Today at Spiel Essen I finally bit the bullet and purchased an imperial recruiter (P3K version :))
I sure hope the card turns out te be as great as expected.
Decklist and card descriptions in the original post have been updated, but I still need to review and rework some of the other sections of the Primer. Thanks for your support and patience
Explanations:
Some cards straight up replaced other cards.
Merfolk Looter came out for Elvish Visionary - Having been playing legacy Elf Combo I've really come to appreciate how much work Elvish Visionary can do in a deck which can bounce cards and generate a lot of mana. The Visionary out draws the Looter once bounce engines get going and is less likely to be limited by the one tap per turn or haste enablers.
Bloodbraid Elf came out for Genesis Hydra - They perform similar roles and don't work well together. The Hydra is more dependant on Animar to enable it for maximum advantage, but far less likely to hit a bad 'cascade'. Genesis Hydra gets better if the game goes longer and also has synergy with another recent addition, Kruphix.
Ondu Giant is replaced by Treasonous Ogre - This is a test as the Ogre may not work out well, but they play a similar role in providing additional mana. The Ogre provides more mana faster, but at a high life cost and limited to red mana. Potentially he lets you combo sooner, but if he doesn't work out I'll switch them back again.
Vesuvan Shapeshifter makes way for Rattleclaw Mystic - I consider this a straight out swap because I'm maintaining the number of morphs in the deck. While I lose out on the clones versatility, I gain an additional infinite mana combo and an early mana fixer and ramp enabler.
Garruk's Horde is finally swapped out for Sphinx of Uthuun - One form of card advantage replaces another. Since I've removed Psychosis Crawler I'm less concerned about 'all draw must say draw!' and settled with a Fact or Fiction on a stick. Importantly I maintain two 7cmc drops for my Birthing Pod chain.
The other three changes are less straight forward, I wanted to find room for cards and had to make cuts losing out on some things to test other things.
Psychosis Crawler was a really tough cut. It has long been my favoured win condition, but the creation of Purphoros, God of the Forge offered an alternate win that was actually easier to enable and easier to protect. Having heard a lot of great things about Kruphix, God of Horizons I wanted to try it out. I've said before that Kruphix doesn't offer synergy with Animar; if Animar is doing his thing we don't need the colourless mana storage and holding onto extra cards is nice but not essential. However he does provide a way of staying in the game after Animar has died a few times, but letting us store mana to either get Animar out again or let us pay for expensive creatures over a couple of turns. Kruphix also offers good synergy with Genesis Hydra even when Animar isn't on the field. Importantly Kruphix survives board wipes, keeping us in the game against a strategy that excels in undoing our card advantage engines.
Chief Engineer offers a way to discount two of the best enablers in the deck, Cloudstone Curio and Birthing Pod. Whether the Chief is worth including to convoke only two cards is what I'm testing. I think it is worthwhile because Chief Engineer fits nicely on the curve as a cheap creature to put counters on Animar and being able to cast Cloudstone Curio without tapping out mana could potentially allow a combo victory a turn faster. The Chief also has synergy with the artifact creatures in the deck, especially Etherium-Horn Sorcerer, allowing us to save mana to bounce him back to our hand by tapping creatures instead. I decided to cut Urabrask the Hidden for this slot for the following reasons: I can convoke with 'summoning sick' creatures, I had already cut Merfolk Looter (one of the few tap ability creatures in the deck), I was already running Maelstrom Wanderer and Xenagos, God of Revels as haste enablers (both arguably better than Urabrask) and I rarely win by attacking with a large army of creatures anyway (unless they're all Zealous Conscripts).
Finally I had to fit in Hardened Scales. This one drop enchantment supercharges Animar and makes him viable to cast at any point in the game. Every creature cast is twice as effective and the discounts stack up twice as fast. I didn't want to cut Opal Palace, firstly because I am wary about cutting lands for spells and secondly because Hardened Scales and Opal Palace have synergy together. In the end I couldn't justify any other cut to myself; the 1 tax on using Opal Palace for coloured mana made it the weakest land in the deck and these latest changes lower the deck's curve, so cutting a land that increases the costs of my spells seemed like the most reasonable choice.
Great changes. I hadn't realized you weren't running Visionary, it is amazing.
