This Week in Legacy: Is Reanimator Dead?
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be talking about Reanimator. Is the deck dead? Is it undead? The curiosity is there. I'm also going to touch on one card I missed in my Avatar: The Last Airbender set review last week, some updates on new H2H Data, and some Challenges including a Showcase Challenge.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Is Reanimator Dead?
It's been an interesting first week of post-ban Legacy, and one of the big questions that's been on the mind of a lot of folks since the banning is: Is Reanimator dead? To be frank, a lot of discussion has centered on Entomb being the pillar of Reanimator and without it the deck's archetype is functionally dead.
But honestly? I don't think we should ever discount Legacy players, but most especially graveyard players. Pretty much right after the bannings on 11/12, we had a league result with this deck:
Careful Study is definitely a card that saw a lot of play in Dimir Reanimator decks of yore as a way to get your big creatures into the graveyard. The big interesting aspect of this is that instead of having only 1-2 copies of your Reanimator targets with this, you have to play a lot more of them to see them with Careful Study to get them into your graveyard. This does boost the package up a lot and it also cuts into the Tempo aspect a little, with the big part of that being four copies of Tamiyo and four Thoughtseize as a tempo play. What this deck doesn't get to play in that regards is multiple copies of Brazen Borrower in the main deck and cards like Murktide Regent as a big tempo play.
Since this 5-0 we've seen a number of others from the same pilot as well as Bosh N Roll.
The evolution here is interesting because of the ability to transition into a deck that plays Show and Tell in the sideboard as a way to put your big threats into play. This build at least gets to play a Brazen Borrower in the main, which has always been a pretty good card.
At the conclusion of the week, we saw this creep into the Top 8 of a 289 player event (the Legacy Showcase Challenge).
This deck has has no Careful Study, but it does have Tainted Indulgence which is an Instant, and that part makes things a little more interesting since you ideally wanted to originally Entomb on an opponent's end step to win with your big creature. Indulgence kind of does that if you squint hard enough and allows you to replicate that sort of experience. The downside is if you accidentally turn off Indulgence's discard somehow then you can't do it, but the odds of that are actually pretty low.
Another one that's been showing up a little bit here or there is the Mono Black/Tin Fins-esque shell that I usually see out of pilots like Roodslay or Magic_Dads71522.
This variant is very interesting because it gets to hinge on cards like Collective Brutality and Faithless Looting, which are core Rakdos/Mono Black variant staples for a long time of the archetype. There's also the flip to the Show and Tell plan in the sideboard which is pretty cool.
So the real question... is Reanimator dead? Well, I don't think that is true. I don't think the archetype itself is completely dead and in the ground, but I also believe the power level of the variants was definitely brought down a bunch by the Entomb ban, and I do think we'll see lists more devoted to ways to get creatures in the graveyard that can be fought on more axes than normal, and that makes the archetype much more attackable.
I do think it will be interesting to follow the development of these various strategies. The fact that we already had one climb to the Top 8 of a 289 player event is definitely intriguing, and I'm curious to see what happens next. Do you think that the deck is just dead, or is it still around with extra steps? Let me know in the comments below.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Follow-Up
So I did miss at least one card in my set review last week, so let's take a look now.
Badgermole Cub
This is very interesting because of the Earthbending aspect, but also the ramp aspect of the Earthbent land being able to produce an additional G. The big thing here though is blinking this thing and using stuff like Wasteland over and over, which is kind of sweet. It's cost effective too so I could see it.
H2H Data Hosted via Tableau Public
I've been trying to figure out for a while how best to share up to date H2H data in a place where people can actually look at the full matrix and not just a screenshot of my PowerBI tables. I eventually moved all of this data with the post ban world into Tableau Public and will be keeping this up to date on a weekly basis.
Check it out here for all of your fun H2H data needs and enjoy!
Legacy Showcase Challenge 11/16/2025
This weekend was a Showcase Challenge weekend. Showcase Challenges are large premier play events where players can only enter via Qualification Points (QPs), specifically 40 of them. This event had 289 players in it, which is pretty solid for a big post ban event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was the most played deck of the event, and its win rate was pretty reasonable at a 53.7% non-mirror. Oops did very well here in this event, as did Mystic Forge, Mardu Energy, and Blue Cloudpost. Eldrazi did not do well here at all.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Izzet Tempo | 1st | 416FrowningTable |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 2nd | kasa |
| Oops! All Spells | 3rd | Marxelo |
| Izzet Tempo | 4th | Mortaa |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | Comrade1312 |
| Dimir Reanimator | 6th | burrarun |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 7th | claudioh |
| Omni-Tell | 8th | Zodiacek |
We talked about the Dimir Reanimator deck in this event, but the winner was Izzet Tempo at the end of it all.
No Cori-Steel Cutter and some actual factual Delvers here. Seems very interesting. The Unable to Scream is a pretty cool inclusion that can shut down threats that Delver usually can't easily deal with.
In Second Place we had Mystic Forge.
Very straightforward and clean list here. Mishra's Research Desk is really fun here, since it can be fetched off Saga.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/12/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 57 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. There was no data for this event.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Eldrazi | 1st | Bawer |
| Izzet Tempo | 2nd | DMianete |
| Lands | 3rd | Sprouts |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 4th | Peppembr |
| Doomsday | 5th | rgbandre |
| The EPIC Storm | 6th | Vlalutscher |
| Omni-Tell | 7th | jibeta |
| Sultai Control | 8th | TeaW1thRum |
This Top 8 was pretty varied and had some interesting stuff going on. At the end of the event it was Eldrazi that won.
