Also, I suppose you are playing Jin-Gitaxias, Core Auger, so you do have the ability to limit their hand, just not quite as fast, although speed is less of a concern in a petal-less build. I love your list, and will be playing it soon. I've got it put together with the sub-optimal mana-base, but -1 MisD and -1 Jace, +1 Izzet Charm and...I don't remember. Might be a Grave Titan.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
The point of Jin-Gitaxias is to play around Surgical, I think.Originally Posted by Secretly.A.Bee
I understand that, but it's other effect is relevant.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
I would highly recommend proxying Origins Jace, you haven't lived until you've gotten to use entomb to tutor up a reanimation spell. Another very relevant aspect of this card is -2/-0 Baleful Strix (even just gaining 2 effective life will keep reanimate online longer). No reanimator list has to have it, but it's definitely good to understand what you're missing out on; moreso if your meta is using one-time hate cards like Nihil Spellbomb or Relic.
Its almost two months since I've play tested with Jace. I cannot get him to resolve. He either eats removal, permission, or I just plain don't draw him. That alone makes me keep trying to test him.
He's like the Chains of Mephistopheles in my Jund deck. A supposedly powerful card that I cannot get to stick.
Last weekend I played a SCG Premier in Philly. Went 3-2-1 Lol
It was my first time piloting reanimator. I loved it!
My list is as follows:
2 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Grave Titan
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Reanimate
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Careful Study
3 Lotus Petal
3 Thoughtseize
15 Lands
1 Swamp
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
Griselbrand is the all star creature of the deck, but i realized that playing 2 is the same as playing 3, The consistency was still there.
Iona is a Power House, if you can entomb her and reanimate her fast, is almost game, and it's way to hard to deal with her.
Grave titan, 2 turn clock, really good against bug decks
Inkwell Leviathan, after heavy playtesting, i realized that DnT was my hardest match up, Reanimating a turn 2 Leviathan is always game most of the time (unless they race you whith a batterskull) I think it's a must!
Tidespout tyrant: against show and tell and lands.
Elesh Norn: elves. Once you reanimate this, its game
What really screwed my game plan was a turn 1 Drs on their side, it was really hard to play around it, you can only go if your opponent doesn't know what he is up against.
I think Chance tech of adding izzet charm is really good! gives you a lot more of versatility and ways to get rid of those really annoying drs.
Never though about splashing red for the charm, i was leaning towards maindecking pithing needle, just for drs! but charms work a lot better!
I would swap 1 ponder, 1 daze and a thoughtseize for 3 charms. That's what i'm going to test.
I really like Show and tell in the sideboard and i'm considering maindecking 2 copies of it, it's a really good way of dodging drs, again, one of the decks worst nightmares and against heavy counter decks as show and tell.
The ability to turn 1 reanimate and consistent turn 2 is really good with petals. I did a turn 1 grave titan by thoughseizing myself, playing petal and reanimating afterwards. It felt great!!
I need to keep playtesting the deck, i really enjoy playing it!!
Congrats chase! I think your deck is reanimators next evolution.
I've been saying Jace is good for pages now, and I played 2x main at GP SeaTac. I'm playing with 2x in my board currently with the main being about 4 cards different from Chase's GP list.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
Got a report from a local legacy tourney, maybe you'll find it amusing.
To begin with, I hadn't thought I would even participate today. Literally half of my deck (the more important half, the reanimation package) was still being processed by our post yesterday, so I gave up right when my postal app told me I could pick up the parcels the next day. Well, I'm in!
I sleeved my new cards up just before the tournament and I managed to buy a few cool singles to reanimate. I was curious if my online experience with the deck would help me at all in a real tourney, and so it began.
Round 1. M. with Jund
Well, I knew what he would be playing as I had lent him a few duals and fetches. I expected to win G1 easily and battle G2 and possible G3 through hate. Foolish me.
