#rem karolus

[arvadthecursed]

I've been thinking about this for a bit so here's a post about why Saint Traft and Rem Karolus is an awesome flavor win of a card.

So for this we're going to be looking at the tokens these two make. First, the 1/1 red human.

In the Planeswalker's Guide To Innistrad: Stensia, it was mentioned that Rem spent much of his time in the region. He only took orders from Thraben when he agreed with them, instead choosing to ride around on his horse Jedda and help the folks of Stensia.

Crimson Vow is the first time we see the 1/1 red human token in the precon. The woman depicted is also in the art for Stensia Uprising; she's on the right-hand side of the art.

Rem helped these people. He spent most of his career protecting them. Of course they'd come to his aid when he needed them.

Next, the spirit token.

The obvious bridge between the geist himself and the human who, funnily enough, refused to be bonded to a spirit during the Battle of Thraben in the Travails. The Order is essentially the only real Cathar force left, with Avacyn's church in shambles following the inquisition and the ousting of its Skirsdag infiltrators, like Jerren. Some spirits are still clearly willing to help to humans, as we saw in Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow.

Finally, the angel.

Saint Traft was Beloved of Angels, and he was followed by an angel until his demise. Those he chose were also blessed by that angel. In Invocation of Saint Traft, we see the young girl he died rescuing taking up his mantle. (Many have said this art is Grete, but it's not. Notice her ring finger is missing the top knuckle -- the cultists who captured the little girl cut off her finger to taunt Traft. She later became a Cathar and was blessed by him.)

So the tokens are a really awesome, flavorful way to connect these characters. From the common man that Rem inspired to the angel that watched over Traft, the tokens are absolutely perfect for this team up.

[almostlookedhuman]

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights - Modern Horizons 1

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

Cool - Dead of Winter

“At last, silence.” —Tevesh Szat

Funny - Dismantling Blow

“What cannot be destroyed will be bound, but do try to destroy it the first time.” —Rem Karolus, Blade of the Inquisitors

Worldbuilding - The Talisman Cycle

“The sun banishes darkness every morning. I too will rise with such assuredness.” —Huatli

“Good ideas don’t take time. They take a lot of bad ideas first.” —Ral Zarek

“The pain of exploring is less than the pain of not knowing.” —Tamiyo

“You’ll never get to the top if you don’t know who’s already there.” —Kaya

“The continual rise of the downtrodden is as inevitable as vines usurping a forest.” —Vraska

Emotional - Impostor of the Sixth Pride

The tribe was as strong as his longing, their territory as vast as his isolation. The changeling knew he had found a home, and a form.

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

[dailymtgflavortext]

"Devils need no reason to stir up chaos. The chaos itself is their reward." —Rem Karolus, Fiendslayer

-Frenzied Devils

[faroreswinds]

I really liked my Dimitri cards I made, so I decided to finish off with the other lords! I didn't spend AS much time on them, though, but I did my best with quick edits.

I had a few rules I tried to follow

Make as little edits as possible to the original cards

Try to only use legendary human cards

Try to match the skills and colors of the cards to the characters themselves

I'm not going to explain Dimitri since I already did in a different post. I'll just explain the other three.

Edelgard

Based on Marchesa, the Black Rose

Although Edelgard isn't necessarily a wizard, her affinity for magic makes this an ok match

I like the idea of her dethroning others, since she is kinda doing that by being a conqueror

Red - For her color scheme. Red in magic also tends to hurt others. A lot.

Blue - Seeks perfection. Blue in magic tends to take control of the field.

Black - Having the last word on her own life . Black in magic really likes their graveyards and dealing with life points.

Claude

Based on Rem Karolus, Stalwart Slayer

This is the only one of the four where I changed the creature type. The OG card was Human Knight. But Claude isn't really a knight, and I felt that this card (of the cards I researched and could find), was the closest to being something that matched him. So I changed it from Knight to Advisor, for being known as a tactician.

I called him Scheming Scion because a) alliteration and b) he is called both these things officially in his cipher cards

Flying because.... yeah, he's the flyer of the group. Haste - With being the man who is supposed to be two steps ahead, it only makes sense that he would be able to attack the moment he comes on the battlefield.

I think the skills work fine. Being a tactician, he would find a way to hurt others more, and prevent damage to his own side (works really well with Hopes too, tbh, since that is kinda what he aims to do).

