Summary
A reboot of the Standard Human reanimator build in WBUR.
Explanation
For those who are unfamiliar with Human Reanimator combo decks, this is a true infinite combo deck which has the following pieces:
- Angel of Glory's Rise
- Fiend Hunter
- Any sacrifice outlet (a Human is best, but technically any source works here)
- Any one of many Humans that have "enters the battlefield", "leaves the battlefield", or "dies" effects.
The combo state involves having Fiend Hunter in play, having exiled your own Angel of Glory's Rise when it entered the battlefield. In addition, you also control your sacrifice outlet (I use Cartel Aristocrat) and your utility Human (I use any of the three: Doomed Traveler,
Cathedral Sanctifier
, and/or
Kessig Malcontents
).
At this point, you can at any time sacrifice all other Humans you control to your sacrifice outlet, sacrificing Fiend Hunter last. When Fiend Hunter leaves the battlefield, its ability will trigger, returning Angel of Glory's Rise to the battlefield. All the Humans that you sacrificed will return to the battlefield, at which point you may again exile your Angel to Fiend Hunter. You may repeat this process an indefinite number of times, gaining an arbitrary amount of life with
Cathedral Sanctifier
, tokens with Doomed Traveler, or damage with
Kessig Malcontents
.
Hence, technically the win condition of this deck does not require any reanimation at all! I could cast Angel of Glory's Rise, followed by casting my other combo pieces. However, by far the most efficient way to reach the combo state is to dump Angel of Glory's Rise and all my other Humans in the graveyard, then reanimate the Angel to get all my pieces at once. This has the advantage of being way faster (the deck can "go off" as fast as turn four if Unburial Rites is cast from the graveyard) and more consistent (a successful Unburial with a sufficiently full graveyard gives the opponent very few chances to interact between resolution and "going infinite").
Who should run this deck?
This deck might be for you if you:
- have a middle-of-the-road budget for Standard. This deck is not cheap, mostly because of the land base, but nor is it expensive. All in all it should run you ~$200.
- want to have fun playing something that's a little outside the meta, but still win while doing so. Bring it to your next FNM or Star City Open! Many people will not know how to play/sideboard against it.
- don't mind a learning curve and want to play a deck that strongly rewards playtesting and skill. That means, take the time to learn your lines of play! As in any deck, there are multiple small avenues that can be surprisingly strong paths to follow.
- are a confident and skilled sideboarder. This is important. This deck is a combo deck and it will absolutely punish poor sideboarding decisions.
Who should not run this deck?
I would not recommend running this deck if you:
- don't have time to learn how to play it. Be honest. If you're just picking it up today, have a tournament this weekend, and don't have experience playing combo decks, this deck will punish you hard and you will lose/tilt/blame the deck.
- don't feel comfortable with its style of play. I strongly believe it's important not to have a playstyle that conflicts with the nature of the deck you're running. Not only is it less fun, but you will be less competitive however marginally worse you perform. In a Standard format that's relatively diverse, there is almost certain to be a good fit.
- don't have "shock lands" and don't want to buy them. This deck is four colors and cannot accept mana base substitutions.
- play in an environment, where for whatever reason the graveyard hate is truly, truly oppressive. See below for my comments regarding graveyard hate; it is absolutely NOT TRUE that this deck rolls over and dies post-board to cards like Ground Seal and Rest in Peace. However, if people are running something like 4x Rest in Peace on mainboard plus Grafdigger's Cages (Who knows why? Maybe they are overly traumatized from bad Junk Rites matchups?) you will be fighting an uphill battle.
How to play this deck
I truly believe that this deck has the power and flexibility to handle matchups against a great number of archetypes. It has a powerful combo win condition, but has multiple other avenues to victory and/or denial due to the number of card selection spells (i.e. Faithless Looting and
Forbidden Alchemy
). I also think the sideboard is well-tailored to improving any matchups that may be weak in Game 1 (as a good sideboard should be!).
First of all, the most direct and speedy route to victory is to go all-in on the graveyard. Breaking / Entering is by far the most powerful card in this deck. I have frequently found all of my combo pieces in a single cast of Breaking, just needing to hold out for one turn after that to combo off. Hence the "main" line of play is to dig for combo pieces and cast or dump them whenever possible.
Now, obviously in a game there is interaction. Your opponents will be trying to win just as much as you are, those sneaky jerks! You've got to deny their line of play while still advancing your own. Without getting too much into discussions about the decks in the Standard metagame, let's take a look at the very broad types of interaction you'll be facing:
- Your opponent's deck wins by milling you out. Unfortunately, I haven't had the great luck to face one of these decks at FNM yet, but as you might suspect, this is a no-contest slam-win for us. Woo hoo!
