A stand alone set designed for multiplayer draft, Conspiracy offers 52 new cards (65 minus the 13 conspiracies) to play with in Commander. It also gives us a bunch of sweet reprints, but more on that a bit later.
Mechanics:
Conspiracy brings a few new mechanics to the table. Some are draft specific, which don't really help much in Commander. I'm not going to cover the conspiracy draft type. While a lot of fun in the Conspiracy draft format, barring house rules, they have no place in the commander format. The relevant new mechanics are Dethrone, Will of the Council and Parley.
Dethrone is a politically inspired ability on found on blue and red creatures. Designed to encourage you to attack the person with the highest life total, you are rewarded you with sweet sweet free +1/+1 counters. Most of the dethrone creatures are simply french vanilla, but one or two are interesting.
Will of the council is another political ability, where each player can vote to determine the outcome of the spell. Unfortunately because Animar decks get ahead very easily, most of the time giving the rest of the table a vote would not act in our interests. It is worth noting that Council's Judgment will be a white staple for a long time to come, and it offers a way of dealing with some of our more versatile permanents, including Animar itself. A mono-white vindicate that doesn't target and exiles may well become a thorn in our side!
Parley offers everyone a card, which is revealed (free info) and based on number of non-lands revealed has an effect. We only get access to this in green, and the two cards we can use don't really give us much advantage. If there were some better mono-green choices I would probably give it a go. Remember at one time I ran Rites of Flourishing for the bonus land drop.
New Cards!
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Marchesa's Emissary – Our first Dethrone creature, and it really doesn't do much in this deck. Hexproof is nice and all, but it's a french vanilla weenie. Pass.
Marchesa's Infiltrator – Maybe playable in a +1/+1-counters-matter build that also wants to attack. Drawing cards is never bad, but in an aggro +1/+1-counters-matters build compare to Cold-Eyed Selkie.
Plea for Power – A slightly more splashable concentrate, because no one is ever going to give you an extra turn, unless taking an extra turn will kill you.
Split Decision – Creates interesting situations, but really you want to know if you’re getting a Negate or a Fork before you cast your control spell, not after it resolves.
Academy Elite – We pretty much don’t contribute any instants or sorcery ourselves and the loot ability is over-costed. I'm not sure it would even be worth it in a +1/+1-counters-build.
Muzzio, Visionary Architect – He's a pretty cool legend in his own right, but he doesn’t gain much discount from Animar, has a tap ability that costs a lot of mana and encourages building around artifacts. In an artifact creatures build he could potentially dig pretty deep to cheat creatures into play, but his tap cost is higher than you'd be paying to cast any of the artifact creatures once Animar is doing its thing. He lends himself to being his own general as he pushes a deck in a direction my Animar deck doesn’t really want to go.
Grenzo's Cutthroat – Might be worth considering in a suicide goblin deck. At least it gets bigger on its own sometimes. But in Animar, pass.
Scourge of the Throne – A powerful ability, but not one that goes infinite like everyone seems to want to it to. There are more reliable ways to trigger extra attack steps if you are taking the deck in an aggro direction.
Treasonous Ogre – Trading life for mana is a good deal in a combo deck. A shame it's only R mana, but this could give enough reach by getting those first few counters on Animar a turn or two earlier, which allows us to combo earlier. There will be times when paying life to drop Cloudstone Curio and then get an infinite Morph creature loop going will be worth it. Likewise dropping 30 life to play Kiki-Jiki and Zealous Conscripts could win the game outright.
Grenzo's Rebuttal – Has no synergy and is likely to destroy our favourite things. No thanks.
Ignition Team – It's a big goblin and enjoys a reasonable discount, but it's ability is hard to evaluate. Facilitates turning creature removal into land removal for a rather high cost. I don’t think it’s worth it even in a +1/+1-counter-matters build.
GGGGREENGGG
Selvala's Charge – Our first look at Parley and yay elephants! Unfortunately sorcery isn't synergistic and neither are tokens. It's unreliable as a token generator and gives opponents cards. Going to have to pass.
Selvala's Enforcer – It's a creature, which is a good start, enjoys a moderate discount with Animar and replaces itself (while giving opponents' cards, too). In the end it's just a biggish creature, if we want cantrip creatures there are plenty that replace themselves without giving our opponents anything.
