Oh god the price tag

@Kotadis Hahahaha yeah- luckily most of that is simply from the two Expeditions I have in the deck, and therefore isn't a truly accurate depiction of the value. You can probably knock off about $370 because of them. Additionally land base is always subjective. The only land I'd argue is truly required is the Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

How about Kiora's Follower instead of Seeker of Skybreak? Nevermind. Combos are good.

Are you not concerned with Back to Basics or Blood Moon?

Hey NecroPony, thanks for the suggestions!
-Kiora's Follower was absolutely considered over the Seeker, but when it came down to it I don't really have any other non-creature permanents worth the extra blue it will take to play. This is mainly just because I don't own a Cabal Coffers to go with my Urborg, and aside from the newly-aquired Maze of Ith, I'm not sold on any of the other lands requiring the untap. Typically the Seeker is held until both it and the Orb can be played simultaneously, netting my opponents exactly one turn to answer before the horde is unleashed. I'd be too tempted to drop the Follower early for the ramp it could provide and have it lost to things like Anger of the Gods.

Absolutely I am! Those cards (along with Ruination and others of their ilk) are always particularly brutal in commander. Fortunately, land-hate is SEVERELY frowned upon in my meta (hence why I'm not running Strip Mine, Wasteland, or Dust Bowl in conjecture with my Crucible of Worlds), as we tend to all agree that it makes games stagnant and defeats the purpose of large multiplayer games. While I won't be needing to make the adjustments in the near future, I can still make some recommendations for others. The best kind of answers to cards like that would be straight-up counter-magic, in my eyes. However, it does need to be noted that the more non-creatures added, the weaker the core of the deck becomes. Glen Elendra Archmage becomes a valuable addition, as well as things like Brine Shaman, Mystic Snake, Silumgar Sorcerer, etc.

The deck and the presentation of the primer are both wonderful! Keep up the good work!

Sultai out!

Thank you so much for the love- it truly makes my day!

Dead I am the one, giving you +1.

A forgotten mana dork you could consider is Urborg Elf. I'd also run Volrath's Stronghold. Life from the Loam can get back Volrath's Stronghold, which can get back Eternal Witness, which can get back anything.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm keeping the dorks purposefully light, as the deck seems to function better at focusing on answering threats rather than racing them. Birds serves an additional function at being one of the few things in the deck that blocks fliers, Deathrite Shaman provides grave hate, and Sylvan Caryatid is currently holding the slot that I intend to swap out for Bloom Tender. However- if you believe you can make a case for it in what you'd like to swap out, I'd be very happy to hear it!

..... And you know what's awkward? I've been playing commander for years, and I totally forgot about the Stronghold. I personally don't own one, but it's definitely going on the list for a later addition! Thanks a ton for the reminder!

Have you considered Path of Discovery? I'm liking it in my Meren deck and I think it would be even better here.

Also, other than Stronghold, have you considered other sources of Graveyard hate resiliency? Ones I'm considering myself are Bow of Nylea, Repopulate & Riftsweeper.

Hey, thanks for the recommendations! It's definitely crossed my mind, but I'm unsure of what I'd want to take out for it. I see the potential for the zombie chains it could cause, but as a 4-mana non-creature that doesn't do anything on it's own, I haven't found something I've been willing to pull out for it yet- what would you pull out in my place?

Currently, I haven't! There's very little graveyard hate in my current meta (I'm hoping my deck forces them to change that). Riftsweeper lived in the deck for a time, but was more of an answer to things like Swords to Plowshares than graveyard hate. The cards that truly threaten my graveyard are the ones that go off immediately, such as Tormod's Crypt. The benefit here is that the majority of the time, these are one-off effects. As I'm not playing combo, no individual card is worth enough for me to worry about losing, even if I am losing 10-20 cards from the graveyard at a time. The cards that I typically have to worry about are those with a persistent PASSIVE effects, such as Anafenza, the Foremost, Rest in Peace, etc.. Since I have a modicum of control over WHEN I'm self-milling, I'd rather use the precious card slots in the deck to provide answers to the persistent effects (supplied in the form of Go for the Throat for creatures, and Krosan Grip for non-creatures, among others). The additional point to this is that the cards I'm currently using have alternative instances in which they're useful as well, which I believe outweigh the general benefit of cards like Repopulate, or even the speedy Noxious Revival.

