Reanimator with Avacyn Restored

[John Galli]

Gerry T and Brad Nelson posted a list for post-Avacyn on starcity the other day. Pat and I both thought it looked interesting and I think there's a lot of directions you could go with this, but one thing I REALLY liked about it was that a lot of the best flashback cards are involved giving the deck some serious gas. I feel like there should be some Titans in here, but aside from that it looks fun as hell and I'm curious on other's thoughts-

Griselbrand Combo
Featured by Brad Nelson on 2012-04-22 (Standard)
Print this deck!

Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Necrotic Ooze

Enchantments
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Zombie Infestation

Instants
2 Doom Blade

Legendary Creatures
4 Griselbrand

Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded

Sorceries
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lingering Souls
4 Timely Reinforcements
4 Unburial Rites

Basic Lands
5 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Swamp

Lands
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Isolated Chapel

Sideboard:
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Mental Misstep
1 Surgical Extraction
3 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3 Koth of the Hammer
3 Appetite for Brains

[abeckett]

I don't like Tibalt. If you up the ZI count by 1, it still leaves you with 12 discard outlets to abuse. While his +1 draws a card, the discard is random. I'm not a big fan of that.

I would much rather focus on adding in a little more board control or possible something else to reanimate or abuse with Necrotic Ooze. Maybe even Sun Titan to regrow some of the cards you are discarding or just run Elesh in the main. Even Intangible Virtue seems more appealing, with a shot at 12 token producers in the deck.

Admittedly, I have not (and probably will not) test him. He might be the stone nuts and I'm just missing it. It's a cool deck and it does have a ton of great interactions.

[John Galli]

Gerry T's thoughts on Tibalt- (he also did mention he'd like to see intangible virtue somewhere in the list)

"For a first draft, Brad's deck looks awesome. He's mostly a Reanimator deck but also has Necrotic Ooze to backpack Griselbrand. Drawing a ton of cards doesn't necessarily translate into victory, so he's got Zombie Infestation to help. Brad's deck can also use Timely Reinforcements as a "draw seven" against slower decks, which is a pretty cool use for it.


While it might look like his deck is short on removal, remember that Timely Reinforcements and Lingering Souls do a lot of work to keep you alive. I might be sounding like a broken record at this point, but I wouldn't mind seeing an Intangible Virtue or two in the sideboard for matchups where the tokens are really important. After all, what would you rather have: a removal spell or a spell that pumps three of your creatures? One of those is going to be much better if you're trying to keep creatures off your back. It's also a solid way to pressure control decks.

Tibalt is my pick for most underrated card to come out of Avacyn Restored. Yes, I know the entire set has yet to be spoiled, but I don't think it matters. Yes, his ultimate doesn't quite win you the game. If Insurrection is good, that probably means they could have been attacking him. No, his abilities aren't really linked together in any way.


Y'all seem to be missing the point. In decks where your graveyard is an extension of your hand, Tibalt is pretty good. He's not game over like most unchecked planeswalkers are, but he helps. There were several games where he kept the gas flowing for Brad, and games where he sat around and did nothing when a Tibalt would've gassed him up.

Think about Tibalt in a deck like Mono Red where you have Grim Lavamancer and Chandra's Phoenix. That's pure value and a cheap way to prevent you from running out of gas. In the meantime, they can't just let him run around unchecked because his abilities can be threatening.

Maybe it will take some time to show what Tibalt is truly capable of. In the above deck, he's a clear all-star.

I could see Brad's deck being a contender going forward, but it probably needs help in the Delver department. Then again, don't we all? I would expect the deck to crush slower strategies like midrange, control, and ramp. Fast decks might seem like a problem, but I imagine that quad Timely Reinforcements will give you some free wins."