We Bought a Zoo

Commander / EDH* Aggro Counters RUG (Temur)

Deth2AllButMetal

Creature (39)

• 1x Algae Gharial
• 1x Alloy Myr
• 1x Aquastrand Spider
• 1x Borborygmos
• 1x Champion of Lambholt
• 1x Chronomaton
• 1x Cloudfin Raptor
• 1x Crowned Ceratok
• 1x Cytoplast Manipulator
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Experiment One
• 1x Falkenrath Marauders
• 1x Fathom Mage
• 1x Fertilid
• 1x Gyre Sage
• 1x Hamletback Goliath
• 1x Kavu Predator
• 1x Lorescale Coatl
• 1x Markov Blademaster
• 1x Opaline Unicorn
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Plaxcaster Frogling
• 1x Polis Crusher
• 1x Polukranos, World Eater
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Quirion Dryad
• 1x Renegade Krasis
• 1x Rubblebelt Raiders
• 1x Sapphire Drake
• 1x Skarrgan Skybreaker
• 1x Slumbering Dragon
• 1x Somberwald Sage
• 1x Sphinx of Magosi
• 1x Splatter Thug
• 1x Taurean Mauler
• 1x Thrummingbird
• 1x Ulvenwald Tracker
• 1x Vorel of the Hull Clade
• 1x Zameck Guildmage

Land (37)

• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 12x Forest
• 9x Island
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Rupture Spire
• 1x Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Transguild Promenade
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Grove

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Bred for the Hunt
• 1x Curse of Stalked Prey
• 1x Ferocity
• 1x Forced Adaptation
• 1x Gutter Grime
• 1x Inexorable Tide
• 1x Rite of Passage

Artifact (3)

• 1x Banshee's Blade
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Instant (7)

• 1x Bioshift
• 1x Burst of Strength
• 1x Mutant's Prey
• 1x Pit Fight
• 1x Savage Summoning
• 1x Steady Progress
• 1x Volt Charge

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Biomantic Mastery
• 1x Give / Take
• 1x Increasing Savagery
• 1x Soul's Might
• 1x Tezzeret's Gambit
• 1x Unexpected Results

Commander (1)

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I almost called this deck Showers 'n Growers

The basic idea is pretty much the same as you'd expect with any animar deck: get little guys out, make 'em grow, or get fatties out on the cheap, or both. With all the proliferating going on and a couple of the mana dorks thrown in, one can get Animar out relatively easily, and from there the deck is hard to stop. Proliferaters like Thrummingbird, Tezzeret's Gambit , and especially Inexorable Tide grow your creatures. Grafters like Aquastrand Spider and Plaxcaster Frogling provide buffs, as do Crowned Ceratok and Sapphire Drake . One thing this deck does more than other Animar builds is draw cards; Simic staples likePrime Speaker Zegana and Biomantic Mastery keep your hand as full as possible. Finally, I explored some red aggro with Falkenrath Marauders and Markov Blademaster just to give the deck some fast attack options.

Once I played a few games with this build, I immediately saw everything come together. There's a ton of neat interactions between the cards here. Forced Adaptation on Fathom Mage means an extra card each turn. If you have Lorescale Coatl on the field, that gets a bump, too. Give / Take is an extremely aggressive draw spell with Fathom and Lorescale; Dump counters onto Fathom, then pull them off Lorescale only to put them right back on. If you're on the wrong end of a beating, Gutter Grime and Thrummingbird (or any proliferater) can completely turn around the game. Sure, your foe could kill the Bird at the cost of a removal spell, but doing so will only strengthen the slimes you already have out and put another one on the board. Cytoplast Manipulator and Renegade Krasis have a great interaction as well. Simply leave the Manipulator (and an island) untapped during your turn, wait for a creature you like to come along, then grab it and mass evolve. Champion of Lambholt works great here too, because you're taking their best guns and making your own guys unblockable. Well, very hard to block at least. One last, extremely flavorful interaction here is between Aquastrand Spider and Algae Gharial . Imagine the Gharial jumping out of the algae at a Pestermite or what have you, swallowing its meal, then returning to the water with an additional +1/+1 counter. The beast is sated.

The only things I'm struggling with are my mana base and removal spells. I have Pit Fight and Mutant's Prey in there for good measure, but I need more ideas.

Date added	11 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.24
Tokens	Ooze X/X G