TL;DR is that I'd rather be reactively dealing with the card that's causing the problem permanently, instead of temporarily mitigating it's effect, if that makes any sense at all.

I definitely appreciate the thought though, and welcome any counter-argument you might have for the above!

Yeah reservations about adding noncreature cards above a certain CMC threshold is something that resonates with me as a fellow reanimation deck builder, especially when it comes to those which are dependent on other cards/permanents. However, I think in this case the later point isn't too noticeable since putting a creature into play is something this deck can do shortly after Path has been cast (you already alluded to the potential with Sidisi). What to exclude is, as usual, difficult to say:

There's some overlap with Life from the Loam but I guess the argument mostly becomes a question of less mana spent per turn after the initial 4 CMC investment and a better zombie token-per-milled-card ratio. You could say similar things about Grim Flayer & Satyr Wayfinder but I doubt you're thrilled about lowering the percentage of creature cards in the deck (with good reason). Maybe you can be a bit naughty and take out a Basic? 37 lands doesn't seem that bad too me.

As for your thoughts on graveyard anti-hate, they seem well reasoned. I'm a bit of a control freak (lower case 'c') so my fear of having potentially key cards eliminated for good might be a bit excessive.

You know, I think a land might be the right choice- I've hit a few too many lands lately in my past few games (be it drawing or milling) so I think I'll give Path of Discovery a try! We'll see if it ends up earning it's place or getting cut again, but I think the potential is there, so thank you!

I definitely understand the fear- with our graveyard being as essential as our hand, mediocre graveyard-hate effects suddenly become much stronger simply by our presence at the table! I think if my local meta shifts towards more graveyard hate directly, then I may look into some more instant-speed recursion options, but for now I think the list is alright without it- Flyers are actually my current #1 threat at the moment. I've been trying to come up with a solution for a while now that doesn't compromise the overall core of the deck.

Yeah, flying is something I'm worried about as well and I'm similarly trying to fit in cards that can fill in multiple roles (which is why Bow of Nylea is in my Maybeboard despite it being a proverbial master of none). Here's some cards I brainstormed up, maybe you'll find something useful among them:

Bitterblossom is cheap and could give you some chump blockers that can attack, be sac'd and trigger Path of Discovery as well. There's also Hornet Nest & Chronozoa but they require some setup and aren't very cheap.

I see you removed Nyx Weaver at some point, how do you feel about taking it back? It doesn't solve things completely but with 3 toughness and reach it's a pretty OK blocker in addition to its graveyard-related abilities.

Assorted mediocre-but-multifunctional cards: Return to the Earth, Spidersilk Armor, Aquastrand Spider, Silhana Starfletcher, Cloudseeder

Expensive and probably inferior to Wonder: Abhorrent Overlord, Sandwurm Convergence

Hey, thanks a ton for the recommendations! The bow, to me, doesn't serve as much purpose as I'd like against flyers- by only dealing 2 damage, the biggest threat I feel like it could take out would be a Kaalia of the Vast (not to say that's not a highly important, but it's extremely narrow in a matchup I'd likely be on the back foot from the getgo anyway), and I believe it's main role would be, as you'd mentioned previously, anti-graveyard-hate (anti-anti-graveyard?).

Bitterblossom is one of my favorite cards of all time! Unfortunately, this deck has zero lifegain, and plans on running every single fetch and shock land it can. Despite being a 40 life format, the addition of Bitterblossom when I'm already paying so much just to maintain my land/colour consistency would put me on a very real clock compared to some other EDH decks.

