I will grant that discard is better than counters if you've got an active Jace.
However, my experience has been that Jace tends to die almost immediately, and if I'm going to flash something back, it's almost always a Goryo's or a dig spell (Ideas, Gifts) first, or a Path second. I can count on one hand the number of times I've gotten to use any one Jace a second time. I don't really mind, since he's drawing removal or burn that would otherwise be hitting more important things. But the end result is that I rarely can "waste" a Jace -3 for something that's at best a 1-for-1.
Part of this is that my meta is pretty varied. There's a lot of linear aggro decks like Burn, Zoo and Affinity that are going to kill my Jace with bolts, helixes, galvanics or the like before it flips or kill it with more creatures than I can kill if it does. Plus, discard tends to be pretty bad against these decks mid to late game, while counters at least retain some amount of relevancy.
But there's also a lot of Grixis, Mono-U tron, and UW-control type decks, which oddly seem not care much if I resolve an Ideas (probably because most people have to read it and don't necessarily realize how important it is to this deck), but rarely let a Jace resolve, and if they do, will almost always bolt, terminate, k-command, or electrolyze it if they can. Discard is certainly good against those decks, which is why I still keep some in the sideboard.
That said, when I'm playing the deck, I definitely play far more like a control deck with a large graveyard based toolbox, rather than a jund-esque midrange deck that's trying to grind incremental advantage. I'm not sure either is "right" or "wrong", or even "better". I suspect a lot of it is playstyle and local meta.
Your deck looks more like a Reanimator deck, much more in on the combo, i tried something like that online for a couple days too. Its really good but if your opponent gets his GY hate on you then your deck gets hurt much more than something like my deck that can play a midrange deck casting Obzedats, Souls + Vault, Liliana, and Elesh Norn.
I had a similar response when testing online, most players didnt care if my Ideas resolved and saved the counters for the threats. But it was much different in paper.
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Active Modern Decks
U Tron GW Bogles RG Loam UR Blue Breach RBU Grixis Goryo BRU Grixis Delver GBR Jund GBW Junk
I know this thread is nearly dead. I couldn't afford Jaces for a while, but eventually my wife bought them for me. Then I played Standard instead for a few weeks because of PPTQs. I finally got to play the deck I wanted to play for a month now.
FNM, 33 players.
Round 1 vs. Mono Blue Tron. He mulled to 5 and couldn't keep up with an amazing hand by me. In the next game, I had discard and Liliana of the Veil. Not only did I ultimate it, but I kept making him discard and it was pretty devastating. Good draws... 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Lantern Control. He scooped game 1 because I got out Obzedat, although he was at 8 life at the time. He scooped before trying to mill himself to find Ensnaring Bridge, which was odd. In the next game, I seriously drew all the answers. Stony Silence turn 2 after no discard from him. He finally did Abrupt Decay, but I drew another one in 2 harmless turns. I also drew Disenchant for his Pithing Needle on my nearly ultimate Jace, Telepath Unbound. I was going to mill him out, but I drew Obzedat and that was quicker. But my Stony Silence had the Prison deck in a stranglehold. He was a good sport about it though. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Junk Midrange. 1-1-1. I feel like if I had more time, I could have won. I stumbled a bit, finding my 2nd White source by turn 5, but then I did Wrath of God to clear the board and I feel like my 3 cards in hand were better than his 2. I mulliganed to 6 (because of 1 land hands) in all 3 games. He did so in game 2, which he won.
Round 4 vs. Junk Midrange. In the first game, I led on fetch, shock, Thoughtseize. I also Thoughtseize turn 2. He draws nearly all lands, I Lily sac a few creatures, and I eventually get something to kill with. I ended up doing 11 damage to myself this game, going to 9 at one point before a topdecked Obzedat brought me back. In the next game, I just had too good a draw and he was forced to use Path to Exile on Jace, ramping me to Obzedat with Maelstrom Pulse in hand for him. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Merfolk. 2-0. I loaned Merfolk to him to play, he scooped, and we split prizes so we would get the best overall tie breakers.
I got first and this deck really exceeded my expectations! It was a blast, especially when drawing well.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I'm really glad there's a thread for this deck. I tried rebuilding my version from the ground up without Gift's Ungiven in mind. The real engine for this build is the four-of Serum Visions/Thought Scour to set up the Goryo's.
I've noticed my weaker matchups are Tron and instant-win (Bloom Titan, Living End) combo. Tron is the most difficult when I can't get an early Obzedat going. I'm not really sure what to include to help shore these up.
