[Deck]BUx Reanimator

Grats on that 2nd place, there was also a Reanimator that got 15th place, time for an update to the main post to add some names!!!

Update June-24th-2013 noted & added to list.

SCG Philadelphia, 220 players:
2nd place - Seth Zulinski http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=56757
15th place - Gil Medeiros http://sales.starcitygames.com//deck...p?DeckID=56766

-edit- Actually Seth's name was on here last time too, so it's actually, adding 1 name, & keeping the previous, grats on the double top 16+ placing, in a row!

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Originally Posted by elof

Has anyone considerd Sire of Insanity?
6/4, 4BR, At the beginning of each end step, each player discards his or her hand.

If it is possible to animate this early I think most players straight up lose to it. Of course it's bad against Swords and mid/late-game but it's still a very powerful effect against anything non-dredge.

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I agree that the effect seems good, but I'd still go with Jin as it draws you cards which is absurdly good. I still keep one singleton Jin in the 75 as it's just such a beating for combo decks. Especially preboard most Decks cant handle him all to well... My creatures are: 3 Griselbrand, 1 Jin-Gitaxias, 1 Tidespout Tyrant, 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria, 1 Blazing Archon. My metagame consists of various stuff, mostly Sneak&Show, control builds and some random stuff. The idea is to race aggro with Griselbrand, handle combo with him, Jin and Iona and use Tidespout Tyrant to beat Karakas. The sideboard only packs an Inkwell Leviathan for control matchups and is interchanged with the Jin to have two non-legendaries and still remain the blue count for FoW. It's also a lot better at racing.

I like Gil's combination of Petals and Daze alot. Seeing as to how one of the greatest strengths of reanimating Griselbrand is being able to draw in response to a threat and find an answer, more counters to dig for is quite nice, especially if we can retain the petals for explosiveness. I'm running a similar build

Sorcery (18)
4x Careful Study
4x Exhume
4x Ponder
4x Reanimate
2x Thoughtseize
Instant (15)
4x Brainstorm
3x Daze
4x Entomb
4x Force of Will
Creature (7)
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3x Griselbrand
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Tidespout Tyrant
Enchantment (1)
1x Animate Dead
Land (15)
1x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
2x Swamp
4x Underground Sea
Artifact (4)
4x Lotus Petal

Although I do like -3 Daze, +2 Show and Tell, +1 Thoughtseize alot as well.


Still can't figure out if I want to run Jin Gitaxias in my main deck yet.

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Originally Posted by roflwaffles

Still can't figure out if I want to run Jin Gitaxias in my main deck yet.

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Personally I wouldn't. Griselbrand has completely made this guy obsolete in the "draw bunches of cards" category, and the odds of a 5/4 living through both your turn and theirs is currently....I don't have a number. But low. Really, really low.

He seems good against combo, but sometimes you CAN brick on force in your top 7. Griselbrand's on demand draw lets you use your proactive pieces like Thoughtseize and/or any Duress you run, or go deep again if you whiff on Force in your first iteration. Typically all I ever want against storm and the like is Griselbrand and Iona in orders that vary game to game. Jin is a one man KO if he sticks, but the window to (do something/murder your face in) he leaves them is actually larger than something like Griselbrand or Iona would give them.

that list seems familiar,

anyways grats on the finish.
Been ages for me since I last checked the forum, can't remember if this has been DTB for long or not.

I'm a fan of lotus petals in reanimate, give the burst of speed the deck needed ever since entomb got unbanned.

First: Thanks Feline for the primer! It's about time this got modernized:) I am resleeving this beast for some local testing as it was one of my favorite decks all time. Question about the sideboard. Has the two City of Traitors in the board become obsolete? These new versions seem more in on SnT than ever before, why not the Cities? I run 16 land main and 4 petals in my build and just came off a SnT binge where I really liked the sol lands. Thanks in advance!
defector

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Originally Posted by defector

First: Thanks Feline for the primer! It's about time this got modernized:) I am resleeving this beast for some local testing as it was one of my favorite decks all time. Question about the sideboard. Has the two City of Traitors in the board become obsolete? These new versions seem more in on SnT than ever before, why not the Cities? I run 16 land main and 4 petals in my build and just came off a SnT binge where I really liked the sol lands. Thanks in advance!
defector

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Show and Tell is easily the worst way of cheating a big dumb idiot into play that's available to you, since the other guy gets to play too and you don't get to pick and choose which monster to get. Sol lands help with SnT, but a) they don't really cast anything else and b) we aren't any more "on SnT" than previously. Deathrite really isn't that bad. Promise.

