Hello Fellow Reanimators,
Came in 3rd out of 302 players this past weekend at eternal extravaganza 3 with Jake's list, good for 10 dual lands (first place got 40!). The top tables were full of elves and miracles, I got lucky and faced elves 3 times, miracles 0 times.
Here’s the 75:
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona
1 Elesh Norn
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Grave Titan
4 Entomb
4 Careful Study
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
3 Thoughtseize
3 Lotus Petal
3 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Island
1 Swamp
SB:
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Pithing Needle
2 Disfigure
2 Massacre
1 Aetherling
1 Sire of Insanity
I didn’t take notes, so this is all from memory:
R1: Belcher
G1: I keep a risky no lander with just lotus petal as mana after a mull to 6, figuring the scry would help. I scry and see swamp, so I keep it on top...except my hand was all blue cantrips. After casting the first cantrip off of the petal, i fail to find a blue source and die quickly to a horde of goblin tokens.
SB:
-1 tidespout tyrant, -1 grave titan, -1 ponder, -1 careful study, -1 island
+3 duress, + 1 thoughtseize, + 1 sire of insanity
G2: I had to mull again, but so did my opponent. I casted some discard spells in the first few turns, and eventually had to thoughtseize my own sire to reanimate it and that was game.
G3:I kept a very controlling 7 with discard, daze, and FOW. After dismantling my opponent's hand I eventually exhumed a griselbrand with 2 FOW in hand and that was game.
R2: Dark Maverick
G1: I thoughtseize turn one to see no threats, except for a sylvan library, which I take, since my hand is slow and I can’t reanimate until turn 3 or 4 the earliest. I keep note of the STP in his hand. A few turns later I choose to entomb and reanimate griselbrand, knowing he has the STP. griselbrand goes farming, but gives me 7 cards before he leaves, which was enough to get another griselbrand into play to seal the deal.
SB:
-4 daze, -4 FOW, -1 ponder
+3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, + 2 massacre. + 2 pithing needle
G2: This game was a grindy affair, with me trading my removal and discard for his creatures and spells. I eventually get a griselbrand into play but again, he went farming, but not before I drew 7 cards off of it. My opponent eventually got an ooze into play, but I had enough mana to hard cast grave titan for the win.
R3: Elves
G1: My memory of all the elves games are blurring together, but almost all of them ended with elesh norn or iona in play and my opponent conceding immediately. In this case, it was a turn 3 iona (I had to thoughtseize myself to exhume it)
SB:
-4 daze, -4FOW, -1 ponder
+2 needle, +3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, +1 duress, +1 thought size
G2: Opponent kept a hand with no discard and promptly got destroyed after I took care of his deathrite and ooze with my removal.
R4: Elves
See round 3, I win 2-0 in similar fashion.
R5: TES piloted by Bryant Cook
G1: I’m on the draw and keep hand that can reanimate iona on turn 1 with no interaction. But the hand falls apart if I get hit with a discard spell. I thought I’m dead when Bryant casts chrome mox on turn 1, but he only did it to cast infernal tutor for another copy of dark ritual. I assume he had the kill on the following turn, but my turn 1 iona on black sealed the deal.
SB:
-1 tidespout tyrant, -1 grave titan, -1 ponder, -1 careful study, -1 island
+3 duress, + 1 thoughtseize, + 1 sire of insanity
G2: I snap keep the following hand: FOW x2, daze, sea, thoughtseize, brainstorm, careful study. My thoughtseize gets discarded by his turn 1 duress. Bryant can’t go off due to the FOWs for a few turns. I keep drawing discard spells and dismantle his hand, until griselbrand finally arrives when I have 3 FOWs in hand.
