I have a soft spot for intricate synergies and non-goodstuff builds and your deck include some of my favourite cards of all time (Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, River Kelpie, Heartless Summoning and Havengul Lich). I'm in the proces of making new decks and I'm curious to know how well yours works? Is it mostly a novelty deck or can it actually stand it's own in a four player game against 75 % decks? And were you able to fit in some of the new cards that you were contemplating?
After getting loads of good advice in the main forum on rebuilding my Anax and Cymede deck I've decided to change it into a more multiplayer suited deck lead by Archangel Avacyn. I like the colors red and white (I'm danish it's in my blood ) but I don't want to end up with a mediocre deck that is only good at attacking and gets hosed by sweepers. A quick search of the internet and this forum reveals lots of lists but it's pretty hard to tell which ones that are tested and refined, that actually works. Do you know of fun, synergistic builds for Archangel Avacyn that actually works in a solid casual meta? We don't allow infinite combos and I would prefer not to use too much MLD since it slows down the game and is generally considered unfunny in my playgroup.
I'm looking very much forward to hearing your experiences and seeing solid decklists (if you have any). Thanks in advance!
Thank you all for the overwhelming amount of replies, many of which were very enlightening! I think that a Boros deck could fare in my playgroup but still I'm leaning further away from building a combat-oriented deck like one commanded by Aurelia, the Warleader. The thing is I already have a deck lead by Xenagos, God of Revels for when I want to go for massive, brainless beats and I generally prefer somewhat more intricate builds with lots of mini-combos (non-infinite!), synergies etc. Furthermore, I mainly play commander with three of my very best friends and we put great emphasis on creating games with lots of interaction and fun where each deck can flourish - MLD does really go well with that.
If I alter my Anax and Cymede deck I'm thinking of going for either Gisela, Blade of Goldnight or Archangel Avacyn for a less standard Boros deck. I still need the deck to be solid though and it needs to have multiple roads to victory and a not too linear playstyle so that it won't get boring too fast. Do you have any good ideas or advice in that regard?
I've had a fairly solid Anax and Cymede deck for some time now. The deck is built for duels but my group and I almost exclusively play four player matches now and the deck simply can't handle three opponents at 40 life. I'm thinking about giving the deck a new Boros commander, maybe Aurelia, and a higher curve but I'm unsure if that will be enough to compete in multiplayer. Our meta is casual but with decent decks and capable players. We don't allow infinite comboes. What do you think?
I recently went from playing 1v1 exclusively to playing mostly four player FFA and the occasional 2v2. The games are great but some of my decks aren't really cut out for that many opponents so I want to remake them into something better suited for multiplayer. It was fairly easy to adapt my The Gitrog Monster and my Zur the Enchanter Solar Flare but I've had a harder time with Karlov of the Ghost Council and Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest. I therefore intend to make new decks using some of the cards. I'd like to have a Jeskai or Izzet deck centered around using noncreature spells and either another Orzhov deck or something completely different, preferably something less controlling and more combat-centric. The budget for each deck is around $300. My playgroup never plays infinite combos so that is a no-go. We generally prefer fun games where everyone has a "fair chance" but at the same time I really like to win. The other decks in my playgroup all belongs to the same guy who is quite skilled at creating decks with lots of synergies and interactions so my decks have to be pretty strong and at least semi-competitive. I really hope that you have ideas for fun, strong decks that promotes varied games. Anyone?
Back then I used to have a Brion Stoutarm deck that focused on reanimation tricks. Several years of cards later I would like to explore the idea again.
That sounds like a unique idea. Which cards defined the deck?
Yeah, mine isn't actually one of the faster or more aggressive Alesha builds - it's more about building up some synergistic pieces and then bringing the pain. Cheap repeatable recursion on the commander helps with the resilience to make that work. If you want to be faster and more cost-efficient, equipment like the swords can help getting Alesha through and making her powerful enough that she's not blocked to death by every little thing.
Equipment is a good idea. I actually just sold my swords, I found them rather boring and too slow, but with Alesha having first strike lot's of power-boosting equipments should be great (and budget-friendly! ;))
I have a ton of janky reanimator decks to suggest.
Feldon of the Third Path - A babe if I ever saw one. One of my favorite decks. He synergizes with creatures, artifacts, mill, untap effects, 187 triggers, dies triggers, etc... There's just so much to do with this mono-R commander. What really pushes him over the top is he makes tokens instead of pulling from the grave, so I can make 6+ Wurmcoil Engines in the same turn. Besides the obvious beat down, you can burn people down with Warstorm Surges and Vicious Shadows. Alternatively you can include combos such as Kiki-scripts or Twinflame+Dualcaster Mage, and Feldon makes them resilient. I used to dislike red as a color but this deck alone brought me around.
