I said to myself some time ago that this would be a Time Spiral Block summer for me, just like a couple of years ago was my Kamigawa Block summer. Plenty of Grand Prix tournaments used that format. There are Grand Prix tournaments in Montreal and Firenze, both of which I know I’ll attend, and possibly San Francisco too. Yhe fact that my Nationals will be using Tenth Edition for the Constructed portion made me realize it was actually worth preparing intensively for Block Constructed. Usually, I found myself testing for a Constructed format only to throw everything away the day after the tournament, in order to prepare for a new tournament the following week or month. This time, the format will stay for a while longer for both Pros and aspiring Pros, with multiple Grand Prix tournaments and PTQs using it.
After Grand Prix: Strasbourg I got a three-week break before going to another big Magic event, which I conveniently used to rest. I caught high fever again and stayed in bed, but I also used the time to practice some Block Constructed. I was especially taken with an idea I had when I saw the Future Sight card list: Reanimator. Of course, many of you may object to my claiming of this idea… how is Reanimator an original concept? Reanimator is almost as old as “attacking for two”. Dread Return has been available almost for a year now, and people have been using it on Solar Flare/Pox or Bridge decks in Standard. Body Double also found a room in Standard, and one of the best creatures to reanimate is available on this Block. If we wanted to, we could have build a Reanimator deck before, so what made me do it now?
First, looking at the Future Sight list, I found Bonded Fetch to be perfect for this deck. In the past, Merfolk Looter creatures have been used to dump creatures in the graveyard, so we can reanimate them with a spell rather than paying the high mana cost. Sometimes the Looter was killed before losing summoning sickness, which totally wrecked us. It left us with a bunch of spells to reanimate creatures from the empty graveyard, and creatures with prohibitive mana costs we can’t pay, not only in quantity but also in color. By having haste, Bonded Fetch is a very reliable way to put the creature in the graveyard, drawing a card in the process. It’s still reusable the next turn, if they don’t kill it. Not even a Sudden Death can prevent the Bonded Fetch from doing its job.
Once, I was playing in a side draft against Bastien Perez. He attacked me, and I played a Scryb Ranger, intending to use the ability. It came into play and I tried to use the ability of the Ranger, only to have Bastien say, “Stop! It’s my turn and I haven’t passed priority.” He used a Sudden Death on my Scryb Ranger.
The Sudden Death example might be confusing, since it’s from the wrong side of the table. I gave you an example of how to avoid being wrecked with Sudden Death and priorities, and actually used a Sudden Death from my opponent in the example, but the words you should be taking from this example are: My Turn, and Passed Priority. If your opponent has 1BB open, and you absolutely need to put the creature from your hand in the graveyard, you should play the Bonded Fetch and use it right away without passing priority.
If the first reason I rekindled my Reanimator ideas was the new cards, the second reason is more strategic. Akromas, big creatures, Dread Returns, and Body Doubles were available even before Pro Tour: Yokohama. After I finished Grand Prix: Strasbourg and peeked at the top decks, I found a predominance of Mono Red, Green/Red aggro (or mana ramp), and Blue/Green. Suddenly, Akroma the original Angel of Wrath became very good again on turn 4. Mono Red can’t race it – it needs to deliver the burn to your face to win the game. Green/Red also can’t with the race.
Not everything was good news, however. While Red decks seem helpless against Akroma, the same can’t be said about Blue. Riftwing Cloudskate, Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Snapback, all combined with countermagic, Mystical Teachings, and Damnation can be lots of troublesome against this strategy. I presented these arguments to many players, and all of them were very skeptical about the idea, so the only thing I could do was build the deck and try it for myself. The three-week break between Grand Prix: Strasbourg and Montreal seemed like the perfect time.
I’m not a genius deckbuilder.
In fact, I’m not a great deckbuilder.
Hell, I’m not a good deckbuilder.
I’m not even a reasonable deckbuilder.
Here’s the truth. I’m not a deckbuilder at all.
I feel I’m quite useful when inserted in an organized playtest group, as I can put some effort in, make pointers, add new ideas, and tweak what we have. Every time I’ve playtested for a major event with other players, I’ve felt useful to the team… but building from the scratch is clearly not my thing.
