Let's see... You're losing Mulch, Grisley Savage, and Thragtusk. In addition, you're not gaining anything by playing without Green.
I'm confused here, why would you intentionally make your deck worse?
All valid points but I'd like to frame this differently. Mulch and Grisly Salvage are very single-dimensional cards which work for only the very specific purpose of enabling your reanimation plan, Mulch sometimes being much better than that but usually just a 1/2 for 1 in terms of how many lands you get when you play it. What if you could also get your mulch to act as a removal spell or a counterspell when necessary? Izzet Charm is everything this archetype has ever wanted. It's enabler, Removal and Control all in one and every effect is relevant to this archetype. Grisly salvage is just an upgraded (I personally feel downgraded is probably more accurate) version of Tracker's Instinct, it's instant speed but our deck doesn't take advantage of this fact, it digs one card deeper but is itself dead in the graveyard and doesn't take full advantage of being there unlike the other spells in this list, Forbidden Alchemy on the other hand can be cast from the yard, isn't limited in it's card selection and has it's own Flashback so it can go to the yard whenever you want it to.
Mulch and Grisly Salvage are exactly the opposite of the types of cards you get more value out of that also enable these types of decks. They don't allow you options and require you build your deck a particular way to get the best effect out of them. Izzet Charm, Forbidden Alchemy, Faithless Looting and Thoughtflare do not require this strict building.
The relevant part of this is that we do lose the ability to play Thragtusk however we are in the best position to take advantage of not playing it by supplementing our reanimation plan with an actual defense. We're not just dead to GY hate since we can actually stop it on the stack.
I feel the pro's far outweigh the con's here. We lose thragtusk, we gain everything else.
I'll be posting this both here and in the Grixis Control thread as I feel that there are a lot of similarities between these two lists.
I've been a long time advocate for the reanimator plan and had wild success piloting the original pre-ravnica frites list. By modifying the originally played Ralph Levy list I was able to create the monstrosity that I was rolling my LGS and any major events nearby with, top 8ing a few PTQ's and consistantly winning at my LGS.
I've decided that I cannot modify this list alone and need more eyes to see what I'm not seeing to make this the new "it" deck to beat.
With no further adieu, I give you all Grites Redub.
Other Rites Lists: GWP against other Rites lists is extremely high, I'm doing the same thing at instant speed that they are doing at sorcery speed. My enablers are also control cards when I need to disrupt their plan if my plan isn't working and I have the ability to counter where they do not. They have Thragtusk but I have Olivia Voldaren and Dissipate which both summarily beat Thragtusk, otherwise reanimated Griselbrand ends this game pretty simply.
Bant/Grixis/UW Control: Same as above. You are able to go toe-to-toe with any control list by playing their game and switching gears to Lingering Souls.dec forcing them to waste answers time and time again answering your flashbackable threats. Your counters help you keep a game-ending Angel or Demon in play and Olivia allows you to play the mid-range game if they do not cooperate with either plan. Angel of Serenity eating Snapcaster Mage makes even their best answers 3 for 1's or better against themselves ensuring you the CA war.
Aggro Lists: Olivia Voldaren smashes most U/G aggro lists as they really don't have a profitable way to deal with this card. Reanimating an early Angel of Serenity allows you to stem the bleeding until you can take control of the game. You have to switch gears in this game from control to reanimator frequently but once their steam is snuffed you win. Mono-Red has not been tested just yet but Izzet Charm and your removal go a long way to allowing you to reanimate a game-ending threat, being able to do so at instant speed stops most of their hastey shenanigans earning you precious life that you cannot re-earn.
UWR/UW Tempo: Very finicky game and difficult to win but Lingering Souls and Slayer's Stronghold go a long way to making this a fair match up. They really hate Souls so resolving it early takes away a lot of their steam. You're game here is to attempt to overload their answers and stick a threat they can't casually ignore such as Griselbrand and Olivia which just shuts down most of their threats cold. The hardest card to deal with out of this list is Geist but if they don't get it early you are likely in a very good position to win the game by playing like a midrange control deck, leaving up counterspells only for protecting your own threats from their tricks. One hit with Griselbrand ends the game.
