I have read the Reanimator primer and the following posts, as well as doing a forum search for Dragon Reanimator decks on this forum and other sites but I am still having trouble rounding out this deck. Keep in mind I am trying to keep this fairly budget so I'm not willing to shell out for Entombs even though they are amazing.
Other cards I've considered: Animate Dead - Don't know if I have an appropriate amount of reanimation between Exhume and Reanimate Fling - To possibly end the game just a shade earlier. Zombie Infestation - yet again not sure if I have enough/too much discard abilities
Is there anything I am completely missing? Would I benefit more just going mono black and dropping red?
The biggest problem I can see having is not being able to tutor up something If I don't draw into buried alive. Any ways to combat this on a budget? (I've seen Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor but they are decently expensive)
Any input you can give me would be much appreciated! Thanks.
I like the Utvara Hellkite suggestion! Basically paying 2cmc for a 6/6 and I don't even have to get combat damage through.
Dragon Tyrant is in the list. I've considered Nicol Bolas but he's ~$35 for one and I don't wanna win that bad so I'll just run the budget version Crosis, the Purger. =P
EDIT:
I guess the old versions of Nicol Bolas only cost like $1 so he'll probably make an appearance then. haha.
I dropped some more dragons. I found places for Solemn Simulacrum and Dragon Arch. I upped Yavimaya Elder and Unburial Rites to 3-ofs. I snuck Crystal Quarry into the mana base as well. My only concern as of now is not having much to slow down an aggro deck early besides Duress. Basically my mana curve is heavier in the 3+ cmc areas. =/
Ok, here's what I came up with. I made a list of all the dragons I thought might be good to include and tried to justify each addition with a reason to include it. I then trimmed it down to what you see above. This deck sort of took on a reanimator theme, which I think is sort of a neat way to cheat things into play. I tried to add cards that were less than 5 cmc so I'd have some plays to make on my first few turns. I then tried to add dragons that would give me answers to anything my opponents may be doing.
The land base is something I'm unfamiliar with so this is just what I came up with off the top of my head. Feel free to critique!
So I lifted this deck from the primer as I think it looks incredibly fun, but as I was looking at I wondered if it couldn't be improved upon. Namely I see the main combo being casting Scion of the Ur-Dragon and using his ability targeting Bladewing the Risen sending him to the yard and hitting for four. Next turn, turn Scion of the Ur-Dragon into Teneb, the Harvester attack, use his reanimate ability targeting Bladewing the Risen, use his come into play ability targeting Teneb, the Harvester and basically end the game. Are all of other dragons in the deck necessary? Can I add something else to the deck to flesh it out more? Are there other better dragons I could add that would abuse Scion of the Ur-Dragon a little bit more? Vorosh, the Hunter and Intet, the Dreamer honestly seem a little underwhelming to me.
Since it's going to be 5 color could there be anything to help secure the mana base?
I run a R/G version of this. Feel free to lift any ideas from it. I'd like to echo a few others. Thunderblust is great in conjunction with Incandescent Soulstoke. Costs you 2 to cast, then sacs itself activating it's persist ability and coming back with trample. Also Nova Chaser in conjunction with Flamekin Harbinger is great letting you reuse the tutor ability.
Ditched Silver Erne because I realized his creature type is Erne and not Bird so he wouldn't benefit from Soulcatchers' Aerie. Added Steel Hellkite as a wincon. Swapped Magus of the Moat for Wall of Tears. Would rather have the early game speed bump than the turn 4 board lock since i'll probably already have a Propaganda or two out by then. Thoughts?
Should I drop a few to 3-ofs to include more win-cons and/or Oblivion Ring's?
This still doesn't feel quite fleshed out. >_<
EDIT:
It feels like Swans of Bryn Argoll and Propaganda/Magus of the Moat are contradictory. If i'm preventing them from attacking then Swans is useless plus it would take a lot of turns to mill out a 60 card deck. Thoughts?
I found this deck under my bed while I was cleaning my room. It was basically my first attempt at building a deck on my own and while it was pretty terrible in it's own right I'd like to go back and make it something playable. So here's what I found when I laid it out.
That's all I've got so far. I'd appreciate any input that you all could give me. There is a good likelihood there is something I have overlooked. Thanks for the help in advance!
Ok, so I spent some time tweaking and playtesting and this is where I ended up. It looks MUCH different than it previously did and I am extremely happy with that. I have a good amount of 1 and 2 drops, plus cheap equipment to get them going, with a few 3-4 drops later on that should help seal the deal. I sacrificed a lot in the name of speed and hopefully I can overwhelm my opponent before he can get a foot hold.