I have cascaded into Genesis Hydra with Bloodbraid Elf once. I sucked, but still put an extra counter on Animar.
I am really interested to hear how the Ogre does. He almost made it into my deck but the R part was off-putting.
Phyrexian Ingester has been an amazing "7" drop for me. Removal for U is amazing.
You won't be disappointed with Kruphix, Hardened Scales, or Rattleclaw. I had a turn 1 Hardened Scales the other night, followed up with a turn 2 Rattleclaw. The table was not happy and I quickly won that game. I kept Vesuvan in my deck because it has been really useful as a clone and works well with other morph creatures. I am testing Kheru Spellsnatcher right now and haven't come across it yet. I think it will be cut soon for something better.
I support a lot of these changes Gelf. From what I've played of Chief Engineer in my artifact list, he is quite good. Being able to chain artifact creatures ahead of the curve is awesome, as is the obvious synergy with coloured artifacts. However if I were to cut down just one or two artifacts I'd start to seriously consider cutting him. I think you'll find Chief Engineer just doesn't do much if anything in your deck.
I completely passed on the Ogre based almost entirely on the life payment. Unless you have a lot of red (and are very aggressive) then I don't think his place is justified next to another, more efficient mana producer such as Bloom Tender.
IMO, if you get a Craterhoof you'll want to put Urabrask back in. Having a haste enabler is really important when you chain a string of creatures into play, rather than having an established board state when CHB comes into play.
Urabrask the Hidden can go back in replacing Xenagos, God of Revels if I need global haste. They fall in the same place on the curve and are both haste enablers. Xenagos works better when you have to deal with Wrath of God effects, Urabrask is better when you get a big creature cast chain going. My meta runs a lot of board wipes, which is why I favour Xenagos for the moment (and also why I'm testing Kruphix), but I think they are interchangeable meta choices.
As Jaxck said, Maelstrom Wanderer also provides global haste and is simply so efficient in terms of permanent advantage, I recommend it very highly. Definitely worth a spot in the deck.
@Jaxck - you make a good point regarding Treasonous Ogre vs. Bloom Tender. I suppose the reason I'm willing to give the Ogre a go is that you don't need to wait until your next turn to gain that extra mana. Being able to drop Animar and then pay life to put counters on him (using R as colourless mana) can let you combo out immediately. Ogre is an "all-in-combo" card if he works, and he may not. If he doesn't I will probably go back to Ondu Giant in the same place on the curve. I prefer land ramp to creature based ramp based on the rate at which mana dorks die in my meta.
That said if Chief Engineer doesn't work out, maybe Bloom Tender would do better in that spot as it will often tap for 3 mana to cast Cloudstone Curio? Again there is a trade off between being able to tap creatures with summoning sickness for mana or waiting the extra turn or playing more haste enablers.
Gelf I think you're overvaluing summoning sickness. If you cast Bloom Tender before Animar (which you will always do if you have him in your opening 9), then he's untapped the on turn 3 (the turn you cast Animar) and can immediately tap for 3. Most if not all of the 4 turn wins I've had have involved Birds of Paradise (getting Animar on turn 2) or Bloom Tender. After you have Animar up and running, any piece of removal which isn't sent his way is a bonus to us. Bloom Tender in a 3 colour deck is always a good play, same with Birds of Paradise. If your opponents' don't remove it (saving removal for an actual threat) then you get a huge acceleration boost on your turn. If they do remove it, you play the same just without getting a free turn (3+ mana) ahead. Birds of Paradise has the advantage of naturally being 1cmc (enabling turn 2 Animar), flying (enabling random Craterhoof or in your case Xenagos wins), and also getting you whatever colour you need. I often find that if I don't have a land which enters tapped or a play which involves a turnover I empty my hand too quickly and leave myself vulnerable to control. Bloom Tender is the best card in my 99, and only loses out to Animar in the full deck.
One of the problems I've noticed with the new forums is a single reversed bracket ("[" or "]") messes up every single tag in a post. I updated my Animar list last week with a tiny typo and accidentally killed a puppy.
The issue in my meta is not spot removal, but mass removal. I need to be able to use creatures the turn I cast them or they may not be there next turn. That is why I favour getting lands into play with ETB effects rather than using mana dorks. Bloom Tender may be worthwhile if I get it out turn two before Animar, but personally I prefer to cast my two drop creatures after dropping Animar to get counters onto him, unless I need them to colour fix for me to allow casting Animar.
