[Deck]BUx Reanimator

[mistercakes]

thoughts on this list?

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displayprintdeck.php?DeckID=91248

big notables are

20 lands, including 4 wasteland
no force of wills in 75

1st place, but how many people entered....

[Captain Hammer]

thoughts on this list?

http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displayprintdeck.php?DeckID=91248

big notables are

20 lands, including 4 wasteland
no force of wills in 75

1st place, but how many people entered....

-4 Wasteland
-3 Lotus Petal

+4 Faithless Looting
+2 Fetchland
+1 Exhume

and that would make for a very solid list. However there are 0 reasons not to play Faithless Looting in a list that splashes red and doesn't play FoW.

[KobeBryan]

Bad Player here. Took this to a 30 man and punted

3 griselbrand
1 Iona, shield of emeria
1 tidespout tyrant
1 elesh norn, grand cenobyte
1 grave titan

4 brainstorm
4 ponder
3 thoughtsieze
4 careful study
4 entomb
4 reanimate
4 daze
3 exhume
4 force of will
2 animate dead

4 polluted delta
4 verdant catacombs
4 underground sea
2 bayou
1 tropical island
1 swamp
1 island

Board:
3 abrupt decay
3 duress
2 pithing needle
1 disfigure
1 Pernicious Deed
1 thoughtsieze
1 massacre
1 Aetherling
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Dread of Night

I didn't use the petal because i was so screwed from variance playing on cockatrice. Played a more traditional deck to make sure I don't get mana screwed.

1-2 Painters

Game 1 - I go off with Griselbrand on turn 2 or 3. He can't stop it while i draw a ton of cards. I wasn't even sure he was on painters for a while.

Sideboard - Out 4 daze, 4 force of will, 1 grave titan, 1 ponder, In - 3 duress, 1 thoughtseize, 3 abrupt decay, 1 pernicius deed, 2 needle
game 2 - I got land screwed. Had 1 underground sea and he blasted it. I tried to ponder when i got a land in finally, but he blasted it. Then got grinded.

game 3 - No lands again for 3 turns. I had a ponder and a brainstorm. I ponder, turn 1. No lands. Shuffle. Turn 2, i brainstorm or something, it gets blasted. Goes down hill from here after he drops a crypt, then welder. I eventually bait his crypt with 1 reanimate, but he welds it back or draws another crypt. I don't remember. I eventually drop a deed with 7 life. He welds a pithing needle from gy and names it. I only had 3 lands with none untapped.


0-2 Shardless

Game 1 - Stuck with a 1 lander. I have ponder and brainstorm. They both blank for a while. Then he gets his DRS ready and I was out. He also dropped a jace.

Board - Out 4 daze, 4 force of will, Iona, grave titan (i should have kept it in), 1 reanimate. In 3 abrupt decay, 1 pernicious deed, 1 empyrial, 3 duress, 1 thoughtseize, 2 needle.

Game 2 - Mull to 6. Turn 1 i get his gy hate. He then drops a cage. It resolves. He then drops a nihil spellbomb, i needle it. Eventually i was able to abrupt decay his cage. I was able to get griselbrand on board with a animate dead. but he has 1 baleful strix in play 2 shardless agent and a goyf. I couldn't attack or I will face lethal at 6 life. I had to attack eventually, i gain some life. Eventually i was able ot get tide sprout, but he had so many attackers it didn't matter. He then dropped a liliana and it was game

Eventually i was able to kill his strix with a decay. However, he overruns me with goyfs after i was forced to attack into griselbrand when I was at 2 life.


Burn 2-1

Game 1 - burned to death

game 2 - on the draw. End turn, discard iona. TUrn 2 reanimate

Game 3 - Turn 2 empyrial

[mistercakes]

-4 Wasteland
-3 Lotus Petal

+4 Faithless Looting
+2 Fetchland
+1 Exhume

and that would make for a very solid list. However there are 0 reasons not to play Faithless Looting in a list that splashes red and doesn't play FoW.

he would only have 1 red source and it would be a non-basic.

anyone know how many people were in this tourney?

[sunlith42]

I played in the Starcity event in Worcester this weekend. I have my tournament report below, input is appreciated as this was my first large event.

Decklist:
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona
1 elesh
1 Tidespout
1 Grave titan
4 entomb
4 careful study
4 reanimate
4 exhume
1 animate dead
4 FOW
3 daze
4 thoughtseieze
4 brainstorm
3 ponder
3 lotus petal
3 underground sea
4 polluted delta
2 bloodstained mire
1 flooded strand
1 bayou
1 trop
2 swamp
1 island

Sideboard:
3 abrupt decay
3 duress
2 pithing needle
1 sire
1 aetherling
1 inkwell leviathan
1 disfigure
1 massacre
2 surgical extraction

Round 1 Merfolk (chalice, no vial) – 1-0
G1: She gets a turn one daze merfolk then turn 2 chalice on 1. I die slowly to a handful of merfolk.
G2: Turn 1 entomb Iona, turn 2 exhume Iona with force backup. Named blue and that was game.
G3: I have the nuts, turn 1 Iona on blue with a force for her attempt to force.

Round 2 Miracles – 1-1
G1: I play, turn 1 careful study for the one fatty in my hand Iona, then reanimate. I blind named white which turns about to be good since next turn he plays top. I swing in for 14 over two turns then the last turn he top decks a krakas and bounces Iona. That game I manage to reanimate a grave titan which gets terminused then reanimate him again and him and 1 zombie get STP. Then the guy top decks Jace to bounce my last zombie, I then get Jace ulted. He wins at 1 life. Very frustrating game.
G2: Turn 1 I duress and take his RIP. He forces my turn 3 attempt to reanimate atheling then he gets the counterbalance lock and I don’t get to play anymore magic.

Round 3 Omnitell – 2-1
G1: I’m on the draw, he turn one preordains. I suspect Omni at this point. I careful study and discard griselbrand, keeping an Iona in my hand. Turn 2 I reanimate and I keep Iona in hand all game.
G2: I have Iona in hand and turn one I entomb a tidespout. His second turn he show and tells Emrakul, I put in Iona on blue. He swings after he counters my attempt to exhume tidespout, I was dead either way.
G3: Turn 1 duress which gets countered. Turn 2 entomb and reanimate Iona.

Round 4 Infect – 2-2
G1: He’s on the play, he plays a turn 1 glistener elf. I entomb Elesh, next turn I reanimate with counter backup.
G2: I bin Tidespout off of a careful study then reanimate turn 2. Over the next few turns I draw 2 land, 2 exhume, and 2 griselbrand. I end up casting both exhumes on nothing just to bounce his loan glistener elf. My last turn before I could swing for leathal he crop rotates to get an inkmoth nexus and on his turn he swings for 12 infect.
G3: He counters my first attempt to entomb, then he counters my careful study. He lands an elf and I disfigure it. I duress and take a FOW, then turn I draw a thoughtsieze, so I thoughtseize and take a blighted agent. I pass and he plays 1 inkmoth nexus then crop rotates for a second and then crop rotates for a krakas. So on my turn he has 2 inkmoth nexuses and a krakas. I am currently at 1 infect. He swings and uses invigorate so I am at 7 infect. I top deck exhume and I have entomb in hand. At this point I don’t have clue what to get, I entomb grave titan and exhume. He gets blighted agent from his graveyard. I die to his 3 attackers. I don’t know what I should do there, since he had 2 infect fliers and he gets his agent back and he has krakas.

Round 5 TES – 2-3
G1: He’s on the play, turn one he git probes me then ponders. Turn 1 I have 2 land, lotus petal, thoughtsieze, entomb, exhume and ponder. I play the land and thoughtseize. I see 2 rite of flame, cabal therapy, dark rit, and infernal tutor. At that point I put him on ANT. I took his cabal therapy so he can’t take my exhume then I entomb Iona. On his turn he combos out and kills me. I was surpised by the speed of his turn 2 kill.
G2: My seven is 2 duress, 1 thoughtsieze, 1 FOW, and 3 land. I mulligan 4 times each time getting no landers. So I sat at 3 with usea, force, and reanimate. He kills me turn two.

Round 6 Miracles – 3-3
G1: I bin grisel off of careful study, turn 2 I exhume. When I go to draw 7 he STP my grisel, I was at 14 so I didn’t bother to draw 14 because I couldn’t have forced anyway. Off my new 7 I am able to entomb reanimate another grisel the following turn. Then he STP that one and I draw 14 and no counter spell. But that lets me discard Iona and Elesh at my end step. Next turn I reanimate both and name white on Iona, he concedes.
G2: Turn 1 I thoughtseize and take a RIP. I entomb Aetherling on turn 2. The next turn I go to thoughtseize and he flashes in containment priest. I have a hand full of reanimate spells, and never draw an abrupt decay.
G3: I discard Iona and griselbrand turn 2. Then he draws and plays RIP. After a few turns I draw abrupt decay and do it at his end step. My turn I duress and take his force of will, then entomb and exhume grave titan because he had a krakas out. I kill him with zombies.

Round 7 Dredge – 3-4
G1: I entomb Elesh at his endstep then spend the next few turns playing ponders and brainstorms until he kills me.
G2: Turn 3 elesh wins it.
G3: My hand is 2 careful study, brainstorm, land, 2 entomb reanimate. Hes on the play and he casts unmask. He takes my reanimate. I entomb elesh and never see a reanimate over 7 turns, 2 careful studies and 2 brainstorms.

Round 8 U/B Tezz – 3-5
G1: I have the nuts, I turn one griselbrand.
G2: I have the nuts again, but he gets a leyline of the void and a cage. Turn 2 he plays chalice on 1. Turn 3 he plays trinisphere. Then he beats me with thopters.
G3: I mull to 5, he gets his leyline out. He gets chalice on 1 which I decay. Turn 4 he plays helm of obedience and kills me.
After this game he told me his local store is 2 ANT, 1 dredge and 1 reanimator usually so he has lots of hate for combo and graveyard. Oh well.

Overall I felt ok about my results and had fun. Two games I'd like input on are round 4 game 3 against infect. What creature can you get to win there? Maybe grisel to reload? And Round 5 Vs TES game 2, is that first hand with 3 discard good or did I make the right call and just get screwed? That was my first time playing any storm variant and I didn't think TES was that fast, if I did i might have changed my TS target game 1.

[D@N]

Against infect the play is always elesh, he has no creatures above 1/1 so he can't play anything or activate inkmoth.

With ur list did u ever need the petals? I'm wondering if adding another land and more ponders or something is better then the petals.

[sunlith42]

Against infect the play is always elesh, he has no creatures above 1/1 so he can't play anything or activate inkmoth.

With ur list did u ever need the petals? I'm wondering if adding another land and more ponders or something is better then the petals.

The problem with elesh there was that he had Krakas and 2 inkmoth nexuses. So at my end step he bounces elesh and then he animates his lands and kills me on his turn. The petals were great, they enabled 5 turn 1 reanimates in 8 rounds. So about 1 in every 5 games I was getting a turn 1 reanimate.

[H]

Not an expert, but I think your only play there is to get Tidespout and pray for a miracle. If you get Tidespout, you can block the Inkmoths (so he can't really attack with them) and pray you draw enough spells to bounce the Blighted Agent. You'd probably need to get a Griselbrand into play somehow soon after though to keep up the pace.

[downtoonelife]

The problem with elesh there was that he had Krakas and 2 inkmoth nexuses. So at my end step he bounces elesh and then he animates his lands and kills me on his turn. The petals were great, they enabled 5 turn 1 reanimates in 8 rounds. So about 1 in every 5 games I was getting a turn 1 reanimate.

How many open mana left do you have and what was your total life then? Maybe you could have entomb for Griselbrand, then draw 7 - 14 in response to his Karakas and maybe hope to get another Exhume, Pithing Needle, and then animate Elesh Norn or get another Disfigure. As compared to Grave Titan there isn't anything you can hope for after you animate him.

[sunlith42]

How many open mana left do you have and what was your total life then? Maybe you could have entomb for Griselbrand, then draw 7 - 14 in response to his Karakas and maybe hope to get another Exhume, Pithing Needle, and then animate Elesh Norn or get another Disfigure. As compared to Grave Titan there isn't anything you can hope for after you animate him.

At that time I beleive I had one left over mana after an entomb/exhume and I was at 12 life. So I could have gotten grisel and drawn 7, I think that might have been my best play.

[Fox]

At that time I beleive I had one left over mana after an entomb/exhume and I was at 12 life. So I could have gotten grisel and drawn 7, I think that might have been my best play.
Where does that get you though? With 5 life left reanimate is a dead card, the mana is fairly constricted without petals. If you have a land drop you go to 2 mana -> entomb tidespout -> petal + exhume -> then need petal #2 to bounce and then hold up a cantrip on his turn? Looking at your list in face of karakas, that's the only line I'm seeing that you can gristle-draw into for a win [2 petals definitely, and cantrip or unsummons via free counters pointed at petal #2].
The only creature card I can see getting you out of that situation on your initial entomb/exhume is Thrashing Wumpus and activating pestilence effect in response to inkmoth animations & attack step. It'd be going pretty deep, but it's basically a really bad version of elesh [except vs karakas], so it'd eat up a sideboard slot and only really come in if karakas is shown...would at least be an interesting meta-call.

[Clark Kant]

So basically, the decision we face is one of speed vs. consistency.

If we opt for speed, we should play Lotus Petal and Faithless Looting. If we opt for consistency, we should play Jace Vryn's Prodigy and Animate Dead.

[D@N]

Adding red gets us nothing but mana f#cked and jace is a bit to slow for my liking. I do believe it's a choice of speed and consistency but better choices need to be made.

@sunlith42
Sorry I missed that he had karakas, downtoon is right I think griselbrand is the play to try and get a needle or something. Although sometimes that deck along with lands just straight up has the nuts and u gotta tip the hat.

[Captain Morgan]

I've been trying two copies of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and I think they've been fairly successful. In one recent victory he allowed me to go off through a DRS with Exhume and Entomb, forcing the opponent to allow Griselbrand or face whatever I could fetch out.

[PirateKing]

Overall I felt ok about my results and had fun. Two games I'd like input on are round 4 game 3 against infect. What creature can you get to win there? Maybe grisel to reload? And Round 5 Vs TES game 2, is that first hand with 3 discard good or did I make the right call and just get screwed? That was my first time playing any storm variant and I didn't think TES was that fast, if I did i might have changed my TS target game 1.

Infect can be a tricky matchup, they'll have clutch counters and can present a legitimate risk early while maintaining late game presence with the difficult to remove Inkmoth Nexus. In your specific situation, I'd have to agree that Tidespout Tyrant offers the best opportunity to win. Assuming he doesn't have any pump spell, you're able to block 1 of the Inkmoth and go to 9 infect, then on your turn hopefully draw some gas to bounce the blighted on the next swing and still be able to block the second Inkmoth. Issue being, as the Infect player, I'd hold off until I draw some pump, knowing you're on the defensive, and try and get in with at least one creature to boost to lethal. At that point trying to swing the Inkmoths into your blocker wouldn't be my first choice. If Infect is big there you could consider either Blazing Archon as a sideboard option.

Against Storm, I don't agree on your Thoughtseize target, you're leaving him with a minimum of 6 mana plus the tutor, taking the cabal therapy is borderline beneficial because now he's one step closer to a natural hellbent. Sure leaving him with it means you get your Exhume nailed on his turn, but most likely, that will be the extent of him turn and you have the Ponder to find the other 8 effects in the deck. Taking the Infernal Tutor leaves him with only mana in his hand, which is very very dangerous, but much better than mana plus something to do with it. Game 2 I can agree that your starting 7 isn't the best, but it's pretty good against Storm. They can be just as fast as you, but less resilient. Crippling their hand early should buy you enough time to have better draws going forward and assemble your combo first. Landing three discard by the second turn ensures that easily, and you're just a Brainstorm or a Ponder away from being right back to where you want to be, while they're trying to regain critical mass.

[Nuke is Good]

Infect can be a tricky matchup, they'll have clutch counters and can present a legitimate risk early while maintaining late game presence with the difficult to remove Inkmoth Nexus. In your specific situation, I'd have to agree that Tidespout Tyrant offers the best opportunity to win. Assuming he doesn't have any pump spell, you're able to block 1 of the Inkmoth and go to 9 infect, then on your turn hopefully draw some gas to bounce the blighted on the next swing and still be able to block the second Inkmoth. Issue being, as the Infect player, I'd hold off until I draw some pump, knowing you're on the defensive, and try and get in with at least one creature to boost to lethal. At that point trying to swing the Inkmoths into your blocker wouldn't be my first choice. If Infect is big there you could consider either Blazing Archon as a sideboard option.

Against Storm, I don't agree on your Thoughtseize target, you're leaving him with a minimum of 6 mana plus the tutor, taking the cabal therapy is borderline beneficial because now he's one step closer to a natural hellbent. Sure leaving him with it means you get your Exhume nailed on his turn, but most likely, that will be the extent of him turn and you have the Ponder to find the other 8 effects in the deck. Taking the Infernal Tutor leaves him with only mana in his hand, which is very very dangerous, but much better than mana plus something to do with it. Game 2 I can agree that your starting 7 isn't the best, but it's pretty good against Storm. They can be just as fast as you, but less resilient. Crippling their hand early should buy you enough time to have better draws going forward and assemble your combo first. Landing three discard by the second turn ensures that easily, and you're just a Brainstorm or a Ponder away from being right back to where you want to be, while they're trying to regain critical mass.

Elesh Norn is the better target vs infect, none of their critters are stronger than 2-3 toughness. Tidespout Tyrant can be defeated by Vines of the Vastwood. The problem is some infect builds splash white which can kill your Elesh leaving you with a problem.

[Fox]

Elesh Norn is the better target vs infect, none of their critters are stronger than 2-3 toughness.
While generally true, the issue ran into was inkmoth evasion of -2/-2 in a crop rotation/karakas deck.

[PirateKing]

Elesh Norn is the better target vs infect, none of their critters are stronger than 2-3 toughness. Tidespout Tyrant can be defeated by Vines of the Vastwood. The problem is some infect builds splash white which can kill your Elesh leaving you with a problem.

This is advice specific to sunlith42's situation of 12 life, 7 poison, two Inkmoth Nexus and a Karakas, a Blighted Agent in the opponent's graveyard, and Entomb & Exhume in hand with 4 available mana. Obviously getting Elesh Norn or any legendary creature will just get it bounced at the end of your turn, and then you're facing lethal. So the only options are a non-legendary flyer to block, or attempt to get Griselbrand and draw 7 with only 1 mana and any Lotus Petals you may draw to follow up with.

[Nuke is Good]

This is advice specific to sunlith42's situation of 12 life, 7 poison, two Inkmoth Nexus and a Karakas, a Blighted Agent in the opponent's graveyard, and Entomb & Exhume in hand with 4 available mana. Obviously getting Elesh Norn or any legendary creature will just get it bounced at the end of your turn, and then you're facing lethal. So the only options are a non-legendary flyer to block, or attempt to get Griselbrand and draw 7 with only 1 mana and any Lotus Petals you may draw to follow up with.

Ah I didn't see that when I was browsing on my phone. My bad.

[sunlith42]

@PirateKing thanks for the input on the storm match, thats the one match I thought I made the most misplays and could have had a shot in. But I had never played against storm before so that definitely hurt, in the future I have a better idea what to take now.

[sunlith42]

I am seriously considering running Void Winnower when he comes out. He's an 11/9 for 9 mana, your opponents can't cast spells with even CMC and he can't be blocked by creatures with even CMC. In Miracles this shuts off Jace, terminus, counterspell, counterbalance snapcaster, & Dig. In lands this shuts of loam. In Storm it shuts off all wincons. 12 post it shuts off titan. In elves it shuts off NO and craterhoof. It also hits RIP, tormods, & containment priest.

If it was odd CMC I think he would be 100% include. As it is I think he could be really strong and hard to deal with. Thoughts?

[gibbousm]

Thoughts are: it doesnt stop StP and why would I reanimate this over Iona?

[KobeBryan]

I rather just play grisel, draw a bunch of cards, use it to protect my grisel.

[PirateKing]

I am seriously considering running Void Winnower when he comes out. He's an 11/9 for 9 mana, your opponents can't cast spells with even CMC and he can't be blocked by creatures with even CMC. In Miracles this shuts off Jace, terminus, counterspell, counterbalance snapcaster, & Dig. In lands this shuts of loam. In Storm it shuts off all wincons. 12 post it shuts off titan. In elves it shuts off NO and craterhoof. It also hits RIP, tormods, & containment priest.

If it was odd CMC I think he would be 100% include. As it is I think he could be really strong and hard to deal with. Thoughts?

Problem is, beyond Jace and Terminus, all the cards you named are ones that give us difficulty BEFORE we're reanimating, and do very little to bother us afterwards. They can play all the Tormod's and Containment's they want once I have Griselbrand safely in play. So you're going to face the same obstacles getting him into play in the forst place, and will only really help power out a follow up creature, which is the same debate with Archetype of Endurance. We really don't have the space or the time to set up a one-two creature combo. It's hard enough just to get the one, so we really need to focus on making sure that one opportunity nets us the best possible future.

[Fox]

Void Winnower's even clause seems to be best against LED/Infernal Tutor and any relevant spell with storm triggers, though it's still soft to chain of vapor. It's probably also decent vs chalice decks [especially if they run loam/p-fire]. Thinking about the card in a bubble, I'd bring it in vs storm, charbelcher, aggro loam, lands, MUD, Tezzerator, High Tide, Aluren, and some others - but the main thing here is these should be pretty fringe match-ups, and simply drawing 7 with gristle or grabbing Iona may still be more correct. If you're going to experiment with it, I might suggest -1 pithing needle from the sideboard to make space since it's sort of the same effect.

[Darksteel]

Gonna be playing Reanimator in a 0.5k tomorrow. Here's the list I'm thinking of running:

3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Grave Titan
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate
1 Animate Dead or Life/Death (Not sure which is better)
4 Careful Study
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
3 Thoughtseize

1 Pithing Needle
3 Lotus Petal

4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Flooded Strand
4 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
1 Island

14 lands may be too few. I almost want to cut the 9th reanimation spell for an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, but maybe another basic land just seems better.

As for the sideboard, I'm thinking this so far, but it clearly needs work.

2 Massacre
1 Pithing Needle
4 Show and Tell
2 City of Traitors
1 Duress
1 Aetherling
1 Ashen Rider
1 Flusterstorm
2 Echoing Truth

Any suggestions for a diverse meta that I may be missing?

I'm still not sold on the green splash for Abrupt Decay, mainly because I'm afraid of getting Wastelanded out of the game. On the other hand, Decay shores up the Miracles matchup fairly well.

[sunlith42]

Gonna be playing Reanimator in a 0.5k tomorrow. Here's the list I'm thinking of running:

I'm still not sold on the green splash for Abrupt Decay, mainly because I'm afraid of getting Wastelanded out of the game. On the other hand, Decay shores up the Miracles matchup fairly well.

In matches where they would have wasteland you just keep an uncracked fetch until the turn you draw the abrupt decay, then you fetch your green source and use abrupt decay on their endstep. So you can reanimate on your turn, earlier in your match you can fetch your basics so it won't matter.

[sunlith42]

Recently I have been playing 3 dark ritual where I would normally play 3 lotus petal. I am liking it alot. It allows me to turn 1 entomb, then either reanimate or exhume. It also allows for a turn 1; dark rit, thought-seize, entomb, reanimate. Which is really strong. It also has better late game utility than lotus petal, allowing me to cast grave titan on turn 4 multiple times and even cast a griselbrand once off 2 dark rits. I would say for the foreseeable future I will be running dark ritual over lotus petal.

[mistercakes]

Recently I have been playing 3 dark ritual where I would normally play 3 lotus petal. I am liking it alot. It allows me to turn 1 entomb, then either reanimate or exhume. It also allows for a turn 1; dark rit, thought-seize, entomb, reanimate. Which is really strong. It also has better late game utility than lotus petal, allowing me to cast grave titan on turn 4 multiple times and even cast a griselbrand once off 2 dark rits. I would say for the foreseeable future I will be running dark ritual over lotus petal.

not a bad idea. will try it out in testing when i have a chance. sorta like onion deck except not as vulnerable.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

That's how it was played a decade ago, before all the 'yard hate was printed. It's fast, but how is it with SnT? I guess it is probably okay, except for the instances of 1 land hands against a wasteland list.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[sunlith42]

That's how it was played a decade ago, before all the 'yard hate was printed. It's fast, but how is it with SnT? I guess it is probably okay, except for the instances of 1 land hands against a wasteland list.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

I haven't tried it with SnT, I am on the green splash for abrupt decay. I would think that lotus petal is probably better if you are still using SnT. Game 2 and 3 the dark rit has been strong, allowing me to combo off before they can get the hate down.

[sigmanugary]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about buying into Reanimator. Gerry Thompson's recent article on BR Reanimator really caught my eye. Do you guys think this BR build is viable or at least a good starting point (I don't have any Underground Seas)?

Thanks in advance!

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31610_Daily-Digest-Insane-In-The-Membrane.html#comments

[PirateKing]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about buying into Reanimator. Gerry Thompson's recent article on BR Reanimator really caught my eye. Do you guys think this BR build is viable or at least a good starting point (I don't have any Underground Seas)?

Thanks in advance!

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31610_Daily-Digest-Insane-In-The-Membrane.html#comments

It'll be not as good, but you can still get a feel for the deck if you're fiscally limited. On his list specifically, there are a few issues. While his sideboard strategy seems to hinge on Sneak Attack and Stronghold Gambit, Ashen Rider hasn't been relevant for a few months now. Elesh Norn in the side is just wrong, she's the go to for many of the decks you'll face, and always a powerful followup to any of your other creatures. Even if speed is the main focus of this build, not sure if two copies of Sire of Insanity is the best creature to get. Too many decks can beat you with only topdeck plays. Also it's really bothering me that in his article he mentions discard, but has zero effects in his 75. Running Dark Ritual and Lotus Petal and Simian Spirit Guide makes you fast, I got that, but maximizing your turn 1 combos without protection just moves you closer into the glass cannon category. What we need to be seeking is resiliency, I'd like to see mainboard Thoughtseize with Duress in the side to make up for the fact that we won't be interacting with the stack. Firestorm is good tech for fighting Deathrite Shamans and other bothersome creatures, even if they can eat a creature with Firestorm on the stack, being able to dump multiple creatures moves you forward towards a win. Though at the end of the day, you'll need to be saving up for the Underground Seas, because there will be a ceiling I fear you'll reach somewhat quickly that just can't be overcome without the constancy of Brainstorm and the resilience of Force of Will getting you through trouble cards.

