Over the years, two of the most popular archetype styles across a variety of formats have been Sacrifice and Reanimator. Both are common black strategies that require specific deckbuilding decisions in order to make everything work.
Interestingly, in a recent Modern tournament, an innovative deck mashing Sacrifice and Reanimator themes together made it all the way to the finals. It’s unusual to see these two ideas working in tandem, but many of the cards in this decklist actually do a good job bolstering both sides. Let’s dig deeper and see how these themes overlap.
Reanimation Theme
The Reanimator portion of this deck definitely provides your most explosive draws. Putting an Archon of Cruelty into play as early as turn two is incredibly difficult for many decks to deal with. Even a single attack with the huge bomb is often enough to spell doom for your opponent.
In order to maximize Archon, you need a healthy mix of ways to get the eight-drop into your graveyard and ways to resurrect it to the battlefield. In the enablers department, Faithless Looting is as powerful as they come.
When Faithless Looting was unbanned, there was a ton of hype surrounding its potential to open up archetypes like Izzet Phoenix. While the card has ultimately fallen short of expectations, that doesn’t mean it can’t shine when built around. The fact that it simultaneously digs for your reanimation spells and allows you to sculpt your hand makes it an elite inclusion.
The other primary discard outlet here is Souls of the Lost. Souls of the Lost is a bit of an interesting inclusion, but it more than pulls its weight. This card is much more than just a discard outlet. In conjunction with Fetchlands and Stitcher’s Supplier, it doesn’t take long before this creature is a legitimate threat on its own.
After you successfully get Archon into the bin, you can use either Persist or Emperor of Bones to get it into play on the cheap. Emperor doesn’t let Archon stick around long-term, but usually getting two triggers and an attack out of it is enough to seal the deal.
It’s important to note that in the event you can’t find Archon, there are some matchups where reanimating Souls of the Lost can get the job done. Decks that primarily rely on damage-based removal, such as Izzet Prowess, can struggle to contend with it once it’s in play. It’s also one of your strongest tools in combo matchups, helping to apply pressure early.
Sacrifice Theme
What really makes Souls of the Lost such a gnarly inclusion, though, is that you have plenty of sacrifice fodder. In the event you don’t have Archon in hand and don’t want to fall behind on resources, you have plenty of ways to maximize Souls of the Lost as a sacrifice outlet.
We mentioned Stitcher’s Supplier as a synergistic piece alongside Souls of the Lost. Milling six cards in total does a lot towards growing Souls of the Lost and digging for Archon. On top of that, though, any copies of Bloodghast you put into your graveyard can now be brought back at will. You’re even fueling Mausoleum Secrets, which can be used to tutor your reanimation spells.
Bloodghast’s role in this archetype is essential to the deck’s success. Having access to a recursive threat makes Flare of Malice and your Village Rites effects premium inclusions. While your fast Reanimator draws are certainly your scariest, this archetype is fully capable of winning long and grindy games, too (especially when you factor in the presence of Spymaster’s Vault as a low-cost value engine).
Exploiting the Metagame
Overall, this shell does a good job taking advantage of some holes in the metagame. Rakdos Reanimator/Sacrifice is far from a fool-proof strategy.
First of all, you’re very weak to graveyard hate. Cards like Leyline of the Void mess with everything this deck wants to do. You won’t be able to reanimate Archon or resurrect Bloodghast. Souls of the Lost becomes a complete dud.
Second, removal that exiles your creatures can be a bit of a pain. Fortunately, most of the top decks in Modern don’t play tons of graveyard hate cards, and they’re also vulnerable to Archon of Cruelty. Boros Energy has Static Prison and Zoo has Leyline Binding, but for the most part, once Archon hits the board, you’re in good shape.
Archon and Flare of Malice even answer some otherwise frustrating creatures, such as a Scion of Draco with Hexproof. This is a huge boon considering Zoo’s growing success in the format.
There are some matchups, like Orzhov Ketramose, that pack a good mix of graveyard hate and exile removal. Still, this innovative deck gets a lot of its edge from exploiting an unprepared metagame. While we don’t expect Rakdos Reanimator/Sacrifice to become a tier one deck anytime soon. this top finish showcases that there’s room to brew and explore within the Modern metagame.
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