Bang for your Buck #4

Bang For Your Buck

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3 June 2013

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Bang for your Buck -- Episode 4

Intro

Welcome to a new version of Bang for your Buck! This week Darkness1835 and I have taken an archetype dominated by pricey decks and have made a standard budget deck! Say goodbye to those Voice of Resurgences and Restoration Angels! The only place they will be mentioned in this article is in a list of cards we didn’t include. For this version of the article, we limit ourselves to $50 according to TCGplayer, including the sideboard. Below, we will discuss our choices and why we did or did not include some cards. So let’s get going! Please note that Darkness1835’s commentary will be in italics.

The Deck

This week, we chose to go after one of the more popular archetypes in standard: reanimator. You can find our deck here:

deck-large:bang-for-your-buck-4-budget-reanimator

And for you lazy people out there, we have copied the deck list below:

Creatures (17)

2x Acidic Slime

3x Arbor Elf

4x Armada Wurm

3x Avacyn's Pilgrim

3x Demonlord of Ashmouth

2x Skarrg Goliath

Instant (10)

4x Grisly Salvage

3x Orzhov Charm

3x Putrefy

Sorcery (10)

3x Lingering Souls

3x Mulch

4x Unburial Rites

Land (23)

8x Forest

3x Golgari Guildgate

1x Orzhov Guildgate

4x Plains

1x Selesnya Guildgate

4x Swamp

2x Vault of the Archangel

Sideboard (15)

1x Acidic Slime

3x Centaur Healer

2x Fiend Hunter

3x Oblivion Ring

3x Pithing Needle

3x Purify the Grave

Deck Basics

A reanimator deck aims to dump large creatures into the graveyard and “reanimate” them to the battlefield. We chose to go with W/B/G instead of Golgari (B/G) to open us to some very powerful creatures, as well as additional removal. More importantly, the key card to the deck, Unburial Rites, requires white for its flashback cost, so choosing colors was pretty easy.

With the creatures, we tried to balance large, game-winning cards with early-game mana dork. Beyond that, we had to balance our creature count with removal/control, to keep our creatures alive and Unburial Rites safe.

A bit more removal here than I had planned. Reanimator will typically have things like Abrupt Decay sideboarded (in our case, Putrefy), and instead use those slots for creatures, but I think this build works out just fine. Certainly gives it more of a tempo feel and less of an agro one.

Our Choices

Not only did we choose the cards themselves carefully, but we also chose their quantities carefully. Our system for choosing quantities went as followed:

• 2-of -- You may or may not see this card in a game, but when you do, it can end games or make way for you to secure a win.
• 3-of -- You will probably will see this card in a game, and contributes to a win. It doesn’t necessarily single-handedly win games, but is a great support card
• 4-of -- You want to see this card. It makes up the core of the deck, and a win is very difficult without one.

Mainboard

Acidic Slime -- A great creature to hard cast and a valid reanimation target. It protects us against harmful cards (that’s right, sorry Grafdigger's Cage) and can always blow up an opponent’s land. As a two-of, it can help clear the way, but not necessarily win games on its own. A fantastic card. Can really get rid of anything that’s giving you trouble. Blow up an enchantment, and then render your opponents big 9/9 useless with deathtouch? Yes, please.

Arbor Elf & Avacyn's Pilgrim -- The epitome of mana dorks. As three-of’s, you’ll probably see these in a game, and assist in wins. Since there is ALWAYS the chance that you won’t see Unburial Rites until later in a game, it’s important to not have that be a neutralizing factor. You still want to be able to hard cast your Rites targets at some point, and these guys will help you get there. I would’ve thrown in an extra Pilgrim.

Armada Wurm -- A core card to this deck. A great (and relatively easy) creature to hard-cast and you can never go wrong reanimating it. Essentially a 10/10 with trample for 6, this card will frequently win games as a four-of. The most expensive card in the deck. At around $5 a pop, picking him would mean less budget for the rest of the deck. We were okay with this. It’s a 2 for 1 that is very versatile. A staple in our build, for sure.

Demonlord of Ashmouth -- A strong early-game drop, especially when you have tokens to let him eat. This card has sparked a lengthy debate between Darkness1835 and myself since we don’t have the best way to abuse him. As a three-of, he’ll often see play, but may not What are your thoughts on him? I’m still skeptical about this dude. Sure he can get into the fray early and beatdown, but at what cost? We tried to make his sacrificing ability less of a detriment by including Lingering Souls, but I think I would’ve gone with something like Splinterfright. I just can’t shake the feeling that we’d end up sacrificing a mana dork to him, which is less than preferable. Can’t complain though; the demon is good, and cheap.

Skarrg Goliath -- We picked this bomb because you can bloodrush and then reanimate him. He wins games, but is only a two-of due to his high cost, and him being only effective late-game. Yup. Huge bomb. Gets it done.

Unburial Rites, Grisly Salvage & Mulch -- Hopefully you get the connection… Really, the pillars of Reanimator. Get stuff in the graveyard, flashback a creature, beat face. Without these cards, this deck would not exist.

Lingering Souls -- A great early-game card and can still be used if it is dumped into your graveyard. As a three-of, you’ll see it in most games, but may not always be your best draw. We picked this because of it’s flashback ability. Sure, two 1/1 fliers is great, but that’s not really what Reanimator does. However, since it’s playable from the grave and on color, you’d be a fool to not include it.

