[Deck] Reanimator

[Anselm]

Allow me to speculate for a moment.

If we start to add maindeck discard (and I'm not talking about hymns, which I don't like, but thoughtseize -- it's better than duress because of spellstutter sprite, by the way), then the deck is starting to become a turn 3 deck instead of a turn 2 deck. Then, how about trying out Lim-Dûl's Vault again for increased consistency? First turn thoughtseize, second turn vault, third turn reanimate what you want with protection isn't so bad. We gain the ability to play more 1-ofs and stronger sideboard plans. We could also try some number of lotus petals to alleviate that the first turn isn't for binning a guy. Something like this, maybe:

4 thoughtseize
4 fow
4 mm

4 entomb
4 study

4 brainstorm
3 vault

3 jin
1 iona
1 sphinx
1 archon

4 reanimate
3 exhume
1 animate dead
1 show and tell

18 land (i'm tempted to try out -1 land, -1 brainstorm, +2 lotus petal here).

Maybe a fourth vault, but you really don't want to see multiples.

The sideboard could contain some of the usual stuff, but really only 1 of most things. Also you could have a couple exhume/animate dead, a couple hapless researchers and a couple dazes, along with the additional creatures, if you want to board into the classic version against the decks where it's good enough, as there's certainly room.

Not sure I'll test with the vaults, probably I'll go for just some thoughtseizes instead of a brainstorm and a daze, but I thought it's an interesting possibility.

[dahcmai]

Is it just me or is Daze just really annoying to have in this deck? I ended up pulling them and going a little more redundant. I went with 2 Strategic Planning and 1 more animate Dead. I'll let you know how it works out. It just kept being my first choice to board out and that's usually my sign to yank a card despite how good it is game 1.


Also, I ended up putting one Phantasmal Image in the board just for the random occasions when someone can get a quick Projo on you. No Rug isn't much of a contest, but I like sealing the deal against decks that are played a ton. Also, I added 1 tower of the Magistrate to the main. Kept running into Batterskulls with Jittes that could actually stand a chance vs fatties. That's annoying so I wanted an out. It works quite well.

[Alsan]

Those cards are not part of the reanimator engine (and without Daze, you are not enough protected).

Sorry, but I've seen the decklists that you guys play at the other side of the world, and I don't understand why are you still playing Empyrial archangel and Inkwell leviathan (Sturtzilla realized now) and not playing Blazing Archon or Stormtide leviathan. Yes, Elesh norn is awesome against tribal decks or stoneforge. They don't race Sphinx, nor Leviathan, nor Archon. And, and this is more important than anything, Archon and Stormtide stops Batterskull, KotR, Progenitus (and Emrakul). I don't see wich deck escapes this creature split:

4 JGCA
1 Iona, shield of emeria
1 Sphinx of steel and wind
1 Blazing Archon
1 Stormtide leviathan

And against swords, 5 Fows + 4 missteps.

[defector]

I think that Inkwell is too strong against U/W control to let go of. Stormtide doesn't stop Emrakul, he flies over and nukes your board. I think Archon is definitely better than Empyrial Archangel. The deck has ten great creatures for a max of eight slots. I think beyond the three Jin main you're really metagaming what you think the best toolbox of silver bullets is going to be.

[nastirth]

@Anselm
I agree with you on LDV. In fact, my fast build runned 2 LDV instead of the 2 brainstorms. This weekend I replaced the 2 hymns for 2 LDV and I liked it. On the other hand I'm not sure about thoughtseize, because of the life loss. Many times we have to pay 2 life to MM, and with thoughtseize also costing 2 life, it becomes very costly to reanimate. I played about 50 games and there was only one time where thoughtseize (instead of duress) could make things easier - my oppo had faerie macabre in hand - but I won the game anyway. On the contrary, the life I'd loose if I were playing thoughtseize would cost me a couple of games. So, I'm still a bit undecided about this question.

@Alsan
Although I'm pretty near you (PT), I was still playing with inkwell and archangel.
On inkwell I must agree, because he comes out on every game, and I will replace it for Archangel. And why: archangel is great in the control matchup. It can't be karaka'd, stp'd, terrorized, terminated, jace'd, it is a permanent fog, and it beats only one turn slower than inkwell. Probably people think about it against aggro decks, but I think it really shines against control decks, where inkwell sometimes fails because if you reanimate it you can loose the race if your opponent already has a creature in play.
About Elesh Norn, I'm playing it mainboard, and it's been serving me well, specially against dredge (archon can't handle dredge), merfolk and goblins.
Right now my creature base is: 3 jin, iona, sphinx, archon, elesh and archangel.

[Alsan]

@Nastirth: (I hope to see you in the Eternal Weekend on Madrid this month ;D, I'm gonna ID top8 again for sure, haha) Why Archon doesn't stops Ichorid? You can let everything resolves, except the Dread return that revives his fattie. And don't tell me "they have therapy": you have MM, Daze and Fow, all hard counters against a deck with no mana. Every time you are playing against control you want to reanimate JGCA, 'cause he wins all matches (if he had cast Jace, you are almost dead, turn 4 or turn X). I play 4 JGCA 'cause I want to maximize the use of my Careful and Hapless, discarding always him.