[mistercakes]

It'll be not as good, but you can still get a feel for the deck if you're fiscally limited. On his list specifically, there are a few issues. While his sideboard strategy seems to hinge on Sneak Attack and Stronghold Gambit, Ashen Rider hasn't been relevant for a few months now. Elesh Norn in the side is just wrong, she's the go to for many of the decks you'll face, and always a powerful followup to any of your other creatures. Even if speed is the main focus of this build, not sure if two copies of Sire of Insanity is the best creature to get. Too many decks can beat you with only topdeck plays. Also it's really bothering me that in his article he mentions discard, but has zero effects in his 75. Running Dark Ritual and Lotus Petal and Simian Spirit Guide makes you fast, I got that, but maximizing your turn 1 combos without protection just moves you closer into the glass cannon category. What we need to be seeking is resiliency, I'd like to see mainboard Thoughtseize with Duress in the side to make up for the fact that we won't be interacting with the stack. Firestorm is good tech for fighting Deathrite Shamans and other bothersome creatures, even if they can eat a creature with Firestorm on the stack, being able to dump multiple creatures moves you forward towards a win. Though at the end of the day, you'll need to be saving up for the Underground Seas, because there will be a ceiling I fear you'll reach somewhat quickly that just can't be overcome without the constancy of Brainstorm and the resilience of Force of Will getting you through trouble cards.

i'd say go for it, it'll be a lot more fun than other glass cannon decks and you will have obtained griselbrands, city of traitors, and badlands. if you are looking to take the plunge, i'd also recommend a griselbrand deck in modern so that way you are making it cost effective.

also, lejay was the pilot of the deck, maybe he could comment on how the deck worked out in general.

-Rob

[PirateKing]

Another consideration would be specific meta. I'm not familiar at all with MODO, but I know that some cards have radically different availability, and therefore pricing, which could effect distribution of some decks that rely on obscure cards like Tabernacle. So it might be a stronger deck in the online arena.

[sigmanugary]

Thx for the replies fellas...I think I'm gonna go for it. However, would cutting the Gitaxian Probes and Firestorms for some compliment of Thoughtseize/Duress be a good idea? I'm on board with Reanimator, albeit in this more budget friendly form but I the lack of disruption needs attention.

[PirateKing]

Thx for the replies fellas...I think I'm gonna go for it. However, would cutting the Gitaxian Probes and Firestorms for some compliment of Thoughtseize/Duress be a good idea? I'm on board with Reanimator, albeit in this more budget friendly form but I the lack of disruption needs attention.

Simian Spirit Guide seems like the weakest card in the list. Producing :r: doesn't open many doors, main use I can see is totally ninja paying a Daze cost. With four copies of Lotus Petal and Dark Ritual, you shouldn't have any issues getting fast mana online.

[Gilderbarin216]

So, with todays Banned and Restricted announcement, I believe that we are hindered alittle bit. Dig through time was a card prominent in many of our good matchups. Some decks will learn to adapt without the tool of Dig, but others like Omnitel will most likely either get significantly worse, or disappear from the metagame in place of decks with a better card advantage package. I think reanimator is still the best combo deck, especially because i suspect many players that were previously proficient with omnitel, will switch back to sneak and show, but otherwise i feel that the current iteration of delver decks will fade, and with that will resurge the "tempo" strategies like Rug delver that hinge on wasteland and stifle. In that sense, i feel that we catch a break, but now people will be playing less clunky-midranged strategies, and will be shifting more towards powerful early game decks. I think deathrite shaman and his ilk will continue to be strongly represented, but things like the engine of pyromancer and therapy seem less realistic.

What are your guys's thoughts on where we stand? From our perspective, was dig through time really a powerful tool, or something that made decks play better in the midgame, something that was never specifically relevant to our strategy?

[KobeBryan]

So, with todays Banned and Restricted announcement, I believe that we are hindered alittle bit. Dig through time was a card prominent in many of our good matchups. Some decks will learn to adapt without the tool of Dig, but others like Omnitel will most likely either get significantly worse, or disappear from the metagame in place of decks with a better card advantage package. I think reanimator is still the best combo deck, especially because i suspect many players that were previously proficient with omnitel, will switch back to sneak and show, but otherwise i feel that the current iteration of delver decks will fade, and with that will resurge the "tempo" strategies like Rug delver that hinge on wasteland and stifle. In that sense, i feel that we catch a break, but now people will be playing less clunky-midranged strategies, and will be shifting more towards powerful early game decks. I think deathrite shaman and his ilk will continue to be strongly represented, but things like the engine of pyromancer and therapy seem less realistic.

What are your guys's thoughts on where we stand? From our perspective, was dig through time really a powerful tool, or something that made decks play better in the midgame, something that was never specifically relevant to our strategy?

THe good thing is there will probably be less gy hate, less surgical extractions.

But we have a bad matchup against RUG, so that may pose a problem.

[Nuke is Good]

Looks like DnT is going to be rearing it's ugly head again with Omni's decline. I was going to test the DFC Jace out but with the DnT players coming back I'm not going to try anymore. My meta will be fair again (bleh) and rest in peace will be back with a vengeance (bleh). Though seeing surgical extraction less would be nice.


I'm going back to my 3 Petal 3 Daze build.
I still feel Reanimator's peak other than the Mystical Tutor days was the TC Era around GPNJ with people playing that UR Delver deck.

[Gilderbarin216]

THe good thing is there will probably be less gy hate, less surgical extractions.

But we have a bad matchup against RUG, so that may pose a problem.

I think rug is a good matchup. The delver decks with the exclusion of deathrite shaman are pretty simple once you have duress

[hibachi777]

Do you think you'll go back to the Show and Tell package main+side now that there might be fewer REB effects around? Looking back at the lists that were doing well pre-Cruise/DTT they were straight UB with a heavy Show and Tell SB package along with needles and some bounce spells with a bunch of basics maindeck.

[Stryfo]

I think that the banning of dig through time helps us out a lot. Not because our matchups against a lot of the dig decks were particularly bad, but because so many of the decks oppressed by DTT are quite good matchups. When people start playing whatever they want, the field looks like an easier one for reanimator to beat up on. Also, DTT decks were fairly good at sidebording against us.

Further, I play 4c reanimator, i.e. I have one basic land, and RUG is not a bad matchup, it's harder to beat on the draw, but usually quite easy on the play, I'd put the matchup at 45/55 at worst. Similarly, I'm not upset to be playing against DnT, they have some cards that matter in the matchup, but none are particularly hard to play around if you know their deck, I've had many friends that play DnT so I've played the matchup a ton, it's really not that bad.

[sunlith42]

I think we will probably be seeing more gy hate if anything. A lot of decks were scimping on the hate because they wanted to run Dig. Now miracles will probably run more RIP again and DnT will be more popular since they have a good Sneak and show matchup.

[Fox]

The good news is that show and tell should decrease a bit in price as not all omni players will flock to sneak'n'show. It's also important to remember that origins Jace casts massacre from the yard for free against plains decks [without a cage].

[KobeBryan]

I think we will probably be seeing more gy hate if anything. A lot of decks were scimping on the hate because they wanted to run Dig. Now miracles will probably run more RIP again and DnT will be more popular since they have a good Sneak and show matchup.

Postboard, dealing with RIP, cage, relics are easier than against Surgical. We will be fine.

[Damaku]

Finally...
Boarding became more interesting! We will see more Lilis and RIPs. Bring out your S&T, Helmets and Grave Titans!

[owerbart]

Finally...
Boarding became more interesting! We will see more Lilis and RIPs. Bring out your S&T, Helmets and Grave Titans!
I always had the SnT in my board :)

Did you guys try Helm of Obedience? did you like it?

I was thinking of running at least a SB Unburial Rites to make Entombs not only a creature enabler but also a way to cheat a creature into play. Also flashback at CMC 5 means it's FoW or bust for counterbalance. Swan Song is another card I upped the count in my sideboard, having such a versatile tool to battle countermagic battles or just counter RIP or Counterbalance is huge IMO

I have a question for you guys too. Let's say you go T1 careful study, and you bin Iona. Your opponent plays trop and passes. In your turn, you drop a land and exhume Iona, your opponent pierces and you daze back. Iona hits the battlefield, but which color would you choose? My reasoning was that RUG delver couldn't be able to outrace a vanilla 7/7, neither take it out of the board. Few people play Bant, so my other idea was that my opponent was in BUG Delver, and the only way they could take Iona out was with Lili, so I named black. What would you guys have chosen? Green?

Turns out my opponent was on Infect :)

[KobeBryan]

I always had the SnT in my board :)

Did you guys try Helm of Obedience? did you like it?

I was thinking of running at least a SB Unburial Rites to make Entombs not only a creature enabler but also a way to cheat a creature into play. Also flashback at CMC 5 means it's FoW or bust for counterbalance. Swan Song is another card I upped the count in my sideboard, having such a versatile tool to battle countermagic battles or just counter RIP or Counterbalance is huge IMO

I have a question for you guys too. Let's say you go T1 careful study, and you bin Iona. Your opponent plays trop and passes. In your turn, you drop a land and exhume Iona, your opponent pierces and you daze back. Iona hits the battlefield, but which color would you choose? My reasoning was that RUG delver couldn't be able to outrace a vanilla 7/7, neither take it out of the board. Few people play Bant, so my other idea was that my opponent was in BUG Delver, and the only way they could take Iona out was with Lili, so I named black. What would you guys have chosen? Green?

Turns out my opponent was on Infect :)

That's hard. I would name black. Nothing preboard in green or red can kill a 7/7 flyer.

[chuckado]

Could someone point me to some good vods of some.matches where people walk through the decision process as they play preferably on mtgo

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[D@N]

Could someone point me to some good vods of some.matches where people walk through the decision process as they play preferably on mtgo

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Mtg+reanimator+videos

[Hopo]

That's hard. I would name black. Nothing preboard in green or red can kill a 7/7 flyer.

"Nothing" is not accurate. Infect can cast Crop Rotation into Karakas. I bet it's not going to happen, but there's still non-zero chance.

[anakyn]

Hi guys, I'm new to Reanimator and I have a question for you regarding the use of Show & Tell and the potential conflict with Abrupt Decay: in some ways I feel like siding them both is a bit "overboarding" because they are answers to nearly the same hate, and I'd like to understand:
A) if it's necessary to have both in my 75
b) when to board in Decay, when S&T, and when both

For example, what to do against Shaman? And against RIP?
I guess I can avoid to board S&T against the first since I also have Needle in the sideboard, while it's probably a good idea to board S&T against RIP because I just have Decay to fight it.

I'm considering the possibility to drop S&T completely and just play a full set of Decay, having confidence in the high chance to draw at least 1 out of 4 when it matters.


I'll gladly hear your opinions about this.


This is my list for reference:

3 Underground Sea
4 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Swamp
1 Island
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Tidespout Tyrant
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
3 Lotus Petal
3 Ponder
4 Careful Study
3 Thoughtseize
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
1 Show and Tell
4 Brainstorm
4 Entomb
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Grave Titan
2 Tropical Island
SB: 1 Ashen Rider
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 3 Show and Tell
SB: 1 Sire of Insanity
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
SB: 2 Massacre

[PirateKing]

You don't need Show and Tell honestly. I run exclusively Abrupt Decay, and in practically every matchup I take out my 3 Dazes for them, since it's a pretty much a universal answer to the inevitable hate brought in against us. Against heavy black decks or those that I anticipate Leyline of the Void being relevant I also have two copies of Echoing Truth to help get hate permanents off the board. Lastly a single copy of Engineered Explosives and Pernicious Deed help round out any other situation that might occur.

While it is possible to run both, they do put conflicting strategies on your hand. I see you're opting for the Boseiju strategy over the City of Traitors, which is fine, the only point I'd say is that to maximize the Show and Tell route is to maximize on cantrips, we're a lackluster S&T deck, too much of our build is devoted to reanimation.

[redstripe509]

You don't need Show and Tell honestly. I run exclusively Abrupt Decay, and in practically every matchup I take out my 3 Dazes for them, since it's a pretty much a universal answer to the inevitable hate brought in against us. Against heavy black decks or those that I anticipate Leyline of the Void being relevant I also have two copies of Echoing Truth to help get hate permanents off the board. Lastly a single copy of Engineered Explosives and Pernicious Deed help round out any other situation that might occur.

While it is possible to run both, they do put conflicting strategies on your hand. I see you're opting for the Boseiju strategy over the City of Traitors, which is fine, the only point I'd say is that to maximize the Show and Tell route is to maximize on cantrips, we're a lackluster S&T deck, too much of our build is devoted to reanimation.

Could you share the list or a link to the list you think is optimal without S&T. I see your point and am curious what it would look like.

Thanks

[anakyn]

Against heavy black decks or those that I anticipate Leyline of the Void being relevant I also have two copies of Echoing Truth to help get hate permanents off the board.


I forgot about Leyline of the Void and the fact it's invulnerable to Decay, so I guess if I remove S&T I'll have to use those 3 slots for a couple of Echoing Truth and the 4th Decay.

At that point the sideboard would look like this:
SB: 1 Ashen Rider
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Sire of Insanity
SB: 4 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
SB: 2 Massacre

I got another "noobie" question... I see that almost every list has a singleton Sire of Insanity in the board: in which matchups we wanna side it in?
I guess it's strong against combo (but Iona seems even stronger here) and every opponent who can't remove it before entering his end step.

[Echelon]

I got another "noobie" question... I see that almost every list has a singleton Sire of Insanity in the board: in which matchups we wanna side it in?
I guess it's strong against combo (but Iona seems even stronger here) and every opponent who can't remove it before entering his end step.

Iona can be answered a couple of turns down the road, when your opponent is ready to execute his/her combo through any countermagic you might have. Fail to answer Sire of Insanity before the first end step comes and say bye-bye to your combo for the coming 5/6+ turns.

[PirateKing]

Could you share the list or a link to the list you think is optimal without S&T. I see your point and am curious what it would look like.

Thanks

Oh god it's nowhere close to optimal, I'm just saying possible is all. What I have currently sleeved up:

4 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Griselbrand
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Grave Titan
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Sire of Insanity
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
3 Daze
2 Thoughtseize
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
2 Animate Dead
4 Careful Study
4 Hapless Researcher
SB: 1 Inkwell Leviathan
SB: 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
SB: 1 Keranos, God of Storms
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Engineered Explosives
SB: 1 Pernicious Deed
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Darkblast

As you can see, I'm pretty all in on destroying opponent's hate. I'm adjusting this build currently looking forward to the next JellyJam to better reflect the meta post Dig.

And on that note regarding Sire of Insanity, yes landed early was a solid play, and yes against Storm ruined their day. But those reasons alone didn't warrant a spot in the main. He truly shined against all the Show and Tell plus other card decks; which were like 1/3 of your opponents. Now that those decks have faded away, I don't think he can still justify his inclusion.

[anakyn]

The problem I see with "Sire of insanity vs Iona" is that while Iona can stop (or slow down) the opponent right away, Sire does nothing if they already have the combo in their hands, meaning that it's very risky to land him beyond the 1st turn (or even on the 1st turn against some decks).
If I had to play vs combo, I'll probably try to land Iona for first, and Sire for second.

Is Sire strong (I mean: stronger than other options like Griselbrand) vs other non-combo decks?
I guess he sucks against white (StP) and black (tons of removal), he's risky against red (double bolt) and blue (rebound effects) and he can shine against green... so I guess it's strong vs Elves, but that's a combo deck again.

[Damaku]

The problem I see with "Sire of insanity vs Iona" is that while Iona can stop (or slow down) the opponent right away, Sire does nothing if they already have the combo in their hands, meaning that it's very risky to land him beyond the 1st turn (or even on the 1st turn against some decks).
If I had to play vs combo, I'll probably try to land Iona for first, and Sire for second.

Is Sire strong (I mean: stronger than other options like Griselbrand) vs other non-combo decks?
I guess he sucks against white (StP) and black (tons of removal), he's risky against red (double bolt) and blue (rebound effects) and he can shine against green... so I guess it's strong vs Elves, but that's a combo deck again.

In my experience a t1-2 Sire leads to an opponent just quitting. There are options like StP, Fireblast, 2x Bolt, Ensnaring bridge... But it usually is a fast and save clock. The moment of reanimation however has to be timed well. G1 I run Iona and Sire and side out one of them in G2.

[PirateKing]

Remember that Sire of Insanity discards everybody's hand at the end of everybody's turn, so unless they are on Solidarity and can go off at instant speed, they'll lose everything at the end of your turn. So while he is weak against everything you mentioned, except for double Bolt, they'd need to top deck it in the next 4 turns. I haven't played against DDFT or ANT in a while, but I play against TES on the regular, and Iona isn't full proof. Name Black and you risk them casting Burning Wish and getting Void Snare, naming Red they could just have enough gas in their hand to get the job done. I mean you have a 3 turn clock so it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's definitely loseable.

[anakyn]

Remember that Sire of Insanity discards everybody's hand at the end of everybody's turn, so unless they are on Solidarity and can go off at instant speed, they'll lose everything at the end of your turn. So while he is weak against everything you mentioned, except for double Bolt, they'd need to top deck it in the next 4 turns. I haven't played against DDFT or ANT in a while, but I play against TES on the regular, and Iona isn't full proof. Name Black and you risk them casting Burning Wish and getting Void Snare, naming Red they could just have enough gas in their hand to get the job done. I mean you have a 3 turn clock so it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's definitely loseable.


Thanks, that was a nice explanation :cool:


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A final question (for now, I guess): if I want to remove the S&T from the 75, there's also free slot maindeck: what would you play to fill it?
I was thinking of the 4th Ponder or even the 4th Petal or the 4th Griselbrand, but maybe there are better options I'm not considering.

[Skurt]

Thanks, that was a nice explanation :cool:


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A final question (for now, I guess): if I want to remove the S&T from the 75, there's also free slot maindeck: what would you play to fill it?
I was thinking of the 4th Ponder or even the 4th Petal or the 4th Griselbrand, but maybe there are better options I'm not considering.

Move the 4th Thoughtseize to maindeck. You have to be more proactive if you're not running any S&T.

I would also replace both Boseiju, Who Shelters All, because the only spell you can make uncounterable is Exhume (and maybe Echoing Truth). Replace them (and the singeton Thoughtseize) with 3 Duress.

[PirateKing]

I'd agree with what Skurt said. Discard is like a proactive counterspell. You can stage your plays better with early discard so you're not so heavily reliant on Force plus pitch to get your stuff out.
If you're staying BUg, Pernicious Deed also pulls a lot of weight. I've said it before in this thread, but the "X or less" clause really helps when they have a broad spectrum of hate out, like DRS & Scavenging Ooze.

[ethebubbeth]

"Nothing" is not accurate. Infect can cast Crop Rotation into Karakas. I bet it's not going to happen, but there's still non-zero chance.

I had an opponent totally forget they could do that (they had karakas in their sideboard). They were focused on getting a bojuka bog instead.

[hibachi777]

Thoughtseize is also solid because you can just target yourself to get a fatty out of your hand if you've got reanimation spells but no other way to get the creature into the yard.

[David L Byer]

I forgot about Leyline of the Void and the fact it's invulnerable to Decay, so I guess if I remove S&T I'll have to use those 3 slots for a couple of Echoing Truth and the 4th Decay.

At that point the sideboard would look like this:
SB: 1 Ashen Rider
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Sire of Insanity
SB: 4 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
SB: 2 Massacre

I got another "noobie" question... I see that almost every list has a singleton Sire of Insanity in the board: in which matchups we wanna side it in?
I guess it's strong against combo (but Iona seems even stronger here) and every opponent who can't remove it before entering his end step.



I also suggest you try Golgari Charm. It removes "Larger" enchantments and doubles as mass removal for D&T (one of our most hated enemies) and other small armies. You could play one Charm and one Truth and see how it tests.

[Stryfo]

@anakyn:

If you are playing Tidespout main, you don't need an Ashen Rider out of the board, that can help you with room in your board, playing whatever card you feel fixes some of the holes of the deck.

[turbo]

Hi folks,

Placed 3-4 at a local tournament in Switzerland of 27 people with this list:

3x Grisel
1x Elesh
1x Tidespout
1x Grave Titan
1x Blazing Archon
4x Ponder
4x BS
4x FOW
4x Daze
4x Entomb
4x Reanimate
4x Exhume
4x Careful Study
3x Lotus Petal
3x Thoughtsezize
4x Delta
4x Sea
2x Verdant Catacombs
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Bayou
1x Trop

Side:
3x Duress
1x Thoughtseize
2x Massacre
1x Aertherling
1x Sire of Insanity
2x Needle
2x Pernicious Deed
3x A. Decay


Some thoughts...I did not lack Show and Tells. I dont have them in the first place, but I didnt miss them either, since Sneak and Show decks are on the rise. Also, I liked Lotus Petals, since even after crazy mulligans you can turn 1 or turn 2 them. The creature pack is standard, except I dont like Ioona anymore, since everyone plays at least 2 colors nowdays, anyways, I think Ioona is quite weak atm. She was good against Omni decks but now I chose Blazing Archon to improve my Death and Taxes Matchup, because only swords or 2x Wisps can block him..otherwise they cannot bounce it and Blazing archon is good against other decks too like Sneak and Show and stuff. Reanimated him a couple of times and I was satisfied. Tidespout saved my ass a couple of times too, especially against land decks with dark depths. Keep in mind, you always need an instant. So don't play BS, AD, or Entomb unless you have to and keep these cards in hand to bounce their 20/20. I lost g1 due to my own mistake, where I went to two lives thanks to an unnecessary and greedy thoughtseize via Grisel, and he drew a bolt. Also, after mulliganing this deck is pretty sweet. I even kept a 0 land hand at a time since scrying 1 is good enough, and I only had to draw 1 land. Keep in mind you can always discard a fatty when you have 8 cards. Sire of INsanity is great against combo. The storm player I played against had 0 chance. Also used Sire of INsanity against Turbo Eldrazi, turn 1 or 2...aaaaand its over for them. A HIGHLIGHT - won against D&T after board...ofc. thanks to Blazing Archon.

Remarks to the side: I like perincious deed a lot...but I only play 15 lands so 2 copies are fine. Duress and thoughtseie are there against the random delver decks and counter decks, you side out your forces and dazes, and have a better protection. 3 AD are no brainer. 2x massacre is against D&T obv. Needle is great, maybe I would replace one deed with one needle so that I have 3 needles. Now, reanimator got slightly worse in my opinion, since after the banning of DTT, more players play fair decks with deathrite shamans and needle is great. Aethrling is OP in any Miracles matchup since they cannot kill him. Though, I played 0 matches against Miracles.

In quarterfinals I really embarrassed myself. I played like an idiot and could perhaps win the match. But I was tired and didnt pay attention. Anyways I won a Force of Will which is nice.

One last thing - Reanimator is really strong. YOu can basically win turn 1/2/3. There were 2 Reanimators in the top4, the other player playerd it with red to play grim lavamancer (i guess in the board). Not quite sure about his build but might not be a bad idea either.

What are your thoughts? Would appreciate if you share them.
Matej

[KobeBryan]

You should have Iona for the occassional burn deck. That one card stops them completely.

I find pernicious deed too mana intensive. I have it in hand, but i am usually unable to cast it. I know it board wipes everything, but its too slow.

[Damaku]

Nice Deck Mr Eidgenosse!
Why do you guys put the sire in your side? I tend to keep Sire and Iono G1 and take whoever is more fitting in g2. If i can reanimate t1 into the dark sire is allways mi first choice and has never let me down. I would switch sire and archon.

[Ephemeron]

Iona is also great against Elves and Infect, both of which seem to be on the upswing. Obviously Elesh Norn is fine against both decks as well but it's nice to have another creature of impact if you're discarding via careful study/thoughtseize rather than entomb.

[jattra]

Hello guys,
I am quite new to this reanimator strategy. I play it just a few months. One thing is not clear to me however.

Why is everybody preferring Reanimate over Animate Dead?

I know, I know, Abrupt Decay. But seriously? I really hate idea of facing a couple of Delvers while low on life with Grisle in a yard and Reanimate in hand. Even if I manage to Reanimate soon enough with plenty of life, I am -8 right away and drawing cards for -7 is too risky.
On the other hand with Animate Dead, I am quite fine having the Grisle alive just long enough to draw my cards and do not worry much about the enchantment being just decayed.
Fetchlands and Thoughtseizes are adding just more pain.

I am obviously missing something. People are using Reanimate today. Could anybody shed some light on this?
Thx.

[UnsungHero]

Hello guys,
I am quite new to this reanimator strategy. I play it just a few months. One thing is not clear to me however.

Why is everybody preferring Reanimate over Animate Dead?

I know, I know, Abrupt Decay. But seriously? I really hate idea of facing a couple of Delvers while low on life with Grisle in a yard and Reanimate in hand. Even if I manage to Reanimate soon enough with plenty of life, I am -8 right away and drawing cards for -7 is too risky.
On the other hand with Animate Dead, I am quite fine having the Grisle alive just long enough to draw my cards and do not worry much about the enchantment being just decayed.
Fetchlands and Thoughtseizes are adding just more pain.

I am obviously missing something. People are using Reanimate today. Could anybody shed some light on this?
Thx.

Reanimate costs B. Animate dead costs 1B. Being able to Entomb then cast Reanimate is very important for those quick kills. I'm sure there is additional reasons why, but Reanimate costing 1 and leaving 1 open for relevant counters/entomb/discard/cantrips are probably the most important reasons why its played.

[KobeBryan]

Hello guys,
I am quite new to this reanimator strategy. I play it just a few months. One thing is not clear to me however.

Why is everybody preferring Reanimate over Animate Dead?

I know, I know, Abrupt Decay. But seriously? I really hate idea of facing a couple of Delvers while low on life with Grisle in a yard and Reanimate in hand. Even if I manage to Reanimate soon enough with plenty of life, I am -8 right away and drawing cards for -7 is too risky.
On the other hand with Animate Dead, I am quite fine having the Grisle alive just long enough to draw my cards and do not worry much about the enchantment being just decayed.
Fetchlands and Thoughtseizes are adding just more pain.

I am obviously missing something. People are using Reanimate today. Could anybody shed some light on this?
Thx.

This deck is mana lite...you need to go off with as minimal mana as possible.

