Messages

1

Deck Comments / Re: Mardu Treasures: Akiri/Nadier Variant - Comments

« le: Septembre 20, 2023, 01:05:41 am »

Have you considered to add Xorn?

Hey, thank you for the suggestion. I have tried Xorn before. It can probably easily find its way into this deck for obvious reasons and I can't give you a compelling reason for why you shouldn't run it. For me, it always felt low impact, since it didn't generate treasures on its own. It requires a treasure generator like Academy Manufactor and Anointed Procession and I don't like to run too many effects like that. It always feels bad when you've got them in your hand and on the battlefield and no way to generate a treasure. There's SO many cards I want to run in this deck that cuts start getting very hard.

Call it personal preference.

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Deck Comments / Re: Scarab God Dimir Reanimator Control - Comments

« le: Août 09, 2023, 11:24:33 pm »

Any recommendations for a budget version? Lol

Actually my Taigam list is a budget version of Dimir Reanimator Control that I run when playing with folks who aren't firmly entrenched in Commander. You can easily replace Taigam here with The Scarab God, just take out Psychic Possession and Infernal Sovereign which synergize strongly with Taigam and add back in Sphinx of the Second Sun.

https://deckstats.net/decks/208321/3146294-taigam-sidisi-s-hand-dimir-con/en

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Commander Discussion / Re: Goad as Pillowfort

« le: Août 02, 2023, 12:28:00 pm »

I tend to build a lot of Aikido decks / play with that Aikido mindset (control player at heart). I do not believe Goad is as effective as deterrants such as Ghostly Prison or Propaganda for two reasons:

• Aggro. Goad just tends to make all the other players irritated at you. The goal of an Aikido playstyle is to fly under the radar. I tried to make a Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer / Noble Heritage "Politics" deck but the political piece failed because all everyone wanted to do was kill Baeloth to stop the Goad.
• 1v1. Goad can be great disruption, but it all falls apart if you don't finish the table off before it gets down to 1v1. A Ghostly Prison is something my opponent always has to deal with, but Goad offers no protection when it's down to me and the other player.

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Deck Comments / Re: Scarab God Dimir Reanimator Control - Comments

« le: Juin 09, 2023, 12:35:23 pm »

I really dig your comments on most cards, your stream of thought is noticeable and inspiring.

Thanks! One of the reasons I prefer DeckStats to other builders after a deck is built is revision control. I really enjoy being able to snapshot the deck as I tweak it over revisions and logging comments on the changes. Helps me see why I made a change and what cards keep finding their way back into the deck.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Tier list: mana ramp

« le: Juin 01, 2023, 02:50:44 pm »

Things to consider out of sequence: Cursed Mirror and Machine God's Effigy. I know Cursed Mirror is a slam dunk in any deck I play it in. I haven't gotten much chance to play Machine God's Effigy. Thoughts?

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Primers / Re: [EDH] The Scarab God Dimir Reanimator Control

« le: Mars 20, 2023, 02:07:31 pm »

Overcharged Amalgam: Huh, I actually really like this card. Flash flying 3/3 blocker with relevant typing worst case? What do you usually exploit with it?

If I'm casting it from hand, I get it to exploit itself (pun not intended). That way it'll be in my in my graveyard so I can use it again with Scarab God. If I've eternalized it (that's my short-hand for describing Scarab God's activated ability) I'll either get it to exploit itself again, or some other expendable creature (like Gravecrawler or a 2/2 zombie token).

But kick a Rite of Replication on your Agent and watch the sparks fly. Don't forget that kicker is an ADDITIONAL cost. You can cheat the cost on this and Cyclonic Rift by reanimating your Scholar of the Lost Trove / using your Bolas's Citidel and then paying the additional cost. So you aren't always casting these spells for 7 and 9 if you can help it.

While you're right about kicker being an additional cost, overload is an alternative cost. If you're casting it without paying its mana cost through Scholar, Citadel, or some other card, you have to choose the 2 mana option and return a target to its owner's hand. You don't have the option to overload it. This is further clarified in the rulings for Cyclonic Rift, Scholar of the Lost Trove, and Bolas's Citadel.


