MTG Salvation

Espemon and I are playing right now.

If you're exiling your library with Selective Memory you can use Primal Surge to put your library onto the battlefield in addition to Emrakul.

cpu_doom - cpu_doom - l35e5oo2

cpu_doom - cpu_doom - mm8rio40

Waste Not seems like too high variance. There are games where it's nut but they all include casting it on turn 2, having it survive, then having a discard spell. I'd rather run playsets of either Shrieking Affliction or The Rack before even touch the card. Topdecking it late game when the opponent is out of cards is infinitely worse than drawing a rack effect. I find it funny how good it is against Living End decks.

Quote from Dromar

I took this list to my first Modern tournament at the LGS:

B&E ReanimatorMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
creatures (12) 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	mana 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	SB: 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.

Having only 23 lands is a pretty dangerous proposition. I've lost too many games to run below 24 lands (I'm running 23 lands plus 2 Pale Recluse). This deck needs to get to 3 mana to function and it can discard excess lands with either Liliana of the Veil or Thirst for Knowledge. Having more than 3 lands in hand is infinitely better than having only 2 lands on turn 3.

As you said, most games that we can reanimate any creature usually results in us winning. Of course, there are decks that can ignore the creature and just combo out the next turn (Specifically Twin, Scapeshift, and Storm). Other decks could kill the reanimated creature then win from there (Jund UWR control). So, the reanimated creature should have some game-winning impact and either prevent the opponent from comboing or be extremely difficult to kill.

I'd say that Griselbrand sort of falls into the latter category but I've had too many times where I reanimate him but I can't use the draw 7 after UWR paths it because they could just burn me to death. Additionally, he does nothing against the combo decks. He may be a better fit for your deck because you're all in on Breaking//Entering while I'm using both. After all, he is MUCH better with haste.

Empyrial Archangelis almost impossible for and blue based control deck to deal with. Every time it's entered the battlefield I've been immensely impressed with it. Elesh Norn is just about as good as Novablast Wurm against creatures but it also randomly hoses Twin. Terastodon is just absurdly versatile and killing 3 lands can spell death to some combo decks. Sire of Insanity on turn 3 is just about as close to gg as it can get against almost any deck. Iona can also be a random win against most decks so I think it's worth to include her as at least a one-of. Note that these are more suggestions than anything else

Also, it seems that Pulse of the Grid could have a home in the deck. I've been experimenting with a sideboard plan against Deathrite Shaman plus Scavenging Ooze decks where I sideboard out all my Breaking//Enterings and I bring in all my Living Ends. They always have to keep up mana for Scavenging Ooze which slows them down while I can randomly wrath their board (getting rid of all their hate) so I can reanimate freely the next turn. Pulse of the Grid comes in so I have more effects that can dump creatures into my graveyard. It's also really good against UWR control because they if they don't counter it I can sculpt my hand into one they can't beat.

Liliana of the Veil is something I need to try. It kills creatures and discards reanimation targets. I'll probably replace the Pulse of the Grid with her because they both generally fulfill the same role of being good against control. Of course, Liliana is better against combo decks like Scapeshift so I probably want her instead.

If I were you I'd run an additional Living End in the board because it opens up tons of different sideboarding plans. For example, siding out all your Breaking//Entering and siding in 3 Living End makes the Bogles match close to a bye. I also like using this strategy against white weenie decks if I see (or am expecting) Rest in Peace. Having 11 sweeper effects (8 cascade plus 3 Volcanic Fallout) is usually enough to win with.

I'd recommend that you play Volcanic Fallout over Dismember. Most of the cards that you care about have 2 or less toughness (other than scavenging ooze) and the upside of that card is much higher than dismember. Tempo strategies are horrid matchups for this deck and Volcanic Fallout can remedy them quite easily.

My list for Reference:


Yeah, I know it's not updated but it works quite well. I like the Living Ends in the main because cascading into Living End is absurdly powerful. I'm not saying that it's the right choice but it's definitely the most fun and isn't that what this deck is about?

Also, I'm gonna rename the deck. Living End Reanimator doesn't really work when Breaking//Entering is being used without Living End at all. Cascade Reanimator is a much more appropriate name.

I'm not sure if this is too powerful but:
Garden at the end of Seasons
Land
Garden at the end of Seasons enters the battlefield tapped.
Add to your mana pool.
Target land becomes the basic land type of your choice until end of turn.

I like the idea of a land that colorscrews versus just killing lands it encourages more decks wit less strict mana requirements versus just punishing nonbasics.

Frenzied Ritual

Instant
Add :symr::symr::symr: to your mana pool. Frenzied Ritual deals damage to you equal to twice the number of spells played this turn. Exile Frenzied Ritual.

Tooth for Tooth
:1mana::symbr::symb:
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast Tooth for Tooth, sacrifice any number of creatures. Target player sacrifices a creatures for each you sacrificed this way.

