schroederr14 this deck seems to be able to support Force of Negation and Force of Vigor , but finding room for them will be troublesome.

Is Force of Negation even worth it if you can't use the alternative cost on your turn? Animar wants to be able to use it's free counterspells to help protect its combos when it tried to go off. Free counterspells that can't do that strike me as much lower-priority inclusions.

I agree with Saber re NEgation: we want our counters/interaction to be used as protection, not as control. If we desperately need to we can counter an opposing wincon, but thats never our primary gameplan.

Vigor is a slightly diff story. its undeniably good removal, but it works really poorly with our suite of tutors. we want to call in removal only when needed, and again, mostly as protection for our gameplan. for that reason, i prefer cards I can grab with creature tutors (caterpillar, Cratermaker, even Ouphe) or with our new best enabler, Seeker. Force of Vigor fits into an awkward spot where its good when you draw it and have viable targets, but when you have targets but need that removal ASAP its a pain to go find it. This is less of an issue for combo decks with plenty of Black tutors or for midrange/control decks that want to be more proactive in controlling the boardstate, but as a RUG creature-combo deck, we have different priorities.

Hi JMCraig, I constantly come to see the variation and notification on your list because I like your ideas of Animar, realy detailed and clear description of comments and chioses, same for SaberTech naturaly. I'm here to ask for any advice on my list Animar, Storming Soul, you will find some strange things like why I dont run moxes or mystical tutor and why I run Prophet of Kruphix ... the shop where I play uses a recently banlist (thanks god) whit some great differences. I beseech only one thing, dont ask to remove Opposition , aside for being my pet card, it work damnly well in my meta (70% control, 25%combo, 5% aggro more or less), last thing....I cant afford the duals....

Thanks for your time.

Hey there! I made some quick edits, so have a look and feel free to keep posting here for more info!

Shared Summons seems very interesting. It's a Harvest that can't be Seeker-ed, but it can be cast at instant speed and it doesn't let your opponents fetch. 5 mana to win the game seems very reasonable since we're already running the requisite dorks to get a lethal Harvest on turn 4 very consistently.

I really like the idea if slow-rolling this by playing nothing in your main to telegraph that you have no gas, then popping it in the endphase before your turn when your opponents tap out. that's the best case, and the worst case is like getting a big Harvest countered.

Seems very playable!

oh also, you can value-cast this unlike Harvest. That's a nontrivial bonus!

Shared Summons is a really interesting card, although it would be a bit rough to have it in your opening hand and the only way to tutor for it is if you are also running Mystical Tutor . Casting it main phase turn 4 strikes me as being risky in a lot of situations because it's a lot of mana for Animar to invest in one spell. That being said, the ability to tutor for two creatures with just one card makes it really tempting, even at 5 CMC. Since I also run Kiki combo, I essentially have two viable 2 creature combos I could go for.

I think that Shared Summons is going to be one of those cards where its effectiveness will heavily depend on board assessment. It's very useful for helping to work around drawing aggro from your opponents, giving Animar a very rare instant speed means of maintaining combo building momentum while hiding your progress from your opponents until the last moment. This means you can leave yourself with a less threatening board so that your opponents might see each other as better targets of their counters and removal. Animar is already pretty good at having a board state that looks like it isn't ready to do anything, and then exploding the following turn. Shared Summons plays into that aspect of the deck really well. It is also a card that could easily be used to bait out counters since the opponents won't know if not countering the spell means that you will get something like Spellskite or Prowling Serpopard to protect what you want to do the following turn.

It's a strong card, certainly, and offers some advantages in areas where Animar is lacking. Off hand though, I think that the card will contribute more to turn 5 kills than turn 4. Whether that is good enough or not might be situational to the other decks that get played in your local meta.

Agreed; you won't want to blind-fire this in your main with no spare mana or protection in hand or on board. at 5CMC< that'd be a bit of a blowout, and leave you helpless for the next turn cycle. I'd rather save it for the oppoennt's endphase right before I want to combo off, so I can have that mana to cover the play with serpopard or Swan Song or something.

Basically I see it as a more flexible but 1CMC more expensive version of Harvest. It's still a big investment of mana for a non-creature spell and can be a blowout if its countered BUT you don't have to wait until your main to cast it, so you can conserve resources better and telegraph your win attempt a bit less. like you say, that's not something Animar has historically been able to do well, but having a 1-card win that can enable some more subtle lines is a neat opportunity.

What’s the purpose for playing Phantasmal Image?

Hey there. I've just decided to revisit my Animar (retired 3 years ago) and there are so many new and exciting lines to explore. I just redid my entire list to incorporate the new combo lines. My version is tuned for an optimized (75%) meta so it runs some big bombs instead of the more efficient pieces. Would appreciate if you can take a look and suggest any changes. Thanks!

Phantasmal is there mainly just as a cheap value piece to copy an ETB effect we want to reuse, or to act as a second copy of some good dork. The last two times I cast it (this past Friday), it copied a Recruiter (first one had been used to get Collector Ophe) and a Bloom Tender, enabling a statue win from 0 counters on the next turn. Most memorably, it copied a Sphinx for massive value, but thats probably the best-case scenerio.

basically its just a solid value piece for the deck. we play a lot of solid on-board stuff, so theres always something useful to copy. i'd consider it a flex slot if you have something really relevant for your meta in mind, tho.

