Retainers Shaman

[Deckerator]

hey i thought about building the following deck. I am not sure if these cards are the right choice. Maybe you have some suggestions to make this deck better. Maybe some cards to much. But this is just an oberview. :)


Lands:
4 Windswept Heath
3 Savannah
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Wasteland
1 Gaeas Cradle
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 maze of Ith
1 karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor
+2 more


Creatures:
4x Fauna shaman
2x Eternal Witness
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Scryb Ranger
3x Wild Mongrel
2x Loyal Retainers
1x Elesh Norn, ....
1x Griselbrand
1x Emrakul or another creature

Spells:
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Sylvan library

Equipment:
2x Lightning Greaves
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of light and Shadow

[Kich867]

Well that's an interesting way to reanimate something.. gets around spell pierce and spell snare, has a mavericky backup plan.

I like it.

[Deckerator]

Cavern of Souls make your "Combo" uncounterable and Lightning Greaves protect your big monster, give it haste and can protect your combo pieces and other important creatures.

[Pastorofmuppets]

I would switch out Emrakul, or at least put him in the side. As far as I can tell, you have nothing to get around his "enters the graveyard" trigger. Jin-Gitaxias may be a better reanimation target overall. I feel like there's probably something better than that too, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
Also, what if someone made a W or BW-shell Reanimator Stompy deck? These decks are so good at locking out the early game, and Reanimator loves having a strong early game. Retainers can be cast off of a Sol Land and a Mox, which is always neato.

[Norm]

I would switch out Emrakul, or at least put him in the side. As far as I can tell, you have nothing to get around his "enters the graveyard" trigger. Jin-Gitaxias may be a better reanimation target overall. I feel like there's probably something better than that too, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
Also, what if someone made a W or BW-shell Reanimator Stompy deck? These decks are so good at locking out the early game, and Reanimator loves having a strong early game. Retainers can be cast off of a Sol Land and a Mox, which is always neato.

Loyal Retainers can activate in response to Emrakul, The Aeons Torn's trigger.

[Deckerator]

I thought about this shell because I play Maverick and i am a fan of G/W.
The one option is to win with the Loyal Retainers combo and the other option is to win like in Maverick with Knight.
I would add 2x Scavenging Ooze. It is so good against a lot of decks.

More sugestions to this deck?

[lochlan]

More sugestions to this deck?


1) The second basic plains seems unnecessary. The only thing in your list that needs :w::w: is Elesh Norn, and your Savannahs and Noble Hierarchs should be able to cover that. Having a second un-wastable Plains doesn't seem as good as more consistently getting Forest into your opening hand.

2) I like 4 Wasteland--in the match-ups where it's good, it's good enough to run 4. You can sometimes beat The Epic Storm with Wasteland.

3) Is the Wild Mongrel really necessary? 4x Fauna Shaman with 4x GSZ seems like enough discard outlets. If Mongrel is really good for you I would still consider cutting 1-2 since you have GSZ for your toolbox.

4) Why not more Loyal Retainers? You can only tutor for them with Fauna Shaman, and--with 3x Reanimation targets and 7x discard outlets--you seem pretty committed to the Reanimation plan. Seems like maybe at least one more is worth considering.

5) Scavenging Ooze is an amazing utility card. You really should be running at least one. Consider cutting something to include it, perhaps Quirion Ranger or 1x Stoneforge Mystic.

[Deckerator]

In this list i did add your suggestions.

Lands:
4 Windswept Heath
3 Savannah
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Wasteland
1 Gaeas Cradle
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 maze of Ith
1 karakas
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Dryad Arbor


Creatures:
4x Fauna shaman
2x Eternal Witness
4x Noble Hierarch
2x Stoneforge Mystic
4x Knight of the Reliquary
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Wild Mongrel
1x Scavenging Ooze
3x Loyal Retainers
1x Elesh Norn, ....
1x Griselbrand
1x Emrakul or another creature

Spells:
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Sylvan library

Equipment:
2x Lightning Greaves
1x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Sword of light and Shadow


I have changed:
-1 Plains
-2 Wild Mongrel
-1 Stoneforge Mystic

+1 Forest
+1 Wasteland
+1 Loyal Retainers
+1 Scavenging Ooze

I thought about getting back the Loyal Retainers with Eternal Witness or maybe Sword of Light and Shadow. But i am not sure about if it is worth to play Sword of Light an Shadow. Because when i tutor for a weapon. I want to get Lightning greaves. To protect the combo or/and giving the big monster haste.

[mini1337s]

It seems like this deck wants Aether Vial, but you might be fine with Caverns for protection.

Genesis might be worth testing as a singleton.

And if you want to get really crazy... Enduring Renewal or Sigil of the Empty Dawn seem janky as hell lol

[Deckerator]

Do you think it is possible to play it in a tournament or is it too slow?
Do you think it will work? Or do i have to do more changes?

[Hopo]

There's a thread in the established section named GW survival. The last pages are dedicated for post-survival lists. Also, the maverick thread has discussion of the retainers combo.

[bruizar]

Loyal Retainers also combo's with another GW card; Saffi-Eriksdotter. You can get infinite comes into play triggers, which could be relevant depending on the rest of your list. It might not be what you're looking for, but its good to keep in the back of your mind.

[Deckerator]

Refreshing this thread...
Maybe this deck can be changed to G/W/B.
Playing:


4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
4x Fauna Shaman
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Quirion Ranger
2x Loyal Retainers
4x Vengevine
1x Griselbrand
4x Swords to Plowshares
......