The issue in my meta is not spot removal, but mass removal. I need to be able to use creatures the turn I cast them or they may not be there next turn. That is why I favour getting lands into play with ETB effects rather than using mana dorks. Bloom Tender may be worthwhile if I get it out turn two before Animar, but personally I prefer to cast my two drop creatures after dropping Animar to get counters onto him, unless I need them to colour fix for me to allow casting Animar.
The other solution to this (for people who may face similar issues but not restrain the aggressiveness of the deck) is to run more 1 drop mana dorks. Establishing Animar and a winning position before your opponents can get into board wipe range cannot be overstated. Not saying you're wrong gelf, but that's why Jaxck and I push BoP et al so much.
I agree getting Animar out turn two will often win games before an opponent has an opportunity to wipe the board. In my opinion it is a perfectly valid choice to set up an early victory and Animar certainly facilitates that. As a general, Animar, and the card pool available in RUG, can be set up to be both extremely quick and versatile in the face of disruption.
In my meta game context, it is an intentional choice that I do not run the turn two Animar build, based on the people I play with and the type of game my group expects to play. As such I have to make concessions about what cards generate value for my version of the deck.
As a piece of general advice, in a group context sometimes you have to consider how your deck fits into the meta game and expectations of the people you play with. If you are considering playing Animar, please also consider how your playgroup will respond to a fast combo deck. In my experience, some people will relish the opportunity to shape their decks to combat fast combo, maybe resulting in an arms race to produce the fastest possible deck or lock down the board before anyone can get their combo going (which may or may not create the games you really want to play). Other people get upset that their decks are not set up to combat such a quick victory and may stop playing (with you).
Personally I get great joy out of designing combo decks, but I don't always enjoy playing games which aim to end turn five. So I play different decks which play out differently and I make sure Animar is not 'too degenerate' in the context of my meta (I don't really like the term 'degenerate' but I think it is well understood if not well defined).
I appreciate the input regarding Birds of Paradise and Bloom Tender amongst other early mana dorks and appreciate that they offer a solution to dealing with board wipes by increasing the tempo of the deck, but in solving an in game problem I fear in my particular circumstances it may instead generate an out of game problem that I'd rather not have to tackle. They are good suggestions and I will consider them
Cheers Gelf. My meta is very rough, with lots of removal (point or mass), counters, and shut down cards (in our case Torpor Orb). I noticed that you don't have overmuch artifact/enchantment removal that isn't creature based. How do you deal with a threat like Torpor Orb?
Nantuko Vigalnte Is a great way to deal with those cards since morph gets around torpor orb.
I actually agree with gelf 100% all my decks (except Sharuum) are designed to interact and promote a long game, because that is what my playgroup tends Lean towards.
Gelf I agree with you 100% and social factors within the group should always trump game play. I don't recall if that is in your primer, but if not I strongly recommend putting it in your introduction. (Speaking with general thoughts not as a Committee member)
My games tend to go long because somebody stops me from winning. There's no reason to delay victory. In the immortal words of Brad Nelson, "Make them have it". To be fair most of my play is with a more serious group in Seattle, so I can understand if a more casual group would favour a different playstyle.
Sylvok Replica - As an artifact is 99% of the time free, but can't be bounced by Cloudstone Curio. Can be played as a sorcery speed Naturalize or left on the board as a prevention effect. Better for decks which can interact with the graveyard or care about artifacts.
Trygon Predator - Evasive and repeatable, but needs a combat step and expensive at GU. Best if played ASAP and used to slow down other decks, you should always swing with this at every opportunity.
Wickerbough Elder - Most similar to Sylvok Replica but costs more to activate as a sorcery (G versus GG), doesn't sacrifice itself, and isn't an artifact (ie better with Cloudstone Curio). Has negative interaction with effects that add +1/+1 counters (such as Master Biomancer). Definitely the weakest way to deal with Torpor Orb, but can be as repeatable as Trygon Predator if simple artifact destruction is all you need.
Spell-Based Anti-Torpor Orb Cards:
Hull Breach - Two things for two mana and one card, best value you're going to get anywhere. If you're going to bite the bullet and play spells, I see literally no reason not to play this card, there will be targets at pretty much all points of the game.
