This is my Animar EDH deck, which has turned out to be my new favorite deck to play. It's also turned out to be pretty damn strong.
Getting Started
Early play is usually simple: Ramp a bit with Sakura-Tribe Elder, Farhaven Elf or other ramp, then get Animar out as soon as possible. Joiner Adept is also a great play as it's a cheaper Chromatic Lantern, and it's a creature which helps Animar.
Bloom Tender can be a good card to get out early if you don't have other options, because it'll tap for at least one green mana, and tap for RGU once you've got Animar out.
Fauna Shaman, Fierce Empath, and Worldly Tutor can let you get some helpful creatures into your hand early, though the Empath won't get you anything you can use right away unless you cast it later on.
Fun Combos
Use Experiment Kraj to put +1/+1 counters on Gilder Bairn and Elvish Aberration so the Kraj has the abilities of both. Then you can tap it to add 3 green, then untap to double Animar's counters, and repeat.
If you have at least four counters on Animar and 6 lands (at least 4 than can create blue mana), you can play and bounce Palinchron infinitely to give Animar as many counters as you want.
If you have Primordial Sage or Soul of the Harvest out, the above combo will let you draw your deck if you want.
If you have Momir Vig, Simic Visionary out, playing Maelstrom Wanderer will let you basically cascade out two creatures of your choice. Your choice of creatures can make this even more ridiculous.
If you have Sages of the Anima out with Momir and either Primordial Sage or Soul of the Harvest, playing a creature spell will let you draw any creature from your deck... plus up to two more. Play Maelstrom Wanderer in this situation to create a hilarious storm of triggers.
Winning
I've purposely built a lot of different win-cons into this deck. I thrive on variation and enjoy the challenge of trying to pull something new and fun each game.
Once you've got some huge creatures, use Nin, the Pain Artist or Ral Zarek to send Brawn to your graveyard in order to give those huge creatures trample. If Animar is big enough, you might not need to swing with anything else.
Or you can cast Deepchannel Mentor to make your blue creatures unblockable.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts will give you infinite copies of Zealous Conscripts, all of which are 3/3 and have haste. You win.
Experiment Kraj has so many possibilities. Once you give it Gilder Bairn's untap ability, you can copy any creature tap ability on the field and use it as many times as your mana pool allows. Use your imagination, or just pump Animar.
Play Laboratory Maniac, then drop Prime Speaker Zegana when Animar is huge and draw my deck.
Play Stuffy Doll and name the most threatening opponent, then discard high-cost spells with Mercurial Chemist or the Kraj to redirect damage to that opponent opponent. Nin, the Pain Artist can be used for this as well. Use Shrieking Drake to bounce the Doll back to your hand so you can play it again and name a new opponent once one is dead.
Play Biovisionary and copy it with Progenitor Mimic = your opponent basically has two turns to stop you from winning. Expedite this with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Phyrexian Metamorph if you want to win right away.
(I currently have Biovisionary in my maybeboard so I can test Fathom Mage)
Protection and Answers
My meta usually has at least one player running a counter-heavy deck, so making sure stuff (especially Animar) doesn't get Spell Crumpled is a top priority.
Vexing Shusher and Gaea's Herald are the two best options in the deck. I run Counterflux as well - while it isn't a creature, it's another way you're guaranteed to get Gaea's Herald or Animar out, and it can counter something spooky in a pinch.
I also run Draining Whelk as a creature-based counterspell, as well as Glen Elendra Archmage which has Persist and can be reused again and again if you've got Experiment Kraj out to remove her -1/-1 counters.
Spellskite is great for redirecting spells that target Animar or another important creature, and Kira, Great Glass-Spinner helps with this as well.
In a removal-heavy meta, you can play Progenitor Mimic as a copy of Spellskite, which will let you generate one new Spellskite per turn. In case that's not enough, I've included Swerve, though to be honest I'm mainly running this so I can ironically imitate Big Sean when I play it.
For my own removal, I've got Acidic Slime, Indrik Stomphowler, and Duplicant - all of which can be bounced and re-used with Cloudstone Curio or Shrieking Drake.
