Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



120x90 Ad Space
For Rent!



BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Type 2 reanimator deck

05.01.06

hey dude what's up? i love reading your deck fixes. i so try to practice deck building, so i went for something a lil more hardcore....i noticed that wizards put out a lot of discard and cards like zombif and vigor mortis. so it clicked! why not make a reanimator deck worthy of tourneys (which i frequently go to). id really appreciate if u help me with this, i wanna get it perfect! and if u could could u maybe help me with a side board? i have an idea, but i think you as the pro so ur opinion counts!!!
 
(creatures-21)
4-lore broker
4-thought courier
4-birds of paradise
1-excruciator
1-blazing archon
1-autochron wurm
1-borborygmos
1-kiki jiki, mirror breakor
1-mindleech mass
1-patron of akki
1-skeletal vampire
1-szadek, lord of secrets
 
(lands-23-)
1-yavimaya coast
1-Llanowar wastes
1-overgrown tomb
10-forest
5-island
5-swamp
 
(spells-16)
4-vigor mortis
4-zombify
4-farseek
2-putrefy
2-compulsive research
 
well, thats it! i know i have a weird creature choice, but i really just chose some kool cards to put in as a filler. turned out to be good. i really wanna run with mindleech mass as a big beat, and like maybe blazing archon as a creature stopper....i can go off turn three about 60-70% of the time. i love the deck so u can choose new creature as the win but i would like to keep blazing archon and mindleech mass in. i want to play in it this Friday, but when ever u get to it is kool. i know u haven't had a deck like this pop up have you? hahaha, my friends at the tourney place helped me alot just to see if i can finish it. i have horrible luck on getting dual lands...those three u see here came from 26 boosters(13 ravnica, 13 9th edition). well thx man . cant wait to see ur magic work on this thing.
 
thx, josh!

Standard-legal reanimator sounds like a fun, powerful idea.  There's plenty of powerhouse creatures with mana costs you'd rather not pay in Ravnica block, and lots of ways to bring them back as well.  I was a bit surprised to see you went with black, blue, and green as a mana base, but I think you're using the colors fairly well.  Black for the actual reanimation spells (of course), blue for card draw (and subsequent discard if necessary), and green for Putrefy, enhancing Vigor Mortis, and mana fixing (though admittedly you'd have fewer mana problems without Green). 
Now, let's start with your creature base.  You've got twelve little creatures that aid in setting up your strategy, and nine reanimator targets.  This is a solid system, but I think the creatures you've chosen could be better.

First, the smaller creatures (the ones you actually pay mana for).  Birds of Paradise is about the best [G] you'll ever spend, but your Wizards are a bit redundant.  Four Thought Courier AND four Lore Broker?  I see where you're going with it; drawing cards and discarding your rezz targets.  But you don't need eight creatures all doing this for you.  Drop the Lore Brokers (the worse of the two), and replace them with two Hell's Caretaker and two appropriate Guildmages of your choice.  The reason for Hell's Caretaker should be obvious.  As for the Guildmages, there are three that match your colors(Simic, Golgari, Dimir).  Dimir can draw you cards and give you a discard outlet, or force your opponent to discard(though it's pretty mana-intensive, so I don't really recommend it.  Golgari gives you +1/+1 counters plus a Hell's Caretakeresque ability, though it puts the creature back in your hand, not in play.  And Simic could be good considering you've got Szadek and Borborygmos generating counters for you.  Plus, if your opponent uses Auras. you can mess with them.  I'll let you make the final call.

Now, for your rezz targets.  Per your request, Mindleech Mass and Blazing Archon stay in(I like them too).  But a general rule of thumb with reanimator decks is: playing cards with mana costs you can't ever pay is a gamble, so the payoff better be worth it.  It's usually better when your superbaddies are at least in-color, so if you can't reanimate (*cough*Dovescape**cough), you can at least try to play the card the old-fashioned way.  Currently, you can't cast* Excruciator, Autochthon Wurm, Blazing Archon, Borborygmos, Kiki-Jiki, or Patron of the Akki.  Blazing Archon has a mandate from the original deckbuilder, Kiki-Jiki frequently shows up in Pro Tour decklists without a single Red mana source, and Autochthon Wurm never gets hardcast anyway, so they're all keepers.  Excruciator And the Patron, however, are just underwhelming.  So then what to replace them with?  Some suggestions---

Experiment Kraj- Not only can it copy activated abilities, it can stockpile +1/+1 counters on some other superbeast.  If you pick Simic Guildmage, this gets sick quickly.
Simic Sky Swallower- When this thing hits the table, your opponent needs an answer.  NOW.
Sisters of Stone Death- Most reanimator decks can steal creatures from its opponents' graveyards.  With this, you can steal them right from in play.
Verdant Force- Can't beat the classics.  Also, Hell's Caretaker loves a token generator.

So, your creature base is taken care of, and your noncreature spells were excellent before I came in, so let's move onto your mana base.  I can't help but notice you have 10 Forests, 5 Swamps, and 5 Islands.  Green does not look like your predominant color in this deck, before or after I intervened.  I'm not sure which is, but you don't need twice as many Forests as Swamps or Islands.  Also, you say you have terrible luck at getting dual lands.  For that problem, I suggest the common bounce lands(Dimir Aquaduct, Golgari Rot Farm, Simic Growth Chamber).  Probably not four of each, though, since they can cost you a bit of tempo.

Speaking of tempo, you also claim that you can "go off on turn three about 60-70%".  That's pretty incredible, I have to say.  In fact, with the decklist you sent in, there's only one way I can see to go off turn three:

Turn 1: Forest, Birds.
Turn 2: Land, Thought Courier/Lore Broker
Turn 3: Land, tap Wizard to discard megacreature, Zombify/Vigor Mortis it into play.

That requires that your opening seven cards and first four draws contain a Birds, a Wizard, a rezz target, a Zombify or Vigor Mortis, and three lands.  One of those lands must be a Forest.  If you have Vigor Mortis and not Zombify, another land must be a Swamp.  If you're playing first, you only get three draws.  Admittedly, there was a lot of redundancy of these cards which makes it more likely, but 60-70% still sounds just plain wrong.  I'd be interested to hear if this is what you mean by "going off", Josh.  Even if it is, the only thing I've done to disturb that is take out Lore Broker, but I replaced it with cards that will give this deck a solid late game.  Now, as for your new land count:

1 Llanowar Waste
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Dimir Aquaduct
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Simic Growth Chamber
6 Forest
6 Swamp
5 Island
And as long as I'm listing the deck out, your new creature base:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Thought Courier
2 Hell's Caretaker
1 Golgari Guildmage
1 Simic Guildmage

1 Simic Sky Swallower
 
1 Blazing Archon
1 Autochthon Wurm
1 Borborygmos
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breakor
1 Mindleech Mass
1 Verdant Force
 
1 Skeletal Vampire
1 Szadek, Lord of Secrets
Looks good, full of nasty creatures I wouldn't want to have to stare down.  Best of luck to you, Josh!

*Technically, Josh could cast those creatures with enough Birds of Paradise out, but several of them need three out of four Birds at once, so I'm not counting that as a viable option.  I'm also not counting Patron of the Akki's Offering ability because the only Goblin in the deck is Kiki-Jiki, which is much better than the Patron anyway.
 


 

Copyright© 1998-2006 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.