Twice in the last few times I've drafted, my girlfriend and I have ended up with incredibly close reanimator decks that just didn't end up panning out. Admittedly, these were winston drafts, so the entire cube wasn't available to us, but I feel like the cube just isn't quite built right to make reanimator a draftable archetype. I'm looking for suggestions for improving that, because it's an archetype we both enjoy and would really like to be able to do more often. I don't mean it has to show up every draft, but I want it to be something that can be done.
My cube list can be found here. It's ever so slightly out of date, but nothing missing is important to this discussion (the artifact mana is changing a little). I also have not yet added DKA to the cube at all.
Here are the cards that in my mind currently support a reanimator archetype
I think that's everything. Obviously the Targets section is incredibly subjective, and I don't want many cards that are only good as reanimation targets, so I'm limited to cards that might actually get cast (or tinkered for). I've left out most 6 drops and included things at 7 or above as the targets.
All of these cards were ones that made it into my cube on value as cards by themselves (except Entomb, which got added last week because I wanted to start supporting more graveyard stuff). If I'm going to actually support reanimator well, then I imagine I'll need to push the boundaries on what I include, picking some cards that aren't as good in other archetypes in order to better support this. I'm considering all of the following cards
Obviously I'm not thinking of just jamming all those cards in my cube and hoping for the best, but I was wondering if people would share experiences with any of these cards, opinions on what might work or might not work towards my goals, and especially any cards I'm missing. I'm particularly inerested in the following questions
- Are there any white enablers at all? Eternal Dragon seems perfect for reanimation, but you have to want a plains for him to be playable in this deck, so I'm wondering if there are any white cards that help.
- Is it worth including the two red enablers (looting and lightning axe)? Looting is probably worth including anyway, but if there are only two red cards in the archetype, perhaps i'm just better off leaving red alone and making this stick to BUG colors?
- Are any of the cards I mentioned just bad at doing what i want to do? (I'm looking at you, mindshrieker and sewer nemesis)
In supporting reanimator, you need all the pieces involved to be good outside of the archetype. Waterfront Bouncer, Faithless Looting, Wild Mongrel, Psychatog, and the Masticores are all discard outlets that are good by themselves. You want fatties that can be ramped or Tinkered into, not just reanimated. And your reanimation spells are also just an avenue of black card advantage--not just for the archetype.
I learned that you really have to warp your cube and include too many suboptimal cards to make viable a reanimator archetype that regularly and consistently gets turn 2-3 fatties. But without much effort and change, you can make reanimator a deck that pops up now and then and generally spits out guys on turn 3-5.
I learned that you really have to warp your cube and include too many suboptimal cards to make viable a reanimator archetype that regularly and consistently gets turn 2-3 fatties. But without much effort and change, you can make reanimator a deck that pops up now and then and generally spits out guys on turn 3-5.
This is exactly what I'm trying to accomplish. A turn 2-3 reanimator deck in the style of legacy reanimator isn't really what I'm trying to get, for the reasons you list. However, I had a B/W deck the other day that had Oona's Prowler, Liliana, Eternal Dragon, Akroma, Reanimate, Makeshift Mannequin, and Mana Vault. It felt like a deck that could reasonably ramp into Akroma the natural way, or discard her and reanimate her, however it just wasn't quite there and was a little too halfway to be good at anything.
Blue is so tight to fit new cards into, but Waterfront Bouncer does look like an excellent fit. I've been looking for an excuse to replace Oona, Queen of the Fae, so Psychatog should be fairly easy to include as well.
Is there any love for Undead Gladiator as a creature that might be decent in a black aggro deck but also supports discarding dudes for value? Assuming I bring in Bouncer, Mongrel, and Psychatog, is there anything else that seems truly necessary? I think I want exhume as well, but other than that I'm just not sure.
EDIT: Also looting will probably come in when I do DKA as it seems good in red anyway
Is Imp any good if you're not trying to discard things? What role would he fill in any other deck?
Terastodon I should probably consider, since he's a decent top end target in green and I'm not really happy with the existing cards in that slot. Thus far in my cube I have absolutely no cards that are 3 or more colors, so I've not included Sphinx of the Steel wind. I've thought about it because he goes well with Tinker too, but I don't know where he would fit. Would I need to then add 4 more cards to be in each shard? It certainly creates awkward situations, especially since I do a lot of winston drafting where you're less likely to be in all 3 colors as the multicolor card you see.