Predator's Howl – This is pretty efficient token generation if Morbid is active, and as an instant allows for tricks, but tokens aren't what Animar wants.
Realm Seekers – Like the rest in the cycle this elf can be pretty huge, and its ability isn’t terrible; on par with Sylvan Scrying. All in all though it’s not an ability that we want on a late game threat. If you need to find the land, you want to do it sooner, and as a big beater we have access to much better. I think in slower decks that run many utility lands, it could definitely find a place (I might grab one for Torsten Von Ursus).
RGUMULTICOLOURUGR
Marchesa's Smuggler – A bit small with a good ability, but compared to other options it doesn't give enough. Compare to Thassa, God of the Sea for granting unblockable.
Dack Fayden – The chase planeswalker! He’s cool, but doesn’t have any particular synergy and planeswalker ‘once per your turn’ activation limit rules him out for me. In a heavy artifact meta, he may be worthwhile playing for his second ability.
Dack's Duplicate – This card is pretty cool, but to quote my previous assessment:
A clone with haste obviously lets us activate tap abilities or attack with a hasty aggro creature, but what are our targets likely to be? In my deck the only creatures with tap abilities are Merfolk Looter and Fauna Shaman, neither of which is likely to be worth cloning if we already have them on the board. The best creatures to grant haste to would be the Eldrazilegends, but to do that would require sacrificing the actual Eldrazi and shuffling them back into the library, so if we have to bounce the clone, we've lost our target. Unfortunately to me, it doesn't seem worthwhile copying a creature purely to have a copy with haste, especially because we already have access to haste enablers such as Maelstrom Wanderer, Xenagos, God of Revels and Urabrask the Hidden. There certainly will be times when copying an opponent's creature and giving it haste would lead to interesting scenarios, however that relies on the opponent having something worth copying, and we would still gain the same benefit from a normal clone with one of the haste enablers already in the deck. Finally when we are deciding on creatures to include in Animar, the fewer coloured mana symbols in the cost, the bigger the discount we can enjoy. Dack's Duplicate is likely to cost us UR instead of a single U. Is it effectively worth twice the cost for a situational haste effect that is likely dependent on the opponent having a powerful creature for us to copy? I don't think it is. It's not to say Dack's Duplicate isn't an interesting clone variant. I think it would certainly have potential in other decks where it would effectively cost the same as a normal clone, but Animar's discount really forces us to examine what it can do for us and I don't think it does enough in this context.
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Coercive Portal – The councils' will is unlikely to do us any favours here. This is a deck that easily over extends and we have much better card draw options available.
Deal Broker – Ignoring the draft ability, this is a colourless looter. Unfortunately we have access to blue and red looters already. I think Merfolk looter is better in this deck because it fills out the curve as a two drop, but I'd rate this higher than Rummaging Goblin. Drawing then discarding is way better than discarding then drawing.
Canal Dredger – This allows you recycle cards from your graveyard to the bottom of the deck. It's pretty weak as recursion and cannot act as graveyard hate against an opponent because it is specifically your graveyard. Perhaps if the effect was combined with a more compelling body or other effects it may be worthwhile, but not here.
Reprints!
Not really going to say much here other than pick them up while they're cheap!
Altar of Dementia - If you need a sac mechanic and anticipate milling your opponents, why not? It's free sacrifice!
Reflecting Pool - A solid multi-land, definitely worth fitting it into the deck if you don't have one.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - A great source of card advantage in an aggro deck, and discourages opponents attacking you. Useful political tool.
Fires of Yavimaya - While I think haste outlets on creatures is better, this offers a bit more utility. When you're playing aggro, the more haste the better.
Decimate - In multiplayer games you're going to have targets. Very efficient removal once you hit all the targets. Shame it's a sorcery, although probably be overpowered as an instant.
Terastodon - Great removal. Have run before, if I found the room in my curve I'd run it again.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - If you don't have copies of this guy, grab as many as you can! Mono-green staple.
Exploration - I've wanted this card for so long, soon one will be mine! Improves your chance of getting a turn two Animar, and works well once your card draw engines get going.
Heartless Hidetsugu - Give him haste and stick him in your aggro deck, he burns people down pretty quick.
Stifle - Meta choice, but really messes with fetchlands among other things.
Misdirection - Free stack manipulation isn't to be underestimated. Lends itself to a more control oriented build.
Fact or Fiction - One of the best card draw options ever, pick up a few copies for other decks. This one would prefer Sphinx of Uthuun.
Brainstorm - Again one of the best card draw cards ever printed. Not necessarily out of place in a good stuff Animar build.
As always, I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I've been having a blast drafting Conspiracy and the reprints are what makes it exciting. Have to make space for Treasonous Ogre as I expect it will do good work, if I don't kill myself over-reaching.
how do you deal with azami deck that goes off constantly on turn 5? i'm having a very hard time dealing with it and i don't run kijiji combos, because I want a more beatdown feel of deck rather than a combo. on that note, what cards do you think i should replace if I want to kill people with 40 combat damage but still retains the animar puking out creatures feeling? would that be too casual? perhaps I should play some other general?
how do you deal with azami deck that goes off constantly on turn 5? i'm having a very hard time dealing with it and i don't run kijiji combos, because I want a more beatdown feel of deck rather than a combo. on that note, what cards do you think i should replace if I want to kill people with 40 combat damage but still retains the animar puking out creatures feeling? would that be too casual? perhaps I should play some other general?
Is this a 1v1 situation? If it is multiplayer I suggest that the whole table needs to kill Azami before she combos off (which still might be a challenge).
If you're doing this on your own, I'm not sure you will be able to beat Azami before turn 5 without combo. You could aim for speedy Animar combo; drop Animar turn 1 or 2 and hope to combo off first, but I imagine you would still need to be on the play to win and you would require Imperial Recruiter to give yourself the best possible chances at victory. You could try to improve your control and keep Azami or other combo pieces off the table (Krosan Grip is your friend), although trying to out-control mono-blue would probably require moving well away from my Animar build, and may not suit Animar at all. Riku or Intet may be better control generals in these colours. You could look at alternate victory conditions like poison to lower the damage you need to do, Triumph of the Hordes kills very effectively, assuming you can resolve it. Maelstrom Wanderer may be a better aggro commander in these circumstances, but I'm not sure even Wanderer is fast enough.
If you want to overrun your opponents you need Craterhoof Behemoth. Other cards to consider include Avenger of Zendikar, it gives you an army on its own; Beastmaster Ascension to turns all your utility creatures into giants and Overwhelming Stampede. You definitely need to run as many haste enablers as possible, because creatures may never get over summoning sickness before they die.
Perhaps another general would be more appropriate? I'm sorry I can't be of more help without knowing your deck and metagame, which sounds pretty serious given the turn 5 Azami combo deck. I'm not sure an aggro Animar deck that seeks to do 40 damage (rather than just 21 Commander damage) can compete in that meta.
Another solution is to ask the Azami player to play a different deck from time to time. Beware entering an arms race with fast combo, because in the end every deck in the meta will become fast combo or some kind of anti-combo meta deck that only functions within your meta. Some players like that environment, but just be aware that such escalation can leave metagames unsatisfying and hostile to new players. You don't want to completely crush new players so that you ruin the format for them. I'm aware this may not be an issue for you or your meta, just saying you can approach this at a social level before crafting anti-Azami deck that wins turn 4.
Thank you. I love your deck list, been playing a copy pasted version with less combos(only have plaicon and morph combos) of it for over a year, it's awesome. I will try talk to the azami player.
Treasonous Ogre seems like a shoe-in IMO. Gives this deck a lot more reach for playing creatures on turns 4-5 than it's used to.
I have been considering how to evaluate the Ogre. I agree it gives reach in those early turns to get extra counters on Animar at the small cost of life. Sometimes it will act as colour fixing to cast Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker but more often than not it will be used to make up colourless mana until Animar is fully charged up.
I will do a Conspiracy set review in the next week or so. I'm just finishing up some uni assignments at the moment which is using up all my writing time
Modern: UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy: UWBMiracles
Edh: UUUThassa Control WWWHokori Stax GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy BBBGriselbrand French List RBGShattergang(Super Villians) RWGHazezon Flicker UBRMarchesa Aggro URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
how do you deal with azami deck that goes off constantly on turn 5? i'm having a very hard time dealing with it and i don't run kijiji combos, because I want a more beatdown feel of deck rather than a combo. on that note, what cards do you think i should replace if I want to kill people with 40 combat damage but still retains the animar puking out creatures feeling? would that be too casual? perhaps I should play some other general?
