How I Beat Competitive Decks Piloted by Competient Players with Reanimator.

Typo on the title, whatever, we can deal with t

Preface

I've been proclaiming how good my build of B/u Reanimator is since I figured out that Iona didn't get shuffled into a library when she hits the graveyard. I've been telling people "Entomb being unbanned wouldn't be a big deal if Iona wasn't legal the next day." I have done rather extensive testing with this deck and felt that it was not only possible to not embarrass myself by playing it, but it was also feasible to win a high payout tournament with it.

For those of you who don't troll the B/u Reanimator thread, here is the list that I played.

The List

Lands

5 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Underground Sea
2 Bayou
3 Polluted Delta

Creatures

4 Putrid Imp
3 Tombstalker
3 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Sphinx of the Stel Wind
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Blazing Archon (For fear of playing against merfolk, there was none, this is normally Iona #4)
1 Empyrial Archangel

Non-Creature, Non-Land cards

4 Exhume
4 Reanimate
4 Animate Dead
4 Careful Study
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dark Ritual
4 Entomb

61 Cards

Sideboard

4 Echoing Truth
4 Krosan Grip
4 Spell Pierce
1 Null Rod
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Gaea's Blessing


The only cards I should really need to explain are Tombstalker and Spell Pierce:

Tombstalker Tombstalker is an underwhelming reanimation Target but a terrific secondary beater, he compliments the deck perfectly and in a pinch can either flashback a Cabal Therapy or be reanimated.

Spell Pierce This was an 11th hour choice, it came to me that it was possible to run a card that would allow me to keep a hand that wasn't broken, on the play against my most volatile match-ups: Stax and Dreadstill I started testing with it and its even more versitile than that, so I was quite pleased.

The Event

Round 1

Kyle Boggemes W/ U/W/b Counter-Top Landstill

Kyle apparently Top 8ed at the 2005 Legacy Championships (I found out when I googled to spell his name correctly) But I'm literally X-0 in games against him in sanctioned tournaments. The last time we playd, he was piloting affinity and I played a deck that used Deed. He seemed to think I was quite lucky I thought to myself, "Who the hell plays Affinity?" While shuffling he drops a Jace on the Table. I assume he could be playing Landstill but it doesn't seem like him. I figure he's probably playing something awful. He wins the die roll and is on the play

Game 1

I keep a hand of Entomb, Cabal Therapy, Exhume, Animate Dead, Careful Study, Swamp, Fetchland. I'm on the draw.

He plays Underground Sea, Top. Pass the turn

I draw a Dark Ritual... Hmmm. I play Swamp, Ritual, Entomb, Animate Dead. He responds to my Animate Dead by drawing off his top. it resolves. I assume he's actually playing Faeries with Jace in it for some reason so I name Blue.

His following turn is Mishra's Factory, Top, look at top 3. I realize now that he's playing Landstill, my favorite deck. I feel a swelling mix of sadness for naming the wrong color, anger that he is playing my favorite deck, and relief that I have an estimated 90-10 win/loss ration against Landstill. Long story short, he never finds a StP and I win the game.

Sideboarding I'm going to be on the draw against so, -4 Dark Ritua, +4 Krosan Grip. I can't allow my answers for his hate to be countered.

Game 2 We both keep our starting hands and he opens up with Tunda, Relic of Progentius (Ugh). My hand is Fetch, Swamp, Krosan Grip, Putrid Imp, Iona, Exhume, Reanimate. I draw another Exhume for my turn.

I was hoping that this game would be over quickly, with an Iona on White, but that doesn't seem to be an option right now. I play my Putrid Imp off a swamp and pass the turn.

He plays Mishra's Factory, Relic of Progenitus #2. Oh no! My Grip isn't good enough against two of these damn things. I draw a Tombstalker, play a land, swing for 1. as I look for a way around this non-sense. He plays a third land, and Standstill I figure Standstill isn't going to net him any cards as I can break it with an end of turn Entomb... eventually

I start missing lands drops and we trade blows, my 1/1 putrid Imp with his Factory. Obviously I'm losing this battle. On his turn I drop to 12 and he has 2 Fetchlands, Tundra, Island (Tapped), Factory (Tapped) along with his 2 unused relics and Standstill.

On my turn I hope to draw into another land (I have 2 Swamp, 2 Verdant Catacombs) But alas, I don't. At this point my hand looks like this:

Reanimate, Cabal Therapy, Tombstalker, Exhume, Exhume, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Krosan Grip, Animate Dead.

I grimace at the thought of Game 3 because it doesn't look like this hand is going to get there. But this is the deciding turn.

