Hello reanimator players, I do not have much budget for building this deck card by card, but I really wanted to try it. Is it possible to build this on a budget, instead of the fetchands, and dual lands, if I can use my Dredge's rainbow lands for its mana base instead? Using either: Undiscovered Paradise, Mana Confluence, Gemstone Mine, or City of Brass? The barrier for this format seems to have gotten higher even more.
I'm also always looking for friendly players in League of Legends IGN Dread Return, doesn't have to be competitive, just be nice and friendly.
[S3 - Diamond, S4 - Diamond, S5 - Diamond, Current Season - Diamond] Primary role Support, Secondary MID Lane, Alternate Jungle.
Start with 4 darkslick shores. The rainbow pain lands will chew up your life total which is a valuable resource, so I would suggest using as few as possible. You are fast enough to get away with it sometimes, but not always.
@claymore-one so ive got a mono black version that i used to run and i found be quite competitive. Its still not gonna be free to build but it doesnt have blue or fetches so it shaves hundreds off the cost. I havent played competitive magic in a couple years but i used to be very involved. Last time i ran this i won out and beat mostly tier 1 decks at the time. if youd like i can give you the list. Part of my success was a some unconventional choices, not jank crap, but unexpected, and i found ppl didnt have answers because it wasnt strait net deck
First, I'll say I'm following this thread because I'm interested in this deck, however I'm not yet playing it.
I don't think this card is very good in a reanimator deck. Once it's on the board, it's a huge creature with menace, which I don't think compares to some of the other oppressive creatures. The counter ability is somewhat relevant and might warrant some testing, but overall I think the other power creatures in this deck are still better. Compare to Iona, Shield of Emeria. I don't think it compares. I'm happy to admit if I'm wrong, but at first look, I think the answer is no.
@claymore-one so ive got a mono black version that i used to run and i found be quite competitive. Its still not gonna be free to build but it doesnt have blue or fetches so it shaves hundreds off the cost. I havent played competitive magic in a couple years but i used to be very involved. Last time i ran this i won out and beat mostly tier 1 decks at the time. if youd like i can give you the list. Part of my success was a some unconventional choices, not jank crap, but unexpected, and i found ppl didnt have answers because it wasnt strait net deck
Mono-black is a glass cannon; If I were to run mono-black I would go for speed:
15-18 swamp
X lotus petal or possibly chrome mox
4 dark ritual
8-10 targets (minimum 3 sire of insanity)
X putrid imp
4 entomb
4 reanimate
4 exhume
4 animate dead
X thoughtseize
4 cabal therapy
4 gitaxian probe
Note that putrid imp can flashback therapy. You could try serum powder instead of probe if you want to test some options.
However, UBx reanimator is much more powerful; instead of underground sea you could try 2x darkslick shores and 2x watery grave.
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Daze
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Force of Will
4 Lotus Petal
2 Ponder
4 Reanimate
1 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize
1 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
SideBoard
2 City of Traitors
3 Show and Tell
2 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pithing Needle
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
I unfortunately did not take very good notes, for I wasn’t actually planning doing well (which I tried really hard not to). I also wandered down the street to a local bar a couple times throughout the tourney, so outside factors will also be deterring from this being an at least adequate report. I am also not going to give a good detail on my sideboarding every time, but I’ll let you in on a bit right now. I normally always board into the show package, except against other decks trying to cheat fatties or expensive enchantments into play. When doing that I normally take out 1 careful study, 2 reanimation effects (usually reanimates against burn, exhumes against combo, and one of each against everything else), and the 4th card I take out 100% depends on my opponents deck, what hate I think they will bring in, play or draw, and what mood I’m in. If you’re slightly good at math and have been paying attention, you will notice that I am boarding in 5 cards while only taking out 4. This is one hundred percent intended and I normally always board up to 61. I understand the math, or lack of, behind it and I have my reasons for it, but this isn’t the place for my views on that. On that note, the rest of the board feels straight forward to me, but I’m also just reeking of seat time with this deck. If you have any questions about sideboarding just ask, I promise I will only be slightly condescending.
