Animar with bounce, control, and aggro mixed together. I've had this deck for several years and this is the current decklist. Can win through swarming the opponents or can win through huge general damage or can win through Warstorm Surge damage or through Psychosis Crawler damage.
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm more than open to them.
Lands Llanowar Reborn- Possibly starting Animar out with a counter is fine by me Reliquary Tower- No handsize is big when possibly drawing as much as this deck can Winding Canyons- Ability to play creatures on opponents turn so summoning sickness isn't a factor
Aggro Package Archetype of Aggression- you can have trample and your opponent can't is handy Champion of Lambholt- nice to dictate that your opponents can't block at all which is usually what happens if this sticks Craterhoof Behemoth- potential game ender Kamahl, Fist of Krosa- Overrun is a nice ability but also doubles as board wipe discouragement Stonehoof Chieftain- Trample & indestructible for attacking creatures is always nice Surrak Dragonclaw- decent body on a creature that gives your other creatures trample and makes your creature spells uncounterable Urabrask the Hidden- Haste for you enter tapped for opponent
Control/Protection/Removal Package Ainok Survivalist- nice answer for Torpor Orb or similar effects Draining Whelk- counter spell on a body that buffs itself Duplicant- so I can exile a creature that is hindering me AND have a copy of it for myself? Yes please! Gilded Drake- always nice to hit someone with their own beater Glen Elendra Archmage- usually you get at least two uses out of the counter spell ability Mizzium Medder- spell redirection protection on a decent defensive body Pestermite- flying blocker or tap creature with vigilance or untap something you need Phyrexian Metamorph- oh you have a Blightsteel or a Gilded Lotus or.... so do I Plaxmanta- shroud till end of turn Scuttlemutt- can be ramp but let's be honest- he's in the deck to change colors of creatures to benefit Animar's protection Stratus Dancer- countering instants & sorceries is nice Sylvan Safekeeper- shroud for a creature until end of turn is nice Voidmage Husher- countering an activated ability is nice plus it bounces itself the next time you cast a spell Willbender- no Animar isn't targeted by your spell, your commander is
Misc. Cards Artisan of Kozilek- mainly recursion but Annihilator 2 doesn't hurt Brualizer Exarch- either a tutor or removal or both for GG in this deck most likely Den Protector- more recursion Eternal Witness- more recursion Fierce Empath- tutor with many possible targets Hamletback Goliath- can be a beater or those counters can be turned into card draw with Sage of Fables Hardened Scales- the ONLY straight forward +1/+1 spell I've found to be worth running Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker- obviously combos with Zealous Conscripts but also combos with some of the bounce cards Kruphix, God of Horizons- no hand size is nice and so is being able to tap out at the end of your opponents turn to use later even if colorless Maelstrom Wanderer- So much value, three spells for the price of one Primal Surge- basically a "I win" spell- also the only non-permanent in the deck Purphoros, God of the Forge- mini Warstorm Surge effect Training Grounds- mostly in the deck to minimalize the cost of Sage of Fables draw ability Vesuvan Shapeshifter- another copy effect but with a little twist Warstorm Surge- with all the bouncing this adds up, especially if you land Primal Surge Zealous Conscripts- combos nice with Kiki-Jiki but is also useful for stealing opponents stuff
I wasn't involved in this situation, was sitting next to the table it happened at, but the LGS owner was adamant about that not being the case. I thought maybe I had missed a rule update or something.
Definitely, especially with some of my more established decks that are pretty well tuned. I literally sat there for two hours the night I got Ancestral Statue at the pre-release trying to figure out what I was going to swap it out for in my Animar deck.
The only real issue I have with the ban list was when they did away with having two separate lists (one for creatures that could be in the 99 but not be the commander and one that couldn't be in the deck at all). Braids for instance I totally get not being usable as a commander, but as part of the 99 I knew several people that ran her as part of the 99 and it was manageable.