Being the weakest of the lords (technically, by physical strength), I think him being a 2 versus the 3/4s of the others works fine.

Red - Adventurous and looks upon the world.

White - The closest to yellow for his color scheme.

Yuri

Based on Ramses, Assassin Lord

Devastating Beauty - Not only is he devastatingly beautiful, but he's also devastating as in dangerous.

Deathtouch makes sense for him imo, since he is an assassin-type character

I like the idea that he has an alternative win condition. It just fits his character imo. "If myself or another assassin under my command kills you, I win."

There isn't really a purple color, so I went with blue and black as close proximates.

Blue - Trickery, manipulation, and control.

Black - He's an assassin so... you know. Death.

He's a little bit stronger than I would like but the card was that strong so... here we are.

[mondaysjournal]

6/10/2023 - One Hundred Billion Stars

Forever is one of those strange concepts that we have a word for but can't personally experience. In a technical sense it's "until the end of time;" that's something we won't be around for. So when we use it, it means something completely different based on the context. Forever is how long I had to wait until you came into my life the way you did. It's how long those three months you were here felt. It's how long the last full day I spent with you was. It's how long I have to wait to see you again. And it's how much time I want to spend with you. It's unfortunate that it can't be until the end of time, but I can settle for a little bit less than that.

Not much happened this week. On tuesday, I drove to albany for the symposium. Traffic on the way there as well as the brightness of the day made it kind of hard to drive, but on the way back since it was so late, the lack of traffic and darkness made it much easier. I gave Mr. Bott a focaccia, which he could not eat, but he said that his children and parents enjoyed it. The symposium itself was nice. I hope you can come to it next year. I want Mr. Bott to meet you, since you're so important to me. He's important in the sense that he's probably the closest thing to a father figure that I had in high school, while not quite getting there. I didn't disobey him enough for that to be the reality. You'd understand why some aspects of me are the way they are if you had a brief conversation with him.

I didn't go anywhere else this week, other than magic club. I lost two games and then won with rem karolus doing a heartless hidetsugu + furnace of rath combo. I like quick games. I also ordered the parts for shelob a few days ago, after I saw an article reporting huge price spikes on arachnogenesis. I think I was right to do so, because there were five copies of it on hareruya before and only one left when I placed my order. It's cheaper than the previous few decks I've made, I think. Not exactly a surprise since it's a tribal deck where most of the tribal cards are just random 2/3s for 3 with reach. The most expensive part is the landbase. It's definitely something I'm going to tinker with more over time. Other than that, I ended up finishing the latest randomized elden ring run with lint. And this morning I woke up early to go see one of the apartments you told me to email about, but I'll tell you about that more when we talk. We're running out of rice and chili powder so I might have to go get some tomorrow.

I don't really have anything else to look forward to doing at the moment, since the symposium was that one thing. I guess this is just how things were before you, but in your shadow it all seems more boring. I started reading the book you told me to read, but I'm only about 20 pages in since I get distracted easily. Once I'm actually further in, I'll start writing about it in earnest. I'll find something to do. I started cleaning around here more, since I feel guilty about not doing that enough. But I know there has to be more here than playing games and cleaning and making food. I might visit david at some point, but who knows if that will actually happen...really it's up to him to decide if he has the time. But yeah, I'll figure something out. I know you wouldn't want me to feel sad and bored here.

I love you, princess. I hope we can talk soon. You bring so much joy into my life.

[thaan]

Rem Karolus Evading own Tax Effects

Someone is trying to use a non-mana ability? That's a paddlin.

Someone is trying to use a burn spell to clear the table? That's a paddlin.

Someone being greedy with non-basic land? That's a paddlin.

Someone is being passive and letting you ramp up? That's a paddlin.

Someone trying to ramp up and tapping all their lands? Oh, you better believe that's a paddlin.

The plan of the deck is quite simple: tax your opponents while using cards that will make you ignore said tax.

I put most of the old powerful red mass burn spells that had the downside of being fully symmetrical in here, and instead of affecting everyone, they only affect your opponent, thanks to the commander and other cards like Blessed Sanctuary and Personal Sanctuary.

The deck also punishes other decks for using greedy mana bases by making them take damage either when they tap them or when you cast something like Price of Progress. It is quite surprising how much damage you can pull out with those spells, especially when you either copy them or repeat them often.

