Striped Bears

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Striped Bears

Creature — Bear

When this enters the battlefield, draw a card.

h00n on

6 years ago

I have thought about Striped Bears, since the card draw is indeed sweet, but in comparison to other 4 mana drops (of which this deck has way too many already, look at the mana curve) they're maybe not worth it. Druid's Familiar for an instance boosts too well to be replaced, and Razorclaw Bear has greater offensive potential. Also, for actually being a weenie for 4, you can't tutor the Striped Bears with Woodland Bellower. But I'll put them into the maybeboard, card draw somehow is kinda necessary in this deck.

To be honest I haven't even played this deck yet, it's purely theory, I'll update when I've tested it a few times.

McKendry2 on

6 years ago

All valid points. We are discussing bears so only the best will do. x)

I hadn't noticed Werebear was already in. The art that I found was different and didn't remind me you were already running it.

Now maybe consider Striped Bears? Elvish Visionary but it's a BEAR. You can't go wrong xD

DVLuca on Animar, Soul of Victorious

7 years ago

Hi SaberTech, the Shrieking Drake was a card I never wanted to put in because its unique purpose is to give a counter on animar when this list at early game need to stay open, but I will give it a try because it give a good start to the sinergy of all the creature-draw like Merchant of Secrets Striped Bears and the likes with Words of Wind. it was only for joke with a friend but it turned as an increadible way to bounce back a lot of opponent's permanents, of his choice obviously, and when it encounter Earthcraft is a GG. If you will play multy give it a try, it's much more powerfull of what you may think. About Descendant of Soramaro is a card that when I think that I have to take out it comes to play and see 4-5 cards and it open to a move that at blind eyes you will never do and you win the game... and it take another day in the deck. Jokes apart I know it is the most weak card of the deck and I was thinking the other day of Slithermuse so I will give it a try. Are you sure I can respond to the sac of Slithermuse?? If we put it down with evoke the ability has to resolve entirely so even the sac part no? .Soul of the Harvest and Primordial Sage was in but i put them out with big doubts but I felt that the draw part of the deck was ok and solid. After Momir Vig, Simic Visionary it has reached the top so cards like Fauna Shaman that will die before I pass have never entered the deck. The side was used only one time, it has to be revised. Thanks of the suggestion and I'm glad you like the build. Try Words of Wind and you'll have a lot of fun!!

SaberTech on Animar, Soul of Victorious

7 years ago

Hi DVLuca

It's interesting to see an Animar list that has been designed for group games with more than 4 people. My own experiences with Animar have mostly been 1v1 games, which has pushed me more towards an emphasis on speed than on sitting back and finding a chance to combo in one turn like your deck seems designed to do. Still, there are a few cards I highly recommend you try play-testing if you get your hands on a copy.

Shrieking Drake is an amazing inclusion in any Animar deck. It only cost 1 mana to start with, and you can keep using it to bounce itself back to your hand like you would with Man-o'-War. It can't bounce opponents creatures like Man-o'-War, but it can do everything else without Animar having any counters. It is great to have against control decks, because it gives you a cheap way to stock up Animar's counters without having to commit a bunch of creatures to the board and risk losing them all to a wrath spell.

Slithermuse gives you the option of being able to play more aggressively, even in the face of wrath spells. Since there will often be someone in a group game that has a mostly full hand, you can just dump a bunch of spells in one turn and then Evoke Slithermuse to refill your hand. Since Animar's ability also reduces how much you have to pay to evoke a creature, you can often grab 3 or more cards for just 1 blue mana. you can also keep bouncing it back to your hand with cards like Crystal Shard to give yourself a strong card draw engine. I would probably take out Descendant of Soramaro for it, since the Descendant's ability doesn't put cards in your hand and becomes less efficient the less cards you have.

You have Merchant of Secrets in the deck, but for the same cost I think that it would better to run either Sea Gate Oracle or Fierce Empath. The Oracle lets you dig two cards deep instead of just one, and the Empath lets you tutor for your larger combo creatures.

Soul of the Harvest, Primordial Sage, and Glimpse of Nature are all options that can help you get infinite cards draw. Soul of the Harvest has the bigger body for attacking, Primordial Sage lets you draw cards even if your creature is countered, and Glimpse of Nature is cheap to cast but you have to pay attention to your triggers because the card draw is mandatory.

The first card I would take out of the deck would be Words of Wind. Giving up a mana and a card draw while giving opponents the option to choose what card to return to their hand is not what Animar wants to do. You lose to much card advantage if you are giving your opponents the opportunity to return an ETB creature Eternal Witness or Snapcaster Mage to their hand.

Shaman of Spring and Striped Bears have a high casting cost for what they do. Having more creatures that draw you a card is beneficial in an Animar deck, but in my opinion the 4 mana casting cost makes them clunky if you have them in your starting hand. A higher percentage of cheaper creatures helps smooth out Animar's early game. Maybe replace at least one of them with Fauna Shaman?

Evolutionary Leap is useful to have if your creatures are just going to die to a wrath spell, since it lets you get some value out of them, but it also runs the risk of filtering your non-creature combo pieces and tutor spells to the bottom of the library. In my mind it's not worth it, but I will concede the point if you have found it worthwhile in the games you have played.

Gruul Turf, Izzet Boilerworks, and Simic Growth Chamber should be replaced with lands that don't come into play tapped, even if it is just basic lands. I know they help fix mana and that they work well with creatures like Peregrine Drake, but they are slow, can make the mana in your starting hand awkward, and are huge targets for cards like Strip Mine. You probably don't see many land destruction spells in such big group games like the ones you play in though, so maybe that is less a worry for you than it is in the games I play.

Anyway, those are the most prominent suggestions that come to my mind. I hope that you find at least a couple of them are helpful for your deck. I'm really curious about how effective the Llawan, Cephalid Empress in your sideboard has been for you, so if you have the time I'm interested to hear your thoughts on it.

Antoniobizarro on Bears

8 years ago

Striped Bears to draw an extra card in the midgame.

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