Now we have Stratus Dancer, Willbender is looking increasingly unattractive. Why redirect something when you can just counter it and get a bigger creature to boot?
@ Gelf: You missed the best card in Origins for Animar, Beastcaller Savant. You want some silly turns, cause that's how you get some silly turns (it can go infinite with itself and Cloudstone).
I also really like Woodland Bellower, I think that card's going to quickly become a chase rare for the 6-cmc slot. We're a bit spoiled for big creatures that are amazing in Animar (not as much as the 3- and 4-cmc slots, cutting those down is a nightmare) so I'm not sure what is a good cut. Primordial Sage is definitely stronger than the Bellower, but Bellower is much better into an empty board. If you're not running Consecrated Sphinx (which I do believe you're not) then I would absolutely run the Bellower. It's also a meta decision. My meta has relatively few board wipes with lots of aggression so being able to block in the sky is relevant. The Bellower would be a much stronger include if it could search Legends, as then you could get that-elf-that-lets-you-put-lands-onto-the-battlefield-each-turn.
Evolutionary Leap I would consider the same as Survival 90% of the time. If you run Survival, why not double up?
Hangerback Walker is very exciting, especially in the Animar Artifacts build (will be running out some updates later this week if I can). If board wipes are an issue I see this card being even better than Sphinx or the Bellower. Six counters is entirely viable, and that's a lot of evasive power if you have any kind of pumping support.
@ Gelf: You missed the best card in Origins for Animar, Beastcaller Savant. You want some silly turns, cause that's how you get some silly turns (it can go infinite with itself and Cloudstone).
It seems a very good card, but it's indeed in Battle for Zendikar (which has still to be reviewed ).
I like to play both Stratus Dancer and Willbender: both morphing, and retarget sometimes is more fun than counter.
trmptdrummer has already responded so I'll expand on what he's already said.
Willbender triggers Cloudstone Curio, can be morphed for free and when it redirects a spell or ability you decide where it goes, rather than having to target Spellskite.
Another factor is psychological because you're playing with hidden information. Whenever I put a morph creature on the board, it could be Willbender (or Stratus Dancer) and this forces people to play around that possibility. If they delay, they give more time for us to find our combo victory.
It's also worth noting that Willbender's redirection is dramatically more powerful than Spellskites if you have Animar on the board. Your opponent's cannot safely play pump spells or auras in such a scenario, as any they do will be redirected to Animar who then becomes that more potent at dealing commander damage.
Awaken – a spell mechanic, so unlikely to find synergy with Animar. It would have to be an exceptional spell and then in all likelihood we would still never cast it for the more costly Awaken cost.
Rally – Creature mechanic which triggers from Allies. I guess Animar, Soul of Allies could be a deck? If you’re seeking Ally tribal, these creatures will probably be essential, otherwise they tend to be ETB creatures that buff your team for the turn, so they may suit some aggro builds.
Converge – Sunburst 2.0 is a cool mechanic, though you’d want to be playing five colour to maximise the value from these cards. Potential in a three colour deck, but it seems the creatures are simply +1/+1 counter critters which is pretty dull.
Landfall – Such a good mechanic. It rewards you for doing what you want to be doing anyway and there are a huge array of Landfall effects to choose from.
Ingest – It’s an enabler for other cards in the block. In EDH it’s unlikely to be a win condition on its own (100 cards is a lot for an Eldrazi Drone to chew through), though exile rather than mill is a strong incentive if you’re already pursuing a library death victory. I don’t think you’d play a creature simply for Ingest.
Processors – If you really want these ETB (or on cast) effects, you’ll need to be playing Ingest or another exile mechanic to make them work. Realistically they’re going to be too unreliable without significant help.
Eldrazi Scions – 1/1 tokens you can sacrifice for colourless mana! Two things Animar doesn’t care about! The most annoying there here is the likelihood of colourless chump blockers littering my opponent’s battlefield.
