BACKGROUND
Focused in Midrange, Junk Reanimator was a big contender last season. With the arrival of Theros, we lost Unburial Rites, but gained Whip of Erebos, so it's still a contender. Plus, with Flashback, Snapcaster and Undying gone, graveyard hate will be less hard on us. Reanimator's core is very cheap to build, and there are a lot of budget fatties to reanimate, and it looks to build value via EtB effects from said fatties. I've always loved Graveyard Interactions, so if you're looking for a budget deck that has a decent chance at a FNM and at the same time is a blast to play, this is definitely your deck.
KEY CARDS & INTERACTIONS:
- Elvish Mystic: Helps us accelerate into our reanimation spells, since they all cost 5 at least. Can also ramp into an early hardcasted Nemesis of Mortals.
- Lotleth Troll: Ditches our fatties from the hand, stalls aggro, helps us build board presence against control, and becomes a must deal threat. On top of it, he regenerates.
- Jarad's Orders: Now we can't run Grisly Salvage since our reanimation spells don't have flashback. Unintentionally ditching reanimation spells can cost you a game. We run Commune with the Gods because it can fetch a Whip if it's between those 5 cards, but that's it. Jarad's Order take a creature from the deck (that can be pitched to Lotleth Troll, or hardcasted because it's low-cost) and an answer we need to the yard for an Entomb-like effect.
- Armada Wurm Another good fatty that's a 2 in 1.
- Lord of the Void] Need explaination?
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Nemesis of Mortals
+ Lotleth Troll / Commune with the Gods / Jarad's Orders: This can grow out of hand pretty fast. Constantly ditching dudes to the yard makes this extremely easy to hardcast, and both the casting and the Monstruous activation is accelerated even more by Elvish Mystic.
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Rescue from the Underworld
+ Any of the EtB creatures: Rescue is our go-to reanimate card. Why? Simple. First, it's an instant, so it can be cast EOT to negate it's "drawback". Second, can be cast in response to a boardwipe to save a dude and bring him back and another one that didn't survive the wrath effect. And third: it's "drawback" isn't. Both creatures entering again the battlefield means two EtB triggers. This effect is magnified on Death triggers from Ashen Rider and Angel of Serenity too, but since those don't belong here, we won't talk about it.
- Giant Adephage + Whip of Erebos: Reanimate Adephage, hit. Copy it. The original one goes to exile, but you still have one Adephage left.
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Rot Farm Skeleton
+ Jarad's Orders: Once you have Whip ready and some reanimation spell in your hand, ditch Skeleton to the yard with orders. Then, Skeleton will start dredging all the deck by itself while reanimating, and since you already have whip and some sort of reanimation spell backup, it's not unsafe to start dredging carelessly through your deck. Plus, Skeleton is a hard to deal with threat against control.
Non-budget options: The aforementioned Ashen Rider and Angel of Serenity are staples. A dual lands are must-have in nonbudget version. You can go on a more, highly recursive route with Deadbridge Chant and some filtering engines like Varolz, the Scar Striped, Deathrite Shaman, Scavenging Ooze, Bow of Nylea and even Elixir of Inmortality. I find a singleton Rot Farm Skeleton pretty good, but if you feel comfortable with 2, there's no problem with it.
Wanna play something other? Check up my other decks. Boros, UWR, Orzhov, Izzet... There are all budget up to 30 dollars. Upvote, comment and follow
