In the weeks leading up to StarCityGames.com Atlanta Legacy Open tournament, I had done very little Legacy testing. I had tested Reanimator in the past and decided to play a list very similar to the one developed by Alix and Jesse Hatfield.
Here the is list I played, which is only slightly different to theirs –
Creatures (4)
Lands (17)
Spells (39)
Their lists can be found here.
Round 1: Leif Whittaker playing Merfolk
Game 1 — After his turn 1 play of Island, Aether Vial, I knew what he was playing. It would be important to both race his clock and make sure that my creature came into play. I decided on a strategy to reanimate Blazing Archon (believing that he had no way to remove it pre-board) and to have a counterspell or discard spell to answer any of his counterspells. On my second turn I set up for a third turn Blazing Archon. On his turn he played a Seal of Removal. I was completely thrown off by this. I considered Forcing the Seal, but that would use my only counterspell, and if he had a Force of Will of his own then my creature would never enter play anyway. It turned out to be a good decision, as my opponent would play a second Seal later in the game. I decided that going for Inkwell Leviathan, and ignoring Seal of Removal was my chance to win. I was able to reanimate Inkwell Leviathan on turn 3. He had no counterspell as it turned out. On his turn he Vialed in a second Lord of Atlantis, played a Merfolk Sovereign, and swung for 8 damage. When I cast Inkwell he only had one Lord in play, but I was unable to race his island walking army.
Game 2 — This game was much more difficult. He resolved an early Crypt and I struggled to find an answer. My answer was Pithing Needle and one bounce spell. I did find a Mystical Tutor to find the bounce spell in addition to assembling the combo, but my opponent had found a second Crypt before I could answer the first. I struggled to find a Pithing Needle and had trouble finding lands with only one land most of the game. I lost before finding any answers.
0-1
Round 2: Jay Opalia playing Enchantress
Game 1 — I open a strange hand with Iona, Shield of Emeria and Inkwell Leviathan, but it also has Entomb, Ponder, a few lands, and Dark Ritual. It seems like a hand that can easily go off turn 2 if a reanimation spell is found by the Ponder. I decided to keep and my opponent opens on Taiga, Wild Growth. I was not sure what he was playing since Wild Growth is usually in Enchantress, but they either do not play Taiga or it is a one of at most. On my turn I found a reanimation spell and passed the turn to my opponent. I do not believe he played anything this turn beyond his land for the turn. On my turn I Entombed for Sphinx of the Steel Wind since it had pro-Red and pro-Green, and it seemed better than Blazing Archon against both Enchantress or any rogue deck my opponent might be playing. I Exhumed it into play and passed the turn. My opponent tried to play an Argothian Enchantress, but I had a counterspell for it. I continued to swing with my Sphinx and he played another Enchantress that did resolve, but he had trouble finding more mana to play very many spells, and he ended up dying to the Sphinx before he could find an answer.
Game 2 — This time I had a better hand that could put an Iona, Shield of Emeria into play against him early, to help shut down a good portion of his deck. He played first, but I believe it was a turn 2 Iona on Green that really stalled him before he could really get going. A Thoughtseize that was cast later revealed that he had many White cards in hand, but many of them did not answer Iona, such as Moat. He lost before finding a way to deal with Iona.
1-1
Round 3: James Bradley playing CounterTop
Game 1 — The game started with just some setup spells on both of our parts. I believe that he may have had a mulligan during this game. I went to get Inkwell as he was playing Blue, but I was unsure about his removal and did not want to choose the wrong color with Iona, Shield of Emeria. My creature came into play and won the game before he could find answers.
Game 2 — This game was much more interesting. He starts with a land in play and passes the turn to me. I cast Thoughtseize, and he responds by playing Brainstorm. When my Thoughtseize resolves, it reveals a hand of Sensei’s Divining Top; Counterbalance; Jace, the Mind Sculptor; Flooded Strand; Brainstorm; and Enlightened Tutor. I think about this hand, and I’m not sure why he didn’t hide Counterbalance as it’s such a strong card against me, but it occurs to me that he can just tutor for it again with Enlightened Tutor if he needs to. I take the Counterbalance and pass the turn. On his turn he plays the Flooded Strand, and puts Sensei’s Divining Top into play. I do not have much of a play on my turn. On his turn he uses his Top to try find lands, but he misses the next land drop. On my turn I try to Entomb but he Forces. The following turn he again misses a land drop. The following turn (or the turn after) I try to cast Entomb again this time it resolves, but my reanimation spell is countered with another Force of Will. At this point in the game, both of us are really low on cards. At the end of my turn he decided to Enlightened Tutor, but he takes awhile before deciding to take Counterbalance. He plays Counterbalance and taps out since he has yet to find a third land. On my turn I cast an Engineered Explosives with sunburst of 2, but for 3 mana to try and avoid his Counterbalance. He reveals a two-mana spell on top. My Engineered Explosives resolves and he takes his turn and I believe he finds a third land and plays it. On my turn I activate Explosives to destroy Counterbalance. His turn involves using Top to find a card and he passes the turn. On this turn I find a Ponder which finds two Reanimates. I draw one and attempt to cast it. He responds by playing Spell Pierce, and I respond by playing Dark Ritual which allows the Reanimate to resolve and brings Inkwell Leviathan into play. My opponent is able to get a Tarmogoyf and Rhox War Monk into play, but they are both just a turn too late to race my Inkwell Leviathan.