Gadrak also excels in the deck against a go-wide deck if you manage to follow up with a cheap burn board wipe in the same turn.

There is plenty of card draw and mana rock in the deck as well, so it allows you to have fuel for the match as well, and Past in Flames allows you to have an explosive turn.

If you want to upgrade the deck, there are multiple ways you can do so.

You can double down on the burn tax by adding damage-doubling permanents to the deck as well.

You can also go on a Mass Land Destruction path while punishing other with thing like Sulphiric Vortex.

Or you can heavily go into a more prison/stax style by adding effects like Blood Moon to the deck.

You can also customize the deck quite a lot with alternate art like invocation and secret lair card.

Be warned that other players can get a bit salty with how the deck functions, so make sure to try it out with a group that you trust.

[postsfromtheorderofsainttraft]

Rem Karolus didn't have a card for so long because much like pre-mending planeswalkers he was too powerful and had to be nerfed before he could be reasonably played

[inventors-fair]

The Dawn Returns: Innistrad Multicolor Winners ~

Congratulations to @hiygamer, @maispace, and @starch255 for winning this week’s contest!

@hiygamer — Selfless Lookout // Heartless Traitor

Here’s the thing: I don’t know if your scout depicted on the front face is being entirely honest. Like, okay, there’s gonna be pushback against this because selflessness as a concept is pretty antithetical to black, and you know what, I agree with these dissenting voices. But what if he’s lying? What if he’s giving the appearance of wariness but is in fact already chosen? I’m justifying a lot because of how much I love this card’s play. Having a bear that eventually transforms into a big vampire finisher means that you can utilize turn five much more effectively in an aggro format without having to force that slot. And it can attack as well, which I love. The whole mood is just nice, in a strictly storytelling way. Like, someone sees this, and they have to ask: what does the back face turn into? But it’s a betrayal, oh no! Does this impact get lost when it depicts the human side talking to the same allies (your stuff) that it eventually betrays? Well yes. Is the general mood still good and does the gameplay feel trump that minor stumble? IMO, yes.

~

@maispace — Stitcher’s Training // Stitcher’s Thesis

In terms of unique utilization of flavorful and mechanics, this card is stellar. There were some tough zombie calls this week, but this card, while it’s a little initially slow, can make for such a neat concept. I will say, unfortunately, that it’s REALLY hard to build around in limited, but will usually snag a flier as far as I can tell, and this is still the conceptual stage. But no, let’s save the iffiness, because this card is gloriously put together, just like the thesis. The +1/+1 counters on the enchantment feel like unresolved work just begging to become, which is a fantastic touch, and the fact that you have to build up such a monstrosity out of stitched parts from around the magical world to make the most effective thesis project just... It feels fantastic. It’s everything that the silly Frankensteinian trope wants. Decent flavor text, too! I think that not every zombie players wants this, but a good number will try to make it work.

~

@starch255 — Rem Karolus, Taker of Names

“Is this an OC?” I asked myself. Considering the mulchiness of a certain recent submission, I wouldn’t be surprised or any less delighted, but nope, this is a big legend from the set that I just forgot about. It’s kinda funny, but kinda a genuine point—I think this guy really needs to say “non-Human creature” because otherwise he’s just kinda really, really prejudiced. Still, dealing extra damage to a tough werewolf or a horde of zombies or a hissing vampire is awesome. Heh, it’s kinda interesting how 1/1 Human tokens can, if Rem’s exiled a zombie or wolf, now deal damage to the other 2/2 tokens more easily and win that fight. Regardless, this is a limited bomb for the aggro shell that honestly works well in any deck running against creatures. He goes down easily to general removal, but that’s just how the cookie crumbles and he’s not in this to protect himself; he’s a slayer. “Everything that you got is what I want to kill.” And kill you do, Rem. Simplicity and strength. Good job.

Once again, thank you all for your entries! We’ll see how far I get into commentary after the runners-up, but I think this’ll be a nice easy one. Not the biggest bundle, and some pretty neat designs to talk about and lessons to be learned. Let the warmth of autumn embrace you.

Your faithful, @abelzumi

[runningwolf62]

Fandom: MtG :3

Why.

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): Thalia.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Nashi! Who could forget dear rat boy?