I for some reason missed the notifications for the last few posts, @FoodChainGoblins I'd be interested in seeing the list you ran. You mentioned Lilianas which I was considering alongside a Monastery Siege, because while Ideas has proven to be very powerful people tend to Remand or Snare it, or just Thoughtseize it out of your hand in the games I did play test, which was pretty devastating in every case in my experience.
EDIT: @KillVolume In theory Mangara of Corondor or Rites > Terastodon are tools available to help us attack manabases in matchups like Tron.
Saw this list when i went to a 3k tournament a month ago. He was playing collective brutality as a discard outlet and a form of control. Does anyone still play this deck?
There's been some coverage of a PTQ 5th place deck shown below. Is anyone still progressing with this deck? It seems very fun, I'm trying to get the last few pieces together and give it a go.
Anyone else still playing this? Took the following list to a 2nd place finish in a GPT last night. There isn't much of a report to give as I went 3-0, double drew into top 4 and then split top 4. Beat Abzan, Burn, and Pack Rat / Blood Moon. The deck is a blast to play.
Sideboard is going to have some changes though. Going to add Collective Brutalities and Surgical Extractions. Might switch the Inquisitions with Thoughtaeize as well.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
The deck is a ton of fun, and the only match up I've felt was rough was Grixis Death Shadow, but I largely attribute that to a lack of experience playing against it.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I just picked up the list from Lepore's article and played a few games with it. Pieces of the puzzle is a seriously fun card. Murderous cut feels like a really powerful card in this deck and I cut (hah) the ultimate price for a second one. 3 delve spells in the list doesn't feel taxing on the graveyard.
How good has Linvala, the Preserver been? I imagine for death's shadow decks in particular they typically have less life than you and just one lingering souls likely puts you on par with how many creatures they have since they're pretty threat light. Moving that to the sideboard for matches you really want it, or cutting it all together, for another removal spell might help out there. Collective brutality might be a good option since it gives game against Burn and Company decks, where I imagine Linvala has been good, while being not dead against control decks.
Shizo looks awesome. I've ran into a couple spots already where it would have allowed to punch through that extra damage to seal the game.
There are a ton of Lingering Souls decks locally, so Linvala and Shizo have both been great. Linvala does a decent Thragtusk impression. Ive won a few games from reanimating her, getting the token/life, trading her on defense, and then reanimaring her at a later time. She's also fine as a 5/5 flyer for 6 against slow decks. Most decks are running Fatal Push, or throw their removal at Obzedat, so she's able to take over the skies.
Having 6 removal spells with 4 Jace and 2 Snap haven't left me wanting for more. I used to run Cut but cut it for Anguished Unmaking. It's generally just a bad downfall, but I have sniped Wurmcoils and Bridges with it, so it hasn't been disappointing.
I run 2 Brutalities in the side and it's amazing against spell combo and Burn. Escalating to pitch Obzedat and then Goryos next turn has always been good.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
On thing of note is that I am constantly flooding (8+ lands in play) with 21 lands. I'm honestly thinking of dropping a few more in exchange for more business, maybe another Push and Path.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I'd like to discuss my List. What i do is cutting the extended reanimation plan to Delver of Secrets. Delver presents the much needed fast clock against Tron/Scapeshift and gives the ability to close out a game eaven faster with a reanimated Obzedat. In addition we are less vulnerable to gravehate.
The Deck has a fairly strong lategame, we are rarely flooding and Jace is a beast. Still i would like to have a maindeck answer to problematic permanents. I thought of Repeal; but it can't solve a Chalice of the Void @ 1, so i'll maybe squeeze an Anguished Unmaking into the main (thou its hard to cast under a Blood Moon).
I feel like the gifts version is a bit better overall. Gifts ungiven is just a really strong card without even considering the reanimation package. It allows you to play a reasonable control/grind deck when reanimation isn't useful or possible. It also enables free wins sometimes when you get out your norn or iona. Goryos on a norn is surprisingly relevant since it can instant speed wipe the board or enable you to go from having a few souls tokens out to swinging for 6-12 in the air and four on the ground.
Hey all, awesome to see activity here. I've been jamming this deck a bunch and think it's so cool to play and tune.
