Esper Reanimator, as opposed to the popular Solar Flare, wants to abuse Skaab Ruinator and its built-in reanimation potential. Ruinator doesn't need 3 colors online and a Rites in your graveyard to come back to the battlefield. But to do this it needs a load of creatures to meet the cast condition. And to do it well it needs to be paired with cards that offer advantages when in the graveyard. One critter who supports both of those goals is Snapcaster Mage, so right now I'm testing him as a 4-of. He does a lot of double-duty here.
Skaab Ruinator requires an engine to support him and he is a late game deal. What's great about the Ruinator is not ZOMG it costs 1UU+ some other stuff. What's great about the Ruinator is that short of getting exiled or shuffled into your deck, it is always an "in-hand" option. In that sense it is a Mahamotti Djinn with Card Advantage since you can virtually consider yourself as having +1 card in hand for each Ruinator that makes it into your yard. As long as you can reliably get critters into your yard at least.
Do not be afraid to exile another Ruinator to pay for a Ruinator. You will not likely get to or be able to (or need to) pay their alternate costs more than two times in a game anyway.
Synergistic CA choices:
The classic Merfolk Looter is phenomenal here, sometimes reading simply T, Draw a Card in this deck. A chucked Ruinator is merely in your second hand. Throwing fatties into the yard in your early turns is fine too since we have access to Unburial Rites. Splashing white for Rites is a no brainer since we only ever need exactly one W, it doesn't wreck our manabase to achieve the splash. The possibility of turn 4 Consecrated Sphinx or Grave Titan is simply too hard to pass up but I may be convinced to drop the Rites package later. I see it as a backup plan to the primary plan, which is ruinator beats with some UB control elements (removal).
Mindshrieker is a great card for this deck. It begs for removal. It puts things in the yard. It is a 2 drop with evasion whose only drawback is sometimes you will try to pump it and wiff on a land. In the late game however with multiple attempts it is a great mana sink that fills the yard for other goals and swings with evasion. It can be very aggressive when you are lucky. I also find him to be an aggressive BLOCKER since your opponent gets to make the choice of risking the question "what if it DOESN'T wiff?" rather than us taking the risk "what if it does wiff?" I feel it forces a response from them. We want him in the graveyard anyway for plan A. Like the looter we can activate him for value after having declared blockers.
Forbidden Alchemy is the dig master and the buried alive of this reanimator deck. Whether you need a black sun or a doom blade or a snapcaster to recast a doom blade, Alchemy will usually find it for you while adding to your second, virtual hand.
The Removal:
Sweepers & Spot Removal. Need I say more?
Here is my current, sample Skaab Ruinator decklist:
19 creatures here, needed to be a high count for ruinator to be anything but a dead card. That said I ended up with 13 snapcaster targets MD and I am constantly tempted to up that number... top candidate to replace is probably the singleton Zombie Infestation which is merely okay here. Best early and likely dead late. Could easily become a mana leak or a dissipate. Or a second Go for the Throat. I have also tinkered with a single Vengeful Pharaoh but with hexblade being a possible opponent I think it probably is underwhelming.
The deck wants to tap out on turn two. If they leak the looter or the mindshrieker: great. They'll wish they'd saved it. Once you get to turn three though you switch the focus to playing during their combat phase and at the end of their turn. Sling removal spells and chump block. Snapcaster removal spells and chump block some more.
At a certain point they run out of cards and you are reanimating 5/6 fliers on the cheap. That's the plan anyway.
Although it splashes white for unburial rites as a two-of and is therefore Esper, this deck is all UB cards. I think that greatly aides the deck in consistency. All ideas are welcome to the thread but I would like it if the focus here remained on making a playable Skaab Ruinator engine/list. DOJ and Oblivion Ring probably do not belong here. Unburial rites is (so far) just too strong not to include in a selfmill strategy with typical UB finishers (grave titans + 5/6 flyers).
Please let me know your opinions! Thanks! Oh and be nice to the n00b.
Clearly a work in progress, bit it has shown some promise. Basic idea is Draw-Go control until I can play a ruinator or a massive sutured ghoul via Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Mirror-Mad is also a great combat trick and flashback enabler.
Fume Spitter is an excellent 1 drop that never feels like a dead card. Can give me a bit of early momentum, sac to kill a mayor/snapcaster/pilgrim/noble/interloper/etc, or make a titan 5/5 to die to Ruinator.
Skinrender is a killcard on most guys, and also counts significantly towards pumping up a Sutured Ghoul. Can also be cast just to untap Grimgrin.
Grimgrin is cool to fill my own graveyard, targeted creature kill, and becomes really big really quickly.
Looking for any criticism, constructive or otherwise. Thanks in advance.
