MFP's Deck Tech: Reanimator - Standard Edition

Greetings fellow MtG enthusiasts and iMtG forum members. Mikefrompluto here with my very first article (YAAAAY!! 🎉🎂🌟.) With this introductory piece, I will be Deck Teching perhaps my favorite archetype: Reanimator. In particular, my current Standard FNM deck. Reanimator is the most fun deck type I've found, and I've even moved into other territories with it such as Legacy, Casual, and even Pauper. One day, I may even get over the banned list and slide into Modern's end of the spectrum (what's up, Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn and Goryo's Vengeance?) Without further ado, I present to you, dear reader, with (drumroll........)

Reanimator - Standard Edition 76 cards, 15 sideboard 4 Overgrown Tomb 3 Swamp 3 Rootbound Crag 3 Mountain 3 Dragonskull Summit 3 Plains 2 Temple Garden 2 Forest 1 Sunpetal Grove 24 lands 3 Lotleth Troll 3 Centaur Healer 2 Armada Wurm 2 Deathrite Shaman 2 Griselbrand 2 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope 1 Drogskol Reaver 16 creatures 4 Unburial Rites 4 Faithless Looting 4 Mulch 3 Searing Spear 2 Dreadbore 2 Abrupt Decay 2 Grisly Salvage 21 other spells Sideboard 3 Thrull Parasite 3 Glaring Spotlight 2 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord 2 Trading Post 2 Skullcrack 2 Lingering Souls 1 Deathrite Shaman 15 sideboard cards

Jumping right into it, I'll skip the lands and instead start with the creatures of the deck.

Creatures

Lotleth Troll
Being able to discard at will is extremely important, especially in a four color deck when I may be experiencing what oh-so-many players lovingly call "mana screw." No red for Faithless Looting? No problem. Just discard what I need to with the Troll. The fact that that makes it bigger AND it regenerates is just icing on the cake. My meta is aggro heavy, so having a regenerative blocker early game can be life saving.

Centaur Healer
Life gain on a sturdy 3/3 body for three mana? Yes please! I am almost always happy to draw this card, no matter what stage of the game I'm in. Early attacker/blocker until I can get things rolling, or good for Lotleth Troll fodder if I'm not in dire need of the three life the card provides. Also can be a good reanimator target if its down to the wire and I need a little boost (although this is obviously not a desirable play.)

Armada Wurm
A 5/5 that brings his own dice (we all know someone that never brings their own D20's to the shop and are dependent on others, but I'll save that rambling for another article) to the party. There's not really much else to say about him other than he's two creatures in one and is good ammo for one of my sideboard cards that I'll discuss later on.

Deathrite Shaman
What can I say that hasn't been said by every Jund deck under the sun? He mana fixes, gains life, and causes life loss ALL FOR ONE MANA. And a hybrid mana at that! He is also the main defensive component in the mirror matchup where the game turns into "who can get one and an Unburial Rites in the graveyard first" by wrecking their graveyard and benefitting you in the process.

Griselbrand
Ideally this is my first reanimator target. His ability helps me find what I need so much quicker and acts as a quasi-discard engine, and his lifelink capability helps push me ahead or at the very least get up to speed. And he flies. I just might shed tears when he rotates out of Standard.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
You mean you'll give all of my guys undying and a +1/+1 buff? Okay, I'm listening. You'll kill those pesky humans and you also have intimidate? Well I'm on board then! If I sideboard in a couple of cards on game two (mentioned later in this article,) this card gets even more potent.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Make all of my creatures and lands indestructible and throw it on an 8/8 flyer with vigilance. Pretty meat and potatoes and doesn't really need a thorough explanation of why it's included in here. Admittedly there's probably better, more useful cards that could take up this slot, but I like it.

Drogskol Reaver
Kind of the same deal as Avacyn. Take it or leave. With ten graveyard enablers already, his draw-a-card ability isn't as useful as it could be in, say, a lifegain deck. Unless, of course, I had multiples on the field. But I only have one, and with rotation on the horizon, I'm not investing into cards at this point that I won't use outside of standard. I'm actually considering dropping him for another Griselbrand.

That covers the creatures. Now lets move into the spells end of the deck. This wont be as long-winded as the creatures portion since the main differences between current reanimator decks really lie within creature selection.

Other Spells

Unburial Rites
The reason this deck exists. The fact that its flashback cost is one mana less than its original CMC (converted mana cost) makes a huge difference.

Faithless Looting
The main graveyard enabler in the deck. Draw two, discard two. Being able to decide what you want to discard is extremely helpful. Having flashback is also pretty sweet.

Mulch
Another graveyard enabler that helps me not get mana screwed. I'm considering adding Borborygmos Enraged in place of Drogskol Reaver solely for Mulch, being able to do possibly 15 damage from two cards.

Searing Spear
Good for getting in that last bit of damage and for knocking out smaller creatures in the beginning of the game. Side note: I miss Lightning Bolt .

Dreadbore
Kills planeswalkers and creatures. Not much else to say here.

Abrupt Decay
Good against anti-graveyards (oh hey, Rest in Peace,) and early game creatures. And it can't be countered. Not bad.

Grisly Salvage
Some more graveyard enabling. Originally I had three in here, but dropped one in favor of another Searing Spear as I found that more useful than I thought I would have.

See? Not as lengthy as you were expecting, was it? Up next is the sideboard and why I included each card in it.

Sideboard

Glaring Spotlight
I use this more for the "creatures you control gain hexproof and are unblockable" more than for nerfing my opponent's hexproofed creatures. Side this in against lifegain/extort decks where I have to cause a massive amount of damage in one turn.

