other lands worth grabbing.
Before the engine really starts going (or after it was shut down), my hands tend to get light on cards and Deadly Dispute offers unconditional card draw (almost).

Jeweled Lotus --> Carrion Feeder

Lotus just causes feelbads and can actually leave us in a pretty bad situation when Korvold gets killed immediately after (which is likely).
The last piece of a game winning enigne I often have to look for is a free sacrifice outlet. It's also boardwipe protection in a way, as we can at least turn our creatures into carddraw (with Korvold). Worst case, it can be "cycled".

17.10.2021

Night Incarnate --> The Meathook Massacre

Night Incarnate is expensive and situational. The -3/-3 is sometimes not enough to kill every relevant threat. It's only upside is that is can be tutored for.
The Meathook Massacre on the other hand is scalable and it's other abilities are good on it's own. Just casting it for is still fine, and like Incarnate, it can act as fodder in a pinch.

Animation Module --> Lightning Greaves

Animation Module works good. Maybe even too good. Fact of the matter is, it's very easy go to semi-infinite with cards like Ashnod's Altar and I found myself in situations where I was simply not casting it because that wasn't the way I wanted to win. Instant-win combos are just not my thing.
Lightning Greaves is a card that gets thrown into many commander decks, since it's hardly ever 'bad', but in this deck it performs wonders. Korvold is always (rightfully) threat #1 and is always killed on sight. I hardly ever untap with him and when I do, victory usually is near. It also allows Korvold to attack and get extra value/damage right away, as well as protecting out other important pieces and giving our dorks and Dryad Arbor haste.

06.08.2022

Tireless Tracker --> Morbid Opportunist

Tireless Tracker is not very impactful. With some land synergy getting cut, it's not getting any better.
Morbid Opportunist is pretty much an auto include. It easily draws 2-3 cards a turn-cycle.

Caustic Caterpillar --> Outland Liberator

Caustic Caterpullar costing only 1 isn't really relevant since turn 1 usually a mana dork is played. Having to leave open at all times is also a real cost.
Outland Liberator does the same at the same overall cost, but takes only to activate on later turns. It's also really good it if ever happens to flip.

Curse of Opulence --> Gala Greeters

Curse of Opulence is nice when your oppoents play into it and give you additional Gold tokens, but is overall quite unreliable. There are also not very many creatures we want to attack with. Getting disposable tokens on the board also takes a while.
Gala Greeters is very consistent. Even if it only makes one Treasure token a turn, it's still great. It is also not very hard to trigger it on following oppoent's turns by creating tokens at instant speed.

Nesting Dragon --> Mitotic Slime

Nesting Dragon worked fine. The flying bodies dealing damage was actually a nice increase in reach, but it didn't feel very impactful overall.
Mitotic Slime by itslef makes the same amount of tokens as Nesting Dragon with three land drops. It is also a nice piece of boardwipe insurenace, since it'll leave bodies behind to help you rebuild.

Nest Invader --> Prosperous Inkeeper

Nest Invader worked suprisingly well, it is simply outclassed with the release of ...
Prosperous Inkeeper. The treasure isn't much worse than the Eldrazi Spawn, but gaining 1 life each time a creature enters is sneakily impactful.

Fiend Artisan --> Seize the Spotlight

Fiend Artisan isn't bad in this deck, but I want to reduce the amount of tutors in the deck, as to make them less repetitive. It having summoning sickness also holds it back greatly.
Seize the Spotlight Is great in this deck. Most of the time, you just get to draw 3 cards and create 2 Treasure tokens (which will draw another 3 cards). It will always give you three things to sacrifice.

Ramunap Excavator --> Riveteers Ascendancy

Ramunap Excavator lost a lot of value with less MDFCs and no Dryad Arbor in the deck.
Riveteers Ascendancy is a really cool card. It's certainly not 'broken', but can give you loads of value. Works amazingly well with Birthing Pod.