Devoid – Things that cost coloured mana can now be colourless (Ghostfire did it first!) Much like ingest, you’re unlikely to play a card in Animar simply because of devoid, but it may be upside on an already useful effect.
Most of the mechanics in the set are not particularly relevant. I really enjoyed playing with all the devoid, eldrazi scions, ingest and processors during the pre-release, but sadly they don’t have much synergy with Animar. Likewise Converge, Awaken, and Landfall are cool mechanics, but there are no cards in the set exceptional enough to warrant including that have these mechanics.
Cards for Animar:
UBlueU
Murk Strider – If you can ‘Process’ this acts as a Man-o’-War variant. Admittedly this is pretty hard to do without a lot of help, which prevents too many bounce shenanigans.
Firemantle Mage – Makes your creatures harder to block, so again may be worthwhile in aggro.
Ondu Champion – Gives all your things trample when ETBs. In red that is quite unique, but we also play green so just play Nylea, God of the Hunt.
GGreenG
Beastcaller Savant – Will almost always be a ‘free creature’ as Animar reduces him to G and then he can tap immediately for any colour. Useful for building counters and keeping the creature cast chain going. Plays well (if suicidally) with Skullclamp.
Earthen Arms – Two mana for two +1/+1 counters is not that bad, but just playing creatures is a better plan. Unlikely this would ever be used to Awaken a land.
From Beyond – I don’t care so much for the 1/1 (or 1) each upkeep, although don’t get me wrong that is pretty sweet, but really this card is a way to tutor for Ulamog or Kozilek. Whether there is enough upside in having to pay six (possibly spread across two turns) to find your Eldrazi legend is the real question. There are better tutors (Time of Need springs to mind, it completely discounts the initial 3G you’d have to put into From Beyond, and lets you search up Maelstrom Wanderer as well) so I suspect this would only see play in a theme deck or one that cared more about the Eldrazi Scion generation.
Greenwarden of Murasa – Eternal Witness fans will like this big fella. I personally would be reluctant to exile it, instead I’d treat it as an Eternal Witness with a higher cmc (with Animar on board, who cares?). The option to Restock if you need to is a bonus. Unfortunately the 6 cmc is probably the biggest downside here as we are so spoiled for choice at that cost, especially with green creatures for 4GG…
Retreat to Kazandu – The landfall trigger that lets you put +1/+1 counters on things is decent if you’re playing with +1/+1 counter shenanigans.
Tajuru Beastmaster – I mentioned the red Rally creatures, so may as well mention this guy as well. If you’re pushing an aggro game plan, bouncing and replaying this creature a few times will give you field some serious bonuses. Or just play Craterhoof Behemoth once.
Bring to Light – It’s an expensive sorcery, but it does let you put a cmc 3 creature from your deck straight into play (via exile) which is quite powerful. It’s probably more interesting in Riku, Intet or Maelstrom Wanderer decks. Even if you pay no coloured mana from it (using cascade, Intet’s combat trigger or make a copy with Riku, for example) you can still search up and cast Suspend spells (Ancestral Vision, Hypergenesis). It gets even more exciting in five colour decks.
Kiora, Master of the Depths – She can untap Gaea's Cradle and untap Bloom Tender, which puts her up there with Garruk Wildspeaker and Xenagos, the Reveler in terms of being about to discount her own cost. Along with Ral Zarek and Teferi, Temporal Archmage we may be reaching critical mass to make a Cloudstone Curio Planeswalker combo deck! She also draws creatures and her ultimate is fairly spicy. I’ll pass for the reasons why I pass over the other planeswalkers: one activation per turn and no discount on cast.
XArtifacts/ColourlessX
Conduit of Ruin – Can be a ‘free’ tutor to put an Eldrazi (or Nullstone Gargoyle) on top of your library. If you’re playing for the free it’s likely the second ability doesn’t matter. Otherwise if Animar has been removed once or twice already, the discount on that first creature spell may be worthwhile. I’d probably play this if it tutored the creature to hand, but as is there are just too many conditions on this card to make it playable in my opinion.
