UU draw 3 discard 3? Which card? I can't recall it.
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UU draw 3 discard 3? Which card? I can't recall it.
Ideas Unbound Unfortunately you discard at EOT, or else it'd be great.
Careful study works at 1 mana, draw 2 discard 2
love that card
Well, careful study is of course firmly cemented into everyones list, Ideas unbound is "ok" if you play a welder list since the gobo is an instant renaimate. One, day frantic search will be unbanned and be in everyones list. Perhaps some sort of wierd dredge hybrid would make for an interesting test deck.
You realise that Frantic Search requires 3 lands in play right?Quote:
Originally Posted by DrHealex
Yes, what this deck most desperately needs is a Careful Study 5-8. Preferably one that doesn't require 3 lands like Frantic Search does.Quote:
Originally Posted by jcsy
We should just mass email rosewater and other WoTC staff till they print one.
They printed what 800 Brainstorm wannabes. Surely, they can print one card akin to Careful Study. I would even settle for drawing two cards and discarding three.
You guys do realize the card is banned, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by lorddotm
so why is it even in the discussion?
MAN GUYS WHY DON:LT WE PLAY ANCESTRAL RECALL THAT CARD IS GOOD RIGHT!!?!?!?!
also it's free if you have 3 mana, you don;t need 3 lands in play.
Pretty sure he know the B&R list. And if you have less than 3 lands in play it costs you 1 or 2 mana.Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasDowd
The other careful study you are looking for is called hapless researcher. He also improves you Goblins & Dredge matchups significantly.
My current list:
4 entomb
4 exhume
4 reanimate
2 animate dead
2 lim-dul's vault
4 brainstorm
4 force of will
4 daze
3 thoughtseize
1 careful study
4 hapless researcher
2 iona, shield of emeria
2 inkwell leviathan
1 sphinx of the steel wind
1 blazing archon
1 terrastodon
1 massacre wurm
4 polluted delta
3 verdant catacombs
3 misty rainforest
3 underground sea
2 swamp
1 island
I've been having a lot of problems with Wbg Death & taxes lately, not sure how to improve that matchup...
Maybe I need to run Empyrial Archangel again? In which slot, if so? I would guess the terrastodon slot, as that has been the weakest lately.
Wrote a long post and my DSL ate it, sadly. I played in the Legacy Challenge at SCG DC yesterday and went 3-1 (yay, prizes!) with UB Reanimator. This was my third Legacy event, I think. The night before, I was going to play ANT, but I read a lot of Ari's posts and my lack of Grim Tutors was starting to gnaw at me. So I made the audible. I blogged the whole thing at http://justindz.tumblr.com if you want to read the list, report, thoughts, etc. But, since that's not the point of this forum, here are some highlights:
* Hapless Researcher is the real deal. I agree with everyone here who has it in their list instead of Putrid Imp.
* I was also underwhelmed by Terastodon. I may move him to the board.
* Can someone explain the matches in which I want Sphinx of the Steel Wind? I couldn't figure that out. I boarded it in once because it seemed better than something else, but if I had a better set of critters and SB, I probably wouldn't have wanted him either. I'm sure there's a good reason, but I just didn't find it yet.
* I needed to have one Blazing Archon, giving up a Stormtide. But, having Stormtide was excellent. It clocks very fast (usually 3 swings) and against plenty of decks is a total lockout. I may end up with a split main and another Stormtide in the SB, depending on what I decide to do with my SB.
* Pithing Needle in the SB wasn't that great. I am going to try to acquire Null Rods. I'm not smart/good/experienced enough yet to pick the right GY hoser against each archetype and the Rod stops Crypt, Relic and Spellbomb.
I had a chance to talk to Ari about the deck before playing, which was a good confidence boost. I feel like it has a lot of range and maybe there's some next level coming up, but that for now it can just win a lot of games fast and in demoralizing ways. That works for me. He fished hands while we were talking and basically always had an amazing hand. The deck feels unfair most of the time.