Orzhov Charm & Putrefy -- Solely for control purposes. As three-of’s, you’ll have one in your hand most of the time ready to use. Here’s the removal. I’ve already voiced my opinion on Putrefy and removal in general for this deck, but I have to really agree with Orzhov Charm. Sure it’s good spot removal, but it also lets you bring back a dork if you need a sac target or to ramp into something big. The versatility is good.

Land base -- We chose to use 6 Guildgates so that we have enough mana fixing to fulfill the deck’s needs, but not too many that the deck is drastically slowed down. Vault of the Archangel is another two-of because it can provide the push we need to win a game, but does not produce any colored mana. Vault of the Archangel was a late addition, because we wanted to make sure we stayed in budget. This card is a huge bomb mid to late game. Enemy creatures will die, life will be gained. A great card, glad we could afford it.

Sideboard

Acidic Slime -- Sideboard in if you need more artifact/enchantment hate that the two in the mainboard provide. Extra hate.

Centaur Healer -- Sideboard in against those speedy aggro decks that you need an early-game blocker/lifegain against. I was pushing for some of these in the mainboard. It’s a great card especially against aggro, and is a chubby butt for blocking, while netting us 3 life. Yes, the ability to abuse it is reduced a bit because we don’t run Restoration Angel, but it’s still a good card. Glad it’s in the sideboard, at least.

Fiend Hunter & Oblivion Ring -- Sideboard in against decks that can throw out more than you can handle. The two forms of removal allow for a selection of which type would be more effective in your specific games. Fantastic removal, especially in the mirror.

Pithing Needle -- Sideboard in if you need to shut down some of those pesky artifacts and creatures, but can be replaced with Witchbane Orb or Glaring Spotlight, depending on your meta. Shut down Nephalia Drownyard, shut down Lilliana of the Veil, this card does it all. A great sideboard option.

Purify the Grave -- Sideboard in against, well, decks like this. Prevent your opponent from out-reanimating you. Great for decks that utilize flashback to any capacity, ESPECIALLY the mirror. Graveyard hate in this format is a must.

We are exceptionally happy that, sideboard and all, this deck costs about $45!

Our Rejections

To start, there is a list of cards that were just too expensive to include. They include:

Abrupt Decay

Craterhoof Behemoth

Deathrite Shaman

Liliana of the Veil

Restoration Angel

Thragtusk

Voice of Resurgence

These are the cards that certainly make the deck more efficient and effective, but are not necessary to stay true to the Reanimator feel. Also, they’re damn expensive, and unless you’re playing competitively, chances are you won’t be picking all of them up. They’re great cards, but their price makes them irrelevant in our budget build. Sorry, Thragtusk.

Then, there were some cards that we had to choose not to include:

Geist-Honored Monk -- We decided that we were leaning towards a token-oriented deck too much, so the Monk didn’t make the cut. A valid reanimator target, but didn’t seem to fit the deck as well as other cards. Yes.

Jarad's Orders -- There was enough ‘fetching’ in the deck through dumping creatures into the graveyard, so additional tutoring was deemed unnecessary. We figured it be better to just mass-dump our cards to the grave with Grisly Salvage and Mulch, as opposed to searching for something in particular. More often than not, you’ll get a big creature anyways, and at a cheaper mana cost.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord -- A great option, but would be of better use in a token-oriented deck, which we were not aiming towards. Too slow, and doesn’t fit the reanimator feel as much.

Obzedat's Aid -- With eight instances of reanimation, and the lack of non-creature permanents to be reanimated, we decided against this card. This deck uses too many creatures to make Obzedat's Aid more relevant than an Unburial Rites. 9/10 you’ll want a creature to hit the battlefield. Although, a recurring Oblivion Ring does sound like a delicious nuisance.

Sepulchral Primordial -- An interesting utility for reanimation, but is rather conditional. What if the opponent doesn’t have anything useful in their graveyard? We wanted this deck to be consistent, and the Primordial couldn’t provide that. This guy was in the early drafts of the deck, but we quickly realized the card advantage he brought was not a guaranteed thing, and there were better cards for the slot.

Strangleroot Geist -- An excellent early-game drop, but the deck seems to be quick enough to reanimate something big that the Geist wasn’t added. Reanimator can do without this guy. Sure his Undying can be a pain to deal with, but we want bigger creatures out there. Besides, Turn 2 we’re hoping to have ramped into Lingering Souls or play one of our graveyard dumps, so usually there will always be a better play than this guy. He’d rather be in some gruul or mono green aggro builds.

Future Articles!

The next Bang for your Buck article will feature JokerWx13’s budget deck, Mostly Ghostly.

Keep the suggestions coming on article topics! How did you like this format of an article? Is there something else you’d like me to write on? If you dug (hehe, get it?) this Reanimator budget archetype building article, let us know! Suggestions for the next archetype we should do are more than welcome, and don’t feel like you’re limited to standard. Any format, we’ll tackle it. Darkness, out.

The queue is full for having a deck featured, and will go as followed:

1. JokerWx13s’ Mostly Ghostly
2. thyhax’s Modified Budget Boros
3. psychoza’s Might of the Wild
4. PrivateCarly’s Bant Auras Budget
5. robogeek45’s Izzet Lightning
6. planeswalkersollis’s Sublimital Messages Ver. 2.0
7. CaveShinobi’s WB Life-Stealing Control
8. killroy726’s FNM deck on the cheap help please
9. Xindlepete’s deck of our choosing
10. Khashir’s The Marxist Disassembler

This concludes yet another edition of Bang for your Buck. Darkness1835 and I would love to hear your thoughts on the deck, and this version of the article overall. Please leave any comments related to this article or the series in general below. Thanks for reading!