I'm interested in developing a reanimation-control deck when I get the chance. Sort of in the style of the Esper control decks that ran
Zombify during original Ravnica standard or the slightly more recent standard that included
Unburial Rites. I believe reanimation was eventually less of a focus to the point reanimation cards were cut, but I like the idea of mimicking the concept with a spell mastery fueled
Necromantic Summons. Besides getting a second chance at fielding a useful target, I think the real kicker on this card is the +2/+2. We're looking at turning even a small creature into a potential threat, possibly bumping them out of killing range of common cheap removal candidates (Reave Soul, Fiery Impulse).
A couple issues I imagine are A.) the deck might be slow and B.) the deck doesn't really cheat things into play since Summons is so expensive compared to the "fat" the deck could run. Reanimation is more of a means to achieve additional value out of cards in the deck. Still, trying to get a turn 5 Kothophed or maybe Alhammarret could be a potential line of play.
There are decent ways to interact with the opponent and try to stay alive in these colors.
Reave Soul and
Languish being premium removal in black.
Fleshbag Marauder paired with
Cruel Revival help compete for board control. Even
Jorubai Murk Lurker,
Perilous Myr, or
Graveblade Marauder can just clog up the ground. I wonder if overloading on defensive creature options disrupts the spell mastery aspect of the deck too much though.
Evaluating the card draw options is a bit of a challenge blind. I'm not that impressed with
Artificer's Epiphany as a cycling option, but it's one of the few ways to pitch a card out of the hand.
Bitter Revelation digs deeper and helps set up Necromantic Summons, but the cost and life loss might be an issue. There's also
Tower Geist which can benefit by being a creature, but doesn't dig quite so deep. I think the big question is whether the power of something like
Read the Bones just trumps the attempted synergy that's trying to being achieved here.
I guess a vague sample list might look like:
Creatures:
1
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy3
Jorubai Murk Lurker0-3
Tower Geist2
Priest of the Blood Rite1
Possessed Skaab2
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder0-1
Alhammarret, High ArbiterNoncreatures:
2-3
Telling Time3-4
Reave Soul0-4
Artificer's Epiphany0-4
Bitter Revelation2
Languish2-3
Necromantic Summons2
Unholy Hunger or
Cruel RevivalNot entirely sure how I'd complete it, but I'm imagine there are some useful cards to patch any holes. Or I'll have to scrap it and pursue some other kind of B/x board control deck if it doesn't work out. If anyone is working on a similar list especially with real test data, let me know as I'm curious.
Brodo see my post. I was working on this concept but eventually after playing it several times concluded that it was better as a sub theme. It started very similar to what you had listed but you can see what it transformed into in my above list I posted in the thread. After further testing I am really leaning toward taking it more into a typical Dimir Control theme and forgetting about the desire of filling the graveyard as I just can't help but feel we don't have the right tools yet to do it consistently, without piling too much on mediocre things. The list I posted runs really well. But I have currently revamped it into a more typical Dimir Control list. If it runs better this way, I will post the new list. If I feel overall the old variant I listed here was better, I will just leave that one.
While working on this though, it really opened my eyes to the potential of R/B. That's looking like a really nice color combo and I have done a list I title "End of Days"
Unfortunately white doesn't feel worth the inclusion. I will post that build once I have play tested it more, but based off of what I have learned here, I am sure it will be really good.