DISCLAIMER There are no critical mass combos that I know of in this deck, and I have not yet tested this deck in a real game. Purely my own brewing and research.
This is a relatively budget friendly, casual, and fun reanimator/ETB deck that maximizes Araumi of the Dead Tide's ability to reanimate creatures with powerful ETBs (Enter-the-Battlefield) and DTAs (Dies-Triggered-Ability) from the graveyard to generate value, control the board, and drain opponents' life totals. (best in a 4 player pod)
If playing against keen opponents who want to win, I doubt they will let you activate Araumi of the Dead Tide's ability more than once in the same turn ((and if they do, they will catch on to not let you activate her as much as possible throughout the rest of the game)). So, instead of trying use Araumi's ability multiple times a turn, I focused on capitalizing on single activations of Araumi's ability, which is why I have left out any cards that can untap Araumi attempting to reactivate her the same turn. And on top of that, you will need enough mana to encore whatever creatures you are targeting with Araumi, and it is unlikely you will have enough mana to encore two impactful creatures in the same turn. Thus I focused on single, impactful, efficient activations of Araumi of the Dead Tide.
There are three primary targets you want to reanimate using Araumi of the Dead Tide in order to win the game. (From most powerful to lesser)
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Gray Merchant of Asphodel aka "Gary."
When reanimated by Araumi of the Dead Tide with 3 opponents in game, "Gary's" ability will drain each opponent a minimum of 21 life while you gain 63 life all for 5 mana. (Your devotion will be 7 because of 3 copies of "Gary" and Araumi on the field. Therefore, each copy of "Gary" will drain 7 life, multiplied by 3 because of each "Gary;" 21. And then add up all the life lost by this effect and gain that much life; 63) This is surely to either win you the game outright, or put you so far ahead it will be impossible to lose. **Also, if you have Panharmonicon on the battlefield as this resolves it will be GGs.
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Kokusho, the Evening Star
In the same 4 player setting as "Gary," when reanimated by Araumi, Kokusho will drain everyone at the table 15 life as you then gain 45 life *all for six mana. (Each copy of Kokusho will each drain 5 life, multiplied by 3 because of the three copies of Kokusho, then each will gain you 15 life, multiply that by 3. Again, this will either outright win you the game or put you so far ahead it will be very difficult to lose. However, because Kokusho is legendary, you will only be able to attack with one token when you reanimate him with Araumi. (But still get each Kokusho's death trigger)
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Sower of Discord
Although less effective than the previous two in terms of life gain, Sower of Discord can still end games with its unique ability to tether two players life totals. If you reanimate "Sower" with Araumi, and hit one of your chosen players with just "Sower" alone, even if the other blocks his copy, both will still lose 18 life (6 damage from "Sower's" power mulitply the effect three times if you chose the same players three times), the same life loss as the player who didn't block, making this card extremely powerful with Araumi of the Dead Tide When played, this can also add an extra layer of politics, adding more overall fun and control for you.
Honorable mentions to also target with Araumi of the Dead Tide that may be even better situationally...
Wurmcoil Engine, because Wurmcoil Engine. And also when reanimated with Araumi of the Dead Tide, you will gain 18 life, and gain six 3/3 tokens, three with lifelink and the others with deathtouch.
Massacre Wurm, can be used as a very effective boardwipe (-6/-6 until end of turn) and damage opponents life totals simultaneously.
Agent of Treachery, in the right place and in the right time, you can win the game by literally stealing the competition. Steal three high value targets from your opponents, and potentially draw a bonus of three cards while your at it.
***These three cards Teferi's Veil, Sundial of the Infinite, and Discontinuity, are so unique and powerful with Araumi of the Dead Tide. Each can save our token copies of whatever creature we reanimated with Araumi from being "completely" encored, by either ending the turn early or phasing out avoiding having to sacrifice the tokens at the end-step.
Although this deck appears to lack generic card advantage,(it has some Baleful Strix, Notion Thief, Rhystic Studyand others), it instead seeks card advantage through "stuffing the graveyard" by milling, discarding cards, and sacrificing our creatures. I believe this approach best synergizes with Araumi of the Dead Tide. She not only needs to target a creature in the graveyard, she also need to exile cards equal to however many opponents you have (which will be ideally three cards exiled at a time). Araumi of the Dead Tide needs a considerable amount cards in the graveyard to consistently activate her reanimation ability when we need to. This deck does have other ways of reanimating past Araumi herself; although not as consistent and powerful (Reanimate, Victimize, Dread Return, Phyrexian Delver, Stitch Together). Thus I focused on "stuffing the graveyard" effects over pure card advantage to satisfy this need.
The following cards and the like assist the milling and discarding...
*Court of Cunning and Mesmeric Orb These will consistently fill our graveyard while our opponents lose their cards. And the "monarchy" mechanic is not that important for this deck and just a bonus (I doubt we will keep the monarchy anyway).
*Deranged Assistant, Merfolk Looter, Millikin, Hedron Crab, Stitcher's Supplier Each of these fills the same role to fill our graveyard early and consistently.
*Windfall, Ancient Excavation, Whispering Madness These will refill our hand while filling our graveyard.
*Altar of Dementia This is great for getting as much value out of our creatures before they die to fill the graveyard.
*Thirst for Knowledge, Thirst for Meaning, These will generate some much needed card draw and filter our hand in the process. And these also fill our graveyard with cards we choose.
We have five sacrificing options to also "stuff our graveyard" and generate value over the course of the game...
*Viscera Seer Scrying
*Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Card draw
*Priest of Forgotten Gods Overall value and control
*Altar of Dementia Filling the graveyard
*Phyrexian Tower Mana value
I added Syr Konrad, the Grim and Blood Artist to synergize with the amount of creatures I suspect will be hitting the graveyard whilst gaining life and draining opponents over time. And being able to gain life, I think, will prove to be invaluable to this deck since its defense is poor overall; and it will probably be targeted after the first few Araumi of the Dead Tide activations.
***I also added Skullclamp which synergizes very well with the deck overall; it maximizes the value of the filter creatures (Deranged Assistant, Merfolk Looter, Millikin) and other less impactful creatures (Mire Triton, Stitcher's Supplier), Baleful Strix) by allowing us to draw cards off of them as we sacrifice them in mid-to-late game.
Everything else in this deck is just your typical EDH necessities - balance of ramp, interaction, recursion, removal, ect... It might need more removal/interaction (ultimately based off of your playgroup), but I kept this deck "on theme" as much as possible and strayed away from "stopping your opponents" kind of cards. This causes the deck to be very focused and more likely to do what it is designed to do consistently and quickly.
Overall I think this deck looks like loads of fun and very exciting. Casual enough to not get hated, and powerful enough to still win. I hope this helps anyone looking to build Araumi of the Dead Tide Let me know what you guys think. Thanks and have fun brewing and battling!
