| Spells | Lands |
|---|---|
| Creatures 4 Griselbrand 4 Chancellor of the Annex 1 Sire of Insanity 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria Reanimation 4 Reanimate 4 Exhume 3 Animate Dead Discard Outlets 4 Faithless Looting 4 Entomb Discard 4 Unmask 2 Thoughtseize 2 Collective Brutality Fast Mana 4 Dark Ritual 4 Lotus Petal | 4 Polluted Delta 4 Verdant Catacombs 3 Badlands 1 Underground Sea 2 Swamp |
| Sideboard | |
| 4 Show and Tell 3 Blood Moon 2 Echoing Truth 2 Simian Spirit Guide 1 Firestorm 1 Blazing Archon 1 Ashen Rider 1 Grave Titan |
|
All in all, a fairly typical BR Reanimator list with a few interesting decisions. In the maindeck, I elected to play Elesh Norn and Iona instead of Tidespout Tyrant. This cost me a slot elsewhere (In testing I went back and forth between cutting the 4th Griselbrand or the 4th Animate Dead, in the tournament I elected to play the 4th Griselbrand). I strongly prefer Elesh Norn and Iona to Tidespout because they lock the game out in ways he doesn't. Tidespout is significantly better against Lands than either of them, but in almost all other matchups I like the pair of white creatures.
In the sideboard I settled on Show and Tell for the Eldrazi matchup. I tested both the green and white splashes extensively, and I found that I very rarely won matches in which my opponent resolved a hate permanent, I drew my answer to that hate permanent, and I also drew my combo and was able to combo off after answering the hate. Stronghold Gambit was a great way to sidestep that, which I liked for a long time, but I eventually went with Show and Tell because of how bad Gambit was against Eldrazi. Being able to side 4 Show and Tell and 4 Echoing Truth (which answers both chalice and leyline) against Eldrazi put the matchup as close to even as I felt was possible. It's still not good, but winnable. The Show and Tell board plan is largely responsible for my decision to play the 4th Griselbrand. If I'm relying on drawing Griselbrand specifically, and not equally happy to draw him or Entomb, then I want to maximize my chances of having him in hand.
The other major sideboard decision was playing Blood Moon. Obviously I tried this vs Eldrazi, because it's very strong there, but shutting off my hate for their permanents was too great a cost. On the other hand, I found it was the best answer for Deathrite Shaman vs any Delver deck. It's an absolute must-counter. I sided in the Simian Spirit Guides with it to help power it out and pay for Daze. Extra mana is often as good as discard against Delver decks.
The sideboard guide I used for this tournament can be found here. There are obviously some changes I'd make at this point, most notably to the Elves plan (and I'd add a section for Maverick that would probably be identical to Elves), but on the whole I'm happy with it.
The Tournament
I had a rough start, dropping my first two rounds to matchups I felt pretty good about, then rebounded well and made day two. I won't give you a game by game breakdown, but here's what I faced and how I fared.
1 - Maverick (L)
2 - Grixis Delver (L)
3 - Lands (W)
4 - Storm (W)
5 - Lands (W)
6 - Sneak and Show (W)
7 - Death and Taxes (W)
8 - Belcher (L)
9 - UR Delver (W)
10 - 4C Deathblade (W)
11 - BR Reanimator (W)
12 - Elves (L)
13 - UB Reanimator (W)
14 - Elves (L)
15 - Sneak and Show (W)
Interestingly enough, I didn't face Miracles or Eldrazi the entire tournament. I sat next to them quite a bit, just never paired up. I had some fairly predictable results (5-1 vs combo, losing only to Belcher when I kept three turn-2 hands and lost to three turn-1 hands, two of which went off turn 1 through disruption). Even without Tidespout Tyrant I went 2-0 vs lands, though both matches were much closer than they would have been if I had Tyrant in the 75.
