Magic has always had ways to use a graveyard to your advantage. These are the decks that my brother and I have made over the years specifically for that purpose. Some of these decks may have been mentioned in previous posts.
Reanimation
60 Card Format
Black, Blue
Animate Dead
Necromancy
Dance of the Dead
Crystal Chimes
Nevynraals Disk
Rhystic Study
Dark Ritual
Hidden Horrow
Flux
Feldon's Cane
Bringer of the Blue Dawn
Dralnu's Pet
Avatar of Woe
Assorted big creatures
Reanimation is a solid deck concept, but the nuts and bolts are all old cards. Animate Dead (3rd/4th Edition), Dance of the Dead (Ice Age), and Necromancy (Visions) made the deck work. Draw and discard spells changed over the years, as well as the choice of big creatures, but the base concept kept one of our longest-running decks going for over a decade.
Threshold
60 Card Format
Green, White
4 Anvil of Bogarden
4 Mesmeric Orb
2 Harrow
2 Eternal Dragon
4 Werebear
4 Mystic Enforcer
3 Qasali Pridemage
4 Gurzigost
4 Bonehoard
4 Unburial Rites
4 Pulsemage Advocate
LANDS
Forests
Plains
4 Riftstone Portal
2 Nantuko Monastery
WIN METHOD: Damage- Creatures, Mill
DECK EFFECTIVENESS: A
INHERENT WEAKNESSES: The deck may become a target by virtue of annoyance before taking off.
DISCUSSION
Originally this deck was built around one idea: what if I cast Traumatize on myself? Threshold, flashback, madness, hellbent, and other seldom-used mechanics become useful. While blue originally contributed the bulk of the deck, spells were replaced with better spells until the deck was cut to straight green and white. This deck went through many iterations and card search terms, and is one of my favorite deck collaborations.
Nether Shadow
60 Card Format
Black
Nether Shadow
Ashen Ghoul
Nether Traitor
Bloodghast
Buried Alive
Iname, Death Aspect
Braids, Cabal Minion
Magus of the Abyss
Killing Wave
Mutilate
Barter in Blood
Blood Artist
Angel's Tomb
Demonic Tomb
Blood Funnel
LANDS
Swamps
Crypt of Agadeem
WIN METHOD: Damage- Creatures
DECK EFFECTIVENESS: A
INHERENT WEAKNESSES: Non-creature decks
DISCUSSION
This is another tried-and-true format, where you generally win by attrition. We didn't come up with it, we just wanted to try it out. A rather comprehensive go-to for this deck type can be found at: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/19681_The-Kitchen-Table--345---The-Nether-Shadow-Primer.html .
Other Stuff
As I mentioned, using some combination of synergistic mechanics like madness, delve, hellbent, and threshold has been something I've looked into many times over the years. While the new delve cards haven't impressed me, I was moved to look into yet another graveyard-centered deck, using a lot of cards I've liked for a while. Graveyard Deck Number Four!
Red Black Delve Discard Threshold
60-Card Format
Red, Black
4 Avatar of Discord
2 Craggenwick Cremator
4 Demigod of Revenge
4 Vengeful Pharaoh
4 Tombstalker
4 Typhoid Rats
4 Anvil of Bogarden
4 Howling Mine
4 Dark Ritual
4 Rite of Flame
4 Cabal Ritual
LANDS
Mountains
Swamps
Multicolor lands
2 Lotus Vale
2 Gemstone Mine
I haven't played it yet, so it may need to be tweaked to get the right balance of discard and speed. While Tombstalker is the only delve in the deck, and Cabal Ritual is the only threshold card, Rite of Flame, Vengeful Pharaoh, and Demigod of Revenge are all beneficial in the graveyard. It looks ok to me, we'll see how it goes.