@ Deflector: I said that stormtide AND archon stops a lot of suposed GG menaces (last pages are full of questions of "how beat RUG", pex.) If emrakul is on board, if you don't do an alpha strike that kills him, you have to reanimate every turn, but any of the 2 leviathans can race him.

[nastirth]

@Alsan
I didn't know about that tournament! Awesome one! I don't know if I'll able to go in such short notice. But I already have my plane ticket to Amsterdam
As for dredge, sometimes Archon is not enough, because you need to have enough counters which won't happen every time. With elesh they just scoop.
As for control, of course jin is the best creature, but archangel is very good if you don't have protection for jin. I'll put a 4th Jin in sb to complete the set against control decks, but right now I'm happy with my starting 8.
I'm looking forward to read your "road to the top8" report!

[dahcmai]

I like Stormtide because well, it's frigging Large Mouth Bass. I don't like him because he allows Merfolk and Emrakul to go through. He ended up hitting the rare box.

Empyrial stayed solely due to her Shroud and a new idea I am testing out. I added one Mimeoplasm to use as a tester, a tester so don't start bashing yet. He seemed like an interesting idea to get monstrous Shrouded monster Angels. I was going to add a touch of Green for Grip and a singleton Dryad Arbor in the board so it fit. I was only going to add back my fifth basic anyway so it didn't hurt my mana at all.

Inkwell is in my board, but I almost never board him in. UW is about the only reason to bother. JG usually just does the trick for me.

Archon is in my board. Elesh is in the main and does the job most of the time.

My only debatable slot is Sheodred and Phantasmal Image. They are exclusively for Projo and Emrakul really, but Archon does the job decently. Not sure if I even want those two yet.

[alphastryk]

I played Reanimator this past weekend at SCG Atlanta, finishing at 7-2 in 10th place.

My list for this can be found here.

To explain a few of the stranger choices, the Darkslick Shores should be a 4th Underground Sea. I wanted another non-fetchland for some of the longer games and figured I could avoid buying the last sea, forgetting about daze when I did so. Fortunately, it never came up during the tournament. The 2 nonstandard sideboard cards I'm sure you're wondering about at the Phantasmal Image and the Mindbreak Trap. The trap was to win counter wars, but in retrospect I would rather have another Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce. The image is to kill progenitus against NO RUG, and to help out in the mirror match.

I'll do my best to reconstruct what happened round by round from my notes:

-- Round 1 vs. Stoneblade (Thopter Foundry) --

I lost a long game one where Jin-Gitaxias's draw 7 found me no protection for him, and I couldn't setup another creature before his Batterskull killed me.

Game 2 I had a fast Jin,drew 7 but he was able to swords it after I attacked once. I then reanimated Iona and he didn't find anything relevant. He played a Crucible of Worlds in this game before discarding to Jin, which mad me wonder how he boarded, as crucible seems very bad in this match.

Game 3 I had a turn 2 Jin with protection and he wasn't able to get much of anything going.

1-0

-- Round 2 vs. Team America --

Game one he led off by stifling and wasting my lands to keep me from completing the combo, but I was land heavy and both careful study and brainstorm drew enough lands to lock him out, and it looked like he drew all lands the whole game.

Game 2 I had a turn 2 Jin with protection and forced his edict after taking 3 from goyf, but was able to pull the win out at 1 life through his diabolic edict, leaving my shiny new sphinx of the steel wind back to block tarmogoyf. In retrospect, I shouldn't have attacked with Jin this turn, as I was tapped out and could not counter another edict if he had it, but he didn't, so its on to round 3.

2-0

-- Round 3 vs. Stoneblade (Faeries) --

Game 1 was a long game where I cantripped for a bit to find all of the pieces, and was unable to stop his vendillion clique from cycling the last piece I needed. We fought a counter war over me reanimating his clique after getting Elesh Norn to kill it (norn got pathed). I got the clique and cycled a dead card from my hand as his hand was empty following the counter war. He had another clique after that, but I had a sphinx to lock the game up.

Game 2 I lost the counter war over his surgical extraction, and he removed all of my Jin-Gitaxias from my deck. I kept digging for an answer, and was able to Angel of Despair his batterskull but I lost the angel to a path. He finally found a spellstutter sprite to beat me down from 5, and we were on to game 3.

Game 3, He played a Relic on turn one, but tapped out to do so, and entomb + reanimate Jin got the job done.

3-0

-- Round 4 vs. Dredge (LED) --

I was on the play for game 1, and my first turn careful study discared Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias. When he didn't therapy me, I got norn and he conceded after thinking for a few seconds.

