Fat oaf: So let me get this straight. You’re a CIA agent sent by the Queen of America to deliver this top-secret scooter to the West Pole?
Stimpy: “Eh, that’s right. To the big chief spy himself, Stinky Wizzleteats!”
I’m not a Magic: The Gathering expert but I like myself a good game of Standard. As of these recordings I never 4-0’d a Standard daily event. After 0-1 dropping from Twenty Sided’s Tuesday Night Modern tournament I came home, noticed my girlfriend was in Hawaii, and entered the Standard Daily tournament beginning at 10pm. This probably means I’m in bed around 1am or even, *GASP*, 2am. “It’s well worth it,” I told myself, “if I’m able to redeem my horrible performance in Modern this evening!” One needs to tell oneself things are worth it every now and again even if you’re pretty sure it’s bullshit.
I ran with Reid Duke’s version of Junk Reanimator, card for card.
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Angel of Serenity
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
2 Forest
2 Godless Shrine
4 Grisly Salvage
2 Isolated Chapel
3 Lingering Souls
4 Lotleth Troll
3 Mulch
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Restoration Angel
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Swamp
3 Temple Garden
4 Thragtusk
4 Unburial Rites
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Woodland Cemetery
Sideboard
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Acidic Slime
1 Blind Obedience
2 Centaur Healer
1 Duress
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Rhox Faithmender
1 Sever the Bloodline
3 Tragic Slip
See, Duke is the guy I copy whenever he’s not playing a deck with counterspells, which I’m pretty sure I’ve said in the past. I won that Grand Prix Trial with a nearly identical Duke Jund build. When I was checking out the 4-0 lists on mtgo-stats.com I noticed reiderrabbit (Duke’s MTGO handle) 4-0’d with an Unburial Rites list. Kadar and I have been talking about playing Reanimator for maybe a month, and I bit the bullet, threw down some tix for an Obzedat, Ghost Council or two, and set out to crush my competition with the most fun deck I’ve ever played (remember, we were all playing a version of this deck when Return to Ravnica first dropped and we were all jazzed about Angel of Serenity).
So here’re my matches. I had tried to shoot a number of Daily events prior to this and they didn’t work out. I swear a lot in these things and maybe reference Jesus in a joking manner a few times. By round four it’s three full hours past my bedtime and I’m cranky, kinda quiet, and make some huge mistakes. Truth be told, there are many mistakes made along the way and I don’t look like I know my ass from a hole in the ground, and that’s part of why Magic is so dope. We can win even when we fuck up thanks to probability and chance. It feels like cheating when Craterhoof Behemoth comes in outta no where and just wrecks shop. Enjoy!
Round One vs. Jund Mid-Range
Round Two vs. The Junk Reanimator Reanimator (Steven Segal)
Round Three vs. Esper Control
Round Four vs. Prime Speaker Bant
That’s it, 3-1. SO CLOSE to a 4-0. Well that last round wasn’t actually close and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep mentally around 1am. It’s all right, I have won eight matches in a row with this deck between FNM and another Standard Daily on Saturday evening. The list I’m currently running looks like this:
4 Angel of Serenity
2 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
3 Godless Shrine
4 Grisly Salvage
3 Lingering Souls
3 Lotleth Troll
4 Mulch
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Restoration Angel
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
3 Thragtusk
4 Unburial Rites
4 Woodland Cemetery
Sideboard
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Acidic Slime
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Tragic Slip
Some pretty gross board states existed including this one against UWR:
My opponent did not say good game or see what his next few draws would’ve been upon the conclusion of our match. I had similar lines of play game two but s/he was able to overcome by continuously drawing lands. This time, not so much.
The only deck I haven’t outright defeated with Junk Reanimator is Prime Speaker Bant. That deck is a pain in the ass. I don’t think I sideboarded correctly in the matchup in round four of this post. I think a lot of the time most, if not all, of the graveyard suite comes out. This makes Rest in Peace, Tormod’s Crypt, and Grafdigger’s Cage totally useless, giving them heaps of dead cards. I find myself winning without the crazy reanimation goodness 75%* of the time.
Cavern of Souls is a must now that Bant is all over the place (and Esper, and UWR, and since the color blue exists).
That’s all for me this week. I’m headed to GP Pitt but will mostly likely have another video article for Monday since I’ll be way outta town and unable to write anything substantial by Sunday evening re: the GP. Wish me luck!
Love to all,
Matt
MTGO: The_Obliterator
*This is a guess percentage and probably + or – 25%
PS – If you like my writing I’ve started a new column on Twenty Sided Store’s blog called Mattcaster Mage which is exclusively tournament reports from Standard and Modern events held at the store.