Ancient Grudge - Two artifacts for three mana and one card, second best value you're going to get anywhere. This is the best flashback card ever printed for a reason. EDH is full of good targets, plus this can interact with the board from the graveyard, something Animar is notoriously bad at.
Naturalize - Plain and simple, one target for two mana and one card. There is nothing wrong with Naturalize and its many variants, but unless you really need that 7th or 8th piece of removal it seems excessive.
Beast Within - One target of anything (including walkers and creatures) for three mana and one card. A better Naturalize, this is worth running if your meta has a lot of walkers or generals which need dealing with ASAP. Remember the creature doesn't matter (ours are bigger), so this card has effectively no drawback.
Krosan Grip - Uncounterable Naturalize. I am really not convinced this card is worth it in Animar, or even in EDH. If they're wasting counterspells on Naturalize, that means one more counter which can't hit Maelstrom Wanderer. Seems like a win in my book.
I would run Nature's Claim over Naturalize. Just a minor nitpick with your list.
Back to Elder, it has synergy with Cloudstone, and you can tutor it with Green Sun's Zenith in a pinch. It also leaves behind a bigger body. All for one more mana over Replica.
I suppose the worst case scenario is a turn two Torpor Orb against us, but we can still build up counters on Animar and try to beat the Torpor Orb player to death. In a multiplayer game a turn two Torpor Orb is likely to make more than one enemy, so our other opponents might also turn against them.
Hi Gelf I'm just curious as to what do you think is the most cutthroat build of the deck? particularly for multiplayer. Can you provide us with a build? Or do you have a build in mind? with all the synergy, combos and other factors.
Breaching Leviathan Probably best in a mostly blue build, but still has some good value to help get Animar though, it's even better if you if you have a haste enabler on the field and can attack with it.
Impact resonance Maybe? non creature spells are tough but we can attack one guy and wipe out another's creatures
Green Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury normally I would say no to planeswalkers but the -2 is really useful in a Torpor Orb/Humility meta. The -2 and ultimate can be pretty useful too especially if you're heavy green Tramplehoof balothSiege Behemoth both are very good. I'd lean towards Tramplehoof because I run cards like Rapacious one Avenger of Zendikar and Living Hive. Maybe there's space for both
Wave of VitriolBane of progress is probably better but destroy non basic lands can be useful too, we don't need that many lands once animar's up and running, probably not worth it though
Lifeblood Hydra Not really sure on this one. I like it but you don't want too many X cards if you're running Maelstrom Wanderer. Genesis hyrda is better. Possibly a toss up between this and Hooded Hydra.
Creeperhulk Most of our cards are going to be bigger than that anyway
Land
Myriad Landscape I know this card is good, but I'm not sure if it really helps us. Arcane Lighthouse Maybe Meta dependant. We don't interact with out opponent's creatures all that much Flamekin Village I think this might be better for us then Hall of the Bandit lord especially once Animar's up and running.
Artifacts didn't really see anything that was particularly useful. Unstable Obelisk maybe.
Other thoughts? Is there anything in the reprints that you hadn't thought of but seeing it sparked something?
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Latest deck list:
3 Animar, Soul of Elements
Creatures (50)
1 Shrieking Drake
2 Chief Engineer
2 Cloud of Faeries
2 Dream Stalker
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Fauna Shaman
2x Genesis Hydra
2 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Sylvan Ranger
2 Willbender
3 Eternal Witness
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Fierce Empath
3 Man-o'-War
3 Raven Familiar
3 Wood Elves
4 Fathom Mage
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Nantuko Vigilante
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Treasonous Ogre
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Voidmage Husher
5 Acidic Slime
5 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
5 Kruphix, God of Horizons
5 Mulldrifter
5 Peregrine Drake
5 Prophet of Kruphix
5 Xenagos, God of Revels
5 Zealous Conscripts
6 Deadwood Treefolk
6 Duplicant
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
6 Prime Speaker Zegana
6 Primordial Sage
6 Soul of the Harvest
6 Steel Hellkite
7 Palinchron
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
8 Maelstrom Wanderer
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
9 Artisan of Kozilek
9 Nullstone Gargoyle
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 Cloudstone Curio
4 Birthing Pod
Enchantments (5)
1 Hardened Scales
2 Earthcraft
2 Sylvan Library
3 Equilibrium
3 Words of Wind
Instants (2)
1 Crop Rotation
3x Chord of Calling
Sorcery (3)
1 Glimpse of Nature
3 Fabricate
6 Time Spiral
Land (37 - by quantity)
1 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-lit Thicket
1 Flooded Grove
6 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Gruul Turf
1 Hinterland Harbor
7 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mosswort Bridge
2 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
Deck changes
Out:
- Merfolk Looter
- Bloodbraid Elf
- Ondu Giant
- Psychosis Crawler
- Urabrask the Hidden
- Vesuvan Shapeshifter
- Garruk's Horde
- Opal Palace
In:
+ Hardened Scales
+ Chief Engineer
+ Elvish Visionary
+ Genesis Hydra
+ Rattleclaw Mystic
+ Treasonous Ogre
+ Kruphix, God of Horizons
+ Sphinx of Uthuun
Explanations:
Some cards straight up replaced other cards.
