Grixis re-animator has always been a fun deck idea of mine, and though I have built Sedris multiple times, I kept taking it apart to make new decks. Now though, he's back from the grave and better than ever, but still needs some tweaking. The flavor behind him is amazing if you have the time to look it up, and he is hands down the best general for Grixis reanimator. If I can get him to stick late game and a turn passes, it becomes very hard to lose with an army of unearthed fatties all with haste and doublestrike that all shocked off of Flayer of the Hatebound.
The deck is simple. Use cards like Faithless Looting or Fact or Fiction to serve the purpose of both getting through my library faster and getting the big fatty beats in the graveyard to get them back at bargain prices. I do want to point out that Sedris, the Traitor King is NOT the primary reanimation card, and that he is intended only as a finisher. Exiling my fatties early is not something I want to do.
So far, the main win condition of the deck is normally Flayer of the Hatebound and Warstorm Surge, normally followed up by a few reanimates or Sedris to bring in the kill. I want to obtain Pandemonium as another version of it even if it does help my opponents. Trust me, I'll remember my trigger much more often than they will. My friend's Norin, the Wary deck has taught me that well.
Considering cutting Arcanis, the Omnipotent forPhyrexian Ingester which acts as another answer to problems. Bogardan hell kite and inferno titan can fall short in damage and the ingester only makes himself better the bigger the thing he eats. It's also exile, which matters vs ulamog, and blue, which matters vs animar.
Cuts still need to be made for cards on aquire board. I may put in worldgorger dragon combo, since it is competitive and i have all the tools to do so.
I have been playing this deck a ton for the past month or so. Like you, I started with this kind of shell, but quickly realized that there were quite a few inefficiencies in the deck. Let's look at some commonly overrated cards in Grixis Reanimator:
Grave Titan: what does this guy do for you? He isn't big enough to scare anyone, he doesn't establish commanding board presence, and you'd have to do some real convincing for me to use a reanimation spell on him. If I'm going to be reanimating something, it better have massive board impact or some sort of crazy advantage. As it is, he's just collateral damage once someone wraths. Straight beaters are very underwhelming in this deck.
Crosis the Purger: instantly replaced by Nicol Bolas, who is just the better version of Crosis. You can argue a few advantages here and there for Crosis, but the bottom line is that Nicol Bolas will knock someone out for a good while with a single hit.
Artisan of Kozilek: this was in ticker's list. Why is beyond me. It's a 9 mana reanimation spell that requires being cast from your hand. Easy cut.
Sphinx of Uthuun: ultra overrated card. The more I played with Uthuun, the less I liked it, purely because its impact was so small. Reanimating Jin-Gitaxias is the go-to choice if you really wanted fuel. Otherwise, just tutor for a Wheel of Fortune. Again, reanimation spells should be saved for high-impact creatures, not these mediocre ones.
Deadeye Navigator: so many people are gonna call BS on this one, but I'm going to say right now that it's only good off of a Buried Alive. You're not going to have the density of reanimation spells to bring him back and a ETB creature of choice, and have enough mana to abuse/protect the combo for more than one turn. The only exception is the case of Palinchron, where you can reanimate your whole GY, but at that point Palinchron and Phantasmal Image together are enough. I thought he was an auto-include, but this deck can't abuse it that well. Just try it - you'll see what I mean.
Warstorm Surge: unbelievably slow. In a deck with so few ramp spells and all of this looting, it often gets thrown away. I also hate wasting a turn to cast it, only to have it blown up, when I could've been doing something much more relevant. Though my logic may be flawed, it just never stays around long enough to do its job, and when it does, it's just overkill. Flayer of the Hatebound is plenty good enough to combo with Sedris as a late-game burner.
Forbidden Alchemy / Fact or Fiction: both of these cards are not as good as they seem in this deck. Why? Because they don't help you get rid of the fat that's sitting in your hand. Your card advantage does not come from these run-of-the-mill draw spells, they come from using your graveyard as a resource. When you Fact and they just put your reanimation and fatties in one pile, what are you going to do if you don't already have a discard outlet? Happens more often than you think.
Other noteworthy points:
- Play more looting: you have Merfolk Looter, where's Thought Courier? You have Compulsion, but where's Unfulfilled Desires? These are the bread and butter of your deck. Without them, you are a bad deck with a bunch of fatties. The one thing I liked about Grixis Reanimator is the fact that you will always have a quality hand because of all the looting. Otherwise, you might as well replace all of the reanimation with ramp and hardcast your dudes. Also, Cephalid Broker is really slow.
- Play wheels: these will become crutches in the future. Wheel of Fortune and Windfall have been nothing short of amazing. I'd run Whispering Madness too, but it's just too much at that point.
- Drop your curve: cards like Zombify, Body Double, Beacon of Unrest, and Rise from the Grave can be replaced. It's an excess of reanimation spells already - you should try some alternate avenues for the deck, like Volrath's Shapeshifter or Sneak Attack. Both cards have single-handedly won me games because they happen so quickly and brutally. If you want to be competitive, you can't really afford to run these slower cards.
- Play anti-steal lands: people run so much anti-grave hate. Who cares about GY hate? If you build it properly, this deck can bounce back from two or maybe even three GY clears thanks to the massive amount of looting. What you CAN'T recover from is if they start stealing your stuff. I think it's EXTREMELY important to run cards like High Market, Phyrexian Tower, and possibly even Homeward Path. I go all the way and run Miren, the Moaning Well along with Desolate Lighthouse and Cephalid Coliseum as gas. Your mana base needs to be optimized.
I'll post my list up sometime, but my experience with the deck has taught me to warp the list quite a bit.
I have been playing this deck a ton for the past month or so. Like you, I started with this kind of shell, but quickly realized that there were quite a few inefficiencies in the deck. Let's look at some commonly overrated cards in Grixis Reanimator:
Grave Titan: what does this guy do for you? He isn't big enough to scare anyone, he doesn't establish commanding board presence, and you'd have to do some real convincing for me to use a reanimation spell on him. If I'm going to be reanimating something, it better have massive board impact or some sort of crazy advantage. As it is, he's just collateral damage once someone wraths. Straight beaters are very underwhelming in this deck.
Crosis the Purger: instantly replaced by Nicol Bolas, who is just the better version of Crosis. You can argue a few advantages here and there for Crosis, but the bottom line is that Nicol Bolas will knock someone out for a good while with a single hit.
Artisan of Kozilek: this was in ticker's list. Why is beyond me. It's a 9 mana reanimation spell that requires being cast from your hand. Easy cut.
Sphinx of Uthuun: ultra overrated card. The more I played with Uthuun, the less I liked it, purely because its impact was so small. Reanimating Jin-Gitaxias is the go-to choice if you really wanted fuel. Otherwise, just tutor for a Wheel of Fortune. Again, reanimation spells should be saved for high-impact creatures, not these mediocre ones.