Maybe adding the new troll from RtR for discarding,
Basking rootwalla, Memnite for the Vengevine returning.
Furthermore i would add cards like Abrupt Decay, Vindicate, Pernicious deed, Inquisiton of Kozilek

[B4nnar]

Join Living Dead Girl thread; since you are going VV route, and LR combo goes a bit off in such situation. Necrolic Ooze creates better combos with discard outlet than LR.

[Deckerator]

Now that Loyal Retainers and some other good cards were re-/printed. It is time to reactivate this thread.
I would the amount of Loyal Retainers to 4 and add 3-4 Abrupt Decay.

lands: 22-23

creatures:
4x KOTR
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Bob
4x Loyal Retainers
1x Griselbrand
1x Emrakul
1x Iona/ sth different

instants:
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Abrupt Decay

Sorceries:
3-4x Thoughtseize
2x Maelstrom Pulse

Artifacts:
3-4x Sensei's Divining Top

At first i thought about adding a Vengevine package. But i dont know how and i think it is maybe too slow.

[Sloshthedark]

Bob adds real excitement to the upkeep... better than vintage

[Barook]

Refreshing this thread...
Maybe this deck can be changed to G/W/B.
Playing:


4x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
4x Fauna Shaman
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Quirion Ranger
2x Loyal Retainers
4x Vengevine
1x Griselbrand
4x Swords to Plowshares
......

Maybe adding the new troll from RtR for discarding,
Basking rootwalla, Memnite for the Vengevine returning.
Furthermore i would add cards like Abrupt Decay, Vindicate, Pernicious deed, Inquisiton of Kozilek

If you splash black, why don't you run Entomb or Buried Alive? Sounds like a natural fit for the VV/Reanimation strategy.

Also, no love for Deathrite Shaman? The utility and mana accel should be pretty good. Or at least run Noble Hierarch.

[Deckerator]

If you splash black, why don't you run Entomb or Buried Alive? Sounds like a natural fit for the VV/Reanimation strategy.

Also, no love for Deathrite Shaman? The utility and mana accel should be pretty good. Or at least run Noble Hierarch.


You have quoted a list that is long time ago. My latest list is a little bit down.
But yes, adding Deathrite shaman would be an idea.
I have cut the VV plane completely because i think it is too slow. But if you have better ideas you can tell me ;)

[igri_is_a_bk]

The Retainers plan is exceptionally slow, so don't you think you can cut down on them? Probably to two. It requires an active Fauna Shaman, which is already slow, and then up to two turns to find the fattie and pitch it for Retainers. That's a long time to wait to do something Reanimator does on turn two consistently. I guess your sideboard would be heavily aimed at combo though.

[dameus]

You have quoted a list that is long time ago. My latest list is a little bit down.
But yes, adding Deathrite shaman would be an idea.
I have cut the VV plane completely because i think it is too slow. But if you have better ideas you can tell me ;)

Barook may have replied to the older deck list but his suggestion is still right on the money. That is, if you're splashing black and the reanimate plan is more than "Oops, I win" then not running Entomb is almost criminal! And Deathrite Shaman is worthy as well.

Fauna Shaman is too slow (and vulnerable) and since you cut GSZ, you won't be able to find it reliably enough, either. Oona's Prowler would serve the role better: faster, discard can't get interrupted once on the battlefield, and a better beater. Heck, even Rotting Rats deserves consideration.

Where oh where is Eladamri's Call?! How did it not make the cut?!

Oh, and cut Bob.

And then I'll start getting excited about the potential of this deck. It has promise!

[Deckerator]

lands: 22-23 (including Cavern of Souls maybe 3 times)

creatures:
4x KOTR
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Fauna Shaman
4x Loyal Retainers
4x Deathrite Shaman
3-4x Oona's Prowler
1x Griselbrand
1x Emrakul
1x Iona/ sth different

instants:
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Eladamri's Call
4x Entomb

Sorceries:
3-4x Thoughtseize
2x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Green Sun's Zenith
3x Buried Alive


What do you think? Shall i cut Fauna Shaman+Green sun zenith completely? Because it is right. it is really slow. Therefore add Vengevine plan? What shall i cut?

[dameus]

Your decklist already needs a diet to get down to 60 and VV was established as too slow, so that's a no-go.

To help get down to 60 cards, I'd start here:

-2 Maelstrom Pulse
-3 GSZ (I love the card, but it's not right for this build)
-2 F Shaman
-2 lands (with DR Shaman, you can go lighter)

And then, you have to consider -4 StP. I know it's a proven Legacy staple. But what's it's function here?
Aggro-control decks (tempo, Rock, etc.) use it to help their limited creatures break through. We have a big 15/15 that makes the opponent sack 6 permanents to break any stalemates. I think you have enough beef to keep from getting run over by the fast aggro builds (goblins & zoo) before you set up the combo. And it's dead weight against most combo, whiere you're already a big underdog.

Anyway, that should get you back down in the ball park.

Also, I'm just guessing, Grisly Salvage might find it's way in the decklist. It feeds Goyf and KotR and even has the potential (if you're lucky) to find LR or maybe a Cavern AND get a fatty in the 'yard.

[Deckerator]

lands:
21 (including Cavern of Souls maybe 3 times)

creatures:
4x KOTR
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Loyal Retainers
3x Deathrite Shaman
4x Oona's Prowler
1x Griselbrand
1x Emrakul
1x Iona/ sth different

instants:
4x Swords to Plowshares
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Eladamri's Call
4x Entomb

Sorceries:
3x Thoughtseize
3x Buried Alive


Im not sure about Buried Alive. I think it is maybe too slow. Entomb could be enough.
In my opinion i would like to let StP in this deck. It is too strong.

+3 Grisly Savage

What legendary creatures are the best? Which shall be played?