Endless One – Potentially infinitely large once you’ve already made Animar infinitely large!
Oblivion Sower – Can be discounted to 0, likely to ramp you when you cast it and with a bounce engine can mill out opponents in short order. Seems like something worth testing, but again it wants a 6 cmc slot.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger – A thing of beauty. Exile not one, but TWO permanents on cast. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to fit this bad boy in as I don’t want to replace his original self, but we will see how the card cutting exercise goes.
Void Winnower – If you like big creatures which control the board, Void Winnower joins Nullstone Gargoyle to make your opponents squirm. Could suit a control build.
XLandsX
The plane of Zendikar is famed for its lands. Firstly, try to pick up full art basic lands; they’re beautiful. Secondly, you also have the expedition lands to collect; if you’re a fancy hunter, you could try to get all the fetches and shock lands you need! Thirdly, new duel lands! And lastly, all sorts of lands! Spell-lands, Man-lands, Blighted-lands, LANDS, LANDS, LANDS!
Blighted Cataract, Blighted Gorge, Blighted Woodland – Gorge is pretty bad (direct burn has so much potential power it’s hard to make a land like this seem more impressive without making it too powerful). Cataract draws you cards, so it’s pretty good. Woodland ramps you or gives landfall triggers, so it’s pretty good too, but not in Animar. Only tapping for colourless mana is a pretty big downside for this deck, even if there is upside in sacrificing them for effects later.
Cinder Glade – I’m calling these Tango Lands, because it is the most grokable name for them. The first part of the cycle only gives us this one, but I expect a ‘Forest Island’ and ‘Island Mountain’ will be printed in the next set. I’m not sure if they’re all worth playing; to put them in, I do need to take out basic lands. At the same time, most of my ramp find basics, so when these come out they may well be untapped… I think I’ll end up putting in the ‘Forest Island’ when it appears, and maybe Cinder Glade, as they are both fetchable with Wood Elves and I don’t have any Tropical Islands, Volcanic Islands or Taigas.
Fertile Thicket, Looming Spires, Skyline Cascade – Spell-lands. Entering tapped is probably too great a downside for the effects these offer. Fertile Thicket is the best as it allows you to fix your mana if you play it early, the other two probably don’t have enough impact unless you have some way to trigger them repeatedly or across multiple turns.
Lumbering Falls – Man-land!. It isn’t a great body, but it plays well with Kessig Wolf Run to win the game even when creatures keep getting swept away. I used to play Raging Ravine but entering the field tapped was always the biggest downside. Looking forward to our UR man-land!
Ally Encampment – Made for Ally tribal and even lets you bounce an Ally for more triggers. If you’re playing Animar, Soul of Allies, then play this. Otherwise no.
Sanctum of Ugin – Taps for colourless which is bad, but also tutors up a colourless creature after you cast an Eldrazi? I’m not sold on it, I think anytime you get to activate this it will be win-more. Eye of Ugin is more reusable.
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods – Very cool art, but a land that taps for colourless or later in the game, even more colourless mana, is of no use to us.
Spawning Bed – Sacrifice a land to get a bunch of 1/1 tokens or 3. It’s pretty cool, but not for this deck.
TL;DR - Overall impression, there are now heaps of colourless creatures so starting out with the deck you have many ways to make infinite Cloudstone Curio triggers possible!
Only a few cards really grabbed my attention: Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger exceeded all my expectations; Oblivion Sower probably does enough to warrant inclusion; Greenwarden of Murasa offers another great Eternal Witness variant, but I doubt I will find room for it in my deck; Beastcaller Savant may find a place, haste is a huge upside compared to most mana dorks; Cinder Glade can probably find a place in the deck (though it might not if I ever get a Taiga, hard to say); Lumbering Falls also may get a trial at some point if I want to hit people that keep playing Wrath of God.