Derfalle, I think Tasigur is solid because of Thoughtscour, but I went away from that entire package since I'm also playing 3 Griselbrand. I think Thoughtscour is good, but I replaced it with Tragic Lesson / Thirst for knowledge (still experimenting on which). It's been awesome to T3 EoT draw 3 (hopefully a fatty or Goryo's) and then discard Obzedat or Griselbrand for reanimation next turn. Those cards are also killer top decks and flashback targets w/ Jace when the game gets stale. I like the Griselplan since it's perfectly in line w/ what we want to do, and drawing 7 on turn 3 or 4 usually gets us our next land drop + the removal or Serum Visions we were looking for.
I've seen the deck take 2 forms by now, the more all-in Griselplan that's been piloted at GP level by Marc Tobiasch, or the Gifts variant Jeff Hoogland has been doing well with. The latter has also had a top 8 appearance or two. I think both are based off the same core and just choose different finisher packages. I've yet to try the Gifts variant but I think I will eventually, it's just too damn fun right now to swing for 7 draw 7.
I'll link my list later, I've only been messing around in friendly leagues but I pulled off a 4-1 once which isn't great by any means but it's my best so far. I'm at least 20 matches in and still find myself making mistakes that I think could have won me the game, and those are the decks I like to play.
Tough matchups seem to be the standard Burn, Tron, Dredge, and maybe green value decks. Like any control-ish deck it just depends what I want to sideboard against.
Sweet job with the FNMs, and I agree with your matchup consensus. I don't have much for Dredge, and Burn is a big skill tester. My playtest buddy rocks WB Death and Taxes (pretty similar plan to mono-white) and we're about even. I main a Supreme Verdict and side a Damnation but they only go so far.
It has a lot of self discard which makes me feel better about putting more conditional cards in the main, which clears some room in the side for others. Not sure if it's right but it does give outs to bad matchups g1.
Since I'm all-in on reanimation, I am pretty heavily sideboarded towards fighting graveyard hate. It sucks when it doesn't work out but I like having the numbers to try and make it work. Here's some sideboard choices aside from auto bringing in disenchant and d-sphere against suspected GY hate -
Timely reinforcements - burn, wide creature strats like hatebears, elves
Negate - control, combo
Spreading seas - Tron, Eldrazi, burn, Scapeshift
Damnation - critters
Geist - control, combo, tron. Still iffy on this guy, but sometimes I want to turn into Esper midrange.
Let us know how FNM went. I still really enjoy the play of this deck but sometimes playing the sideboard game is tough.
Here's a Mardu reanimator list that 16th placed the Atlanta classic recently. Given it's not playing Obzedat or Goryo's, but I may try this list with them in it. Faithless Looting is better at looting once than Jace, and the Nahiris/Lili are nice too.
Dredge is a tough one, the SB really is hard to get right to have game against everything. I think detention sphere goes a long way here, between that, path, surgical, and nihil spellbomb, there's a lot of ways to exile their monsters.
How was the burn match? It always seems very tight for me. SB choices?
I played last night at our free modern, went 1-1 before dropping for dinner.
4c planeswalkers? - Lotus cobras into nahiri into emrakul got me g1. I should've flashed back souls to keep nahiri off ult, instead I went for Jace which I could've pitched Grislbrand and goryo's him at Nahiri next turn, but he had the bolt for Jace.
G2 & 3 - One of the sweetest things in the deck is when they tapout for a PW on an empty board and feel ahead, only for me to goryo's a fatty and remove said planeswalker. I got lili, ajani and nahiri dead this way.
Board in: Negate, disenchant (figured RIP), D-sphere. I didn't have Geist on me but he wouldn't be terrible.
Out: Don't recall exactly, probably some inquisition, snapcaster, path.
Eldrazi tron - anything w/ mainboard Relic makes me cringe. I think this is even to slightly unfavorable for us, they have decent pressure and moderate interaction with TKS, dismember and relic.
G1 - he's light on lands and has to pop his relic early. I thoughtseize and see TKS, smasher, some all is dust. It's great not having to worry about all is dust as creatures are only alive on our turn usually. I take TKS as I had mana leak for the smasher. All this bought me enough time to Obzedat him to death.
G2 wasn't close, he curved out well and wrecked me.
G3 - T3 d-sphere his relic that he pops never feels good. I may need to start playing more conservatively when relic is out and find a better plan B. It's these types of games that makes me want to have a sideboard plan that doesn't care about graveyard hate, but that's too much to ask if I also want hate against top decks. A made some misplays like forgetting to tick up Jace once, and then not pitching an Obzedat to Thirst for Knowledge w/ 2 mana up and Goryo's. I probably could've had this game with tighter play, which is exactly what I want my deck to do.