The deck feels a little unfocused and I was hoping someone here could figure out what it's missing to make it better. I've tweaked the list a lot, originally Liliana was in the main but she's just so bad in so many match-ups that I had to Sideboard her. The Sideboard is also a mess and needs work as It's just a loose pile of cards potent against a variety of match ups with no clear Sideboarding strategy. The main is so tight that boarding in too many cards causes the game plan not to work.
I've been messing with this deck of mine now for weeks. 3 cards come out, 3 go in... those 3 come out, 3 others come in... those 3 come out and the original 3 go back in... Theres something just not right about Grixis at the moment. The sum of the parts does not equal the whole and i'm seriously doubting Grixis in RtR is viable. It does its own thing, it beats certain decks but it does not beat the game. I've also realised how bad grixis now, needs a Consecrated Sphinx. Most of the decks we've gone through have cute cards with cute plays but it can seriously fall apart.
Can we also stay on track with this Grixis in this thread, leave the other archetypes to other threads.
Sorry if it felt like I was intruding but considering the list I posted is essentially a Grixis Control deck splashing white for the reanimation package and lingering souls I thought there would be some vested interest in seeing what can be done with it.
You're entirely correct in your thought that Grixis as an archetype seems too cute which is exactly why it needs to adopt a new end-game to ensure that your opponent is aware that he will die a grisly death. This brought me to the deck I posted above, the reanimation aspect is something that works perfectly within the play style that Grixis Control wants to maintain, you can set up your end game during your opponents end step and maintain careful control of the game until you unburial Griselbrand and co. and make it impossible for an opponent to come back.
With that said, why not humor me and provide some input on the list?
Have you tried a combination of Snapcaster and Augur of Bolas?
I would have thought Augur would be a great early play, good blocker and the possibility of CA, especially in this deck where you are playing quite a few instants and sorceries. Without Mulch and Grisly Salvage you will take longer to fill your graveyard so this might slow the opponent down while you do your thing.
Without Green you don't have any life gain either so you are going to be vulnerable to aggressive decks. Not sure how useful Griselbrand is going to be in situations where you can't afford to lose the life so I would be tempted to SB him. I also think Ultimate Price is a little situational so again might SB this, would consider thought scour instead.
Really not sure about counterspells in this deck, I know they could work out but I just think 2UU might be difficult to get by turn 3 or 4 where it would benefit you most. I might be tempted to include Azorius Charm in it's place.
When would you bring GoST in? If it is just to combat other GoST would you consider Evil Twin instead? Not sure about this card to be honest but clone effects are always powerful.
All relevant questions and exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Dissipate mana is very easy to acquire early game and I have had very few instances of not being able to Dissipate on turn 3, the deck runs a total of 14 Blue, 12 Red, 12 Black and 10 White sources when you look at all of the lands together. It's not uncommon for me to have access to UU, R, W, B on turn 3. Dissipate is there specifically to go long against other control decks and to stop Thragtusk on turn 4/5 depending on deck make-up. Syncopate might just be better but my limited testing made me feel as if Dissipate is just better but I also have a lot of control in my meta so the results are probably skewered.
Concerning Augur of Bolas, it seems okay but I wish that it threw the cards in the GY instead of the bottom of the deck. I would hate to tuck Griselbrand/Angel and grab an Unburial Rites with him, regardless, most of the aggro decks you worry about are dead to [CARD]Izzet Charm
[/CARD] and Ultimate Price with the exception of very few creatures that can dodge both effects and have fallen out of favor recently, Falkenrath Aristocrat being one such creature. Faithless Looting and Forbidden Alchemy on their own go a very long way to ensure that you're bound to dip a rites and a fatty rather quickly and chaining Forbidden Alchemy is something you can do if you really want to fill up fast.
