mdbook wiki

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

6 min read

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

At a glance

  • Commander: Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
  • Colors: Jund
  • Archetype: Jund sacrifice value engine (treasure aristocrats)
  • Power tier: high

Cards

Commander

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King — Legendary Creature — Dragon Noble (4/4)

Flying. Whenever Korvold enters or attacks, sacrifice another permanent. Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Korvold and draw a card.

The printed text matches the assignment exactly (commander_oracle_ok=true). The key nuance the paraphrase glossed: the draw/counter trigger fires on any permanent sacrifice you make, not just creatures — so Treasures, Food, Eldrazi Scions, Clue/artifact tokens, and even spent fetchlands all feed Korvold. He’s a 4/4 flyer that grows and refuels every time you crack a Treasure or feed a sac outlet.

Gameplan

Cast cheap fodder and Treasure/token generators, then convert those permanents into cards and counters by sacrificing them — either to Korvold’s own attack trigger, to a free outlet (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ashnod’s Altar), or to a sac-for-value spell (Village Rites, Costly Plunder, Deadly Dispute). Every sac with Korvold out is a free card. You out-card every opponent in the pod while Korvold snowballs into a lethal evasive threat, with aristocrat drain (Mirkwood Bats, Falkenrath Noble, Reckless Fireweaver, Nadier’s Nightblade) as the reach that closes games Korvold alone can’t.

Key synergy lines

  • Korvold attack → sac a Treasure/token: +1/+1 counter and a card every combat, for free. With a second sac outlet up you can dump your whole board pre-combat damage step into cards.
  • Treasure-as-fuel: Greedy Freebooter, Impulsive Pilferer, Reckless Lackey, Plundering Pirate, Brazen Freebooter, Patron of the Arts, Big Score all make Treasures. Each Treasure is ramp/fixing now and a Korvold draw later.
  • Token fodder that replaces itself: Eyeless Watcher / Kozilek’s Predator / Symbiotic Elf make multiple bodies; Doomed Dissenter, Tukatongue Thallid, Voracious Vermin leave a body behind when sacrificed.
  • Free outlets + drain = inevitability: Ashnod’s Altar / Viscera Seer + Mirkwood Bats (each token sacced drains everyone) + a recurring token source approaches a soft drain loop; Falkenrath Noble drains on every death.
  • Chromatic Star/Sphere, Mind Stone, Commander’s Sphere, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wayfarer’s Bauble double as fixing AND sac fodder — they cantrip when they die/are cracked, which Korvold turns into an extra card.

Role breakdown (with counts)

  • Lands: 37 — three-color manabase leaning on Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, two Jund tri-lands (Geothermal Crevice, Twisted Landscape), all three guildgates, six BR/BG/GR duals, four fetch/Panorama lands, plus 5 Swamp / 3 Mountain / 3 Forest.
  • Ramp/fixing rocks & spells: 11 — Rakdos/Golgari/Gruul Signets, Prophetic Prism, Commander’s Sphere, Mind Stone, Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere, Wayfarer’s Bauble, Rampant Growth, Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Harrow. (Many double as fixing.)
  • Card advantage: 10 — Korvold himself, Greedy Freebooter/Treasure cantrips aside: Village Rites, Costly Plunder, Corrupted Conviction, Deadly Dispute, Altar’s Reap, Read the Bones, Night’s Whisper, Sign in Blood, Big Score, Dark-Dweller Oracle.
  • Spot removal/interaction: 8 — Terminate, Abrade, Lightning Bolt, Murder, Bone Splinters, Bake into a Pie, Deadly Derision, plus Carrion Feeder/sac outlets enabling Bone Splinters.
  • Mass/pseudo-wipe: 2 — Evincar’s Justice (buyback, repeatable 2-to-everything), Cosmotronic Wave (sweep small boards + no-block alpha enabler). Korvold flies over both, and most of our fodder is expendable.
  • Sac outlets/fodder/payoffs: rest — Treasure makers, token generators, free outlets (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ashnod’s Altar), grow-payoffs (Mortician Beetle, Blood Aspirant, Gixian Infiltrator), drain payoffs (Reckless Fireweaver, Mirkwood Bats, Falkenrath Noble, Nadier’s Nightblade).

Manabase / fixing note

~20 fixing sources (Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, 2 tri-lands, 3 guildgates, 6 duals, 4 fetch-lands + the rocks/ramp), so all three colors come online reliably; Treasures and the signets cover double-pip turns.

Pilot notes

  • Don’t over-commit into a wrath — Korvold + a couple of fodder pieces is enough; rebuild off Treasures.
  • Sequence sacrifices to maximize Korvold draws: always sac after Korvold is on the battlefield when you can.
  • Bone Splinters / Costly Plunder want a dying token, not a real creature — sac a Treasure, Scion, or Saproling.
  • Hold a free outlet (Viscera Seer/Carrion Feeder) up so an opponent’s removal on Korvold still nets you the dying-permanent value, and so you can dodge edicts.
  • Evincar’s Justice with buyback is your grind-out plan vs. go-wide; cast it pre-combat so Korvold’s flying still connects.

Weaknesses

  • Graveyard hate doesn’t hurt much, but artifact/Treasure hate (a sweeper for artifacts) slows the engine.
  • Heavy spot removal on Korvold forces you to lean on the drain payoffs for the kill — keep one in hand.
  • Only two true sweepers; a resilient wide aggro board can race if Korvold is answered repeatedly.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

Graph View

Backlinks