That said, there's probably a UB Sol Land build that could main 4 SnT and run powerful things like Intuition and/or Buried Alive ala Sneak and Show. What the rest of the deck might look like from there, dunno.

Just a couple questions guys:

What are your guys' thoughts on running a Sphinx of the Steel Wind in place of the fourth Griselbrand? Sphinx is definitely a weaker first reanimation target but he seems like one of the stronger ones to resolve after Griselbrand gets into play, especially with vigilance and lifelink protecting your life total.

Is Tidespout Tyrant considered universally stronger than Angel of Despair in the "dealing with permanents" business?

Has anyone tried Sheoldred, Whispering One in the SB so we don't lose to Show and Tell -> Emrakul or is that too narrow of a use to include?

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Originally Posted by roflwaffles

Just a couple questions guys:

What are your guys' thoughts on running a Sphinx of the Steel Wind in place of the fourth Griselbrand? Sphinx is definitely a weaker first reanimation target but he seems like one of the stronger ones to resolve after Griselbrand gets into play, especially with vigilance and lifelink protecting your life total.

Is Tidespout Tyrant considered universally stronger than Angel of Despair in the "dealing with permanents" business?

Has anyone tried Sheoldred, Whispering One in the SB so we don't lose to Show and Tell -> Emrakul or is that too narrow of a use to include?

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If you need help after sticking a Griselbrand, you're probably against Maverick, in which case you're probably dead. Even in the event something happens to Big G, I'd rather just have another one than a Sphinx. Tried him in the board lately and found the card just never did anything I wanted it to do or couldn't already do better.

Tyrant does work, often giving me game against some of the fringe decks and cards like 12 Post and Ensnaring Bridge. Angel can handle a first bridge, but can't stop 12 post, can't render opposing big dumb idiots like Emrakul useless by holding Brainstorms, and is generally a Tidespout that only gets to activate once since the difference between "in hand" and "destroyed" is next to negligible - if it isn't in play, it doesn't matter. Tidespout is also your slim, SLIM game one hope against Maverick, which boils down to "make a tidespout, hope they don't have swords, bounce Maze of Ith a lot".

Personally, I'd rather have Tidespout or Angel against Show and Tell -> Emrakul decks, as for whatever reason they treat us like the mirror and usually never actually cast Show and Tell, instead falling back on Sneak Attack and Through the Breach. Sheoldred helps in neither of these cases. I find fighting their red half with Pithing Needle, Blue Elemental Blast, and Flusterstorms for their Flusterstorms typically works better than fighting the Show and Tell they never cast unless they're just on the stone cold nuts.


If anyone's interested, I also have a brief experiential kind of thing about SCGPHilly here: http://ecmclassics.com/?p=746. I plan on going deeper into the deck sometime this week, though most of this thread probably knows a lot of what I'm going to find and flesh out.

Hope this helps, waffles!

Thanks for the quick reply! It somehow escaped my head that Tyrant and Angel can deal with Emrakul lol (I just got back into the game after not playing seriously since 2004).

Wouldn't Sphinx be quite effective vs Maverick? Protection from green handles their big threats like Knight of the Reliquary while not being beaten by Karakas. Then again, I suppose Maze of Ith and Mother of Runes + Scryb Ranger/Aven Mindcensor handles him well as well. If Sphinx isn't worth it then I think Seth's list is the optimal list right now.

Overall the deck feels incredible, 10x stronger than it was when I piloted it 10 years ago with Putrid Imps + Akroma/Verdant Force/Spirit of the Night lol.

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Originally Posted by roflwaffles

Thanks for the quick reply! It somehow escaped my head that Tyrant and Angel can deal with Emrakul lol (I just got back into the game after not playing seriously since 2004).

