Single Scoop: Grixis Reanimator (Standard, Magic Arena)
Nothing like celebrating the month of October like bringing things back from the dead! This week, a viewer had reached out to see a reanimator list so this one is for Jan Giersdorf! Originally it was supposed to be just Izzet with Fires of Invention but I dropped the fires and added black to gives us more ways to remove threats to stabilize by the time turn 5 comes around so we can freely reanimate cards! Here's the list I came up with:
Gameplan
In M20 I noodled around with a Reanimator deck so I thought I'd return to the archetype with some new editions from #MTGEldraine! The whole gameplan of our deck is quite simple. We've got tons of value creatures and powerhouses that we're looking to bring back with Bond of Revival! The biggest target is this big bad fire breathing machine
Drakuseth, Maw of Flames being able to attack immediately after resurrection thanks to Bond of Revival is super sweet as we can burn down the opponent's board full of creatures or planeswalkers. If the opponent is empty on board then we can just send four damage upstairs to the face! This isn't the only target to reanimate, we also have cards like Agent of Treachery and Scholar of the Ages to bring back our reanimation spells like Bond of Revival, Connive // Concoct, and Blood for Bones. There are obviously situations where we might need to just bring back something like a Cavalier of Night to gain life or Massacre Girl to sweep a board!
A new inclusion to the deck is Thrill of Possibility which was a much needed card for the deck as it's an instant speed spell that draws us cards and allows us to dig deeper into our deck while also throwing away clunky threats that sit in our hand when they should be in the graveyard! What else did we get?
Fae of Wishes does wonders in this deck and could potentially deserve 4 copies as its a way to have access to a sideboard in a format without sideboards. Having the option to pick and pull whatever answers or threats we need is perfect but on top of all of this? It's got solid stats sitting at 1/4 as it can block very well and has an activated ability that can be used to throw away the late game bombs we have into our yard, while also returning itself to get more value!
Another sweet card that has helped from #MTGEldraine is The Royal Scions! This card is a cheap way for us to filter through our deck and sculpt the perfect hand. Not only that, the second +1 ability pairs quite well with Tomebound Lich as giving it first strike means it can kill anything in combat as long as the threat isn't indestructible. This card is sweet but I can't see it in high numbers only because the card itself doesn't actually stop early aggression in a format that is loaded with Cavalcade of Calamity, Mono Black Aggro, and Snakdos Aggro (Rakdos Aggro. It's definitely powerful in our deck but I can't see me playing more than two copies of this card.
Matchups
I feel that our Field of the Dead matchup is somewhat decent barring a crazy ramp start from the opponent as board wiping our Drakuseth won't be enough as we can always bring it back with haste. The thing to be mindful of in this matchup is our opponent using Agent of Treachery to steal our Drakuseth. A problematic matchup for us will be anything with too much aggression as we can't stumble and have to hit Drakuseth or a Cavalier of Night on turn 5.
Another matchup that can be a concern will be a counterspell heavy deck like Simic Flash. We're trying to just play too many big spells which is what they prey on. Speaking of Simic, Oko, Thief of Crowns is a card that will embarrass Drakuseth and all of our creatures as Oko can just "elkify" any big threat we play.
If it's not Oko, then its Ashiok, Dream Render. Since we're in a best of one format, we can get away with a lot more but if the opponent has access to a sideboard in any way, play carefully and patiently around Ashiok. Just because one is on board, doesn't mean its the end. It just means that we should try to throw away our cards mindfully. I recommend just throwing away as many big threats as you need to in the early game to get the opponents sweating and if you see Ashiok, don't pitch anything unless you can bring it back immediately.
Conclusion
The deck went the distance! We went and got a clean 7-0! The deck isn't something most people are preparing for so in a best of one format, we can definitely steal games with this deck. The best part is against red, you can use Tomebound Lich as a very solid wall to block creatures while also gaining life and looting cards away! The deck feels right at home in best of one and also has the ability to pull from a sideboard. A few cards I wasn't pleased by was Thought Distortion as I think that could be almost anything else. The card was way too pricey but I just wanted to be extra cute and see if I could find that one unlucky spell heavy player. I think I would probably play a reanimation spell in the sideboard. The newer list would look something like this:
As always, thank you so much for all the love and support! Happy October!
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-Your Friendly Neighborhood AsianAvenger
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