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): Rem Karolus

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Tyvar Kell and Niko

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): Lukka. Listen. I can fix him.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): Sorin Markov.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Jin-Gitaxias. Directly into superhell with you. YEET.

[arvadthecursed]

sorry for constant magicposting but!! Full art for Remmy and Saint Dad.

As it would turn out, he isn't using a shovel, but it would have been in character for him to do so. Where did his swords go? Who knows. Who cares. He could take on Elesh Norn with his bare hands, I know it.

He's so handsome here 🥺🩷 love u Remmy ...

[antimascantics]

My rem karolus, stalwart slayer deck is finally built. A shit ton of damage spells and also a shit ton of creature removal spells bc its red white like what else am i gonna do. I think my lands are all unique extended arts which pleases me greatly. I'll have one cool deck to play with the tryhards lmao i think its fairly powerful minus like 3 expensive cards cause im not spending 100$ on three pieces of cardboard

[mtgdays]

【新拡張MID】ボロス強化えげつないな←避雷針的な運用か？

It took 3 visits to Innistrad, but after many flavour text appearances, Rem Karolus finally gets their own card in #MTGMID! An aggressive creature with decent stats and relevant abilities, this card is nothing to scoff at. Thank you as always to Wizards for my preview card! pic.twitter.com/b0cc7e6fUX — Mani Davoudi (@Zapgaze) 2021年9月8日 817 名無しプレイヤー＠手札いっぱい。 (ｱｳｱｳｵｰT Sa93-nTGN [119.104.86.184])…

[dailymtgflavortext]

"Don't stop chopping until the pieces stop wiggling." —Rem Karolus, Slayer of Eldrazi

-Slayer’s Cleaver

[quotesfromeverything]

You must shatter the fetters of the past. Only then can you truly act.

Rem Karolus

[doctor-roman]

Faces in the Background - Shadows Over Innistrad & Eldritch Moon - Part 3

Rem Karolus

Rem Karolus is one of the most quoted characters from Innistrad, second only to Hal and Alena’s combined count of 12 and surpassing them when counted individually.

Rem is another character who has held many titles throughout his life, from “Blade of the Inquisitors”, to “Slayer of Angels”, until finally settling on “Slayer of Eldrazi”, with the list succinctly describing Innistrad’s history.

In the original Innistrad block, Rem was known to travel alone, save for his old horse Jedda, and carrying his signature rapier and poniard with a bastard sword slung on his back. And that was all he needed to become the most revered member of the Thraben inquisitors, and the most feared human among Innistrad’s monsters. Despite his fame, Rem hardly ever went where the church told him to go, preferring to simply wander and deal with crises as he encountered them.

Upon Avacyn’s downward spiral into madness, Rem took his skills as a slayer of monsters and turned them against the very angels he had served throughout his entire life.

This took a severe emotional toll on him.

While he had always been known to be a grim and grizzled individual, his demeanor became even more sour, with Thalia suspecting that Rem’s faith and soul had died the moment he was forced to kill an angel for the first time.

It was Rem that found Avacyn’s spear and is assumed to be the first to find Avacyn’s ashes after her confrontation with Sorin, Jace, and Tamiyo. After going in circles just to pick up the spear (which was too powerful to be held bare handed by any one human), he carried it to Thalia to be used in the fight against Brisela and the Flight of Nightmares.

After this fight, it’s unknown what happened exactly to Rem, or for that matter, Thalia, Sigarda, and Grete, as shortly after Brisela’s defeat at the hands of Thalia, Emrakul arrived, and with her, a new wave of Eldrazi monsters.

Rem is quoted in 8 other cards:

Clear Shot (EMN) "What worked to bring down angels will do the same for these horrors."

Demolish (AVR) "To truly defeat a skaberen, you must destroy not the monster but the lab."

Gloomwidow (SOI) “An unexpected ally."

Guise of Fire (AVR) "Fire will eventually destroy a zombie, but a fiery zombie destroys a lot of other things first."

Hellrider (DKA) "Behind every devil's mayhem lurks a demon's scheme."

Lambholt Elder (DKA) "Be wary of the seemingly gentle souls. The weak here were slaughtered long ago."

Shattered Perception (DKA) "You must shatter the fetters of the past. Only then can you truly act."

Slayer’s Cleaver (EMN) "Don't stop chopping until the pieces stop wiggling."