Board in - Disenchant, D-sphere, Damnation, Verdict, Spreading seas
Board out - fatal push, snapcasters (questioning them in the deck at all)
This board is a good example of how having to fight GY hate hurts. Fortunately disenchant can hit Walking Ballista. I think Stony Silence is a good board option as it stops ballista, relic, spellbomb, etc.
All stars were Griselbrand of course, drawing 7 is awesome. The deck really changes to try to just hit that, then start again w/ another 7. I may go to 4 from 3.
Thirst for Knowledge - very good cantrip for us. It is a little pricey but the card selection is great and it let's us discard fatties in hand. It's basically brainstorm for us when the graveyard isn't a target. It's also a great Jace flashback target when there's nothing else going on.
I did like mana leak because thirst wants to play at instant speed. It's also most active in the early game when we really need it just to get our wheels spinning.
Hey derfalle, still messing with the deck? I've had lackluster results with my version, I may give the gifts version a try as it seems to be the only one to top 8 anything. I liked Griselbrand in the deck but drawing into 7 control-ish cards isn't always the answer. I may proxy up the BR or Grixis full on Grishoalbrand deck to see how I like that style.
I will try to play GP Santa Clara team constructed in January, as much as I like the deck I don't think it will be my choice. If the meta is similar then I may play Jeskai or a GW base value/combo deck.
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Your deck looks more like a Reanimator deck, much more in on the combo, i tried something like that online for a couple days too. Its really good but if your opponent gets his GY hate on you then your deck gets hurt much more than something like my deck that can play a midrange deck casting Obzedats, Souls + Vault, Liliana, and Elesh Norn.
I had a similar response when testing online, most players didnt care if my Ideas resolved and saved the counters for the threats. But it was much different in paper.
U Tron
GW Bogles
RG Loam
UR Blue Breach
RBU Grixis Goryo
BRU Grixis Delver
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
Active Legacy Decks
BR Reanimator
FNM, 33 players.
Round 1 vs. Mono Blue Tron. He mulled to 5 and couldn't keep up with an amazing hand by me. In the next game, I had discard and Liliana of the Veil. Not only did I ultimate it, but I kept making him discard and it was pretty devastating. Good draws... 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Lantern Control. He scooped game 1 because I got out Obzedat, although he was at 8 life at the time. He scooped before trying to mill himself to find Ensnaring Bridge, which was odd. In the next game, I seriously drew all the answers. Stony Silence turn 2 after no discard from him. He finally did Abrupt Decay, but I drew another one in 2 harmless turns. I also drew Disenchant for his Pithing Needle on my nearly ultimate Jace, Telepath Unbound. I was going to mill him out, but I drew Obzedat and that was quicker. But my Stony Silence had the Prison deck in a stranglehold. He was a good sport about it though. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. Junk Midrange. 1-1-1. I feel like if I had more time, I could have won. I stumbled a bit, finding my 2nd White source by turn 5, but then I did Wrath of God to clear the board and I feel like my 3 cards in hand were better than his 2. I mulliganed to 6 (because of 1 land hands) in all 3 games. He did so in game 2, which he won.
Round 4 vs. Junk Midrange. In the first game, I led on fetch, shock, Thoughtseize. I also Thoughtseize turn 2. He draws nearly all lands, I Lily sac a few creatures, and I eventually get something to kill with. I ended up doing 11 damage to myself this game, going to 9 at one point before a topdecked Obzedat brought me back. In the next game, I just had too good a draw and he was forced to use Path to Exile on Jace, ramping me to Obzedat with Maelstrom Pulse in hand for him. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Merfolk. 2-0. I loaned Merfolk to him to play, he scooped, and we split prizes so we would get the best overall tie breakers.
I got first and this deck really exceeded my expectations! It was a blast, especially when drawing well.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Restoration Angel
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Griselbrand
Sorcery (10):
4 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
Instant (14):
1 Murderous Cut
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Dispel
1 Logic Knot
3 Path to Exile
3 Goryo's Vengeance
4 Thought Scour
4 Polluted Delta
3 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
2 Godless Shrine
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Celestial Colonnade
3 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Dispel
2 Countersquall
2 Timely Reinforcements
Some things I've been testing, considering, or moving in and out of the deck:
I've noticed my weaker matchups are Tron and instant-win (Bloom Titan, Living End) combo. Tron is the most difficult when I can't get an early Obzedat going. I'm not really sure what to include to help shore these up.
