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Main » Articles » Modern Reanimator

Modern Reanimator

A. E. Marling
Posted on June 29, 2021
 Reddit

Having played Legacy Reanimator while dressed in Stitcher Geralf cosplay, I had to discover if the archetype could win in Modern, for science! So far, my testing has found a favorable matchup against Prowess and a reasonable win rate against food decks and the rest of the field, depending on what graveyard hate is popular. The following lab notes include four decklists, ordered from the least flexible version to the most nefarious and my personal favorite. We will also discuss the various sideboard cards misguided peasants will try to use against your grand schemes, how to counter them, and whether or not the time is right to reanimate.

This first list will look familiar to practitioners of Legacy Reanimator. It focuses on pitching a monstrosity into the graveyard as fast as possible, even if that means targeting yourself with Divest or Thoughtseize. This deck will Persist a win condition into play most consistently on turn two. It is also the most all-in on the combo.

Reanimator | Modern | AE Marling

Archon of Cruelty
Serra's Emissary

Modern Horizons 2 gave us some nightmarish threats to accompany Persist. Archon of Cruelty is obviously good, er, I mean horrifying. What might not be immediately apparent is that Serra's Emissary can be even better. Name "creature," and you are now immune to creature damage. Asmor, Solitude, and Reflector Mage cannot target your angel, leaving many archytpes with only one to two outs in their deck, and they won't have much time to find them, as none of your creatures can be blocked.

A few notes on the other Persist targets. Terastodon is great with Engineered Explosives, which you want to be playing anyway. Void Winnower is good versus decks that rely on Terminus, Past in Flames, Summoner's Pact, and or Primeval Titan.

Terastodon
Void Winnower

Legacy Reanimator runs four Chancellor of the Annex. Its first-spell tax will often foil a Force of Will or any hate piece your opponent deploys turn one, giving you all the time you need to combo. It's less strong in Modern, as you don't consistently combo as soon. You only have four Persist. Your next fastest option, Priest of Fell Rites, can be killed. The later decklists have more dependable game plans. It is difficult to go on all-in on a combo that can be too slow or disrupted.

Fighting the Hate

You are less afraid of the new hotness of Sanctifier en-Vec. Simply select a non-Black win condition. The most common hate will be in the form of artifacts searched off Urza's Saga, such as Tormod's Crypt. Neutralize it with Engineered Explosives or Stony Silence. So, your opponent sides in three Rest in Peace? Play six ways to remove that permanent. Don't forget that you also have maindeck answers, including Thoughtseize. If, however, sideboards commonly bristle with four Leyline of the Void or three Surgical Extraction, that's a good time to leave Reanimator at home.

Leyline of the Void
Surgical Extraction

Some graveyard hate hurts more than others. Leyline of the Void is a problem because it's in play before you can force an opponent to discard it. You also lose tempo removing it. Spending three mana to Vindicate a Leyline may be too slow. Feed the Swarm is an answer, if a painful one. Other cards that are truly scary are Surgical Extraction or the new Endurance, especially if you don't see them coming. Do prioritize looking at the enemy's hand with discard before trying to combo in sideboard games.

One game plan that I don't recommend with Reanimator is a transformative sideboard. As smart as it might make you feel siding out your combo to avoid graveyard hate, you're outplaying yourself. What you can do, however, is run a backup gameplan that runs parallel with reanimation and may even synergize it.

Reanimator Stoneblade | Modern | AE Marling

If you search up a Kaldra Compleat, the last thing you want is for your Stoneforge Mystic to die. The good news is that you can bring it back with Persist.

This deck is less all-in on reanimation. It only plays a singleton Priest of Fell Rites. If you know your opponent is loaded with Force of Negation, the creature is the easier way to bring back a win condition. You can even place the priest in the graveyard with Unmarked Grave.

The next variant was inspired by SLAYDFTW, who took it to a 5-0 finish on MTGO. They apparently love stitching together magnificent monsters but hate Priest of Fell Rites. Instead of relying on the 2/2 creature, we're making deals with demons.

Profane Tutor

Profane Reanimator | Modern | AE Marling

Playing a deck with four Profane Tutor is a cackling good time. It makes every singleton far better. Once when it resolved I noticed I had six lands in play, and I searched up Grave Titan for an easy win through my opponent's Grafdigger's Cage. Profane Tutor gives you more flexibility at the cost of making your deck a turn slower. This is not a good choice against other combo decks, where you need to do something positively dreadful by turn three.

The main changes I made to SLAYDFTW's list were to the mana base. They included full playsets of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers, which were so clunky they made me take Griselbrand's name in vain. In one game I couldn't cast anything with three lands in play: one Swamp and two Cabal Coffers that produced no mana. I swore that I would be better off with Mage-Ring Network, so I decided to try that card instead. I do think it's superior as it actually taps for mana. The best way to use Cabal Coffers is to sell them to Commander players.

The last list is my favorite. Its secondary strategy is Grief plus Ephemerate. When looking at my opening seven, I want to see either an incarnation combo or the graveyard one. Also, I took the advice of Ari Lax to heart; he said that Grief and Solitude are perfectly reasonable targets for Persist.

Reanimate Ephemerate | Modern | AE Marling

For any questions you may have about the deck-building choices here, the answer is likely that I needed twenty White cards to enable Solitude. The good news is that thanks to these incarnations, we make far better use of Priest of Fell Rites. Yes, you can exile the card to either, but also Grief can help clear the way for your priest to actually survive to successfully self-sacrifice. In addition, thanks to your incarnation interactions you're more likely to reach the late game to unearth, which can return the favor by bringing back an elemental.

Priest of Fell Rites

Priest is a good card in this deck because you can also protect it with Ephemerate or Malakir Rebirth. And it's also worth mentioning that those instants are great with your biggest creatures. Just try flickering Ashen Rider, and you'll forsake your gods. And remember how I said many decks only have a handful of cards that can remove Serra's Emissary? Well, you have eight ways to save her.

Mishra's Factory

Don't forget that Mishra's Factory is now legal in Modern. Too few decks are playing it. It's perfect here; in low resource games with Grief, the creature land can increase your clock while your devastated opponent struggles to recover. I play it alongside one Geier Reach Sanitarium, which has obvious synergy in all these lists.

If you innovate new ways to reanimate, do let me know.

@AEMarling

TAGS articles, constructed, analysis, modern, decklist, reanimator, ae marling, persist, 06292021, unmarked grave

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