You've already outlined my main aversions for Chronozoa and Hornet Nest, although the latter is somewhat more appealing because I'm inherently a fan of kitchen table politics, and it's a huge enabler of such.

However, when it comes to Nyx Weaver, I think you're right. It does everything I want it to do- stocks the graveyard, blocks a flier, and recurs an important piece as needed. I'm thinking of rotating Creeping Corrosion back out for it- thoughts?

The rest of the cards mentioned are a little too linear for my tastes- this deck thrives on it's flexibility, and unfortunately the rest mentioned shoehorn themselves into their specific roles. Spidersilk Armor is probably the most intriguing, but ends up as not only a dead slot in hand if my opponent's air force isn't threatening, but is also a dead slot in the grave due to the fact of it being a non-creature. Unfortunately, the same can be said for Corrosive Gale!

I'm thinking of rotating in Bone Shredder. Whether this ends up being in place of Shriekmaw or in addition to it remains to be seen. It seems like quite a mana investment (even at just ), but with the potential to kill one flyer and then block another, it seems like it may be worth... Although I'm not entirely convinced yet.

Lastly, I've gotten a few games in with Path of Discovery and I gotta say I'm seriously impressed- every game it's been in my hand I've windmill slammed it onto the table as soon as possible, and have gotten fantastic value out of it. Similar to Embalmer's Tools, it's usually overlooked by opponents until it's too late and I enjoy that a lot! So thank you!

Yeah, the Bow wasn't meant as a suggestion, just an example of a swizz-army knife kind of card (my Meren deck is dabbling in +1/+1 counters with e.g. Animation Module, so that on top of both graveyard hate resiliency and flying hate plus conditional deathtouch is why I'm considering it). Like you, I don't see much use for it in this deck.

Yep, making Bitterblossom work would probably require including e.g. Blood Artist and that's a whole lot of extra effort that's unlikely to entirely address the original flying problem.

When it comes to rotating out removal I'm not very confident giving advice here (partially because it depends on the meta). Still, I like the artifact hate subtheme that's going on here; if I'd rotate out any mass removal I'd sooner name In Garruk's Wake because of its steep CMC, your deck's decent ability to remove creatures without it and Cyclonic Rift already filling a similar niche when it comes to leaving you alone on the board

Yeah, not too surprised those weren't very helpful, just threw them out there hoping something would stick

Bone Shredder is interesting, I'm going to have to consider it myself since it's easier for Meren to reanimate due to the lower CMC in addition to it having flying, Echo or no Echo

Really glad to hear you're getting mileage out of Path! I think that its versatility (Jeez, land thinning or graveyard filling and +1/+1 counters with no extra cost?), reasonable CMC and potential to trigger often makes it a killer addition to most decks that uses the graveyard

Oh, and it might come out a little late but what about Spider Spawning? It seems like it would work well even when reach isn't relevant

And are you getting lots of mileage out of Sire of Stagnation & Lurking Predators? They're obviously strong but I dislike the conflict with reanimation stealing respectively Sidisi token generation

(Also, Muldrotha is scary)

Sorry for the delay in my reply! I haven't had as much time to actually sit down and mull things over as I'd like, although, trust me, I'm very much appreciating your discussion and review of the deck, so thank you for taking the time!

I think the high cost and restrictive speed of Spider Spawning makes it a pass for me, but that has made me consider Arachnogenesis in it's place....

Additionally, I think you're right. The few times I've pulled (and been in the position to play) In Garruk's Wake it's always been very heavily win-more. While Cyclonic Rift is temporary, I believe it's Instant speed and cheaper cost, and niche early-game use, outweigh that and fulfills the role well enough on it's own for now.

I've been getting huge use out of Sire of Stagnation as it either stalls out my opponents, or ends up feeling like an additional Consecrated Sphinx depending on how my opponents play, both of which are ideal for this deck! Whether on-curve or rezzed I've never felt like I've NOT wanted to play it.