This primer is well written. Just a few more steps. You'll need to incorporate the information above into the notable exclusions if you think it's appropriated. You'll also need to update it based on your new inclusions after you've updated the decklist.

The decklist and primer have been updated accordingly.

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Primers / Re: [EDH] The Scarab God Dimir Reanimator Control

« le: Mars 17, 2023, 06:26:06 pm »

See, I am glad I made this post. I forgot that Cyclonic rift is overload and not kicker and you are correct, so I appreciate that clarification. Additionally, I forgot that a creature with exploit can exploit itself, so yes Overcharged Amalgam is an absolute slam dunk in this deck. I'll leave my post as-is so this back and forth makes sense to folks reading these posts. I will work this weekend to incorporate this conversation into the primer and report back when I'm done.

Edit: I'll probably take out Mystical and replace with Demonic like discussed. In the off chance I line up a Bolas's Citadel and a Vampiric Tutor that should be good enough.

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Primers / Re: [EDH] The Scarab God Dimir Reanimator Control

« le: Mars 17, 2023, 02:08:58 pm »

Absolutely incredible response Morganator. Let me start tackling this one by one.

• Expel From Orazca, Hostage Taker, Meteor Golem, (anything else that can hit enchantments/artifacts): I agree with you, Dimir is starved for removal. What we are most worried about here is graveyard hate. There's two types, static and triggered. Triggered effects are going to happen, folks are going to get a Bojuka Bog in or activate their Tormod's Crypt. That's fine. Graveyard hate has gotten incredibly potent over the past several years, just look at Dauthi Voidwalker. We run Disallow and Ertai Resurrected to (hopefully) deal with a backbreaking graveyard exile trigger, but for the most part this is why we selectively place things in our graveyards nowadays through looting, conniving, and entombing instead of greedily milling. So we are most concerned with static effects. Creature based static effects don't really concern us because we can blow those out of the water pretty easily. It's the artifact and enchantment based static graveyard hate we're most afraid of, and specifically meta cards are Grafdigger's Cage, Ground Seal, Rest in Peace, and Leyline of the Void. Now we get into our local metas. I nearly never see these cards in my playgroup (your mileage may vary), and there's only 4 cards here total I'm actually terrified of. We're now in a situation where someone is playing these cards, has them in hand, and is able to resolve them against my counterspells. 3 of the 4 are <= 2CMC, and can be easily dealt with with Blast Zone, which I run. Otherwise I am hoping to get my Cyclonic Rift or Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce it and counter it on recast. Theoretically, if I was seeing these cards pop up constantly in my meta I would add Karn's Silex and Filigree Silex next, as these can wipe those low CMC static graveyard threats as easily as Blast Zone, and if I needed to continue to make swaps, would start looking at adding more bounce spells such as Expel from Orazca (Although I'd be looking at Geistwave which can function as a pseudo cantripping protection / put an ETB creature back in your hand and also Commit // Memory, since we are usually always trying to hold up 4 mana for a TSG activation and Commit is extremely versatile).
• Notion Thief and Opposition Agent: Simply a meta call here, TBH. No disagreement from me, these cards can win games. In my playgroup, I try to balance playing control with the fun my friends are having, and they generally hate these types of effects. Also, I try to play with an Aikido mindset at all times, and for this reason Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Hullbreaker Horror are actually on the chopping block for me - These types of cards that put a blanket aggro out there immediately turn the entire board against you and I'm not looking for that type of aggro until end game.
• Overcharged Amalgam: Huh, I actually really like this card. Flash flying 3/3 blocker with relevant typing worst case? What do you usually exploit with it? I actually think I may find room for this card.