Round 1 – Burn
Friend of a friend, so I knew he was on burn. I won the roll and kept an opener with an Iona and some cantrips. He led with a grim lavamancer then promptly started to bring the pain train with a lava spike and chain lightning (or some other bolt effect, they’re all essentially the same to this deck) on turn two. I finally drew the careful study on my turn 3, which got me my reanimate. I decided to go for it, as long as he didn’t have the fireblast I would be fine. Lo and behold he had the fireblast, which thankfully I had the daze for, but that didn’t matter because that pesky grim lavamancer now had all the fuel he needed. I quickly went from 3 to dead after one attack with Iona on Red. Game two was involved the single most enjoyable thing about this deck. I got to start with a turn one entomb for Iona, then as my opponent went for the top of his deck I got to say my favorite line “Oh, I’m not done yet.” And drop a petal and reanimate that Iona. He continued to play though, so that clearly meant he had the ensnaring bridge. I also can do basic math, so as long as he didn’t have simian spirit guide my daze in hand would be able to stop the bridge and get in the final attack. To be safe though I exhumed a Griselbrand on my turn 3 and promptly won by dazing the bridge on his turn. Game three I mulled into a hand with a delta, entomb, exhume, force of will, and 2 careful studies. I bottomed a show and tell on the scry. He lead with a goblin guide, which showed me another show and tell. I play delta and pass. He follows with a goblin guide and then another goblin guide. I heavily considered forcing here, but all I needed was one more land off of a guide and I could exhume on my turn and I was worried about surgical extraction. First guide trigger revealed a show and tell (yes that’s number 3 I’ve seen), so I crack delta with the other two guide triggers on the stack. Second guide revealed another show and tell (holy bouncing jelly beans!), so I entomb a sphinx of the steel wind. I went sphinx because lifelink, vigilance, and pro red are pretty awesome against 3 goblin guides and an opponent with a pretty full grip. Now the third and final guide trigger resolved and guess what it revealed, that’s right it was a brainstorm. Now it’s my turn, I’m at 11 life, I have a sphinx in the yard, an exhume in hand, and only 1 mana available. So I embraced the decks motto, said “F*** it” and jammed a brainstorm, knowing I would need to hit a land and a petal to avoid almost certain death next turn. I drew 2 petals and a Griselbrand, put back a careful study and the Griselbrand, and proceeded to windmill slam a sphinx into play. My opponent drops a mountain and a grim lavamancer, and I breathe a sigh of relief knowing I just won. The next couple of turns was just me beating with a sphinx and informing my opponent his double indeed does not kill Robo-Akroma. I spend the rest of the round talking with judges and scouting the field, which looked pretty favorable to me if I could avoid the couple miracles players, d&t, and the fine gentleman that rode with us to the event that was packing maverick.
Round 2 – Maverick
So this was the moment that I dreaded. The moment I saw a fellow Wisconsinite’s name scrolling next to mine, I knew I was about to lose. Phillip is the dreaded Maverick player that rode over with the group (I loaned him the karakas, damn my generosity will be my downfall!). I won the roll and kept an opener with multiple exhumes, an Elesh Norn, and some land. The plan was to discard it the hard way, but that was rendered irrelevant with Phil’s turn one deathrite. I then drew a careful study, but I without a guarantee of a petal I just couldn’t go for it. The turn two scooze though is what sealed the deal and I was unable to play around it. Game two I kept a hand with Sphinx, Elesh, two careful, a couple exhumes, an entomb and a land, so I was rather excited going into the game. Long story short after having to play very sneakily around a scooze and deathrite with a combination of careful study and entombs with exhumes on the stack, both my Elesh and sphinx met their demise to swords. I couldn’t be too angry though, for bad matchups are bad matchups and I played to my outs.
Round 3 – Rug Delver
As soon as the pairings went up I heard laughter from a familiar voice and I knew I was in for another round against a friend. This time however it was against my playtest buddy. These games went fast, for we were trying to be done before the match slips. The best part about playing against friends is you get to eliminate a lot of bluffing and leveling, for there’s just no reason in trying to fool people who can just read you like a book. I got it in two and Mike and I promptly went down the street to attempt to correct the tilt.