I was torn between posting the first version I built followed by the one I have right now, or proceed straight to the one I’m playing… and I decided to opt for the latter. My first attempts were very bad. As an example, the deck started with 22 lands, a ridiculously low number. Having tried many cards, here’s my most recent list. It’s still far from perfection.
Creatures (25)
- 4 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
- 4 Bogardan Hellkite
- 4 Looter il-Kor
- 4 Body Double
- 3 Magus of the Bazaar
- 4 Bonded Fetch
- 2 Gathan Raiders
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
Sideboard
I’ll explain the card choices:
The Fatties
Akorma, Angel of Wrath has two keywords that make her the best creature to be reanimated: Haste and Vigilance. She’ll win most of the damage races she’ll enter thanks to those two words, and Protection from Red means some of the best decks have no answer to her. She’s the reason I turned to Reanimator… having a White Akroma on my side of the table feels good.
Bogardan Hellkite is the second best reanimation target in the cardpool. It races a lot slower than Akroma, but it can buy you time by killing many creatures when it comes into play. It also allows for some tricks with Dread Return, Body Double, and flashback, dealing huge amounts of damage in a single turn.
The Reanimation Spells
Dread Return and Body Double. No argument here. They’re the best, and perhaps only, options available. Someone mentioned Ressurection, but I believe these are the correct colors.
The Discard Outlets
Bonded Fetch was already explained above. They’re the reason I built this deck in the first place.
Looter il-Kor is almost Bonded Fetch, but slightly worse. If you need to discard an Akroma, then you can’t attack with her this turn because you already passed your attack phase. They’re fragile against decks with cheap removal, like Mono-Red. Against Blue/Green and Blue/Black they’re quite good, because they actually deal damage. Their damage seems irrelevant, but it isn’t. If they deal two, you can win one turn earlier when attacking with Akroma. They can even put the opponent low on life, if you’re attacking with multiples.
Magus of the Bazaar is another turn 2 drop. He’s not as good as the other two discard outlets, which is the reason why I’m playing with fewer copies. They don’t deal damage, and they don’t provide you card selection multiple times. However, they can make for some good starts, especially when you have two creatures in your hand, or even two creatures and a Psychotic Episode.
Gathan Raiders are yet another way to discard a card in desperate situations, since it only provides one shot. However, like Bonded Fetch, it’s immediate and immune to removal. They can also be a big threat once unmorphed, especially if you can keep your hand empty with Magus of the Bazaar.
Utility Spells
With so many discard outlets, it’s only natural that Psychotic Episode is amazing in this deck. By watching the opponent’s hand and top card, you can form strong plans with the information you have. By forcing the discard and knowing their draw, you can gain just enough time to deal lethal damage with Akroma. Most of the time, Psychotic Episode doesn’t even cost you a card thanks to Madness, and you can play it instant speed on the opponent’s turn, draw, or at end of turn.
The final three Delays are the slots of which I’m less convinced, but I see them as a necessity against control decks. They can force through a Psychotic Episode, a reanimation spell, or they can delay a Mystical Teachings long enough. By casting Delay on the Teachings, they can’t flash it back.
Manabase
I started with 22 lands. This was a big mistake, so I quickly upgraded to 23, and right now I have 24. Perhaps the 25th should be in the sideboard. You can’t miss a land drop until turn 4 or 5, and after sideboarding, against Blue/Black, lands are very good. Most of your spells cost a single Blue mana, but the reanimation spell on turn 4 costs double-Black, so it was hard to find a balance. In the end, the Fathom Seers from the sideboard (and the fact that almost all the discard enablers and card drawers/recyclers are Blue) made the Blue sources outnumber the Black.
Cards that are currently not in the deck:
Careful Consideration
It’s a very good card, as it gives you four fresh cards and puts creatures in the graveyard against heavy removal decks. When I was choosing the discard outlets I gave preference to the creatures in order to be able to flashback Dread Return, but Careful Consideration is a lot more than just a discard outlet. If I cut the Delays again, I would probably move the Careful Consideration back in.
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Though she’s immune to some of the troublesome cards for this deck, like Snapback and Riftwing Cloudskate, she’s not a good creature to reanimate because she has to play defense most of the time, giving your opponent time to find the Vesuvian Shapeshifter. I thought of having four of these in the sideboard to replace the White ones against decks with lots of bounce, but right now I don’t think now that’s justifiable.
