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Animorph (Animar, Soul of Elements)

Commander / EDH* RUG (Temur)

thecalves

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Synergy (34)

Draw (10)

Land (35)

Protection (13)

Commander (1)

Commander: Animar, Soul of Elements

Ramp (14)

Removal (13)

Sideboard

Other (15)

Draw (1)

Synergy (1)

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Other (41)

"In the folklore of its plane, the Animar is the ultimate source of all life –– the seed from which all creation grows. In the presence of Animar, crops blossom and herds thrive, and the wake of its wanderings determines the course of the seasons."

The Goal

Play a morph creatures to pump Animar so that they eventually become free to cast, allowing both Animar and our army to grow to colossal sizes. Disrupt opponents with sneaky instant-speed morph responses, and win the game by going tall, wide, or "Tim" (see "Late-game" below).

The Game Plan

You want your opening hand to contain at least one and one mana source, as well as ramp or draw, ideally both. Ramp is important since this is a mana-hungry deck, and if Animar is removed the first time you cast him, it can really stall your board.
Animar is the heart of our deck's engine, so it's important to get it out on the field as soon as possible (ideally before turn three). To hit this tempo, most of our mana ramp effects cost or less. Fix your mana for , and ramp into Animar quickly. These first few turns are also a great time to get down any enchantments you may have.

Animar's protection from and is very helpful (and can be exploited with Alter Reality effects [be careful – if you give Animar protection from blue you can't target him with Alter again.]). But remember, protection only means "D.E.B.T." – Animar can't be Damaged, Enchanted, Blocked, or Targeted by a white or black source.

So, Animar is still particularly vulnerable to board wipes, Beast Within, cheap targeted bounce, and burn/steal. So, we want to get it out ahead of those effects and start assembling protection before our opponents can do something to deal with it.

If you’re facing a meta where Animar is likely to be easily dealt with early on, then it may be worth holding it back until later when you’re sure you can protect it and start our value engine.

Once Animar is out (ideally by or before turn three), our primary goal is building up its +1/+1 counters and taking advantage of reduced creature costs. The first three counters are always the hardest, but thereafter all your morphs become free to cast (typically by turn five). Players can often be wary of attacking into face-down morph cards for fear of what they might be hiding, so play this to your advantage.

These face-up morph effects are our tools for interacting with the board and protecting Animar from removal to keep our engine running. And while Animar can reduce their casting cost to zero, it does nothing to reduce the cost of turning them face-up. Some of these costs can be expensive, so continuing to assemble and maintain as much mana as possible (Wilderness Reclamation) will allow us to play creatures on our turn and keep enough mana up for our opponent's turns to defend our board. Given that our deck is filled with creature spells, our value is in our board state and our interaction capabilities are mostly out on the field –– so, we're particularly susceptible to board wipes.

Animar itself draws a lot of attention from opponents, especially once the free morph engine is online, so it's important to protect it, and our board state, with counterspells (Voidmage Apprentice), removal (Ainok Survivalist, Dwarven Blastminer), and manipulation (Mischievous Quanar, Willbender). Since most of our interactions come from morph effects (activated abilities, not spells), it's also difficult for opponents to prevent them.

Note that morphing does not use the stack –– it is a "special action." This means that you can do it at any time, and players cannot respond to it (by attempting to counter or destroy the morph, for example). Also, you can morph in response to cards with "Split Second" (like Krosan Grip), which does not prevent triggered abilities from being added to the stack. Not only can you counter those cards with a morph, but if you do flip a card while a split second on the stack, the triggered ability affectively has split second as well, since the split second card is still on the stack.

Also keep an eye out for opportunities to recycle our morphs by flipping them back over. Perhaps the best example of this we have is Ixidron, which functionally acts as a board wipe while simultaneously priming us to re-flip any of our morph creatures. Note that, since this happens as Ixidron enters the battlefield, it does not flip any other creatures entering at the same time (i.e. from a Protean Hulk-type effect). Also note that creatures that are flipped this way cannot be flipped back up unless they have a morph ability.

Getting a draw or bounce engine out (Zendikar Resurgent/Equilibrium) is essential to our end-game plan, allowing us to cast long chains of creatures, assemble a wide board, and grow Animar to a mammoth size.

Bounce effects can clear our opponent's boards (leaving them wide open to attack), return our own creatures for recasting, and enable tricks with The Ozolith.

There are many potential shenanigans (see "Combo Catalog" below), but they all boil down to one or more of these three win-condition categories:

  • Go Tall –– Close with sheer force from a massive Animar or Stonecoil Serpent attack (and potentially a sneaky Fling).
  • Go Wide –– Overwhelm your opponents with an army of creatures, morphing them during combat for better stats and pumping them with End-Raze Forerunners.
  • Go "Tim" –– Cause enter-the-battlefield Pandemonium, clearing the board and draining opponents with loops from Man-o'-War or similar.