Greetings! I've been playing Reanimator for ages and since the unbanning of Entomb, I've been enjoying the resurrection of monsters from the grave in local Legacy tournaments. At a recent 17 person tournament, I ended up splitting first place playing with the following list:
4 Polluted Delta
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Swamp
1 Island
4 Iona, Shied of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Blazing Archon
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Terastodon
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Careful Study
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Show and Tell
3 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:
3 Nature's Claim
3 Krosan Grip
3 Spell Pierce
3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
3 Blazing Archon
First, let me explain some of the card choices that may not seem so obvious. The four copies of Show and Tell take the spots of the now departed Mystical Tutor. While several builds replaced the tutor with cards such as Ponder, Preordain, Lim-Dul's Vault and Personal Tutor to try and make up for the loss of Mystical's deck manipulation, this version instead replaces it with a pure business card, Show and Tell. Rather than trying to emulate Mystical Tutor with a card that will be inferior in effect, this deck hopes to make use of the deck's redundancy and have more options for getting its fatties onto the battlefied. Relying solely on Entomb as an enabler is no longer a good idea without Mystical Tutor as the 5th-8th copies; Careful Study drawing into and discarding fatties needs to be a dependable plan B as well. In a game where you have yet to see an Entomb/Careful Study and are sitting with a useless Reanimate and Exhume, a Show and Tell in hand ensures that a giant creature can also be useful in the hand. This is especially relevant and useful in games 2 and 3, where you can use it to avoid graveyard hate completely. Show and Tell's casting cost of 3 gives Reanimator a way around trouble cards such as Chalice of the Void and Counterbalance. And as a blue card, Force of Will can be further supported in the deck (yes, I know being FoW fodder is never a great argument itself, but Show and Tell never seems dead in hand because of this).
Another glaring aspect of the deck is the inclusion of four Iona maindeck. I find Iona to be the first choice of creature in so many matchups, as shutting down an entire color from an opponent is arguably the most debilitating ability ever to be stuck on a creature so large. A full playset of them helps to maximize the chances that your big creature can be the interaction-killing angel, via the deck's digging abilities. Post-boarding, you will usually want to choose two from the set of Iona, Sphinx and Archon and maximize both of them in the deck. Nearly every matchup is weak to at least one of those three, and adding redundancy of the most powerful creature for the given situation helps to allow you to Show and Tell your best threat more reliably.
Now, on to a brief report of the tournament!
Round 1: ANT
Game 1:
He plays first, lays down a Flooded Strand and says go. On my turn, I Thoughtseize, he fetches for an Underground Sea and responds with a Brainstorm. In his hand I see Polluted Delta, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Lion's Eye Diamond and Infernal Tutor. I make him discard the tutor. Next turn, it turns out he hid another Infernal Tutor with Brainstorm, so I see a bunch of rituals, a tutor, an Ill-Gotten Gains and finally a Tendrils. On to game 2.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -1 Blazing Archon, -1 Inkwell Leviathan, -1 Terastodon, +3 Spell Pierce, +3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
I manage to get down an Iona second turn naming black. He digs with a series of Ponders and Brainstorms and eventually finds a Chain of Vapor to bounce Iona. However, I have a Careful Study and Exhume in hand to quickly get it back in play and win the game.
Game 3:
Nothing too exciting here, I manage another early Iona again but this time he is unable to find a bounce spell.
1-0-0
Round 2: Aluren
Game 1:
I have no clue that his deck is Aluren when I sit down to play him. He plays first and I see him play a Taiga and a Birds of Paradise. On his second turn, he fetches for a Tropical Island and plays a Coiling Oracle. At this point I am completely baffled at what he is playing, and even more unsure about what color to name with the Iona that I just Entombed. I try to Reanimate but he counters it. When an Exhume later manages to put Iona into play, I reluctantly choose blue, since I see no signs of white and thus no Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile. At last, he plays an Aluren and everything seems to make sense. Unfortunately, he now gets to play a set of free Imperial Recruiters, which recruit a Bone Shredder to destroy Iona and then ultimately kill me with a Cavern Harpy combo.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -1 Blazing Archon, +3 Nature's Claim, +1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
This game was even worse for me, as he got his combo off faster and I was unable to get a fatty into play. I am still unsure of what color to name against the deck at this point.