I find that it's easier just to play the best targets and reanimator cards and run them in the same deck without necessarily forcing it as an archetype. The cards crucial to reanimator are run with maximum copies and plenty of filtering to get them. In a highlander archetype, it's perfectly reasonable to run a G/B midrange ramp deck with big targets, discard outlets and reanimates, as all the cards are individually powerful. This leads to a common problem with reanimator that the cards are high picks across multiple deck types. If you really want extra support, we could be getting to a stage where Buried Alive is playable as there are creatures that can give you benefit from the graveyard like Hellspark Elemental, Squee and Gravecrawler.
You can look at putrid imp as a 1/1 that becomes a 2/2 for 1 with no drawback (ie you eventually get threshold). This makes him an ok aggro creature with the benefit of being better in reanimator.
As for sphinx, I stopped forcing colour distribution. I found it forced the inclusion of bad cards if I did. I play sphinx for tinker, oath, and reanimator, as well as the dream tinker/reanimator/oath deck
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I find that it's easier just to play the best targets and reanimator cards and run them in the same deck without necessarily forcing it as an archetype. The cards crucial to reanimator are run with maximum copies and plenty of filtering to get them. In a highlander archetype, it's perfectly reasonable to run a G/B midrange ramp deck with big targets, discard outlets and reanimates, as all the cards are individually powerful. This leads to a common problem with reanimator that the cards are high picks across multiple deck types. If you really want extra support, we could be getting to a stage where Buried Alive is playable as there are creatures that can give you benefit from the graveyard like Hellspark Elemental, Squee and Gravecrawler.
There's a difference between forcing it as an archetype and making sure that the archetype is draftable if the cards come together. That's why I'm trying to make the distinction between running cards like Liliana and Wild Mongrel, which provide discard outlets that enable the archetype while still being great cards outside of reanimator, and cards like Putrid Imp, which don't really feel like anything I'd choose to run if I didn't want to discard things.
I don't need a reanimator deck to be in every draft. I just want to make a situation where if you P1P1 Recurring Nightmare, and P1P2 Liliana, that the rest of the deck is there for you. I want to create a situation where if you have the deck that cares about discarding cards, you can pick the Wild Mongrel before the aggro decks do, or grab the Reanimate before the black aggro deck that just wants redundancy does.
Griselbrand has proved to be a fine reanimation target in the reanimation colour.
Any suggestions for additions? I have considered Buried Alive but there is often no benefit from putting three creatures in the yard. One should be enough if it's good.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I'd like to fit Griselbrand and/or Sheoldred in. Sheoldred seems like a natural fit for reanimator because he keeps the beats coming, which is kinda cool.
How has it worked for you so far? We've only done one draft since I added in a few more reanimation spells (Unburial Rites, Karmic Guide, and Diabolic Servitude), but I still feel like I need to include something like Exhume.
I'd say we get one dedicated reanimator deck every other draft (usually 6-7 people), and it can perform reasonably well. It has been a while since a reanimator deck has won overall, but it usually posts more wins than losses, and is a lot of fun.
Exhume is good as a cheap reanimation spell, and allows some of the really early reanimation plays. It can be a nonbo with Black discard: sad times if you hit an opponent's Titan with your Hymn to Tourach with an Exhume in hand. If you have a Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy or flipped Nezumi Graverobber, though, you can take it for yourself.
How is Unburial Rites for you? I thought the black casting cost would be too great, though I like the Flashback in combination with cards like Gifts Ungiven.
With Sheoldred you get the benefit of more creatures from your yard if they are there. With Griselbrand you don't need any more creatures.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Haven't actual drafted unburial rites yet. My cube gets winstoned WAY more than full drafted, and we haven't done a full draft since I added rites. Yes, it's a little over the top on the cost for a black reanimate spell, but it's competition in BW is much easier than in black, so it was a good place to squeeze another reanimate spell without taking up too much space in black. I cut Stillmoon Cavalier for it, and honestly I can't imagine missing Stillmoon. The only other real card I considered for the slot is Lingering Souls, and I don't think anyone is going to cry that they didn't get to cast lingering souls.
