I love this deck. It's fun and does my favorite things with my favorite color. But, it can't necessarily deal with the combos decks in my meta. What can I add/remove to make this deck better deal with combo decks like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and Ghave, Ghuru of Spores? Every turn after turn 5 I'm at risk of losing while still trying to set my board up or searching for my combo pieces. I've added card draw, some more tutors (that I can afford, and better creatures that care when they die or another creature dies. I want to add more discard spells and better creatures but I'm not sure what can be replaced.
Any suggestions are welcome, as I'm currently at a dead end.
Ghave makes infinite saps which can infinitely mill people with Altar of the Brood, or infinitely sacrifice Geralf's Messenger. If he doesn't go infinite, he makes near infinite saps, and casts Craterhoof Behemoth while keeping our boards tapped down with Glare of Subdual. Jace makes infinite mana and draws himself out around turn 6 pretty reliably. Somebody can usually keep him on his toes or if I can reanimate or get out an early Sadistic Hypnotist I can usually slow him down. I know I need more discard spells but I'm not really sure what cards to substitute for these spells.
You're talking about INCREDIBLY fast decks in your meta, and your deck is more of a slow reanimator that also has a combo in it. It seems pretty clear that you can rack enough value to thrive in the mid-late game, but early game these decks can win more reliably than you can stop them.
My first suggestion is to replace the slow, cumbersome tutors like Diabolic Tutor and Mastermind's Acquisition with the proper black tutors, like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Diabolic Intent, so that searching for answers becomes easy.
My second suggestion is to utilize the cheap, efficient removal that black has, like Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Dismember, etc.
My third suggestion is to use more artifact answers. You've mentioned JVP and Ghave, and both get shut down very hard by Cursed Totem or Damping Matrix, or even cards like Pithing Needle, Phyrexian Revoker, Sorcerous Spyglass.
I'm also severely disappointed at your lack of Sepulchral Primordial, a must in any reanimator deck, and strongly recommend Chainer, Dementia Master as a reanimation master, and Demon of Dark Schemes as mass removal and reanimation all in one. Duplicant should also be considered as a rare ETB exile answer in black, and Carrion Feeder is a zombie sac outlet, which you like.
To combat the token strategy I would try to fit a Massacre Wurm in there. He'll punish all your opponents with an army of small creatures and shut down any infinite sacrificing loops until they can deal with him.
Shriekmaw and Bone Shredder, while restricted in what they can kill, are good ways to flip Liliana quickly.
Wow, I came back to some really amazing suggestions that I'll definitely keep in mind when I'm revising the deck. I have a Necropotence but I'm really iffy on including it in a Reanimator deck just because of it forcing me to throw discarded cards into exile. I'm definitely working my way towards getting the better black tutors though. Massacre Wurm is now definitely going to be on my radar especially for stopping infinite sacrifice loops and I just so happen to have a Sepulchral Primordial and a Demon of Dark Schemes because I play a ton of black and therefore have a lot of black EDH Staples. Further suggestions are certainly welcome and I do so humbly thanks those of you who have taken the time to give me much needed feedback as I'm the only real mono black player in my meta so there isn't really anybody I can go to for assistance.
On the surface Necropotence definitely looks like a nonbo with a reanimator deck, but it's generally not your turn 3 play. You want to try to get Liliana down and flipped early, and then protect her with a big reanimation target or board control. Then, when Necropotence comes down late game it will keep your hand full. This means you should always have some fodder to pitch to Liliana without worry about what zone it ends up in and ideally enough mana to just start casting your reanimation targets. When you get to the point where you can cast your reanimation targets is when I find the game is close to an end. Pitching and reanimating a Grave Titan early is flashy, but usually when you're facing 3 players with full grips it's going to meet an immediate end. When you can cast Gray Merchant, and then sacrifice it, and then reanimate it, and sacrifice it and reanimate it again is where you want to be. Usually this type of play is only available when you've developed your board.
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
Creature
1 Blood Artist
1 Viscera Seer
1 Cryptbreaker
1 Hell's Caretaker
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Relentless Dead
1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Geralf's Messenger
1 Ogre Slumlord
1 Ghoulcaller Gisa
1 Grim Haruspex
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Magus of the Will
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Undead Gladiator
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1 Vindictive Lich
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Grave Titan
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Razaketh, the Foulblooded
1 Dictate of Erebos
1 Animate Dead
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Black Market
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
Land
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Crypt of Agadeem
1 Cabal Coffers
1 High Market
1 Barren Moor
29 Swamp
1 Myriad Landscape
Artifact
1 Geth's Grimoire
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Caged Sun
1 Jet Medallion
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Sol Ring
1 Burnished Hart
1 Solemn Simulacrum
Instant
1 Entomb
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Tragic Slip
1 Bubbling Muck
1 Exsanguinate
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Reanimate
1 Damnation
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Decree of Pain
1 Read the Bones
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Victimize
1 Mutilate
1 Mastermind's Acquisition
1 Living Death
1 Zombify
1 Ancient Craving
Planeswalker
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Liliana Vess
I love this deck. It's fun and does my favorite things with my favorite color. But, it can't necessarily deal with the combos decks in my meta. What can I add/remove to make this deck better deal with combo decks like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and Ghave, Ghuru of Spores? Every turn after turn 5 I'm at risk of losing while still trying to set my board up or searching for my combo pieces. I've added card draw, some more tutors (that I can afford, and better creatures that care when they die or another creature dies. I want to add more discard spells and better creatures but I'm not sure what can be replaced.
Any suggestions are welcome, as I'm currently at a dead end.
My first suggestion is to replace the slow, cumbersome tutors like Diabolic Tutor and Mastermind's Acquisition with the proper black tutors, like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Diabolic Intent, so that searching for answers becomes easy.
My second suggestion is to utilize the cheap, efficient removal that black has, like Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Dismember, etc.
My third suggestion is to use more artifact answers. You've mentioned JVP and Ghave, and both get shut down very hard by Cursed Totem or Damping Matrix, or even cards like Pithing Needle, Phyrexian Revoker, Sorcerous Spyglass.
I'm also severely disappointed at your lack of Sepulchral Primordial, a must in any reanimator deck, and strongly recommend Chainer, Dementia Master as a reanimation master, and Demon of Dark Schemes as mass removal and reanimation all in one. Duplicant should also be considered as a rare ETB exile answer in black, and Carrion Feeder is a zombie sac outlet, which you like.
I'd suggest considering cutting Zombify, Hell's Caretaker, Vindictive Lich, Ghoulcaller Gisa, perhaps Ogre Slumlord,Rise of the Dark Realms, Magus of the Will, Relentless Dead, and perhaps Ancient Craving.
Shriekmaw and Bone Shredder, while restricted in what they can kill, are good ways to flip Liliana quickly.
I would also second @shermanido37's suggestions for cuts. The reanimation cards like Zombify and Hell's Caretaker can be replaced with more efficient reanimation like Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Dread Return, and even Beacon of Unrest, which can nab a lost artifact in a pinch. Vindictive Lich could be Merciless Executioner. Rise of the Dark Realms is very powerful, but very slow and not something you can reanimate and abuse like Sepulchral Primordial. I like the concept behind Relentless Dead, but in practice it requires a lot of mana to take advantage of it. Ancient Craving could probably be Night's Whisper or Sign in Blood, but ideally it would be Necropotence. Kokusho, the Evening Star is another card you may want to consider. He can fill in as a redundant Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Liliana was my first edh deck and I still love it. Here is my list for reference so you can take into account my biases towards cards. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-02-18-liliana-control/
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG