[Deck] Reanimator

[Deathiance]

Originally Posted by csy

Id love to hear the mav report.

Oh okay. Why not?
0-1 for him, me resolving Inkwell Leviathan as only option with my hand, but taking some damage through reanimate. Meanwhile he played Birds, Noble Hierarch. After me resolving the Leviathan, he tried to play a Knight, me countering, resulting in a Zenith for 2 -> Pridemage. Then the Paradise Bird (2/3 attacking) hit me to death, cause I didn't draw any out on that.

1-1 Very easy, u-Sea, go. He played forest, zenith -> dryad; Entomb on his turn -> Iona, Drawing, Island, Exhume -> White.

2-1 Just countering Pridemage and Ooze, resolving Archon and Jin -> gg

[csy]

very nice, GW has been a bit of a tough one for me a long with UW blade. UWblade being what I believe is pur WORST matchup. I can win almost every game 1, but G2 -G3 are rough fights.

here is how I've been playing vs UW blade.

Standard issue reanimator creature package with the 3 ponder 2 thoughtseize setup. 17 lands. Inkwell in Main, sphinx and blazing in SB.

Game 1 lets say I win, resolving fast inkwell, and usually just shutting the game down with that.

Game 2 Im on the draw, so I pull out 3 daze 3 studies 2 animate dead 1 exhume and bring in 2 surgical 3truth/vapor 4 show and tell

if I lose I now have seen hopefully their SB plan vs me, either leyline or crypt or surgical

if its leyline I leave the SB as is
if its crypt/surgical I switch back to 3 daze dropping the bounce cards.

And just try and play it out as best as I can. Does this seem correct? I understand we have to make the most informed sideboard decisions vs any opponent, but this to me feels like Im doing it right. Would love some critique/tips vs UW blade. I always go for inkwell first then jin/iona depending on the protection I have or if they have a karakas Ill go for archangel.

[jaded grunt]

Is Rites of Refusal a possible card in this deck over Daze? I can see why Daze is often better but I can also see the synergy that Rites of Refusal brings to the table. I guess it comes down to how often we really wish we could discard cards that we have in hand. I guess we don't have that many cards in our deck that we would rather have in our graveyard. We're probably going to be digging for them rather than discarding them. But maybe they end up in our hand often enough to make them viable with Rites?

[Warden]

Originally Posted by jaded grunt

Is Rites of Refusal a possible card in this deck over Daze? I can see why Daze is often better but I can also see the synergy that Rites of Refusal brings to the table. I guess it comes down to how often we really wish we could discard cards that we have in hand. I guess we don't have that many cards in our deck that we would rather have in our graveyard. We're probably going to be digging for them rather than discarding them. But maybe they end up in our hand often enough to make them viable with Rites?

No. Daze is a free counter used in conjunction with our blow-out plan. You absolutely need to get stuff through (ie; reanimation, etc). Force/Daze is by far the best route to do this. If you want to ADD to that package, you'd be cutting in on the flex slots that's TS/Ponder/Show and Tell in many lists.

[BattleFish]

I can't possible see Rites of Refusal being used in anything. You want to control your discards. You can't wait for someone to play a random spell to start discarding.

Thought Scour might be interesting since it is instant speed. As long you ponder and brainstorm cards on top, you can realistically bin fatties at the opponents end step without losing any card advantage.

[Deathiance]

Warden, I'd love to have You comment my new list on page 27. Give me hints and advices please..

[Heresy19]

@Deathiance:

I don’t know about Warden, but here’s my suggestions:

Maindeck
-1x Blazing Archon
-1x Daze
+1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
+1x Flooded Strand

Sideboard
-1x Inkwell Leviathan
-1x Sphinx of Steel Wind
+1x Pithing Needle
+1x Echoing Truth or Chain of Vapor

Blazing is a good creature, but Elesh Norn deals with weenies right away on top of boosting your own beats. Also, I’d rather have more bounce in the sb against problems like Leyline or Cage instead of duplicates of creatures already md.

Other than that, the deck seems really decent

Cheers!

[Warden]

Originally Posted by Deathiance

Warden, I'd love to have You comment my new list on page 27. Give me hints and advices please..

Thanks. I'm not a definitive source on this deck (Landstill I'd call myself a guru, Storm I understand very well, I probably have a basic concept of every other deck) but I have some things worth mentioning. Take it for what it's worth, I'm still learning to pilot this thing myself.

First, we have similar lists. There's only so much variance for the established MD. I like many things you have: 8 critters, 36 spells, 16 land. That's been working pretty good for me and I just tested before the superbowl this weekend against UR Delver (all game 1 scenarios). I keep learning lots of things. My idea of the SB for this deck and yours are very different entities, but I won't get on a high horse. There are different SB philosophies. Always have, always will be.
Second, the creature batting order is stock. HOWEVER, I think Elesh > Blazing. This debate can happen until we're blue in the face and I believe there's a lot of legitimate arguing on both sides of the fence. I agree with Heresy19 that you need to do this swap. My logic? Everything is x/1, x/2, x/3. The only "big dude" creatures are (a) KOTR, (b) Goyf, (c) Progenitus (d) Emrakul. Being that the last 2 need conditions to come out (because you always want to cheat/have an engine to pump them out, consistent 'bigger' threats (consistent in the sense that they hit the table as printed) are reduced to KOTR, Goyf. Elesh and Blazing die to removal but Elesh can be a well-needed Wrath in the interum. Blazing goes down and you're just up a creek.
Third, I agree with Heresy19 again in that you cut 1x Daze. At the moment, I have that daze become Ponder #3. I like Ponder AND TS to be 3x. It makes things rather consistant and IMO the extra shuffle/dig makes up for the extra fetch straight-up.
Why Daze? I don't think you need 4x.
Last, my SB if I were to run at an event tmrw would be:
4 Show and Tell
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Bounce (E.Truth or Truth/Wipe split...doesn't matter they're both good)
2-3 Meta targets (depends on the room that day/what you're feeling)
2-3 Meta spells (duress, spell pierce, perish, needle)

Things worth testing:
Tech A: Liliana Sexypants. Looks absolutely out of place but actually has synergies with this deck + acts as removal you'd wish you had in certain matches. The discard is pretty much going to benefit you. The finisher (if you ever get there) is GG out of nowhere. There have been long games where I would have benefitted from seeing her +1 for several turns of "draw, go" and finisher-off the game. This needs testing
Tech B: Sensei's Divining Top > Ponder. I've debated this but the constant filtering would only benefit you. Sculpts hands, adds to potential counter-wars, works well with the billion fetches we run, etc. Also needs testing.
Tech C: Sundering Titan. In the current environment, there's SO MUCH color diversity. It's a big nasty fast-clock who actually works in your favor when it dies (wipe their lands twice). The only reservation I have is that delver could still win in spite of this thing dropping on the table. Their ppl vs your 7/10. He lacks trample, so things could get disastrous when racing.

Originally Posted by Heresy19

@Deathiance:

I don’t know about Warden, but here’s my suggestions....Blazing is a good creature, but Elesh Norn deals with weenies right away on top of boosting your own beats. Also, I’d rather have more bounce in the sb against problems like Leyline or Cage instead of duplicates of creatures already md...

I have the same opinion of Elesh. It's just the better stopper in the MD. I think Blazing out the board has very strong merits.

**
Hope I gave people things to think about. Enjoy guys

[csy]

I keep archon around almost exclusively for the mirror in my SB. I really like the idea of running 2 lily but Im gonna have to test the hell out of it before Id take it to an event. Im gonna give her a run tonight. I've been doing testing on trice every night under the name csy. in a room called GP testing. Hit me up if you see me online.

[rxavage]

I've always thought that sundering titan could only destroy basic lands. I bought a shiny one when I acquired my critter package for the deck and I never included it because of aforementioned reason.

I love top and want to use it in every deck over ponder. What matchups would lili improve for us? I like the idea though.

[csy]

Personally I feel she'd help with blade. But that's with 0 testing.

[Heresy19]

IMHO Lili would be good in a deck with Dark Rituals.

As for the TOPs over Ponder, it would be in the same build as the dark ritual/liliana one. The reason I'd rather have 3x ponder over 3x tops is that ponder counts towards FoW. That's the only reason for me :P

[Warden]

Yea seriously I think I raise some REALLY interesting discussion points. There's a lot to think about and obviously more elements than I'm raising. I'll answer these real quick and finish off some of my grad work (it's 10:30 right now after a lovely 7-930pm class. yuck)

Originally Posted by csy

I keep archon around almost exclusively for the mirror in my SB. I really like the idea of running 2 lily but Im gonna have to test the hell out of it before Id take it to an event. Im gonna give her a run tonight. I've been doing testing on trice every night under the name csy. in a room called GP testing. Hit me up if you see me online.

Archon is good to help Elesh in "i turn off the creature game" strategy. For the mirror, you need to run Sheoldred. Hands down the best creature in the matchup. You out-CA them because they sac while you free-reanimate. I'll let you get your blazing archon/jin all day. On your upkeep, sac it. I'll get my friends to eat yours.

Originally Posted by rxavage

I've always thought that sundering titan could only destroy basic lands. I bought a shiny one when I acquired my critter package for the deck and I never included it because of aforementioned reason.

I love top and want to use it in every deck over ponder. What matchups would lili improve for us? I like the idea though.

Basic land types. So duals count. Only problem is that you MUST pick a swamp and island you own if they are the only swamp and island on the table. Could get muddy there. Against decks with 3 or 4 dual types, this thing is nearly a 1 sided armageddon. Killing it or bouncing it also causes problems because it leaves play, thus triggering another round of nuking lands.

Originally Posted by csy

Personally I feel she'd help with blade. But that's with 0 testing.

The real reason she's could be a champ is because threat densities are SO LOW. With the exception of Zoo and Maverick, everyone is running 10-12 threats and a trillion spells. On top of this, tempo is an all-time high priority. Lili can throw wrenches where you never had lines of play (umm sac a dude. yup. discard AGAIN, etc).

Originally Posted by Heresy19

IMHO Lili would be good in a deck with Dark Rituals.

As for the TOPs over Ponder, it would be in the same build as the dark ritual/liliana one. The reason I'd rather have 3x ponder over 3x tops is that ponder counts towards FoW. That's the only reason for me :P

Idk. If I were to seriously press Liliana, I'd definitely tweak my manabase. Probably run 17 to ensure I can ramp to BB1 costs. I don't support the dark ritual route because that card is an absolute bust down the pipe. It's a wet dream to be able to T1 drop a dude AND reanimate but the odds of that are so slim. Same goes for T1/2 Lili. Topdecking a ritual is just awful no matter how you look at it. Lili would be to extend your game/give you a different angle. Pairing her with ritual IMO goes against this.
For tops > ponder, the blue issue is negligible. You have adequate coverage of blue cards. You could even go 2 ponder/4 daze (over how I feel 3 is good). There's ways to up the blue count. Running Emp. Angel and Jin also count towards FoW in a pinch.

*Lots of things to think about and even more to test. Csy, I'm on a mac so I lack any "programs" to play things on. I also have the worst schedule ever (i just don't have downtime except a little 20 minutes here or there). Apologies because I'd love to test with people on MTGS. Always down for learning more.

[csy]

Cockatrice is for Mac too. I'm a Mac guy

[GAROU]

I'm having kind of a hard time to finish up my list. I'd appreciate some help from more experienced players of the deck.

Here's my current list:

Deck
Reanimation Targets (8) 3 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria 1 Angel of Despair 1 Empyrial Archangel Reanimation Spells (11) 4 Reanimate 4 Exhume 3 Animate Dead Blue Spells (16) 4 Force of Will 3 Daze 1 Misdirection 4 Brainstorm 4 Careful Study	Black Spells (8) 4 Entomb 3 Thoughtseize 1 Duress Lands (17) 4 Underground Sea 4 Polluted Delta 2 Blue Fetch 2 Black Fetch 3 Swamp 2 Island	Sideboard 4 Show and Tell 3 Pithing Needle 2 Flusterstorm 2 Echoing Truth 2 Chain of Vapor 1 Blazing Archon 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One

I think I should put Ponder somewhere on the MD, but I really don't know what to cut for it. I'm really interested in trying the Sensei's Divining Top but that falls under the same situation I mentioned for Ponder. Also, Iona is not very satisfying on the MD, people almost never get locked (as most decks have 2 or more colors and have answers on each color) but I don't know what to insert on her place.

Is Inkwell Leviathan worth it on the MD?

On the SB, I'm thinking of trying Surgical Extraction and some other creatures like Terastodon or Sundering Titan (which I wouldn't know when to side in).