My Reanimator list. I think it’s pretty well-tuned, and should serve as a great starting point for learning the archetype or playing in an unknown meta.
A few notes:
The presence of 4 Animate Dead makes Akroma, Angel of Wrath, Iridescent Angel, and Spirit of the Night worse than they would otherwise be, due to the nonbo between Animate Dead and protection abilities. (There is no such nonbo between AD and Multani, Maro-Sorcerer.)
To that end, if you expect a less aggressive and more Naturalize-heavy meta, you can cut 2-3 Animate Dead for 2-3 Life / Death, add the 3rd Akroma and the 4th Phantom Nishoba main deck in place of some other threats, and play Iridescent Angel in the side.
Sickening Dreams replaces the 4th Cabal Therapy in the main, offering a little incidental tech against go-wide strategies. It’s nice to get discard-heavy against combo and control after sideboarding, but 7 or 8 discard spells is probably too many; thus, a second Dreams is preferred over a 4th Duress in the side.
Static hate pieces like Chill or Cursed Totem can be in the side instead of Tormod's Crypt and/or the extra threats. Generally, the mana value of such cards should be 2 or less, but something like Gloom is well-positioned and can be powered out with Dark Ritual. Playing these permanents alongside AD gives your opponent more Naturalize targets, so their stock rises slightly in a list with fewer ADs and more copies of Life//Death.
Remember that Visara the Dreadful is the most realistically hardcastable of the maindeck threats.
Happy reanimating!