Game 2 he opened with a Leyline of the Void, which I didn't expect. I didn't board in Show and tell, and didn't have an Echoing truth in my hand at the time. Things worked out for me though, because his only discard outlet was to therapy himself turn 1, giving me perfect information. His turn 2 dredge milled his Iona, which I promptly reanimated on my next turn, naming blue for the chain of vapor in his hand. 3 turns later, it was over.

4-0

-- Round 5 vs. Bant --

He was able to swords my Jin gitaxias, but only had noble heirarch to attack with. He made a Batterskull soon after, and attacked me to 14 with it (exalted). I don't remember what target I got at this point, maybe Empyrial Archangel, but he scooped soon afterwards.

Game 2 He plays a heirarch and passes. He attempts to surgical extraction the angel of despair I discarded to careful study in response to my thoughtseize, which I misstep. He reveals Jace, Jace, Stp, Path, Phyrexian metamorph. I take StP, as I have another jmisstep for his path. I get the angel back and kill his heirach to keep him off mana for metamorph and blue for jace. He doesnt draw a 3rd land to metamorph until he is at 2, which he plays for fun, paying 2 life.

5-0

-- Round 6 vs. Zoo (Cat Sligh) --

Game 1 I have a choice of targets with entomb after cantripping for 2 turns, and I choose to get Elesh Norn to try to wipe out his 3 Nactyls, Grim lavamancer and Goblin Guide. This was a greedy mistake on my part, and I should have just gotten the sphinz and hoped he didn't find a path. He had the path, and I had to force it to keep Norn anyways, but was unable to gain life and got burned out of the game.

Game 2 I won a close game where I was at 3 life and he had a sylvan library in play and I just had a blazing archon, so he was trying to burn me out. fortunately I ripped the entomb to find an empyrial archangel to complete the lock, and he scooped.

Game 3 went long, with my sphinx getting pathed and him resolving sylvan library again. I was forced to reanimate the blazing archon I had found with reanimate, but this put me to 3, and he had the bolt.

I was tilting pretty hard after losing this match, becauseI knew I had punted game 1.

5-1

--Round 7 vs. Esper Stoneblade --

I won a long involved game one, having Jin but being not being able to block his Batterskull until I found a Sphinx, after which I was finally able to close it out.

Game 2 I kept a 1-lander with a show and tell, Jin, a careful study and a brainstorm. My brainstorm failed to find any more lands, and I sat there doing nothing relevant for a while after getting Jin in play, he wasted my second land and hardcast a leyline and then a jace. I brainstormed into no more lands, blanked for a few more turns, and lost the counter war at the end when he had jace (fatesealing me), 2x dark confidant and a sword of feast and famine. I was entoming random cards to shuffle every time he left a card with jace, but I couldn't get there. This game took a long time, so I wuickly added the 3rd show and tell and second echoing truth for game 3. I lost game 3 to his better draw after mulling, and that was it.

5-2

-- Round 8 vs. MonoBlue Control (Athens Blue) --

My opponent led on island pass, and he misstepped my entomb at the end of his turn. I misstepped back, got Jin gitaxias and had an animate dead and more counterspells than him. He did get a shackles and an o-stone in play before I had enough counters, and even managed to steal muy later elesh norn with shackles at one point. I found angel of despair, blew up the shackles and jin swung in for 7, putting him to 10. He found another land and popped the o-stone on his turn to wipe my board. I get back the angel and blow up a land to minimize his outs. He was at 2 life and drew his card before conceding.

In game 2 I kept a weak hand with swamp as my only land, but I had misstep, brainstorm, entomb, reanimate, force, and a pithing needle. I entombed iona, but could not resolve the reanimate. I drew the other pithing needle, and started playing them out. The first named o-stone, the second relic (this may have been wrong). I finally found a blue land to ponder, which got misstepped. I then drew the exhume to get Iona and lock him out of the game.

6-2

I checked standings after this round, and it looked like I was locked out of Top8, as there would be at least 8 22 pointers, and I could only get to 21 points, so I was playing for top16.

-- Round 9 vs. Death and Taxes --

My oppnent won the die roll and led on wastelnd, vial. debated forcing it, putting him on a loose merfolk keep, but decided I couldn't afford to pitch a cantrip to do so. He followed with a plains, and I realized what he was playing, getting worried, as they often have multiple karakas, along with jotun grunt and stonecloaker. I got a sphinx in play and beat him down with it.

In game 2, I never found the second half of the combo after cantripping and conceded after a bad brainstorm showed nothing. I countered 2 enlightened tutors in the game, knowing he would be finding a wheel of sun and moon or a relic, but never had anything.

Game 3 he mulliganed and found a karakas, forcing me to get the sphinx again instead of the Jin I had planned to go with (I had discarded it to careful study on my turn 1). Unfortunately for him, his karakas was his only white source, and after he tapped it to try to path my sphinx, which I had the counter for he couldn't stop me from drawing 7 with Jin, locking up the game.

7-3, 10th place overall.