• Sower of Temptation: If you are not running Heartless Summoning (I'd have to go check your list), it's a slam dunk for situations like this. Casting Agent at 5 feels fantastic. Also Agent can grab ANYTHING. Grab that Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Ghostly Prison, or even just a land. This already makes it fantastic. But in any case, I would never be looking to hardcast Agent, but either looting it away or entombing it to the graveyard to cheat it in. On top of all that, You think you'll never get to 3 cards owned by opponents... But kick a Rite of Replication on your Agent and watch the sparks fly. Don't forget that kicker is an ADDITIONAL cost. You can cheat the cost on this and Cyclonic Rift by reanimating your Scholar of the Lost Trove / using your Bolas's Citidel and then paying the additional cost. So you aren't always casting these spells for 7 and 9 if you can help it. But to answer your question: Sower of Temptation is a fine card, but it feels like a magnet to me, your opponent will be looking to snipe the Sower to get their creature back. Against Agent of Treachery, they've already resigned the loss.
• Stubborn Denial: Actually probably great in a deck full of 4/4 reanimated creatures and a 5/5 commander. I actually think I'd rather use An Offer You Can't Refuse over both (should probably make that swap) as it's not as conditional as Stubborn Denial and can hit artifacts unlike Swan Song (if we're worried about artifact graveyard hate). For the most part I'm only worried about removal / board wipes / winning a counter war, which is what Swan Song excels at.
• Ancient Excavation: 100% agree. Card is a slam dunk, especially with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in the deck. I'd consider Ancient Excavation card selection and not card advantage, however. Gruesome Realization is (minor) card advantage stapled to a token wipe. I'd be looking to replace a different card selection / looter spell (maybe a cantrip) and probably will do so in my next revision.
• Awaken the Erstwhile: Wow, I kinda love this. I'm going to order one. Agree completely with your assessment. You additionally (if you have your commander out) get a huge scry and drain on your upkeep, setting up your next draw better than everyone else.
• Cryptbreaker: Well, you aren't wrong. I need to try and look at creature's activated abilities as instants in a draw/go plan better. This card would also help my curve. I like it. I'll consider this in my next revision.
• Whispering Madness, Windfall: You aren't wrong. Probably just personal choice here. In Blue I simply prefer filtering cards into the graveyard (that's why I'm big on Ancient Excavation with you). I'm trying to cultivate my hand with this deck and the card advantage / selection choices I've made. I (usually) don't want to just throw it away and then redraw it. That said your logic is sound, and these cards are a slam dunk / potential wincon with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse floating around in the deck.
• Crypt Ghast: Correct, I didn't feel I had enough swamps to justify black doublers / Witch's Cottage.
• Dimir Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance: There was that whole thing a while black with Sam Black stating mana rocks are a waste in EDH, and all the conversation around it. I wanted to try it out and build decks that do useful things up the curve instead of dropping rocks. I felt like his heart was in the right place, but ultimately I settled on Frank Karsten's analysis:  https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/home/how-many-lands-do-you-need-in-your-deck-an-updated-analysis/. In the end I think you can run the rocks you want to run, you just follow the guidelines Frank sets to make sure you've got the right land base. My current draft revision is actually looking to slot in Dimir Signet and Talisman of Dominance.
• Demonic Tutor: My current draft revision actually replaces Mystical Tutor with Demonic Tutor. Was just a slight personal call (more instants). I think the flexibility of black tutors wins. EDIT: Mystical Tutor is used to put Cyclonic Rift or Rite of Replication on the top of the library with Bolas's Citadel out, letting you cheat the cost while still paying the kicker.
