[EDH] Karn, the Silver Golem

[Wargoos]

Hi,
first of all I have to say that I have never played EDH or a deck containing more than 60 cards but I am very interested in building one, since more and more locals start to play highlander.

Karn, the Silver Golem was always one of my most favourite cards and I really want to play a deck containing him.
This is my decklist so far:

General
1 Karn, Silver Golem [x]

Lands
1 Vesuva
1 Mutavault [x]
1 City of Traitors
1 Petrified Field
1 Quicksand
1 Scorched Ruins
1 Gargoyle Castle [x]
1 Sheltered Valley
1 Stalking Stones
1 Strip Mine [A]
1 Zoetic Cavern [x]
1 Temple of the False God [A]
1 Urza's Factory [A]
1 Urza's Mine [A]
1 Urza's Power Plant [A]
1 Urza's Tower [x]
1 Wasteland [x]
1 Winding Canyons
1 Blinkmoth Nexus [A]
1 Deserted Temple
1 Darksteel Citadel [A]
1 Ancient Tomb [x]
1 Blinkmoth Well [x]
1 Crystal Vein
1 Dark Depths
1 Desert
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Dust Bowl
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Ghost Town
1 Gods' Eye, Gate to the Reikai [x]
1 High Market
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Blasted Landscape
1 Tower of the Magistrate

Creatures
1 Voltaic Construct [A]
1 Triskelion [A]
1 Duplicant [A]
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Platinum Angel [A]
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Mycosynth Golem
1 Sundering Titan
1 Silent Arbiter [x]
1 Copper Gnomes
1 Pentavus
1 Arcbound Crusher
1 Scarecrone
1 Triskelavus [A]
1 Arcbound Ravager

Spells
1 Coalition Relic
1 Blinkmoth Urn [A]
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Staff of Domination
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Magistrate's Scepter
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Sisay's Ring
1 Planar Portal
1 That Which Was Taken
1 Winter Orb
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sol Ring
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Predator, Flagship
1 Bottled Cloister
1 Mind's Eye
1 Serum Tank [A]
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Culling Scales
1 Portcullis
1 Snake Basket
1 Ward of Bones
1 Relic of Progenitus [x]
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Ur-Golem's Eye [A]
1 Skyship Weatherlight
1 Mindslaver
1 Memory Jar
1 Smokestack
1 Monkey Cage
1 Mishra's Helix
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Crucible of Worlds [x]
1 Arena of the Ancients
1 Amber Prison
1 Phyrexian Processor

I appreciate any help and hope that I haven't listed any banned cards.
(ignore the [x] and [a]'s)

[GreenOne]

I dunno anything about the format, but looks like Mutavault and Karakas could be good.

[Wargoos]

Last time I checked karakas was banned, and also Metalworker, which I have to cut now.
Mutavault is a good suggestion and I will try it.

[undone]

scorched ruins tends to get waste/stripped in this format because every one runs the obligatory stripmine and 3/1ing a land is pretty awsome. I also hear planar portal is pretty good in this deck simply because you make tons of mana. Other than that looks fun.

[THEchubbymuffin]

Some ideas:
Myr Matrix
Myr Incubator

[MattH]

Urza's Armor blanks a lot of smaller effects that could otherwise add up, tokens especially.

[Wargoos]

Well then Mutavault it is.
Any good acc. I can add for the metalworker?
And planar portal is already in the deck :D
Thanks for your suggestions!

[SilverGreen]

What's the purpose of Urborg in this deck? Although legal, it brings no benefit for this deck, and worse, it may help smooth your opponent's manabase. Scrying Sheets? Why not a Vesuva or some other thing in these slots? And whyt Meekstone? I can't see how you could benefit from it, almost all of your (light) creature base stands up 3 power. And you're also too light on removal, I think your deck needs desperately a stronger creature base to survive the combat phases.

[kkoie]

possible mana accelerants to consider that are brown are Doubling Cube and Candelabra of Tawnos. Candelabra is especially great with artifact mana and lands that produce more than 1 mana.

Question, why no Arcbound Ravenger? Works great with Trisk.

I would also suggest Crucible of Worlds, Smokestack and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale (granted this last is expensive, but really good at slowing down horde decks).