Geth, Lord of the Vault - Similarly to red, I used to hate black (Bant lover here). Geth was the commander that changed my mind. After seeing some play it turns out Geth is the entire deck. You could play 99 swamps + Geth and it wouldn't be terrible. It might not win but it'd be better than any other 99 land deck (maybe I'm not giving Borborygmos Enraged enough credit). More realistically though, Geth fits at the helm of a big black mana deck with all the doublers you can find.. I run a dash of mill to get the graves started, some sac outlets to recycle creatures, and removal. Late game Geth is really a terror though, and I find myself discarding my hand from excess cards just because I'd rather be spamming fatties from the grave than actually play my deck. Very rarely I'll even mill someone out. What really makes him fun for me though is he's the anti-reanimator reanimator deck, cuz damn does he hose reanimator decks. Also nobody excepts you to jack their artifacts
Selvala, Explorer Returned - She has nothing to do with reanimator, but she's in great colors for it. Mix your Karmic Guides and Sun Titans with Selesnya's best sac outlets, fatties, and Soul's Majesty effects. Basically after you play a huge creature you draw its power and discard all the creatures so you can drag them up. What Selvala adds to the reanimation strategy is resilience. Yard decks are already known for tenacity, but with Selvala tacking on life, mana, and cards every turn you've got an incredibly hard deck to keep down. This works well with sweepers, and coincidentally Selvala has access to all the best ones. Oh and Archangel of Thune
Thank you for all the ideas! I tried mono-black big mana once, didn't like it. Feldon however seems like a ball! I'll have to try to come up with a great build for him! Five-color is too expensive and messy IMO and I'm no fan of Selesnya.
You can runsomedeathtouch to keep Alesha fairly safe, since she has first strike. Dolmen Gate can also be handy to keep both her and your reanimated dudes alive on the swing. Really, though, the best option I've found is Reconnaissance. You can pull away from unfortunate blocks, and if you don't need to, you can always activate it after combat damage to untap and be ready to block yourself.
Thank you for the great suggestions, they're surely going in my soon-to-be Alesha deck.
I find some of the cards mentioned to highly costed for an agressive deck but I really like the idea so I'll check out your list and the lists of other and see what I can work out. Thanks a lot!
Have you considered Alesha, Who Smiles at Death? Her unique restrictions (2 power, comes into play attacking) really force you to think outside the box a bit and don't lend themselves well to generic goodstuff. At the same time, her reanimation can be insanely cost-efficient and there are so many ways to use it. Do you go aggressive with plenty of small creatures? Do you abuse cards like Siege-Gang Commander to put a token swarm onto the battlefield? Or how about smacking the enemy with mean beaters like Master of Cruelties? There's plenty of fun ETB triggers to recur in that range as well, such as Mindclaw Shaman. My own Alesha deck prefers the token route and can win through them in many ways - Purphoros, Blood Artist, Cathar's Crusade - while benefitting from death and sacrifice. 4Lark, on the other hand, has a very cool deck with her that focusses on bolster creatures and +1/+1 counters.
I really like Alesha - she is a cool and very unique commander in an uncommon color combination. I've always wondered though: how do you keep her from dying while she is attacking? I mean most 4+ toughness creatures blocks her to death so how do you avoid having to recast her constantly at an ever increasing cost? And can I see your list?
My brother plays a Chainer, dementia master mono black deck, it's fun since it can lock game pretty quickly with a disciple of griselbrand and any nasty etb creature. Right now I'm trying to build a Sedris, the traitor king, since UR are great colors to dig for answers and discarding your reanimation targets.
Chainer is certainly an oldie but goodie - I am wary of going mono color but he is really cool. I'll think about it.
I made myself a really strong reanimator deck using the dredge-like ability of Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, usually people go goodstuff with her, I went full agressive reanimator style. I use a bunch of dredge-like cards that don't make me lose card advantage: Mulch, Satyr Wayfinder, Fact or Fiction and other cards that have synergy with our commander and still feeds our graveyard.
This strategy has proven pretty strong even in duel commander, so it can probably work with you also, and Living Death , is simply a beast with this strategy, I have already casted Living Death on like T4, bringing 3-4 fatties easily, and on late game simply devastating the whole field.
Since it is 1v1, Recurring Nightmare is simply the best card together with Living Death, with such a strong dredge, there is always something to pull out.
The deck itself reacts pretty nice against one time GY hate( like Bojuka Bog), since it is more agressive and less controlish, it can have a hard time with permanent GY hate Anafenza, the Foremost, for example.
Yeah, use a higher number of reanimation spells than usual reanimator decks, it needs to force a fattie into the game
The deck sounds great, like something right up my alley, but unfortunately one of my friends already have a very strong Sidisi deck so I can't use her as a commander. Is she in any way replaceable with another commander?