• Mesmeric Orb: Yes, this is just my personal philosophy. I could try it again. I absolutely HATE the feeling of milling away some important spell or piece (granted this deck has ways to recur artifacts, instants/sorceries and creatures). Example: Turn 2 play the Orb, turn 3 untap... and mill away your Rhystic Study. OOF. Like I said, I simply prefer cultivating my hand and graveyard through looting and entombing. I also feel like Mesmeric Orb has the potential to aggro the table. Additionally, if you are playing against another graveyard deck, you're potentially helping them. This might be another personal philosophy thing, but I rarely care about other folks reanimation targets. I'll still use TSGs ability at instant speed to break someone's reanimator combo of course, and if there's an absolute bomb in a graveyard I'll try to grab it, but my gameplan is not milling and aggroing everyone at the table hoping to reanimate something juicy. It's to play a draw/go Control deck with an Aikido mindset, laying low, getting my pieces in place, and popping up as an unanswerable archenemy to close out the game.
• Victimize: The upside is fantastic, like you said. The downside I experienced running this in Gale, and it's why I don't run it in low creature count decks anymore. I cast this card as a desperate move to reanimate some bombs with only Gale out. I planned to sacrifice my Gale. In response to the cast someone Path'ed Gale. Victimize fizzles since now I have no creature to sacrifice. In a low creature count deck, this card feels win-more - you either have enough bodies to safely resolve this spell getting even MORE bodies. Otherwise you struggle to cast it. It's in my Extus / Blood Avatar deck - slam dunk there.
• Astral Dragon: You never want to hard cast it. (Nearly) always throw it away to a loot effect. It's nuts. If you wanted a combo, just put Machine God's Effigy in the deck to go infinite. I put it in ramp because the floor is hitting a land or rock like you said. But hitting Rhystic Study, or someone's Smothering Tithe, etc., and getting TWO of them... Last Saturday I played this deck and got Portal to Phyrexia out with Beacon of Unrest. Then I reanimated my Astral Dragon to make two more Portals. Won that game.
• Bolas's Citadel: I actually have not gotten to use this card since adding it to the deck. It's here because we have a lot of huge CMC spells that we're trying to cheat in from the graveyard. Citadel lets you cheat them off the top. Also lets you cheat on Rite of Replication and Cyclonic Rift costs. You pay the spell cost with life, and get to pay the additional kicker cost like normal. Which now reminds me, this is why Mystical Tutor was in the deck. Put Rite or Cyclonic Rift on the top of your library with Citadel out and then cheat it. Duh.
• Feed the Swarm: I run it for the enchantment removal. I don't think I've ever actually cast this spell since the card's been released, but it's in all my black decks without green or white. I've never been in a situation where it's the one piece of interaction in my hand that I NEED to cast. *Shrug*. I actually may remove it...
• Lethal Scheme: I wouldn't bother. It's here as a potential free removal spell with looting attached. I've never successfully cast it that way. it suffers from the same problems as Victimize in a low creature count deck. I'm removing it for Deadly Rollick.
• Portal to Phyrexia: I'm always looting this card away (see the theme?). I'll never cast it for 9 mana. I have successfully reanimated it several times since release. Hitting it with a reanimated Scholar of the Lost Trove is no joke. Getting it out is backbreaking for your opponents, unless they are a token deck. (Old) Sheoldred stapled to a triple edict, what's not to love?
• Saw in Half: I absolutely love it. Save your The Scarab God from a Path to Exile. Or drop Gary, then saw Gary in Half. Same with Agent of Treachery or any of our other ETBs. Or someone is swinging in with a huge double striker? Stop the damage. Such an insanely flexible card in a control deck that doesn't care about turning creatures sideways.
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse: I think you're right. If protected, she is inevitable. She's stabilized me into a winning position SEVERAL times since release. Without the wheels, she is not a shotgun wincon. Incremental, as you said. A component of the inevitability I am going for. That said she draws a ton of aggro. Might get cut alongside Hullbreaker.