Deadeye Navigator: so many people are gonna call BS on this one, but I'm going to say right now that it's only good off of a Buried Alive. You're not going to have the density of reanimation spells to bring him back and a ETB creature of choice, and have enough mana to abuse/protect the combo for more than one turn. The only exception is the case of Palinchron, where you can reanimate your whole GY, but at that point Palinchron and Phantasmal Image together are enough. I thought he was an auto-include, but this deck can't abuse it that well. Just try it - you'll see what I mean.
Warstorm Surge: unbelievably slow. In a deck with so few ramp spells and all of this looting, it often gets thrown away. I also hate wasting a turn to cast it, only to have it blown up, when I could've been doing something much more relevant. Though my logic may be flawed, it just never stays around long enough to do its job, and when it does, it's just overkill. Flayer of the Hatebound is plenty good enough to combo with Sedris as a late-game burner.
Forbidden Alchemy / Fact or Fiction: both of these cards are not as good as they seem in this deck. Why? Because they don't help you get rid of the fat that's sitting in your hand. Your card advantage does not come from these run-of-the-mill draw spells, they come from using your graveyard as a resource. When you Fact and they just put your reanimation and fatties in one pile, what are you going to do if you don't already have a discard outlet? Happens more often than you think.
Other noteworthy points:
- Play more looting: you have Merfolk Looter, where's Thought Courier? You have Compulsion, but where's Unfulfilled Desires? These are the bread and butter of your deck. Without them, you are a bad deck with a bunch of fatties. The one thing I liked about Grixis Reanimator is the fact that you will always have a quality hand because of all the looting. Otherwise, you might as well replace all of the reanimation with ramp and hardcast your dudes. Also, Cephalid Broker is really slow.
- Play wheels: these will become crutches in the future. Wheel of Fortune and Windfall have been nothing short of amazing. I'd run Whispering Madness too, but it's just too much at that point.
- Drop your curve: cards like Zombify, Body Double, Beacon of Unrest, and Rise from the Grave can be replaced. It's an excess of reanimation spells already - you should try some alternate avenues for the deck, like Volrath's Shapeshifter or Sneak Attack. Both cards have single-handedly won me games because they happen so quickly and brutally. If you want to be competitive, you can't really afford to run these slower cards.
- Play anti-steal lands: people run so much anti-grave hate. Who cares about GY hate? If you build it properly, this deck can bounce back from two or maybe even three GY clears thanks to the massive amount of looting. What you CAN'T recover from is if they start stealing your stuff. I think it's EXTREMELY important to run cards like High Market, Phyrexian Tower, and possibly even Homeward Path. I go all the way and run Miren, the Moaning Well along with Desolate Lighthouse and Cephalid Coliseum as gas. Your mana base needs to be optimized.
I'll post my list up sometime, but my experience with the deck has taught me to warp the list quite a bit.
Appreciate the reply
Grave Titan does exactly what you'd think, he makes babies. If I use Through the Breach or Torrent of Souls or even just reanimate with Anger in the yard, thats 4 zombies on the side, and if anger IS in the yard, thats 10 damage going in. He has deathtouch, so he's already awkward to block. He also makes better Victimize targets, and bodies for flashing back Dread Return
Crosis, the Purger Nicol Bolas is better hand manipulation, but unless I have a haste outlet, paying URB at upkeep is ugly. This deck normally gets a piece of fat out of the yard turn1-3, so I can't afford the upkeep. I do agree that in most cases, Bolas is more efficient.
Artisan of Kozilek I've been on the fence for a long time with him. He is, as you've basically said, just a vanilla with annihilator 2. He is pretty sweet if I ever get to 9 mana, but I'd agree he's a bit inefficient. I'll put him on the chopping block.
Sphinx of Uthuun When you get to do it 3 times in a game, you'll reconsider. It's great deck filtering and card advantage when your grave is almost as accessible as your hand.
Deadeye Navigator is another i've been on the fence about. He's a 5/5 vanilla for swinging but we all know thats not what he's used for. He was included as a way to abuse most of the ETB abilities, but I haven't gotten much use out of him. I think you may have convinced me on this one.
Warstorm Surge I'd agree is really slow, but it is a definite win condition in combination with Sedris. I'd probably drop it for Pandemonium if I had one. Its drawback is mitigated by the fact no one remembers (this was taught to me by a norin the wary flipping in for 2 damage every end step and STILL all 4 other players continued to forget.)
Forbidden Alchemy is a slot-holder for Fact or Fiction, ironically enough. I liked that it had flashback but it's too expensive to realistically pull off. FoF is an absolute all star in decks like these, because it's hard to divide in a way that I don't win. say top 5 are 2fatties, 1 reanimate, a land, and a loot spell. How do you divide it? putting the fatties and the reanimate would probably be the best option, but I've still got a reanimate card in hand, (and probably cards in the yard) and I can easily get rid of the fatties later via Desolate Lighthouse or [CARD]Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace[/CARD once I get one, or one of many looting spells.
As for looting, I honestly didn't know Thought Courier existed! I'll be putting one on the Aquireboard asap. Unfulfilled Desires is oddly a tricky one to find. I'll be ordering one soon, but it is on the aquireboard.
I've been considering Windfall and Whispering Madness for a long time. I'm not as big of a fan of Wheel of Fortune simply because my first few turns likely wont involve red and I can't get maximum flexibility out of it. With windfall I can turn 1 swamp and something turn 2 reanimate+land possibly and turn 3 windfall. I could do the same with wheel, but the chance of me getting red by turn 3 isn't nearly as high as having blue.
The reason RftG and Beacon and cards of it's nature are in the deck is for pure reanimation density. RftG will be cut for Necromancy most likely, and zombify probably for Stitch Together. I'd love a Sneak Attack but definitely not it's pricetag. 50$ is ouch.
Anti-Steal seems reasonable, though if something is to be stolen it's going to probably be out of my yard not off of my battlefield, making Homeward Path the best choice regardless. I don't think i'll be wanting to kill off my fat unless it was already on the way to the grave though. Grave hate hasn't been a huge issue except in competitive play where Relic of Projo is tutored for or against Zurr pulling out RIP asap.
I do appreciate the feedback. Artisan of Kozilek and Deadeye Navigator will likely see cuts before anyone. Your arguments against both are valid. Arcanis the Omnipotent is one of my all time favorite cards but he oddly hasn't pulled his weight lately. I may take him out also.
Nice response. I'm going to try a little harder to argue against some of these guys lol, cause I feel strongly about how bad they are:
Grave Titan: 10 damage. So what? Vanilla beaters are the worst thing in this deck by far. Every time I reanimate him, I feel so unbelievably underwhelmed. I've tried keeping him in just for Dread Return and Victimize, but why keep in a mediocre reanimation target just to make other spells better? If you play more looter guys, you'll have plenty of Victimize targets anyways.
On a side note, I forgot to mention Squee, Goblin Nabob. Huge, huge, HUGE all-star for this deck. Unbelievable. He's my usual Victimize target.
Sphinx of Uthuun: lol, so I need to fact with him 3 times to get value out of him? Like I said, Fact is already a mediocre card in this deck; I don't need it in creature form.