[Ephemeron]

Hello guys,
I am quite new to this reanimator strategy. I play it just a few months. One thing is not clear to me however.

Why is everybody preferring Reanimate over Animate Dead?

I know, I know, Abrupt Decay. But seriously? I really hate idea of facing a couple of Delvers while low on life with Grisle in a yard and Reanimate in hand. Even if I manage to Reanimate soon enough with plenty of life, I am -8 right away and drawing cards for -7 is too risky.
On the other hand with Animate Dead, I am quite fine having the Grisle alive just long enough to draw my cards and do not worry much about the enchantment being just decayed.
Fetchlands and Thoughtseizes are adding just more pain.

I am obviously missing something. People are using Reanimate today. Could anybody shed some light on this?
Thx.

Also, the life against Delver isn't really that relevant. Only WUR delver even has a legitimate way to get rid of Griselbrand game 1 (unless BUG is running murderous cut). They cant attack with delvers into Griselbrand once he's out and RUG probably doesn't have enough to burn you out realistically. It's unlikely that you're gonna have to draw 7 the turn you reanimate him.

[chuckado]

What are people's thoughts on 2 jace the mind sculptor in the sideboard for when the games get grindy and we need to gain some card advantage.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Stryfo]

@chuckado, If you want a card for grindier games, I feel Jace, Vryn's Prodigy or Dack Fayden are going to be better than Jace, the Mind Sculptor because they do similar things, but the difference between 2 or 3 and 4 mana is pretty huge for a 17 land deck (some decks play even fewer). I have tried JtMS out of the board and was unimpressed, but having tried Dack Fayden, I was VERY impressed, ditto for Jace, Vryn's Prodigy.

[Nuke is Good]

JTMS is suited for the older UB Reanimator builds that banked heavily on the show and tell plan. Those builds had Sol lands in their board. With Reanimator going UBg JTMS is too mana intensive so to speak to justify.

You may get better results out of Baby Jace, Dack if you Run Blue, or more Snapcasters to flashback cantrips. Hell reanimating a Keranos might be up your alley for a protracted game, he's pretty hard to remove short of a council's judgement.

My meta has become too hostile to Reanimator and has gotten increasingly fair so I have to put the deck in the sidelines.

[jattra]

Also, the life against Delver isn't really that relevant. Only WUR delver even has a legitimate way to get rid of Griselbrand game 1 (unless BUG is running murderous cut). They cant attack with delvers into Griselbrand once he's out and RUG probably doesn't have enough to burn you out realistically. It's unlikely that you're gonna have to draw 7 the turn you reanimate him.

Did you ever experienced Bolt - Snapcaster - Bolt? :) I did.

Thank you guys for your input. I think I get the point.
One drop Reanimate is faster and more resilient to Daze than two drop Animate Dead. I don't argue that.
We do not care about our life total because we do not need to draw immediately against Delver. It's cool to say that I don't care about my life (necromancer's joke). It's fine as long as I have enough life to play Reanimate and survive a Bolt. I find that hard unless I have the combo in my initial hand. Maybe I should be faster.
Time will tell. Thx

[alaska]

Also, the life against Delver isn't really that relevant. Only WUR delver even has a legitimate way to get rid of Griselbrand game 1 (unless BUG is running murderous cut). They cant attack with delvers into Griselbrand once he's out and RUG probably doesn't have enough to burn you out realistically. It's unlikely that you're gonna have to draw 7 the turn you reanimate him.

I will admit to losing a Griselbrand to Delver+Dismember out of RUG. And don't forget, you only gain 2 life. Feels gross. Actually, that might have been postboard.

[Ephemeron]

I will admit to losing a Griselbrand to Delver+Dismember out of RUG. And don't forget, you only gain 2 life. Feels gross. Actually, that might have been postboard.

oooof, that's brutal :-/

[chuckado]

JTMS is suited for the older UB Reanimator builds that banked heavily on the show and tell plan. Those builds had Sol lands in their board. With Reanimator going UBg JTMS is too mana intensive so to speak to justify.

You may get better results out of Baby Jace, Dack if you Run Blue, or more Snapcasters to flashback cantrips. Hell reanimating a Keranos might be up your alley for a protracted game, he's pretty hard to remove short of a council's judgement.

My meta has become too hostile to Reanimator and has gotten increasingly fair so I have to put the deck in the sidelines.
Do you think that show and tell as a 2 of in the board is no longer the correct decision for the meta and if so what would you recommend for the board?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[owerbart]

What do you guys think of Teferi's Realm? Is a recurrent solution to the counterbalance lock, can wipe artifacts hate and containment priests as well...

[jattra]

What do you guys think of Teferi's Realm? Is a recurrent solution to the counterbalance lock, can wipe artifacts hate and containment priests as well...

Wow, I like that idea.
And once you reanimate, you can even phase the Realm itself out, so that the opponent cannot abuse it against you (even though I don't see right now how they could effectively use it against you.)

[Koby]

Wow, I like that idea.
And once you reanimate, you can even phase the Realm itself out, so that the opponent cannot abuse it against you (even though I don't see right now how they could effectively use it against you.)

Ideally, you're phasing out Enchantments like RIP and CBalance, so you can resolve your reanimation spells after your Upkeep on the same turn.

[Damaku]

Interesting Idea! What would you cut for it?

[KobeBryan]

Interesting Idea! What would you cut for it?

Probably that one of pernicious deed.

[tescrin]

The 3-cost seems good for CB. Can't tell if that's good though.
EDIT: It doesn't stop delvers. You'll turn off creatures (including your own) and your opponent's creatures phase in on the opponent's turn. They didn't leave or enter the field, so you're now facing a flipped delver still who looks like he has haste, though he does not.
Same for all other critters, including equipped. That said, it does get rid of batterskulls for free, which is silly.

It also (though probably too late) answers tokens for Storm or something.

[Cpt-Qc]

In my opinion Leyline is good but I've seen many players that rely solely on leyline, and the problem is that echoing truth becomes outstanding, so it's good to diversify your options. Also Show And Tell completely bypasses leyline.

I finally got a chance to play a semi-complete list yesterday in 30 man tournament. I was lacking some fetches and a 4th griselbrand but at least it was somewhat functional. Tomorrow I'll probably finish the deck :)

I faced a Tezzerator deck with 3 leylines MD yesterday. It went as follow

Game 1-> Drop 2 leylines on the board turn 0, Scoop.
Game 2-> Drop 3 leylines on the board turn 0, drew 5-6 turns without getting more than 1 land so I could never cast the echoing truth that was in my opening hand.

That was really fun!

Then the next game I got Cabal Therapied 6 times in a row both game 1 and 2.
That had to be the worst Reanimator night ever :P

I really hope MD gy hate is not staying for too long...

[owerbart]

I faced a Tezzerator deck with 3 leylines MD yesterday. It went as follow

Game 1-> Drop 2 leylines on the board turn 0, Scoop.
Game 2-> Drop 3 leylines on the board turn 0, drew 5-6 turns without getting more than 1 land so I could never cast the echoing truth that was in my opening hand.

That was really fun!

Then the next game I got Cabal Therapied 6 times in a row both game 1 and 2.
That had to be the worst Reanimator night ever :P

I really hope MD gy hate is not staying for too long...

Teferi's Realm could've help you :)

Nah, just kidding. GY Hate is going to a be a fashion, won't last to long, but maybe just for the record it might be a sign to put MD copies of Show and Tell back. Or maybe at least up the count on Lotus Petals to be reanimating before GY Hate comes online.


Also, remember that Cards phase in and out in the Untap Step, not the Upkeep step, I know that it probably doesn't matter but for example, in the phase of Stasis, the cards will be lost forever (I can't wait to see this at least once before I die)

[Ephemeron]

It's worth noting that Tezzerator is one of the only decks that runs main deck graveyard hate as powerful as leyline (since they combo it with helm). About the only other deck that could do you dirty like that is Enchantress with their maindeck Rest in Peace. That's just some crappy variation with good draws from your opponent and you seemed to have bad draws, so I wouldn't read anything into it or change your deck to combat that. Just noise in the long run.

[Cpt-Qc]

Yeah, I'm not reading into it too much. So far my meta is pretty favorable to me after all, I just got really unlucky.

This is what I could see in between rounds when I snooped around a little:

-Pox x2
-Miracles x2
-Goblins x2
-Lands x1
-Tezzerator x1
-BUG Delver x2
-Homebrew BG x1
-Elves x2
-Burn x1

Even tezzerator is pretty weak to Reanimator if they don't have leyline T0.

[Fox]

Teferi's Realm could've help you :)
Nah, just kidding. GY Hate is going to a be a fashion, won't last to long, but maybe just for the record it might be a sign to put MD copies of Show and Tell back. Or maybe at least up the count on Lotus Petals to be reanimating before GY Hate comes online.
Also, remember that Cards phase in and out in the Untap Step, not the Upkeep step, I know that it probably doesn't matter but for example, in the phase of Stasis, the cards will be lost forever (I can't wait to see this at least once before I die)

-Since you're talking about Tezzerator and Realm, remember realm kills The Abyss and vice versa. The most fringe ruling you'll eventually run into though is Tezz playing the abyss after you have a *phased-out* realm; here realm dies at beginning of your upkeep (despite phasing in on untap), making it the only enchant world that potentially still generates one last trigger as it dies.
-Not that there should be much critter stealing in that match-up (outside dack vs random artifact), but phasing does not care who owns that which is being phased-out, only who controlled it when this happened [and it will phase back in on last-known controller's untap].
-Realm does not hit tokens (even though it should be errata'd to do so). If however, a token phases out it is exiled, and anything attached to it (even bestow or licid cards) phases-out indirectly and can thus never phase back in.
-You [the caster of realm] are obligated to point out each time opponent has a realm trigger.

As Owerbart has said though, show and tell is probably where you want to be. While realm absolutely butchers a deck like enchantress, I don't think you want to dig-up a card like this from dreadnought's old bag'o'tricks and cast it anywhere near its wheelhouse [stasis, MUD, tezzeret]. Lands start getting messed with thereabouts and double blue might not be the easiest thing to find for this card that doesn't help you go off, and does not hinder them by itself. Aura Flux may be more what you're looking for, since you're talking about sideboard cards in addition to abrupt decays that aren't going anywhere.

As a slight correction to the quoted post, Stasis doesn't cause phased-out cards to be lost forever. The moment an untap step happens again, those cards will come back. The more likely scenario is phase-lock: realm + Sands of Time which is the biggest blowout if they ever choose artifacts. You're also overlooking things like Time and Tide; which is another reason you don't want to bring just realm to a phasing fight.

[Ephemeron]

Make sure to watch out for Ensnaring Bridge out of Tezz, either cast normally or tutored up via Transmute Artifact as pretty much every version runs one MD.

[Qweerios]

Yeah, I'm not reading into it too much. So far my meta is pretty favorable to me after all, I just got really unlucky.

This is what I could see in between rounds when I snooped around a little:

-Pox x2
-Miracles x2
-Goblins x2
-Lands x1
-Tezzerator x1
-BUG Delver x2
-Homebrew BG x1
-Elves x2
-Burn x1

Even tezzerator is pretty weak to Reanimator if they don't have leyline T0.

I spotted you Manuel! The homebrew is called "The Expendables", it's in the developing competitive section. Also, one of those Goblins player was a Dragon Stompy deck if I am not mistaking (either way there was both decks present). Same for Miracles and UWr Stoneblade, they are easy to confuse.

[Cpt-Qc]

I spotted you Manuel! The homebrew is called "The Expendables", it's in the developing competitive section. Also, one of those Goblins player was a Dragon Stompy deck if I am not mistaking (either way there was both decks present). Same for Miracles and UWr Stoneblade, they are easy to confuse.

:tongue:

[Cpt-Qc]

Make sure to watch out for Ensnaring Bridge out of Tezz, either cast normally or tutored up via Transmute Artifact as pretty much every version runs one MD.

Not a big problem either, I run Ashen Rider main and usually I also add Tidespout second game.

[owerbart]

-Since you're talking about Tezzerator and Realm, remember realm kills The Abyss and vice versa. The most fringe ruling you'll eventually run into though is Tezz playing the abyss after you have a *phased-out* realm; here realm dies at beginning of your upkeep (despite phasing in on untap), making it the only enchant world that potentially still generates one last trigger as it dies.
-Not that there should be much critter stealing in that match-up (outside dack vs random artifact), but phasing does not care who owns that which is being phased-out, only who controlled it when this happened [and it will phase back in on last-known controller's untap].
-Realm does not hit tokens (even though it should be errata'd to do so). If however, a token phases out it is exiled, and anything attached to it (even bestow or licid cards) phases-out indirectly and can thus never phase back in.
-You [the caster of realm] are obligated to point out each time opponent has a realm trigger.

As Owerbart has said though, show and tell is probably where you want to be. While realm absolutely butchers a deck like enchantress, I don't think you want to dig-up a card like this from dreadnought's old bag'o'tricks and cast it anywhere near its wheelhouse [stasis, MUD, tezzeret]. Lands start getting messed with thereabouts and double blue might not be the easiest thing to find for this card that doesn't help you go off, and does not hinder them by itself. Aura Flux may be more what you're looking for, since you're talking about sideboard cards in addition to abrupt decays that aren't going anywhere.

As a slight correction to the quoted post, Stasis doesn't cause phased-out cards to be lost forever. The moment an untap step happens again, those cards will come back. The more likely scenario is phase-lock: realm + Sands of Time which is the biggest blowout if they ever choose artifacts. You're also overlooking things like Time and Tide; which is another reason you don't want to bring just realm to a phasing fight.

The good thing about Teferi´s Realm is that it can be cast proactively, which IMO can be a huge bonus. Also at least in my list I play 3 basics so UU isn't that hard to achieve.

[Fox]

The good thing about Teferi´s Realm is that it can be cast proactively, which IMO can be a huge bonus. Also at least in my list I play 3 basics so UU isn't that hard to achieve.
:u::u: by itself isn't hard, but tezzerator generally plays wastelands and you're also probably trying to turn on Decay - these two things may be irreconcilable. Realm, by itself, does turn off yard hate [as long as it's only artifact or only enchantment] and then clears bridges for the next turn's attack; that said, realm isn't part of your combo nor does it impede tezzerator by itself. It's a case of boarding-in distinct, effective answers whose coexistence in the post-board stack leads to them being less effective individually. It would need more testing, but I would think that siding in decay + another hate card with double :w::u::r: requirements is generally incorrect in the face of wastelands.

[owerbart]

:u::u: by itself isn't hard, but tezzerator generally plays wastelands and you're also probably trying to turn on Decay - these two things may be irreconcilable. Realm, by itself, does turn off yard hate [as long as it's only artifact or only enchantment] and then clears bridges for the next turn's attack; that said, realm isn't part of your combo nor does it impede tezzerator by itself. It's a case of boarding-in distinct, effective answers whose coexistence in the post-board stack leads to them being less effective individually. It would need more testing, but I would think that siding in decay + another hate card with double :w::u::r: requirements is generally incorrect in the face of wastelands.

I wasn't talking about UB Tezzeret when I brought Teferi's Realm into the discussion. I think the card might work it's best against Miracles and other decks that attack you from a single angle, which tends to be the majority. I'll test it today and bring a report.

Another good card that gave me good results is Serenity. I play Loyal Retainers in my SB (which bypasses Flusterstorm, Pierce, 3cc for Balance, Spell Snare, Swan Song and other stuff) So it helps justify the W splash.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Well, I put this together today, and I think I want multiple copies of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in here. 2-3. It would be very strong. Early game it filters through, and later it flashes back an Entomb.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Spam]

Is jace really becoming a thing in this deck? If our goal is to flashback reanimation spell, shouldn't be more simple to just play more of them?

Yes, I have a phone and I'm not afraid to use it.

[Ephemeron]

I've been testing out one Jace and I've been impressed. Where he really shines are the sideboard games where things are grindier and you need to fight through more discard/counterspells. The first time you use him, he's a discard outlet, which is what the deck wants as I've found it's more difficult to get a fatty into the yard than it is to reanimate him. Later in the game when it's grindy, he can flashback the exact spell you need, whether it's an Entomb or a Reanimate or whatever might have previously been countered.

Having said that, I dunno if I want more than one. I still like playing with lotus petals because I like the explosiveness they give me, but I guess if you wanted to take a grindier approach you could cut petals and go with more Jace/Thoughtseize/Ponder or whatever.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I know that 2 is where I want to start.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Secretly.A.Bee]

So here's what I'm working on for a very large upcoming tournament:

3 Griselbrand
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn
1 Grave Titan
1 Sire of Insanity
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

3 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
3 Thoughtseize
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Lotus Petal

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Underground Sea
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta

I don't have a sideboard plan, other than 0 SnT, Xx Abrupt Decay, 2x Golgari Charm, 2x Needle, 1x Iona, 1x other fatty, and then some discussion on the rest. Is 3 Gris really optimal? I want 2x to work, anyone have experience with this?


From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[David L Byer]

I faced a Tezzerator deck with 3 leylines MD yesterday. It went as follow

Game 1-> Drop 2 leylines on the board turn 0, Scoop.
Game 2-> Drop 3 leylines on the board turn 0, drew 5-6 turns without getting more than 1 land so I could never cast the echoing truth that was in my opening hand.

That was really fun!

Then the next game I got Cabal Therapied 6 times in a row both game 1 and 2.
That had to be the worst Reanimator night ever :P

I really hope MD gy hate is not staying for too long...

Hey Cpt, sounds like you had a rough time. In a meta game like that, I strongly suggest playing Show and Tell main. Tezz decks are super slow and you can grind those matches if you are prepared.

[Stryfo]

So, recently I've been unable to play much paper magic because I've moved for grad school and there isn't really a good scene close by, in addition, I'm much more busy than I have been in quite some time. But a friend who also moved down to the area notified me that there would be a GPT near me, and I decided, since I already have my plane tickets to GP Seatac, that I would go and try to win some byes. This is the list I sleeved up, and I gotta say, it felt very powerful.

3 Griselbrand
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn
1 Jin-Gitaxias
1 Archetype of Endurance
4 Hapless Researcher
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
2 Animate Dead
2 Misdirection
3 Izzet Charm
4 Force of Will

1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
2 Badlands
4 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta

SB:
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
2 Duress
2 Echoing Truth
1 Keranos
1 Iona
1 Darkblast
2 Pithing Needle
1 Snapcaster


Round 1 I played against a BUG Delver player, he won the die roll and led off with a DRS. I just played out a land. on his turn, he hymned me, and I misdirected it back at him, he passed and I played land #2. He played a tarmogoyf and passed back with no mana for DRS. I had entomb, exhume, and izzet charm in hand at this point, but no third land. I could either go for the combo and essentially lose to a counterspell, or zap his DRS and conceal my identity a bit longer. I decided to izzet charm the DRS, and I end up drawing the land to go off on my turn anyway. Griselbrand seals it for my opponent. G2 was a bit longer, he kept a slow hand with DRS, a waste, and a surgical, but no blue source. I end up winning a fairly long game by putting griselbrand into play against a large number of goyfs. Hapless researcher chumping goyfs allowed me to win the race.
1-0


Round 2 I played against Sneak and Show, I end up going for the turn two or three with an exhume and his intuition plus two counterspells was enough to get around my 2 counterspells and we each end up with a griselbrand in play. He won shortly after with a sneak attacked emrakul. I win game 2 on the back of Jace and a moderately awkward hand from my opponent. G3 was weird, I mulled and kept a hand with trop as my only mana source, a needle and some forces and blue cards. I start the plan of just attacking with the researchers I drew early, getting him down to ~12, then fearing his hand I went digging for a black source for my duress and missing. my opponent tried to resolve two fast moons in this time and luckily I had the forces. I eventually drew two more hapless researchers and killed him by attacking with 1/1s through his relic, cage, and blood moon.
2-0


Round 3 I had to play against the friend that told me about the event. He was on DnT. g1 he mulled to five and I was able to beat his hand with griselbrand into archetype into elesh. G2 I had to 15 myself to reanimate grielbrand and draw cards, his beatdown from there was just a bit too strong. The same thing happened in game 3, but it was a slightly more drawn out affair.
2-1

Round4 I played against RUG delver, he won the roll and got game one because of the awkwardness of my draw combined with a fast clock from delver. G2 I mulled to 5, fun.
2-2

now I thought I was out of contention, but since the event only had ~20 players, I was still live for top 8, I just had to win round 5!

Round 5, I played against infect. Game one was a pretty one sided afair, I had the choice between griselbrand and elesh, I chose GB to reload in case he had karakas. He told me I made a mistake (which I don't believe is true) and scooped to me, which was nice, though I thought it was a bit strange. Game 2 he had an early cage that I couldn't conter and had to spend the game trying to darkblast all his guys away. I was unable to do it correctly due to his hierarchs, which was quite unfortunate. Game 3 I get a fast griselbrand into play, he attacks with glistener elf. I block it and he invigorates, I misdirect it to my GB, he invigorates again and berserks. I draw cards to reload and we trade, I take 1 infect and gain 11 life, seems fun. Then I got tidespout and darkblast online and the game was over.


Sweet into the Top 8 at 7th Seed!


Round 1: RUG Delver Rematch. He once again got to be on the play and basically tempoed me out of game 1. Game 2 I had a hand that put Jin into play with force backup and daze immunity. When he led on ponder the game was over. Game 3 we stared at eachother for a while and eventually he got a cage and goyf into play. I killed the cage and got Iona out, using misdirection on his surgical. Iona named blue and we continued a staring contest, he put an additional goyf and a goose on the table, and I was fairly low on life. I drew a few hapless to keep the stalemate alive. I eventually was able to get elesh into play to seal the deal.

Round 2: Elves. These games were not especially interesting, they involved getting elesh into play and the opponent scooping, or me durdling and him NO-ing me on his turn 4. I guess I got to play around with Jace in game 3, which was cool.

Round 3: My opponent graciously offers a split in which we take equal credit and I get the byes. I accept, but later end up giving him some credit because I don't really need more magic cards at this point in my life.

So, sweet! I got to spend a day playing this sweet deck and ended up with a copy of Legendary, some new sleeves, and most importantly, 2 byes at GP Seatac!

[chuckado]

So, recently I've been unable to play much paper magic because I've moved for grad school and there isn't really a good scene close by, in addition, I'm much more busy than I have been in quite some time. But a friend who also moved down to the area notified me that there would be a GPT near me, and I decided, since I already have my plane tickets to GP Seatac, that I would go and try to win some byes. This is the list I sleeved up, and I gotta say, it felt very powerful.

3 Griselbrand
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn
1 Jin-Gitaxias
1 Archetype of Endurance
4 Hapless Researcher
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
2 Animate Dead
2 Misdirection
3 Izzet Charm
4 Force of Will

1 Swamp
2 Tropical Island
2 Badlands
4 Underground Sea
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta

SB:
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
2 Duress
2 Echoing Truth
1 Keranos
1 Iona
1 Darkblast
2 Pithing Needle
1 Snapcaster


Round 1 I played against a BUG Delver player, he won the die roll and led off with a DRS. I just played out a land. on his turn, he hymned me, and I misdirected it back at him, he passed and I played land #2. He played a tarmogoyf and passed back with no mana for DRS. I had entomb, exhume, and izzet charm in hand at this point, but no third land. I could either go for the combo and essentially lose to a counterspell, or zap his DRS and conceal my identity a bit longer. I decided to izzet charm the DRS, and I end up drawing the land to go off on my turn anyway. Griselbrand seals it for my opponent. G2 was a bit longer, he kept a slow hand with DRS, a waste, and a surgical, but no blue source. I end up winning a fairly long game by putting griselbrand into play against a large number of goyfs. Hapless researcher chumping goyfs allowed me to win the race.
1-0


Round 2 I played against Sneak and Show, I end up going for the turn two or three with an exhume and his intuition plus two counterspells was enough to get around my 2 counterspells and we each end up with a griselbrand in play. He won shortly after with a sneak attacked emrakul. I win game 2 on the back of Jace and a moderately awkward hand from my opponent. G3 was weird, I mulled and kept a hand with trop as my only mana source, a needle and some forces and blue cards. I start the plan of just attacking with the researchers I drew early, getting him down to ~12, then fearing his hand I went digging for a black source for my duress and missing. my opponent tried to resolve two fast moons in this time and luckily I had the forces. I eventually drew two more hapless researchers and killed him by attacking with 1/1s through his relic, cage, and blood moon.
2-0


Round 3 I had to play against the friend that told me about the event. He was on DnT. g1 he mulled to five and I was able to beat his hand with griselbrand into archetype into elesh. G2 I had to 15 myself to reanimate grielbrand and draw cards, his beatdown from there was just a bit too strong. The same thing happened in game 3, but it was a slightly more drawn out affair.
2-1

Round4 I played against RUG delver, he won the roll and got game one because of the awkwardness of my draw combined with a fast clock from delver. G2 I mulled to 5, fun.
2-2

now I thought I was out of contention, but since the event only had ~20 players, I was still live for top 8, I just had to win round 5!

Round 5, I played against infect. Game one was a pretty one sided afair, I had the choice between griselbrand and elesh, I chose GB to reload in case he had karakas. He told me I made a mistake (which I don't believe is true) and scooped to me, which was nice, though I thought it was a bit strange. Game 2 he had an early cage that I couldn't conter and had to spend the game trying to darkblast all his guys away. I was unable to do it correctly due to his hierarchs, which was quite unfortunate. Game 3 I get a fast griselbrand into play, he attacks with glistener elf. I block it and he invigorates, I misdirect it to my GB, he invigorates again and berserks. I draw cards to reload and we trade, I take 1 infect and gain 11 life, seems fun. Then I got tidespout and darkblast online and the game was over.


Sweet into the Top 8 at 7th Seed!


Round 1: RUG Delver Rematch. He once again got to be on the play and basically tempoed me out of game 1. Game 2 I had a hand that put Jin into play with force backup and daze immunity. When he led on ponder the game was over. Game 3 we stared at eachother for a while and eventually he got a cage and goyf into play. I killed the cage and got Iona out, using misdirection on his surgical. Iona named blue and we continued a staring contest, he put an additional goyf and a goose on the table, and I was fairly low on life. I drew a few hapless to keep the stalemate alive. I eventually was able to get elesh into play to seal the deal.

Round 2: Elves. These games were not especially interesting, they involved getting elesh into play and the opponent scooping, or me durdling and him NO-ing me on his turn 4. I guess I got to play around with Jace in game 3, which was cool.