Now to answer your final questions.

I believe my shell is fairly resilient. That's the mistake I've made in the past, and I think a lot of people have made when building The Scarab God. The entire deck is value ETBs and outside of dumping them into the graveyard to reanimate with The Scarab God's ability, your deck is now playing at sorcery speed. In this deck, I don't even look to play my commander until T5 or later (even with ramp) - things need to be in graveyards, protection needs to be in hand, and then we move to close. I do not rely on his scry and drain at all (in fact, I CONSTANTLY forget his triggers) - I see that as the same as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Incremental, as you said. A component of inevitability in the end game when life totals are low and every point matters.

I think the deck has enough answers to stop mid-power combo decks fairly reliably at any point in the game. This deck is not designed to be high power - it has no fast mana, no infinite combos, and intentionally limited free counterspells. That said, I regularly play against a Queen Marchesa so I am no stranger to needing to stop combos.

The deck typically wins T7 or later (I'd have to start keeping track). I keep repeating it, but it's really about inevitability. I get myself in an untouchable position (full grip, TSG out, Sphinx of the Second Sun out) and from there just grind the table into dust. Or like you said, graveyard is full, Living Death and 10 creatures + Gary comes out. Rite of Replication on Gary or Agent. I rarely if ever turn my creatures sideways. Last game my Sheoldred, Agent, and Gary all got answered. I got TSG and Sphinx out and from there just had to build up my board full of creatures (This was the game I got Portal + Astral Dragon for 2 more portals) to just grind my last opponent out.

Maybe it's a holdover from Covid and webcam magic, but I don't like relying on opponent's graveyards at all. I don't like trying to keep track of the creatures in their graveyards. Relying on myself and my own targets ensures consistency. That said, and like I said earlier, I will still always try to grab an obvious bomb from my opponent, or use TSG's ability to break a graveyard combo.

Whew. Alright, I've done it! Let me know if you have any followups!

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Primers / [EDH] The Scarab God Dimir Reanimator Control

« le: Mars 16, 2023, 05:31:05 pm »

Hello again,

I took the shell from my (in my opinion  ) fairly popular Gale/Scion Dimir Reanimator Control list and tailored it to my long-time favorite legendary creature: The Scarab God. This is not a Dimir Zombies list, it is a draw/go control list, and that's how the primer is written.

With a significant number of games under my belt, I humbly submit my primer and decklist for review:

https://deckstats.net/decks/208321/2860625-scarab-god-dimir-reanimator-co/en#show_description

Thanks.

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Primers / Re: Akiri / Nadier Mardu Treasures

« le: Août 22, 2022, 12:32:37 am »

This deck looks like a lot of fun to play, and a challenge to play against. I love it.

Do you ever use the food and clue tokens from Academy Manufactor, or do they just sit around and buff Akiri?

Doesn't Bennie Bracks, Zoologist work the same way as Idol of Oblivion, which you removed? Or do you have enough ways to make treasures on your opponents' turns that he gives more card draw?

Are the recruiters in the deck just to get Stoneforge Mystic and then Sunforger, or are there other creatures that you like to search for?

Do the elves from Nadier give any value besides being attackers and blockers?

Lastly, Would you consider using cards like Ruthless Knave and Ghirapur Aether Grid?

Hey - thank you, I appreciate it.

To answer the first question about Academy Manufactor - I may have used the Clues a handful of times. I don't recall ever actually using the Food. Usually if the Manufactor is left alone long enough Akiri quickly snowballs into a nightmare, and with a form of evasion starts deleting opponents in short order.

Bennie Bracks, Zoologist has two huge things going for him - Convoke and his synergy with things like Smuggler's Share and Smothering Tithe. So, at worst he might function like an Idol of Oblivion, but there are times you might get him out for free, and times where he's drawing a card every turn. I still contend Idol of Oblivion is a great card and it might find a way back into the deck. People compare it to Phyrexian Arena but that's not really fair, it typically can get value the turn it comes down, it's two colorless, there's no loss of life, and there's a late game use for it. It's also an artifact for Akiri.

The recruiters can grab nearly every creature in the deck. Looking over the list, Goldspan Dragon and Mayhem Devil are the only creatures that can't be grabbed between the two of them. If you get a Sword of Hearth and Home out, you can blink them and start grabbing every engine creature in your deck. I added Skyclave Apparition specifically because it can be grabbed by either recruiter, for example, and the Apparition can deal with any treasure hate I can think of off the top of my head (Collector Ouphe, Stony Silence, Null Rod, Yasharn, Implacable Earth).

This deck intentionally leans harder towards Akiri. Nadier's primary goal is to be a big fat body that collects value off you sac'ing your treasures. He can become a big beater with the right evasion. Secondarily, he's a great target for Disciple of Bolas or Ruthless Technomancer when he's big and ripe. The real reason he's so neat though, is because you retain board presence after removal. A Farewell might scrub the board clean, but you'll be left with a large quantity of elves who can carry Sword of X/Y to get triggers. You can Skullclamp them for cards. They can be killed or sacrificed to continue draining under Mayhem Devil, Nadier's Nightblade, or Agent of the Iron Throne.