Fact or Fiction: while we're here: what if you don't have a loot spell in hand already? Given that I run almost double the amount of loot spells you do, I still don't always have one. They'll split fat and reanimator into your hand and you'll be sad. Most of the time, you'll only have one draw / loot spell in hand. If Fact is your only one, good luck! It's a fine card, but it's definitely one of the first to go in this deck. Just keep an eye on it.
Wheel of Fortune: is NOT a turn 3 play. It's for refueling when you hit the mid-game. It's also boss with Sneak Attack, should you decide to run Sneak Attack.
Grave Titan I understand your reasoning for sure. What would you reccomend replacing him with? I don't want to cut too much fat if I can help it, as I like the density I have for early game relevancy.
Squee, Goblin Nabob I've considered a lot, but he is another card that is oddly hard to find. I can see why he would be so good in this deck.
Sphinx/Fact: I still see your point, it's not giving you quite the card selection and hand manipulation that a looting spell would, but Fact is still card advantage and still fills a grave. I could see taking one or the other out, but not both. It's also not technically drawing, and with Omen Machine being used in a couple opposing decks, having at least one workaround is good.
Wheel: I still like Windfall and Whispering Madness better for whatever reason, and would run them before Wheel. Sneak attackagain, would be an auto include if it wasn't so expensive. maybe once I get my tax returns.
I appreciate your input once again. I'm considering removing Grave titan, and maybe [CARD]Forbidden Alchemy[CARD] which was a placeholder for fact.
Every target I reanimate guarantees a way to interact with my opponents, except for Rune-Scarred Demon, who is a set up card. Surprising all-stars have been Thraximundar and Bloodfire Colossus. Everyone else is performing as expected, with the primordials ranging from "decent" to "game-ending". I also run Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Evil Twin - all of which are crucial for really packing the heat. They're especially good with Sneak Attack. I have a huge stack of possible includes, but these are the ones that have been performing well for me thus far.
EDIT:
I also run more haste enablers than most (3-5), so I'm pretty big on creatures that attack to get an effect. I would run Balefire Dragon, but I think the other burn creatures are better in that slot.
I agree with MCR on lowering the curve of your re-animation spells or just cutting some of them entirely. My original Sedris deck had a number of the spells you have but I ended up cutting stuff like Zombify and Makeshift Mannequin because I felt they were just too slow and also redundant as I found I had too many reanimation effects and not enough targets.
Looter effects are what make this deck go but cheaper is better so you have more mana for removal/permission effects. You're missing Careful Study and Izzet Charm which are really efficient.
Check the link in my sig to see my version of this deck.
What cards would I include in their place? The only one's I know I'm missing are Necromancy and Stitch Together. I'd like to keep similar density of reanimation, though 1-2 cards will likely get cut regardless for more looting.
I'm not an incredible fan of Careful Study as it doesn't offer any extra value, but Izzet Charm will likely earn an inclusion, just on flexibility.
I'm about to go to work but i'll check out your list once I get home.
Changes made:
-Artisan of Kozilek
+Mindleech Mass
It offers hand disruption, and can be backbreaking by playing key cards players held on to. I think it might earn its keep but I wanna test it.
-Deadeye Navigator
+Phyrexian Ingester
Still hesitant to remove deadeye, as in combo with multiple cards in the deck it can be an easy win, but I need more removal and this gets the job done. It's lack of evasion is mitigated by the fact it exiles, and is blue (which is relevant when you need blue/red removal for an opposing Animar).
Arcanis and Grave titan will likely see cuts next. I have a bloodfire colossus, maybe I'll try him.
I'm running Necromancy and Stitch Together. I'm also running Corpse Dance, which requires some setup but also allows you access infinite mana with Palinchron if you have access to a sacrifice outlet.
I'd happen to like Arcanis. Sometimes I need a hand re-load and he facilitates that. I prefer Crater Hellion over Bloodfire Collosus since it spares almost all of my creatures.
Kevin your list looks solid for what it does thiugh it is much less aggressive and a bit more controlling than mine. Mine sets to keep pressure on the table versus my opponents and send them scrambling for answers, but keep ahead while they burn up gas. Late game sedris normally makes his appearance for the finish.
I may drop one or two recursion spells in favor of a mana rock, because unless I'm set with a better than average hand, I normallt don't start doing big plays until turn 4,which isn't soon enough really. Getting necromancy and stitch together will certainly accelerate it.
Your list did remind me to put in the primordials, I'm not sold on the blue one but if I include windfall/madness and maybe wheel of Fortune, I have a feeling I'll include the blue one also. I also will be putting wrexial in. Surprisingly enough, I forgot to include him despite him having his own deck lol.
I actually forgot worldgorger, despite the huge picture of it on Kevin's post. It'll be included as soon as I find one. My buddy had one in his trade folder, I'll probably scoop it up from him.
I never thought of worldgorger satisfying the exile trigger of unearth though, that alone makes it somewhat invaluable. Without the combo worldgorger is near useless on its own though.
Big changes! I took a lot of your guys advice, and cut a lot of the "vanilla beaters". The only vanilla beaters included now have incredible ETB effects that can't be ignored.
Removed Swampx1 for Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
This is a change I've wanted to do for a while, but just hadn't taken the time to pick up the 10¢ card. It's a discard outlet in a land, and while it doesn't draw a card like Desolate Lighthouse, it wears at opponents hands. I'll probably use this over the lighthouse when I'm at 8+ cards to discard down and do some damage at the same time. I'm comfortable I'll still be able to get black mana consistently enough to cut one swamp.
Removed Islandx1 for Tectonic Edge Strip Mine is clearly better, and I'll get one in time. But one of my buddies recently dropped a paycheck on a Gaia's Cradle and since this is my competitive deck I need at least one answer other than Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. This is a decent budget option.
Removed Stormtide Leviathan for Worldgorger Dragon
Stormtide was decent at shutting the board down, but I realize almost half of my fat doesn't fly or islandwalk, which slows me down. Dragon combo makes it plausible for a turn one win, and another lane to victory. It also serves the purpose of satisfying unearth's exile triggers, so I can have a blowout turn with Sedris, leave 2B] open, and then Unearth Gorger 2nd main and let him get exiled to keep my guys (and vigilance!)
Removed Decree of Pain for Kederekt Leviathan
Decree is one of my all time favorite board clears, but it's slow, and this is a fast deck that will get bullied if it doesn't keep the beats up. Combined with Animate Dead or Dance of the Dead (and Necromancy once I get one) it's a repeatable Devastation Tide for 2 mana a turn, and with Necromancy it can be done at instant speed. It has Unearth on its own, which is okay, but it'll probably not be used much. Using this then doing Living Death can sweep a way to victory also.
Removed Arcanis the Omnipotent for Wrexial, the Risen Deep.
Arcanis is debatably one of my favorite legends, but Wrexial still wins by a small margin. The utility of casting from others graveyards can offer an answer to enchantments and other problems, making it all the more worth it. Double evasion and a nice 5/8 body is also nice, and he's cheap should I ever have to hard cast him. (I don't hard cast very often..)
