Reanimator Remix

Look at any of the last tournaments and you’ll see two words come up again and again, Reanimator and Jund. Both of these decks run similar colors, where the only difference is red and white, but why stop there? Why not make a deck that combines their colors into one beautiful concoction of a deck? The deck I’m speaking of is 4C Reanimator. I understand that Junk Reanimator is a solid deck and that it doesn’t need to be revamped, as it is doing well on its own, but that’s not what this article is about. It’s about making a deck that combines the power house of Reanimator with the scary cards that Jund colors can provide.

Surprise! Turbo Fog!

So, for my first article I thought that I would write about my upcoming deck. For the last few sets I’ve been playing Jund Midrange with very successful results, but at heart I’m a control player that loves to take every round to time just to make my opponent upset. At first I was interested in Esper Control, because I’m a huge fan of UB, to the point that I played UB Control for a few tournaments back in Scars block. The only downside to Esper is that it loses hard to the super aggro decks that are rampant in standard. I discovered this after playing my friend’s Esper deck for a couple months, and for the first time in my life of playing control, I went negative the other week going 2-3. How was this possible? Three rounds of turn 1 Champion of the Parish, turn 2 BTE BTE Lightning Mauler swing for 7, turn 3 Flinthoof Boar, kill you. It’s a major headache for any control player Esper or Bant, simply because you can’t board wipe in time to survive and if by some miracle you top deck terminus (get it?) you’re still at such a low life level that they can burn you alive before you can stabilize.

"Control in the meta, the durdle life is the thug life"

As a control player there is nothing I like more then a long grind game. Control is all about  saying no to everything my opponent tries to do. While playing passive magic and proceeding to do almost nothing on my turn besides playing lands and passing the turn. There is something about watching the life and fun drained out of my opponents face because they believe this game is supposed to be fun and exciting. Spoiler alert; there is nothing fun when your playing against a control player. Well, its fun and exciting for the control player. Now, just because I like to win with Drownyard or Jace doesn't mean I'm not a fan of Obzedat and Sorin, maybe even a Duskmantle Seer. Pounding you in the grill and making that mid-range player hate his life.

“End of your turn I activate alchemist refuge and cast farseek”

“End of your turn I activate alchemist refuge and cast farseek”

Endless flicking of your cards as your control opponent desperately looks for a way to kill you. This feeling of the game being completely lost at this moment in time. Now as many people tell you play to your outs, never give an early concession the list goes on and on...

Now here's the truth, if your opponent has just cast a revelation for 6+, or their farseeking at the end of your turn with mana left over to counter something the writing is on the wall. Or if we switch formats, your opponent has a Jace at 11 counters and all your getting is useless Force of Wills, would you try to get that one draw or take an early lose and get some lunch before the next round. If your playing magic for the money, I'm going to quote a local shop owner here “your making less than minimum wage”.

If your playing magic for enjoying a tournament why not take the early loss and get a bite to eat and further enjoy the tournament environment instead of slowly grinding yourself into the ground playing to your outs, that might not even get you out...