I felt very good about the deck all day, and will be playing something similar at the next SCG Open I can attend if the metagame hasn't shifted significantly.

[nastirth]

@kevin and alphastryk

Congrats on your results! I really would like to read about your sideboarding strategies.

[We're on DTB section now. Let's hope that doesn't increase the number of metamorphs around. Really nasty dudes. ]

[KevinTrudeau]

I've been really liking the 4 Jin, toolbox approach. Elesh Norn has been excellent in allowing Jin to get out of awkward board situations that he would sometimes find himself in against, like Zoo. I haven't tested out Stormtide Leviathan in that slot as Aslan has repeatedly suggested, and while I have my reservations in that Blazing Archon is already in the deck does a better defensive job, I'll give it a go for a short while and see how it does.

@kevin and alphastryk

Congrats on your results! I really would like to read about your sideboarding strategies.

[We're on DTB section now. Let's hope that doesn't increase the number of metamorphs around. Really nasty dudes. ]

My general template for boarding on the draw after winning game one:

-X match-specific subpar reanimation targets (Blazing Archon against High Tide, for example)
-1 Hapless Researcher
-~2 Reanimation spells (it's usually Animate Dead, but it really depends on whether you're expecting to play a slower game against control, in which I'd consider taking out a Reanimate or two, or subpar match-specific cards in comparison to others, like Exhume going out instead of AD against Merfolk because Cursecatcher can't counter AD)
-3 Daze

for:

+X adequate reanimation targets
+2 Show and Tell
+~5 apt disruption/countermeasures against opponent's disruption (usually Thoughtseize and a way around grave-hate, such as Pithing Needle or Echoing Truth)

Edit: I played a lot tighter in this week's Legacy tournament, but only went 2-2, losing to UWr Stoneblade (1-2), beating Zoo (2-1) and NO RUG (2-1), and then losing to Rock (1-2). The only real mistake I made was not boarding in Inkwell Leviathan against Rock. Some thoughts, observations, etc.:

-Elesh Norn main was actually quite good. Not totally sure if she's better than another Blazing Archon-type effect such as Stormtide Leviathan as there was only one case where she was clearly superior, but I'm leaning towards her staying. I am however completely sold on only having one Sphinx in the main and replacing that slot with another anti-creature target to increase variety.
-With how prevalent Mental Misstep/FoW/Brainstorm decks have been, Brainstorm has been incredibly crucial. I highly recommend trying out four, as they've been a lifesaver involving games where you need to craft a perfect hand, as the fundamental turn will usually have a total of three-six pieces of countermagic and/or disruption employed between both players on average.
-Running only two basics was still the bee's knees.
-I finally completed my set of Lion's Eye Diamond!
-Rock seems like a very, very difficult matchup postboard with Extirpates, Knights, Vindicates, Swords, Karakas, Maze, etc. I think the two slots currently occupied by Null Rod in the board should probably go towards it, but I haven't decided on what yet.

Speaking of the Rock matchup, a difficult scenario came up, and I'd like to pose a similar, hypothetical situation to gather some of your opinions concerning it:

After winning game one and losing game two, you're on the play for game three against Rock. Opp. mulligans to six, while you go to five. You keep a hand of Jin, Entomb, two fetchlands, and Exhume. You play a land and pass. Opp. plays a basic Swamp and passes back. Fearful of Extirpate (you know they're playing four), you decide to sit back on Entomb instead of going all-in right then and there. You draw a second Entomb on your turn, and pass back. Opp. plays an inconsequential second land, we'll say a basic Forest, and ends their turn. To dodge Extirpate, utilize your mana in a most efficient manner since you don't know for sure if you'll draw a third land to potentially make better use of Entomb (such as by fetching up a weaker target EOT, dropping your third land, opp. Extirpating said weaker target, and then Entombing again before Exhume resolves for a better target), and speed out a fatty before the opponent can draw and cast more potential answers, you fetch twice and cast both Entombs EOT. What two reanimation targets do you fetch up? They can be any of the potential ones in your 75 since this is game three. Keep in mind, this is Rock you're facing; they've got Knight of the Reliquary mana up next turn, and can fetch up Maze of Ith or Karakas during their subsequent turn (or simply raw dog them out), in addition to possibly having Phyrexian Metamorph, Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, etc. What would you do if that Swamp were a Scrubland instead? Would you forgo the plan altogether? Get different targets? Thanks, I'd really like to know your opinions on this matter.

[nastirth]

@Kevin

For Swamp/Other I'd go for Jin and Empyrial Archangel. Either of them are awesome in the matchup. Most likely he'll extirpate jin, unless he has karakas already in hand, but Archangel puts him on a 4 turn clock, and it's very difficult for him to kill it or race it in that situation. With scrubland things become tougher because he may have stp to play before jin triggers. If you can sense a stp comming, you may go for iona (@white) and archangel maybe. Iona@white will stop knight, vindicate and stp and puts him on a 3 turn clock. Agaisnt metamorph there's nothing you can do except having FoW. That's one of the reasons I'm playing AD over exhume - if a metamorph goes to the grave, exhume becomes a dead card. However, against rock exhume will be better if he packs pernicious deed.

