After playing the deck I was surprised how well it did. I'm definitely going to tweak it using some of the primers for ideas.
One issue I ran into was a guy playing Curse of Death's Hold and Goblin Sharpshooter which shut down Animar all game. I tried to focus him with my creatures and was able to destroy the curse with Acidic Slime but it was a Grave Pact type deck and shut me down. Debating putting Master Biomancer to try to beef up Animar out of the gate to prevent that in the future. Any other anthem type cards worth playing?
have you cast creeping renaissance? how do you feel about it? only running the 2 counterspells you probably don't see them very often. i've upped mine to 4 1-2 mana counters and I always wish I was holding another 1 mana answer. whats your experience been with swan song and stubborn denial?
Private Mod Note
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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.
Creeping Renaissance is nice to bring back all your creatures. Having flashback has come into play too. I've even used it just to get back Cloudstone Curio and then immediately combo out. Its definitely a late game card but I don't think I would cut it. More counterspells could be nice, but I'm using a lot of the counterspell creatures instead of the spell versions. I mostly hold them to counter wraths or other sweepers to protect my board state. What other 1 mana counters are you using?
I've rethought Creeping Renaissance and decided to replace it with Tidespout Tyrant. Creeping Renaissance is very nice recursion but it is late game and not tutorable. The tyrant is basically another copy of Cloudstone Curio and should enable winning the game. It's also more universal than Cloudstone Curio and can bounce your opponent's board with an infinite loop. UUU could be a little rough but I think it's worth it.
Also switching Archetype of Imagination for Deadeye Navigator. The Archetype is nice to swing with Animar but he already has protection from two colors and can get trample from a few sources. Deadeye Navigator makes all the ETB triggers easy to reactivate and goes infinite with lots of stuff.
flusterstorm is the other 1 mana counter i'm using. i've also used both spell pierce and abjure in the past. i'm currently running a mana drain as well. i find counters are the best answers in animar.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
kiki jiki and vesuvan shapeshifter are both realy fun for creating counter locks and such with mystic snake and venser. One of my all star cards for that play style is crystal shard. it incorporates itself well into those every turn plays and can even apply defensive pressure.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
I'm back to animar after spending some time with prossh/meren and i had a few questions about the way your newer cards were running. How did trophy mage work out? I found it to be a subpar draw. I don't have any targets for the recast though. what do you normally go for with woodland bellower? are you making any cool infinite survival of the fittest chains or is it pretty much a vanilla tutor in this build?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
I'm back to animar after spending some time with prossh/meren and i had a few questions about the way your newer cards were running. How did trophy mage work out? I found it to be a subpar draw. I don't have any targets for the recast though. what do you normally go for with woodland bellower? are you making any cool infinite survival of the fittest chains or is it pretty much a vanilla tutor in this build?
I'm back to animar after spending some time with prossh/meren and i had a few questions about the way your newer cards were running. How did trophy mage work out? I found it to be a subpar draw. I don't have any targets for the recast though. what do you normally go for with woodland bellower? are you making any cool infinite survival of the fittest chains or is it pretty much a vanilla tutor in this build?
I cut Trophy Mage, like you said it seems subpar. Ocasionally it fulfilled its purpose of getting Cloudstone Curio but most games you want Ancestral Statue instead. Survival of the Fittest mostly just gets a wincon but unanswered it can sculpt your hand to get you whatever you need to answer the board or win.
A few suggestions on cards I appreciate in my own Animar deck (a bit more value, less combo, but rather similar to yours). Sylvan Ranger : good cantrip, can help fixing Fauna Shaman, Chord of Calling : the toolbox is so impotant that any good tutor deserves a spot Reclamation Sage : a really common target for tutors, having a direct disrupt for enchantments and artefacts that doesn't need to be flipped seems interesting. Foul Emissary : pseudo impulse on a stick is a good deal Solemn Simulacrum : typical value card, often free, but doesn't need Animar to be a good card. Flametongue Kavu : a quite cheap creature removal that can be tutorised Venser, Shaper Savant : delaying a wrath or bouncing a prison card can close the game, few people expect it for UU. Surrak Dragonclaw : because counterspells are that annoying (and trample to Animar is not that futile) Duplicant : a typical empath target, good removal Dragonlord Atarka : a bit more expensive, but can ping vaarious beasts or a nasty planeswalker, it's another frequent tutor target.
