Reanimator has been a fringe strategy in Legacy for many years. Previously, decks would rely on hateful haymakers like Iona, Shield of Emeria, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, or Blazing Archon. While those cards are still great, they’re not the game-ending threats they once were, due to the increased presence of Karakas and other hate cards in the format. However, Reanimator strategies got a bunch of new toys in more recent sets. We’ve actually seen enough new spells to see a shift away from the Blue-based Reanimator strategies:

Reanimator ? Legacy |ComradGT, 5-0 Legay League|

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
• 1 Sire of Insanity
• 3 Griselbrand
• 4 Chancellor of the Annex

• Instants (8)
• 4 Dark Ritual
• 4 Entomb

• Sorceries (20)
• 4 Collective Brutality
• 4 Exhume
• 4 Faithless Looting
• 4 Reanimate
• 4 Thoughtseize

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Animate Dead

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Lotus Petal

• Lands (14)
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Scrubland
• 3 Badlands
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Polluted Delta

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Duress
• 3 Faerie Macabre
• 3 Grave Titan
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 3 Stronghold Gambit
• 1 Tidespout Tyrant
• 2 Wear // Tear

Buy This Deck

Collective Brutality is the card that has helped to bring this strategy back to the forefront. Collective Brutality is a flexible card that can serve as both disruption and a discard outlet With Dark Ritual, it even leaves 1 mana open to cast your Reanimate. It may seem like a small addition, but every means of improving consistency and resiliency is huge for a deck as fragile as this one.

If you’re looking to end games as quickly and brutally as possible, this is a great place to start. There’s not an excessive amount of graveyard hate in the format current, and this is a deck that’s fast enough to fight against just about everything in the format. The real question is whether you think you can find a way to navigate postboard games, where there’s graveyard hate and Karakas to worry about. Stronghold Gambit does great work, but without Ponders and Brainstorms to help find it, you’re still kind of all-in on whatever your first monster is. If that’s the kind of game you want to play, this is a great choice for your next Legacy event.