I have a Shadowborn deck using Karador as the commander. I've toyed with different amounts of Apostles and 30 is the bare minimum I've been able to go with and feel confident in drawing as many as I needed.
Recently I've been debating switching it to a jund deck with Kresh as the commander to allow access to some of the red demons that singlehandedly can change the game.
Thanks! Not sure how many land destruction cards I'll end up playing but I wanted to make sure I had multiple to pick from. If I decide I want to play around with land more, Blood Moon is still available (which surprised me, it's one of the guys favorite cards). Overall it's been pretty fun so far. Everyone appears to be building around new commanders from anyone they've done before...at least in this group. I've had a Kaalia deck before but it was years ago.
Oddly enough, if I had to do it again I'd probably have went a way that would be more disruptive in the draft. In my case I'd have went the Alesha route and battled for the good white creatures with Smokey for his Bant deck, which would have put him in a weird spot of having to battle me for the white ones while also battling DJ for green ones.
We drafted this past weekend. It went almost exactly how I expected. The only other player thinking removal or ramp early was Jason (Esper) but we pretty much stayed out of each others way. He went keyrunes while I went signets, and he went more Cyclonic Rift and straight control type spells. DJ (Jund) didn't go the direction I thought so I didn't have to battle him for demons, he seemed to be going more +1/+1 counters, which was interesting because it seems like Smokey (Bant) was trying to go that direction to with Jenara- which did make me have to pull the trigger for Archangel of Thune earlier than I had expected. I did end up only taking 9 strictly Mardu/Boros cards which surprised me.
I think I'd have to go Grixis spell based, it would likely have the higher floor and be easier to make adjustments after the draft to though creature based would be more fun in the draft as far as battling for cards.
That's similar to the order we're using, our draft is set for Saturday evening/Sunday morning depending on what time someone gets off work.
I have a list of about 200 cards that I'd like to draft, ranked in order of where I want them with the Boros & Mardu cards that I have to myself ranked separately in 32 spots off to the side as they'll be my last picks after I get whatever I do for my first 67.
I've focused in on Kaalia as my commander with Tariel as one of my other 3 potential commanders with Alesha as the third. My reasoning for doing so is I have no doubt that Smokey is going to try to build a human tribal in Bant (he's obsessed with it lately and has all but said that's the direction he's going) so instead of fighting for the stronger W humans I'll go with Kaalia and have most of those creatures to myself. I don't expect anyone to go angels or dragons at all, but I may have to fight for demons with the guy that has Jund (he's been fascinated with my Karador Shadowborn deck and I had offered to help him build a Kresh Shadowborn deck which he's totally dropped doing since we drafted for colors...what a coincidence he drafted Jund haha).
My plan (and we know how plans always fall apart) is to focus on ramp & removal early while battling for the demons as I don't expect anyone be focusing on dragons, or angels; then move into those and finally hit the handful of MLD I plan on including before moving into the Boros & Mardu cards that I have no competition for.
I'm expecting that the others will focus on mechanical enablers, card advantage, and ramp early.
One thing we haven't finalized is how to handle new sets which is something we need to address since at least Eldritch Moon & the first set of the next block will come out while we're doing this (along with Conspiracy).
If anyone has any suggestions, I'm more than open to them.
Below the decklist is a explanation section.
1 Ainok Survivalist
1 Ancestral Statue
1 Archetype of Aggression
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Beastcaller Savant
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bloom Tender
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Den Protector
1 Draining Whelk
1 Dream Stalker
1 Duplicant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fathom Mage
1 Fierce Empath
1 Gilded Drake
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Kruphix, God of Horizons
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Man-o'-War
1 Mizzium Meddler
1 Palinchron
1 Peregrine Drake
1 Pestermite
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Plaxmanta
1 Psychosis Crawler
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Rattleclaw Mystic
1 Sage of Fables
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Scuttlemutt
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Shrieking Drake
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Stonehoof Chieftain
1 Stratus Dancer
1 Surrak Dragonclaw
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Temur Sabertooth
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Willbender
1 Wood Elves
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Animar, Soul of Elements
Spells
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Earthcraft
1 Hardened Scales
1 Primal Surge
1 Training Grounds
1 Warstorm Surge
Lands
1 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Breeding Pool
1 Cinder Glade
1 Command Tower
10 Forest
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Gruul Turf
1 Hinterland Harbor
9 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Llanowar Reborn
2 Mountain
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Winding Canyons
Explanations for cards...