Sutured ghoul is just bad I'm afraid. Your mileage may vary but imo there's no excuse for not just including another grave titan in its place. Overall I think you're curve is too high... You have nine creatures with cmc < 3, which should make it just about impossible to cast ruinator early enough to matter. 3 of those critters aren't even really 2 drops since you want to play snapcaster for value.
you have 7 dudes > CMC4
you have far too few lands for this.
I'd suggest upping to 4 looters.
Run a full set of alchemy.
Without these eight cards you are running on only a few cylinders.
You might consider building something to specifically abuse the mirror-mad phantasm, although I realize it looks synergistic because of the mill it costs 7 to get going... Seems too late imo. And if you have to put one in your yard the other one in your deck becomes a more or less dead card. An underwhelming one at least.
I have reworked the deck as per some of your suggestions. I have yet to play with Merfolk Looter, but I'm sure he will be a quarterback. Regardless, I'm not sure if I will really need 4. I think 3 is a pretty solid number, for now. I'm also generally not at a loss for Forbidden Alchemies to cast, especially with Snapcaster. Again, time will tell on that.
You were right about Sutured Ghoul. I originally built this deck around him, but he's too counterproductive with Ruinators. Sure he's a 20/20 trample when I cast him, but he exiles my yard and he makes me concede when he gets O Ringed/Fiend Huntered/GftT/etc. I really wanted him to be the key to this deck, but he isnt.
On the same page, I decided to take out the Skinrenders to help even out my curve. the Looter and the Dismember I replaced them with are probably better, especially with Sutured gone.
I also threw in a singleton Pharaoh, since he has great synergy with Grimgrin, Alchemy, Merfolk Looter, and with Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Despite his BBB I'm confident he will be a valuable addition.
Mirror-Mad is a pretty cool dude because he dumps my guys into my yard for reanimation or Ruinator food, puts my Unburial Rites in the yard for cheaper casting, and is an excellent combat trick(attack, use him, he comes in untapped. Declare him as a blocker, use him, is a semi fog. Etc) Plus he's 5 power with evasion and is hard to kill which is pretty okay too.
I look forward to hearing your responses to my changes.
In order to make Skaab effective, you need to play a lot of creatures, probably around 25+. If I were to do it, I would probably choose a B/U aggro build with a ton of 1 drops, Forbidden Alchemy, and the ruinators.
In order to make Skaab effective, you need to play a lot of creatures, probably around 25+. If I were to do it, I would probably choose a B/U aggro build with a ton of 1 drops, Forbidden Alchemy, and the ruinators.
I'm doing something similar to this with a mana base preped to cast sun titan, along with rites ofcourse. I use ponder as a set to help mindshrieker and delver of secrets. And phantasmal images to enhance the threats. There's also a single Grimgrin as another wincon. Decklist (and tags) forthcoming... The options during a game are plentiful.
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In order to make Skaab effective, you need to play a lot of creatures, probably around 25+. If I were to do it, I would probably choose a B/U aggro build with a ton of 1 drops, Forbidden Alchemy, and the ruinators.
so you left yourself room for 12 noncreature spells minus I assume 4 alchemy.
what do you want in those 8 cards if I may ask...? Leaks/dblades 4/4?
you may have a point with the Weenie aggro suggestion but I worry about losing room for a diverse removal package.
What were some matches that gave you trouble, and what changes do you plan on making to your build?
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Round 1: Vs Michael Fugett - GW humans
Record: 2-0
BSZ is a champ here. Late fliers and Massacre Wurm take both rounds. He gets me to -10 life both games before I stabilize and take over w/CA(virtual).
Mirran Crusader is a problem that I'm fortunate enough to have the BSZ and disperse to deal with but having those at the right time for M. Crusader was sometimes an issue in several of my matchups throughout the day.
SB chgs:
-1 Phantasmal Image
+1 Black Sun's Zenith
~~~~~
Round 2: Vs Chris Cobb - Bant Crusader Geist Angelic Destiny Sword Thing
Record 0-2
Mulled to 6 both games trying to start with more than 1 land card. Came up with just 1 land in the second hand each time. Should probably have mulled to 5 (i was on the play both games though) but I admit mulligan calls are probably my biggest weakness as a player.
Got punished for missing land drops. BSZ helped but too little too late. Image came in from the side for Geist which did work once. Opp skill level was 4/5 stars judging by how serious he was but he did have the shaky hands. He had to have thought I had a terribad deck for all the spells I never played. 4 Mirran Crusader hurt pretty hard here again w/all my black targeted removal spells. Geist laughs at those as well but gets chumped by snappy... while hitting you for 4 in the air.... sigh...
Basically lost to manascrew both games but it seemed a tough matchup regardless.
