MTG Foundations cards are now available on MTG Arena and Magic Online, and we’re already starting to see players make use of the new toys. From potent reprints to elite new designs, MTG Foundations opens the door for a lot of brewing possibilities in Standard.
One of the more unique builds we’ve seen one player start to grind the MTG Arena ladder with is mono-black Reanimator. Thanks to the presence of Zombify, the gameplan of resurrecting a huge threat into play became a lot more plausible.
However, this mono-black variant has a lot more going on that makes it quite intriguing. Boasting a 5-0 start on the ladder, perhaps there’s room for this brew to make a splash in Standard moving forward.
A Tried and True Formula
- Mana Value: 6BBB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 9/9
- MTG Sets: Duskmourn
- Card Text: Flying, Lifelink. Ward—Sacrifice three nonland permanents. If a card you didn’t control would be put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. During your turn, you may play cards exiled with Valgavoth. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to its mana value rather than pay its mana cost.
The main goal behind this deck is to land one of your enormous haymakers into the graveyard. Valgavoth, Terror Eater and Atraxa, Grand Unifier are among the best bombs to return from your graveyard to play.
From there, you need some decent discard outlets. At the top of the list, we have Collector’s Vault. Collector’s Vault’s loot ability does take a bit of mana to use, but it makes up for this by giving you a Treasure as rebate. Collector’s Vault has shown up in Reenact the Crime decks in the past, so it’s not too surprising to see it here.
Liliana of the Veil is another great discard outlet. Its flexibility makes it a strong option. In situations where you don’t need to discard a fatty, you can always use Liliana as a removal spell. The Planeswalker may not be as dominant as she once was, but the card fills its role nicely here.
Lastly, we have Matzalantli, the Great Door. While nothing special, being able to loot without investing any mana is strong. As a turn three play, it sets up a turn four Zombify just fine.
The Beseech the Mirror Package
- Mana Value: 1BBB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- MTG Sets: Wilds of Eldraine
- Card Text: Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.) Search your library for a card, exile it face down, then shuffle. If this spell was bargained, you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost if that spell’s mana value is 4 or less. Put the exiled card into your hand if it wasn’t cast this way.
As a whole, the way this deck is constructed, finally having access to a reanimation spell that costs four or less mana is incredibly important. Obviously, the difference between four and five mana is naturally going to matter a lot, given how quickly you can fall behind against aggro decks. On top of that, though, Zombify coasting four mana makes it a perfect card to pair with Beseech the Mirror.
Beseech the Mirror is a crucial part of this deck that helps keep your gameplan consistent. Running only a playset of Zombify without any redundancy simply wouldn’t cut it. Now, you get to essentially play with eight copies of Zombify in your deck.
The catch, of course, is that you really want to Bargain Beseech the Mirror when you cast it. Fortunately, this is part of what makes Collector’s Vault and Matzalantli such excellent inclusions in the deck. Once you’ve got your bomb in the graveyard, sacrificing the artifact isn’t too big of a deal. Collector’s Vault in particular is great, since it continuously makes Treasures as fodder for Bargain.
To make Beseech the Mirror yet more reliable, this deck utilizes four copies of Valgavoth’s Lair. Playing a few tapped lands is a small price to pay to gain access to extra enchantments for Bargain purposes.
While most of the time you’ll want to grab Zombify with Beseech the Mirror, you do have the luxury of tutoring up other cards. If you have Zombify rolled up but are missing either a threat or a discard outlet, you can simply search for what you need. Your haymakers cost more than four mana, but you can just choose not to Bargain Beseech the Mirror and use it as an expensive Demonic Tutor.
In some spots, you’ll want to Bargain Beseech the Mirror and put Sheoldred, the Apocalypse into play. Versus Convoke, the same can be true of Malicious Eclipse. Beseech the Mirror’s versatility cannot be overstated.
Cool Choice for Grinding the Ladder
- Mana Value: B
- Rarity: Uncommon
- MTG Sets: Dominaria United
- Card Text: Destroy target creature with total power and toughness 5 or less.
Overall, this deck seems well designed for grinding the MTG Arena ladder. The gameplan is very powerful, especially in a best-of-one setting. The issue is that this style of strategy is not too difficult to hate out.
Not only are you vulnerable to graveyard hate cards like Ghost Vacuum, but this deck also matches up poorly versus Counterspells. As good as Beseech the Mirror is, Bargaining away an artifact or Valgavoth’s Lair just to have it get countered is a disaster. You don’t really have a good backup plan if Zombify or Beseech the Mirror don’t resolve, either.
This can be a problem in a best-of-three setting. Not to mention, as a mono-black shell, removing opposing pieces of graveyard hate is not easy. The good news, at least, is that most players won’t be messing with your graveyard in best-of-one.
Cut Down and Duress buy you time, and the majority of decks will have a hard time beating an Atraxa or Valgavoth once it sticks. So, if you’re looking for a fun archetype that’s a bit out of the ordinary to play with on MTG Arena, mono-black Reanimator is a sweet place to start.