I'm probably going to cut Yawgmoth's Will for Griselbrand. I'm not powered, so Yawg will is rarely anything awesome.
How is Sneak Attack doing for you? How many red decks really want that ability in your drafting experience? I've never even considered Sneak Attack in cube before, and I'm only just beginning to think about what decks might exist around it. I built the Tinker/Reanimate deck the other day, and that was awesome, so I can imagine that the Sneak Attack/Reanimate deck might also be pretty cool.
EDIT: I was going to suggest Liliana of the Veil, but noticed you don't run any planeswalkers. That much really open up space in the cube.
For other suggestions, I'd seriously consider replacing one of the U/B lands in your cube with Forbidden Alchemy. You have more spots in U/B dedicated to lands/ramp than any other two color combination, so cutting one to fit in the extra draw spell will really help. Alchemy seems like it would help reanimator pretty well.
I'm thinking of replacing Plague Sliver in my cube with Sewer Nemesis. It'll probably be roughly the same size a lot of the time by the time it matters, and you could pretty easily mill yourself and try to set up some reanimation. Milling yourself also gets a little more attractive if you add Forbidden Alchemy and Unburial Rites, since they flashback pretty well. This one I'm not as sold on, but it's at least worth considering.
I'm also going to put Undead Gladiator back in. He's not a bad black aggro creature, gives you something when you're drawing lands dead late, but he also helps the reanimator archetype as well, which is nice.
I love fatties and have lots of ways to cheat them in if you want more support I would look to green for Elvish Piper, Summoning Trap and Oath of Druids. All three of these are solid on their own and expand the reanimation theme very well. Show and Tell also works but its a little more risky.
I’ve been trying to push reanimation for black (and white to a much smaller extent) for a while.
It is highly inefficient but in a pinch Thoughseize (and Cabal Therapy if you run it) can be used to get creatures out of your hand into the graveyard where you need them. I have rotting rats in as an enabler which has worked quite well
I run Body Snatcher in my cube and people have loved it. I recently put in Victimize as well. I’ve have Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni in for some fun with this, but he hasn’t really been as exciting as I’d hoped. Still keeping him in for now though
Has anybody ever tried running Tortured Existence by chance? I’ve thought about it a couple time but haven’t tried it out
Take it from me: You don't want to encourage reanimate too much. It's cool when it comes together every now and then, but if it appears every draft it gets boring quickly.
Ya, it's been mentioned. In one of the other black reanimation threads that's going on right now. It's hard to keep track of which discussions are where.
Quote from bone_doc »
Take it from me: You don't want to encourage reanimate too much. It's cool when it comes together every now and then, but if it appears every draft it gets boring quickly.
Take it from me: You don't want to encourage reanimate too much. It's cool when it comes together every now and then, but if it appears every draft it gets boring quickly.
I get what you're saying here, but I'm still gonna try to push it. I really like some of the ideas here with pushing the subtheme in different directions. Sneak Attack seems like an awesome card to include, honestly, because I can see playing it in a blink style deck as a way to evoke creatures for R, but also in reanimator as a pseudo discard outlet that has value. There's a lot of different directions I can see Sneak Attack going, and I really like that.
If I just had 6 copies of Reanimate and 3 Entombs in the cube, I could see Reanimator getting boring quickly.
On the other hand, if one time around someone drafts a blue black artifact/reanimator deck with Inkwell, Grave Titan, 3 discard outlets, 2 reanimation spells, and Tinker, and then the next time around someone pulls off Sneak Attack, Nekrataal, Woodfall Primus, Terastodon, and 2 Reanimation spells, I think that gives the cube a lot of room to be exciting and different each time around.
On the other hand, if one time around someone drafts a blue black artifact/reanimator deck with Inkwell, Grave Titan, 3 discard outlets, 2 reanimation spells, and Tinker, and then the next time around someone pulls off Sneak Attack, Nekrataal, Woodfall Primus, Terastodon, and 2 Reanimation spells, I think that gives the cube a lot of room to be exciting and different each time around.
This pretty much describes what happens without dedicating a ton of support to reanimator anyways.