Removed Grave Titan for Sepulchral Primordial
I was still hesitant to remove Grave Titan, as he worked so well with Dread Return and Victimize, but the black primordial also provides bodies, and most likely bodies of better quality. He's also got evasion, which is better than death touch. I wouldn't mind sacing someone elses Solemn Simulacrum to a Victimize either.
Removed Kokusho, the Evening Star for Molten Primordial
Kokusho is great, but he hasn't been pulling his weight. He has pseudo shroud since no one is really comfortable killing him, and he made a great Victimize target, but being a generic 5/5 on the board was rather underwhelming. Plus, thats 15-20$ I wasn't spending. The Primordial again provides bodies to Dread Return or Victimize and it's even better to do so because not only do I get to swing with them first but it prevents them from getting it back. This may be a reason to include sac-lands.
Removed Forbidden Alchemy for Probe
I took all of your advice, and took this out in favor of more looting. Probe isn't the best, but it's kicker can be excellent in the right circumstances, and honestly I've nothing better.
Considering cutting Through the Breach, which was a placeholder for Cauldron Dance. Is it worth keeping or should I put something else in? Using it with Avatar of Slaughter, Inferno Titan, and Rune-Scarred Demon have all been nice, but it's nothing I'm ever happy to draw if my yard is stocked, because normally I throw away my fat as soon as I get it without bothering to keep any of it in my hand, which my high density of recursion allows me to do.
Upon going over my list again,I've Removed Living Death for Bloodfire Colossus. All of you have recommended it, and it turns all of my reanimates into a X=6 Earthquake. It also hits life totals, which is nice, saves me some trouble.
There is a small risky combo you can use.
Mirror-Mad Phantasm, Laboratory Maniac, Baleful Strix. Which decks you in one shot when you unearth Mirror-mad.
Also, why aren't you playing Palinchron/Great Whale?
There is a small risky combo you can use.
Mirror-Mad Phantasm, Laboratory Maniac, Baleful Strix. Which decks you in one shot when you unearth Mirror-mad.
Also, why aren't you playing Palinchron/Great Whale?
Mirror - mad was considered as I could use it to dump Mystical Retrieval and Yawgmoth's Will into grave, retrieve it then use all the rituals, and mostly Songs of the Damned for a chunk of mana. Still, it's just a combo piece that requires too much set up and too much mana to get going.
I do run Palinchron and he is an absolute all star. I'd run Great Whale if i had one. Using either one is a great way to add fuel to fire to get sedris to really blow out.
A few card changes, but important ones. I'll soon be cutting a few recursion spells for control. Rise from the Grave specifically isn't pulling its weight. Sure it hits all graves, but so does Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy, and a handful of others, and for much cheaper. If i can't use it early enough to abuse it then it's not worth it.
Removed Through the Breach for Chaos Warp
My LGS finally got a warp in stock. It's incredibly important because it's allows for an early answer to enchantments, or anything for that matter. Through the Breach was a placeholder for Cauldron Dance which i'm still on the fence about in the first place. It's effect is powerful enough to use, but the cost is a bit high. Sneak Attack would be an obvious upgrade to either, but the pricetag is hefty on it.
Removed Sphinx of Uthuun for Unfulfilled Desires
Not sure why this was in the rare box or the Mirage cards, since it's an uncommon, but regardless I needed it. It's consistent looting and on the CHEAP too. I was still hesitant to remove sphinx (and still am) as it was one of my only sources of card-draw where I actually profit cards (Thirst for Knowlege and cards of that like normally only replace themselves), but Unfufilled desires allows for deep digging and fast.
Barter in Blood is still one I'm looking at. It's cheap and in most cases will serve as a board wipe, however with creatures to act as control, it may not be necessary, offering new avenues to cards like Syphon Mind for pure card advantage, and putting pressure on opponents.
I want to ask what everyone's opinion is on mana rocks in this deck. I used to run a bunch of them, but only found them mildly useful, as this deck doesn't exactly need a copious amount of mana acceleration nor does it have much to do with it (except utilizing Sedris a little earlier). The value is that the fixing is quite nice, especially since we like to run so many non-basic lands. Overall, I'm thinking of cutting back on signets / talismans in favor of a few more lands and possibly Mana Crypt, which I did not run before because I already take enough damage from several cards in this deck.
The only Accelleration I'm using are rituals which can lead to turn1 or turn2 blowouts, or later in allow for a big turn to be even bigger. Darksteel Ingot is both a combopeice and the only form of ramp outside the obligatory Sol Ring because if I'm worldgorger filtering turn 2 or 3 with Unfufilled Desires or Compulsion, once I stop the combo I need to make sure I can have at least one red mana, and the ignot delvers it to play Warstorm Surge (unless I can get a Inferno Titan or Hellkite out, which are alternatives) and start gorger combo again.
I would avoid manarocks, most of my decks only use 2. Sol ring and one small boost. Colored mana is especially important early game.
I want to ask what everyone's opinion is on mana rocks in this deck. I used to run a bunch of them, but only found them mildly useful, as this deck doesn't exactly need a copious amount of mana acceleration nor does it have much to do with it (except utilizing Sedris a little earlier). The value is that the fixing is quite nice, especially since we like to run so many non-basic lands. Overall, I'm thinking of cutting back on signets / talismans in favor of a few more lands and possibly Mana Crypt, which I did not run before because I already take enough damage from several cards in this deck.
I consider them necessary in multiplayer so you can drop bombs on the board and back them up with permission magic. Or at least have enough mana to protect your graveyard with stuff like Stifle or Trickbind.
Plus that green player across the table usually has 9 mana on turn 4 or something and Nicol Bolas and nothing else isn't very exciting when you're getting overrun by plant tokens.
Sol Ring is an obvious inclusion in any EDH deck. Even my Daakon Blackblade deck that I was hesitant to put one in, seeing as it doesn't matter if I have more mana playing Daakon with 4 lands isn't going to get me very far, but even there the boost is really powerful. Mana Crypt is also an auto-include to anyone who can afford it.
Darksteel Ingot is great because it's incredibly reliable, though some people will Return to Dust it just because they can.
Solemn Simulacrum is a personal choice. I know people who run them in literally every deck, but I think it's best reserved for decks that can properly abuse it. This deck passed on him simply because a ritual did it better (specifically Songs of the Damned) in terms of boosting my deck. any signets/talismans(I prefer talismans over signets, because you can turn 2 signet then do a 1drop) are good, but only if your deck isn't doing things turn 1-3. If you're playing a fast deck, as this one often is as most of its non-fat is under 3CMC, then it's not as potent.
Gilded Lotus is great, but only if artifact destruction or mass clears aren't popular in your meta. For my meta, dropping a Lotus is asking for it to be blown up unless there's something worse on the field. However, turn-3-darkrit lotus would be prettyyy nice. But again, a meta call. My group will blow up a lotus every chance they get so it's better to keep threats rolling onto the table.
Fixed cards that changed in last update in changelog, but never were changed in the actual list.
[B]Removed Wrexial the Risen Deep for Sphinx of Uthuun[/B]
Sphinx of Uthuun was on the list before, but was removed along the way. I missed him, and the card advantage he brought with him. Fact or Fiction is still an autoinclude in this deck once I get one, and it's creature equivalent should be too. with recent additions of Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and Forbid, I need to make sure I can wet a dry hand if it really comes down to it.
