[Deck] Reanimator

[rodgon666]

B/U Reanimator

Introduction to reanimator style decks, The bad... and the not so bad

Big, huge, enormous critters and very cheap spells to bring them to life, that my friends is the basis and basics of all reanimator decks.
To this point in legacy history the only true competition Reanimator deck to have had an absolute control of the format was a little deck called Dragon. The format was changed so much and the deck was so devastating to the format that the cards were soon banned. A true bummer for every single reanimation mage out there...

From that point on there has been a complete lack of all reanimation style decks in the classification of competitive decks to beat. Being fun, easy and entertaining to play as well as very inexpensive to build has made these decks into a casual players wet dream, and also due to this fact a serious lack of testing and concise evolution of a deck just for winning's sake has been neglected. I hoped to change this little fact.

I dont feel like im the only one that has made a big jump with the reanimator style decks, in fact there are several decks that have made it to a very good placing in tournaments besides from mine, one is Orlove's Reanimator which uses Zombie infestations in conjunction with Squees to generate a secondary win condition to the usual reanimation of an Akroma angel of wrath or Spirit of the night. It has also proven itself yet i find the deck to be lacking some power, and consistency.

Decks like Cephalid Breakfast also dwell into reanimation, yet it just doesnt feel like a true reanimation deck, relying on just one reanimation spell and one creature to win the game is just too much of a combo then a deck approach.

In the process of making a deck that would be competitive enough to win tournaments and consistent enough for people to consider as a contender i have tested countless variations and with all the different colors of the magic spectrum.
here is the link to the B/g variation that won me the 5th place at the mana leak open a while ago:

B/g reanimator by Rodrigo Gonzalez
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5670&highlight=reanimator

as you can see, it even though it placed very well along with yet another reanimator deck, it was still classified as me being lucky or as my pet deck that wasnt that good.

ok so from that point on and after winning countless tournaments with that version in San Diegos Game Empire ( that i believe holds some of the biggest tournaments in a weekly basis in the west coast) i decided to leave that version be and move on to what i eventually found to be the stronger color splash B/U.

here is the most rescent decklist that i have improved on thanks to alot of the people here in The Source and to my fellow team mates. ill make sure to explain each and every one of the card choices and any substitutions you could use with effective results. Also a very long list of why some cards are bad and why some cards dont work at all in this deck.

cards with a * may be subed out with some cards. Read the explanation section to see what they could be.

B/u Reanimator
by Rodrigo Gonzalez
61 cards.

Spells:
4x Reanimate
4x Exhume
4x Careful Study
3x Intuition
3x Brainstorm
2x Repeal*

Enchantments
4x Animate Dead

Creatures:
4x Putrid Imp
3x Oona's Prowler
4x Bogardan Hellkite
1x Tidespout Tyrant
1x Simic Sky Swallower
1x Sundering Titan
1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1x Phantom Nishoba
2x Bringer of the Blue dawn*

Lands:
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
4x Underground Sea
1x Watery Grave
5x Swamp
1x Island


Sideboard:

3x Pithing needle*
2x Repeal
4x Echoing truth
4x Stifle
2x Show and tell

The Basics – Mandatory Cards

Mandatory Critters

DISCARD ENABLERS:

Putrid Imp: He is the most efficient creature based discard at the cheapest cost. Allows the deck to go aggro and beat for some points when necessary, very efficient as a stall tactic.
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Oona's Prowler: Second best creature to have on your side for a discard outlet, 3/1 flyer for just 2 is incredible, allows the deck to beat for the win rather than just rely on reanimation, also works as slight disruption but definitely not used for that. Can be a double edged sword with exhume yet the drawback of this is very minor.
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THE FATTIES:

*Bogardan Hellkite: these creatures make the deck competitive, without these the deck slows down alot. being able to deal 5 damage to the opponent or his creatures is a game breaker, even after he gets sword's he dealt a minimum of 5 damage. flying for evasion is only icing on the cake.
Alot of creatures have been used in the past instead of the hellkites for creature control:
*Crater hellion: unpayable echo makes this a no go. no damage to opponent.

*Magma Giant: just not enough power to make the cut, pyroclasm at best, damages you too.

