I'm no expert so take my advice with a grain of salt. I have all the cards in most of these decklists but I don't play it competitively (though I do other formats) but I'll chime in on your questions to what I have experience in
Buried Alive was most certainly best when you could use Loyal Retainers, I still run it but not sure if it's really worth it.
Pattern of Rebirth is awesome IMO. Get Pattern (Tutor for Academy works), put it on ANYTHING, smile Your opponent knows whats coming - drop Iona and win.
Grand Abolisher - I run him still, he's been good to me against things like Wizards, probably not needed against every decktype but I play Gaddock Teeg for similar reasons.
I play Iona and Elesh Norn. As you said, podding off a Karador for Iona is usually game.
Wood Elves - great question, don't know... really thinking about cutting them in my deck myself.
I haven't tested spore frog at all, but I think Ill try it out. For 1 mana it could be really worth the slot.
I have to admit, I prefer Beast Within's instant-speed and easier color demand over Vindicate or Pulse (and it's not like we couldn't handle the Beast token ;)).
Wickerbough fits nicely into the Pod-chain, and being able to hit the opponent for 4 after blowing something up is no mean feat either.
I was testing Restoration Angel and Blood Artist, and while the Artist is just win-more (and therefore got cut already), the Angel is really nice to have, mostly flickering Harmonic Sliver/Acidic Slime/Shriekmaw or making your stuff removalproof. I definitely think Resto deserves the spot in the deck.
I definitely didn't miss Liliana though :D. True, Garruk only hits for 3, but what's important to me is that I get to choose what he hits - and if I get him to stick against control, the Wolf tokens can become a real threat very quickly.
On the other hand, I'd never cut Eternal Witness. Yes, we don't have many non-creature targets for her, but each of them is worth being recurred, and sometimes I also want to recur a second creature which is where witness also helps a lot.
I would play Beast Within and Vindicate. Beast Within is good only if its because its an out to Animar.
I don't think Wickerbough is needed - you have both Qasali and Harmonic Sliver along the Birthing Pod chain to deal with enchantments / artifacts. Plus, the 4 CMC spot has much better goodies like Restoration Angel (which is interesting - I'm going to try that), or Academy Rector (though no longer as good now that its not tutoring up Pattern of Rebirth -> Protean Hulk).
Garruk is not necessary, but I would never cut Liliana.
Spike feeder doesn't do very much on its own. It's basically a dead card outside of the combo. On the otherhand, Finks is very good on its own, and augments the rock/grindy aspect of the deck. That being said, Feeder is still a reasonable addition, just not as good as Finks, IMO.
Post Oloro banning, finally came back to Karador (mostly out of boredom).
Turns out that in the heavy midrange meta that we've got right now (Jenara / Marath / Yisan / etc.), straight reanimator is actually the perfect deck choice for steam rolling.
The deck is still playing a bit clunky, but I don't want to drop below 40 creatures, so I'm trying to make the reanimator theme work, while juggling the creature count, and maintaining enough discard outlets.
Still, the deck has so far performed pretty sweet.
Ooze combo was overkill, as was Reveillark combo. I generally never lose when Survival is online, and both Reveillark / Ooze / Triskelion / Phyrexian Devourer just clogged my hand up whenever I got them.
Zenith was cut because it's a non creature, and I'm finding mana dorks aren't that integral to your game plan anyway.
Relic warder was cut for Reclamation Sage, which is basically a straight upgrade.
The extra slots let me fit in Angel of Despair and Primeval Titan, which are both solid reanimator targets.
I also have room now for Academy Rector (so I have a 4 CMC slot on Birthing Pod chain), Tidehollow Sculler (because it's just good), and Pack Rat, which is my personal favorite, because it's a fantastic discard outlet in creature form (which the deck needs way more of).
I was gonna say the same thing about the triskelion combo but idk, I think I still like revilark since you're still playing the rest if the combo pieces and have so many small utility creatures that it could bring back. How about putrid imp for a super cheap discard outlet instead of packrat which costs 5 mana?
the first page has 100 cards in it 101 if you include the general. you say your deck needs more discard creatures well there are 3 more you aren't using they are Lotleth Troll, Oona's Prowler, and Putrid Imp. They are free what made you chose the 2 you did over these? Also there are 2 more dredge creatures. Do you think they would be worth a slot?
I play tested againt prossh elfball and got 1-2, and against thraximundar and damia 1-2 too, i think that control decks with bojuka bog is a hard matchup, and elfball decks are harder too.The modifications i made are:
in:tidehollow, bloodthrone vampire and entomb exarch
out:dimir house guard, bloom tender and joraga treespeaker.
Thinking cut freyalise, sin collector and wall of roots to add something better like sun titan, yosei, recurring nightmare, shadowborn demon, phyrexian arena.Actually my meta is full of elfballs and zeganas.
I thinking of trying Karador and becasue of the Boonweaver Giant, but Anafenza is running rampant here, hahaha
If I finally manage to make one I'll post my list here.