Tombstalker
There should be no problem in quickly filling the graveyard by looting every turn. Tombstalker doesn’t seem good enough against creature decks — he only shines after a Damnation. Like Akroma, he has to stay on defense. It can be a valid choice against decks with Extirpate, or Blue decks, but right now I have the small Pickles combo to board in.
I tried this deck against the major archtypes before Grand Prix: Montreal (and the start of the qualifying season in my country): Mono Red, Red/Green Beats, White Weenie, Blue/Green Morphs, Red/Green Mana Ramp, and Blue/Black Teachings, achieving satisfying results overall. I’m not going to give you an accurate winning percentage, but instead I’ll share a feeling of the matchup and how I sideboarded, which is a pretty simple with this deck.
Versus Mono Red and Red/Green Beats
Your game plan is to put an Akroma into play as quickly as possible. A hand consisting of four Swamp, one Gathan Raiders, one Akroma, and one Dread Return is good to win the game. The problem is they might kill your other discard enablers with Dead/Gone, especially annoying if done during their end of turn. If they kill them with Rift Bolt or Fiery Temper, it’s not as bad, as they lost the third turn and you can probably follow with more of the same. The problem is, if you fail to put an Akroma into play quickly you’ll probably lose. There’s no back-up plan. Bogardan Hellkite can buy time, but unless you have a bizarre combination of cards in your hand and graveyard to follow it, most of the time it won’t be enough. Against the aggro Red decks, replace the utility spells. Delay and Psychotic Episode are better suited for slower matchups. Bring Dark Withering as a one-mana removal, and Fathom Seers as good blockers who can ocasionally draw you some cards. Overall, I’d say this is a good matchup.
Sideboard:
+ 4 Dark Withering
+ 3 Fathom Seer
– 4 Psychotic Episode
– 3 Delay
Versus White Weenie
White Weenie is a tougher matchup than aggro Red decks. They’re equally fast, but Akroma and Hellkite are slightly worse against them. Some of their creatures have evasion to go past our big guys, and they can have (depending on their builds) Temporal Isolation for the big guns and Sunlance for the small ones. Fathom Seer is not a good blocker against shadow or flanking creatures, so I just bring in the Dark Witherings. The Episodes are also slightly better, as they can take out Temporal Isolations.
Sideboard:
+ 4 Dark Withering
– 1 Psychotic Episode
– 3 Delay
Versus Blue/Green Morphs
At first, I thought this was a bad matchup because of Riftwing Cloudskate, Mystic Snake, Vesuvan Shapeshifter, and even Snapback in some builds… but after playing it I was surprised. One of my friends is playing Blue/Green at the PTQs, so it was the matchup I played the most. I won most of the time. Looter il-Kor is the best card, as you’ll slowly start putting the pieces together on your favor. After the first Psychotic Episode, you’ll know if you can go off. Many times I did it this way, to overcome Mystic Snake, Shapeshifter, and Cloudskate at the same time. Play Psychotic Episode and take out the Mystic Snake. Reanimate Body Double, and when it comes into play choose Bogardan Hellkite (you need both in the graveyard). Deal five damage to the morph, to ensure you kill it if it’s a Shapeshifter. Now if they play the Riftwing Cloudskate next turn, targeting your fattie, it’s a Body Double and it goes back to your hand. You just need to replay it and copy another fattie. The matchup became worse when I played against Frank Karsten, because he had another adversity in the form of Willbender which could be disguised as a Shapeshifter.
Sideboard:
+ 4 Dark Withering
– 1 Gathan Riders
– 3 Delay
Versus Red/Green Mana Ramp
Their best chance is to prevent you from going off with Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, so as soon as you have an Akroma in play, they can do nothing about it game 1. After sideboard they have Utopia Vow, so if you haven’t played Psychotic Episode before reanimating, try playing Body Double or Dread Return on a Body Double, to keep the fattie in the graveyard and a mirror image on the table. This way, if it gets Utopia Vowed, you can flashback Dread Return sacrificing the mirror image copy who’s got the Utopia Vow (plus two creatures) to reanimate the original copy. It also works if you have the original in play and a Body Double in the graveyard.
