Animar's Maelstrom

Commander / EDH* Cascade Creature Cheat Infinite Combo RUG (Temur) Storm

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Land (37)

• 1x Ancient Ziggurat
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 3x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip
• 3x Island
• 1x Ketria Triome
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Plaza of Heroes
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rejuvenating Springs
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Spire Garden
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tangled Florahedron  ^Flip
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Turntimber Symbiosis  ^Flip
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Removal (12)

• 1x Aether Channeler
• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Baral's Expertise
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Hullbreaker Horror
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 1x Release to the Wind
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Land Ramp (6)

• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Wood Elves

Utility/Protection (19)

• 1x Aether Channeler
• 1x Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip
• 1x Baral's Expertise
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Hullbreaker Horror
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Plaza of Heroes
• 1x Release to the Wind
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Temur Ascendancy
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x Zealous Conscripts
• 1x Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

Ramp (16)

• 1x Beastcaller Savant
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Bronze Walrus
• 1x Defiler of Vigor
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip
• 1x Gaea's Cradle
• 1x Ilysian Caryatid
• 1x Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1x Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1x Palinchron
• 1x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1x Rattleclaw Mystic
• 1x Tangled Florahedron  ^Flip

Combo (8)

• 1x Agent of Treachery
• 1x Hullbreaker Horror
• 1x Mind's Desire
• 1x Nyxbloom Ancient
• 1x Palinchron
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Big Attacks (6)

• 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1x Maelstrom Wanderer
• 1x Pathbreaker Ibex
• 1x Temur Ascendancy
• 1x Xenagos, God of Revels
• 1x Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

Commander (1)

Draw/Card Advantage (18)

• 1x Aether Channeler
• 1x Augur of Autumn
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Bronze Walrus
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip
• 1x Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1x Ketria Triome
• 1x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1x Riverwise Augur
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Temur Ascendancy
• 1x Thassa, God of the Sea
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie

Cascade/Free Spells (15)

• 1x Annoyed Altisaur
• 1x Apex Devastator
• 1x Baral's Expertise
• 1x Bloodbraid Elf
• 1x Etali, Primal Conqueror  ^Flip
• 1x Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty
• 1x Maelstrom Colossus
• 1x Maelstrom Wanderer
• 1x Mind's Desire
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 1x Release to the Wind
• 1x Sakashima's Protege
• 1x Sweet-Gum Recluse
• 1x Trumpeting Carnosaur
• 1x Turntimber Symbiosis  ^Flip

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Animar, Soul of Elements commander deck, maximizing the number of free/cheap spells. Cascade is a major theme, and if left unchecked, it's not uncommon to have your whole deck in play by turn 5/6. I've left out the obvious Ancestral Statue combo, as it just seems a bit cheap. At least with Hullbreaker Horror you have to spend {U}{U} and have 2 colorless spells to go infinite. It also combos with other permanents, so it is more interesting to play with. Of course if you want the most power, add it back in.

Prioritizes being able to cast Animar, Soul of Elements on turn 3 every game. I tried to prioritize creatures that ramp your lands, as it is quite common for Animar to be killed off quickly, and it often happens as a wrath. There's only one 2-drop that does this though, so I had to fill out the 2-drops with normal ramp creatures. These creatures also help start off your Animar chains.

Since we're cascading so much, I've also included 2 Brainstorm effects, as these can let you set up the best cascade chains, or to help get things you've drawn back in your deck to cast for free. At the very worst, they let you trade in lands for actual cards, as the lands get shifted away during a cascade. Vizier of the Menagerie, Augur of Autumn, and Oracle of Mul Daya can also let you see/cast the top card of your library, to further help set up optimal cascade lines.

Combos

Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Maelstrom Colossus + Colorless Creature in hand: Infinite cascade at eight + Infinite Damage/Infinite Library Exile. Cast one of the colorless creatures to bounce the other, and repeat ad infinitum. Once you cascade into Terror of the Peaks you can just kill off the table with direct damage from infinite ETB. Or see the Etali, Primal Conqueror   combo below for the mill win.

Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Rattleclaw Mystic + Colorless creature in hand: Infinte mana, if you have at least 2 to start with. Just morph Rattleclaw, unmorph to turn your 2 mana to 3, and then cast the other colorless creature to bounce Rattleclaw. Then morph Rattleclaw bouncing the other and repeat.

Nyxbloom Ancient + Palinchron + 4 lands (2 of them produce {U}): Infinite mana/ETB.

Dockside Extortionist + Temur Sabertooth + 3 opponent artifact/enchantments: Infinite treasure tokens/mana.

Animar, Soul of Elements + Palinchron + Temur Sabertooth + 5 lands: Infinite Mana/ETB

Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Palinchron + Colorless creature + 3 lands (2 of them produce {U}): Infinite mana/ETB.

Animar, Soul of Elements + Palinchron + 7 lands (4 of them produce {U}) + 5+ counters on Animar: Infinite mana/ETB.

Agent of Treachery + Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Infinite Mana: Steal all opponents' permanents.

Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Zealous Conscripts + Infinite Mana: Steal all opponents' permanents (for the turn).

Etali, Primal Conqueror + Temur Sabertooth + Infinite Mana: Exile all libraries and allow you to cast them one card at a time (or just pass so everyone dies before you during their draw steps).

Animar, Soul of Elements + Etali, Primal Conqueror + Hullbreaker Horror + Infinite Mana: Exile all libraries and allow you to cast them one card at a time (or just pass so everyone dies before you during their draw steps).

There are also a lot more obscure combos you may run across with Hullbreaker Horror with haste enablers and mana dorks that can give infinite mana (or at least a beefy Animar). From there infinite mana can lead to a lot of other weird combos. You can get all your basics/forests in play with Solemn Simulacrum or Wood Elves and another creature to loop with. You can recycle your deck to keep comboing with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth , and one of the many clones or Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus. You can find any card in your deck via scrying by looping Bronze Walrus with another creature. You can even chain-cast Blasphemous Act via Den Protector loops. Basically, if there's some weird board state, you can probably do something to win through it, though you may have to think through things.

Strong Synergies

Hullbreaker Horror, Temur Sabertooth, Aether Channeler, Release to the Wind, or Baral's Expertise + anything with cascade: Lets you have another go at cascade when you have no other gas.

Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty + 6+ drops with cascade: Double the cascade fun!

Apex Devastator: This card is an engine all on its own in this deck. You could conceivably cast 28+ cards off just this one card's cascades, as well as hitting a Mind's Desire for the rest of your library.

Defiler of Vigor or Kami of Whispered Hopes let you double up Animar triggers.

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer's dash ability lets you get an Animar trigger every turn, and if Animar has any counters, dash will cost the same as his normal cost.

Thassa, God of the Sea with Animar at 21 or bigger will let him attack and kill off any single player.

Nonbos

Hiting counterspells or other situational cards when cascading feels bad, so I've tried to remove as many as is reasonable. However, you still have Fierce Guardianship and Cyclonic Rift that are basically duds. I swapped Swan Song out for Release to the Wind, as it can remove a sorcery speed obstacle, and still have utility if we want to trigger an ETB/Cascader again.

Date added	2 years
Last updated	4 months
Key combos	Animar, Soul of Elements + Palinchron Animar, Soul of Elements + Palinchron + Temur Sabertooth Dockside Extortionist + Temur Sabertooth Nyxbloom Ancient + Palinchron Agent of Treachery + Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Maelstrom Colossus Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Rattleclaw Mystic Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Palinchron Etali, Primal Conqueror + Temur Sabertooth Animar, Soul of Elements + Etali, Primal Conqueror + Hullbreaker Horror Animar, Soul of Elements + Hullbreaker Horror + Zealous Conscripts
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	22 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.37
Tokens	Bird 1/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure
Folders	Other People's deck