1-1-0
Round 3: Burn
Game 1:
He is clearly distressed that he is facing a possible second turn Iona that will neutralize his entire deck. He is right, as a quick Iona prevents him from playing spells.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -1 Blazing Archon, -1 Inkwell Leviathan, -1 Terastodon, +3 Nature's Claim, +3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
This game, he is able to throw more at me in the early game, including a Keldon Marauders that ends up doing their full five damage to me. By the time I find a reanimation spell, I only have 8 life and it's a Reanimate.
Game 3:
This game wasn't as quick as the first one, but I did manage to Show and Tell an Iona into play on my third turn to seal the deal.
2-1-0
Round 4: Mono Red Goblins
This is the final round of Swiss before cutting to the Top 8, so my opponent and I intentionally draw so as to both make the cut. We play our games out anyway.
Game 1:
I know that his goblin deck contains only red, so without the fear of Warren Weirding or Swords/Path, my life as a Reanimator player is so much easier. An Entomb tutors for a sphinx that just hoses the goblins.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -4 Iona, Shield of Emeria, -1 Inkwell Leviathan, -1 Terastodon, +3 Nature's Claim, +3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind, +3 Blazing Archon
I decide to remove all of the Ionas, since Aether Vial and Lackey can get around her. Blazing Archons seem to create a much more dire situation for the goblins than the angels. However, Sphinx of the Steel Wind is the undisputed choice in this matchup. Once again, a Sphinx goes all the way. He does get one huge strike in with about six goblins, including two Goblin Piledrivers, but I am already at 36 life and still have my Sphinx to block and swing for lethal the following turn.
2-1-1
Top 8: Aluren
I was hoping not to get matched up against this deck again, as it was my only loss so far in the tournament. Oh well, what can you do.
Game 1:
Early in the game, we both trade counterspells, with him countering a couple reanimation spells and me countering his Aluren. I do manage to Exhume in an Iona though. After much deliberation, I decided to name red as the forbidden color. I figure that he is probably not running too many specific answers, such as Bone Shredder and Man-o'-War, so cutting off his tutor engine of Imperial Recruiters is probably my best bet in holding off his hate, as well as hindering his search for his combo pieces. It turns out that red was a great choice; he is unable to do much before Iona goes all the way.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -1 Blazing Archon, +3 Nature's Claim, +1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
This was another nail-biting game, with both of us very fearful of the other putting together a deadly combination of spells. I get Iona into play and once again name red. On his final turn before lethal damage, he plays a Brainstorm and two Ponders, searching for an answer and keeping up the anticipation of a possible answer. However, he is unable to find anything and I win the second game. If you ever play Reanimator against an Aluren deck, I would recommend declaring red as your Iona color, as it really slows down the most consistent searching aspect of the deck.
Top 4: Dredge
Game 1:
This game, as we both know, is essentially a coin toss. Whoever gets the better hand and thus able to act faster will win. He is able to change most of his library into his graveyard before I am able to land an Iona or Archon and zombie tokens overwhelm me.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -1 Spinx of the Steel Wind, -1 Inkwell Leviathan, -1 Terastodon, +3 Spell Pierce, +3 Blazing Archon
Before I start my turn, my opponent lays down a Leyline of the Void from his hand. I secretly panic a bit about this, as I never anticipated that leyline would be his hate of choice. He basically needed the card in his opening hand, since it's highly unlikely that a Dredge deck would be able to afford the four mana and hardcast it in a timely manner. My Thoughtseizes were replaced by Spell Pierces instead of the usual Nature's Claims, so I had no way of getting rid of the leyline in a must-win game. Luckily, I have four Show and Tells maindecked, so I have an alternate way to get something in play. I manage to Show and Tell a Blazing Archon onto the battlefield, but shortly thereafter he actually manages to get three lands in play and cast a Stinkweed Imp, making me unable to attack him. We play draw-go for several turns, with me hoping to Show and Tell more big creatures into play and hopefully alpha strike him somewhere far away in the future. He notes to me that his only answer to an unattacking Blazing Archon is a single Chain of Vapor that has already been dredged into his graveyard, and it is clear that he will deck himself about 30 turns before I do. Thus, he concedes and we go to game 3.
