Since the dawn of magic a recurring theme in black decks is the necromantic flavor of reanimation. The ability to make creatures rise from the grave is a very powerful ability indeed. Over the years more and more cards have been printed on that same motif constantly improving in quality and scope. Coupled with ways to search particular creatures from your deck then either discard them to the grave or put them directly there and better more powerful creatures themselves we have an engine designed to crush opponents with relative ease.
The creature package is the most important aspect of the deck and rising to the top we have one of the best creatures ever printed
Griselbrand the focus with a full set to ensure his timely arrival. The are also singleton targets with
Iona, Shield of Emeria to lock down a particular color of the opponent,
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to hamper any creature based strategies, and
Tidespout Tyrant to wreck and permanent centric plans. To get your target into the graveyard there are two packages with either
Careful Study to not only dig through your deck but also discard a creature to raise or
Entomb which will seek a specific target directly to the graveyard depending on your need. Once you have your target ready you are able to either use
Reanimate or
Exhume to bring your creature back from the dead. There is also a pair of
Show and Tell as a secondary way to get a creature into play, but be wary that your opponent won’t be able to trump with a card of his own. As the deck has blue there is the standard draw engine with full sets both of
Brainstorm and
Ponder to get the cards you need quickly to your hand as you want to ‘go off’ as quickly as possible. To protect yourself as much as possible you have
Force of Will and
Daze as counter backup with a pair of
Thoughtseize as well that can either strip the opponent or serve as a discard outlet in a pinch. Your land count is low at 15 but you couple that with a set of
Lotus Petal which allow for some explosive starts with a deck that is very very powerful.
This is a deck that will no doubt continue to be a force within Legacy as it is capable of doing some very broken things. The true power of this deck lies in the new creatures that are printed and as we saw with the printing of
Griselbrand as the continue to push the envelope the power will just continue to grow. I for one am very excited to see how it will continue to grow going forward.