Renna

On Innistrad, alchemy is not the protoscience that we know it as where people try to turn lead into gold. Instead, alchemy on Innistrad is the science of creating life from dead bodies, using various processes to do so. The most common way to do this, it seems, is by harvesting lightning for later use - most likely in an effort to shock life back into whatever’s being created ala Frankenstein (the process of which is already captured on a card).

This all probably sounds familiar with the fact that skaberen (people who stitch dead bodies together) exist, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

From what I can tell, stitchers are only a type of necro-alchemist, with others practicing the craft in other ways. For instance, Hadaken of Nephalia uses geist-fueled engines to animate their skaabs, while Geralf uses lightning directly from storms.

I believe Renna here is of the latter school of thought, and primarily uses lightning for her experiments just like Geralf does. We know that she bottles the lightning she collects, as shown in the other card she’s quoted in, but how she uses it from that point is a mystery.

Living in Selhoff, Renna has no shortage of materials needed for their practice, as Selhoff is located in Nephalia - a province known for its black market of body trafficking.

Renna is quoted in one other card:

Vessel of Volatility (SOI) "To be honest, I'm not quite sure what's going to happen."

Runo Stromkirk

Unlike the other vampiric families, the Stromkirk line dwell in the province of Nephalia - away from the other families in Stensia. Their progenitor, Runo Stromkirk, was a high priest in life who worshipped a pre-Avacynian god of the sea and storms. It is unknown what shape or form this supposed “god” took, but it has been a question among the fandom since this aspect of Runo was first discovered.

Using his massive fortune, he supported and fostered a culture of fine woodwork among the human populace of Nephalia. Everything in Nephalia is built out of wood, from its buildings to its ships. But this was by no means an accident. To support this boon of wood carving, the humans of Nephalia cut down many of the forests in the province, which left fewer sources of wood to make into wooden stakes - one of a vampire’s few weaknesses.

Unlike the other vampire families, Runo has made sure that the Stromkirk line takes special care of the humans under his family’s control. Humans with especially tasty blood are kept in lavish areas of the Stromkirk manor in pampered bondage, kept alive just enough to be fed on throughout the course of their lives. However, because of this, some argue that they are safer than others against the rest of Innistrad’s monsters. With the Stromkirk line known for their talent in the art of fencing, one can see how.

In Eldritch Moon, the members of the Stromkirk family that gave themselves over to the Nephalian coastal cults - likely due to the Stromkirk family’s connection to the coast - were the first of Innistrad’s denizens to be transformed into Eldrazi spawn.

Based on other pieces of flavor text that are soon to follow, we learn that Runo himself became a worshipper of Emrakul. How far along he has been warped into an Eldrazi monster is a question that still demands answering.

Stromkirk Captain (DKA) "No longer can we allow our human populations to be mindlessly slaughtered by ghouls. Slay all who trespass."

Stromkirk Condemned (EMN) "Blood from the vein is the finest vintage to accompany a feast of the mind."

Weirded Vampire (EMN) "Emrakul makes apparent those whom she has favored."

Vallon

Vallon is an inspector. They go out and inspect things. Like murder scenes, and strange sightings of eldritch growth.

Inspectors on Innistrad are a relatively new thing that are closely associated with The Order of Saint Traft. You can see this in the art for Thraben Inspector: the character in question has the symbol of the organization - a golden gryff - on the shoulder piece of their armor. 

The inspectors came about in response to the newfound mysteries plaguing Innistrad in the days of Avacyn’s madness in an attempt to solve and fix the problems the humans were facing.

And then Emrakul just sorta popped out of the ocean. Not much of a mystery when the culprit jumps up and says “Hi, it’s me!”

They also worked on various murder scenes when the need demanded it, but that took a backseat due to the fact that there were more pressing concerns at the time. Now that Emrakul is sealed away, I imagine this will change and inspectors like Vallon will be reassigned to other, more manageable mysteries.

Vallon is quoted in two other cards:

Throttle (SOI) "Victim discovered at dawn with mouth agape and eyes bulging. No evidence of blood loss or dismemberment. Severe bruising around the neck."

Vessel of Paramnesia (SOI) "Write everything down. Trust me."

And that officially wraps up Innistrad. Feels weird leaving it a second time, but as Standard moves forward, so will we. Until then, I’ll see you all week after next.