EDIT: @KillVolume In theory Mangara of Corondor or Rites > Terastodon are tools available to help us attack manabases in matchups like Tron.
Ross Merriam SCG - Esper Goryo's w/ Youtube play
1 Griselbrand
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Noncreatures
3 Fatal Push
1 Go for the Throat
4 Goryo's Vengeance
1 Murderous Cut
4 Thought Scour
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
3 Pieces of the Puzzle
4 Serum Visions
1 Set Adrift
4 Thoughtseize
1 Island
2 Swamp
3 Darkslick Shores
2 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
4 Marsh Flats
4 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
2 Celestial Purge
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Darkblast
1 Dispel
1 Fatal Push
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
2 Fragmentize
2 Rain of Tears
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/652638/#online
Sideboard is going to have some changes though. Going to add Collective Brutalities and Surgical Extractions. Might switch the Inquisitions with Thoughtaeize as well.
this deck ain't ded bois
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
The deck is a ton of fun, and the only match up I've felt was rough was Grixis Death Shadow, but I largely attribute that to a lack of experience playing against it.
How good has Linvala, the Preserver been? I imagine for death's shadow decks in particular they typically have less life than you and just one lingering souls likely puts you on par with how many creatures they have since they're pretty threat light. Moving that to the sideboard for matches you really want it, or cutting it all together, for another removal spell might help out there. Collective brutality might be a good option since it gives game against Burn and Company decks, where I imagine Linvala has been good, while being not dead against control decks.
Shizo looks awesome. I've ran into a couple spots already where it would have allowed to punch through that extra damage to seal the game.
Having 6 removal spells with 4 Jace and 2 Snap haven't left me wanting for more. I used to run Cut but cut it for Anguished Unmaking. It's generally just a bad downfall, but I have sniped Wurmcoils and Bridges with it, so it hasn't been disappointing.
I run 2 Brutalities in the side and it's amazing against spell combo and Burn. Escalating to pitch Obzedat and then Goryos next turn has always been good.
The Deck has a fairly strong lategame, we are rarely flooding and Jace is a beast. Still i would like to have a maindeck answer to problematic permanents. I thought of Repeal; but it can't solve a Chalice of the Void @ 1, so i'll maybe squeeze an Anguished Unmaking into the main (thou its hard to cast under a Blood Moon).
Any thoughts?
2 Watery Grave
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Island
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Marsh Flats
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
/Spells (29)
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
2 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
3 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
1 Pieces of the Puzzle
1 Murderous Cut
/Creatures (11)
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Countersquall
1 Path to Exile
2 Duress
2 Disenchant
2 Stony Silence
1 Celestial Purge
1 Dispel
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Disdainful Stroke
Derfalle, I think Tasigur is solid because of Thoughtscour, but I went away from that entire package since I'm also playing 3 Griselbrand. I think Thoughtscour is good, but I replaced it with Tragic Lesson / Thirst for knowledge (still experimenting on which). It's been awesome to T3 EoT draw 3 (hopefully a fatty or Goryo's) and then discard Obzedat or Griselbrand for reanimation next turn. Those cards are also killer top decks and flashback targets w/ Jace when the game gets stale. I like the Griselplan since it's perfectly in line w/ what we want to do, and drawing 7 on turn 3 or 4 usually gets us our next land drop + the removal or Serum Visions we were looking for.
I've seen the deck take 2 forms by now, the more all-in Griselplan that's been piloted at GP level by Marc Tobiasch, or the Gifts variant Jeff Hoogland has been doing well with. The latter has also had a top 8 appearance or two. I think both are based off the same core and just choose different finisher packages. I've yet to try the Gifts variant but I think I will eventually, it's just too damn fun right now to swing for 7 draw 7.
I'll link my list later, I've only been messing around in friendly leagues but I pulled off a 4-1 once which isn't great by any means but it's my best so far. I'm at least 20 matches in and still find myself making mistakes that I think could have won me the game, and those are the decks I like to play.
Tough matchups seem to be the standard Burn, Tron, Dredge, and maybe green value decks. Like any control-ish deck it just depends what I want to sideboard against.