Round 3: My opponent graciously offers a split in which we take equal credit and I get the byes. I accept, but later end up giving him some credit because I don't really need more magic cards at this point in my life.

So, sweet! I got to spend a day playing this sweet deck and ended up with a copy of Legendary, some new sleeves, and most importantly, 2 byes at GP Seatac!
Did you find that not having the lotus petals, ponders, and thoughtseizes in the main changed the way you played the deck? Also why did you choose to play 19 lands?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

[Secretly.A.Bee]

17 lands, and I'm running 16 + 3x lotus petals. Mana screw sucks, and with Wasteland being back in force as well as port lists (dnt), it's not a bad place to be. Having said that, your curve is also higher than normal and I dislike the fact that you only run 1x basic. Also, I'm not big on 4 colors. If 17 lands is a nod to wasteland, it feels like takesy-backsies on the low basic count and high number of colors played.

I do like your list, and having a certain amount of success (albeit a small showing) does speak to its merit, but I have a few questions.

1.) What creatures are for what matchups? Specifically, I assume Archetype is definitely there for DnT, but what other matchups do you want him in?

Jin-Gitaxias?

Keranos?

2.) Don't you find Animate Dead archaic and strictly bad in a deck supposedly immune to Abrupt Decay?

3.) What is Snapcaster for? Utility?

4.) Why Hapless Researchers over thoughtseize, or even more Jaces?

5.) Why Jin-Gitaxias over Sire of Insanity, or at least in place of a Griselbrand?

6.) Why 6 pitch-cast cards? If nothing else, why not 3/2 FoW/MisD respectively?

7.) What is the reasoning in dropping Ponders in place of "worse" draw spells such as Researchers and Izzet Charm?

Thanks for your report and time. Good job, maybe I'll see/meet you in Seattle.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Stryfo]

@Secretly:

Firstly, This isn't the first tournament this list or lists like it has done well at. I took down a ~60 player tournament for a box of MM and top 8d another GPT with a list very close to this. I also know Pirateking has played lists like this to some success as well. Now, onto your questions:

0) Wasteland is not a problem for this deck most of the time. The only time I am ever afraid of wasteland is when I keep one landers without a fast combo, which is usually only true of mulligans. and most decks that end up mulliganning deep are going to be soft to wasteland, so it's kind of a moot point. The deck really only needs basic swamp, and only one at that, I don't think island is necessary anymore, though it is a bonus of three color variants that they can play a single basic island should they choose to.

1) Archetype is good against DnT, Miracles, and Maverick-style decks. Jin is good against a wide variety of decks but his inclusion isn't based solely on how good he is ina particular matchup. Jin is a creature that you don't need to pay life with to draw cards, is blue, and doesn't get exiled when they extract your griselbrands, thus leaving you a D7 in the deck. Keranos was an experiment, and is likely getting cut for one of my old favorites, sphinx of the steel wind.

2) You formulated this question in a strange way, I play 2 of this card and have for 6+ years, obviously I don't think it's strictly bad. The reason I play animate dead is to keep a high threat density in the deck, It also has secret synergy with tidespout tyrant and plays around flusterstorm for free. For all of these reasons I think it is a fine inclusion in the deck.

3) Snapcaster is for utility, yes, I like that I can entomb for spells to flashback, even if that is cornercase, he also can be a reasonable attacker in some matchups and is generally very good in blue combo mirrors (i.e. against reanimator and sneak and show)

4) If you haven't played with hapless researcher yet, I highly recommend you try it, I've spoken at length about the card multiple times and it really does increase the turn two consitency of this deck a significant ammount. Beyond that it attacks, blocks, protects your big guys from edicts, turns extra reanimation into loots, and on top of all that is blue. People also almost never counter this spell because you can cast it regardless of whether you have a creature or not, and the opponent knows that. As to why I don't play thoughtseize in the main? There are so few cards that someone else can play in game 1 that I simulaneously care about and will be able to take with thoughtseize with any kind of consistency, the only matchups I would consider having mainboard thoughtseizes against are combo decks, which are already good matchups, and miracles, which is an ok game 1 matchup.

5) I covered this in 1 fairly well I think

6) To be honest, I play 6 pitch cast cards because that's the number I ended up on. I didn't feel 4 forces was enough free counter magic and in my build I am not a huge fan of daze, as I want to be doing a few more things on two mana than most builds. Why not 5? I didn't think it was enough, but I don't have any solid testing on the total counter suite at 4/1 or 3/2 FoW/Misd, though I would never cut a force for a misdirection, even if misdirection is filthy against the BUG decks.

7) I haven't played with ponders in this deck for quite a while, and it's not exactly fair to say I am dropping ponder for hapless, especially when I would cut careful study before the researcher. That comparison I at least understand, Izzet charm is not really comparable to ponder, it is insanely more versatile, it kills DRS, SFM, and Delver, counters relevant cards out of basically every deck, and loots when you need it to, it also does all of this at instant speed, which helps in keeping up charades.

I think I covered everything, if I missed something or you have other questions, feel free to ask.

[Cpt-Qc]

Well my decision is made, I'm taking this POS Blazing Archon out of my sideboard :laugh:

It cost me an easy matchup against Lands yesterday. I didn't get until then that this card is meaningless and just stalls without advancing my position.
Every time I've cast it nothing good happened and there was a better play I could have made.

I'm hereby replacing it with Massacre Wurm!

[Kirika]

What are opinions on Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in Reanimator?

Seems really good to discard creatures in your hand and flash back spells that got countered or cantrips to find your combo.?

Jace Vryn's Prodigy has been really good for me in both Vintage and Standard. Have not tried Jace in Legacy yet.

Saw this list in an article by Chris Vanmeter on SCG which perked my interest in Reanimator again since have not played it since Containment Priest was released. Containment Priest is still a big problem but there may be less white in the meta game with no Dig and Hymm being good again.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31765_The-Approaching-Legacy-And-Modern-Opens.html

Reanimator
Chris VanMeter
0th Place at Test deck on 10/21/2015
Legacy

Creatures (9)

1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

Lands (15)

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea

Spells (36)

3 Lotus Petal
1 Animate Dead
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Entomb
4 Force of Will
4 Careful Study
4 Exhume
2 Ponder
4 Reanimate
1 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize

Sideboard
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Grave Titan
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Coffin Purge
2 Massacre
2 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize
2 City of Traitors

[Secretly.A.Bee]

How is Swansong right now? Would it be a decent card in place of a 3rd Daze? I'm playing one right now in the board. Also wanting to play a Golgari Charm or two; very versatile, good
against several things including Leyline.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Fox]

Swan Song is a tough call; definitely can't be main-decked I think. Strong vs miracles, storm [maybe], and Sneak/Show but doesn't sound great against creature/chalice/swords (without other targets like counterbalance) decks, in any of those combinations. In comparing it vs flusterstorm, it's only really giving you a stronger control position vs the cards counterbalance and sneak attack. Could definitely be a strong meta choice though.

[Lormador]

I've got a quick question. I see Grave Titan all over the place, with some folks appreciating it and others mildly objecting. Why is this particular creature selected over something like Terastodon? The elephant costs a bit more life off of a Reanimate, and the 3/3 elephant tokens aren't free (they cost a land or spare Petal), but the resulting position is just as resistant to a sacrifice effect a Grave Titan with entourage. I might also target my opponent's land, the white source from Miracles for instance, which could conceivably give a degree of resistance from Terminus.

I don't see why Grave Titan is clearly better, and I'd like to know.

Personally, this is the creature configuration I'm working with. I've expanded sideboard capacity somewhat to allow for a few extra monsters there.

MD:
3 Griselbrand (MVP)
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria (seems good against both combo and control, naming their combo color or removal)
1 Terastodon (resists sacrifice effects and removal, can put opponent off a color)
1 Inkwell Leviathan (intended for DnT matchups, somewhat resistant to removal and a quick clock)
1 Ashen Rider (can hit a land if nothing else, intended for tempo decks)

SB:
1 Elesh Norn
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Aetherling
1 Keranos, God of Storms

While there are clearly decks that just fold to Elesh Norn, he seems like a pretty polarized creature to me. Against decks where he isn't an instant win, he's a sluggish clock that's vulnerable both to StP and Karakas. I see him in a lot of main decks, and I just wonder if he really has the flexibility to earn that slot... or if we're all putting him in the main because everyone else seems to be doing it.

Sire of Insanity looks pretty cool to me, and obviously a lot of decks are going to fold to this in both the combo and control spectrum. He seems kind of bad against Mother of Runes and Tarmogoyf, though, so I want to be sure my opponent isn't running those cards before I hit them with the Sire.

Aetherling and Keranos are pretty much exclusively for Miracles, which I see a lot of in my area. I'd really like to play one of these in the MD, but they are just too embarrassing sitting across from a Tarmogoyf.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[AEMarling]

I believe Miracles players side out their Swords to Plowshares (and Council's Judgment) against us, making Void Winnower a good threat against them. Does that sound right? I believe Void Winnower can take the spot of Sire of Insanity against Storm. I'm still not certain if Keranos is worth it. Dodges Containment Priest, but its effect might be too minor. I'm worried I'll resolve it against Miracles and they'll kill me in a few turns with a chorus of angels. If DnT keep in their Mother of Runes then the God of Storms wouldn't be good against them either.

So far I think Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is too slow to fit my game plan.

[jattra]

@Lormador
There is a good chance to hardcast Grave Titan in tough matches.
Elesh is sick against creature decks. Against others, it is usually the best second target after you managed to put your Grisle on the board. I also surprised my opponent once. He was at 9 life and while facing my Grisle, he felt safe to prepare his play for the next turn. He did not get to finish it :-) Not a common scenario but kind of sweet.

[Lormador]

Indeed, Keranos might be too minor against Miracles... but I'll give him a try and see how he goes. I'm all but certain to play against Miracles today. My thinking is that I'll get 6-12 damage out of him, then be in a position to get another monster out and/or fight over the Entreat. This is just a plan though, I haven't attempted it in a live game. I generally don't like plans that rely either on getting another monster out or having resources left once my first monster gets out, the second reason being the one that pushes me away from Tidespout Tyrant.

Not running the Tyrant gives me another reason to run Terastodon. I think if the reasons cited are the only things making Grave Titan better then maybe we should all go back to the elephant. Blowing up colored mana sources is big game, and I also have the option to destroy 3 of my own lands and put 18 power on the field! I'll report on this creature later, I have high hopes for him. Against another combo deck I might trample 2 of their lands, leaving them without any more on the table, which seems like a much more threatening position than against a sluggish Grave Titan... even taking into account the chump blocking of the small elephants.

[KobeBryan]

Indeed, Keranos might be too minor against Miracles... but I'll give him a try and see how he goes. I'm all but certain to play against Miracles today. My thinking is that I'll get 6-12 damage out of him, then be in a position to get another monster out and/or fight over the Entreat. This is just a plan though, I haven't attempted it in a live game. I generally don't like plans that rely either on getting another monster out or having resources left once my first monster gets out, the second reason being the one that pushes me away from Tidespout Tyrant.

Not running the Tyrant gives me another reason to run Terastodon. I think if the reasons cited are the only things making Grave Titan better then maybe we should all go back to the elephant. Blowing up colored mana sources is big game, and I also have the option to destroy 3 of my own lands and put 18 power on the field! I'll report on this creature later, I have high hopes for him. Against another combo deck I might trample 2 of their lands, leaving them without any more on the table, which seems like a much more threatening position than against a sluggish Grave Titan... even taking into account the chump blocking of the small elephants.

Keranos may be too slow to play against Miracles.

Aetherling, grisel, iona, tidesprout, and grave titan are the creature base you need in that matchup.

[Stryfo]

my personal creature suite against miracles ends up being something like:

Griselbrand
Iona
Archetype
1 of Jin or Tidespout, usually tidespout, rarely both.

edit:
That said, I do believe aetherling is great in the matchup, you just need to pray they don't have containment priest =\

[Lormador]

Might it be more reasonable to pack Keranos in boards that also have Dread of Night?

This would eliminate the worry of being killed early on by monk tokens.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

edit:
That said, I do believe aetherling is great in the matchup, you just need to pray they don't have containment priest =\

So what/how do board against them? Obviously abrupt decay, I also play Golgari charm, I feel like both of these are good against Miracles. How many cards would you boars in/out maximum? I'm also sure I'm at least playing a singleton Swansong, possibly 2.

Also, I've asked before, but do you think it's okay to go to only 2 Gris? I want to play a Jin-Gitaxias, but the 3rd Gris is so far the only card I've been able to feel comfortable swapping it with.

I want to play aetherling, I just can't find the room.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[PirateKing]

It's cool to see all the talk surround Reanimator, but I can't help but recall the advice given to me years ago when I first started playing it, "Reanimator is the best Legacy deck only as long as everybody forgets that" I've seen a few post-DTT articles talking about the shifting meta and their predictions to what decks will rise up, and Reanimator is always mentioned as a deck to watch out for. Which is almost always a bad thing for us. Now having played in exactly zero tournaments since the ban, I can't say anything towards what the meta is even on a local level, but I have a feeling my creature suite and even sideboard are going to experience some changes.

To start, with Omnitell dead and buried, I don't think Sire of Insanity is worth the main board slot, and not even sure if I want him in the side either. Sure he does a number to any deck if landed right away, and outright murders Storm and other combo decks, but we already have a healthy matchup against storm, and when played any other time than the first few turns, he doesn't lock the game up like any other creature would. For the time being, I'm going to leave him home until I'm shown otherwise.

For those doubting Elesh Norn, first of all, it's not he, she's a very pretty lady, so refer to her as such. Secondly, she is an absolute house against such a wide distribution of decks that without some apocalyptic shift in basic deck design, will always have a home in the main. Saying she's vulnerable to removal is a weak argument, none of our creatures offer absolute certainty at all times. Pumping our own creatures is isn't something to take lightly, she'll almost always be my choice for followup reanimation after whatever silver bullet comes down first. Lists that have embraced Hapless Researcher will know the threat she represents, and if we're considering Terastodon once again, then she should absolutely be in the same 60 as the elephant. Elesh Norn coming into play is either game over right then or presents the lethal one-two punch, so I cringe when I see her anywhere but the main.

Regarding Grave Titan versus Terastodon, I would be careful about drawing too many direct comparisons. Sure they're both making tokens, but their purpose in the 75 are vastly different. Grave Titan is in a class of "big dumb beaters" that, along with Inkwell Leviathan, offer no tricks or effects, instead are uniquely difficult to remove perpetual threat. Inkwell Leviathan covers us from the white an blue targeted removal, Grave Titan covers us from the black Liliana and other edict effects. Also something that shouldn't be dismissed is Grave Titan's ability to continue to generate tokens, allowing us some leeway in aggressive combat to maintain pressure on our opponent's blockers and life total. Terastodon in contrast is about permanent removal, same as Ashen Rider and Angel of Despair before her. We play the elephant because sometimes Ensnaring Bridge or Glacial Chasm or something is preventing an attack, and with that gone, we win. To balance the effect, they get a token. And in lieu of relevant targets across the table, we can nuke our own and get us some more power. But power isn't why we're playing it, and we shouldn't behave as such. I've had experiences trying to use Terastodon as a super Wasteland and lock my opponent out of the game, knowing they'd only have a few turn to chump before the real hits killed them, only to have them buy time and take my elephant off the table and suddenly combat math added up very differently, essentially handing my opponent the win from a neutral board. For the most part, I think Tidespout Tyrant has shown to be a much creature at doing what Terastodon does. The ability to generate value over time with multiple triggers allows you to adapt better and maintain your position, instead of a single CitP trigger.

I agree that Keranos is a narrow choice, and may no longer be warranted after the fervor of Containment Priest has subsided. For a while he was a necessary evil, as every white deck was packing the priest as their main form of hate. For a while at least, all Keranos had to do was zap the priest and that would pave the way for a real creature to come down and seal the game. I don't think he was ever included in a list as a wincon all by himself. Nowadays I only ever bring him in against Death & Taxes and Miracles, again specifically just to zap Containment Priest and maybe a Thalia before I can land Inkwell Leviathan to actually make an attempt on their life total. Against Death & Taxes specifically, Keranos combined with Darkblast work wonders together, sniping their Mother of Runes and then keeping their threats off the board. If you're not anticipating the matchup, then you can do better with other creatures. If it's just Miracles you're anticipating, then AEtherling can give you better value as long as you can maintain your blue sources.

I never much enjoyed Swam Song, it always struck me as an offensive counterspell, to be utilized in a tempo role, which is not something we should be attempting with out limited control pieces. Reanimator is a combo deck, and one that has it's fragility that must be protected against. Our counterspells should always be preserved to to protect our combo, not to attack our opponent's game plan. Since our combo is sorcery speed, our primary threats are instant speed effects from our opponents. Not many sorcery or enchantments should threaten us on our combo turn. Playing the green splash, Abrupt Decay and Golgari Charm should deal with any enchantments we don't like. For everything else, I find Flusterstorm offers better protection than Swan Song. While the straight counter of Swan Song is good, the inability to just Force back a Flusterstorm makes it more valuable for the situations we're most likely to be using it in.

And finally, as long as we're talking about counterspells, we can talk about how Izzet Charm is so much more than just an expensive Spell Pierce. So rarely do modal spells find complete relevance in a deck. Unless its something like Hull Breach, often times you're including it for less than it's complete options. I mean, how often are we regenerating creatures with Golgari Charm? Izzet Charm actually give us three effects that get used equally, four if you count being used as a pitch to Force of Will. Zapping a Deathrite Shaman to clear the path for a reanimation takes the burden off Abrupt Decay as our only out. Instant speed Careful Study let's us preserve mana on our turn or to play tricks with Exhume. I'll admit it's use as a counter works best pitching to Force then cast itself, as I rarely have an extra 2 mana on my reanimation turn to throw into a Spell Pierce, but then there have been games where that let me land the creature through double Force and win the match. And I have to agree with Stryfo, we do best when we maximize our ability to put creatures in our graveyard. Careful Study and Entomb were never enough to get that consistency, and even with a playset of Hapless Researcher, getting that additional option on top of the utility is a slam dunk. The only downside is that red requirement, which I concede can be tough if you're playing against a bunch of tempo and Wasteland decks. Even with that being said, getting pinched with a Wasteland hurts just as much regardless of the dual in question, and as long as we have access to a single swamp we're not dead yet.

Still haven't played with flappy Jace, so I can't comment on anything regarding that. Still waiting to hear something from you guys.

But yeah, that's all I have to say about that.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

It's cool to see all the talk surround Reanimator, but I can't help but recall the advice given to me years ago when I first started playing it, "Reanimator is the best Legacy deck only as long as everybody forgets that" I've seen a few post-DTT articles talking about the shifting meta and their predictions to what decks will rise up, and Reanimator is always mentioned as a deck to watch out for. Which is almost always a bad thing for us. Now having played in exactly zero tournaments since the ban, I can't say anything towards what the meta is even on a local level, but I have a feeling my creature suite and even sideboard are going to experience some changes.

To start, with Omnitell dead and buried, I don't think Sire of Insanity is worth the main board slot, and not even sure if I want him in the side either. Sure he does a number to any deck if landed right away, and outright murders Storm and other combo decks, but we already have a healthy matchup against storm, and when played any other time than the first few turns, he doesn't lock the game up like any other creature would. For the time being, I'm going to leave him home until I'm shown otherwise.

For those doubting Elesh Norn, first of all, it's not he, she's a very pretty lady, so refer to her as such. Secondly, she is an absolute house against such a wide distribution of decks that without some apocalyptic shift in basic deck design, will always have a home in the main. Saying she's vulnerable to removal is a weak argument, none of our creatures offer absolute certainty at all times. Pumping our own creatures is isn't something to take lightly, she'll almost always be my choice for followup reanimation after whatever silver bullet comes down first. Lists that have embraced Hapless Researcher will know the threat she represents, and if we're considering Terastodon once again, then she should absolutely be in the same 60 as the elephant. Elesh Norn coming into play is either game over right then or presents the lethal one-two punch, so I cringe when I see her anywhere but the main.

Regarding Grave Titan versus Terastodon, I would be careful about drawing too many direct comparisons. Sure they're both making tokens, but their purpose in the 75 are vastly different. Grave Titan is in a class of "big dumb beaters" that, along with Inkwell Leviathan, offer no tricks or effects, instead are uniquely difficult to remove perpetual threat. Inkwell Leviathan covers us from the white an blue targeted removal, Grave Titan covers us from the black Liliana and other edict effects. Also something that shouldn't be dismissed is Grave Titan's ability to continue to generate tokens, allowing us some leeway in aggressive combat to maintain pressure on our opponent's blockers and life total. Terastodon in contrast is about permanent removal, same as Ashen Rider and Angel of Despair before her. We play the elephant because sometimes Ensnaring Bridge or Glacial Chasm or something is preventing an attack, and with that gone, we win. To balance the effect, they get a token. And in lieu of relevant targets across the table, we can nuke our own and get us some more power. But power isn't why we're playing it, and we shouldn't behave as such. I've had experiences trying to use Terastodon as a super Wasteland and lock my opponent out of the game, knowing they'd only have a few turn to chump before the real hits killed them, only to have them buy time and take my elephant off the table and suddenly combat math added up very differently, essentially handing my opponent the win from a neutral board. For the most part, I think Tidespout Tyrant has shown to be a much creature at doing what Terastodon does. The ability to generate value over time with multiple triggers allows you to adapt better and maintain your position, instead of a single CitP trigger.

I agree that Keranos is a narrow choice, and may no longer be warranted after the fervor of Containment Priest has subsided. For a while he was a necessary evil, as every white deck was packing the priest as their main form of hate. For a while at least, all Keranos had to do was zap the priest and that would pave the way for a real creature to come down and seal the game. I don't think he was ever included in a list as a wincon all by himself. Nowadays I only ever bring him in against Death & Taxes and Miracles, again specifically just to zap Containment Priest and maybe a Thalia before I can land Inkwell Leviathan to actually make an attempt on their life total. Against Death & Taxes specifically, Keranos combined with Darkblast work wonders together, sniping their Mother of Runes and then keeping their threats off the board. If you're not anticipating the matchup, then you can do better with other creatures. If it's just Miracles you're anticipating, then AEtherling can give you better value as long as you can maintain your blue sources.

I never much enjoyed Swam Song, it always struck me as an offensive counterspell, to be utilized in a tempo role, which is not something we should be attempting with out limited control pieces. Reanimator is a combo deck, and one that has it's fragility that must be protected against. Our counterspells should always be preserved to to protect our combo, not to attack our opponent's game plan. Since our combo is sorcery speed, our primary threats are instant speed effects from our opponents. Not many sorcery or enchantments should threaten us on our combo turn. Playing the green splash, Abrupt Decay and Golgari Charm should deal with any enchantments we don't like. For everything else, I find Flusterstorm offers better protection than Swan Song. While the straight counter of Swan Song is good, the inability to just Force back a Flusterstorm makes it more valuable for the situations we're most likely to be using it in.

And finally, as long as we're talking about counterspells, we can talk about how Izzet Charm is so much more than just an expensive Spell Pierce. So rarely do modal spells find complete relevance in a deck. Unless its something like Hull Breach, often times you're including it for less than it's complete options. I mean, how often are we regenerating creatures with Golgari Charm? Izzet Charm actually give us three effects that get used equally, four if you count being used as a pitch to Force of Will. Zapping a Deathrite Shaman to clear the path for a reanimation takes the burden off Abrupt Decay as our only out. Instant speed Careful Study let's us preserve mana on our turn or to play tricks with Exhume. I'll admit it's use as a counter works best pitching to Force then cast itself, as I rarely have an extra 2 mana on my reanimation turn to throw into a Spell Pierce, but then there have been games where that let me land the creature through double Force and win the match. And I have to agree with Stryfo, we do best when we maximize our ability to put creatures in our graveyard. Careful Study and Entomb were never enough to get that consistency, and even with a playset of Hapless Researcher, getting that additional option on top of the utility is a slam dunk. The only downside is that red requirement, which I concede can be tough if you're playing against a bunch of tempo and Wasteland decks. Even with that being said, getting pinched with a Wasteland hurts just as much regardless of the dual in question, and as long as we have access to a single swamp we're not dead yet.

Still haven't played with flappy Jace, so I can't comment on anything regarding that. Still waiting to hear something from you guys.

But yeah, that's all I have to say about that.
What is your creature suite? If you were going to a very large tournament such as a GP or an Invitational, one with a predisposition to being more heavy combo than others, what ones would be your choice? How many can you recommend playing? What is the lowest number of Griselbrand you would play? Is 2x too few? If so, is it too few even if you play a Jin-Gitaxias? I'm concerned with the basic strategies to play against the following decks:

Death and Taxes
Delver varients
Miracles
Shardless BUG
Sneak'n Show
Storm

Also, what creature I'm supposed to grab first, as well as the best follow-up creature.

These questions do have a reason, any and all are welcome to give input, but the more experience with the deck you have, the more interested I am. Thanks for your lengthy post, Pirateking.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[PirateKing]

What is your creature suite? If you were going to a very large tournament such as a GP or an Invitational, one with a predisposition to being more heavy combo than others, what ones would be your choice? How many can you recommend playing? What is the lowest number of Griselbrand you would play? Is 2x too few? If so, is it too few even if you play a Jin-Gitaxias? I'm concerned with the basic strategies to play against the following decks:

Death and Taxes
Delver varients
Miracles
Shardless BUG
Sneak'n Show
Storm

Also, what creature I'm supposed to grab first, as well as the best follow-up creature.

These questions do have a reason, any and all are welcome to give input, but the more experience with the deck you have, the more interested I am. Thanks for your lengthy post, Pirateking.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

As it's sleeved right now:

3x Griselbrand
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Tidespout Tyrant
1x Grave Titan
1x Sire of Insanity

1x Inkwell Leviathan
1x Keranos, God of Storms
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria

This was pretty well tuned to my local meta, it was flush with fair decks and Omnitell, plus a sprinkling of the rest. Not much elves or D&T, but I hate loosing to Thalia, so I always came prepared. Maybe too prepared, but I never had much difficulty otherwise. But like I said, I'm still observing the meta and am going to rejigger before my next big tournament.

