Goryo Reanimator — Modern Strategy Guide

Archetype Overview

Goryo Reanimator is a combo deck that can win like a midrange deck. The core is a two-card kill: get a legendary fatty into your graveyard, then return it with Goryo's Vengeance. Around that engine sits a full suite of efficient Esper interaction and threats that win on their own. This list, which took 1st Place at IQ Arzúa - Piknitas Modern on 2026-10-03 in the hands of Jorge Alen, leans hard into that hybrid. It runs only five reanimation targets, but every non-combo slot is a card you'd be happy to draw in a fair game.

The Combo Engine

Goryo's Vengeance returns a legendary creature card from your graveyard with haste, then exiles it at the beginning of the next end step. Only two cards in the main deck qualify: four Atraxa, Grand Unifier and one Griselbrand. Solitude is not legendary, and Teferi, Time Raveler is a planeswalker, so neither is a target.

The plan breaks into three steps.

1. Bin a target. Faithful Mending draws two and discards two, at instant speed, with flashback for a second use. Psychic Frog lets you discard a card at will for no mana once it's on the battlefield, so it doubles as a discard outlet. The three surveil lands (Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers) can bin a target that's sitting on top of your library.
2. Return it. Cast Goryo's Vengeance for {1}{B}.
3. Keep it. Ephemerate exiles your creature and returns it. The creature comes back as a new object, so Goryo's end-step exile no longer applies and it stays for good. It also triggers its enters ability a second time. Rebound then gives you a third trigger on your next upkeep.

Atraxa, Grand Unifier is the primary target, and the reason this deck is more than a glass cannon. Her trigger reveals ten cards and takes one of each card type. In this list that can mean a land, a creature, an instant, a sorcery, and Teferi, Time Raveler as a planeswalker: up to five cards from a single trigger. Add Ephemerate and you net two or three Atraxa triggers, while a 7/7 flier with vigilance, deathtouch, and lifelink sits on the board. Even without Ephemerate, a hasty Atraxa swings for seven lifelink damage and leaves you with a full grip before she's exiled.

Griselbrand is the lone backup target. He pays 7 life to draw seven, and he has lifelink to refill the tank. He's the target you want when you need to dig for answers or protection immediately.

On a fast draw, you can set up on turn two and land a permanent Atraxa on turn three. Cast Psychic Frog on turn two. Discard an Atraxa to it whenever convenient. Then on turn three, cast Goryo's Vengeance plus Ephemerate for exactly three mana.

There's also an end-step trick: cast Goryo's Vengeance during your opponent's end step. Its delayed trigger waits for the next end step, which is yours. The creature gets your entire turn to attack and do work before it leaves, even without Ephemerate.

The Fair Half

Only nine cards are dedicated combo pieces: four Goryo's, four Atraxa, and one Griselbrand. Ephemerate and Faithful Mending have uses outside the combo, but they're clearly built around it. Everything else stands on its own:

• Psychic Frog is a cheap threat that grows by discarding, draws on combat damage, and can gain flying by exiling three cards from your graveyard. Don't exile your own reanimation targets when you use that last ability.
• Quantum Riddler is a 4/6 flier that draws on entry. Once your hand is down to one or fewer cards, every draw gets an extra card. That turns Faithful Mending into three cards and Griselbrand's activation into eight. Its Warp cost of {1}{U} gives you a cheaper way to deploy it.
• Solitude exiles a creature at instant speed. Its evoke cost means it can do that for zero mana by exiling a white card from hand. Pair it with Ephemerate and it becomes a lifelinking body plus a second removal trigger.
• Cheap interaction: Thoughtseize, Prismatic Ending, March of Otherworldly Light, Spell Snare, and Force of Negation. Overgrown Tomb lets Prismatic Ending converge for up to four colors, and it keeps a hardcast Atraxa technically possible in a long game.
• Teferi, Time Raveler locks opponents to sorcery speed and bounces a blocker or problem permanent while drawing a card.

That fair half is why the deck can lose its graveyard and keep playing. If your opponent answers the combo, you still have removal, card advantage, and creatures that pressure them.

Why the Plan Is Strong

Your threats come from different angles. A reactive opponent has to respect a turn-three Atraxa, a growing Psychic Frog, and a flashed-in Solitude all at once. Hate aimed at the graveyard doesn't touch Riddler or Frog, and creature removal aimed at Frog doesn't stop Goryo's.

Your free spells let you combo and interact on the same turn. Solitude can be cast for no mana. Force of Negation is free on your opponent's turn by exiling a blue card. You can hold up both while spending your mana on Goryo's and Ephemerate. Plan around Force's limit: on your own turn it costs {1}{U}{U}. Clear the way with Thoughtseize before the combo turn, or use the end-step Goryo's line, so Force is free when your opponent tries to interact.

The combo is instant speed. Goryo's Vengeance, Ephemerate, and Faithful Mending are all instants. That lets you play draw-go, react to how the opponent taps, and pick the window where they're least able to respond.

The payoff refills your hand. Many reanimation decks fold when the reanimated creature gets answered. Atraxa's trigger has already put several cards in your hand by then, so removing her doesn't end the game.

The Sideboard in Brief

The fifteen reinforce the same identity.

• Consign to Memory counters triggered abilities or colorless spells, with replicate for multiple targets.
• Mystical Dispute is a cheap answer to blue spells.
• Three Wrath of the Skies give you a scalable sweeper against wide creature decks.
• Celestial Purge handles black or red permanents.
• Nihil Spellbomb covers opposing graveyard strategies.
• The second Teferi, Time Raveler, second Spell Snare, and fourth Thoughtseize let you shift toward a more controlling or more disruptive posture depending on the matchup.

Where It's Vulnerable

Know these before you register the deck:

• Graveyard exile. Graveyard exile switches off the combo half of the deck. Keep the fair game in mind and don't overcommit setup pieces into it.
• Only five targets. Some hands have Goryo's Vengeance and no Atraxa or Griselbrand to discard. Mulligan and sequence with that in mind.
• Your life total. Fetchlands, shocklands, Thoughtseize, and Griselbrand's activation all cost life. Fast aggro punishes careless payments. Lifelink on Atraxa, Griselbrand, and Solitude, plus the 2 life from Faithful Mending, is how you recover.
• Force's mana problem on your turn. Noncreature interaction cast during your combo turn is harder to answer than interaction cast on the opponent's turn.

Who Should Play It

Pick this up if you like decision-dense games. You'll be constantly choosing between setting up the combo and interacting, managing your life total, deciding which Atraxa trigger cards to take, and tracking stack windows like the end-step Goryo's.

The deck rewards players who know Esper interaction and want an explosive plan on top. It punishes autopiloting, because cards like Psychic Frog and Faithful Mending ask you to decide what's worth discarding every turn.

At about $931, it's a real investment. A large share of the cost is the mana base and staples like Thoughtseize, Solitude, and Force of Negation, which carry over to other Modern decks in these colors.

If you want a deck that can win on turn three and still win the long game when that plan gets answered, this is it.

Core Strategy & Game Plan

How the Deck Wins

You have two routes to victory, and the deck is built so you can switch between them mid-game. The first is the combo: put Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand into your graveyard, return it with Goryo's Vengeance, and either swing for seven lifelink in the air or turn the reanimation into a permanent threat with Ephemerate. The second is a fair game built on Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, Solitude, and a suite of cheap interaction. That second mode is what makes this version of Goryo dangerous. You are not a pile of enablers that folds to one graveyard hate card. You are a tempo-midrange deck that can end the game out of nowhere.

The only legal Goryo's Vengeance targets in the main deck are Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Griselbrand. Solitude, Psychic Frog, and Quantum Riddler are not legendary, so don't plan any lines around reanimating them.

The Engine: Bin, Return, Keep

Every combo turn has three steps.

1. Bin the legend. Your discard outlets are:

• Faithful Mending is your best enabler. It is instant speed, it digs two cards deep, and it has flashback so it can set up a second attempt.
• Psychic Frog gives you a discard outlet that costs no mana. Once Frog is on the battlefield, you can discard a legend at any time and keep all your mana for Goryo's Vengeance and Ephemerate.
• Thoughtseize targets any player, so you can aim it at yourself to discard your own legend when you have no other outlet. It costs a full turn's worth of disruption, so treat it as a last resort.
• Surveil lands (Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers) can put a legend from the top of your library into the graveyard. You can't plan around this, but it is free value.

2. Return it. Goryo's Vengeance costs two mana, works at instant speed, and gives the creature haste. If you do nothing else, the creature is exiled at the beginning of the next end step.

3. Keep it. This is where Ephemerate earns its slot. When you flicker the reanimated creature, it comes back as a new object, so the delayed exile from Goryo's Vengeance no longer applies to it. With Atraxa, Grand Unifier, the flicker also gives you a second enters trigger. Rebound then lets you cast Ephemerate again for free on your next upkeep, which gives you a third trigger.

Each Atraxa, Grand Unifier trigger reveals ten cards and lets you take one of each card type. This main deck contains lands, instants, sorceries, creatures, and a planeswalker, so a good trigger hands you up to five cards. Use them to rebuild your hand or find interaction to protect the board.

One timing note: the returned creature does not have haste after you flicker it. If you want to attack, attack first and cast Ephemerate after combat damage.

Atraxa vs. Griselbrand

Atraxa, Grand Unifier is your default target, which is why you play four. One trigger gives you card advantage across several card types, and the 7/7 flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink body takes over the board.

Griselbrand is the single copy you take when you need to dig. Once you pay 7 life to draw seven, you will usually find more interaction, another Ephemerate, or a second Goryo's Vengeance. Lifelink on the attack refunds much of that life. If Quantum Riddler is on the battlefield and you have one or fewer cards in hand, you draw eight instead of seven.

Watch your life total throughout. Fetches, shocks, and Thoughtseize all cost life, and an aggressive opponent can turn Griselbrand's activation into your loss.

Core Combo Lines

1. The end-step Goryo. On your opponent's end step, cast Faithful Mending and discard a legend, then cast Goryo's Vengeance. The beginning of that end step has already passed, so the creature survives until the end of your turn. You untap with it on the battlefield, attack with it, and can cast Ephemerate after combat with all your mana available. This is your strongest line when you have the mana.
2. The Frog turn. With Psychic Frog on the battlefield, discard the legend for free, cast Goryo's Vengeance, and follow with Ephemerate. The whole sequence costs three mana.
3. The Solitude loop. Evoke Solitude by exiling a white card, then cast Ephemerate while the enters and sacrifice triggers are on the stack. Solitude returns as a new object that stays on the battlefield, and it gets a second exile trigger. Rebound gives you a third on your next upkeep. This is not the combo, but it is how you win the board in fair games, and it uses the same Ephemerate that would otherwise wait for a legend.

Posture: Proactive Combo in a Reactive Shell

Your default posture is proactive, but you should not jam the combo into open mana without information. The deck carries the tools to clear a path first:

• Thoughtseize strips their answer before your combo turn.
• Force of Negation protects you for free on their turn. It only counters noncreature spells, so it covers instant-speed graveyard exile and counterspells but not a creature-based answer.
• Teferi, Time Raveler stops opponents from casting spells at instant speed. That shuts off spell-based responses to Goryo's Vengeance on your turn. Activated abilities still work, so check their permanents before relying on Teferi.
• Spell Snare, Prismatic Ending, March of Otherworldly Light, and Solitude handle the early threats and hate permanents that would otherwise outpace or blank you.

Pitch costs create tension. Solitude and March of Otherworldly Light can exile white cards, and Force of Negation exiles a blue card. Atraxa, Grand Unifier is both white and blue, so pitching it costs you a combo piece permanently. Do it only when the trade wins the game or keeps you alive.

The Ideal Game, Turn by Turn

If your hand lacks combo pieces, the fair version still works. Cast Psychic Frog early and grow it by discarding excess lands. Quantum Riddler is your card advantage threat: its warp cost of {1}{U} gets you the enters-the-battlefield draw cheaply, and the hardcast 4/6 flier closes games. Solitude handles opposing threats. Every card you draw along the way digs you toward Goryo's Vengeance.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Exiling your own legend with Frog. Psychic Frog's flying ability exiles three cards from your graveyard. Never exile the legend you plan to reanimate.
• Casting Goryo without a plan for the end step. If you have no Ephemerate and the attack doesn't win, you have traded your legend and your Goryo for one hit. Sometimes that hit is lethal or forces a chump block worth taking. Know which before you commit.
• Going off into a hate permanent. Remove graveyard-hate artifacts and creatures with Prismatic Ending or March of Otherworldly Light first. The fair half of the deck can afford to wait a turn.
• Burning your counterspell early. On combo turns, Force of Negation is protection. Don't spend it on a mid-value spell when you need it to resolve Goryo's Vengeance next turn.

Card Choices & Breakdown

The Payload: Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Griselbrand

4x Atraxa, Grand Unifier is the primary target, and four copies is non-negotiable. You never plan to pay seven mana for her. Every copy is a card you want in the graveyard, so the full set raises the odds that Faithful Mending or a surveil land hits one. The enter trigger does the work. It reveals ten cards and takes one of each card type, and this list has creatures, instants, sorceries, lands, and a planeswalker in Teferi, Time Raveler. Even if Atraxa gets exiled at end step, you keep the cards. When she sticks, she's a 7/7 flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink body that ends races by itself.

1x Griselbrand is the burst option. A hasty 7/7 lifelink flier from Goryo's Vengeance attacks, gains life, and that life pays for "Pay 7 life: Draw seven cards." Activate with one or fewer cards in hand while Quantum Riddler is on the battlefield and each activation draws eight instead. It's a single copy because the {B}{B}{B}{B} cost makes hard-casting a fantasy. Atraxa's trigger is also more reliable value on a turn where you don't win outright. Griselbrand is the out when you need raw cards right now, usually to find Ephemerate or protection.

The Reanimation Package

4x Goryo's Vengeance returns a legendary creature with haste for two mana at instant speed. Note what it can't hit. Solitude, Quantum Riddler, and Psychic Frog aren't legendary, so your only targets are Atraxa and Griselbrand. That's why the payload count is five, not two.

4x Ephemerate is the other half of the engine. Blinking the reanimated creature retriggers Atraxa's enter ability. It also returns the creature as a new object, which slips the end-step exile from Goryo's. Rebound gives you a second blink on your next upkeep for free, so one Ephemerate on an Atraxa is often two extra Atraxa triggers. Off-combo, it doubles Solitude's exile or Quantum Riddler's draw. It's never dead.

Enablers and Card Flow

• 4x Faithful Mending: an instant-speed discard outlet that also digs two cards deep. The 2 life offsets fetch and shock damage. Flashback gives you a second activation later. With Riddler out and a near-empty hand, it draws three.
• 4x Psychic Frog: the best enabler in the list because "Discard a card" costs no mana. Land it on turn two and you can bin Atraxa at any time, then cast Goryo's the next turn with the same mana you'd have anyway. It also stands on its own as a threat that grows and draws. Be careful with the flying ability. Exile three cards that aren't your reanimation targets.
• 4x Quantum Riddler: the Warp cost of {1}{U} makes this a cheap cantrip early. At full price it's a 4/6 flier that blocks well and draws a card. The real payoff is the replacement effect. With one or fewer cards in hand, every draw is +1, which turbocharges Mending, Frog hits, and Griselbrand activations. Four copies make it a real fair-game plan when the graveyard gets attacked.

Interaction

4x Solitude is free creature removal. Evoke it by exiling a white card from hand, or hard-cast it as a lifelinking flash blocker. Check what you can pitch: Ephemerate, Faithful Mending, March of Otherworldly Light, Prismatic Ending, Teferi, Time Raveler, other Solitudes, and Atraxa herself. Pitching Atraxa is usually wrong, because you want her in the graveyard, not exile.

3x Thoughtseize clears the path before you go off. Three instead of four comes down to life. Between fetches, shocks, and Griselbrand's 7-life activation, the extra 2 life adds up. The fourth copy waits in the sideboard for matchups where hand disruption outweighs the cost.

2x Force of Negation is free only on your opponent's turn, which shapes its role. It stops noncreature disruption cast at you on their turn, like graveyard hate or a sweeper. On your own combo turn it costs three mana, so don't count it as Goryo protection. Blue pitch cards include Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, Faithful Mending, Spell Snare, Teferi, and Atraxa. Two copies is the right number. A third would cost too many cards in fair games.

1x Teferi, Time Raveler is quiet protection. While he's out, opponents can only cast spells at sorcery speed, so your instant-speed Goryo turn plays out without instant responses. The −3 bounces a problem permanent and replaces itself. The +1 lets you cast Thoughtseize or Prismatic Ending at instant speed. He also adds the planeswalker type to Atraxa reveals.

2x Prismatic Ending and 1x March of Otherworldly Light split permanent removal:

• Ending hits any nonland permanent, planeswalkers included, scaled by colors spent. That's why the lone green source matters.
• March is instant speed and hits artifacts and enchantments, the usual home of graveyard hate.
• March can exile white cards from hand to reduce its cost. Use that only when the tempo is worth the card.

1x Spell Snare is a one-mana answer to the format's two-drops and another blue card for Force. The second copy sits in the sideboard for matchups dense with two-mana plays.

