Fergie was right. Oh no! What are we going to do with all this Junk? It won’t fit in said trunk anymore. It’s everywhere!
By now, everyone knows that G/B/W Reanimator is the big kid on the block. In my last article, I detailed the shifts that had occurred in Standard since the Pro Tour and where it currently stands. At the end of said article, I named a number of cards that I felt attacked the format in an effective way and was trying to piece together a deck that could use them all. Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Angel of Serenity, Rakdos’s Return, and effective use of Rest in Peace was my goal. Realistically, the best deck that can utilize these cards is Dark Naya, akin to Richard Nguyen’s Top 8 deck from #SCGDC; however, I ended up going in a different route.
The weekend before last, Brian Braun-Duin and I played in an Elite IQ /PTQ wombo-combo in North Carolina and South Carolina. I was talked into playing G/B/W Reanimator with ease, as it was definitely the most powerful deck and I hadn’t had much time to work on my Metagame Breaking Concoction. Here is the list BBD and I played on Saturday:
Creatures (23)
- 2 Acidic Slime
- 2 Arbor Elf
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Restoration Angel
- 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
- 4 Thragtusk
- 3 Angel of Serenity
- 3 Centaur Healer
Lands (23)
Spells (14)
BBD ended up splitting in the Top 4, and I went an awesome X-3, getting pretty unlucky to be paired against Bant Hexproof (BLEH!) and losing in turns against Wolf Run Bant in matches where it mattered. I hadn’t played any serious Magic in a while, and I could definitely feel the rust falling off every round. Even after I was X-3, I still stayed in just so I could continue to get experience with the deck. Cards like Grisly Salvage lead to some very interesting lines of play, especially with Lingering Souls in your deck.
Overall, we were happy with the list, but there was quite a bit of Junk Reanimator (not surprising), lots of control (a little surprising), and not very much aggro (very surprising). After some deliberation over a delicious meal, we discussed the merits of running Deathrite Shaman in the main. It is very good in the mirror and great against all of the control decks, and it even has some merit against B/R Zombies.
The only problem with moving Deathrite to the main was figuring out what to cut. Slime is awesome in the mirror and against all of the control and midrange decks. All of the Angels and Tusks are bonkers, and so is Unburial Rites and the “graveyard package” of Grisly Salvage and Mulch. Ultimately, we boldly decided to move Centaur Healer to the sideboard. We felt that Deathrite Shaman had game against the aggressive decks and that Centaur Healer was the weakest “overall” card in the maindeck.
Here is the list we decided to PTQ with that Sunday:
Creatures (23)
- 2 Acidic Slime
- 2 Arbor Elf
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Restoration Angel
- 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
- 4 Thragtusk
- 3 Angel of Serenity
- 3 Deathrite Shaman
Lands (23)
Spells (14)
The deck felt beautiful. Deathrite Shaman in the maindeck was gorgeous (for this tournament). I didn’t even play a single mirror match, and I was still extremely happy with it. Let’s go over some of the interesting card choices we made with the deck.
2 Vault of the Archangel and no Gavony Township: This was primarily a concession to how much better Vault is than Gavony against non-control decks. If they don’t have Mizzium Mortars, Supreme Verdict, or Terminus, Vault is amazing. It allows you to race decks very effectively, makes blocking awkward for them, and makes attacking just as awkward. Moving forward, I think that U/W/R and Esper are starting to adapt to Reanimator, so going back to a 1/1 split on Vault and Gavony is probably going to be best.
2 Acidic Slime in the maindeck: Slime is a beast! Technically, he is an Ooze, and your U/W/R opponents will surely slump in their chairs when you Cavern naming Ooze. Slime does good work against midrange Naya decks, killing Assemble the Legion, attacking through Restoration Angel, and keeping them off triple white for Angel of Serenity and black for Rakdos’s Return and Olivia.
Besides the obvious in Deathrite Shaman, beating the mirror is always about being faster than your opponent. This was realized early by supporters of Somberwald Sage. However, Sage isn’t very good against a lot of removal. You also don’t have to be light-years ahead of your opponent; one turn is often enough. Sliming them on turn 4 and Blinking it with Restoration Angel on turn 5 is usually going to be enough. Moving forward, I definitely want to play three of these in the main.
Fiend Hunter and Slayer of the Wicked in the sideboard: If you’ve ever played this deck and had your opponent cast an Olivia Voldaren against you, then you completely understand these cards. Slayer of the Wicked also kills random Zombies against B/R or Jund and Huntmaster of the Fells. Fiend Hunter plays the same role but can also get mana dorks and Deathrite Shaman in the mirror. Moving forward, I still like Fiend Hunter, but I feel like Garruk Relentless is better than Slayer for sure.