Your opponent's deck wins by turning creatures sideways. Either they are small and fast creatures, or they are big and powerful creatures. If you've been playing in this Standard environment for any length of time, you'll recognize this as the most likely matchup.
Pre-board, you have extremely resilient chump blockers in the one-two punch of Doomed Traveler and Cartel Aristocrat. Those two together can block for at least two turns. Hopefully by then you can draw or Loot into a Supreme Verdict or a
Lavinia of the Tenth
. Lavinia buys a whole turn against most decks, is immune to red burns, and blocks very well. Once you've stabilized, it's a matter of combo-ing off at your own speed. Against extreme board pressure, don't be afraid to use that Unburial Rites to get a useful creature out! Remember, you have to NOT LOSE before you can win.
Post-board, your options are even more powerful. You can put in
Appetite for Brains
to snipe bigger creatures right out of your opponent's hand. You have Pithing Needle to shut down creatures packed with abilities, like Olivia Voldaren and AEtherling. Of course, the ol' Needle does double-duty by handling planeswalkers quite handily too.
Council of the Absolute
is a better option against control or other Reanimator decks, but in a pinch it makes a decent wall.
Syncopate
can blow out an unsuspecting opponent, Slaughter Games can permanently shut out those pesky Thragtusks (or whatever), and Tragic Slip is well-known. (Please note, I'm just documenting your options, NOT recommending that you side in all of these cards against aggro/midrange creatures! That would be bad.)
- Your opponent's deck is a control deck. Ah. This will be a long game as they counter your spells and otherwise try to cut you out of options and combo pieces. No problem, though; just put your head down and ignore them. Am I serious? Almost. Just follow your main line of play, be smart about playing around their open mana, and you should ultimately get there, even if you end up almost decking yourself in the process. Just remember, if you have drawn and/or put into the graveyard your entire deck, you have collected all of your combo pieces!
"But what about graveyard hate?"
Ah, yes. When I first started working on and playing this deck, this is the question that people would get in my face about the most. To be honest, some of these people were much more skilled and experienced than me, so their comments really put doubts into my head. No worries, though; I've since come to have a great deal of faith in this deck.
First of all, the plain truth: this deck is "weak" to "graveyard hate" cards like Ground Seal, Rest in Peace, Tormod's Crypt, Rakdos Charm, and Deathrite Shaman. However, that's not a reason not to play this deck. All decks can be particularly weak to certain spell types. The Hexproof Auras decks going around currently are very weak to board wipes. The "Aristocrats" family of decks is also weak to graveyard denial, as well as fringe cards like Angel of Jubilation that specifically target one of its main sources of value. However, if these decks shine in an acceptable majority of matchups, and the "hate" cards see relatively little play, then they are still strong decks!
Let's take a look at what we realistically need to worry about. Most decks will not have graveyard denial on the mainboard, with the exception of some Jund midrange lists which will run one or two copies of Ground Seal. At best, that's TWO chances to draw into a card that's not even that good against us. True, it slows us down in the cases where they manage to draw and play it, and true, we would rather not see it in play, but if we do it's not the end of the world. The Entering half of Breaking / Entering doesn't even need to target to reanimate, so we can still combo off. Or, we can just curve out with creatures and ditch the reanimation plan.
For decks that run graveyard hate in the sideboard, same story. We can hope to win against them without interference in Game 1. If we do, we have two chances to win against them as they try to draw their ONE or TWO copies of Rest in Peace or what have you. I'd call that pretty good odds. Again, worst comes to worst, we can win without using the graveyard. It's not ideal, but it can get there in a pinch.
The combo curve
One thing to be aware of is your "combo curve" and how that affects the options that you have at each stage of the game. Of course, at each "mana stage" you have all the options of the previous stages.
As you can see, once you hit 4 mana your deck is effectively "online" and is in a corridor where it has a lot of options. Hence, it's pretty important not to miss land drops, and to play colored lands in the right order. As this is a four-color deck, naturally you will experience some variance in the mana availability. Don't be afraid to loot for the right colors if you need to!
The non-combo win
Occasionally something will happen that will make it truly or nearly impossible to combo off. Perhaps your opponent cast a Slaughter Games naming Angel of Glory's Rise. Perhaps you kept a solid opening hand but for whatever reason got absolutely dead draws that left you stuck on three lands for six turns. Are you dead? Maybe; everyone loses some games, after all. But maybe not, because you can still win. It's time for an alternate line of play!
