Gale / Scion: Dimir Reanimator Control (EDH / Commander) [Revision 3]

More focus on spellslinger; balancing my instants and sorceries (added a handful of very useful sorcery speed card advantage that I can chain off instants)

Revert to revision 14

I think I went a bit hard on the tutors for my playgroup. Cut 2 of them to add the two cards I just can't stay away from, Astral Dragon and Machine God's Effigy.

large update. Primer reflects latest changes. Basically a 20 card swap focusing in on spellslinging and swapping out my reanimation targets.

There's a Twitter thread that's generated a lot of discussion about how mana rocks are a waste in EDH; you should run 40-43 lands and be doing something more impactful with your turns. I'm going to try it out. -1 Arcane Signet -1 Dimir Signet -1 Fellwar Stone -1 Sol Ring -1 Tainted Indulgence -1 Talisman of Dominance +4 Swamp +2 Island +1 Tomb Fortress +1 Guildless Commons. After that, I wanted to add back in several cheap cantrips and more impactful cards <= 3CMC, so I cut out cards I've felt are either too high CMC or not as impactful as I'd like. -1 Ancient Excavation -1 Commit // Memory -1 Disallow -1 Ertai Resurrected -1 Lord of the Forsaken -1 Memory Deluge -1 Obsessive Stitcher -1 Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator -1 Windfall +1 Brainstorm +1 Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist +1 Mystic Remora +1 Opt +1 Otherworldly Gaze +1 Rhystic Study +1 Thought Scour

Slight adjustment. I like flexible cards in commander. Vohar doubles as a (sorcery speed) spell recursion and a looting effect on a 2 mana body, and doesn't need to transform to a planeswalker like baby Jace. Ertai is a flexible removal spell or Disallow. The "downside" of letting an opponent draw off the removal (in my opinion) removes the sting. I think he's fantastic. Finally, I wanted to try Commit // Memory. Double tuck on a spell or a permanent is fantastic. You might be saying "4 mana is a lot" and you're probably right. I find myself heavily playing "Draw, Go" style magic with Gale as you really do your best work during other people's turns. I often find myself open with 4 mana for this to be an effective removal option, but we will see. Memory is a good reset, but note it also doubles as a wheel which is brutal with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I removed Reality Shift (less flexible, more direct and cheaper removal... we will see), Archon of Cruelty (fantastic reanimator target, but I think it shines i

Updated manabase. Tolaria West can grab a utility land, such as the recently included Blast Zone, which I added to continue to help deal with problem permenants. Added Port of Karfell, which is an instant speed Reanimate on a land.

DMU Update. I want to start running less Cyclonic Rift. Although it's obviously one of the best board wipes in the format, it's just not fun anymore. It's such a blow out after it resolves. Kind of like running the same 2 card combo over and over again. I decided to replace it with Karn's Sylex, which has some interesting hate stapled to a solution against things Dimir is weak against (enchantment-based stax pieces) (-1 Cyclonic Rift +1 Karn's Sylex). I felt that rituals feel good in a deck that wants to do spell slinging and can get double use out of them from the graveyard. I also wanted to try out the new Haughty Djinn and Wizards of Thay. The Djinn can become a flying beater with a static cost reduction for instants and sorceries, while Wizards of Thay allow instant speed Sorcery > Instant shenanigans with a Gale trigger, in addition to the potential burst -3 cost reduction with Myriad. I removed what I felt were low impact / underperforming ramp pieces (-1 Deranged Assistant -1 Millikin -1 Mind Stone -

Readjusted the land base - All my fetches are in Yarok Landfall. Reflected what I built in paper.

Wanted to try out Ancient Excavation - Filter my hand for 4 mana or cycle it for a land with my low land count feels good.

There's really only 2 or 3 targets in the deck that I'm excited to hit with Scholar of the Lost Trove, so I removed it. Demilich felt WAY too slow in playtesting. I thought on combat damage it let you cast the spell for free, which was worth the hoops. Removed it. Added back in Necromancy and Animate Dead - just solid reanimator spells, even if they don't fit into the spellslinging gameplan. I'm finding Gale's triggers are a nice spice for the deck, but not something that should be built around.

Expropriate just isn't that "fun", YMMV. Replaced it with Astral Dragon, which is a reanimation target that can enable a lot of shenanigans.

Decided I should have at least one big X spell in the deck to dump mana into from either combo or Lord of the Forsaken (-1 Aminatou's Augury +1 Exsanguinate)

Resnap a new baseline from another decklist