haha you played 3 spells in the whole match.
I took the liberty of categorizing... hope you don't mind:
===== Aggro 6-8 =====
Death and Taxes: 1-3
Burn: 0-2
Bug Delver: 1-1
Napoleonic Delver: 1-1
Jund: 1-0
Goblins: 1-0
Burg Tempo: 1-0
Counterburn: 0-1
===== Control 6-5 =====
Miracles: 2-2
Nic Fit: 3-0
Jund Depths: 1-2
Lands: 0-1
===== Combo 5-10 =====
Elves: 1-2
Imperial Painter: 0-2
Sneak and Show: 0-2
Storm: 0-2
Oops! All Spells: 2-0
Dredge: 0-1
Reanimator: 1-0
Food Chain: 0-1
Cheeri0s: 1-0
There are a lot of different BR reanimator lists running around in modern; I'd take a look there for some card ideas. See here and here.
Instant reanimator is a lot more vulnerable to control since EAT wipes out the whole graveyard if the reanimation spell gets countered and you have to start over. fetch + land + Dark rit into thoughtseize emmy and goryo's in response to shuffle trigger on turn 1 would be great until goryo's gets forced, then you just wasted 4 cards and 2 life.
sneak attack
I sure wouldn't want to play without brainstorm, force of will, or careful study. You would still definitely win some games against competitive decks, but going to mono-black wouldn't improve a lot of matchups in my humble opinion.
4 griselbrand
3 empyrial archangel
3 novablast wurm
2 terastodon
combo
4 breaking // entering
4 violent outburst
4 ardent plea
3 demonic dread
3 thirst for knowledge
3 liliana of the veil
4 simian spirit guide
4 gemstone mine
4 city of brass
4 tendo ice bridge
3 reflecting pool
2 vivid marsh
2 vivid creek
1 forbidden orchard
1 skarrg, the rage pits
1 swamp
1 forest
4 beast within
4 not of this world
3 dismember
2 living end
1 unburial rites
1 ingot chewer
I went 2-2 in 4 swiss rounds with wins against r/w burn and uwr control and losses against u/w aggro and urw control, finishing 7th of 12 players. I also played a couple games for fun against a mono-black pox-type deck, winning both games. The deck is pretty fun to play although it's probably not destined for greatness.
Ethersworn canonist out of the board stole one game since it completely shuts down the cascade mechanism. Besides this I didn't really run into any graveyard hate.
I was pretty happy with my creature package. My choice to run 0 living ends worked out well, though I boarded in some in the control matchups so I wouldn't run out. I never used a terastodon. There was only one game I lost after swinging with a reanimated creature and it may have something to do with the fact that I forgot the archangel had shroud.
Liliana is a house and definitely one of the best cards in the deck. She is a threat on her own that forces the opponent to deal with her.
There were a couple times I had demonic dreads without targets.
SSG was pretty underwhelming and I now agree with previous posts that those slots should be filled with cards making the combo more consistent instead of trying to go faster.
Beast within was great. A couple games I was able to buy some time by giving myself a 3/3 beast. Once it saved grisel from a detention sphere.
My manabase generally worked out well except for skarrg, which i only ran because I couldn't get a second orchard and didn't want to buy a 4th reflecting pool.
If I run this again I'll make these changes:
-4 simian spirit guide
+1 liliana of the veil
+1 thirst for knowledge
+2 beast within
-1 skarrg, the rage pits
-1 tendo ice bridge
+1 forbidden orchard
+1 reflecting pool
I'd like to experiment a little with the creatures just to keep it interesting. hellcarver demon looks fun along with any of the eldrazi. I agree though, it really doesn't make a big difference what creatures we bring up since many of our options just take the game.
In the SB ricochet trap should replace the not of this worlds. maybe a couple slaughter games in the slots left by maindecking the beast withins. I'd like to put loaming shaman in replacing ingot chewer as well. Shaman can hurt opponent gy strategies including goyf and snapcaster in addition to giving us extra opportunities to cascade.
I'd be interested in other suggestions.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=58912
And to Josh Rhoades who took 11th
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=58926
Our bounce spells are used to remove annoyances like leyline of the void, rest in peace, DRS, ooze, crypt, liliana, etc. so that we can get a creature into play. Up until we get a creature, our only permanents are lands and petals, so the drawback of chain of vapor is mainly limited to it only hitting one permanent and not being useful if we do have a creature in play. We should be winning if our creature stays on the board.
Since he went light on mana sources (although some people disagree), he probably decided the 2 mana for ET wasn't worth being able to hit multiple permanents. I've been in situations myself with one land and a petal while needing to bounce a permanent but not having enough left over after ET to get a creature in the yard and reanimate.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=58816
The land count seems a little low to me and only 6 fetches; I wonder how that worked out for him.
I like the idea of 4x force, 4x daze, and flusterstorm. Duress/thoughtseize decrease my blue count for fow and are usually underwhelming since I don't face a lot of combo decks, especially when they respond with brainstorm. I might do some experimenting with tombstalker, smallpox, or even a counter/top package.
Although mana is rarely a problem, I am curious; when would you say is the best time to fetch against delver?
Our creature package isn't built to benefit from shallow grave. Wouldn't you say Iona, Tidespout, Norn, and even Grisel are a lot less powerful when only in play for a turn and then exiled by our own spell? With show and tell you can potentially cast one spell to win the game, while you would need to instant reanimate at least 3 creatures to hit for lethal damage. Plus our tricks still don't help with RIP/Leyline and need at least 2 creatures + exhume to play around other gy hate.
Hapless vs Ponder seems like a matter of preference. The card quality gained by Ponder/Brainstorm is important.