[B]Removed Crosis, the Purger for Go for the Throat[/B]
Crosis CAN be great, and will wreck a monocolored player's hand, but there are two distinct downsides. 1: More colors, harder to use, and 2: you have to pay to do it, which means a turn 2 reanimate means little to nothing with him. Go for the Throat is one of the best spot removals around, and I've been feeling like I could use a bit more at instant speed.
[B]Removed Rise from the Grave for Deep Analysis[/B]
One more strictly-draw card was needed, and this does it well. It's a 6CMC Tidings with partial payment, but even more valuable as I can chuck it with Intuition or a looting and get 2 cards on the cheaps. RFTG was great but made me cry every time I saw it early game. Necromancy is a better slot, but it is still impossible to find, so getting through the deck faster is the next best thing.
[B]Removed Bloodfire Colossus for Fleshbag Marauder[/B]
Contrary to all of your reccommendations on it, I didn't enjoy the Colossus. using a recursion spell only to sacrifice it isn't something I'm trying to do. Fleshbag seems kind of counter intuitive to this concept, but he's price efficient and makes everyone else sacrifice a creature, and in a pinch I could reanimate him if Sheoldred, Whispering One is having troubles sticking, and I need to kill that shrouded creature. I think it'll be a good change.
[B]Removed Sphinx Ambassador for Forbid[/b]
Too many times I've found myself sitting with nothing to do, and leaving my untapped mana to waste. Discarding is rarely an issue in this deck, so the card disadvantage of the buyback is moot, especially if I'm tossing fatties. At 3CMC it's not bad considering it's reusable. With Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur it really shines
[B]Removed Yawgmoth's Will for Dimir Signet
I'm probably going to get yelled at for this, but hear me out. The will hurts me in one way more than anything else: It exiles things going to grave. It gives tons of card advantage, but what do I do with it tons of card advantage? Normally, I'd loot, Victimize, gorger combo, the works, but this shuts down all of those. The only spells I really get the money's worth out of YawgWin is strait up reanimation, which Past in Flames would be a better option there, but I dont have one. I opted for the signet as it is cheap yet reliable boost that can fix a early red mana I'm not using into relevant colors, or a blue into at least one black. Until I pimp out the lands, fixing is really important.
[B]Removed Phyrexian Ingester for Diabolic Edict[/B]
Ingester is great, and I love it, but once it does it job it offers nothing else. The Edict is the same way, but much cheaper and can stop a turn 3 Zur, the Enchanter or an Animar on the loose before he gets going.
The deck is simple. Use cards like Faithless Looting or Fact or Fiction to serve the purpose of both getting through my library faster and getting the big fatty beats in the graveyard to get them back at bargain prices. I do want to point out that Sedris, the Traitor King is NOT the primary reanimation card, and that he is intended only as a finisher. Exiling my fatties early is not something I want to do.
So here's the decklist by function
Decklist
7 Balefire Dragon
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
7 Sheoldred, Whipsering One
8 Avatar of Slaughter
8 Bogardan Hellkite
8 Magmatic Force
10 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
11 Pathrazer of Ulamog
12 It That Betrays
1 Faithless Looting
2 Anvil of Bogarden
2 Magus of the Bazaar
2 Merfolk Looter
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Unfulfilled Desires
3 Wheel of Fortune
4 Fact or Fiction
5 Moonlight Bargain
6 Arcanis, the Omnipotent
1 Entomb
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Intuition
3 Buried Alive
5 Demonic Collusion
1 Reanimate
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
2 Exhume
2 Stitch Together
3 Necromancy
3 Victimize
4 Dread Return
4 Whip of Erebos
5 Beacon of Unrest
5 Living Death
5 Tempt With Immortality
5 Torrent of Souls
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Terminate
3 Chaos Warp
4 Damnation
9 Blasphemous Act
1 Dark Ritual
1 Sol Ring
1 Songs of the Damned
2 Cabal Ritual
2 Dimir Signet
2 Izzet Signet
2 Rakdos Signet
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Dragon's Breath
4 Anger
4 Mystical Retrieval
4 Pandemonium
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Sneak Attack
5 Where Ancients Tread
6 Flayer of the Hatebound
6 Warstorm Surge
6 Worldgorger Dragon
7 Palinchron
0 SwampX6
0 Islandx3
0 Mountainx3
0 Blood Crypt
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Cephalid Coliseum
0 Command Tower
0 Creeping Tar Pit
0 Desolate Lighthouse
0 Dimir Aqueduct
0 Dragonskull Summit
0 Drowned Catacomb
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Graven Cairns
0 Homeward Path
0 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
0 Scalding Tarn
0 Sulfur Falls
0 Sunken Ruins
0 Steam Vents
0 Strip Mine
0 Underground Sea
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Watery Grave
So far, the main win condition of the deck is normally Flayer of the Hatebound and Warstorm Surge, normally followed up by a few reanimates or Sedris to bring in the kill. I want to obtain Pandemonium as another version of it even if it does help my opponents. Trust me, I'll remember my trigger much more often than they will. My friend's Norin, the Wary deck has taught me that well.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Cuts still need to be made for cards on aquire board. I may put in worldgorger dragon combo, since it is competitive and i have all the tools to do so.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Grave Titan: what does this guy do for you? He isn't big enough to scare anyone, he doesn't establish commanding board presence, and you'd have to do some real convincing for me to use a reanimation spell on him. If I'm going to be reanimating something, it better have massive board impact or some sort of crazy advantage. As it is, he's just collateral damage once someone wraths. Straight beaters are very underwhelming in this deck.
Crosis the Purger: instantly replaced by Nicol Bolas, who is just the better version of Crosis. You can argue a few advantages here and there for Crosis, but the bottom line is that Nicol Bolas will knock someone out for a good while with a single hit.
Artisan of Kozilek: this was in ticker's list. Why is beyond me. It's a 9 mana reanimation spell that requires being cast from your hand. Easy cut.
Sphinx of Uthuun: ultra overrated card. The more I played with Uthuun, the less I liked it, purely because its impact was so small. Reanimating Jin-Gitaxias is the go-to choice if you really wanted fuel. Otherwise, just tutor for a Wheel of Fortune. Again, reanimation spells should be saved for high-impact creatures, not these mediocre ones.
Deadeye Navigator: so many people are gonna call BS on this one, but I'm going to say right now that it's only good off of a Buried Alive. You're not going to have the density of reanimation spells to bring him back and a ETB creature of choice, and have enough mana to abuse/protect the combo for more than one turn. The only exception is the case of Palinchron, where you can reanimate your whole GY, but at that point Palinchron and Phantasmal Image together are enough. I thought he was an auto-include, but this deck can't abuse it that well. Just try it - you'll see what I mean.
Warstorm Surge: unbelievably slow. In a deck with so few ramp spells and all of this looting, it often gets thrown away. I also hate wasting a turn to cast it, only to have it blown up, when I could've been doing something much more relevant. Though my logic may be flawed, it just never stays around long enough to do its job, and when it does, it's just overkill. Flayer of the Hatebound is plenty good enough to combo with Sedris as a late-game burner.
