Sword of the Animist

Legendary Artifact — Equipment

Equipped creature gets +1/+1.

Whenever equipped creature attacks, you may search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.

Equip {2} ({2}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery. This card enters the battlefield unattached and stays on the battlefield if the creature this card is attached to leaves the battlefield.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (48)

KayneMarco on Obby’s Mono Black Landstorm

1 month ago

Profet93: definitely like the snow swamp idea. Made that change right away. If Panharmonicon worked for landfall abilities it would be in here and every other landfall deck I’ve built. As for your ramp suggestion, what is there in mono black that I don’t have in here other than swampcycling or basic landcycling? Between all the “fetch lands” and sad robot and Sword of the Animist type cards that are already in here what else is there?

bankrupt_on_selling on Myrel, Shield of Argive

3 months ago

Mono white soldiers was the first edh I built 15ish years ago, still have it together today. I'm wanting to update it with some sets I've fallen behind on in the past couple years. Mine is sworded soldiers, all equipment has to be a sword. A couple good ones in mine that could be good for you are Sword of the Animist, (very good ramp in a hard color to ramp in) and Blade of Selves bonkers with cards like Captain of the Watch, or Recruiter of the Guard, etc...

Apoptosis on Gear Up!

5 months ago

Specific changes. All of these changes optimize card draw, tutoring, protection to board state, create synergies and infinite combos, and optimization to allow instant speed responses.

OUT: Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist (thought this would be awesome, disappointed in performance) Assemble the Players (sub-optimal card draw) Aurelia's Fury Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus (land drops have not been a problem and by the time I draw it, I needed something else) Brimaz, King of Oreskos (love this guy, but had to cut) Chained to the Rocks Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip (obtained better equipment) Fellwar Stone Hixus, Prison Warden (never happy when I had this in hand because you need to let the damage land, plus you fail to build board state when waiting to draw a punch) Illusionist's Bracers (I realized there was little in this deck that this could help) Kemba, Kha Enduring (I want the option of where the equipment goes) Kjeldoran Outpost (did help create a chump blocker and spend unused mana, but I didn't like losing the land) Lapse of Certainty (replaced with better options, but I love this card) Lightning Helix Path of Mettle  ^Flip (never had good results) Prophetic Flamespeaker (under-performed) Puresteel Paladin (tough cut) Purphoros, God of the Forge (under-performed) Rogue's Passage Sea Gate Wreckage Silverblade Paladin (love this guy, tough cut) Sram, Senior Edificer (very tough and recent cut for Leonin Shikari and Merry, who are just better but I may put back in) Sword of the Animist (land drops have not been a problem and by the time I draw it, I needed something else) Wingmate Roc (love it but under-performed)

In: Esper Sentinel (card draw) Leonin Shikari (instant speed equiping is amazing) Merry, Esquire of Rohan (card draw) Enlightened Tutor (great for combos/synergies) Sigarda's Aid (so great) Pyrohemia (this card is a beast with Iroas! Even without Iroas must people don't have easy ways to deal with enchantments and this is a wraith on a stick. I've added it to all of my red decks and it's cousin (Pestilence) to my black decks in a slot I would normally hold for a wraith) Teferi's Protection (protect the board state) Excalibur, Sword of Eden Fighter Class (tutor!) Angelic Skirmisher (lifelink to stretch game and facilitates infinite combos) Splendor Mare (put it on Reckoner or Spitemare, give them indestructable, and gain infinite life, or move it to pyrohemia with nesting grounds to get massive amounts of life as you flamethrower the whole table!!) Mask of Avacyn (better option then shroud from boots, you need to be able to dynamically react/voltron) Mob Rule (this just finishes games) Smothering Tithe (ramp) Sunforger (some say you must build around this, I say you use this as a key tutor for when you need an instant) Nesting Grounds Spitemare The One Ring (card draw, duh) Minas Tirith (card draw) Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion (value engine, mana dump) Phyrexian Vindicator (beefy flier, helps get Iroas online, and difficult to remove) War of the Last Alliance (tutor) Hall of Heliod's Generosity (bring back pyrohemia and flamethrower the world all over again!!) Mask of Memory (card draw) Boromir, Warden of the Tower (protect board state)

