After a rough Pro Tour in which I went 1-4 with RG aggro to miss Day Two after 2-1ing draft, I returned to testing Standard for Grand Prix Quebec City.
Throughout Pro Tour testing, the deck I really wanted to play was Human Reanimator, but I just couldn’t get the deck to work. After looking at the 18-point deck lists from the Pro Tour, I saw that some of the Human reanimator decks were using a completely different kill. Instead of killing with [card]Cartel Aristocrat[/card] and [card]Huntmaster of the Fells[/card], they used [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card] and [card]Undercity Informer[/card].
You can reanimate an [card]Angel of Glory’s Rise[/card], returning Emissary, Informer, and [card]Fiend Hunter[/card] eating the Angel. Use one Emissary mana to sacrifice itself to mill the opponent. Then, use the second Emissary mana to sacrifice Fiend Hunter. Angel returns, bringing with it Fiend Hunter and Burning-Tree. You are now in the same position, except they have a slightly smaller deck. Lather, rinse, and repeat.
This kill condition adds speed, as the pieces are cheaper; and adds consistency, since Informer can mill you before comboing. In addition, Burning-Tree offers a few “free” red sources to help splash [card]Faithless Looting[/card].
Shahar Shenhar, Jesse Hampton, Michael Hetrick, and I met up with Stanislav Cifka and Ivan Floch to do some testing for the GP. I had my sights set on tuning the new version of Humanimator. Most of the group was more interested in tuning Jund midrange and Esper control, but I managed to get Jesse to also work on the deck.
The spell base of the deck is not too tricky, since a lot of the cards are very obvious, but Humanimator probably has the most challenging mana base I have ever attempted to construct. Things to keep in mind include: turn one red for [card]Faithless Looting[/card], green and black on turn two for [card]Grisly Salvage[/card] and [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], turn three double white for [card]Fiend Hunter[/card], and turn two double red/green hybrid for Burning-Tree.
The deck showed potential, but still had a few issues. The deck was crushing Jund, Esper, and other slow decks, but having trouble with anything aggressive. Late into the week, Jesse came up with the brilliant suggestion of [card]Avacyn’s Pilgrim[/card]. The deck already had a fair amount of turn one green sources, and the added speed was invaluable against aggro. We cut a few white sources since we now had four more in Pilgrim, and tried to squeeze in a couple more turn one green sources to make it even more consistent. We decided not to play any [card]Clifftop Retreat[/card]s or [card]Sacred Foundry[/card]s so that Salvage and Decay would be castable by every land except Cavern. In the end, here is the mana base we played at the Grand Prix:
4 [card]Blood Crypt[/card]
4 [card]Cavern of Souls[/card]
2 [card]Isolated Chapel[/card]
3 [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card]
4 [card]Stomping Ground[/card]
3 [card]Temple Garden[/card]
3 [card]Woodland Cemetery[/card]
In retrospect, I think we may have overcompensated for Pilgrim and cut too many white sources. Pilgrim sometimes gets boarded out and often dies. In addition, I think we probably played too many shocklands. We figured curving out was more important than not taking damage, but the aggro matchup is the one that needs the most help, so hedging a bit would have been better.
Towards the end of the week, we also decided to add one Huntmaster to the main deck. While it wasn’t a big part of our combo, it was a pretty sweet card to draw, and it could be useful to mill yourself out and find it mid-combo, gain infinite life, and protect yourself from an opposing upkeep [card]Searing Spear[/card] before your opponent had to draw from an empty library. With that, our spell base was set at:
4 [card]Angel of Glory’s Rise[/card]
4 [card]Avacyn’s Pilgrim[/card]
4 [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card]
4 [card]Fiend Hunter[/card]
1 [card]Huntmaster of the Fells[/card]
4 [card]Undercity Informer[/card]
4 [card]Faithless Looting[/card]
4 [card]Grisly Salvage[/card]
4 [card]Mulch[/card]
4 [card]Unburial Rites[/card]
We knew the most important thing the sideboard needed were some answers to hate. After trying [card]War-Priest of Thune[/card] (only answers RIP, but findable with Salvage), [card]Ray of Revelation[/card] (can trigger on the stack to kill RIP from graveyard), and [card]Abrupt Decay[/card], we decided that Decay was the best because of its uncounterability and versatility.
The only other slot we felt necessary for the slow decks was an answer to [card]Witchbane Orb[/card]. Witchbane protects the opponent from being milled, and while Angel with Fiend Hunter can still beat them, it is easy to answer with one slot. Milling yourself and finding an [card]Ancient Grudge[/card] to flashback works, as does milling yourself all the way, returning [card]Laboratory Maniac[/card], and flashing back a [card]Faithless Looting[/card].