The Mana: 21 Lands

• Fetchlands. Eleven of them (Flooded Strand x4, Marsh Flats x4, Polluted Delta x3) feed four shocks (Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Watery Grave, Overgrown Tomb) and three basics. Fetching a basic on a turn where tempo doesn't matter saves you 2 life, and life is a resource this deck spends heavily.
• Surveil lands. Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, and Undercity Sewers are fetchable. Each one can bin an Atraxa off the top. A turn-one fetch into a surveil land is a legitimate way to set up a turn-two Goryo's without spending a card.
• Green. Overgrown Tomb is the only green source. It exists for converge on Prismatic Ending, not for casting Atraxa. Fetch it only when you need that fourth color.

Sideboard

The pattern is consistent. The main deck plays enough fair cards to survive hate, and the sideboard sharpens whichever axis the matchup demands. Speed, protection, or sweepers: never all three at once.

The Decklist

This is the 75 Jorge Alen piloted to 1st place at IQ Arzúa - Piknitas Modern on October 3, 2026. At roughly $931 in TCGplayer market prices, it's a full Modern investment. The list runs 17 creatures, 22 noncreature spells, and 21 lands. Every piece either fills the graveyard, brings something back from it, or protects that sequence.

Main Deck (60)

Sideboard (15)

Flexible Slots

The core is locked: 4 Goryo's Vengeance, 4 Atraxa, Grand Unifier, 4 Ephemerate, 4 Faithful Mending, 4 Solitude, plus the Psychic Frog and Quantum Riddler packages. Don't touch these. The slots below are where the list can bend to your expected field.

• Griselbrand (1): Your only non-Atraxa reanimation target. Keep it unless you want a fifth Atraxa effect, because it gives you a different kill angle when the Atraxa reveal whiffs.
• Thoughtseize (3 main, 1 side): Go to four main if your field is mostly combo and control. Trim against fast aggro, where the 2 life adds up.
• Force of Negation (2): Scale up against noncreature-heavy combo and control. Scale down against creature aggro, since it can't touch creatures.
• Spell Snare (1 main, 1 side): Strongest when the opponent's key plays cluster at mana value 2. Otherwise it's the first cut.
• Teferi, Time Raveler (1 main, 1 side): Go to two when the field is heavy on instant-speed answers. One is enough against creature decks that don't care about sorcery speed.
• March of Otherworldly Light (1): Swappable for a third Prismatic Ending if you see few instant-speed threats. March keeps the edge for answering things on the opponent's turn.
• Prismatic Ending (2): Its reach depends on colors spent. With Overgrown Tomb online you can hit mana value 4, but most turns you'll top out lower.
• Basics (1 each): Cutting one for another surveil land adds graveyard setup but costs you untapped, painless mana.

Reading the 75

Mixed splits mark the meta calls. Thoughtseize, Spell Snare, and Teferi, Time Raveler each appear in both the main deck and the sideboard. Main-deck copies are the baseline. The sideboard copies let you push harder into a matchup without new cards. If you adapt this list, these three splits are where your read on the room should show up first.

The mana base serves four colors but leans hard on three. Eleven fetches give you plenty of flexibility. Every fetch can find a white, blue, or black source, and Marsh Flats or Polluted Delta can also find Overgrown Tomb. Green exists mainly for Prismatic Ending and the rare hardcast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, so don't fetch the Tomb early unless you need that extra color.

The surveil lands do real work. Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, and Undercity Sewers each enter tapped. In exchange, each one can put a reanimation target straight into the graveyard without spending a card. Play them on turns you weren't using all your mana anyway.

Pitch fodder is built in. Force of Negation needs a blue card to exile. Solitude and March of Otherworldly Light want white cards. Faithful Mending, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier count for both pools, so the free modes are usually available. Still, every pitch is a card you can't use later, so free interaction comes at a real cost in resources.

The sideboard leans heavily on counterspells. Eight slots (Consign to Memory, Mystical Dispute, the second Spell Snare) stop things on the stack. That's protection for the combo turn as much as interaction. Wrath of the Skies and Celestial Purge cover wide or color-specific boards. Nihil Spellbomb is your only dedicated answer to opposing graveyard plans. If your local scene is heavier on graveyard strategies, that single slot is the first place to add more.

Mulligan Guide

Every opening seven gets the same three questions: can you put a legendary creature in the graveyard, can you return it, and do you have the lands to do both by turn three? If the honest answer is "two out of three, plus a real backup plan," you usually keep. If the hand only looks like the combo but has no way to discard, ship it.

The Keepable Hand Checklist

1. Lands: two is the floor, three is ideal. The full combo turn of Goryo's Vengeance plus Ephemerate costs three mana. Two-landers are fine with a cheap outlet like Psychic Frog, but you still need to draw the third land to finish the job.
2. Colors: black, white, and blue. Goryo's needs {B}, Ephemerate needs {W}, and Frog and Faithful Mending need blue plus a partner color. The fetches are flexible. Flooded Strand can grab Godless Shrine or Watery Grave, and Marsh Flats can grab Overgrown Tomb or Shadowy Backstreet. Still, count which colors your actual lands produce before you keep.
3. A plan. Every keep falls into one of three types:
   • The combo: a target (Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand), an outlet (Frog or Mending), and Goryo's. Ephemerate is a bonus.
   • Two pieces plus card flow: Mending, Frog, or Quantum Riddler can find the missing piece.
   • The fair hand: Frog, Riddler, Solitude, or Teferi, Time Raveler, backed by Thoughtseize or countermagic.

Don't count Undercity Sewers, Shadowy Backstreet, or Meticulous Archive as outlets. Their surveil 1 only bins a target that happens to be on top of your library. Treat it as a free roll, not a plan.

Example Hands

Hand 1: Marsh Flats, Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, Psychic Frog, Goryo's Vengeance, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ephemerate
Verdict: Snap keep.

• Turn two, cast Frog off Watery Grave.
• Turn three, discard Atraxa to Frog for free, then cast Goryo's.
• Ephemerate the Atraxa. You get a second enters trigger, and the returned Atraxa no longer gets exiled at end of turn.
• Flats fetches whichever white or black source you still need.

If they kill Frog, you still have a functional threat-light hand and three lands to draw into Mending.

Hand 2: Polluted Delta, Hallowed Fountain, Thoughtseize, Psychic Frog, Solitude, Quantum Riddler, Teferi, Time Raveler
Verdict: Keep.

There's no combo here, and that's fine.

• Thoughtseize on turn one strips their best answer.
• Frog becomes a discard outlet the moment you draw a target.
• Solitude and Teferi cover you while you find Goryo's.

This is a stronger keep against interactive decks than many combo hands are.

Hand 3: Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Griselbrand, Goryo's Vengeance, Goryo's Vengeance, Ephemerate, Flooded Strand, Island
Verdict: Ship.

This is the classic trap. It has every flashy piece except the one that matters: there's no way to put a target into the graveyard. Two lands, no Frog, no Mending, and dead cards stuck in hand. You're relying on drawing an outlet, and the hand does nothing while you wait.

Hand 4: Undercity Sewers, Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, Faithful Mending, Goryo's Vengeance, Griselbrand, Force of Negation
Verdict: Keep.

1. Play Sewers tapped on turn one and surveil.
2. Turn two, Strand into Hallowed Fountain. Hold up Mending for the opponent's end step and discard Griselbrand.
3. Turn three, Goryo's into Griselbrand. Pay 7 life to draw seven, then hunt for Ephemerate with your remaining mana.

Even without Ephemerate, a hasty lifelinking 7/7 flier plus seven cards is a dominant position. Force of Negation can be pitched on their turn by exiling a blue card, so it protects you against noncreature interaction there.

Hand 5: Plains, Godless Shrine, Solitude, Solitude, Ephemerate, Prismatic Ending, Thoughtseize
Verdict: Depends on the matchup.

• Keep against aggro, especially on the draw. Evoked Solitudes, Ephemerate on Solitude for a second exile trigger, and a two-color Prismatic Ending blunt any creature start.
• Ship against control or combo. You have no blue source, no win condition, and nothing that pressures a player who isn't attacking you.

Hand 6: Watery Grave, Psychic Frog, Thoughtseize, Ephemerate, Solitude, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Force of Negation
Verdict: Ship.

Every spell is good, and it's still a one-lander. Your turn-three combo needs three mana and your turn-two Frog needs two. Don't talk yourself into this.

On the Play vs. On the Draw

On the play, prioritize speed. A hand that threatens the combo on turn three tends to win before opposing sideboard hate or countermagic comes online. Keep two-piece hands with Frog or Mending more readily. Be quicker to ship slow fair hands that only trade one-for-one.