Round 3: Vs Ian Ellison - GR Wolfrun Ramp
Record 2-0
He ramped a lot but I delayed enough to take control with fliers. Mindshrieker swings for 7 in the air, takes out Garruks like a champ... overall I was pretty pleased with the Mindshrieker's performance tonight. Not always ideal (looking at you, Virulent Wound) but was pretty clutch against all the pro black/green/red/white in the meta (crusader(s)/swords).
Game 2 he mana flooded while using what resources he did have to keep me off black mana. I had to Phantasmal Image his Solemn Simulucram (tough choice over the the acidic slime or the Thrun it was intended for) to try and catch up. Thrun never surfaced thank goodness. Ended up winning with a handful of black cards and no black mana to cast them, but Skaab Ruinator didn't care and as mana goes he didn't need much. I put the opp skill lvl at 3.5/5 stars as he seemed pretty skilled and probably had some variance issues here. He finally topdecks a bomb (Karn) but it is too little too late with multiple 5/6 fliers on the board.
G1 I had the optimum open on the play, saw removal for everything he dropped and just won the game.
G2 he was on the play, this time he saw every transform a critter he needed for a turn four kill. I had 2 BSZ in hand and mana to play one for a good stabilize move but moonmist turned the math his direction too quickly. Swinging for 15 on turn four... I have no turn 1 spells in the deck to stop the waif from transforming etc.
G3 we had an actual game instead of one of these luckdraws.
He again got out 3 dudes that if transformed would swing FTW. I swung into him with Grave Titan and tokens and he chumps just the tokens fearing the deathtouch I suppose. This works out for me as I BSZ for 4 and get to keep a 2/2 Grave Titan after the board wipe. Smile and pass turn. Opp skill lvl I think was 5/5 stars. At any rate I go into round 5 with a 3-1 record which is the best I've performed at this lvl of competition.
Round 5 Vs Aaron Lopez - mono black infect
Record 1-2
This was a pretty unfavorable matchup since he was my 1st opp that brought GY hate in the board (spellbomb) and because he was thrilled to throw virulent wounds at my 12 creatures with 1 toughness. Oh and MD doomblades were dead here.
He's a local guy I've played before and was very cool in the match. In G1 I had the BSZ to answer his board but he got lashwrithe on phyrexian crusader and @ 6/6 I couldn't finish the deal. Nor did I have the answer in hand for the inkmoth just waiting back there to pick up the lashwrithe(s).
Late inkmoth can be big problems.
I sided in Steel Sabotage but as usual I think the Opp sided out lashwrithes expecting this.
Managed to squeak out a win in G2 by the skin of my teeth, recovering from multiple spellbombs with alchemy/rites/trix. Massacre Wurm proves its worth for the umpeenth time.
Had a chance to stabilize in G3 but suffered major mana flood ... my own fault keeping a 5 land opening hand. 16 land cards in the top 20...
This put me @ 3-2 which is where I dropped. I had run a 5K race at 8am this morning right before the tournament and having missed breakfast I was famished. Would really like to have gotten some more testing in but those are the breaks. Perhaps I'll play a side event tomorrow.
I didn't end up with an awesome record but I felt like a serious contender in most of my matchups despite the competition level. My opponents were genuinely confused by "Mindshrieker, go" or "merfolk looter, go" and by the time they learned I was forcing Skaab Runiator.dek they were being forced to give it some respect. Perhaps that was just my myopic view
Cards that impressed:
Massacre Wurm. lots of little dudes out there! really, a lot!
Mindshrieker. It did whiff but always when that was an acceptable expense. is a fine finisher on its own after BSZ when you can just sink 6 mana into it. Provides insurance against flying critters as well.
Black Sun's Zenith. I sided it in so often I will probably up MD count to 3. So much hexproof and problack and little dudes... I was always happy to have it in hand.
Current list. Trying to find room for wurmcoil engine, might cut a snapcaster for it due to my high creature/spell ratio. other option im considerjng is move an image to the board for wurmcoil, cutting a negate to make room for it. i feel the image is strong right now vs geist and thrun so i dont want to drop it completely.
Have now played with the deck enough to truly realize how prone it is to having horribly unplayable hands and no other discard outlet other than looter. I'm tabling this deck and hoping a ruinator list becomes more viable at a future date. I had a lot of fun games but those were just the lucky ones in the lucky matchups. It's not consistent enough for anything beyond a kitchen table.
I ultimately felt I would have been better off in Solar Flare or UB control and the gimmick of ruinator, while powerful, isn't quick enough to get online in the current standard. After a BSZ it can be a great engine but our opponents are able to recover or inkmoth just as well as we can. And unlike Ruinator it doesnt cost them 4 GY cards at a time.