In a combo heavy meta, I would include some creature in the main to combat that, either Sire or Iona or Jin-Gitaxias or that new Eldrazi, Void Winnower. I'm comfortable with 3x Griselbrand, but if you're going to run 2x Griselbrand + 1x Jin-Gitaxias, that'd be fine too. Having a second draw 7 source in the event of Surgical Extraction is good, and their hand size to zero is fine as well, but I've been burned hard by him letting me down. He gets killed before I get to draw 7 about 25% of the time, and against combo, they'll go off and generate lethal before they have to discard, especially if you use Reanimate, storm 5 isn't a challenge whatsoever.

Regarding your specific matchups:

Death and Taxes
>Inkwell Leviathan is my silver bullet in this matchup. Unless I think they're sandbagging Containment Priest, that'll be what I go to first. Don't be shy to put out Elesh Norn, even if they have Karakas, wiping their board can buy you a good number of turns to set back up faster then they can. I'll side in Keranos for the priest, but again as I said before, by priority is to zap the priest then get Inkwell. Massacre or Darkblast depending on your sideboard to keep Thalia and Vryn Wingmare off the table so you can actually cast spells.
Delver varients
>For the most part, Griselbrand is all you need. Him untapped will stunt any attack they generate, providing breathing room. You can attack and draw 7 to get Elesh Norn as a followup and make it pretty easy to win from there. BUG Delver is a tough matchup however, they'll keep DRS back and can always threaten a topdeck Liliana. In this position I'd aim to get Grave Titan first and then Elesh Norn to really amp up the damage. Even then, I've lost games with Maelstrom Pulse on my tokens and then a Liliana to clear the titan. I get matched up with BUG Delver a lot and have always had difficulty with it. We are not friends.
Miracles
>Getting through a CB&T lock is a real issue, one of the reasons I turned to the green splash. As far as go to creatures, I'd try Griselbrand just to get as much damage and try and counter their removal and win. Iona on white is pretty much just as good, Jace and his -1 or Karakas can break that up, however. If they're fronting the new Monastery Mentor, I'd keep Elesh Norn close. That dude can race the best of them, so don't get cocky.
Shardless BUG
>Shardless is a bit slower, and not having to fear a Spell Pierce or Daze really makes your turn easier. They'll have all the threats of regular BUG, but tend to durdle more on those early turns, which will be a boon for us. Not as scared of Shardless BUG as traditional BUG.
Sneak'n Show
>Haven't played against a genuine Sneak Attack deck in a while, but as it played out before, game one they would get Sneak Attack out as fast as possible, even if it meant Show and Tell on turn 2~3 into Sneak Attack and pass, playing right into that Griselbrand chilling in your hand. After they get burned by that line of play they slow down, usually siding out their own Show and Tells for Through the Breach and up the control aspect to buy themselves some time. Back then I was still on UB with S&T in the side myself, so this is all dated. But simple stuff like Pithing Needle on their Sneak Attack and just getting damage in quickly before they can establish anything.
Storm
>Sire of Insanity early, reminding them at the end of every turn every player discarsds thier hand, and they'll eother scoop or let you hit them 3 turns before moving to the next game. If you're not packing Sire, then Iona on either black or red, depending on which storm they're packing. Or blue if by storm we mean High Tide. Never used Void Winnower before, but that seems to cover their spells pretty well. All the Dark Rituals in the world can't cast you anything I'm afraid of.

Any other questions I'll be happy to render strategies for, but as impartial as I try, Stryfo and I rock some pretty unique lists, and so I'll naturally lean towards the lists that have earned me the most success.

[Stryfo]

@Secretly:

I wouldn't go down to less than three GB (in the main at least, there are occasions to side some out) If I was going to an invitational or Grand Prix, I would play the 73/75 of the list I posted from last weekend, changing only the sideboard Keranos to a sideboard Sphinx of the Steel Wind. With the uptick of Delver, it's nice to have another card they can never beat. The other change I would consider making, though I'm not 100% sold yet, is swapping the snapcaster for Golgari charm. I've been playing around with 1 charm online and I've been pretty happy with it so far. But I don't get to play snapcaster online, so I'm not sure how much I like it yet.

I can try to cover some basic strategies against the decks you posted, but the strategy will by no means be exhaustive.

DnT: Game one I just try to go fast while protecting my lands (don't crack fetches early) be careful with countering creatures if exhume is your reanimation spell. I like to go for GB if they have anything open, or Jin-Gitaxias if they don't. I like to follow up the D7 with Archetype or Tidespout, both can be an absolute beating for them. Having removal spells in Izzet Charm helps quite a bit. Postboard I usually like to bring in a mix of Echoing Truth and Decay, because ET is so much easier on your mana. I also like to bring in needles, darkblast, and golgari charm when I'm playing it. I cut a reanimate and an exhume, a careful study, an izzet charm, and sometimes a creature.

Delver Variants: These are more complex, you have to know when to go in on a spell and when to wait to play around soft counters. If they don't know what you're on it's a lot easier. misdirection and Izzet charm help a ton in the BUG matchup, and against RUG, you basically win by drawing four lands and casting spells. If they clock you too fast, it sucks, but most of the time in game one you can get there just by presenting enough must counter spells. UWR delver is pretty bad, and I wouldn't expect seeing it. I basically side in a couple of decays, make sure my creature quite is the best it can be, and sometimes I'll bring in some discard.

Miracles: Go under their lock, in game 1 I usually let top go, but I try to never let the CB through, even if they don't have a top. everything but elesh is fairly solid. This is the matchup you are most likely to get there by attacking with researchers, and it feels great. Postboard you want needles decays, a few discard spells, and I like to bring in Iona from my board, since Iona alongside archetype actually just ends the game. I cut 2x reanimate and an exhume from my reanimation suite in addition to some other stuff. be aware of counterbalance while boarding.

Shardless BUG is pretty easy. don't let them know what you're on if they lead DRS, if they don't you are extremely favored. most of your creatures win on their own.

Sneak and Show is also favorable. if you hold a fatty in hand, you can usually win the game if they cast show and tell. Bring in pithing needles and discard.

Storm is favorable, but you need to be careful because they can kill out of nowhere. Just bring in discard and make sure your creature suite is perfect. I like to keep in Tidespout Tyrant in case they run karakas.

As far as first creature to get, it's usually GB, and after that it's usually either Elesh or Tidespout, depending on the matchup. But really, learning how to read this is an important part of playing the deck.

That's all I've got for now as I have to make dinner, hope it was helpful.

[Nuke is Good]

I was on a losing streak with Reanimator for a couple of weeks going 0-2 eliminated, 1-3, and 2-2's so I put the deck aside and went back to basics with Jund. Felt beating fast combo decks with a deck that is supposed to be a dog of a matchup. But I still miss people tilting and having more than 10 minutes of a break. I decided to retweak the deck but I'm not sure if it's any good.

Creatures (8)
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Tidespout Tyrant
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Spells (36)
3 Lotus Petal
2 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
2 Daze
4 Exhume
2 Show and Tell
1 Misdirection
4 Force of Will
Lands (16)
1 Bayou
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
Sideboard (15)
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Pithing Needle
2 Disfigure
2 Flusterstorm
2 Thoughtseize
1 Echoing Truth
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Helm of Obedience
1 Grave Titan
1 Sire of Insanity

Cards that might standout and my justifications for keeping them:

Jace: I'm still testing him, I haven't drawn him once in the month I had him in my deck.
Empyrial Archangel: I like this in Delver/Burn matchups where I didn't draw the silver bullet. Also stalls well against Blightsteel and DnT
Show and Tell: This I found to be a nice way around CB and I like having another way to get critters out if yard hate is real.
Abrupt Decay+The Two Bounce Spells: I always had a single chain of vapor which saved me so many times especially against the rogue leyline of the void. I thought about adding the echoing truth.
Helm of Obedience: Product of inbred metagame where RIP is mainboarded/prevalent due to a painter player mainboarding the RIP+Helm Combo. Not sure what to replace this when going to a larger event.

I'm trying to figure out what can help this deck win if I can't get the combo out after turn 3 which I notice is the make or break turn if I win that game or not.

[David L Byer]

Guys, I have an answer for the Death and Taxes match up. BLOOD BARON OF VIZKOPA. It is 99.9% impossible for them to remove and they 100% can't race it.

[Nuke is Good]

Guys, I have an answer for the Death and Taxes match up. BLOOD BARON OF VIZKOPA. It is 99.9% impossible for them to remove and they 100% can't race it.

They sure can race a 4/4 Pro White critter. Remember they have aether vial and low cost creatures. Unless you have sweepers they simply will just tax you until they conjure up a batterskull to block the blood baron. And outside of the DnT matchup he doesn't do much.

[L10]

Blood Barron has pro-black, so Batterskull can't block him.

[Nuke is Good]

Blood Barron has pro-black, so Batterskull can't block him.

I stand corrected, I guess you could equip it on a revoker but thats some christmasland scenarios going on.

[David L Byer]

They sure can race a 4/4 Pro White critter. Remember they have aether vial and low cost creatures. Unless you have sweepers they simply will just tax you until they conjure up a batterskull to block the blood baron. And outside of the DnT matchup he doesn't do much.

The .10 % chance they can deal with a Blood Baron is to equipt a Phyrexian Revoker with Batterskull or Sword of Fire and Ice. I like those odds

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I prefer target 1 to be Archetype of Endurance, followed up with an Elesh Norn. Talk about impossible for them to race.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[PirateKing]

They can absolutely race a Blood Baron of Vizkopa. A Batterskull grinds you to a stalemate, just trading swings at each other; unless you're plan is to just block, but any flier comes down and you're dead. And any game where you're up to 30 life and they're at 10, you've already won, so I hope that wasn't your plan all along. I've had D&T race a Griselbrand, so a tricky 4/4 isn't a very large roadblock.

[PirateKing]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/yamimetaldragon/Reanimator-1.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/yamimetaldragon/media/Reanimator-1.jpg.html)
Image courtesy of Guerte

What is Reanimator and why play it?

Reanimator is a Legacy deck built around a collection of cards designed to put a creature card into your graveyard and return it to play for a cost significantly less than it would take to cast from your hand. These high end creatures provide devastating effects that hope to quickly disarm your opponent and close out the game with a few combat steps. The history of Reanimator has always been that of an arms race between our quality creatures and our opponent's effective graveyard hate. Sadly despite having access to some the best creatures ever printed, we've been overtaken with cheap and plentiful ways to lock us out of our own graveyard. As such, Reanimator has not been a tier 1 deck for some time. However, it's massive potential power and ability to win games from limited resources even through persistent hate has kept many players loyal to the deck.

My purpose in this primer is not to rewrite comprehensive instructions on how to play the deck as the combos are simple enough when you get a good hand, and they've been explained in depth enough already. Rather, I'll focus on corner case use of cards and color splashes that make the deck interesting beyond the typical lists. Being able to generate wins when you're not given the nuts and utilizing off color cards to go around your opponent's roadblocks will make you a better player and help get you higher standings at tournaments.

The usual suspects aka the creatures

Separate from the core of the deck, the creature package is a unique and dynamic collection of cards. Because we're not limited to color or cost of our creatures, we can switch and substitute radically different cards based on our opponents and local meta. So while not all of these creatures will find a spot in your 75, keeping these cards in a binder close by is recommended.

Griselbrand – Absolutely disgusting, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. This guy has grown to overshadow all other potential targets, and is typically the only creature found in multiples in our deck. In times past, we had to choose between a high power evasive beater and utility card advantage creature. Now everything we could want is wrapped up into a single body. He's not infallible though, cards like Karakas, Maze of Ith and Ensnaring Bridge will put the brakes on pretty quickly. Be mindful of the potential Stifle on the draw seven. Also because he runs double duty as our most common target and as the only one run in multiples, watch for Extirpate and Surgical Extraction.

Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite – The second most ubiquitous card found in our decks, she'll single handily put down your opponent's army and then continue to keep them down. Even though she's slow herself, using her to pump your other creatures can help cut down your clock by a full turn. While not used as offensively as Griselbrand, her Legendary status makes her weak to all the same threats.

Tidespout Tyrant – A fun utility creature that doesn't skimp on power either, he will likely be your out of choice once your opponent lands a bothersome permanent. Oftentimes irreparable damage can be inflicted with him in play alongside a draw seven from Griselbrand. Even alone he can keep your opponent in check and close out the game. Additionally, useful tricks can be used with Animate Dead, described below.

Inkwell Leviathan – Sometimes we just need a big dumb creature to hit our opponent until they're dead and not many creatures do this better. Perfect for being both very difficult to stop or kill, he's the king against removal heavy opponents. Obviously watch out for board wipes and the occasional damage race.

Iona, Shield of Emeria – She'll be game over for a lot of decks. Even if your opponent's don't concede, a 7/7 flier isn't something to shrug off. Depending on your opponent, she'll prove to be very very good or disappointingly ineffective. Your local meta will determine where in the 75 she'll go, if at all. Watch out for Karakas, for the bulk of opponents, this will be their only out.

Grave Titan – Another simple beater that offers unique protection against sacrifice effects. Alone he'll quickly build an army of Zombie tokens to overwhelm your opponent, even keeping you safe from a counterattack. At a cost of only six he's easy on the life as well when brought in with Reanimate. You might even cast him! Keep in mind on an empty board he represent a two turn clock, the fastest of any of our creatures.

Sire of Insanity – A very effective utility creature, he can hinder many opponents by reducing them to top deck only, and outright shut down any combo deck. The low cost is thanks to the symmetrical effect, but this is typically of little consequence to us. He's slightly squishy though, there will be games when potential blockers will keep him ineffectual in combat.

Keranos, God of Storms – Our creature that really isn't. First seen as a sideboard card in decks that would actually cast it, it's unique type status was put to use for us. Being a creature card that doesn't come into play as a creature lets us blow right past the increasingly popular Containment Priest or newly printed Hallowed Moonlight. It's also safe from typical removal, even board wipes and Karakas. It's not the fastest however, and I would caution anyone relying on it as their sole avenue to victory. It's better use is to slow our opponent and remove obstacles preventing a more aggressive creature from coming into play to finish the game.

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur – Once our go to guy, he's since been overshadowed by Griselbrand as a superior card drawer. His effects still remain potent, and some players include a copy to hedge against having their Griselbrand(s) Extirpate(d). Not being able to use cards drawn at the end of your turn and needing to wait until the end of your opponent's turn before they discard sometimes isn't enough, and the lackluster power for a cost of ten makes him a good backup, not a primary target.

Sphinx of the Steel Wind – A good quality beater for the right meta. Her laundry list of evasion helps us win even against the most aggressive decks. When faced against decks with Swords to Plowshares however, it underwhelms. Consult your anticipated opponents when considering this card.

Ashen Rider – Typically our permanent removal option if Tidespout Tyrant won't cut it. Popular alongside Show and Tell to ensure your permanent is unopposed. Oftentimes the trigger on dying is just a bonus, as we hope to ride her to victory alone. After printing, she has replaced any copies of Angel of Despair in our lists.

Blazing Archon – A good choice in the face of aggressive creature decks. As those decks have waned in the years, so has his showing. Most swarm style decks like Elves and Merfolk are better dealt with using Elesh Norn. Still good to have close in case of a dramatic meta shift.

Empyrial Archangel – A good choice to stunt your opponent's attacks while maintaining yours, it offers a broader spectrum of protection than Blazing Archon, while being susceptible to an overwhelming attack by your opponent. Shroud helps keep it in play, but for just that, Inkwell Leviathan offers a more aggressive clock.

Terastodon – This is a tricky card to use, capable of putting up to 18 power on the board, or removing troublesome permanents on our opponent's side. However its lack of any evasive abilities typically ends up hampering a productive combat step, especially once your opponent has just been gifted a 3/3 chump blocker or two.

AEtherling – A difficult to remove creature capable of surviving both targeted removal and board wipes, reliant on us having spare blue mana or two. Since we're going to be more focused on tenacity, we won't typically lots of spare mana to pour into him, so he doesn't end up hitting very hard. In the right meat he can close out games where Inkwell Leviathan and Keranos, God of Storms might not.

Why we win aka the mainboard

The core of Reanimator is UB, these are cards that all standard issue decks will run:

Entomb – The heart of the deck, and our most powerful spell. Both cheap and instant speed, this will typically be the giveaway that something unfair is about to happen. It's important to note that Entomb isn't limited to creatures, giving us fringe use for toolbox spells with Flashback or Dredge. Beware though, experienced opponents will know to counter our Entombs rather than waiting to fight over the reanimation effects.

Reanimate – The corpsy peanut butter to the undead chocolate, this card completes the cycle and puts our creature into play. Important though that is isn't limited to our creatures. Being able to return your opponent's dead creatures to fight on your side can be deadly, especially late in a game when both decks have exhausted themselves. Also be mindful if you anticipate your opponent's answers to include cards like Surgical Extraction or Exterpate, forcing them to target themselves to counter you is a worthwhile endeavor.

Exhume – Our second best reanimation effect. Be aware of its symmetry, giving them back a creature you just worked hard to counter can give you an embarrassing loss. However, this also allows Exhume to be one of our most tricky reanimation effect. Lack of targeting means we don't pick our creature until our spell resolves, allowing us to play around hate with instant speed effects. It does take a little doing, but situations will come up when Exhume and Entomb in hand will get you there where Reanimate won't.

Animate Dead – Our third best reanimation effect, and we usually only play these three, so also our worst. Most players tend to run 9-10 reanimation effects, so these fill out the extra slots. Not a terrible card itself, but when put along side Reanimate and Exhume, has some shortcomings. Animate Dead offers our opponent's outs they wouldn't otherwise have, turning on the typically dead Abrupt Decay. While slight, the -1/-0 does turn a brisk 3 turn clock into a painfully slow 4 turns at 7 power. However, Animate Dead isn't without it's tricks. Like Reanimate, we're not limited to our creatures. And there is a fun trick you can play with Tidespout Tyrant brought back with Animate Dead. If they threaten your creature, use any instant to trigger Tidespout Tyrant to bounce your Animate Dead, “saving” it in the graveyard to be brought back again with the same Animate Dead.

Careful Study – What happens when Brainstorm and Entomb have a torrid affair. Careful Study does a lot of things; puts creatures stuck in our hand into the graveyard, digs two cards deeper in the library, and can Hail Mary a creature from the library into the graveyard. Be careful in using it though, like Entomb, not many decks run this card, so game 1 anonymity is typically blown. Typically only tempo opponents with an aggressive hand will contest Careful Study with Daze or Spell Pierce.

Brainstorm and Force of Will – These are cards that shouldn't require any explanation. There are endless resources discussing these cards, I won't try and compete with them.

Believe it or not, that's it. Every other spell run can be considered a 0-4 of. And that's the beauty of Reanimator. Our combo is so simple that there is room for many subsets and color splashes that alter the play style radically. Keep in mind these cards are by no means mutually exclusive. So here's where it gets interesting:

Ponder – There were days when it would have been considered blasphemous to discuss anything but a nonzero Ponder build of Reanimator. Ponder does many things, some even better than Brainstorm! For a combo deck, finding our critical pieces as fast as possible is how we win games, and Ponder is a consistency machine, albeit at the cost of speed. Typically our win rate drops past turn 3, so turns spent playing Ponder and nothing else can hurt us by allowing our opponents time to find appropriate hate. As such, some players have opted to replace Ponder with more “business” spells. Players using a Ponder build typically run 2-4 copies.

Daze – A lightning fast blue combo deck not running Daze? While rare, it has been done. While Daze is epic in the first two turns, it loses value quickly thereafter. So depending on when you calculate your critical turns occurring, it may or may not be the card for you. After sideboard though, this card is rarely present. These games tend to be slower with more hate and our decks hunkered down with counter-hate, Daze does it's poorest in these situations. Players using a Daze build typically run 3-4 copies.

Lotus Petal – Petal builds of Reanimator have been popular for a while, but have started to fall out of favor with the meta shifting. They gain us speed at the cost of consistency; but man, nothing feels better than turn 1 land, Lotus Petal, Entomb, Reanimate, Daze your counter, Force your Force. Lotus Petal also plays nice with Tidespout Tyrant. Players using a Petal build typically run 3-4 copies.

Thoughtseize – Even if not present in the main deck, this card is never far off. It gives information, removes troublesome spells, retards our opponent's game plan and in a pinch can target yourself to get a creature into the graveyard. While powerful, like Ponder, is time and mana spent not on our primary focus. Players using a Thoughtseize build typically run 2-3 copies.

Show and Tell – The most decisive card separating Reanimator decks. It allows us to bypass the graveyard completely, negating much of the strategy our opponents are anticipating. Through it we can steal wins not otherwise obtainable due to an abundance of graveyard hate. It is not without shortcomings. Firstly, we are not a very good Show and Tell deck. While we can put cards into our graveyard with ease, getting specific cards in our hand isn't as easy. Secondly, it's a slow card. Three mana is a lot for our deck, and while some decks run sol lands to help with the cost, expect our opponents to be well into their game plan before we're ready to cast Show and Tell. And lastly, Reanimator has used Show and Tell as a crutch for so long, many opponents will anticipate us relying on it after sideboard, some even bringing is their own high cost permanents to put into play against you. As a result many players have tried looking elsewhere to combat graveyard hate. Players using a Show and Tell build typically run 1-2 copies.

Hapless Researcher – An underwhelming card at first glance, this wimpy 1/1 can provide a lot of uses not immediately obvious. Using it as a half-power Careful Study is easy enough, but getting that effect at instant speed opens up many possibilities with Exhume. When we're able to spread out our mana over multiple turns, it can make playing around Daze or Spell Pierce easier, especially considering the latter doesn't affect Hapless Researcher. Playing him alongside one of our reanimation targets gives us some protection from sacrifice effects. Being able to attack and block isn't bad either. Offensively alone or with Elesh Norn, games will be won by chipping away with a few dudes. Defensively we can alter combat math in our favor, with a timely Tarmogoyf chump, or a block and sacrifice against Batterskull to prevent the life gain. It lets us be proactive in our game plan, even at the risk of revealing our deck choice to our opponent. Players using a Hapless Researcher build typically run 3-4 copies.

Misdirection – This card is often described at Force of Will number 5, though it's potential uses expand greatly beyond that. When played to fight countermagic, the safe play is to change the target to Misdirection itself. Changing targets isn't countering a spell, so cards like Abrupt Decay are fair game. Beware the new target has to be legal, situations will occur where there isn't a potential play aginst whatever your opponent is casting. For this reason Misdirection doesn't get many spots in the majority of lists. Players using a Misdirection build typically run 1 copy.

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy // Jace, Telepath Unbound – The newest tech available, this card is still unproven, but does offer abilities to be envious of. As a creature, his looting ability is relevant getting creatures out of our hand, and won't be a challenge to see him flip, where his role changes to a reusable Snapcaster Mage. Gaining the ability to flash back reanimation spells can really challenge our opponents holding onto a single counter in hopes of getting their next turn. That being said, he's dreadfully slow, coming down sick on turn two and flipping turn three, right when our key turns are supposed to be occurring. Players are still finding out in what decks this planeswalker has a home, and whether or not that is Reanimator.

Why we lose aka the sideboard

Our power is kept in check by our opponent's ability to stunt our main resource, the graveyard. Cards like Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze, Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, Bojuka Bog, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace, Extirpate, Surgical Extraction, Containment Priest and Leyline of the Void all shut down our main route to success, and you can be sure our opponents will be bringing in all copies on hand against us. Other cards proven to be a pain even after we've landed a creature are Karakas, Maze of Ith, Ensnaring Bridge, any sacrifice effect and any bounce effect, all of which can put us back to square one. As such, our sideboard has evolved into mainly ways to either circumvent or otherwise negate these expectant hate cards. Popular choices in the UB shell are:

Show and Tell and Thoughtseize – These cards have already been explained above, some lists run these in the main, some in the side and others choose a split between the two.

Pithing Needle – The quintessential sideboard card, its potential uses are innumerable. Some of the common targets are turning off planeswalkers, utility lands and bothersome creature abilities, clearing the path for a reanimation or attack. No reason your sideboard shouldn't have 2 or 3 copies.

Chain of Vapor, Echoing Truth and Wipe Away – Different flavors of bounce effects each with their own strengths and shortfalls. Chain of Vapor is the cheapest but loses value hard once you have a creature in play of your own. Echoing Truth can keep up with tokens but is limited to nonland permanents. Wipe Away covers all cards and can even hit difficult targets like Counterbalance and Sensei's Diving Top, but it's high cost can be difficult to manage. A sideboard should have 1 to 3 bounce spells, which version depends on your meta.

Coffin Purge, Faerie Macabre , Extirpate and Surgical Extraction – Just because we're a graveyard deck doesn't mean we have to let other graveyard decks get a free pass. Beyond just the mirror, decks like Dredge and Lands can offer targets worth removing from the graveyard. Coffin Purge is useful as a target for Entomb, giving us instant speed response. Faerie Macabre tends to be more useful in a split with Coffin Purge over just two copies of the latter. Her effect is unable to be countered, and as a bonus she can be brought back from the graveyard to attack. While not common in many lists, a few copies of Extirpate and Surgical Extraction have been used when graveyard based decks are in high numbers. Not all sideboards will run graveyard removal, but should be considered for large or varied metas.

Spell Pierce and Flusterstorm – Our copies of Daze tend to be taken out after game one, and some players opt to have these counterspells available to substitute on the draw or against spell heavy opponents. Flusterstorm works well in counterwars, but the instant or sorcery limitation can allow your opponent to land cards otherwise caught by Spell Pierce. Extra countermagic isn't required, and many decks opt to include more proactive cards rather than reactionary spells.

Darkblast, Disfigure, Massacre, Dread of Night – Whether targeted or en masse, being able to remove creatures on demand will be a position you'll come across multiple times. Darkblast while weaker, can be fetched with Entomb and dredged back, also potentially binning a creature. With some doing, you can also stretch it multiple times over a turn to kill x/2 creatures; played during your upkeep and then dredged on your draw step and cast again. Disfigure doesn't have to bend over backwards to hit 2 toughness, it's a one and done card. Massacre is a potentially free wipe of the kind of creatures we're looking to remove, but outside of the specific land arrangement, we have a hard time casting. Dread of Night is cheap, but limited in scope. Removal pairs nicely with bounce spells, giving a wide range of ways to counteract our opponent's hate.

Engineered Explosives and Ratchet Bomb – These wipes can clear a wide swath of problem permanents, covering a lot of area for it's use. Both can wipe out tokens for two mana, and from there they diverge into mana versus time cost to reach the desired cmc. If you're using Engineered Explosives, I'd recommend having a color splash or Lotus Petals. Only being able to max out at two counters can miss a great deal of cards we lose to.