Win T4. Animar can be fast enough to give Azami a run for her money, but if you don't want to build that deck then gelf is probably right.
I guess it's a bit of all of those cards, but I'm comparing it to the Elder because you have to sac them instead of getting an ETB effect. Either way, it's a 2-drop that can replace itself.
In general I don't want to sac creatures, so Alchemist's Apprentice wouldn't be a high priority for me. Especially as you couldn't even use Skullclamp on him effectively (if I was running Skullclamp). I'd rather bounce and reuse ETB effects. In this context Wall of Blossoms or Elvish Visionary is better as a source of draw.
Sakura-Tribe Elder is simply too efficient to leave out and the creature synergy is still there, but if another creature was printed that put the land into play on entering the battlefield, the Elder would be put into a home (rather than buried in a shallow grave in the forest).
Am I wrong in thinking that Jalira, Master Polymorphist is a must add? Especially if you're using tutors. I grant you it doesn't trigger Animar's bonus but if he's tucked or recently recast and you know you have a big thing coming next or can make a big thing hit the top of your deck it's an easy way to cheat out any creature.
Am I wrong in thinking that Jalira, Master Polymorphist is a must add? Especially if you're using tutors. I grant you it doesn't trigger Animar's bonus but if he's tucked or recently recast and you know you have a big thing coming next or can make a big thing hit the top of your deck it's an easy way to cheat out any creature.
It's important to note you cannot hit any creature, only nonlegendary creatures, which means you cannot hit any of the following:
Without top deck manipulation (I only run Sylvan Library) you're likely to sacrifice a small utility creature for another random small utility creature. Compared to Birthing Pod, I just can't imagine wanting to run Jalira, Master Polymorphist. If I felt I needed this effect I might consider running Proteus Staff (downside that it is sorcery speed rather than instant, upside it can hit legends and tuck opponents' creatures) as it is more durable than Jalira and more likely to be activated immediately (doesn't need haste).
By all means I encourage you to try it out and please let us know how it plays, I may be misevaluating the effect.
You seem to run a lot more effects that allow you to plan what you're getting when you polymorph, rather than it being random, so that is good. Not being able to find and cheat out legends though is still a big downside in my opinion, as is the fact that on her own, Jalira is slow and inconsistent compared to some of the other cards that have synergy in the deck.
Of course Magus of the Future and Garruk's Horde are both fine on their own, and probably offer a better discount when Animar is in play. Call of the Wild looks ok, but is likely to have a higher mana cost to activate than simply casting creatures discounted by Animar. I guess if you generate infinite mana Call of the Wild can win the game with Mulldrifter and Laboratory Maniac, so it has something going for it (we are looking at a 5 or 6 card combo to win then, compared to Primal Surge which is a 3 card combo).
In summary, your deck is better set up to take advantage of Jalira than mine, but she needs a lot of help to actually do something unfair. Animar has access to other tools that require less work for the same outcome, so I don't think she's worth the trouble. I think Proteus Staff is better if you want this effect. Leave Jalira, Master Polymorphist to be a fun commander in charge of her own deck.
There are some cards that you hav listed as ***for cut throat metas - it would be cool if sometime you could make a version of your main deck list as cut throat as possible!
How do you feel about the new card spoiled Generator Servant? I realise it doesn't help all that much late game/Animar is nice and big but early game it can be useful especially if say you got an Ulamog in your opening hand. Also it can be used for non creature spells,for the rare non permanent spells, like say a chord of calling. Or a Genesis hydra
Thoughts on soul of new phyrexia from m15 seems like a great way to protect against wraths and is on a creature body - free with animar + 6 counters! Too bad his ability didn't get discounted but still seems good.
Full spoiler is out! A few exciting cards. In my opinion Chasm Skulker and Genesis Hydra might make it to the list. While Soul of new phyrexia seems a good counter against wraths, I guess it demands too much from the deck, leaving mana open every turn to use his ability.
M15 is the latest core set and it brings a lot of new and exciting cards for Animar.
Mechanics:
This years returning mechanic is Convoke, one which plays especially well with heavy creature decks and has exceptional synergy with Animar. There is also a cycle of Slivers that builds on M14s mechanic, but I'm not going to mention them here, because they are not particularly relevant to Animar in general. While it is possible to build a sliver deck around Animar, you are missing out of the 5 colour Sliver legends among them the new and long awaited indestructible Sliver Hivelord.
