Creature (22)
Land (20)
Instant (6)
Sideboard
Maybeboard
Sorcery (8)
Land (8)
In between bowls of ice soup and top ramen, an idea for an extreme budget reanimation deck began to materialize.
I took the basic shell of a Legacy deck I had made (view it here: “Dirt” Cheap Reanimation) and made some alterations according to the Modern format card pool. In the end it turned out rather well. Here’s what I came up with:
•Woodland Cemetery is the closest thing to an Overgrown Tomb or Verdant Catacombs that we can get, while ever so slightly straining against the stitching of our wallet.
•Jungle Hollow, alas, enters tapped. The point of life softens the blow though.
•That’s it for non basic lands; from here on out just load up on Swamps and Forests.
•Duress is a dime a dozen and remarkably effective. Not quite in the same league as a ’Seize or an Inquisition, but surprisingly close. A great opening play, but every bit as effective when nearing the end—4 copies, no question. Since we’re incredibly dependent on accessing our graveyard, prioritize graveyard sweepers—Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Grafdigger's Cage etc.
•Time of Need is here to tutor up a particular spirit; more on that later. For now, just know that this card is part of an engine as opposed to being a traditional tutor to find something you intend to play from your hand.
•Doomed Necromancer is going to be our primary means to raise the dead. His ability isn’t restricted like either of the other spells, which is the only way we can effectively return one of our high costed, high powered threats to the table.
•Unearth is included primarily to have a way to keep a steady supply of Doomed Necromancers in rotation. The idea is to sacrifice him for his ability and then use Unearth to return him, ready for next turn.
•Goryo's Vengeance combos spectacularly with our largest creature, Iname. Use the vengeance to bring it out and swing for 8—but before it’s exiled at the end step, sacrifice it to our zombie. This will dump it in the graveyard, which will return another spirit to play, and we’ll be ready to repeat the process the following turn :D
•Carrion Feeder is our sac outlet. We absolutely need to get specific cards in the graveyard, and sadly Putrid Imp isn’t an option in this format :(
•Lotleth Troll is a fantastic card. What we have here is a discard outlet that can be permanently buffed and boasts Trample for pushing some damage through. It regenerates too!
•We already touched on Doomed Necromancer, but to reiterate this creature is a key part of our path to victory. Definitely aim to have him hit the table on Turn 3, when possible.
Here’s where things get interesting
•Iname, Death Aspect will ideally be the very first reanimation target. Find it with Time of Need, dump it using Lotleth Troll, target it with Doomed Necromancer, and when it enters play immediately scour your library for any and all spirit creature cards. Dump them into the graveyard and you’ll be loaded and ready to bring them out at your leisure.
•Ashen Monstrosity is a 7/4 with Haste, perfect to come out swinging and bulldoze threats or push a big chunk of damage through.
•Yosei, the Morning Star will softlock your opponents to the point where they’ll likely be waiting for you outside your LGS with a blackjack and brass knuckles. Find it with Time of Need and send it to the graveyard through Lotleth Troll, or inter this spirit directly using the ETB trigger of Iname, Death Aspect. Reanimate it, then sacrifice it to Carrion Feeder to put the opponent on ice, then repeat this process subsequent turns. Goryo's Vengeance into Carrion Feeder’s sac outlet is a nice loop to abuse. Iname as One always works too!
•Spirit of the Hearth for that protective paling of righteousness to ward off any ill will.
•Iname as One is a potent weapon in our arsenal. Immediately ignore the first paragraph of its text, as we’ll never be hardcasting it. No, it’s value begins to shine with that lower portion. Once it’s either been killed by the opponent or sacrificed by us, it enters the graveyard and triggers something special. We get to exile it, and in exchange we return a spirit of our choice right back to the battlefield. Bring out our Haste enabled spirit for fast damage, or bring out another copy of the very same Iname. Remember, baby Iname will ensure our graveyard is loaded with all our spirits, so just go wild.
•Cast Lotleth Troll and start dumping Spirit creatures into the graveyard, making Iname, Death Aspect priority one
•Cast Doomed Necromancer, then the following turn begin using it to reanimate creatures (starting with Iname, Death Aspect so as to get all spirits in the graveyard)
•Bring Doomed Necromancer back with Unearth to reanimate something else if needed, and bring other spirits back when Iname as One dies.
•Gnaw to the Bone can bestow a radiant shower of bountiful life points upon us, once we dump all spirits in the graveyard using baby Iname.
•Apostle's Blessing can allow a particular creature to dodge a bullet, if we aren’t quite ready to get things up and running.
•Malakir Rebirth combos nicely with Goryo's Vengeance. Use the vengeance on Iname as One, swing for damage, and either let it die if it would or sacrifice it ourselves. Bring out a different spirit, like a hasty 7/4, and then return Iname as One owing to Malakir Rebirth . If that’s too convoluted, just cast it on Doomed Necromancer for some easy and profitable reanimation.
•Extirpate is still budget-ish, and can either compliment Duress or succeed where that card falls short. Use it to completely eradicate a graveyard sweeper, even if it’s a creature or a spent Bojuka Bog.
•Replace Jungle Hollow and 2 of each basic land with Overgrown Tomb and Verdant Catacombs.
•Replace Duress with Thoughtseize. Even Inquisition of Kozilek would be an improvement.
•Collective Brutality is a wonderful discard outlet that can impact the board in a few ways. Switch a couple Carrion Feeders for this far more versatile card.
”...there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones began to come together, bone to bone. Then I saw sinews and flesh come on them, and skin covered over them.”
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95% Casual
Competitive
| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 2 years |
| Last updated | 2 years |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 25 - 3 Rares 11 - 4 Uncommons 8 - 8 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 3.58 |
| Folders | Modern, Decks I like, cheap stuff, Cheap Modern Decks (<$100), Modern Decks, Andres decks, Saved, Other People's deck, Decks I might want to workshop and then buy |
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