On the draw, prioritize interaction and smoothing. You see an extra card, so two-landers with a cheap outlet get better. A hand missing one combo piece has another draw to find it. The opponent also gets the first threat or the first piece of disruption, which is why Solitude, Thoughtseize, and Force of Negation gain value.

Mending is especially good on the draw. Casting it at the end of the opponent's turn two sets up your turn-three Goryo's.

Matchup Adjustments

• Aggro: Solitude is your most important card. Interaction-heavy hands like Hand 5 become keeps. Be warier of Griselbrand-only hands, because paying 7 life is risky when you're already under pressure.
• Blue interactive and control decks: Value Thoughtseize, Force of Negation, and fair threats like Frog, Riddler, and Teferi over raw speed. Goryo's is an instant, so you can cast it in their end step when they're tapped low.
• Opposing combo and big mana: Speed plus disruption wins. A hand with Thoughtseize and a turn-three kill is a premium keep. A slow fair hand is a mulligan.
• Post-board against graveyard hate: Expect the hate. Value hands that can win without the graveyard, like Hand 2, and hands with Thoughtseize to strip the hate before you go off. Consign to Memory can counter colorless hate spells and triggered abilities. A cheap counter is a real reason to keep a combo hand into suspected hate.
• Post-board against wide creature decks: Wrath of the Skies turns otherwise slow white hands into keeps.

Bottoming on a Mulligan

When you go to six or fewer, use this order:

1. Never bottom your only outlet or your only Goryo's.
2. Keep one target. Frog and Mending can discard any extra you draw later, so a second target is usually the first card to go.
3. Bottom Griselbrand before Atraxa against aggro, because of the life payment.
4. Bottom excess situational interaction before lands.

A six-card hand with three lands, a target, an outlet, and Goryo's is a hand you want to keep.

Sequencing & Key Lines

The Two Reanimation Windows

Every Goryo's Vengeance you cast goes into one of two windows. Pick the window before you pick the discard outlet.

• Opponent's end step. Goryo's Vengeance is an instant, and its exile trigger fires at the beginning of the next end step. Cast it after the opponent's end step has begun and that next end step is yours. Your fatty survives your entire turn: you untap with it, use it, and attack with it. On their turn Force of Negation is also free by exiling a blue card. This is the default window against counterspells and against anything that punishes you for tapping out on your own turn.
• Your main phase. Haste lets the creature attack right away, and you can follow up with sorceries (Thoughtseize, Prismatic Ending) off the cards it gives you. The cost is that Force of Negation costs {1}{U}{U} on your turn. Use this window when the opponent is tapped low, when speed matters more than protection, or when you have Ephemerate to keep the creature.

The Standard Turn Sequence

Your land sequencing exists to support this curve. Fetch shocks or basics for the colors you need next turn, not this turn. Fetch basics whenever the shock adds nothing. Every point of life matters when Griselbrand is your top end.

Choosing a Discard Outlet

1. Psychic Frog is the best outlet. Once it's on the battlefield, discarding costs no mana, so your entire turn-3 mana goes to Goryo's Vengeance and Ephemerate. It also lets you bin the fatty at instant speed in the same window as the reanimation. Be careful with its graveyard-exile ability: never exile your own reanimation target to give the Frog flying.
2. Faithful Mending is the flexible outlet. Cast it at the opponent's end step whenever you can. You see two fresh cards before choosing what to discard, and you keep mana open on their turn. The flashback means one copy can fill the graveyard twice.
3. Surveil lands are free upside, not a plan. Bin anything that isn't a land or interaction you need, and bin any fatty you find.

The Atraxa Line

Reanimate Atraxa, Grand Unifier and the trigger reveals ten cards. You can take one land, one instant, one creature, one sorcery, and one planeswalker. Take them in this order:

• Instant: take Goryo's Vengeance if you need the engine again, Ephemerate if you want to keep Atraxa, and Force of Negation against counterspells.
• Creature: Griselbrand is often correct. In hand it's a second discard target for another Goryo. Take Solitude when you're under creature pressure.
• Planeswalker: take Teferi, Time Raveler every time it appears.
• Sorcery: take Thoughtseize against control and Prismatic Ending against creatures.

Ephemerate timing is the key decision. If you reanimated in your main phase, attack first. Then cast Ephemerate in response to the end-step exile trigger. Atraxa returns as a new object, so the trigger does nothing to it. You get a second enter trigger, and rebound gives you a third on your next upkeep. The exception: if the opponent has open mana and points removal at Atraxa, cast Ephemerate in response right away. You save the creature and still get the extra trigger. Never flicker before combat. The returned Atraxa is a new object without haste and can't attack that turn.

The Griselbrand Line

Griselbrand wins differently. It turns your life total into a full grip of protection. Before you commit to this line, count your life:

• You need more than 7 life to activate the draw ability without losing. Fetches, shocks, and Thoughtseize all cost life. Plan the Griselbrand turn in advance and fetch basics on the way there.
• Griselbrand's draw ability can be activated at instant speed. If the opponent responds with removal, activate in response to draw seven before Griselbrand leaves the battlefield.
• With Quantum Riddler on the battlefield and one or fewer cards in hand, each Griselbrand activation draws eight instead of seven.
• When reanimating at the opponent's end step, draw seven right away. You untap with the cards, the mana, and a 7/7 lifelinker that wins back the life on its first attack.

Choose Griselbrand over Atraxa when your hand lacks protection and the opponent is slow. Choose Atraxa when your life is low or the opponent is applying pressure.

Playing Around the Format's Interaction

Graveyard hate. This is the interaction that beats you most often. Follow one rule: don't leave a fatty sitting in the graveyard while the opponent has open mana unless you can reanimate it in response. Discarding and reanimating in the same window means having Frog on board plus two mana, or four mana for Mending plus Goryo. That beats instant-speed graveyard exile. If they activate hate in response, cast Goryo's Vengeance in response to that. Against graveyard hate that sits on the battlefield, plan to win with Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, and Solitude while you remove the hate piece. Prismatic Ending and March of Otherworldly Light handle the cheap artifacts and enchantments. After sideboarding, Consign to Memory counters triggered abilities, including graveyard-exile triggers.

Counterspells. Bait with the threat you care less about. A main-phase Quantum Riddler or Psychic Frog forces a counter before your real turn. Then reanimate at their end step with Force of Negation available for free. Teferi, Time Raveler is the cleanest answer. Land it on turn 3 and the opponent can only cast spells at sorcery speed, so your turn-4 Goryo's Vengeance resolves unopposed. Remember that Teferi doesn't stop activated abilities.

Spot removal. Removal on Atraxa doesn't stop the enter trigger, which is already on the stack. Removal on Griselbrand doesn't stop draw activations made in response. Hold Ephemerate to answer removal, not to show off. It's the one card that turns their removal into extra value for you.

Discard. Against hand disruption, cast Faithful Mending at instant speed and discard your fatty yourself before they can take it. Psychic Frog does the same at no mana cost. Leaving a lone Goryo's Vengeance in hand against a discard deck invites them to take it.

Small Edges

• With Teferi, Time Raveler on the battlefield, use its +1 to cast Thoughtseize at the opponent's end step. They can't respond, and they have no turn left to redraw before yours.
• Force of Negation pitches any blue card: Quantum Riddler, Psychic Frog, Faithful Mending, Spell Snare, or a second Force. Hold a pitch card in reserve on any turn you expect to need Force.
• Solitude can be evoked by exiling another white card. A spare Ephemerate with no target is a fine pitch. Flickering a Solitude with Ephemerate exiles a second creature.
• Prismatic Ending scales with the number of colors spent. Plan your lands so the colors are available on the turn you need the higher X.
• With Quantum Riddler on the battlefield, empty your hand before your draws. Both Faithful Mending and Griselbrand get the extra card.
• When a fatty already in the graveyard has no window to come back, leave it there. Play to the board and keep Goryo's Vengeance hidden. Revealing it too early lets the opponent hold their hate until the moment it matters.

Matchup Matrix

Low-Curve Aggro — Favored

Aggro has to kill you before a 7/7 lifelinker shows up, and this deck has plenty of ways to buy that time. Solitude costs zero mana when evoked and exiles their best attacker. Ephemerate on Solitude gives you a second exile trigger. Faithful Mending gains life while it sets up your graveyard. Once Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand attacks with lifelink, the race flips hard in your favor.

What decides it: fetchland and shockland damage. Your manabase hurts you, and Thoughtseize costs 2 life every time. Don't pay for Griselbrand's draw-seven when you're low and Atraxa's trigger already gives you enough.

Plan: Spend early turns on removal and setup, not on discard. Prioritize the reanimation that gains life over the one that digs.

