Reanimator

[bebe]

4 Last Rites
4 Duress
3 Pernicious Deed
3 Sickening Dreams

3 Night's Whisper
1 Vamp Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library

4 Doomed Necromancer
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Symbiotic Wurm
1 VerdaNT Force
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent

3 Buried Alive
1 Entomb 

Bl Lotus
Mox Emer
Mox Jet
Mana Cypt
Sol Ring
4 Bayou
4 Fetchland
5 Swamp
4 Forest
4 D. Ritual

I decided i needed to play around with a new deck that could actually have explosive starts. I know traditional rewanimator is replaced pretty much by Dragon or Bazaar decks but I wanted soimething different I really would like to fit in three Eternal Witness in this deck. I'm just not sure what i should remove for them. That wpould allow for some prety insane recursions. However, without blue for Time Walk, Ancestral, etc.  it seems a bit less optimal.

As for some of the other choices ... I thought that an Arcanis would be fun. Not that I will necessarily get a chance to play it. Symbiotic is there just for the Deeds and Verdant is playable from my hand or graveyard. Collosus and Akroma need no explanation.

Last Rites and Sickening Dreams are my budget Bazaars. Along with Buried Alives and the one Entomb  that is a lot odf options to dump cards in the graveyard.

[Matt]

I don't think Darksteel Colossus is the man you're looking for, as he has a hard time getting into the graveyard.

[bebe]

which is what happens when you write these lists at work ... replace with penumbra ... still as janky as it was!

[Ephraim]

I suggest Necrosavant. It plays well with Verdant Force and Symbiotic Wurm to provide counters for you to sacrifice. I would also suggest Luminous Angel in place of Akroma, just because Akroma wins games far too quickly to be as exciting as she should be. Plus, the spirit tokens, like Verdant Force's saproling tokens, have a bevy of uses. Speaking of which, did you conscientiously avoid Recurring Nightmare? It also plays well with Verdant Force, Symbiotic Wurm, and Luminous Angel. This being a casual deck, you could probably get away with not playing Duress. That would make room for 3 Recurring Nightmare + 1 Eternal Witness/Necrosavant, etc.

[Negator131]

Have you considered either Undead Gladiator or Zombie Infestation as potential discard outlets? I run Undead Gladiators in my Reanimator build because he's a constant blocker when you're put on the defensive, and can be invaluable in increasing card quality in the long game against Control. Zombie Infestation is also strong overall because of its versatility; you can drop it early under the counter wall against Control and pitch dead cards to combat Aggro strategies as well.

Also, are you entirely sure that 4 Doomed Necromancers are enough reanimation spells?

[bebe]

Well after due thought

- 1 D. Collossus
- 4 Duress
- 1 Arcanis
- 1 Sylvan Library

+ 2 Reanimate
+ 2 Recurring Nightmare
+ 1 Necrosavant
+ 1 Fallen Angel
+ 1 Eternal Witness 

I get three more reanimation spells and a usefull Eternal Witness.

I like both Necrosavant and Fallen Angel as both can be quite good in the deck. In fact iot is conceivable to get a quite large Angel by turn three or four. I have often taken casual decks to large tournaments. I've even managed to top eight a few times with Highlander, Sharahzad and other seemingly ridiculous decks. This deck might win a match two  and provide me with a few laughs if i can beat some Workshop deck with a Necrosavant or Fallen Angel. Hard to live that down.

[CCClark]

What?  No Reya Dawnbringer?  She's like the animate on a stick.   

Anyway, only the doomed necro to get them back seems like too few of options to return things.  I would at least run 8 ways to return them. 

I have always liked Anvil of borgadan for reanimators also.  It's only 2 mana and allows you to use that discard thing a lot better than any other deck.   -1 Sylvan +1 Anvil.   I actually used to play 4 of these before I got my hands on Bazaars.   I used Hidden horror for the rest of the discard. 

If you own one, I would recommmend a Diamond Valley or two.  If you're going to play with Reanimates, might as well have a way to get all that Life back if they manage to kill the fattie.   Plus it saves your creatures from being removed with Swords.  It would help make up for Night's whisper also. 

I'll think of more later.

[Ephraim]

He's added ways of getting the creatures back, Dozer. in the last revision, he removed some spells to make room for 2 Reanimate and 2 Recurring Nightmare.

[bebe]

Completely forgot about Anvil of B - i used to play it in a budget Dragon deck also. Survival works too. But I wanted to try a different appproach using some cards that clearly do not see a lot of play, eg., last rites and sickening dreams. Otherwise I could play four reanimate, putrids, and anvils/survival and it works like any other reanimator deck. Those that know me, know that it is not my style to play a normal deck even at large events - last outing I played a highlander stax deck for lack of a better description and made top four with it. I don't expect this to do nearly as well but if I mess up someones run to the finals I'll be happy.