Forbidden Alchemy / Fact or Fiction: both of these cards are not as good as they seem in this deck. Why? Because they don't help you get rid of the fat that's sitting in your hand. Your card advantage does not come from these run-of-the-mill draw spells, they come from using your graveyard as a resource. When you Fact and they just put your reanimation and fatties in one pile, what are you going to do if you don't already have a discard outlet? Happens more often than you think.
Other noteworthy points:
- Play more looting: you have Merfolk Looter, where's Thought Courier? You have Compulsion, but where's Unfulfilled Desires? These are the bread and butter of your deck. Without them, you are a bad deck with a bunch of fatties. The one thing I liked about Grixis Reanimator is the fact that you will always have a quality hand because of all the looting. Otherwise, you might as well replace all of the reanimation with ramp and hardcast your dudes. Also, Cephalid Broker is really slow.
- Play wheels: these will become crutches in the future. Wheel of Fortune and Windfall have been nothing short of amazing. I'd run Whispering Madness too, but it's just too much at that point.
- Drop your curve: cards like Zombify, Body Double, Beacon of Unrest, and Rise from the Grave can be replaced. It's an excess of reanimation spells already - you should try some alternate avenues for the deck, like Volrath's Shapeshifter or Sneak Attack. Both cards have single-handedly won me games because they happen so quickly and brutally. If you want to be competitive, you can't really afford to run these slower cards.
- Play anti-steal lands: people run so much anti-grave hate. Who cares about GY hate? If you build it properly, this deck can bounce back from two or maybe even three GY clears thanks to the massive amount of looting. What you CAN'T recover from is if they start stealing your stuff. I think it's EXTREMELY important to run cards like High Market, Phyrexian Tower, and possibly even Homeward Path. I go all the way and run Miren, the Moaning Well along with Desolate Lighthouse and Cephalid Coliseum as gas. Your mana base needs to be optimized.
I'll post my list up sometime, but my experience with the deck has taught me to warp the list quite a bit.
One-Eyed Black | Orzhov Combo | Ooze Reanimator | Mindwheeling Pain
Appreciate the reply
Grave Titan does exactly what you'd think, he makes babies. If I use Through the Breach or Torrent of Souls or even just reanimate with Anger in the yard, thats 4 zombies on the side, and if anger IS in the yard, thats 10 damage going in. He has deathtouch, so he's already awkward to block. He also makes better Victimize targets, and bodies for flashing back Dread Return
Crosis, the Purger Nicol Bolas is better hand manipulation, but unless I have a haste outlet, paying URB at upkeep is ugly. This deck normally gets a piece of fat out of the yard turn1-3, so I can't afford the upkeep. I do agree that in most cases, Bolas is more efficient.
Artisan of Kozilek I've been on the fence for a long time with him. He is, as you've basically said, just a vanilla with annihilator 2. He is pretty sweet if I ever get to 9 mana, but I'd agree he's a bit inefficient. I'll put him on the chopping block.
Sphinx of Uthuun When you get to do it 3 times in a game, you'll reconsider. It's great deck filtering and card advantage when your grave is almost as accessible as your hand.
Deadeye Navigator is another i've been on the fence about. He's a 5/5 vanilla for swinging but we all know thats not what he's used for. He was included as a way to abuse most of the ETB abilities, but I haven't gotten much use out of him. I think you may have convinced me on this one.
Warstorm Surge I'd agree is really slow, but it is a definite win condition in combination with Sedris. I'd probably drop it for Pandemonium if I had one. Its drawback is mitigated by the fact no one remembers (this was taught to me by a norin the wary flipping in for 2 damage every end step and STILL all 4 other players continued to forget.)
Forbidden Alchemy is a slot-holder for Fact or Fiction, ironically enough. I liked that it had flashback but it's too expensive to realistically pull off. FoF is an absolute all star in decks like these, because it's hard to divide in a way that I don't win. say top 5 are 2fatties, 1 reanimate, a land, and a loot spell. How do you divide it? putting the fatties and the reanimate would probably be the best option, but I've still got a reanimate card in hand, (and probably cards in the yard) and I can easily get rid of the fatties later via Desolate Lighthouse or [CARD]Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace[/CARD once I get one, or one of many looting spells.
As for looting, I honestly didn't know Thought Courier existed! I'll be putting one on the Aquireboard asap. Unfulfilled Desires is oddly a tricky one to find. I'll be ordering one soon, but it is on the aquireboard.
I've been considering Windfall and Whispering Madness for a long time. I'm not as big of a fan of Wheel of Fortune simply because my first few turns likely wont involve red and I can't get maximum flexibility out of it. With windfall I can turn 1 swamp and something turn 2 reanimate+land possibly and turn 3 windfall. I could do the same with wheel, but the chance of me getting red by turn 3 isn't nearly as high as having blue.
The reason RftG and Beacon and cards of it's nature are in the deck is for pure reanimation density. RftG will be cut for Necromancy most likely, and zombify probably for Stitch Together. I'd love a Sneak Attack but definitely not it's pricetag. 50$ is ouch.
Anti-Steal seems reasonable, though if something is to be stolen it's going to probably be out of my yard not off of my battlefield, making Homeward Path the best choice regardless. I don't think i'll be wanting to kill off my fat unless it was already on the way to the grave though. Grave hate hasn't been a huge issue except in competitive play where Relic of Projo is tutored for or against Zurr pulling out RIP asap.
I do appreciate the feedback. Artisan of Kozilek and Deadeye Navigator will likely see cuts before anyone. Your arguments against both are valid. Arcanis the Omnipotent is one of my all time favorite cards but he oddly hasn't pulled his weight lately. I may take him out also.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Grave Titan: 10 damage. So what? Vanilla beaters are the worst thing in this deck by far. Every time I reanimate him, I feel so unbelievably underwhelmed. I've tried keeping him in just for Dread Return and Victimize, but why keep in a mediocre reanimation target just to make other spells better? If you play more looter guys, you'll have plenty of Victimize targets anyways.
On a side note, I forgot to mention Squee, Goblin Nabob. Huge, huge, HUGE all-star for this deck. Unbelievable. He's my usual Victimize target.
Sphinx of Uthuun: lol, so I need to fact with him 3 times to get value out of him? Like I said, Fact is already a mediocre card in this deck; I don't need it in creature form.
Fact or Fiction: while we're here: what if you don't have a loot spell in hand already? Given that I run almost double the amount of loot spells you do, I still don't always have one. They'll split fat and reanimator into your hand and you'll be sad. Most of the time, you'll only have one draw / loot spell in hand. If Fact is your only one, good luck! It's a fine card, but it's definitely one of the first to go in this deck. Just keep an eye on it.
Wheel of Fortune: is NOT a turn 3 play. It's for refueling when you hit the mid-game. It's also boss with Sneak Attack, should you decide to run Sneak Attack.