Game 3: -3 Spell Pierce, +3 Nature's Claim
I should not have won this final game of the round, as my opponent made a fatal mistake. However, it was a thorough, grinding game, one that you rarely witness playing a Reanimator deck. Once again, he manages to get a Leyline of the Void in his opening hand. He attempts to cast a Tireless Tribe first turn, but I had a Force of Will in hand to deny him a discard outlet for another two turns (until he ended a turn with 8 cards and had to discard a dredger). There wasn't very much action on my side of the board either. I spend the first couple of turns digging for a Nature's Claim to remove the enchantment, throwing away some Exhumes and a land along the way. Pitching a land to Careful Study turned out to be a horrible move on my part, as I eventually became determined to simply Show and Tell a Blazing Archon already in my hand. I spent most likely eight or nine turns stuck on two lands, never seeing a Nature's Claim or that vital third land to play Show and Tell, now numbering two in my hand. Thankfully, the Dredge player had an awful start himself. He was slowly dredging a little bit, but he had no discard outlet to throw the Trolls and Imps back into his grave. At one point I had three Show and Tells in hand when he played Cabal Therapy, naming Show and Tell. I now had only a single Show and Tell somewhere in the library, and I know his deck will start gaining momentum much faster than mine. This game was definitely his to lose. He was soon able to start going on a roll, generating some zombie tokens and milling his own deck at a faster rate. He eventually has a turn where he begins to go off, using a Dread Return on a Sphinx of Lost Truths to keep his engine going. I suppose he was worried about me finding the last Show and Tell and putting an Archon into play, since I noticed that his Chain of Vapor had already been dredged. During this turn, he manages to accumulate about 20 zombie tokens, and it was clear that he was digging for his Flame-Kin Zealot to finish me off this turn. He continues to overturn his library, becoming more annoyed each time he dredges and doesn't find the zealot. He continues his madness until his entire library has been milled; Flame-Kin Zealot turns out to be the very last card in the deck! He goes to play a Dread Return to give his zombie army haste, but he then realizes that he has already played all copies of Dread Return. Therefore, his creatures do not get haste, he is unable to finish me that turn, and he loses the following turn, being unable to draw from his library. What an unexpected win!
Finals: ANT
At this point, my opponent asks if I would want to split the first and second place prizes. The winner of the tournament would go home with an Underground Sea, and the second place prize was $15 in store credit, quite the drop off in prize value. I also already have a full set of Seas and he really wants the card, so I agree to let him take the card, I take the credit, and he pays me the difference in cash. We play out our games anyway. This is a different ANT player than the one I faced in the first round of Swiss, by the way.
Game 1:
He doesn't manage to do much other than a couple of Ponders. An early Iona naming black makes this game largely uneventful and I win.
Game 2: -3 Thoughtseize, -1 Blazing Archon, -1 Inkwell Leviathan, -1 Terastodon, +3 Spell Pierce, +3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
This game was more of the same; he couldn't get anything going. Iona came into play naming black once again, and the following turn a Sphinx of the Steel Wind helped to end the game quicker.
In retrospect, I should have played out the final round for the Underground Sea, since I didn't end up having too much trouble in the final round. But of course, if I hadn't agreed to split, then with my luck I probably would have ended up losing. I used the store credit to buy an Umezawa's Jitte for one of my EDH decks, and ended up with some cash from my opponent that wanted the Underground Sea.
In conclusion, the tournament was a blast and I met a lot of new people playing some very serious decks. The two Aluren matchups and the Dredge Top 4 will be long-lasting memories. As for my decklist, I am very satisfied with almost everything, especially the sideboard. The one thing I may consider changing is the Terastodon, since I didn't put him into play once over the course of the tournament and couldn't really think of any situations where he would be golden. There was a Countertop player there that I luckily did not have to face, and he was running Peacekeeper in his sideboard. I realized that had I played him, I would have no way to deal with the Peacekeeper, or any creature for that matter. The best I can think of would be to use Terastodon to blow up his white providing lands, but that plan is useless if they have one Noble Hierarch in play. At best, the opponent will have at least one 3/3 Elephant token that could really be a liability for a deck that eats half of its life with Reanimate. I have heard of people running Darkblast for the Peacekeeper, but that could be hard to pull off if they are also running Counterbalance or graveyard hate. Right now I am considering swapping the Terastodon for Tidespout Tyrant as my permanent removal option. The deck is chock full of one mana spells, making it the perfect type of deck to abuse the djinn. It is also not half bad when you draw into it with a Careful Study, assuming it gets into play early enough in the game to really mess with their board. Being blue and having flying also give it a couple of brownie points.