Merfolk Looter came out for Elvish Visionary - Having been playing legacy Elf Combo I've really come to appreciate how much work Elvish Visionary can do in a deck which can bounce cards and generate a lot of mana. The Visionary out draws the Looter once bounce engines get going and is less likely to be limited by the one tap per turn or haste enablers.
Bloodbraid Elf came out for Genesis Hydra - They perform similar roles and don't work well together. The Hydra is more dependant on Animar to enable it for maximum advantage, but far less likely to hit a bad 'cascade'. Genesis Hydra gets better if the game goes longer and also has synergy with another recent addition, Kruphix.
Ondu Giant is replaced by Treasonous Ogre - This is a test as the Ogre may not work out well, but they play a similar role in providing additional mana. The Ogre provides more mana faster, but at a high life cost and limited to red mana. Potentially he lets you combo sooner, but if he doesn't work out I'll switch them back again.
Vesuvan Shapeshifter makes way for Rattleclaw Mystic - I consider this a straight out swap because I'm maintaining the number of morphs in the deck. While I lose out on the clones versatility, I gain an additional infinite mana combo and an early mana fixer and ramp enabler.
Garruk's Horde is finally swapped out for Sphinx of Uthuun - One form of card advantage replaces another. Since I've removed Psychosis Crawler I'm less concerned about 'all draw must say draw!' and settled with a Fact or Fiction on a stick. Importantly I maintain two 7cmc drops for my Birthing Pod chain.
The other three changes are less straight forward, I wanted to find room for cards and had to make cuts losing out on some things to test other things.
Psychosis Crawler was a really tough cut. It has long been my favoured win condition, but the creation of Purphoros, God of the Forge offered an alternate win that was actually easier to enable and easier to protect. Having heard a lot of great things about Kruphix, God of Horizons I wanted to try it out. I've said before that Kruphix doesn't offer synergy with Animar; if Animar is doing his thing we don't need the colourless mana storage and holding onto extra cards is nice but not essential. However he does provide a way of staying in the game after Animar has died a few times, but letting us store mana to either get Animar out again or let us pay for expensive creatures over a couple of turns. Kruphix also offers good synergy with Genesis Hydra even when Animar isn't on the field. Importantly Kruphix survives board wipes, keeping us in the game against a strategy that excels in undoing our card advantage engines.
Chief Engineer offers a way to discount two of the best enablers in the deck, Cloudstone Curio and Birthing Pod. Whether the Chief is worth including to convoke only two cards is what I'm testing. I think it is worthwhile because Chief Engineer fits nicely on the curve as a cheap creature to put counters on Animar and being able to cast Cloudstone Curio without tapping out mana could potentially allow a combo victory a turn faster. The Chief also has synergy with the artifact creatures in the deck, especially Etherium-Horn Sorcerer, allowing us to save mana to bounce him back to our hand by tapping creatures instead. I decided to cut Urabrask the Hidden for this slot for the following reasons: I can convoke with 'summoning sick' creatures, I had already cut Merfolk Looter (one of the few tap ability creatures in the deck), I was already running Maelstrom Wanderer and Xenagos, God of Revels as haste enablers (both arguably better than Urabrask) and I rarely win by attacking with a large army of creatures anyway (unless they're all Zealous Conscripts).
