For the past few weeks I have been obsessed with casting Exhume in Pauper. But I didn’t get here due to the allure of an early Ulamog's Crusher, rather because I wanted to cast Swirling Sandstorm. As discussed a few weeks ago I believe the conditional sweeper is well positioned in the current aggressive metagame. I was having a moderate amount of success with the following list before running into some issues:

Rakdos Reanimator ? Pauper | Alex Ullman

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Anarchist
• 2 Gurmag Angler
• 3 Stinkweed Imp
• 4 Insolent Neonate
• 4 Ulamog's Crusher

• Instants (8)
• 2 Lightning Axe
• 2 Shred Memory
• 4 Manamorphose

• Sorceries (14)
• 3 Duress
• 3 Faithless Looting
• 4 Exhume
• 4 Tormenting Voice

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Dragon Breath

• Lands (21)
• 3 Swamp
• 5 Mountain
• 2 Rakdos Carnarium
• 3 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Bloodfell Caves
• 4 Sandstone Needle

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Cartouche of Ambition
• 1 Greater Sandwurm
• 2 Electrickery
• 2 Fangren Marauder
• 2 Ingot Chewer
• 3 Swirling Sandstorm
• 4 Pyroblast

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The deck, while powerful, was not as consistent as I would have liked. While the deck could consistently assemble the win in the first few turns of a game it was still missing something. Thinking about ways to iterate, I remembered a Tron list I had played on stream. The deck is the brainchild of Gathering Magic colleague Carlos Gutierrez. Featuring the Urza Tron package of lands, Carlos’ Tron is distinct from other Tron decks in the format in a number of meaningful ways but perhaps the most important is that it is primarily concerned with assembling the correct trio of lands in order to start obsolescing opposing plays. Instead of relying on soft control elements to deal with the other side of the table Carlos simply tries to go bigger faster. For me this was a struggle as I am used to playing Magic with the cards in my hand less than the cards on the top of my deck. Once I was able to understand the shift in paradigm I started to win more.

R/G Tron ? Pauper | Carlos Gutierrez, 5-0 Pauper League

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Wretched Gryff
• 2 Maul Splicer
• 3 Fierce Empath
• 3 Ulamog's Crusher
• 4 Fangren Marauder

• Instants (6)
• 2 Moment's Peace
• 4 Crop Rotation

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Rolling Thunder
• 4 Ancient Stirrings

• Artifacts (16)
• 4 Chromatic Sphere
• 4 Chromatic Star
• 4 Expedition Map
• 4 Prophetic Prism

• Lands (19)
• 1 Khalni Garden
• 2 Haunted Fengraf
• 2 Shimmering Grotto
• 4 Urza's Mine
• 4 Urza's Power Plant
• 4 Urza's Tower
• 2 Tree of Tales

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Wretched Gryff
• 1 Moment's Peace
• 1 Rolling Thunder
• 1 Calming Verse
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Leave No Trace
• 1 Pulse of Murasa
• 1 Ray of Revelation
• 1 Reaping the Graves
• 2 Circle of Protection Green
• 2 Circle of Protection Red
• 2 Hydroblast

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With this experience under my belt I went back to Reanimator. I had initially dismissed Cathartic Reunion as being too high risk but with this new lens I decided to try it out in practice matches. The card, as I should have seen earlier, proved busted. The ability to pitch two cards you wanted in the graveyard and see three new ones (or more with Stinkweed Imp) is quite powerful. I was skeptical initially due to the lack of cards with Dredge I wanted to run but the upside of seeing so many cards was enough to warrant inclusion.

Moving to Cathartic Reunion was just the first step. Working with Carlos, Jason Sirichoke, Jon Amaro, and Mike from Color Commontary to refine the deck. The most important step was removing the Sandstone Needles and Manamorphose for copies of Lotus Petal. The Petals can provide a burst of mana but do so as early as turn one and allow the deck to combo off earlier. Moving to Lotus Petal also showcased a weakness in Rakdos Carnarium. The deck wanted lands that came into play untapped in order to try and establish a quick Ulamog's Crusher. After a few test runs the current build looks like this:

Cathartic Reanimator ? Pauper | Alex Ullman

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Greater Sandwurm
• 2 Gurmag Angler
• 4 Insolent Neonate
• 4 Stinkweed Imp
• 4 Ulamog's Crusher

• Instants (3)
• 1 Shred Memory
• 2 Lightning Axe

• Sorceries (16)
• 2 Cathartic Reunion
• 2 Tormenting Voice
• 4 Duress
• 4 Exhume
• 4 Faithless Looting

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Dragon Breath
• 4 Lotus Petal

• Lands (19)
• 5 Swamp
• 7 Mountain
• 3 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Bloodfell Caves

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Cartouche of Ambition
• 1 Gurmag Angler
• 2 Addle
• 2 Electrickery
• 2 Fangren Marauder
• 2 Ingot Chewer
• 2 Swirling Sandstorm
• 3 Pyroblast

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The single Greater Sandwurm main exists as an out against decks that like to go wide with small creatures. Battle Screech and Lys Alana Huntmaster are quite adept at negating the efficacy of Ulamog's Crusher. The Sandwurm makes it easier to get through these defenses and connect for lethal. This job becomes easier post board with access to Electrickery.

