I, too, have an Animar deck and I've found that x-costing creatures are really strong in it. They allow you to quickly ramp Animar since you can pay any amount of mana for them, yet they get very powerful as Animar grows. Good synergy.

Also, don't know if you're aware, but you can infinite combo Animar with Grinning Ignus... infinite mana, infinite counters on Animar. It's pretty great! So I'd add that little bugger for sure.

I'll add Grinning Ignus to my maybeboard to remind me to acquire one. He could be very useful. Although, he does (with appropriate counters on Animar) cost R to put down and R to scoop up while providing R2. While awesome, that combo does run out when I run out of red mana for it.

He is more efficient than Shrieking Drake though because he'll leave me a lot of colorless mana afterwards. And my deck is more red biased so that's a great call for inclusion!

I did have a Savageborn Hydra in here at one point. But it rarely stuck. It would hit the board and promptly die from a sweeper or targeted removal before he became active. That's very heavy in my meta. Most of the creatures in the deck were chosen to give me some sort of benefit right off the bat as a result of that meta.

If I put more X creatures in I would need to take Maelstrom Wanderer out since they don't combo well. I'd be game for that if he was replaced with something more effective. But, a haste maker with potential buddies is hard to pass up.

Given that feedback do you have any other suggestions?

More bounce : Roaring Primadox , Cloudstone Curio . The ability to cast a few creatures multiple times in a turn can be overwhelming.

Mindclaw Shaman , Nantuko Vigilante (usually comes in free, useful removal) Drumhunter (card draw & mana)

Defense cards that are good with Animar : Nullstone Gargoyle , Archetype of Endurance

Pilgrim's Eye can come in free but mostly it provides you with a flyer if you need a chump blocker.

Animar is always a fun boss.

Cloudstone Curio and Nullstone Gargoyle are most excellent suggestions good sir!

Mindclaw Shaman sounds amusing but it can be a bit risky since I'm depending on opponents' hands.

I had Roaring Primadox in here and his cousin Species Gorger but I found them a little slow. I replaced them with Equilibrium , which I felt was faster, more resilient and more versatile if not a little more mana intensive.

Drumhunter would have a hard time sticking around. "Go after the mana producers" is not an unknown saying in my group. Though we usually stop at targeted land destruction. And access to blue gives me some card draw already. Not that I couldn't use more...

And yeah, Animar is a boss!

Thank you!

Hey man, if I was you I would play Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur , Primordial Sage , and Soul of the Harvest instead of Staff of Nin , Blue Sun's Zenith and Ghor-Clan Rampager .

I've also found that artifact creatures like Wurmcoil Engine , Steel Hellkite and Solemn Simulacrum are pretty awesome with Animar.

Try playing Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and some Eldrazi, you'll love them =)

Soul of the Harvest is already present and accounted for. I prefer Blue Sun's Zenith over Primordial Sage because I tend to find myself with an empty hand late game. The Zenith will let me gas up in one go from an empty board state. The Sage and the Soul both interact well in ideal conditions but are sub-optimal in an empty board state. Which is why I have the Soul in there.

The rampager is mostly there for the "Surprise! Trample!" aspect. If I'm in a tough spot he becomes a blocker. He's not irreplaceable, but I do like that his sheer presence in the deck keeps my opponents guessing.

Solemn Simulacrum is a good call and I would probably replace the Sylvan Ranger with him. Wurmcoil Engine is crazy good but also crazy out my budget for the moment. I'll make a note though in case a good trade comes up.

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is a possibility but I kind of feel like he's a real jerk of a card. The Eldrazi are off the table for now.

Ah okay, my bad =) I'm used to competitive play, being a jerk is something I rarely consider. You're right though, it is a jerk of a card, lol.

No problem. You are correct. He would kick ass. Maybe a bit too much. I've gone 1 on 3 with this deck a few times before but it's not something I try to force. (I've won a few of those too! The prophet is more or less a win condition.)

Just a clarification on the Grinning Ignus combo: it becomes an infinite combo if you can fix non-colored mana. You can do this with Paradise Mantle + Gemstone Array . Don't know if you want to go down this route, but it could be useful given that Animar runs three colors anyway.

As for further suggestions, it looks like you're interested in quickly ramping Animar. I recommend some creatures with a return-to-hand mechanic built in for free. This includes Glitterfang and Phantom Whelp .

I have also found the evolve mechanic to have good synergy with Animar, so I've thrown Experiment One and Cloudfin Raptor into my deck. Just some more ideas!

If I'm looking for a second Shrieking Drake , I think my first choice would be Man-o'-War . The bounce effect can be self targeting. But he's not a dead card if Animar is already super sized.

But, I tend to win by dropping an ever increasing horror show of fatties and less often with Animar himself. And I find myself wanting to just have a threat in hand than a pump mechanic.

The trouble with evolve creatures is that they rarely stick around long enough to get pumped up. Also, cards like Cloudfin Raptor are rarely useful late game when I'm staring down Skittles with a diminished hand.