• In: +3 Wrath of the Skies, +1 Celestial Purge if they're on red or black
• Out: −2 Force of Negation, −1 Spell Snare, −1 Thoughtseize

Wrath of the Skies lets you choose how much energy to pay, so you can set the cutoff. Pay enough to clear their cheap creatures while keeping your Atraxa, Grand Unifier alive. Watch your own Psychic Frog when you pick the number.

Midrange with Discard and Graveyard Hate — Unfavored to Even

This is the matchup that tests you. Opposing discard strips Goryo's Vengeance, and post-board graveyard hate can blank your main plan. The good news is that the deck doesn't fold when the combo gets blocked. Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, and Solitude all win fair games.

What decides it: timing. Goryo's Vengeance is an instant. If they try to exile your graveyard with a one-shot effect, reanimate in response. Against permanent hate, you need to remove it before you go off: Prismatic Ending and March of Otherworldly Light can both exile it, or you can counter it on the way down.

Plan: Treat games two and three as fair games where the combo is a bonus. Don't throw a legendary into the yard with Faithful Mending into open mana and a hand full of hate. Make them use their answers first.

• In: +4 Consign to Memory, +1 Thoughtseize, +1 Teferi, Time Raveler
• Out: −1 Griselbrand, −1 Goryo's Vengeance, −1 Spell Snare, −2 Faithful Mending, −1 Ephemerate

Consign to Memory counters triggered abilities and colorless spells. That covers hate that arrives as an artifact or works through a trigger. Teferi, Time Raveler stops them from casting instant-speed answers on your turn.

Counterspell Control — Even

Your combo pieces are cheap, so control has to have the answer every single turn. They will run out before you do if you're patient.

What decides it: who wins the stack. Force of Negation is free on their turn. That makes casting Goryo's Vengeance in their end step your best window: you have protection available, and they may already be tapped low. Solitude and Atraxa, Grand Unifier are creatures, so they get around any counter that only hits noncreature spells.

Plan: Lead with Thoughtseize to see their hand and take their best counter. Teferi, Time Raveler is a game-winner here, because it makes them play at sorcery speed. Resolve it, then combo on your own turn with no responses possible. Psychic Frog applies early pressure they have to respect.

• In: +3 Mystical Dispute, +1 Teferi, Time Raveler, +1 Thoughtseize
• Out: −2 Prismatic Ending, −1 March of Otherworldly Light, −2 Solitude

Keep the other two Solitude so you have white cards to exile for its evoke cost and creature targets for Ephemerate.

Linear Combo — Even

This is a race, and you're one of the fastest decks in the format. A turn-two Goryo's Vengeance on Atraxa, Grand Unifier usually puts you ahead. The danger is that you spend your turn setting up while they simply go off.

What decides it: having disruption on the turn that matters. Force of Negation stops a noncreature combo turn for free. Thoughtseize early tells you how much time you actually have.

Plan: On the play, goldfish and hold Force of Negation up. On the draw, lead with discard. Which sideboard cards come in depends on how their combo works:

• Against artifact-based or trigger-based combos: +4 Consign to Memory.
• Against blue combo: +3 Mystical Dispute.
• Against combos built on two-mana pieces: +1 Spell Snare.
• Always: +1 Thoughtseize.
• Out: cut Solitude, March of Otherworldly Light, and Prismatic Ending to make room, in that order, if they have few creatures.

Big Mana / Colorless Ramp — Favored

Ramp spends its early turns building mana. You spend yours putting a 7/7 on the board. The speed difference alone carries most games.

What decides it: not stumbling. If you mulligan into a slow setup, their top end arrives and outclasses your fair threats.

Plan: Mulligan toward speed. Thoughtseize their key accelerant or payoff, then reanimate. After sideboarding, Consign to Memory counters colorless spells outright and stops their trigger-based payoffs.

• In: +4 Consign to Memory, +1 Thoughtseize
• Out: −2 Prismatic Ending, −1 March of Otherworldly Light, −1 Spell Snare, −1 Faithful Mending

Keep Solitude: exiling a giant creature is exactly its job.

Opposing Graveyard Decks — Even

Both decks race, and both are weak to graveyard exile. You're fast enough to win the race outright, but they can steal games with explosive draws.

What decides it: who disrupts first. Nihil Spellbomb exiles their graveyard and replaces itself if you pay {B}. Consign to Memory counters the triggers their engines depend on.

Plan: Crack Nihil Spellbomb in response to their key payoff, not as soon as it lands. Use Solitude on whatever creature they cheat in.

• In: +1 Nihil Spellbomb, +4 Consign to Memory, +1 Thoughtseize
• Out: −2 Force of Negation, −1 Spell Snare, −1 March of Otherworldly Light, −2 Prismatic Ending

Be careful with your own graveyard while the Nihil Spellbomb is out: its activation targets one player's graveyard, so aim it only at theirs.

Sideboard / Tech Guide

This 15 is built around three problems: aggressive creature decks that race the combo, blue decks that counter the combo, and colorless or graveyard-reliant decks that ignore your main-deck interaction. Every plan below keeps the engine intact: Goryo's Vengeance, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Griselbrand, Ephemerate, Faithful Mending, and Psychic Frog as your discard outlet. Your sideboarding happens around that core, never into it.

Fast Aggro (Red-Based and Low-Curve Creature Decks)

• In: 3 Wrath of the Skies, 1 Celestial Purge
• Out: 3 Thoughtseize, 1 Spell Snare

Thoughtseize costs you 2 life and trades one-for-one against a deck that floods the board. Cut it. Wrath of the Skies is the key card here, and the math works in your favor. Cast it for X=1 or X=2 and it clears their cheap threats. Your Quantum Riddler, Solitude, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier all have mana value 5 or higher, so they survive. Only Psychic Frog dies at X=2, so cast Frog after the sweeper when you can. Celestial Purge answers any red or black permanent for two mana at instant speed.

If their curve is built on two-drops, keep Spell Snare and cut Teferi, Time Raveler instead. Keep both Force of Negation. Pitching it on their turn to stop a burn spell or pump spell is a fine tempo trade. Faithful Mending's life gain matters more than usual in this matchup.

Colorless and Artifact Creature Decks

• In: 3 Consign to Memory, 3 Wrath of the Skies
• Out: 2 Force of Negation, 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Spell Snare, 1 Teferi, Time Raveler

Force of Negation only hits noncreature spells, so it does little against a deck whose threats are colorless creatures. Consign to Memory counters any colorless spell, creature or not, for a single blue mana. It also counters triggered abilities, which shuts off enter-the-battlefield and attack triggers. Replicate lets one copy answer two threats in a stacked turn. Wrath of the Skies destroys artifacts as well as creatures, so it cleans up artifact support pieces in the same sweep.

Keep March of Otherworldly Light and both Prismatic Ending. Both exile artifacts. Keep one Thoughtseize to strip a key threat before you combo.

Blue Control and Tempo

• In: 3 Mystical Dispute, 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Thoughtseize
• Out: 1 March of Otherworldly Light, 2 Prismatic Ending, 2 Solitude

This is the matchup where the second Teferi, Time Raveler earns its slot. Once Teferi resolves, they can only cast spells at sorcery speed, so nothing they hold can stop a Goryo's Vengeance on your turn. Land Teferi, then combo with mana up. Mystical Dispute costs one blue mana against any blue spell. That makes it a cheap way to win counter wars on the turn you go for it. Four copies of Thoughtseize let you pull their countermagic before you commit.

Trim Solitude to two, not zero. Two copies still answer tempo threats and give you white cards to exile for Solitude evoke or March of Otherworldly Light. If their counterspells cost two, bring in the second Spell Snare over a third removal piece.

One exception: keep at least one Prismatic Ending if they run graveyard-hate permanents. Exiling the hate piece at sorcery speed, then comboing, is your cleanest line through it.

The Mirror and Opposing Reanimation

• In: 1 Nihil Spellbomb, 1 Spell Snare, 1 Thoughtseize, 2 Mystical Dispute
• Out: 1 March of Otherworldly Light, 2 Prismatic Ending, 1 Quantum Riddler, 1 Solitude

Nihil Spellbomb needs no mana to activate, so it works the turn it lands. Hold it with the tap ability ready. When they cast Goryo's Vengeance, exile their graveyard in response and the spell has no legal target. Spell Snare counters Goryo's Vengeance and Psychic Frog, since both have mana value 2.

Mystical Dispute hits Faithful Mending, Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, and their Force of Negation for a single blue mana. Keep three Solitude. Flashing one in at instant speed exiles their reanimated fatty before it connects.

If you expect opposing Atraxa, Grand Unifier, one Consign to Memory over a Mystical Dispute is reasonable. Countering the enter trigger leaves them with a creature that gets exiled at end step and no cards to show for it.

