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Karlach, Fury of Avernus is one of the commanders available inMagic: The Gathering. One of the companions available in Baldur’s Gate 3, Karlach (along with all the other companions) was given a creature card and even had a whole Secret Lair based around her.
Karlach, Fury of Avernus lets you choose a Background which is an enchantment that acts as a second commander that gives your commander creatures special abilities. There are a lot of different Backgrounds, each providing drastically different playstyles. One of the best options is Acolyte of Bahamut, which lets you discount Dragon spells since Dragons have a lot of attack triggers and Karlach provides extra combat steps.
Minion of the Mighty
Scourge of the Throne
Return of the Wildspeaker
x11 Forest
x13 Mountain
Temple of the False God
Unclaimed Territory
The decklist containsone battle, one planeswalker, 31 creatures, nine sorceries, three instants, 12 artifacts, six enchantments, and 35 lands. Since the deck is a creature and combat-focused deck, creatures make up the majority of the decklist.
Key Cards
Karlach, Fury Of Avernus
Karlach, Fury of Avernusis the main commander of the deck andwhat it’s based around. Whenever you attack, youget an extra combat step. Since Karlach gives all attacking creatures first strike as well, this makes your creatures even better attackers since they’ll have a lower chance of dying in combat.
Notably,Karlach does not need to attack itself for the ability to trigger. So long as any creature attacks during your first combat face, you’ll get Karlach’s full effect. So ifKarlach will likely die in combat,keep it from attackingand only swing in with your bigger threats.
Karlach can hit the battlefield fairly early thanks toall the ramp spells and mana rocksin the deck. Even without an army of Dragons behind Karlach, it makes for a solid attacker on its own since a 5/4 with first strike if the effect trigger is a great statline and ability.
Acolyte Of Bahamut
Theother commander,Acolyte of Bahamutis the other enabler of the deck. Nearly theentire suite of creatures are Dragons, with Acolyte of Bahamut discounting the first one you cast. Most Dragons have a fairly high casting cost, so discounting the mana required to cast them lets you get powerful Dragons onto the battlefield quicker.
While you can cast Acolyte of Bahamut at any point, theeffect only applies if Karlach, Fury of Avernus is on the battlefield. This is because it gives your commander creatures the ability, it’s not an effect of the Background itself.
Thrakkus The Butcher
Your deck primarily consists of Dragons and cards that give extra combat steps.Thrakkus The Butcherturns your already threatening Dragons into potentially game-ending attacks. WheneverThrakkus attacks, all your Dragons get double the power.
Thrakkus' effect applies to all Dragons you control. Since Thrakkus is a Dragon itself, its effect will also boost itself along with all other Dragons.
What makes Thrakkus so good is when you’re able tostack Thrakkus' trigger across multiple combats. If it triggers on the original combat, all Dragons have double power. Then, on the next combat that doubled power is doubled again, and continues to double to exponential power.
Savage Ventmaw
Since you need a lot of mana to cast all your spells in the deck,Savage Ventmawis a way to accomplish that. Gaining six mana for one attack is already great, but with extra combats, you can generate enough mana to cast any card in your hand.
Savage Ventmaw isn’t the greatest attacker or defender, but with its flying, you canattack an opponent you can’t block to ensure you get the effectwithout having to worry about losing it in combat.
Aggravated Assault
While Karlach provides one extra combat phase,Aggravated Assaultis a way to gain even more combat phases so long as you have the mana to spend on it. Aggravated Assault is agreat mana sinklate in the game once you have an established battlefield to close out a game.
Combined withSavage Ventmaw, you can gain an infinite number of extra combat phases. Savage Ventmaw gives you a total of six mana, and five of that mana can be used forAggravated Assaultto loop infinitely.
you may get Aggravated Assault on the battlefield very early, which can then start giving you extra combats. It’sbest used when you can take someone out of the game with attacks, or have enough creatures to take everyone out of the game.
How To Play The Deck
The deck is all aboutcombat, combat, and combat. You want to constantly be turning your cards sideways to attack while gaining multiple combat phases to keep up the pressure.Karlach, Fury of Avernusgives extra combats along withAggravated Assault, Relentless Assault,andWorld at War(the last of which has rebound to cast again for free the next turn).
In addition to all the extra combat steps, there are plenty of cards togrow your creatures' statsto make them more threatening when they attack. Crucible of Firegives a static +3/+3 boost to all Dragons,Thrakkus the Butcherdoubles Dragons' power when they attack, andGratuitous Violencedoubles all damage dealt by your creatures.
There are a lot of ways to get Dragons on the battlefield quicker and for less mana.Acolyte of Bahamutgives Karlach the ability to discount the first Dragon spell by two mana, andDragonlord’s ServantandDragonspeaker Shamangive mana discounts to Dragons.
You can cheat out Dragons directly onto the battlefield by using cards likeMonster ManualandDoors of Durinto get around their steep casting costs entirely.
Themain win condition of the deck is through combat.Creatures with flying(which almost every creature in the deck has) are much harder to block, making it easier to close out games. Since Dragons have high stats (that can be boosted even further), it is very easy to deal large outbursts of damage. With all the extra combat enablers, it’s very easy to be able to win the game with one series of attacks.
The biggestweakness of the deckis that itis very susceptible to board wipes. Since it is a creature-heavy deck, board wipes will set you back a fair bit. Luckily, all themana rocksavailable in the deck can make it easier to recover with how much mana you will have to work with.
