Sure Prize or Surprise?
On Yuuji Okita’s Human Reanimator and Rogue Decking
by : Will Dizon
MTG Gold Rush 2012 creeps ever nearer. With five days left to prepare, its cramming week for deck construction all across the archipelago. The recent metagame development brought in by the Nagoya Grand Prix is terrorizing every deck designer who thought they had everything covered. The already polar considerations of a wide array of possible match-ups is further complicated with the advent of what seems to be a new archetype altogether: Human Reanimator.
What it has:
4 Cavern of Souls
1 Clifftop Retreat
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
23 lands
4 Angel of Glory’s Rise
1 Goldnight Commander
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Izzet Staticaster
4 Nightshade Peddler
1 Zealous Conscripts
18 creatures
4 Chronic Flooding
4 Faithless Looting
2 Izzet Charm
4 Mulch
1 Tracker’s Instincts
4 Unburial Rites
19 other spells
Sideboard
4 Cathedral Sanctifier
1 Geist-Honored Monk
2 Goldnight Commander
2 Izzet Charm
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Zealous Conscripts
15 sideboard cards
What it does:
Soulbond-Shoot: state-of-the-art creature removal with efficient shooters Izzet Staticaster and Huntmaster of the Fells paired with Nightshade Peddler.
Graveyard Flooding: Fifteen cards meant self-fill the graveyard – the most efficient of which is Chronic Flooding (1U Enchant Land – Whenever the land is tapped, its controller self-mills three). The main deck also has 12 cards with Flashback.Explosive Reanimation: Pulls out Angel of Glory’s Rise from yard that in turn pulls humans with it, potentially of dealing lethal in one turn.
Okita Yuuji (unsure which his first name is), this deck’s designer employs a solid core of quality creatures with a set of Huntmasters, Staticasters and Peddlers. This alone could cripple and check any creature-based deck if unanswered. Deck browsing is made easy with dig spells composed of six lootings (including 2 Izzet Charms), one Tracker’s Instinct and a set of Mulch. This deck gets what it wants when it wants it with minimal effort. It gets a fat yard real quick.
While it mills itself, the ratio of throwing a creature into his yard per instance is close to 1:3. The deck starts operating at turn two with either a looting spell or a Chronic Flooding. Unthreatened, it does this a
bunch of turns until he mills in an Angel of Glory’s Rise. Along the line, it’ll cast Peddlers, Huntmasters and Staticasters – all of which are likely to be targeted with removal due to their value on the board.Not long after, it does Unburial Rites on an angel. When this resolves, it pulls up humans from the yard. Its opponent is then faced with an overwhelming horde of quality humans and an evasive angel with huge toughness. If a Goldnight Commander is pulled in by the angel, one can expect a massive swing.
This strategy is ready for Supreme Verdict in case one swing isn’t enough – Unburial Rites has Flashback. It can decimate creature defenses with Soulbond-Shoot. Frankly, only Turbo-Fog has the ability of lasting more than three turns after an angel is reanimated.
Playing against Human Reanimator
RDW/Rakdos Agro: Beatdown as fast as you can. Use Pillar Flame or Annihilating Fire to clear the lane for your attacks – the exile clause of these spells will reduce the size of the angel’s clout. During sideboarding, this deck packs in a set of Cathedral Sanctifiers which gives it more survivability. It also boards in a couple of Rolling Tremblors.
GW: This is the decks best match-up. Your only chance is an early Thalia.
Anything with Black: Slaughter Games should be a major setback for this deck. Deathrite Shaman would be enormous if kept alive. Save a copy of Cremate to instantly exile the target for Unburial Rites. Don’t bother casting discard spells.
Anything with Blue: Dissipate and Syncopate to exile creature spells (if you really need to, and if you can – its got a set of Caverns) but save denial for Unburial Rites. Countering Unburial Rites without exiling it will only delay losing one turn at best.
Spot Removal: Detention Sphere and Oblivion Ring are best to use since it does not send creatures to the yard (note that this deck packs in enchantment removal – two pieces of Ray of Revelation). Exiling burn spells have been discussed above.
Anything with White: Use Rest in Peace. Unlike Hoof (who boards into Heavy Creature Agro after game one), this deck sticks to reanimation post-boarding. Protect your void enchantment and this deck in trouble.Sweepers: Only Terminus is likely to be viable against this archetype. Bonfire of the Damned may not deal enough damage when you need to pull it off. Flash-casting Supreme Verdict right after the angel resolves should buy a turn, but then again by the time Bant is able to do this, casting Unburial Rites via Flashback would be a cinch.
Yuuji Okita had ZERO byes coming into GP Nagoya. He swept his way through day one with no losses. He came with an excellent game plan that was predisposed towards consistency. The best thing about his GP experience, and we can all learn from this, is that he was willing to go rogue and he was willing to try strategies and cards that were far from the core of the metagame. He brought the unfamiliar and the unexpected that proved to be golden in a big tournament.
His deck is far from being unbeatable – if you knew what to watch for – but a surprised opponent could do little but be caught mouth-agape with something he didn’t count on. As in algebra, you can not hope to calculate with too many unknown values.
At this year’s MTG Gold Rush tournament, high stakes will be decided and the Filipino metagame for 2012 will shortly become history. Remember to encourage more fellow-planeswalkers to join the event as this bloats the prize pool! See you all at Glorietta on the 15th and at Centris on the 16th!
Will Dizon is Professional Writer, Event Host, Palawan Travel Consultant, Musician and Competitive Magic: the Gathering Player. For questions and suggestions, you may email him via boomdizon@yahoo.com
Excuse the pictures used for the article in as much as there are more pictures from other decks compared to that of the deck discussed. I just didn't have the cards with me when this post was being made.
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