My take on a reanimator deck. It's been running ok.

4 x Simic Guildgate
4 x Dimir Guildgate
4 x Golgari Guildgate
2 x Island
5 x Swamp
4 x Forest

3 x Hedron Crab
2 x Prey Upon

4 x Satyr Wayfinder
2 x Treasured Find

4 x Necromancer's Assistant
4 x Cultivate

2 x Gravedigger
1 x Vengevine

3 x Rescue from the Underworld

3 x Dinrova Horror
1 x Soul of Ravnica

2 x Pelakka Wurm

1 x Griselbrand

1 x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth


Don't remember where I heard it, but at one point someone told me you want 11 bombs, 11 ways to get them in the yard, and 11 ways to get them out. No idea if that's right or not, but it's what I went with. Couple observations:

Crabs: Are they worth it? - They have been ok. Great at getting stuff in the yard, almost too good. Generally I switch to milling opp about halfway or if I feel I have enough useful stuff in the yard. Considering switching for Archaeomancer.

Kozilek: He is a bit interesting in the deck. If he gets milled, he shuffles everything back, and so I can never cast him from the graveyard. But, he does keep me from milling myself to death, and allows me to reuse spells. Not sure if he belongs here.

Cultivate: Also not sure if this belongs here, but being able to ramp and fix to be able to hardcast fatties seems to be worth it. Probably staying in, but I could be convinced otherwise.

That's it. Comments, as always, welcome and encouraged!

I'm going to ask what I think might be percieved as a stupid question but... what is the purpose of the Reanimator deck? What strategic advantages does it offer? I don't understand how putting your valuable spells and lands in the graveyard is helpful.

I ran into some guy playing one yesterday, and my mono black deck stomped a mudhole in his ass pretty good. I just didn't see the point. Maybe I'm stupid.. it's possible

Uuu, as I understand it, there's quite a few.

1) It's always cheaper to "draw" more cards into your graveyard than your hand. When you have a card like Treasured Find, that makes guys like Satyr Wayfinder a "draw 4" effect.
2) Cards with discarding effects are sometimes a little more powerful at the curve. For example, I think Necromancer's Assistant is a pretty respectable body for 3, possibly trading up or forcing removal. The effect of the Satyr Wayfinder is not negligible either.
3) Rescue from the Underworld is a very strong card. It lets you proc an existing EtB for the second time as well as bring back possibly a huge body you had already milled. This ties back into the idea that the Necromancer's Assistant can behave a lot like "Draw 3"
4) Spider Spawnling. Not much else needs to be said, but I think any "Reanimator" deck should fit some copies of this card as well. Can simply over-run your opponents. In paper magic, there are many other cards that work off the thickness of the graveyard to scale their effect as well.

So there's a few reasons why you would self-mill. Ultimately, it all comes down to #1, so you really have to build around this sort of strategy instead of just splashing it in.

I had a guy playing a Temur self-mill deck...It was...uh, interesting. Played him twice and stomped him with a crappy deck no one else lost against, lol. Both times he called me names and RQed.

Overmaster:

The concept of #1 makes good sense the way you spelled it out.. Thank you for that. That's the part I was missing.

I already understood #3 and #4.. those were the parts I had figured out before I wrote that post. I can see your point about #2 too also.

I'm with Over - any deck focused on reanimation should be running spider spawning. It's just a sick, sick card, and, being able to flashback it...huge.

On the flip side, these decks should not be running Koz. You want to get your cards in the yard, not randomly have them shuffled into your library.

Example: You've got 6 creatures in the yard, and plenty of mana. You drop a land to activate the crab to see if you can get one more creature in the yard before you cast spawning. Oops - top card was Koz, now you have no yard. That one card can ruin a reanimation deck.

For your specific build, I don't think Soul of Ravnica is worth the slot. Nor do I like Vengevine. Since you're planning on getting cards out of the yard, how about some bombs with great ETB effects? Like Mr. Rune-Scarred Demon. That would be the main changes I'd suggest, drop Koz, Soul, Veng, maybe the Prey Upons, add the demons and the spider spawnings.

Just my opinion, of course, but, I do like (and also run) the blue splash for the horror and the crabs.

Of course, once you see how amazing spider spawning is, you (as I did) might want to throw in beastmaster ascension.

As a counter point, if I'm already spawning lots of spiders i am probably already ahead in the game, and Beastmaster at this point only helps us win more and not help us win. I've had no problems winning with my list once i have spawning and a full yard, no Beastmaster.