R6: RG Lands piloted by Ben Flast
G1: I have a nutty opener on the draw: iona, careful study, lotus petal, land, FOW, daze, reanimate. Ben plays exploration. I think for a bit and FOW it because I plan to name green with iona, which means he’s not going to be casting any relevant spells for the rest of the game. When I careful study on my turn, I also drew into griselbrand. So now the question is whether I should reanimate iona or griselbrand. The problem with iona is 2 folds: it gets bounced by a naturally draw karakas and doesn’t do anything vs. a maze of ith, which gives the land player time to take control of the game. Gdaddy gets bounced by crop rotation into karakas or naturally drawn karakas, but at least I can still draw 7 cards. I reanimate grislbrand and draw 7 immediately. Ben crop rotates for karakas on his turn and bounce him, but the damage has been done. With my new 7, I was able to reanimate tidespout tyrant to seal the game.
SB:
-1 elesh norn, -4 daze
+2 needles, +3 abrupt decay
G2: I kept a hand with entomb, reanimate, swamp and a bunch of other discard and reanimation spells, planning to go off turn 2. Ben went turn 1 mox diamond into gamble, discarding karakas. I assumed he gambled for life from the loam. On my turn I topdeck lotus petal. Turn 1 griselbrand seals the deal. Note that I could have gotten the tyrant instead, but given I was stuck on one swamp, I didn’t want risking not being able to cast any spells afterwards. Griselbrand can get bounced but the 7 extra cards should be enough to win.
R7: Stoneforge Bant piloted by Nathan
G1: I had to mulligan down to 6 and keep a risky hand that is both mana light and slow. Nathan had a wasteland and the rest of his cards were good enough to beat me before I can draw another land.
SB:
-4 daze, -4 FOW, -1 ponder
+3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, + 2 massacre. + 2 pithing needle
G2: Don’t remember exactly what happened this game, but it probably involved me casting a bunch of discard spells, decaying an ooze and then reanimating a grave titan into play.
G3: The win and in for all the marbles! I kept an medium 7 that didn’t have a quick reanimate, just some discard, reanimation spells and a ponder. I went for the turn 1 duress, but Nathan had the brainstorm to hide some goodies, revealing just ooze and JTMS, which duress discards. He then played ooze AND tormod’s crypt. I was in a bad spot as my hand at that point was 2 exhumes, 1 reanimate, and a ponder. I thought I needed to draw into an entomb and a way to get rid of the ooze and the crypt, which is a tall order. I played ponder, which got me the entomb I needed. But Nathan played a clique that took my entomb. Now I was really under the gun and really needed a massacre. I drew into another ponder which I casted immediately…whiff, shuffle, draw…another ponder. I casted this one right away too…whiff again, shuffle draw…MASSACRE! I casted the massacre right away, clearing away his board of ooze, dryad arbor, and clique. Since I didn’t have a fatty to reanimate, I reanimated his ooze, use my green mana to eat his arbor and clique and proceed to beat him down 4 at a time. I kept drawing lands and fatties, but Nathan also drew nothing expect for a pridemage during these turns. Eventually I drew 2 lotus petals and had 6 lands in play. I can cast either the elesh norn or griselbrand in my hand. I chose to play elesh norn, which ended the game on the spot.
R8: ID
R9: ID
On to the Top 8!
Quarterfinal: Elves
G1: I’m on the play and dazes a turn 1 deathrite shaman. This slows me down a turn, but I eventually get an elesh norn into play on turn 3 with FOW in hand to stop any shenanigans before it happened.
SB:
-4 daze, -4FOW, -1 ponder
+2 needle, +3 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, +1 duress, +1 thought size
G2: Opponent mulls and keeps a hand without discard, he green sun for an ooze on turn 3 ooze with no open green mana, and I use this opportunity to reanimate a griselbrand, which brings elesh norn to the party the following turn to seal the deal.
Semifinal: Grixis Delver
G1: I keep a hand with 2 blue sources, some cantrips, and a couple reanimation spells along with entomb. Being on the draw really hurt as my turn 1 play got dazed, then I got wasted all the while getting beat by a turn 1 delver and turn 3 young pyro. Eventually I stabilize at 1 with elesh norn, just have to dodge bolt for 5 turns and I win. Except my opponent plays fire covenant, yep, look that up. Once elesh hits the yard, a deathrite deals the last 2 damage.