I've used Ruthless Knave in a Korvold, Fae-Cursed King build. If the deck leaned more heavily towards Nadier (More sac outlets and aristocrats type effects), Ruthless Knave might be a good include. I left out most effects that benefit from Nadier interactions such as Cathars' Crusade. When making cuts, the mantra was "let's not rely on our 6CMC commander being out." Other than the elves that Nadier produces, I don't want to simply be sacrificing creatures. Disciple of Bolas / Ruthless Technomancer / Deadly Dispute are great, because they're sac outlets, but Deadly Dispute can simply sac a treasure, and because Disciple and Technomancer see power, they're great with Akiri / Cranial Plating.

Inspiring Statuary is probably a good inclusion, which allows you to stockpile treasures and still use them - Ghirapur Aether Grid is probably worth thinking about due to the same logic. I (currently) feel that the effect is rather small, it requires 2 treasures for every one ping, compared to a single sac for Disciple of the Vault or Mayhem Devil. It's something I'll definitely consider.

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Primers / Re: Gale / Scion Spellslinger Reanimator

« le: Août 21, 2022, 11:42:45 pm »

I'm gonna rapid-fire some questions on you.

What do you think of using mill cards like Altar of Dementia, Cut your Losses, Fleet Swallower, Fraying Sanity, Hedron Crab, Maddening Cacophony, Mesmeric Orb, and Traumatize? All of them designed to hit you, and sometimes your opponents.

Besides Disallow how do you deal with grave-hate? What tips can you give to deal with a Rest in Peace, Ground Seal, or Grafdigger's Cage?

Why are you using Toxrill, the Corrosive instead of an instant/sorcery boardwipe?

Hey, thanks for the questions. Let me answer the grave hate question first. With so much grave hate in the format, I prefer selective Entomb and looting type effects. Looting effects let me choose what I'm putting into the graveyard, and when. If you look through my list, you will see that mill effects are few and far between. I want to filter the lands into my hand, or filter them out of my hand and into the graveyard when I don't need them. I want to selectively keep the Reanimate in my hand and put the Entomb in the bin, so I can stack them with a Gale trigger. Or when I'm looking to reanimate something, I want to put a bomb in the bin and cheat it out quick. I have never liked the idea of just dumping huge swaths of my library into the bin and hoping that someone doesn't drop one of the cards you mentioned, Rest in Peace, Ground Seal, or Grafdigger's Cage and catch me without a counterspell.  I dislike mill even more when I have combo pieces I don't want to get wiped out. I prefer to use the graveyard as a staging area, rather than greedily relying on it like a huge second hand. Relying on looting and entombing allows (in my opinion) more resiliency against getting blown out against grave hate.

Further, This is a spellslinger deck. I chose what I felt were among the best looting effects, a majority of which are instants, along with among the best reanimator effects, which are all sorceries. It's a nice synergistic combo with Gale.

For these two reasons, I elected not to include any of the large mill effects you mention.

Getting back to your grave hate question - Dimir's weakness is obviously enchantments. If they can't be countered, our best best is to bounce and make our move before it can come back down, or counter it after the bounce. Cyclonic Rift, Feed the Swarm, and Otawara, Soaring City can help with the enchantments. In addition to these, Resculpt will deal with artifacts. I am considering adding additional bounce (this is probably meta dependent), like Geistwave and/or Alchemist's Retrieval. Additionally, I am considering a miracle package with tutors (Entreat the Dead, Devastation Tide, Vampiric Tutor, and Mystical Tutor). If I don't hit the miracle on these cards, I can simply bin them through looting effects. The two tutors can allow flexibility in finding a needed piece of removal (and Tide would be an additional piece), as well as setting up the top deck needed to nail the miracle. Entreat the Dead for the miracle cost is very attractive with all the bombs in the deck.