I agree with the rest though, it is on point

EDIT: since I am jumping in the convo, I'll post my list for critique. Similar idea to Shidoshi, with slightly different choices

Lands:
5 x Island
5 x Swamp
6 x Forest
3 x Dimir Guildgate
3 x Simic Guildgate
3 x Golgari Guildgate

Creatures:
3 x Hedron Crab
4 x Satyr Wayfinder
3 x Necromancer's Assistant
2 x Saruli Gatekeepers
2 x Arbor Colossus
1 x Shadowborn Demon
3 x Nemesis of Mortals
2 x Rune-Scarred Demon
1 x Pelakka Wurm

Spells:
2 x Ulcerate
2 x Treasured Find
2 x Cultivate
2 x Dissolve
3 x Spider Spawning
2 x Rescue from the Underworld
1 x Flesh to Dust


The crabs alone are worth the blue splash. A turn 1 crab will have no problems filling up your yard with help from the other self mill cards, and a second crab is just bonkers. The biggest difference between me and Shidoshi is my list runs some counters and removal in place of Gravedigger, Elvish Visionary. I've also included some Saruli Gatekeepers and a Pelakka Wurm for life gain, which can help durdle long enough to start spawning mass spiders.

Self-Mill Spider Spawning deck with Elder and Beastmaster support to power them up. Uses Jade Mage as an alternate win-con if the Spiders are thrwarted or don't appear, so can win Beastmaster if sufficient weenies take root, or can provide additional defence while waiting. Hits Spawning with regularity though despite the seemingly awkward costs. Mycoloth can take the burden of generating tokens too if drawn.

Treasured Find and Rescue recover combos pieces - ideally Beastmaster for Treasured, Mycoloth for Rescue, and Hedron (or any other available mill) for both if still required. Looks janky, but is surprisingly an extremely consistent deck, as long as you order your plays correctly and pay close attention to your opening hands. This deck needs you to be constantly making optimal plays with you turns, but it will reward you will if you do.

The manabase seems clunky, but is actually pretty perfect and has never once let me down. The 2 lone Islands are to ensure you can grab one with Cultivate, while the large amount of Gates are redundancy in case you mill the colour you need.

People have complained to me in the past that I really should put in Rune-Scarred Demons and such, but the main thing that makes this deck work so well is the laser focus on hitting the combo. Every card is playable and worthwhile when drawn and links into everything else in the deck, while a Demon, while nice, is just a bomb, and at 7 mana I would rather be spawning (which with all the mill almost always happens) He really isn't needed, and can actually be a barrier at times to success as he dilutes the focus of the combo.

Edit: double post

Been testing with this list, and I love it! Originally I had rescue, rune-scarred and some other jazz, but after testing, I streamlined it to cards I will cast consistently. Rescue was sometimes dead and hurt spider spawning. I made as little room for non-creature spells as I could and I am happy with how this runs.

Arachnophobia
6 x Forest
4 x Swamp
2 x Island
4 x Dimir Guildgate
4 x Simic Guildgate
4 x Golgari Guildgate

3 x Hedron Crab

2 x Bloodghast
4 x Necromancer's Assistant
3 x Phyrexian Rager

4 x Elvish Visionary
4 x Satyr Wayfinder
2 x Elder of Laurels
2 x Beastmaster Ascension
1 x Vengevine
3 x Paragon of Eternal Wilds
2 x Doubling Season
3 x Spider Spawning
3 x Treasured Find

@Lexxx20, just tested your build for 10 games against randoms and went 8-2 (would have been 9-1 had the game not lagged when I was trying to declare blockers and win the next turn) Only loss came against a Rakdos goblin deck that hit to fast to get anything into the graveyard in time.

Have you been getting Gris out at all? I find that I already have the game won by the time I get him out most of the time (usually with 40+ spiders out) Have you tried playtesting beastmaster ascension with this build at all? Was thinking of trying to fit it in somehow.

Anyway, kuddos on a very fun and powerful build!

4 x simic guildgate
4 x golgari guildgate
2 x dimir guildgate
8 x forest
4 x swamp
2 x island
3 x undying evil
4 x satyr wayfinder
4 x elvish visionary
4 x phyrexian rager
4 x cultivate
2 x saruli gatekeepers
1 x archeomancer
1 x gravedigger
3 x species gorger
1 x shadowborn demon
2 x flesh to dust
1 x Time Warp
1 x mercurial pretender
2 x rescue from the underworld
2 x dinrova horror
1 x rune-scarred demon


So now that I have a bit more time I can explain the deck in a bit more detail as it looks confusing.

Undying Evil

This has 2 roles, the first is to protect your species gorger and the second is for value for all of you ETB effects. It is quote common to play Rune-Scarred Demon with 8 mana and fetch an undying evil

Satyr Wayfinder, Elvish Visionary and Phyrexian Rager

These 3 are the core of the deck, Rager and Visionary are quite obvious but the inclusion of Wayfinder helps in a few different ways. Firstly it finds your land and fixes your mana, secondly it helps fuel Gravedigger, Archeomancer and Rescue from the underworld

Cultivate

This deck is very mana hungry and any game with a turn 3 cultivate goes a lot smoother, especially as it is slightly heave at the 5 drop slot

Saruli Gatekeepers

A necessary evil, this deck will win the long game against most decks, gaining 7 life with a 2/4 body is a huge step to getting there

Archeomancer and Time Warp

A late edition to the deck but boy do they make a difference, I used to stall the game out then struggle to win. With this combo it shuts the game down making winning inevitable

Gravedigger

This was the last piece of the puzzle to help set up the combo or to recur creature in your graveyard.