Finally I had to fit in Hardened Scales. This one drop enchantment supercharges Animar and makes him viable to cast at any point in the game. Every creature cast is twice as effective and the discounts stack up twice as fast. I didn't want to cut Opal Palace, firstly because I am wary about cutting lands for spells and secondly because Hardened Scales and Opal Palace have synergy together. In the end I couldn't justify any other cut to myself; the 1 tax on using Opal Palace for coloured mana made it the weakest land in the deck and these latest changes lower the deck's curve, so cutting a land that increases the costs of my spells seemed like the most reasonable choice.
Future changes?
I've been trying to get hold of a Craterhoof Behemoth to replace Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, but haven't managed to so far.
I have cascaded into Genesis Hydra with Bloodbraid Elf once. I sucked, but still put an extra counter on Animar.
I am really interested to hear how the Ogre does. He almost made it into my deck but the R part was off-putting.
Phyrexian Ingester has been an amazing "7" drop for me. Removal for U is amazing.
You won't be disappointed with Kruphix, Hardened Scales, or Rattleclaw. I had a turn 1 Hardened Scales the other night, followed up with a turn 2 Rattleclaw. The table was not happy and I quickly won that game. I kept Vesuvan in my deck because it has been really useful as a clone and works well with other morph creatures. I am testing Kheru Spellsnatcher right now and haven't come across it yet. I think it will be cut soon for something better.
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I completely passed on the Ogre based almost entirely on the life payment. Unless you have a lot of red (and are very aggressive) then I don't think his place is justified next to another, more efficient mana producer such as Bloom Tender.
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My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
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Urabrask the Hidden can go back in replacing Xenagos, God of Revels if I need global haste. They fall in the same place on the curve and are both haste enablers. Xenagos works better when you have to deal with Wrath of God effects, Urabrask is better when you get a big creature cast chain going. My meta runs a lot of board wipes, which is why I favour Xenagos for the moment (and also why I'm testing Kruphix), but I think they are interchangeable meta choices.
As Jaxck said, Maelstrom Wanderer also provides global haste and is simply so efficient in terms of permanent advantage, I recommend it very highly. Definitely worth a spot in the deck.
@Jaxck - you make a good point regarding Treasonous Ogre vs. Bloom Tender. I suppose the reason I'm willing to give the Ogre a go is that you don't need to wait until your next turn to gain that extra mana. Being able to drop Animar and then pay life to put counters on him (using R as colourless mana) can let you combo out immediately. Ogre is an "all-in-combo" card if he works, and he may not. If he doesn't I will probably go back to Ondu Giant in the same place on the curve. I prefer land ramp to creature based ramp based on the rate at which mana dorks die in my meta.
That said if Chief Engineer doesn't work out, maybe Bloom Tender would do better in that spot as it will often tap for 3 mana to cast Cloudstone Curio? Again there is a trade off between being able to tap creatures with summoning sickness for mana or waiting the extra turn or playing more haste enablers.
One of the problems I've noticed with the new forums is a single reversed bracket ("[" or "]") messes up every single tag in a post. I updated my Animar list last week with a tiny typo and accidentally killed a puppy.
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The other solution to this (for people who may face similar issues but not restrain the aggressiveness of the deck) is to run more 1 drop mana dorks. Establishing Animar and a winning position before your opponents can get into board wipe range cannot be overstated. Not saying you're wrong gelf, but that's why Jaxck and I push BoP et al so much.
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In my meta game context, it is an intentional choice that I do not run the turn two Animar build, based on the people I play with and the type of game my group expects to play. As such I have to make concessions about what cards generate value for my version of the deck.
As a piece of general advice, in a group context sometimes you have to consider how your deck fits into the meta game and expectations of the people you play with. If you are considering playing Animar, please also consider how your playgroup will respond to a fast combo deck. In my experience, some people will relish the opportunity to shape their decks to combat fast combo, maybe resulting in an arms race to produce the fastest possible deck or lock down the board before anyone can get their combo going (which may or may not create the games you really want to play). Other people get upset that their decks are not set up to combat such a quick victory and may stop playing (with you).