Cinder Glade (and the inevitable enemy colour versions) is an interesting card. Taiga is obviously better, as are the Shocks, but I think the best way to treat the latelands (lowlands? battlelands? double-basiclands?) is as a superior version of the Gates that can be easily fetched. Getting two colours out of one land, even at tempo loss, is huge in Animar. I'd also rate Void Winnower much higher than Oblivion Sower, we care much more about controlling the board than getting free mana (Animar does that naturally).
To be honest the Animar deck is in a very healthy place at the moment. Every single point on the curve has numerous options, there's a wide variety of viable top level builds. At this point focusing on new cards is kind of silly. There's more than enough to be getting on with already.
I agree the card pool is flooded, even then We can always hope for some things. a better instant speed way to turn our opponents lands into creatures, non basic land fetch dork, and a relevant treasure Mage target. These are things that all animar decks could really benefit from having in their card pool. There's way more specific things I hope to see like a myr version of elvish visionary, a goblin that combos with Kiki, an efficient way to tutor earthcraft, and a creature with a usable time walk effect, not to mention twiddle elves. I could really use something like painters servant redundancy that's maybe a bit worse, an activated ability perhaps, a red nullrod dork would be fun, and where is the 5U, draw 5 cards etb creature at already? I 100% guarantee they're not holding out on it like it's treasure, I'm just sure nobody at wizards has suggested such a lame rare in the last 10 years. Animar pilots will always have to make tons of hard cuts. Animar brings out hidden potential in so many cards, purely by happenstance he will walk his way up the tier of commanders over the years. My food chain prossh gets a new toy every 3-4 sets. Animar gets 3-4 each set. This is the coolest thing about playing Animar. It really seems like they print new cards just for you.
URGANIMARURG 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.
Extremely tough to drop cards, every set that is released I cringed at the notion of having to drop cards from my current animar deck list, but the lure of playing with new toys is always there. Animar will never be completed haha.
Gilded Drake has been on my wishlist for a long time. When I get one it will find its way into the deck.
Vexing Shusher is a meta call; control in my meta is not so dominant that I need anti-counterspell tech. Even then there are other options to consider such as Gaea's Herald and Surrak Dragonclaw which may be played instead of, or in addition to, Vexing Shusher.
I don't own a Force of Will and I don't much like the idea of exiling a card from my hand, so I wouldn't put it in the deck without seriously considering how it shapes the deck. Stubborn Denial is a fine one mana counterspell for my purposes.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is a powerful card. The first time you play it against a group it sets the tone of the way you want to play and the tools you're willing to use. It can be quite awesome. However, after you've resolved it in game a couple of times it will simply become tiring for your opponents. Part of the trouble is that it makes your opponents helpless (to a degree) without necessarily giving you the tools to win quickly. Some opponents will scoop, others will force you to play it out, while they hope to draw a piece of removal, but it won't guarantee victory and will piss off everyone.
I'm reminded of the interaction between Worldslayer and Tajic, blade of the Legion; it's so obviously powerful but in the end you're beating a whole table to death with a 2/2 while they watch all that is precious to them get destroyed turn after turn. This does not make them want to keep playing with you.
I think Jin-Gitaxias would be fine to put in the deck and play with every now and then, but it shouldn't have a permanent place in the deck, in my opinion.
It's a reasonable utility land as long as your meta isn't all 'destroy and can't be regenerated this turn' effects, colourless mana production isn't great though. Is it better than Kessig Wolf Run or Winding Canyons? I wouldn't recommend replacing a coloured mana source with this, so you either use it as one of a very few utility land slots or replace a non-land card for the effect. Personally I think this would be too situational to warrant inclusion in most Animar decks.