Although most of the online community does not consider Reanimator to be a DTB or a tier 1 deck, I feel that it is still very viable in today's metagame. It has the capability of placing the opponent in a devastating game state as early as the second turn, and it is backed up by the FoW/Daze suite, the greatest form of disruption in Legacy. To all Reanimator players, don't be afraid to stop searching for a Mystical Tutor replacement; consider putting in a full set of Show and Tell and making your threats have another angle of attack! You will find yourself having greater versatility and an ability to handle situations that were once much more difficult than before.
Thanks for the indepth report. If you look back through the thread, someone posted a list that hit the Top8 at BazaarofMoxen in France. He had SnT main and 4 EmRule and 4 Stronghold Gambit SB for certain match-ups.Quote:
Originally Posted by into_play
As an aside, has anyone tested Enlightened Tutor?
Something like this...
MAIN
1 Animate dead
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of will
4 Daze
1 Thoughtseize
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Entomb
4 Careful study
1 Zombie Infestation
2 Iona, shield of emeria
2 Inkwell leviathan
1 Sphinx of the steel wind
1 Platnium Emperion
1 Terrastodon
LANDS = 18
4 Polluted delta
3 Flooded Strand
3 Marsh Flats
3 Underground Sea
2 Scrubland
1 swamp
1 Island
1 Plains
SIDEBOARD (Ideas)
3 Seal of Removal
3 Serenity
3 Show and Tell
3 Thoughtsieze
1 Darkblast
1 Brightsteel Colossus
1 Porphyry Nodes
1 Anvil of Bogardan
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Aura of Silence
Quote:
Originally Posted by arebennian
I posted a similar deck in this thread awhile back:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?8639-[Deck]-B-U-Reanimator&p=455971&highlight=#post455971
It was an early version, but it worked great. It was equal parts B&W. You might consider at least one artifact land - so you can tutor for it if you have to. Devout Witness has good synergy with reanimator, but it might be a little slow. Maybe better in sideboard.
Here's my list:
// Lands
4 [ON] Polluted Delta
2 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
2 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
2 [TSP] Swamp (2)
2 [MI] Island (3)
4 [R] Underground Sea
// Creatures
1 [RAV] Blazing Archon
2 [ZEN] Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 [ARB] Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 [SOM] Liege of the Tangle
1 [CFX] Inkwell Leviathan
// Spells
1 [US] Show and Tell
3 [WWK] Dispel
4 [TE] Reanimate
4 [US] Exhume
4 [OD] Entomb
4 [AL] Force of Will
2 [LRW] Thoughtseize
4 [IA] Brainstorm
4 [OD] Careful Study
4 [AL] Lim-Dul's Vault
4 [TE] Lotus Petal
// Sideboard
SB: 2 [US] Show and Tell
SB: 1 [WWK] Dispel
SB: 1 [WWK] Admonition Angel
SB: 2 [SOK] Pithing Needle
SB: 3 [DS] Echoing Truth
SB: 2 [6E] Perish
SB: 4 [PLC] Extirpate
- I tested Lotus Petal vs. Chrome Mox and found that there weren't many cards that I could comfortably pitch to Chrome Mox to get a turn 1 Exhume/Reanimate combo
I'm not sure about Liege of the Tangle but I can't think of a better bomb to replace it with mainboard, perhaps Terastodon?