Forgotten Memories
:symb::symu::symg:
Sorcery
Return target card from your graveyard to your hand.
Flashback- Discard a card

Goblin Explorer
:1mana::symr:
Creature - Goblin Scout
Tap an untapped Goblin you control: Reveal the top card of your library, if it's a Goblin put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard and sacrifice a Goblin.
2/1

I really like brewing combo decks in Modern. The premise of this deck in particular is to use Selective Memory to allow Shelldock Isle to cast either Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or Primal Surge to put Emrakul into play.

A Rough sketch:


The combo works like this:
1. Get a Shelldock Isle exiling either Emrakul or Primal Surge
2. Cast Selective Memory exiling enough cards to put your library at less than 20 cards. (If you've exiled Primal Surge with Shelldock Isle you have to leave in at least 1 Emrakul.)
3. Use Shelldock Isle to cast the exiled card. Casting Emrakul gives you an extra turn for it to attack on. Primal Surge will put an Emrakul into play and you can then use Slayer's Stronghold to give it haste and attack.

I'm using Amulet of Vigor plus Summer's Bloom to generate mana because the Karoo lands synergize with Shelldock Isle. If I don't have Emrakul or Primal Surge in my top 4 cards I can bounce Shelldock Isle to my hand and try again. Additionally, Amulet of Vigor plus Summer's Bloom are really powerful and the best acceleration for a deck like this. (rituals are horrible in this deck)

Thoughts?
Comments?

I'd say that there's exactly one card out of Theros for this deck, Swan Song. My worst matchups are either super quick aggro and combo decks liege Scapeshift and Twin. Aggro decks are easier to sideboard for but Scapeshift it naturally good against this strategy. Having Swan Song, a 1-mana hard counter to all their relevant spells, in the sideboard as a 2-3 of could probably help against them quite a bit.

Shadow of Doubt is better than Slaughter Games in many situations but the issue is that I find that it doesn't really stop Scapeshift. We don't have enough counters to protect it and if it does resolve they could just cast another Scapeshift to kill us. Slaughter Games can win the game on the spot and it uncounterable. I personally think it's much, much better.

On the topic of having an accelerant that gets us to 3 mana on turn 2 without requiring (Deathrite Shaman) or being too unlikely to activate (Mox Opal) we could potentially use Simian Spirit Guide. Like Chrome Mox it's card disadvantage for extra mana but it is -1 card for +1 mana instead of -2 cards for +1 permanent mana source. I'm pretty dubious of the Spirit Guide because I'm not sure if it's worth the card disadvantage but I'll test him as a 3-of before I reject the idea.

The more I think about it the more I realize that Deatrite Shaman actually can't be played reliably in the deck. It's not an issue of being easy to remove because the decks that I want it against are the ones who put me on a clock and if they slow themselves down by using removal I'm fine. The problem lies in the fact that the Shaman needs to be played on turn one to be effective and the deck doesn't run enough sources for that to be a common occurrence.

I'd willingly play a card that was

Artifact
:symtap:: add to your mana pool.

When Deathrite Shaman accelerated me from one to three mana it was insane. Every other time it was lackluster and mediocre.

Dang, I really thought I was onto something...

EDIT: I know that the artifact is insanely overpowered but my point was that I'd like it if there was a colorless card that let the deck get 3 mana on turn 2

I know that I'm repeating myself but I think that Deathrite Shaman is a great card in the deck. In TonyRo's 4-0 deck there are 13 cards that cost 3 mana and only two 2-drops (just the Spellskites). The decks biggest issues are living through the early game and establishing a lock before you die. Deathrite Shaman lets you cast Vedalken Shackles and Trinket Mage on turn 2 which can really help against opposing fast starts. Due to the nature of Deathrite Shaman being bad in this deck in multiples (because it's splashing for it's abilities so it can't activate multiples) but great on the first turn I think that 3 would be the optimal number for the deck.



This list has 11 ways of directly interacting with the opponent on the first turn (Deathrite Shaman, Spell Snare, Galvanic Blast). The biggest issue I've had so far with Deathrite Shaman is the nonbo it has with Crucible of Words but other than that it's been great in testing.

I'm not putting it into the primer yet because I'm not 100% sure it's right for the deck but so far I think that it's what the deck needs.

Thoughts?

Also, YAY! We're stickied again!

I've turned the OP into a Primer, as you can probably see, and it would be really helpful if you could give me suggestions/constructive criticism and lists for it. The primer is definitely not done but I won't have access to a computer for a couple of days so I just put up what I had done.

Cheers!

I've volunteered to revise the Primer. The big thing I need help with is procuring proven decklists because I've been more experimenting with Tezzerator than accquiring lists. Other than that, I'll probably have the OP updated within a couple of days.