SB:
-4 daze, -4FOW, -1 Tidespout Tyrant, -1 careful study
+2 needle, +2 abrupt decay, + 2 disfigure, +3 duress, +1 thought size
G2: I discard his young pyro and FOW for the first 2 turns and set up a griselbrand in the yard, looking to bring it back the following turn with reanimate. From the discard I know my opponent only has a fire/ice, lands and 1 unknown card he just drew. I draw ponder for the turn and decide to ponder to find another discard spell in case he topdecked a FOW. My ponder didn’t reveal a discard spell, but was good enough that I kept the cards on top. Then I went for the reanimate on the griselbrand only to get hit by the top decked spell pierce. If I just went for the reanimate, then I could have paid for the spell pierce. Looking back, I don’t regret casting the ponder, but once it didn’t reveal a discard spell or a second reanimation spell, I should have shuffled so that it gives one more chance at one or another reanimation spell in case my opponent did rip the FOW. I drew a few blanks after that and when I did draw a exhume, my opponent had the surgical ready to seal the match.
In conclusion, the deck felt extremely powerful. It was nice avoiding blue decks all day, but I feel favored vs. blue decks that are not miracles. The grixis match felt very winnable. If my opponent didn't top deck exactly what he needed in both games, I would've won easily. There was another elves deck in the finals, so I could have easily won the whole thing.
Congratuations!
You deck seems exactly like what I have been playing. You are lucky you encountered no Leylines. How do you find the two copies of disfigures? I think they can be easily 4th AD, to deal with other threats too, like ensnaring bridge, tarmogoyf, ooze, CB, etc.....and how did yo find Ioona performing?
Thanks and congratz once again
Did you miss Golgari Charm or Show and Tell at all? Did the Aetherling do anything?
Yes, leyline is basically GG for this list. Fortunately, leyline doesn't see much legacy play, since legacy sideboards have to prepare for such a wide range of decks, most decks can't afford to spend 4 cards just on grave hate. And if they play less than 4, then the chance of having one in the opening hand also decreases. I'm willing gamble.Originally Posted by iostream
Iona was good against storm and elves, though both are great matchups so I can see cutting it now that omnitell is not a thing anymore.
The disfigures were great, as I really wanted to have 4 one mana answers to deathrite and ooze.
Aetherling is specifically for miracles, which I didn't play against at all, so I never had a chance to try him.
Show and Tell is an interesting question. Show and Tell was definitely a bad idea pre-dig ban, since people were packing so many pyroblasts/REBs. Now it's better but still not necessary from my experience. Post-board, you have the discard and removal to answer your opponent's hate one for one, so having a more cohesive game plan is still better in most situations.
Hope this helps!
Congrats on a good tournament, Hank.
The reason I cliqued you on the Massacre sequence was because I feared Show & Tell -- now that I see you don't have it I feel like a doofus. Even if you have S&T in that situation, the right line is probably for me to Clique you in response to the S&T. That prevents what actually happened, which is me taking Entomb really for no reason (considering Crypt and Ooze) and letting you dig for Massacre.
Don't you want golgari charm for enchantments and board sweeps?
Or was decay enough?
I like 1 minimum. I am probably dropping the sb thoughtseize for a Coffin Purge, and thus far am concerned about the Jin-Gitaxias, but I'm pretty sure using her Wil be only in the corner case scenario of Griselbrand being extracted, so it stays for now.
I think I want a second E. Truth, but can't decide if I want to drop a charm or a Massacre for it. Anyone have any argument one way or the other?
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Secretly.A.Bee, I'd cut Golgari Charm for the Echoing Truth. I like Massacre because it only costs 1 with Thalia in play. Any other answer makes you lose too much tempo, or isn't castable at all.
I've been tempted by Unmask. I believe I've seen it in more black-centric lists. It facilitates turn-one Reanimate if we target ourselves, and free spells are great to clear the way for a early Exhume, or after a Griselbrand. On the other hand, we're down cards on Force of Will and Careful Study, and the extra card sacrificed may be more than we can pay.
Congrats Hank!
Few questions:
1) How was the island?
2) Do you think that Iona and Sire could make the switch?