Loam Lion and Savannah Lions are great 1 drops. Qasali Pridemage gives me artifact/enchant protection and a nice exalted bonus should I be attacking early on with only 1 creature, which is more than likely. Sunspear Shikari was made for this deck. Skyhunter Skirmisher and Marisi's Twinclaws are just awesome double strikers. Leonin Abunas is there if i'm having trouble keeping equip on the field (I feel this could be sideboarded in favor of more beats).
Another issue I seem to be having is balancing the # of equip cards with the # of creatures.
With the low curve I'll most likely be emptying my hand fairly quickly so Survival Cache is there to remedy that.
I have trouble figuring how many lands to include as well. I know with a lower curve you can get away with less but I'm not sure of the formula. Also, I have the hardest time remembering the dual color lands and other good mana fixers if anyone would like to point me in the right direction.
I also considered throwing in Glittering Lynx and that is still up in the air. Any thoughts on that?
Feel free to critique! Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
This is my deck in it's current state. I have been out of the loop for quite a while, and recently my friends have pulled me back into Magic. I have never been quite happy with this deck, and would like to flesh it out a little more. My intention for this deck is for it to be lightning fast beatdown.
Firstly, Equipment. As it stands now, I really do not like Grafted Wargear. Obsidian Battle-Axe is so-so. I did a little hunting and there seem to be several options for me to consider.
These seem like they could all fit. I am unsure as to which would benefit me the most.
Secondly, cats. There are many more cat cards now than when I first built this deck and I wouldn't mind working some of the cats that are more synergistic with equipment. Options include:
Seeing as these are all white cards it may behoove me to drop a color (thinking red) which I am not totally against.
I definitely want to get rid of Primal Rage as I'd rather the deck be more equipment based. If I am going to drop red then I will most likely grab a set of Path to Exiles to replace the Lightning Bolts.
Let me know what you guys think. Based on the feedback I'll try to construct a new version 'til we make something that's workable. Thanks in advance!
4 Faithless Looting
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
4 Putrid Imp
1 Hellkite Overlord
1 Bladewing the Risen
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Utvara Hellkite
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Karrthus Tyrant of Jund
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
4 Dark Ritual
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Sulfurous Springs
9 Swamp
3 Mountain
I've got the barebones of a reanimator deck here. Buried Alive and Faithless Looting will get me what I need (hopefully). Duress is there for early hand disruption. Dark Ritual for T1 > Buried Alive shenanigans.
Other cards I've considered:
Animate Dead - Don't know if I have an appropriate amount of reanimation between Exhume and Reanimate
Fling - To possibly end the game just a shade earlier.
Zombie Infestation - yet again not sure if I have enough/too much discard abilities
Is there anything I am completely missing? Would I benefit more just going mono black and dropping red?
The biggest problem I can see having is not being able to tutor up something If I don't draw into buried alive. Any ways to combat this on a budget? (I've seen Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor but they are decently expensive)
Any input you can give me would be much appreciated! Thanks.
Dragon Tyrant is in the list. I've considered Nicol Bolas but he's ~$35 for one and I don't wanna win that bad so I'll just run the budget version Crosis, the Purger. =P
EDIT:
I guess the old versions of Nicol Bolas only cost like $1 so he'll probably make an appearance then. haha.
4 Scion of the Ur-Dragon
2 Bladewing the Risen
1 Crosis, the Purger
1 Teneb, the Harvester
1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
1 Dromar, The Banisher
1 Dragon Tyrant
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Moltensteel Dragon
3 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Harrow
3 Yavimaya Elder
Support:
2 Dragon Arch
3 Unburial Rites
2 Buried Alive
3 Duress
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Crystal Quarry
7 Forest
7 Swamp
2 Mountains
2 Plains
2 Island
I dropped some more dragons. I found places for Solemn Simulacrum and Dragon Arch. I upped Yavimaya Elder and Unburial Rites to 3-ofs. I snuck Crystal Quarry into the mana base as well. My only concern as of now is not having much to slow down an aggro deck early besides Duress. Basically my mana curve is heavier in the 3+ cmc areas. =/
Thanks for your help! Thoughts?
4 Scion of the Ur-Dragon
2 Bladewing the Risen
2 Crosis, the Purger
2 Teneb, the Harvester
1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
1 Dromar, The Banisher
1 Oros, the Avenger
1 Dragon Tyrant
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Moltensteel Dragon
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Harrow
2 Yavimaya Elder
Support:
2 Unburial Rites
2 Buried Alive
3 Duress
Land:
4 Evolving Wilds
8 Forest
6 Swamp
2 Mountains
2 Plains
2 Island
Ok, here's what I came up with. I made a list of all the dragons I thought might be good to include and tried to justify each addition with a reason to include it. I then trimmed it down to what you see above. This deck sort of took on a reanimator theme, which I think is sort of a neat way to cheat things into play. I tried to add cards that were less than 5 cmc so I'd have some plays to make on my first few turns. I then tried to add dragons that would give me answers to anything my opponents may be doing.
