Legacy Reanimator Deck

[Baron Sengir]

So I just wasn't enjoying the Merfolk deck so I took the expensive cards out of it and use them and other stuff I had to make a Reanimator deck for Pastimes' legacy tournaments. Afterall, black is more my style. ;D

I did keep the Merfolk deck together so I can always slap the deck back together to play, but I'd have to get more of the sleeves I use for my legacy and vintage decks.

CREATURES
1 Angel of Despair
1 Elesh Norn Grand Cenobite
1 Empyrial Archangel
3 Jin Gitaxias Core Augur
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

ENCHANTMENT
4 Animate Dead

INSTANT
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Entomb
4 Force of Will

SORCERIES
3 Careful Study
4 Exhume
4 Ponder
3 Reanimate
3 Thoughtseize

LAND
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs

SIDEBOARD
3 Pithing Needle
3 Duress though I may substitute these out for Yixlid Jailer for when I go against Dredge since Dredge has key cards like Bridge from Below.
3 Show and Tell
3 Echoing Truth
1 Iona Shield of Emeria
1 Sundering Titan
1 Blazing Archon

Since I have a lot of cards in this deck that I use in my Vintage deck, I just put both decks in the same sleeves and swap them between decks as I need to.

The deck is simple enough in concept and is very similar to Johns, I just use newer creatures than his deck does along with some other minor changes.

[House Turtle]

Pretty sound looking I like the way these decks work.

[Maraxus of Keld]

You keep making proper tournament versions of my decks! What's next, an Aluren deck? ;D

Anyway, I'm surprised to see you're not using Dark Ritual. I've recently concluded that four is too many for my deck, but not to use any seems like an odd decision to me.

Also, I know Sphinx of the Steel Wind is basically the same thing, but do you know why Akroma, Angel of Wrath isn't a typical part of these decks anymore?

[Baron Sengir]

Renaimator is just a solid deck so I wanted to give it a try. ;D

As for Akroma I think its because people would rather use Iona or the Archangel or the Angel of Despair because they do more than just be a good beatstick; I've seen Akroma on a sideboard though. Also most decks want to get Jin out asap to screw over most opponents; Dredge would welcome Jin though so there's a case where Akroma would definitely be a better choice.

[Maraxus of Keld]

I'm looking at Akroma, Angel of Wrath and Sphinx of the Steel Wind side by side, and they're not quite as similar as I thought. Akroma doesn't have lifelink, but Sphinx doesn't have trample or haste. And of course Akroma is pro-black where Sphinx is pro-green. Honestly, of the two Akroma seems slightly better. Is there some particular green threat that makes Sphinx a better choice than Akroma?

I can see how the other creatures you mentioned provide something Akroma does not, although I also notice you don't have Iona in this deck. But unless there's something I'm not seeing, Akroma seems like a slightly better creature to me than Sphinx, unless that lifelink really makes the difference between winning and losing.

[Baron Sengir]

In reanimator in legacy the lifelink really does make a huge difference believe it or not because of the fact that Reanimate loses you life, Force of Will loses you a life, and you lose life from the fetch lands, many games I'm at 9 or 10 life just from my own doing when I play the Sphinx. It depends on how aggressive you are though I guess, but from what I've seen you almost have to be aggressive to win. Iona is in my sideboard, but may get rotated to my main to replace a Jin.

[Maraxus of Keld]

Actually now that you mention it, the life loss from Reanimate really is a big deal. That's why I often go for Phantom Nishoba when that's the only spell I have.

[Baron Sengir]

Yeah it tends to catch you by surprise sometimes if your not careful.

[Maraxus of Keld]

The first one isn't usually so bad, but sometimes that's all I draw, so I end up in single-digits just from my own spells. And I don't even have Force of Will or fetchlands to worry about in my deck.

I could swear Akroma had lifelink. I was quite surprised yesterday to see that she does not. I guess I can see how getting 6 life every time you swing with Sphinx might outweigh the benefits of trample, and maybe even haste, but it's still kind of hard to believe it comes up that often.

[Baron Sengir]

Akroma is definitely a card I may toss into my sideboard and/or main deck. That's one of the things I like about Reanimator decks is that I can throw any creature in the deck that I think will be good against the metagame I play in.

[House Turtle]

All I know is that deck effectivly shut me down. That was one brutal combo dropping
Elesh Norn Grand Cenobite and Jin Gitaxias Core Augur.

[Baron Sengir]

Yeah Jin is the typical creature I drop just because it hurts almost every deck; except dredge it helps. Elesh is good against decks like Merfolk with a lot of creatures.

[Baron Sengir]

Ok I actually have an answer as to why Akroma isn't included in the typical deck list. It's because she doesn't do anything to help you or hurt your opponent like Elesh, Jin, Iona, etc. do. She is an amazing attacker/blocker, but that's it.

[Baron Sengir]

I also found out that you can't Animate Dead Akroma, Angel of Wrath anymore because she has protection from black. They errated the card to say that if a creature is pro black they can't be targeted by the card.

[House Turtle]

That's pretty stupid although I can still get Akroma out in my deck using Reya Dawnbringer. I had actually wondered about that too.