Animar - Creatures toolkit combo (PRIMER)

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Primer RUG (Temur) Tempo

MediocreMartin

Lands (30)

• 1x Ancient Ziggurat
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 2x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 1x Grove of the Burnwillows
• 3x Island
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1x Pendelhaven
• 1x Rootbound Crag
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Counter accelerators (6)

• 1x Bond Beetle
• 1x Deepglow Skate
• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• 1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 1x Satyr Grovedancer

Bounce stuff (3)

• 1x Ancestral Statue
• 1x Quickling
• 1x Shrieking Drake

Graveyard recurrence (1)

• 1x Eternal Witness

Mana dorks, accelerators and mana fixing (12)

• 1x Beastcaller Savant
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Oblivion Sower
• 1x Rattleclaw Mystic
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1x Smokebraider
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Somberwald Sage
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie

Protecting Animar (9)

• 1x Force of WillGC
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Plaxmanta
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper

Artifact / enchantment removal (6)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Bane of Progress
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Sylvok Replica
• 1x Terastodon
• 1x World Breaker

Copy stuff (4)

• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Stunt Double
• 1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Untap stuff (4)

• 1x Cloud of Faeries
• 1x Deceiver Exarch
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Commander (1)

Tutors (10)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Flamekin Harbinger
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Treasure Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Woodland Bellower
• 1x Worldly TutorGC

Card draw (7)

• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Primordial Sage
• 1x Soul of the Harvest
• 1x Tishana, Voice of Thunder
• 1x Wall of Blossoms

Creature removal (4)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Phyrexian Ingester
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Finishers (3)

• 1x Decimator of the Provinces
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Walking Ballista

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Hello all ! Thank you for passing by and looking at my Animar primer. Please read through and let me know what you think. Upvote if you like it ;)

Introduction

Animar, Soul of Elements was originally found in the commander deck 'Mirror Mastery' released in 2013. This was my first commander precon I bought and immediatly loved the way how the format played. At first I played around with Riku of Two Reflections but felt like Animar had the bigger potential. So I started brewing, it began with just throwing out big creatures at a low mana cost on the board. A bit of a battlecruiser playstyle which was fine at the moment. When the power level of my playgroup upped I realized that the potential of Animar is way bigger than just cheating in some stompy creatures. I started creating a combo toolkit that had an immense focus on the use of creatures.

Why would you play Animar?

Pro's

• Build-in protection: Protection from white and black gives him an extra layer of protection VS targeted removal
• Cost reduction for creatures: You can play a lot of value for a really low amount of mana
• You like to have an answer for everything: Open up your toolbox and find an answer for everything they throw at you
• More than 1 win condition: Win by commander damage, combo or overrun your opponents. The choice is up to you. Never gets boring as each game will feel different
• Explosive: Animar is an engine that not slows down. With some hands you are able to win the game as early as turn 4

Contra's

• Weak body: Animar starts as a 1/1 creatures
• Prone to removal: Animar is actually your game plan, without Animar on the field, you will not win the game

The idea behind this deck

Animar, Soul of Elements is creature that completely annihilates the grey mana cost of your creatures. The deck was build mainly of creatures to make the most profit out of the ability of Animar.

• The best thing to have are creatures with only grey CMC (f.e. Duplicant, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, creatures with morph or phyrexian mana)
• Second best are creatures with only 1 coloured mana in their cost (f.e. Imperial Recruiter, Beastcaller Savant ...)
• If a creature has 2 coloured mana in it's CMC we should question if it's really worth taking, so I tried to limit these but some are just too good to pass on (f.e. Tishana, Voice of Thunder, Beast Whisperer ...)
• There is only card in the list which contains 3 coloured mana symbols. Why? Because it's too easy to combo off to pass onto it. Yes, you guessed it, we are talking about Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Let's see what's inside the toolbox

Mana dorks, accelerators and mana fixing

• Some standard mana dorks / accelerators have been added such as Birds of Paradise, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Solemn Simulacrum, Sol Ring.
• Beastcaller Savant has haste and can immediately pay back it's cost.
• Somberwald Sage and Shaman of forgotten way are a bit more expensive but produce more mana.
• Smokebraider is a dork that only produces mana to cast elementals such as Animar, Soul of Elements, Soul of the Harvest, Bane of Progress.
• Rattleclaw Mystic produces the Temur colours and has the benefit of having morph.
• Vizier of the Menagerie is a mana fixer and let's you cast creatures from the top of your library
• Oblivion Sower is a gamble but can hit 1-4 lands that come untapped under your control. Statistically it should hit at least 1 land
• Treasonous Ogre gives you red mana at the cost of 3 life which translates into 13 red mana is you are at 40 life! Use it to win the game as fast as possible. Also if you have Vizier of the Menagerie in combination with this card, you can use your mana as any colour when casting creatures

Card draw

• As we are playing a lot of creatures, we benefit a lot by drawing a card every time we cast a creature spell. Soul of the Harvest, Primordial Sage and Beast Whisperer are a perfect fit
• Wall of Blossoms and Mulldrifter are low CMC creatures which let's us draw some cards and get some counters on Animar.
• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth is a big boy with annihilator 4 which also let's you draw 4 cards ! Also counters mill decks if you ever encounter one ;)
• Tishana, Voice of Thunder let's you refresh your hand for only 2 coloured mana considering the mana reduction of Animar