3) How was the second massacre? Better than a third disfigure would have been?
4) Any changes that you would make after the weekend?
Well, the KnightFall deck with KotR and Retreat to Coralhelm is a positive matchup to say the least. Hilarious. Didn't drop a game in 3 matches.
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Say it's game one, opponent is on the play, and they lead with a Deathrite Shaman. I have a Force of Will ready but no other protection. I have no reason to believe they know I'm on Reanimator. I could force the Deathrite, but is it ever correct to let Deathrite resolve, pretend it's no big deal, and hope they tap it on their turn two so I can animate something on my turn two? I would guess it would depend on part what my projected turn one play would be. An Underground Sea and Ponder might be more suspicious than Polluted Delta and pass. And I would want to have this figured out ahead of time. Don't want to tank in response to Deathrite. That'd be a giveaway.
If you can, I think countering it is correct. If you can get a fatty on the field, DRS stops mattering. Until that time, it's game-breaking, and should be treated as such. It's a shot at their tempo, so I don't feel like it screams Reanimator, I mean essentially it daze - proofs their goyf/stoneforge/bob on turn 2, and then allows a follow-up play. That alone is a reason for most blue decks to deal with it, you just have fewer ways to do so.
Edit: I feel like if you have the combo in hand and can combo turn 1, I wouldn't counter it. Otherwise I would.
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Well also it depends on the deck, because some decks play DRS with only a limited green presence, so unless they have a clue as to what you're playing, they won't fetch green right away and you can catch them with their pants down.
I like this thinking, but it's also true that I wouldn't have a good understanding how common their green sources were g1t1.
Secretly.A.Bee, thanks for your insight. It is true that Deathrite might give them enough of an advantage that I shouldn't mind countering it, even if I think I can play around it. And, yes, if I can score a turn-one Reanimate, I wouldn't counter.
Some hands are resistant to Deathrite, such as ones with two fatties, Careful Study, and Exhume. Or Exhume and two Entomb, but that does require significant setup, and I might be buried by the time I can execute them.
I was considering adding two Izzet Charm maindeck. But I tend to think the flexability isn't worth the tempo loss of a two mana spell over a Thoughtseize / Careful Study in combination with the risks of needing the additional nonbasic land in play.
Well true, you don't know what they're playing exactly, but if the DRS comes down off an Underground Sea or Scrubland versus a Bayou or a Tropical Island will tell a lot, as well as if any of those lands came out of a fetch land.
That is what I'm saying. USea into DRS I would be less likely to counter than Bayou.
So I am curious as to what you Reanimages think about basics in the list. I'm currently running 2x, but I feel like dropping Sea #4 for Swamp #2 is looking good. Any reason why I shouldn't?
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Been wondering this myself. Unfortunately I only own 3 Underground Seas, so that's crimping me a tad.
My current manabase is:
3 Sea
1 Swamp
1 Island
4 Delta
2 Mire
2 Strand
4 Petal
With 1 Trop in the board to bring in with abrupt decay.
Feels a little light. Unfortunately the Trop is also my only non-shockland green dual.
Maybe move the Trop main, shave something, and free up a sideboard slot.
I play 16 lands and 3 petal. List was posted about a page back. I just wonder because Wasteland is back with a vengeance and against Blood Moon I want to be able to Entomb and reanimate on the same turn.
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My friend plays Storm (ANT), and he's never lost against a Reanimated Sire of Insanity. A top-decked Infernal Tutor turns into a Demonic Tutor, for whatever he needs to flashback his graveyard. Is Sire of Inanity not as good as we thought? Has anyone had a large amount of experience with the card?
I think the card is generally weak, and if it's possible for Storm to win through it, no way I'm playing it. Maybe Ruric Thar would be better, though it'd only be against Storm.
That's with the assumption that your friend makes it to 2x Mana sources that aren't fetches before we have 4 attack steps. If they hit two fetches, it's 3 attack steps. If you turn 1 drop a Sire of Insanity and they were on the draw, they have to topdeck like a champ. Also, following up Sire with Iona on red eliminates all their outs.
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