Anybody bring reanimator to DC?
I'm curious what sideboard lists look like.
I'm not going to be in DC, but I was in Philly for the Eternal Weekend. My sideboard was:Originally Posted by PirateKing
2 Show and tell (2 MD)
2 Pithing Needle (1 MD)
1 Submerge
1 Blazing Archon
1 Griselbrand (3 MD)
2 Extirpate
1 Surgical
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Echoing Truth
1 Intuition
1 Tidespout
I didn't see any TNN (which seems to be the hot button issue creature) so I can't really tell you how that match up was, and how I dealt with it. I don't think reanimator really needs to worry about it to much. I would consider swapping out the crypt, the archon, and the submerge for a few counters. Maybe a flusterstorm and/or some spell pierces.
So I've been fiddling around with Reanimator again and was curious how people sideboarded against Death & Taxes?
IMO, Pithing Needles have to come in to deal with Karakas.
However, what's next is tougher to consider. Do we bring in EE/bounce to deal with yard hate? Do we bring in more Show & Tells?
I tend to think Show & Tell is bad here because of Thalias + Port choking our mana.
And then there's always what to bring out: Dazes? Thoughtseize? Maindeck Show & Tells?
I'm not a reanimation expert, but here's what I do.
I definitely bring in Pithing needles and I would still bring in show and tells too. 9/10 they will bring in rest in piece. I also bring in echoing truths or chain of vapors.
I would keep my FOWs and misdirection and take out my 2 dazes. I would keep my 2 thoughtseizes. I often run platinum angel/empirion, inkwell laviathan, or tidespout tyrant maindeck, so I'd take them out too. I do run 2/3 swamps, 2/3 islands, and 4 lotus petal so I have that for their land killers.
Basically, it's a race. I look for a hand with a turn 1 or turn 2 reanimation or heavy disruption/counter/draw.
Wouldn't Inkwell Leviathan or Empyrial Archangel be a decent choice, since they're immune to both Karakas and Swords to Plowshare? Especially the Leviathan, it has 11 toughness and trample, so its nigh-unkillable without an equipped Crusader
I'm also a fan of Inkwell Leviathan against D&T because of it's protection from their removal and it generally will outclass all of their guys (on top of them usually not having a very fast clock).
So far, in my testing, I've been boarding out -1 Iona, -1 Griselbrand, +1 Inkwell, +1 Sphinx for the creature package.
Iona is still decent target - but it very dependent on their keep and build - Mangara from vial can handle Iona even under needled Karakas.
Yeah my problem with Iona is that:
1) She doesn't actually lock them out (hilariously sad because you're playing her against a mono colored deck) due to Aether Vial. Especially with Aether Vial, they can EoT Flickerwisp her out and free up their spells for a turn or drop Mangara as Fatal mentioned (although Mangara seems less popular these days due to TNN being around).
2) She's a Legendary creature that doesn't immediately impact the board (unlike Griselbrand or Elesh Norn), so she can just get Karakas bounced without gaining you anything.
3) She actually can get raced by a Batterskull.
While Iona is alright against them, I believe it's more correct to bring in guys that are Karakas immune so you don't have to rely on sticking Pithing Needle first. If I were to keep Iona in, I'd leave the Inkwell out for her. I think Inkwell is better due to the shroud and they can't just chump it and race you.
Good point, it's also immune to mangara and stp because of shroud. I guess I would keep it in. I would probably take out a griselbrand or 2 then.
About a year ago, I was looking for some kind of removal spell to kill deathrites for the sb, and also to be used against delver decks to buy time. After considering various options, I arrived at splashing for abrupt decay (it made sense at the time, I promise!). Now, I just realised that what I should have run was innocent blood. It kills deathrite t1 perfectly and it costs only 1 to resolve to buy time vs delver. I'd definitely run 2-3 of those in the sb were I to play reanimator today. Thoughts?