2-1
Round 4: John Rowe playing Zoo
Game 1 — My opponent starts with a land and a Kird Ape. On my turn I draw into Iona, Shield of Emeria. I have a Thoughtseize and an Exhume. I am not sure if my opponent has a fast hand. I debate between casting Ponder trying to find Entomb or whether to Thoughtseize myself and cast Exhume next turn. I opt for the Thoughtseize play. My opponent seems a little caught off-guard by my play. He plays a Qasali Pridgemage and swing with his Kird Ape. On my turn I Exhume Iona. On his turn he plays Tarmogoyf and a Grim Lavamancer. My situation is very precarious now, as I cannot afford to attack. I do not attack, and try to find a way to reanimate another creature. On my opponent’s turn he attacks with almost everything except Lavamancer, and I am forced to block Tarmogoyf, but he has a Lightning Bolt plus the Grim Lavamancer to take down Iona. I also take a great deal of damage, and lose the game within a turn or two.
Game 2 — This game was a bit more traditional in terms of casting Entomb and then Exhuming Iona. I believe that this did not happen until turn 3, and my opponent again had a creature every turn, including two Wild Nacatls on turns 1 and 2. I am able to use Engineered Explosives to get rid of the Nacatls, but he still has a Tarmogoyf but not much else. At one crucial point I block my opponent’s Tarmogoyf, but one of the few remaining cards in his hand is a burn spell to destroy her. With an empty board he draws a Grim Lavamancer. On one of the subsequent turns, I am able to Exhume Iona back, but my opponent gets to bring back his Tarmogoyf, and this means that swinging with Iona is impossible. I eventually lose to the Grim Lavamancer that my opponent had drawn a few turns earlier.
2-2
Round 5: Tyler Brock playing Ad Nauseam Tendrils
Game 1 — I start with a Ponder and find the spell I need to cast the combo on turn 2. He plays an Underground Sea and Duress. I Daze his Duress. On my turn I replay the land, Dark Ritual, Entomb, and Exhume. I get Iona, Shield of Emeria and name Black, because I felt that only a Tendrils deck would be playing Duress over Thoughtseize. He conceded the game immediately.
Game 2 — This game went on for a very long time, with most of the time spent on trying to combo through each other’s disruption. I Thoughseized, Forced, and Dazed many spells. He was able to Duress, bounce, and Slaughter Pact my creatures once they were in play. Eventually my opponent had to go off with one of my creatures that was racing him, but his Tendrils ran into a Stifle that I had been holding almost the entire game.
3-2
Round 6: Jason Battan playing Zoo
Game 1 — I Thoughtseize him early and see a hand with a number of two-mana spells, but he does have not have a second land to play. He draws for the turn and fails to find a land. On my turn I setup for a turn 3 Sphinx of the Steel Wind. On his he draws and passes without playing a land. On my turn I put Sphinx into play. On his turn he draws an Arid Mesa, fetches, and plays Path to Exile on my Sphinx. He had drawn Path to Exile and land after I had Thoughtseized him. I lost to the creatures he was now able to cast.
Game 2 — My opponent makes the mistake of playing his creature first and then Tormod’s Crypt which I am able to Daze. This is crucial, as I get an Iona into play quite early, and it strands a number of White cards in his hand.
Game 3 — This game my opponent is unable to draw Tormod’s Crypt, but he does have a fairly quick hand. I am able to combo twice in the game to just barely race him.
4-2
Round 7: John Morris playing Canadian Threshold
Game 1 — I Thoughtseize on turn 1, and take his Force of Will. A turn or two later, I Entomb and Reanimate Iona naming Blue, as that cuts off his search spells and his bounce spells (if he plays them in the main deck). I am able to outrace his Mongoose that does not have Threshold.
Game 2 — This game lasts a very long time, with me drawing almost all of my reanimation targets and my opponent drawing almost none of his creatures. At one point I reanimated a Mongoose that had been destroyed by an Engineered Explosives to answer another Mongoose. I believe that I made a mistake in the middle of this game, as I should have tried to draw up to 8 cards and discard my reanimation targets instead of making all my lands drops and hoping to draw Brainstorm. Eventually I drew Brainstorm and was able to Entomb for these creatures, but my opponent had a hand full of counters. It took so long for this to happen that it was inevitable that my opponent would have answers by the time I tried to combo off. Eventually he drew a Tormod’s Crypt for which I did not have an answer, and his Tarmogoyf ended the game.
Game 3 — I had to mulligan into a one-land hand, but it had both Mystical for Entomb and the Reanimate to bring the creature back. My opponent had a counterspell, and then was able to Wasteland my only land. I did not draw another land. Perhaps I should have mulled to five cards, but that did not seem much better against a deck playing Daze and Wasteland.
4-3
After this round I dropped with no chance of making Top 16. Jesse Hatfield made Top 8, while Alix Hatfield had made Top 16. Perhaps the slight differences between their list and mine were part of the reason they did better that I. It’s more likely that their tournament experience with the deck made them better equipped to deal with difficult situations.
Reanimator did very well in Atlanta by putting 3 players in the Top 8 and 4 players in the Top 16.