I would also suggest the new gargoyle land.

[Wargoos]

possible mana accelerants to consider that are brown are Doubling Cube and Candelabra of Tawnos. Candelabra is especially great with artifact mana and lands that produce more than 1 mana.

Question, why no Arcbound Ravenger? Works great with Trisk.

I would also suggest Crucible of Worlds, Smokestack and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale (granted this last is expensive, but really good at slowing down horde decks).

I would also suggest the new gargoyle land.

How could I forget gargoyle castle. One of my fav's!! Thanks for the great advice!
I worked on the list a bit and removed some "danger-of-cool-things" stuff and replaced it with something playable (- urborg + vesuva for instance).
Also I added a phyrexian processor which is quite neat and can win games on its own.

[kkoie]

How could I forget gargoyle castle. One of my fav's!! Thanks for the great advice!
I worked on the list a bit and removed some "danger-of-cool-things" stuff and replaced it with something playable (- urborg + vesuva for instance).
Also I added a phyrexian processor which is quite neat and can win games on its own.

Keep in mind that the Candelabra is also really good for combat tricks w/ lands like Mishra's Factory, i.e. pumping themselves.

[Wargoos]

Keep in mind that the Candelabra is also really good for combat tricks w/ lands like Mishra's Factory, i.e. pumping themselves.

Yeah, Candelabra is awesome and supports the megasynergy between Artefact acc - winter orb and mishra's helix :)
Won a game yesterday with that combo, just by playing the helix.

[Nightmare]

So, you aren't playing City of Traitors, Mox Diamond, or Scorched Ruins? Why not?

Edit - I see someone mentioned Strip Mine as a reason not to run Ruins. The benefits far, FAR outweigh the setbacks.

[Wargoos]

So, you aren't playing City of Traitors, Mox Diamond, or Scorched Ruins? Why not?

Edit - I see someone mentioned Strip Mine as a reason not to run Ruins. The benefits far, FAR outweigh the setbacks.

I updated the list :)
What do you think should I cut for the diamond?

Also, could you please make a thread for you Edh Azami deck, very interested in this one.

[Nightmare]

There is one already.

[SilverGreen]

I think your deck needs desperately a stronger creature base to survive the combat phases.Please ignore me. I didn't even notice the general's ability when I wrote this...

[undone]

Doesnt Relic not work because "any color mana" Unless im mistaken. The same is true of guilded lotus.

[Sims]

Doesnt Relic not work because "any color mana" Unless im mistaken. The same is true of guilded lotus.

You are mistaken. The rule indicates that the cards cannot have the mana symbol on them if it is not present in the generals cost. Those cards do not have mana symbols on them. It also states in the rules that any mana generated that would be a color not present in your generals casting cost is instead colorless. So Relic and Lotus produce colorless mana, and are legal because they do not actually contain a mana symbol on them. Same for City of Brass and the other rainbow lands, actually.

[SilverGreen]

It's now obvious, but let me be the first one to say: this deck may laugh loudly with Metalworker's unbanning.

[Wargoos]

It's now obvious, but let me be the first one to say: this deck may laugh loudly with Metalworker's unbanning.

What , is it also unbanned in the EDH format?

[SilverGreen]

What , is it also unbanned in the EDH format?Man, please, continue ignoring me. It's the second time in the same thread I'm a nonsense retarded. Duh!

[MattH]

You are mistaken. The rule indicates that the cards cannot have the mana symbol on them if it is not present in the generals cost. Those cards do not have mana symbols on them. It also states in the rules that any mana generated that would be a color not present in your generals casting cost is instead colorless. So Relic and Lotus produce colorless mana, and are legal because they do not actually contain a mana symbol on them. Same for City of Brass and the other rainbow lands, actually.

Clarification: Relic and Lotus only produce colorless mana if you name a color outside of your generals' colors. You can still tap them for blue in an Arcum Dagsson deck, for example.

[anonymos]

I'm also working on this guy. I've got it down to a minimal number of creatures as bribery has become really popular here (no darksteel colossus/sundering titan) so it's just utility guys. What other good sweepers/anti aggro ideas can you guys think of?