One-Eyed Black | Orzhov Combo | Ooze Reanimator | Mindwheeling Pain
Squee, Goblin Nabob I've considered a lot, but he is another card that is oddly hard to find. I can see why he would be so good in this deck.
Sphinx/Fact: I still see your point, it's not giving you quite the card selection and hand manipulation that a looting spell would, but Fact is still card advantage and still fills a grave. I could see taking one or the other out, but not both. It's also not technically drawing, and with Omen Machine being used in a couple opposing decks, having at least one workaround is good.
Wheel: I still like Windfall and Whispering Madness better for whatever reason, and would run them before Wheel. Sneak attackagain, would be an auto include if it wasn't so expensive. maybe once I get my tax returns.
I appreciate your input once again. I'm considering removing Grave titan, and maybe [CARD]Forbidden Alchemy[CARD] which was a placeholder for fact.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Thraximundar
Mindleech Mass
Nicol Bolas
Rune-Scarred Demon
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Flayer of the Hatebound
Inferno Titan
Bogardan Hellkite
Molten Primordial
Bloodfire Colossus
Avatar of Slaughter
Diluvian Primordial
Sphinx Ambassador
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Palinchron
Pathrazer of Ulamog
It That Betrays
Every target I reanimate guarantees a way to interact with my opponents, except for Rune-Scarred Demon, who is a set up card. Surprising all-stars have been Thraximundar and Bloodfire Colossus. Everyone else is performing as expected, with the primordials ranging from "decent" to "game-ending". I also run Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Evil Twin - all of which are crucial for really packing the heat. They're especially good with Sneak Attack. I have a huge stack of possible includes, but these are the ones that have been performing well for me thus far.
EDIT:
I also run more haste enablers than most (3-5), so I'm pretty big on creatures that attack to get an effect. I would run Balefire Dragon, but I think the other burn creatures are better in that slot.
One-Eyed Black | Orzhov Combo | Ooze Reanimator | Mindwheeling Pain
Looter effects are what make this deck go but cheaper is better so you have more mana for removal/permission effects. You're missing Careful Study and Izzet Charm which are really efficient.
Check the link in my sig to see my version of this deck.
Rafiq of the Many UWG
Sedris, the Traitor King URB
Kaalia of the Vast RWB
Savra, Queen of Golgari GB
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice GW
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails EquipmentW
I'm not an incredible fan of Careful Study as it doesn't offer any extra value, but Izzet Charm will likely earn an inclusion, just on flexibility.
I'm about to go to work but i'll check out your list once I get home.
Changes made:
-Artisan of Kozilek
+Mindleech Mass
It offers hand disruption, and can be backbreaking by playing key cards players held on to. I think it might earn its keep but I wanna test it.
-Deadeye Navigator
+Phyrexian Ingester
Still hesitant to remove deadeye, as in combo with multiple cards in the deck it can be an easy win, but I need more removal and this gets the job done. It's lack of evasion is mitigated by the fact it exiles, and is blue (which is relevant when you need blue/red removal for an opposing Animar).
Arcanis and Grave titan will likely see cuts next. I have a bloodfire colossus, maybe I'll try him.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
I'd happen to like Arcanis. Sometimes I need a hand re-load and he facilitates that. I prefer Crater Hellion over Bloodfire Collosus since it spares almost all of my creatures.
Rafiq of the Many UWG
Sedris, the Traitor King URB
Kaalia of the Vast RWB
Savra, Queen of Golgari GB
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice GW
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails EquipmentW
I may drop one or two recursion spells in favor of a mana rock, because unless I'm set with a better than average hand, I normallt don't start doing big plays until turn 4,which isn't soon enough really. Getting necromancy and stitch together will certainly accelerate it.
Your list did remind me to put in the primordials, I'm not sold on the blue one but if I include windfall/madness and maybe wheel of Fortune, I have a feeling I'll include the blue one also. I also will be putting wrexial in. Surprisingly enough, I forgot to include him despite him having his own deck lol.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
I never thought of worldgorger satisfying the exile trigger of unearth though, that alone makes it somewhat invaluable. Without the combo worldgorger is near useless on its own though.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Removed Swampx1 for Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
This is a change I've wanted to do for a while, but just hadn't taken the time to pick up the 10¢ card. It's a discard outlet in a land, and while it doesn't draw a card like Desolate Lighthouse, it wears at opponents hands. I'll probably use this over the lighthouse when I'm at 8+ cards to discard down and do some damage at the same time. I'm comfortable I'll still be able to get black mana consistently enough to cut one swamp.
Removed Islandx1 for Tectonic Edge
Strip Mine is clearly better, and I'll get one in time. But one of my buddies recently dropped a paycheck on a Gaia's Cradle and since this is my competitive deck I need at least one answer other than Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. This is a decent budget option.
Removed Minamo, School at Water's Edge for Cephalid Coliseum
It was really only there for Arcanis, the Omnipotent or to possibly give Sheoldred, Whispering One or one of the other legends vigilance. The Coliseum is basically a 1-time use Bazaar of Bagdad which that alone makes it worth running. I don't like sacing lands to do the effect, but it comes in untapped nontheless, like Minamo.
Removed Stormtide Leviathan for Worldgorger Dragon
Stormtide was decent at shutting the board down, but I realize almost half of my fat doesn't fly or islandwalk, which slows me down. Dragon combo makes it plausible for a turn one win, and another lane to victory. It also serves the purpose of satisfying unearth's exile triggers, so I can have a blowout turn with Sedris, leave 2B] open, and then Unearth Gorger 2nd main and let him get exiled to keep my guys (and vigilance!)
Removed Decree of Pain for Kederekt Leviathan
Decree is one of my all time favorite board clears, but it's slow, and this is a fast deck that will get bullied if it doesn't keep the beats up. Combined with Animate Dead or Dance of the Dead (and Necromancy once I get one) it's a repeatable Devastation Tide for 2 mana a turn, and with Necromancy it can be done at instant speed. It has Unearth on its own, which is okay, but it'll probably not be used much. Using this then doing Living Death can sweep a way to victory also.
Removed Arcanis the Omnipotent for Wrexial, the Risen Deep.
Arcanis is debatably one of my favorite legends, but Wrexial still wins by a small margin. The utility of casting from others graveyards can offer an answer to enchantments and other problems, making it all the more worth it. Double evasion and a nice 5/8 body is also nice, and he's cheap should I ever have to hard cast him. (I don't hard cast very often..)
Removed Grave Titan for Sepulchral Primordial
I was still hesitant to remove Grave Titan, as he worked so well with Dread Return and Victimize, but the black primordial also provides bodies, and most likely bodies of better quality. He's also got evasion, which is better than death touch. I wouldn't mind sacing someone elses Solemn Simulacrum to a Victimize either.
Removed Kokusho, the Evening Star for Molten Primordial
Kokusho is great, but he hasn't been pulling his weight. He has pseudo shroud since no one is really comfortable killing him, and he made a great Victimize target, but being a generic 5/5 on the board was rather underwhelming. Plus, thats 15-20$ I wasn't spending. The Primordial again provides bodies to Dread Return or Victimize and it's even better to do so because not only do I get to swing with them first but it prevents them from getting it back. This may be a reason to include sac-lands.