If I were to attempt this one more time I would find room for civilized scholars. Cut a snappy or two and maybe a mindshrieker and something... because I basically felt I had a strong deck anytime I was able to untap with the looter and felt the deck was subpar anytime I didn't get a looter in during the game. I'm not sold on the scholar as a 3 drop but it really made a big difference. Lilliana would likely be a very strong choice as well. But again at a certain point you may as well play Solar Flare.
Its really just about getting the normally un-castable guys on the board by turn 4-5. With a little control safety net.
Its fun but a bit clunky still.
Its really just about getting the normally un-castable guys on the board by turn 4-5. With a little control safety net.
Its fun but a bit clunky still.
It's clunky because you have nothing to draw you cards outside of Think Twice, and nothing to discard with other than looter. Mill yourself, dude. And what's with all these lists running Grave Titan over Sun Titan? Yeah this isn't Solar Flare, but it should be damn close. I think your deck is WAY too slow with all of the incredibly costly tricks. Go for sun titan. Get Phantasmal Images, and for bob's sake mill yourself! turn 4 rites into Sun titan into Image into Image into Ruinator seems a lot less "clunky" than trying to spit out an over costly creature. Also, where is Snapcaster Mage in your list? you could totally get away with running two (by all means NOT 4 like some of the other lists here) of those in place of some of the sub par instants and sorceries you have right now.
Edit: Oh my, I didn't see this until now: If you're trying to 'reanimate' the beats, then why in the heck are you running 30 lands? 4 or 6 of those are wasting slots for you.
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I guess I'll just post my list and show you a little bit of synergy herein.
This list along with my previous lists in the dredge thread (and my own fliers thread) is focused around a more aggro approach. It's consistent in addition (i don't find myself praying to magically get options from my GY) as it gives me a myriad of options. I can play draw-go, control(ish) and aggro all in the same deck... which makes it loads of fun to play.
Let me know what you think. It has many different wincons.
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the looter appears to be the only creature card you're likely to cast. unburial rites x 4 is too many in my opinion. you have 0 white cards main deck, 9 white sources of mana and 8 white cards in the sideboard. looks like an unbalanced solar flare deck. with 8 cards that cannot be cast until late game assuming you get up to 6+ mana, you will have very dead hands frequently. especially since the looter is the only way you have to drop a fattie from your hand into the yard. best advice i could give you is to drop 4 bombs for some # of civilized scholar/zombie infestation.
I have heard vague rumors of a moustache-dispensing vending machine in a distant laundromat, across the street from a tattoo parlor. However, this information is shaky, and time is of the essence.
So this is a version that started off as a home-brew, and has since had input from my playgroup. It plays like a normal Reanimator, with Laboratory Manac as a Plan B. Thoughts, comments?
Skaab Ruinator requires an engine to support him and he is a late game deal. What's great about the Ruinator is not ZOMG it costs 1UU+ some other stuff. What's great about the Ruinator is that short of getting exiled or shuffled into your deck, it is always an "in-hand" option. In that sense it is a Mahamotti Djinn with Card Advantage since you can virtually consider yourself as having +1 card in hand for each Ruinator that makes it into your yard. As long as you can reliably get critters into your yard at least.
Do not be afraid to exile another Ruinator to pay for a Ruinator. You will not likely get to or be able to (or need to) pay their alternate costs more than two times in a game anyway.
Synergistic CA choices:
The classic Merfolk Looter is phenomenal here, sometimes reading simply T, Draw a Card in this deck. A chucked Ruinator is merely in your second hand. Throwing fatties into the yard in your early turns is fine too since we have access to Unburial Rites. Splashing white for Rites is a no brainer since we only ever need exactly one W, it doesn't wreck our manabase to achieve the splash. The possibility of turn 4 Consecrated Sphinx or Grave Titan is simply too hard to pass up but I may be convinced to drop the Rites package later. I see it as a backup plan to the primary plan, which is ruinator beats with some UB control elements (removal).
Mindshrieker is a great card for this deck. It begs for removal. It puts things in the yard. It is a 2 drop with evasion whose only drawback is sometimes you will try to pump it and wiff on a land. In the late game however with multiple attempts it is a great mana sink that fills the yard for other goals and swings with evasion. It can be very aggressive when you are lucky. I also find him to be an aggressive BLOCKER since your opponent gets to make the choice of risking the question "what if it DOESN'T wiff?" rather than us taking the risk "what if it does wiff?" I feel it forces a response from them. We want him in the graveyard anyway for plan A. Like the looter we can activate him for value after having declared blockers.
Forbidden Alchemy is the dig master and the buried alive of this reanimator deck. Whether you need a black sun or a doom blade or a snapcaster to recast a doom blade, Alchemy will usually find it for you while adding to your second, virtual hand.