Round 4 – Ant
This round I got the pleasure to play against an amazing judge with an even better sense of humor, needless to say we knew what the matchup was. I forget who won the roll, but I was able to reanimate a Griselbrand putting myself down to eleven. I unfortunately did not have the force in hand when he started to go off the next turn. Due to a mistake in sequencing, I was able to pull ahead game one. The crucial point was when he cast a dark ritual with only a lotus petal up. I drew seven, going down to four life, but the only piece of counter magic I found was a daze. Forcing him to jump through the hoop however allowed me to win the game, for he was supposed to cast the rite of flame in his hand first. Game two I kept a hand where I would have to force myself to discard an Iona in order to get a creature in the yard. Unfortunately, he went off a turn too soon for me and I did not have the force of will to stop him. Game three I got an early Griselbrand and got one swing in before he tried to stop me. Unfortunately for Marc, my witty (influenced?) banter caused a slight miscalculation again when decided to dark ritual, which I countered with my known force of will, then with his last mana he attempted to chain of vapor my Gris. I drew seven and found the daze for it. After the game we went over the lines till we decided to take another stroll. Plus I figured the least I could do for Marc was to buy him a cold one, especially after having to play against me.
Round 5 – Grixis? Show & Tell
Finally a name I didn’t know and we were at table 2. Thankfully, I had seen him play against my friend in round one, so I knew he was being pretty sneaky. It was a really cool deck with deathrites, bolts, and a show and tell package. Now from here I don’t remember things all that well, at least not all the specifics, so this might get a little vague. Game one I start the banter pretty hard, straight up daring him to cast the show and tell, which got quite the response from him. Afterwards he told me he thought he had accidently flashed me cards (he hadn’t, unless you count me watching his first round). Either way, I got an early Elesh Norn into play off of a careful study and exhume. The careful study also drew me a daze, which I promptly forgot about when he tapped out turn 3 to cast the show and tell. I had been bluffing hard about having a relevant card in hand (well except the daze I forgot about until my draw step). After he put in a 5/5 Griselbrand, I managed to get an Iona on blue. Iona found no solace in double bolt after blocking the Griselbrand the following turn and I was unable to beat his choice pick of fourteen new cards. Game two we both keep awkward hands and he ends up unable to play magic for a couple turns. Finally he slipped up and accidently discarded a young pyromancer that I am able to reanimate and run away the game with. Game three I countered an early deathrite and reanimated it. It was a super tight game, but I finally was able to show and tell in a tidespout tyrant and ride him to victory in turns. I really enjoyed playing against this fellow and I was disappointed he wasn’t able to make it into the top eight.
Round 6 – Omni
At this point there were two 4-0-1’s (way to go Andy!), four 4-1’s (that’s me and Phil!), and three 3-1-1’s, so I was safe to draw in. Offered the draw, signed the slip, and then played a game of “I’ll show you my deck if you show me yours”. I spent the rest of the round clearing my head and learning the rest of the top eight. It was this point that I realized a high variance, horrible banter, and a lot of experience with saying **** it had delivered me to a top eight.
Quarter Finals – Maverick
Unfortunately Phil was number four and I was number five in the top eight, so we got the opportunity (that’s the sugar coated version) to play again. Game one I was able to play around a deathrite and scooze with a combination of a careful study putting two creatures in the yard and an entomb with an exhume on the stack, which got me an Elesh Norn to kill everything but the scooze. Game two involved me playing very sneakily with a careful study, exhume, and entomb to get a Grave Titan and an early scoop.
Semi Finals – Death & Taxes
Game one I got an early Elesh Norn and rode her to victory. Game two, I was careful studied and got an Empyrial Archangel early. Sadly though he was able to get a Sword of Fire and Ice into play and in combination with a flickerwisp, mirran crusader, and a Thalia with mom back up I was unable to get the win. I did however draw all four of my entombs, so that was pretty neat. Game three was extremely short, but it all came down to a critical careful study on my turn one. The choice was what did I want to discard, for I knew the first discard would be a Griselbrand. First option was the pithing needle, which if he had the karakas in hand I would need to stop. Second option was a mana source, I had a petal and land in hand, but if I wanted to be able to exhume and use needle in the same turn I would need to keep the petal and hope to rip a land. The third option was the other careful study (aka the only other blue card in hand for FoW), this option was the safest, unless he had something like surgical. In the end I choose to discard the careful study and was rewarded when his first land drop was a karakas and my draw was a show and tell. After playing needle naming karakas and exhuming Griselbrand, I was able to reveal the two remaining cards in hand to force the swords to plowshares and take home the win.
