Crossing the Rivers: Ravos/Thrasios Reanimator

Commander / EDH

BiggFoot

Creature (43)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Athreos, God of Passage
• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Dawntreader Elk
• 1x Diligent Farmhand
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Dreamscape Artist
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Embodiment of Spring
• 1x Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Filth
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Golgari Thug
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Hallowed Spiritkeeper
• 1x Hedron Crab
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Lotus Cobra
• 1x Magus of the Disk
• 1x Moriok Replica
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Nyx Weaver
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Skullwinder
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Spore Frog
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Sylvok Replica
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Wonder
• 1x Yavimaya Granger

Land (36)

• 1x Bad River
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flood Plain
• 4x Forest
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Grasslands
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x High Market
• 2x Island
• 1x Krosan Verge
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Nephalia Drownyard
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 3x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Artifact (6)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Marshal's Anthem
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Commanders (2)

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Day of Judgment
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Tunnel Vision
• 1x Victimize

Instant (4)

• 1x Entomb
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Sultai Charm

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Maybeboard

Creature (6)

• 1x Avenger of Zendikar
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Karador, Ghost Chieftain
• 1x Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Teneb, the Harvester

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Oversold Cemetery
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sylvan Library

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Splendid Reclamation

Land (3)

• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Meteor Crater
• 1x Reflecting Pool

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Go green (and black, and white, and blue) by recycling your old, used up creatures.

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I've been brewing with the Partner commanders a lot lately. Ravos seemed like he could be an interesting character to build around, but it took me a while to find an appropriate partner for him. In the end, not finding anyone with particular synergy I really enjoyed, I picked Thrasios on account of his color access and general utility. Both the Sultai and Abzan color combinations are well known for graveyard shenanigans, so I figured why not have access to both and see what happens?

The aim of the deck is to use Ravos, Soultender to re-use your dead creatures, creating a toolbox out of your graveyard via self-mill to answer threats, and build value over the rest of the table over the long term. You want to be the "Have" as opposed to the "Have Nots" after a boardwipe or other brutal exchange, and once everyone's hands are exhausted and their boards barren, you can march right in with your army of reassembled minions unopposed. This is NOT a fast deck, but you can be sure you'll never run out of gas.

I specifically planned this deck to use lots of creatures that can pitch themselves for effect, rather than needing to rely on an outside sacrifice or discard outlet to get them into the grave. The majority of my ramp package conforms to this by using things like Sakura-Tribe Elder, Dawntreader Elk, and Diligent Farmhand. The best part is once they're used, Ravos can always bring them back to my hand to be re-used, ensuring the ramp engine never stops. The same trick applies to a lot of my answer cards, like Caustic Caterpillar, Shriekmaw, Spore Frog, and Glen Elendra Archmage, as well as parts of my draw package. This is mainly what makes this deck so difficult to exhaust since cards that would normally be one-time uses just keep coming back.

So far I've only included a couple of especially potent combos here. Karmic Guide + Reveillark is a classic, generating infinite mana with Phyrexian Altar, allowing you to use Thrasios, Triton Hero to play out your entire deck if you wish. My favorite trick by far, however, is Tunnel Vision into Living Death, especially if you can get it early on. I included a modest tokenspam package as well. Cards like Grave Titan, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder, and Hallowed Spiritkeeper work well with my strategy of filling the graveyard and returning things from it. On top of Ravos' built-in anthem, these also make cards like Marshal's Anthem, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Wonder, and Filth especially useful. The main thing I think I'm lacking in is some sort of defense against other, faster creature-based strategies, as 40 life may not cut it for the time I need for setup. Steps have been taken to mitigate this weakness with additions such as Spore Frog and various removal pieces, but I still can't really count on other players leaving me alone while I durdle. If you find anything else you think I need, please let me know.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Splash colors	U
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.42
Tokens	Emblem Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, Spirit 1/1 W, Thrull 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Other People's decks, Thrasios/Ravos