I agree with you on the brainstorm argument. The fast version of the deck is very good against decks with no disruption, but those are very rare right now. I went radical and built a very control oriented version, but some matchups against fast decks become much more difficult. So, last wednesday I packed a version very similar to yours on my weekly real life tournament to see how a middle term version would perform.

Here's the report:

@Forum

At this week's real life tournament I tried to play a list very similar to kevin's. His decklist falls between my speed deck and my slower one. I wanted to see how that compromise would work both ways. I packed daze mainboard and always choosed to play when possible.

Decklist
4 Entomb, 4 Careful Study, 1 Hapless Researcher
4 Reanimate, 4 Animate Dead, 2 Exhume
4 FoW, 4 MM, 3 Daze
4 Brainstorm
8 Creatures (3 Jin, 1 Iona, 1 Sphinx, 1 Archon, 1 Elesh Norn, 1 Empyrial Archangel)
18 Lands

Sideboard
3 Duress (didn't receive my thoughtseizes yet)
3 Echoing Truth
2 Show and Tell
2 Null Rod
5 Creatures (1 Iona, 1 Terastodon, 1 Inkwell, 1 Stormtide Leviathan, 1 Platinum Angel)

R1 - BW Dead Guy Ale (0-2)
Game 1, play: First hand was 2x FoW, MM, An.Dead, Sphinx, Archon, Fetch. Since I was on the play I mulliganed, got a very nice hand but with no lands. I was tempted to keep it because I only needed one land to "bee's knees" but throwed it back, got no lands again, and finally kept: usea, mm, animate dead, careful study. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a creature and got beaten pretty easy.
Game 2, play: First hand was 5 lands, entomb and FoW, sent back and got fetch, mm x2, iona and ad x2, kept this hand, but found no discard outlet, while my mm's looked shamely whenever my oppo played a tidehollow sculler.

Sideboard
-3 daze, -2 animate dead, -1 hapless
+2 duress, +2 echoing truth, +2 s&t

R2 - WW (2-1)
Game 1, play: 2nd turn jin, and 3rd turn elesh norn.
Game 2, draw: Made a mistake here. I was going to reanimate iona@white so I was not worried about stp, and wasted a mental misstep on something irrelevant. Then when I tried to reanimate Iona, I got phyrexian extracted, and couldn't recover in time. Lesson learned.
Game 3, play: 1st turn MM@ Vial, 2nd turn reanimate Iona@white, with FoW backup for extraction. Perfect hand.

Sideboard
-3 daze, -1 hapless, -1 animate dead, -1 sphinx
+3 echoing truth, +2 s&t, +1 iona

R3 - MUC (2-0)
Game 1, play: Entombed Jin at his eot and he didn't counter. So no MM in hand. I was prepared to fight over my animate dead since probably he had spell snare, but I drew a reanimate and he was forced to play FoW, for which I also had a FoW of my own and he scooped right there.
Game 2, draw: He plays first turn relic, I mm, he FoW's, I let FoW resolve, and mm again the relic. I careful study a Iona but couldn't find a reanimation spell . We play draw go for a while, and when I drew the reanimate I already had protection, so I reanimated, he mm's, I mm, he FoWs and I FoW, and he scoops.

Sideboard
-3 daze, -2 animate dead, -1 hapless, -1 archon, -1 sphinx, -1 elesh
+3 duress, +2 s&t, +2 echoing truth, +1 iona, +1 inkwell

R4 - BR Cascade (2-0)
Game 1: Got Jin, and was able to always draw some counter for his cascade business.
Game 2: Had a slow hand with s&t and a couple of counters to buy me time. When I s&t jin his look was priceless as he then showed me the 2 faeries macabre and extirpate he had in hand. Welcome back s&t! :)

Sideboard
-1 hapless, -2 animate dead, -1 sphinx, -1 archangel
+2 s&t, +2 echoing truth, +1 iona

Except the first round where my hands sucked, the deck performed very nice. Null rods will leave the sb and will be replaced for 2 pithing needles, because needles can handle faerie macabre and karakas (among other things), and Elesh Norn is already gg against affinity. I'm not sure about Show and Tell yet. I'm still a bit traumatized from the last s&t experiences that culminated in a total humiliation when my s&t'd angel of despair met a protean hulk. :) I'm also not very confortable about relying on only 4 brainstorms to manipulate the deck in order to s&t properly.

I'm still tottaly undecided on how to play game 1. Play (packing daze main) and maximizing an early reanimation possibility or draw (packing thoughtseize and/or ponder/ldv) and maximizing the protection/manipulation, and also the keepable hands (it's very annoying, when playing, looking at a hand with creature+reanimation but without discard outlets).