*Thunder Dragon: he would be the next best creature to put in. yet only 3 damage to non flyers makes it good but not amazing.

all of these fall short of the Bogardan Hellkites, thus shouldn't be considered. also i have found that the dragons themselves serve as enough creature control that more creature damage critters are not needed.
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*Tidespout Tyrant: This creature along with all your deck costing mostly 1-2 mana makes for your ability to lock out opponents if got out early, with if not answered on turn 2 it makes for a soft lock on opponents side of the board. Also the interaction with animate dead and any of your coming into play ability creatures makes him a very good stall breaker and being able to win games out of your ass.
a 5/5 flyer isnt too shabby of a creature either.
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*Simic Sky Swallower: 6/6 flying untargetable trampler. if you get this against a control player, no wait, any player, they will not be bale to get rid of him easily, you will often ride his back to victory. he has no coming into play ability and has no haste, thus making him quite slow, but his ability to survive pretty much all the best removal in the competive decks to beat makes him worth playing.
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*Sundering Titan: 7/10 with no trample might seem very slow. yet his coming into play ability is often a game breaker against the highest competitive decks to beat ( landstill of any color variations, Thresh of any color variations, and pretty much anything that relies on multicolor mana bases)
You might wonder why run this creature if i myself run a multicolor mana base, well the answer is simple, i will never loose more than 1 land to his coming into play ability ( and 1 to his leaving play as well). since you get to choose what lands to destroy you can choose one of your duals as a Swamp and an Island. and yes that works. will not often win the games by itself but will enable you to control the game from his appearance on.
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*Akroma, Angel of Wrath: One of the biggest issues that have been brought to my attention have been the fact that i only have 1 akroma in the deck. with her being as powerful as she is why dont i just run 4? simple. Akroma is only good by herself, in multiples she sucks. Yeah she is one of the most powerful critters to be printed to date, yet having more than one doesnt end the game any quicker, so one is more than enough. but she is also vulnerable to swords, so in this regard the dragons are superior. and even more, she cant be brought back with 1/3 of your reanimation suite, animate dead and her are a no go once again.
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*Phantom Nishoba: 7/7 trampler with lifelink. This guy will win you most aggro races. Bieng semi indestructable gives you a great edge in stall situations often breaking them into your favour. Its very easy to ride his back to victory, and you also loose quite a bit of life in this deck and it facilitates the reanimation of additional creatures.
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*2xBringer of the Blue dawn*: Ok this here will seem like a very weird choice of card selections. Compared to the other creatures he seems very weak. yet his ability often wins you the games more times than even akroma. If he isnt answered you will gain so much card advantage that it will make it near impossible for your opponent to win, even if he counters a bunch of your cards. thus he is in the deck as a 2 of. As only a 5/5 trampler with no real evasion ability he will not often end the games but he will definitely bring out the guys that do very fast.
like i also mentioned before, if i had to decide to make a slot a metagame slot it would have to be one of these.
Some cards that could replace one of the bringers ( because i wouldnt take out both) would be:

*Garza Zol, Plague Queen: Haste 5/5 flyer with card advantage engine. definitely worth the spot as a replacement card engine, i would use her if the metagame was more of an aggro based metagame.

*Tombstalker: amazing in a deck that relies so much on a graveyard, he is good as a surprise! and people will not see him coming at all. 5/5 flyer is good, yet most of the time you will want to see him after turn 3. You will always feel a little ashamed of reanimating him. I had him as a one of in the deck before i found out the power of the bringer. Intuition for him and two reanimation spells and you have an almost guaranteed critter next turn.

*Symbiotic Wurm: ok, this is another critter that alot of people will dismiss in a deck with no sacrifice outlets ( ill explain why cabal therapy is not here) but he is very very good in metagames with alot of stax and black white aggro or control decks.
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Other creatures that after being tested have produced very little good results and thus should not be considered and hopefully more explanation for their non inclusion will not be necessary:

*Angel of Despair: used to be in the deck yet it fell short in oh so many ways... the creature was mostly used as a bad vindicate that costs you 7 life and hardly ever wins or does a game altering effect, without a way to constantly re use him he isnt all that good. (-recurring nightmare will be explained later too).