Explanation:
I replaced old Ulamog with new Ulamog. This was a tough decision as I’d like to run both and each has benefits. Ultimately for my style of deck I decided the ‘exile two permanents’ on cast was stronger than Annihilator 4, because my deck aims for creature cast loops as opposed to cheating out Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre early and attacking to decimate my opponents board. If I find a way to fit both Ulamogs in the deck, I’ll definitely run both.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker has been replaced with Craterhoof Behemoth. I love Kiki-Jiki and the shenanigans he facilitates with Zealous Conscripts, but I’ve decided to give Craterhoof Behemoth a go in his place. Essentially they’re both ‘I win’ cards that rely on the combat step and I’ve recently acquired a Craterhoof Behemoth, so I wanted to fit him in.
Primordial Sage came out for Woodland Bellower. This was a tough cut, but the six drop slot is so full. I reasoned that Woodland Bellower can find Fierce Empath who in turn can search up Soul of the Harvest. Again if there is a way to run both these cards I want to know!
Fauna Shaman became Evolutionary Leap. Replaced a tutor effect with a card draw effect (essentially the inverse of the Primordial Sage/Woodland Bellower exchange). Evolutionary Leap guarantees creatures but increases variance a bit, hopefully to make for more interesting games.
A few less direct functional exchanges: Nantuko Vigilante came out because it was fairly redundant compared to Ainok Survivalist. Hooded Hydra had synergy but wasn’t really forwarding my game plan most of the time. Genesis Hydra was fun, but I wanted to make some room for new cards and it felt like the right cut at the time.
I’d like to reiterate how hard it is to make cuts and changes to the deck at this point. All the cards I’ve removed I’d love to keep playing, but how else will we get to try out new things?
Gelf I think you should try fabricate. I know it's not a creature but it can grab ancestral, cloudstone, and even duplicant. It's working out great for me
The problem I have with Drift of Phantasms is that it is pretty much only ever going to be useful because of Transmute. I mean it can't even attack if you need something for Kessig Wolf Run to pump. And I don't think Cloudstone Curio is worth casting for 4UU (although you can split the cost over two turns).
On the otherhand I can see using Muddle the Mixture as a counterspell. And I don't think paying 2GUU for Earthcraft is such a bad deal, especially as with creatures on board you could recoup that cost immediately.
Tactical morph tutoring could also be fun. That said a UU spell is not necessarily going to be easy to fit into the deck, so at this time for me it's just a thought experiment.
Gelf I think you should try fabricate. I know it's not a creature but it can grab ancestral, cloudstone, and even duplicant. It's working out great for me
Fabricate was in the deck since I built it until March this year. I removed it when Ancestral Statue went into the deck. It was always a good toolbox card but I feel it may be a little too good with Ancestral Statue in the deck at the same time, as it is so tempting to tutor and just go infinite.
Because I rarely have time to go to the store and play commander, and I have almost no friends that play magic any more, i have tuned my Animar deck to be played as a soliaire deck. Its as fast as possible with no defensive spells, so I can go infinite asap. The goal is to see how fast I can win. I built using the banned list for French commander rules (with emrakul and prime time in it) and a few proxies (for missing cards like enemy fetch lands and imperial recruiter) and its super fun. It almost feels like really playing the deck against an opponent, since combo decks can be so non interactive. Also it's good to practice and learn such a complex deck with so many tutors before playing with it in public...especially if everyone at the table is often gunning for you the whole time.
Gelf, you called Genesis Hydra "fun". Has it been more of a combo finisher for you and thus an exclusively late game card? I have had only one experience with it. I had infinite mana through Palinchron and tutored up Purphoros for the win.
@ Gelf: You missed the best card in Origins for Animar, Beastcaller Savant. You want some silly turns, cause that's how you get some silly turns (it can go infinite with itself and Cloudstone).