I start things off by attacking for 1, bringing him to 14. And then I start the real action by discarding a Tombstalker in the post combat main to give him flying. Cast Exhume, breaking Standstill. He goes up to an unreasonable 10 cards in hand, thinks for a moment and taps his Relic to remove a card in my graveyard form the game. I fetch out a Bayou and Underground Sea is response (I drop to 10.) He then fetches himself (leaving one fetchland and 2 lands untapped.) He pays one to activate a Relic of Progentius (Leaving Flooded Strand, Tundra Untapped.) My graveyard is gone. He draws a card.

I state "With exhume still on the stack" displaying that I'm not passing priority, Discard Iona. Exhume is amazing because it doesn't target. Kyle responds to the spell by tapping his Relic. so I'm forced to discard another card to keep Iona in my graveyard (So that he can pay another one to remove that form the game as well and then I lose the game because that's all my gas.) He fetches and gets another tundra and taps out (!!!!!!!) to play Counterspell. I let it resolve and start looking at my options.

I figure he wouldn't tap out unless he has a Force of Will in hand for my next spell. But Iona is there for the turn. I tap my Underground Sea dn play Cabal Therapy, it resolves I name Force of Will, he reveals a couple of white cards, Mishra's factory (Releveant) 3 Brainstorm, Jace and a ton of lands

Well, he doesn't have Force of Will, he really needed two so... here we go. I reanimate my Iona and drop to 1. I name White. And then I make 2 misplays:

1. I flashback Cabal Therapy (getting rid of my Putrid Imp which can block)
2. I name Jace instead of Brainstorm (I didn't write down his hand and instantly forgot what was in his hand.)

But, Iona is on white so there really isn't anything that he can draw into. And while I am at 1, I take relief in that my Krosan Grip in hand can get me out of the trouble I'm in. He takes his turn and plays a Factory. I draw and have to keep my Iona back to block. He untaps and as long as he doesn't wasteland my Bayou, I'm in good shape. He activates both Mishra's Factories and sends them in. I grip and block. Threat averted. I only need to swing twice, he plays a bunch of Brainstorms but I doubt there is anything that he could draw into that wins the game. so instead, I win the game

Matches 1-0
Games 2-0

Round 2
I feel really bad that I forgot this guy's name because I think we're about to form a team together with a mutual friend playing UGw Tempo.

We take our seats and I win the die roll, I think he plays Zoo, but I'm not sure.

Game 1
Swamp, Underground Sea, Cabal Therapy, Reanimate, Animate Dead, Careful Study, Iona.

I go Underground Sea -> Careful Study, Draw Land, Putrid Imp Discard Iona, and a land.

He goes turn 1 Wasteland.

I play my swamp (Only land available) I decide to play things safe and go with Therapy on Force of Will. It misses as he shows me Spell Pierece, a Goyf, Knight of the Reliquary, StP, Ponder, lands. Spell Pierce in the main? WTFdamnit. Oh well, time to get a card countered. He plays a land nothing else

Reanimate. He Spell Pierces it.

He goes land, go.

I miss another land drop, Putrid Imp, go. He StPs it.

He goes Tropical, Goyf, go.

I draw a land and ask him "Do you play Daze" The answer is both Yes, and he drew one.

I get a tombstalker down eventually and even an Iona, but he ends up with 3 guys that give an exalted bonus. meaning that his 4/4 knight of the Reliqury is able to trade with my iona, which means my game is over.

Sideboarding I know that many of the zoo and tempo decks that have been doing well has eschewed graveyard hate in the board. I assume that his does the same.

Game 2

I have a hand for turn 1 Iona. I go for it, apparently he plays FoW too, this is where I learn that he's not playing Blue Zoo, but... a Tempo thresh deck with what I think are a slew of awkward and awful choices. We talk about it later, he likes his choices I don't... that's all there is to it.

Anyway. He gets another FoW going and a Daze and I run out of cards that can do anything.

Games 2-2
Matches 2-1

Round 3
Patrick, a good friend of mine playing U/W/b Landstill

We've played this quite a bit. This build plays Humility which gives him a card that he can stall into and I lose the game

Game 1

Turn 1 Entomb, Turn 2 Therapy, Iona, he concedes

I know that he doesn't have anything to bring in, so No SB

Game 2

I go for another quick Iona and he is able to Cunning Wish > Diabolic Edict. Ouch

I try to get going again and he cycles a decree for 2 soldiers, not a big deal. I draw a blank and he does it again for 3. Suddenly I have two turns to do something about all of this. I entomb a Sphinx, draw not a reanimate spell, and repeat next turn

Game 3

Turn 1 Entomb, he plays a land and passes. turn 2 I therapy, Reanimate. I see an all blue hand so against what I'd rather do, I put her on Blue. He draws lands and so with 6 unplayable cards in his hand, I win the game in 3 swings.

