Mono-B Reanimator or Elves?

[jmlima]

Still trying to find my point of entry into Legacy , I've isolated two further decks that would fit my budget and my play-style, and have some scope to evolve in the future, they are a Mono-B Reanimator deck (different from the previous I brought here), and an Elves deck, whose major difference to regular deck lists is the mana base , by cutting Gaea's Craddle and replacing it with Nytkos.

What would you think be the best point-of-entry, from the two lists below? (I play non-competitively on MTGO)

Thanks for any feedback.

Mono B Reanimator

Land
14 Swamp

Spells
2 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Entomb
4 Putrid Imp
4 Reanimate
2 Thoughtseize
2 Animate Dead
4 Exhume
4 Buried Alive

Creatrures
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Griselbrand
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur

Sideboard
2 Cabal Therapy
1 Coffin Purge
3 Pithing Needle
2 Thoughtseize
1 Animate Dead
2 Massacre
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Ashen Rider

Elves

Land
2 Dryad Arbor
6 Forest
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

Spells
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Natural Order

Creatures
2 Birchlore Rangers
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Heritage Druid
3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
2 Craterhoof Behemoth

Sideboard
4 Duress
2 Pithing Needle
1 Null Rod
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sylvan Library
3 Choke
3 Krosan Grip

[Lemnear]

Didn't we have the same stuff like a week ago?

You can't play Elves like that, because I can not see how you ever wanna scratch the potential of DRS and untappers if every activation of Quirion Ranger deals 2 Damage to you by replaying the Overgrown Tomb. The loss of Cradle is also backbreaking as it is THE card that fuels GSZ, NO, BFF-Combo and WRP while Nykthos does absolutely nothing unless you have at least 3 Elves in play and even the,n the manaboost is significantly less compared to cradle. Playing only 2 doesn't help either. The list lacks the manaboost of traditional Elves list and the use of DRS, which is the reason the deck has it's current Status, is limited. 8 Fetches are not enough imo :/

Edit: If you want to play a pure budget Version of Elves, I think it should be done via Priest of Titania & Archdruid

[Rune]

Elves with Nyxthos sounds pretty atrocious, I don't think I would consider that. MonoB Reanimator could be good. I'd probably try out that deck on Cockatrice and compare it to how Dredge performs, since they are the same style of balls to the wall graveyard combo deck (and Dredge is extremely cheap online). Your list has some problems (for example 4 Duress, 2 Thoughtseize). Maybe take a look at some of the lists the user Rood has posted on the site.

But you write you play non-competitively, so I probably can't help you with anything to begin with, since I don't know what you think is fun to play ;p

[iamajellydonut]

Maybe take a look at some of the lists the user Rood has posted on the site.

This is actually what I was in the middle of searching for when I refreshed and saw your post. Having had to play against him many a' times with his pain in the ass list, I can attest to the fact that this hell on wheels does work. And it's not too off from what the OP was suggesting playing. Cabal Therapy, Unmask, and more Griselbrands would be the only major changes. The only substitutions would have to be for Wasteland and Bayou, which are a big deal, but wouldn't really impact the core of it I don't think.

Oh, and Lemnear said everything there is to say about the Elves list.



// Lands
5 [ZEN] Swamp (1)
4 [JGC] Bloodstained Mire
2 [RS] Bayou
1 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
2 [ON] Polluted Delta
3 [JGC] Wasteland

// Creatures
4 [AVR] Griselbrand
1 [THS] Ashen Rider
1 [NPH] Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 [ZEN] Iona, Shield of Emeria

// Spells
4 [US] Exhume
4 [JU] Cabal Therapy
4 [LRW] Thoughtseize
4 [TE] Dark Ritual
4 [PD3] Reanimate
4 [PD3] Entomb
4 [R] Animate Dead
4 [V09] Lotus Petal
3 [MM] Unmask
1 [FNM] Duress

// Sideboard
SB: 4 [M10] Pithing Needle
SB: 2 [DGM] Sire of Insanity
SB: 4 [WWK] Nature's Claim
SB: 4 [RTR] Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 [CFX] Inkwell Leviathan

Couldn't find the 4th Unmask for the maindeck so had to roll a 3/1 split. Matchups

[Will_L]

Interesting... Yes, I've always considered mono-b ReAnimtor to be totally playable... Dark Ritual is a good time.

Cool looking list, the only thing I don't really understand is Wasteland... Is that mean't to be a hedge against Karakas and Maze of Ith?

[jmlima]

Tks guys. I had a small hope one of those decks would prove to be 'worth the money that the cards cost'... if that makes sense.

I was not expecting them be so unplayable and so horrendous...

AH well. The search continues. Thanks for your views.

[Will_L]

Buy blue lands/spells you peasant

[jmlima]

Buy blue lands/spells you peasant

You mean Island and Prodigal Sorcerer ?

