Skip to main content

💀 The Math of the Grave: How to Build a Consistent 60-Card Resurrection Engine

 


💀 The Math of the Grave: How to Build a Consistent 60-Card Resurrection Engine

by Tibalt’s Apprentice

There’s a special kind of joy in raising something from the dead — in Magic, that is. Whether it’s a doomed combo piece, a fallen fatty, or your opponent’s best creature (whoops, mine now), the graveyard is the real power zone.

But if you’ve ever tried to reanimate something in a 60-card deck and whiffed for four turns straight… you know the pain. So let’s fix that. Today, we’re breaking down how to make your graveyard plan actually consistent — and yes, there’s some math involved. Don’t worry, I did the math so you can do the magic.

🧮 The Goal: Raise the Dead by Turn 4

You want a specific card in your graveyard by turn four so you can bring it back to life — simple, right?

To pull that off, you’ll need to:

  1. Get that card into your graveyard somehow (mill, discard, or tutor).

  2. Have a spell ready to bring it back.

The question is: how many cards do you need that fill the graveyard, and how many copies of your “target” effect do you need, to make that happen reliably?

⚖️ The Setup (Don’t Panic, It’s Just Probabilities)

A 60-card deck gives you about 10 cards drawn by turn four (your opener plus three draws). You can only discard from those — anything else has to be milled from the library.

Since Magic limits you to 4 copies of any card name, we count “different cards that do the same job” as extra copies. (For example: Entomb, Buried Alive, and Faithless Looting all count as separate “ways to get a card in the graveyard.”)

💀 The Resurrection Equation (Tibalt’s Simplified Version)

Chance of success = how many cards you toss + how many cards you own that can be tossed.

If you just want a quick rule of thumb:

  • 4 discard/mill effects? ~25% success by turn 4.

  • 8 effects? ~45–70%.

  • 12 effects? ~85–95%.

  • 16 effects? ~95%+.

See the trend? The more cards you have that either put your target in the graveyard or could be that target, the more likely the magic happens on schedule.

📊 The “Good Enough” Zone

If you’re aiming for real-world consistency (about 90% reliability), you want:

  • 10–12 cards that can put your target into the graveyard (across multiple names).

  • About 10–12 total “target” cards that you’d be happy to resurrect.

  • ~12 total cards moved into your graveyard by turn four, from discard or mill.

That gets you a roughly 91–95% chance of having something juicy in the graveyard when it’s time to cast Reanimate and laugh maniacally.

💡 Building a Deck That Actually Does It

If you want this to work on the table (not just on paper), here’s the structure you’re looking for:

RoleCard CountWhat to Use
Graveyard fillers8–10Faithless Looting, Entomb, Buried Alive, Thrill of Possibility, Cathartic Reunion
Reanimation effects3–5Reanimate, Unearth, Persist, Victimize, Unburial Rites
Draw/fixers4–6Sign in Blood, Consider, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Interaction6–8Fatal Push, Abrade, Collective Brutality
Lands22–24You know what to do.
The big scary thing you’re reviving3–4Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Archon of Cruelty, Serra’s Emissary, etc.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lab Report 059: I Hate Alchemy (and Why Nice Guys Finish Last on Arena)

  I Hate Alchemy (and Why Nice Guys Finish Last on Arena) “A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.”    Let me get this out of the way up front: I hate Alchemy. Hate it. Despise it. The digital-only nonsense, the endless “rebalancing,” the half-baked mechanics that would collapse under their own weight if they ever had to exist in cardboard form—Alchemy feels like Magic’s integrity got fed into a paper shredder just so someone in accounting could hit their quarterly bonus. Sure, the official line is that it keeps the game “fresh” and “exciting.” But let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t about fresh gameplay—it’s about milking the cow until it keels over. And here’s the real kicker: nobody cares. Nobody at Wizards cares that Alchemy cheapens the game. Nobody on the Arena ladder cares if you’re stubbornly refusing to play the busted cards. Nobody gives you a shiny badge of honor for “staying true to real Magic.” If anythin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lab Report 001: The Binary Trap — Why Fun Should Be the Goal

 LAB REPORT 001: The Binary Trap — Why Fun Should Be the Goal Commander is one of the richest formats in Magic, but all too often I see players fall into what I call the binary trap . It's the idea that there's only one acceptable outcome: winning. When winning is your only goal, the game becomes black and white—either you win and have fun, or you lose and walk away disappointed. Every card, every turn, every interaction is judged by whether it contributes to a victory, and if it doesn’t, it’s seen as a waste. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a game. But when you make fun your primary objective, the whole game opens up. Suddenly, there are infinite shades of gray between winning and losing. You start to notice the little victories—the perfect topdeck, the unlikely combo that almost goes off, the chaos you unleash with a single card. You laugh more. You engage more. You remember more. Fun doesn’t have to be the opposite of winning—it can include it—but it’s far more susta...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lab Report 24: Why Archenemy is the Perfect Format for Streaming

  Lab Report 24: Why Archenemy is the Perfect Format for Streaming by madsaxxon, Tibalt’s Apprentice So here’s a spicy take for the streamers, the guests, and the chaos gremlins alike: Archenemy might just be the perfect way to play Commander on stream. I had the chance to join a streamed Archenemy game hosted by Jake the Lithomancer . Jake’s known for combining janky brews, flavorful storytelling, and just enough chaos to keep things unpredictable. You’ll find him streaming these wild Commander sessions on Twitch and sharing game highlights and deckbuilding thoughts over at @jake_the_lithomancer . Now, let’s get the basics out of the way—Archenemy is a variant format where one player becomes “the archenemy” and takes on a team of three opponents. The twist? The archenemy starts with 40 life, draws two cards per turn, and gets a ridiculous bonus each turn from a deck of scheme cards—oversized, splashy effects that feel like a blend between cheating and plot armor. And yes, it’...
Post a Comment
Read more