[Casual] Re-Animator

[Soldur]

Hi, I`m building a casual mono b Reanimator deck.
Restrictions and bannings don`t interest us and it should stay mono B.
This is my list:

targets
1 x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 x Bogardan Hellkite
1 x Phantom Nishoba
1 x Simic Sky Swallower
1 x Sundering Titan
critter
4 x Putrid Imp
spells
3 x Buried Alive
4 x Entomb
4 x Demonic Tutor
4 x Exhume
4 x Reanimate
discard
4 x Duress
4 x Thoughtseize
draw
2 x Night's Whisper or Vampiric Tutor, what is better???
fast mana
4 x Dark Ritual
land
18 x Swamp

Universal improvements desired!
Hope for your ideas and thank you for your help!!!

[nodahero]

If you are running reanimator with no restrictions why not just run World gogrger dragon? The deck is stupidly good... There is a reason Gorger is banned in legacy even when Entomb is also banned... Just a thought...

[kicks_422]

Because that's not fun.

I suggest taking out the 2 Night's Whisper/Vampiric Tutor for 2 more reanimation targets. 5 isn't enough.

[Soldur]

@kicks_422: I think 5 targets are enough because i have many tutors to search the creature i need. Night's whisper or Vampiric is a better decision imo. But which is better?

@nodahero: How does the Worlgorger-combo works?

[MPL]

1) You Animate Dead the Dragon, when it comes into play, the enchantment is removed and he dies again. When he dies, the enchantment comes back, rinse repeat.

2) Everytime you remove your permanents, lands come back untapped, therefore you can net infinite mana.

3) ???

4) PROFIT!

Also, why no Hellkite Overlord? He's bigger than Akroma and has haste.

Bonus idea: Instead of running Dragon combo, you could run Kiki-Jiki + Sky Hussar combo. Buried Alive for Kiki, Hussar and Karmic Guide, reanimate Guide, get Kiki, copy Guide, get Hussar, untap, make infinite hasty Hussars, win.
This needs only two cards, one which just needs to be some reanimation spell. Dragon combo needs Dragon in yard (usually one card), Animate Dead and Win con, three cards total. Disadvantage is that you have to attack to kill.

[Soldur]

Ah, ok. but I think I have no place to build the Gorger combo in my deck.
Any ideas?

[rleader]

It's not mono-black and full of silliness like 4x demonic tutor, but Rod's deck might give you some stuff to think about:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8639

It's actually a startlingly consistant deck (that pretty much loses to counterbalance because of that consistancy). It has a pretty high rate of getting something dramatic out on turn two though, without the need for tutors. (You're using demonic tutor like a control deck, not a combo deck, anyway, which is a bit inefficient: just put more of the cards in your deck that you want to win with.)

If your format is that degenerate, I'd use a package of all shroud creatures (inwell leviathan, empyrial archangel, simic sky swallower) because you'll probably be locked out after your first creature: if it has shroud, it might just go all the way. Having one-ofs is fun, but the deck is fragile enough IMO.


3) ???

Of course, your options with infinite mana are pretty limited with black, since you really need an instant speed spell in order to win. (I found no useful x-spell black instants in a quick gatherer search so: Winding Canyons + Maga, Traitor?) Dragon combo usually involves blue for good reason.

[Soldur]

I have tested some Worldgorger builds and I must say that this additional win option is great.
That`s it:

creature [11]
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Phantom Nishoba
1 Angel of Despair
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Sundering Titan
1 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Putrid Imp

instant [12]
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Vampiric Tutor

sorcery [16]
3 Buried Alive
3 Exhume
4 Reanimate
3 Duress
3 Thoughtseize

enchantment [3]
3 Animate Dead

land [18]
18 Swamp

Bogardan Hellkite, Angel of Despiar and Sundering Titan works great with Worldgorger. What do you say about it???

[rufus]

The concept as a whole really loves Bazaar of Baghdad.

[Soldur]

Bazaar... I know but too expensiv...
What can I improve???

[Barsoom]

This below it's a deck a friend is playing by many years, maybe can help.

// Mana //
18 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual

// Spells //
4 Buried Alive
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Animate Dead
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Duress

// Creatures //
4 Putrid Imp
1 Blazing Archon
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Simic Sky Swallower/Inkwell Leviathan
1 Symbiotic Wurm/Phanthom Nishoba

// Combo//
1 Karmic Guide
1 Pestermite
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

The combo it's nice; he won many times with something like 1° turn Duress or Terapy (for counterspells), 2° turn dark ritual Buried alive you take the combo reanimate Karmic and attack with a billion of 2/1 with flying.
The combo is here if you want to win Asap, if not you can always play the normal reanimator, big critters are always fun...

