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4 Inkwell Leviathan / 4 Empyrial Archangel / 4(3) Simic Sky Swallower would be optimal i believe. If they resolve, no more worries to targeted removals except for diabolic edicts, innocent bloods, wrath of gods etc... I think Force of Will in reanimator would be good since all the fattties are blue if they needed to be pitched and Force of Will is there to also protect reanimating your fatties and counter diabolic edicts, wrath of gods and such...
That's something I've considered a lot. But I'm not sure if you need an exactly equal number of discard and reanimate because of Putrid Imp. The Imp can discard as many cards as you want, while Reanimate/Exhume/Animate Dead, etc can only pull out one at a time. So you should maybe have slightly more reanimation spells than discard spells. But if you want balance, remember the deck is dependant on three things, not two:Quote:
Originally Posted by troopatroop
1) Discard
2) Reanimation
3) Fat Creature
So you should have some kind of balance of all three.
BTW, since we are on the subject, I've looked through Alara Reborn, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind looks like a good candidate for a Reanimator Deck. It's like having another Akroma (although not nearly as pretty):
http://www.wizards.com/magic/SphinxoftheSteelWind.jpg
cc 5WUB
Artifact Creature — Sphinx
Flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, protection from red and from green
6 / 6
Consider:
It has no protection from StP, bounce, or control magic. But there are very, very few creatures in the game with protection from Green, and this is the first large one (unless if you count Progenitus). It's safe from burn and from Goyf. Not to mention the other multiple abilities are pretty cool too. It may be worth having one in the main deck if you have library searching, or as a sideboard card.
Why would you want protection from the colors that don't play relevant removal? Not to mention, all of Reanimator's creatures eat Goyfs for breakfast on defense and usually have evasion on offense. Roughly as bad as Akroma imo, which is to say, nigh-unplayable.
That's why I said it might work better as a sideboard card. But even if your opponent isn't playing red or green, a 6/6 creature with Flying, first strike, vigilance, and lifelink is still one hell of a useful creature.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sun_Ra
Goyf often gets to 6/7, while many popular reanimation targets (such as Simic-Sky Swallower) are 6/6, creating a problem if you need to block it. Shroud doesn't help you in that situation. Of course, as with many other things, the choice here depends heavily on the meta environment.Quote:
Not to mention, all of Reanimator's creatures eat Goyfs for breakfast on defense and usually have evasion on offense. Roughly as bad as Akroma imo, which is to say, nigh-unplayable.
This card being good really depends on your matchups. If you play a lot of burn decks, this guy would be pretty good. They can't kill it and the lifelink will save your ass. It would also be good against R/G aggro and maybe red thresh. Other than that though, there aren't very many uses for it.
If you have a lot of those matchups though, go for it. Sideboard might not be too bad of an idea. There's just too much removal that this guy isn't protected from to make him feasible otherwise.
Even for just the lifelink there are better options: Phantom Nishoba and Windbrisk Raptor.
Ok, but he's got a hell of a lot more other abilities than those two cards.Quote:
Originally Posted by hyperchord24
Kills Tombstalker and every other flying bomb not named Akroma, as if the mirror match happens with this any more.
Pro-Green with flying and Vigilance makes it a new-age ultimate goyf-wall, keeping a Tarmogoyf from hitting while flying over it and smacking them for six each turn. Same with Terravore and KnightotR.
It's decently good, other than the lack of protection. Decent against Goblins (depending on what colors they are splashing), probably against Merfolk too, depending on the splash.
Pce,
--DC
I say he's still funcionally worse than Empyrial Archangel. Empyrial can do anything this guy can do with +3 defense, and also absorbs other creatures' attacks.
BTW:
Nice new layout, me likey.
You mean +2 defense don't you? The Archangel can absorb other creature attacks, but that's not always an advantage. If you take 8 damage in a turn, you will lose the Angel whether you wanted to or not. But lifelink on a creature with vigilance means that you can attack, gain life, and still defend next turn. The real offset is that the Archangel has shroud, and this thing doesn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by bowvamp
Has anyone used either Spirit of the Night or Thraximundar?
They both seem like kinda viable options, but I decided to ask first playtest later.
Spirit of the Night has pro-white, which is fantastic. I can't believe that I, raised on Mirage and Tempest, missed that.
On a related note; I really, really liked playing Solar Flare in Standard (and this is at a time when I hated playing blue). I've seen people discussing a controlling reanimator build in parts of this thread, but it didn't seem serious enough to me given the potential that's there.
I say this, of course, having not even tried such a thing. Has anyone tried this? (If so, should we keep it in here or start a new thread?)