The land base is something I'm unfamiliar with so this is just what I came up with off the top of my head. Feel free to critique!
Edit:
Thoughts on these cards?
Dragon Arch
Chromatic Lantern
Crystal Quarry
Fist of Suns
Edit Edit:
I'm beginning to realize 5-color mana bases are hard to make consistent on a budget. =(
It seems it may be easier to go B/G with a heavy reanimator theme using Bladewing. I'd like the deck to be consistent more than anything.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Teneb, The Harvester
3 Vorosh, the Hunter
3 Oros, the Avenger
3 Intet, the Dreamer
3 Numot, the Devastator
3 Scion of the Ur-Dragon
2 Bladewing the Risen
4 Rampant Growth
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Pyroclasm
4 Lightning Bolt
Land:
8 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Mountain
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Island
So I lifted this deck from the primer as I think it looks incredibly fun, but as I was looking at I wondered if it couldn't be improved upon. Namely I see the main combo being casting Scion of the Ur-Dragon and using his ability targeting Bladewing the Risen sending him to the yard and hitting for four. Next turn, turn Scion of the Ur-Dragon into Teneb, the Harvester attack, use his reanimate ability targeting Bladewing the Risen, use his come into play ability targeting Teneb, the Harvester and basically end the game. Are all of other dragons in the deck necessary? Can I add something else to the deck to flesh it out more? Are there other better dragons I could add that would abuse Scion of the Ur-Dragon a little bit more? Vorosh, the Hunter and Intet, the Dreamer honestly seem a little underwhelming to me.
Since it's going to be 5 color could there be anything to help secure the mana base?
Thanks in advance!
3 Wall of Tears
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Welkin Hawk
2 Silver Erne
3 Condemn
4 Battle Screech
4 Soulcatchers' Aerie
4 Propaganda
4 Mana Leak
4 Grafted Wargear
Ditched the Steel Hellkite's for Silver Erne's to stay on theme then. Plus a Silver Erne with attached Grafted Wargear and Soulcatchers' Aerie buff could end a game I think. Think this would run acceptably?
4 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Smokebraider
4 Incandescent Soulstoke
3 Primal Forcemage
4 Inner-Flame Acolyte
1 Forgotten Ancient
4 Nova Chaser
2 Thunderblust
4 Thorn Elemental
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Double Cleave
I run a R/G version of this. Feel free to lift any ideas from it. I'd like to echo a few others. Thunderblust is great in conjunction with Incandescent Soulstoke. Costs you 2 to cast, then sacs itself activating it's persist ability and coming back with trample. Also Nova Chaser in conjunction with Flamekin Harbinger is great letting you reuse the tutor ability.
3 Wall of Tears
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Welkin Hawk
2 Steel Hellkite
3 Condemn
4 Battle Screech
4 Soulcatchers' Aerie
4 Propaganda
4 Mana Leak
4 Grafted Wargear
Ditched Silver Erne because I realized his creature type is Erne and not Bird so he wouldn't benefit from Soulcatchers' Aerie. Added Steel Hellkite as a wincon. Swapped Magus of the Moat for Wall of Tears. Would rather have the early game speed bump than the turn 4 board lock since i'll probably already have a Propaganda or two out by then. Thoughts?
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Welkin Hawk
2 Silver Erne
2 Swans of Bryn Argoll
2 Magus of the Moat
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Battle Screech
4 Soulcatchers' Aerie
4 Propaganda
4 Mana Leak
4 Grafted Wargear
I either mill em with Swans of Bryn Argoll, lock them down with Propaganda/Magus of the Moat, or pump Soulcatchers' Aerie and beat down ftw.
Should I drop a few to 3-ofs to include more win-cons and/or Oblivion Ring's?
This still doesn't feel quite fleshed out. >_<
EDIT:
It feels like Swans of Bryn Argoll and Propaganda/Magus of the Moat are contradictory. If i'm preventing them from attacking then Swans is useless plus it would take a lot of turns to mill out a 60 card deck. Thoughts?
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Welkin Hawk
4 Lieutenant Kirtar
4 Magus of the Moat
4 Smite
4 Battle Screech
4 Soulcatchers' Aerie
4 Mana Tithe
4 Mana Leak
4 Grafted Wargear
I realize I've got too many cards in here as it stands now. So I use Grafted Wargear and/or the abilities of Judge's Familiar and Lieutenant Kirtar as sac engines to pump Soulcatchers' Aerie. Between Smite, Mana Tithe, and Mana Leak I feel I have plenty of control. Are there better counters to use in place of those?
