I would still recommend upping it a bit. You need to hit your first few land drops in order to ramp.
For Marath, Mentor of the Meek will provide you better card draw than the Academy Raider, and rewards you for making tokens. Cathars' Crusade is good for similar reasons, but provides pump instead of CA.
The list in my signature is a token build for Marath. Feel free to take a look for some ideas. If you want to see a more aggro/mid range based list, ToSGod had a fantastic list here.
To start, would recommend bumping your land base put to at least 36 lands. The three check lands (Clifftop Retreat, Rootbound Crag, and Sunpetal Grove) would be fantastic additions, they'll help you with color icon early. Gavony Township is another good land when used with Marath. I would also add in some additional ramp (Wood Elves and Sakura-Tribe Elder for example).
What is it you want the deck to do? Are you tying for a token build? Or something like a goodstuff/battleship build? Or more aggro centric? That information will help us when we give you suggestions.
Are you trying to abuse the reanimate theme, or actually go for Scavenge?
If you would like a reanimator deck, I think Jarad as a commander would be a bit more synergistic. Generally, you want to exile value creatures out of the graveyard with Varolz.
It would depend a lot on the game. I wouldn't do it in a muliplayer game, and I doubt I'd do so in a 1v1 either.
Assuming I'm playing with someone from my usual playgroup (1v1), I know most of their decks and there are specific utility lands I'd rather hit, such as Gaea's Cradle, Cavern of Souls, Minamo, School at Waters Edge, and so on. Same goes for multiplayer.
Redirecting still needs a legal non-black target per Shriekmaw's own text. Willbender doesn't change that.
And I've already admitted that I was probably wrong and changed my original reply. Can we please stop pointing that out and go back to the original topic? :/
Still a fairly new player. Aside from the previously mentioned incident, most of the stupid plays I've seen were my own.
That would be quite a feat, considering Shriekmaw can't legally target black creatures.
The redirection can, even if the Shriekmaw itself can't, I think.
It was several months ago, and I could also just be wrong. I do know that whatever got hit belonged to the owner of the Jeleva deck, even if it wasn't Jeleva herself. The more important part of the story is that the bender flipped.
In a six player game, there was an Azami, Lady of scrolls player with Azami, a few wizards, and a morphed Willbender on field. The player to his left tries to cast an evoked Shriekmaw targeting Azami. It gets redirected when the Willbender flips to something belonging to a Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge deck.
On the Shriekmaw player's next turn, he reanimates it, but this time targeting the flipped Willbender, allowing Azami to live. Needless to say... The Azami player won shortly after.
Maelstrom Pulse, perhaps? It has the downfall of being a sorcery, but it hits most permanents and if, for example, three people at the table have Sun Titans, you'll kill all three.
Lord of Extinction could be another wincon. He gets pretty big rather quickly for you to fling.
And lastly, Phyrexian Reclimation could be a good fit. It can also save creatures you'd like out of the graveyard.
Hopefully I'm of some help. I'm using the other half of RTR Golgari, and giving advice on reanimator is a little weird, and I apologize for that. >.<
Yea I know. The deck will adapt as needed. Deglamer is a card too I just found out.
I like Angel better for a few reasons.
1) I can use it with Survival/Shaman/Pod to tutor for and with.
2) It is a combo with Spike Weaver.
3) Fun synergy with a couple of cards including Kiki, Finks, and Basilisk Collar.
4) Another creature for Domri/Garruk/Xenagos interactions.
Not saying it's completely better, but from the first couple reason's I believe it's better enough in my list than Crusade.
Oh man do I love it. I find it hilarious when people have to cast their spot removal on my elves and General to not die to them. Which then leaves less removal for my bombs in Kiki, Purphy, Pod, Angel, and PWs.
I also just love toolbox decks. Answers are sweet. When your answers are threats too, it's even better.
In my case, I just love watching every wrath effect in my playgroup go of in vain, hehe.
I see your point on the angel, I just think Cathars's Crusade can be so explosive. Swinging in with a bunch of low power creatures that can turn into monsters at instant speed is deadly. ^.^
This format is all about card value. Spot removal and wrath effects are common enough that you can't count on your things living forever. That said, I'm going to list cards that I would personally cut in this deck, and cards I would try to find spots for, and then why.
I love Huntmaster, but he's lackluster in EDH. It's so much harder to get him to flip in Multiplayer. The same goes for the Thallid and Silklash Spider. There are more impactful choices. For example, Mycoloth may eat some of your creatures, but after that he begins to spit out tokens for Ulasht.