Having at least 1 Cavern of Souls in the 75: I feel like having at least one Cavern of Souls is correct. Unfortunately, with the color and Forest constraints, you can really only afford to play two “colorless” lands in the maindeck. You also want to be able to go up to 24 lands against the decks that will burn your mana dorks on sight.
BBD and I took the time on the trip down and in between tournaments to flesh out an actual sideboard plan and to make sure we had all of the numbers correct for what we planned to swap in and out for each matchup. I think that sideboarding in general is a very underrated strategy in the Magic community, which is crazy if you think about it since 66.6% of all potential games in a match are sideboarded. When sideboarding, you also want to take into account what the “stock” lists will have in their sideboard and plan accordingly, but that’s a completely different article. We’re talking about trunks full of Junk and the domination BBD and I put on this PTQ.
In the end, BBD lost in the Top 8, and I lost in the Top 4. There was one additional copy of the deck in the tournament that was played by someone who had seen it at the IQ the day before. Normally, I don’t mind helping people, but when they end up being obnoxious, it kind of puts a strain on your trust. Nevertheless, said person ended up winning the PTQ with the exact same deck. We definitely had our lock on this one but couldn’t take it down.
On to the matches and what’s next for our Junk monster!
Round 1: Lon with U/W/R Flash
Game 1: I Slimed him on turn 3 and Blinked it with Angel on turn 4, and he never played another land. He did play two Augur of Bolas—one whiffed and sent a billion land to the bottom, I assume, but the other one revealed an Azorius Charm, which is basically the most awkward reveal when you’re facing down Acidic Slime and Restoration Angel.
In: 1 Deathrite Shaman; 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council; 1 Acidic Slime; 1 Cavern of Souls; 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
Out: 3 Mulch; 2 Unburial Rites
Game 2: We both mulliganed, and I was able to use Slime again to keep him off white mana so that he could never Supreme Verdict my team away. At one point, his lands were Island, Sulfur Falls, and Cavern of Souls on Spirit, and he seemed pretty dejected. I did play Cavern on Ooze this game, and he had quite the sad look. Sorry Lon!
Round 2: Matt with B/R Zombies
Game 1: He had some early pressure with a Gravecrawler and a Knight of Infamy, but he decided to attack on turn 3 with Knight and Gravecrawler into my Avacyn’s Pilgrim, expecting me not to block. Unfortunately, my hand at this point was plenty of land and multiple Lingering Souls. Boy, Avacyn’s Pilgrim never went to the graveyard so fast. He could never push much damage through with Aristocrat with my Souls Lingering, and Angel of Serenity cleaned it up. It is important to mention that I did have Deathrite Shaman online, which was gaining life and forcing him to preemptively sacrifice his Geralf’s Messengers when he could to not get blown out.
In: 1 Fiend Hunter; 2 Tragic Slip; 2 Centaur Healer; 1 Slayer of the Wicked; 2 Rhox Faithmender
Out: 3 Mulch; 1 Craterhoof Behemoth; 2 Acidic Slime; 1 Angel of Serenity; 1 Unburial Rites
Game 2: He had a pretty slow start, not playing anything until a Messenger on turn 3, which let me get into Thragtusk mode and gain a billion life. At one point, he did draw a Mark of Mutiny and “got” my Angel of Serenity with his Falkenrath Aristocrat. Fortunately, he did not have a second Mark of Mutiny for the same Angel after her Rites were Unburied. At one point, I cast Grisly Salvage revealing Rhox Faithmender, but I ended up taking Vault of the Archangel. Pretty good Salvage!
Round 3: Matt with G/R Ramp w/ Boros Reckoner
Matt’s deck was pretty interesting. He had all the standard Naya ramp with mana dorks and Farseek, but he also had Gruul Keyrunes to get him to Gruul Ragebeast (!) to go along with his Trackers. Time to fight boys!
Game 1: Just as planned against midrange decks, I Slimed him and Slimed him hard. He had plenty of ramp with his mana dorks; unfortunately, they were all Arbor Elfs, and I kept him off Forests. Eventually, Angel of Serenity cleaned up.
In: 1 Acidic Slime; 1 Fiend Hunter; 1 Cavern of Souls; 2 Tragic Slip; 2 Abrupt Decay
Out: 3 Mulch; 3 Deathrite Shaman; 1 Unburial Rites
Game 2: This game went super long, with him wiping my board with a Mizzium Mortars and eventually getting down a Gruul Ragebeast. I tried to race him with many Lingering Souls and a Vault of the Archangel, but eventually he drew one of his many creatures and was able to kill me with by clearing out the blocker I had to keep leaving back to not die.
Game 3: He mulliganed and ended up keeping 2 land; 2 Mizzium Mortars; and 2 Tormod’s Crypt. I sided just like I was playing against Dark Naya (for the most part), wasn’t fazed by the Crypts, and just Slimed him away. It’s pretty unfair being able to Slime someone when they mulligan and you’re on the play, but all these mana bases being stretched by color requirements makes it possible!