Geist of Saint Traft is in the board as removal but can also be played as an early threat vs lists that cannot handle it. I tried using Evil Twin in my SB for awhile but the extra point of mana is just 1 too many when trying to kill an opposing Geist on the draw. You cannot allow them to get it into play and untap otherwise they can just tempo play you out.
Concerning Thought Scour, I'll be honest I never even really considered it. It may warrant inclusion/testing but once that card is involved, this deck already has Lingering Souls so I'll be even more tempted to run something like my own Runechanter's Pike or two to take advantage. Might be worth testing...
Where would you begin testing on something like that?
I'll be posting this both here and in the Frites thread as I feel that there are a lot of similarities between these two lists.
I've been a long time advocate for the reanimator plan and had wild success piloting the original pre-ravnica frites list. By modifying the originally played Ralph Levy list I was able to create the monstrosity that I was rolling my LGS and any major events nearby with, top 8ing a few PTQ's and consistantly winning at my LGS.
I've decided that I cannot modify this list alone and need more eyes to see what I'm not seeing to make this the new "it" deck to beat.
With no further adieu, I give you all Grites Redub.
Other Rites Lists: GWP against other Rites lists is extremely high, I'm doing the same thing at instant speed that they are doing at sorcery speed. My enablers are also control cards when I need to disrupt their plan if my plan isn't working and I have the ability to counter where they do not. They have Thragtusk but I have Olivia Voldaren and Dissipate which both summarily beat Thragtusk, otherwise reanimated Griselbrand ends this game pretty simply.
Bant/Grixis/UW Control: Same as above. You are able to go toe-to-toe with any control list by playing their game and switching gears to Lingering Souls.dec forcing them to waste answers time and time again answering your flashbackable threats. Your counters help you keep a game-ending Angel or Demon in play and Olivia allows you to play the mid-range game if they do not cooperate. Angel of Serenity eating Snapcaster Mage makes even their best answers 3 for 1's or better against themselves ensuring you the CA war.
Aggro Lists: Olivia Voldaren smashes most U/G aggro lists as they really don't have a profitable way to deal with this card. Reanimating an early Angel of Serenity allows you to stem the bleeding until you can take control of the game. You have to switch gears in this game from control to reanimator frequently but once their steam is snuffed you win. Mono-Red has not been tested just yet but Izzet Charm and your removal go a long way to allowing you to reanimate a game-ending threat, being able to do so at instant speed stops most of their hastey shenanigans earning you precious life that you cannot re-earn.
UWR/UW Tempo: Very finicky game and difficult to win but Lingering Souls and Slayer's Stronghold go a long way to making this a fair match up. They really hate Souls so resolving it early takes away a lot of their steam. You're game here is to attempt to overload their answers and stick a threat they can't casually ignore such as Griselbrand and Olivia which just shuts down most of their threats cold. The hardest card to deal with out of this list is Geist but if they don't get it early you are likely in a very good position to win the game by playing like a midrange control deck, leaving up counterspells only for protecting your own threats from their tricks. One hit with Griselbrand ends the game.
The deck feels a little unfocused and I was hoping someone here could figure out what it's missing to make it better. I've tweaked the list a lot, originally Liliana was in the main but she's just so bad in so many match-ups that I had to Sideboard her. The Sideboard is also a mess and needs work as It's just a loose pile of cards potent against a variety of match ups with no clear Sideboarding strategy. The main is so tight that boarding in too many cards causes the game plan not to work.
I'll be posting this both here and in the Grixis Control thread as I feel that there are a lot of similarities between these two lists.
I've been a long time advocate for the reanimator plan and had wild success piloting the original pre-ravnica frites list. By modifying the originally played Ralph Levy list I was able to create the monstrosity that I was rolling my LGS and any major events nearby with, top 8ing a few PTQ's and consistantly winning at my LGS.
I've decided that I cannot modify this list alone and need more eyes to see what I'm not seeing to make this the new "it" deck to beat.