Dispel is awesome and, in my opinion, underplayed.. it just wins counter wars, as well as protecting your creatures from StP once they hit the board
Liege of the Tangle is interesting, I may experiment with that. It's sort of a quicker version of Godsire. But I wonder if it's just "win more"? It doesn't help you control what your opponent is doing. Also, it could bite you in the ass - if you get hit with Nev's Disk, WoG, or Damnation, you lose all your lands too.Quote:
Originally Posted by David-
I used Platinum Emperion in that slot, which served me pretty well (albeit in a low sample set of matches). It's big and plenty of decks can't kill you unless they can get it out of there. You might not Entomb for it in some matches, but I think there are situations where you'd rather run into that than Liege of the Tangle on a random hand/draw (e.g., game 1 against ANT or maybe burn or whatever).
That might be worth considering. Stormtide Leviathan is another option. Shuts down a lot of decks while making itself un-blockable and kills in 3 swings even with Animate Dead taking it to 7 power. If you are facing Goblins and are able to delay Weirding or they don't have a Matron, for example, this is better than some of your other options because it can't be chumped to stall or reduce the damage against trample. It just gets in there.
Just some ideas if you're on the hunt for a replacement at least for testing purposes.
An alternate for that slot is Hellkite Overlord. I like it a lot - it's vulnerable to removal, but it swings for 8 damage immediately, winning you the game that turn in many cases.Quote:
Originally Posted by justindz
I don't know how Wbg Death and Taxes plays, but I would recommend against Empyrial Archangel. While the importance of shroud cannot be overstated, the angel's 8 toughness is just too little when you need it for defense. If they are running Goyf or Jitte, your angel will probably be an expensive fog at best, since dealing 8 damage in a single turn is really not very difficult for so many decks. When I used to use Empyrial Archangel, I always wished that she had first strike, to at least neutralize the damage of one attacker. For games where I needed some way to stall damage, I always felt better about going for a Blazing Archon and hoping that they wouldn't have the removal for it.Quote:
Originally Posted by alphastryk
I find that Sphinx of the Steel Wind is the best creature choice against Zoo. If you use a Reanimate to bring back an Iona against Zoo, then you will be at a low enough life total that just a couple of burns and a Nacatyl swing will finish you, making red seem like the best color to choose. But then your Iona is vulnerable to Path. When you're going to be at such a low life total and vulnerable to Path anyway, the Sphinx takes the cake, since it will beat face, defend against creatures and boost your life total. These are all amazing qualities that you want against Zoo. There will be a chance that they will Path or Swords it, but you pretty much always need to take a leap of faith against Zoo.Quote:
Originally Posted by justindz
The Sphinx is also a house against most aggro decks in general, especially Goblins and sometimes even Merfolk. I always Entomb for it against Goblins, and against Merfolk, it's a decent choice if they are already ahead in creatures. If they don't have enough fish out already, then I will sometimes go for an early Inkwell Leviathan or Iona, but the lifegain of the Sphinx makes them work a lot harder to outrace you. Don't be discouraged by the sphinx because it doesn't have such a game-altering ability as Iona or Blazing Archon; the vigilance and lifelink on a large body wins games on its own in the race to deal 20 damage.
After seeing the French decklist, I'm surprised to how closely his maindeck and mine matched. Other than running red instead of green and a full set of Sphinx instead of Iona, the quantities of each card were basically the same. Does he use the Stronghold Gambits and Emrakuls against combo decks only? And what does he sideboard out to fit in 8 additional cards? It seems kind of cool being able to transform the deck into more of a Sneak and Tell deck post boarding, but I honestly prefer the green splash to deal with artifact/enchantment hate.Quote:
Originally Posted by arebennian
As for the use of Enlightened Tutor, I have not tested it but I see several problems with it. First, the tutor gives you no way to set up a second turn reanimation like Mystical Tutor did. You are able to grab either a reanimation spell (Animate Dead) or a discard outlet (Zombie Infestation), but with each of those costing two mana, and the tutor being used first turn, you will have to wait for the third turn to put the creature into play. Show and Tell seems like a better turn three option. Also, the colored mana requirements in Reanimator are so tight during the first two turns that you really need the possibility to have any combination of three blue and/or black mana. I think needing a third color early in the game will compromise your ability to pull off turn two reanimations when they actually are possible. Again, I have never tested Enlightened Tutor, and it could be used to grab one of the artifact creatures, but I really don't think it adds enough usefulness to the deck.