Here's my list:
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Griselbrand
4 Goryo's Vengeance
2 Lingering Souls
Card Draw
4 Serum Visions
2 Thirst for Knowledge
Removal
2 Path to Exile
3 Fatal Push
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Supreme Verdict
Discard
2 Collective Brutality
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Mana Leak
1 Muddle the Mixture
Land - 21
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
1 Marsh Flats
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Disenchant
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Stony Silence
2 Negate
3 Spreading Seas
1 Damnation
1 Detention Sphere
2 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Nihil Spell Bomb
It has a lot of self discard which makes me feel better about putting more conditional cards in the main, which clears some room in the side for others. Not sure if it's right but it does give outs to bad matchups g1.
Since I'm all-in on reanimation, I am pretty heavily sideboarded towards fighting graveyard hate. It sucks when it doesn't work out but I like having the numbers to try and make it work. Here's some sideboard choices aside from auto bringing in disenchant and d-sphere against suspected GY hate -
Timely reinforcements - burn, wide creature strats like hatebears, elves
Negate - control, combo
Spreading seas - Tron, Eldrazi, burn, Scapeshift
Damnation - critters
Geist - control, combo, tron. Still iffy on this guy, but sometimes I want to turn into Esper midrange.
Here's a Mardu reanimator list that 16th placed the Atlanta classic recently. Given it's not playing Obzedat or Goryo's, but I may try this list with them in it. Faithless Looting is better at looting once than Jace, and the Nahiris/Lili are nice too.
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Concealed Courtyard
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Shambling Vent
3 Path to Exile
2 Terminate
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Dreadbore
4 Faithless Looting
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
2 Thoughtseize
2 Tormenting Voice
3 Unburial Rites
2 Blood Moon
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Stony Silence
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Wear
1 Anger of the Gods
How was the burn match? It always seems very tight for me. SB choices?
I played last night at our free modern, went 1-1 before dropping for dinner.
4c planeswalkers? - Lotus cobras into nahiri into emrakul got me g1. I should've flashed back souls to keep nahiri off ult, instead I went for Jace which I could've pitched Grislbrand and goryo's him at Nahiri next turn, but he had the bolt for Jace.
G2 & 3 - One of the sweetest things in the deck is when they tapout for a PW on an empty board and feel ahead, only for me to goryo's a fatty and remove said planeswalker. I got lili, ajani and nahiri dead this way.
Board in: Negate, disenchant (figured RIP), D-sphere. I didn't have Geist on me but he wouldn't be terrible.
Out: Don't recall exactly, probably some inquisition, snapcaster, path.
Eldrazi tron - anything w/ mainboard Relic makes me cringe. I think this is even to slightly unfavorable for us, they have decent pressure and moderate interaction with TKS, dismember and relic.
G1 - he's light on lands and has to pop his relic early. I thoughtseize and see TKS, smasher, some all is dust. It's great not having to worry about all is dust as creatures are only alive on our turn usually. I take TKS as I had mana leak for the smasher. All this bought me enough time to Obzedat him to death.
G2 wasn't close, he curved out well and wrecked me.
G3 - T3 d-sphere his relic that he pops never feels good. I may need to start playing more conservatively when relic is out and find a better plan B. It's these types of games that makes me want to have a sideboard plan that doesn't care about graveyard hate, but that's too much to ask if I also want hate against top decks. A made some misplays like forgetting to tick up Jace once, and then not pitching an Obzedat to Thirst for Knowledge w/ 2 mana up and Goryo's. I probably could've had this game with tighter play, which is exactly what I want my deck to do.
Board in - Disenchant, D-sphere, Damnation, Verdict, Spreading seas
Board out - fatal push, snapcasters (questioning them in the deck at all)
This board is a good example of how having to fight GY hate hurts. Fortunately disenchant can hit Walking Ballista. I think Stony Silence is a good board option as it stops ballista, relic, spellbomb, etc.
All stars were Griselbrand of course, drawing 7 is awesome. The deck really changes to try to just hit that, then start again w/ another 7. I may go to 4 from 3.
Thirst for Knowledge - very good cantrip for us. It is a little pricey but the card selection is great and it let's us discard fatties in hand. It's basically brainstorm for us when the graveyard isn't a target. It's also a great Jace flashback target when there's nothing else going on.
I did like mana leak because thirst wants to play at instant speed. It's also most active in the early game when we really need it just to get our wheels spinning.
I will try to play GP Santa Clara team constructed in January, as much as I like the deck I don't think it will be my choice. If the meta is similar then I may play Jeskai or a GW base value/combo deck.