I also really like Woodland Bellower, I think that card's going to quickly become a chase rare for the 6-cmc slot. We're a bit spoiled for big creatures that are amazing in Animar (not as much as the 3- and 4-cmc slots, cutting those down is a nightmare) so I'm not sure what is a good cut. Primordial Sage is definitely stronger than the Bellower, but Bellower is much better into an empty board. If you're not running Consecrated Sphinx (which I do believe you're not) then I would absolutely run the Bellower. It's also a meta decision. My meta has relatively few board wipes with lots of aggression so being able to block in the sky is relevant. The Bellower would be a much stronger include if it could search Legends, as then you could get that-elf-that-lets-you-put-lands-onto-the-battlefield-each-turn.
Evolutionary Leap I would consider the same as Survival 90% of the time. If you run Survival, why not double up?
Hangerback Walker is very exciting, especially in the Animar Artifacts build (will be running out some updates later this week if I can). If board wipes are an issue I see this card being even better than Sphinx or the Bellower. Six counters is entirely viable, and that's a lot of evasive power if you have any kind of pumping support.
GWU Rafiq
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WBR Kaalia (Archived)
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It seems a very good card, but it's indeed in Battle for Zendikar (which has still to be reviewed ).
I like to play both Stratus Dancer and Willbender: both morphing, and retarget sometimes is more fun than counter.
Tiny - Yasova
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
Willbender triggers Cloudstone Curio, can be morphed for free and when it redirects a spell or ability you decide where it goes, rather than having to target Spellskite.
Another factor is psychological because you're playing with hidden information. Whenever I put a morph creature on the board, it could be Willbender (or Stratus Dancer) and this forces people to play around that possibility. If they delay, they give more time for us to find our combo victory.
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
Battle for Zendikar
Mechanics: Officially found here
Cards for Animar:
U Blue U
R Red R
G Green G
GRU Multicoloured URG
X Artifacts/Colourless X
The plane of Zendikar is famed for its lands. Firstly, try to pick up full art basic lands; they’re beautiful. Secondly, you also have the expedition lands to collect; if you’re a fancy hunter, you could try to get all the fetches and shock lands you need! Thirdly, new duel lands! And lastly, all sorts of lands! Spell-lands, Man-lands, Blighted-lands, LANDS, LANDS, LANDS!
TL;DR - Overall impression, there are now heaps of colourless creatures so starting out with the deck you have many ways to make infinite Cloudstone Curio triggers possible!
Only a few cards really grabbed my attention: Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger exceeded all my expectations; Oblivion Sower probably does enough to warrant inclusion; Greenwarden of Murasa offers another great Eternal Witness variant, but I doubt I will find room for it in my deck; Beastcaller Savant may find a place, haste is a huge upside compared to most mana dorks; Cinder Glade can probably find a place in the deck (though it might not if I ever get a Taiga, hard to say); Lumbering Falls also may get a trial at some point if I want to hit people that keep playing Wrath of God.
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
Steam Trades - I play Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, and trade cards heavily. Add me if you like.
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.
WUBRG Reaper King - Elf Tribal WUBRG | Tribal Fun
WRG Gishath, Sun's Avatar - Dinosaur Tribal WRG | Rawr!!!
WUG Derevi, Empyrial Tactician - Enchantress Tactics WUG | Enchantments Focused
GBG The Gitrog Monster - Land Shenanigans GBG | Lands/Mill Focused
WBW Kambal, Consul of Life Allocation Matters WBW | Life Gain/Loss focused
UBR Kess, Dissident Mage of the Lotus UBR | Spellslinger
BGB Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons - Counters & Tokens BGB | -1/-1 counters focused
Vexing Shusher is a meta call; control in my meta is not so dominant that I need anti-counterspell tech. Even then there are other options to consider such as Gaea's Herald and Surrak Dragonclaw which may be played instead of, or in addition to, Vexing Shusher.
I don't own a Force of Will and I don't much like the idea of exiling a card from my hand, so I wouldn't put it in the deck without seriously considering how it shapes the deck. Stubborn Denial is a fine one mana counterspell for my purposes.