Thrull Parasite
I typically use this against planeswalkers when I find I'm not reaching my Dreadbores or Searing Spears quick enough. Also good when Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is on the field to remove counters from the undying triggers.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Remember earlier when I mentioned how Armada Wurm and his tokened brethren is good ammo for one of my sideboard cards? This is that card. He has good syngery with the aforementioned Mikaeus, the Unhallowed via everything having undying, and he is also good as reusable fodder for Lotleth Troll if I'm feeling bold and want to sac a couple of lands (which Deathrite Shaman can then turn into mana.)

Trading Post
I'll side this in against fast aggro decks for either the lifegain, or the ability to produce chump blockers. The other two abilities aren't really relevant.

Skullcrack
See: Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation.

Lingering Souls
Another chump blocking card, helped by the fact that it has flashback. Can also get some early damage in if cast early enough via producing flyers. 

Deathrite Shaman
In a mirror match, this guy will be upped to three so I can wreck their graveyard as fast as possible.

Well that wraps it up for this Deck Tech. Commentary and criticism on the deck and article itself is welcome. Please be on the lookout for my next article, which will be an open letter to Wizards begging them to make a suitable replacement for Unburial Rites once rotation hits so I can keep playing this archetype in Standard that I enjoy so much.

Decided I would exercise my writing muscle and write up a deck tech for my personal favorite deck type. Tell me what ya think!

Very cool. I like the explanations, very colorful. +1 (in 24 hours)

Very cool. I like the explanations, very colorful. +1 (in 24 hours)

Thanks man!

Actually looks pretty sweet!  Although, I'd like to point out that you can't reanimate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if that's what you were going for before the deck tech

Actually looks pretty sweet!  Although, I'd like to point out that you can't reanimate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if that's what you were going for before the deck tech

Meanwhile, Shallow Grave and Goryo's Vengeance are crying in the corner because of how little they are loved.

Quote from: Silent1236 on March 28, 2013, 05:01:44 PM

Actually looks pretty sweet!  Although, I'd like to point out that you can't reanimate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if that's what you were going for before the deck tech

Meanwhile, Shallow Grave and Goryo's Vengeance are crying in the corner because of how little they are loved.

I'm starting to want to make Legacy reanimator....

Actually looks pretty sweet!  Although, I'd like to point out that you can't reanimate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if that's what you were going for before the deck tech

Thanks!

Emrakul's shuffle trigger goes onto the stack, in which you can respond with Goryo's vengeance and put Emrakul into play. You don't get an extra turn, but you still get to swing for 15 and they'd have to sac six things.

I too love reanimator decks.  I really like your build; it's different but still competitive, which is something I typically strive for in my decks that are based off of Tier 1 archetypes.  Love Lotleth Troll in these decks, he gives reanimator a swift discard outlet without having to worry about Liliana of the Veil or splashing red for Faithless Looting, and he does double duty as an early-game legitimate threat against slower decks.

I probably wouldn't run Drogskol Reaver for the reasons you already mentioned, but also I'm always wary about putting cards out of my colors in reanimator.  If someone uses Rest in Peace or Slaughter Games Unburial Rites, Reaver ends up being a dead card.  That being said, if you get it out there, most people just scoop.  I think reaver is the best over-the-top creature in the format right now, because it evades all the most popular kill spells (Abrupt Decay, Ultimate Price, and Selesnya Charm).

And I feel like Angel of Serenity is a must.  I'm not playing this deck, I'm playing against it as a control player, and let me tell you, Angel of Serenity exiled under a second Angel of Serenity when my opponent has the mana to hard cast her is pretty much a nightmare situation. 

Awesome deck man, I'm sure I kicks major butts.

I actually might try out angel of serenity in place ofthe Reaver. Thanks for the insight!

Quote from: Silent1236 on March 28, 2013, 05:01:44 PM

Actually looks pretty sweet!  Although, I'd like to point out that you can't reanimate Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, if that's what you were going for before the deck tech

Thanks!

Emrakul's shuffle trigger goes onto the stack, in which you can respond with Goryo's vengeance and put Emrakul into play. You don't get an extra turn, but you still get to swing for 15 and they'd have to sac six things.

This is the point where I open my mouth and insert my foot.  That's awesome!  I now have three different deck ideas to split my lone Emmy into  

Awesome article! 
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said.

Mulch. Another graveyard enabler that helps me not get mana screwed. I'm considering adding Borborygmos Enraged in place of Drogskol Reaver solely for Mulch, being able to do possibly 15 damage from two

This has won me many games. Drawing into
 Griselbrand to reanimate  Borborygmos Enraged and using as much life (minus 7 at a time) as I have to stack my hand full of land and discarding for a gazillion damage is a fun way to win!

Awesome article! 
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said.

Quote

Mulch. Another graveyard enabler that helps me not get mana screwed. I'm considering adding Borborygmos Enraged in place of Drogskol Reaver solely for Mulch, being able to do possibly 15 damage from two

This has won me many games. Drawing into
 Griselbrand to reanimate  Borborygmos Enraged and using as much life (minus 7 at a time) as I have to stack my hand full of land and discarding for a gazillion damage is a fun way to win!

Thanks man! Yeah the fact that griselbrand also helps with Borborygmos enraged was completely lost on me, so thanks for pointing it! I think I may try that in place of the Drogskol Reaver.

Great job MFP!

Ill be waiting for that d20 article now ;P

Great job MFP!

Thanks man!