M. wins the die roll and I keep my seven with a few lands and a possibility of turn 2 (or even turn 1) reanimation. T1 Thoughtseize shreds my hand and makes me dig for the right spells, but I don't find them in time and die to some beats. G2 I lead with a Thoughtseize taking DRS, seeing 2 Dark Confidants, Duress, Pulse and two fetches. At some point he casts a Hymn, I respond with an Entomb, putting some fatty in the graveyard, discard an Iona in hand to Hymn, draw an Exhume and he concedes as his Confidants put him to low enough life to die to a single 7/7 flying attack. G3 I kept an okayish hand, but didnt sequence my spells properly, and my opponent got his creatures out early, pressuring me to act quickly. So I had just enough mana to Entomb and Exhume, I took the risk, but my Griselbrand got extracted, my life total was too low to cast Reanimate, and it all never mattered because my late discard showed me first a hand of 2 Lilis and a Wasteland, then 3 Lilis when I discarded his Bolt, but he drew another one and killed me brutally.
0-1 (1-2 in games)
Round 2. V. with Affinity
I win the die roll. When he plays an Ancient Tomb G1, I put him on MUD, then he plays a Pithing Needle naming Griselbrand as I accidentally dropped a Lotus Petal from my hand; then a Relic of Progenitus which gets promptly Dazed. I keep digging, Reanimate a Griselbrand, but he eats Ornithopter with Arcbound Ravager, denying me the lifegain; then he gets a few counters on Etched Champion, a few on another Ravager, I'm at 4 life with tapped Grisel, so I reanimate his Ornithopter to block the Champion, but one of the attackers kills me anyway. G2 he gets a Tormod's Crypt into play, then a couple weenies, but no Ravager. I sculpted my hand perfectly with an earlier Ponder, play a Needle on Relic, Entomb an Elesh Norn, cast Reanimate and that's it. G3 he got the weenies swinging early at me, I had some cantrips and a Reanimate, but no way to put a creature in the yard. I got a Needle on Crypt again, then an Abrupt Decay dealt with Cranial Plating on his Vault Skirge. I cast a Ponder, seeing another Decay, an Entomb and probably a land. Think a little, but decide to draw a Decay, having a Swamp and a fetchland untapped, and use it in case something goes wrong; otherwise, I would draw an Entomb for the turn and combo off. I am forced to kill a Ravager, the counters moving to the Skirge (he also had an Ornithopter ready), so I shuffle away my Entomb, the Skirge puts me to 4 life, I don't draw anything relevant and lose. After the game it turned out he had a Flusterstorm sitting in hand for a long time, so if I tried to combo off a turn earlier, I would die even quicker.
0-2 (2-4 in games)
Round 3. G. with Burn.
At that point, I am a bit nervous as I can't lose any more games. My opponent isn't that experienced, but that doesn't mean she can't burn me out. I win the die roll, play a land, pass. She starts with a Goblin Guide, I let it resolve hoping to find some lands off its trigger, but that doesn't happen that time, nor does it any other turn. I bin a Grisel, Force another Guide, then I have to Entomb twice on my upkeep due to revealing useless fatties on top of my deck, but my draws are blank and I never see a reanimation spell this game, in addition to staying low on lands. Damn, I'm on the brink now. G2 is not really spectacular, she Lava Spikes me, I entomb Iona on endstep, untap, Reanimate, it's over. G3 I am happy to be on the draw, keeping a hand with a lot of lands, Lotus Petal, Griselbrand, Exhume. Discard 'Brand to hand size, next turn Exhume, never play another spell or land, seeing an Eidolon and a Swiftspear across the board. One attack step later I am out of burn range, and her hand is full of irrelevant creatures.