Finals – Shardless
At this point first was $400 and second was $200 plus both got an invite, so we agreed to a split and me being the gentleman I am, plus I was super hungry for Five Guys, I scooped it up and took second place. I’m definitely confident that reanimator is favored in the matchup, but I also know that it could be a long match and time was the determining factor when we had an hour and a half drive ahead of us and work in the morning.
There you have it. I can never complain when my pet deck delivers a win, so overall I would say it was a good day. Once again if you have any questions feel free to shoot them and I will do my best to answer them.
I'm getting into reanimator and really have been enjoying testing the deck. So far I'm pretty set on my maindeck but I've got a few questions about some of the interesting creatures people are running.
Archetype of Endurance: I see he gives your team hexproof but why not just run inkwell leviathan to victory if that's important?
Keranos: He seems interesting and I like the idea but I'm curious as to when you'd bring him in.
Also I've been running a BUG version for decays and golgari charms in the board but I'll be playing U/B until I get bayous and trops so what would be some good replacements in the meantime? I'm thinking echoing truth is good but what else? Some more good beaters?
Keranos is just plain old good against white decks, for it cannot be swords or containment priest'ed. As far as splashing green goes, I find it worse then straight UB ( budget limitations is not an issue for me either ). I find that just about everything can be handled with needle, echoing truth, and a show and tell package.
Question- how does everyone feel about Flusterstorm in this deck, main or SB? I see a few lists that run maybe 1-2 in their 75 but I'm not sure it's necessary what with us having access to FoW, Daze, Spell Pierce, Thoughtseize etc.
Keranos is just plain old good against white decks, for it cannot be swords or containment priest'ed. As far as splashing green goes, I find it worse then straight UB ( budget limitations is not an issue for me either ). I find that just about everything can be handled with needle, echoing truth, and a show and tell package.
Well, I'll be happy to represent the diversity of opinion on this question, in my view the green splash for Abrupt Decay smooths out a lot of matchups, most especially Miracles. It keeps the deck running according to the usual gameplan, and doesn't get stuck with Entomb/Reanimate/Exhume plus Show and Tell in hand. As antihate, it's good for what ails you almost every time. I'm a huge fan of the green, but to each their own.
Regarding Flusterstorm, that's a rather good idea and it might be worthwhile to switch out Spell Pierce for it, at least in a green splash Reanimator since I'm bringing in Abrupt Decay against the hate cards. Then again, it doesn't hurt to remain flexible in those slots. Flusterstorm has more value as a defensive counter than offensive. I don't think we need that much defense. Possibly, with the advent of Invasive Surgery, we will.
There are just some cards that cannot be handled with abrupt decay that you can with echoing truth. Frequent situations are multiples of things, such as cage or rip, humility (granted this is alittle more fringe, but without echoing truth you can just lose to this card), Marit Lage tokens or any indestructible things, and Jace the mind sculptor. Also you have no idea how satisfying it is to echoing truth multiple narcomebas during dredge's draw step. Overall, I just cannot justify weakening myself to wasteland and bloodmoon to help smooth over a matchup like miracles, especially when I run needle and fluster storm in my board. As far as flusterstorm goes I normally always board in my two against counter heavy decks when on the draw or when the have access to a lot of mana (aka miracles). It's also nice just having another answer to storm.
Keranos is just plain old good against white decks, for it cannot be swords or containment priest'ed. As far as splashing green goes, I find it worse then straight UB ( budget limitations is not an issue for me either ). I find that just about everything can be handled with needle, echoing truth, and a show and tell package.
Well, I'll be happy to represent the diversity of opinion on this question, in my view the green splash for Abrupt Decay smooths out a lot of matchups, most especially Miracles. It keeps the deck running according to the usual gameplan, and doesn't get stuck with Entomb/Reanimate/Exhume plus Show and Tell in hand. As antihate, it's good for what ails you almost every time. I'm a huge fan of the green, but to each their own.