The Removal:
Sweepers & Spot Removal. Need I say more?
Here is my current, sample Skaab Ruinator decklist:
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Mindshrieker
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Skaab Ruinator
2 Grave Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
Spells - 18
1 Zombie Infestation
2 Unburial Rites
4 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Dismember
3 Doomblade
1 Go for the Throat
2 Negate
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Drowned Catacombs
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Swamp
6 Island
4 flashfreeze
2 steel sabotage
2 spellskite
1 black sun's zenith
1 negate
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Wurmcoil
3 surgical extraction
That's the deck, tear it apart.
19 creatures here, needed to be a high count for ruinator to be anything but a dead card. That said I ended up with 13 snapcaster targets MD and I am constantly tempted to up that number... top candidate to replace is probably the singleton Zombie Infestation which is merely okay here. Best early and likely dead late. Could easily become a mana leak or a dissipate. Or a second Go for the Throat. I have also tinkered with a single Vengeful Pharaoh but with hexblade being a possible opponent I think it probably is underwhelming.
The deck wants to tap out on turn two. If they leak the looter or the mindshrieker: great. They'll wish they'd saved it. Once you get to turn three though you switch the focus to playing during their combat phase and at the end of their turn. Sling removal spells and chump block. Snapcaster removal spells and chump block some more.
At a certain point they run out of cards and you are reanimating 5/6 fliers on the cheap. That's the plan anyway.
Although it splashes white for unburial rites as a two-of and is therefore Esper, this deck is all UB cards. I think that greatly aides the deck in consistency. All ideas are welcome to the thread but I would like it if the focus here remained on making a playable Skaab Ruinator engine/list. DOJ and Oblivion Ring probably do not belong here. Unburial rites is (so far) just too strong not to include in a selfmill strategy with typical UB finishers (grave titans + 5/6 flyers).
Please let me know your opinions! Thanks! Oh and be nice to the n00b.
Don't image leech. Images removed.
-Sene
2 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
1 Grave Titan
2 Mirror-Mad Phantasm
3 Skaab Ruinator
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Fume Spitter
2 Merfolk Looter
Spells -20
4 Mana Leak
4 Dissipate
2 Disperse
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Unburial Rites
1 Doom Blade
1 Dismember
1 Liliana of the Veil
Land - 21
5 Island
5 Swamp
1 Darkslick Shores
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Black Sun's Zenith
4 Flashfreeze
4 Mental Misstep
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Doom Blade
1 Ghost Quarter
Clearly a work in progress, bit it has shown some promise. Basic idea is Draw-Go control until I can play a ruinator or a massive sutured ghoul via Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Mirror-Mad is also a great combat trick and flashback enabler.
Fume Spitter is an excellent 1 drop that never feels like a dead card. Can give me a bit of early momentum, sac to kill a mayor/snapcaster/pilgrim/noble/interloper/etc, or make a titan 5/5 to die to Ruinator.
Skinrender is a killcard on most guys, and also counts significantly towards pumping up a Sutured Ghoul. Can also be cast just to untap Grimgrin.
Grimgrin is cool to fill my own graveyard, targeted creature kill, and becomes really big really quickly.
Looking for any criticism, constructive or otherwise. Thanks in advance.
Do not double post or bump. Warning issued.
you have 7 dudes > CMC4
you have far too few lands for this.
I'd suggest upping to 4 looters.
Run a full set of alchemy.
Without these eight cards you are running on only a few cylinders.
You might consider building something to specifically abuse the mirror-mad phantasm, although I realize it looks synergistic because of the mill it costs 7 to get going... Seems too late imo. And if you have to put one in your yard the other one in your deck becomes a more or less dead card. An underwhelming one at least.
I do like your lilliana as a single. ;-)
You were right about Sutured Ghoul. I originally built this deck around him, but he's too counterproductive with Ruinators. Sure he's a 20/20 trample when I cast him, but he exiles my yard and he makes me concede when he gets O Ringed/Fiend Huntered/GftT/etc. I really wanted him to be the key to this deck, but he isnt.
On the same page, I decided to take out the Skinrenders to help even out my curve. the Looter and the Dismember I replaced them with are probably better, especially with Sutured gone.
I also threw in a singleton Pharaoh, since he has great synergy with Grimgrin, Alchemy, Merfolk Looter, and with Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Despite his BBB I'm confident he will be a valuable addition.
Mirror-Mad is a pretty cool dude because he dumps my guys into my yard for reanimation or Ruinator food, puts my Unburial Rites in the yard for cheaper casting, and is an excellent combat trick(attack, use him, he comes in untapped. Declare him as a blocker, use him, is a semi fog. Etc) Plus he's 5 power with evasion and is hard to kill which is pretty okay too.
