As soon as Persist and Unmarked Grave were spoiled in Modern Horizons 2 I knew there was a new archetype waiting to be unleashed on the Modern format.

Reanimator had long been a staple of Extended, Legacy, and other formats, but Modern has never really had a "true" reanimator deck. However, these newer versions of Entomb and Exhume fit perfectly into the format, along with the new non-legendary reanimation target of choice in Archon of Cruelty. What's great about these cards is that the package is relatively small, meaning you have room for interaction and other elements so the deck isn't so all in.

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt helps the cause with two new cards. Faithful Mending is an interesting riff on Faithless Looting, which was one of the most powerful cards in the format until it's banning. It's certainly a bit more troublesome to cast, but being instant speed allows it to play nicely with more reactive elements. Consider is also a nice upgrade to Opt which can allow for some extra graveyard value in a pinch.

Time Stamps:

00:04:29 - Match 1

00:13:51 - Match 2

00:34:41 - Match 3

00:45:15 - Match 4

01:04:49 - Match 5

Esper Reanimator | Modern | Manacymbol, MTGO League 5-0

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Serra's Emissary
• 4 Archon of Cruelty

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Spells (12)
• 4 Consider
• 4 Counterspell
• 4 Faithful Mending

• Sorceries (17)
• 1 Unburial Rites
• 4 Persist
• 4 Prismatic Ending
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 4 Unmarked Grave

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Island
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Zagoth Triome
• 2 Hallowed Fountain
• 2 Marsh Flats
• 2 River of Tears
• 2 Watery Grave
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Polluted Delta

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 2 Fatal Push
• 2 Flusterstorm
• 4 Leyline of the Void
• 2 Spreading Seas
• 1 Terastodon
• 1 Void Winnower

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While the deck ran fairly well, there's no doubt that there's a lot of hate out there right now.

Urza's Saga allows decks to play maindeck copies of cards like Nihil Spellbomb or Relic of Progenitus, while finding them with alarming regularity. This gets even worse in sideboard games, especially considering they already have things like Thoughtseize to slow you down.

There's a lot of raw power here, and Teferi, Time Raveler played really well, but it's certainly an issue that must be overcome.