[defector]

Congrats on a great finish Alphastryk! I agree with your assessment of the sideboard, it seems like everyone knows how play around daze game 2-3. Anyway, great job on a great finish, I am taking my version of ReAnimator to Indy on Oct 2. I have a question for you. Our lists are almost identical except that I run 3 hapless researcher, no ponder and an 8 man plan maindeck(Jin X3, Angel X1, Sphinx X1, Archon X1, Iona X1, Elesh X1). Do you prefer the ponder route? I played that version for a while and felt that the deck was at too high a risk of just gold fishing into oblivion where hapless could give me a block and a discard outlet. What are your thoughts on the matter?
thanks and well done!
defector

[Alsan]

@Kevin

Agaisnt metamorph there's nothing you can do except having FoW. That's one of the reasons I'm playing AD over exhume - if a metamorph goes to the grave, exhume becomes a dead card.

Sorry, but you're wrong. Exhume works as Show and tell works, and if metamorph is put onto the battlefield with any of those spells, it won't be able to copy the other creature entering the battlefield at the same time, so it's not a dead card.

[Demonic_Attorney]

I played Reanimator this past weekend at SCG Atlanta, finishing at 7-2 in 10th place.

My list for this can be found here.

Congrats on the finish! We both know without at least one pivotal mistake you might have topped 8!

Any ways, just one thing in relation to constructive criticism, Angel of Despair and main deck at that, really? It is manifestly weak when you consider the voluminous amount of other viable options. I can easily name 4-5 creatures you weren't playing main deck that should doubtlessly replace it; however, assuming that you want a way to blow up a troublesome permanent, Terastodon is far superior especially in combination with other reanimation targets.

Also, I really think you should play one Iona main deck. I know it was huge for Rob Castellon when he went all the way to the top 4 at SCG Boston (and didn't even lose but rather conceded in the semi finals and probably would have won the event otherwise).

[NyxathidHorror]

Congrats on the finish! We both know without at least one pivotal mistake you might have topped 8!

Any ways, just one thing in relation to constructive criticism, Angel of Despair and main deck at that, really? It is manifestly weak when you consider the voluminous amount of other viable options. I can easily name 4-5 creatures you weren't playing main deck that should doubtlessly replace it; however, assuming that you want a way to blow up a troublesome permanent, Terastodon is far superior especially in combination with other reanimation targets.

Also, I really think you should play one Iona main deck. I know it was huge for Rob Castellon when he went all the way to the top 4 at SCG Boston (and didn't even lose but rather conceded in the semi finals and probably would have won the event otherwise).

Don't listen! He's a DEMONIC attorney!!

jk

But seriously, I have to agree with you. I tested Angel for awhile, but in almost all situations Terastodon is better. I have to agree about Iona too; I couldn't go with at least 1 MD. Against certain decks Iona just says GG.

[Sturtzilla]

Greetings Fellow Reanimators!

I just participated in a small local legacy event. The event was held at Superior Sports Cards in Tarentum, PA this past Saturday the 17th. I think there were about 20 people in attendance. I ran my standard Reanimator list and managed to make it to the Finals and agreed to a prize split with my opponent. So the following is a reconstruction of the event from the notes that I took during the event.

Round 1: ANT, Steven

Steven is one of the friends that travels with the rest of our play groups to various tournaments in the area. He just recently finished his ANT deck and has had a decent amount of time piloting it.

Game 1: I started off the day in fine fashion by mulliganing to 5 cards. They were a Jin, Brainstorm, Exhume, and two land. I guess at five cards it could have been a lot worse. However, Steven had not drawn the nuts so I managed to live a few turns. My Brainstorm dug me into a Force and a Misstep (Note Brainstorm being useful here). With this protection, I played draw go until I hit a Careful Study and managed to get Jin onto the table turn 5. Facing a forced discard at EOT, Steven went for broke. I let him storm and mana up with Dark and Cabal Rits. However, when he went to Infernal Tutor with a boatload of mana floating, I had to stop him with the Force of Will found by the Jin catalyzed draw seven. Jin recruited Iona the following turn. After naming Black, he scooped and we went to game two.

Sideboarding: -3 Daze, -1 Hapless Researcher, -1 Animate Dead, -1 Mental Misstep, -1 Blazing Archon, -1 Elesh; +2 Show and Tell, +2 Spell Pierce, +2 Stifle, +1 Iona, +1 Inkwell

Game 2: My draw wasn’t perfect but I had an EOT discard of Jin. He made an appearance on turn three via Exhume. Just like last game, the draw seven dug me into the counter magic I needed to stop him from going off. Jin had also found me an Entomb and Reanimate. I took the hit in life to lock him out with Iona on Black again.

1-0:2-0


Round 2: Merfolk, Nick

Nick was running a fairly standard Merfolk list but with a slight twist, he had maindeck Phantasmal Images. I didn’t really run into any trouble with these but I guess it could have been problematic.