I look forward to hearing your responses to my changes.
MTGS egos at their finest.
Thoughts on proxies:
I'm doing something similar to this with a mana base preped to cast sun titan, along with rites ofcourse. I use ponder as a set to help mindshrieker and delver of secrets. And phantasmal images to enhance the threats. There's also a single Grimgrin as another wincon. Decklist (and tags) forthcoming... The options during a game are plentiful.
2. Good Decks Have Good Plans
3. Good Decks Have Good Mana Bases
4. Good Decks Respect Their Opponents
5. Good Decks Have 75 Cards
6. Sometimes Even Good Decks Are Bad Choices
7. Sometimes Your 'Good Deck' Isn't
~Metamorph
so you left yourself room for 12 noncreature spells minus I assume 4 alchemy.
what do you want in those 8 cards if I may ask...? Leaks/dblades 4/4?
you may have a point with the Weenie aggro suggestion but I worry about losing room for a diverse removal package.
2. Good Decks Have Good Plans
3. Good Decks Have Good Mana Bases
4. Good Decks Respect Their Opponents
5. Good Decks Have 75 Cards
6. Sometimes Even Good Decks Are Bad Choices
7. Sometimes Your 'Good Deck' Isn't
~Metamorph
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Mindshrieker
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Skaab Ruinator
2 Grave Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Phantasmal Image
Spells - 16
2 Unburial Rites
4 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Dismember
2 Disperse
2 Doomblade
1 Go for the Throat
1 Negate
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Drowned Catacombs
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Swamp
6 Island
4 flashfreeze
2 steel sabotage
1 Phantasmal Image
1 black sun's zenith
1 negate
1 mana leak
1 dissipate
1 unburial rites
3 surgical extraction
~~~~~
Round 1: Vs Michael Fugett - GW humans
Record: 2-0
BSZ is a champ here. Late fliers and Massacre Wurm take both rounds. He gets me to -10 life both games before I stabilize and take over w/CA(virtual).
Mirran Crusader is a problem that I'm fortunate enough to have the BSZ and disperse to deal with but having those at the right time for M. Crusader was sometimes an issue in several of my matchups throughout the day.
SB chgs:
-1 Phantasmal Image
+1 Black Sun's Zenith
~~~~~
Round 2: Vs Chris Cobb - Bant Crusader Geist Angelic Destiny Sword Thing
Record 0-2
Mulled to 6 both games trying to start with more than 1 land card. Came up with just 1 land in the second hand each time. Should probably have mulled to 5 (i was on the play both games though) but I admit mulligan calls are probably my biggest weakness as a player.
Got punished for missing land drops. BSZ helped but too little too late. Image came in from the side for Geist which did work once. Opp skill level was 4/5 stars judging by how serious he was but he did have the shaky hands. He had to have thought I had a terribad deck for all the spells I never played. 4 Mirran Crusader hurt pretty hard here again w/all my black targeted removal spells. Geist laughs at those as well but gets chumped by snappy... while hitting you for 4 in the air.... sigh...
Basically lost to manascrew both games but it seemed a tough matchup regardless.
SB chgs:
-2 Grave Titan, -1 Unburial Rites, -1 Dismember
+1 Phantasmal Image, +1 Black Sun's Zenith, +1 Negate, +1 Mana Leak
~~~~~
Round 3: Vs Ian Ellison - GR Wolfrun Ramp
Record 2-0
He ramped a lot but I delayed enough to take control with fliers. Mindshrieker swings for 7 in the air, takes out Garruks like a champ... overall I was pretty pleased with the Mindshrieker's performance tonight. Not always ideal (looking at you, Virulent Wound) but was pretty clutch against all the pro black/green/red/white in the meta (crusader(s)/swords).
Game 2 he mana flooded while using what resources he did have to keep me off black mana. I had to Phantasmal Image his Solemn Simulucram (tough choice over the the acidic slime or the Thrun it was intended for) to try and catch up. Thrun never surfaced thank goodness. Ended up winning with a handful of black cards and no black mana to cast them, but Skaab Ruinator didn't care and as mana goes he didn't need much. I put the opp skill lvl at 3.5/5 stars as he seemed pretty skilled and probably had some variance issues here. He finally topdecks a bomb (Karn) but it is too little too late with multiple 5/6 fliers on the board.
SB chgs:
-1 Negate, -1 Dismember, -1 Disperse
+2 Flashfreeze, +1 Phantasmal Image
~~~~~
Round 4 Vs Erik Peters - RG Werewolves
Record 2-1
G1 I had the optimum open on the play, saw removal for everything he dropped and just won the game.
