Laz
Developer
An idea that I have had rattling around in my head for a while now has been a wider use of restrictive reanimation spells, spells that offer reanimation for value rather than just being a way to cheat fatties into play, as well as moving reanimation out of Black (my experiment with moving it to White was interesting, but ultimately not very impactful, as Breath of Life and Miraculous Recovery are not great cards).
The cards I have been considering for this are as follows:
These cards feel a little all over the place though. I am not too concerned about Alesha, Sun Titan or Reveillark, since they have quite a pedigree, and can be abused, in the case of Alesha and Reveillark, with cards like Phantasmal Image, Priest of the Blood Rite, Riftwing Cloudskate and the like who just happen to have <=2 power. Likewise, Sun Titan is super strong, and can always find value, even if it is just returning a fetch-land.
Return to the Ranks, on the other hand, is asking for some pretty specific deck-building things to go right, as is Rally the Ancestors, which is really looking for some sort of combo. I am confident that many of these cards can co-exist, but the biggest issue is finding creatures to support this style of deck.
One line is that these tie into a sac-shell, forming an Aristocrats style deck that can combo with Rally the Ancestors or Return to the Ranks. This might require multiple Blood Artists, which scares me a little. A possible weakness is that these spells don't work with token makers unless they start with a body, such as Nest Invader or Mogg War Marshal. This sort of deck also wants grave enablers, and Satyr Wayfinder is a nice option to cross things over here. Sacrifice outlets that get returned also seem valuable.
Another line is a Fires-style shell, though I am not sure what that theme really manifests itself as. The recent standard Rally decks used Mogis's Marauder, but that seems like a pretty poor card in a vacuum. I don't really like Anger, but maybe it fits. Options in reanimate-able creature form are Lightning Mauler, which I have played before, but it is not a very interesting card.
Ojutai's Command is probably only worth playing if you can return a creature at least some of the time, though it is fine as Dismiss or pseudo-Absorb too. Wall of Omens and Augur of Bolas spring to mind as card-advantage options, and there are some disruptive options such as Imposing Sovereign. Snapcaster Mage is of course the dream, but that requires so much mana...
Ultimately I think these effects boil down to whether there is a critical mass of lowish (2/3-drops) CMC creatures that are worth returning. ETBs and LTB effects seem very valuable, and there is no shortage of those at 3 CMC, but at 2 CMC, I would love some suggestions.
In addition are there any effects or cool interactions I have missed with the above cards? (EDIT: Collected Company! Of course!) I know there are some other cards with similar effects (though they are of wildly varying quality)...
Driver of the Dead
Immortal Servitude
Order of Whiteclay
Orzhov Charm
Swift Warkite
Proclamation of Rebirth
The cards I have been considering for this are as follows:
These cards feel a little all over the place though. I am not too concerned about Alesha, Sun Titan or Reveillark, since they have quite a pedigree, and can be abused, in the case of Alesha and Reveillark, with cards like Phantasmal Image, Priest of the Blood Rite, Riftwing Cloudskate and the like who just happen to have <=2 power. Likewise, Sun Titan is super strong, and can always find value, even if it is just returning a fetch-land.
Return to the Ranks, on the other hand, is asking for some pretty specific deck-building things to go right, as is Rally the Ancestors, which is really looking for some sort of combo. I am confident that many of these cards can co-exist, but the biggest issue is finding creatures to support this style of deck.
One line is that these tie into a sac-shell, forming an Aristocrats style deck that can combo with Rally the Ancestors or Return to the Ranks. This might require multiple Blood Artists, which scares me a little. A possible weakness is that these spells don't work with token makers unless they start with a body, such as Nest Invader or Mogg War Marshal. This sort of deck also wants grave enablers, and Satyr Wayfinder is a nice option to cross things over here. Sacrifice outlets that get returned also seem valuable.
Another line is a Fires-style shell, though I am not sure what that theme really manifests itself as. The recent standard Rally decks used Mogis's Marauder, but that seems like a pretty poor card in a vacuum. I don't really like Anger, but maybe it fits. Options in reanimate-able creature form are Lightning Mauler, which I have played before, but it is not a very interesting card.
Ojutai's Command is probably only worth playing if you can return a creature at least some of the time, though it is fine as Dismiss or pseudo-Absorb too. Wall of Omens and Augur of Bolas spring to mind as card-advantage options, and there are some disruptive options such as Imposing Sovereign. Snapcaster Mage is of course the dream, but that requires so much mana...
Ultimately I think these effects boil down to whether there is a critical mass of lowish (2/3-drops) CMC creatures that are worth returning. ETBs and LTB effects seem very valuable, and there is no shortage of those at 3 CMC, but at 2 CMC, I would love some suggestions.
In addition are there any effects or cool interactions I have missed with the above cards? (EDIT: Collected Company! Of course!) I know there are some other cards with similar effects (though they are of wildly varying quality)...
Driver of the Dead
Immortal Servitude
Order of Whiteclay
Orzhov Charm
Swift Warkite
Proclamation of Rebirth