Personally I get great joy out of designing combo decks, but I don't always enjoy playing games which aim to end turn five. So I play different decks which play out differently and I make sure Animar is not 'too degenerate' in the context of my meta (I don't really like the term 'degenerate' but I think it is well understood if not well defined).
I appreciate the input regarding Birds of Paradise and Bloom Tender amongst other early mana dorks and appreciate that they offer a solution to dealing with board wipes by increasing the tempo of the deck, but in solving an in game problem I fear in my particular circumstances it may instead generate an out of game problem that I'd rather not have to tackle. They are good suggestions and I will consider them
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I actually agree with gelf 100% all my decks (except Sharuum) are designed to interact and promote a long game, because that is what my playgroup tends Lean towards.
URGAnimar, Soul of Elements
WBRKaalia of the Vast
GGGFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury
WUBSharuum the Hegemon
RGWHazezon Tamar
RUWNarset, Enlightened Master
BGBVarolz, the Scar-Striped
BWBAthreos, God of Passage
RRRDaretti, Scrap Savant
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Nantuko Vigilante is a good shout, one of those older cards that slipped through the cracks. I run Sylvok Replica and Trygon Predator as creatures, plus Hull Breach and Ancient Grudge.
GWU Rafiq
RWB Zurgo
WBG Ghave
WUB Oloro
WBR Kaalia (Archived)
My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
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Creature-Based Anti-Torpor Orb Cards:
What did I miss?
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WBG Ghave
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My Blog, currently working on series about my custom set Cazia.
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Back to Elder, it has synergy with Cloudstone, and you can tutor it with Green Sun's Zenith in a pinch. It also leaves behind a bigger body. All for one more mana over Replica.
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Ulamog would technically count i suppose, but that's stretching it.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Steel Hellkite, Nantuko Vigilante, Words of Wind (yes it is a stretch, but it isn't impossible to set up a 'bounce all permanents' situation with Earthcraft, Vorinclex, Animar, Words of Wind, Primordial Sage (draw on cast, not ETB) and a morph creature or Eldrazi... 6 card combos count as answers right?).
Steel Hellkite can be tutored with Fabricate. Any of them can be tutored with Fauna Shaman.
Cascade still functions, so Maelstrom Wanderer or Etherium-Horn Sorcerer can still provide a victory through card advantage.
I suppose the worst case scenario is a turn two Torpor Orb against us, but we can still build up counters on Animar and try to beat the Torpor Orb player to death. In a multiplayer game a turn two Torpor Orb is likely to make more than one enemy, so our other opponents might also turn against them.
Blue
Breaching Leviathan Probably best in a mostly blue build, but still has some good value to help get Animar though, it's even better if you if you have a haste enabler on the field and can attack with it.
Stormsurge Kraken Good effect Good body not sure if it does enough
Red
Duelcaster Mage it really depends on the meta if Narset or other spellslinger decks are common it's not a bad idea.
Tyrant's Familiar repeatable spot removal is nice but again not sure if it's strong enough
Warmonger Hellkite only in a very aggro build
Impact resonance Maybe? non creature spells are tough but we can attack one guy and wipe out another's creatures
Green
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury normally I would say no to planeswalkers but the -2 is really useful in a Torpor Orb/Humility meta. The -2 and ultimate can be pretty useful too especially if you're heavy green
Tramplehoof baloth Siege Behemoth both are very good. I'd lean towards Tramplehoof because I run cards like Rapacious one Avenger of Zendikar and Living Hive. Maybe there's space for both
Wave of Vitriol Bane of progress is probably better but destroy non basic lands can be useful too, we don't need that many lands once animar's up and running, probably not worth it though
Lifeblood Hydra Not really sure on this one. I like it but you don't want too many X cards if you're running Maelstrom Wanderer. Genesis hyrda is better. Possibly a toss up between this and Hooded Hydra.
Creeperhulk Most of our cards are going to be bigger than that anyway
Land
Myriad Landscape I know this card is good, but I'm not sure if it really helps us.
Arcane Lighthouse Maybe Meta dependant. We don't interact with out opponent's creatures all that much
Flamekin Village I think this might be better for us then Hall of the Bandit lord especially once Animar's up and running.
Artifacts didn't really see anything that was particularly useful. Unstable Obelisk maybe.
Other thoughts? Is there anything in the reprints that you hadn't thought of but seeing it sparked something?