With no further adieu, I give you all Grites Redub.
Other Rites Lists: GWP against other Rites lists is extremely high, I'm doing the same thing at instant speed that they are doing at sorcery speed. My enablers are also control cards when I need to disrupt their plan if my plan isn't working and I have the ability to counter where they do not. They have Thragtusk but I have Olivia Voldaren and Dissipate which both summarily beat Thragtusk, otherwise reanimated Griselbrand ends this game pretty simply.
Bant/Grixis/UW Control: Same as above. You are able to go toe-to-toe with any control list by playing their game and switching gears to Lingering Souls.dec forcing them to waste answers time and time again answering your flashbackable threats. Your counters help you keep a game-ending Angel or Demon in play and Olivia allows you to play the mid-range game if they do not cooperate with either plan. Angel of Serenity eating Snapcaster Mage makes even their best answers 3 for 1's or better against themselves ensuring you the CA war.
Aggro Lists: Olivia Voldaren smashes most U/G aggro lists as they really don't have a profitable way to deal with this card. Reanimating an early Angel of Serenity allows you to stem the bleeding until you can take control of the game. You have to switch gears in this game from control to reanimator frequently but once their steam is snuffed you win. Mono-Red has not been tested just yet but Izzet Charm and your removal go a long way to allowing you to reanimate a game-ending threat, being able to do so at instant speed stops most of their hastey shenanigans earning you precious life that you cannot re-earn.
UWR/UW Tempo: Very finicky game and difficult to win but Lingering Souls and Slayer's Stronghold go a long way to making this a fair match up. They really hate Souls so resolving it early takes away a lot of their steam. You're game here is to attempt to overload their answers and stick a threat they can't casually ignore such as Griselbrand and Olivia which just shuts down most of their threats cold. The hardest card to deal with out of this list is Geist but if they don't get it early you are likely in a very good position to win the game by playing like a midrange control deck, leaving up counterspells only for protecting your own threats from their tricks. One hit with Griselbrand ends the game.
The deck feels a little unfocused and I was hoping someone here could figure out what it's missing to make it better. I've tweaked the list a lot, originally Liliana was in the main but she's just so bad in so many match-ups that I had to Sideboard her. The Sideboard is also a mess and needs work as It's just a loose pile of cards potent against a variety of match ups with no clear Sideboarding strategy. The main is so tight that boarding in too many cards causes the game plan not to work.
Ok so I recently started playing this deck, this morning actually. Pulled it together and was able to get to the finals of a GPT GP Tennessee, anyway the question I have, and had, was what to pull when sideboarding? The deck seems so tight that I didn't have the heart to cut any of my guys.
Assuming stock Levy list, with the following Sideboard, what would you sb in and out for the following decks:
While maintaining priority, you put on the stack, +0/+1 twice, then switch power and toughness.
Stack resolves, P and T switch, it then gets +0/+2, turning it into a 3/3 flyer, shock resolves, doing nothing, and it's P/T switches again, making it a 3/3 flyer again.
Really getting tired of hearing people saying you protect Jace 3.0 with Gideon, If you played Gideon first, why not just kill your opponent with him instead of wasting 5 mana on the trashiest blue planeswalker ever printed?
All 5 Titans, JTMS, Chandra 1.0, Garruk 1.0, Sorin, Gideon, Time Warp, Furyborn, New Black Sorcery bad removal, Green super ramp effect and a nearly unplayable or entirely broken artifact.
The 1 drop list of potential creatures is as follows, suit it to your metagame.
If you have a lot of control decks in your meta you are using Enclave Cryptologist
If you have a lot of ramp/search decks (W/G Cawvine decks fit into this category) you use Cosi's Trickster
If you have a lot of aggro decks in your meta you are using Kraken Hatchling
I'm sure that the next set is going to give us a busted 1 mana blue creature that'll slide into this deck effortlessly and trump all of these other 1 drops though.
Looks like Ali Aintrazi has successfully piloted a variant on the original deck list. Time to get this ball rolling again with some substance to back it up.