Round 4: Alex with U/W/R Flash
I’d played Alex in the IQ the day before, and he was on U/W/R Flash. He had beat BBD the previous round, so I knew he was on Flash with Izzet Staticasters; Rest in Peace; and Thundermaw Hellkite.
Game 1: I was on the play with the “nutz” Angel of Serenity on turn 3, and he just didn’t have any answers for it.
In: 1 Deathrite Shaman; 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council; 1 Acidic Slime; 1 Cavern of Souls; 2 Abrupt Decay
Out: 3 Mulch; 3 Unburial Rites
I knew Alex had a lot Rest in Peaces in his sideboard along with Staticasters and Thundermaw in his main. I wasn’t planning on Hoofing him and wanted a versatile answer to some of his cards. Initially, I thought about Tragic Slip since it handles Hellkite too, but with Rest in Peace in play morbid never triggers!
Game 2: This game went quite long; however, he was stuck on four lands for a very long time thanks to Mr. Slime. I could tell he had Hellkite in his hand and was trying to play to a point where he could kill me if he drew his fifth land, which made my lines a little awkward. He also had the Izzet Staticaster / Boros Reckoner combo the whole game, which was blanking my hand full of Avacyn’s Pilgrims and slowly pinging me every turn.
Eventually, I was able to push through enough damage with Thragtusks; Acidic Slimes; and Restoration Angels that he had to chump with his Boros Reckoner and put the damage on a creature instead of me since I had a Vault of the Archangel, and I knew I had it tied up. I even had the Abrupt Decay for his Rest in Peace if he happened to play a Supreme Verdict to go along with the Angel of Serenity I had been sandbagging.
Round 5: Scott with Esper Control
Game 1: I was premature with my Hoof and end up getting him to two life before he started taking over the game with Sphinx’s Revelation. Sadly, I didn’t see any Slimes early to stunt his mana, and he was just able to play a land every turn and Supreme Verdict when he needed to.
In: 1 Acidic Slime; 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council; 1 Craterhoof Behemoth; 1 Deathrite Shaman; 1 Cavern of Souls
Out: 3 Mulch; 1 Angel of Serenity; 1 Unburial Rites
Game 2: I played all of my spells in the worst sequence possible by playing around countermagic that I shouldn’t have. Had I just followed the plan and jammed my spells I would have won easily. Ultimately, I was able to Unburial Rites a Craterhoof Behemoth early to start getting some attacks in and followed that up with enough pressure that I was able to kill him with the same Behemoth since he had to Azorius Charm it one attack earlier. Bottom line, I got lucky and should have just jammed my spells.
Game 3: I kept a pretty slow hand, but it had Grisly Salvage and Lingering Souls in it along with at least one Thragtusk. My plan this game was to Salvage on turn 2 if I drew a mana dork and knew what I was looking for, and if I didn’t I was going to wait and cast Lingering Souls on turn 3 and then flash back Souls and Salvage on turn 4.
Some of the spectators after the match wanted to talk about why I didn’t Salvage on two when I could have, and I explained to them that I feel like Grisly Salvage, especially against decks with white in them, ends up being a super awesome Impulse more than anything. Much like Impulse, or even Brainstorm / Preordain, the longer you wait to cast it, get more information, and know what you’re looking for, the better. When it’s not extremely beneficial to fill your graveyard (especially in post-board games against decks with white), just wait on your Salvage until you know what you need. I ended up hitting Obzedat with the Salvage, resolved a Thragtusk, and then cast the Obzedat, and he just couldn’t handle how resilient my threats were.
I was able to double-draw into the Top 8.
Top 8: Gabe with Dark Naya
Game 1: I was able to get a quick Angel of Serenity into play with Unburial Rites and take out his two Avacyn’s Pilgrims and a Boros Reckoner to stunt his acceleration. He was able to play a Huntmaster of the Fells and a Thundermaw Hellkite to try to race, but I ended up playing Craterhoof Behemoth and killing him from eleven through his blockers.
In: 1 Acidic Slime; 1 Fiend Hunter; 1 Slayer of the Wicked; 2 Tragic Slip; 1 Cavern of Souls
Out: 3 Deathrite Shaman; 2 Mulch; 1 Unburial Rites
Game 2: This game went super long. I was dead on board to a proper attack and Wolf Run usage, but he decided not to do it and gave me an extra turn. This allowed me to cast Angel of Serenity and stabilize. I was then able to play a Thragtusk and Blink it the following turn with a Restoration Angel and black properly so that I didn’t die to his Wolf Runned Boros Reckoner. After drawing a mana dork and passing, he then drew an Aurelia, the Warleader and happily played it and jammed it into the red zone as hard as possible. I thankfully blocked with my Angel of Serenity and looked to the sky, thankful for another draw step with no Aurelia in play. What’s that? Acidic Slime?! BAM! See ya Wolf Run!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was at one life from the Reckoner attack, and he still had a Pilgrim in play and was at 19, so I couldn’t really attack with my Angel of Serenity. As he drew for his turn, I exclaimed, “Be a blank!” knowing well that this game should have already been over. I’d love to just win it and not have to go to game 3. He played a Huntmaster of the Fells, got a Wolf, went to 21, and passed to me. With only an Isolated Chapel in my hand, I needed a miracle. I needed a Beast. I needed THE BEAST.