M15 release note can be found here for more information on the set.
Lets have a look at the many potential goodies available:
UUUBLUEUUU
Aetherspouts – Something to watch out for, as it can be devastating against an alpha attack. Luckily Animar can win without entering the attack phase, but for more aggro builds this is definitely something to be wary of. If you are hit by it, I suggest putting everything except card draw on the bottom of the library. Maybe worth including in a more control orientated build, but non-creature spells don’t have much synergy with Animar.
Chasm Skulker – No particular synergy with my build (except of course that it’s a creature). A +1/+1 counters matter build might make good use of it, especially as card draw replenishes the counters. It also it replaces itself with tokens after dying, so it has combo potential with Craterhoof Behemoth and might be somewhat useful against board wipes, provided you have plenty of card draw. Mind you, if you’re already drawing many cards, you can probably win despite the board wipes.
Frost Lynx – Potentially a way of keeping opponent’s creatures tapped down, so that Animar can swing without being chump blocked. Unlikely to find a place, but perhaps in an Elemental tribal build it offers something.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist – She can’t find legendary creatures, which makes her much weaker in my opinion that the closest alternative Proteus Staff. If she survives the turn you basically roll the dice trading one enter the battlefield effect for another. She can activate in response to removal (on another creature) but I think we need to really alter the deck to make her better than random, and I don’t think she’s worth the effort. I think she’d be a good build around Commander, but not so much as one of the 99. Further discussion.
Kapsho Kitefins – With all the enter the battlefield triggers, this could easily tap down all opponents’ creatures. Probably just better to bounce them or destroy them, but if you only want to tap them down, this is a good creature to it.
Master of Predicaments – If you’re playing an Aggro build and want another way to cheat on mana costs, this guy gives you a chance to psych out an opponent to try and get free spells. Great design, but this probably isn’t the deck best suited to take advantage of the Master.
Mercurial Pretender – This is a powerful clone variant. Limited to the creatures you control, but with the added benefit of being able to bounce itself, I think it might be worth finding a spot for in the deck. I have discussed this card relative to Dack's Duplicatebefore.
Military Intelligence – If you’re playing a budget aggro build, this will draw you an extra card each attack step for a small initial mana investment. There are probably enough creatures that draw cards when they enter the battlefield to make this redundant, but cheap persistent card draw is what it is.
Polymorphist's Jest – Another spell to watch out for, as it can mess with our many creature based effects. Thankfully Animar will likely stay a big creature care of all the +1/+1 counters, but this removes his protections and his discount effect until the end of turn. Again in a controlling Animar build, you might consider this due to its unique effect.
Quickling – Filling a similar role as Dream Stalker, this lacks the ability to bounce itself and non-creature permanents, instead it can be cast as an instant. Flash is a pretty relevant ability, as it lets you counter removal targeting another creature. Certainly worth considering.
Soul of Ravnica – The soul of Ravnica has certainly generated a lot of discussion and is generally considered to be the least useful of the Soul cycle. 5UU is a lot to pay to draw between 1 and 3 cards (considering this deck, not 5 colour), but it does potentially provide fuel after a board wipe. The major issue of course is that there are so many ways in our colours to draw cards and in comparison to most, this is really inefficient. Sorry Ravnica soul, you’re terrible.
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Act on Impulse – Red card draw and efficiently costed, provided you use the cards right now! This deck has the ability to cast many cards due to Animar’s discount, so you’d probably be able to use all three, but it is still sorcery speed draw and not on a creature, which are major drawbacks. It is nice to see red gaining some powerful card advantage tools.
Aggressive Mining – More red card draw! Given we can repeatedly bounce and cast ramp creatures like Solemn Simulacrum and Farhaven Elf, not being able to play lands may not even be such as big disadvantage. We can even bounce Aggressive mining with Dream Stalker or Cloudstone Curio and another enchantment. Really though with blue and green card draw engines available, is it worth jumping through hoops to make this card work?
Generator Servant – Gives us colourless mana to cast anything and potentially gives a creature haste. This is a pretty exciting creature, even though it has to survive a turn to activate. It is similar to Sakura-Tribe Elder, although instead of ramping a land it gives a one off boost offering a mana buffer to get extra counters onto Animar. Has synergy as a creature, can generate more mana than it costs, potentially gives haste to an Eldrazi. I’m keen to experiment with one!
Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient – Only has synergy with one artifact in the deck, Birthing Pod, but potentially could find a place in a build centred around artifact creatures like Kuldotha Forgemaster and Master Transmuter. His ability is pretty exciting; I’m pleased to see red pushing into new design space.
Rummaging Goblin – He’s been in the deck before, but ultimately was replaced by blues superior looter effects. A decent budget choice and reasonable inclusion if you’re new to the deck and using whatever cards you have around.
Siege Dragon – A big beater, which destroys walls and burns little creatures upon attack. If you play in the rare WALLS ARE KING meta, then this guy is the answer to your prayers! I’ll probably give him a miss though.
Soul of Shandalar – Repeatable removal and a win condition with infinite mana, plus a one off burn spell after being removed. I think this is probably the best soul of the lot, but given that the deck is generally red mana light, it probably wouldn’t get activated outside of infinite mana shenanigans. Having such high activations costs really hurts the playability of the souls in my Animar deck, because we’re used to getting our effects for free.
GGGGREENGGG
Back to Nature – Tears most pillowfort decks a new one. Obviously a meta choice and impacts the few enchantments we run, but if you’re already running Bane of Progress and want more enchantment removal, this is a pretty efficient sweeper effect.
Chord of Calling – Best reprint of the set! If you haven’t got one of these, now is the time to get them. It is simply amazing in Animar, tutoring a creature into play for 0 mana wins games.
Genesis Hydra – so much synergy! It’s a creature, that gets bigger and better the more counters that are on Animar and lets us dig among the top X cards of the library for the best nonland permanent to put straight into play. I think it’s an auto-include.
Invasive Species – Another Dream Stalker variant. It can’t return itself to your hand, which is a downside, but if you need self-bounce this is a pretty decent option.
Life’s Legacy – There are some pretty big creatures in the deck that could be sacrificed to refill your hand. I think we have sufficient draw engines not to warrant running a sorcery, but this card is a welcome addition to green’s part of the pie.
Living Totem – This creature is tempting because it can put an extra +1/+1 counter on Animar, and reduces its own casting cost due to convoke. If Animar already has three counters on him, you can tap Animar to cast this for nothing and get him straight up to five counters. I don’t think it’s worth playing cards simply to put extra counters on Animar, but being able to convoke this as well makes it pretty tempting.
Nissa, Worldwaker – Obviously the only reason I’d play Nissa is to untap four forests each turn. And then I wonder why I’m not playing Garruk Wildspeaker to untap Gaea's Cradle? I have already talked about why I don’t include planeswalkers in my deck, and Nissa really only has one ability that is limited to untapping forests. She gets better in an aggro build if you don’t mind risking your lands to creature removal.
Reclamation Sage – Finally naturalize is on a cheap creature. The real question is whether we need additional artifact and enchantment removal and if we do, what can be cut to make room for her?
Shaman of Spring – Although I don’t run many, there are Animar builds that are powered by dropping as many cantrip critters as possible, and those builts will welcome a new cantrip creature.
Soul of Zendikar – Not much synergy to be had from tokens. It does offer another way of spending infinite mana, but I don’t think it’s worth making space for this mana sink. If any Soul was going to get a spot it would be the red one.
Wall of Mulch – Effectively cantrips, and has synergy with Wall of Blossoms. If you were running a wall heavy build, this might be a decent source of card draw, although I’m not so keen on sacrificing creatures if instead I can bounce and recast them.
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard – Oh Yisan, you look like you should be good, but you are complete trash. Without working very hard the chances are you will only ever cheat out things that cost 2 or 3 mana at the most and even then you do it at only a glacial pace. The best thing to do with you is sacrifice you to Birthing Pod to find Solemn Simulacrum or Purphoros, God of the Forge.
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Obelisk of Urd – Requires you to play a tribal build for maximum benefit, but convoke makes that entirely worthwhile. One of the best anthem effects (soon to be) available because +2/+2 and alternate casting cost.
Perilous Vault – Something to watch out for, this is going to be a big jerk card. I am a big fan of being able to reuse cards from my graveyard, and this colourless sweeper is going to be exiling a lot of permanents. If it becomes problematic, I’m going to have to look to include sacrifice engines to prevent exiling of combo pieces. At least it is not easily recurrable.