*Blazing Archon: i have tried him before and this is mostly what happens:

1-you end up paying 9 life against aggro to bring him out in play to loose him to eddict, gempalm incinerator or any kind of target removal of the sorts before it deals any damage or alters the game at all.

2-if you get him against landstill, or any control or combo, his just a 5/6 with no haste that has no synergy with the rest of the deck to make an impression or give you a chance to race them.

3-your aggro matchup is already amazing, other than ichorid combo ( which is combo more than aggro ) and for that you have cards after side board, which help against the deck more, plus unless you have 4 you will almost never see it before they go onlie and kill you. ( see TES and Belcher matchup results).

so he is not as good in play as he is on paper.

*Gigapede: he needs a discard outlet in order to be a discard outlet, and not powerful or evasive at all.

*Undead Gladiator: certainly an uncounterable discard outlet yet too slow and not as good of a card drawing engine. EX:

You would have to wait till turn two to cycle and then pay 1b to bring him back and discard the third turn and then hope to have a reanimate instead of a two mana reanimation spell to even be able to reanimate a creature that same turn, let alone have a third land. making it slow, very slow.

*Kokusho, the Evening Star: hardcastable and also a pretty efficient creature. only thing about this creature that is bad is that in order for it to deal its damage instantaneously you would have to have a cabal therapy to sac it too. Swords to plowshares is still the biggest creature hoser and by not being able to deal the damage right away it makes the creature a dead play.

*Uyo, Silent Prophet: this creature would be really good if it was cheaper and didnt have to be reanimated in the first place. yeah it could make a difference but you only want to see him if you have a lot of lands in play to be able to return them and then play a spell. its too slow.

*Platinum Angel: i guess this could be your only out against decks like SI and Belcher... yet they probably will kill you before it comes down. interesting in multiples and makes it difficult to get beat or loose if more than one hit play, but not strong enough to warrant a maindeck slot.

*Duplicant: i had this guy in my B/G reanimator deck and also my B/R version, but only because i had recurring nightmare in them, and not having blue makes it so you have to make the most use of your creatures, if you were able to re use him alot it would be good, but you already have an amazing game against aggro, so im sure you dont need him anyways.

*Reya Dawnbringer: by herself she isnt that great. yeah free reanimation everyturn is great, no ... its amazing, but the fact is, if your playing against a deck that cant deal with her... you were going to win anyways. its a win more card with little effect in the ultimate outcome of the game.

*Dragon Mage: you do not want to fill your opponents hands with cards, even if its a simetrical draw. if they didnt have an answer for him when he first hit, odds are they will draw into it and be able to get back in the game with a full set of fuel.

*Volraths Shapeshifter: Interesting card, i noticed its not good enough of a beater and discard outlet. Thing i saw were that it would never turn into a creature after carefull study or intuition, since the cards you discard and search for go underneath it in the graveyard after resolution.

*Dimir Doppelganger: you dont want to remove your creatures from your yard. sorry but this is a nono.

*Bringer of the White Dawn: unless your going for a combo kill or have a ton of sundering titans in the yard and a way to sac them. no need for him.

*Spirit monger: good creature yet theres better ones in the deck already, plus it doesnt win the game by itself at all...

*RAZIA: was good in testing, yet not better than anything setup. Fulfills the same roll as akroma, but not as good. thus it didnt make the cut.

*Kuro Pitlord: horrible, not being ale to reanimate him till turn 4 or later is BAAAAAAAD! very bad! also the loss of life is not going to save you. pay 5-6 life to kill one goyf... nah, its not worth it.

*Nullstone Gargoyle: is not that good because it only eliminates one card and that isn't backbreaking to most decks. In his case, might as well run a Platinum Angel.( see platinum angel).

*Verdant Force: not fast enough creature generation, descent but just not there.

*Mindleech Mass: Suffers from the same problems as blazing Archon, good on paper, yet not so good in play. one hit does not spell game over and he gets worse as the game gets longer in turns.
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please if you have questions on any other creature ill answer your curiosity odds are i have tested it.
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