Originally Posted by practical joke
@ Mystical Tutor
I opted to run the 4th Ponder over Mystical tutor because I wanted to have smoother draws in the early game. I was anticipating a lot of tempo decks like Merfolk (and there was a lot there, I happened to avoid them) and having the additional draw spell is huge because it ensures me I can make land drops and still find answers. I was very happy with the configuration I had, but odds are the 4th Mystical Tutor will likely find its way back into the deck.
@ Sundering Titan
The posts above me handled that question. I wanted Titan as an option for control and aggro-control where keeping them off resources is important. I only used it once all day (and would've won the game from it but the guy had 2 Swords to Plowshares ready) but I didn't have many opportunities to take advantage of him, as people kept fetchlands in play, had too many nonbasic (Wasteland, Factory, etc) lands that I couldn't hit, or they only had 1-2 lands in play and it'd be weaker than getting Iona. It's generally more of a turn 3+ target as it can essentially geddon in those control matchups, but the chance just never arose for me. I like it a lot though and in the right matchups it's huge.
@ The Meekstone round 2, game 3.
I clearly mention that I FoW'd it:
Originally Posted by Di
@ Walking into graveyard hate:
The Bojuka Bog play happened during game 1. That certainly isn't expected. I cast Entomb the previous turn in response to a Thoughtseize, and didn't have an animate spell in my hand (but had one on top of my deck after using Ponder). On his second turn he played Bog for his land drop and caught me off guard. The other time I walked into graveyard hate was round 2 game 2. He mulliganed to 4 and didn't open with Relic. I played Entomb on my first endstep with cantrips in hand, and had Exhume sitting on top of my deck ready to be cast turn 3. He had a single-turn window to draw an answer and he drew the Relic. In both cases it wasn't really my fault as I didn't make any play mistakes, so don't insinuate this "shouldn't happen" as it was merely an issue of luck. Unfortunate, but it happens.
@ Hardly calculating the number of counters in opponent's hand:
This is not an issue of trying to guess the opponent's hand, but this specifically derives from my playstyle of the deck. I play this deck very aggressively and will continuously run things out as quick as possible. Reanimator's biggest weakness is giving the opponent time, so I play the deck at a pace that attempts to cut them off from it. It's possible I'll walk into a Daze or Force of Will, but waiting a turn or so before going off is generally more costly than attempting to go off immediately due to the speed of the format and the nature of other aggressive decks. I have no issues testing the strength of the opponent's hand by running out business spells, because the deck will either A. resolve the spell and prove the opponent has a weak hand, or B. the spell will get countered. In the first scenario you generally just win the game, but if the second happens I'm not as worried anyway because I'm confident enough that the deck will find answers quickly and go off again.
I won't claim ignorance on the luck element; I'm well aware that I had some good luck throughout the day and that it plays a role. However, there were 5-6 other Reanimator players at the event and I watched a few of them closely. I witnessed at least 3-4 games that were likely lost based on sideboarding alone. Players not fully understanding this deck's sideboarding strategies in difficult matchups is far too costly because this deck sees too much hate to not already put it at a disadvantage. If you don't know the deck well enough then you can't possibly win with it because you'll just get hit with not being able to properly handle post-board scenarios.Originally Posted by naarou
I only saw one opponent use Faerie Macabre, and I lost a game to it. I'm not sure if other players brought it in against me because I never saw it. However, I boarded under the impression I could see it in any given matchup so 2+ Thoughtseize came in every round. I will admit though that blue decks running Faerie Macabre are incredibly difficult to handle. I haven't come across this yet, but I imagine a Merfolk player running them is arguably the toughest matchup for the deck.
