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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Alchemy | 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 |
| Pre-release | Legal |
| Standard | Legal |
| Standard Brawl | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Transit Mage
Creature — Human Wizard
When this enters, you may search your library for an artifact card with converted mana cost/mana value 4 or 5, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
SaberTech on Animar enthusiasts!
2 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!
2 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!
2 weeks ago
Last night the three new cards that I put into my Animar deck were:
I took out Elvish Visionary and finallyy took out two banned cards Mana Crypt and Dockside Extortionist which feels bad.
I figure that Elvish Visionary is trying to find cards like Shocking Sharpshooter anyway so I might as well run that in its place, and Outcaster Trailblazer can pay for itself once you're in a Cloudstone Curio or Hullbreaker Horror loop with Animar, Soul of Elements in play
greyninja on Animar enthusiasts!
2 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!