Combos Browse all Suggest
- Ancestral Statue + Animar, Soul of Elements
- Ancestral Statue + Beast Whisperer
- Ancestral Statue + Soul of the Harvest
- Ancestral Statue + Primordial Sage
- Ancestral Statue + Animar, Soul of Elements + Witty Roastmaster
Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Historic Brawl | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Rules Q&A
Ancestral Statue
Artifact Creature — Golem
When Ancestral Statue enters the battlefield, return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand.
SaberTech on
Mad World Rising
3 weeks ago
Thanks for the questions greyninja!
Grazilaxx is a remnant from an older, pre-banning of Dockside cEDH build for the deck. At that time in cEDH people were running Animar as more of a midrange deck because it wasn't fast enough for a turbo build to work well in the meta. I've kept it now that I run the deck as more of a Bracket 4 build and have to face off against more board wipes in the casual meta. It's mostly in the deck as another way of drawing cards to help recover but if an opponent would rather have me bounce back my creatures so that I can put more counters on Animar and get more ETB effects instead of drawing a card, then who am I to argue?
I've generally been pretty happy with Elvish Spirit Guide and Simian Spirit Guide. Like you pointed out, they help to increase the chances of a turn 2 Animar. There have also been times where I was digging through my deck with the help of something like Glimpse of Nature but have completely tapped out to do it. In those cases, having cards like the Guides, Lotus Petal, and Chrome Mox help to give free coloured mana that I might need to help close out the game. In cEDH the guides are a little more useful because they can pay for cards like Red Elemental Blast and Veil of Summer on their own but even in this build they can help to pay for a Wild Cantor or a Talisman so that I have blue mana up for counters to protect Walking Ballista. At 3 mana, the Guides can also be Neoformed into Ancestral Statue.
The 27 lands may not seem like a lot but some of the cEDH builds have even less. Animar doesn't really need many lands to go off considering the various cheap mana dorks and other ramp the deck provides. It is a bit tricky to go that low in lands and can require some aggressive mulligans to get a decent starting hand. While playing though, I've sometimes found that even just 27 lands can result in some mana flooding when I would really rather be drawing spells. The land count is something that you just have to experiment with for your own build to see where that sweet spot is for your own play style.
As for Utopia Sprawl, there are times where it has been a dead draw but it's not that often. Between the Dual Lands, Shock Lands, and Fetch lands in the deck it's not normally that difficult to get access to a land that counts as a forest on turn 1. Using Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth as ramp synergizes well with Arbor Elf and can also net extra mana with the help of cards like Snap, Deceiver Exarch, and Peregrine Drake.
SaberTech on Animar enthusiasts!
3 weeks ago
The value of Trinket Mage really depends on what else you have for it to target besides the Ballista. I did run it at one point but that was back when I was also running Skullclamp, which I think is the main inclusion that makes Trinket Mage worth considering. If you are also running a number of cheap mana rocks like Chrome Mox and Mana Vault that can also help justify the inclusion. If you face a lot of graveyard decks and feel compelled to put in some artifact-based graveyard hate then that could be another reason to run Trinket Mage. It can also tutor for artifact lands, but generally you want as many of Animar's lands as possible to produce at least two different types of mana so the single-colour artifact lands aren't the best to include while the dual-colour artifact lands enter tapped, which you also want to avoid your lands doing if you can.
The reason why Transit Mage makes the cut despite also only having a few targets is because:
- Finding Ancestral Statue is more important to the deck. There are already a number of ways to get to the Ballista.
- Being able to go Imperial Recruiter -> Phyrexian Metamorph -> Transit Mage -> Ancestral Statue -> Rack up counters on animar then bounce Metamorph -> Metamorph copying Recruiter to get Walking Ballista is a super mana efficient line when Animar starts with just 2 counters.
Total mana cost for the line: RU + 4 life.
That line is way more mana efficient than the old line that required you to tutor up Spellseeker, have the Seeker tutor Neoform and then you Neoform the Seeker into Ancestral Statue. Transit Mage basically lets you get the same result for that stage in the line for just one blue mana, and it keeps the line to only using creatures so there are less commonly-used counterspells that can interrupt it.
SaberTech on Animar enthusiasts!
4 weeks ago
Now that Animar has Transit Mage, some of the cEDH builds are running Shield-Wall Sentinel and Drift of Phantasms to use as parts of a chain that ends with getting both Ancestral Statue and Walking Ballista.
Starts with Animar having two counters on it already:
Transit Mage -> tutor for Phyrexian Metamorph -> Metamorph copies Transit Mage and Tutors for Ancestral Statue -> Cast and bounce the Statue a bunch of times to get Animar's counter count to over twice your opponents' combined life total -> Cast Statue and bounce Metamorph -> Cast Metamorph copying the Mage to tutor Shield-Wall Sentinel -> Cast the Sentinel to tutor Drift of Phantasms -> Transmute Drift of Phantasms to tutor Imperial Recruiter -> Cast the Recruiter to tutor up Walking Ballista to win the game.
Total Mana requirements: UUUR1 + 4 life.
I've also been testing out Transplant Theorist as an alternative Transit Mage target for when I already have Statue in hand and need a way to dig for Walking Ballista. The Theorist can dig through the deck with Ancestral Statue and can also net value if you happen to be bouncing a bunch of your mana rocks with Hullbreaker Horror. There have been times where blue mana was a bit tight and I found the Theorist more convenient than trying to work through the long spell chain I outlined above.
greyninja on Animar enthusiasts!
4 weeks ago
First off, we have a new Animar art!
Second, we have new cards! Like Shocking Sharpshooter!
I seem to find three versions of Animar, Soul of Elements decks:
- Super low to the ground and efficient game plan; near cEDH level
- Efficient and fun with combos; mid tier
- Big Timmy creatures and/or hydras; more casual
I was working on my deck last night and wanted to start a thread to discuss the new variables, like Transit Mage which can go and get Ancestral Statue!
What other newer cards are you adding to your Animar decks? What is old news and being removed from the 99? Let's discuss!
Last_Laugh on
Animar, don't bring bullshit to the table!
1 year ago
I'm assuming with Ancestral Statue combos being listed 1st that it's plan A. I have some suggestions that will help you consistently get there.
Imperial Recruiter, Spellseeker, Neoform, and Phyrexian Metamorph enable the most efficient combo line for Statue/Ballista I know of. You just need Imperial Recruiter in hand, 2 counters on Animar, , and 4 life. Imperial Recruiter for looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for looks up Neoform. Neoform for sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statue does its' self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals then use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista for the win.
Feel free to check out my list for ideas. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Animar, Gaea's Hemorrhoid ⫷PRIMER⫸
Last_Laugh on
ambinar i guess
1 year ago
Rose Room Treasurer gives you a game finishing mana outlet for any infinite mana combo here since they all involve bouncing and replaying creatures. I'm not sure why this is so overlooked, it's honestly amazing here.
Neoform, Walking Ballista, and Phyrexian Metamorph will enable the most mana efficient combo line in Animar (you already run the rest). It only needs , Imperial Recruiter in hand, 4 life, and 2 counters on Animar. Imperial Recruiter for looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for looks up Neoform. Neoform for sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statue does its self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals then use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista for the win.
Last_Laugh on
Animar Go brrr
1 year ago
Nice to see the deck still kicking around. I know Neoform is in your maybeboard, but it deserves a spot because it enables a very efficient combo line here.
It just needs 2 counters on Animar, , 4 life, and Imperial Recruiter in hand.
Imperial Recruiter for looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for looks up Neoform. Neoform for sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statues does its' self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals and the use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista.for the win.