My meta is filled with midrange decks like RUG delver, BUG control, punishing Jund etc. Some games I go up against mainboard gy hate and a fist full of counters; it usually doesn't turn out well. Can any of the experts out there help with strategy or card choices for these matchups? I run a pretty standard list.
4 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Enablers (8):
4 Entomb
4 Careful Study
1 Thoughtseize
Reanimators (11):
4 Reanimate
4 Exhume
3 Animate Dead
Cantrips (7):
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
4 Force of Will
2 Duress
Mana (20):
4 Lotus Petal
2 Underground Sea
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Island
2 Swamp
3 Pithing Needle
3 Echoing Truth
3 Show and Tell
2 Duress
1 Flusterstorm
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Blazing Archon
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
Post-board against these midrange decks usually goes something like this:
+3-4 Echoing Truth and/or Pithing Needle
+2-3 Show and Tell
-1 Careful Study
-2-3 Animate Dead
-2 Ponder
-1 Lotus Petal if needed
Thanks in advance for advice
Your new list of targets look pretty good but I suspect we should be focusing on the 4-5 best creatures since we have no way to pull singletons out of the library when we need them, unless you want to run Corpse Connoisseur.
EDIT: I just realized Terastodon says "up to three" and now I see how good it is. I was thinking you had to destroy 3 things.
Now enough on that topic, let's look at the combo!
Stocking the graveyard & Cascading:
Breaking // Entering, Thirst for Knowledge, & Compulsive Research
Bonded Fetch - borderline playable
Ardent Plea & Violent Outburst
Demonic Dread - less good third option.
I looked through lots of cards and didn't find anything else useful.
Reanimating:
Breaking // Entering - Run 4 or play another deck.
Living End - I'm thinking these are less relevant than B&E mainly because they don't provide haste and are bad to draw. I think I will run 1-2 and see what happens.
Unburial Rites - in what matchups is this useful?
Here's a thought: My test list had 8 cascade spells and it was the combo piece I was most often lacking. If we run 0-1 living ends, we can increase the number of cascade spells and decrease the draw/discard spells since we can reliably cascade into Breaking. This makes it a much more reliable combo since there are fewer pieces to worry about. More slots are opened for other cards as well.
More targets:
Hellcarver Demon - could be explosive
Pathrazer of Ulamog - seems good. we have so many great options he might not make the cut.
Additional tech to fill the remaining slots:
Not of this World - Does griselbrand like to draw free counters? yes he does.
Dismember - helps with ooze, DRS, thalia and can be played turns 0 (with SSG), 1, and 2.
Loaming Shaman - worth mentioning since he can put reanimation cards back in the library
Simian Spirit Guide - going off a turn early would be nice. I wouldn't replace lands with these but run them in addition to the normal amount of lands. they make great flex slots for games 2/3
Dakmor Salvage - I consider this tech rather than a mana source since I want to discard it rather than play it. it turns bonded fetch into "tap: mill 2" or thirst for knowledge into "draw 2, discard 1, mill 2" (4 cards off the top instead of 3).
Ricochet trap - counters are good
Beast within - kills stuff. even our own stuff if we need a 3/3
Leyline of the void - do we really need this if we only cast living end once or never? plus you have to mull for it.
street wraith - gives us a smaller deck but probably not worth running.
ingot chewer - some artifacts are bad news. this guy likes to munch on them
Liliana of the Veil - pretty good in general. useful for discarding our targets
Jund charm - utility card worth mentioning
slaughter games - hoses certain decks
rift bolt - removal or the finishing blow
Discuss!
Mod text removed. Remember that bolded red text is for Mod use only.
-ktkenshinx-
First we need some respectable reanimation targets.
Targets already mentioned:
Griselbrand - lifelink, flying, can draw protection at instant speed. 4x
Sphinx of the Steel Wind - lifelink + vigilance is good. I like.
Empyrial Archangel - shroud, evasion, keeps us alive. all the things we want.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - might be playable but probably not enough to win on her own.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope - decent clock and blocker but still dies to PtE, Liliana of the Veil, and friends.
Platinum Emperion - decent but he hurts griselbrand's ability and is easy to block. plus artifact creatures tend to survive less.
Sundering Titan - definitely hurts some decks. maybe sideboard.
Iona, Shield of Emeria - don't leave home without her. but perhaps sideboard is where she belongs.
Terastodon - could be useful in certain circumstances but difficult to use.
Twisted Abomination - just play a swamp instead.
Chancellor of the Annex - not really that powerful.
Angel of Despair - not really that powerful since you can't tutor for her. and she's bald.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - outclassed by Grisel, sorry Jin.
Blazing Archon - stops creatures right up until he takes a removal spell to the face and they swing for lethal.
Sire of Insanity - a nice trick, but the opponent probably has board presence by turn 3-4
Pale Recluse - we want powerful creatures, right?
Realm Razer - might be playable. probably not worth a slot.
Additional targets I suggest:
It That Betrays - holy **** batman, why haven't you guys mentioned this one yet? Crazy awesome synergism with living end cast while he's on the board and also good if hasted from Entering.
Novablast Wurm - Gives Entering a chance to wipe the opponent's board of pesky creatures. possibly a sideboard target.
Stormtide Leviathan - unblockable 8/8 that stops other creatures? seems good.
Tyrant of Discord - interesting. synergizes with ITB. might be worth testing.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - solid choice if it sticks.
Stay tuned for the next episode...
exhume & S&T; then you can play exhume on your turn and S&T the following turn if you need to. couple weeks ago I went 2-0 against esper control at a small local tourney.
I'm no expert, just sharing my thoughts.
Also if anyone is looking for epic tech against leyline of the void, I recommend energy field.