Yeah, that's a good idea. :tongue:

[jmlima]

Yes, I'm still going around in circles on this one. After checking budget, preferences, etc, I've come up with the following list of options and would appreciate input on which might be better to take into the always unknown playing field that is MTGO:

Combo Elves
NO Elves
AIR (Dragon Stompy)
Enchantress
Manaless Dredge
This BUG Delver deck : http://www.mtgdecks.net/decks/view/124476#

Thanks for any help!

[(nameless one)]

Honestly, spend $100 on Burn. Start stealing games you have no business on winning with it and start accumulating money/store credit to purchase expensive cards. Also, aggressively trading Standard money cards help.

I did the same thing with LEDless Dredge and Quinn years ago. Although my mistake was selling the same cards I accumulated.

[Ace/Homebrew]

AIR (Dragon Stompy)
8 Moon Stompy (in all its forms... Dragon, Werewolf, Goblin, Control) requires the pilot to have a certain level of self-loathing because the deck will shit on itself every couple games. If you don't smile every time you think of Blood Moon, pick another deck. :laugh:

[thecrav]

8 Moon Stompy (in all its forms... Dragon, Werewolf, Goblin, Control) requires the pilot to have a certain level of self-loathing because the deck will shit on itself every couple games. If you don't smile every time you think of Blood Moon, pick another deck. :laugh:

What if I do more than smile?!

[Megadeus]

What about a RB Moon, reanimator stax deck.

4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Swamp
6-8 Sol Lands
3 Polluted Delta
3 Bad lands

4 Entomb
4 Blood Moon
4 Faithless Looting
5-6 Fatties
4 Reanimate
3 Exhume
4 Dark Ritual
4 Trinisphere
4 Lotus Petal
2 Goblin Welder? (Assuming your fatties are artifact based)
4 Duress/TS/Therapy

[Scott]

What about a RB Moon, reanimator stax deck.

4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Swamp
6-8 Sol Lands
3 Polluted Delta
3 Bad lands

4 Entomb
4 Blood Moon
4 Faithless Looting
5-6 Fatties
4 Reanimate
3 Exhume
4 Dark Ritual
4 Trinisphere
4 Lotus Petal
2 Goblin Welder? (Assuming your fatties are artifact based)
4 Duress/TS/Therapy

Also, apparently LED is cheap online, so one of those Reanimator decks with LED could be feasible.

[jmlima]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

[Ace/Homebrew]

What if I do more than smile?!

Then I believe you've found your deck! :laugh:

[.Ix]

Mono black reanimator is a major pain in the ass. It's too fast for most hate, esp on the play, and it's pretty consistent. Run 4 grisel, 4 therapy and 2-4 probe in the opening post's list over chrome moxes, archangel, buried alive, and thoughtseize. There's this local who runs mono b reanimator and he still wins even when everyone knows what he's trying to do. Great deck for the price.

[jmlima]

Mono black reanimator is a major pain in the ass. It's too fast for most hate, esp on the play, and it's pretty consistent. Run 4 grisel, 4 therapy and 2-4 probe in the opening post's list over chrome moxes, archangel, buried alive, and thoughtseize. There's this local who runs mono b reanimator and he still wins even when everyone knows what he's trying to do. Great deck for the price.

Tks. Do you mean something like this: (can't affoard 4 Griselbrand atm, they cost an arm and a leg on MTGO)


Land
14 Swamp

Spells
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
4 Entomb
4 Putrid Imp
4 Reanimate
2 Animate Dead
4 Exhume
4 Cabal Therapy

Creatrures
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Griselbrand
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur

Sideboard
1 Coffin Purge
3 Pithing Needle
4 Thoughtseize
1 Animate Dead
2 Massacre
3 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Ashen Rider

[Echelon]

If you're still looking for a budget starter deck and want to play Elves!, you might want to run this:

Lands:
4 Forest
10 green fetchlands

Spells:
3 Natural Order
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Creatures:
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Birchlore Rangers
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Heritage Druid
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature

Sideboard
1 Natural Order
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
12 stuff

Don't ever forget the Cradle uses a spell slot, not a land slot. Having a Cradle as the only land card in your opening 7 means you mulligan, so traditionally Elves! only uses 14 land-slots (you also don't want to open with Arbor). This configuration has worked quite well for me in the past. Sure, you miss the big blow outs the green mana ritual (Cradle) gives you, but make up for it in having better Glimpses, courtesy of Birchlore Rangers. Those also help you make the black mana you need to machine gun DRS without killing yourself by replaying shockduals.

If you want a cheap deck that's actually pretty good for the current meta, try Manaless Dredge. You'll often fold to storm variants and a single RiP/Grafdigger's Cage here and there, but have a pretty good game versus anyDelver.dec.