But I still lack a lot of cards like Academy Rector, Recurring Nightmare and Gaea's Cradle... are these cads really necessary?
Tidehollow Sculler
Bloodthrone Vampire
linvala, keeper of silence
Entomber Exarch
Cards i cut
Joraga Treespeaker
Bloom Tender
Dimir House Guard
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
I'm very happy with the results, the deck is strong and fun to play, actually i swapped my marath deck to karador cause the meta is not good anymore to marath :|
Yeah, Marath would really struggle in the current meta and Karador is an easy swamp and looks like a stronger deck imo. Congrats Lyserg on the deck and win!
I had almost no experience with this deck but got to read up on how it works through the forum the day before.
Round 1 I play Griselbrand he gets a quick Liliana and starts making me discard.
Had two creature and a sac outlet top deck pattern of rebirth. After telling him I'm going to combo he scoops.
Game two is a little bit of the same.. He clears my board with a wrath and I only had a Academy Rector and a Pridemage in hand.
I played the Rector and it lived through his next turn.. When he tapped out I cast Pridemage and a top decked Bloodthrone Vampire.
2-0
Round 2 I get to play Ezuri but neither of us get anything to out of control he Song of the Dryads my Liliana . I ramp into a Prime Time and with a Bob and a Karador on the table. Before either of our life totals go below 20 he scoops. Game 2 i keep a hand with no green mana but a few good black spells with a Skullclamp and a Priest of Titania. The Priest ends up ramping into a turn three prime time. It puts me too far ahead and with a top deck Survival I grab the cards I need to combo.
2-0
Round 3 Its my friend and hes playing Sygg, River Cutthroat. I get a early discard dude and take his Dismember.
I see that he had a shadow of doubt in hand. Really bad for me holding a diabolic intent and a pattern.
He taps out on turn 4 to cast a True-Name. I get to play a free pattern on a devoted druid using its -1/-1 counters to kill it.
Got a Elesh Norn to kill his True-Name and making his Sygg not so good. Just rode and recurred the Elesh to victory.
Game 2 Game was going long, trading one for ones. He ended up using Toxic to wrath the board after bouncing a Carrion Feeder.
I replayed Carrion Feeder with a Karador and a reanimate Sin Collector. He replayed a general and next turn I top deck Boonweaver Giant with a Sac outlet in play.
2-0
All in all the deck is really good. No one I played had any graveyard hate.
Since it's a LGS with a limited amount of People that show I may switch decks.
I played a list that was very close to Lysergs list on mtgtop8 with just a few changes.
The one card in the deck I'm not sure about was Grim Tutor. I would scry it to the bottom almost every time I could.
Anyone else using this card and not liking it?
Had the chance again to play this deck in another 3 round FNM and managed to 3-0 it.
Had time to pick up Sidisi before the FNM but it never did anything.. I think I pitched into the yard off of a Survival. May just cut her because I have never wanted to cast her at five mana and I rather pod into Sadistic Hypnotist/Slim at five. I may cut Sidisi and add back in Grim Tutor if it still doesn't play well.
As for Minister of Pain over Pontiff... I think Pontiff having the ability to pump is great! Maybe its just me but I've had this be relevant a lot in really long grindy games when I am not finding the combo.
I think Heartwood Storyteller is nice to have when you need a creature draw engine. Likewise, Stoneforge Mystic acting as a 2nd clamp also performs well in my playtests.
Buried Alive was most certainly best when you could use Loyal Retainers, I still run it but not sure if it's really worth it.
Pattern of Rebirth is awesome IMO. Get Pattern (Tutor for Academy works), put it on ANYTHING, smile Your opponent knows whats coming - drop Iona and win.
Grand Abolisher - I run him still, he's been good to me against things like Wizards, probably not needed against every decktype but I play Gaddock Teeg for similar reasons.
I play Iona and Elesh Norn. As you said, podding off a Karador for Iona is usually game.
Wood Elves - great question, don't know... really thinking about cutting them in my deck myself.
I haven't tested spore frog at all, but I think Ill try it out. For 1 mana it could be really worth the slot.
I would play Beast Within and Vindicate. Beast Within is good only if its because its an out to Animar.
I don't think Wickerbough is needed - you have both Qasali and Harmonic Sliver along the Birthing Pod chain to deal with enchantments / artifacts. Plus, the 4 CMC spot has much better goodies like Restoration Angel (which is interesting - I'm going to try that), or Academy Rector (though no longer as good now that its not tutoring up Pattern of Rebirth -> Protean Hulk).
Garruk is not necessary, but I would never cut Liliana.
Why not just spike feeder? Its combo with thune doesn't need a sac outlet to make work.
Modern Patagia Viper Combo
pfiremc13 on the source
Inkfathom Biomage on Undisclosed Magic Software
I should stop making so many different names for myself.
If you're running something for the combo, then spike feeder would theoretically be bigger
But I see how kitchen finks would already be a decent include and the combo pushes it over the top
Modern Patagia Viper Combo
pfiremc13 on the source
Inkfathom Biomage on Undisclosed Magic Software
I should stop making so many different names for myself.
