Magic: The Gathering Arena Dimir Reanimator Guide

To pilot Dimir Reanimator in Magic: The Gathering Arena Standard, place a high-cost threat into your graveyard on turns two or three, then cast The Cruelty of Gix on turn five to return that creature directly to the battlefield. By bypassing casting costs with discard outlets and self-mill spells, the deck establishes an overwhelming board presence ahead of curve while using cheap black removal to survive early pressure.

Graveyard Enablers and Discard Outlets

Your opening turns focus on moving reanimation targets from your hand or library into the graveyard while maintaining parity on the board.

If you draw Atraxa or Valgavoth in your opening hand, prioritize Bitter Triumph or Chart a Course over pure mill spells so you can discard them reliably. When your hand lacks payoff creatures, cast Free the Fae to dig four cards deep into the library.

Reanimation Targets and Saga Mechanics

The deck relies on The Cruelty of Gix ({3}{B}{B}) as its primary reanimation engine. The Saga features the Read Ahead mechanic, allowing you to choose which chapter triggers upon entering the battlefield.

• Atraxa, Grand Unifier: Enters as a 7/7 creature with flying, vigilance, deathtouch, and lifelink. Her triggered ability reveals the top ten cards of your library and puts one card of each card type into your hand, immediately replenishing your resources.
• Valgavoth, Terror Eater: Enters with flying, lifelink, and a ward ability that forces an opponent to sacrifice three nonland permanents to target it. Valgavoth exiles any opposing card that enters the graveyard from anywhere and lets you cast those exiled cards during your turn without paying their mana costs.

Against aggressive or midrange decks with no countermagic available, trigger chapter three immediately on turn five to return Atraxa or Valgavoth to the battlefield.

Matchup Strategy and Counterplay

Adapting your sequencing based on your opponent's archetype ensures you do not waste key spells or fall behind on life totals.

Aggressive Matchups

Do not greedily wait to discard a reanimation target if the opponent presents immediate lethal pressure.

• Cast Cut Down or Go for the Throat on turns one and two to stop early attackers.
• Pay three life instead of discarding a card when casting Bitter Triumph if you need to eliminate an urgent threat and have no bomb in hand.
• Cast Picklock Prankster as a 1/3 flying blocker on turns two or three to absorb combat damage until turn five.

Control and Graveyard Hate

Control opponents frequently hold up counterspells or deploy graveyard exile artifacts like Ghost Vacuum and Rest in Peace.

• Bypassing Counterspells: Instead of jumping to chapter three of The Cruelty of Gix, choose chapter one. This forces the opponent to discard a card, stripping counterspells or answers from their hand.
• Chapter Two Value: If the Saga survives, chapter two lets you search your library for counter protection like Three Steps Ahead or Make Disappear before reanimating on chapter three.
• Midrange Pivot: Deploy Deep-Cavern Bat to exile an opponent's key interaction while applying evasive damage, forcing the opponent to spend removal on the board rather than holding answers for the graveyard.

Standard Turn-by-Turn Sequence

1. Turn 1: Play a tapped land such as Underground Mortuary to surveil a card into the graveyard, or hold open black mana for Cut Down against fast aggressive decks.
2. Turn 2: Cast Free the Fae to mill four cards, or cast Bitter Triumph to remove an early opposing threat while discarding Atraxa or Valgavoth.
3. Turn 3: Cast Deep-Cavern Bat to inspect the opponent's hand and strip removal, or deploy Picklock Prankster to block incoming attacks.
4. Turn 4: Spend mana holding up interaction, clearing additional opposing threats, or establishing the fifth land drop.
5. Turn 5: Cast The Cruelty of Gix using Read Ahead into chapter three, reanimating your graveyard payoff to take control of the match.