How do I combat graveyard hate?
Deck Help forum
Posted on July 9, 2013, 12:54 p.m. by creelgoe
I'd like help with my first reanimator deck. specifically the sideboard and how to combat all the graveyard hate out there.
Smith_and_Tonic says... #3
graveyard hate comes mostly from 2 supertypes in standard. The first is enchantments. Rest in Peace
is played the most and messes with all graveyard. If your opponent is playing white, they most likely have rest in peace as a sideboard card. In order to combat this, you want to play cards like Naturalize
or Ray of Revelation
. The trick is, you don't want to fill up your graveyard until AFTER you've seen the Rest in Peace
. Ground Seal
is also played heavily, so dealing with it using Ray of Revelation
would be best.
The other is from artifacts. Tormod's Crypt
and Grafdigger's Cage
will cripple reanimator decks. Again, you want to play cards like Naturalize
or Ancient Grudge
. When facing Tormod's Crypt
, your opponent can activate it at instant speed (in response to your target) which is not good. The strategy is to target Tormod's Crypt
early on with a Naturalize
, force them to activate it, and then continue with your strategy. Of course Grafdigger's Cage
just meets a naturalize.
July 9, 2013 1:21 p.m.
Removal is your best bet, in my opinion. Abrupt Decay does take out basically any possible graveyard hate in addition to many other things, while passing through countermagic. It doesn't have flashback, however, while Ancient Grudge and Ray of Revelation do.
July 9, 2013 1:46 p.m.
Remove the hate or play around it. GY hate still won't stop you from casting thraggy.
July 9, 2013 3:23 p.m.
SwiftDeath says... #6
Your also forgeting about the third form of graveyard hate in the form of creautres. Deathrite Shaman and the soon to be standard Scavenging Ooze are the two biggest threats. I have 3 in my sideboard for the mirror matches.
July 9, 2013 3:41 p.m.
Smith_and_Tonic says... #7
Those are forms of graveyard hate but less prevalent in the standard. Deathrite Shaman is good but often misplayed when in games. Scavenging Ooze is not in standard yet, and once it is it will be a good form of graveyard hate. Typically, creatures are less reliable forms of graveyard hate although they can be effective. Decks will typically carry some form of creature removal while artifact and enchantment removal is saved for the sideboard in most cases.
July 9, 2013 4:04 p.m.
Bobgalarneau says... #8
There is not real way to prevent graveyard hate, i play an EDH reanimator deck and to my experience, even with the larger cardbase there is no way to prevent it... You will have to live with it, as it have been said before, removal is usefull... I use Krosan Grip ... But it's better to play knowing that there will be grave hate. Don't dump all your deck in there before you know it's safe. Have many ways to fill your grave. Use spells that work even if there is not many cards in your grave.
Last advice, the will be grave hate... But don't focus too much on that.... Even if your opponent have 1 in the sideboard..... What's 1/60 card ?.......
July 9, 2013 5:40 p.m.
You run a transformative sideboard to turn your deck into Junk Midrange. You basically swap out the Mulch + Grisly Salvage package, two Unburial Rites , and then bring in all your 2-for-1 removal, Centaur Healer s, Loxodon Smiter s, Vampire Nighthawk s, Sin Collector , Advent of the Wurm , Appetite for Brains , Duress , etc. etc. depending on personal preference and local metagame.
July 9, 2013 6:17 p.m.
I try to run my deck so that I can hard cast all my creatures relatively easily with tons of ramp and all my big drops are green right now
July 9, 2013 6:51 p.m.
Exactly. So you side out your graveyard-filler cards and side in more creatures, especially ones that are cost-efficient three drops. They will side in cards like Rest in Peace and Appetite for Brains , meanwhile, you're replacing all the cards affected by those with Centaur Healer , Duress , etc. They side in a bunch of useless cards, while you side in stuff you could play even without graveyard recursion.
July 9, 2013 7:20 p.m.
Smith_and_Tonic says... #12
Counter- sideboarding is one of the hardest things to do in a game of magic. If you are new to FNM or competitive play, I would suggest not attempting to counter sideboard. This takes an intimate knowledge of the decks your opponents are playing while also being able to make correct meta-game calls in the middle of a match. The best thing to do is to board for the possible hate you will receive if you are playing a graveyard based deck.
July 9, 2013 9:13 p.m.
Smith_and_Tonic says... #13
Graveyard hate also comes in static and conditional cases. A static case of graveyard hate would be your Rest in Peace
, Leyline of the Void
, and Grafdigger's Cage
to name only a few. Since these immediately disrupt your game plan, and continue to disrupt your plan, you must deal with these before moving towards your win conditions (reanimating a creature from your graveyard).
The other case of graveyard hate is conditional. Tormod's Crypt
, Relic of Progenitus
, Deathrite Shaman
, and Surgical Extraction
. These are conditional since they are a "one and done" sort of deal. The goal of this sort of graveyard hate is to force your opponent to play them early without crippling your graveyard. The worst thing to do is to continue with your game plan of filling your graveyard with good stuff when a conditional graveyard hate is on the board. These cards can be activated at instant speed, so you may only be a single spell away from comboing off from your graveyard, but these cards will stop you in your tracks.
Jay says... #2
Abrupt Decay is really your best bet. Things like Acidic Slime are also definitely useful.
July 9, 2013 12:57 p.m.