Soul-Guide Lantern --> Blood Artist

Soul-Guide Lantern is very low impact. While most decks interact with their graveyard in some way, only a few are truly shut down by graveyard hate. With the (deliberate) lack of tutors in the deck, drawing it at the right time is just luck-based.
Blood Artist is just another redundant engine-piece. Our main win-con is to drain our opponents for 40 with aristocrats effects and that usually succeeds with multiple drains per creature dying. It also has the added fringe benefit of stopping many infinite combos, that require creatures dying.

Necromancy --> Wake the Dead

Necromancy underperformed. Being able to play it at instant speed wasn't very impactful. Animate Dead would've been superior in almost all situations.
Wake the Dead has the potential to be hugely impactful. With Korvold in play, it becomes a -draw spell of sorts. It is also notable that it is impossible to skip combat, so even if no opponet is attacking, you can always play this off turn.

Doubling Season --> Ghouls' Night Out

Doubling Season is a very fun card that I hate to see go, but it simply doesn't do anything on its own. Since this deck isn't a dedicated token/counter deck, it also isn't certain that we always have a meaningful effect to double up. It happened before that it got stuck in my hand, because it just wasn't worth casting. It's also hard to just put it out, since it's a prime target for removal.
Ghouls' Night Out on the other hand is great in almost every situation. It does on its own what Doubling Season makes other cards do. The creatures being sacrificed automatically can also come in handy in a low-roll situation, where we don't have access to a sacrifice outlet.

Gate to Phyrexia --> Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse

Gate to Phyrexia is a very interesting, underrated card, but this is not the deck for it. Having access to means we are not hard up for articat removal. I also found myself not using it, since sacrificing a mana dork wasn't worth blowing up their mana rock.
Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse needs a bit of setup to get the most out of, but the baseline is one token a turn cycle, since we usually are able to draw an extra card on our own turn. The pump ability give the deck a lot of reach and can serve as an alternative (or supportive) win condition.

Sylvan Safekeeper --> Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sylvan Safekeeper worked quite well, but with the land synergy leaving the deck, it looses utility. Also, when our opponents really want your creatures gone, they are usually willing to Strip Mine you with their removal spells, especially when we're ahead. I also dislike the option to sarcifice lands to draw cards. It is an interesting option for sure, but feels wholly out of place in 'Casual' commander.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is an extra land. 33 was working most of the times, but missing land drops is a surefire way to loose games that are not going great. Most cards in the deck are either or , so Urborg helps to fix mana. It also makes the filter lands better.

Westvale Abbey --> High Market

Westvale Abbey is just not good in this deck. Rarely ever can we afford to sacrifice 5 creatures + spending 6 mana. The token creating effect is also highly inefficient. If we're in a spot where the only thing we can do is paying 6 and a life vor a 1/1 token, that won't save us either.
High Market is also niche, but the floor is a lot higher. Removing 'combo pieces' (like sacrifice outlets) is an efficient way to stop us dead in our tracks, so having a backup on a land, which will likely never leave the battle field, is a good bit of ensurance.

Bala Ged Recovery --> Dragonskull Summit

Bala Ged Recovery is nice utility, but there are not very many cards in the deck worth extra. Especially creatures, which make up the most important part of the deck, can be salvaged easier. These land changes also serve to eliminate all tapped lands, which further increases consistency.
Dragonskull Summit and the other have-lands are the next best lands imo. Having more colored mana sources is also a benefit.

Shatterskull Smashing --> Rootbound Crag

Shatterskull Smashing is not a very good MtG card. I rarely ever used it as removal. It's always the last land I play, since I'm waiting for an opportunity to use it, which usually never comes. Playing many lands is also bad, since there is very little of it in the deck.
Rootbound Crag -||-

Dryad Arbor --> Woodland Cemetery

Dryad Arbor has just too much going against it; mainly summoning sickness and dying to removal (or as collateral damage in board wipes). Also considerably worse without Ramunap Excavator.
Woodland Cemetery -||-

02.08.2023

Outland Liberator --> Haywire Mite

Outland Liberator is decent. It's amazing if you get it to flip, but it is simply outclassed by:
Haywire Mite. Simply a power-crept version of all other versions of this effect. Gaining two life when it dies for whatever reason is a nice benefit.