Regarding Flusterstorm, that's a rather good idea and it might be worthwhile to switch out Spell Pierce for it, at least in a green splash Reanimator since I'm bringing in Abrupt Decay against the hate cards. Then again, it doesn't hurt to remain flexible in those slots. Flusterstorm has more value as a defensive counter than offensive. I don't think we need that much defense. Possibly, with the advent of Invasive Surgery, we will.
Agree 100%. I guess my biggest concern with the card is that it seems to typically show up as a 1 of in most sideboards. Personally I'm not a huge fan of running singletons of soft, non catch-all counter spells as they are often drawn at the wrong time when they aren't included as multiples.
Abrupt Decay might be less of a good card than it was a little while ago, what with these Eldrazi decks packing Leyline of the Void and representing a resurgence of that card. There are ways to kill it in green, of course. Nature's Claim comes to mind. Decay's whole attraction is its universality, though, so I don't know if this is where I want to be.
Yeah, I think perhaps mixing in some Golgari Charm will solve the problem to my satisfaction. There's also Pernicious Deed, but that looks too slow. I haven't tested it.
Just be sure you can answer the Leyline out of the board, and you should be fine. Reanimator is mostly a turn faster than Dredge, and also has more disruption. The main drawback to choosing Reanimator as your graveyard combo deck is that you need to interact on the stack to a much greater degree than Dredge, Dredge gets resilience in exchange for this bit of speed.
I suggest Chain of Vapor, Nature's Claim, and/or Show and Tell. Be a little careful with Show and Tell though, sometimes Dredge pilots pack Ashen Rider and it might just be in their hand when you cast the spell.
I'm also always looking for friendly players in League of Legends IGN Dread Return, doesn't have to be competitive, just be nice and friendly.
[S3 - Diamond, S4 - Diamond, S5 - Diamond, Current Season - Diamond] Primary role Support, Secondary MID Lane, Alternate Jungle.
First, I'll say I'm following this thread because I'm interested in this deck, however I'm not yet playing it.
I don't think this card is very good in a reanimator deck. Once it's on the board, it's a huge creature with menace, which I don't think compares to some of the other oppressive creatures. The counter ability is somewhat relevant and might warrant some testing, but overall I think the other power creatures in this deck are still better. Compare to Iona, Shield of Emeria. I don't think it compares. I'm happy to admit if I'm wrong, but at first look, I think the answer is no.
Please do share
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
15-18 swamp
X lotus petal or possibly chrome mox
4 dark ritual
8-10 targets (minimum 3 sire of insanity)
X putrid imp
4 entomb
4 reanimate
4 exhume
4 animate dead
X thoughtseize
4 cabal therapy
4 gitaxian probe
Note that putrid imp can flashback therapy. You could try serum powder instead of probe if you want to test some options.
However, UBx reanimator is much more powerful; instead of underground sea you could try 2x darkslick shores and 2x watery grave.
Peace
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Grave Titan
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Tidespout Tyrant
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Daze
4 Entomb
4 Exhume
4 Force of Will
4 Lotus Petal
2 Ponder
4 Reanimate
1 Show and Tell
2 Thoughtseize
1 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
3 Verdant Catacombs
SideBoard
2 City of Traitors
3 Show and Tell
2 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
2 Pithing Needle
1 Blazing Archon
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
I unfortunately did not take very good notes, for I wasn’t actually planning doing well (which I tried really hard not to). I also wandered down the street to a local bar a couple times throughout the tourney, so outside factors will also be deterring from this being an at least adequate report. I am also not going to give a good detail on my sideboarding every time, but I’ll let you in on a bit right now. I normally always board into the show package, except against other decks trying to cheat fatties or expensive enchantments into play. When doing that I normally take out 1 careful study, 2 reanimation effects (usually reanimates against burn, exhumes against combo, and one of each against everything else), and the 4th card I take out 100% depends on my opponents deck, what hate I think they will bring in, play or draw, and what mood I’m in. If you’re slightly good at math and have been paying attention, you will notice that I am boarding in 5 cards while only taking out 4. This is one hundred percent intended and I normally always board up to 61. I understand the math, or lack of, behind it and I have my reasons for it, but this isn’t the place for my views on that. On that note, the rest of the board feels straight forward to me, but I’m also just reeking of seat time with this deck. If you have any questions about sideboarding just ask, I promise I will only be slightly condescending.
