Few MTG decks have suffered more from bans in recent years than Legacy Dimir Reanimator. Not only did it lose the mighty Psychic Frog last December, but it also lost Troll of Khazad-dûm in March, too. For most decks, losing two of their most powerful cards would be enough to condemn them to the lower tiers of a format. Dimir Reanimator, however, appears to be built different. Not only has it survived these grievous losses, but it now appears to be thriving.
By subbing in some of the best blue cards in recent memory, the deck has managed to cover its weaknesses and carry on its dominance of the Legacy format. It’s a real testament to the resilience of the strategy as a whole. On top of that, with how good more general Dimir decks are in Legacy right now, it’s a reminder that the Magic gods don’t distribute their gifts to each color equally.
Dimir Reanimator Returns To Legacy
While you could probably argue that Dimir Reanimator never really left Legacy, it’s been on a hot streak in MTG events recently. In yesterday’s 257-player MTG Online Legacy Showcase, 416FrowningTable and Jujubean_2004 made the top eight and top 16, respectively, with identical Dimir Reanimator lists. FrowningTable even noted in a celebratory post on X that they hadn’t put in much practice with the list prior to this event, which speaks volumes of its power.
The core of Dimir Reanimator is very much intact here. It’s still a deck about abusing both Entomb and Reanimate, getting a game-ending threat into the ‘yard, then bringing it back for very little mana. The big threats in the current iteration are Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Archon of Cruelty. Both create a huge resource disparity between you and your opponent on entry, essentially winning you the game in many cases. Both are also capable of coming down on turn two, if the stars align.
Supporting this core is a suite of the best interaction in Magic, in both blue and black. Fatal Push and Thoughtseize both deal with threats early, while Force of Will and Daze interrupt key plays before they happen. The latter two are especially important in Legacy, where Combo decks like One-Land Spy and Painter can kill you out of nowhere if given an opening. The deck also runs a solo copy of Brazen Borrower, which can deal with hard-to-answer threats like Murktide Regent and Marit Lage.
No Troll? No Problem!
So far, so familiar. This cast-iron core hasn’t changed at all from the days when Dimir Reanimator was oppressing MTG Legacy with its now-banned cards. What has changed, however, is the deck’s secondary game plan. For the most part, even outside of the lists we looked at above, this is a Murktide list now.
In many ways, this makes perfect sense. The big advantage of Troll in the deck was that it let Reanimator play a fair game while also allowing for explosive plays, with no real compromise. Now that it’s gone, the deck needs a new way to do that. Murktide isn’t an exact analogue, of course, but it does give the deck a grindier backup plan that helps out a lot in certain matchups.
If your Entomb/Reanimate plan doesn’t work out, you can always just cannibalize your early interaction and drop a mid-game Murktide instead. It’s easy to do so with counterspell backup in this deck, too. From that point, a standard victory through combat is very possible. Murktide should easily be able to come down as a 6/6 or greater, too, with how many cheap spells the deck runs.
The other big innovation in current Dimir Reanimator lists is Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student. At one mana, she fills the ‘proactive turn one play’ hole that Troll left behind. She also plays beautifully with the deck’s four-of Brainstorm for an instant flip. Once she’s flipped, Tamiyo slows down your opponent’s clock and rebuys your reanimation spells, letting you play on if your opponent deals with your first round of big threats.
Tamiyo is another ‘fair’ card for Reanimator, but it has proven to be very effective. Despite its legendary tag, most lists, including the two above, are now running her as a full playset.
The Age Of Dimir
With these changes, and some other tweaks here and there from other brewers, Dimir Reanimator is sitting at the top of the MTG Legacy charts once again. According to MTG Decks it makes up 11.37% of the current metagame, which makes it the current best deck in the format. While this isn’t as crushing a meta share as the deck once had, it’s still very respectable. Not many decks can hold onto such a strong position in the face of multiple bans.
What’s also interesting about Dimir Reanimator is how close it’s gotten to the second-best deck in Legacy, Dimir Tempo. MTG Decks puts this deck at 10.31% of the meta, so there’s really not much in it between the two. Grab any given 5-0 Dimir Tempo list, and the overlap with Reanimator is staggering. Both play Tamiyo, Murktide, Brazen Borrower, and pretty much the same counterspell/interaction suites. Looking at the lists side-by-side, both honestly seem like slight mutations on a ‘Dimir Good Stuff’ core.
If you subscribe to this view, Dimir is the best deck in the format by a huge margin, with a 21.68% meta share vs. Cephalid Breakfast’s 5.03%. Whether it’s fair to lump these decks together is up for debate, but it’s hard to deny that Dimir, in one flavor or another, is absolutely dominating the format right now.
Right now, this doesn’t seem to be an issue on Wizards’ radar. It may not even be considered an issue at all. With the way things are going, however, I could see the next Legacy ban hitting a more generic Dimir piece, rather than one from Reanimator specifically.
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