[Deck] Budget Reanimate

[magus888]

For the past month or so I've been fooling around with a Vintage Reanimate build. I love the deck in extended, and I think some type 1 tech could make it pretty broken. I've playtested against numerous tier 1 builds and it has given me several wins, but I wonder if the deck is actually viable. Here's the current deck list.

4Polluted Delta
4Underground Sea
6Swamp
2Island
4Dark Ritual
1Chrome Mox

4Duress
4Cabal Therapy
4Reanimate
4Exhume
1Demonic Tut.
1Entomb

4Brainstorm
4Carful Study

4Putrid Imp
4Akroma
3Phantom Nashoba
1Rorix
1Visara

I don't have a sideboard yet, but I'm open for suggestions. My local meta is pretty average.

The list I've provided seems really consistant and wins on turns 3-5. The cards are really tight and I'd like to know if any cards could be removed or added in. I also wonder if Yawgmoth's will should be added. I played with it before, but half the time it was a dead draw. Please share your ideas if you can.

[giddygorgon]

The deck really needs more disruption than just cabal therapy.  Combo will rape this deck.  Control will simply counter your reanimate spells.  I know the deck is tight, but I don't think this deck can be viable if it relies on putrid imp because of how few disruption slots you have.  I would try to make it focused on buried alive because in that way you don't have to put 9 creatures in just to give you enough stuff to throw away with imp, who btw will get swordsd and countered and fired.  Running buried alive will free up probably 5 spots where you can run either duress or FOW.  If you go this route i would drop therapy for either FOW or Duress, allowing you to play much mroe disruption.

[Norm4eva]

You should definitely make room for Buried Alive.  One Entomb effect is not enough and playing with 3 Phantom Nishobas and 4 Akromas is silly.
I also play with a series of creatures that make it possible to hax a 2-3rd turn win; Using Rorix, Bladewing the Risen, and Bladewing's Thrall you can swing for 19 in two turns. I also like using those three because, like Verdant Force, removal is less effective when there's multiple threats.

[Hi-Val]

You should look at threats that have an impact on the game other than damage. I'm talking about things like Platinum Angel and Sundering Titan, and if you needed it, Duplicant/Trike.

[Norm4eva]

Hi Val has a good point, and I think that's where your SB should start.  I don't include creatures like Titan or P.Angel in the maindeck because reanimating things like Sutured Ghouls or a trio of Dragons make for a faster win, which will be most advantageous in the face of paying 6-8 life for your own win condition.  Trike would be a difficult include because it can't be reused and the removal it offers is answered in other potential SB options.

[+t]

The question I think you need to answer is, how is this any better then U/B Dragon?  Dragon is faster then this deck, packs more disruption, and seems to be more consistent (at least, on paper).

Playing on a budget is not an excuse in this case.  You already have the duals.

[That0neguy]

Also if you are intent on getting out a big beatstick I would go with Oath since there is less set up and less dead slots.  Reanimate requires to much set up and still has the same (on a lucky hand) or slower that Oath kill.

[magus888]

The reason I have so many craetures is that this deck needs to get creatures out quickly. Playtesting, I found with nine creature I was getting first turn creatures about 50% of the time.

This is my thought on Buried Alive. It's a 3cc spell which really puts a crunch on speed even with Dark Rituals. Buried alive is also a dead draw in the late game. With Putrid Imps, I have a 1cc spell which can be used in the late game. It's a good 1/1-2/2 pinger which can believe it or not cut my turn kills down by one. It's also good target for Cabal Therapy's flashback.

[That0neguy]

The point is though that Oath is just better at doing what you are trying to do and is able to do it in much fewer slots and with less of a drawback (loss of life, giving them a creture).  I see no advantages of this over Oath.  Even on a budget.

[Norm4eva]

Asking "Why is Deck A any better than Deck B" just stifles the conversation.  It's probably safe to assume that there is a reason behind building Reanimator and NOT Oath, or else he would have asked about a Budget Oath build.  If he wanted a comparison made he would have asked for one.  Whether the deck wins for him, whether the nature of his play is competitive or for leisure, these things are his perrogative and I'd let him worry about it.
Anyway.  I didn't suggest taking out Putrid Imps.  I agree with your inclusion for them, and they do indeed aid in speeding up the kill by a turn.  If your concern with Buried Alive is the speed of the deck, there are some simple forms of mana acceleration that can be included.  Lotus Petal, Sol Ring, and Mox Diamond come to mind first.  I used to have issues with Buried Alive as well, then I took them out and found myself taking mulligans more often than I should have had to.  If you have the means, another logical include is Vampiric Tutor.
Also, seeing as how Swords to Plowshares is one of the biggest banes of any Reanimator deck, consider a spot for Plated Slagwurm.  Superior to Multani because of his consistent 8/8 body, and only really responds to Edict effects which you can probably feed an Imp to.

[That0neguy]

The point I was trying to make is that reanimate is another dead archtype that if you are going for the speed kill of getting out akroma and freinds there is a better faster way.  If you are going to try to build reanimate you are going to have to use a more controling toolbox type thing.  You should try to work in survival of the fitest to atempt to tutor for cretures that will work good in certain situations like if you are playing against some aggro deck fetch the nishoba and you win basically If you are going against something that will try to power out a few big cretures grab visira if against oath try platinum angel since they can't win through it most of the time.  Going for the speed kill is flawed and if you wanted to do that go with oath.  Even if you do atempt to build the toolbox version Oath will still probably be better since it can run more disruption and is more compact.

[bedafile]

Hey reanimator is a fun deck to play, you guys seem willing to flame magus888 for starting this post, maybe magus likes to play it, maybe magus doesn't play in high-powered tournaments, or maybe magus has the cards?

I played reanimator for my multiplayer deck for about a year and still have to build a better deck in multiplayer. It was a lot of fun and made for some great games.

I have some input on the creature selection. I agree with going with the tool box approach, Platz, Titan, Duplicant all are great options. First turn Buried Alive -> Reya, Akroma, Crater Hellion followed up by reanimating Reya is a always a fun play. I'm also a fan of Bladewing the Risen as well. Undead Gladiator is a better way, although more costly, of getting your fatties in the yard.

As far as cheap disruption you may want to consider Winter Orb. That should slow your opponent enough while you attack with the family. That's of course that's without running an Undead Gladiator.