This deck is something I've toyed around with for a few years (long before the pandemic). It really took the Impetus cycle and other Goad effects to be viable. It's effectively a hybrid between pillow fort enchantress and
Assault Suit Zurgo Helmsmasher: enchant Karona, make sure she can't attack you, then watch as the other players kill themselves with your commander.
I'm constantly trying to fine-tune it and keep running into the same primary problem: I effectively need nine mana to cast Karona and attach either an Impetus or Vow Aura to her so that I don't immediately die to my own commander, so the deck is
incredibly slow. I've looked at changing the land base to include basics and then running traditional ramp spells like
Cultivate, but it really doesn't help speed the deck up all that much. Second problem is Karona simply getting removed. Since she gives control of herself to other people, things that give a creature Hexproof do not prevent her current controller from targeting her.
Canopy Cover and
Shielding Plax are the only cards of which I'm aware that outright say your opponents can't target the creature, regardless of controller. Card draw is hit or miss as well: there are only 10(ish) sources in the deck, and several rely on casting enchantments, but a significant portion of the enchantments in the deck are ones that I want to save to cast on Karona. If I had an
Argothian Enchantress or a
Rhystic Study, I'd for sure find a way to cram them into the deck. As it is, they are $40 cards and I do not own either.
Recently, I added a number of the "Enchant land" auras that serve as ramp to help with this - in addition to some other minor tweaks - but now I need to make cuts to get back down to 100 cards. There are a few on which I'd like a second opinion. Any other ideas or advice beyond that is welcome.
Prismatic Geoscope - Cons: Five mana for a rock that comes in tapped and can end up doing literally nothing without the right lands. Pros: Half of my lands have two or more types, I run
Prismatic Omen and
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, and I have ways of tutoring for the triple-typed lands. If this comes down enabled before turn six, it really gives me the gas I need to get Karona going. Even if it comes down after, being able to tap a single thing for five mana is great if Karona gets killed.
Slimefoot's Survey - Cons: Basically five mana for
Explosive Vegetation. Pros: Tutor up two triomes and you also effectively scry five, plus you guarantee Geoscope and
Collective Restraint are fully turned on.
Mazzy, Truesword Paladin - Pros: Serves as a way to give Karona some evasion and also gives some amount of protection to any Auras on her; considering
Hall of Heliod's Generosity is the only recursion in the deck, if I can't cast them again and they stay exiled, it's not the end of the world. Cons: Really doesn't do anything else by herself.
Privileged Position - Pros: Additional protection for my enchantments, which are core to the success of the deck. Cons: This plus
Sterling Grove makes it nearly impossible to interact with your board, which is not fun for anyone else and makes you a bigger target than you already might be.
Sovereigns of Lost Alara and
Zur the Enchanter: Pros: serve as ways to cheat out enchantments onto Karona without needing to cast them (potentially saving three mana off the aforementioned nine if they hit the field before her). Zur can also fetch card draw, a little ramp, and some of the pillows. Cons: I guess if they are both on the field at the same time, one is basically useless.
Holy Avenger,
Errantry, and
Umezawa's Jitte are currently not in the deck but are all interesting tech cards. They didn't feel impactful enough, so I removed them. Cards like
Ethereal Armor would be good, but I do not have room in the deck for an effect that is only a straight buff. Please forgive the massive maybeboard. I tend to leave unused cards there for potential future reference as opposed to just cutting them outright.
https://deckstats.net/decks/115144/1156982-karonavirus-karona-false-god-e