In the end, we decided on Maniac since it also works against [card]Psychic Spiral[/card], but I think that was wrong. As long as you have a mana up, you can simply end the combo with an Emissary in the graveyard and a Fiend Hunter eating Angel in play, and if they upkeep Spiral you can simply combo off again before they draw. Grudge has other applications like killing [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card], so it probably should’ve taken the spot. In fact, I think [card]Zealous Conscripts[/card] may be better than either option since it can simply steal the Orb, but I hadn’t thought of that as a potential answer at the time.
The rest of the board was dedicated to beating aggro. We decided the best mix was 3 [card]Centaur Healer[/card], 3 [card]Rhox Faithmender[/card], and 4 [card]Thragtusk[/card]. Combined with the maindeck Huntmaster, this package gave us eleven ways to gain life in post-board games.
The plan was decent, but it was by no means perfect. One problem is that the post-board life gain deck has a problem finishing games if you don’t leave in the combo. In retrospect, I wish the Faithmender slot were Huntmaster, since it is much better when the game goes grindy and prevents you from losing to stupid things like flipped Mayors. Thragtusk pulls some double duty and comes in against Jund to protect you from [card]Slaughter Games[/card].
We considered alternate reanimation targets as additional Slaughter protection, but considering how good the Jund matchup was with the current configuration, it felt unnecessary. After deciding on a list, I ended up selling Team Panik teammate David Gleicher and Quebec City native Pascal Maynard on the above main deck, with this sideboard:
4 [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]
3 [card]Centaur Healer[/card]
1 [card]Laboratory Maniac[/card]
3 [card]Rhox Faithmender[/card]
4 [card]Thragtusk[/card]
Pascal and Jesse ended up missing Day Two, but Gleicher and I both started off well with a 9-0 and 8-1 respectively. Unfortunately, we both had a rough Day Two and finished x-4. Gleicher had a bit of a tough swing where he went from x-2 and playing for Top 8 to losing twice in a row to top 32.
My four losses were: 2 mirrors (including Gleicher), Bant splash Wolf Run (a frustrating match, considering how good the matchup is), and The Aristocrats. I managed to beat a couple Jund aggro decks, and otherwise beat mostly pretty easy matchups.
As far as playing the deck, the actual gameplay isn’t too bad. The real challenge is mulliganing. I almost exclusively keep hands that have Looting, [card]Mulch[/card], or Salvage (and mana to cast them). Exceptions include: Pilgrim into Informer, depending on the hand; Mulch plus green source one-landers on the draw; or Salvage plus green/black source one-landers on the draw. I know that Gleicher felt a little more mulliganing might have gotten him a spot in the Top 8.
While in-game play is straightforward, there are a couple of useful tricks. In general, it is correct to simply try to mill as many cards as possible each turn. It obviously can be correct to flashback Looting over playing a Mulch or Salvage, if it will allow you to play two the following turn, but this rule is pretty solid.
Sacrificing [card]Fiend Hunter[/card] to Informer with the trigger on the stack to permanently remove a creature can also be useful. Another thing I’ve noticed from people playing this deck is that they attack too much. It is very hard to kill someone with damage, especially in pre-board games. Therefore, it is not worth getting [card]Azorius Charm[/card]ed or [card]Restoration Angel[/card]ed to get in a few points of damage.
I’ve also noticed a lot of players cast Emissary at every opportunity. It is better to avoid casting Burning-Tree Emissary until it has a purpose (like chump-blocking or sacrificing it to Informer). If Emissary is in play and doesn’t die to chump blocking, you will need an extra couple mana to combo. It is often better to save it in your hand and later discard it to [card]Faithless Looting[/card].
Lastly, it is sometimes correct to Fiend Hunter your own Angel even if you don’t have the whole combo. This gives you some protection from Wrath effects, and offers an essentially indestructible creature (if Fiend Hunter dies Angel comes back and returns Fiend Hunter). Also, if you do later draw whatever piece you were missing, you will be ready to combo.
For sideboarding, against Esper and Bant control-type decks, you can simply board out Pilgrim and the Huntmaster for Decay and whichever anti-Witchbane card. Against Jund, where you want both Decay and [card]Thragtusk[/card], I usually board out Pilgrims and a mix of the combo pieces (like 1 Burning-Tree, 1 Undercity, 1 Angel). Lastly, against aggro I take out all 4 Angels, all 4 Informers, all 4 Mulches and two Unburials for everything except the anti-Witchbane slot to become a pretty sweet midrange deck.
With all these thoughts in mind, here is the deck I would play at a Standard tournament tomorrow:
[deck]Main Deck:
4 Stomping Ground
4 Blood Crypt
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Temple Garden
3 Woodland Cemetary
2 Sunpetal Grove
2 Isolated Chapel
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Undercity Informer
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Angel of Glory’s Rise
4 Faithless Looting
4 Mulch
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Unburial Rites
Sideboard:
3 Centaur Healer
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Thragtusk
1 Zealous Conscripts
4 Abrupt Decay[/deck]
Until next time, have fun milling their whole deck, gaining infinite life, stealing all the permanents, removing all their creatures from the game, and making infinite mana!
Matt Nass
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