Lurking Predators, on the other hand, has been a bit of a let-down. I figured "Hey, if it sticks it guarantees at least one activation", and in general I just love the card as a whole, but it's just never felt worth it's cost or the slot in the deck, and I plan on replacing it soon- the trick is just with what!

Lastly, another edit (that may just straight up be for Muldrotha on release) will be the removal of Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. While I loved the idea of having all 3 Praetors in the deck (I started playing Magic during SOM, and therefore have a huge love for all things Phyrexian), good ole Jin is just not pulling his weight- there's plenty of other draw sources in the deck and he's just always felt clunky. I feel like replacing him with Void Winnower for a 9-mana Birthing Pod slot but I haven't pulled the trigger on the replacement yet.

Heh, don't worry about it; AFK business comes first (and I comment too much anyway)

Yep, Arachnogenesis is a fine alternative as its similarly relevant even without fliers

Dunno if it helps but I've similarly added Void Winnower as a designated "final stop" for Meren and Birthing Pod in my deck; even when it's brought out at the end step its impact is quite great.

As for what to actually add in the deck: If you're not proxying Dominaria cards right now, maybe you should just wait a ~month for its release so as to make it easier to fit in any new and shiny stuff you want to try out? (Broadly speaking though, I think cheap and versatile stuff like Nyx Weaver and Arachnogenesis is what the deck would benefit the most from right now, but do note that I haven't looked trough the leaked release notes.) On a similar note, kinda naughty but how do you feel about increasing the concentration of creature cards by rotating in Muldrotha for Crucible of Worlds? Dunno if that would negatively impact your early ramping too much and/or the deck's vulnerability to creature removal.

Wellp, it's been a while and a few more cards have been swapped in and out!

Muldrotha has been absolutely top-tier. If it weren't for it's disgusting level of popularity (I prefer to be a bit of a Hipster in that sense), I probably would have re-tooled the deck specifically for her as the commander over Sidisi! But even in the 99, they've been amazingly powerful- Taigam, Sidisi's Hand ended up getting cut for it. Despite the removal of the flavour, I really preferred the idea of a third Crucible rather than simply replacing it.

Void Winnower went in for a while, but quickly came back out as it was closing out games almost TOO well, and my opponents were not enjoying playing against it in any way, shape, or form. Perhaps if my playgroup ends up powering up their decks a little bit more, he'll find his way back in the deck.

Well even if you're not gonna let Muldrotha helm things, maybe you could accommodate it a bit more by adding more permanents? E.g. Animate Dead/Necromancy/Dance of the Dead over one or more of the reanimation sorceries and maybe a 3-4 CMC planeswalker? Also maybe more land saccing with e.g. Lake of the Dead/Squandered Resources/Mox Diamond/Constant Mists/Excavation (that last one has some janky synergy with Deathrite Shaman)

Hm, definitely something worth considering! They were initially in the deck, but were all replaced by the sorcery versions to provide more value off of Archaeomancer and Jace, Telepath Unbound as enchantments were extremely difficult to get back, barring EWitness effects.

But with Muldrotha in the deck now, I think I can probably afford to start smuggling some more non-creature permanents in here. I actually adore all these suggestions, but don't own many of them. Definitely something to look into- thank you!

If you decide to include some of the more repeatable sources of land saccing, you could also include a Landfall card like Hedron Crab, Retreat to Coralhelm, Tideforce Elemental or Avenger of Zendikar, since sacing + crucible effects can let you trigger Landfall consistently at all points of the game.

So the presence of Go for the Throat has irked my anal perfectionism for a while now; I kept wanting to suggest Pongify/Rapid Hybridization as a replacement for the sake of targeting (and CMC, dunno if the color is awkward) but it seemed too nitpicky. However, now that Assassin's Trophy has been spoiled you'll be replacing "Go for" anyway, right?

Right?