Ordeal of Nylea --> Delighted Halfling

Ordeal of Nylea is great if things are going well, but without Korvold, it's almost impossible to get the effect of in a reasonable amount of time. Kind of a win-more card.
Delighted Halfling is just another great mana dork. Preventing Korvold from getting countered is also great.

Ghouls' Night Out --> Orcish Bowmasters

Ghouls' Night Out is just too expensive and there are too many things that have to be just right for this card to reach it's full potential.
Orcish Bowmasters needs to introduction. Even the baseline of two bodies and a ping is good.

07.09.2024

Evolutionary Leap --> Warren Soultrader

Evolutionary Leap is a fine card, but keeping up mana can be a serious hindrance. And more often than not, it just fings another mana dork.
Warren Soultrader is unbelievably good for this deck. Another Phyrexian Altar that can easily be tutored for, recurred and lets you store mana AND draw twice per sac with Korvold.

Volrath's Stronghold --> Spymaster's Vault

Volrath's Stronghold is very rarely being activated. Paying 3 mana and skipping out on a draw is hardly ever worth it. And with so much redundancy in the deck, getting back any one creature isn't that important. It can let you bypass commander tax, but by the time you net mana off of this, you probably have won already / don't need Korvold anymore to win.
Spymaster's Vault has great potential. With a lot of swamps and fetches in the deck, it enters untapped almost all the time and producing colored mana is always a plus. It's main use is to filter out all the lands we are bound to draw when cycling through a lot of creatures.

Plaguecrafter --> Accursed Marauder

Plaguecrafter feels almost always great to play. Making players with no creatures discard makes it so consistent to get value out of. But hitting planeswalkers can be a downside sometimes, because if a player has a walker but no creatures, you can just attack down that planeswalker anyways. So it gives them the option to keep a key creature by sacrificing a walker sometimes.
Accursed Marauder is just so much better for two reasons: It's one whole mana cheaper and messes up players with creature tokens as well.

Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse --> Marionette Apprentice

Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse is either useless or very good. Making a token each turn requires a lot of setup. And while I have used the pump for surprise kills before, if you have tons of cards in hand and open mana, it's likely possible to win another way.
Marionette Apprentice is just perfect. Making a body just pushed it to the next level and triggering off of treasures going to the graveyard is a nice cherry on top.

Purphoros, God of the Forge --> Agate Instigator

Purphoros, God of the Forge upsides: Hard to remove, better reanimation target, niche buff effect
Agate Instigator upsides: Modularity with the option to be half the cost, bodies to sacrifice, deals damage on etb when the Offspring-cost is paid

Ulvenwald Mysteries --> Skittering Precursor

Ulvenwald Mysteries is surprisingly good, but a bit slow and clunky.
Skittering Precursor is very close to Pawn of Ulamog in function and mostly just an upgrade because it triggers on fetch lands and enchantments as well.

Rankle, Master of Pranks --> Chthonian Nightmare

Rankle, Master of Pranks wasn't an easy cut, but there have been scenarios where it was subpar, because you need expandable creatures or an excess in cards to begin with.
Chthonian Nightmare is absolutely amazing. It's sometimes a better Recurring Nightmare, simply because it's one mana less, which is very relevant when playing it over and over again. Reanimating creatures with mana value 2 or less lets you save up energy to get more expensive creatures.

Puppeteer Clique --> Illicit Masquerade

Puppeteer Clique is very fun, but it's expensive and heavily depends on the targets you can reanimate, which you have little control over.
Illicit Masquerade is an experiment, a very promising one. Stripping it down and looking at the best case scenario, it reads: "Whenever a creature you control dies, return another target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield." It having flash gives it a lot of versatility as well, acting like another Wake the Dead.

Potential in: Underworld Breach, Flare of Cultivation, Boreal Druid, Arbor Elf
Potential out: Mad Ratter, Gala-Greeters, Prosperous Inkeeper

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Casual

96% Competitive

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 1 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.54
Tokens	Agate Instigator 1/1 R, Copy Clone, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Energy Reserve, Goblin 1/1 R, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Ooze 1/1 G, Ooze 2/2 G for Mitotic Ooze, Orc Army, Rat 1/1 B, Saproling 1/1 G, Servo 1/1 C, Snake 1/1 B, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B
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