Finally, Toxrill, the Corrosive is (again, in my opinion) an absolute stellar bomb. Cheating it out and protecting it absolutely locks the board down and fills your hand with cards. It's absolutely worth the slot. The number of board wipes for a deck may vary per meta, however recognize that all the entomb tutors can put any answer in the bin to be abused with Gale. Entombing a Toxic Deluge and casting it on someone else's turn behind a Brainstorm is good stuff. Note above however that I'm considering adding another wipe to the package.

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Primers / [EDH] Akiri / Nadier Mardu Treasures

« le: Août 13, 2022, 04:18:02 pm »

Hey all. I didn't realize the process for officializing a primer. I have been playing variants of Mardu treasures with Akiri/x for years. It's incredibly fun and synergistic. I have a primer in my list. I am looking for feedback:

https://deckstats.net/decks/208321/2589280-mardu-treasures-akiri-nadier-v/en#show_description

Edit: Missed #show_description - fixed deck link.

13

Primers / [EDH] Gale / Scion Spellslinger Reanimator

« le: Août 13, 2022, 04:16:07 pm »

Hello all,

I recently added the primer to my Gale / Scion list. I'd like to get feedback, this deck is my current baby.

https://deckstats.net/decks/208321/2633510-gale-scion-dimir-reanimator-co/en#show_description

Edit: Missed #show_description - fixed deck link.

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Deck Comments / Re: Gale / Scion: Dimir Reanimator Control - Comments

« le: Août 13, 2022, 03:48:28 pm »

Primer added.

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Commander Deck Reviews / Dimir Reanimator Combo With Taigam

« le: Juin 25, 2022, 02:57:26 pm »

I have brewed this reanimator deck up and tuned it to hopefully match my meta. I am not trying to be an overly powerful combo deck, as such I have not included fast mana or efficient tutors, opting for tutors to the bin for my reanimation targets, Increasing Ambition and Final Parting, which I feel are more thematic. You can tell me if Buried Alive is too strong.

https://deckstats.net/decks/208321/2601043-taigam-sidisi-s-hand-u-b-reani/en

Other than reanimating bombs, the deck seeks to dig to two lines. First, getting Exsanguinate or Torment of Hailfire in the bin with Lord of the Forsaken out and a way to cast them (Lier, Mission Briefing, Yawg's win). The other is the newer Asmodeus/Vault Skirge/Necrotic Ooze line, which allows you to draw/discard your entire deck and turn it into black mana. After you're done dumping your deck, using the black mana for a mass reanimation to get Gary out, or Lord of the Forsaken + Lier out with a big X spell in the yard, or simply a big X spell in your hand is the way to close the game out. There is an incidental combo of Hullbreaker Horror + Sol Ring + Codex Shredder in the deck but I don't believe I have a reliable way to get this combo online, it's worth mentioning though.

That's essentially it. The Scarab God / Dimir Reanimator has always been my favorite archetype, but I felt like there was no way to really win except going tribal zombies (I do not enjoy tribal), going a cEDH combo route (Thoracle, etc.), going top/citadel or dramatic sceptor which aren't even reanimator strategies, or the very tired Mike & Trike combo.

Taigam feels fantastic, unlike TSG, I never feel bad when I play him as soon as I can. It feels super bad when you play TSG with literally nothing to target. The filtering into the graveyard is super useful (If you've ever played Underrealm Lich you know this). I've played this deck a handful of times and goldfished an absolute TON and I have no issue running low land count. The removal in the command zone that gets around indestructible super useful).

I really love the new toys we've gotten recently, Lord of the Forsaken opens up a ton of fun ways to use life to fuel a win. Independently, Asmodeus, Vault Skirge, and Necrotic Ooze are fairly useful in this deck, and the combo together doesn't win the game and is fairly interacted with (nothing above is instant speed except the draw and discard, you can respond to the first draw trigger with removal on ooze to force me to keep going and go all in, and wipe my graveyard since none of my wincons after drawing and discarding are instant speed). I love all the new bombs to reanimate in a Dimir reanimator build, from the Lord above, to Hullbreaker, to the new Jin or Wandering Archaic. I believe the only ETB in the deck is Gary, the rest are simply awesome static abilities.

Anyways, let me know what you think. If you think Buried Alive leaves the deck wincon too consistent, I'll swap it out.