Round 1 – Burn
Friend of a friend, so I knew he was on burn. I won the roll and kept an opener with an Iona and some cantrips. He led with a grim lavamancer then promptly started to bring the pain train with a lava spike and chain lightning (or some other bolt effect, they’re all essentially the same to this deck) on turn two. I finally drew the careful study on my turn 3, which got me my reanimate. I decided to go for it, as long as he didn’t have the fireblast I would be fine. Lo and behold he had the fireblast, which thankfully I had the daze for, but that didn’t matter because that pesky grim lavamancer now had all the fuel he needed. I quickly went from 3 to dead after one attack with Iona on Red. Game two was involved the single most enjoyable thing about this deck. I got to start with a turn one entomb for Iona, then as my opponent went for the top of his deck I got to say my favorite line “Oh, I’m not done yet.” And drop a petal and reanimate that Iona. He continued to play though, so that clearly meant he had the ensnaring bridge. I also can do basic math, so as long as he didn’t have simian spirit guide my daze in hand would be able to stop the bridge and get in the final attack. To be safe though I exhumed a Griselbrand on my turn 3 and promptly won by dazing the bridge on his turn. Game three I mulled into a hand with a delta, entomb, exhume, force of will, and 2 careful studies. I bottomed a show and tell on the scry. He lead with a goblin guide, which showed me another show and tell. I play delta and pass. He follows with a goblin guide and then another goblin guide. I heavily considered forcing here, but all I needed was one more land off of a guide and I could exhume on my turn and I was worried about surgical extraction. First guide trigger revealed a show and tell (yes that’s number 3 I’ve seen), so I crack delta with the other two guide triggers on the stack. Second guide revealed another show and tell (holy bouncing jelly beans!), so I entomb a sphinx of the steel wind. I went sphinx because lifelink, vigilance, and pro red are pretty awesome against 3 goblin guides and an opponent with a pretty full grip. Now the third and final guide trigger resolved and guess what it revealed, that’s right it was a brainstorm. Now it’s my turn, I’m at 11 life, I have a sphinx in the yard, an exhume in hand, and only 1 mana available. So I embraced the decks motto, said “F*** it” and jammed a brainstorm, knowing I would need to hit a land and a petal to avoid almost certain death next turn. I drew 2 petals and a Griselbrand, put back a careful study and the Griselbrand, and proceeded to windmill slam a sphinx into play. My opponent drops a mountain and a grim lavamancer, and I breathe a sigh of relief knowing I just won. The next couple of turns was just me beating with a sphinx and informing my opponent his double indeed does not kill Robo-Akroma. I spend the rest of the round talking with judges and scouting the field, which looked pretty favorable to me if I could avoid the couple miracles players, d&t, and the fine gentleman that rode with us to the event that was packing maverick.
Round 2 – Maverick
So this was the moment that I dreaded. The moment I saw a fellow Wisconsinite’s name scrolling next to mine, I knew I was about to lose. Phillip is the dreaded Maverick player that rode over with the group (I loaned him the karakas, damn my generosity will be my downfall!). I won the roll and kept an opener with multiple exhumes, an Elesh Norn, and some land. The plan was to discard it the hard way, but that was rendered irrelevant with Phil’s turn one deathrite. I then drew a careful study, but I without a guarantee of a petal I just couldn’t go for it. The turn two scooze though is what sealed the deal and I was unable to play around it. Game two I kept a hand with Sphinx, Elesh, two careful, a couple exhumes, an entomb and a land, so I was rather excited going into the game. Long story short after having to play very sneakily around a scooze and deathrite with a combination of careful study and entombs with exhumes on the stack, both my Elesh and sphinx met their demise to swords. I couldn’t be too angry though, for bad matchups are bad matchups and I played to my outs.
Round 3 – Rug Delver
As soon as the pairings went up I heard laughter from a familiar voice and I knew I was in for another round against a friend. This time however it was against my playtest buddy. These games went fast, for we were trying to be done before the match slips. The best part about playing against friends is you get to eliminate a lot of bluffing and leveling, for there’s just no reason in trying to fool people who can just read you like a book. I got it in two and Mike and I promptly went down the street to attempt to correct the tilt.