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur is a powerful card. The first time you play it against a group it sets the tone of the way you want to play and the tools you're willing to use. It can be quite awesome. However, after you've resolved it in game a couple of times it will simply become tiring for your opponents. Part of the trouble is that it makes your opponents helpless (to a degree) without necessarily giving you the tools to win quickly. Some opponents will scoop, others will force you to play it out, while they hope to draw a piece of removal, but it won't guarantee victory and will piss off everyone.
I'm reminded of the interaction between Worldslayer and Tajic, blade of the Legion; it's so obviously powerful but in the end you're beating a whole table to death with a 2/2 while they watch all that is precious to them get destroyed turn after turn. This does not make them want to keep playing with you.
I think Jin-Gitaxias would be fine to put in the deck and play with every now and then, but it shouldn't have a permanent place in the deck, in my opinion.
Out:
- Fauna Shaman
- Genesis Hydra
- Hooded Hydra (morph)
- Nantuko Vigilante (morph)
- Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
- Primordial Sage
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- Mountain
- Greater Good (probably came out sometime in 2012, but not previously recorded as removed, no idea what replaced it at that time)
In:
+ Beastcaller Savant
+ Evolutionary Leap
+ Fathom Mage
+ Temur Sabertooth
+ Woodland Bellower
+ Craterhoof Behemoth
+ Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
+ Cinder Glade
Explanation:
I replaced old Ulamog with new Ulamog. This was a tough decision as I’d like to run both and each has benefits. Ultimately for my style of deck I decided the ‘exile two permanents’ on cast was stronger than Annihilator 4, because my deck aims for creature cast loops as opposed to cheating out Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre early and attacking to decimate my opponents board. If I find a way to fit both Ulamogs in the deck, I’ll definitely run both.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker has been replaced with Craterhoof Behemoth. I love Kiki-Jiki and the shenanigans he facilitates with Zealous Conscripts, but I’ve decided to give Craterhoof Behemoth a go in his place. Essentially they’re both ‘I win’ cards that rely on the combat step and I’ve recently acquired a Craterhoof Behemoth, so I wanted to fit him in.
Primordial Sage came out for Woodland Bellower. This was a tough cut, but the six drop slot is so full. I reasoned that Woodland Bellower can find Fierce Empath who in turn can search up Soul of the Harvest. Again if there is a way to run both these cards I want to know!
Fauna Shaman became Evolutionary Leap. Replaced a tutor effect with a card draw effect (essentially the inverse of the Primordial Sage/Woodland Bellower exchange). Evolutionary Leap guarantees creatures but increases variance a bit, hopefully to make for more interesting games.
A few less direct functional exchanges: Nantuko Vigilante came out because it was fairly redundant compared to Ainok Survivalist. Hooded Hydra had synergy but wasn’t really forwarding my game plan most of the time. Genesis Hydra was fun, but I wanted to make some room for new cards and it felt like the right cut at the time.
In their place: Fathom Mage came back in, card draw is king! Temur Sabertooth needed testing as a bounce engine. Beastcaller Savant as a hasty Birds of Paradise/Ancient Ziggurat seemed worth trying out. Also potentially fun to kill someone with this guy and Kessig Wolf Run against board wipes.dec!
Finally a basic Mountain came out for Cinder Glade. I still run 13 basic lands so it should come out untapped sometimes and it is fetchable with Wood Elves along with the usual suspects
I’d like to reiterate how hard it is to make cuts and changes to the deck at this point. All the cards I’ve removed I’d love to keep playing, but how else will we get to try out new things?