I don’t see the need for sideboard, as Delay is quite good against Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, and so are Psychotic Episodes, which can remove the Utopia Vow. Dark Withering are good in this matchup, but not a necessity. You can still bring a pair in if you want, as there are plenty of good targets – Wall of Roots; Spectral Force; Akroma, Angel of Fury.
Versus Blue/Black Teachings
Up to this point, this is the worst matchup I’ve encountered. They have all the tools to nullify your threats, and even ways to fetch the exact one they need. Countermagic, Snapback, Temporal Isolation, Damnation, and Mystical Teachings are all big problems. The few games I’ve won were because I reanimated a creature very early, and they did not had countermagic, and I was able to protect it from Damnations with Delays. Right now, my plan consists in eleven cards, the whole Pickles combo, replacing the 4 Akroma, 4 Hellkite and 3 Magus of the Bazaar (which are huge card disadvantage), so your plan totally changes after sideboard. Looter il-Kor remains a threat, dealing damage and recycling your cards. The same can be said for Bonded Fetch, which doesn’t deal damage but enables end of turn Psychotic Episodes. All the morphs put the opponent in a guessing game. Some he will kill or counter the wrong things. Now your reanimation spells serve a different purpose: not to reanimate a fattie, but to bring back the missing piece for the Pickles combo.
I’m not entirelly sure of this strategy, and even with it, I’d suggest you’ll probably lose this round 1-2.
Sideboard:
+ 4 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
+ 4 Fathom Seer
+ 3 Brine Elemental
– 4 Akroma, Angel of Fury
– 4 Bogardan Hellkite
– 3 Magus of the Bazaar
After sharing some tricks to get around Vesuvan Shapeshifter and Riftwing Cloudskate, as well as Utopia Vow and Temporal Isolations, I’ll finish the article by giving some other useful tips on playing the deck.
If you have just one card, or even zero, always use the Looters’ abilities to draw and discard, since you can hit a madness or flashback spell, and it’s good to have multiple bodies in the graveyard for Body Double. The same goes for Magus of the Bazaar if you have no cards in hand.
Think carefully which reanimation spell to play, when you have the option to play both. Sometimes the answer is not about being mana efficient. Sometimes you’ll play Body Double just because you can play Dread Return and another spell the turn after. Sometimes you’ll go for Dread Return just because you don’t know if the Urborg in play will stick around. Most of the time, copying the creature with Body Double will be better than reanimating it, but sometimes you might want to have the Dread Return in the graveyard to flash it back.
Looter il-Kor is one of the best cards in the deck, but also one that can lead to more small mistakes, because it only allows you to discard one card per turn, and only during the attack step. In the first Looter hits, you need to keep in mind whether to play a land (or not) before the swing. You may have a certain play planned, but the drawn card may change it. You may want to play a Swamp in case you draw a Psychotic Episode. You may draw a Terramorphic Expanse, which may need to be sacrificed this turn, so you can have double Black the following turn. Also pay attention that a turn 2 Looter can only enable a turn 4 attacking Akroma if the Akroma is discarded during the attack on turn 3, so that’s another decision to make there – discard Akroma or play Psychotic Episode?
Don’t neglect the flashback of Dread Return, it offers many possibilities, turning the useless bodies of the madness enablers in utility after they’ve done their job. Sometimes it’s possible to deal not just five or six damage with a Dread Return, but up to ten or eleven. If you deal a decent amount of damage with multiple Looters, your opponent can be a lot closer to zero than he thinks.
The disappointing news is that I’ll probably not run this deck at Grand Prix: Montreal. I don’t like the Blue/Black matchup, and I believe many top players will choose to run it, as well as those who are control players at heart. I also don’t like the style this reanimation deck plays, as it feels I’m going all-in more often than not. But for a very long time, I believed I would play it. This Grand Prix seemed the perfect opportunity. A new metagame to discover, a new unexplored idea… all I needed was to avoid playing against Blue/Black. After a couple of rounds (that means Round 7 or so), all of the Blue/Black decks should have picked up a few draws, so as long as I didn’t have one, I could be safe. Well, that’s probably not going to happen.
I still have a lot of time before I have to choose a deck. I have a couple of possibilities, and while this one is not on the top it certainly is thereFor consideration. I already gave this list to some friends to the Qualifiers, and I can see this deck being sucessful with good draws and in field of aggressive decks… so who knows?
Thank you for reading, and good luck.