The deck list that Ali is currently using for reference.
All valid points but I'd like to frame this differently. Mulch and Grisly Salvage are very single-dimensional cards which work for only the very specific purpose of enabling your reanimation plan, Mulch sometimes being much better than that but usually just a 1/2 for 1 in terms of how many lands you get when you play it. What if you could also get your mulch to act as a removal spell or a counterspell when necessary? Izzet Charm is everything this archetype has ever wanted. It's enabler, Removal and Control all in one and every effect is relevant to this archetype. Grisly salvage is just an upgraded (I personally feel downgraded is probably more accurate) version of Tracker's Instinct, it's instant speed but our deck doesn't take advantage of this fact, it digs one card deeper but is itself dead in the graveyard and doesn't take full advantage of being there unlike the other spells in this list, Forbidden Alchemy on the other hand can be cast from the yard, isn't limited in it's card selection and has it's own Flashback so it can go to the yard whenever you want it to.
Mulch and Grisly Salvage are exactly the opposite of the types of cards you get more value out of that also enable these types of decks. They don't allow you options and require you build your deck a particular way to get the best effect out of them. Izzet Charm, Forbidden Alchemy, Faithless Looting and Thoughtflare do not require this strict building.
The relevant part of this is that we do lose the ability to play Thragtusk however we are in the best position to take advantage of not playing it by supplementing our reanimation plan with an actual defense. We're not just dead to GY hate since we can actually stop it on the stack.
I feel the pro's far outweigh the con's here. We lose thragtusk, we gain everything else.
I've been a long time advocate for the reanimator plan and had wild success piloting the original pre-ravnica frites list. By modifying the originally played Ralph Levy list I was able to create the monstrosity that I was rolling my LGS and any major events nearby with, top 8ing a few PTQ's and consistantly winning at my LGS.
I've decided that I cannot modify this list alone and need more eyes to see what I'm not seeing to make this the new "it" deck to beat.
With no further adieu, I give you all Grites Redub.
2 Griselbrand
2 Olivia Voldaren
Creatures
4 Angel of Serenity
2 Snapcaster Mage
Instants
4 Izzet Charm
2 Ultimate Price
3 Dissipate
4 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Thoughtflare
Sorceries
3 Unburial Rites
2 Dreadbore
4 Lingering Souls
2 Faithless Looting
4 Steam Vents
4 Blood Crypt
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Drowned Catacombs
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Slayer's Stronghold
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Geist of St. Traft
2 Rolling Templor
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Negate
1 Erase
1 Counterflux
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Sphinx's Revelation
Matchup's
Other Rites Lists: GWP against other Rites lists is extremely high, I'm doing the same thing at instant speed that they are doing at sorcery speed. My enablers are also control cards when I need to disrupt their plan if my plan isn't working and I have the ability to counter where they do not. They have Thragtusk but I have Olivia Voldaren and Dissipate which both summarily beat Thragtusk, otherwise reanimated Griselbrand ends this game pretty simply.
Bant/Grixis/UW Control: Same as above. You are able to go toe-to-toe with any control list by playing their game and switching gears to Lingering Souls.dec forcing them to waste answers time and time again answering your flashbackable threats. Your counters help you keep a game-ending Angel or Demon in play and Olivia allows you to play the mid-range game if they do not cooperate with either plan. Angel of Serenity eating Snapcaster Mage makes even their best answers 3 for 1's or better against themselves ensuring you the CA war.
Aggro Lists: Olivia Voldaren smashes most U/G aggro lists as they really don't have a profitable way to deal with this card. Reanimating an early Angel of Serenity allows you to stem the bleeding until you can take control of the game. You have to switch gears in this game from control to reanimator frequently but once their steam is snuffed you win. Mono-Red has not been tested just yet but Izzet Charm and your removal go a long way to allowing you to reanimate a game-ending threat, being able to do so at instant speed stops most of their hastey shenanigans earning you precious life that you cannot re-earn.