NensouHiebara on Halvar, Divine Voltron

7 months ago

@Savaaage

Paradise Mantle being an Equipment is a significant quality. Mana ramp drawn late isn't great, but a Mantle can still draw a card with Puresteel Paladin and is a cheap, inconsequential way for another creature to have double strike when Halvar  ^Flip is out. The drawback for this synergy is that Mantle is less consistent at mana production. I haven't decided on what Mana Crypt's replacement will be yet. There's plenty of time for discussion.

I had issues with Sigarda's Aid doing nothing for Equipment that's already in play. I could give it another try, but it's not replacing a mana source.

Land Tax isn't a ramp effect, and I don't understand the current appeal of it. Weathered Wayfarer is a much better repeatable land tutor when behind. Claim Jumper closes the gap against Green better. There's also Sword of the Animist and Sword of Hearth and Home to keep pace with the ramp player and gradually build a resource advantage. I see Land Tax as an outdated staple from the old days of the format before most of the new tools came along, and it sticks around largely out of habit and high-profile reprintings drawing fresh attention to it.

raspberryfish25 on Linvala, Giada, & Akroma

7 months ago

Hey I stumbled upon your deck and I figured I would give you some feedback. Overall, I really like your Giada deck but I worry that your mana curve might be to high especially since you are in white. have you looked at switching out some of your higher mana costed cards for lower CMC cards? Here are a few cards I run in my Giada deck that are lower CMC and have really packed a punch

Ramp

Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip: Easy to flip because all your creatures have evasion.

Sword of the Animist: Gives you consistent ramp every turn.

Land Tax: While not technically ramp does a great job making sure you never miss your land drops and allows you to thin your deck of basic lands as the game goes on. I think Land Tax works well in a deck like this because of the large amount of basic lands you are running.

Card Draw

Mask of Memory: Since your creatures have evasion it is very easy to have it trigger each turn.

Conjurer's Mantle Same as Mask of Memory but also gives one of your Angels vigilance and +1/+1 which is more relevant than you would realize.

Horn of the Mark: What makes this card so unique is you get to draw a card for each opponent you attack with two creatures so you can draw up to 3 cards per turn.

Pyre of Heroes: While technically not card draw does allow you to "trade up" your weakest angel for another angel from your deck with one higher CMC

Protection

Together Forever: I can't express how strong this card has been in my deck. Since Giada is putting +1/+1 counters on your angels you can pull all your angels back to your hand in the event of a board wipe.

Win Conditions

Aetherflux Reservoir: Works well with your lifegain effects in your deck and allows you another outlet to utilize all the life you are gaining.

Angels to Consider

Wojek Investigator, Angel of Jubilation, Angelic Field Marshal, Firemane Commando, Serra Paragon, Thraben Watcher, Metropolis Reformer, Angel of Vitality, Serra Avenger, Segovian Angel, and Sephara, Sky's Blade. Most of those angels will help to lower your curve and allow you to play your angels faster.

Angels I Would Remove

Akroma, Angel of Wrath: Unless she is in there for flavor she cost way too much for what she brings to the table. Consider replacing her with Sephara, Sky's Blade.

Angel of the Dire Hour: Requires you to hold up to much mana, run an extra board wipe instead.

Angel of the Ruins: Same as above, she cost too much for the effect she brings.

Angelic Arbiter: I would only run her if you were going to double down on stax otherwise I think she is over costed.

Other Cards I Would Remove

Parhelion II: Cool card but to high of a CMC for the payoff.

Quicksilver Amulet: 8 mana to play and cheat out a creature seems like a lot. I think if you end up lowering your CMC of your deck this card will become worse.

Return to Dust: I would replace with Heliod's Intervention roughly gives you the same effect but will let you kill additional enchantments or artifacts if necessary, plus the lifegain can be helpful in your deck since you have a lot of lifegain payoffs.