A very aggressive build here. Eldrazi Obligator is a sweet card. It's weirdly nice to see Reality Smasher in this deck once more.
In Second Place we had Izzet Tempo.
This looks pretty standard for this deck as we've come to know it lately. There's a split on builds playing Delver and no Delver, but the no Delver seems to be more popular in general.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/14/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 65 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was the most played deck of the event, and it had a pretty solid win rate. Oops did very well in this event, as did Lands.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oops! All Spells | 1st | Deskbot000 |
| Mono Black Reanimator | 2nd | Roodslay |
| Doomsday | 3rd | wonderPreaux |
| Mardu Energy | 4th | unemployment |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | TadalaDe20 |
| Izzet Tempo | 6th | JUJUBEAN__2004 |
| Izzet Tempo | 7th | Lord_Beerus |
| Beanstalk Control (Yorion) | 8th | shenmeng |
Half the Top 8 was Izzet and Oops, with Oops taking the crown at the end.
The sideboard here is the big thing, because its a full on transformative sideboard into something of an Initiative build with Passageway Seer and stuff like Barrowgoyf. Lively Dirge is a neat card too.
In Second Place we had Mono Black Reanimator.
Colossal Grave-Reaver is a super absurd little card when you're doing stuff like Unmarked Grave and surveil lands, but also it mills three when it attacks too, so the chance of milling an Atraxa and just getting it for free is pretty silly.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/15/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 60 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was the most played deck, but its win rate wasn't great. Loam Pox did very well here, as did Sneak and Show and D&T. Beans did very poorly as did Cephalid Breakfast and Eldrazi.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Doomsday | 1st | m_himukai |
| Blue Cloudpost | 2nd | felix619 |
| Izzet Tempo | 3rd | piao |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | HJ_Kaiser |
| Loam Pox | 5th | Dein_Freund_der_Baum |
| Loam Pox | 6th | alexeezayyy |
| Worldgorger | 7th | aooaaooa |
| Sneak and Show | 8th | JPA93 |
Two Loam Pox here is sweet. At the end of the event it was Doomsday that won.
Very straightforward and focused main deck, with some transformative sideboard action in the sideboard. I do like Spectral Restitching as a way to blink Oracle and get around removal on it.
In Second Place we had Blue Cloudpost.
This deck has definitely proven that it's a big winner in the post ban metagame sofar. It's looked really good, and being able to cast stuff like Ugin, Eye of the Storms and just the power of The One Ring is very strong.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/16/2025 - 1
The fourth Challenge event of the week was the first Sunday event. This event had 46 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was the most played deck of the event but its overall win rate was pretty medium. Mardu Energy looked really good, as did Red Stompy.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oops! All Spells | 1st | choutin |
| Omni-Tell Beans | 2nd | Trohck |
| Mardu Energy | 3rd | MC_amp2267 |
| Eldrazi | 4th | Filho_do_MOL |
| Omni-Tell | 5th | FynnOfBlood |
| Omni-Tell | 6th | RyanWu |
| Red Stompy | 7th | monzatubarao |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 8th | Milkshake_ |
Fair bit of Omni-Tell and other stuff going on here, but it was Oops that won overall.
I feel as if people are gonna see this (as well as the next event) and go "SEE! OOPS DOES NEED BANNED!" but it's week 1 and Oops is a great way to capitalize on shifting metagame forces for an event. Let's get some more data in here and see how it goes and let the format breathe a bit before we make any real conclusions.
In Second Place we had Yorion Omni-Tell Beans.
Wild deck here, not going to lie. Unite the Coalition in the sideboard is amazing.
Legacy Challenge 32 11/16/2025 - 2
The final Challenge event of the week was the second Sunday event. This event had 50 players in it thanks to the MTGO website.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Izzet Tempo was again the most played deck, but its win rate wasn't great. Oops had a strong win rate, as did Loam Pox.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oops! All Spells | 1st | AFX |
| Grixis Tempo | 2nd | SauTay |
| Loam Pox | 3rd | Reeplcheep |
| Mardu Energy | 4th | pohner01isak |
| White Stompy | 5th | schitzlklopfa |
| Lands | 6th | Masterbobbel |
| Blue Cloudpost | 7th | _Batutinha_ |
| Mono Black Reanimator | 8th | Magic_Dads71522 |
Pretty varied Top 8 here. At the end of the event, it was Oops that won.
Pretty straightforward list here. The Belcher sub plan is pretty strong.
In Second Place we had Grixis Tempo.
This is a neat list, getting to also play Cori-Steel Cutter with stuff like Bowmasters and Kaito. Kind of sweet.
Around the Web
- Bryant Cook has a video on Post-Ban EPIC Storm. Check it out here.
- IN RESPONSE has a new episode. Check it out here.
- BeExcellent has a 5-0 with Mono Blue Tempo. Check it out here.
- Grixis Control for a new metagame by JamesKisau. Check it out here.
- The Eternal Glory Podcast has a new post ban episode. Check it out here.
- Beans with a Twist.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are posted throughout the week, let's find some Spice!
Quantum Riddler + Scion of Draco BFFs.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Legacy!
As always, you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition, I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!