UWR/UW Tempo: Very finicky game and difficult to win but Lingering Souls and Slayer's Stronghold go a long way to making this a fair match up. They really hate Souls so resolving it early takes away a lot of their steam. You're game here is to attempt to overload their answers and stick a threat they can't casually ignore such as Griselbrand and Olivia which just shuts down most of their threats cold. The hardest card to deal with out of this list is Geist but if they don't get it early you are likely in a very good position to win the game by playing like a midrange control deck, leaving up counterspells only for protecting your own threats from their tricks. One hit with Griselbrand ends the game.
The deck feels a little unfocused and I was hoping someone here could figure out what it's missing to make it better. I've tweaked the list a lot, originally Liliana was in the main but she's just so bad in so many match-ups that I had to Sideboard her. The Sideboard is also a mess and needs work as It's just a loose pile of cards potent against a variety of match ups with no clear Sideboarding strategy. The main is so tight that boarding in too many cards causes the game plan not to work.
Sorry if it felt like I was intruding but considering the list I posted is essentially a Grixis Control deck splashing white for the reanimation package and lingering souls I thought there would be some vested interest in seeing what can be done with it.
You're entirely correct in your thought that Grixis as an archetype seems too cute which is exactly why it needs to adopt a new end-game to ensure that your opponent is aware that he will die a grisly death. This brought me to the deck I posted above, the reanimation aspect is something that works perfectly within the play style that Grixis Control wants to maintain, you can set up your end game during your opponents end step and maintain careful control of the game until you unburial Griselbrand and co. and make it impossible for an opponent to come back.
With that said, why not humor me and provide some input on the list?
All relevant questions and exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. Dissipate mana is very easy to acquire early game and I have had very few instances of not being able to Dissipate on turn 3, the deck runs a total of 14 Blue, 12 Red, 12 Black and 10 White sources when you look at all of the lands together. It's not uncommon for me to have access to UU, R, W, B on turn 3. Dissipate is there specifically to go long against other control decks and to stop Thragtusk on turn 4/5 depending on deck make-up. Syncopate might just be better but my limited testing made me feel as if Dissipate is just better but I also have a lot of control in my meta so the results are probably skewered.
Concerning Augur of Bolas, it seems okay but I wish that it threw the cards in the GY instead of the bottom of the deck. I would hate to tuck Griselbrand/Angel and grab an Unburial Rites with him, regardless, most of the aggro decks you worry about are dead to [CARD]Izzet Charm
[/CARD] and Ultimate Price with the exception of very few creatures that can dodge both effects and have fallen out of favor recently, Falkenrath Aristocrat being one such creature. Faithless Looting and Forbidden Alchemy on their own go a very long way to ensure that you're bound to dip a rites and a fatty rather quickly and chaining Forbidden Alchemy is something you can do if you really want to fill up fast.
Geist of Saint Traft is in the board as removal but can also be played as an early threat vs lists that cannot handle it. I tried using Evil Twin in my SB for awhile but the extra point of mana is just 1 too many when trying to kill an opposing Geist on the draw. You cannot allow them to get it into play and untap otherwise they can just tempo play you out.
Concerning Thought Scour, I'll be honest I never even really considered it. It may warrant inclusion/testing but once that card is involved, this deck already has Lingering Souls so I'll be even more tempted to run something like my own Runechanter's Pike or two to take advantage. Might be worth testing...
Where would you begin testing on something like that?
I've been a long time advocate for the reanimator plan and had wild success piloting the original pre-ravnica frites list. By modifying the originally played Ralph Levy list I was able to create the monstrosity that I was rolling my LGS and any major events nearby with, top 8ing a few PTQ's and consistantly winning at my LGS.
I've decided that I cannot modify this list alone and need more eyes to see what I'm not seeing to make this the new "it" deck to beat.
With no further adieu, I give you all Grites Redub.