Except I didn't use to have Inkwell or Terastodon in the cube, and as of yet I don't have Sneak Attack in the cube at all. Tinker only came in about 6 months ago. By giving the "cheat big dudes into play" archetype a lot of different ways to be successful, I'm hoping I'll open up some different and very interesting decks, and not end up with the same legacy style reanimator deck every time.
My cube list can be found here. It's ever so slightly out of date, but nothing missing is important to this discussion (the artifact mana is changing a little). I also have not yet added DKA to the cube at all.
Here are the cards that in my mind currently support a reanimator archetype
Enablers
Green
Survival of the Fittest
Fauna Shaman
Black
Entomb
Liliana of the Veil
Oona's Prowler
Blue
Looter il-Kor
Thirst for Knowledge
Targets
Green
Krosan Tusker
Moldgraf Monstronsity
Hornet Queen
Woodfall Primus
Pelakka Wurm
Red
Bogardan Hellkite
Blue
Inkwell Leviathan
White
Eternal Dragon
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Black
???
Colorless
Sundering Titan
Myr Battlesphere
Multi
Simic Sky Swallower
Reanimation Spells
Reanimate
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Recurring Nightmare
Makeshift Mannequin
-------
I think that's everything. Obviously the Targets section is incredibly subjective, and I don't want many cards that are only good as reanimation targets, so I'm limited to cards that might actually get cast (or tinkered for). I've left out most 6 drops and included things at 7 or above as the targets.
All of these cards were ones that made it into my cube on value as cards by themselves (except Entomb, which got added last week because I wanted to start supporting more graveyard stuff). If I'm going to actually support reanimator well, then I imagine I'll need to push the boundaries on what I include, picking some cards that aren't as good in other archetypes in order to better support this. I'm considering all of the following cards
Enablers
Wild Mongrel
Undead Gladiator
Faithless Looting
Forbidden Alchemy
Lightning Axe
Buried Alive
Frantic Search
Mindshrieker
Sewer Nemesis
Targets
Sheoldred, Whispering One - also kind of a reanimation spell too
Reanimation Spells
Exhume
Diabolic Servitude
Dread Return
Corpse Dance
Obviously I'm not thinking of just jamming all those cards in my cube and hoping for the best, but I was wondering if people would share experiences with any of these cards, opinions on what might work or might not work towards my goals, and especially any cards I'm missing. I'm particularly inerested in the following questions
- Are there any white enablers at all? Eternal Dragon seems perfect for reanimation, but you have to want a plains for him to be playable in this deck, so I'm wondering if there are any white cards that help.
- Is it worth including the two red enablers (looting and lightning axe)? Looting is probably worth including anyway, but if there are only two red cards in the archetype, perhaps i'm just better off leaving red alone and making this stick to BUG colors?
- Are any of the cards I mentioned just bad at doing what i want to do? (I'm looking at you, mindshrieker and sewer nemesis)
Thanks for any suggestions/comments/etc.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
My current reanimator targets are very slim right now as I've been reducing the number of reanimator-only monsters like Akroma and Bogardan Hellkite.
Reanimating a Grave or Inferno Titan can be just as scary and leads to more interactive games.
The creatures commonly used as reanimator targets here are::
Inkwell Leviathan (soon to be removed as it sees little play besides reanimator and tinker decks)
Grave Titan
Inferno Titan
Pelakka Wurm
Hornet Queen
Woodfall Primus
Wurmcoil Engine
Myr Battlesphere
Sundering Titan
Simic Sky Swallower
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In supporting reanimator, you need all the pieces involved to be good outside of the archetype. Waterfront Bouncer, Faithless Looting, Wild Mongrel, Psychatog, and the Masticores are all discard outlets that are good by themselves. You want fatties that can be ramped or Tinkered into, not just reanimated. And your reanimation spells are also just an avenue of black card advantage--not just for the archetype.
I learned that you really have to warp your cube and include too many suboptimal cards to make viable a reanimator archetype that regularly and consistently gets turn 2-3 fatties. But without much effort and change, you can make reanimator a deck that pops up now and then and generally spits out guys on turn 3-5.
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I currently don't own a Fauna Shaman yet. It's on my wishlist.
