It’s now been close to a week since MTG Spider Man and Through the Omenpaths cards became tournament legal, and we’ve seen a lot of innovation right out of the gates. From Standard to Pauper, the new cards are making an immediate impact.
One of the coolest archetypes that the new cards have enabled is a unique form of Reanimator built around Superior Spider-Man. We talked a bit about Superior Spider-Man’s Standard potential already, but players have begun implementing a unique synergy that makes these Standard self-Mill decks more enticing and makes Superior Spider-Man a monstrous finisher.
Superior Spider-Man and Bringer of the Last Gift
The other combo piece of the puzzle besides Superior Spider-Man is Bringer of the Last Gift. Bringer is a card that hasn’t made much of an impact in Constructed. While its triggered ability is powerful, it only works if you cast it. This negates all traditional Reanimator shenanigans, and as an eight-mana card, it’s hard to take advantage of what it provides. There’s a reason the card is only worth 30 cents.
However, there is one way to get around this: use Clone-style effects. When you cast a card that then enters as a copy of a card with a cast only trigger, because you still cast the Clone effect, you’ll get the full bonus.
This interaction can come up in Vintage with The One Ring. The One Ring grants you protection for a turn cycle when it enters. Well, casting Phyrexian Metamorph and copying The One Ring will provide the same upside.
In the context of this Standard deck, once you manage to get Bringer into your graveyard, casting Superior Spider-Man and copying Bringer will force all other creatures in play to get sacrificed while also serving as a mass reanimation effect. Unlike Bringer, Superior Spider-Man only costs four mana to cast, so setting things up in a timely manner is much more realistic.
Maximizing This Interaction
A board wipe that comes attached to a large flier is strong by itself. When you also get to resurrect a bunch of other prominent creatures as well, though, then Superior Spider-Man becomes an elite closer.
With this in mind, the majority of cards in this deck focus on Milling you or digging for Superior Spider-Man. Overlord of the Balemurk is one of your strongest options because it helps with all aspects of your gameplan. It’s an efficient Mill effect due to its Impending cost. If you Mill over Superior Spider-Man with its ability, you get to put it into your hand. Plus, any copies of Overlord that get Milled then come back as big threats once you resolve Superior Spider-Man as a copy of Bringer.
Other two-mana Mill cards include Cache Grab and Town Greeter. Just like Overlord, Cache Grab digs for Superior Spider-Man. Town Greeter instead hunts for lands, which is valuable in its own right.
Bitter Triumph is another useful tool. It doubles as a cheap and versatile removal spell and a discard outlet for any copies of Bringer you draw naturally.
To help find Superior Spider-Man more consistently, a couple copies of Radioactive Spider commonly show up in the deck. A 1/1 with Reach and Deathtouch is a solid blocker that buys you time in the aggressive matchups. In grindy matchups, it provides extra redundancy by sacrificing to tutor for Superior Spider-Man.
It’s also worth noting that you have other large creatures to copy with Superior Spider-Man. Ardyn, the Usurper is fully capable of taking over games with its triggered ability if you don’t find Bringer. Still, given that Bringer’s trigger can create an overwhelming board presence, waiting to copy it may be your best bet against decks like Dimir midrange with access to instant speed answers to Ardyn.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This version of Sultai “Reanimator” has a lot of things going in its favor. Unlike previous versions of Reanimator that relied on Zombify, this deck is much more consistent. This is because cards like Overlord and Cache Grab make it easier to find Superior Spider-Man specifically because it’s a creature, not a sorcery.
Additionally, while Zombify requires you to target a creature in your graveyard, Superior Spider-Man simply enters as a copy of any creature of your choice in a graveyard. This makes Zombify decks vulnerable to Ghost Vacuum. Meanwhile, if you have multiple big creatures in your graveyard at once, Ghost Vacuum won’t effectively stop you from copying one of them with Superior Spider-Man.
Your biggest issues come when you face down cards like Rest in Peace. Rest in Peace weakens all of your Mill cards. Any Milling you do in the early game to set up Superior Spider-Man gets undone when Rest in Peace hits the board. Your sideboard features a lot of answers to graveyard hate, but you’ll still need to rebuild after answering this enchantment.
Because of the dominance of Izzet Cauldron, you’re bound to run into graveyard hate at events. Sometimes, you’ll even face maindeck pieces of graveyard hate, such as Strategic Betrayal out of Dimir midrange. Keep this in mind when piloting this archetype.
In spite of these weaknesses, this deck is still putting up some results right away. With Vivi Ornitier likely eating a ban in November, this deck could get even better. Formidable Speaker looks like an excellent new tool for the deck when it releases in January as well. Superior Spider-Man seemed to be underrated during spoiler season, and now it’s showcasing its value.
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