Non-Blue Combo

• In: 1 Thoughtseize, 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Spell Snare (if key pieces cost two), 2 Consign to Memory (if their engine is triggered abilities or colorless spells)
• Out: 1 March of Otherworldly Light, 2 Prismatic Ending, 2 Solitude

Creature removal is dead weight against decks that barely use creatures. Replace it with disruption. Teferi, Time Raveler forces instant-speed combo onto sorcery speed, which also shuts down end-of-turn setup. Keep Force of Negation, since free counter-magic on their turn is exactly what you want here.

Fair Midrange

Against black or red midrange, bring in Celestial Purge over Spell Snare unless their curve is full of two-drops. Add one or two Wrath of the Skies only if their threats are cheap creatures rather than planeswalkers or card advantage. Otherwise, stay close to the main deck. The combo is already faster than their plan.

Beating Their Hate

Expect graveyard hate in games two and three. Here is how your deck answers it:

• Hate spells: Force of Negation counters any noncreature hate spell, including artifacts and enchantments.
• Hate permanents already on board: Teferi, Time Raveler's −3 bounces an artifact or enchantment and draws you a card. Combo before they can recast it. Prismatic Ending and March of Otherworldly Light remove it permanently.
• Triggered hate: If their hate works through a triggered ability, Consign to Memory counters the trigger itself.
• Instant-speed responses: Resolve Teferi, Time Raveler first, and they lose the window to respond to Goryo's Vengeance on your turn.

When Consign to Memory is in your deck, it has one more use. Goryo's Vengeance exiles your creature through a triggered ability at the next end step. Countering that trigger keeps your Griselbrand or Atraxa, Grand Unifier on the battlefield permanently. This also saves your Ephemerate for something else.

Adjusting the 15 for Your Field

• Blue-heavy room: Go to four Mystical Dispute by cutting Celestial Purge.
• Colorless-heavy room: Four Consign to Memory is already the maximum. Make room for more artifact removal by cutting a Mystical Dispute.
• Aggro-heavy room: Hold all three Wrath of the Skies. Through Teferi's +1, Wrath gains flash, so you can sweep at instant speed on their turn.
• Graveyard decks or mirrors expected: Add a second Nihil Spellbomb over Celestial Purge. It's an artifact, so Atraxa, Grand Unifier can grab it as its own card type.

Tech Choices & Variations

Most of this 60 is locked. The remaining slots, plus the sideboard copies that duplicate main-deck cards, are where you adapt the deck to your room. Do that tuning before you register, not halfway through round three.

The Locked Core

Don't touch these: 4 Goryo's Vengeance, 4 Atraxa, Grand Unifier, 4 Ephemerate, 4 Faithful Mending, 4 Solitude, and 4 Psychic Frog.

• Goryo's Vengeance, Ephemerate, and the reanimation targets are the engine.
• Faithful Mending and Psychic Frog are your discard outlets. The Frog's "discard a card" costs no mana and works at instant speed, which makes it the cleanest way to bin a legend.
• Solitude does double duty. It's free removal, and it's a white card that powers its own evoke.

Cutting any of these weakens the combo itself, not just a matchup.

Legend Count: Griselbrand vs. More Disruption

The single Griselbrand is the first real flex slot. It gives Goryo's Vengeance a second legendary target, so you keep functioning when Atraxa, Grand Unifier copies are stuck in hand or have been exiled.

The cost is life. Paying 7 to draw seven is brutal when an aggressive deck already has you low. Its lifelink only claws that back if Griselbrand survives to attack.

• Keep it when your room leans control or combo. Against those decks, drawing seven at instant speed finds the protection or the second threat you need.
• Cut it for the 4th Thoughtseize or the 2nd Spell Snare if your locals is mostly creature aggro. Against that field you'd rather spend the slot interacting early than holding a target you can't afford to activate.

The Disruption Package

Three cards are split between main deck and sideboard: Thoughtseize (3 main / 1 side), Spell Snare (1 / 1), and Teferi, Time Raveler (1 / 1). That split is deliberate. Each one can move into the main deck depending on the field.

• 4th Thoughtseize: Strong against combo and control, where stripping a key piece before you go off decides the game. It's weak against aggro, where losing 2 life and spending turn one on discard slows your own plan. Go to four if you expect few creature decks.
• 2nd Spell Snare: It only counters mana value 2 spells. That makes it great against a field full of two-drops, and excellent in the mirror because Goryo's Vengeance itself is mana value 2. Against a field of one-drops and big spells, it's a dead card.
• 2nd Teferi, Time Raveler: The static ability forces opponents to cast spells only at sorcery speed. That shuts off instant-speed answers on your combo turn, so it's the best main-deck addition when your room is full of blue reactive decks. The −3 also bounces a problem artifact, creature, or enchantment and draws a card. The cost is mana: casting Teferi, Time Raveler and Goryo's Vengeance in the same turn takes five, so you usually deploy Teferi a turn early.

Force of Negation sits at two. Remember that its free mode only works when it's not your turn. It defends you on the opponent's turn against discard, sweepers, and opposing combo. On your own combo turn, it costs full mana like any other three-drop.

A third copy also strains your blue pitch cards. Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, Faithful Mending, Spell Snare, and Teferi, Time Raveler all serve as Force fodder, and several of them are things you'd rather cast.

The Removal Split: Prismatic Ending vs. March of Otherworldly Light

The list runs 2 Prismatic Ending and 1 March of Otherworldly Light. Each has a clear strength.

Choose based on what threatens you:

• Planeswalker-heavy rooms: stay at 2 Ending or go to 3.
• Bigger artifacts and enchantments: if you need to answer them at instant speed, a 2nd March over an Ending is the better swap.

Quantum Riddler at Four

Riddler is the softest of the four-ofs. Its draw boost when you're at one or fewer cards stacks well with Faithful Mending. That card draws before it discards, so a near-empty hand turns it into a bigger dig for legends.

Still, a 5-mana creature is the most natural cut when you need a slot for the 4th Thoughtseize or 2nd Teferi, Time Raveler. Trim to three if your field punishes slow turns. Keep four if your games tend to go long and you need card flow.

The Mana Base

The lands split into three groups:

• Fetches: 11 (Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, Polluted Delta).
• Shocks: 4 (Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb, Watery Grave).
• Surveil lands and basics: 3 surveil lands (Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers) and 3 basics (Island, Plains, Swamp).

The surveil lands are the main dial. Each one enters tapped, but it can surveil a legend straight into the graveyard, which is a discard outlet that costs you no card. You have two directions to push:

• More surveil lands if your field is slow and you value bin consistency over tempo.
• A shock or basic instead of a surveil land if fast aggro dominates and tapped lands keep costing you blockers or Solitude mana. Basics also matter more if your locals runs land-based hate that punishes nonbasics.

Overgrown Tomb is your only green source. It exists so you can hard-cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier when reanimation is off the table. Your Swamp-fetching lands can find it, so don't cut it for another basic.

Sideboard Slots That Can Move Main

Consign to Memory is worth a hard look as a main-deck one-of. It counters triggered abilities, and Goryo's Vengeance creates one: "Exile it at the beginning of the next end step." Countering that delayed trigger keeps your Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand permanently, without needing Ephemerate. It also stops opposing triggers and colorless spells. Only move it main if your field is dense in those targets, or if you lose to blink-denial often enough to want a backup.

The other sideboard cards stay put unless your room is lopsided:

• Mystical Dispute: It costs only {U} against blue spells. Main-deck it only if your room is overwhelmingly blue.
• Wrath of the Skies: Pick X carefully, because it also destroys your own Psychic Frog and other low-cost creatures. It belongs in the 15, not the main.
• Narrow answers: Celestial Purge (black or red permanents only) and Nihil Spellbomb (graveyard exile with a cantrip on {B}) are too narrow to main-deck. If your locals lacks heavy graveyard strategies, the Spellbomb slot can become another flexible card.

Tuning for Your Local Field

If you don't know your field, register the list as built. The sideboard copies of Thoughtseize, Spell Snare, and Teferi, Time Raveler give you the dial after game one, which is when you actually know what you're facing.

Budget Options

This deck runs about $931 in its full form. Most of that cost is concentrated in a few places: the fetchland suite, the free interaction, and a few premium creatures. The combo engine itself is not where most of the money goes, so the core of the deck can be built at a fraction of the full price. The catch is that several of the expensive cards double as combo enablers, so every swap has a cost.