I also second the recommendations for Waterfront Bouncer, Psychatog and Faithless Looting.
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This is exactly what I'm trying to accomplish. A turn 2-3 reanimator deck in the style of legacy reanimator isn't really what I'm trying to get, for the reasons you list. However, I had a B/W deck the other day that had Oona's Prowler, Liliana, Eternal Dragon, Akroma, Reanimate, Makeshift Mannequin, and Mana Vault. It felt like a deck that could reasonably ramp into Akroma the natural way, or discard her and reanimate her, however it just wasn't quite there and was a little too halfway to be good at anything.
Blue is so tight to fit new cards into, but Waterfront Bouncer does look like an excellent fit. I've been looking for an excuse to replace Oona, Queen of the Fae, so Psychatog should be fairly easy to include as well.
Is there any love for Undead Gladiator as a creature that might be decent in a black aggro deck but also supports discarding dudes for value? Assuming I bring in Bouncer, Mongrel, and Psychatog, is there anything else that seems truly necessary? I think I want exhume as well, but other than that I'm just not sure.
EDIT: Also looting will probably come in when I do DKA as it seems good in red anyway
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
Terastodon I should probably consider, since he's a decent top end target in green and I'm not really happy with the existing cards in that slot. Thus far in my cube I have absolutely no cards that are 3 or more colors, so I've not included Sphinx of the Steel wind. I've thought about it because he goes well with Tinker too, but I don't know where he would fit. Would I need to then add 4 more cards to be in each shard? It certainly creates awkward situations, especially since I do a lot of winston drafting where you're less likely to be in all 3 colors as the multicolor card you see.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
As for sphinx, I stopped forcing colour distribution. I found it forced the inclusion of bad cards if I did. I play sphinx for tinker, oath, and reanimator, as well as the dream tinker/reanimator/oath deck
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
There's a difference between forcing it as an archetype and making sure that the archetype is draftable if the cards come together. That's why I'm trying to make the distinction between running cards like Liliana and Wild Mongrel, which provide discard outlets that enable the archetype while still being great cards outside of reanimator, and cards like Putrid Imp, which don't really feel like anything I'd choose to run if I didn't want to discard things.
I don't need a reanimator deck to be in every draft. I just want to make a situation where if you P1P1 Recurring Nightmare, and P1P2 Liliana, that the rest of the deck is there for you. I want to create a situation where if you have the deck that cares about discarding cards, you can pick the Wild Mongrel before the aggro decks do, or grab the Reanimate before the black aggro deck that just wants redundancy does.
J
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Reanimate
1 Animate Dead
1 Exhume
1 Necromancy
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Living Death
1 Profane Command
1 Goblin Welder
1 Looter il-Kor
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Compulsive Research
1 Forbid
1 Frantic Search
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Oona's Prowler
1 Entomb
1 Faithless Looting
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Sneak Attack
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Wild Mongrel
1 Life from the Loam
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Masticore
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Memory Jar
1 Psychatog
1 Stormbind
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Pellakka Wurm
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Sundering Titan
Griselbrand has proved to be a fine reanimation target in the reanimation colour.
Any suggestions for additions? I have considered Buried Alive but there is often no benefit from putting three creatures in the yard. One should be enough if it's good.
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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Enablers
Green
Survival of the Fittest
Fauna Shaman
Wild Mongrel
Black
Entomb
Liliana of the Veil
Oona's Prowler
Blue
Enclave Cryptologist
Looter il-Kor
Thirst for Knowledge
Waterfront Bouncer
Red
Faithless Looting
Multi
Psychatog
Artifact
Molten-Tail Masticore
Targets
Green
Krosan Tusker
Hornet Queen
Woodfall Primus
Pelakka Wurm
Terastodon
Red
Bogardan Hellkite
Blue
Inkwell Leviathan
White
Eternal Dragon
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Black
???
Colorless
Sundering Titan
Myr Battlesphere
Multi
Simic Sky Swallower
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Reanimation Spells
Black
Reanimate
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Recurring Nightmare
Makeshift Mannequin
Nezumi Graverobber
[c]Diabolic Servitude [/cards]
White
Karmic Guide
Multi
Unburial Rites
-----------
I'd like to fit Griselbrand and/or Sheoldred in. Sheoldred seems like a natural fit for reanimator because he keeps the beats coming, which is kinda cool.