Sorry pal, but the Spirit has Pro-Black. So he's a valid target for all those StP around.Quote:
Originally Posted by coraz86
I'm currently enjoying testing B/U Reanimator but have some interrogations 'bout my build :
B/U Shroudimator
// Lands
2x Island
4x Swamp
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
4x Underground Sea
// Fatties
4x Inkwell Leviathan
4x Empyrial Archangel
3x Simic Sky Swallower
// Discard effects
4x Putrid Imp
4x Careful Study
// Protection Spells
4x Force of Will
4x Thoughtseize (act as discard effect 9-12 if needed)
// Goodness
4x Brainstorm
// Reanimation Spells
3x Show and Tell (not graveyard//discard dependant, up the blue card count)
4x Exhume
4x Reanimate
// Sideboard
SB: 4x Defense Grid
SB: 4x Wipe Away
SB: 3x Duress
SB: 1x Hellkite Overlord
SB: 1x Bogardan Hellkite
SB: 1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
SB: 1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
The reanimation targets are for the aggro matchup
The FoW are stellar, but the fatties choice makes the deck a lot slower and I've had a lot of trouble winning the damage race vs some swarm aggro with a lone fatty.
After SB it improved slightly if I draw into the reanimations target boarded in but it's a bit random.
Moreover, I wonder if Intuition could find its way into the deck as a utility spell (3ofs + a land in replacement of Brainstorm). But it seems way too slow and GY dependant (i.e. if you Intuition for fatties) in current meta.
Thoughts ?!
Akroma, Angel of Wrath is slightly better than Spirit of the Night, IMHO. But both are pro-black, which means that you can't use Animate Dead on them.Quote:
Originally Posted by LegacyDan
Thraximundar's ability is interesting, but the problem is it lacks both evasion and shroud. It might be good in the sideboard against certain decks though.
List is nice @ lolosoon
Stick with Show and Tells instead of Intuition
Bogardan Hellkites for damage race
Functionally, Show and Tell isn't even comparable to Intuition. I don't understand. It should be in place of a Reanimation spell, not the card that tutors up your critters. It makes Intuition dually good as you get one in your hand for Show and Tell and 2 in your yard for reanimation.
Pce,
--DC
I hadn't even looked up Spirit of the Night. :p I haven't seen one in years, my bad.
I agree with D_C87; I like the list posted above, but I think it needs more consistency over the power. Especially since you're not running any Moxes or City of Traitors/Ancient Tomb, so Show and Tell isn't getting as much of a drop on your opponent as you'd probably like. Forgive me if I'm reiterating something that's already been discussed, but that looks like a decent slot for Daze (protect your reanimation or your threat, retain tempo, all the reasons it's in Team America).
I like the list of of lolosoon. But why do you play the shroud creatures? I mean you have FoW and Seize to protect your fattie.
3 Show and Tell is overkill though, You're better of with 1 Show and Tell and a number of Mystical Tutors to find it. It doesn't mess up your blue-count and it finds reanimation spells and the discard outlet...
Benie
Thank you all for the feedback.
@enemyofarsenic & Dark_Cynic87 : Show & Tell and Intuition serve indeed different purposes :
S&T : Discard + Reanimation 2-in-1
Intuition : Tutor + Discard 2-in-1
So, at the moment, the switch I thought of was Brainstorms for 2-3 Intuitions and 1-2 additionnal manaSources. But BS+Fetchlands is so godly I can't make that move easily.
But Benie had a good call on this :
Mystical Tutor : Stellar in ANT//TES searching for kill, engine, mana or protection. I can't believe I hadn't thought of it in a combo deck like Reanimator.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benie Bederios
Moreover, I agree 3 Show&Tells are somehow a liability : they can clog your hand, and even if I cast an "early" S&T (by turn 3), it might not have been the smarter choice cause I am sometimes unable to win the damage race vs a turn2 (attacking turn3) Goyf, + the one they put in with S&T.
But in Games2-3, their GY non-dependancy helps a lot, even if you don't dig into your SB cards (mainly Wipe Away).
Still, I must find rooms for the Mysticals. The 2-1 split with S&T (in favor of the Tutors) have to be tested, but looks fine on paper and could be the right decision.
About the Shrouded beasts + FoW and 'seize protection : The critters I run have Shroud, but mainly, they are blue and additionnal FoW fodder if utterly needed. Ok, I still have Thoughtseize vs countermagic, but they're no help vs a topdecked Wrath or a BWished Edict.
If I cut them for (arguably-) better reanimation targets like the Hellkites and Akroma, my blue card count will drop considerably (from 26 to a mere 15) and FoW backup for the key spell wouldn't occur that easily...
If you just want blue creatures for FoW, here are three others you can consider:Quote:
Originally Posted by lolosoon
Maelstrom Archangel (lets you cast any spell for free if it hits)
Sphinx of the Steel Wind (like another Akroma, see pic above)
Tidespout Tyrant - (Really a nightmare for counterspell decks if it gets on the table)