Tell me if you have feedbacks to provide on any of these cards.
Those are all good cards for Animar and I've played with most of them at one time or another. I do have Fauna Shaman in my list. The most tempting ones to put in for me are Chord of Calling and Foul Emissary. I just cut Chord due to its overall mana cost but if you games go longer it is very good. Reclamation Sage could replace a morph but I like that the morphs get around Torpor Orb and also combo with Cloudstone Curio.
3 Animar, Soul of Elements
Creatures (50)
0 Walking Ballista
1 Arbor Elf
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bond Beetle
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Shrieking Drake
1 Tinder Wall
1 Wild Cantor
2 Ainok Survivalist
2 Beastcaller Savant
2 Bloom Tender
2 Cloud of Faeries
2 Den Protector
2 Dream Stalker
2 Elvish Visionary
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Gilded Drake
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Spellskite
2 Stratus Dancer
2 Wall of Blossoms
2 Wall of Roots
2 Willbender
3 Eternal Witness
3 Fierce Empath
3 Imperial Recruiter
3 Man-o'-War
3 Raven Familiar
3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
3 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Trinket Mage
3 Wood Elves
4 Ancestral Statue
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Nantuko Vigilante
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Vizier of the Menagerie
5 Mulldrifter
5 Peregrine Drake
6 Brutalizer Exarch
6 Primordial Sage
6 Soul of the Harvest
7 Palinchron
8 Hoverguard Sweepers
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
10 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
0 Pact of Negation
1 Worldly Tutor
5 Force of Will
Sorceries (5)
1 Gamble
1 Glimpse of Nature
1 Sylvan Tutor
3 Eldritch Evolution
3 Fabricate
Artifacts (5)
0 Chrome Mox
0 Lotus Petal
0 Mox Diamond
1 Skullclamp
3 Cloudstone Curio
Enchantments (6)
1 Hardened Scales
1 Utopia Sprawl
1 Wild Growth
2 Earthcraft
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Sylvan Library
Lands (30)
1 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
3 Island
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Mana Confluence
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Coast
Animar, Soul of Elements with 4 counters + Ancestral Statue = Infinite Counters
+Purphoros, God of the Forge or Walking Ballista = Infinite damage
+Primordial Sage or Soul of the Harvest = Draw your deck
Animar, Soul of Elements + Cloudstone Curio + two colorless nonartifact creatures = Infinite Counters
Animar, Soul of Elements + Earthcraft + Shrieking Drake or Dream Stalker or Man-o'-War = Infinite Counters
Animar, Soul of Elements with 2 counters + Palinchron + 3UUUU on lands = Infinite Counters and Mana
Imperial Recruiter Chains
Option 1
Requires Animar, Soul of Elements with 2 counters, RRU, 30 life
Play Imperial Recruiter, fetch Shrieking Drake
Play Shrieking Drake, bounce Imperial Recruiter
Play Imperial Recruiter, fetch Phyrexian Metamorph
Play Phyrexian Metamorph for 2 life, copying Shrieking Drake, bouncing itself
Repeat until Animar, Soul of Elements has 21 power
Swing for the win
Add G to fetch Fierce Empath, fetching Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger to exile up to two blockers
Option 2
Requires Animar, Soul of Elements with 3 counters, RGUUU on lands, 4 life (also works starting with 2 counters if you have an extra 1 available)
Play Imperial Recruiter, fetch Phyrexian Metamorph
Play Phyrexian Metamorph for 2 life, copying Imperial Recruiter, fetch Fierce Empath
Play Fierce Empath, fetch Hoverguard Sweepers
Play Hoverguard Sweepers, bounce itself and Phyrexian Metamorph
Play Phyrexian Metamorph for 2 life, copying Imperial Recruiter, fetch Peregrine Drake
Play Peregrine Drake, untap 5 lands
From here you have infinite mana, and can use Hoverguard Sweepers, Imperial Recruiter, and Fierce Empath to tutor up a win condition.