Soul of New Phyrexia – As an artifact creature it benefits from maximum discount, but it’s admittedly useful ability still has a hefty activation cost. I’m not sure it’s worth holding 5 mana open every round, but having the option is certainly nice. The flashback one off protection is probably more valuable, as avoiding that one back breaking sweeper is often enough to secure victory. I do think that the activation cost is probably too high, but it’s worth testing.
Evolving Wilds – Another cheap staple that was once in the deck. If you can’t afford fetch lands, I think these are reasonable substitutes.
Shivan Reef & Yavimaya Coast – serviceable enough, these lands enter play untapped and don’t hurt you when tapping for colourless mana. The pain only happens when you need coloured mana, and we need a lot of coloured mana. With all the untapping of lands by Palinchron this pain can add up. They’re a decent addition if you don’t have better lands, so it’s worth picking them up if you need the fixing.
That about sums it up. There are a lot of cards to find room for in the deck, it's going to require some very difficult decision making. Anything I missed? Thoughts on the new set? I'm very excited by to get my hands on M15 this weekend at the prerelease event.
I've discovered the reason my links keep breaking is because I have been changing the thread title. I will go back and fix all the links later and will not be changing the thread title in the future. In the meantime, sorry all the links are broken
Feel free to see the changes:
Thank very much !
A stand alone set designed for multiplayer draft, Conspiracy offers 52 new cards (65 minus the 13 conspiracies) to play with in Commander. It also gives us a bunch of sweet reprints, but more on that a bit later.
Mechanics:
Conspiracy brings a few new mechanics to the table. Some are draft specific, which don't really help much in Commander. I'm not going to cover the conspiracy draft type. While a lot of fun in the Conspiracy draft format, barring house rules, they have no place in the commander format. The relevant new mechanics are Dethrone, Will of the Council and Parley.
Dethrone is a politically inspired ability on found on blue and red creatures. Designed to encourage you to attack the person with the highest life total, you are rewarded you with sweet sweet free +1/+1 counters. Most of the dethrone creatures are simply french vanilla, but one or two are interesting.
Will of the council is another political ability, where each player can vote to determine the outcome of the spell. Unfortunately because Animar decks get ahead very easily, most of the time giving the rest of the table a vote would not act in our interests. It is worth noting that Council's Judgment will be a white staple for a long time to come, and it offers a way of dealing with some of our more versatile permanents, including Animar itself. A mono-white vindicate that doesn't target and exiles may well become a thorn in our side!
Parley offers everyone a card, which is revealed (free info) and based on number of non-lands revealed has an effect. We only get access to this in green, and the two cards we can use don't really give us much advantage. If there were some better mono-green choices I would probably give it a go. Remember at one time I ran Rites of Flourishing for the bonus land drop.
New Cards!
UUU BLUE UUU
RRR RED RRR
GGG GREEN GGG
RGU MULTICOLOUR UGR
Reprints!
Not really going to say much here other than pick them up while they're cheap!
As always, I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I've been having a blast drafting Conspiracy and the reprints are what makes it exciting. Have to make space for Treasonous Ogre as I expect it will do good work, if I don't kill myself over-reaching.
Is this a 1v1 situation? If it is multiplayer I suggest that the whole table needs to kill Azami before she combos off (which still might be a challenge).
If you're doing this on your own, I'm not sure you will be able to beat Azami before turn 5 without combo. You could aim for speedy Animar combo; drop Animar turn 1 or 2 and hope to combo off first, but I imagine you would still need to be on the play to win and you would require Imperial Recruiter to give yourself the best possible chances at victory. You could try to improve your control and keep Azami or other combo pieces off the table (Krosan Grip is your friend), although trying to out-control mono-blue would probably require moving well away from my Animar build, and may not suit Animar at all. Riku or Intet may be better control generals in these colours. You could look at alternate victory conditions like poison to lower the damage you need to do, Triumph of the Hordes kills very effectively, assuming you can resolve it. Maelstrom Wanderer may be a better aggro commander in these circumstances, but I'm not sure even Wanderer is fast enough.
If you want to overrun your opponents you need Craterhoof Behemoth. Other cards to consider include Avenger of Zendikar, it gives you an army on its own; Beastmaster Ascension to turns all your utility creatures into giants and Overwhelming Stampede. You definitely need to run as many haste enablers as possible, because creatures may never get over summoning sickness before they die.