G2 he was on the play, this time he saw every transform a critter he needed for a turn four kill. I had 2 BSZ in hand and mana to play one for a good stabilize move but moonmist turned the math his direction too quickly. Swinging for 15 on turn four... I have no turn 1 spells in the deck to stop the waif from transforming etc.
G3 we had an actual game instead of one of these luckdraws.
He again got out 3 dudes that if transformed would swing FTW. I swung into him with Grave Titan and tokens and he chumps just the tokens fearing the deathtouch I suppose. This works out for me as I BSZ for 4 and get to keep a 2/2 Grave Titan after the board wipe. Smile and pass turn. Opp skill lvl I think was 5/5 stars. At any rate I go into round 5 with a 3-1 record which is the best I've performed at this lvl of competition.
SB chgs:
-1 Dismember, -1 Phantasmal Image, -1 Mindshrieker
+3 Flashfreeze
~~~~~~~
Round 5 Vs Aaron Lopez - mono black infect
Record 1-2
This was a pretty unfavorable matchup since he was my 1st opp that brought GY hate in the board (spellbomb) and because he was thrilled to throw virulent wounds at my 12 creatures with 1 toughness. Oh and MD doomblades were dead here.
He's a local guy I've played before and was very cool in the match. In G1 I had the BSZ to answer his board but he got lashwrithe on phyrexian crusader and @ 6/6 I couldn't finish the deal. Nor did I have the answer in hand for the inkmoth just waiting back there to pick up the lashwrithe(s).
Late inkmoth can be big problems.
I sided in Steel Sabotage but as usual I think the Opp sided out lashwrithes expecting this.
Managed to squeak out a win in G2 by the skin of my teeth, recovering from multiple spellbombs with alchemy/rites/trix. Massacre Wurm proves its worth for the umpeenth time.
Had a chance to stabilize in G3 but suffered major mana flood ... my own fault keeping a 5 land opening hand. 16 land cards in the top 20...
SB chgs:
-2 Doom Blade, -1 Phantasmal Image
+2 Steel Sabotage, +1 Negate
~~~~~~
This put me @ 3-2 which is where I dropped. I had run a 5K race at 8am this morning right before the tournament and having missed breakfast I was famished. Would really like to have gotten some more testing in but those are the breaks. Perhaps I'll play a side event tomorrow.
I didn't end up with an awesome record but I felt like a serious contender in most of my matchups despite the competition level. My opponents were genuinely confused by "Mindshrieker, go" or "merfolk looter, go" and by the time they learned I was forcing Skaab Runiator.dek they were being forced to give it some respect. Perhaps that was just my myopic view
Cards that impressed:
Massacre Wurm. lots of little dudes out there! really, a lot!
Mindshrieker. It did whiff but always when that was an acceptable expense. is a fine finisher on its own after BSZ when you can just sink 6 mana into it. Provides insurance against flying critters as well.
Black Sun's Zenith. I sided it in so often I will probably up MD count to 3. So much hexproof and problack and little dudes... I was always happy to have it in hand.
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Mindshrieker
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Skaab Ruinator
2 Grave Titan
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Phantasmal Image
Spells - 16
2 Unburial Rites
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Dismember
2 Disperse
2 Doomblade
1 Go for the Throat
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Drowned Catacombs
3 Darkslick Shores
5 Swamp
5 Island
4 flashfreeze
2 steel sabotage
1 Phantasmal Image
3 negate
3 mana leak
3 mental misstep
Current list. Trying to find room for wurmcoil engine, might cut a snapcaster for it due to my high creature/spell ratio. other option im considerjng is move an image to the board for wurmcoil, cutting a negate to make room for it. i feel the image is strong right now vs geist and thrun so i dont want to drop it completely.
I ultimately felt I would have been better off in Solar Flare or UB control and the gimmick of ruinator, while powerful, isn't quick enough to get online in the current standard. After a BSZ it can be a great engine but our opponents are able to recover or inkmoth just as well as we can. And unlike Ruinator it doesnt cost them 4 GY cards at a time.
If I were to attempt this one more time I would find room for civilized scholars. Cut a snappy or two and maybe a mindshrieker and something... because I basically felt I had a strong deck anytime I was able to untap with the looter and felt the deck was subpar anytime I didn't get a looter in during the game. I'm not sold on the scholar as a 3 drop but it really made a big difference. Lilliana would likely be a very strong choice as well. But again at a certain point you may as well play Solar Flare.
ta ta for now Mr. Ruinator.
Its fun but a bit clunky still.
3x Merfolk Looter
1x Consecrated Sphinx
2x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2x Grave Titan
1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Spells
3x Think Twice
4x Unburial Rites
2x Wring Flesh
2x Dismember
2x Dissipate
1x Doom Blade
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Mana Leak
4x Forbidden Alchemy
2x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Forbidden Alchemy
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Island
4x Isolated Chapel
2x Nephalia Drownyard
2x Plains
4x Swamp
1x Day of Judgment
2x Dissipate
2x Divine Offering
2x Flashfreeze
1x Go for the Throat
1x Massacre Wurm
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Timely Reinforcements
It's clunky because you have nothing to draw you cards outside of Think Twice, and nothing to discard with other than looter. Mill yourself, dude. And what's with all these lists running Grave Titan over Sun Titan? Yeah this isn't Solar Flare, but it should be damn close. I think your deck is WAY too slow with all of the incredibly costly tricks. Go for sun titan. Get Phantasmal Images, and for bob's sake mill yourself! turn 4 rites into Sun titan into Image into Image into Ruinator seems a lot less "clunky" than trying to spit out an over costly creature. Also, where is Snapcaster Mage in your list? you could totally get away with running two (by all means NOT 4 like some of the other lists here) of those in place of some of the sub par instants and sorceries you have right now.
Edit: Oh my, I didn't see this until now: If you're trying to 'reanimate' the beats, then why in the heck are you running 30 lands? 4 or 6 of those are wasting slots for you.
2. Good Decks Have Good Plans
3. Good Decks Have Good Mana Bases
4. Good Decks Respect Their Opponents
5. Good Decks Have 75 Cards
6. Sometimes Even Good Decks Are Bad Choices
7. Sometimes Your 'Good Deck' Isn't
~Metamorph
4x Merfolk Looter
1x Consecrated Sphinx
2x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2x grave titan
1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Spells
3x Think Twice
4x Unburial Rites
2x Wring Flesh
2x Dismember
2x Dissipate
1x Doom Blade
4x Mana Leak
4x Forbidden Alchemy
3x Darkslick Shores
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Island
3x Isolated Chapel
2x Nephalia Drownyard
2x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Day of Judgment
2x Dissipate
2x Divine Offering
2x Flashfreeze
1x Go for the Throat
1x Massacre Wurm
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Timely Reinforcements
This list along with my previous lists in the dredge thread (and my own fliers thread) is focused around a more aggro approach. It's consistent in addition (i don't find myself praying to magically get options from my GY) as it gives me a myriad of options. I can play draw-go, control(ish) and aggro all in the same deck... which makes it loads of fun to play.
Frankenstein Reanimator:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Mindshrieker
3 Phantasmal Image
2 Sun Titan
2 Skaab Ruinator
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Merfolk Looter
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
Spells: 18
4 Ponder
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Dream Twist
2 Go for the Throat
2 Unburial Rites
3 Mana Leak
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Nephalia Drownyard
7 Island
4 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Doomblade
2 Mental Misstep
1 Mana Leak
2 Divine Offering
2 Spellskite
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Surgical Extraction
Let me know what you think. It has many different wincons.
2. Good Decks Have Good Plans
3. Good Decks Have Good Mana Bases
4. Good Decks Respect Their Opponents
5. Good Decks Have 75 Cards
6. Sometimes Even Good Decks Are Bad Choices
7. Sometimes Your 'Good Deck' Isn't
~Metamorph
the looter appears to be the only creature card you're likely to cast. unburial rites x 4 is too many in my opinion. you have 0 white cards main deck, 9 white sources of mana and 8 white cards in the sideboard. looks like an unbalanced solar flare deck. with 8 cards that cannot be cast until late game assuming you get up to 6+ mana, you will have very dead hands frequently. especially since the looter is the only way you have to drop a fattie from your hand into the yard. best advice i could give you is to drop 4 bombs for some # of civilized scholar/zombie infestation.
3 Sun Titan
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Phantasmal Image
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Spellskite
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
2 Feeling of Dread
4 Dream Twist
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Day of Judgment
4 Unburial Rites
2 Oblivion Ring
7 Island
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Seachrome Coast
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Spellskite
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2 Dismember
2 Midnight Haunting
4 Mental Misstep
1 Day of Judgment
2 Sever the Bloodline
2 Nihil Spellbomb
Jon Copora posted this deck today, and it looks really fun. Going to run it through a quick gauntlet tonight and tune up the sideboard.
4 Merfolk Looter
4 Deranged Assistant
4 Armoured Skaab
4 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Skaab Ruinator
2 Laboratory Maniac
4 Unburial Rites
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sheoldred, the Whispering One
1 Jin-Gitaxis, Core Auger
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm
14 Island
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Glacial Fortress
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Vengeful Pharaoh
2 Frost Titan
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Mental Misstep
2 Negate
2 Sever the Bloodline
1 Skaab Ruinator