I prayed to Brad Nelson in my draw step and plucked a CRATERHOOF BEHEMOTH right off the top. I looked down at my board—a 3/3 Beast, an Angel of Serenity, and an Avacyn’s Pilgrim—and cast the Behemoth. We did the math: sixteen from the trigger, ten from the Angel + Hoof, three from the token, and one from the Pilgrim. 30 total damage. He only had a Huntmaster, a Wolf, and a Pilgrim to block with. GAME! He was pretty upset, so I toned down my jubilation to not be a jerk. Once he left, all the table judge could do was look at me and ask, “How did that even happen?”
On to the Top 4! Just two more to go. I wanted this bad: to go to Dublin and play in another Pro Tour.
Top 4: Esper Control
Unfortunately, I did not write down my semifinal opponent’s name. Sorry! He was on Esper Control.
Game 1: I kept a decent hand and played like a complete donkey. Once again, I played around countermagic I shouldn’t have and messed up the sequencing my plays. I was rusty and tired and just full of excuses for playing bad. I really needed to tighten it up.
In: 1 Acidic Slime; 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council; 1 Craterhoof Behemoth; 1 Deathrite Shaman; 1 Cavern of Souls
Out: 3 Mulch; 1 Angel of Serenity; 1 Unburial Rites
Game 2: I kept a very good hand and put early pressure on him with Lingering Souls and Unburial Rites on a Craterhoof Behemoth. He made an awkward play where he ended up tapping out after Wrathing away my Behemoth and died to the flashback on Rites. It felt like he just didn’t do the math correctly. Needless to say, I was happy about the result, but I still felt like I was playing badly and needed to tighten up even more for the last game.
Game 3: I had to mulligan a terrible hand and kept a one lander with Deathrite Shaman and two mana dorks. Unfortunately, I didn’t draw a second land until after he’d killed all my one-drops and Sphinx’s Revelationed for six.
I was pretty upset about my play and was probably the saddest man ever handed 54 packs of Gatecrash, but my fire was there. For those of you know don’t know already, I recently moved to Roanoke to work for StarCityGames.com and am back in a big way. I’m going to be playing lots of Magic and doing more content (Versus videos, anyone?), so keep an eye out. As for G/B/W Reanimator, it’s the real deal. Really, the only way I see to sure-fire beat it right now is Bant Hexproof, and unfortunately, I don’t think that deck can reliably beat anything but Reanimator, which leads us to a new question. Where do we go from here?
It could be Somberwald Sage. However, I think that Acidic Slime is just a better route and lets you punish midrange and control decks along with the mirror. Do we need Centaur Healer anymore? Probably. The minute you start to disrespect Burning-Tree Emissary, she’s for sure going to slap you and make you look silly. Is Deathrite Shaman in the main still correct? I don’t think so. It’s pretty sweet having a trump for the mirror game 1, but it can be awkward against a lot of decks and since Rest in Peace is becoming so popular, there is less focus on Snapcaster Mage and Think Twice.
The best way to attack G/W/B Reanimator, in my opinion, is with lots of removal, like Jund’s package or something with Supreme Verdict backed up with something that can finish the game in the small window that this gives you. My sights go to two particular cards: Kessig Wolf Run and Olivia Voldaren.
Two decks to keep an eye out for as we move into the Invitational are the Jund deck that John Cuvelier played to the finals of the Saturday Standard Open in Orlando and the Wolf Run Bant deck that Edwin Beckwith placed second with in the Sunday Standard Open. Both of these decks aim to do just that. They sweep the board (or your opponent’s board) and finish the game with either a few attacks pumped by Wolf Run or by resolving a game-breaking Olivia Voldaren. John went as far as to play two copies of Ground Seal in his maindeck to combat not only Reanimator but also decks with Snapcaster Mage. Sphinx’s Revelation is a very good card, but having two-to-four fewer virtual copies of it goes a long way.
As of now, I am still unsure if I will be able to make it to the Invitational. I hope to be there, and if I am, you can be sure that I’ll be playing either G/B/W Reanimator or something that can beat it!
Thanks for reading! Make sure to keep an eye out for more content here, and be sure to comment or ask questions if you have any. Remember, if you can’t beat ’em, sometimes it’s better to just be Fergalicious and join ’em!
<3 CVM