Wouldn't Sphinx be quite effective vs Maverick? Protection from green handles their big threats like Knight of the Reliquary while not being beaten by Karakas. Then again, I suppose Maze of Ith and Mother of Runes + Scryb Ranger/Aven Mindcensor handles him well as well. If Sphinx isn't worth it then I think Seth's list is the optimal list right now.

Overall the deck feels incredible, 10x stronger than it was when I piloted it 10 years ago with Putrid Imps + Akroma/Verdant Force/Spirit of the Night lol.

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They usually have between 4-5 StP effects on top of all that, is the problem. I mean, you can have first turn Sphinx in play to beat Deathrite, Force to beat Swords, and then they're still going to get you with Maze. If I'm going the "please god dont have StP" or "I have force of will" route, Tyrant is a turn slower in terms of killing them, but more effective as you can usually keep them from doing absolutely anything until they can resolve a Swords to Plowshares. I'm working on this matchup currently, as its abominable for me so far, but even here Sphinx doesn't do much since he's not Pro:White.

Hi to all, I'm planning to play this deck in a small tournament tomorrow. The last time that I cast an entomb mental misstep was still legal so I'm asking for your advice since I don't have time for testing ^_^

The starting list is basically Worldslayer's with a few changes

4 lotus petal
3 griselbrand
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 iona, shield of emeria
1 tidespout tyrant
1 elesh norn, grand cenobite
1 animate dead
4 entomb
4 brainstorm
4 force of will
4 underground sea
2 island
2 swamp
4 polluted delta
3 misty rainforest
4 reanimate
4 exhume
4 careful study
2 thoughtseize
4 ponder
1 personal tutor
2 show and tell

Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
1 Inkwell Leviathan
or
Empyrial Archangel
1 blazing archon
1 terastodon
2 Flusterstorm
2 Misdirection
1 echoing truth
1 Wipe Away
2 Crippling Fatigue
2 Show and Tell


A few goldfishes have convinced me that 15 lands are enough and that petals fits well in because they give the deck the speed it needs (remember that the creatures you put into play lose value over time) and have a nice interaction with tidespout.

However I'm kinda clueless to how sideboarding because I have difficulties in finding what to side out: can you give me some advice on how to sideboard against the most common decks?

Another thing that bothers me is the maverick matchup because it has all the tools to hinder our plan: grave hate, 1cc exile removal, enchantment/artifact removal and some lists even discard, and on top of that they have a clock too. Maybe Empyrial Archangel can be of use since it doesn't die to removal nor to maze of ith and stops their aggro, but the matchup feel tough.

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Originally Posted by kingtk3

Hi to all, I'm planning to play this deck in a small tournament tomorrow. The last time that I cast an entomb mental misstep was still legal so I'm asking for your advice since I don't have time for testing ^_^

The starting list is basically Worldslayer's with a few changes

4 lotus petal
3 griselbrand
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 iona, shield of emeria
1 tidespout tyrant
1 elesh norn, grand cenobite
1 animate dead
4 entomb
4 brainstorm
4 force of will
4 underground sea
2 island
2 swamp
4 polluted delta
3 misty rainforest
4 reanimate
4 exhume
4 careful study
2 thoughtseize
4 ponder
1 personal tutor
2 show and tell

Sideboard
2 Pithing Needle
1 Inkwell Leviathan
or
Empyrial Archangel
1 blazing archon
1 terastodon
2 Flusterstorm
2 Misdirection
1 echoing truth
1 Wipe Away
2 Crippling Fatigue
2 Show and Tell


A few goldfishes have convinced me that 15 lands are enough and that petals fits well in because they give the deck the speed it needs (remember that the creatures you put into play lose value over time) and have a nice interaction with tidespout.

However I'm kinda clueless to how sideboarding because I have difficulties in finding what to side out: can you give me some advice on how to sideboard against the most common decks?

Another thing that bothers me is the maverick matchup because it has all the tools to hinder our plan: grave hate, 1cc exile removal, enchantment/artifact removal and some lists even discard, and on top of that they have a clock too. Maybe Empyrial Archangel can be of use since it doesn't die to removal nor to maze of ith and stops their aggro, but the matchup feel tough.

