Reanimator
From MTG Salvation Wiki
Reanimator is an archetype of deck named for the card Reanimate. It shares some traits with both the Aggro deck and Combo deck archetypes, but is distinct from the both in the manner in which it gets creatures into play.
The basic idea is to put very large creatures into your graveyard, and from there get them into play. It is an unusual design in that it can put expensive creatures of any combination of colors into play requiring only small amounts of one color of mana, giving the deck's builder the ability to use just about any creature in the game. As a result, there can be a tremendous amount of variety within the archetype.
The first goal with the deck is to get the important creature cards into the graveyard. There are several ways to do this. Some cards require you to discard a card, either as an additional cost, as with Putrid Imp's ability, or as an effect, as with Hidden Horror). Other spells, like Buried Alive or Entomb, allow you to search your library for specific creatures and put them directly into the graveyard. Lastly, if your opening draw includes one of your reanimation targets, you have the option to decline to play anything your first turn and discard the creature. Some decks also opt to put a large portion of the library into the graveyard at once by milling via Hermit Druid (not playing any basic lands) or Cephalid Illusionist (in combination with Nomads en-Kor or Shaman en-Kor)
Once there are targets in the graveyard, spells like Reanimate or Animate Dead bring them from the graveyard into play. These spells typically have low casting costs in terms of mana, but involve some sort of trade-off. Because of this, a well-tuned Reanimator deck is capable of dealing lethal damage on turn 5 or before.
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[edit] Cards used to put creatures into the graveyard
- Bazaar of Baghdad (or Magus of the Bazaar)
- Buried Alive
- Cephalid Illusionist (in combination with Nomads en-Kor)
- Entomb
- Hermit Druid
- Hidden Horror/Mercenary Knight
- Putrid Imp
[edit] Creatures to get into and play from the graveyard
- Akroma, Angel of Wrath
- Ambassador Laquatus (in decks featuring the Worldgorger Dragon combo)
- Angel of Despair
- Arcanis the Omnipotent
- Bladewing the Risen (with Dragon Tyrant or Nicol Bolas)
- Bogardan Hellkite
- Crater Hellion
- Phantom Nishoba
- Reya Dawnbringer
- Rorix Bladewing
- Spirit of the Night
- Sutured Ghoul
- Visara the Dreadful
- Worldgorger Dragon (in Decks playing Animate Dead and/or Dance of the Dead and/or Necromancy)
[edit] Cards to put creatures into play from the graveyard
- Animate Dead
- Dance of the Dead
- Doomed Necromancer
- Exhume
- Hell's Caretaker
- Makeshift Mannequin
- Necromancy
- Reanimate
- Recurring Nightmare
- Shallow Grave
- Soul Exchange
- Zombify
[edit] Notes
- Creatures with triggered abilities when the creature comes into play are particularly worth reanimating. Recurring Nightmare can be used to alternate between two such creatures for as long as you can produce the three mana to cast it.
- Graveyard removal such as Tormod's Crypt is the bane of this deck type. Be certain to keep a Feldon's Cane or two within reach. Leyline of the Void is another problematic hoser.
[edit] Variations
- Dragon deck: When Worldgorger Dragon is reanimated with either Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead or Necromancy, a loop occurs: The reanimating aura is removed from the game by the Dragon. Due to this, the Dragon is sacrificed. The leaves play ability of the dragon returns the aura making it possible to reanimate the Dragon again. By tapping all lands for mana before they are removed, a near infinite amount of mana can be produced since the lands will return untapped. With enough mana, the loop is broken by instead reanimating another creature with a repeatable activated ability that results in a game ending state such as dealing lethal damage or removing all cards from the opponents library. A common creature for this is Ambassador Laquatus since his activated ability also does not require any colored mana.
- The dreaded Dragon Tyrant/Bladewing the Risen combo can deal up to 16 damage on turn 2. 1st turn: Badlands, Dark Ritual, Buried Alive (for Dragon Tyrant, Bladewing the Risen, and Anger). 2nd Turn: Swamp, Exhume (choosing Bladewing, which reanimates the Tyrant), attack for 16 damage.
- Reya-Animator: Reya Dawnbringer is essentially reanimation-on-a-stick. For obvious reasons, she is a central card in a deck named after her.
- Similar to Hulk Flash, Reanimator can use the combo with Karmic Guide, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Sky Hussar/Pestermite: Play Buried Alive for the three cards. Reanimate Karmic Guide, bringing back Kiki-Jiki. Copy the Guide, which brings back Sky Hussar. Kiki-Jiki untaps, at this point you can make as many copies of the Hussar as you want.
- Some Decks opt to mill a large portion of the deck via Cephalid Illusionist or Hermit Druid. This enables to reanimate a lethal Sutured Ghoul by having additional creatures such as Krosan Cloudscraper in the graveyard. It also enables other utility cards to be put into the graveyard, namely Anger and Dragon Breath or cards with Flashback, e.g. Krosan Reclamation to set up the reanimation spell on an empty library.