Originally Posted by 4eak
The Titan comments are above. But to reiterate, I like Titan for control matchups where cutting them off of resources is sometimes better than cutting them off from playing a certain color or something. It's certainly a situational creature, but it's been very strong for me in a number of matchups that something like Iona wouldn't. A good example of this is against a deck like Bant. Many lists are beginning to run multi-colored sources of removal, be it a bounce spell or Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Granted, Titan is vulnerable to removal, but cutting them off of all their lands can go a long way as decks like that are generally capable of racing an Iona or Inkwell, especially if you use Reanimate or if they have a Goyf or War Monk prior to you getting the creature in play.
The 3 Mystical Tutors question was also answered above in the beginning of this post.
The lack of maindeck Thoughtseize is likely the largest difference between this list and other standard lists. As I mentioned above, I have a very distinct playstyle with Reanimator, and as such I have a build that caters to that. I run an additional cantrip (Ponder) where most decks don't in favor of Thoughtseize, because I'm looking to combo as fast as I can and as consistently as I can every game, or at least game 1. The pace I play game 1 is so aggressive I feel Thoughtseize is almost too slow for my maindeck. I want to spend turn 1 playing either a cantrip, Entomb, Mystical Tutor, or Careful Study, and put a creature into play turn 2. If I get hit with disruption it happens, but I still have Daze and Force of Will myself. I feel the consistency I have with Ponder outweighs the loss of maindeck Thoughtseize because I don't have to worry about hate the first game regardless, which at that point Reanimator is heavily favored as most decks have very little to combat the deck pre-board. Post-board I bring them in not only because I want to have an answer to Faerie Macabre, but also because the deck slows down drastically. Due to people bringing in hate, you can't anticipate on going off as fast. That said, the tempo slows down a bit and you have to slow roll the win as you're now up against a lot more. At that point, Thoughtseize is much more suitable to me as I'm not rushing out cantrips and bombs as you have to play a bit more carefully.
Last edited by Di; 03-20-2010 at 12:17 PM.
Fair enough. I think macabre might be this decks biggest issue in the near future~! I've experimented with needles, but I think thoughseize is a better answer all around. I chose to run duress main over thoughtseize last tournament I attended because of the ability to reanimate twice with duress (-9 hp, -9 hp), but with macabre running rampant I'm going to definitely have to switch back in order to keep up.
I'm definitely digging the idea of ponders though. :3
so you lost every game two you played , except your final match ? that seems to look as if this deck does not do very well on the draw.
On the draw, opponents have a very important advantage of T1 land and be able to set-up hate at that moment.
As he said, he plays an aggressive list, you really want to drop something T2. If they go land,crypt, goblin lackey, go. You feel screwed.
Also that first land can also mean, daze, thoughtseize, duress and other cards that you have hardly no response to since.
1. brainstorms won't work
2. dazes are of no use
3. Force of Will is too costly to spend on a single discard in some matches. ( and with some hands it's the 1 thing you want to force)
Also your own thoughtseizes have less chance to hit something, due to them being able to cast brainstorm or already dropped a threat.
I still think you did a very good job at the tournament, but I'm always around some high level legacy players, and every mistake you make will be taken back to you so you never make it again, might it be to luck or not. Some risks can be considered at every card you play and they can draw.
I do agree on sideboarding being ridiculously important especially with a mystical tutor board. Mistakes are maken too easily, and you will lose due to that.
Can't wait for your next report on high standings.
Because you mentioned numerous times that sideboarding is so important : Could you please mention some of the most used SB Plans?
As mentioned previously I only won the die roll twice all day. Being on the draw really didn't have much to do with it as I won an overwhelming majority of my game 1's. But being on the draw post-board is tougher because the opponent tends to open with hate before you have Daze and discard online.
I just tried ponders over duress/tseize at a local tournament. I really liked it. It added even more consistency and increased the perceived quality of my starting hands by a lot, and when I needed to board in hand control, it was an easy out.
Would you be so gracious as to educate us with how you are sideboarding these matches? For example, I'm interested to know what 9 cards you could afford to take out against Aggro-Control players, and would just like to see how you sideboard with your list. I'm sure this would be very helpful for the readers as well as those looking to get better with the deck.
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