Counter accelerators

• Having Hardened Scales in your opening hand is a dream come true. Pir, Imaginative Rascal has the same effect but is a creature
• Satyr Grovedancer and Bond Beetle entering the battlefield means getting 2 counters on Animar
• Rishkar, Peema Renegade puts counters on creatures which enables them to tap for Green mana. It also allows Animar to tap for that sweet green stuff.
• Llanowar Reborn is a nice land to have before you cast Animar, after that its values decrease
• Deepglow Skate doubles up the counters you dearly saved up

Untap stuff

• Cloud of Faeries is a cheap creatures that let's you untap 2 lands for 1 colored mana. Peregrine Drake does it better by untapping 5 lands for 1 colored mana
• Zealous Conscripts and Deceiver Exarch both untap 1 permanent but also function as combo material with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Copy stuff

• Stunt Double and Vesuvan Shapeshifter both allows you to copy any creature on the battlefield
• Phyrexian Metamorph is perfect as it has phyrexian mana and it allows you to copy any creature AND artifact on the battlefield
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker allows you to copy creatures each turn and enables combo with Zealous Conscripts and Deceiver Exarch

Bounce stuff

• Ancestral Statue was made for Animar. It is literally an infinite counter generator because it can bounce itself and costs only grey mana
• Quickling a bounce spell that you can flash in, could also safe a creature from targeted removal
• Shrieking Drake is a bounce spell for 1 coloured mana

Graveyard recurrence

• Only 1 card necessary to get combo pieces or value out of our graveyard. It's the one and only Eternal Witness

Tutors

• Trinket Mage tutors for Sol Ring
• Treasure Mage tutors for Duplicant
• Flamekin Harbinger tutors for Bane of Progress, Soul of the Harvest and some minor elementals
• Birthing Pod, Eldritch Evolution and Fauna Shaman and Worldly Tutor are great ways to tutor for your combo pieces
• Woodland Bellower fetches targets like Eternal Witness, Fauna Shaman, Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• Imperial Recruiter fetches everything under 2 power which is most of the creatures of the deck such as Fauna Shaman, Beast Whisperer, Treasonous Ogre, Walking Ballista
• Fierce Empath tutors for the bigger creatures in the deck such as Terastodon, Tishana, Voice of Thunder, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

Protecting Animar

• Glen Elendra Archmage are 2 counterspells in a creature that will make people worry about playing stuff
• Force of Will and Pact of Negation are 2 counterspells that you can play for 'free' which allows you to tap out and still counter certain threaths
• Spellskite is a low CMC creature that protects Animar from harm at the cost of life
• Heroic Intervention is the perfect protection tool versus boardwhipes. It protects all your permanents
• Plaxmanta is a creature you can flash in to protect your board from targeted removal. It also generates a counter on Animar
• Sylvan Safekeeper can protect your creatures from targeted removal at the cost of sacrificing a land
• Stratus Dancer is a morph creatures that allows you to counter instant and sorcery spells
• Stubborn Denial is in most cases a 1 mana counter for noncreature spells
• Cavern of Souls makes sure you can cast him without being worried about counterspells

Artifact / enchantment removal

• Ainok Survivalist is a morph creature that destroys an artifact or enchantment
• Bane of Progress is destructive versus the board and can be tutored with Flamekin Harbinger
• Reclamation Sage and Sylvok Replica are low CMC artifact and enchantment removals. Sylvok Replica can be cast for free if you have 3 counters on Animar
• World Breaker is a bigger and more expensive creature but can be cast for 1 green mana if you have enough counters. It has graveyard recurrence by itself
• Terastodon removes up to 3 permanents for a whopping 2 green mana if you get it's cost down with Animar

Creature removal

• Beast Within is a versatile removal at instant speed
• Duplicant exiles a creature and is mostly cast for free because of Animar his ability
• Phyrexian Ingester does the same as Duplicant but has colored mana
• Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger exiles 2 permanents and has no colors in its CMC which makes it possible to be cast for free

Finishers

• Decimator of the Provinces is a finisher if you have a big enough board. Or even if Animar has enough counters. It's a worse Craterhoof Behemoth but can be cast for free with enough counters on Animar
• Purphoros, God of the Forge is an infinite damage loop if you can keep bouncing Ancestral Statue
• Walking Ballista can be cast with infinite counters as long as Animar has infinite counters
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker creatures infinite tokens with haste when combined with Zealous Conscripts or Deceiver Exarch
• Animar, Soul of Elements can easily swing in for lethal

Possible replacements

• Skyscanner instead of Wall of Blossoms
• Flusterstorm instead of Stubborn Denial

Wishlist

• Gaea's Cradle
• Taiga
• Tropical Island
• Volcanic Island
• The Great Henge
• Deflecting Swat
• Fierce Guardianship
• The Ozolith

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.60
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Elephant 3/3 G, Morph 2/2 C, Spirit 1/1 C