Game 1: I had to spend a Force to get Jin to stick on turn 2. He had Silvergill and then had to discard. Jin recruited Iona, naming Blue. This was extra awesome this game as he hadn’t played a Vial this game. This completely locked him out and he promptly scooped.

Sideboarding: -3 Daze; +2 Spell Pierce, +1 Show and Tell

Game 2: I saw consecutive no land hands at both seven and then six cards. So like the first game of the last round I took a subpar five card hand. With these five I was not able to assemble any offense and eventually died to fishy beats.

Sideboarding: -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Show and Tell; +3 Daze

Game 3: On the play again, I kept a pretty solid opener. I land a turn 2 Jin through both an opposing Spell Pierce (which met a Misstep) and a Force (which met my Force). Jin digs up some counter magic and some friends which promptly hit the bin. I think Elesh and Sphinx where both among the discards. Jin managed to get the discard and beat in a few times before being removed by a Dismember. I had not drawn into another Force at this stage, so Jin did indeed meet his end. I used some of my reanimation magic to bring Sphinx (he flies and is out of Dismember range) to finish the game and the match.

2-0:4-1


Round 3: Merfolk, Jarrod

Jarrod is another one of my friend that plays with our group fairly often. He usually borrows someone else’s extra deck to play at Legacy events. Just my luck, the event that I lend him a deck I get paired against him. At any rate, these games were real fun as we joked around throughout them.

Game 1: Jarrod mulligans to six for a hand with options other than lands. I kept my opening seven. I managed to dig up a turn three Elesh playing around a turn one Cursecatcher on his side of the table. He had not landed a second lord. This wiped his side of the field and locked him out. A topdecked Hapless Researcher joined the fray on my side for some Reanimator-style, Nactl-sized beats. These two manage to finish off the game after a few combats.

Sideboarding: +2 Spell Pierce, +1 Show and Tell; -3 Daze

Game 2: My notes are jumbled for this match. My life total goes 20, 19, 16, 6, 5, 0. I think I remember wildly fetching trying to thin out the deck in order to find a reanimation spell to get Elesh back. Yet the life total says it all… the fish got to me before I could find the card I needed.

Sideboarding: +3 Daze, +2 Misdirection; -2 Mental Misstep, -1 Show and Tell, -2 Spell Pierce

Game 3: Back on the play, I again had to play around a turn one Cursecatcher. But just as in the first game, I managed to get Elesh onto the table turn three with the help of an Entomb. The subsequent turn, I reanimate a Sphinx. I have him dead on the next turn, and he did something real goofy. He cast Sower of Temptation targeting Elesh. Well apparently he didn’t know that state-based effects check and kill the Sower… so that was kind of funny.

3-0:6-2


Round 4: BW Good Stuff, Steve

At this point in the tournament, this guy and I were the only two people with undefeated records. So before the match we decided to draw. Then since we had some time to kill we played a few games for fun. I think this might have been an error on his part because it let me see his deck and plan on how to play against it in the top 8. I guess you could argue that I basically let the cat out of the bag too, but with all of my counter magic, I would be playing reactively and should more or less be in the driver’s seat. So this guy’s deck had Stoneforge, Batterskull, Swords, Dark Confidant, Bitterblossom, and a whole bunch of discard.

3-0-1:6-2-1


Round 5: NO RUG, Kyle

Kyle is another one of my good friends. We had been playing for years together. As I was 3-0-1 and he was 3-1, I agreed to another draw so that we would both make the Top 8. We actually didn’t play any Legacy games at all. We took a break to relax and played some EDH.


TOP 8 MATCHES

So I made the cut for the Top 8 as did 3 of the other 5 guys that I came with. Brandon playing Enchantress, Kyle playing NO RUG, and Jarrod playing Merfolk all also made the cut.

Quarterfinals: Enchantress, Brandon

Brandon and I have been playing magic together since we were in middle and high school. I had actually spent the previous night before playtesting with him, discussing boarding options, predicting the possible meta, and sleeping under his bed in his dorm room (there wasn’t really any room anywhere else… it was kind of weird [keep in mind I drove back to my home state of Pennsylvania to play in the event even though I am going to grad school in Ohio]). As usual for a match with Brandon, we had a good fun regardless of who ended up winning.

Game 1: I knew he was playing Enchantress, so I knew that I did not have to fear counter wars and just had to watch out for Oblivion Rings, Solitary Confinements, City of Solitude, and maybe Lignify post board. If you don’t know what that is check it out because it is hilarious against us, if it resolves. I keep my opening seven and cast Hapless Researcher. He plays a Forest and played a Utopia Sprawl on his land. I beat in for one with the Researcher and then sacrifice it drawing my second land and pitching a Jin. I followed that play with a Reanimate. Jin drew me seven and forced Brandon to discard after a countered attempt to land an Enchantress’s Presence. After the discard, Jin beat in a few times and sealed the deal.