2 Griselbrand
2 Olivia Voldaren
Creatures
4 Angel of Serenity
2 Snapcaster Mage
Instants
4 Izzet Charm
2 Ultimate Price
3 Dissipate
4 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Thoughtflare
Sorceries
3 Unburial Rites
2 Dreadbore
4 Lingering Souls
2 Faithless Looting
4 Steam Vents
4 Blood Crypt
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Drowned Catacombs
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Slayer's Stronghold
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Geist of St. Traft
2 Rolling Templor
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Negate
1 Erase
1 Counterflux
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Sphinx's Revelation
Matchup's
Other Rites Lists: GWP against other Rites lists is extremely high, I'm doing the same thing at instant speed that they are doing at sorcery speed. My enablers are also control cards when I need to disrupt their plan if my plan isn't working and I have the ability to counter where they do not. They have Thragtusk but I have Olivia Voldaren and Dissipate which both summarily beat Thragtusk, otherwise reanimated Griselbrand ends this game pretty simply.
Bant/Grixis/UW Control: Same as above. You are able to go toe-to-toe with any control list by playing their game and switching gears to Lingering Souls.dec forcing them to waste answers time and time again answering your flashbackable threats. Your counters help you keep a game-ending Angel or Demon in play and Olivia allows you to play the mid-range game if they do not cooperate. Angel of Serenity eating Snapcaster Mage makes even their best answers 3 for 1's or better against themselves ensuring you the CA war.
Aggro Lists: Olivia Voldaren smashes most U/G aggro lists as they really don't have a profitable way to deal with this card. Reanimating an early Angel of Serenity allows you to stem the bleeding until you can take control of the game. You have to switch gears in this game from control to reanimator frequently but once their steam is snuffed you win. Mono-Red has not been tested just yet but Izzet Charm and your removal go a long way to allowing you to reanimate a game-ending threat, being able to do so at instant speed stops most of their hastey shenanigans earning you precious life that you cannot re-earn.
UWR/UW Tempo: Very finicky game and difficult to win but Lingering Souls and Slayer's Stronghold go a long way to making this a fair match up. They really hate Souls so resolving it early takes away a lot of their steam. You're game here is to attempt to overload their answers and stick a threat they can't casually ignore such as Griselbrand and Olivia which just shuts down most of their threats cold. The hardest card to deal with out of this list is Geist but if they don't get it early you are likely in a very good position to win the game by playing like a midrange control deck, leaving up counterspells only for protecting your own threats from their tricks. One hit with Griselbrand ends the game.
The deck feels a little unfocused and I was hoping someone here could figure out what it's missing to make it better. I've tweaked the list a lot, originally Liliana was in the main but she's just so bad in so many match-ups that I had to Sideboard her. The Sideboard is also a mess and needs work as It's just a loose pile of cards potent against a variety of match ups with no clear Sideboarding strategy. The main is so tight that boarding in too many cards causes the game plan not to work.
I've been a long time advocate for the reanimator plan and had wild success piloting the original pre-ravnica frites list. By modifying the originally played Ralph Levy list I was able to create the monstrosity that I was rolling my LGS and any major events nearby with, top 8ing a few PTQ's and consistantly winning at my LGS.
I've decided that I cannot modify this list alone and need more eyes to see what I'm not seeing to make this the new "it" deck to beat.
With no further adieu, I give you all Grites Redub.
2 Griselbrand
2 Olivia Voldaren
Creatures
4 Angel of Serenity
2 Snapcaster Mage
Instants
4 Izzet Charm
2 Ultimate Price
3 Dissipate
4 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Thoughtflare
Sorceries
3 Unburial Rites
2 Dreadbore
4 Lingering Souls
2 Faithless Looting
4 Steam Vents
4 Blood Crypt
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Drowned Catacombs
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Slayer's Stronghold
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Geist of St. Traft
2 Rolling Templor
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Negate
1 Erase
1 Counterflux
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Sphinx's Revelation
Matchup's
Other Rites Lists: GWP against other Rites lists is extremely high, I'm doing the same thing at instant speed that they are doing at sorcery speed. My enablers are also control cards when I need to disrupt their plan if my plan isn't working and I have the ability to counter where they do not. They have Thragtusk but I have Olivia Voldaren and Dissipate which both summarily beat Thragtusk, otherwise reanimated Griselbrand ends this game pretty simply.
