There are some new kids on the block, and there’s no Jordan here ladies.
Week in and week out, Standard continues to prove that it is evolving and constantly in flux. Whether it’s completely new archetypes or updated old ones, everyone is scrapping and brewing to beat G/B/W Reanimator.
Reanimator comes in many different flavors, all with their own unique spot in the format that boil down to how effective you want to be versus the Burning-Tree Emissary decks. Lotleth Troll and Loxodon Smiter (ala Sam Black) are fabulous at stemming the Shaman-fueled Human assault, while Sliming your opponent over and over backed with Garruk Relentless (ala Brian Braun-Duin) is very effective against the mirror and other control (U/W/R, Esper) and midrange (Jund, Naya, Bant) decks. There is even a more streamlined Reanimation strategy with two Craterhoofs in the main that Korey McDuffie used to win SCG Standard Open: Atlanta.
Now, I am quite the Reanimator advocate, but I have taken notice of the success of a few particular decks that seem to be on the right track to beat Reanimator. Let’s take a look at them and how exactly they’re attacking the boogeyman.
First up is The Aristocrats: Act 2.
Creatures (23)
- 3 Skirsdag High Priest
- 4 Doomed Traveler
- 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
- 4 Blood Artist
- 4 Cartel Aristocrat
- 4 Boros Reckoner
Lands (22)
Spells (15)
Previously a Hoof-lover who is currently Reckoning Blasphemy, Brad Nelson has been putting in a lot of work making this The Aristocrats update a premium player in the Standard metagame. Taking advantage of Reanimator’s ability to vomit a large number of creatures into play and their inability to remove specific creatures at will, Act 2’s primary goal against Reanimator is to assemble Boros Reckoner + Blood Artist and cast Blasphemous Act. The thirteen damage from the Reckoner trigger combined with all of the Blood Artist triggers should be enough to kill your Reanimator opponent, especially since you’ve probably been attacking with Lingering Souls, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Cartel Aristocrat.
This strategy is even effective against the control decks—getting in as much damage as you can and punishing them with Blood Artist for having to Supreme Verdict your board, often leaving you with Falkenrath Aristocrat out of the exchange. Post-board, cards like Obzedat, Ghost Council and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad are both tough to deal with and put on a lot of pressure when paired with the rest of the deck’s synergy.
Getting back to Act 2 versus Reanimator, Electrickery is a page right out of Gerry Thompson book that this deck can use to fight Reanimator’s mana development and defensive Lingering Souls. Thundermaw Hellkite helps you continue to put on pressure while the ever-lingering Blasphemous Act threatens to end the game on the spot. Playing around this is pretty tough from the Reanimator side, and builds with multiple Craterhoof Behemoth are ones with the best shot.
In fact, Lotleth Troll + multiple Behemoths seems like the way to fight this deck from the Reanimator perspective. Both allow you to trample through for lots of damage before they can spout their Blasphemy, and it’s safe to go "all in" on a graveyard strategy against them since Rest in Peace actually hurts them even more that it does you, meaning they won’t have it.
Unfortunately, while Act 2 is awesome against Junk Reanimator and the majority of the other midrange decks, I think that it’s a little soft to the hyperaggressive Burning-Tree Emissary decks. With the exception of Cartel Aristocrat and double blocks, their creatures don’t match up well against creatures like Flinthoof Boar, Hellrider, Frontline Medic, Ash Zealot, and the like. Tragic Slip does a lot of work against these decks, however, so it’s not like you are that much of an underdog.
Next up is something in a bit of a different direction. In fact, this deck is extremely interesting due to its ability to play different roles effectively when it needs to. I’m talking about the new G/R Aggro, which is in the same vein as the ones that Saito shook the world with in the weeks leading up to Pro Tour Gatecrash.
Creatures (29)
- 1 Borderland Ranger
- 4 Arbor Elf
- 4 Hellrider
- 2 Wolfir Silverheart
- 2 Thundermaw Hellkite
- 4 Flinthoof Boar
- 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
- 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
- 4 Gyre Sage
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (9)
Spells (18)
This is a very unique Burning-Tree Emissary deck. You still have some explosive draws with multiple BTEs into Flinthoof Boar, and you also have some unique draws where you get to play Arbor Elf on turn 1 and follow up with a BTE and a Domri fighting their one-drop. This deck attacks Reanimator extremely well, primarily because the assault comes from multiple fronts. The aggressive elements make Acidic Slime bad even though the G/R deck plays high-impact five-cost spells and Bonfire of the Damned, all of which are extremely good against Reanimator (with Silverheart being an exception since he matches up poorly against Acidic Slime).
Bonfire in particular is quite good at keeping Reanimator playing an "honest" game of Magic rather than just Sliming on 3 or even 4. Rampager makes blocking a nightmare and even makes for some cute post-combat Domri fighting.
Speaking of Domri, he is very good in this deck, and as a bonus he is quite good against Reanimator. Keeping them off an explosive start is paramount, and drawing into more Rampagers, Hellriders, and Thundermaw Hellkites is great. Because we are warming our hands with their crispy mana dorks, Reanimator ends up being forced into a position where they need to Lingering Souls and Hoof to win. Fortunately, Thundermaw Hellkite is great at preventing this from happening and pushing through damage through Lingering Souls.
The G/R deck also matches up fairly well against Esper Control and the other mid-range decks. Unfortunately, the faster Burning-Tree Emissary decks go under it. We are able to combat these with Strangleroot Geist being an awesome blocker and Pillar of Flame for the rest of the Humans. Sadly, we also have a rather hard time beating a Boros Reckoner since it’s almost always going to be a two-for-one.
Our best bet is to use a Rampager to push through damage and allow them to just kill one of our other creatures with the trigger since it will only be for three damage (when your creature has trample you only have to assign lethal damage to the creature blocking before you trample over onto the player, so even if they are blocking your 8/8 Silverheart with a Boros Reckoner, you can Rampager and only assign three damage to the crafty Minotaur Wizard).
The last deck that has been picking up steam recently is Prime Speaker Bant, with Paul Rietzl and Matt Sperling who one-two punching the WMCQ and PTQ with a Top 8 and then a win.
Creatures (16)
Lands (24)
Spells (20)
I absolutely love Selesnya Charm here. It helps push through damage when you need it and can make a threat against control decks, but its best mode is when you are exiling Angel of Serenity, Thundermaw Hellkite, Olivia Voldaren, Falkenrath Aristocrat, or any other scary monster you need to get rid of. Flexibility is key, and the Charms have it. Unfortunately, I feel like Bant matches up poorly against the Reanimator decks that are all in on Acidic Slime, but if they aren’t then I’d have to say this Bant list is favored.
If I were to play a non-Reanimator deck this coming weekend at the WMCQ and PTQ in DC, it would definitely be one of these three decks. I still feel like Naya Blitz is very well positioned, but unfortunately it just too inconsistent. In fact, it’s so well positioned right now that you will probably see one or two finishing very well in just about every tournament; if you close your eyes and throw enough darts at the board, some will hit, and eventually you will get a bulls-eye.
My first Versus video with Ali Aintrazi went up last week, and I had a blast filming it and should be doing another one soon! Thank you for all of the helpful feedback, and I will continue to work hard to make them as awesome as possible. Being entertaining and informative is our goal, and if there is anything I can do to make my content a better experience, please feel free to let me know!
Until next time, may all your Oozes be slimy and your opponents’ Burning-Tree Emissarys be on the bottom of their decks.
<3 CVM
@Chris_VanMeter on Twitter