Let me know what you all think! Thanks. =)
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Soulcatcher
3 Stormscape Familiar
4 Aven Mimeomancer
3 Magus of the Moat
2 Kangee, Aerie Keeper
2 Mana Tithe
3 Soulcatchers' Aerie
4 Mana Leak
2 Negate
2 Supply/Demand
3 Battle Screech
4 Seaside Haven
4 Coastal Tower
10 Plains
6 Island
Cards I've found that are worth considering IMO are Judge's Familiar, Sage Owl, Squadron Hawk, Thrummingbird, Keeper of the Nine Gales, Thieving Magpie, Windbrisk Raptor
I'd definitely like to make a few basic changes right off the bat.
+2 Mana Tithe - More counters = more fun
+1 Magus of the Moat - I really like the lockdown it puts on the board
-4 Soulcatchers' Aerie - Not really useful unless you have someway of putting creatures in the graveyard
-4 Soulcatcher - Same as above
-3 Battle Screech - 2 1/1 tokens for 4CMC? No thanks.
-2 Kangee, Aerie Keeper - Ridiculous mana cost for a tiny buff.
-4 Aven Mimeomancer - Not that great.
-3 Stormscape Familiar - Low curve on the deck makes this useless.
That's all I've got so far. I'd appreciate any input that you all could give me. There is a good likelihood there is something I have overlooked. Thanks for the help in advance!
EDIT:
Other cards I have found whilst scouring the internet:
Favorable Winds
Cloudreach Cavalry
Steel of the Godhead
Airborne Aid
Devouring Light
Reprisal
Emeria Angel
Jötun Owl Keeper
Wall of Omens
Arctic Aven
Sleep
4 Loam Lion
4 Savannah Lions
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Sunspear Shikari
2 Skyhunter Skirmisher
2 Marisi's Twinclaws
2 Leonin Abunas
3 Basilisk Collar
3 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Trusty Machete
Spells:
4 Path to Exile
4 Survival Cache
13 Plains
5 Forest
4 Terramorphic Expanse
Ok, so I spent some time tweaking and playtesting and this is where I ended up. It looks MUCH different than it previously did and I am extremely happy with that. I have a good amount of 1 and 2 drops, plus cheap equipment to get them going, with a few 3-4 drops later on that should help seal the deal. I sacrificed a lot in the name of speed and hopefully I can overwhelm my opponent before he can get a foot hold.
Loam Lion and Savannah Lions are great 1 drops. Qasali Pridemage gives me artifact/enchant protection and a nice exalted bonus should I be attacking early on with only 1 creature, which is more than likely. Sunspear Shikari was made for this deck. Skyhunter Skirmisher and Marisi's Twinclaws are just awesome double strikers. Leonin Abunas is there if i'm having trouble keeping equip on the field (I feel this could be sideboarded in favor of more beats).
Another issue I seem to be having is balancing the # of equip cards with the # of creatures.
With the low curve I'll most likely be emptying my hand fairly quickly so Survival Cache is there to remedy that.
I have trouble figuring how many lands to include as well. I know with a lower curve you can get away with less but I'm not sure of the formula. Also, I have the hardest time remembering the dual color lands and other good mana fixers if anyone would like to point me in the right direction.
I also considered throwing in Glittering Lynx and that is still up in the air. Any thoughts on that?
Feel free to critique! Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Qasali Ambusher
2 Skyhunter Skirmisher
2 Mirri, Cat Warrior
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Marisi's Twinclaws
4 Obsidian Battle-Axe
2 Grafted Wargear
2 Lightning Greaves
Spells:
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Primal Rage
3 Jungle Shrine
3 Naya Panorama
This is my deck in it's current state. I have been out of the loop for quite a while, and recently my friends have pulled me back into Magic. I have never been quite happy with this deck, and would like to flesh it out a little more. My intention for this deck is for it to be lightning fast beatdown.
Firstly, Equipment. As it stands now, I really do not like Grafted Wargear. Obsidian Battle-Axe is so-so. I did a little hunting and there seem to be several options for me to consider.
These seem like they could all fit. I am unsure as to which would benefit me the most.
Secondly, cats. There are many more cat cards now than when I first built this deck and I wouldn't mind working some of the cats that are more synergistic with equipment. Options include:
Seeing as these are all white cards it may behoove me to drop a color (thinking red) which I am not totally against.
I definitely want to get rid of Primal Rage as I'd rather the deck be more equipment based. If I am going to drop red then I will most likely grab a set of Path to Exiles to replace the Lightning Bolts.
Let me know what you guys think. Based on the feedback I'll try to construct a new version 'til we make something that's workable. Thanks in advance!
As of right now I've got some underwhelming bombs in the deck and I'd like suggestions on some game changers to include in the deck.
I'm considering/know of the following:
On a sidenote: I'm protecting bombs with Lightning Greaves so removal isn't much of an issue.
I'm not that familiar with Worldwake and I know some of the Eldrazi are pretty devastating. Any suggestions?