Craeter on Heroes of Redwall Abbey

7 months ago

abstractfive This is a good point, flexibility is always helpful. I would say having access to dual lands here is not quite as dire as it is in 3+ color decks, but it's still useful. I'm not looking to max out duals since I still want some basic lands for Sword of the Animist tutors. But I did add 4 more dual lands: Inspiring Vantage, Sundown Pass, Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip, and Legion Stronghold  ^Flip. Thank you for the suggestion.

Crow_Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

7 months ago

Thank you for checking out the deck and offering some suggestions, Craeter, I appreciate it. I'm overdue on doing a year end wrap up of the various changes I've made this year. Definitely overdue for a primer update in general; I've been meaning to expand on a couple of sections and clean up organization in general. In regards to your suggestions:

• I used to play Sword of the Animist in some of the earliest iterations of this deck, from like February 2022 to at most the following year. A core memory was an early game where I pulled all of the basics out of my deck with the Sword, & my play group saw how this would be a problem. Over time, I've moved away from playing equipment much beyond the Lightning Greaves variants and Skullclamp, especially outside of dedicated Equipment strats. They're useful, but I don't like the play pattern of equipment costs, especially when I run lots of cheap instant speed interaction, that I feel those costs can compete with. I think as I optimized my mana base, Land Tax effectively took the slot that Sword used to be in.

• I'll keep that Kaya in mind. I played Kaya, Geist Hunter for a bit for her anthem effect and token doubling. Planeswalkers don't see a whole lot of play in my play groups because of how aggro and go-wide they primarily lean. Walkers tend to get attacked and removed very quickly.

• Nahiri's Resolve is interesting as an anthem & means of re-setting creatures at end of turn. For a Haste anthem, 5 mana feels kind of slow, especially when there are other haste anthems in the 3-4 cmc range that also offer a power buff in addition to haste. I think this could be a stronger piece in a deck with a more dedicated suite of creatures or artifacts with ETB effects.

• Etali, Primal Storm is another card I used to play in Isshin. There were turns where it popped off & got some really cool pulls off its doubled trigger. The majority of the time I played it, Etali tended to eat targeted removal and board wipes, or the attack triggers whiffed. It's a fun card, but very boom or bust. Big Red effects are fun, but after a while I craved more consistency.

• Mangara, the Diplomat was in some of the earliest iterations of this deck (maybe like the first 4 months). I found that my playgroup would play around Mangara in a way that he didn't feel super impactful. Some of the earliest archetype shifts that I made for this deck were cutting the more defensive pillow-fort effects like Mangara and Emberwilde Captain, and leaning much more into being proactive with my own aggro. I've found that Authority of the Consuls and similar effects have been wonderful here because they hamper early aggro, or cheaply come down when the table is in board-wipe recovery mode and helps me get out ahead.

• I played Gloin briefly in my old Prosper, Tome-Bound deck. Gimli feels like it could be a budget alternative to Professional Face-Breaker, or put in work in a more Legendary focused deck, like you suggested. I toyed around with the idea of a Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge Mardu Legends deck about a year ago, and I think these two Dwarves and Galadriel's Mirror would be more at home there.

Thank you again for the suggestions.

Craeter on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

7 months ago

Hey thanks for putting in all the work researching and optimizing this deck, I used it as a basis for an Isshin deck of my own. Here's a few things I uncovered: Sword of the Animist benefits from Isshin's double activations, which is pretty insane mana ramp. Kaya the Inexorable can protect Isshin from exile, I'm also using it with Nahiri's Resolve to force 1/1 token flyers each turn. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit also benefits from Nahiri's, although granted it wouldn't be as useful here. Etali, Primal Storm double activation is insane with Isshin. Also went for some legendary shenanigans: Gimli of the Glittering Caves (also benefits from Nahiri's) Gloin, Dwarf Emissary, Mangara, the Diplomat, Mirror of Galadriel, Relic of Legends, and some other minor tweaks. There's 25 legendary creatures in my version, so the Mirror and Relic will definitely get some value.

I know that's way too much to consider to add here, just wanted to add my 2 cents and thank you for doing the legwork.