I like Radha, but she's much weaker without a deck built around her ability.
Decimate is a really good card, but it will fizzle if you can't hit all three targets. I know you dropped Beast Within before, but it's probably the best removal in green because it can hit any permanent, the 3/3 your opponent gets won't do much. Same with Chaos warp, it's just really strong and you can hit one of your own tokens if you need to try to get something better in an emergency. Krosan Grip is also strong, split second can prevent a win, in a pinch.
As for the two ramp spells, I prefer ramp that puts land directly into play, when MLD isn't present. Cards like Oracle also help thin your deck.
Garruk, Primal Hunter is pretty much all win for this deck. He can ult immediately if you have doubling season out, he gives you creatures with his +1, and card advantage with his -3.
Lastly, effects like the Orrery and Winding Canyons will let you play Ulasht at the person to your right's end of turn, leaving your turn free to cast other things. Along with Ulasht himself, they're also strong with Seedborn Muse.
How has Gahiji, Honored One been? I've been looking to add him in my list to keep some pressure off of me, put some pressure on other opponents, and be a beast!
Have you tried Birthing Pod? It's one of my favorite cards in my list. You don't have such a tool box as I do but the card is insane.
Your list looks like a blast. I would love to play against it some time with mine just to see what on your list would be better.
I would say that Gahiji is one of the strongest creatures on this list. Having the 1/1 tokens you spat out with Marath turn into 3/1's is a lot more impactful that it may seem at a glance, and as far as political shenanigans go, it's been super effective. Most of the people in my playgroup can't resist that extra +2/+0.
I love Birthing Pod, and I swear by it in my Kresh the Bloodbraided deck, but you're right. There's not enough toolbox creatures in the deck to support it.
Hehe, Marath vs. Marath is always a blast, because no two lists are ever the same with him.
Now for the boring stuff. As far as generic deck updates go, I'm making room for some new cards, for Return to Dust and for any Born of the Gods cards that seem promising. I will update with the changes as soon as everything has been spoiled.
If they do become an issue I will resort to a Return to Dust or the card it's based off of Dust to Dust. But I would love a :sym1::symw::symw: or :sym1::symg::symg: Instant Exile target artifact or enchantment. If they printed this or something similar I would throw it in in a heartbeat. But the I hate the sorcery ones.
And if they aren't indestructible I will have no problem with them. As I have 6 options to destroy them, 1 being repeatable and dumb with my general (Aura Shards), and 3 being creatures that can be tutored via Shaman, Pod, or Survival.
By the way I think I just got super lucky with a few new cards but I'm loving Natural Order. It won me the game on turn 2 yesterday.
T1: Land, GSZ for Arbor.
T2: Land, Sol Ring, Natural Order getting Primordial.
T3: Kiki-Jiki. GG.
I didn't mean change your list, just consider what could be moved around as a precaution if you do need it. I know they'll be a problem in my meta, for example because we're all going to build one.
Have you considered trading Archangel of Thune for Cathars' Crusade? It seems like you'd get more out of the second. I know you're probably using it for the synergy with Kitchen Finks, but Crusade might be faster at pumping.
Glad you're enjoying the list though. Even if we do have different playstyles, Marath is super fun. ^.^
For Marath, Mentor of the Meek will provide you better card draw than the Academy Raider, and rewards you for making tokens. Cathars' Crusade is good for similar reasons, but provides pump instead of CA.
The list in my signature is a token build for Marath. Feel free to take a look for some ideas. If you want to see a more aggro/mid range based list, ToSGod had a fantastic list here.
The list looks pretty good though. ^.^
What is it you want the deck to do? Are you tying for a token build? Or something like a goodstuff/battleship build? Or more aggro centric? That information will help us when we give you suggestions.
If you would like a reanimator deck, I think Jarad as a commander would be a bit more synergistic. Generally, you want to exile value creatures out of the graveyard with Varolz.
In Varolz, however some good additions could be Phyrexian Dreadnought and maybe Force of Savagery for scavenge. Lord of Extinction works well as a creature to be scavenged ou of your graveyard, and a large creature to scavenge on to or fling with Jarad. Maelstrom Pulse, Beast Within, Hero's Downfall, and Krosan Grip are all good choices for some extra removal.
Buried Alive is a fantastic way to fuel your graveyard, and Brawn can be a good target for it, to give yourself evasion.
It may be a bit out of your budget, but Berserk can also work extremely well after you've scavenged.