City of Traitors and Dark Ritual – These cards are never played together as far as I can tell, but they both aim to do the same thing. City of Traitors is played alongside Show and Tell to race it into play on turn two or even turn one, before your opponent can react. Similarly, Dark Ritual helps power out turn one combos. Both help play for taxing counterspells, and in the late game, both can help hardcast a creature.

Flavors aka color splashes

:g: - Green opens up access to Abrupt Decay, Golgari Charm and Pernicious Deed, both typically utilized in the sideboard. Abrupt Decay is an excellent removal tool, covering many of the problem permanents. Golgari Charm offers flexability with enchantment removal or clearing the board of bothersome X/1's. Regeneration is hardly seen. Pernicious Deed is awesome at clearing the board, it's X or less functions differently from the exact cmc wipes from Engineered Explosives or Ratchet Bomb. Be careful, due to it's antiquated wording, planeswalkers are unaffected. Green is the most common color to splash.

:r: - Red lets us play Faithless Looting and Izzet Charm, typically one or the other in the mainboard along side Careful Study to maximize our ability to get a creature in the graveyard. Faithless Looting work well with Entomb, but the cost is a bit steep and almost guarantees no other follow up, forcing us to leave a creature in the graveyard for a turn, which is always a dangerous situation. Izzet Charm has the higher upfront cost, but benefits for a toolbox of uses, all relevant to our deck. It's instant speed also lets us put a creature into the graveyard at the end of our opponent's turn, letting us combo off with limited mana. Red is the second most common color to splash.

:w: - White allows us to play Serenity, Meddling Mage and Loyal Retainers. Each card is typically found in the sideboard. Serenity offers an excellent way to clear some of the most common permanent cards that lock us out of our graveyard, especially when faced with multiple copies. Meddling Mage can preempt bothersome spells that would otherwise hamper us, and provide protection from sacrifice effects after we completed a reanimation. Loyal Retainers offers us a reanimation effect on a body, and able to be reused with excess reanimation cards. White is the least common color to splash.

And that's pretty much all there is to Reanimator! Deck lists can be found in abundance, but each should be assumed to have been tuned for that specific tournament, so don't just copy and paste and expect result at your local store. Take a moment to consider each card, as the range of builds is truly vast and should reflect your personal style of play and choices.

[KobeBryan]

Sphinx of the Steel Wind – A good quality beater for the right meta. Her laundry list of evasion helps us win even against the most aggressive decks. When faced against decks with Swords to Plowshares however, it underwhelms. Consult your anticipated opponents when considering this card.

- Why would you board this one in against a white deck? This one is for BUG, RUG, and Grixis.

[PirateKing]

Why would you board this one in against a white deck? This one is for BUG, RUG, and Grixis.

Creatures are written without consideration to main or side. It's just a breakdown of all creatures we play, and a message that you shouldn't get too attached to creatures in any position of the deck, it's all dependent on your surroundings.

[KobeBryan]

Creatures are written without consideration to main or side. It's just a breakdown of all creatures we play, and a message that you shouldn't get too attached to creatures in any position of the deck, it's all dependent on your surroundings.

I'm just tryign to make it more thorough.

[PirateKing]

I'm just tryign to make it more thorough.

There was a time when she was maindeck material, and she absolutely underwhelmed against white decks packing swords. But the effort wasn't to just give a decklist and then have everybody assume that's the apex of the deck, just what the pieces are for and why, and let newcomers build it to suit their preferred play style and tastes.

[Hank Zhong]

Came in 3rd out of 304 players at Eternal Extravaganza this past weekend with Jake's list. Will post a tournament report tomorrow!

[AEMarling]

Came in 3rd out of 304 players at Eternal Extravaganza this past weekend with Jake's list. Will post a tournament report tomorrow!

Grats! I look forward to hearing about it.

Someone on MTGSalvation suggesting having Inferno Titan as a Karakas-proof creature similar to Elesh Norn in effect. What does everyone think? I can see casting this then dying to Infect next turn, but maybe it's worth a sideboard slot. The clock is much faster than Elesh Norn's. Then again, I tend to expect to face fewer Karakas as they're harder to search for with no Dig Through Time.

[whataboutcats]

Played the non-show and tell version in STL and got 13th. Made a few general mistakes and whatnot but still pretty happy with the finish. I'm still convinced that we don't need show and tell anywhere in the deck. I tried a pair of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in the board this time. It was decent and generally proved useful when I came across it in the games, I'm just not sure that it's worth the sideboard slots yet.

On a side note, Golgari Charm has been wonderful. I have absolutely no other way to answer a leyline so I found myself bringing it in fairly blindly most game 2's if I could justify it in the matchup and found it useful in most situations.

[jattra]

Hello guys, can you help me decide?
I do not have ABUR Duals and so I am playing UB Reanimator with basic lands and couple of shock lands. It is good enough to play for fun once a week in my local store event.
The question is about third color splash. Currently, I am on UB but I see the benefits of the green splash. Do you think it is worth to play Decays with just a basic Forest?

Otherwise, what do you think about Pack Rats in the sideboards if I do not go with the green splash? I have been testing it a bit and enjoyed the surprised face of my opponents :) I admit the rat is damn slow.

Thanks.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

For a list not playing SnT, do you think 4x Abrupt Decay and 2x Golgari Charm is too much? I'm pretty sure I've got the slots, but I would prefer to know if 3x Abrupt Decay and 2x Golgari Charm is also acceptable.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Ephemeron]

For a list not playing SnT, do you think 4x Abrupt Decay and 2x Golgari Charm is too much? I'm pretty sure I've got the slots, but I would prefer to know if 3x Abrupt Decay and 2x Golgari Charm is also acceptable.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

I think 3 Decay would be fine. I assume you've got at least a couple of Pithing Needle in your sideboard as well and since there's some overlap between Needle and Decay (DRS, Relic, etc), you probably don't need the full 4 Decay.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Yes, I'm playing 2 Needle.


So I think that unless further play-testing reveals issues, here's the list I have settled on.

Deck: 61

Creatures: 11
2 Hapless Researchers
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Griselbrand
1 Jin-Gitaxias
1 Iona
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn
1 Grave Titan

Spells: 34
2 Thoughtseize
3 Daze
4 FoW
4 Brainstorm
3 Careful Study
2 Ponder
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
1 Animate Dead
3 Lotus Petal

Land: 16
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
4 Underground Sea
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta

SB: 15
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Golgari Charm
2 Pithing Needle
2 Massacre
1 Echoing Truth
1 Thoughtseize
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 AEtherling
1 Archetype of Endurance

The Jin-Gitaxias may become Sire if SeaTac proves to be as combo heavy as I expect it to, I will know after the last GPT Friday, Nov. 3rd.

Anyone see any glaring omissions or think they have reasons to change anything? I realize that there is a higher than normal count of reanimation targets.

I could really use the input, thanks so much for all the time and effort put in just the last few pages, it is deeply appreciated, Pirateking and Stryfo, and others.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

jattra, I believe splashing green is a mistake. I prefer to keep the deck faster, with a few Dazes in even on the draw, rather than slowing the deck down with interaction spells that don't pitch to Force of Will. I currently play a few bounce spells in the sideboard, but even those I don't feel great about. Chain of Vapor has the advantage of taking out Leyline of the Void, and it pitches to Force. If you'd like to splash, I'd suggest two Izzet Charm, with a Sulfur Elemental in the board.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

And I straight up disagree. Green is the best thing to happen to this deck in the new old metagame in my opinion.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[KobeBryan]

And I straight up disagree. Green is the best thing to happen to this deck in the new old metagame in my opinion.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

With counterbalance and rip in this meta. You need decay

[Hank Zhong]

Hello Fellow Reanimators,

Came in 3rd out of 302 players this past weekend at eternal extravaganza 3 with Jake's list, good for 10 dual lands (first place got 40!). The top tables were full of elves and miracles, I got lucky and faced elves 3 times, miracles 0 times.

Here’s the 75:

3 Griselbrand
1 Iona
1 Elesh Norn
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Grave Titan
4 Entomb
4 Careful Study
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Thoughtseize
3 Lotus Petal
3 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Island
1 Swamp

SB:
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Pithing Needle
2 Disfigure
2 Massacre
1 Aetherling
1 Sire of Insanity

I didn’t take notes, so this is all from memory:

R1: Belcher

G1: I keep a risky no lander with just lotus petal as mana after a mull to 6, figuring the scry would help. I scry and see swamp, so I keep it on top...except my hand was all blue cantrips. After casting the first cantrip off of the petal, i fail to find a blue source and die quickly to a horde of goblin tokens.

SB:
-1 tidespout tyrant, -1 grave titan, -1 ponder, -1 careful study, -1 island
+3 duress, + 1 thoughtseize, + 1 sire of insanity

G2: I had to mull again, but so did my opponent. I casted some discard spells in the first few turns, and eventually had to thoughtseize my own sire to reanimate it and that was game.

G3:I kept a very controlling 7 with discard, daze, and FOW. After dismantling my opponent's hand I eventually exhumed a griselbrand with 2 FOW in hand and that was game.


R2: Dark Maverick

G1: I thoughtseize turn one to see no threats, except for a sylvan library, which I take, since my hand is slow and I can’t reanimate until turn 3 or 4 the earliest. I keep note of the STP in his hand. A few turns later I choose to entomb and reanimate griselbrand, knowing he has the STP. griselbrand goes farming, but gives me 7 cards before he leaves, which was enough to get another griselbrand into play to seal the deal.

SB:
-4 daze, -4 FOW, -1 ponder
+3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, + 2 massacre. + 2 pithing needle

G2: This game was a grindy affair, with me trading my removal and discard for his creatures and spells. I eventually get a griselbrand into play but again, he went farming, but not before I drew 7 cards off of it. My opponent eventually got an ooze into play, but I had enough mana to hard cast grave titan for the win.


R3: Elves

G1: My memory of all the elves games are blurring together, but almost all of them ended with elesh norn or iona in play and my opponent conceding immediately. In this case, it was a turn 3 iona (I had to thoughtseize myself to exhume it)

SB:
-4 daze, -4FOW, -1 ponder
+2 needle, +3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, +1 duress, +1 thought size

G2: Opponent kept a hand with no discard and promptly got destroyed after I took care of his deathrite and ooze with my removal.

R4: Elves

See round 3, I win 2-0 in similar fashion.

R5: TES piloted by Bryant Cook

G1: I’m on the draw and keep hand that can reanimate iona on turn 1 with no interaction. But the hand falls apart if I get hit with a discard spell. I thought I’m dead when Bryant casts chrome mox on turn 1, but he only did it to cast infernal tutor for another copy of dark ritual. I assume he had the kill on the following turn, but my turn 1 iona on black sealed the deal.

SB:
-1 tidespout tyrant, -1 grave titan, -1 ponder, -1 careful study, -1 island
+3 duress, + 1 thoughtseize, + 1 sire of insanity

G2: I snap keep the following hand: FOW x2, daze, sea, thoughtseize, brainstorm, careful study. My thoughtseize gets discarded by his turn 1 duress. Bryant can’t go off due to the FOWs for a few turns. I keep drawing discard spells and dismantle his hand, until griselbrand finally arrives when I have 3 FOWs in hand.

R6: RG Lands piloted by Ben Flast

G1: I have a nutty opener on the draw: iona, careful study, lotus petal, land, FOW, daze, reanimate. Ben plays exploration. I think for a bit and FOW it because I plan to name green with iona, which means he’s not going to be casting any relevant spells for the rest of the game. When I careful study on my turn, I also drew into griselbrand. So now the question is whether I should reanimate iona or griselbrand. The problem with iona is 2 folds: it gets bounced by a naturally draw karakas and doesn’t do anything vs. a maze of ith, which gives the land player time to take control of the game. Gdaddy gets bounced by crop rotation into karakas or naturally drawn karakas, but at least I can still draw 7 cards. I reanimate grislbrand and draw 7 immediately. Ben crop rotates for karakas on his turn and bounce him, but the damage has been done. With my new 7, I was able to reanimate tidespout tyrant to seal the game.

SB:
-1 elesh norn, -4 daze
+2 needles, +3 abrupt decay

G2: I kept a hand with entomb, reanimate, swamp and a bunch of other discard and reanimation spells, planning to go off turn 2. Ben went turn 1 mox diamond into gamble, discarding karakas. I assumed he gambled for life from the loam. On my turn I topdeck lotus petal. Turn 1 griselbrand seals the deal. Note that I could have gotten the tyrant instead, but given I was stuck on one swamp, I didn’t want risking not being able to cast any spells afterwards. Griselbrand can get bounced but the 7 extra cards should be enough to win.


R7: Stoneforge Bant piloted by Nathan

G1: I had to mulligan down to 6 and keep a risky hand that is both mana light and slow. Nathan had a wasteland and the rest of his cards were good enough to beat me before I can draw another land.

SB:
-4 daze, -4 FOW, -1 ponder
+3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, + 2 massacre. + 2 pithing needle

G2: Don’t remember exactly what happened this game, but it probably involved me casting a bunch of discard spells, decaying an ooze and then reanimating a grave titan into play.

G3: The win and in for all the marbles! I kept an medium 7 that didn’t have a quick reanimate, just some discard, reanimation spells and a ponder. I went for the turn 1 duress, but Nathan had the brainstorm to hide some goodies, revealing just ooze and JTMS, which duress discards. He then played ooze AND tormod’s crypt. I was in a bad spot as my hand at that point was 2 exhumes, 1 reanimate, and a ponder. I thought I needed to draw into an entomb and a way to get rid of the ooze and the crypt, which is a tall order. I played ponder, which got me the entomb I needed. But Nathan played a clique that took my entomb. Now I was really under the gun and really needed a massacre. I drew into another ponder which I casted immediately…whiff, shuffle, draw…another ponder. I casted this one right away too…whiff again, shuffle draw…MASSACRE! I casted the massacre right away, clearing away his board of ooze, dryad arbor, and clique. Since I didn’t have a fatty to reanimate, I reanimated his ooze, use my green mana to eat his arbor and clique and proceed to beat him down 4 at a time. I kept drawing lands and fatties, but Nathan also drew nothing expect for a pridemage during these turns. Eventually I drew 2 lotus petals and had 6 lands in play. I can cast either the elesh norn or griselbrand in my hand. I chose to play elesh norn, which ended the game on the spot.

R8: ID
R9: ID

On to the Top 8!

Quarterfinal: Elves

G1: I’m on the play and dazes a turn 1 deathrite shaman. This slows me down a turn, but I eventually get an elesh norn into play on turn 3 with FOW in hand to stop any shenanigans before it happened.

SB:
-4 daze, -4FOW, -1 ponder
+2 needle, +3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, +1 duress, +1 thought size

G2: Opponent mulls and keeps a hand without discard, he green sun for an ooze on turn 3 ooze with no open green mana, and I use this opportunity to reanimate a griselbrand, which brings elesh norn to the party the following turn to seal the deal.


Semifinal: Grixis Delver

G1: I keep a hand with 2 blue sources, some cantrips, and a couple reanimation spells along with entomb. Being on the draw really hurt as my turn 1 play got dazed, then I got wasted all the while getting beat by a turn 1 delver and turn 3 young pyro. Eventually I stabilize at 1 with elesh norn, just have to dodge bolt for 5 turns and I win. Except my opponent plays fire covenant, yep, look that up. Once elesh hits the yard, a deathrite deals the last 2 damage.

SB:
-4 daze, -4FOW, -1 Tidespout Tyrant, -1 careful study
+2 needle, +2 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, +3 duress, +1 thought size

G2: I discard his young pyro and FOW for the first 2 turns and set up a griselbrand in the yard, looking to bring it back the following turn with reanimate. From the discard I know my opponent only has a fire/ice, lands and 1 unknown card he just drew. I draw ponder for the turn and decide to ponder to find another discard spell in case he topdecked a FOW. My ponder didn’t reveal a discard spell, but was good enough that I kept the cards on top. Then I went for the reanimate on the griselbrand only to get hit by the top decked spell pierce. If I just went for the reanimate, then I could have paid for the spell pierce. Looking back, I don’t regret casting the ponder, but once it didn’t reveal a discard spell or a second reanimation spell, I should have shuffled so that it gives one more chance at one or another reanimation spell in case my opponent did rip the FOW. I drew a few blanks after that and when I did draw a exhume, my opponent had the surgical ready to seal the match.


In conclusion, the deck felt extremely powerful. It was nice avoiding blue decks all day, but I feel favored vs. blue decks that are not miracles. The grixis match felt very winnable. If my opponent didn't top deck exactly what he needed in both games, I would've won easily. There was another elves deck in the finals, so I could have easily won the whole thing.

[turbo]

Congratuations!

You deck seems exactly like what I have been playing. You are lucky you encountered no Leylines. How do you find the two copies of disfigures? I think they can be easily 4th AD, to deal with other threats too, like ensnaring bridge, tarmogoyf, ooze, CB, etc.....and how did yo find Ioona performing?

Thanks and congratz once again

[iostream]

Did you miss Golgari Charm or Show and Tell at all? Did the Aetherling do anything?

[Hank Zhong]

Did you miss Golgari Charm or Show and Tell at all? Did the Aetherling do anything?

Yes, leyline is basically GG for this list. Fortunately, leyline doesn't see much legacy play, since legacy sideboards have to prepare for such a wide range of decks, most decks can't afford to spend 4 cards just on grave hate. And if they play less than 4, then the chance of having one in the opening hand also decreases. I'm willing gamble.

Iona was good against storm and elves, though both are great matchups so I can see cutting it now that omnitell is not a thing anymore.

The disfigures were great, as I really wanted to have 4 one mana answers to deathrite and ooze.

Aetherling is specifically for miracles, which I didn't play against at all, so I never had a chance to try him.

Show and Tell is an interesting question. Show and Tell was definitely a bad idea pre-dig ban, since people were packing so many pyroblasts/REBs. Now it's better but still not necessary from my experience. Post-board, you have the discard and removal to answer your opponent's hate one for one, so having a more cohesive game plan is still better in most situations.

Hope this helps!

[maharis]

Show and Tell is an interesting question. Show and Tell was definitely a bad idea pre-dig ban, since people were packing so many pyroblasts/REBs. Now it's better but still not necessary from my experience. Post-board, you have the discard and removal to answer your opponent's hate one for one, so having a more cohesive game plan is still better in most situations.

Congrats on a good tournament, Hank.

The reason I cliqued you on the Massacre sequence was because I feared Show & Tell -- now that I see you don't have it I feel like a doofus. Even if you have S&T in that situation, the right line is probably for me to Clique you in response to the S&T. That prevents what actually happened, which is me taking Entomb really for no reason (considering Crypt and Ooze) and letting you dig for Massacre.

[KobeBryan]

Yes, leyline is basically GG for this list. Fortunately, leyline doesn't see much legacy play, since legacy sideboards have to prepare for such a wide range of decks, most decks can't afford to spend 4 cards just on grave hate. And if they play less than 4, then the chance of having one in the opening hand also decreases. I'm willing gamble.

Iona was good against storm and elves, though both are great matchups so I can see cutting it now that omnitell is not a thing anymore.

The disfigures were great, as I really wanted to have 4 one mana answers to deathrite and ooze.

Aetherling is specifically for miracles, which I didn't play against at all, so I never had a chance to try him.

Show and Tell is an interesting question. Show and Tell was definitely a bad idea pre-dig ban, since people were packing so many pyroblasts/REBs. Now it's better but still not necessary from my experience. Post-board, you have the discard and removal to answer your opponent's hate one for one, so having a more cohesive game plan is still better in most situations.

Hope this helps!

Don't you want golgari charm for enchantments and board sweeps?

Or was decay enough?

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I like 1 minimum. I am probably dropping the sb thoughtseize for a Coffin Purge, and thus far am concerned about the Jin-Gitaxias, but I'm pretty sure using her Wil be only in the corner case scenario of Griselbrand being extracted, so it stays for now.

I think I want a second E. Truth, but can't decide if I want to drop a charm or a Massacre for it. Anyone have any argument one way or the other?

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

Secretly.A.Bee, I'd cut Golgari Charm for the Echoing Truth. I like Massacre because it only costs 1 with Thalia in play. Any other answer makes you lose too much tempo, or isn't castable at all.

I've been tempted by Unmask. I believe I've seen it in more black-centric lists. It facilitates turn-one Reanimate if we target ourselves, and free spells are great to clear the way for a early Exhume, or after a Griselbrand. On the other hand, we're down cards on Force of Will and Careful Study, and the extra card sacrificed may be more than we can pay.

[Gilderbarin216]

Congrats Hank!

Few questions:

1) How was the island?
2) Do you think that Iona and Sire could make the switch?
3) How was the second massacre? Better than a third disfigure would have been?
4) Any changes that you would make after the weekend?

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Well, the KnightFall deck with KotR and Retreat to Coralhelm is a positive matchup to say the least. Hilarious. Didn't drop a game in 3 matches.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

Say it's game one, opponent is on the play, and they lead with a Deathrite Shaman. I have a Force of Will ready but no other protection. I have no reason to believe they know I'm on Reanimator. I could force the Deathrite, but is it ever correct to let Deathrite resolve, pretend it's no big deal, and hope they tap it on their turn two so I can animate something on my turn two? I would guess it would depend on part what my projected turn one play would be. An Underground Sea and Ponder might be more suspicious than Polluted Delta and pass. And I would want to have this figured out ahead of time. Don't want to tank in response to Deathrite. That'd be a giveaway.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

If you can, I think countering it is correct. If you can get a fatty on the field, DRS stops mattering. Until that time, it's game-breaking, and should be treated as such. It's a shot at their tempo, so I don't feel like it screams Reanimator, I mean essentially it daze - proofs their goyf/stoneforge/bob on turn 2, and then allows a follow-up play. That alone is a reason for most blue decks to deal with it, you just have fewer ways to do so.

Edit: I feel like if you have the combo in hand and can combo turn 1, I wouldn't counter it. Otherwise I would.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[PirateKing]

Say it's game one, opponent is on the play, and they lead with a Deathrite Shaman. I have a Force of Will ready but no other protection. I have no reason to believe they know I'm on Reanimator. I could force the Deathrite, but is it ever correct to let Deathrite resolve, pretend it's no big deal, and hope they tap it on their turn two so I can animate something on my turn two? I would guess it would depend on part what my projected turn one play would be. An Underground Sea and Ponder might be more suspicious than Polluted Delta and pass. And I would want to have this figured out ahead of time. Don't want to tank in response to Deathrite. That'd be a giveaway.

Well also it depends on the deck, because some decks play DRS with only a limited green presence, so unless they have a clue as to what you're playing, they won't fetch green right away and you can catch them with their pants down.

[AEMarling]

Well also it depends on the deck, because some decks play DRS with only a limited green presence, so unless they have a clue as to what you're playing, they won't fetch green right away and you can catch them with their pants down.

I like this thinking, but it's also true that I wouldn't have a good understanding how common their green sources were g1t1.

Secretly.A.Bee, thanks for your insight. It is true that Deathrite might give them enough of an advantage that I shouldn't mind countering it, even if I think I can play around it. And, yes, if I can score a turn-one Reanimate, I wouldn't counter.

Some hands are resistant to Deathrite, such as ones with two fatties, Careful Study, and Exhume. Or Exhume and two Entomb, but that does require significant setup, and I might be buried by the time I can execute them.

I was considering adding two Izzet Charm maindeck. But I tend to think the flexability isn't worth the tempo loss of a two mana spell over a Thoughtseize / Careful Study in combination with the risks of needing the additional nonbasic land in play.

[PirateKing]

I like this thinking, but it's also true that I wouldn't have a good understanding how common their green sources were g1t1.

Well true, you don't know what they're playing exactly, but if the DRS comes down off an Underground Sea or Scrubland versus a Bayou or a Tropical Island will tell a lot, as well as if any of those lands came out of a fetch land.

That is what I'm saying. USea into DRS I would be less likely to counter than Bayou.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

So I am curious as to what you Reanimages think about basics in the list. I'm currently running 2x, but I feel like dropping Sea #4 for Swamp #2 is looking good. Any reason why I shouldn't?

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[alaska]

So I am curious as to what you Reanimages think about basics in the list. I'm currently running 2x, but I feel like dropping Sea #4 for Swamp #2 is looking good. Any reason why I shouldn't?

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

Been wondering this myself. Unfortunately I only own 3 Underground Seas, so that's crimping me a tad.

My current manabase is:

3 Sea
1 Swamp
1 Island
4 Delta
2 Mire
2 Strand
4 Petal


With 1 Trop in the board to bring in with abrupt decay.

Feels a little light. Unfortunately the Trop is also my only non-shockland green dual.

Maybe move the Trop main, shave something, and free up a sideboard slot.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I play 16 lands and 3 petal. List was posted about a page back. I just wonder because Wasteland is back with a vengeance and against Blood Moon I want to be able to Entomb and reanimate on the same turn.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

My friend plays Storm (ANT), and he's never lost against a Reanimated Sire of Insanity. A top-decked Infernal Tutor turns into a Demonic Tutor, for whatever he needs to flashback his graveyard. Is Sire of Inanity not as good as we thought? Has anyone had a large amount of experience with the card?

I think the card is generally weak, and if it's possible for Storm to win through it, no way I'm playing it. Maybe Ruric Thar would be better, though it'd only be against Storm.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

That's with the assumption that your friend makes it to 2x Mana sources that aren't fetches before we have 4 attack steps. If they hit two fetches, it's 3 attack steps. If you turn 1 drop a Sire of Insanity and they were on the draw, they have to topdeck like a champ. Also, following up Sire with Iona on red eliminates all their outs.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

Tested it a bit, and I think Sire of Insanity would net us an additional game win in ten, but likely not more. The thing is, we already have good Entomb targets in Iona, Griselbrand, and Void Winnower. Sire of Insanity would have to be raw drawn and discarded, so not much utility. And I feel like I need something more against Storm. So far I'm only testing even against ANT. Any suggestions? I only have 4 Thoughtseize for discard. Is another Duress or something in the board the best I can do?

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I must disagree with you and your friend, AEMarling, as I have been running some goldfish tests and if you can get a turn 1 Sire, they (storm) literally cannot win if the Sire isn't bounced.