I'm usually pretty content to use Phantasmal Image to copy a cantrip creature, but I find that my preferred targets are either tutor creatures, Beast Whisperer / Primordial Sage , or Peregrine Drake . There are also some other commanders that I wouldn't mind copying if given the chance; such as Tymna the Weaver or Derevi, Empyrial Tactician .

Long gone are the days when clone effects would let you kill your opponents' legendary permanents, but I've generally found that both Phantasmal Image and Phyrexian Metamorph offer good value plays anyway. I do miss being able to use the Metamorph to destroy an opponent's Umezawa's Jitte though.

Hi all! how is Painter's Servant unban will affect this deck? especially thinking in color specific creature tutors. Thank you!

Ok, so I'm disappointed about Paradox Engine being banned and the effect that's going to have on a number of established competitive decks.

That being said, SWEET! I've been hoping that they would unban Painter's Servant for years now! It's essentially a second Spellskite for Animar that also makes Animar unblockable. Now it's not just Duel Commander Animar decks that get to have all the fun.

Painter's Servant opens up a variety of other options for other decks too. Mono Green gets to abuse Lifeforce and improve the viability of cards like Autumn's Veil and Veil of Summer . Mono black has Deathgrip . Lifeforce is probably the better card because it shuts down a number of dangerous black cards on its own, and might now find a home in Yisan, the Wanderer Bard decks since Yisan can tutor up the Servant to help Lifeforce lock down cards that get past its stax pieces. And, of course, the Servant also opens up the ability to pick opponents off with Grindstone .

Ooh, I hadn't considered using Painter as a "hack" type type effect to cover Animar's protection. That's spicy as hell; it lets us dodge Pongify/Rapid Hyb, Chain and Rift (not overloaded, at least), from blue decks, plus Beast Within and Song of the Dryads from green ones for little to no downside. I'm very interested in testing this out!

Oh, and red targeted damage effects too. dang, thats really promising!!

I've seen people say that Animar doesn't need the extra protection that Painter's Servant provides against spot removal because it having protection from white and black covers the colors with the best spot removal. When I thought about it though, even if white and black have the best spot removal, those colors only make (at most) half of the spot removal used in cEDH. Being able to provide solid protection for Animar on a cheap creature body (that only needs generic mana to boot!) is great.

I've seen other comments say that the slot is better used for Veil of Summer since the veil can also protect your combo from counterspells, which is a good point. Painter's Servant is also limited in that it only protects Animar and not any of your other combo creatures like Spellskite . That being said, Animar is the most important creature to keep on the field so that the deck's combo lines actually work. If a combo piece is countered you still have the chance to go for another combo line as long as Animar is still around. Painter's Servant is also an easy to cast cheap creature that fits perfectly into the early game curve that Animar decks want to play, and it being able to make Animar unblockable makes Animar's Plan D "Swing at my opponent's face with a massive Animar" more viable in a format where more creatures are being played because of Tymna.

Seems like Skite/Serpopard would be better in some circumstances and Painter in others. Still, as a 2CMC colorless guy, he's still pretty solid even in games where his ability isnt relevant. Def worth a slot.

You know that Painter's Servant is banned in Commander?

@dorinello As of this past Monday Painter's Servant was unbanned. Paradox Engine and Iona, Shield of Emeria are banned now though.

Sorry i saw that to late :/

Hey ! Why you don't add Tribute Mage ? I play Animar and for me it's really nice, you can tutor Spellskite for protection or Phyrexian Revoker for interaction or the best for me Painter's Servant who protects Animar for everything (almost), Animar can't be blocked and Animar can block everything whitout dying ! Painter's Servant + Ancestral Statue and it's win for you. Then with Tribute Mage ou can have Animar with two counter on it passing directly with four counter on it with Painter's Servant on board ! Tribute Mage is really good for me you can tutor some excellents cards whose a piece of combo and the best protection for Animar, you have a free counter on Animar and you filter your deck. (Sorry if my english isn't perfect i'm french ^^)

hei, JMCraig

can u explain why Phantasmal Image is set as a combo piece, since he's not cited in any combo line? at first i thought he was there as a plan B to Phyrexian Metamorph , but then i realized he actually dies if i try to bounce it with Kiri-Onna ...

cheers!

@Mephystoh: until recently, Tribute Mage hasn't had quite enough targets to be relevant. Now with Painter, Oophe and Dockside, it may actually be worth a slot. That said, we actually have access to a really high density of good tutors (and it keeps getting better) so I'd have a hard time finding a slot for it. Definitely something to consider, but I wouldn't play it over any of the options already in my list. Id consider it one of the best 2-3 tutors I'm NOT already using thought, right up there with Brutalizer Exarch, Trinket, Gamble and Momir Vig. Something to consider for sure!

@tlfernan: I have the clones set as "combo" for the time being just bc they don't do anything on their own, and thus are effectively obligate synergy pieces. They're not part of any defined combo line, but they also don't fit any of the other categories bc they don't really "work" without something to copy. For the record, my categories are really just a rough guide to help me and other pilots get the gist of why I play each card; many cards fit other roles besides their category on here, or have a purpose that isn't easy to define concisely. For example, clone and recursion cards are both filed under "combo" here, which isn't as accurate a description as it is of Statue, obviously. So don't worry, you're not ,missing anything! Just a broad generalization on my part to make the list a bit more easy to comprehend at a glance.