Combos

Infinite Loopers: Ancestral Statue/(Primordial Mist + Morph)/(Tidespout Tyrant + 2 Morphs)/(Cloudstone Curio + 2 Morphs)

Finite Loopers: Man-o'-War/Shrieking Drake/Dream Stalker/(Equilibrium + Morphs)

(Note that most references to Animar assume that it already has 3 or more +1/+1 counters.)

Damage: Animar + Looper + Pandemonium/Impact Tremors/Warstorm Surge/Terror of the Peaks/Purphoros, God of the Forge/Walking Ballista/Chandra's Ignition/Fling

Draw: Animar + Looper + Beast Whisperer/Guardian Project/Soul of the Harvest/Primordial Sage/Zendikar Resurgent

Lands: Animar + Looper (only 1 Morph for Tidespout Tyrant variant) + Solemn Simulacrum/Wood Elves

Mill: Animar + Looper + Altar of the Brood

"Pickles Lock": Brine Elemental + Vesuvan Shapeshifter

Mana : Animar + Rattleclaw Mystic/Peregrine Drake + Temur Sabertooth

With infinite mana + Equilibrium, there are even more ETB effects to exploit:

...

"Upgrades"

This build is meant for more casual play, avoiding infinite combos (when possible), feel-bad effects, and Eldrazi. Below are my personal "quick-swap" adjustments for more competitive play.

1x Painter's Servant 1x Akroma, Angel of Fury (CMD) 1x All Is Dust (MM2) 1x Aluren (TMP) 1x Ancestral Statue (DTK) 1x Apocalypse Hydra (MM2) 1x Backslide (ONS) 1x Blind Seer 1x Blue Sun's Zenith (A25) 1x Breeding Pool (RNA) 1x Brine Elemental (MYS1) 1x Chandra's Ignition (ORI) 1x Cloud of Faeries (ULG) 1x Cloudstone Curio (RAV) 1x Consecrated Sphinx (IMA) 1x Craterhoof Behemoth (MM3) 1x Cyclonic Rift (MM3) 1x Dawntreader Elk (DKA) 1x Destiny Spinner (THB) 1x Farhaven Elf (C14) 1x Fierce Empath (A25) 1x Garruk's Horde (W17) 1x Genesis 1x Glamerdye 1x Grinning Ignus 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc (XLN) 1x Gudul Lurker (DTK) 1x Homeward Path 1x Impact Tremors (DTK) 1x Ire Shaman (A25) 1x Jeering Instigator (KTK) 1x Kalonian Hydra 1x Lightning Greaves (MYS1) 1x Maelstrom Wanderer 1x Mana Vault (ME4) 1x Nature's Lore (POR) 1x Palinchron 1x Paradoxical Outcome (KLD) 1x Peregrine Drake (USG) 1x Prime Speaker Zegana 1x Prime Speaker Zegana (C15) 1x Primordial Hydra 1x Protean Hulk (DIS) 1x Proteus Machine (SCG) 1x Plaxmanta 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge (MYS1) 1x Recurring Insight (ROE) 1x Rhystic Study (MYS1) 1x Rhythm of the Wild (RNA) 1x Riptide Survivor (SCG) 1x Rogue's Passage 1x Sakura-Tribe Scout 1x Salt Road Ambushers (DTK) 1x Sensei's Divining Top (EMA) 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways (DTK) 1x Shorecrasher Elemental (DTK) 1x Silumgar Spell-Eater (DTK) 1x Simic Signet (GK2) 1x Soul of New Phyrexia 1x Spellskite 1x Surrak Dragonclaw (KTK) 1x Swan Song (C16) 1x Sylvan Library (EMA) 1x Thassa, God of the Sea (THS) 1x Thought Harvester (OGW) 1x Tidespout Tyrant (BBD) 1x Tishana, Voice of Thunder (XLN) 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon (FRF) 1x Vedalken Orrery 1x Venser, Shaper Savant 1x Voidmage Husher 1x Vizier of the Menagerie (AKH) 1x Walking Ballista 1x Warstorm Surge (C19) 1x Wild Cantor 1x Worldly Tutor (6ED) 1x Whim of Volrath 1x Yavimaya Hollow (UDS)

Also Consecrated Sphinx, Craterhoof Behemoth, Akroma, Angel of Fury, Protean Hulk, Shaman of Forgotten Ways, Thassa, God of the Sea, Thought Harvester, Tishana, Voice of Thunder, Vizier of the Menagerie, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Vedalken Orrery, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak, All Is Dust, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Eldrazi, creature tutors like (Worldly Tutor), and fancier lands.

There are many potential combos to exploit if you want: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/217251-animar-soul-of-elements-combo

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Date added 3 years
Last updated 3 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

4 - 2 Mythic Rares

39 - 9 Rares

20 - 2 Uncommons

23 - 3 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.23
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Insect 1/1 G, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Snake 1/1 G
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