Creatureless and creature light decks, so I imagine combo, control and ***** variants. As for boarding, I imagine that he totally removed the reanimation package against some decks creatureless/light decks and added the fat+Gambits.Quote:
Originally Posted by into_play
Against decks with more than 10 creatures? Not sure what he would do.
I ran 10 test games against merfolk on the draw. The mana problem did come up once or twice, but it didn't affect me too badly. I think one game I was probably going to lose anyway, one game it lost me the game, the other I ended up winning.Quote:
Originally Posted by into_play
What was disappointing was that I don't think that Enlightened Tutor won me a game at any stage, but I did find that one of my banes against Merfolk (Cursecatches) were left scratching their heads against the Enchantments of Animate Dead and Zombie Infestation.
While it is true that these are not any quicker than Show and Tell (equal turn three reanimations), the package does have a couple of advantages over Show and Tell:
1) Allows you to play around Daze effects easier that trying to cast a CMC 3 spell.
2) Zombie infestation helps provide chump blockers
3) Enlightened Tutor helps with a possible Show and Tell SB plan, as well as other SB options
4) Show and Tell doesn't relate well with the plan of binning Fat. 'Do I careful Study or do I SnT?'
I'm going to test a little more.
I run Platinum Emperion, so I think it might change my thinking. Here are the RB Goblins situations:Quote:
Originally Posted by into_play
- I lead with Platinum Emperion (or Stormtide Leviathan or Blazing Archon).
- They have/get and resolve Warren Weirding (usually via Goblin Matron) through my counters.
- I lose my creature.
- Otherwise, I put the game away in 3-4 turns.
- I lead with Sphinx of the Steel Wind.
- They have/get and resolve Warren Weirding...
- I lose my creature.
- Otherwise, I put the game away in 3-4 turns.
You can gain some life and buy time with Sphinx to reanimate something else, but there's not *that* much difference in practice. They have an out or they lose and, statistically, they lose because they have to play their out fast and you have Daze or Force of Will (or both). If you mostly play against mono-red Goblins, then they probably use Stingscourger over Weirding. In that case, Sphinx makes sense because it dodges those outs entirely. However, I haven't played against a Goblins other than RB in a long time. That's acceptable risk for me.
Against Zoo, unless you safely Iona White first, I think Sphinx is definitely the opener. Make them have Path or make them dead. I totally agree here.
With my build and meta, it feels like I can safely SB the Sphinx, at least, but I wouldn't cut it from the 75. Thanks for the mental exercise :-)
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Regarding X and Taxes, here's my thinking (wrote this up last night in blog, so it's fresh):
- They run usually run upwards of three Karakas, so don't lead with Iona.
- If they don't have much board presence, go for Inkwell to avoid Swords to Plowshares and Mangara.
- If you are in danger on life totals, Stormtide Leviathan may be your best bet. If they Swords it, you get a good chunk of life back, probably buying a turn or two. If they don't have an answer, you hold the ground game and put them on a fast clock. Emperion can be chumped and is vulnerable to Pridemage and Grip.
- Situationally, Terastodon might be the right option to blow up AEther Vial, white mana sources and or hit one of your lands for a blocker to buy time and stall the cursed Mangara trickery.
Not all of them run the Mangara package, but I suspect that it wouldn't change your plan as it's the same as playing around Swords to Plowshares. Maybe it values Inkwell a bit higher if they run that package, just because everything else is twice as likely to die. But this one isn't as straightforward as RB Goblins, obviously. If it becomes a fairly large % of the meta, as far as Legacy goes, maybe it argues for the return of Akroma, Angel of Fury. A likely 3-4 turn clock, pro-Mangara/Swords and better evasion than Inkwell when there's no Island to walk through. Just a thought.
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Another question. I had 4x Pithing Needle SB, but only in a few cases do I correctly anticipate which of the three artifact hosers I will face. What do you all think about just running Null Rod? It also screws over MUD and does some random things like protect Animate Dead from Pridemage and Engineered Explosives--not key reasons, but interesting to note. Instead of figuring out what hate they have in game 2 where you haven't seen their board-ins yet, you just name everything :-)