Flesh to Dust

Not an obvious inclusion but I kept losing to individual creatures such as Talrand or Mentor of the meek. If there was a cheaper more efficient option I would run it in a heartbeat but sadly this is what we have.

Mercurial Pretender

Adds another level of inevitability and is so flexible

Rescue from the Underworld

With all of the ETBs this card adds a lot of value to the deck, it saves a guy from removal or grabs key cards that have died or been milled.

If anyone can see any changes or ways to improve it would be very helpful

Is there a way to squeeze in some cheaper removal, not that we have any great options.

I have added some card explanations. This deck is incredibly powerful but I feel that if I could tweak it a bit it could be almost unbeatable. I need the great minds of NGA to help me out.

My first deck was a Species Gorger deck and the problem it had was just winning the game. Most of your EtB creatures don't attack well, so you really need a Demon to stick or you need to get them in the Warp lock.

I think Warstorm Surge could be the answer because it's inevitability and it solves your removal problem. I'm not sure if you want to go into four colors, though.

I have definitely had a similar problem. Usually I stall until I set up infinite turns and with wayfinder milling it doesn't take that long.

The mana is definitely good enough for 4 colors, wayfinder and cultivate get you there. I feel a new coming on.

I was frustrated with how linear the Golgari Spider Spawning decks were so I decided to build a Simic version that used the eight on-color gates that also produce black mana solely so I could pay the flashback cost. What I came up with ended up turning into a hybrid mill/spider deck and after some testing I eventually added three black cards to the deck, so that's how it comes to be in this thread.

This deck is very much a work in progress (I've played about 15 games and made a few changes along the way), so I'm really interested in some feedback to help make it better. I like the concept and how it has multiple win conditions; you start by milling yourself and flooding the board with spiders and if you get into a board stall you can switch gears and mill the opponent instead.

Here's the list:

4 x Dimir Guildgate
4 x Golgari Guildgate
8 x Forest
6 x Island

3 x Hedron Crab

4 x Satyr Wayfinder
4 x Elvish Visionary
4 x Doorkeeper
3 x Treasured Find

4 x Grave Bramble
3 x Gargoyle Sentinel
3 x Guard Gomazoa
3 x Niblis of the Breath
3 x Chill of Foreboding
1 x Beastmaster Ascension

3 x Spider Spawning


Twenty two land hasn't been a problem because the deck has a very low curve and the Wayfinders and Visionaries help with hitting land drops consistently.

The self-mill strategy is faster and more consistent that the Golgari version because we have Crabs, Wayfinders, and Chill to start us off and the Doorkeepers to keep things churning if we have nothing else to do with our mana.

As for defenders, this deck has access to some of the best ones in the game in Guard Gomazoa, Grave Bramble, and Gargoyle Sentinel. Most defenders don't deter attacks because they can't kill anything, but that just isn't the case in this deck. These guys will buy you a serious amount of time to get your spider army online and aren't easy to remove.

Niblis of the Breath was added to the deck because I needed to add an interactive card and I didn't want to compromise my creature count. It is a bit slow and frail, but I'm not sure what else I can add to deal with the likes of Terra Stomper and other troublesome creatures without detracting from the deck's core focus.

I decided to add Treasured Find as copies 4-6 of Hedron Crab because I was binning a lot of them off early Wayfinders and Chills and wanted a way to buy them back. With the speed of the mill here these are great tutors and since I already have 28 creatures I feel like they belong in the list.

I normally don't like Beastmaster Ascension in these decks because you get no value if you mill it and it is generally win-more. This deck, however, is designed to create board stalls and has no creature bombs so this fulfills that bomb role. I initially had a singleton Elder of Laurels in this slot, but once I decided to include Treasured Find I thought that Ascension would be better because it's more difficult for my opponent to interact with.

Again, this is a rough draft, but I'd like to see if anyone else is interested in working on this hybrid mill/spider archetype. Let me know your thoughts.

Seems like a solid game plan

My first thoughts are maybe some number of negates, since it protects both your Plan A and Plan B and playing the durdle game can open yourself up to counters.

That list was actually Shidoshi's list and it is REALLY solid. Gris is great in the build as there are ways to get it out of the graveyard.

Beastmaster's Ascension is REALLY unnecessary in spider spawn focused builds in my opinion because it's simply "win more". When you get to spawning spiders, you're generally going to be winning from then on.