The Fantasy: Turn-Three Griselbrand

Reanimator runs on one simple, gleeful idea: a 15-mana monster costs the same to reanimate as a 1-mana one. Get a game-ending creature into your graveyard, bring it back for two or three mana, and you've skipped ten turns of ramp. The table's reaction when a turn-three Griselbrand resolves is the whole reason to play this deck.

The Three Pieces

Every reanimator hand wants three things. The deck is just redundancy across all three:

Animate Dead
Animate Dead — Secrets of Strixhaven Commander · 2024
  1. A way into the bin: Entomb, Buried Alive, or a rummage like Faithless Looting or Cathartic Reunion.
  2. A way back: cheap reanimation like Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Unearth, Victimize.
  3. Something worth bringing back: a target that wins the moment it lands.

Draw one of each and you have a turn-two or turn-three setup. Run enough redundancy across all three and you assemble it almost every game.

The Targets

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse — Dominaria United · 2022

The target has to matter the moment it lands, because a reanimated creature can eat removal before it ever attacks:

  • Archon of Cruelty: value on entry and on attack; even if it eats a removal spell, you already got a Mind Twist and a drain.
  • Griselbrand: draw seven the turn it lands. Then draw seven again. Often just wins on the spot.
  • Sheoldred, the Apocalypse: a brutal clock and lock that's impossible to ignore.
  • Razaketh, the Foulblooded: a tutor on a stick that finds your combo or more gas immediately.

The Engine, Turn by Turn

Turns 1-2: enabler. Entomb or loot a fattie into the yard.

Turn 2-3: reanimate it. If the table has open mana and an obvious answer, bait interaction first before you pull the trigger.

Turn 4+: protect and press. Archon and Griselbrand generate enough advantage that one removal spell doesn't undo your lead.

Don't reanimate into open mana with nothing else going on. Your fattie eats removal and you're down two cards with nothing to show. Bait interaction first, or hold up your own, then bring the monster back.

Opening Hands & Mulligans

  • Snap-keep: enabler + reanimation + a target. That's the nut hand.
  • Keep: two of the three pieces with a way to dig for the third.
  • Mulligan: all targets, no enablers or reanimation. Uncastable bricks, every one of them.

Matchups & Threats

  • Graveyard hate is the matchup you have to respect. Sequence fast, hold a backup target, and pack interaction to clear a hate-piece before going off.
  • Counterspell decks punish your reanimation spell, so bait with a lesser threat or play around open blue.
  • Slow midrange simply can't keep pace with a turn-three threat.

Common Mistakes

  • Going off into open mana. Removal in response two-for-ones you hard.
  • Too few enablers. You need redundancy across all three pieces, especially ways into the yard.
  • Greedy targets only. Run a couple of targets that are also fine to hardcast late when the yard is shut down.

Budget vs Upgrade

Reanimator is famously cheap to start: the spells are bulk and one big target goes a long way. Upgrades are premium targets and fast enablers. Chainer, Nightmare Adept heads a great budget Rakdos build. Proxy the package, find your favorite monster, and buy in.