I've been playing commander for a few years now, mostly 1v1 in a casual meta but with skilled deck builders. I've wanted to build a reanimator deck for some time now but I can't decide on a fun general and build. One of my friends has a Meren deck and we avoid using the same generals so she's out of the picture. I've considered Karador but I really want a deck with a diversity of options, with different synergies and ways to win, and I really don't want an expensive good stuff deck - been there, done that, and I found it rather boring. I've considered a spirit build with Karador but I'm uncertain whether the Kamigawa spirits & co. are strong enough.
Do you have deck lists or ideas for a fun, unique, non-combo reanimator deck at around say $200?
I've got a Merieke deck exactly like you describe. It focuses on blinking and untapping and I think the whole deck is less than $200. I primarily play 1v1 and I'll tell you it is a very strong deck.
Thank you both very much for your excellent replies! You've given me a number of great ideas to work with and I'm certain that I'll be able to build a great deck at a reasonable price.
I'm still open to suggestions.
I've been on the verge of ordering cards for a The Mimeoplasm deck for a while now but another commander keeps popping up in my head: Merieke Ri Berit. I think she could be really fun and interesting in a casual deck focused on tapping and untapping/blinking your permanents for profit. Does anyone know of an interesting and reasonable strong deck list for a deck like this or do you have ideas for cards, syergies and interactions? I primarily plays duels with solid casual decks which emphasise fun and interactive games. Budget is around $200-300.
I have a soft spot for intricate synergies and non-goodstuff builds and your deck include some of my favourite cards of all time (Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, River Kelpie, Heartless Summoning and Havengul Lich). I'm in the proces of making new decks and I'm curious to know how well yours works? Is it mostly a novelty deck or can it actually stand it's own in a four player game against 75 % decks? And were you able to fit in some of the new cards that you were contemplating?
After getting loads of good advice in the main forum on rebuilding my Anax and Cymede deck I've decided to change it into a more multiplayer suited deck lead by Archangel Avacyn. I like the colors red and white (I'm danish it's in my blood
I'm looking very much forward to hearing your experiences and seeing solid decklists (if you have any). Thanks in advance!
If I alter my Anax and Cymede deck I'm thinking of going for either Gisela, Blade of Goldnight or Archangel Avacyn for a less standard Boros deck. I still need the deck to be solid though and it needs to have multiple roads to victory and a not too linear playstyle so that it won't get boring too fast. Do you have any good ideas or advice in that regard?
I've had a fairly solid Anax and Cymede deck for some time now. The deck is built for duels but my group and I almost exclusively play four player matches now and the deck simply can't handle three opponents at 40 life. I'm thinking about giving the deck a new Boros commander, maybe Aurelia, and a higher curve but I'm unsure if that will be enough to compete in multiplayer. Our meta is casual but with decent decks and capable players. We don't allow infinite comboes. What do you think?
I recently went from playing 1v1 exclusively to playing mostly four player FFA and the occasional 2v2. The games are great but some of my decks aren't really cut out for that many opponents so I want to remake them into something better suited for multiplayer. It was fairly easy to adapt my The Gitrog Monster and my Zur the Enchanter Solar Flare but I've had a harder time with Karlov of the Ghost Council and Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest. I therefore intend to make new decks using some of the cards. I'd like to have a Jeskai or Izzet deck centered around using noncreature spells and either another Orzhov deck or something completely different, preferably something less controlling and more combat-centric. The budget for each deck is around $300. My playgroup never plays infinite combos so that is a no-go. We generally prefer fun games where everyone has a "fair chance" but at the same time I really like to win.
Thank you for all the ideas! I tried mono-black big mana once, didn't like it. Feldon however seems like a ball! I'll have to try to come up with a great build for him!
Thank you for the great suggestions, they're surely going in my soon-to-be Alesha deck.
I really like Alesha - she is a cool and very unique commander in an uncommon color combination. I've always wondered though: how do you keep her from dying while she is attacking? I mean most 4+ toughness creatures blocks her to death so how do you avoid having to recast her constantly at an ever increasing cost? And can I see your list?
Chainer is certainly an oldie but goodie - I am wary of going mono color but he is really cool. I'll think about it.
Thank you both!
The deck sounds great, like something right up my alley, but unfortunately one of my friends already have a very strong Sidisi deck so I can't use her as a commander.
I've been playing commander for a few years now, mostly 1v1 in a casual meta but with skilled deck builders. I've wanted to build a reanimator deck for some time now but I can't decide on a fun general and build. One of my friends has a Meren deck and we avoid using the same generals so she's out of the picture. I've considered Karador but I really want a deck with a diversity of options, with different synergies and ways to win, and I really don't want an expensive good stuff deck - been there, done that, and I found it rather boring. I've considered a spirit build with Karador but I'm uncertain whether the Kamigawa spirits & co. are strong enough.
Do you have deck lists or ideas for a fun, unique, non-combo reanimator deck at around say $200?
I'm still open to suggestions.