Seems reasonable. I like Disfigure more. It's targeted so you don't have to worry about a Shardless Agent or Goyf messing up your removal.
For a while I tried Deathmark. It's nice because you can kill fatties like Tarmogoyf and Knight of the Reliquary, but in the end I prefered the instant speed you get with Disfigure.
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I considered Disfigure, as well as Deathmark and Dismember. The thing with Disfigure is that you can't bring it in against Delver to buy time, as it only kills Delver there, not Tarmogoyf or Nimble Mongoose.
I personally like Izzet / Dimir Charm if you're looking for a maindeck answer to Deathrite Shaman, but also want to keep it somewhat usable.
There's been that Izzet Charm list that's been doing decently well on the SCG circuit. Of course, it requires you to splash a third color, but Izzet Charm is probably better than Dimir Charm for our purposes.
I agree on this: I initially tested dimir charm but then switched to izzet which I found so much useful. I haven't tested very much lately though and I sure need some serious testing against mana denial decks in order to understand if going down to only 2 basics (from 4) really matters, but I have to say that izzet charm is a real swiss army knife for the deck.
Thanks to Professor_Awesome for bringing it to us!
Ignorance is strength
Yes, I like the charms if I want maindeck answers (either that, or maindeck Show and Tells, which also seem quite common these days). I was however talking about the sideboard.
Hi guys,
Below is the list that I'm currently running, I would really appreciate your feedback or any needed changes or problems that you see. Thank you.
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
3 Animate Dead
2 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
2 Griselbrand
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Sphinx of Steel Wind
1 Jin-Gixaxis, Core Augur
1 Iona, Shiled of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Blazing Archon
1 Tidesproud Tyrant
1 Island
2 Swamp
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
I think 2 thoughtseize are too few and 4 daze are too many (you want to see 1 in almost every game, but you generally don't like to see the second copy): I prefer a 3/3 split.
3 animate dead, thus going to 11 reanimation spells with only 8 discard outlet (10 if you plan to 'seize yourself, but it must be done only if you are in a pinch), may be too many and remember that it can be destroyed by adrupt decay. Maybe you can shave one for an hapless researcher: it's a discard outlet at instant speed (so lets you play around tormod's if you cast exhume and have a creature in hand), it protects your monsters from edict effects, it blocks goblin lackey and bonus style points if you kill your opponent with him and elesh-norn :)
Many people are sure that griselbrand has to be played as a 4 of, I like the 3/1 split of griselbrand and jin since there are situations where you cannot afford to pay 7 life to draw and jin may be superior thanks to his discarding ability. I think Jin's role is somewhere between griselbrand and iona (draw cards, stop combo) but I'm pretty sure I want at least 3 copies of griselbrand main deck.
I believe I would change 1 of sphinx, inkwell or archon for the third griselbrand.
So, considering that reanimator already has a positive matchup against Sneak & Show, but suffers from white decks with sword to plowshares, I would go for
-1 daze, -1 animate dead, 1 blazing archon (moving it to the side)
+1 thoughtseize, +1 hapless researcher, +1 griselbrand
I'm interested in your considerations.
Ignorance is strength
Those are all excellent suggestions kingtk3. Thank you. I will try them out.
Alternatively, I'm considering cutting Ponder to make room for either two Hapless Researchers or two additional Thoughseizes thus bringing my potential discard outlet count to 12 without having to cut Animate Dead or Dazes both of which I've found to be extremely useful. Do you have any thoughts in regards to such a change?
I'm a fan of threat density instead cantripping: this deck wins by cheating monsters into play and attacking with them before opponent could play anything relevant, so the longer it takes to cheat the monster, the more it loses value.
I remember that during the mental misstep era people used playing only 3 brainstorm because it was statistically demostrated that the fourth copy slowed the deck (Garobidou did the maths but I don't think it's an active member anymore).
So i think that cutting ponder is legit, but I would play one more 'seize (two may be too many due to the life loss) and 1 hapless.
Ignorance is strength
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