Can Duskmourn Make Reanimation Competitive in Standard?
It makes sense that a themed after modern horror would have an emphasis on the graveyard. So much of horror, after all, centers around the fear of dying and what might happen afterwards. The way Duskmourn handles reanimation effects, though, is very crafty because it allows the theme to exist in both black and white with some crossover that feels in-line with Duskmourn’s creepy vibe while also aligning well with the history of the archetypes.
What Makes a Good Reanimator Deck?
Every reanimator deck needs a couple of key ingredients: good reanimation spells, expensive creatures worth the hassle, and ways to fill the graveyard. Duskmourn brings elements on all of these fronts and even includes some cards that can do double duty in interesting ways.
Currently in Standard, we have a number of good cards for the typical archetype with bangers like Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Cruelty of Gix that do see play from time to time, but rarely do they break out in reanim shells. The reason for this is pretty simple; reanimator is good when it's bringing giant creatures onto the battlefield fast. With reanimation spells costing five or more mana, it's usually easier and more consistent to ramp into the threats and cast them from your hand than bother with the graveyard at all.
Fortunately, Duskmourn might have some spells that can change that paradigm and make the graveyard worth it again.
The Reanimation Spells
The going rate on reanimation spells has been five mana for some time, with cards like Diregraf Rebirth and No One Left Behind being typical for this kind of effect. Sheoldred's Restoration is the most recent reanimation spell that only costs five mana without requiring additional deckbuilding hoops to jump through and it blasts you for significant life loss, making the additional speed worth far less. I took this as a signal that Wizards wouldn't print reanimation at four mana again without a massive downside, but now we're getting Rite of the Moth.
To be fair, Rite of the Moth does have three colored pips in its mana cost across two colors and the creature comes back with a finality counter on it. These are notable drawbacks because they limit your options for recursion and lock you into black and white which are two powerful colors, but a lot of good graveyard filler is found in green and red, so finding the right balance of colors to ensure creatures find their way to the yard on time and pop back out on turn four will be difficult. It's not impossible, however, and this feels like a good card for classic big-thing-fast reanimator.
Live or Die is an interesting card because at first glance, it's just another five-mana reanimation spell with a bad Murder stapled onto it. This card will likely see primarily limited play where a five-mana kill spell is more valuable, but it has the added benefit of being an instant. It Doesn't Add Up is already an instant-speed reanimation spell and it sees zero play in Standard due to its drawback of having the creature come back tapped, meaning it can't block. Live or Die, however, does no such thing and the reanimated creature can come back during your opponent's attack and block. This is especially huge given that many of the reanimation targets like Atraxa, Grand Unifier have lifelink. Your opponent may have lethal on board and you could suddenly net a life gain because they attacked.
This will be especially relevant against controlling decks because you can force them to tap mana and spend counterspells on their own end step. Few things make Azorius control mages more uncomfortable than having to tap on their own step.
The Big Threats
Valgavoth, the big bad of the set is clearly intended to be a reanimation target with a whopping nine mana value and a huge 9/9 body. This guy also has flying and lifelink, making it resemble Griselbrand in how it can impact a game. The ward of sacrificing three nonland permanents is also pretty massive if your opponents want to remove it fast. This guy works beautifully with Rite of the Moth, appropriately, because all of Val's abilities work best if they stick on the field for multiple turns to accrue value, and the ward makes them very difficult to remove.
While Val can generate card advantage by exiling your opponent’s cards and letting you cast them, you don’t get the upfront benefit of other reanimation targets like Atraxa or Etali. I believe Valgavoth will be at its best in decks where the curve is designed to get it out as quickly as possible without relying on recurring the threats, but most decks would still probably prefer Atraxa because of the upfront value.
Duskmourn is bringing a cycle of five overlords which are all large creatures with enter and attack triggers similar to the titans. They have a new mechanic called Impending that allows you to cast them for a cheaper cost, get one enters trigger, then wait a few turns while it isn't a creature. I suspect these will feel like the Theros gods (i.e.: Heliod, Sun-Crowned) that aren't creatures until their devotion is higher, but in this case there is a set number of turns.
For reanimation specifically, Overlord of the Balemurk and Overlord of the Floodpits look especially interesting because they give you ways put material into your graveyard for their cheaper cost. The early utility coupled with large bodies that can impact the game late means using a reanimation spell on them if a better target arises is fine. They offer up decent utility and a plan B all in one card, and I suspect they'll see play in many archetypes, not just reanimator.
Is This Enough?
Of course, time will tell on whether or not these upgrades will make a dedicated reanimator deck viable in Standard again. With the reprinting of Leyline of the Void in Duskmourn and Rest in Peace in the Big Score bonus sheet, graveyard hate is very real right now and will stand in the way of any dedicated graveyard strategy, but Squirming Emergence and Insidious Roots have taught us that it's not impossible.
I do not believe reanimator as I've discussed here will be a tier-one deck in Standard once Duskmourn releases, but I do believe a competitive tier-two deck is absolutely viable. I look forward to testing various flavors to see if we can lock into the best version over the coming weeks. I plan test this idea thoroughly in the streamer event on Wednesday, September 18th and Thursday, September 19th. Hopefully I’ll see you then on Twitch!
Thanks for reading, and happy brewing!