[freakish777]

If you've got no banned or restricted cards, and want to keep it straight black:


4 Dark Ritual
4 Lotus Petal
14 Swamp

4 Entomb
4 Buried Alive
4 Putrid Imp

4 Animate Dead
4 Dance of the Dead
2 Necromancy

4 Worldgorger Dragon
4 Ambassador Laquatus

4 Demonic Consultation
4 Demonic Tutor


In decks with 4-ofs, Consultation is better than DT.

[Soldur]

Not a bad deck but i want the combo as an additional option.
I`ve tested some stuff and thats my current list:

creature [10]
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Phantom Nishoba
1 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Ambassador Laquatus
4 Putrid Imp

instant [12]
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb
4 Vampiric Tutor

sorcery [18]
3 Buried Alive
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Duress
3 Exhume
4 Reanimate

enchantment [3]
3 Animate Dead

land [18]
18 Swamp

61 cards

What are you thinking?

[Soldur]

In the last time I`ve tested and played a lot and an additional win option is useless. So I come back with my first deck idea and want to know what I can improve:

targets
1 x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 x Bogardan Hellkite
1 x Phantom Nishoba
1 x Simic Sky Swallower
1 x Sundering Titan
critter
4 x Putrid Imp
spells
3 x Buried Alive
4 x Entomb
4 x Demonic Tutor
2 x Vampiric Tutor
4 x Exhume
4 x Reanimate
discard
4 x Duress
4 x Thoughtseize
fast mana
4 x Dark Ritual
land
18 x Swamp

Thanks for your help!

[GenioDeArena]

I might be the only person who likes this card but: Bring in Rakdos the Defiler!!
Sadly he doesnt have neither haste or Shrouwd, but his abbility is just to col.
Flame on!

[rufus]

If you're allowed to play it, you should be using 4x Demonic Consultation.

A general issue is that the power level of your format is pretty degenerate. It doesn't take a whole lot of creativity to make something absurd using, for example Wheel of Fortune,Burning Wish, Recoup, and acceleration to storm out with Grapeshot.

[Soldur]

Demonic Consultation is very bad in my deck.
So you are thinking that there is nothing to improve???

[HdH_Cthulhu]

The question is how much broken do you want your deck to be?

[Soldur]

Broken? It shouldn`t be broken it should be improved but I think its nearly perfect for a classic reani.dec.

[Soldur]

So there are no ideas?

[troopatroop]

Well, you've gotten ideas. This is a legacy forum, and your list includes 4 Demonic Tutor. You're willing to play banned cards, but you're also rejecting Freakish777's ideas to make the deck much stronger, simply because it doesn't fit into your idea of flavor. Forgive us for not jumping at the chance to suggest improvements...

[roflwaffles]

Why would you need to run Worldgorger Dragon without an outlet to draw/discard cards out of your deck when you combo out? Entomb simply isnt enough to make the deck good without Bazaar. At least run Buried Alive so Laquatus and WGD can combo off together.

But I digress, Dragon isn't a very fun archetype to play casually seeing as it would probably decimate most casual decks. Reanimator, however, is one of the funnest decks ever to come out of MTG, in my opinion, especially in casual where you can't really expect anyone to pack hate against you.

However, Mono-Black Reanimators have one very fatal flaw in that they are a tad inconsistent and lack any form of actual card drawing. If you keep a hand of Swamp, Ritual, Entomb, Exhume, and 3 other random cards, and they counter your Entomb/Exhume or Plow your creature, you lose alot of tempo and may not draw another way to animate a fattie from your yard for a few turns. Blue gives you access to Careful Study, which is amazing in Reanimator by giving you card advantage and discarding your fatties in the yard so they are ripe for reanimation.

However, if you're strictly making a monoblack build, I'd run the a variation of Benzo, the most successful pure reanimator deck ever piloted in Extended.


Lands (22)
18 Swamp
4 Dark Ritual

Spells (28)
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Entomb
4 Duress
3 Buried Alive
4 Zombie Infestation
1 Contamination
4 Vampiric Tutor

Creatures (10)
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Verdant Force
1 Visara the Dreadful
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Sundering Titan
1 Phantom Nishoba
1 Ascendant Evincar
2 Krovikan Horror
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob

This build combines the Squee/Horror/Zombie Infestation combo to generate a 2/2 zombie token at every turn. Coupled with Contamination, it can completely shut down the opposing deck if it does not run black and is its own personal win condition. The more fun route is reanimating, where Verdant Force + Contamination may also reap the same results. Or you could just beat down with Akroma/Leviathan/Nishoba/etc.