[Deck] Reanimator

I am Currently using the green splash in sb for Claims,Grips and Tranquil Domain and so far i have not been thrilled with the whole deck.
My manabase is 2 basics 4 Seas 1 Bayou 1 Trop 4 Delta 3Verdant 3Misty. 18 lands seem too high for the online meta even though Wasteland is huge stifle isnt atm. The SB is a mess, but i love my Null Rods was using 3 untill i saw LSV with a 2/2 Rod/Needle(out to macabre) split in the last daily, loved it.
1 Coffin Purge
1 Duress
1 Fleshbag Marauder(changed to Gilded Drake)
1 Krosan Grip
1 Massacre(cut for Needle)
1 Nature's Claim
3 Null Rod( cut 1 for Needle #2)
1 Perish
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Show and Tell
2 Spell Pierce
1 Tranquil Domain (only for Enchantress and maybe Leyline if lucky)

Main deck is standard filler ( 2 Sieze no ritual 6 dudes Tera over Emp Arch 1 SnT ). This was the list i top 8'd on the Legacy premier 4/18/10. Any help on the deck would be appreciated i am not to happy with the sb and mana base, Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't trust to much on LSV concerning his legacy choises.

That being said. Play with your sideboard a bit, try a mystical build or try a solid 4-off build or mix it all-together.
I'm still relying on my 4-off sideboard list with the following.

1x akroma,angel of wrath
4x extirpate
1x show and tell
1x krosan grip
2x Engineered explosives
3x nature's claim
1x extract

and offcourse I'm forgetting some cards. My sideboard changes per environment. If I except a lot of counterspells I'm bringing a full set of xantid swarm.

Also since you have a mystical SB now, take a look at the sideboards of Both 4eak and Christian Muller's GP winning SB-list and get some ideas from there.

Thanks for the prompt reply. I got the mana base from 4eak's list a few pages back and also took a few of A. Muller's sb list. Originaly i tried something like your sb of Epate and Explosive, liked the Pates, but was almost never happy to see Explosives. How have they been for you? What situations do you use them mostly?

I also don't use the list 4eak does, since I run an aggressive list. ( 4 petal, 4 study, 6 mofo's)
I run EE as a clear-up card right after I drop something, in against something like zoo.
I also used it a few times against chalices.
I used them again ETW tokens next to the single echoing truth.. ( mostly against belcher, I rarely see them otherwise)

I rarely use them besides those reasons, and I won't blame you for removing those cards from SB, since I do that as well and change them into xantid swarms. ( godly against merfolk)
( changes would be: -2 EE, -1 claim,-1 extirpate, +4 xantid swarm)
I brought my EE's for GP Madrid since I expected some zoo, I only played against it once and EE wasn't needed there.

I see the EE as the least useful card of my SB, and if there will be changes it'll the one of the first cards to go.

If you run 4 ponder, 1 study and 4 brainstorm, you can safely cut 1-2 lands. ( which would be to your own preference, but the risks should be considered)

About enchantress, you don't need tranquil domain, you win before that. Also that card is used against counterbalance as well, since 4cmc is a bit harder to hit for that deck than the 2 mana bounce. ( nowadays with elspeth and jace, the guess could be there)

Just started playing this deck and I was hoping you guys could hook me up with some suggestions on sideboarding and on what card to cut to get my list down to 60 cards.

I know what cards to side in for certain matchups. What I can't figure out is what cards I should be siding out to make room for the cards being sided out, without hurting my deck's ability to combo out.

For reference, here is my decklist, I'm open to any suggestions regarding my list that you have...

Maindeck (61 Cards!)

10 Fetchlands
4 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
1 Island

4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Mystical Tutor
1 Dark Ritual
1 Echoing Truth

4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume

4 Thoughtseize
4 Daze
4 Force of Will

2 Iona
2 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrical Archangel
1 Sphinx

Sideboard (14 Cards!)

3 Tormod's Crypt (Vs. Lands, Mirror, Ichorid etc)
3 Tombstalker (Vs. Aggro I guess)
2 Spell Pierce (Vs. Wrath of God, Damnation, Disk, Stax & Countermagic heavy decks I guess)
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath (Subs in for Sphinx vs decks playing Black based Removal or Vampire Nighthawk)
1 Misdirection (Vs. Decks with lots of countermagic, acts as the 5th FoW)
1 Extripate (Vs. Life of the Loam)
1 Perish (Vs. Iona, Zoo, Bant, Elves etc)
1 Chain of Vapor (Vs. Leyline)
1 Show and Tell (Vs. Countertop)
1 Whatever card I cut from the maindeck to get down to 60 cards.


I typed up the cards and the matchups where I think the cards are most relevent, please correct me if I'm wrong about anything. I'm also open to scrapping cards from my sideboard if you guys have suggestions on cards that I should be sideboarding instead.

Also, please give me suggestions on what cards should I cut from the maindeck when siding in cards.