Removed Forbidden Alchemy for Probe
I took all of your advice, and took this out in favor of more looting. Probe isn't the best, but it's kicker can be excellent in the right circumstances, and honestly I've nothing better.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Any ideas? Pulse of the Grid and Archaeomancer were one's I was considering most. However, Praetor's Grasp or any tutor (probably Increasing Ambition, simply for grave access unless I crack down and buy a vamp tutor) might be better for the slot also.
Upon going over my list again,I've Removed Living Death for Bloodfire Colossus. All of you have recommended it, and it turns all of my reanimates into a X=6 Earthquake. It also hits life totals, which is nice, saves me some trouble.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Mirror-Mad Phantasm, Laboratory Maniac, Baleful Strix. Which decks you in one shot when you unearth Mirror-mad.
Also, why aren't you playing Palinchron/Great Whale?
Mirror - mad was considered as I could use it to dump Mystical Retrieval and Yawgmoth's Will into grave, retrieve it then use all the rituals, and mostly Songs of the Damned for a chunk of mana. Still, it's just a combo piece that requires too much set up and too much mana to get going.
I do run Palinchron and he is an absolute all star. I'd run Great Whale if i had one. Using either one is a great way to add fuel to fire to get sedris to really blow out.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Removed Through the Breach for Chaos Warp
My LGS finally got a warp in stock. It's incredibly important because it's allows for an early answer to enchantments, or anything for that matter. Through the Breach was a placeholder for Cauldron Dance which i'm still on the fence about in the first place. It's effect is powerful enough to use, but the cost is a bit high. Sneak Attack would be an obvious upgrade to either, but the pricetag is hefty on it.
Removed Sphinx of Uthuun for Unfulfilled Desires
Not sure why this was in the rare box or the Mirage cards, since it's an uncommon, but regardless I needed it. It's consistent looting and on the CHEAP too. I was still hesitant to remove sphinx (and still am) as it was one of my only sources of card-draw where I actually profit cards (Thirst for Knowlege and cards of that like normally only replace themselves), but Unfufilled desires allows for deep digging and fast.
Barter in Blood is still one I'm looking at. It's cheap and in most cases will serve as a board wipe, however with creatures to act as control, it may not be necessary, offering new avenues to cards like Syphon Mind for pure card advantage, and putting pressure on opponents.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
One-Eyed Black | Orzhov Combo | Ooze Reanimator | Mindwheeling Pain
I would avoid manarocks, most of my decks only use 2. Sol ring and one small boost. Colored mana is especially important early game.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
I consider them necessary in multiplayer so you can drop bombs on the board and back them up with permission magic. Or at least have enough mana to protect your graveyard with stuff like Stifle or Trickbind.
Plus that green player across the table usually has 9 mana on turn 4 or something and Nicol Bolas and nothing else isn't very exciting when you're getting overrun by plant tokens.
I run ramp for each slot: Sol Ring, Dimir Signet, Darksteel Ingot, Solemn Simulacrum, Gilded Lotus. I usually draw at least on of them early enough to make an impact where I can re-animate something and cast another crucial spell in the same turn.
Rafiq of the Many UWG
Sedris, the Traitor King URB
Kaalia of the Vast RWB
Savra, Queen of Golgari GB
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice GW
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails EquipmentW
Darksteel Ingot is great because it's incredibly reliable, though some people will Return to Dust it just because they can.
Solemn Simulacrum is a personal choice. I know people who run them in literally every deck, but I think it's best reserved for decks that can properly abuse it. This deck passed on him simply because a ritual did it better (specifically Songs of the Damned) in terms of boosting my deck. any signets/talismans(I prefer talismans over signets, because you can turn 2 signet then do a 1drop) are good, but only if your deck isn't doing things turn 1-3. If you're playing a fast deck, as this one often is as most of its non-fat is under 3CMC, then it's not as potent.
Gilded Lotus is great, but only if artifact destruction or mass clears aren't popular in your meta. For my meta, dropping a Lotus is asking for it to be blown up unless there's something worse on the field. However, turn-3-darkrit lotus would be prettyyy nice. But again, a meta call. My group will blow up a lotus every chance they get so it's better to keep threats rolling onto the table.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
[B]Removed Wrexial the Risen Deep for Sphinx of Uthuun[/B]
Sphinx of Uthuun was on the list before, but was removed along the way. I missed him, and the card advantage he brought with him. Fact or Fiction is still an autoinclude in this deck once I get one, and it's creature equivalent should be too. with recent additions of Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and Forbid, I need to make sure I can wet a dry hand if it really comes down to it.
[B]Removed Crosis, the Purger for Go for the Throat[/B]
Crosis CAN be great, and will wreck a monocolored player's hand, but there are two distinct downsides. 1: More colors, harder to use, and 2: you have to pay to do it, which means a turn 2 reanimate means little to nothing with him. Go for the Throat is one of the best spot removals around, and I've been feeling like I could use a bit more at instant speed.
[B]Removed Rise from the Grave for Deep Analysis[/B]
One more strictly-draw card was needed, and this does it well. It's a 6CMC Tidings with partial payment, but even more valuable as I can chuck it with Intuition or a looting and get 2 cards on the cheaps. RFTG was great but made me cry every time I saw it early game. Necromancy is a better slot, but it is still impossible to find, so getting through the deck faster is the next best thing.
[B]Removed Bloodfire Colossus for Fleshbag Marauder[/B]
Contrary to all of your reccommendations on it, I didn't enjoy the Colossus. using a recursion spell only to sacrifice it isn't something I'm trying to do. Fleshbag seems kind of counter intuitive to this concept, but he's price efficient and makes everyone else sacrifice a creature, and in a pinch I could reanimate him if Sheoldred, Whispering One is having troubles sticking, and I need to kill that shrouded creature. I think it'll be a good change.
[B]Removed Sphinx Ambassador for Forbid[/b]
Too many times I've found myself sitting with nothing to do, and leaving my untapped mana to waste. Discarding is rarely an issue in this deck, so the card disadvantage of the buyback is moot, especially if I'm tossing fatties. At 3CMC it's not bad considering it's reusable. With Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur it really shines
[B]Removed Yawgmoth's Will for Dimir Signet
I'm probably going to get yelled at for this, but hear me out. The will hurts me in one way more than anything else: It exiles things going to grave. It gives tons of card advantage, but what do I do with it tons of card advantage? Normally, I'd loot, Victimize, gorger combo, the works, but this shuts down all of those. The only spells I really get the money's worth out of YawgWin is strait up reanimation, which Past in Flames would be a better option there, but I dont have one. I opted for the signet as it is cheap yet reliable boost that can fix a early red mana I'm not using into relevant colors, or a blue into at least one black. Until I pimp out the lands, fixing is really important.
[B]Removed Phyrexian Ingester for Diabolic Edict[/B]
Ingester is great, and I love it, but once it does it job it offers nothing else. The Edict is the same way, but much cheaper and can stop a turn 3 Zur, the Enchanter or an Animar on the loose before he gets going.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR