This is just a basic shell of a junk reanimator list I think may be viable. The mana base needs tweaking but the overall power level is there. The game plan is simple, stick a Whip of Erebos and use it to win.
Creatures: Sylvan Caryatid//Gatecreeper Vine:They serve the role of low cost chump blockers as well as mana acceleration or fixing. So far I have been delighted much more than I thought I would concerning the vine. It is not impractical to whip the vine into play during a stalemate to guarantee a land drop.
Obzedat, Ghost Council: In case anyone hasn't read the preview article, or the numerous people excited about it yet, Obzedat works incredibly well with whip. If you whip Obzy into play and exile him during your end step, you get him back during your next upkeep as per normal. Obzedat+Whip is a drain for 7 a turn that they cannot even aim instant kill at to stop permanently, he must be exiled or they have to deal with the whip first.
Ashen Rider: Probably the second best whip target after Obzedat. If you manage to cast her you get an easy 2 or 3 for 1. If you whip, then you get to kill and drain for 5. All upside.
Misc. Ramblings:
The main deck as it stands is dead to Blood Baron. I recommend sacrifice effects in the side.
The deck may be weak to blue based control strategies if it cannot resolve a whip. Thoughtseize and a few sided duress may be able to shore up the strategy.
Aggro decks that cannot kill whip, will lose to it.
Have you done any testing yet to see if this works good and early too? It seems like a good strategy but obviously not as powerful as the original reanimator...
Why not try to make use of Return from the Underworld? or Angel of Serenity? With the whip you could at least return AoS, exile a bunch of their dudes (or yours!), attack with it, and then it would be exiled, but at least their creatures are gone, or you got more stuff back to your hand. The only problem would be hard casting it.
Have you done any testing yet to see if this works good and early too? It seems like a good strategy but obviously not as powerful as the original reanimator...
Why not try to make use of Return from the Underworld? or Angel of Serenity? With the whip you could at least return AoS, exile a bunch of their dudes (or yours!), attack with it, and then it would be exiled, but at least their creatures are gone, or you got more stuff back to your hand. The only problem would be hard casting it.
AoS is probably just better than Ashen Rider, but I wanted to try the new card.
Return to Underworld may very well deserve a spot, it's very powerful.
So far it's been a little weak to mono-aggro but I believe that is more a tuning issue than a deck issue
@Shade: I didn't forget about it, I do not believe it is powerful enough
Played a few matches to get ze kinks out and decided my curve was way too high, and AoS is just better than Ashen Rider.
The same thing junk rites did. Kill the ooze, dig for another whip? It's mostly a Junk midrange deck that synergizes and exploits whip. I've won games without it.
What do you do if they drop Scavenging Ooze or just destroy the whip?
Scavening Ooze is bad against reanimator, but generally it shouldn't inhibit it from being a solid midrange deck (I always thought of unburial rites as my "insurance" when playing the deck. You don't need it, but its always there to help!). Junk has always had ways to take care of creature's. In this case, you could use anything from Abrupt Decay to Putrefy to get rid of it, or even the new "Hero's Downfall" which is also included in the deck. I also didn't realize it at first, but the whip is also an awesome alternative to Thragtusk, that way we can at least stabilize in a different way with lifelink.
I like your new list. I'll definitely want to give it a go. You may also want to give Vraska the Unseen a go. I always played her in my old Junk Rites deck, or at least had her in SB. She is a fun and powerful card. You may also want to consider doing -1 Abrupt Decay and -1 Hero's Downfall for another 2 of creature card or something else. You have a lot of removal - Reaper of the Wilds may be a good addition to the deck, or another lower costing creature card such as Loxodon Smiter or Sin Collector. One last thing is that maybe upping the whip to 4 total copies. I may have said its just insurance before like Unburial Rites but it's also a good back up and a solid part of what helps the deck work great. Also why 4 GS over 3 Commune of the Gods? At least with Commune you can get the whip, while with GS you cannot. I'd flip em and see how that works. Lastly, I think maybe 4 or 3 Obzedat should be better. Think about it - his ability works INSANELY with the whip. You can reanimate him and exile him before the whip goes off on him, that way you get him back forever, and he even has haste when entering. You also get life, including the life you'd gain from him attacking. He is a win-win situation and a fantastic card in general.
Don't forget Obzedat's Aid. You can even use it to reanimate a Whip.
As much as that may seem like a good alternative for Unburial Rites, when your digging through you deck and stuff is going to the graveyard and it does not have flashback, all it is doing is taking up space in your deck that could be replaced with something better. Sure, if you have it in you hand it'd be fantastic, but what if you don't? It becomes inconsistent after that.
Angel of Serenity is still pretty amazing. I would try adding in a playset of Voice of Resurgance. Its good with Rescue and its solid against holding off aggro early on. Its not the best whip target but its mainly so you have an early game. There is also sin collector which is good against RDW since they play enough spells to hit.
I would probably cut some of the removal spells since if your trying to mill all the time, they get in the way of the synergy. Thoughtseize is good but its better in the side if your having more trouble with aggro decks. Parkia's Mender seems like it gets in the way of the synergy too, how is that card working out?To deal with Blood Baron I would sidedeck Lifebane and Scavenging Ooze to get around it.
I like your new list. I'll definitely want to give it a go. You may also want to give Vraska the Unseen a go. I always played her in my old Junk Rites deck, or at least had her in SB. She is a fun and powerful card. You may also want to consider doing -1 Abrupt Decay and -1 Hero's Downfall for another 2 of creature card or something else. You have a lot of removal - Reaper of the Wilds may be a good addition to the deck, or another lower costing creature card such as Loxodon Smiter or Sin Collector. One last thing is that maybe upping the whip to 4 total copies. I may have said its just insurance before like Unburial Rites but it's also a good back up and a solid part of what helps the deck work great. Also why 4 GS over 3 Commune of the Gods? At least with Commune you can get the whip, while with GS you cannot. I'd flip em and see how that works. Lastly, I think maybe 4 or 3 Obzedat should be better. Think about it - his ability works INSANELY with the whip. You can reanimate him and exile him before the whip goes off on him, that way you get him back forever, and he even has haste when entering. You also get life, including the life you'd gain from him attacking. He is a win-win situation and a fantastic card in general.
Vraska may very well find a home in the 75. Theros has most defnitely diversified the threats. There are must answer enchantments/creatures/artifacts/and walkers. Vraska deals with all of the above quite well.
4 Whip seems excessive, I will try it out though to see how it flows.
The numbers on GS/Commune are because I find myself looking for land quite often off of the first dig I find and that isn't an option with commune. If I hit a whip off of a GS I can always mender it back.
As much as that may seem like a good alternative for Unburial Rites, when your digging through you deck and stuff is going to the graveyard and it does not have flashback, all it is doing is taking up space in your deck that could be replaced with something better. Sure, if you have it in you hand it'd be fantastic, but what if you don't? It becomes inconsistent after that.
Angel of Serenity is still pretty amazing. I would try adding in a playset of Voice of Resurgance. Its good with Rescue and its solid against holding off aggro early on. Its not the best whip target but its mainly so you have an early game. There is also sin collector which is good against RDW since they play enough spells to hit.
I would probably cut some of the removal spells since if your trying to mill all the time, they get in the way of the synergy. Thoughtseize is good but its better in the side if your having more trouble with aggro decks. Parkia's Mender seems like it gets in the way of the synergy too, how is that card working out?To deal with Blood Baron I would sidedeck Lifebane and Scavenging Ooze to get around it.
I may consider those changes. Finding room is the hardest part. I'm wary of going down in the number of removal spells, but I will try it out.
Parika's Mender is insane. I'm not sure how you think it gets in the way of synergy. It's an alternate method to re-buy cards in the graveyard when the whip isn't out, and a way to get the whip back from the yard.
Id probably take out Decay and Thoughtseize. Decay is situational and Thoughtseize makes the late game worse. i would sideboard thoughtseize since its not good against aggro and this deck has a hard time with that match up. sideboarding 3 duress, 2 sin collector and main decking 4 thoughtseize along with main decking lifebane zombie sounds like overkill for control, which is why i would just move thoughtseize to the side. voice is good vs control too so it balances out your curve and match ups better. also it keeps shadowborn around and makes it a real threat.
are you not running elvish mystic because theres not much to ramp into turn 1? i guess parkia is good with the whip the more that i think about it since its an etb ability. i would probably use 3 commune then to get the grave more loaded.
commune with the gods is a house. being able to find primeval bounty or verdant haven is pretty nice. Too bad oblivion ring isn't around anymore or I'd run that over putrefy. I've been loving verdant haven. gains life, fixes mana, and you can find it with commune.
started off with lifebane zombie instead of centaur healer, but the mana was too inconsistent for it so I made the swap. Centaur healer has been pretty good against the more aggressive decks.
the miser obzedat's aid has been pretty good. being able to salvage/commune into primeval bounty and bring it in with obzedat's aid is pretty stellar. Also can get whip. Sometimes it end up in the graveyard, but every time I draw it it's great. Still I hadn't thought of pharika's mender. It could simply just be better than obzedat's aid. I'll have to try it out.
speaking of primeval bounty... play this card. I haven't lost a single game where it's resolved.
creature count is kinda low for shadowborn demon, but most of the time I'm just playing him for value anyway.
Other cards I wouldn't mind testing:
rot-farm skeleton
abhorrent overlord
sanguine bond
blood baron of vizkopa
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Big thanks to DarkNightCavalier from heroes of the planes studios for the sig!
With all the life gain a blood baron of your own could hit the 10/10 status. Is there another card that uses lifelink besides making you harder to kill? sanguine bond you can dig for, recur, double obzy drain, of course whip bond is like double strike or trample for all.
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2 Ashen Rider
3 Desecration Demon
3 Gatecreeper Vine
3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Shadowborn Demon
2 Pharika's Mender
4 Sylvan Caryitad
3 Whip of Erebos
4 Grisly Salvage
3 Commune with the Gods
Misc.
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
Lands
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
3 Godless Shrine
3 Golgari Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
2 Temple of Silence
4 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
Creatures:
Sylvan Caryatid//Gatecreeper Vine:They serve the role of low cost chump blockers as well as mana acceleration or fixing. So far I have been delighted much more than I thought I would concerning the vine. It is not impractical to whip the vine into play during a stalemate to guarantee a land drop.
Desecration Demon: Known quantity. Beefy body.
Shadowborn Demon: Comes in to kill something and even if it doesn't get to stick around, it can be whipped back to do double duty.
Pharika's Mender: She basically does Eternal Witness duty. If you grisly into whip+her you can at least get your whip back.
Obzedat, Ghost Council: In case anyone hasn't read the preview article, or the numerous people excited about it yet, Obzedat works incredibly well with whip. If you whip Obzy into play and exile him during your end step, you get him back during your next upkeep as per normal. Obzedat+Whip is a drain for 7 a turn that they cannot even aim instant kill at to stop permanently, he must be exiled or they have to deal with the whip first.
Ashen Rider: Probably the second best whip target after Obzedat. If you manage to cast her you get an easy 2 or 3 for 1. If you whip, then you get to kill and drain for 5. All upside.
Misc. Ramblings:
The main deck as it stands is dead to Blood Baron. I recommend sacrifice effects in the side.
The deck may be weak to blue based control strategies if it cannot resolve a whip. Thoughtseize and a few sided duress may be able to shore up the strategy.
Aggro decks that cannot kill whip, will lose to it.
Sigil: an MMORPCCG ">Mexus: An MMORPCCG
Why not try to make use of Return from the Underworld? or Angel of Serenity? With the whip you could at least return AoS, exile a bunch of their dudes (or yours!), attack with it, and then it would be exiled, but at least their creatures are gone, or you got more stuff back to your hand. The only problem would be hard casting it.
Melira Pod - Modern
AoS is probably just better than Ashen Rider, but I wanted to try the new card.
Return to Underworld may very well deserve a spot, it's very powerful.
So far it's been a little weak to mono-aggro but I believe that is more a tuning issue than a deck issue
@Shade: I didn't forget about it, I do not believe it is powerful enough
Played a few matches to get ze kinks out and decided my curve was way too high, and AoS is just better than Ashen Rider.
Here is the new lower casting cost version...
2 Angel of Serenity
4 Desecration Demon
3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Pharika's Mender
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Thoughtseize
3 Commune with the Gods
3 Whip of Erebos
6 Forest
4 Godless Shrine
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Swamp
4 Temple Garden
3 Temple of Silence
2 Shadowborn Demon
3 Sin Collector
3 Dark Betrayal
4 Devour Flesh
3 Duress
Sigil: an MMORPCCG ">Mexus: An MMORPCCG
Sigil: an MMORPCCG ">Mexus: An MMORPCCG
Scavening Ooze is bad against reanimator, but generally it shouldn't inhibit it from being a solid midrange deck (I always thought of unburial rites as my "insurance" when playing the deck. You don't need it, but its always there to help!). Junk has always had ways to take care of creature's. In this case, you could use anything from Abrupt Decay to Putrefy to get rid of it, or even the new "Hero's Downfall" which is also included in the deck. I also didn't realize it at first, but the whip is also an awesome alternative to Thragtusk, that way we can at least stabilize in a different way with lifelink.
I like your new list. I'll definitely want to give it a go. You may also want to give Vraska the Unseen a go. I always played her in my old Junk Rites deck, or at least had her in SB. She is a fun and powerful card. You may also want to consider doing -1 Abrupt Decay and -1 Hero's Downfall for another 2 of creature card or something else. You have a lot of removal - Reaper of the Wilds may be a good addition to the deck, or another lower costing creature card such as Loxodon Smiter or Sin Collector. One last thing is that maybe upping the whip to 4 total copies. I may have said its just insurance before like Unburial Rites but it's also a good back up and a solid part of what helps the deck work great. Also why 4 GS over 3 Commune of the Gods? At least with Commune you can get the whip, while with GS you cannot. I'd flip em and see how that works. Lastly, I think maybe 4 or 3 Obzedat should be better. Think about it - his ability works INSANELY with the whip. You can reanimate him and exile him before the whip goes off on him, that way you get him back forever, and he even has haste when entering. You also get life, including the life you'd gain from him attacking. He is a win-win situation and a fantastic card in general.
As much as that may seem like a good alternative for Unburial Rites, when your digging through you deck and stuff is going to the graveyard and it does not have flashback, all it is doing is taking up space in your deck that could be replaced with something better. Sure, if you have it in you hand it'd be fantastic, but what if you don't? It becomes inconsistent after that.
Melira Pod - Modern
I would probably cut some of the removal spells since if your trying to mill all the time, they get in the way of the synergy. Thoughtseize is good but its better in the side if your having more trouble with aggro decks. Parkia's Mender seems like it gets in the way of the synergy too, how is that card working out?To deal with Blood Baron I would sidedeck Lifebane and Scavenging Ooze to get around it.
Vraska may very well find a home in the 75. Theros has most defnitely diversified the threats. There are must answer enchantments/creatures/artifacts/and walkers. Vraska deals with all of the above quite well.
4 Whip seems excessive, I will try it out though to see how it flows.
The numbers on GS/Commune are because I find myself looking for land quite often off of the first dig I find and that isn't an option with commune. If I hit a whip off of a GS I can always mender it back.
I may consider those changes. Finding room is the hardest part. I'm wary of going down in the number of removal spells, but I will try it out.
Parika's Mender is insane. I'm not sure how you think it gets in the way of synergy. It's an alternate method to re-buy cards in the graveyard when the whip isn't out, and a way to get the whip back from the yard.
Sigil: an MMORPCCG ">Mexus: An MMORPCCG
are you not running elvish mystic because theres not much to ramp into turn 1? i guess parkia is good with the whip the more that i think about it since its an etb ability. i would probably use 3 commune then to get the grave more loaded.
4 godless shrine
4 overgrown tomb
4 temple of silence
3 forest
3 swamp
2 plains
4 loxodon smiter
3 centaur healer
2 desecration demon
3 shadowborn demon
2 obzedat, ghost council
2 angel of serenity
3 whip of erebos
1 obzedat's aid
4 grisly salvage
3 commune with the gods
1 primeval bounty
2 verdant haven
commune with the gods is a house. being able to find primeval bounty or verdant haven is pretty nice. Too bad oblivion ring isn't around anymore or I'd run that over putrefy. I've been loving verdant haven. gains life, fixes mana, and you can find it with commune.
started off with lifebane zombie instead of centaur healer, but the mana was too inconsistent for it so I made the swap. Centaur healer has been pretty good against the more aggressive decks.
the miser obzedat's aid has been pretty good. being able to salvage/commune into primeval bounty and bring it in with obzedat's aid is pretty stellar. Also can get whip. Sometimes it end up in the graveyard, but every time I draw it it's great. Still I hadn't thought of pharika's mender. It could simply just be better than obzedat's aid. I'll have to try it out.
speaking of primeval bounty... play this card. I haven't lost a single game where it's resolved.
creature count is kinda low for shadowborn demon, but most of the time I'm just playing him for value anyway.
Other cards I wouldn't mind testing:
rot-farm skeleton
abhorrent overlord
sanguine bond
blood baron of vizkopa
Modern:
Twinning End
Commander:
Mayael the Anema