Animar, Soul of Combos ::: cEDH Primer

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Infinite Combo Multiplayer RUG (Temur)

ToffMcSoft

Creature (51)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Ancestral Statue
• 1x Arbor Elf
• 1x Barrin, Master Wizard
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Beastcaller Savant
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bloom Tender
• 1x Bond Beetle
• 1x Caustic Caterpillar
• 1x Cloud of Faeries
• 1x Collector Ouphe
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Den Protector
• 1x Destiny Spinner
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Dream Stalker
• 1x Elvish Mystic
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Goblin Cratermaker
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Man-o'-War
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Painter's Servant
• 1x Phantasmal Image
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Prowling Serpopard
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Raven Familiar
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Scavenging Ooze
• 1x Shrieking Drake
• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Stratus Dancer
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Sylvan Safekeeper
• 1x Thassa's OracleGC
• 1x Tinder Wall
• 1x Vizier of the Menagerie
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wall of Blossoms
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Wild Cantor
• 1x Wood Elves

Land (29)

• 1x Ancient Ziggurat
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Forest
• 1x Gaea's CradleGC
• 1x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stomping Ground
• 1x Taiga
• 1x Tarnished Citadel
• 1x Thran Quarry
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Volcanic Island
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Domri, Anarch of Bolas

Commander (1)

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Eldritch Evolution
• 1x Finale of Devastation
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Glimpse of Nature
• 1x Neoform
• 1x Weird Harvest

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Hardened Scales
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Survival of the FittestGC
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Wild Growth

Instant (4)

• 1x Autumn's Veil
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Veil of Summer
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Artifact (3)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Skullclamp

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Plaxmanta

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Carpet of Flowers

Instant (1)

• 1x Shared Summons

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Competitive Animar, Soul of Elements EDH/Commander Deck.

This deck will constantly surprise your opponents, take your empty board state to a victory in 1 turn and consistently win against "Top" commanders. If you like computing casting cost 5+ cards ahead, this deck is for you. Each game becomes a puzzle to solve and multiple win lines are constantly available.

Animar is extremely fun to play but 100% brings HATE to the table. Once you show your general, the table will immediately look to target you. Just always remember, if Animar hits the board - expect the entire pod to try to removal Animar. Very rarely will Animar stick around for more then 1 turn cycle.

The deck has won multiple matches for me early, mid & late game. At the end of the day, like all decks - the luck of the draw is your best friend.

Our Strategy

Animar, Soul of Elements + Ancestral Statue, that's how we win :). The main strategy is to be able to cast Ancestral Statue for free (when Animar has 4 or more counters) and then win the game through Walking Ballista or Purphoros, God of the Forge.

Generally, you want to try to get Animar out by turn 3 at the latest, start your value engine and figure out how to get Imperial Recruiter in your hand. Once you have Imperial Recruiter, you can kick off 2 different win lines.

Opening Hands

Having the right opening hands is essential. Typically you want to cast Animar, Soul of Elements no later than turn 3, have the tools required to pump Animar, Soul of Elements, draw through your deck/tutor for what you need and combo off.

A great hand will include 2 Lands, a Turn 1 Mana Ramp, some form of draw, tutor & interaction.

Protection & Counter Magic

This version of Animar doesn't run any counter spells in the form of instants, instead we run the following cards:

• Domri, Anarch of Bolas
• Destiny Spinner
• Glen Elendra Archmage
• Prowling Serpopard
• Rhythm of the Wild
• Stratus Dancer
• Autumn's Veil
• Veil of Summer
• Heroic Intervention

You will find other Animar decks that run your typical Zero drop Counter Spells (Force of Will, Pact of Negation, Etc) In my experience and play testing Animar is a glass cannon build. The deck isn't built for interaction. The card choices will help you WIN but not help you stop your opponents.

In previous iterations of this deck list I have run a handful of Counter Spells and always found myself being forced to use that counter magic and then LOSE the game anyway. Animar needs the counter magic as protection for when you're trying to combo off, thus the justification to where I've ended up with the card selections to support your efforts of combo :).

Notable & Important Stuff

• Glen Elendra Archmage + Rhythm of the Wild = Always choose for Glen Elendra to enter with a +1/+1 counter on it and it'll negate the -1/-1 counter, thus allowing for Glen Eledra to be continuously sacrificed as long as you have to spend.
• Painter's Servant, If you name White - Animar then has protection from everything as long as Painter's Servant remains on the board.

Win Cons From Different Lines

Win Conditions: Purphoros, God of the Forge, Walking Ballista, Thassa's Oracle or Animar Beater

Our primary Win Condition is creating a "Indefinitely" large Animar through the use of continuously casting Ancestral Statue & bouncing itself.

When Animar is "Indefinitely" large we win by casting an MASSIVELY BIG (IE X = 500) Walking Ballista and machine gunning our opponents to death or Casting Purphoros, God of the Forge during our Casting & Bouncing of Ancestral Statue to ping our opponents for 2 each ETB.

Purphoros, God of the Forge is a very nice backup to Walking Ballista in the case of Cursed Totem or Collector Ouphe effects on the board.

There are many times where you'll have tutored for Ancestral Statue because you have a Draw Engine to pair w/ it. (Beast Whisperer or Glimpse of Nature). In the event you find yourself in this situation, Thassa's Oracle is in the deck to prevent us from decking ourselves and at the time, turn out a win :).

Big creature beater? Generally our last ditch effort but nothing is more satisfying then knocking someone out with a very large Animar. Even if you don't have an "Infinite" Animar you may find yourself with a very large Animar that stacks up to 21 commander damage very quickly. Typically you won't find yourself in this situation, however, if you're playing against lower power decks in a non cEDH environment - you might find yourself holding back and just "playing along".

Imperial Recruiter + Neoform Line

If Animar, Soul of Elements has 2 Counters on it, this line only requires 1 , 1 & 2 to kick off.

• Cast Imperial Recruiter (for 1) fetching Phyrexian Metamorph
• Cast Phyrexian Metamorph (for 2 life) copying Imperial Recruiter fetching Spellseeker
• Cast Spellseeker (for 1) fetching Neoform
• Cast Neoform for (1 & 1) sacrificing Spellseeker to grab Ancestral Statue, with the Statue ETB trigger on the stack, bounce itself.
• Cast Ancestral Statue (for free) Until You've created "Infinite" Counters On Animar, bounce Phyrexian Metamorph with the last trigger on the stack.
• Cast Phyrexian Metamorph (for 2 life) copying Imperial Recruiter fetching Walking Ballista > cast Walking Ballista for lets say 500/500 to win.

Dockside Extortionist + Barrin, Master Wizard Line

Dockside Extortionist (with 4+ Artifacts or Enchantments in play) + Barrin, Master Wizard = infinite ETBs and infinite Animar counters, often infinite mana. This combo effectively does the same thing as Ancestral Statue , but adds the powerful mana-generation ability of Dockside Extortionist . Notably, when the combo generates infinite mana, it can be used to blink any other cards we have on board, making it trivially easy to with with Walking Ballista or Purphoros, God of the Forge

Barrin is also a Recruiter target, but, for a very steep mana investment, it's actually possible to chain Recruiter into Barrin, use Barrin to bounce the Recruiter, then re-cast Recruiter and tutor for Dockside, thus assembling this combo with only a single tutor.

Top Ranked	Achieved #5 position overall 7 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH RUG (Temur) 5 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 54 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.13
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C, Spirit 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders	EDH.IDEAS., Interesting AF Commander Decks, Interesting Commander Decks, decks i'm considering, Good EDH Decks, Eldrazi, Looks fun, Sample, Animar deck, Decklists