Preamble: Karn, the Great Creator

The Mistake: Karn in Naya Ramp

The Stroke of State: Two Basic Plains

Preamble: Karn, the Great Creator

Despite the number of new archetypes it has spawned - Jeskai Superfriends, Command the Dreadhorde, Midrange, and more - the best mainstream Standard deck in the wake of War of the Spark has largely been Mono-Red. Yet for all the new Planeswalkers in Standard, I was surprised at the relative absence of this guy... err... robot:

Karn, as you probably know, has completely upended Modern. The ability to search up a Mycosynth Lattice allows a Karn player to set up a one-way Armageddon, and even gives him a 6/6 Erhnam Djinn to finish the job!

While there is no such auto-win in Standard, I was initially surprised that Karn wasn't getting played... Whatsoever.

After all, Karn at four mana is a more reliable source of card advantage than comparables like Chandra, Fire Artisan. Chandra on four is usually just a loyalty tick-up and nothing else. Karn will reliably get you what you want - or at least what you build for - with the option of a second big or specific spell immediately afterward.

Besides all of this, Karn's passive ability is no slouch. We're no longer in a Standard where players like Eli Kassis are main-decking four copies of Azor's Gateway; those like Adrian Sullivan are packing four copies of Treasure Map; or the odd Gabriel Nassif advocates Thaumatic Compass... But we could be. The cheap card filtering and card advantage artifacts are all still legal.

After all, all the decks that I talk about in this here article are full of such artifacts!

So if a hated opponent were to play Karn... That would be nighty night for the local good guys. So at some level we can be glad no one else is creating greatly.

But why should we play Karn?

Like I said, there is no Mycosynth Lattice combo to lock down Standard.

But! What we have instead is an ostensibly archetype-rich metagame that is actually defined by essentially two broad strategies:

1. Planeswalker advantage (especially Planeswalker control)
2. Red aggro

There are some decks that are aggro without being EXACTLY "Red Aggro"... For example Gruul has elements of Red Aggro but also some Planeswalkers. White Aggro decks are a thing, but God bless each and every one of those mages... They have their advantages, but are potentially soft to Goblin Chainwhirlers of the Red Deck AND the sweepers from Azorius-adjacent Planeswalker control decks!

Even Best-of-One boogeyman Nexus of Fate is dipping its toes into an eight Planeswalker schema.

Why do I bring this up?

You might not be able to straight punk every opponent with Mycosynth Lattice... But you can cut off both a Red Aggro deck and a Planeswalker-based deck using Karn's -2 ability.

Here's how:

The Mistake: Karn in Naya Ramp

The first shell I tried Karn was a Naya Ramp deck.

Naya Ramp | War Standard| Michael Flores

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Pelakka Wurm

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Karn, the Great Creator

• Instants (3)
• 3 March of the Multitudes

• Sorceries (16)
• 1 Banefire
• 1 Fight With Fire
• 2 Star of Extinction
• 4 Circuitous Route
• 4 Deafening Clarion
• 4 Grow from the Ashes

• Artifacts (9)
• 2 Thaumatic Compass
• 2 The Immortal Sun
• 2 Treasure Map
• 3 Azor's Gateway

• Lands (26)
• 2 Forest
• 2 Plains
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 2 Arch of Orazca
• 3 Sunpetal Grove
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Temple Garden

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1 Banefire
• 3 Carnage Tyrant
• 1 Knight of Autumn
• 1 Azor's Gateway
• 4 Diamond Mare
• 2 Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1 Chaos Wand
• 1 The Immortal Sun

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The Modern decks with Karn are largely Green Ramp decks with the UrzaTron or Primeval Titan. Made sense, right?

Well...

Like I said previously, the many archetypes of the format tend to fall into two broad categories. I was initially a little skeptical about the Red Aggro matchup... But at least I would have an overwhelming matchup advantage against Control, right?

Why did I think I'd have a huge matchup advantage against Control? For one thing, Teferi, Time Raveler has made permission less popular in Standard. That means that if you cast a big spell - mana Ramp, often two-for-one - it will likely stick. Then, when you have a large resource advantage on the battlefield, your big threats will also resolve!

Right? Right!

Well...

I never actually figured out the right play pattern for facing off against Dimir-adjacent Control decks. Sticking the Karn wasn't the problem. Like I said... It usually resolved. The question was what to do once the Karn had already resolved.

Do you search immediately for The Immortal Sun? It will take two turns to stick it, usually. And that's assuming you hit your next two land drops.

Do you leave your The Immortal Sun in the sideboard until you're closer to critical resource mass? There are problems with both lines.

If you go straight for The Immortal Sun (like maybe you read them for Oath of Kaya, so you assume you won't get a second swing), they can Thought Erasure you.

If you wait, you're subject to Oath of Kaya or Vraska's Contempt before being able to successfully pull the trigger.

It's tough. Don't get me wrong: You'll usually be able to pull the combo (and by "the combo" I mean, just resolving The Immortal Sun)... But I am just saying that I was never able to navigate this riddle via a consistent paint-by-numbers.

The bigger issue is that Naya just wasn't inevitable against Planeswalker control. I once lost a game where I resolved all three Carnage Tyrants and drew the Banefire. What? Yeah.

It turns out that karma is a witch. And by "karma" I mean...

Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Lili can chomp Carnage Tyrant... Maybe even two Tyrants at a time. I kept having to play Sorcerous Spyglass first, or The Immortal Sun first. I might get The Immortal Sun but not have a closer. It just wasn't inevitable any more.

Besides that, I was losing to Red Decks! The Naya just wasn't fast enough. I never even dominated with my Diamond Mare sequence, in part because my colors were all over the place.

The Stroke of State: Two Basic Plains

After a lot of tinkering, I ended up on a super good deck.

I'm really happy with this deck. I'm not actually certain it's BETTER than Mono-Red, but it plays these great setup games that are interesting and intricate and are what non-pure beatdown people often like to call "Magic".

Boros Karn | War Standard | Michael Flores

• Creatures (11)
• 3 Dire Fleet Daredevil
• 4 Goblin Chainwhirler
• 4 Rekindling Phoenix

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 3 Karn, the Great Creator

• Instants (7)
• 1 Shock
• 2 Shivan Fire
• 4 Lightning Strike

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Star of Extinction
• 3 Deafening Clarion
• 4 Lava Coil

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Thaumatic Compass
• 1 The Immortal Sun
• 3 Treasure Map

• Lands (24)
• 13 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 4 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Sacred Foundry

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
• 1 Star of Extinction
• 1 Deafening Clarion
• 1 Azor's Gateway
• 4 Diamond Mare
• 1 Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1 Thaumatic Compass
• 1 Treasure Map
• 1 Chaos Wand
• 1 The Immortal Sun

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The deck is clearly influenced by previous Mono-Red Midrange decks. Karn is basically taking old-Karn's spot here.

For those who thought previously that Mono-Red Midrange had the advantage over Red Aggro... This one's is hugely magnified. You can start searching up Diamond Mares. In sideboard games you can switch into 3 + 1 Diamond Mares AND Lyra Dawnbringer. All respect to Tibalt... But come on. I'm basically dyed red and even I know that Lyra will strike Tibalt down in one swing. If it even lives through a Lightning Strike or Goblin Chainwhirler trigger.

Tell me more later, MichaelJ, begin some readers. But those two Plains are em effing eyesores. What the?!?

This deck plays Thaumatic Compass in both the main and the sideboard. In fact, Thaumatic Compass is one of the most common Karn targets! So you kind of need two basic Plains in order to ensure you can cast Lyra Dawnbringer. I know it looks a mess, but remember that the default Red Deck in Standard has 20 Mountains. Maybe as few as 18! My deck might have 2 Plains... But there are 21 primary sources of Red to support Chainwhirler... More than almost any other current Red Deck.

Let's talk about this deck's key foils and play patterns:

Karn into The Immortal Sun

In the abstract, you have tempo against a more controlling deck, probably behind Chainwhirler. It's usually cool beans to get two cards from Karn before The Immortal Sun turns off your own Planeswalker. It's not that bad!

You still shut off their advantage artifacts if they have them, and getting a clean +2 (before Mind Twisting their board) is solid.

Sometimes you just get Sorcerous Spyglass because you want to milk your position (say you have other Planeswalkers); sometimes you sit back behind Thaumatic Compass and destroy them with chippy little +1s.

Karn into Diamond Mare

This is a pure overload play. You have a ton of Diamond Mares! One Karn will convert into two; or at least one while stealing a burn spell. While not purely a tool against Mono-Red, Diamond Mare clearly dominates commonly played threats like Fanatical Firebrand and Viashino Pyromancer.

Karn into Chaos Wand

Chaos Wand is probably the best card in Standard that no one plays. In the right situation, resolving Chaos Wand is almost certain to win the game. If you're stable against the Red Deck in Game 1, either already hiding behind Diamond Mare or at high enough life that it doesn't matter?

Go get your Chaos Wand!

You will torch every threat the opponent plays to cinders or start pointing fire to face. Chaos Wand is even better against Control decks. You'll just have to make sure you modulate your activations properly. Generally you'll want to activate on the opponent's turn, after he's drawn (to maximize your ability to hit with cards like Duress or Thought Erasure).

As good as Chaos Wand is, you will almost always want to leave it in the sideboard. Since you have multiple Karns and only one Wand, you'll not only increase your likelihood of finding the singleton, you'll be able to choose when to play it rather than being subject to the top of your library. Of course, you'll almost never have it on the battlefield in the White Weenie matchup.

Karn into Azor's Gateway

Watch it!

This card is highly subject to Narset, Parter of Veils! I've learned the hard way that you will have to hide a card without drawing one if you're on your own turn. The deck has a Sarkhan the Masterless as 5-drop concession to Azor's Gateway... But that is clearly not the center of the deck.

Is this deck better than the Red Deck? It's different. But that also means it has different ways to lose. Sideboarded games against Control can be inconsistent; unlike the regular Red Deck, there are no one landers that Light Up the Stage into dominators late in the second. There is no way to side out all the removal, so cards that are good against a reasonably expected 4/4 Amass Army or a Thief of Sanity can clog your draws in sideboard games... But on balance, the opponent will often be in the same boat.

On the other hand, you have wild avenues to card advantage that the conventional Red Deck has never even imagined. Your ability to one-way Jokulhaups an opponent's strategy while generating value, either with The Immortal Sun or Star of Extinction creates a similarly new dimension.

And... It's fun! You get maybe 25% of the Red Deck fun but 125% of the fun of overpowering opponents with cards they didn't realize were good (yet, might be better than the ones they are playing with).

LOVE

MIKE