Most of the planeswalkers who cost more than 4
mana didn't catch on because they hit the board
too late for their abilities to swing the game--
Chandra Nalaar may be able to bathe your
opponent's side of the board in fire, but if
he's already won, it doesn't matter. Karn
Liberated costs seven mana-- he hits play and is
just beginning his game plan the same turn
Nalaar's ultimate is ready to go off. Plus, he's
sharing Standard with the Titans from M11-- if
you can ramp to seven mana, you'd usually be
better off with the respective Titan of your
color.
That said, Karn Liberated is a colorless option
to exile pretty much any permanent you want.
Much like All is Dust, only he only hits one
permanent of your choice... and maybe a second
one next turn if he survives. Or, he can
systematically empty your opponent's hand before
preparing to COMPLETELY RESTART THE GAME. Yeah,
some planeswalkers' ultimates may not be enough
to bring you back in the game, but Karn just
starts the game over completely-- plus you get
to keep the things you exiled with Karn! Since
there's a good chance you used Karn to exile all
your opponent's scariest permanents, and your
opponent is now starting over with an opening
hand of seven and an empty board versus whatever
mostrosities you felt the need to wipe off his
board "last game", your opponent's odds of
winning this game look pretty bad. That's if you
survive long enough to restart the game.
Artifacts with Proliferate could help speed up
Karn's clock, or just let you exile more things
with him. Walls, countermagic, and other control
options help too. The only question is-- will it
be enough?
You thought yesterday's card of the day was
crazy? Karn is going to be bringing the crazy
starting next week. Green decks exiling lands?
White decks attacking opponents' hands? Black
decks playing Shahrazad? We're going to learn to
fear all that and more, just as the players who
aligned themselves with Phyrexia last October
are probably fearing a Legacy Weapon-style
sudden defeat today.
Today's card of the day is Karn Liberated which
costs seven mana and is the first colorless
planeswalker. Coming in at six loyalty
he's fairly hard to get rid of, especially if
the plus four is used, and is unlikely to get
removed at all barring an overwhelming attack or
direct planeswalker hate. His actual
abilities are extremely playable as the plus
four exiles a card from target player's hand and
the minus three exiles a target permanent.
Either effect can be used multiple times over
the course of a game and alone would make Karn a
solid addition to a deck, but combined with the
ultimate which brings those back into play for
you at the beginning of a new game and you have
what can often be an automatic win. The
key things to remember are the permanents are in
play before your first upkeep which means they
will not have summoning sickness and it is
target player allowing you to target your own
cards.
As Karn can be played with entirely colorless
mana, which includes Myr and Eldrazi Spawn, he
will definitely see a great deal of play and may
even be a serious tournament threat.
In Limited if you open this it isn't a question
of whether or not to play it, because there
really shouldn't be a question there, but what
to look for as support. Mana acceleration
to get Karn into play sooner is a huge benefit
and any difficult to remove creatures as defense
and offense are useful for before and after Karn
picks apart the field and hand of your opponent.
In this format the ultimate is less likely to be
used unless you are behind and get Karn out as
topdeck in which case removing two effective
permanents for the advantage in the rematch is
critical to manage time and get a quick victory.
In Sealed this should always be included in your
deck without exception as Karn should at least
remove one threat from play and possibly more
and in Booster this should never be passed
unless you happen to have a foil and non-foil in
the same pack. The removal options he
offers and toughness are too impressive and
often difficult for an opponent to deal with to
offer to someone else and any deck you build
will be able to play it. The only minor
drawback of Karn is his casting cost which is
not as big of an issue in the format and being
colorless works well when many decks are played
as two or more colors primarily using basic
lands.
In Multiplayer the format being a little slower
and having a variety of players to choose from
make this an incredible card to play. If
supported with Blue or some other means to
completely avoid removal and the ultimate brings
back two big threats from different opponents a
win can be obtained in as many turns as you have
opponents remaining.
Welcome to another New
Phyrexia preview here at Pojo.com. Today we take
a look at the card that started it all, Karn
Liberated. Being the only Planeswalker in New
Phyrexia, he should pack a punch, and let me
assure you he doesn’t disappoint. Karn hit’s the
board for seven colorless mana, and is a
colorless spell himself (sounds familiar,
right?). His first ability adds a whopping four
loyalty counters and says target player exiles a
card from his or her hand. His second ability is
a minus three, and exiles target permanent. His
final truly is a grand finale, of sorts, remove
fourteen counters, set aside all cards removed
from the game by Karn, and then restart the game
with those cards in play under your control!
So let me explain some of this jarble in some easier to
understand terms. So he can take out a card from
any players hand. Most of the time you will want
to target yourself if you have large creatures,
unless you have a way of knowing what your
opponent has in theirs (Telepathy) and ensure
they only have one option, or several good
options to exile. The second ability may be a
last resort, exiling something you really could
use, and are sure you can protect Karn while
rebuilding the counters. And then, you pull the
trigger. The restart the game resets players
life totals, draws new cards, etc. BUT, you get
to put anything exiled by Karn into play before
your first upkeep. That’s right folks, any
creatures you choose to exile would NOT be
affected by summoning sickness and will be able
to attack the very start of the resetted game.
What does this mean exactly? Karn wins.
The easiest application for Karn is an Eldrazi deck.
The ability to be able to exile Emrakul and any
other Eldrazi titan and have them able to attack
off the gate are too good to pass up. And the
fact that you can use Eye of Ugin to get any of
the Eldrazi to your hand, just to exile them
with Karn means you’ll have a lot of options.
But the main thing is as long as the total of
the creatures powers removed are greater than
20, you will win the game before your opponent
has a chance.
Karn Liberated is already the most sought after card in the
set, and promises to completely change the
landscape of the game, and he hasn’t even seen
sanctioned play yet. Cards like this don’t
happen often, and I am sure we will see why soon
enough. Of all the cards in recent history, Karn
could quickly find himself on the restricted
list, something Jace the Mindsculpter hasn’t
even accomplished yet.
Magic The Gathering Card of The Day: Karn
Liberated
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is
the ever famous Karn finally in planeswalker
form. In standard this card could be a force to
reckoned with and may see play at the top tables
as most planeswalkers see a fair amount of play.
The ability to restart the
game can be interesting remove a
hawk in your hand and restart the
game, The ability to disrupt
hands and remove problematic
permanents is a powerful ability. I can
definitely see this making an impact. In
extended I am sure it will see play as well due
to general power level. In eternal I am on the
fence, there is access to fast
mana which could power it out
quickly and turn it lethal I am unsure on
this aspect. In casual and multiplayer
it’s a powerful planeswalker all the attention
will be turned to you and this could be a
problem. In multiplayer being able to start the
game over with permanents is great but
restarting everyone may be a problem for you. In
limited it’s money rare, splashable in every
deck and so powerful it’s a
nuclear bomb first pick easy. Overall
Karn’s planeswalker form is
great and flavorful and it’s good to
see such a historical figure get a
new card.
