Beating death with The Cauldron

Standard Budget Competitive Midrange Reanimator UB (Dimir)

Slyce

Threats (10)

• 2x Cavalier of Night
• 2x Embodiment of Agonies
• 4x Stonecoil Serpent
• 2x Syr Konrad, the Grim

Removal (6)

• 2x Murderous Rider
• 2x Ritual of Soot
• 2x Tyrant's Scorn

Utility (11)

• 2x Chemister's Insight
• 4x Emry, Lurker of the Loch
• 4x Orzhov Enforcer
• 1x Rankle, Master of Pranks

Mill (6)

• 4x Merfolk Secretkeeper
• 2x Wand of Vertebrae

Lands (24)

• 4x Dismal Backwater
• 8x Island
• 12x Swamp

Reanimation (3)

• 3x The Cauldron of Eternity

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Sideboard

Other (6)

• 2x Cry of the Carnarium
• 2x Massacre Girl
• 2x Sorcerous Spyglass

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Dimir Cauldron Reanimator

Welcome to my Dimir Reanimator Decktech for the ELD standard format. I tried to brew around Emry, Lurker of the Loch and The Cauldron of Eternity to create a fun and more or less budget friendly deck. While brewing I tried different versions of the deck on Arena, and came to the conclusion that this is the best approach to making The Cauldron of Eternity work in standard. If you have any recommendations or questions please feel free to leave a comment.

General Gameplan

Although this deck has reanimator in its tags, it is not a reanimator deck per se. Most reanimator decks are played like a combo deck, whereas this is a midrange deck with a reanimation value-engine in the late game. So this is very important to note: The Cauldron of Eternity is not a win condition! It is only a means to out-value our opponent. So don't be too focused on getting it online. If you have other chances to get pressure on the board or your opponent, then do so. Additionally is this deck, looking at the spectrum, more inclined towards a control type of game instead of aggro, but it is still capable of applying pressure early on against slower decks. But what you basically want to do is fill your GY passively and control the board via (mostly) removal.

Early Game

Use the following cards to fill your GY:

• Wand of Vertebrae
• Merfolk Secretkeeper
• Emry, Lurker of the Loch

Getting a Wand of Vertebrae on Turn 1 can fill your GY consistently without spending any further mana and the second activated ability combos greatly with Syr Konrad, the Grim . Merfolk Secretkeeper is an efficient mill card and blocker and can serve as sac fodder for Cavalier of Night or Rankle, Master of Pranks . Emey, Lurker of the Loch mills cards and can get us our artifacts back. Especially great with Stonecoil Serpent and The Cauldron of Eternity .

Early game creatures:

• Orzhov Enforcer
• Stonecoil Serpent
• Embodiment of Agonies

All three offer great value early on and can help to get some control over the board. That in mind don't be afraid to trade with them, even as a 1 for 1, as you can get them back later on (With more value). Although you probably should not reanimate Orzhov Enforcer (Yikes).

Removal:

• Murderous Rider
• Tyrant's Scorn
• Ritual of Soot

These three offer enough versatility to deal with almost all threats our opponent might throw at us. Depending on the matchup you might want to switch Ritual of Soot with Cry of the Caranrium as you can cast it a turn earlier and still hit most small creatures.

Mid to Late Game

Utility Cards:

• Chemister's Insight
• Rankle, Master of Pranks
• The Cauldron of Eternity

Chemister's Insight is simple card draw, can be cast from the GY if we happen to mill it and helps keep the tempo. Rankle, Master of Pranks is an over-all good card and can instantly swing for 3 if we cast or reanimate him. Is additionally great in stabilizing the board and general disruption. I might play him at 2, if I happen to get another one. The Cauldron of Eternity was the reason for this deck. To be honest this card is not broken or anything or anywhere near the power level of Oko, but is nonetheless an amazing value-generator in the right shell. The best turn to play this is turn 5 as this guarantees in most cases a instant activation. And getting all the creatures back your opponent "struggled" to remove early on, is often enough to out value your opponent completely.

• Cavalier of Night Offers removal and lifelink, which helps stabilize the board.

• Syr Konrad, the Grim Our main non combat win-condition. Single-handedly can win games, as he usually pings for 10 or more damage. He triggers twice everytime a creature is put into the GY, if The Cauldron of Eternity is on the field. And with Wand of Vertebrae its 2 mana for 5 damage to the face.

Because of the 2 black mana in most cards we want to play on turn 3, you should mulligan if you have less then 3 lands or no swamps in your starting hand. The lands are kept as budget as possible, but if you have the shock lands feel free to include them.

Any recommendations, critique or even +1s are appreciated. Feel free to leave a comment or to ask questions.

Top Ranked	Achieved #40 position overall 5 years ago Achieved #2 position in Standard 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Standard Budget 5 years ago Achieved #1 position in Standard Competitive 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 14 - 4 Rares 12 - 2 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.28
Tokens	On an Adventure, Spirit 1/1 WB
Folders	Favorites, Standard, ToE Standard, Budget