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About sideboarding. Just ask. I think I've played nearly every possible match-up more than once and have had my share of high finishes. Also you got an entire board to help out.

Just ask about specific match-ups. Because otherwise there's going to be a massive wall of text. Tbh I don't rrally like your sideboard. But I'll explain when I am not on my phone and gone from my work.

kingtk3, Griselbrand > Jin-Gitaxias so I'd recommend it as 4-of. +14 at instant speed is good against combo, or are you expecting alot of GriselB mirror?

To those SBing 2x Crippling Fatigue nowadays, how is it better than Chain of Vapor as a catch-all and Submerge?

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Originally Posted by practical joke

About sideboarding. Just ask. I think I've played nearly every possible match-up more than once and have had my share of high finishes. Also you got an entire board to help out.

Just ask about specific match-ups. Because otherwise there's going to be a massive wall of text. Tbh I don't rrally like your sideboard. But I'll explain when I am not on my phone and gone from my work.

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Thank you for your interest. As I've said it's almost 2 years since I've played reanimator so the side may be "off target". How do your side look like?

I'm interested in how to side against Canadian RUG, Maverick (with deathrite) and stoneblade, but more in general I would like to know how many cards this deck can afford to side out before diluting the strategy too much.

Thank you again for your help!

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Originally Posted by death

kingtk3, Griselbrand > Jin-Gitaxias so I'd recommend it as 4-of. +14 at instant speed is good against combo, or are you expecting alot of GriselB mirror?

To those SBing 2x Crippling Fatigue nowadays, how is it better than Chain of Vapor as a catch-all and Submerge?

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I agree that Griselbrand is better the Jin, but there may be cases in which it's not possible to pay life for draw cards, though it may be a fringe case. Chain of vapor and Submerge are better cards than crippling fatigue, but the latter can be tutored with entomb and kills thalia and deathrite.

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Originally Posted by death

To those SBing 2x Crippling Fatigue nowadays, how is it better than Chain of Vapor as a catch-all and Submerge?

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The Fatigues were in there specifically for older iterations of Esper Deathblade, as it basically removed any and all pressure or board position they could muster and gave you almost limitless time to do something relevant. With their recent change in focus to Geist of St. Traft, it's a card I'd run at most one of. Currently I'm not planning on playing any at Worcester.

Please stop playing Elesh Norn, she's seriously bad. Play Iona naming Blue instead, we all know Blue is the best color in the game.

Sincerely, Elves.

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Originally Posted by Zombie

Please stop playing Elesh Norn, she's seriously bad. Play Iona naming Blue instead, we all know Blue is the best color in the game.

Sincerely, Elves.

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wut...

I can't remember ever casting elesh norn against elves, seemed to be overkill.

On another note, decent sideboards cards for petal reanimate lists:

Nature's claim,
Divert,
generic GY hate,
Chain of vapor,
echoing truth,
abrupt decay,
xantid swarm,
spell pierce,
more generic discard,
more silver bullets.

I'm not saying these are all the cards that are good for the deck, but I rather avoid Show and Tells added in my sideboard due to the 3 mana cost, I'd rather rely on the maincards and the speed of the deck while bursting through hate. I've never been really affraid of gy hate in general.
I'm not saying it's a bad sideboard card, I just prefer NOT to play it.

I'm also quite oldschool with my favorite creatures though, but that could be because I haven't played this deck on a tournament for quite a few years. I still have had a lot of practise with the deck and a lot matches played. just not on tournaments, which I've skipped a lot, but slowly going to pick up on those as well.

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Originally Posted by Zombie

Please stop playing Elesh Norn, she's seriously bad. Play Iona naming Blue instead, we all know Blue is the best color in the game.

Sincerely, Elves.

