Commander with Nick Wolf: Karlov Update WRITTEN BY Nicholas Wolf

Hello again, everyone out there in the world. I hope you had a thrilling and memorable Groundhog Day, or if you live in a country that has no concept of Groundhog Day, I hope you had a fun time making fun of we North Americans' predilection for basing meteorological predictions on a fat rodent. Regardless of whether a shadow was seen yesterday, the world keeps on turning, and we with it.

Today I have a decklist that is near and dear to my heart. I've been playing and tinkering with this deck for a few months now.

You may remember it in the early stages from this article: https://pucatrade.com/blog/ 2015/commanderkarlov

Now it's honed, competitive, mean, and most importantly, a joy to play. I've been able to achieve mythic turn 3 kills, and I've been able to win games at three digit life totals. Apparently the game of Magic is pretty easy when you learn to stop worrying and love the fat ghost.

Karlov of the Ghost Council

Karlov is the real deal. I tend to favor commanders on the low end of the mana curve simply because I hate having to wait to cast them, and at a measly two mana, Karlov can die over and over again and still fit into a curve. But it's his abilities that push him into the upper echelon of aggro commanders, sharing the same air as Rafiq of the Many, Geist of Saint Traft, [[Skullbriar]], and Doran, the Siege Tower. Gaining incremental life is the name of the game with Karlov, so his entire 99 is devoted to giving us little blips of life, all the while feeding the hungry, hungry pontiff to enormous proportions. It's not unusual to find yourself in possession of a Karlov with double digit power and toughness by turn 4 or 5, and I've had him as big as 42/42 before his second ability starts getting activated. And speaking of that second ability, while the cost of removing six +1/+1 counters seems steep, remember that that's only three instances of life gain, and if things are going well, that's easily manageable in a turn, or even less. Being able to exile any creature that stands in the fat ghost's way is huge, and it's reliable enough in most instances to allow us to ease back on playing much creature-focused spot removal in favor of, well, more life gain.

As you may expect, what we want to be doing is gaining a point or two of life here, a point or two there, as opposed to giant swaths of life, a la cards like Sphinx's Revelation. Since Karlov only cares that you gained life, and not how much life you've gained, we want to focus on spreading our life gain across as many separate triggers as possible. To that end, we have nearly an entire decklist to accomplish this, from other creatures, to artifacts and enchantments. Even our lands get into the gain game. Let's talk about a few of the more important cards that feed Karlov's insatiable desire for sweet, sweet life.

Soul Warden/Soul's Attendant/Suture Priest

This trio of creatures can grow Karlov to ridiculous sizes all on their own, simply by existing. Most Commander games involve people playing creatures, since creatures tend to be important, and by having one of the Soul Sisters in play early, each creature that hits the field equals a blip of life, which equals another Karlovian snack. Ideally we want one of the one-drop sisters in our opening hand, as the sequence of playing a Turn 1 Soul Warden into a Turn 2 Karlov immediately grows him into a 4/4. Usually in a multiplayer game, if Karlov is not dealt with, this will result in a 10/10 or 12/12 Karlov before you even untap on your third turn. Of course, if we're living in dreamland (and why wouldn't we be?) we'd follow that up with a Ajani, Caller of the Pride and swing with a 12/12 flying, double-striking Karlov, killing an opponent in one shot. It can be done, and it has been done. I should mention that in this category, Auriok Champion would fit in quite nicely, but I still haven't been able to bring myself to spend 3500 PucaPoints on a creature that only has a fraction of the value in Commander as it does in other formats. But if you've got one lying around, feel free to use it.

After the Soul Sisters, the next easiest way to gain incremental life is through our handful of triggered abilities on artifacts and enchantments. Retreat to Hagra is a card from Battle for Zendikar with which we'll never, ever choose to give something deathtouch. We're playing this card solely for the one point of life drain we get from the landfall trigger, which translates to every land being one half of a Stand Together in terms of our loyalty to Karlov. And when several of our lands gain us a point or two of life when they hit the battlefield anyway, as we'll look at in a moment, Karlov will feast on the earth itself, like a kindergartener in a sandbox. After Retreat to Hagra, we have a few artifacts that support the Karlov cause as well, in Chalice of Life and Pristine Talisman. The Chalice is an interesting card in this deck because we actually prefer not to have it flip, but often we're gaining so much life that we can't avoid it. Doming an opponent for 5 damage each turn with the evil version of the cup is a nice consolation prize though. And Pristine Talisman pulls double duty, giving us a slight boost in mana production while giving us yet another source of "gain one life". Just remember, in case you've been living in a cave where 4th Edition rules are still enforced (mana burn, we miss you), tapping the Talisman just for the life gain is not only appreciated but required. Don't forget.

To assist Karlov in his spectral duties, we've included a handsome amount of tools, most appropriate of which is everyone's favorite broken fork of doom, Umezawa's Jitte. By itself, the Jitte is already a card that makes one wonder how it ever managed to get through testing, but when combined with Karlov, it gets ugly. No longer do we ever have to consider removing counters from the Jitte to temporarily grow the equipped creature, as simply choosing to remove counters to gain two life gives Karlov the +2/+2 boost, and it'll stick around past the end of turn as well. After the Jitte we have an armory of swords, cloaks, platemail, and big-ass hammers for Karlov and friends to wield in the name of life gain at the expense of opponents' skulls. The key to winning with Karlov is evasion. He doesn't have any way to get past chump blockers by himself, outside of exiling them, so a lot of our equipment is designed to get him up and over (or straight through) pesky blockers. Whispersilk Cloak, Loxodon Warhammer, and the swords perform this task admirably, all easily tutored for with Steelshaper's Gift, Enlightened Tutor, or Demonic Tutor.

