UBg Reanimator
The Reanimator archetype is one of my favorites, and this is my main Legacy deck. I think Reanimator can be versatile in it's attack as both an aggressive combo and as a slower turn 5-6-7 toolbox deck that slowly crafts its victory. It features a selective and powerful cast of creatures, all fulfilling an individual potentially backbreaking role.
BUG duals are also useful in pretty much every strategy I enjoy, so that's a bonus to being in these colors.
Colors
The deck is mainly black and blue, with a sideboard splash for green to deal with noncreature permanents and hate. Trading turn 1 kills off for t2 and t3 kills, this build is more comfortable taking a turn off to sculpt and manipulate our hand and library, then going off with force + daze backup/protection in the way of lotus petal etc.
Griselbrand is very efficient at drawing cards and winning games. Sometimes I feel a twinge of shame when i draw 14 and then gain 7 life of the life back and know that i can protect my beater and go off again. Our trade off in interaction comes with Force of Will and Daze instead of Unmask and Thoughtseize, while still retaining Collective Brutality main and side. Being Blue also lets us play a full set of Show and Tell between the main and side -- Having a realistic backup wincon is always necessary because hate exists and frankly we deserve it so we have to play around it.
Ashen Rider plays really well both with and against Show and Tell; she can immediately answer their threat, or if they blank she can take out lands and creatures already on board. Tidespout Tyrant is very very powerful too. It requires another spell to be cast before you can start resetting the opponents board, but with free spells & 1cmc spells it isnt difficult to chain together value the same turn it enters play or at the very least starting the next turns. Even counterspells and Lotus Petals start pulling double duty! It's incredibly difficult for a deck like BUG Delver for example to beat a Tidespout, you can reset their DRS and Delvers every turn, and the chances of Tombstalker sticking around until the combat phase are miniscule.
Archetype is just really nice to have in response to any targeted removal opponents might have, like Karakas, Swords to Plowshares, Jace bounce. Notably doesn't help us against Terminus.
I don't enjoy or particularly like the RB version. I just prefer the addition of Blue for draw, interaction, and the ability to win in more ways than one. The plan becomes much harder for our opponent to successfully interact with and beat, and we fight on multiple axes in this deck unlike RB. Leyline of the Void isn't an autoscoop, nor Rest in Peace. We have game in many matchups and don't automatically lose others, which I really like. Chalice on 1 or 2 is normally extremely difficult to beat with Mono black or Rb but Show and Tell provides an out. it's a really solid gameplan both main and post board, as it isn't affected by the same hate an opponent would have for the graveyard, outside of Containment Priest.
I've always played with 3-4 Petals and 14-16 lands, when i was picking up the ropes and playing a cheaper and more all-in build they really served to just power out combos and brute force through things, but it is actually so versatile in this strategy. It's a bounce spell with Tidespout and it accelerates and fixes your mana, which is exceptionally useful and is a great safety net against Wasteland and Daze. The green splash is for some amazing sideboard cards like 2 Golgari Charm. It's been a cornerstone of the sideboard for a long time now because it deals with enchantments and can also wipe away pyro tokens and monk tokens (less of a concern, but if we aren't slamming Elesh Norn it's a backup boardwipe). It's seen a bit more play in the board of Grixis and 4c lists right now, guess people are finally waking up to it.
Additionally, I'm down to 1 Abrupt Decay. When I first started in the Legacy format, Countertop Miracles was just running rampant, and I got $#!% on many a time before boards because we just don't get to resolve spells against a shitty prison deck. Originally I had 2 Decay 1 Krosan Grip for countertop and Chalice decks, but nowadays Decay is just better in most scenarios and Golgari charm kills leylines and more. An important card that has been added to the card pool since the deck's genesis is Collective Brutality - extremely versatile, it's incredible that for 2 mana I feel like I'm getting 4-5-6 mana worth of value. Especially in this meta (April 2018) with creatures like Deathrite Shaman and Young Pyromancer, as well as Death & Taxes and Maverick (very challenging if they get ahead of you but fun and usually winnable) it really helps to have versatile answers and removal. It's reliable, pairs well with Decay and Charm due to it's modality, allows our other cards to go after leylines or RiP and such.
Reanimator is a strategy that inherently cares more about it's cards than the opponents, but falling too deep into this linear mindset can leave you susceptible to losing to your opponents deckbuilding and the essential answers that most decks will have for our strategy. Thats why blue is so helpful, we can set up a win 1-2 turns down the line with ponder and brainstorm while we subtly interact. I choose and apply threats based on my opponents answers, every out they could have in response to my threats in any given matchup, and protect my creatures thusly. this necessitates a relatively solid knowledge of the pool of answers available in legacy, which is quite a few. the creatures themselves are strong, but part of the core of the deckbuilding process for this deck is knowing the answers to my opponents answers and being able to deny them and proactively play around them accordingly.
I don't know why people always want to foil their UB reanimator decks
I really enjoyed writing this up and writing a bit about the deck and about the legacy format!
Legacy is my favorite format. The interactions between the cards are intricate and interesting and fun, the card pool is unmatched, the flavor and art (studying art has brought even more appreciation for the golden ages of art in magic ala tempest and urzas block) are beautiful, it's everything in a format for me.
feel free to comment below with any and all suggestions, opinions, ideas, questions, etc.
Thanks :-)