Situations like these are highly variable, so there's no blanket advice I can give about how to dig yourself out. This is where your general skill and experience as a player will greatly help you out. Against the vast majority of decks in Standard, you will be the control player. This bears repeating. Your job is to control and stabilize, after which you can explore your options and win at your own pace (maybe even combo-ing off at an unlikely time in the game). Hence, roughly speaking, you should seek out the line of play that will conserve tempo and card advantage, while letting your opponent continue to commit resources to the board. As long as they don't get that killing blow in on you, you're okay. You can turn it around.
Your most powerful tools for stabilizing are:
- Digs. This is extremely important to bear in mind. The answers are in your deck, but you are on a clock and can't afford to draw into them at leisure. Pay particular attention to when that
Forbidden Alchemy
in your graveyard becomes available for flashback.
- Your creatures' "other" uses. All of your Humans are combo pieces, but what else are they good for? Tons, as it turns out. Know their uses. Fiend Hunter punishes that Jund player who put a whole fistful of counters on his Olivia Voldaren. Cartel Aristocrat blocks for days.
Lavinia of the Tenth
controls the board admirably; don't forget that she hits most planeswalkers, too.
Cathedral Sanctifier
is a cool three life for one white mana, which is a sweet deal if you're just trying to make it to the next turn alive.
- Supreme Verdict. If you are getting beat down on-board, this card is like a cool, refreshing drink! There's a reason why I run two copies on the mainboard.
- Incomplete combo (i.e. "unburying for value, not for infinite"). Let's say you are digging for your combo pieces, but you are not quiiiiiiite there. You're missing that pesky Cartel Aristocrat, all four copies of which seem to have gone straight to the bottom of your library. Meanwhile, your life total is at a perilous level due to the number of hits your opponent has been getting in; you'll be dead after you pass the turn unless you combo off or stabilize. It's your turn and you have six mana. You do not have Unburial Rites in the graveyard, but you do have one copy in your hand and you have just drawn Breaking / Entering. You could cast Breaking, hit an Unburial Rites and a Cartel Aristocrat, then flash back Unburial Rites to combo off and win on the spot. The odds are in your favor since you've drawn over half your deck and you still haven't seen 4x Aristocrat and 3x Rites. OR you can cast Unburial Rites from your hand and half-combo, building a large board presence and stabilizing before passing the turn. Take this second line of play! Do not lose the game in an attempt to win it; that's totally counterproductive! Once you've stabilized, you can always combo off next turn when the difference between hitting and missing on a dig won't be winning and losing.
Sideboarding
The first rule of sideboarding for any deck but especially for a combo deck is, "less is more". If you don't need to put anything in from the sideboard, don't! The mainboard 60 are the most consistent combination for a combo win under most circumstances.
- Pithing Needle goes in against midrange decks, ESPECIALLY Jund. Keep in mind that they will be boarding against you as well, putting in cards like Deathrite Shaman and Slaughter Games. If they are experienced players, they will also recognize that they should put in Pithing Needle to shut down our Cartel Aristocrat. This means that post-board, we should expect to get slowed down and see midrange decks get the breathing room they need to power out their big threats. On the Jund front, Pithing Needle shuts down planeswalkers, Kessig Wolf Run, Olivia Voldaren, and Deathrite Shaman. On other fronts, it takes out other planeswalkers, Nephalia Drownyard, AEtherling, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, and Skirsdag High Priest. I can't imagine that you would ever want to name Cartel Aristocrat, but maybe one play in a million might demand it!
-
Appetite for Brains
goes in against midrange decks, especially Jund. It's not only there to answer their mainboard threats, but also to counter-sideboard against their sideboard answers like Slaughter Games. While this card is also useful against non-Jund midrange decks, be judicious about when other answers would be more appropriate. Against Junk Rites, for example, I would skip Appetite because for every valuable card you hit with it, they can uncover two more with deep digs like Grisly Salvage. As with all hand disruption, you'll want to wait until the latest useful moment to cast it, usually when they will have 4 mana available on their next turn.
-
Council of the Absolute
goes in against the mirror or against control. By mirror, I mean any deck that runs Unburial Rites (which is usually what you'll want to name). Against control, if you can resolve this guy on Sphinx's Revelation on exactly the turn they need to cast it, he is absolutely backbreaking. As with most creature-based answers, he is quite vulnerable to a lot of the removal in the format. Hence I usually consider him to be a one-turn solution and only play him when I need to fuss with the game clock and put myself ahead or my opponent behind by a turn. In the best case, he can do both and represent a huge tempo swing.
[to be finished soon...]
Conclusion
This deck has been my pet project for a while now; I love it to pieces and I love playing it. Please don't hesitate to post suggestions for improvement, as I'm always looking to groom and change the decklist! I think it's a fun deck to play, and very powerful to boot; if you're interested in picking it up for your next tournament, please don't hesitate to give me a heads up and I will help you out in whatever way I can.
