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Space for Rent!

Paul Hagan's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
 Type 1.5 Reanimator- 5.4.05

Hey all, and welcome back to the deck garage!  Thinking about it, I really couldn't recall the last time I worked on a Type 1.5 decklist, so when I saw this decklist, I had to put it up.  It doesn't hurt that it comes from one of our guys in Iraq, either :) 

Before I get started, I have to apologize in advance.  I'm working on my article this week in WordPad rather than Microsoft Word.  What's the big difference?  WordPad doesn't have an automatic spellchecker.  I know, I know -- as I'm nearly out of college, I should probably know how to spell by now.  Unfortunately, much like Superman has Kryptonite, I have the written English language.  If you prefer, I can do this in SAT form, too.

Superman is to Kryptonite as Paul is to...

A) Rice
B) Calculus
C) Spelling
D) Being on time with his articles.
E) All of the above

Anyways, on with the article.

---

Hey man heres my deck!!

I definitely have a 1st turn kill with volrath, shallow grave, funeral charm and 2dark rits, and draco. I play my land, 2 dark rits, funeral charm myself, discarding draco, shallow grave him and pitch the draco to his ability giving him +16/+16, making him a 22/20 that has haste, and roll in for the win. I win Lots of tourneys with this but have a hard time against scepter chant decks(which everyone seems to play). I have the 4sinkholes to slow my opponent down wicked not to mention the creature kill with the edicts and funeral charm if i need to. Anger is a great reanimator option for volrath giving him the quick 1-2 punch with an exume. It's definitely not the cheapest (4beta badlands) but its worth putting together if you want a deck just to school noobs and friends and place high in tournaments. Its also definitely a challenge trying to make a good game out of a crappy hand. (i've hardcasted draco before(yeah)!!) This deck is definitely 1.5 and deserves to be in the garage!! Have a blast!!

Spc. Daniel McEnerney writing from Iraq!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

It looks like Daniel is off to a great start, which unfortunately makes for a short deck garage.  There are a few changes I would like to make, though, so let's get rolling...

The first thing that I would like to do to the deck is ditch Funeral Charm in favor of Cabal Therapy.  As this deck has difficulty dealing with Scepter-Chant, why not play with a card that not only allows Daniel to ditch his Draco for the combo he is setting up, but it can also be used on Turn 1 to force his opponent to discard all copies of whatever card he names -- such as Orim's Chant or Isochron Scepter.  Ah, Microsoft Word, how you prevented me from using run-on sentences.

-4 Funeral Charm
+4 Cabal Therapy

It is kinda neat being able to win on Turn 1, but I'm willing to accept a longer win if it means the deck is slightly more reliable.  Thus, I'm cutting Shallow Grave in favor of Reanimate.  The five cards required to set up the Turn 1 win shouldn't happen too often, but a Turn 1 creature can be fairly regular occurrence.  Just don't Reanimate a Draco :)

-4 Shallow Grave
+4 Reanimate

I can't help it -- whenever I see a reanimator deck, I have to throw in two specific creatures every time.  The first is Akroma, Angel of Wrath, because I am a little kid at heart and swinging with a gigantic angel is too much fun.  The second is Verdant Force, which can get around any sort of "sacrifice" effect by the sheer number of little 1/1s that it produces.

+1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
+1 Verdant Force

To make room, I'm going to ditch the two Barren Moor -- we want this deck to be as fast, so no need to slow down on Turn 1.  I know many of you out there are saying, "But Paul, you keep telling us to put more land in our decks!"  Yes, this is true, but the average mana cost of cards in this deck (excluding the dudes Daniel is tricking into play) is just over 1.5 mana -- so Daniel doesn't need to hit any higher than three or four Swamps over the course of any given game.

-2 Barren Moor

I sat here and kept trying to think of another way around Scepter-Chant, which can be a huge issue -- surely, there has to be a way of getting around the inability to attack or play spells.  After a bit, I finally came up with the answer.  Daniel is already playing a bit of red to help fuel Anger, so why not run Fling? 

Imagine this game: Daniel has his Volrath the Fallen on the table and a Draco in hand, but his opponent has an Isochron Scepter with Orim's Chant attached.  During Daniel's Upkeep, his opponent taps two mana, taps Isochron Scepter, and plays an Orim's Chant, throwing in a bit extra for the kicker.  If it resolves, Daniel will be unable to play spells or attack, surely a bad sign.  Fortunately, Daniel has the solution.  With the Orim's Chant on the stack, Daniel can tap two mana and discard Draco to Volrath's ability, turning Volrath into a 22/20 monster.  If it resolves, with Orim's Chant still on the stack, he can then tap two more mana and cast Fling, dealing a direct 22 damage to his opponent for (hopefully) the win.

To clear a hole for Fling, I'm pulling Sinkhole.  Between the newly added Cabal Therapy, Fling, and the ability to have his creatures hang out a little bit longer with Reanimate, I don't think Daniel really needs to worry about slowing the game down.

-4 Sinkhole
+4 Fling 

To help ensure that Daniel gets the red mana when he needs it, I'm pulling four Swamps in favor of four Sulfurous Springs.  The small amounts of extra damage shouldn't be too much of an issue.

-4 Swamp
+4 Sulfurous Springs 

Here's what the final decklist looks like...

CREATURES (12):

1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2 Anger
4 Draco
1 Verdant Force
4 Volrath the Fallen

NON-CREATURE SPELLS (27):

3 Buried Alive
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Dark Ritual
4 Diabolic Edict
4 Exhume
4 Fling
4 Reanimate

LANDS (21):

4 Badlands
4 Sulferous Springs
12 Swamp
1 Wasteland

Hope that helps, Daniel, and good luck in future tourneys!  I'll see y'all next week, perhaps with better grammar.

-Paul Hagan