Where the Money Is

The most expensive part of the list is probably not one card but the land suite. Eleven fetches across Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta, plus the shocklands, make up a large share of the total. The other likely high-cost pieces:

• Solitude: free removal, an Ephemerate target, and a white card for March of Otherworldly Light.
• Force of Negation: free protection on the opponent's turn.
• Psychic Frog: a threat and a discard outlet.
• Thoughtseize: one-mana disruption and a way to see their hand before you go off.
• Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Griselbrand: the reanimation targets.

The engine pieces, Ephemerate and Faithful Mending, are likely among the cheaper cards in the 75. Most of the sideboard is also low-cost: Consign to Memory, Mystical Dispute, Spell Snare, Celestial Purge, and Nihil Spellbomb are all narrow, efficient cards. Check current prices before you buy, but expect your budget pressure to come from the mana base and the free spells.

The Non-Negotiables

Don't cut Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Griselbrand, Goryo's Vengeance, Faithful Mending, or Ephemerate. Goryo's Vengeance only returns legendary creatures, so your targets are fixed. Without the legends there is no deck, only a pile of white-blue interaction. Buy these first even if everything else is a placeholder.

Budget Swap: The Mana Base

This is the easiest place to save money. Replace the eleven fetches with extra copies of lands already in the list: more shocklands, more surveil lands, and more basics. A workable 21-land budget configuration:

The surveil lands are better here than in most decks. Surveil 1 can put a Griselbrand or Atraxa, Grand Unifier from the top of your library straight into the graveyard. That turns a tapped land into a combo piece.

What you give up:

• Tempo. Six tapped lands is a real cost. The deck wants to cast Faithful Mending and Goryo's Vengeance on curve, and a tapped land on the wrong turn delays the kill by a full turn.
• Color access. Fetches let one land find whichever shockland you need. Without them, you'll have more draws where you have Goryo's Vengeance but no black source, or Solitude but only one white source.
• Graveyard fuel. Fetches stock your graveyard for Psychic Frog's exile-three ability.

You can lower the cost further by replacing some shocklands with basics, but that makes the color problems worse. Treat the shocklands as a floor, not a luxury.

Budget Swap: Force of Negation

Replace the two copies with a second main-deck Spell Snare and one Mystical Dispute. You can also move the sideboard Consign to Memorys main if your local field is full of colorless threats or triggered abilities.

What you give up: Force of Negation can be cast for zero mana on the opponent's turn by exiling a blue card, and it counters any noncreature spell. The replacements cost mana and only hit specific targets. Spell Snare only counters mana value 2, and Mystical Dispute is cheap only against blue spells. Against a variety of decks, you will sometimes draw the wrong counter. This swap costs the least power of any budget change in the deck. It hurts most against combo and spell-heavy decks, where Force's free cast lets you hold up protection and still spend your mana on your own turn.

Budget Swap: Solitude

If you have to, replace Solitude with the third and fourth Prismatic Ending, a second March of Otherworldly Light, and the sideboard Teferi, Time Raveler.

What you give up: a lot. Solitude is instant-speed removal that costs no mana when evoked. It lets you remove a creature and still keep your mana for the combo. With Ephemerate, you exile a second creature. It also adds to your white card count, which March of Otherworldly Light and Solitude itself need for their alternate costs. The replacements are sorcery-speed or cost mana. Against aggressive creature decks, this swap takes you from comfortable to fighting for every turn. If your local field is mostly creature decks, prioritize Solitude above everything below it.

Why Psychic Frog Stays

The tempting budget idea is to treat Psychic Frog as an optional threat and cut it. Don't. Its "Discard a card" ability can be activated any time you have mana available, and it puts a legend into your graveyard without spending a card on Faithful Mending. It is your second discard outlet. Nothing else in the 75 does that job. Without Frog, Faithful Mending becomes your only real enabler, and your combo depends on drawing it. Buy Frog before fetches, before Force, and before Solitude.

Cheaper Sideboard Options

Most of the sideboard is already low-cost. The likely expensive pieces are the fourth Thoughtseize and the second Teferi, Time Raveler. Replace them with a second sideboard Spell Snare or a fourth Mystical Dispute, depending on whether your local field has more two-drops or more blue decks. Wrath of the Skies does a job nothing else here does against artifact, creature, and enchantment strategies, so buy it early.

Upgrade Path

The order matters. Each step should fix the biggest weakness of the build you're currently playing.

1. Engine and legends. Buy Goryo's Vengeance, Faithful Mending, Ephemerate, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Griselbrand, and Quantum Riddler alongside the budget mana base. The deck can win at this stage.
2. Psychic Frog. Your second discard outlet makes the combo much more reliable.
3. Solitude. This is the biggest jump in interaction quality and fixes your weakness against creature decks.
4. Fetchlands. Buy them a few at a time, starting with whichever fetch finds the most of your shocklands. Each fetch replaces a tapped land or a basic, so the improvement builds with every copy.
5. Force of Negation. Free protection is the last big step toward full power.
6. Thoughtseize to its full count and the sideboard Teferi, Time Raveler. These add flexibility rather than fix a weakness. Finish here.

If your local field is mostly aggressive creature decks, move Solitude ahead of Psychic Frog, because surviving long enough to combo is the bigger problem. If it's mostly combo and control decks, move Force of Negation ahead of the fetchlands, because protecting your combo matters more than perfect mana.

Common Mistakes

1. Goryo-ing on Your Own Turn by Default

The most expensive habit with this deck is casting Goryo's Vengeance in your main phase when nothing requires it. The delayed trigger exiles the creature "at the beginning of the next end step." If you cast it during your opponent's end step, after that step has already begun, the next end step is yours. Your Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand stays through your entire untap, draw, and combat, and you keep everything its trigger or activation gave you.

The end-step line also unlocks Force of Negation. Its alternative cost only works when it's not your turn, so going off on their turn lets you protect the combo by exiling a blue card instead of holding up {1}{U}{U}.

Fix: Default to the opponent's end step. Go off main phase only when you need the haste attack immediately: the opponent is low enough that a hasty 7/7 lifelinker ends it, you need the life right now, or Teferi, Time Raveler is already down and holding their instant-speed answers at bay.

2. Mistiming Ephemerate

Ephemerate on a creature returned by Goryo's Vengeance does two things. It brings the creature back as a new object, so the end-step exile no longer applies to it. And it re-triggers Atraxa, Grand Unifier's enters ability. Players lose this value in two ways:

• Blinking immediately when you don't have to. If you fire Ephemerate the moment the creature lands, you have nothing left when the opponent points removal at it. Hold it. If they target the creature, respond with the blink. If they don't, blink before the delayed exile trigger resolves.
• Casting it from somewhere other than your hand. Rebound only happens when Ephemerate is cast from hand. The rebound copy on your next upkeep gives you a second blink, which means another Atraxa, Grand Unifier trigger. Count that copy as real card advantage, not a bonus.

The same thinking applies to an evoked Solitude. Blink it in response to the evoke sacrifice trigger and you get a second exile trigger plus a 3/2 lifelinker that stays.

3. Treating Non-Legendary Creatures as Reanimation Targets

Goryo's Vengeance says "legendary creature card." In this list, that means Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Griselbrand, nothing else. Solitude and Quantum Riddler are not legendary. Teferi, Time Raveler is legendary but not a creature. Under pressure, players discard Solitude to Faithful Mending expecting to reanimate it later, or bin Quantum Riddler as if it were a backup target.

Fix: When choosing discards, rank your cards by whether they can actually be returned. Solitude has real value in hand as free removal you can evoke by exiling another white card. Keep it there unless it's your only discard option.

4. Exiling Your Own Targets to Psychic Frog

Psychic Frog's flying ability exiles three cards from your graveyard. Those are the same cards you need for Goryo's Vengeance and Faithful Mending flashback. Players racing with Frog often exile on autopilot and lose their Griselbrand or their flashback in the process.

Fix: Before activating, name the three cards out loud and confirm none of them is a legendary creature or an unflashed Faithful Mending. Frog's discard ability is the opposite case. It's an instant-speed way to put Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand into the graveyard, so use it freely on the turn before you plan to go off.

5. Bleeding Out Before Griselbrand Can Draw

Griselbrand asks for 7 life per activation. Between fetches, shocks, Thoughtseize, and opposing pressure, your life total can drop below the point where Griselbrand does anything useful. At 8 life you get exactly one activation and end at 1. At 7 or below you get none.

• Fetch for a basic or take a land tapped when you don't need the mana that turn.
• Don't fire Thoughtseize reflexively in matchups where your life total is the resource being attacked.
• Remember Faithful Mending gains 2 life, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier attacking with lifelink can rebuild your total.
• If your life is too low for a meaningful Griselbrand turn, pick Atraxa, Grand Unifier as the target instead.

Also sequence your hand around Quantum Riddler. With one or fewer cards in hand, each draw gets an extra card. A Griselbrand activation then draws eight instead of seven, and Faithful Mending draws three before you discard two. Empty your hand first when you can.