I lost to all three Deathrite Shaman + Basic Forest decks that I played against. This is absolutely because I was not sideboarding appropriately for them. I didn't get nearly as much testing with Show and Tell as I would have liked because I couldn't afford Show and Tells online. I naively assumed my basic forest matchup would be good, and didn't actually test it. 2 Collective Brutality and 1 Firestorm simply isn't enough, and that's essentially all I had. I did some additional testing this week at my local shop, and I'm confident the Show and Tells have to come in there. I need to test more to see how well it actually works or if the entire board needs to be rethought, but for the most part those decks aren't going to punish the Show and Tell plan as much as the reanimation plan, and I need to plan appropriately.
Highlights & Lowlights
Nobody needs to hear the complete play by play, but I did have several stellar moments that highlighted an excellent weekend.
- In round 15 I beat a deck game 1 that only showed me Polluted Delta, 2x Volcanic Island, Brainstorm, and Spell Pierce. I sided for Sneak and Show, though it could've been UR Delver, but those two sideboard plans are essentially the same. Game 2 on the play he plays City of Traitors, Lotus Petal, Show and Tell. I get to choose between putting in Griselbrand of Ashen Rider, go with the Rider, destroy his Omniscience, and then combo off the next turn to get a Griselbrand to go with him.
- In round 10 I played the BR mirror, which was hilarious because we both kept turn 2 combo hands that relied on Exhume. We stared at eachother for a while before he pulled the trigger and we both got Griselbrands. His only followup was a Sire of Insanity, so I got to try and do silly stuff too. I drew 14 cards, 0 fast mana, and died to his fast mana the next turn.
- In round 13 I beat a UB Reanimator player when we both played very poorly and somehow ended up with a pair of Iona's staring at each other naming black. That standoff usually ends up going to whoever attacks first, and that was me. It was quite the board state though.
- In round 3 I unmasked my Lands opponent (postboard) and saw Diamond, Diamond, Forest, Loam, Maze, Maze, Tabernacle. I couldn't combo off that turn, at which point I'm fairly confident the only card I could reasonably play in my 75 that beats that hand is Blood Moon. Lucky for me, I had a copy handy and won easily.
- In round 8 my Belcher opponent put me on the play after losing game 1. I thoughtseize him and see Taiga, Simian Spirit Guide, Simian Spirit Guide, Tinder Wall, Tinder Wall, Gitaxian Probe, Gitaxian Probe. I take a Probe and pass. He draws, probes me, then casts a Charbelcher leaving a Tinder Wall and tapped Taiga in play. As I have foolishly not sided in Ashen Rider, I lose. doh!
- In round 5 I reanimate a Blazing Archon against lands, then immediately get Ghost Quartered into oblivion. He has a Maze of Ith keeping me from killing him, but he can't kill me either. I have Blood Moon and Simian Spirit Guide in hand, but can't draw two more mana. We spend at least 10 draw steps staring at eachother as I look for mana and he looks for Tabernacle. He eventually stops loaming, draws off the top, it's Gamble, and I lose.
Conclusions
I was very happy with the list and my decision to play it. As I've already mentioned, the Elves/Maverick board plan was a mistake, and that's the kind of thing that happens when you change your deck at the last minute.
My biggest takeaway from the event was how bad Faithless Looting was for me all day. I was already boarding it out against Delver decks because those decks are prepared to trade 1 for 1 with you all day, and the card disadvantage was adding up too quickly for me to interact. I tested a lot against Delver, and my win percentage went up notably when I started siding out Looting.
More generally though, Looting is a pretty big liability games 2-3 in a format where almost all decks can be reasonably expected to have surgical extraction in the 75. I lost one game where I ended up reanimating a chancellor instead of a Griselbrand because I was trying to bait a surgical he didn't have, and I lost another because my hand simply didn't have a sequence available that could strip the surgical before I cast the looting, so he responded to my unmask with a surgical taking the Griselbrand I had just discarded. With this in mind, I tested a monoblack maindeck last night at my local shop. I went 3-1, losing again to Deathrite Shaman + Basic Forest. We tested the Show and Tell plan afterwards and things went much better for me.
I'll be writing an article about the monoblack list as soon as I have a chance to play a few more games with it. Until then, happy BReanimating!