Round 4 – Ant
This round I got the pleasure to play against an amazing judge with an even better sense of humor, needless to say we knew what the matchup was. I forget who won the roll, but I was able to reanimate a Griselbrand putting myself down to eleven. I unfortunately did not have the force in hand when he started to go off the next turn. Due to a mistake in sequencing, I was able to pull ahead game one. The crucial point was when he cast a dark ritual with only a lotus petal up. I drew seven, going down to four life, but the only piece of counter magic I found was a daze. Forcing him to jump through the hoop however allowed me to win the game, for he was supposed to cast the rite of flame in his hand first. Game two I kept a hand where I would have to force myself to discard an Iona in order to get a creature in the yard. Unfortunately, he went off a turn too soon for me and I did not have the force of will to stop him. Game three I got an early Griselbrand and got one swing in before he tried to stop me. Unfortunately for Marc, my witty (influenced?) banter caused a slight miscalculation again when decided to dark ritual, which I countered with my known force of will, then with his last mana he attempted to chain of vapor my Gris. I drew seven and found the daze for it. After the game we went over the lines till we decided to take another stroll. Plus I figured the least I could do for Marc was to buy him a cold one, especially after having to play against me.
Round 5 – Grixis? Show & Tell
Finally a name I didn’t know and we were at table 2. Thankfully, I had seen him play against my friend in round one, so I knew he was being pretty sneaky. It was a really cool deck with deathrites, bolts, and a show and tell package. Now from here I don’t remember things all that well, at least not all the specifics, so this might get a little vague. Game one I start the banter pretty hard, straight up daring him to cast the show and tell, which got quite the response from him. Afterwards he told me he thought he had accidently flashed me cards (he hadn’t, unless you count me watching his first round). Either way, I got an early Elesh Norn into play off of a careful study and exhume. The careful study also drew me a daze, which I promptly forgot about when he tapped out turn 3 to cast the show and tell. I had been bluffing hard about having a relevant card in hand (well except the daze I forgot about until my draw step). After he put in a 5/5 Griselbrand, I managed to get an Iona on blue. Iona found no solace in double bolt after blocking the Griselbrand the following turn and I was unable to beat his choice pick of fourteen new cards. Game two we both keep awkward hands and he ends up unable to play magic for a couple turns. Finally he slipped up and accidently discarded a young pyromancer that I am able to reanimate and run away the game with. Game three I countered an early deathrite and reanimated it. It was a super tight game, but I finally was able to show and tell in a tidespout tyrant and ride him to victory in turns. I really enjoyed playing against this fellow and I was disappointed he wasn’t able to make it into the top eight.
Round 6 – Omni
At this point there were two 4-0-1’s (way to go Andy!), four 4-1’s (that’s me and Phil!), and three 3-1-1’s, so I was safe to draw in. Offered the draw, signed the slip, and then played a game of “I’ll show you my deck if you show me yours”. I spent the rest of the round clearing my head and learning the rest of the top eight. It was this point that I realized a high variance, horrible banter, and a lot of experience with saying **** it had delivered me to a top eight.
Quarter Finals – Maverick
Unfortunately Phil was number four and I was number five in the top eight, so we got the opportunity (that’s the sugar coated version) to play again. Game one I was able to play around a deathrite and scooze with a combination of a careful study putting two creatures in the yard and an entomb with an exhume on the stack, which got me an Elesh Norn to kill everything but the scooze. Game two involved me playing very sneakily with a careful study, exhume, and entomb to get a Grave Titan and an early scoop.
Semi Finals – Death & Taxes
Game one I got an early Elesh Norn and rode her to victory. Game two, I was careful studied and got an Empyrial Archangel early. Sadly though he was able to get a Sword of Fire and Ice into play and in combination with a flickerwisp, mirran crusader, and a Thalia with mom back up I was unable to get the win. I did however draw all four of my entombs, so that was pretty neat. Game three was extremely short, but it all came down to a critical careful study on my turn one. The choice was what did I want to discard, for I knew the first discard would be a Griselbrand. First option was the pithing needle, which if he had the karakas in hand I would need to stop. Second option was a mana source, I had a petal and land in hand, but if I wanted to be able to exhume and use needle in the same turn I would need to keep the petal and hope to rip a land. The third option was the other careful study (aka the only other blue card in hand for FoW), this option was the safest, unless he had something like surgical. In the end I choose to discard the careful study and was rewarded when his first land drop was a karakas and my draw was a show and tell. After playing needle naming karakas and exhuming Griselbrand, I was able to reveal the two remaining cards in hand to force the swords to plowshares and take home the win.
