WHY KARN?
Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this one.
A few years ago I played against this deck. My opponent had the deck at at least 60% foil, probably more, including some of the most expensive foils I've ever seen.
This was at a different shop, so for a metagame where the average game includes 5+ players, I found this to be a pretty effective deck. The quick acceleration combined with the overstimulation of Commanders and cards getting played help to leave the old Mirrodonian(?) appear less threatening than some of the bigger players I saw there. Coupling big, hard-to-remove threats with access to a handful of infinite mana combos, the deck was something I saw as "Neat, but not my style."
After completing the Double Rainbow project this year, I felt a need to go into some new territory for something challenging and fresh. I know, Karn has basically been around for a long time, but I think everyone can understand the idea of seeing old cards as new challenges, which is what happened here.
THE STRATEGY
The first pledge I made in construction of this deck was to not play any Eldrazi cards at all, avoid Blightsteel, and not play Mass Removal or Mycosynth Lattice.
After getting beat pretty handily in his inaugural voyages into 1v1 and multiplayer, it was clear to me that Lattice, O-Stone, Disk, and All Is Dust were necessities Karn needed if I was to ever win a game.
Having rules likes this in design are just as important as knowing when to break them. I talk a lot about design constraints, and how to keep them, but this is a good example in the case of its opposite.
For me, and those Zoners who are privy to the 72-page density of Joseph Conrad, building and playing Karn was my proverbial voyage into the "Heart of Darkness." With few options for Threats and Answers, the point of restraint and resistance to slamming Eldrazi is a pretty thin line.
The plan with Karn is to use his ability in a couple of instances. One, being the ability to create infinite mana combos with Voltaic Contrstruct and either Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, Grim Monolith, or Mana Vault in order to fuel other cards. Maybe it's a Darksteel Colossus. Maybe it's a Mycosynth Lattice. Maybe it's just a lot of Animated Artifacts. This has been, more times than not, how the deck effectively ends the game.
The second instance of Karn-imation (Animating friends for Karn) is part of what I just mentioned- swinging at our opponents. We're not being Aggro, per se- we're attacking when we can get ahead in the life total game, or there's an opening for our Dreamstone Hedron to come to life and smack an opponent for a big 6 damage without us feeling overextended and that potential 3 mana misused. This is a pretty conservative deck overall, seeing as how one Bane of Progress will, as I call it, "mmmBoP" us to death. And if you even know who Hanson is, you know that this is equally as painful.
The third instance in which this deck wants to animate artifacts is to surprise trade defensively, or to keep us from not dying. Being a conservative deck, we're more often than not fine with taking points of damage versus chump blocking until it matters. Mostly, this deck wants to play for the next turn to see if we can draw into a combo.
THE TECH
Also, if I haven't said it yet, I was not on board with this unbanning. Call me hypocritical, but I found it as such when the Rules Committee felt it necessary to justify their, "Just say No" campaign for Rofellos and Braids. It's probably the first time I've disagreed with what they've done, so it is worth mentioning again. And if they're going to give me things to abuse, then well, I'm going to do it. It's just good business and human nature. This deck may be all about robots, but I'm not.
However, this is another card that finds its stride in colorless. Without a lot of card draw, it can do exactly what it's been doing since Urza's Legacy- giving you extra cards and tempo-locking your neighbors out of others.
With Karn out and cards in hand, Memory Jar also becomes exciting to battle with. Size-wise, these are the kinds of artifacts Karn wants to bring to life.
I don't have Vesuva yet, but copying it with Thespian's Stage and slamming Glimmerpost has been a real treat. Maximizing this economy in the future seems pretty sweet.
One of the most difficult parts about constructing the mana base for this deck is being able to manage every piece of tech you have. The Expedition Map package is gigantic. I can't tell you how many times I've taken damage when I had untapped land and a Mystifying Maze. You'd think someone who loves the lands would pay a little bit more attention.
Anyway, Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is a nice little utility land that gives us a "mana sink" and a way to gain back life we might've lost if we were fools initially and forgot to tap our mana for Mystifying Maze during combat. With Lattice and Clockwork Omens in multiplayer, this is even more nuts.
This is just another deck where TPB's going to be effective, forcing your opponents to keep cards in their hand if they want to see more of their deck, and giving you more cards to find combos for, which is going to be a likely scenario at just about every stage of the game.
What's worth mentioning is the insane amount of charge counters that can happen here. Serum Tank ensures that as long as you're being active, you'll be able to draw some gas if you have nothing else to do. And this deck can do some good durdling.
Anyway, this is my list. It's got a few updates that I'll make in the next day or two, but most of the pieces are intact. Lemme know what you think.
The Chronicles of Karnia
Pass.
-UL
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