3 Animar, Soul of Elements
Creatures (50)
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Shrieking Drake
2 Ainok Survivalist
2 Beastcaller Savant
2 Bloom Tender
2 Cloud of Faeries
2 Den Protector
2 Dream Stalker
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Stratus Dancer
2 Sylvan Ranger
2 Willbender
3 Eternal Witness
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Fierce Empath
3 Man-o'-War
3 Raven Familiar
3 Sage of Fables
3 Wood Elves
4 Ancestral Statue
4 Fathom Mage
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Mystic Snake
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Temur Sabertooth
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
5 Kruphix, God of Horizons
5 Mulldrifter
5 Peregrine Drake
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
5 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
5 Zealous Conscripts
6 Draining Whelk
6 Duplicant
6 Prime Speaker Zegana
6 Soul of the Harvest
6 Woodland Bellower
7 Palinchron
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
8 Maelstrom Wanderer
9 Artisan of Kozilek
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
10 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Cloudstone Curio
4 Birthing Pod
Enchantments (5)
1 Hardened Scales
2 Earthcraft
2 Evolutionary Leap
2 Sylvan Library
3 Equilibrium
Instants (4)
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Swan Song
1 Crop Rotation
3x Chord of Calling
Sorcery (1)
1 Glimpse of Nature
Land (37 - by quantity)
1 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Cinder Glade
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
5 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Gruul Turf
1 Hinterland Harbor
7 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Mountain
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Winding Canyons
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Animar, Soul of Elements
Aggro
1 Maelstrom Wanderer (+ draw)
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
Bounce
1 Ancestral Statue
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Dream Stalker
1 Equilibrium
1 Man-o'-War
1 Shrieking Drake
1 Temur Sabertooth
Misc. Utility
1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter (morph)
1 Zealous Conscripts
Draw
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Fathom Mage
1 Glimpse of Nature
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Mulldrifter
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Raven Familiar
1 Sage of Fables
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Sylvan Library
Ramp/Tempo acceleration
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Beastcaller Savant
1 Bloom Tender
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Earthcraft
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Hardened Scales
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Palinchron
1 Peregrine Drake
1 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Rattleclaw Mystic (morph)
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Wood Elves
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Den Protector (morph)
1 Eternal Witness
Removal
1 Ainok Survivalist (morph)
1 Duplicant
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spell Defense/Counters
1 Draining Whelk
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Mystic Snake
1 Stratus Dancer (morph)
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Swan Song
1 Venser, Shaper Savant (+ bounce)
1 Willbender (morph)
Tutors
1 Birthing Pod
1 Chord of Calling
1 Crop Rotation
1 Fierce Empath
1 Woodland Bellower
Win conditions (Combo)
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
Basic lands
5 Forest
7 Island
1 Mountain
1 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Cinder Glade
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Gruul Turf
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Kessig Wolf Run (win con.)
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Winding Canyons
1 Wooded Foothills
Compared to Drift of Phantasms and Dizzy Spell (both of which are awful except for transmute) Muddle the Mixture is useful as a counterspell for board wipes. Or transmute it for Earthcraft, Evolutionary Leap, Bloom Tender, Ainok Survivalist, Den Protector, Dream Stalker, Stratus Dancer, Willbender, etc.
If you run them it can also find Survival of the Fittest, Gilded Drake and Cyclonic Rift.
Discuss.
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Transmute may always be an interesting ability.
I play Drift of Phantasms because I want to search for Cloudstone Curio. The problem is to have enough mana to activate the transmute and to therefore play the tutored card (eg. 2GUU for Muddle the Mixture and Earthcraft in your case, 4UU for Muddle the Mixture and Cloudstone Curio in mine).
Muddle the Mixture with a morph card could also be tactical: let's think about searching for Ainok Survivalist, Den Protector, Willbender or Stratus Dancer and then playing another morph card. The opponent would be deceived by that.
Tiny - Yasova
On the otherhand I can see using Muddle the Mixture as a counterspell. And I don't think paying 2GUU for Earthcraft is such a bad deal, especially as with creatures on board you could recoup that cost immediately.
Tactical morph tutoring could also be fun. That said a UU spell is not necessarily going to be easy to fit into the deck, so at this time for me it's just a thought experiment.
Fabricate was in the deck since I built it until March this year. I removed it when Ancestral Statue went into the deck. It was always a good toolbox card but I feel it may be a little too good with Ancestral Statue in the deck at the same time, as it is so tempting to tutor and just go infinite.