Perhaps another general would be more appropriate? I'm sorry I can't be of more help without knowing your deck and metagame, which sounds pretty serious given the turn 5 Azami combo deck. I'm not sure an aggro Animar deck that seeks to do 40 damage (rather than just 21 Commander damage) can compete in that meta.
Another solution is to ask the Azami player to play a different deck from time to time. Beware entering an arms race with fast combo, because in the end every deck in the meta will become fast combo or some kind of anti-combo meta deck that only functions within your meta. Some players like that environment, but just be aware that such escalation can leave metagames unsatisfying and hostile to new players. You don't want to completely crush new players so that you ruin the format for them. I'm aware this may not be an issue for you or your meta, just saying you can approach this at a social level before crafting anti-Azami deck that wins turn 4.
I did exactly this in my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck this past saturday. I tutored ogre off of a fleshwrither. It awesome
Treasonous Ogre has got to be one of the coolest combo creatures in a long while.
Draft it Here!
UUUBlue Man Group
Legacy:
UWBMiracles
Edh:
UUUThassa Control
WWWHokori Stax
GGGJolrael, Empress of Land Stompy
BBBGriselbrand French List
RBGShattergang(Super Villians)
RWGHazezon Flicker
UBRMarchesa Aggro
URGMaelstom Wanderer (Maelstorm)
Win T4. Animar can be fast enough to give Azami a run for her money, but if you don't want to build that deck then gelf is probably right.
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Do you mean as a sorta functional Wall of blossoms or Elvish Visionary?
URThe Joy of Painting with Nin, the Pain Artist!UR
Sakura-Tribe Elder is simply too efficient to leave out and the creature synergy is still there, but if another creature was printed that put the land into play on entering the battlefield, the Elder would be put into a home (rather than buried in a shallow grave in the forest).
Without top deck manipulation (I only run Sylvan Library) you're likely to sacrifice a small utility creature for another random small utility creature. Compared to Birthing Pod, I just can't imagine wanting to run Jalira, Master Polymorphist. If I felt I needed this effect I might consider running Proteus Staff (downside that it is sorcery speed rather than instant, upside it can hit legends and tuck opponents' creatures) as it is more durable than Jalira and more likely to be activated immediately (doesn't need haste).
By all means I encourage you to try it out and please let us know how it plays, I may be misevaluating the effect.
If you run plenty of Scry, Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Worldly Tutor/Sylvan Tutor maybe it would be worth it for occassional cheating in a nonlegendary big creature.
On a side but similar note Right now I'm trying call of the wild, but it hasn't come up often enough for me to say if it's a good idea or not
Of course Magus of the Future and Garruk's Horde are both fine on their own, and probably offer a better discount when Animar is in play. Call of the Wild looks ok, but is likely to have a higher mana cost to activate than simply casting creatures discounted by Animar. I guess if you generate infinite mana Call of the Wild can win the game with Mulldrifter and Laboratory Maniac, so it has something going for it (we are looking at a 5 or 6 card combo to win then, compared to Primal Surge which is a 3 card combo).
In summary, your deck is better set up to take advantage of Jalira than mine, but she needs a lot of help to actually do something unfair. Animar has access to other tools that require less work for the same outcome, so I don't think she's worth the trouble. I think Proteus Staff is better if you want this effect. Leave Jalira, Master Polymorphist to be a fun commander in charge of her own deck.
M15 is the latest core set and it brings a lot of new and exciting cards for Animar.
Mechanics:
This years returning mechanic is Convoke, one which plays especially well with heavy creature decks and has exceptional synergy with Animar. There is also a cycle of Slivers that builds on M14s mechanic, but I'm not going to mention them here, because they are not particularly relevant to Animar in general. While it is possible to build a sliver deck around Animar, you are missing out of the 5 colour Sliver legends among them the new and long awaited indestructible Sliver Hivelord.
M15 release note can be found here for more information on the set.
Lets have a look at the many potential goodies available:
UUU BLUE UUU
That about sums it up. There are a lot of cards to find room for in the deck, it's going to require some very difficult decision making. Anything I missed? Thoughts on the new set? I'm very excited by to get my hands on M15 this weekend at the prerelease event.