U/B Gravedigger deck (Casual)

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (More info?)

Hey guys I was wondering if I could get a couple of tips for a casual deck
I've thrown together. The basic premise of the deck is to use the Merfolk
to draw/discard a large creature then animate it. I've toyed with Living
Dead but I've found I was better off just sticking to the lower cast single
shot re-animation spells or else the deck just took too long to develop
(Same with All Hallows and Twilights Call). The way the split is now (11
large, 10 draw/disc and 10 animate cards) seems to be right at the sweet
spot of insuring I'll have one of each either in the opening draw or within
the first 3 turns. If not I've thrown in Intuition, A.Recall and a Demonic
Tutor...just in case. The Time Walk in the deck hasn't seen much use, but
it's such a killer card I just thought I had to throw it in. Also any ideas
on sideboard?

Total 60 Cards

// Baddies (11)
2 Reya Dawnbringer (2 because it helps get creatures out of the
grave, and two insures one hits the grave when intuitioned)
2 Volrath the Fallen (2 because it helps get creatures in to the
grave, and two insures one hits the grave when intuitioned)
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Plated Slagwurm
1 Rorix Bladewing
1 Tidal Kraken
1 Avatar of Woe
1 Devouring Strossus
1 Avatar of Might
// To The Grave! (10)
1 Merfolk Looter
1 Jalum Tome
2 Hapless Researcher
3 Merfolk Traders
3 Vodalian Merchant
// Other (7)
1 Capsize
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Demonic Tutor
3 Intuition
// Re-Animation (10)
2 Dance of the Dead
4 Animate Dead
4 Exhume
// Mana (22)
2 Swamp
3 Island
4 Underground Sea
4 Underground River
1 Black Lotus
3 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.strategy (More info?)

>Hey guys I was wondering if I could get a couple of tips for a casual deck
>I've thrown together. The basic premise of the deck is to use the Merfolk
>to draw/discard a large creature then animate it. I've toyed with Living
>Dead but I've found I was better off just sticking to the lower cast single
>shot re-animation spells or else the deck just took too long to develop
>(Same with All Hallows and Twilights Call). The way the split is now (11
>large, 10 draw/disc and 10 animate cards) seems to be right at the sweet
>spot of insuring I'll have one of each either in the opening draw or within
>the first 3 turns. If not I've thrown in Intuition, A.Recall and a Demonic
>Tutor...just in case. The Time Walk in the deck hasn't seen much use, but
>it's such a killer card I just thought I had to throw it in. Also any ideas
>on sideboard?
>
>Total 60 Cards
>
>// Baddies (11)
> 2 Reya Dawnbringer (2 because it helps get creatures out of the
>grave, and two insures one hits the grave when intuitioned)
> 2 Volrath the Fallen (2 because it helps get creatures in to the
>grave, and two insures one hits the grave when intuitioned)
> 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
> 1 Plated Slagwurm
> 1 Rorix Bladewing
> 1 Tidal Kraken
> 1 Avatar of Woe
> 1 Devouring Strossus
> 1 Avatar of Might
>// To The Grave! (10)
> 1 Merfolk Looter
> 1 Jalum Tome
> 2 Hapless Researcher
> 3 Merfolk Traders
> 3 Vodalian Merchant
>// Other (7)
> 1 Capsize
> 1 Time Walk
> 1 Ancestral Recall
> 1 Demonic Tutor
> 3 Intuition
>// Re-Animation (10)
> 2 Dance of the Dead
> 4 Animate Dead
> 4 Exhume
>// Mana (22)
> 2 Swamp
> 3 Island
> 4 Underground Sea
> 4 Underground River
> 1 Black Lotus
> 3 Lotus Petal
> 1 Mox Sapphire
> 1 Mox Ruby
> 1 Mox Pearl
> 1 Mox Jet
> 1 Mox Emerald
>

I wish I had a cardpool like this to build my casual decks with! I can hardly
scratch this with my tourney decks.

I'm assuming this is for Type 0 casual, as Lotus Petal is restricted in T1.
What's your metagame like?

If you're building this deck for play in multiplayer games, I'd replace the
exhumes with Necromancy, so you won't run the chance of animating someone
else's fatty late-game.

You could replace a few of the merfolk with Buried Alive x4 and Entomb (x1. or
x4 if Type 0). I think you might find they'll get your creatures in the
graveyard pretty reliably. Also, you could consider using creatures with
madness for pitching creatures.

I'd reccomend using a little removal or countermagic. Forbid may work for you,
as you can pitch creatures for it's buyback cost.

Are you aware of the Worldgorger Dragon/Animate Dead infinite mana combo? It's
the basis of a very competitive T1 deck. It would change your theme a bit, but
you'll get better results from running something like it. If you haven't seen
it, google for an example decklist.

Those are my few suggestions... good luck!

Austin