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Hahaha, I'll have to remember :wink:

I've played in my lgs a couple of days ago, there were 20 people. My list was this with empyrial archangel in side.
Here's a mini report:

Round 1 vs Death and Taxes:
G1 - griselbrand on turn 1 with petal + study + reanimate. He didn't find an out in time.
G2 - Griselbrand on turn 2 follwed by needle on karakas, needle on mangara and elesh norn.
Side -1 Jin +1 empyrial
1 - 0

Round 2 vs jund
G1 - jin on turn 2 with counter for the spell he'll play on his turn.
G2 - Gris on turn 2 but he plays liliana on the following turn and already has a goyf in play. I risk drawing 7 cards looking for a fow, didn't find any and goyf kiils me.
G3 - Griselbrand on turn 2 via show and tell
Side -1 reanimate, -1 animate dead, -1 carfeul study, -2 duress, +2 show and tell, +3 pithing needle (for deathrite)
2 - 0

Round 3 vs elves
G1 - griselbrand on turn 2, too fast for him as I already have some disruption
G2 - not knowing his list (he didn't play deathrite nor bayou before) I side only the crippling fatigues. He plays deathrite on turn 1 and ooze on turn 2. I manage to kiil the ooze but didn't find anymore action before he kills me slowly.
G3 - Here I make 2 BIG errors. First of all I fetch Griselbrand with entomb while I should have choose Elesh or Iona since he had only a deathrite in play and there was a needle naming it. Second when I exhume Griselbrand I pass the turn while I should have immediately draw 7 cards since I had S&T in hand. I lost because next turn he plays glimpse and in my 7 there wasn't fow but Iona... lesson learned
Side -1 reanimate, -1 animate dead, -1 carfeul study, -2 duress, -1 Jin, +2 show and tell, +3 pithing needle (for deathrite), +1 blazing archon
2 - 1

Round 4 vs high tide
G1 - My first 7 where fow, 2 lands, entomb and 3 cantrips. This game was very long, my entomb gets double countered and I played a total of 8 cantrips (reshuffling after each brainstorm) without finding any action. I concede after the second spiral.
G2 - first turn carefull discarding jin, second turn duress + reanimate with counter backup.
G3 - I entomb at the end of his second turn and he counters. In my main I play a second entomb which he tries to counter but I have misdirection for backup. I fetch Iona and reanimate her.
Side -1 tidespout, -1 elesh, -2 show and tell, +2 misdirection, +2 flusterstorm
3 - 1

Round 5 vs UWr tempo
ID
3 - 1 - 1

Top 8
Quarterfinals vs WBg rockstyle
G1 - I exhum Jin on second turn while he has a confidant in play. On his turn he tries to stp Jin but I have Fow. Griselbrand follows two turns after.
G2 - I have a God hand: petal, underground sea, reanimate, entomb, fow, ponder, needle. He thoughtseize me on turn 1 but I fow; on my turn I draw a land and play entomb -> iona the reanimate her naming white. On his second turn He didn't play anything and on my turn I play needle blind-naming liliana.
Side -1 reanimate, -1 animate dead, -1 carfeul study, -2 duress, +2 show and tell, +3 pithing needle

Semifinals vs Jund
G1 - He win the roll and play first turn deathrite. On my turn I play duress: he has liliana, deathrite, 2 hymns and a land. I discard liliana and make a consideration on how hymn is terrible against reanimator since it put creatures in the grave speeding my clock. He seems to agree since he plays the second shaman leaving G open. In my second turn I play land, petal, S&T -> griselbrand :tongue:
G2 - I didn't find action soon and at some point he has 3 shaman and 2 confidant in play and a surgical in hand. I have in play a needle naming shaman and I'm at 6 with griselbrand and elesh in the grave; I brainstorm seeing an exhume and play it. He wisely choose to remove elesh so I get griselbrand in play. On his turn he reveals broodbraid elf and something else, putting him at 13. The elf reveals a thoughtseize and he doesn't attack. I attack, now I'm at 13 and he's at 6. On his turn he reveals liliana and pulse. I was very lucky this time :smile:
Side -1 reanimate, -1 animate dead, -1 carfeul study, -2 duress, +2 show and tell, +3 pithing needle

Finals vs Waterfall (a friend of mine playing my deck)
We split and go home with a fow and an altered jace

The deck felt strong and my loss against elves was my mistake. I echo Worldslayer's words: deathrite it's not a big problem and we have tools in side to fight it. The side worked except for the crippling fatigues which were too slow, I maybe replace them with massacre or some other bounce and a counter.