Finals – Shardless
At this point first was $400 and second was $200 plus both got an invite, so we agreed to a split and me being the gentleman I am, plus I was super hungry for Five Guys, I scooped it up and took second place. I’m definitely confident that reanimator is favored in the matchup, but I also know that it could be a long match and time was the determining factor when we had an hour and a half drive ahead of us and work in the morning.
There you have it. I can never complain when my pet deck delivers a win, so overall I would say it was a good day. Once again if you have any questions feel free to shoot them and I will do my best to answer them.
Archetype of Endurance: I see he gives your team hexproof but why not just run inkwell leviathan to victory if that's important?
Keranos: He seems interesting and I like the idea but I'm curious as to when you'd bring him in.
Also I've been running a BUG version for decays and golgari charms in the board but I'll be playing U/B until I get bayous and trops so what would be some good replacements in the meantime? I'm thinking echoing truth is good but what else? Some more good beaters?
Legacy Burn
NO Combo Elves
Reanimator
Trades
Burn Primer
:symg:Free Gaea's Cradle:symg:
Well, I'll be happy to represent the diversity of opinion on this question, in my view the green splash for Abrupt Decay smooths out a lot of matchups, most especially Miracles. It keeps the deck running according to the usual gameplan, and doesn't get stuck with Entomb/Reanimate/Exhume plus Show and Tell in hand. As antihate, it's good for what ails you almost every time. I'm a huge fan of the green, but to each their own.
Regarding Flusterstorm, that's a rather good idea and it might be worthwhile to switch out Spell Pierce for it, at least in a green splash Reanimator since I'm bringing in Abrupt Decay against the hate cards. Then again, it doesn't hurt to remain flexible in those slots. Flusterstorm has more value as a defensive counter than offensive. I don't think we need that much defense. Possibly, with the advent of Invasive Surgery, we will.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Agree 100%. I guess my biggest concern with the card is that it seems to typically show up as a 1 of in most sideboards. Personally I'm not a huge fan of running singletons of soft, non catch-all counter spells as they are often drawn at the wrong time when they aren't included as multiples.
Legacy Burn
NO Combo Elves
Reanimator
Trades
Burn Primer
:symg:Free Gaea's Cradle:symg:
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Its a catch all card for a lot of hate cards. Eg. Rest in Peace, Counterbalance, Pithing Needle etc..
head to mtgthesource.com for legacy discussions. It's the premier site for that. Mtgsalvation is more standard/modern focused (and edh).
Looks like Reanimator has a new card to work with from EMN.
Legacy: Death and Taxes, U/B Reanimator
I think that the first mode is quite relevant.
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
I suggest Chain of Vapor, Nature's Claim, and/or Show and Tell. Be a little careful with Show and Tell though, sometimes Dredge pilots pack Ashen Rider and it might just be in their hand when you cast the spell.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
Don't be afraid of him using Leyline of the Void. It is easy to remove, as Lormador said. You can probably win with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, but watch out for several dangerous creatures with Show and Tell. They might have Iona, Shield of Emeria, their own Elesh Norn or Griselbrand, or Ashen Rider.
Ahora en español por si acaso se te haga más fácil entender: Si él no tiene los LED su mazo se ralentiza mucho y tendrás la ventaja.
No te preocupes mucho por la posibilidad de ver Leyline of the Void desde su sideboard. Es bien fácil de quitar del campo de batalla con las sugerencias del Lormador (Chain of Vapor, Nature's Claim, etc). La verdadera amenaza es que él tenga alguna criatura para poner en juego con tu propio Show and Tell. Es posible que él tenga Iona, Shield of Emeria, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, o incluso su propio Griselbrand. Encima puede que tenga Ashen Rider.
Grixis Tempo
Grixis Reanimator
Esper Tempo
Esper Deathblade
Burn
Multiplayer EDH
Sharuum The Hegemon
Zur The Enchanter