Looks like a heavy control list with S&T. Interesting.
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Thoughtseize protects your combo from counters, edicts, snuff out and a host of other stuff. MM only protects you from Swords. I would prefer thoughtseize especially if you play Jin-Gitaxis.
Discard still seems like the better option for combo decks like this one. MM is better for tempo decks and maybe control or aggro decks.
I also perfer MM over thoughtsieze the because brainstorm can hide their plow, they can sand bag it with a top, or a lucksack top deck.
Now I was thinking of running Hymn for raw card advantage
There's plenty of options for protection, but the number of slots open and allotable to protection is somewhat limited.
Once you do 11(Reanimate Effects)/11(Discard that also draws cards)/10 (Creatures), Brainstorm, FoW, Daze etc, you really only have room left over for either Thoughtseize or Mental Misstep imo.
I guess you have the option to play Thoughtseize as one of your primary discard spells getting rid of Hapless Researcher, and then you would have the room for 2 Mental Misstep. But regardless, Thoughtseize should be in the deck imo. Cutting it for Mental Misstep doesn't seem wise.
The main difference is that MM allows you to play at a faster pace. You can go turn 1 Entomb, turn 2 Exhume fairly confidently. Against Zoo for example, if you have MM in hand. In that scenario Seize would actually be pretty bad, specially if it didn't snatch a Path.
I think MM is a must for Reanimator, even if it is just to combat your opponent's MMs.
I am wondering if anyone has had positive results with
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur yet?
Yes! The dude is indeed amazing! I tested against: bant, merfolk, junk and dredge
Bant: cakewalk. played around 15 games. He won only 1! and he even packed maindeck sower ( 2x) and bojuka bog! He doesn't have a fast clock, so you can wait for the point you can have a jin And protect him until you end turn step from sword.. He is very very potent in this match up.
Merfolk:I would say we have a slight edge. Tested 10 games, I won 7. If they have a fast clock they do not have a lot of counters and visa versa, you just have to adapt your playstyle accordingly, that plus that I pack a maindeck blazing archon which is win. a fast Jin get's you there to.
Junk: Cakewalk. slow clock, reall can't do much to disrup you ( thoughsteize being the worst, but we have brainstorm, MMs, force ( and misdirection on side ! :-P ) ) I have yet to loose a game from junk ( 10 games played ) again man of the match is Jin, he is hands down the best creature you can get!
Dredge: They have the edge. You really really need a blazing archon, even a Iona on black doesn't get you there. Hapless researcher is Boss in this matchup though. Cabal therapy's can hit really really hard. And jin is worthless here ! really really worthless. ( 12 games played, won 6 lost 8)
match ups that are standing on my to test list: mud and landstill.
So far I am a really big fanboi of jin ! and the 28th I will take the deck to a local tourny! (( if I get my jin's on time by mail .. ))
For the dredge matchup, You cannot lose with Norn in play... She's the freakin nuts against dredge, goblins, and decent vs merfolk.
Jin is the #1 target 90% of the time.
It just blows my mind that this one set got three must play staple creatures in reanimator...
1. Jin Gitaxis - Every build must atleast play one copy, probably two, that's how good he is.
2. Elesh Norn - Slaughters dredge, elves, goblins, merfolk, all other tribal decks and really solid against other aggro decks too including zoo.
3. Shelodred - The out this deck so desperately needed vs SnT decks, NO decks, Nought decks and aggro control decks in general.
I agree about Jin Gitaxis, but I'm not sure that the other two are "must play." Shelodred can help against the decks that you mentioned, but unless the meta is infested with those kind of decks, he seems better left in the sideboard.
Elesh Norn does not seem too good in Reanimator because there are better cretures that serve the same function. Elesh Norn is good against decks that run small creatures, but why would you run it over Bogardan Hellkite? Hellkite can hit your opponent's board and even kill creatures with toughness greater than two if you need him to. You can aim his ability at the opponent's dome. He wins the game if your opponent as at five life or less. Plus, Hellkite is a 5-powered flyer, as opposed to Elesh Norn, who is a 4-powered non-flyer.
I would be hesitant to say that any of those are "must haves". The deck that got 2nd in BoM (600+ person tournament) ran NONE of them, nor did he even run Mental Misstep. The field he was pitted against was full of decks that adopted the new cards. If this were a small tournament, you could argue that he just got lucky with his matchups, but it wasn't. I'm sure that this Oliver Salten was onto something: without Mystical Tutor, you can't bank on having access to the creature you want, and so it becomes necessarry to have targets that are good in just about any matchup. Perhaps with Misstep being so dominating, it will be safe to unban Mystical Tutor, but until then I wouldn't want to be too techy with your creature selection.
Elesh wipes your opp's board and keeps it clean. Against Elves for example, you'll Reanimate Bogardan Hellkite, kill 5 elves... your opponent is going to shrug and rebuild his army and kill your before your 5/5 kills him.
Elesh, even against Merfolk with 3 lord on the table is decent. It makes their creatures much smaller and can play defensa and offensive (excluding Lord of Atlantis + Island on your side).
Elesh Norn is what I expected Massacre Wurm to be. It stops Dredge cold. They can't even Dredge Return a Troll into play because they can never have 3 creatures in play. It stops Elves cold, they run little to no Lord and altough they do have some removal available it shouldn't be that much of a problem. It's awesome against goblins with Vial in play, if you can keep him from resolving a Warrens Weirding.
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/l..._Stoddard.html
a recent deck tech on JGCA :)
Here is my take on/tweaked version of the 2nd place Bazaar of Moxen Reanimator list with the red splash. Doing that well out of 633 people is quite an achievement so there might be something to that red splash.
Business (42)
2 Jin Gitaxis
2/1 Iona Shield of Emeria
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Elesh Norn
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Thoughtseize
0/2 Duress
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
3/2 Animate Dead
Lands (18)
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic island
1 Badlands
2 Island
2 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Pyroclasm
2 Energy Flux
2 Submerge
1 Perish
1 Shelodred
2 Red Elemental Blast
Sorry but IMHO there is something that seems to be not consistent:
:1: If you are going to put in place a blue-pretor reanimation plan you shall use MM in order to guarantee a 2nd turn combo plan with a free counter vs StP else it is quite sure that 100% of the time you need to reanimate Iona.
:2: If you are going to reanimate Iona your second target will be for sure something like Blazing Archon or Platinum Emperior or Sphinx and there is no more need of the pretor
About sideboard I know it is the same one used by Oliver and red splash as Submerge are really good ideas but I'm quite afraid about:
:1: no response to opponent's Leyline or
:2: no response to Karakas or Jace TMS
I always like to ensure that I can bounce what I need to, My board will include 2-3 pieces of bounce. I prefer wipe away as it precludes your opponent from responding to it.
Honestly if you are worried about Jace or karakas get inkwell or emperial archangel.