1 Caustic Caterpillar
1 Flamekin Harbinger
1 Siren Stormtamer
2 Coiling Oracle
2 Genesis Hydra
2 Jeering Instigator
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Riftsweeper
2 Sylvan Ranger
2 Vexing Shusher
2 Voidmage Prodigy
3 Elvish Harbinger
3 Foul Emissary
3 Manglehorn
3 Reclamation Sage
3 Somberwald Sage
3 Sylvok Replica
3 Trophy Mage
4 Coal Stoker
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Riverwise Augur
4 Slithermuse
4 Temur Sabertooth
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
4 Voidmage Apprentice
5 Acidic Slime
5 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
5 Kiri-Onna
6 Brine Elemental
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Duplicant
6 Woodland Bellower
8 Tidespout Tyrant
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
9 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Crop Rotation
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mental Misstep
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Swan Song
2 Counterspell
2 Mana Drain
3x Chord of Calling
Sorceries
2 Time of Need
1x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Weird Harvest
Enchantments
2 Impact Tremors
Land
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sulfur Falls
1v1 Primer
Multiplayer Primer
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
One issue I ran into was a guy playing Curse of Death's Hold and Goblin Sharpshooter which shut down Animar all game. I tried to focus him with my creatures and was able to destroy the curse with Acidic Slime but it was a Grave Pact type deck and shut me down. Debating putting Master Biomancer to try to beef up Animar out of the gate to prevent that in the future. Any other anthem type cards worth playing?
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
Cutting Nin, the Pain Artist and Stranglehold.
Also looking at Temur Sabertooth and Shaman of the Great Hunt
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
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.
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
Also switching Archetype of Imagination for Deadeye Navigator. The Archetype is nice to swing with Animar but he already has protection from two colors and can get trample from a few sources. Deadeye Navigator makes all the ETB triggers easy to reactivate and goes infinite with lots of stuff.
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
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.
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
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.
Chromatic Lantern - Nice fixing but I have enough other ramp
Genesis Hydra - Never seemed to hit well for me
Adds:
Evolutionary Leap - response to wraths or dig for combo
Woodland Bellower - toolbox tutor
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
Crop Rotation => Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Swiftwater Cliffs, Rugged Highlands, Thornwood Falls, Transguild Promenade, Rupture Spire => 3 Islands, Forest, Cinder Glade
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Bane of Progress
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Survival of the Fittest
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
Looking to add the following cards from Aether Revolt:
Walking Ballista - Infinite counters on Animar is infinite damage. Also provides nice ping to get rid of opposing creatures.
Trophy Mage - Tutor Cloudstone Curio
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
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.
Trophy Mage grabs Cloudstone Curio, for me Bellower usually gets Fierce Empath or Wirewood Symbiote(in my list anyway).
I cut Trophy Mage, like you said it seems subpar. Ocasionally it fulfilled its purpose of getting Cloudstone Curio but most games you want Ancestral Statue instead. Survival of the Fittest mostly just gets a wincon but unanswered it can sculpt your hand to get you whatever you need to answer the board or win.
1 Crop Rotation
2 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Time of Need
3 Trophy Mage
4 Birthing Pod
5 Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
3x Chord of Calling
1 Forest
1 Forest
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Gilded Drake
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stratus Dancer
2 Sylvan Library
2 Willbender
3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
4 Nantuko Vigilante
4 Vizier of the Menagerie
6 Brutalizer Exarch
1 City of Brass
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Mana Confluence
1 Shivan Reef
1 Yavimaya Coast
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats
A few suggestions on cards I appreciate in my own Animar deck (a bit more value, less combo, but rather similar to yours).
Sylvan Ranger : good cantrip, can help fixing
Fauna Shaman, Chord of Calling : the toolbox is so impotant that any good tutor deserves a spot
Reclamation Sage : a really common target for tutors, having a direct disrupt for enchantments and artefacts that doesn't need to be flipped seems interesting.
Foul Emissary : pseudo impulse on a stick is a good deal
Solemn Simulacrum : typical value card, often free, but doesn't need Animar to be a good card.
Flametongue Kavu : a quite cheap creature removal that can be tutorised
Venser, Shaper Savant : delaying a wrath or bouncing a prison card can close the game, few people expect it for UU.
Surrak Dragonclaw : because counterspells are that annoying (and trample to Animar is not that futile)
Duplicant : a typical empath target, good removal
Dragonlord Atarka : a bit more expensive, but can ping vaarious beasts or a nasty planeswalker, it's another frequent tutor target.
Tell me if you have feedbacks to provide on any of these cards.
Retired Lists: Ghave - Hanna - Thrun - Zur
Pauper: Crypt Rats