Domri Rade is good for making your big Animar fight something that's giving your opponent board position. It's also a great way to draw extra creatures, and if you can get his ultimate off, well...
In my meta I often have to deal with cards that make me sac things - Eldrazi, Thrax, and All Is Dust - which is why I run Tajuru Preserver.
I've also got a friend who's overly fond of pseudo-infinite Niv-Mizzet combos, so I've got Platinum Emperion. As a bonus, it helps against other threats against my life total, like swarms of tokens. Plus, people hate it less than Platinum Angel.
Speaking of token swarms, Steel Hellkite poops all over them - especially since their CMC is usually 0, meaning the Hellkite kills them all for free if its damage connects with a player.
Things I Need Help Dealing With
Currently, the biggest problems I'm having is overloaded Cyclonic Rift. My friend runs a well-tuned Omnath, Locus of Mana deck that can usually recast everything after a Cyclonic Rift with all the mana Omnath's got saved up, but I rarely have access to that much mana. Basically I need to hope for Draining Whelk, Swan Song or Counterflux to be in my hand.
Things I Purposely Don't Run
There are several cards that could probably make this deck more competitive, but I don't want to use them.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - these would most likely be free to cast late-game with Animar out, but I always feel like a huge dick swinging with annihilator 4. It's just not fun for me.
Consecrated Sphinx - I ran this before, but drawing cards off my opponents draws is usually weaker than drawing them off creature plays. There's just no slot for it.
Sylvan Primordial - Also makes me feel like a dick (also banned now). Steel Hellkite is really my only non-singular removal option, and it's basically for tokens.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger - the very definition of being a dick. I hate seeing this played by opponents, so I'll never run it. In my opinion, mana denial doesn't belong in EDH.
Mystic Snake - I want at least one uncounterable counterspell, so this loses to Counterflux. Plus, the latter's art is just so cool.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - my meta doesn't see many board wipes. If this ever changes, I'll probably add him in.
Things I Might Try
I'll add in potential new win-cons or combos as I think of them here.
Add in Hurricane, generate at least 40 mana, then play it with Platinum Emperion out on my side.
This one is utterly stupid, but I want to list it anyway:
Add in Vendilion Clique, Temple Bell, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Whip up enough mana (maybe with Palinchron). Use Shrieking Drake and Cloudstone Curio to cast and bounce Vendilion Clique until your opponent's hand is in their library (minus whatever lands they had in hand). Use an Experiment Kraj with the abilities of both Elvish Abberation and Gilder Bairn to get Jace up to ultimate level, then pop his ultimate, leaving your opponent with no deck (or maybe a land or two). Temple Bell (or similar card) to draw them out.
Achievements!
I was inspired by GoldGhost012's deck Excuse Me, But There's A Dragon Eating Your Face to create achievements for my deck. I'll keep track of them here.
IN A CLASS BY HIMSELF: Win with Biovisionary in a game with at least 3 opponents.
A SPEAKER WITH NO SCRIPT: Win with Laboratory Maniac by drawing the entire deck via Prime Speaker Zegana.
TRIPLE CASCADE: Cast Etherium-Horn Sorcerer off of Maelstrom Wanderer's cascade trigger, or vice-versa.
VOODEATH: Kill an opponent using Stuffy Doll.
Completed 01/12/14: Took control of opponent's Rhys the Redeemed for a turn with Zealous Conscripts to create an elf, then started doubling with Experiment Kraj. Used Phyrexian Metamorph to copy her Trostani, Selesnya's Voice to replicate her lifegain strategy. Pumped Animar to rival her Wayfaring Temple. Bounced the rest of my board back to my hand with Shrieking Drake and Cloudstone Curio.
PLAY WITH YOURSELF: Successfully pop Ral Zarek's ultimate.
GLOBETROTTER PASS: Pass the target of an opponent's removal spell to at least three versions of Spellskite (original and two copies) before finally resolving Swerve and redirecting it to one of their own permanents.
WALK OUT OF THE FIRE UNSCATHED: Flash out Platinum Emperion right as an opponent decides to kamikaze and blow up the whole table with something like Hurricane.
