The Commander
Haste
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player untaps Karona and gains control of it.
Whenever Karona attacks, creatures of the creature type of your choice get +3/+3 until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Karona is a 5-color 5/5 with haste that every player takes control of on their upkeep, so you build around abusing or punishing this constant control-swapping. The most common builds turn Karona into a weapon against its current pilot — using donate/curse effects, sacrifice payoffs, or tempo plays during your own turn before it leaves you. You leverage WUBRG access to run the best removal, ramp, and combo pieces in the format.
Strengths
- Full WUBRG color identity unlocks every card and answer in the format
- Comes with haste, so it can attack and pump the round it's cast
- Encourages politically interactive, chaotic games where you can deal with a shared threat
- Cheap to access powerful five-color staples like fetches, Triomes, and rainbow lands
Weaknesses
- Karona constantly leaves your control, so you rarely get sustained value from it as a commander
- Five colors means a demanding mana base prone to color screw
- The pump ability is symmetric and benefits whoever attacks with it, often an opponent
- Easy for the table to weaponize Karona against you on your own upkeep
Key Cards
- Pemmin's Aura — Lets you untap, pump, and protect Karona during combat to weaponize the +3/+3 trigger on your turn.
- Aggravated Assault — Extra combat steps let Karona swing repeatedly and stack the type-based pump while it's still yours.
- Berserkers' Onslaught — Grants double strike so Karona's attack plus tribal pump becomes lethal commander damage.
- Rite of Replication — Kicked copies create tokens you keep, sidestepping the control-swap downside while flooding the board.
- Chromatic Lantern — Fixes all five colors and turns every land into any color you need for a greedy mana base.
- Disrupt Decorum — Goading effects turn the chaotic, attack-heavy Karona table in your favor politically.
Upgrade Path
Lean away from relying on Karona as your win engine and treat the 99 as a five-color goodstuff shell with strong ramp, removal, and a real combo or token finisher. Invest in a premium mana base (fetches, Triomes, original duals, Chromatic Lantern, Prismatic Omen) so color access never holds you back. Add untap and protection auras only if you genuinely intend to weaponize Karona's combat trigger, otherwise spend those slots on more reliable threats and interaction.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Connecting with a buffed Karona or pumped tribe for lethal combat damage
- ▸Repeated combat steps via Aggravated Assault to grind out the table
- ▸Pivoting to a five-color goodstuff or combo finish independent of the commander
- ▸Politically goading and slugging opponents into killing each other
Archetypes
- Group Slug / Chaos — Karona's shared control and symmetric pump naturally create a swingy, politically charged board state you can steer.
- Voltron (combat trick) — With untap and protection enablers you keep Karona on your turn and pump a chosen tribe for big swings.
- Five-Color Goodstuff — WUBRG identity lets you jam the strongest removal, ramp, and bombs regardless of color.
- Tribal Beatdown — The +3/+3-to-a-creature-type trigger rewards building a focused creature type that swings alongside Karona.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BGRUW), by popularity.