Lands
Llanowar Reborn- Possibly starting Animar out with a counter is fine by me
Reliquary Tower- No handsize is big when possibly drawing as much as this deck can
Winding Canyons- Ability to play creatures on opponents turn so summoning sickness isn't a factor
Aggro Package
Archetype of Aggression- you can have trample and your opponent can't is handy
Champion of Lambholt- nice to dictate that your opponents can't block at all which is usually what happens if this sticks
Craterhoof Behemoth- potential game ender
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa- Overrun is a nice ability but also doubles as board wipe discouragement
Stonehoof Chieftain- Trample & indestructible for attacking creatures is always nice
Surrak Dragonclaw- decent body on a creature that gives your other creatures trample and makes your creature spells uncounterable
Urabrask the Hidden- Haste for you enter tapped for opponent
Bounce Package
Ancestral Statue- Animar with four counters & this can leads to a huge Animar
Cloudstone Curio- the cornerstone of the package
Dream Stalker- nice bounce piece with a defensive body
Man-o'-war- another bouncer
Shrieking Drake- yet another bouncer
Temur Sabertooth- and even one more bouncer
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger- bouncing continously to exile your opponents board is nice
Xenagos, God of Revels- can be a game ender
Card Draw Package
Fathom Mage- Evolves more often than not
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth- card draw on a 12/12 body that doubles as a beater
Psychosis Crawler- punish your opponents for your card draw
Sage of Fables- turns excess +1/+1 counters from Fathom Mage or Animar into cards
Soul of the Harvest- basic card draw
Control/Protection/Removal Package
Ainok Survivalist- nice answer for Torpor Orb or similar effects
Draining Whelk- counter spell on a body that buffs itself
Duplicant- so I can exile a creature that is hindering me AND have a copy of it for myself? Yes please!
Gilded Drake- always nice to hit someone with their own beater
Glen Elendra Archmage- usually you get at least two uses out of the counter spell ability
Mizzium Medder- spell redirection protection on a decent defensive body
Pestermite- flying blocker or tap creature with vigilance or untap something you need
Phyrexian Metamorph- oh you have a Blightsteel or a Gilded Lotus or.... so do I
Plaxmanta- shroud till end of turn
Scuttlemutt- can be ramp but let's be honest- he's in the deck to change colors of creatures to benefit Animar's protection
Stratus Dancer- countering instants & sorceries is nice
Sylvan Safekeeper- shroud for a creature until end of turn is nice
Voidmage Husher- countering an activated ability is nice plus it bounces itself the next time you cast a spell
Willbender- no Animar isn't targeted by your spell, your commander is
Ramp
Beastcaller Savant- Hastey mana dork
Birds of Paradise- mana dork
Bloom Tender- usually taps for 3 mana
Cloud of Faeries- can lead to infinite mana
Earthcraft- easily benefits from the bounce package
Palinchron- a bigger Cloud of Faeries
Peregrine Drake- another bigger Cloud of Faeries
Rattleclaw Mystic- nice ramp from morph that can lead directly into Maelstrom Wanderer
Sakura-Tribe Elder- basic ramp
Seedborn Muse- sure I'll untap all my permanents on each opponents untap step
Wood Elves- a little more ramp
Misc. Cards
Artisan of Kozilek- mainly recursion but Annihilator 2 doesn't hurt
Brualizer Exarch- either a tutor or removal or both for GG in this deck most likely
Den Protector- more recursion
Eternal Witness- more recursion
Fierce Empath- tutor with many possible targets
Hamletback Goliath- can be a beater or those counters can be turned into card draw with Sage of Fables
Hardened Scales- the ONLY straight forward +1/+1 spell I've found to be worth running
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker- obviously combos with Zealous Conscripts but also combos with some of the bounce cards
Kruphix, God of Horizons- no hand size is nice and so is being able to tap out at the end of your opponents turn to use later even if colorless
Maelstrom Wanderer- So much value, three spells for the price of one
Primal Surge- basically a "I win" spell- also the only non-permanent in the deck
Purphoros, God of the Forge- mini Warstorm Surge effect
Training Grounds- mostly in the deck to minimalize the cost of Sage of Fables draw ability
Vesuvan Shapeshifter- another copy effect but with a little twist
Warstorm Surge- with all the bouncing this adds up, especially if you land Primal Surge
Zealous Conscripts- combos nice with Kiki-Jiki but is also useful for stealing opponents stuff
I wasn't involved in this situation, was sitting next to the table it happened at, but the LGS owner was adamant about that not being the case. I thought maybe I had missed a rule update or something.
