Heres a small deck history:
At first it wasn't a Karador, Ghost Chieftain deck. in fact not even Abzan deck. The first idea of this deck was a Chulane, Teller of Tales where I did play all the hatebears I played in other formats. Then I saw many of those hatebears where legendary and I played a Kethis, the Hidden Hand "Historic & Taxes" deck. and as I played it and changed and changed, it went towards a grindy GY game, and it eventually became Karador, this is now my favorite deck. the one I get like foil copies or cool secret lair arts.
Current Decklist (Updated as MKM)
My version/Play Patterns
My version of Karador, Ghost Chieftain wants to play a long grindy game, hit all the land drops, slow my opponents a little bit and accrue value trough each game action. I want to slow my opponents a little bit and advance my position a little and in the end come out on top, either by attacking or several Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim triggers. either way, Field of the Dead is directly involved in many of the games we end up winning, perhaps because of that I highly value hitting my land drops. I'm running 40 lands, 3 land cyclers and 7 ramp pieces. Aditionally, out of my 6 tutors, 3 can find Field of the Dead . Hitting a somewhat early Karador, Ghost Chieftain is big time for this deck. playing Satyr Wayfinder over and over again really gets the game going, with several of our pieces in the GY the game run pretty smoothly. if the game states proves to be too much to win via regular attacks, we can Fiend Artisan to get Moonshaker Cavalry and do an alpha strike.
Ideally in the early turns we are playing Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Archon of Emeria and then hitting Circle of the Land Druid / Satyr Wayfinder .The hatebears will draw a kill spell really soon, but you would be amazed to see how some small taxation will throw commander players out of their loop. This small tempo advantage will be the building block. effects like Karador, Ghost Chieftain and Lurrus of the Dream-Den will allow us to play this cards multiple times a turn. aditionally, a sac outlet + Karador, Ghost Chieftain turn Archon of Emeria really unfair (I got to thank @pokken for this play pattern. I had not realized it and it became a really good line to have.)
My version is a bit (maybe too?) high on cycling cards, running all 3 1 mana land cyclers from LOTR + Street Wraith . I Really like the LOTR cyclers , they provide good fixing, they are assure we will hit our land drops and if needed they can even come back. I recently had a game where I cast the green one over and over to block Feather, the Redeemed . It's highly unlikely the creature itself will be relevant, but reducing for Karador, Ghost Chieftain and fixing for the right lands is worth it for me.
Notable exclusions
Hermit Druid - 18 basics is a bit too much, I think whenever I get to arround 14 I'll try it again. great card, but better used in more optmized landbases imho.
Survival of the Fittest - I just don't have one
Fauna Shaman - I wanted it to work but I played it twice and both times it was insta killed. Perhaps I could try it again but it left a sour taste in my mouth
Spore Frog - I probably should run it back, but I'm playing in a more aggro heavy playgroup and they would visibly moan when this card made an appearence. Have you ever seen a grown man concede to a 1/1 frog? it's weird
Protean Hulk - Protean hulk + sac outlet can get you a infinity combo, I currently don't run these lines in my build. but protean hulk alone for value could be usefull in the future
Natural Order - Most of my heavy hitters aren't green
Possible upgrades
Like I mentioned before, I don't run Survival of the Fittest for budgetary reasons. not the only card I don't run for those reasons, several cards I don't run and probably never will (like ABU deals and so on) but there are other cards that I don't own now but it isn't impossible for me to eventually get. here are some imrpovements I could eventually add to my collection.
Phyrexian Tower
Recruiter of the Guard
Ranger-Captain of Eos
Boseiju, Who Endures
Volrath's Stronghold