Turns out that in the heavy midrange meta that we've got right now (Jenara / Marath / Yisan / etc.), straight reanimator is actually the perfect deck choice for steam rolling.
The deck is still playing a bit clunky, but I don't want to drop below 40 creatures, so I'm trying to make the reanimator theme work, while juggling the creature count, and maintaining enough discard outlets.
Still, the deck has so far performed pretty sweet.
More updates to come!
-Necrotic Ooze
-Triskelion
-Phyrexian Devourer
-Green Sun's Zenith
-Leonin Relic Warder
-Reveillark
+Reclamation Sage
+Angel of Despair
+Primeval Titan
+Tidehollow Sculler
+Pack Rat
+Academy Rector
Ooze combo was overkill, as was Reveillark combo. I generally never lose when Survival is online, and both Reveillark / Ooze / Triskelion / Phyrexian Devourer just clogged my hand up whenever I got them.
Zenith was cut because it's a non creature, and I'm finding mana dorks aren't that integral to your game plan anyway.
Relic warder was cut for Reclamation Sage, which is basically a straight upgrade.
The extra slots let me fit in Angel of Despair and Primeval Titan, which are both solid reanimator targets.
I also have room now for Academy Rector (so I have a 4 CMC slot on Birthing Pod chain), Tidehollow Sculler (because it's just good), and Pack Rat, which is my personal favorite, because it's a fantastic discard outlet in creature form (which the deck needs way more of).
in:tidehollow, bloodthrone vampire and entomb exarch
out:dimir house guard, bloom tender and joraga treespeaker.
Thinking cut freyalise, sin collector and wall of roots to add something better like sun titan, yosei, recurring nightmare, shadowborn demon, phyrexian arena.Actually my meta is full of elfballs and zeganas.
If I finally manage to make one I'll post my list here.
But I still lack a lot of cards like Academy Rector, Recurring Nightmare and Gaea's Cradle... are these cads really necessary?
in:
Tidehollow Sculler
Bloodthrone Vampire
linvala, keeper of silence
Entomber Exarch
Cards i cut
Joraga Treespeaker
Bloom Tender
Dimir House Guard
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
I'm very happy with the results, the deck is strong and fun to play, actually i swapped my marath deck to karador cause the meta is not good anymore to marath :|
I had almost no experience with this deck but got to read up on how it works through the forum the day before.
Round 1 I play Griselbrand he gets a quick Liliana and starts making me discard.
Had two creature and a sac outlet top deck pattern of rebirth. After telling him I'm going to combo he scoops.
Game two is a little bit of the same.. He clears my board with a wrath and I only had a Academy Rector and a Pridemage in hand.
I played the Rector and it lived through his next turn.. When he tapped out I cast Pridemage and a top decked Bloodthrone Vampire.
2-0
Round 2 I get to play Ezuri but neither of us get anything to out of control he Song of the Dryads my Liliana . I ramp into a Prime Time and with a Bob and a Karador on the table. Before either of our life totals go below 20 he scoops. Game 2 i keep a hand with no green mana but a few good black spells with a Skullclamp and a Priest of Titania. The Priest ends up ramping into a turn three prime time. It puts me too far ahead and with a top deck Survival I grab the cards I need to combo.
2-0
Round 3 Its my friend and hes playing Sygg, River Cutthroat. I get a early discard dude and take his Dismember.
I see that he had a shadow of doubt in hand. Really bad for me holding a diabolic intent and a pattern.
He taps out on turn 4 to cast a True-Name. I get to play a free pattern on a devoted druid using its -1/-1 counters to kill it.
Got a Elesh Norn to kill his True-Name and making his Sygg not so good. Just rode and recurred the Elesh to victory.
Game 2 Game was going long, trading one for ones. He ended up using Toxic to wrath the board after bouncing a Carrion Feeder.
I replayed Carrion Feeder with a Karador and a reanimate Sin Collector. He replayed a general and next turn I top deck Boonweaver Giant with a Sac outlet in play.
2-0
All in all the deck is really good. No one I played had any graveyard hate.
Since it's a LGS with a limited amount of People that show I may switch decks.
I played a list that was very close to Lysergs list on mtgtop8 with just a few changes.
The one card in the deck I'm not sure about was Grim Tutor. I would scry it to the bottom almost every time I could.
Anyone else using this card and not liking it?
Had time to pick up Sidisi before the FNM but it never did anything.. I think I pitched into the yard off of a Survival. May just cut her because I have never wanted to cast her at five mana and I rather pod into Sadistic Hypnotist/Slim at five. I may cut Sidisi and add back in Grim Tutor if it still doesn't play well.
As for Minister of Pain over Pontiff... I think Pontiff having the ability to pump is great! Maybe its just me but I've had this be relevant a lot in really long grindy games when I am not finding the combo.
Have not had a chance to play EDH in a while but I may get some free time to test tomorrow.