Yes that list is 61 cards. I for the life of me can't figure out which card to cut. I know everyone is going to say that I should cut a Thoughtseize or the 7th creature. But I love playing 7 creatures so that I can frequently use Careful Study or Thoughtseize to discard my creatures and Reanimate them that same turn instead of being wholly dependent on cantripping into or tutoring up Entomb...

And I love Thoughtseize. It lets me see my opponents hand, take out their one FoW or Daze or StP or Counterbalance and tells me what creature to Entomb into the yard to seal the game. It lets me discard the Inkwell Leviathan or Iona I drew so that I could Reanimate or Exhume it, essentially serving the exact same role as Entomb. And it even lets me make my opponent discard a Tarmogoyf or Rhox War Monk so that I can Reanimate it over to my side of the battlefield and buy time.

Dark Ritual has also saved me countless times (letting me combo off when I am stuck at one land only, or combo off one turn early, and with Daze protection). Likewise, Echoing Truth has come in handy sometimes, esp vs. the mirror matchup's Blazing Archon, so I'm hesistant to cut either card.

Interesting list. Why would you play Circular Logic when you have no discard outlets? Its just an overcosted counter when you could be playing Spell Pierce, Spell Snare, etc.

I'd cut the 2nd Inkwell. Do you really want a 2nd one? It has shroud. If you lose it to Innocent Blood or something, then you're probably doing it wrong (besides, Iona technically has shroud, and so does Archangel).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain Hammer

I can frequently use Circular Logic or Thoughtseize to discard my creatures

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This is not how circular logic works. Otherwise, if you sub in FoWS for them, it looks like any other reanimator list.

Lol, sorry, I meant Careful Study, not Circular Logic. It wasn't some uber secret tech, I swear. I updated my post to correct this mistake.

I am wary of going down to 6 creatures as I frequently use Careful Study and Thoughtseize to get them into the yard, and Reanimating them, rather than having to cantrip like crazy to find Entomb. But I'll consider cutting the 2nd Inkwell like you suggested. Thank you.

If I cut the 2nd Inkwell, should I play it in the sideboard? Should I instead side an Akroma, Angel of Fury (like Inkwell, it's great against Bant since it is StP proof and Sower of Temptation/Echoing Truth proof.)

Or should I play some other card as the 15th sideboard card? Maybe play a basic Island against Wasteland decks. Any suggestions.

Thank you so much once again.

I would either cut Empyrial Archangel or Thoughtseize. Archangel hasn't been carrying it's weight for me lately. Do we really need more than 2 shroud guys?.

I've been using 3x Thoughtseize main for some time now and rarely find myself lacking in disruption. The 4th is in the board.

If you ever suspect alot of the mirror, consider Coffin Purge for the board.

I guess i could cut the Tranquil Domain(we do not have reverent Silence Online yet) as it only comes in vs Enchantress and Leyline/Planar. They are only semi useful vs Solitaire by clearing away any Words of War/Wind and Elephant Grass.

dont know if any of you missed it, but lsv's posted one of his modo playthroughs with reanimator on c-f

I was watching Luis Scott Vargas' videos on his deck, and I noticed he had a single Animate Dead in his sideboard for matchups like Zoo where you don't want to use Reanimate or Exhume. I'm wondering what purpose this serves. It seems to me it doesn't really help enough in the bad matchups to really warrant a sideboard slot, and it's not exactly tutorable either.

Is Animate Dead generally not a spell that most B/U builds would include?

I really don't like Animate dead against a deck packing Qasali Pridemage.

I don't like using singletons that can't be tutored (Mystical Tutor/Entomb/Fetch). If you want to play animate dead for a metagame reason (or basically any non-creature permanent), you should play multiples of them to ensure that you can consistently get them.



peace,
4eak

After watching LSV pilot BU reanimator on C-F I really appreciate his ability more.

Regarding the mulliganing though: Really? I mean REALLY? Is that how you guys mulligan when you play 4 careful study and 6/7 fatties?
It also seemed like some of the games he won he did without protection and in really bad shape.

He won the tournament and all, but a 2 card mulligan and then a win...really?

He also made me appreciate Terastodon a buttload more, besides its like a dinosaur (OK, its technically an elephant but it wants to be a dinosaur) :)

What do you guys make of his experiences? Typical, non-typical?

I still really like Terastodon, and play it MD. He can deal with (virtually) any problem permanent, and against decks like goblins just nuking all your lands to give you a wall of blockers on turn 3 is very strong - as well as protecting you from a tutored up warren wierding. There is always a risk in going all in, but the risks are fairly low here. My list is a little slower than most (no accellerant, and playing ponder) which gives me consisency, but more chance of a problem permanent turning up - so this analysis may be less relevant for faster lists.

Well, I played six rounds with Reanimator at a tourney yesterday and I have to say, I'm appalled by horribly inconsistent the deck is. I never expected this but there were far too many hands where the deck didn't have right cards to combo off. And in addition, it was terribly dependent on Entomb, leading to severe problems in any matchup where the opponent was smart enough to make you discard or counter Entomb.

The one plus the whole night was Tombstalker. Every single matchup where I boarded them in, they have been insanely useful, and actually, they made the deck as a whole a lot more consistent. By the end of round 2, I found myself boarding them against most every matchup.

I think the deck needs to play Intuition and maybe even maindeck Tombstalker to beef up its consistency. Intuition is an instant speed buried alive that doubles as a tutor for Exhume or even Force of Will in a pinch. If you're absolutely desperate for an Echoing Truth and don't mind waiting a few turns, you can even tutor up Mystical Tutor and use that to get you an Echoing Truth.

Here is my proposed decklist, what do you guys think?

10 Fetchlands
4 Underground Sea
1 Swamp
2 Island
3 Dark Ritual*

4 Brainstorm
4 Mystical Tutor
3 Intuition
1 Careful Study
1 Echoing Truth

4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume

2 Thoughtseize
3 Daze
4 Force of Will

3 Tombstalker
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Blazing Archon

Temporarily, I am trying Dark Ritual as a 3 of to make the deck a little more broken, but I may go back down to a single Dark Ritual and play the 4th Daze and the 3rd Thoughtseize, or perhaps just play 2 Ponder in it's place.

As crazy as it sounds, I'm also considering cutting the 4th Reanimate, and making room for 3 Animate Dead in the deck because the lifeloss from Reanimate has screwed me over a number of games and it feels like you can never have too many Reanimate effects in hand. So here's the proposed alternate list...

10 Fetchlands
4 Underground Sea
2 Swamp
1 Island
1 Dark Ritual

4 Brainstorm
4 Mystical Tutor
3 Intuition
1 Careful Study
1 Echoing Truth

4 Entomb
4 Exhume
3 Reanimate
3 Animate Dead

2 Thoughtseize
3 Daze
4 Force of Will

3 Tombstalker
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Blazing Archon

This list ups the number of Reanimate effects to 10 (while minimizing the lifeloss from Reanimate). And it also has 10 ways to get a creature into the yard (You can get a creature into the yard by Entombing it, Intuitioning it, or drawing one of the three Reanimate worthy creatures yourself and discarding them by either abusing the discard step, or by Careful Studying or Thoughtseizing yourself). In addition, it plays 7 tutors that can grab you a Reanimate effect, an Entomb effect, or even a Force of Will in a pinch. And lastly, you have Tombstalkers which can easily be hardcast in a pinch. This all brings your consistency up through the roof.

One of the huuuge strengths of this deck is its consistency. If you are finding it inconsistent, you're probably not mulliganing correctly.

If anyone is coming to the Atlanta 5k, expect Reanimator in droves. Thanks LSV.

Nope, I'm mulliganing well. There were four different B/U Reanimator players at the tourney. Every last one of us got slaughtered. It was a bloodbath.

I always mulled into a hand with a way to get both combo pieces, or atleast one combo piece if I was desperate. It would go well until the Entomb gets countered, or discarded, then the deck would take an eternity to put the combo back together. I posted the list I played up above (the one with 4 Daze, 4 Thoughtseize and 4 FoW) and it still wasn't enough. Thoughtseize however was insanely useful the whole night, it just wasn't enough. I talked to a couple of them between rounds and after the tourney. I thought maybe there was too much hate for the deck here. But everyone I talked to talked about how they lost frequently to themselves, having their decks fall apart to a tiny bit of hate or disrupton.

But maybe you're right, and it was just a bad night and bad luck but the deck usually performs better. I really do think playing Intuition would makee the deck immensely more consistent however.

Reanimator is everywhere these days, spreading through the community like the Chimera, every meta has tons of reanimator decks it feels like. And yet, the deck hasn't been putting up nearly as many top 4s as a deck that's played this frequently should imo. Intuition does help in this respect.

@ Captain Hammer: I agree with whienot - the deck is usually very consistent, so you may not be mulliganing right. I note that your list is only 16 lands, and one dark ritual, which seems a bit light given that you're not playing any other search like ponder (which I love, although I know that others are less keen on). Finally are you playing careful study correctly? I initially was lacking consistency until someone way up the thread pointed out that you should think hard before playing any land after your second, as your curve is so low. Instead they can be kept in hand to ensure that you can dig with the study for (relative) value?

I have to admit,

I'm far from impressed by LSV's playstyle.
His sideboard is clunky, his mainboard is nothing abnormal.
It's somewhat of a mixture between my list and 4eak's

The games he played online, weren't topclass reanimate playskills. It was actually a bit messy once in a while.
I'd also rather discuss those awkward choises in person, but heck, I don't know him and seen him once in Madrid. ( and you know how that adventure ended for him)

Example: match vs canadian *****. He could have expected canadian ***** next to the diversity of BANT decks around. He didn't, if he had a land less in hand, it could've been game over for that match.

Also taking wipe away instead of fire/ice is a doubtfull choise. I can imagine him wanting to do that, but you give the opponent 2 additional draws that way.
He already had acces to inkwell leviathan and an entomb to hit empyrial archangel.
If he kept attacking with the empyrial and the inkwell the turn before that, he would've easily won as well since the nimble's were far from 3/3.