Thanks again!
In response Player B responds with Stifle
I guess the question is can you counter a loyalty ability with effects that say "counter target activated ability"?
Karador, Ghost Chieftain Shadownborn Apostles build
* Demon of Dark Schemes
* Aetherworks Marvel
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave +1/+1 army
* Noxious Gearhulk
* Verdurous Gearhulk
* Animation Module
Daxos of Meletis pillowfort Voltron
* Authority of the Consuls
Animar, Soul of Elements bounce house
* Panharmonicon
* Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
Purphoros, God of the Forge ping ya till ya bleed
* Panharmonicon
Precisely the card that really enables the strategy to be effective. That combined with Edgewalker & Karador are simply nasty.
Only reason I'm debating switching from Karador to Kresh is access to some of the RB demons, either way G is necessity for Bloodbond.
Recently I've been debating switching it to a jund deck with Kresh as the commander to allow access to some of the red demons that singlehandedly can change the game.
Oddly enough, if I had to do it again I'd probably have went a way that would be more disruptive in the draft. In my case I'd have went the Alesha route and battled for the good white creatures with Smokey for his Bant deck, which would have put him in a weird spot of having to battle me for the white ones while also battling DJ for green ones.
Here's the cards I drafted...http://deckstats.net/decks/6217/484075-cards-for-commander-rotisserie/en
I think I'd have to go Grixis spell based, it would likely have the higher floor and be easier to make adjustments after the draft to though creature based would be more fun in the draft as far as battling for cards.
I have a list of about 200 cards that I'd like to draft, ranked in order of where I want them with the Boros & Mardu cards that I have to myself ranked separately in 32 spots off to the side as they'll be my last picks after I get whatever I do for my first 67.
I've focused in on Kaalia as my commander with Tariel as one of my other 3 potential commanders with Alesha as the third. My reasoning for doing so is I have no doubt that Smokey is going to try to build a human tribal in Bant (he's obsessed with it lately and has all but said that's the direction he's going) so instead of fighting for the stronger W humans I'll go with Kaalia and have most of those creatures to myself. I don't expect anyone to go angels or dragons at all, but I may have to fight for demons with the guy that has Jund (he's been fascinated with my Karador Shadowborn deck and I had offered to help him build a Kresh Shadowborn deck which he's totally dropped doing since we drafted for colors...what a coincidence he drafted Jund haha).
My plan (and we know how plans always fall apart) is to focus on ramp & removal early while battling for the demons as I don't expect anyone be focusing on dragons, or angels; then move into those and finally hit the handful of MLD I plan on including before moving into the Boros & Mardu cards that I have no competition for.
I'm expecting that the others will focus on mechanical enablers, card advantage, and ramp early.
One thing we haven't finalized is how to handle new sets which is something we need to address since at least Eldritch Moon & the first set of the next block will come out while we're doing this (along with Conspiracy).