How has it worked for you so far? We've only done one draft since I added in a few more reanimation spells (Unburial Rites, Karmic Guide, and Diabolic Servitude), but I still feel like I need to include something like Exhume.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
Exhume is good as a cheap reanimation spell, and allows some of the really early reanimation plays. It can be a nonbo with Black discard: sad times if you hit an opponent's Titan with your Hymn to Tourach with an Exhume in hand. If you have a Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy or flipped Nezumi Graverobber, though, you can take it for yourself.
How is Unburial Rites for you? I thought the black casting cost would be too great, though I like the Flashback in combination with cards like Gifts Ungiven.
With Sheoldred you get the benefit of more creatures from your yard if they are there. With Griselbrand you don't need any more creatures.
My 380 Beginners’ Cube on Cube Tutor
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
I'm probably going to cut Yawgmoth's Will for Griselbrand. I'm not powered, so Yawg will is rarely anything awesome.
How is Sneak Attack doing for you? How many red decks really want that ability in your drafting experience? I've never even considered Sneak Attack in cube before, and I'm only just beginning to think about what decks might exist around it. I built the Tinker/Reanimate deck the other day, and that was awesome, so I can imagine that the Sneak Attack/Reanimate deck might also be pretty cool.
EDIT: I was going to suggest Liliana of the Veil, but noticed you don't run any planeswalkers. That much really open up space in the cube.
For other suggestions, I'd seriously consider replacing one of the U/B lands in your cube with Forbidden Alchemy. You have more spots in U/B dedicated to lands/ramp than any other two color combination, so cutting one to fit in the extra draw spell will really help. Alchemy seems like it would help reanimator pretty well.
I'm thinking of replacing Plague Sliver in my cube with Sewer Nemesis. It'll probably be roughly the same size a lot of the time by the time it matters, and you could pretty easily mill yourself and try to set up some reanimation. Milling yourself also gets a little more attractive if you add Forbidden Alchemy and Unburial Rites, since they flashback pretty well. This one I'm not as sold on, but it's at least worth considering.
I'm also going to put Undead Gladiator back in. He's not a bad black aggro creature, gives you something when you're drawing lands dead late, but he also helps the reanimator archetype as well, which is nice.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=221863
The first page of my Cube list also includes my cube workbook for excel, feel free to look at and use it if you would like to.
It is highly inefficient but in a pinch Thoughseize (and Cabal Therapy if you run it) can be used to get creatures out of your hand into the graveyard where you need them. I have rotting rats in as an enabler which has worked quite well
I run Body Snatcher in my cube and people have loved it. I recently put in Victimize as well. I’ve have Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni in for some fun with this, but he hasn’t really been as exciting as I’d hoped. Still keeping him in for now though
Has anybody ever tried running Tortured Existence by chance? I’ve thought about it a couple time but haven’t tried it out
I agree with this too.
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I get what you're saying here, but I'm still gonna try to push it. I really like some of the ideas here with pushing the subtheme in different directions. Sneak Attack seems like an awesome card to include, honestly, because I can see playing it in a blink style deck as a way to evoke creatures for R, but also in reanimator as a pseudo discard outlet that has value. There's a lot of different directions I can see Sneak Attack going, and I really like that.
If I just had 6 copies of Reanimate and 3 Entombs in the cube, I could see Reanimator getting boring quickly.
On the other hand, if one time around someone drafts a blue black artifact/reanimator deck with Inkwell, Grave Titan, 3 discard outlets, 2 reanimation spells, and Tinker, and then the next time around someone pulls off Sneak Attack, Nekrataal, Woodfall Primus, Terastodon, and 2 Reanimation spells, I think that gives the cube a lot of room to be exciting and different each time around.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
This pretty much describes what happens without dedicating a ton of support to reanimator anyways.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
EDIT: Is Doomed Necromancer good enough for cube? I really want Karmic Guide in black to tutor up with Fauna Shaman or Survival of the Fittest, and it seems like it's either Necromancer or Phyrexian Delver, neither of which I love.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)