The sideboard does a lot of heavy lifting here. Originally I was running a single copy of Accomplished Automaton as a way to fight Chainer's Edict. After Jason suggested Distress I countered with Addle. Addle is similar to Distress in that it can nab any card — provided you guess the right color — but has the advantage of costing as opposed to , making it easier to cast in this deck.

Playing the deck is like playing any combo build — you are looking for a very specific set of cards in your opening hand. The card you most want to see in the first seven is Faithless Looting. Looting gives us access to the most cards early while also setting up the combo. After Faithless Looting the next best cards to see are Cathartic Reunion, Insolent Neonate, and Tormenting Voice in that order. If a hand has any one of these cards I am very likely to keep it. Similarly if a hand has Exhume and a threat I am likely to keep as well. I don’t mind seeing a Stinkweed Imp in the opener if there is also an Exhume as the chances of drawing into a way to pitch the Imp are high.

Once you have access to an Exhume the goal becomes seeing the most cards possible in order to get the right cards into the graveyard. Sometimes you have to cast Exhume without knowing what is your opponent’s hand, but being able to protect with Duress is worth it if you have the time and mana.

Cathartic Reanimator is very good against aggressive strategies. An early Ulamog's Crusher is just faster than most beatdown decks and pressuring their life total and permanents is a strong avenue to victory. The deck does suffer against Chainer's Edict strategies. Addle is important here as it gives the deck another proactive protective element. That being said it is still an uphill battle.

If I could have played in this past weekend’s Pauper Challenge I would have played Cathartic Reanimator. It has access to an unbeatable draw and is surprisingly resilient. Here is how I sideboard and play the deck given the current metagame.

Stompy

In my opinion this is one of the best reasons to run Cathartic Reanimator. The deck has a strong Stompy matchup and an early Ulamog's Crusher can slam the door. Stompy can defend against Annihilator with multiple copies of Young Wolf and Rancor but it is an uphill fight. Sideboarded games are all about Swirling Sandstorm. I take out the four copies of Duress for two Sandstorm, the third Gurmag Angler, and the Cartouche of Ambition. Cartouche is useful to pick off Quirion Ranger while also putting your life total out of range. If you see a Relic of Progenitus you can cut Shred Memory and run both Ingot Chewers over the third Angler.

Affinity

Another strong matchup and another place where we cut Duress. Game 1 is all about constraining their board development while sticking a Crusher. Dragon Breath is important as it can force them to have double Galvanic Blast. Side in the Fangren Marauders and Ingot Chewers. In games two and three you almost always want to cast Exhume for Fangren Marauder as it can prevent Affinity from winning with Atog and Fling. Be forewarned as some versions of this deck have started to run Metallic Rebuke so it may be correct to start holding on to Duress here.

Izzet Delver

Reanimator is at a minor disadvantage in this matchup. An early Crusher here, like in most pairings, can end the game early. If Izzet Delver spends their early turns developing their mana and filtering cards you can often win before they play a permanent. Once they get ahead with Faerie Miscreant and Spellstutter Sprite it can be hard to catch up. Side out Lightning Axe for Electrickery, Tormenting Voice and Shred Memory for Pyroblast, and potentially cut a Dragon Breath for Cartouche of Ambition. Games two and three are about resolving Exhume and protecting your investment.

Hexproof

Pauper Boggles is all about who draws their combo first. I think Reanimator is slightly advantaged but if Hexproof can build a monster quickly it can be hard to recover. Lightning Axe is useless and cut Shred Memory and a Tormenting Voice for the Electrickery and Swirling Sandstorm. This matchup is a pure race and if you can get a Crusher by turn three it can be hard to lose.

Dimir Flicker

A terrible matchup in that they have Chainer's Edict and Archaeomancer to get it back. Your best path to victory is to get a hasted Crusher on turn two or three and eat their lands. This is not impossible as they lean on Dimir Aqueduct. Post-board I like cutting Sandwurm for the third Angler and the Lightning Axes for Addle. Again you may want to find space for Ingot Chewer to fight Relic of Progenitus but if a Relic hits, it is already an uphill fight.

Dinrova Tron

A bigger version of Dimir Flicker, they have access to Crop Rotation for Bojuka Bog which is something we cannot stop. Dinrova Tron takes some time to set up and as such Reanimator can sneak a Crusher through to start chewing up lands. Cut Lightning Axe and Greater Sandwurm for Pyroblast to counter their counters or stop their Dinrova Horrors on the stack.

Kuldotha Tokens

The matchup is all about who gets their draw first. If they draw Journey to Nowhere it can be hard to win but if they spend the first few turns bouncing a Prophetic Prism then it can be fairly academic to chew through their investments. Electrickery is important and Lightning Axe is dead so make the swap. I can also see cutting a Shred Memory and a Stinkweed Imp for the two Chewers.

There are other popular decks but these are the current big ones. Elves is easy once you can bring in your board wipes and Delver is a nightmare thanks to Vapor Snag and Snap. If the first Challenge moves the format more toward control decks, I cannot in good conscience recommend Reanimator. As long as people are racing past each other in go-karts I would say bring the monster truck.