Furthermore, Sneak and Show is virtually unaffected by Void Winnower, which is much more of an issue than storm. I have beaten storm with Griselbrand + disruption enough that I think I am comfortable against it, moreso at least than with Void Winnower against SnS. Yes, it's good in the matchup(s?) it's good in, but for a more local meta; I'm never going to play this in a GP. Also, a play against storm when they pass the turn after grabbing a Past in Flames, Entomb the Coffin Purge and snag it, and some players even only play 1. They now have to topdeck another PiF or a second Infernal Tutor, and this is all with the predication of them drawing two lands right off the bat in the first place.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[heat_wave]

Hello,

I would like to ask the more experienced Reanimator players about sideboarding. In most matchups it's obvious what to board in (consider a generic sideboard that has some removal, needles, decays, bounce and 2-3 tunable slots), but how to determine what to board out? Also, when do people board in Ashen Rider? Inkwell Leviathan? And what matchups does the baby Jace shine in (for those who tried him out)?

Thanks in advance.

[AEMarling]

heat_wave, the convention is to take out Force of Wills, along with Dazes on the draw. However, I prefer a minimalist approach to sideboarding, and I will rarely side out much, especially on the play where I'm focusing on speed. On the draw, a few Careful Studies vs grindy matchups. Maybe take out a few Animate Dead / Exhume depending on the matchup, but I'm not happy about it. I believe we get the most value with more fatties in our sideboard, which can swap one for one. These we can search for with Entomb.

Speaking of sideboarding, I've been working on my sideboard plan against Death and Taxes. I see three potential strategies to aim for:
1) Use Pithing Needle to take out Karakas and win with legends. The downside is that sometimes the Needle does too little. And they can Flickerwisk the Needle then Karakas the legend.
2) Side out most legends. Use Thoughtseize/ Force of Will to protect non-legends like Grave Titan. I would also include Inferno Titan.
3) Use shroud creatures like Inkwell Leviathan and Empyrial Archangel plus Massacre to race. The downside is that Empyrial Archangel is pretty bad and likely only remotely playable in this mathcup. Also, they often side in Council's Judgment.

I tested these three plans a little, and of them the third felt the least terrible. The best option may be to abandon the matchup completely, perhaps cutting down to 1 Needle in sideboard, 1-0 Massacre. I could then have more cards against the more common matchups, like Storm. Any suggestions as to what my plan should be?

[KobeBryan]

heat_wave, the convention is to take out Force of Wills, along with Dazes on the draw. However, I prefer a minimalist approach to sideboarding, and I will rarely side out much, especially on the play where I'm focusing on speed. On the draw, a few Careful Studies vs grindy matchups. Maybe take out a few Animate Dead / Exhume depending on the matchup, but I'm not happy about it. I believe we get the most value with more fatties in our sideboard, which can swap one for one. These we can search for with Entomb.

Speaking of sideboarding, I've been working on my sideboard plan against Death and Taxes. I see three potential strategies to aim for:
1) Use Pithing Needle to take out Karakas and win with legends. The downside is that sometimes the Needle does too little. And they can Flickerwisk the Needle then Karakas the legend.
2) Side out most legends. Use Thoughtseize/ Force of Will to protect non-legends like Grave Titan. I would also include Inferno Titan.
3) Use shroud creatures like Inkwell Leviathan and Empyrial Archangel plus Massacre to race. The downside is that Empyrial Archangel is pretty bad and likely only remotely playable in this mathcup. Also, they often side in Council's Judgment.

I tested these three plans a little, and of them the third felt the least terrible. The best option may be to abandon the matchup completely, perhaps cutting down to 1 Needle in sideboard, 1-0 Massacre. I could then have more cards against the more common matchups, like Storm. Any suggestions as to what my plan should be?

I pack 2 golgari charms, 1 dread of night, 2 massacre, 1 inkwell and I still lose

I may just focus on destroying everyone else now. Or make sure I don't lose to delver matchups.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

And I've been playing Archetype of Endurance and 2x Needle, 2x massacre, and 1x Golgari Charm to decent success against DnT.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

KobeBryan, what are you doing in the board to ice the Delver matchups? The only odd tech I could think of was subbing in Inferno Titan instead of a high cc creature, which would only be OK. Against Storm I could include discard spells 5-6, Sire of Insanity 1 and 2, or 2 Surgical Extraction / Faerie Macabre. The Sires would be nice in the sense that I'm terrified of putting Grave Titan into play then immediately dying. The Surgicals would be nice if they have two copies of a card and I make them discard one, then rip the other out of the hand. The Faerie don't cause loss of life and can't be countered. Both wouldn't matter against Storm but might be nice elsewhere.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Why is Griselbrand + countermagic and a follow-up fatty in the form of Iona on their removal color not good enough against Delver?

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[AEMarling]

Why is Griselbrand + countermagic and a follow-up fatty in the form of Iona on their removal color not good enough against Delver?
!

I tend to agree. The only thing I've felt I occasionally want is Duress over the painful Thoughtseize, but Duress is so less versatile it likely isn't worth it.

Tried Blood Baron against Death and Taxes. Didn't help enough.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Also, I like Flipwalker Jace. He does a bunch of cool things. He's good in grindier games, solid removal bait, chump blocker, etc. I am playing 2x and they feel good.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[David L Byer]

I tend to agree. The only thing I've felt I occasionally want is Duress over the painful Thoughtseize, but Duress is so less versatile it likely isn't worth it.

Tried Blood Baron against Death and Taxes. Didn't help enough.

Can you give us details on how it went for you? How did they get around it?

[KobeBryan]

KobeBryan, what are you doing in the board to ice the Delver matchups? The only odd tech I could think of was subbing in Inferno Titan instead of a high cc creature, which would only be OK. Against Storm I could include discard spells 5-6, Sire of Insanity 1 and 2, or 2 Surgical Extraction / Faerie Macabre. The Sires would be nice in the sense that I'm terrified of putting Grave Titan into play then immediately dying. The Surgicals would be nice if they have two copies of a card and I make them discard one, then rip the other out of the hand. The Faerie don't cause loss of life and can't be countered. Both wouldn't matter against Storm but might be nice elsewhere.

The usual

Discard and hope i can outrace them. Drop a griselbrand and hope to race. I know they bring in submerge. So i hope that won't get there for them.

What we do need is sphinx as that card murders them.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I play that in my board. Also, only delver deck that brings in Submerge is RUG afaik.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Gilderbarin216]

Hey guys, after Hanks finish I figured I would post my list and get some feedback on it.
Not going to Seattle, but will be playing in the SCG Jersey open

Heres what I would sleeve up more than likely:

Reanimator:

3 griselbrand
1 Iona, shield of emeria
1 tidespout tyrant
1 elesh norn, grand cenobyte
1 grave titan

4 brainstorm
4 ponder
3 thoughtsieze
4 careful study
4 entomb
4 reanimate
4 daze
4 exhume
4 force of will

3 lotus petal

4 polluted delta
3 verdant catacombs
4 underground sea
1 tropical island
2 swamp
1 bayou

Board:
3 duress
3 abrupt decay
3 pithing needle
2 disfigure
1 thoughtsieze
1 massacre
1 empyreal archangel
1 sire of insanity

Still not sold on Jace, feel like in a field of decks that are tuned to thrive in the mid-late game, we shouldn't cater to their wishes. Still want to go under all of the other decks, and having something in your deck that costs two mana and doesn't become relevant until the next turn undermines what we are going for. There is definitely an argument for Jace in the board, but again I would rather be concretely killing them on turn 3 with permission (thoughtsieze, duress) than relying on something like Jace.

[Kirika]

Did some testing with 2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in reanimator with the Crhis Vanmeter list and so did my brother.


I like Jace a lot in Vintage Mentor and Standard Jeskai not so much in Ranimator.

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is a bit slow but can get you there versus counterspells or be the discard outlet you need. I had it win me about 3 games so far. Twice as a discard outlet and once flashing back a reanimation spell that got countered. Thats in about 11 matches on MTGO. Bro said it won him 1 game in 4 matches when he tried it at a local event. Other times i played Jace it either ate removal happens quite often game 1 or was not relavant because of graveyard hate. I did use Jace to beat deathrite one game though.

Hitting too much Miracles at least online. Jace doesn't help too much versus Miracles.

Anyone else testing Jace, Vryn's Prodigy?

List for ref
Chris VanMeter
0th Place at Test deck on 10/21/2015
Legacy
Creatures (9)
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Lands (15)
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
Spells (36)
3 Lotus Petal
1 Animate Dead
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Entomb
4 Force of Will
4 Careful Study
4 Exhume
2 Ponder
4 Reanimate
1 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize
Sideboard
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Grave Titan
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Coffin Purge
2 Massacre
2 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize
2 City of Traitors

@Hank Zhong
Congratulations and thank you for the report. Interesting to go all in on reanimation with no Show and Tells. I usually ran some number of Show and Tells but haven't played Reanimator since shortly after Containment Priest was release.

@Sire of Insanity
Really is only good versus combo if you can get it out early. Too risky vs creature deck as Tarmogoyf often trades with it. And bad versus white if top deck a Swords to Plowshares or miracle a terminus. Sideboard versus Combo.

@Aetherling
Nice versus Miracles if they do not land a Containment Priest but with 15-16 lands you do not get the most out of Aetherling. This really depends on how much miracles you face.

@Jin-Gitaxis
Dies to Dismember and as a 4/4 may not trump whatever creature they may cast which Griselbrand usually does.

@Death and Taxes.
This match up is a pain period. Massacres, Needle, City of Traitors in the board and hope you have a counter for their Swords. Honestly haven't played this match up in a long time since it is almost non-existant online.

@Delver
Depends on the variant. BUG is the hardest between deathrite, discard, counters and Liliana. Might be worth going for Grave Titan here. If you see RUG often maybe board a Sphinx of the Steelwind. RUW you seldom see anymore but depends how many Containment Priests they have. Batterskull is actually quite slow compared to RUG or BUG.

[alaska]

3 griselbrand
1 Iona, shield of emeria
1 tidespout tyrant
1 elesh norn, grand cenobyte
1 grave titan


I've been playing that creature suite with Inkwell instead of grave titan. It gives me a lot more game vs. DnT.

The trounle is, I expect to see plenty of both DnT and lilliana decks in SeaTac, and Grave Titan is our best creature vs Lilli.

I'm leaning towards Inkwell main, Titan board, because Inkwell has the added splash bonus of punishing the mentor miracles builds, but it's close, and I'd love to hear some thoughts.

Also, this may just be a difference in philosophy, but I won't be sleeving up my 75 without at least a couple Show and Tells. If I wanted to try to go under everything, I'd play TinFins. One of the great things about Reanimator is that we get to play Show and Tell, and for me, we're shooting ourselves in the foot by not leaving a couple slots for it. The card was always stupid good, and with Omni largely subdued, it's only gotten better for us.

[owerbart]

The usual

Discard and hope i can outrace them. Drop a griselbrand and hope to race. I know they bring in submerge. So i hope that won't get there for them.

What we do need is sphinx as that card murders them.

Personally if i can put a grisel on the battlefield i've never had trouble beating delver

[KobeBryan]

I'm really considering punting the DNT matchup.

How would you guys make your sideboard if you go this route

[iostream]

As a new player to this deck, can anyone shed some insight about which matchups you Reanimate some creature other than Griselbrand as your first fatty? There are a few obvious ones (for example, Elesh Norn versus Dredge, Iona versus Elves/Goblins/Merfolk), but in which matchups do you want Grave Titan before any other creature? Or Tidespout Tyrant?

Another question: do we have any good targets against Death and Taxes? It seems pointless to even try reanimating legendary creatures just because they can topdeck/sandbag Karakas, but then all the non-legends don't seem like they do anything impactful, including the "resilient" ones like Inkwell Leviathan or Aetherling, both of which get humiliated by Batterskull.

[alaska]

As a new player to this deck, can anyone shed some insight about which matchups you Reanimate some creature other than Griselbrand as your first fatty? There are a few obvious ones (for example, Elesh Norn versus Dredge, Iona versus Elves/Goblins/Merfolk), but in which matchups do you want Grave Titan before any other creature? Or Tidespout Tyrant?

Another question: do we have any good targets against Death and Taxes? It seems pointless to even try reanimating legendary creatures just because they can topdeck/sandbag Karakas, but then all the non-legends don't seem like they do anything impactful, including the "resilient" ones like Inkwell Leviathan or Aetherling, both of which get humiliated by Batterskull.

Off the top of my head:

Iona vs ANT game 1. Game 2 is riskier because they have access to bounce spells. There's also an argument for going for Griselbrand first, drawing immediately, and looking for discard. But if you don't find it, it makes their storm job much easier.

Iona vs Burn, as well. I find it's also just as good as Elesh vs Elves if you land it early.

Also, I like to find Iona naming white vs. Miracles, and put them on a "Jace or Nothing" plan. (Edit: or Karakas. That pesky card).

Grave Titan, to me, is for Lilliana decks. So Sharldess BUG, BUG control, maybe bug Delver as well.

Elesh Norn can be good against DnT. They might bounce it, but you do wreck their board at least.

Inkwell Leviathan is okay in a pinch for Miracles (though it still gets hit by terminus, unfortunately. It's also fine against DnT. You're correct, batterskull is no fun. But they won't always have it.

Some people try to dodge the DnT matchup. I prefer to just lean into it. Right now my board has

2 Massacre
2 Needle
1 Dread of Night
3 Abrupt Decay

Most or all of which come in against DnT. I've had a really high success rate this way in an otherwise difficult matchup.


Hope that helps. I'm by no means a grizzled veteran with this deck, so others feel free to correct any errors I made.

[KobeBryan]

Off the top of my head:

Iona vs ANT game 1. Game 2 is riskier because they have access to bounce spells. There's also an argument for going for Griselbrand first, drawing immediately, and looking for discard. But if you don't find it, it makes their storm job much easier.

Iona vs Burn, as well. I find it's also just as good as Elesh vs Elves if you land it early.

Also, I like to find Iona naming white vs. Miracles, and put them on a "Jace or Nothing" plan. (Edit: or Karakas. That pesky card).

Grave Titan, to me, is for Lilliana decks. So Sharldess BUG, BUG control, maybe bug Delver as well.

Elesh Norn can be good against DnT. They might bounce it, but you do wreck their board at least.

Inkwell Leviathan is okay in a pinch for Miracles (though it still gets hit by terminus, unfortunately. It's also fine against DnT. You're correct, batterskull is no fun. But they won't always have it.

Some people try to dodge the DnT matchup. I prefer to just lean into it. Right now my board has

2 Massacre
2 Needle
1 Dread of Night
3 Abrupt Decay

Most or all of which come in against DnT. I've had a really high success rate this way in an otherwise difficult matchup.


Hope that helps. I'm by no means a grizzled veteran with this deck, so others feel free to correct any errors I made.

Thats my board for the DNT and i have 2 golgari charms. Still lose.

[alaska]

Thats my board for the DNT and i have 2 golgari charms. Still lose.

Yikes.

I forgot, I also sometimes bring in a show and tell or 2, for rest in peace.

My sample size is relatively low (probably played 4-5 competitive matches vs DnT), but I think I've won...like 4 out of 5? Or 3/4?

I haven't felt particularly lucksacky, but maybe that's a bigger factor than I'm noticing.

[owerbart]

Congratulations to Chase Hansen for making Top 8 using the happy researcher build.

I've never tried them nor I played versions without petals, and this really opened my eyes to try them

[turbo]

Chase Hansen top4ed with this list:

Creature (12)
4 Hapless Researcher
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Archetype of Endurance

Sorcery (12)
4 Careful Study
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate

Instant (17)
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Izzet Charm
2 Misdirection
4 Entomb
Enchantment (2)
2 Animate Dead
Land (17)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Underground Sea
2 Badlands
2 Tropical Island
1 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
3 Abrupt Decay 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur 2 Thoughtseize 2 Duress 2 Pithing Needle 1 Darkblast 1 Echoing Truth 1 Golgari Charm 1 Snapcaster Mage


What do you guys think abou this list?

I am confused as this list seems like nothing we have seen before. I do like Izzet Charms do get rid of shamans g1 + its another careful study. I am not sure I am liking Jace the Vryns prodigy as it looks so slow. Hapless? Well, the card is good, will have to test it. No lotus petals. 17 lands. Why is there Gin GItaxis Core Augur in the side together with Sphinx? I am still confused about all this.

[Nuke is Good]

I'm puzzled why Jin is there, I can only hazard to guess it's good to have if Russel Brand gets surgicaled which does happen. But I do concede that Reanimator needs to have a stronger long game so using Jace and Hapless do help. I would give up an explosive opening for a more consistent game.

If Delver is so omnipresent wouldn't it make more sense to have Sphinx mainboarded?

[owerbart]

Chase Hansen top4ed with this list:

Creature (12)
4 Hapless Researcher
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Archetype of Endurance

Sorcery (12)
4 Careful Study
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate

Instant (17)
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Izzet Charm
2 Misdirection
4 Entomb
Enchantment (2)
2 Animate Dead
Land (17)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Underground Sea
2 Badlands
2 Tropical Island
1 Swamp

Sideboard (15)
3 Abrupt Decay 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur 2 Thoughtseize 2 Duress 2 Pithing Needle 1 Darkblast 1 Echoing Truth 1 Golgari Charm 1 Snapcaster Mage


What do you guys think abou this list?

I am confused as this list seems like nothing we have seen before. I do like Izzet Charms do get rid of shamans g1 + its another careful study. I am not sure I am liking Jace the Vryns prodigy as it looks so slow. Hapless? Well, the card is good, will have to test it. No lotus petals. 17 lands. Why is there Gin GItaxis Core Augur in the side together with Sphinx? I am still confused about all this.

I think Chase is here in thesource and he is a huge advocator of Happys. His decklist looks much more grindier, hopefully we can get a tournament report.

[Stryfo]

Yeah, I will work on a report in the next couple of days when I have time. But I have an exam I didn't have time to study for this weekend that takes priority.

[PirateKing]

turbo & Nuke is Good, the BUrg build is something that Stryfo (Chase Hansen) and I have been an advocate of all the way going back to August 2014. he turned me onto reintroducing Hapless Researcher back into the deck, as well as splashing red for Izzet Charm. The lists we've been posting have been of this specific build.

The only thing new is the testing of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. I'm excited to hear his results with a single copy, especially after so many consecutive rounds. I know he's a fan of Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur as a backup Griselbrand, and he's explained his choices as such along the way in previous posts. There's really nothing to be surprised about if you know him and his builds.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I really like it, I need to get Badlands, though. Can't play it til I do. I can see how this deck is superior to what I was playing. I misjudged the format. Running the Archetype in the main was probably very good. There was tons of DnT there.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[KobeBryan]

What I wanna know is how he handled a wasteland heavy/stifle opponent.

4 colors seem rough

[Fox]

Nice to see we got into the top8, I was also there playing a much different version of reanimator (quite different from all of you). I think I made the correct meta-call (trans-formative sideboard plan designed mainly for DnT g2/3 and punish shardless post-board), but ended up 4-5 day 1 after a 2-0 start without byes. The thing that really killed my run early though was mal-adaptive sideboarding by shardless; which was a matchup I saw 3x in the first five rounds (1-2 vs them).

I am curious if anyone else encountered this from shardless post board:
1)seizes in -> hymns out (makes sense)
2)yard hate in [leylines, nihils, cages] -> trimming slow/expensive pieces (makes sense)
3)leave in 3-4 abrupt decay (???)
-I'm not sure what part of submitting 4x FoW, seeing lotus petals, 7-9 cmc drops, and maybe a copy or two of origins jace says "I need abrupt decays post-board" makes sense vs. a deck you'll expect to side in show and tells, maybe 2 needles, and prison busters [decay, golgari charm, echoing truth, etc...]. This was an overwhelming trend I encountered over the weekend; and one unique to shardless BUG (whereas BUG delvers I encountered had much more appropriate, thought-out sideboarding decisions).

My UB Reanimator -> Re"hand"imator list was as follows:

Force of Will x4
Daze x3
Stubborn Denial x2
Not of this World x1

Brainstorm x4
Ponder x3
Careful Study x3

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy x2
Griselbrand x3
Iona, Shield of Emeria x1
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite x1
Tidespout Tyrant x1

Entomb x4
Reanimate x4
Exhume x4

Torpor Orb x1
Lotus Petal x4

Dakmor Salvage x1
Swamp x1
Island x1
Underground Sea x3
Wasteland x2
Misty Rainforest x3
Polluted Delta x4

Sideboard:
Wasteland x1
Steady Progress x1
Teferi's Realm x2
Stifle x4
Vision Charm x3
Phyrexian Dreadnought x4

As you can probably tell from the sideboard, I'm mainly a dreadnought player, and this list was a blending of 2 decks that I consider the exact same, yet totally different. What I can tell you is that Origins Jace is an absolute house in this deck turning Entomb into Reanimate/Exhume on a whim. Dakmor Salvage also performed as well as I had hoped as security vs wastelands/ports, clearing brainstorms by putting 2x targets in the yard, and turning the occasional ponder into a really good careful study.

The sideboard plan is generally +4 nought/+4 stifle/+3 vision charm also maybe a swapping of dakmor for 3rd waste. The cuts were generally -3 reanimation targets, -3 careful study, -1 entomb, -4 reanimation effects. At this point with such boarding DnT is maybe 10-15% to win a post-board game (in my experience) vs petal/dreadnought. Other decks are expected to side in yard hate [which they still have to have], but none of those pitch to force, and are fairly meaningless vs turn 0/1/2 stiflenought (in theory, people saw reanimator in game 1 and should be down to 0-1 decays for game 2). Game 3 vs DnT is always more dreadnoughts, but vs other decks it's reasonable to side back into phasing reanimator as vision charm hits artifacts (or mills you for 4) and Teferi's Realm is more than able to fill your yard through leylines and RiP and then knock out a cage on the reanimation turn, and all the while submerge poses no risk.

The most eccentric sideboarding comes in for the mirror, dredge, and chalice prisons. For the reanimator mirror (also tin-fins) you bring in wasteland and 4x stifle (cuts are torpor, dakmor, not of this world, and exhume x2). For dredge you bring in stifle x1 and dreadnought x4 as it demolishes bridges, and entombing stifle with Jace around = stiflenought if you have to; the cuts differ between manaless and LED dredge. Against Chalice prisons you're always bringing in Realm for obvious reasons, and Steady Progress (it's just better to turn a chalice on 1 into a chalice on 2, because you just stopped them from ever having a chalice on 1 again).

Hope you enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed my time at the GP! My list definitely made sacrifices (because dreadnoughts; there's no higher calling), but I do think that there is room to explore Not of this World (vs karakas), Dakmor Salvage, and Origins Jace (this card is busted wide open in reanimator).

[H]

Yeah, I will work on a report in the next couple of days when I have time. But I have an exam I didn't have time to study for this weekend that takes priority.

Congrats on the strong finish. When I first saw you on coverage with a Badlands in play, I was surprised thinking you might be on Burning Reanimator. Then you got an Underground Sea and everything seemed right with the world.

It was quite funny when you went and got the Archetype, Huey and Ian were pretty floundered by it. I said out loud, "must be Archetype" and my wife said, "these guys don't sound like they really know what they are talking about."

Take your time with the report, hope you do well on your exam.

[say no to scurvy]

Played Hank's list at SCG Philly to a 5-2 finish. Blessed is he who plays three Elves players in the first three rounds.

Game 3 of my fifth round after going 4-0, and I'm playing the eventual winner of the 5k who's on 4c Delver. This was for who would draw into the top 8. I went turn 1 careful study, turn 2 thoughtseize ... he had 2x daze, 2x fow, 1x rakdos charm, 2x brainstorm. I lost that one.

[Asthereal]

Yeah, I will work on a report in the next couple of days when I have time. But I have an exam I didn't have time to study for this weekend that takes priority.
So many things I want to know!

I'll list them. :tongue:
1. How did you like the Archetype guy? Isn't something like Empyrial Archangel better? (Blue, good against Miracles and so on.)
2. How is the full set of Happy Researchers? Does it hamper your play when you draw them in multiples?
3. Why the Darkblast on side? It doesn't kill Ooze or Deathrite. What did you use it for?
4. How is the new Jace dude? Does he ever survive? Have you had him transform yet? How did that help your play?
5. What's the purpose of the Snapcaster on side? Against which decks did you use it and how did you like it?
6. Did you ever suffer from mana issues with the four colour base?
7. How did you like the main deck Misdirections?

Good luck with the exams, and I hope you find time to write a report afterwards! :cool:

[turbo]

great questions Astehreal....I am also looking forward to the answers :).
Good luck on your exam Hank and congratulations on the great finish.

[iostream]

It seems to me the main difference between the Lotus Petal lists that have been discussed a lot and the Izzet Charm list is just how fast they want to go. Lotus Petal tries to go underneath everything; you don't need a flexible interaction spell like Izzet Charm because you are trying to win before your opponent untaps with DRS or casts Thalia or whatever, and your counterspells have to be free and universal in order to make that possible. The Izzet Charm version is much slower - Izzet Charm is a reactive 2cmc (!!) spell, which signals that you're not really interested in proactively pursuing the turn 1/turn 2 kills. From that point of view, all the card choices make perfect sense to me, but I just don't understand why you would want to play slow version of this deck. At that point, why not play ANT? If you're trying to win on turn 3 or 4 instead of turns 1 or 2, it seems like a more resilient choice.

[Stryfo]

Try gold fishing the list, you don't go off on turn one ever, but your turn two consistency is as good or better than the lotus petal version.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

Yeah, ima play the slower 4c list from here on out. Get some Badlands and some promo charms.

1. Archetype was a fantastic MD choice as DnT was a large part of the meta at this GP.

2. Happy replaces itself and chump blocks also. I've only played 2x but I really like it.

3. Darkblast does kill DRS/Scooze. Upkeep, Dredge it back, replay it.

4. Jace has been good.

5-7: idk.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[David L Byer]

Yeah, I will work on a report in the next couple of days when I have time. But I have an exam I didn't have time to study for this weekend that takes priority.

Congratulations Chase. :smile:

[Hank Zhong]

Congrats on the finish Chase! Love the list, I've been wanting to test out hapless researchers but just have not had the chance. Would love to hear about how the matches went like everyone else, in particular whether izzet charm is worth the red splash. If we have red, would faithless looting be good as well?

I've never been a huge fan of ponder, daze or lotus petal in the deck and your build supports my suspicion that there are indeed better alternatives.

[alaska]

I've been fairly dismissive of Hapless Researcher in the past, but if it worked for Chase, I'm willing to give it q second chance.

Also, with the format swamped with Shardless, Researcher is a nice out to Lilly.