I'm buying an Ice Cauldron to put in it just because it'll make people look at it.

[Anusien]

Clock of Omens is insane in my Sharuum. I assume it will be similarly good here.

I really want someone to try out Bottled Cloister/Grafted Skullcap + Null Brooch for me and tell me how it is.

Lodestone Myr is probably a solid beater for you.

Temporal Aperture seems pretty strong.

Solemn Simulacrum can't search, but it at least draws you a card. Similarly, Dross Scorpion and Myr Retriever might let you do silly combo type things.

[anonymos]

Temporal Aperture is amazingly hit and miss.

Null Brooch is iffy. It's great so long as there is something worth countering. There usually is, but they're going to try to bait you with other things too.

[xXxBretWeedxXx]

I'm also working on this guy. I've got it down to a minimal number of creatures as bribery has become really popular here (no darksteel colossus/sundering titan) so it's just utility guys. What other good sweepers/anti aggro ideas can you guys think of?

I'm buying an Ice Cauldron to put in it just because it'll make people look at it.


I would still run Sundering Titan at least. It's not going to hurt you when they play it and they'll likely kill other people with it before you so they can keep it.

[badjuju]

Anyone here still working on this deck?

I'm pretty interested, but at the same time I'm worried that the deck is just a pile of unfocused rubbish without Karn. I think the deck should focus a lot more on prison effects (or as many as you can humanly run) such as 3sphere to halt your opponent from keeping Karn off the table.

Trinisphere
Defense Grid
Uba Mask

...just a few things off the top of my head.

[Wargoos]

Anyone here still working on this deck?

I'm pretty interested, but at the same time I'm worried that the deck is just a pile of unfocused rubbish without Karn. I think the deck should focus a lot more on prison effects (or as many as you can humanly run) such as 3sphere to halt your opponent from keeping Karn off the table.

Trinisphere
Defense Grid
Uba Mask

...just a few things off the top of my head.

In my "testing" against non-broken EDH decks I felt pretty confident to play this deck.
It has a lot of little tricks and synergies (Just love Mishra's Helix + Winter Orb <3) that allow you to shut down the opp. and is on the otherside not broken itself.
It's so fun to play - perfect for casual.
If you want to beat everybodys face you should probably pick another deck, but as I said I built it to have fun, not to win, thats what I rather do when playing legacy.
Just proxy and try it, you'll love it.

[Sims]

In my "testing" against non-broken EDH decks I felt pretty confident to play this deck.
It has a lot of little tricks and synergies (Just love Mishra's Helix + Winter Orb <3) that allow you to shut down the opp. and is on the otherside not broken itself.
It's so fun to play - perfect for casual.
If you want to beat everybodys face you should probably pick another deck, but as I said I built it to have fun, not to win, thats what I rather do when playing legacy.
Just proxy and try it, you'll love it.


Just to throw this out there though, you may have built or tuned your deck for fun, but Karn is seriously one of the more broken generals in EDH. He is rather combo-tastic.

[badjuju]

Yea I meant to build this as a more casual EDH, but even casual decks don't want to lose :P

Also, the deck can go broke sometimes with combos, but doesn't offer you any consistent methods of accessing them. Either way, turning your brown mana sideways usually ends the game pretty fast.

[Penguinizer]

Sorry if I'm necroing this, but I've been trying out the following list:

Lands:
1 [DS] Darksteel Citadel
1 [DS] Mirrodin's Core
1 [IN] Archaeological Dig
1 [OD] Deserted Temple
1 [10E] Quicksand
1 [REW] Wasteland
1 [TE] Ancient Tomb
1 [AQ] Mishra's Factory (2)
1 [WWK] Tectonic Edge
1 [TSP] Vesuva
1 [MR] Blinkmoth Well
1 [AQ] Strip Mine (1)
1 [M10] Gargoyle Castle
1 [WL] Scorched Ruins
1 [MM] Rishadan Port
1 [WWK] Dread Statuary
1 [EVE] Springjack Pasture
1 [CFX] Reliquary Tower
1 [AQ] Mishra's Workshop
1 [MM] High Market
1 [MM] Tower of the Magistrate
1 [MM] Dust Bowl
1 [TE] Stalking Stones
1 [EX] City of Traitors
1 [TE] Ghost Town
1 [US] Blasted Landscape
1 [MM] Henge of Ramos
1 [DIS] Ghost Quarter
1 [TSP] Swarmyard
1 [6E] Crystal Vein
1 [OD] Petrified Field
1 [DK] Maze of Ith
1 [DS] Blinkmoth Nexus
1 [MOR] Mutavault
1 [TSB] Desert
1 [TSP] Urza's Factory
1 [AQ] Urza's Mine (2)
1 [AQ] Urza's Power Plant (4)
1 [AQ] Urza's Tower (3)