1-2 (4-5 in games)
Round 4. V. with BG Depths/Lands
Okay, there aren't actually a lot of people here, and my standings are the best among the other 3-point players, so if I win this match, I'm in top 8. That match was recorded on Twitch, so I might add anything I missed later. I lead with a land, pass and Entomb on endstep, binning Grisel. That was a mistake, one that it took me a couple turns to fix. He plays a Maze of Ith and my plan to beat him with a lifelinking demon is ruined. I draw 7, keep digging until I manage to dump a Tidespout Tyrant in the yard, probably Exhume it, then keep playing discard and cantrips to bounce his Maze once and swing for 7, leaving him at 12 life, then next turn to swing for exactly lethal. At that point I've been playing long enough to feel tired, it's hot inside the game store, but cold outside, and I need to wash my face with cold water between rounds to try to concentrate. Going to G2, I have another good hand for an early reanimation, but my opponent starts the game with two Leylines of the Void in play. I feel awkward as I only have one Echoing Truth in sideboard, one Golgari Charm and this leaves me with little chance to win that game. I don't concede because my opponent has only a Mox for mana, his other lands are Tabernacle and Maze. I play a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and pass. Then I keep paying for that boy each upkeep, drawing and discarding blanks, digging for answers. The turn he finds a Thespian's stage to add to his Dark Depths, he's 1 mana short of copying the Depths, so I rip a Pithing Needle off the top of my deck, play it, and that prolongs the game. He Living Wishes for Reclamation Sage, kills my Needle, but forgets to pay for the Sage and it gets destroyed by Tabernacle. I Reanimate the Sage, killing one Leyline, but that's not enough and I die next turn to a Marit Lage. I could have won this, however, if I hadn't looted that thoughtlessly. I could've 'Seized the Sage, Reanimated it, then 'forgot' to pay for the trigger, Reanimated again and won from there. Game 3 is a lot like G1, but this time I made reanimating the Tyrant my top priority. After that, neither Maze of Ith nor his almost assembled combo of Stage+Depths can stop the unfair blue creature, and he dies in four attacks. Yay, top 8!
2-2 (6-6 in games)
Top 8. M. with Jund.
G1 I mull to 5 cards and he goes down to 4. I discard a Confidant, leaving him with two lands and a Tarmogoyf - not a bad four he kept! I proceed to discard a Griselbrand and Exhume, force a Liliana, draw cards, attack, probably Reanimate Elesh Norn and win. G2 we both drew our sideboard cards. He played a Shaman, I Needled it. He played a Grafdigger's Cage, I Decayed it on his endstep. However, all that time his Tarmogoyf was hitting me hard, then I ate a Bolt and had too few life points to cast a Reanimate. G3 we trade cards for some time, then he misplays really hard. I have a Swamp and a fetch untapped, he has 3 mana and casts a LotV. I let it resolve, he ticks her up, letting me bin a Griselbrand. Good. He probably thought he'd be able to kill my fatty with Lili's -2, but he never got to do it. 3 sweet demonic attacks later I'm in top 4, having my revenge for that round 1.
3-2 (8-7 in games)
Top 4. M. with Aggro Loam.
I knew the match wouldn't be easy, but I didn't care as I was a lot more successful than I could expect. I remember seeing Karakas, Knight of the Reliquary and Wasteland with TSeize G1, and I Exhumed a Griselbrand to kill him in 4 swings (he drew and cast DRS to heal a couple times), but I really don't recall how I dealt with Karakas. Maybe my memory isn't that clear, sorry for that. Game 2 lasted literally forever. I got a Grave Titan into play early, he had his KotR growing steadily, his hand had a Punishing Fire in it, so he repeatedly shot down my zombies and untapped the Titan with Maze. I put him to 7 life with those attacks, then he fetched, went to 6, played a Leyline and let me swing. Then I made a double misplay that cost me that game and I'm still ashamed. I attacked with Titan and a few zombies, he untapped a token with Maze, offering to trade Knight for Titan. After blocks and Maze activation I cast the Golgari Charm I had been sandbagging for the last two turns, killing the Leyline. I thought I would Exhume the Titan and proceed to kill him. I could have just damn regenerated my team and killed him next turn. Oh well. The second part of that misplay was that I never dared to cast Exhume when I understood that would give him the Reliquary I just dealt with. Then he cast a Chalice of the Void @ 1, and a sequence of good draws from him and blanks for me sealed the game. What could be worse? At that point I am a little sad, but not really tilted as I had fun in pretty much every game I played that day. We proceed to G3, where he mulls to 6 and I keep my 7 that can Reanimate whatever I want as soon as turn 2, but with no protection or plan B. I play a fetch, pass, let his Shaman resolve, endstep Entomb, my turn Reanimate, which disappoints him. Well, sorry, but you should have been dead one game earlier! Then I try to deprive him of all the possible outs to my Griselbrand, Decay a KotR, draw some cards, don't quite manage to seal the game with my plays, but he doesn't draw the best part of his deck and 2 attacks later he scoops.