[Asthereal]

Yeah, ima play the slower 4c list from here on out. Get some Badlands and some promo charms.
1. Archetype was a fantastic MD choice as DnT was a large part of the meta at this GP.
2. Happy replaces itself and chump blocks also. I've only played 2x but I really like it.
3. Darkblast does kill DRS/Scooze. Upkeep, Dredge it back, replay it.
4. Jace has been good.
5-7: idk.
1. Isn't Empyrial Archangel also better against D&T? Harder to accomplish chumps with Mom protection against that one. Plus racing it with normal dudes is not an option since it sucks up the weenie damage.

2. Happy is a two for one against yourself, just like Careful Study, so it doesn't really replace itself unless you get to bin a creature you wanted gone anyway. I like the card, but never played the full set, which is why I asked how he felt about having multiples (my biggest concern, since you rarely need to bin a second guy).

3. It's dangerous to use Darkblast for killing Ooze or Deathrite. If they counter it once, you're down a card. Ooze can also pump itself in response if they have a mana left. Since the list has red mana, I'd be interested to use Firestorm in that slot. Kills Deathrite and also works as a discard outlet. Might be a tad too much though next to 4x Study, 4x Happy and Jace...

4. My concern with Jace is that he is the only target for small scale removal spells, which makes him rather likely to get killed on the spot by stuff like Bolts, Disfigure and perhaps even Abrupt Decay. If Jace transforms, his -3 ability will be useful once or twice, but I'm not sure we can count on that. Happy for instance does the looting job better, because you get to apply it regardless of their spot removal. It also fits the curve better.

[KobeBryan]

So many things I want to know!

I'll list them. :tongue:
1. How did you like the Archetype guy? Isn't something like Empyrial Archangel better? (Blue, good against Miracles and so on.)
2. How is the full set of Happy Researchers? Does it hamper your play when you draw them in multiples?
3. Why the Darkblast on side? It doesn't kill Ooze or Deathrite. What did you use it for?
4. How is the new Jace dude? Does he ever survive? Have you had him transform yet? How did that help your play?
5. What's the purpose of the Snapcaster on side? Against which decks did you use it and how did you like it?
6. Did you ever suffer from mana issues with the four colour base?
7. How did you like the main deck Misdirections?

Good luck with the exams, and I hope you find time to write a report afterwards! :cool:

Instead of just copying someone's list like some player here, I think we should ask how Chase played...#6 is really concerning.

[Fox]

4. My concern with Jace is that he is the only target for small scale removal spells, which makes him rather likely to get killed on the spot by stuff like Bolts, Disfigure and perhaps even Abrupt Decay. If Jace transforms, his -3 ability will be useful once or twice, but I'm not sure we can count on that. Happy for instance does the looting job better, because you get to apply it regardless of their spot removal. It also fits the curve better.
If opponents are spending cards/mana killing origins jace, you're winning. He costs 2 life to reanimate, and you just put a flashback reanimate in the yard. Tap him next turn, discard actual reanimation target and now you have -3 reanimate flashback.
It's also important to understand that an active origins jace basically turns entomb into Intuition (entomb reanimation spell). Nihil Spellbomb is also largely useless since they're basically obligated to blow it the moment you attempt to reanimate him (jace), or in response to a reanimation spell on the stack (which then goes to the yard, where all you need is a fattie + jace minus three).

Edit: for a card like Abrupt Decay the oracle as it pertains to us is: "cannot be countered. reanimator player loses 2 life, jace has 1 more turn of summoning sickness."

[KobeBryan]

If opponents are spending cards/mana killing origins jace, you're winning. He costs 2 life to reanimate, and you just put a flashback reanimate in the yard. Tap him next turn, discard actual reanimation target and now you have -3 reanimate flashback.
It's also important to understand that an active origins jace basically turns entomb into Intuition (entomb reanimation spell). Nihil Spellbomb is also largely useless since they're basically obligated to blow it the moment you attempt to reanimate him (jace), or in response to a reanimation spell on the stack (which then goes to the yard, where all you need is a fattie + jace minus three).

Agreed. I would welcome counters being spent on jace. Its done its job.

[Asthereal]

If opponents are spending cards/mana killing origins jace, you're winning. He costs 2 life to reanimate, and you just put a flashback reanimate in the yard. Tap him next turn, discard actual reanimation target and now you have -3 reanimate flashback.
It's also important to understand that an active origins jace basically turns entomb into Intuition (entomb reanimation spell). Nihil Spellbomb is also largely useless since they're basically obligated to blow it the moment you attempt to reanimate him (jace), or in response to a reanimation spell on the stack (which then goes to the yard, where all you need is a fattie + jace minus three).
Wow, that's waay more controllish than I ever played this deck.
I guess the question how Chase played is a very fair one.

[tescrin]

On paper I think Jace looks quite wrong, but knowing how the guy made it work would be interesting. If someone could mention what cards Jace replaced (in your deck is fine) it may make it make sense to me. To me, opening the deck up to lightning bolt and abrupt decay seems bad, and waiting a turn to go off seems even worse when you're giving your opponent 1-5 cards to look at (easy) to find Cage, Priest, or some other terrible card for you.

E.G. you pass the turn with Jace.
They draw a card, ponder, shuffle, draw a card; find a 1 in 3 answer (a 26+% chance on T2); turns out to be Cage. They slam it down.

I just feel like any waiting in a deck this vulnerable to really heavy handed disruption seems like asking for trouble.
However, if it's just Careful Study you replaced.. maybe it's better?

[Fox]

Wow, that's waay more controllish than I ever played this deck.
I guess the question how Chase played is a very fair one.
It's not really about control, so much as acknowledging the limitations of removal spells and actual yard hate, and how doing either of those preserves your [reanimator's] life total. Their answers are: exile jace [no swords/path left over for real threat], revoke jace [this one is good, but you can counter -> reanimate revoker and name aether vial], or draw absolute perfect [turn 1 cage into turn 2 decay-type removal spell]. In the case of shardless, it's arguably better to slam goyf after goyf after any piece of interference (totally siding out decay) - it may be technically *more* incorrect for them to leave in decay for jace g2/3 as it is to totally roll the dice and turn2 hymn; origins jace is ban-worthy levels of oppressive in reanimator shell...and you just have to play it yourself to realize how ridiculous it truly is.

More than how Chase played, I'm interested to know what his matchups were day 1 (specifically the ones that aren't free wins vs iona/elesh). Looking at the trops in the list, I'd have to imagine that very little delver with pyromancer + submerge was encountered. I'm a little confused as to what misdirections hit; but having played that card before, I'd imagine the info you gain by misdirecting a thoughtsieze to them (they must reveal hand) is the main benefit. I definitely like reactive nature of his list (preparing to go off by blowing them out on the end of their turn); but I find myself asking whether or not I'd want archetype to be a castable Kira, Great Glass-Spinner or Scumlord (aka Silumgar, the Drifting Death) instead. Very cool list though, excellent work on getting us into the top 8!

[danyul]

Grats Chase! I wasn't at all surprised to see you do so well. YOUR SUCCESS BRINGS ME GREAT JOY.

Chase has always been an innovator with the deck and isn't afraid to try crazy ideas. On top of that, he always Top 8's and has knocked me out of many local win-and-ins. I trust his Reanimator knowledge over any other. Grats again!

[owerbart]

Hey Chase, first, congrats again in your top 4 finish, also, did you miss Show and Tell at all?

I guess I'm one of the only ones still playing it

[Alex_UNLIMITED]

Chase, I've a request for your report: can you write your sideboarding strategies? Currently I'm not a Reanimator player, but I like your version. Unfortunately the sideboarding is not so clear, so if you can write your choices, it would be great!

[Stryfo]

Alright, I posted my report in the tournament report section, but I will answer some of the questions asked by you guys here.

1. How did you like the Archetype guy? Isn't something like Empyrial Archangel better? (Blue, good against Miracles and so on.)

Archetype is insane against karakas, Archangel is worse than Inkwell Leviathan, which I think has less utility than archetype. Everything that inkwell and archangel are good against, archetype is good against for the same reasons and then some.

2. How is the full set of Happy Researchers? Does it hamper your play when you draw them in multiples?

I love this card, it is excellent when drawn in multiples or singles

3. Why the Darkblast on side? It doesn't kill Ooze or Deathrite. What did you use it for?

It's there for DnT and infect, neither of which I got to play sideboarded games against.

4. How is the new Jace dude? Does he ever survive? Have you had him transform yet? How did that help your play?

He was ok, I'll keep him there for now but I could honestly see that slot being the fourth izzet charm.

5. What's the purpose of the Snapcaster on side? Against which decks did you use it and how did you like it?

I bring it in against combo mirrors, this may sound strange, but they usually have a bit of grave hate and disruption and having a way to gain back the advantage and start whittling their life total down can be very strong.

6. Did you ever suffer from mana issues with the four colour base?

No more than I would have if I was playing 3 colors.

7. How did you like the main deck Misdirections?

They were good, I liked them a lot better than daze.



I'm not going to go into a sideboarding strategy for each matchup, because context is everything and there are a LOT of decks out there. I will, however, go over each of my choices in the sideboard and describe when I bring them in. I will also mention quickly what I take out of the main in most matchups.


My sideboard was:

3 Abrupt Decay (these should be obvious)
2 Thoughtseize (combo mirrors and control decks, especially when I suspect surgical)
2 Duress (combo mirrors, sometimes I'll bring in one against control, depending on what I know about their list (number of surgicals)
1 Echoing Truth ( I bring these in against nonblue decks that I suspect have Leylines. I should probably have a second one in here)
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind (Delver can't beat this)
1 Jin-Gitaxias (Good against the BUG Decks, they can't easily kill it and it's helpful for playing around cards like surgical extraction)
1 Golgari Charm (Good against DnT and leylines)
1 Darkblast (Beats up DnT and Infect, also can make semi-uncounterable discard effects in concert with brainstorm)
2 Pithing Needle (punishes miracles and DnT, can be brought in against DRS, but I usually don't
1 Snapcaster (This is what I will likely cut for the second echoing truth, so don't worry about this)


Cards that come out of the main a lot:

Tidespout, Elesh, Archetype, Iona (Each of these is incredibly useful in the matchups where they are good, but in some matches, the other big creatures will just be better, or you only want 6 creatures.)

Careful Study (I think that as a discard effect, this is largely worse than hapless researcher, I cut them in ones or twos very frequently)

Reanimate, Exhume, Animate Dead (Because I play ten of this effect, I get to trim the worst few in whichever matchup I happen to be in, frequently reanimate and animate dead take that spot, but sometimes exhume is the worst)

Misdirection (This card is pretty bad against combo and certain non-blue decks)

Izzet Charm (I sometimes cut one of these when I really need that last card out of the board, but not frequently)

A land (Sometimes you don't need all 17 if they aren't pressuring your mana base)

Jace (This guy is mainly there for delver decks, so he gets cut in a number of other matchups)


I hope this was at least somewhat helpful to those of you asking questions, I tried to answer all the questions I saw (except for the sideboarding one I guess).

[sunlith42]

Thanks for the updates Stryfo. What I am wondering is in matchups against blue decks do you side out your forces and other counter magic? I remember Jake saying in almost all matchups against blue decks he sides out his counter magic and as many blue spells as possible so that REB won't have targets. He opts instead to add in more discard.

[Stryfo]

I very rarely side out my forces, Jake and I have differing opinions regarding how to play against blue decks. Even if his strategy was correct during the DTT era (I can't say for sure whether or not it was), I would consider re-evaluating that strategy now that there are fewer REBs floating around.

[jattra]

Hi Stryfo,
congrats to great achievement and thank you for your explanation.

I would like to ask you and other guys here, what you are thinking about Misthollow Griffin against RiP and Leyline decks. I know, four mana can be too much. One the other hand, it is a recurring threat tutorable with Entomb.
Another card I would like to test is Pack Rat, any thoughts on that?

[turbo]

Thank you for the thorough report and further comments. We appreciate it.

[Damaku]

Congratulations and thank you for the nice report!

Do you have sideboard in and out list for the usual matchups? What is your oppinion on S&T?

[Stryfo]

@ Damaku: I don't really know what you consider to be the usual matchups. As far as show and tell goes, I don't like it in this deck. It forces you to keep in a bunch of creatures, some of which are not good, and it also makes your entomb and discard effects worse. Further, it is a 3 mana spell in a world of daze, spell pierce, flusterstorm, etc. this deck doesn't usually have tons of mana to play around soft counters on three drops.


@Jattra, these are things that I have tried before mainly against miracles. They were fine at one point but with monastery mentor being so common out of miracles I no longer believe they have a spot in the deck.

[KobeBryan]

I was playing on cockatrice just now

I had archetype in the game and I still lost to DNT because of an overpowered Jitte on a serra avenger.

Then game 2, he plays magnus of the moon, I board wipe with Elesh Norn, then I still lost because of karakas on Norn.

I'm really thinking of just giving up on this matchup and go full out against combo and miracles so I wouldn't lose to those two.

[Fox]

@KobeBryan:
Transformative sideboards are what ruin DnT. Force them to play yard hate/not-cast hate in games 2 and 3 but rotate into "honestly" cast critters that trample, are colorless, and non-legendary. Alternatively stop trying to fight/kill their threats on a 1-for-1 basis, you need cards that ignore them like Teferi's Realm.
The same is true for fighting things like Chalice of the Void; stop trying to kill it, just proliferate x=1 to x=2 and they'll never resolve a chalice on 1 again.

[KobeBryan]

@KobeBryan:
Transformative sideboards are what ruin DnT. Force them to play yard hate/not-cast hate in games 2 and 3 but rotate into "honestly" cast critters that trample, are colorless, and non-legendary. Alternatively stop trying to fight/kill their threats on a 1-for-1 basis, you need cards that ignore them like Teferi's Realm.
The same is true for fighting things like Chalice of the Void; stop trying to kill it, just proliferate x=1 to x=2 and they'll never resolve a chalice on 1 again.

Say this again?

I let lots of things resolve and don't do things on a one on one basis, but they still find a way through.

[Fox]

Say this again?

I let lots of things resolve and don't do things on a one on one basis, but they still find a way through.

Yes, so you let them resolve [let us say] containment priest or RiP. Reanimator's general answer is "I'll decay/massacre that priest" or "I'll decay/golgari that RiP." Drawing either of those spells lets us win, but it doesn't actually bring you closer to winning (since you're losing a turn + draw). That's why show and tell is so useful (not against priest obviously); it helps you win while invalidating a resolved RiP. More answers should follow that mentality of "your hate doesn't matter, I'm going to go off through it." Realm is a card that lets you stock yards through RiP/Leyline, then it lets you turn it against the priest or cage and say "that's not here anymore" as you resolve reanimate and hopefully win.

edit: the more green you go vs them, the more you're playing into DnT's mana denial package as well (aven mind sensors and wastelands).

[KobeBryan]

Yes, so you let them resolve [let us say] containment priest or RiP. Reanimator's general answer is "I'll decay/massacre that priest" or "I'll decay/golgari that RiP." Drawing either of those spells lets us win, but it doesn't actually bring you closer to winning (since you're losing a turn + draw). That's why show and tell is so useful (not against priest obviously); it helps you win while invalidating a resolved RiP. More answers should follow that mentality of "your hate doesn't matter, I'm going to go off through it." Realm is a card that lets you stock yards through RiP/Leyline, then it lets you turn it against the priest or cage and say "that's not here anymore" as you resolve reanimate and hopefully win.

edit: the more green you go vs them, the more you're playing into DnT's mana denial package as well (aven mind sensors and wastelands).

I'm playing chases list. That's why I was overwhelmed by them.

[Stryfo]

I'm honestly surprised at how bad you believe the dnt matchup to be, I feel advantaged preboard and not extremely disadvantaged post board, maybe I just play the deck a bit differently? I'm not sure. While I don't like to play against dnt it is certainly no worse than 40-60.

[KobeBryan]

I'm honestly surprised at how bad you believe the dnt matchup to be, I feel advantaged preboard and not extremely disadvantaged post board, maybe I just play the deck a bit differently? I'm not sure. While I don't like to play against dnt it is certainly no worse than 40-60.

Maybe I'm boarding wrong. But I don't win 40% of the time I can tell you that

[Nuke is Good]

The people at my shop that play DnT, only play DnT. So I have an utterly miserable record against them. The only time I can ever beat them is with a T1 sire of insanity, and more recently using their RIP against them with Helm.

However the explosive opening oriented Reanimator lists that usually help me against DnT aren't the best after turn 3 and not that consistent vs the rest of the field.

[iostream]

How good/necessary is the flexibility that Izzet Charm offers? In my experience, when I've tried out the Lotus Petal version, which has no Hapless Researchers and no Izzet Charms, I never really felt like I wanted more Careful Studies or maindeck removal. Is there some strategic difference that makes the Hapless Researcher build of the deck want more discard outlets (beyond the 4 Entomb/4 Hapless/4 Careful Study that it currently runs) or creature interaction? Because if it doesn't, it appears to me that those should just be Dazes or Ponders or something, which would be both more mana efficient and would make the mana less difficult (although you'd probably need some Disfigures in the board).

[Fox]

The main benefit of the Izzet Charm is that it potentially hits every realistic form of interaction (except beginning game with leyline) on the stack or in play (drs/containment priest). While providing answers, it's still a combo piece in the absence of a removal target and it pitches to force. It's not a perfect card for the archetype, but it's pretty close.
I'd guess that much of what Chase's list does is start going off (dumping critters in the yard) either in their combat step [hapless block trick] or at the end of their turn, then untapping into reanimate effect. That kind of tempo would at least explain why petals weren't seen in his list.

[Stryfo]

I mean, clearly izzet charm is not necessary, there have been decks for a long time that have gone without it and been quite successful. I personally think izzet charm is a very powerful addition to the deck, and allows for play patterns that are not available to the traditional lists. I am not a fan of daze in this deck anymore as I hate how much it depends on being in the top few cards of your deck to do anything (ditto lotus petal) and I also don't really care for returning lands to my hand in most situations. Izzet charm is not there to function as strictly a discard outlet, it is there as a catchall card that is good in a wide variety of matchups at a large number of points during a game. Being able to cast izzet charm to loot at instant speed is a BIG game, when playing against people who haven't identified what you are on yet. Also (and this certainly comes up) having a loot effect that gets around chalice on one can be pretty powerful.

The mana may appear bad, but it's actually not as bad as you'd think just looking at it. We're talking about a deck that plays brainstorm and fetchlands, the red splash is for literally three cards in the main, which can be shuffled away. We aren't trying to cast tons of red spells, it's really just one or two per game, and they (izzet charms) have, in my experience, been fantastic. The fetchbase is set up in such a way that every fetch finds every fetchable land, and it is possible (easily) to have two lands that can cast both decay and izzet charm.

What I really want to say is, if you haven't tried a list like this before, try it. It plays bit differently than the traditional lists but I, for one, prefer the versatility and consistency of this list to the explosiveness and hyper-linearity of the lotus petal builds.

[KobeBryan]

I mean, clearly izzet charm is not necessary, there have been decks for a long time that have gone without it and been quite successful. I personally think izzet charm is a very powerful addition to the deck, and allows for play patterns that are not available to the traditional lists. I am not a fan of daze in this deck anymore as I hate how much it depends on being in the top few cards of your deck to do anything (ditto lotus petal) and I also don't really care for returning lands to my hand in most situations. Izzet charm is not there to function as strictly a discard outlet, it is there as a catchall card that is good in a wide variety of matchups at a large number of points during a game. Being able to cast izzet charm to loot at instant speed is a BIG game, when playing against people who haven't identified what you are on yet. Also (and this certainly comes up) having a loot effect that gets around chalice on one can be pretty powerful.

The mana may appear bad, but it's actually not as bad as you'd think just looking at it. We're talking about a deck that plays brainstorm and fetchlands, the red splash is for literally three cards in the main, which can be shuffled away. We aren't trying to cast tons of red spells, it's really just one or two per game, and they (izzet charms) have, in my experience, been fantastic. The fetchbase is set up in such a way that every fetch finds every fetchable land, and it is possible (easily) to have two lands that can cast both decay and izzet charm.

What I really want to say is, if you haven't tried a list like this before, try it. It plays bit differently than the traditional lists but I, for one, prefer the versatility and consistency of this list to the explosiveness and hyper-linearity of the lotus petal builds.

Thank you.

Do you recommend a bayou or an island over a trop? Or would the trop be the far better choice

[Stryfo]

I believe the best mana base for my build includes two trops and two badlands, this is the only combination (without using a taiga) that casts both izzet charm and abrupt decay. the mana can work in a variety of configurations, but the one I played is what I found to be the best by a fairly wide margin.

[owerbart]

Hey Stryfo, I haven't tried Archetype of Endurance, I can't see how it can be that good against DnT but well, I'll take you guys word. However, DnT is absolutely non-existent in my meta. Considering this, would you put it MD? What creature would you put MD if you are certain that you will face miracles in 2 out of 4 rounds? Aetherling comes to mind, or maybe just Grave Titan.

I'm going to slowly acquire the badlands and the trops and give your list a try. (Do you think you can make it work with a Bayou and a Volc)?

I really like the idea of parting Daze and Lotus Petal, but I don't know, I've stolen sooo many games with my Show and Tells... :(

[Stryfo]

It can work with a bayou and volc, indeed my first list had one of each of the off-color duals (non-taiga) I just believe it to be better with the mana base I used at the gp. I would keep archetype as it also has utility against miracles (Iona white plus archetype locks them out of the game). If you like show and tell, feel free to play it, I'm sure it's fine in the right meta. That said, I don't personally like running SnT for various reasons, each of which is actually more prevalent with the banning of DTT than less. (The more kotr, for example, in the meta, the less I want to be playing show and tell over echoing truth or decay, for example.)

When I can find time, and if there is interest, I can try to record some matches against DnT and other problem matchups on modo. My modo list is similar to my paper list, just without jace or misdirections. Let me know if this is something you guys would be interested in and what matchups I should try to record.

[zeagle]

It can work with a bayou and volc, indeed my first list had one of each of the off-color duals (non-taiga) I just believe it to be better with the mana base I used at the gp. I would keep archetype as it also has utility against miracles (Iona white plus archetype locks them out of the game). If you like show and tell, feel free to play it, I'm sure it's fine in the right meta. That said, I don't personally like running SnT for various reasons, each of which is actually more prevalent with the banning of DTT than less. (The more kotr, for example, in the meta, the less I want to be playing show and tell over echoing truth or decay, for example.)

When I can find time, and if there is interest, I can try to record some matches against DnT and other problem matchups on modo. My modo list is similar to my paper list, just without jace or misdirections. Let me know if this is something you guys would be interested in and what matchups I should try to record.

Put that GP money to good use! (when it comes) Buy some misdirections online!

[mistercakes]

It can work with a bayou and volc, indeed my first list had one of each of the off-color duals (non-taiga) I just believe it to be better with the mana base I used at the gp. I would keep archetype as it also has utility against miracles (Iona white plus archetype locks them out of the game). If you like show and tell, feel free to play it, I'm sure it's fine in the right meta. That said, I don't personally like running SnT for various reasons, each of which is actually more prevalent with the banning of DTT than less. (The more kotr, for example, in the meta, the less I want to be playing show and tell over echoing truth or decay, for example.)

When I can find time, and if there is interest, I can try to record some matches against DnT and other problem matchups on modo. My modo list is similar to my paper list, just without jace or misdirections. Let me know if this is something you guys would be interested in and what matchups I should try to record.

hey stryfo -

i play a lot of legacy, and am also interested in your decklist. i have most of the decks on modo, and would be more than happy to test vs you. oddly enough i don't have reanimator cards on modo, so can't do a mirror match. i think most of the other decks are around elves is another i can't built, but all the typical blue decks + dredge + storm + dnt etc.

i use the accounts

swampritualnegator

njmagic

-Rob

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I have just one question. Why play the Sphinx at all? Is it really worth boarding in? I mean, maybe Jund, but isn't Griselbrand sufficient? I understand Delver also, but if it's BUG or RUG, it's not like they can kill Griselbrand anyway. I don't understand playing him, but not Sire of Insanity. Can you explain why?

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[mistercakes]

I have just one question. Why play the Sphinx at all? Is it really worth boarding in? I mean, maybe Jund, but isn't Griselbrand sufficient? I understand Delver also, but if it's BUG or RUG, it's not like they can kill Griselbrand anyway. I don't understand playing him, but not Sire of Insanity. Can you explain why?

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

i haven't tested the card myself, but i think just by looking at the card and seeing his mention of the delver matchup, you have a creature that won't trade with goyf + bolt, you can race + still block, it also pitches to force, one thing that griselbrand isn't great for is attacking into a delver (and then they bolt their delver before damage)

sire doesn't help when they have some board developed already, delver can play off the top of deck a lot better than other decks if it has 2-3 lands out.

[Secretly.A.Bee]

I obviously didn't mean you should play Sire in the Delver matchup, I only meant that it seems more reasonable to slap Sire in sphinx's spot.

From my phone. I do my best, dammit!

[Stryfo]

Sire is significantly worse in decks that don't play lotus petal. It's an effect I have tried and was not a fan of. Sphinx on the other hand is actually pretty much unbeatable against delver, where griselbrand can, in some situations be raced. The point of having creatures in the board is to have enough creatures in whatever matchup you are paired against, Sphinx is there to give a 6th bomb creature in the delver matchups, where tidespout and archetype belong on the bench. Sire could come in against a number of decks, certainly, but all of those matchups already have 6 or more game ending threats.

[Nuke is Good]

Sire is significantly worse in decks that don't play lotus petal. It's an effect I have tried and was not a fan of. Sphinx on the other hand is actually pretty much unbeatable against delver, where griselbrand can, in some situations be raced. The point of having creatures in the board is to have enough creatures in whatever matchup you are paired against, Sphinx is there to give a 6th bomb creature in the delver matchups, where tidespout and archetype belong on the bench. Sire could come in against a number of decks, certainly, but all of those matchups already have 6 or more game ending threats.

I do agree with your assessment of Sire being bad in petalless builds, also Show and Tell becomes worse since a T3 show and tell is less devastating vs a turn 2. Hell Sire is bad even after turn 2, it's bad when you sire against ANT but they still manage to infernal tutor into a COV. Maybe I'm overthinking the Ubiquity of Delver, but wouldn't Sphinx benefit more from being mainboarded?

Also, after all your testing what turn did you find yourself going off the most?