Bant/Grixis/UW Control: Same as above. You are able to go toe-to-toe with any control list by playing their game and switching gears to Lingering Souls.dec forcing them to waste answers time and time again answering your flashbackable threats. Your counters help you keep a game-ending Angel or Demon in play and Olivia allows you to play the mid-range game if they do not cooperate with either plan. Angel of Serenity eating Snapcaster Mage makes even their best answers 3 for 1's or better against themselves ensuring you the CA war.
Aggro Lists: Olivia Voldaren smashes most U/G aggro lists as they really don't have a profitable way to deal with this card. Reanimating an early Angel of Serenity allows you to stem the bleeding until you can take control of the game. You have to switch gears in this game from control to reanimator frequently but once their steam is snuffed you win. Mono-Red has not been tested just yet but Izzet Charm and your removal go a long way to allowing you to reanimate a game-ending threat, being able to do so at instant speed stops most of their hastey shenanigans earning you precious life that you cannot re-earn.
UWR/UW Tempo: Very finicky game and difficult to win but Lingering Souls and Slayer's Stronghold go a long way to making this a fair match up. They really hate Souls so resolving it early takes away a lot of their steam. You're game here is to attempt to overload their answers and stick a threat they can't casually ignore such as Griselbrand and Olivia which just shuts down most of their threats cold. The hardest card to deal with out of this list is Geist but if they don't get it early you are likely in a very good position to win the game by playing like a midrange control deck, leaving up counterspells only for protecting your own threats from their tricks. One hit with Griselbrand ends the game.
The deck feels a little unfocused and I was hoping someone here could figure out what it's missing to make it better. I've tweaked the list a lot, originally Liliana was in the main but she's just so bad in so many match-ups that I had to Sideboard her. The Sideboard is also a mess and needs work as It's just a loose pile of cards potent against a variety of match ups with no clear Sideboarding strategy. The main is so tight that boarding in too many cards causes the game plan not to work.
Assuming stock Levy list, with the following Sideboard, what would you sb in and out for the following decks:
Mirror, WRR, Humans/Delver, Zombies.
How is that incorrect? He allows the p/t to switch before adding any other effects to the stack, and gives it +0/+2.
Stack resolves, P and T switch, it then gets +0/+2, turning it into a 3/3 flyer, shock resolves, doing nothing, and it's P/T switches again, making it a 3/3 flyer again.
And you win the game.
All 5 Titans, JTMS, Chandra 1.0, Garruk 1.0, Sorin, Gideon, Time Warp, Furyborn, New Black Sorcery bad removal, Green super ramp effect and a nearly unplayable or entirely broken artifact.
If you have a lot of control decks in your meta you are using Enclave Cryptologist
If you have a lot of ramp/search decks (W/G Cawvine decks fit into this category) you use Cosi's Trickster
If you have a lot of aggro decks in your meta you are using Kraken Hatchling
I'm sure that the next set is going to give us a busted 1 mana blue creature that'll slide into this deck effortlessly and trump all of these other 1 drops though.
The deck list that Ali is currently using for reference.
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Thrumming Bird
4 Grand Architect
3 Treasure Mage
Artifact Creatures
1 Steel Hellkite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Artifacts
1 Contagion Engine
3 Tumble Magnet
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Mindslaver
Spells
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Preordain
1 Stoic Rebuttal
Lands
17 Islands
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Mystifying Maze
4 Flashfreeze
2 Negate
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Platinum Emperion
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Tumble Magnet
4 Perilous Myr
The fine tweaking and the introduction of Treasure Mage seems to be putting the deck over the top. Discuss.