Sideboarding: -1 Hapless Researcher, -1 Animate Dead, -1 Elesh; +2 Show and Tell, +1 Terastodon

Game 2: I am on the draw and keep my seven. Brandon plays land and plays a Utopia Sprawl. I draw land and discard the boarded in Terastodon. Brandon plays a second land and casts a Sterling Grove. I let it resolve. I play my first land and pass back. He casts an Enchantress’s Presence to which I Force pitching a Careful Study. On my next turn I play my second land, fetch up two Seas and Exhume Terastodon. I target the land with the Sprawl, and my two Seas. I end the game in three combats due to elephant beats. I have boarded in Terastodon a few times and used him to blow up problematic permanents, but this was the first time I have ever gone all in on him. Overall I guess it worked out alright. I will admit, it made me fairly uncomfortable but I guess it can work pretty well.

As an update, both Kyle and Jarrod lost in their first round to Merfolk and BW Good Stuff, respectively.


Semifinals: BW Good Stuff, Steve

So this was the guy that I played for fun against in round four after agreeing to a draw for the round.

Game 1: I won the roll and chose to go first. I manage to ward off an initial burst of disruption in the form of Thoughtseize with a Mental Misstep. I Entombed at the end of his turn, finding Jin. I didn’t hit a second land, so I was forced to use Reanimate to dig him back up. Jin drew me seven. I was able to counter the attempt at removing the Jin that came in the form of Swords to Plowshares. After the forced discard and taking 5 from Jin, my opponent scooped.

Sideboarding: -3 Daze, -1 Hapless Researcher, -1 Exhume; +2 Spell Pierce, +1 Stifle, +2 Show and Tell

Game 2: My opponent leads with fetch finding Scrubland. He then cast Chrome Mox removing a Thoughtseize. He taps both and casts a Dark Confidant. Play a fetch and pass back to him. He plays another land and attacks for 2 points. I fetch finding a Undergound Sea and then Entomb a Jin. On my second turn, I Animate Dead bringing Jin back to the battlefield. Before going into my end step, my opponent casts Swords which meats a Mental Misstep. I draw my seven and discard an Elesh and a load of land. On his turn he flips a land to Confidant, plays a land and cast both a second Confidant and a Bitterblossom. I take my next turn and Animate Dead targeting Elesh nuking his board, and nullifying Bitterblossom. He starts his next turn, thinks for a second and congratulates me on the match.


Finals: Team America, Stu

At this stage of the tournament, the other five guys that I had come with were ready to go eat and get home. I had just watched Stu play his last round, so I knew what to watch out for and how to play against him. I also saw his board and that he had Leylines for graveyard based decks. So Stu and I sat down for the final and the store owner explained the prized distribution. It was $150 for first and $80 for second. We each thought about it for a minute. I mentioned that my friends wanted to get going and that I would gladly split the prize with him. He agreed and we each took home $115 in cash monies. You can't hardly argue with a ending like that to a tournament that only cost $20 to play in.


Props

Superior Sports Cards for having a solid event.

Jin for, as usual, winning me every game he hits the table.

Inkwell for being in the board and the Jin #4 that swapped slots with him assisting to better first games.

The entire crew that I went with, especially Brandon, Kyle, and Jarrod for all making top 8. Great work guys!

Slops

Brandon for getting paired against me in the Quarterfinals.

Kyle for playing NO RUG and losing to Merfolk in the Quarterfinals.

Brainstorm. I cast you maybe 3 times during the course of the tournament and only once did it find me relevant material. I did note it above too.

[dsck]

None of your opponents had grave hate?

[Sturtzilla]

I actually did not have my graveyard removed or messed with at all. I did board in Spell Pierces and Show and Tells preemptively throughout the day as I anticipated it occurring. I think that people haven't really started to board heavily for Reanimator. I did see in shuffling and de-sideboarding that Crypts, Relics, Phantasmal Images, and also Metamorphs had been boarded in throughout the day. Enchantress had some neat cards like Ground Seal, Wheel of Sun and Moon, O-Ring, and Lignify to fight against us. I would anticipate that only 2-3 slots were grave hate in the boards that had it. I guess you could pin it on luck, but I think you really need more than 2-3 cards to be able to fight against Reanimator post board. As you can see, this deck is fast, explosive, and consistent. Without some form of disruption and/or grave hate it is hard to beat.

[nastirth]

Have you guys already take a look at Innistrad's spoiler?

These cards got my attention:



Another GY hate, this time white and with flashback.



I smell trouble. Control decks will love this guy. I need to have a talk with a friend who helped design this card (Tiago Chan, 2007 invitational winner)



Another metamorph. An this one can kill his brothers. But at 2UB cost I think it won't play, since phyrexian metamorph is cheaper and does de job.



This land would be cool if it produced black or blue. Producing colorless mana won't serve.

Finally something interesting for us:



I like it (maybe as a sb card), because it kills goyfs (and early kotrs too) and batterskulls. Should have trample or vigilance, but I think it deserves some playtest.

What do you guys think? Any other interesting cards?