Unblockable.

Karlov isn't the only one in the deck that can swing a hammer, of course, and a lot of our creatures can become just as threatening as Ghost Dad if given the chance. No lifegain-centric deck would be complete without Archangel of Thune, and while we tend not to have a large spread of creatures to make use of the Angel's ability to spread +1/+1 counters around, just growing Karlov is often good enough. On the "giant flying creatures with lifelink" front we also have B/W stalwarts Divinity of Pride, Blood Baron of Vizkopa, and Serra Ascendant to diversify our threats and hopefully draw a little heat off Karlov. Also deserving of a special mention is 70 PucaPoint powerhouse Sunscorch Regent, or as I like to call it, "BLURGUGHHH". Sunscorch Regent is to Karlov what Falcor was to Bastion Bux, and if you don't get that reference, I feel old.

As for lands, we finally get to have a reason to play all those lands that give us a life or two when they hit the field. Usually such lands are relegated to "only if I really have to play them" status, but for Karlov, they fit in fine. Scoured Barrens, Glimmerpost, Kabira Crossroads, Radiant Fountain, and Seraph Sanctuary all give us life upon entering the battlefield, thus bolstering Karlov. This deck is kinda focused on synergy, if you haven't noticed. We could even play Nomad Stadium if we really, really wanted to, which we don't. Plus, why would nomads build a stadium? That doesn't sound very nomadic. Unless it's on wheels. We're also armed with a few lands with life-matters activated abilities, like High Market and Vault of the Archangel, just in case you manage to somehow not have a way to gain even more life that turn. Remember though, we want to be playing Karlov on Turn 2 pretty much always, so don't go crazy with the colorless lands. I included the manabase I'm currently using, and sometimes I think I need to increase the colored sources of mana. Keep that in mind.

Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our free wins. Most of the time, people are going to be so focused on trying to avoid being eaten by Karlov that we can sneak in a way to simply win on the spot, and if not the actual spot spot, a spot shortly thereafter. Most commander players are familiar with the infinite loop generated by Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood, and I never feel bad winning with such a loop since it's generated by two five mana enchantments. It's easily disruptable, and if no one stops it, well, maybe we don't win so much as everyone else loses. We also have an auto-win in the form of Felidar Sovereign, and again, if it manages to survive all the way around to our next upkeep, shame on our opponents. Really, we're playing the Sovereign as a way to force opponents into using a removal spell on something other than Karlov, because we only really ever care about Karlov.

So there you go, guys and gals. This list in particular was a blast to write about, as it's a blast to play, and if you ever run into me for a few friendly games of Commander, you can be assured that I will be playing Karlov. Speaking of which, GP Detroit is around the corner, and I'll be hanging around not playing Modern, so if you're planning on attending, hit me up on Twitter (@Nicholas_Etc) so I can say hello. That's all for this week, friends, and may you be ever wary of the villainous Thief of Blood. Signing off.

CREATURES

Karlov of the Ghost Council - Commander



Crypt Ghast

Obzedat, Ghost Council

Felidar Sovereign

Pontiff of Blight

Sunscorch Regent

Nyx-Fleece Ram

Wall of Reverence

Soul Warden

Soul's Attendant

Drana's Emissary

Blood Artist

Suture Priest

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Vampire Nighthawk

Archangel of Thune

Erebos, God of the Dead

Kokusho, the Evening Star

Divinity of Pride

Wurmcoil Engine

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

Mother of Runes

Serra Ascendant

SORCERIES

Steelshaper's Gift

Damnation

Beseech the Queen

Merciless Eviction

Demonic Tutor

Debt to the Deathless

Vindicate

INSTANTS

Enlightened Tutor

Return to Dust

Swords to Plowshares

Utter End

Mortify

ENCHANTMENTS

Exquisite Blood

Sanguine Bond

Black Market

Blind Obedience

Retreat to Hagra

Phyrexian Arena

Faith's Fetters

Gift of Orzhova

ARTIFACTS

Sword of Fire and Ice

Sword of War and Peace

Sword of Light and Shadow

Umezawa's Jitte

Chalice of Life

Zuran Orb

Pristine Talisman

Whip of Erebos

Lightning Greaves

Whispersilk Cloak

Darksteel Plate

Coalition Relic

Orzhov Keyrune

Batterskull

Loxodon Warhammer

PLANESWALKERS

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Ajani, Caller of the Pride

Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath

Ob Nixilis Reignited

LANDS



High Market

Vault of the Archangel

Shizo, Death's Storehouse

Godless Shrine

Blighted Steppe

Tainted Field

Glimmerpost

Kabira Crossroads

Scoured Barrens

Caves of Koilos

Opal Palace

Seraph Sanctuary

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Cabal Coffers

Radiant Fountain

Scrubland

Isolated Chapel

Command Tower

Homeward Path

Orzhov Basilica

Ghost Quarter

7 Plains

8 Swamp

Nicholas Wolf is a writer who lives in Flint, Michigan. He's been playing Magic: The Gathering since Tempest and still doesn't consider Urza's Saga to be broken at all. He prefers building decks that have either have 40 cards (Limited), 100 cards (Commander), or 50 cards (Tiny Leaders).