Topic: Reanimation

So I've got yet another deck Idea for standard, Angel of Glory's Rise seems too good not to be abusable, and I think that the key to the combo is going to be using it similarly to Scapeshift, meaning I want to put particular humans in the yard, specifically Kessig Malcontents and Champion of the Parish. Part of the key to the deck is gaining enough life to give you time to resolve an Angel of Glory's Rise, there are 11 different life gain cards in the main deck, Cathedral Sanctifiers, Huntmasters, and Gnaw to the Bone(s). I think that using a self-mill/reanimator deck seems to be the strongest strategy. This is because if you get only 2ish Kessig Malcontents at once they can get lethal or nearly lethal very quickly. Disciple of Bolas offers a way to reuse the Angels or the Malcontents or just give you the life + cards you need to survive a little longer.

Another strength is how easy it is for your humans to die so they can be reanimated over and over, this way their enter the battlefield abilities can go off over and over.

Any thoughts? http://deckbox.org/sets/272979

http://deckbox.org/users/imsully2

Re: Reanimation

Three really quick thoughts...

1) Kessig Cagebreakers would work wonders here.  You're already trying to feed into the graveyard, so why not make use of their wolf-creating abilities?

2) I'd suggest throwing Cloudshift in as well, as it's a lot easier to just flicker the angel as opposed to having it die and reanimating it multiple times (or you could easily flicker Kessig Malcontents for some easy damage).

3) Mentor of the Meek could be really useful here to help with card advantage as you only have two creatures that wouldn't trigger his ability.

Just some friendly food for thought.

Re: Reanimation

I do like cloudshift, It seems like it could very nice as everything has etb triggers, (i wish resto didnt have the non-angel clause sad ). There are a few issues I can see with it but Im certianly going to try 1-2 if not all 4 in main deck, good call!

While I like the thought of the cage breakers Im not 100% sure, I think I like them in sideboard against control, that way theyll focus on my unburial rites until I put out an uncounterable game winner, main deck Im not sure of because its just a somewhat decent body after my combo goes off.

Mentor of the meek is an interesting option, I just dont see what I would cut for it, sure the card draw could be really nice but the deck is going to be pushing the limits as it stands and so Im not sure I can afford to put any in slots, eapecially something thats so weak to removal and doesnt have an etb ability.

http://deckbox.org/users/imsully2

Re: Reanimation

I definitely feel you with regard to both the Cagebreakers and Mentor.  Cagebreakers just seem like a natural option given that you're dropping humans via Grisly Salvage and Mulch (in addition to not having a huge attachment to them when they're on the board).  They could also give you another target for your rites.  I could also see where Mentor helps ensure you pull your Unburial Rites and an angel, but in retrospect, Faithless Looting will help get you there really well too.

My biggest fear for you is that the opponent is running a lot of board wipes and counters, as was the case at my LGS this past week, at which point they can counter the rites and keep wiping the board until you would have to hard-cast the angel (assuming they don't counter her too).  Or, in an even worse scenario, someone sides in Slaughter Games or Nevermore and then you're totally screwed. 

I'm finding more and more that unless it's almost guaranteed to win the game, you need to have more than one win-con.  To some extent I'm amazed to see Slaughter Games not getting more play as it can easily hamstring most standard decks these days.

Re: Reanimation

Honestly, most of the time I love regular board wipes, terminus is a kick in the crotch but I love supreme verdict, if I can stall with life-gain long enough my kessig malcontents are an instant win when I get an angel, just the 4 malcontents is 16 damage to my opponent's face, the beauty of the card is that they all enter at the exact same time therefore there are 4 humans when they enter (Judge's Ruling) If I get to the point that I can Hard-Cast an Angel of Glory's Rise I've probably got lethal damage in my graveyard and I'll put a cavern down naming Angel and then win, control is actually a pretty good match up for me. I'm also less worried about counters since in the instance of counter magic I'll just side out the rites and bring in Cagebreakers and the like. My biggest worry is Rest in Peace, oftentimes by the time I can kill it it will have already wrecked my game completely, as such I might try to make it into a transformational deck, first game I'm playing reanimator, seccond game I'm playing Naya mid range, bringing in Thragtusk, restoration angel, sigarda stuff like that and given that I'm only running 12 spells that are exclusively for milling (I'm not counting faithless looting) I could sideboard out that entire mechanic including my angels.

I also havn't seen slaughter games/nevermore, and I didn't see surgical extraction while it was in standard either, these seem like they're absolutely lethal against any combo decks, maybe the Idea is that they're too costly? I feel like Slaughter Games  especially is absolutely amazing, I'm trying to work out how to configure my board since I feel like I absolutely need x4 in mine against anyone with rest in peace or foolish combo decks or even just against miracle decks, no entreats for you smile (On a side note I'm thinking about making a Grixis Control deck based on Slaughter Games and the like since it can be so crippling.

One of my biggest fears is just exile in general, I'm really weak to getting my creatures pillar of flame'd since they have <2 toughness aside from my angel or a Champion of the Parish that's been brought back or sat around for a few turns.

I've noticed that in most self mill decks Gnaw to the Bone is one of the if not THE best card that I've got, it just gives you the time that you need, I usually net 12-20 life from it between the flashback and normal casting, it just fills in a spot you usually don't have covered, the 3 drop, Ideally you could have T1 Cathedral Sanctifier T2 Mulch/Salvage T3 Gnaw to the Bone for like 6 extra life so the total of 9 life gain is usually enough to let you get your cards in order especially since you're happy to block with your humans

http://deckbox.org/users/imsully2

Re: Reanimation

Slaughter Games is disgustingly good.  I'm likely running my adjusted Rakdos Aggro deck at my next standard constructed FNM simply to be able to use 4x of them to totally neuter the few net-deckers.  Even the U/W/R decks that just won the TGC Maxpoint Championship would be easy to deal with given the Games... take out Geist of Saint Traft and Thundermaw Hellkite and you're just a few Resto Angels away from victory.  Sure, they can stall, but at that point their deck has no teeth.

If you're going Grixis Control for Slaughter Games, I would advise you looking at my Win, Lose... or Draw? deck (http://deckbox.org/sets/218318).  The idea is to exile all their critical cards, including unsummoning everything to get it with the Shimian Specter.  It's not full on Grixis yet, but once Gatecrash hits, I think I'll likely take it in that direction.