4-2 (10-8 in games)
My opponent in the finals would be an experienced player with Grixis Delver, but we decided that it was too late, and we split the prizes, each of us getting 15 packs, a random promo and a few bucks of store credit.
After the tournament, I can say that Jace didn't shine as much as he does online, but that's because he often gets removed or bounced with Karakas. Golgari Charm and Echoing Truth are okay, but I just wish I had my 2 Teferi's Realm already delivered from Ebay. Empyrial Archangel never got Reanimated, so nothing to say about her; Sire of Insanity never got outside of the board as I faced exactly zero combo decks (though they were like half the meta), Needles and Decays are great, but that's obvious. I will continue playing this deck cause it brings me a lot of joy to both assemble my combo quickly and fight through different hate. I admit, though, that some of my wins in the second half of the tourney happened due to me being lucky/my opponent being not so lucky, but I'm mostly fine with it, because I will try not to make the same mistakes as described in this report.
What is your list?
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
Mainboard
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Grave Titan
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Reanimate
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Careful Study
3 Thoughtseize
3 Lotus Petal
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Island
Sideboard
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Massacre
2 Duress
1 Golgari Charm
1 Echoing Truth
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Pithing Needle
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Surgical Extraction
What do you guys think of the new Kozilek guy?
Kozilek, The Great Distortion
mana cost: 8 and double diamond (not sure what this, if the diamonds mean you need complete colorless mana, or that you need to pay it with the new Wastes basic land, not really an issue to us)
When you cast Kozilek, if the number of cards in your hand is less than seven, draw cards equal to the difference
Menace
Discard a card from your hand with converted mana cost X: Counter target spell with converted mana cost X
He's 12/12 too.
The big body, menace ability, and the repeatable counterspell effect are nice. Reanimator does have enough spells in the 1-2 CMC range (3 CMC if you run Show and Tell) to counter most removals short of Karakas. Pitch a hapless researcher to counter a STP only to reanimate it and do something else.
Seems okay. Though Karakas is on an uptick where I play so he probably wont see play on my end.
I doubt I'm interested. He doesn't draw us anything as we don't cast him, he feels win-more.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
From when I played Delver, I was always taught to always side out the Forces versus any fair deck. I suppose things are different in combo-land. But in particular: do you side out your Forces versus D+T? You have a ton of cards to bring in (3 Decay, Darkblast, Golgari Charm, 2 Pithing Needle), and it doesn't look like there are 7 bad cards to take out from your list!
When I played Miracles, I was taught the same thing. However, against certain decks where you know you had threats that were hard to interact with (Pre Mentor Miracles had difficulty fighting a resolved Liliana) I'd trim them. In the realm of Reanimator vs DnT I don't side my Forces out to keep my Misdirections viable. I do start siding out a Griselbrand or two though.
Against dnt I like to cut:
1 reanimate
1 exhume
1 careful study
1 Iona
2 misdirection
1 izzet charm
1 jace
In:
1 golgari charm
1 darkblast
3 decay
1 Jin-gitaxias
1 pithing needle
1 echoing truth
This keeps a relevant number of blue cards for your forces, as well as a high number of answers to their various threats. I only bring in 1 needle in this build because the archetype acts as a second needle in many scenarios. It's possible that the echoing truth or Jin could just be the second needle.
Has anyone ever tired xantid swarm in the sideboard? I've been running ANT recently and he is really good vs heavy counter decks like miracles and RUG where they usually side out removal in favor of more counters, which they usually do against re-animator as well.
I asked the same question. I never got an answer, but after thinking about it I see no reason to play it. My sideboard is full and I run counters main, discard in the board. I think that is better overall.
From my phone. I do my best, dammit!
I do not get why Jin is better than Iona in the MU? Both fold to karakas, but Jin fold as well on StP. And isn't izzet charm better than E truth?
Izzet charm is "better" but harder to cast and doesn't hit RiP or cage, Jin wins the game if you get to your endstep, Iona requires at least 3 turns after resolution to win and does very little if they have an active vial.
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