Assuming I'm playing with someone from my usual playgroup (1v1), I know most of their decks and there are specific utility lands I'd rather hit, such as Gaea's Cradle, Cavern of Souls, Minamo, School at Waters Edge, and so on. Same goes for multiplayer.
And I've already admitted that I was probably wrong and changed my original reply. Can we please stop pointing that out and go back to the original topic? :/
Still a fairly new player. Aside from the previously mentioned incident, most of the stupid plays I've seen were my own.
The redirection can, even if the Shriekmaw itself can't, I think.
It was several months ago, and I could also just be wrong. I do know that whatever got hit belonged to the owner of the Jeleva deck, even if it wasn't Jeleva herself. The more important part of the story is that the bender flipped.
On the Shriekmaw player's next turn, he reanimates it, but this time targeting the flipped Willbender, allowing Azami to live. Needless to say... The Azami player won shortly after.
Lord of Extinction could be another wincon. He gets pretty big rather quickly for you to fling.
And lastly, Phyrexian Reclimation could be a good fit. It can also save creatures you'd like out of the graveyard.
Hopefully I'm of some help. I'm using the other half of RTR Golgari, and giving advice on reanimator is a little weird, and I apologize for that. >.<
I love tweaking my decks, it's part of the fun and it helps me control the urge to just continuously build new decks.
On the flip side, the shortest was a four player mono red game that lasted only twelve minutes after the first turn started.
In my case, I just love watching every wrath effect in my playgroup go of in vain, hehe.
I see your point on the angel, I just think Cathars's Crusade can be so explosive. Swinging in with a bunch of low power creatures that can turn into monsters at instant speed is deadly. ^.^
This format is all about card value. Spot removal and wrath effects are common enough that you can't count on your things living forever. That said, I'm going to list cards that I would personally cut in this deck, and cards I would try to find spots for, and then why.
Huntmaster of the Fells
Psychotrope Thallid
Radha, Heir to Keld
Silklash Spider
Decimate
Yavimaya Elder
Sylvan Scrying
Add
Garruk, Primal Hunter
Beast Within
Krosan Grip
Chaos Warp
Mycoloth
Oracle of Mul Daya
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Seedborn Muse
Vedalken Orrery
Winding Canyons
I love Huntmaster, but he's lackluster in EDH. It's so much harder to get him to flip in Multiplayer. The same goes for the Thallid and Silklash Spider. There are more impactful choices. For example, Mycoloth may eat some of your creatures, but after that he begins to spit out tokens for Ulasht.
I like Radha, but she's much weaker without a deck built around her ability.
Decimate is a really good card, but it will fizzle if you can't hit all three targets. I know you dropped Beast Within before, but it's probably the best removal in green because it can hit any permanent, the 3/3 your opponent gets won't do much. Same with Chaos warp, it's just really strong and you can hit one of your own tokens if you need to try to get something better in an emergency. Krosan Grip is also strong, split second can prevent a win, in a pinch.
As for the two ramp spells, I prefer ramp that puts land directly into play, when MLD isn't present. Cards like Oracle also help thin your deck.
Garruk, Primal Hunter is pretty much all win for this deck. He can ult immediately if you have doubling season out, he gives you creatures with his +1, and card advantage with his -3.
Lastly, effects like the Orrery and Winding Canyons will let you play Ulasht at the person to your right's end of turn, leaving your turn free to cast other things. Along with Ulasht himself, they're also strong with Seedborn Muse.
I would say that Gahiji is one of the strongest creatures on this list. Having the 1/1 tokens you spat out with Marath turn into 3/1's is a lot more impactful that it may seem at a glance, and as far as political shenanigans go, it's been super effective. Most of the people in my playgroup can't resist that extra +2/+0.
I love Birthing Pod, and I swear by it in my Kresh the Bloodbraided deck, but you're right. There's not enough toolbox creatures in the deck to support it.
Hehe, Marath vs. Marath is always a blast, because no two lists are ever the same with him.
Now for the boring stuff. As far as generic deck updates go, I'm making room for some new cards, for Return to Dust and for any Born of the Gods cards that seem promising. I will update with the changes as soon as everything has been spoiled.
I didn't mean change your list, just consider what could be moved around as a precaution if you do need it. I know they'll be a problem in my meta, for example because we're all going to build one.
Have you considered trading Archangel of Thune for Cathars' Crusade? It seems like you'd get more out of the second. I know you're probably using it for the synergy with Kitchen Finks, but Crusade might be faster at pumping.
Glad you're enjoying the list though. Even if we do have different playstyles, Marath is super fun. ^.^