Games 4-3
Rounds 2-1

Round 4
UGr TempoThresh

I mulligan to 4. He leads with turn 1 mongoose, I lead with a putrid Imp, discarding Iona.
He plays a Goyf, I go Ritual, Therapy, therapy, land, exume. Iona on blue, win.

Apparently tempo decks don't pack GY hate, so... I roll with it rather than bring in dead cards.

Game 2
He leads with turn 1 Mongoose. Long story short, apparently his hand was 2x force, a land, a mongoose and other blue cards.

At the end of the game he has played 3x Force, Spell Snare. A mongoose eats most of my life, by the time we're both out of gas/anti-gas he topdecks a Goyf and that ends it quickly

Game 3

Turn 1 Entomb, him mongoose
Turn 2, Cabal therapy, Daze (I hit 2, and see spellsnare and Fire/Ice) Reanimate Sphinx. He ices it once, but is never able to really do anything. Sphinx > Tempo Thresh

Round 5

I apparently have the best tiebreakers of the 9 point people, but I have no idea how that happened. I'm able to draw into the Top 8. I would have played against stax which is a die-roll matchup.

Top 8
Ghandi, with Goyf-Slight

Another good friend of mine, I thought he was playing zoo. He wins the die roll.

Game 1

He goes turn 1 fetch into basic mountian, Grim lavamancer. He knows what I'm playing so this play confuses me, he must have a ton of lands. I go swamp, go.

He doesn't play another land, chain lightnings me and attacks. I entomb an iona and on my turn play her on white (for path to exile.) Ther eis some Cabal Therapy and Putrid imp action in here where I take some burn from him. He burns me again, and again, but never gets another land drop.... that was weird.

sideboarding -1 Tidespout Tyrant, -1 Inkwell Leviathan -2 Tombstalker +3 Echoing Truth +1 Null Rod.

Game 2

I get the hunch that he switched to goyf sligh at the last minute, and he confirms it (to throw me off, mostly) as we draw our hands.

He leads with Plateau into Kird ape. I play dark ritual, entomb Sphinx of the steel wind, Reanimate, Putrid Imp.

He plays taiga, Goyf, and then its my turn. I draw play Careful study, both draw and discard Empyrial Archangel and Inkwell Leviathan. Attack

he doesn't draw, but shows me after he concedes that the bottom two cards of his library are Path to Exile.

If the top 4 would have been played out I think I would have played against U/R Imperial Painter. I'm confident that I would have done well against (seriously, there is a blessing in my SB an if he ever plays a painter before of after Iona is on the table he can't cast any spells anymore.)

The rest of the Top 4 was Mono red Goblins (honestly, a bye for me) and UGw countertop with exalted creatures (Which in testing I'm literally 15-3 against, but no one believes me.)

Conclusion

The games I lost in this tournament were against an insurmountable wall of counter spells. This deck is really solid, more consistent than you would expect, and I played against very good players playing real decks and none of them made any mind-blowing errors. A Counterbalance was never played against me but it was in a least one of the decks I played against. Had I played against countertop, I'm able to race the lock game 1 and game 2 I am able to disrupt it as well.

If this deck, or versions of this deck are quick and consistent I honestly feel that it will warp the metagame. Iona turns off the color that you're most concerned about and except for one time today, and one previous time against Dreadstill, has always been the biggest creature on the table.

I had games that I feel really display the strengths of my card choices except for the weak links (Inkwell, Blazing Archon, Tidespout Tyrant) And I hope that a greater discussion of the deck can start to take place.

Just a clarification for the GoyfSligh match:

In game 1, on your turn 4, you played Careful Study (Discard Iona + Empyrial Archangel) into Exhume - I scooped to the Archangel. My hand could race the Iona on the wrong color (would have been correct if I wasn't lazy and switched to Zoo like I thought have for the meta), but I couldn't deal with the 8 point life buffer that Archangel gave.

For game 1, my hand was all red cards, plus at least 1 Price of Progress - that's the only justification I had for going for the basic mountain.

Congrats on the finish, and fighting through the hate.

Doesn't counterbalance also count as an insurmountable wall of counterspells?

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Originally Posted by thefreakaccident

Doesn't counterbalance also count as an insurmountable wall of counterspells?

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Some recent number crunching has shown that Countertop decks are on the way out (probably chased by Pridemages, REBs, Krosan Grips and Vexing shushers in zoo). Countertop's loss is this deck's gain, as it makes it a much stronger choice.

My deck (the CounterTop with exalted) is six cards off your round 2 opponent (Who's name is Paul). Regardless, good show old chum!

Entertaining report buddy, hope to hear of future successes soon!

+1. I wouldn't play Reanimator, but I like that it exists and is viable.

Since Entomb isn't restricted to creature cards, you could pack some Flashback bullets. Grudge, Ray, and possibly Recoup and/or Moment's Peace.

For what its worth Kyle Boggemes was state champion two consecutive years and made day 2 of the last legacy grand prix.

In our Game 3, I should have cast Cunning Wish in response to you dredging up Iona. I know I already said that, but it should be backed up on The Source.

I wasnt making value judgments about either player's skill level. Just giving background info.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by umbowta

Yes, but Chris is a better theorist, metagamer, and player than Kyle.

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Dick much?

Quote:

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In our Game 3, I should have cast Cunning Wish in response to you dredging up Iona. I know I already said that, but it should be backed up on The Source.

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On a more intuitive note what on earth were you thinking when you had wish in hand (pate) in sideboard and your opponent attempts to recur iona? I'm not trying to be mean but I am trying to get an idea of what your other thoughts were ie did you have another gameplan.

also Great Job Spencer and Paul. Viva La White splash tempo thresh!

Cool report. thanks!

I quite like Tombstalker in these reanimate decks. Such a good use for that card. But I am also wondering if it is win-more, as it seems likely to punish the same decks that this one ordinarily beats anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Finn

I quite like Tombstalker in these reanimate decks. Such a good use for that card. But I am also wondering if it is win-more, as it seems likely to punish the same decks that this one ordinarily beats anyway.

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I think the point is Tombstalker dodges Counterbalance/Spell Snare, which is a problem for this deck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mossivo1986

Dick much?


On a more intuitive note what on earth were you thinking when you had wish in hand (pate) in sideboard and your opponent attempts to recur iona? I'm not trying to be mean but I am trying to get an idea of what your other thoughts were ie did you have another gameplan.

also Great Job Spencer and Paul. Viva La White splash tempo thresh!

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I don't really understand your question, mostly what (pate) means. However, here are my thoughts.

Chris has Iona in his graveyard, and I have no counterspells in my hand, or sideboard. I know that this matchup is miserable for me, and me winning games has a lot to do with Chris not drawing reanimate spells, and me getting lucky (see game 2). White is the color to name with Iona, because it turns off Swords, Wrath, Humility and Decree for angels, so I have absolutely no way to kill it maindeck. He played a Cabal Therapy on Force of Will and saw my hand of 5 blue cards. When he reanimated Iona, I didn't think to respond with Wish, out of both expectation to him naming White, and a complete lack of thinking. His exact words were "I really, really don't want to do this, but I think I have to name blue". At this point it's too late for me to play spells, and I realize my mistake. I then hope to draw a swords in the next few turns, and I don't.

The gameplan overall is to counter Entomb if he needs it, or keep Iona off the board until I can land Humility. The other option is reporting the match 0-2.

I think he means wishing for Extirpate, but I could be wrong. Obviously not responding was an honest mistake.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patrick

I don't really understand your question, mostly what (pate) means. However, here are my thoughts.

Chris has Iona in his graveyard, and I have no counterspells in my hand, or sideboard. I know that this matchup is miserable for me, and me winning games has a lot to do with Chris not drawing reanimate spells, and me getting lucky (see game 2). White is the color to name with Iona, because it turns off Swords, Wrath, Humility and Decree for angels, so I have absolutely no way to kill it maindeck. He played a Cabal Therapy on Force of Will and saw my hand of 5 blue cards. When he reanimated Iona, I didn't think to respond with Wish, out of both expectation to him naming White, and a complete lack of thinking. His exact words were "I really, really don't want to do this, but I think I have to name blue". At this point it's too late for me to play spells, and I realize my mistake. I then hope to draw a swords in the next few turns, and I don't.

The gameplan overall is to counter Entomb if he needs it, or keep Iona off the board until I can land Humility. The other option is reporting the match 0-2.

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Just a difference in play style that all pat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TotallySweet

I think he means wishing for Extirpate, but I could be wrong. Obviously not responding was an honest mistake.

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There were only three lands available, and I had not put 3 cards into my graveyard that turn.

Also, for some more of my raw data, check the B/u reanimator list in the Established deck forums.

And... why has my report become a discussion of when to cast Cunning Wish?