6. Snap-Picking Off Atraxa's Reveal

Atraxa, Grand Unifier lets you take one card per card type, and this deck is dense with instants. Goryo's Vengeance, Ephemerate, Faithful Mending, Force of Negation, Solitude's removal role, and Spell Snare all compete, but only one instant comes home. The common mistake is taking the flashiest instant instead of the one that wins the next turn cycle.

Fix: Ask what kills you before you untap. Facing a counterspell or graveyard hate, Force of Negation usually beats a second Goryo's Vengeance. If Atraxa is about to be exiled with no blink available, Ephemerate keeps your 7/7. A sorcery slot used on Thoughtseize or Prismatic Ending and a planeswalker slot used on Teferi, Time Raveler are often worth more than a land you won't need.

7. Forcing the Combo Through Graveyard Hate

When the opponent shows graveyard hate, players keep feeding their legendary creatures into the bin and hoping. This list doesn't need to. Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, Solitude, and Teferi, Time Raveler can win a fair game. Hard-casting Quantum Riddler or warping it for {1}{U} still draws cards without touching the graveyard.

Fix: When hate is on the battlefield or obviously in hand, stop discarding your legendary creatures and play the tempo game. Remove the hate with Prismatic Ending or March of Otherworldly Light, or strip it with Thoughtseize, before you commit the combo again. Every Atraxa, Grand Unifier you lose to exile is a card the fair plan could have used.

8. Playing a Surveil Land on the Wrong Turn

Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, and Undercity Sewers all enter tapped. Their surveil 1 is a free chance to bin a legendary creature off the top. Players waste them by holding them until a turn where the tapped land costs them the Goryo's Vengeance plus Force of Negation or Ephemerate mana.

Fix: Play tapped surveil lands on turns where you weren't using all your mana anyway, usually turn one or a turn spent passing with nothing to cast. Save shocks and fetches for the turn you go off. If you surveil into Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand and already hold Goryo's Vengeance, bin it. Otherwise, judge the top card by whether you need it more in hand than in the yard.

Tournament Prep & Final Notes

What to Practice Before the Event

This deck plays two different games: a fast reanimation kill and a grindy interactive game built on Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, and Solitude. You need reps on both, and you need to recognize which one you're playing by turn two.

• Goldfish the enablers until the count is automatic. Your ways to put a legend in the graveyard are Faithful Mending, Psychic Frog's discard ability, Thoughtseize targeting yourself, and the surveil on Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, and Undercity Sewers. Deal opening hands and ask one question: what's the earliest turn this hand puts Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Griselbrand into play, and what mana does it need held up?
• Practice the fair game separately. Shuffle up with the legends removed and win with Psychic Frog, Quantum Riddler, Solitude, and Teferi, Time Raveler. Opponents with graveyard hate will force you into this game. If you've only practiced comboing, you'll make mistakes in long games when the clock matters most.
• Drill your pitch decisions. Solitude exiles a white card, Force of Negation exiles a blue card, and March of Otherworldly Light exiles white cards for cost reduction. Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Teferi, Time Raveler count as both white and blue, and Faithful Mending is white and blue too. Know which cards are expendable in each matchup before you sit down.
• Rehearse your sideboarding swaps. Work them out in advance so you aren't recounting 60 cards while the round clock runs.

Rules Interactions to Know Cold

Pitching is not discarding. Solitude's evoke, Force of Negation's alternative cost, and March of Otherworldly Light's additional cost all exile cards from your hand. Pitching Atraxa, Grand Unifier to any of them removes it from the game, and Goryo's Vengeance can't touch it. If you want a legend in the graveyard, use Faithful Mending, Psychic Frog, Thoughtseize, or surveil.

Goryo's Vengeance only targets legendary creature cards. In this list, that means Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Griselbrand. Solitude and Quantum Riddler aren't legendary, and Teferi, Time Raveler isn't a creature. The splice ability is irrelevant because the deck has no other Arcane spells.

Ephemerate keeps your reanimated legend. Ephemerate exiles the creature and returns it as a new object, so Goryo's Vengeance's end-step exile no longer applies to it. You also get a fresh enter trigger. With Atraxa, Grand Unifier, that's another ten-card reveal. The returned creature also loses the haste Goryo's Vengeance gave it, so attack first, then flicker after combat or in response to the exile trigger. Rebound gives you another free Ephemerate in your next upkeep, which means a third Atraxa, Grand Unifier trigger.

End-step timing on Goryo's Vengeance. The creature is exiled "at the beginning of the next end step." If you cast Goryo's Vengeance during your opponent's end step, that turn's beginning-of-end-step has already passed. The creature stays until the end of your turn, and it keeps haste because the grant has no duration. This is your strongest line against sorcery-speed answers.

Griselbrand draws at instant speed, as many times as you can pay. With the exile trigger on the stack, you can keep paying 7 life to draw seven. Lifelink damage from an earlier attack funds more activations. Track your life total from the start of the game. Fetches, shocks, and Thoughtseize all eat into your Griselbrand budget.

Quantum Riddler boosts every draw while your hand is small. With one or fewer cards in hand, Griselbrand's seven becomes eight, Faithful Mending's two becomes three, and the Riddler's own enter trigger draws two. Dump your hand before activating if you can.

Psychic Frog's flying ability exiles from your graveyard. Never exile a legend you plan to reanimate, and don't exile a Faithful Mending you want to flash back.

Force of Negation is free only on the opponent's turn. On your turn it costs {1}{U}{U}. It counters only noncreature spells.

Teferi, Time Raveler works on both sides. The static ability stops opponents from responding at instant speed to your Goryo's Vengeance or Griselbrand activations. The +1 lets you cast Thoughtseize and Prismatic Ending at instant speed until your next turn.

Mana details. All three fetch types find every dual in the deck because each has basic land types. Fetching a surveil land is an extra enabler. Overgrown Tomb is your only green source. Marsh Flats and Polluted Delta can fetch it, but Flooded Strand cannot. You need it for four-color Prismatic Ending and for hard-casting Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Converge counts colors of mana spent, so plan which lands you tap.

Sideboard specifics.

• Wrath of the Skies lets you pay less energy than you got, so you can choose a number that spares your own threats.
• Nihil Spellbomb targets a player. Point it at the right graveyard.
• Mystical Dispute costs just {U} only when the target is blue.

Time Management

The combo kills quickly, but the deck's mechanics eat clock. Every fetch means a shuffle. Each Atraxa, Grand Unifier trigger means sorting ten cards. A Griselbrand activation means reading seven new cards. Fair games against interactive opponents run long. Habits that save time:

• Sort Atraxa, Grand Unifier reveals by type immediately. Lay the ten cards in rows by type: land, creature, instant, sorcery, planeswalker. Take the best from each and bottom the rest. Practice until this takes seconds.
• Fetch efficiently. Crack fetches when you'd shuffle anyway or when it matters for surveil. Don't fetch repeatedly in a turn without a reason, and announce your target before searching.
• Plan Griselbrand activations in advance. Know before casting Goryo's Vengeance how many draws you can afford and what you're looking for.
• Close fair games. When ahead with Psychic Frog or Quantum Riddler, push damage rather than durdling. A draw counts as a loss for this deck far too often.

Final Assessment

This list doesn't go all-in on reanimation. It's an interactive deck that happens to have a turn-two-or-three kill. Four Psychic Frog, four Quantum Riddler, four Solitude, Teferi, Time Raveler, free counters, and discard mean that graveyard hate doesn't end your game. It just changes which game you're playing. The fair cards also serve the combo: Psychic Frog and Faithful Mending bin legends, Solitude and Ephemerate protect board states, and Teferi, Time Raveler protects the turn you go off.

Strengths:

• Redundant enablers and a resilient backup plan.
• Free interaction that lets you tap out for the combo.
• A sideboard covering artifacts, triggered abilities, blue mirrors, and wide boards.

Weaknesses:

• A life total under constant pressure from fetches, shocks, Thoughtseize, and Griselbrand.
• Only one green source for the deck's top-end flexibility.
• Card disadvantage from pitch spells when exchanges go badly.
• A complex deck that rewards preparation and punishes guesswork.

At about $931, it's a substantial investment, though many of its staples carry over to other Modern decks.

The 1st place finish at IQ Arzúa - Piknitas Modern shows the configuration can carry a pilot through a field. Your results will depend on your preparation. Learn the pitch-versus-discard distinction, the Ephemerate timing, and the end-step Goryo's Vengeance line until you don't have to think about them. Practice the fair game as seriously as the combo. Show up knowing how to finish games inside the clock.

Source: tournament results. Decklist and placements as reported by the event organizer.