Creatures:
1 [M10] Platinum Angel
1 [DS] Arcbound Ravager
1 [MR] Triskelion
1 [WWK] Lodestone Golem
1 [DS] Darksteel Colossus
1 [FD] Mycosynth Golem
1 [DS] Sundering Titan
1 [10E] Juggernaut
1 [MR] Myr Retriever
1 [MR] Duplicant
1 [US] Karn, Silver Golem
1 [UD] Masticore

Spells:
1 [CHK] Uba Mask
1 [WWK] Everflowing Chalice
1 [SH] Mox Diamond
1 [FUT] Cloud Key
1 [FUT] Coalition Relic
1 [FD] Doubling Cube
1 [7E] Ensnaring Bridge
1 [FD] Possessed Portal
1 [MR] Sculpting Steel
1 [AQ] Candelabra of Tawnos
1 [TSP] Candles of Leng
1 [HPB] Mana Crypt
1 [US] Mishra's Helix
1 [MR] Myr Incubator
1 [B] Forcefield
1 [RAV] Bottled Cloister
1 [VI] Helm of Awakening
1 [5E] Mana Vault
1 [UL] Grim Monolith
1 [UD] Thran Dynamo
1 [9E] Defense Grid
1 [JGC] Sol Ring
1 [FD] Guardian Idol
1 [ZEN] Expedition Map
1 [US] Worn Powerstone
1 [FD] Crucible of Worlds
1 [MR] Blinkmoth Urn
1 [DS] Mycosynth Lattice
1 [US] Urza's Armor
1 [US] Phyrexian Processor
1 [HOP] Darksteel Forge
1 [A] Nevinyrral's Disk
1 [A] Winter Orb
1 [NE] Tangle Wire
1 [ARE] Darksteel Ingot
1 [V09] Sensei's Divining Top
1 [MR] Gilded Lotus
1 [IA] Icy Manipulator
1 [US] Voltaic Key
1 [DS] Trinisphere
1 [US] Smokestack
1 [10E] Mind Stone
1 [REW] Powder Keg
1 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
1 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt
1 [DS] Sword of Fire and Ice
1 [DS] Sword of Light and Shadow
1 [MR] Loxodon Warhammer
1 [BOK] That Which Was Taken

The deck only runs a few creatures, relying more on karn to animate big artifacts like Darksteel Forge or Lattice. It also tries to play in a stax-like way at times, and has several means to do so, such as dumping it's hand on the table and playing Ensnaring Bridge, or Posessed Portal and a sac outlet like Crucible or Urza's Factory.

So far, matchups have been mixed:

1: Mono-R Goblins/LD thing with Kikki-Jikki. I lost since I couldn't get enough non-land mana out fast enough.

2: Omnath green. Game one I lose, game 2-3 I get out an ensnaring bridge or Forcefield which stops Omnath until I get a Smokestack+Urza's Factory with a Posessed Portal in hand.

3: MuC with Clique: I resolve Incubator and use it a turn later. I get out enough tokens and he quit after game 1.

4: White Weenie with Sensei golden-tail. I get an early Ensnaring Bridge, and then topdeck Bottle Cloister a few turns later. I stall the game until I get a Darksteel Forge+Nevinnyral's Disk some turns later. He ragequits and calls me a noob since Disk apparently destroys indestructible artifacts.

As for budget, it's pretty expensive. Even if you cut out the Mishra's workshop, the deck still has a lot of 20 dollar or so eternal staples, but it is a rather capable deck.