Fun with Animar Mk. II

Commander / EDH

TheGrem

Creature (39)

• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x AEthersnipe
• 1x Animar, Soul of Elements
• 1x Apocalypse Hydra
• 1x Brine Elemental
• 1x Brutalizer Exarch
• 1x Copper Myr
• 1x Deadeye Navigator
• 1x Dream Stalker
• 1x Elvish Visionary
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fierce Empath
• 1x Heartwood Storyteller
• 1x Kederekt Leviathan
• 1x Maelstrom Wanderer
• 1x Magus of the Future
• 1x Malignus
• 1x Manic Vandal
• 1x Masked Admirers
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Mystic Snake
• 1x Peregrine Drake
• 1x Riftsweeper
• 1x Sages of the Anima
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Silver Myr
• 1x Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1x Tidespout Tyrant
• 1x Trench Gorger
• 1x Tyrant of Discord
• 1x Vexing Shusher
• 1x Viridian Emissary
• 1x Vithian Renegades
• 1x Voidmage Apprentice
• 1x Wall of Roots
• 1x Whirlpool Warrior
• 1x Willbender
• 1x Wonder

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Garruk Wildspeaker

Land (38)

• 1x Ancient Ziggurat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dryad Arbor
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 2x Forest
• 1x Fungal Reaches
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Grove of the Burnwillows
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 8x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Kazandu Refuge
• 1x Llanowar Reborn
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 1x Raging Ravine
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rupture Spire
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Slippery Karst
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Tranquil Thicket
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek
• 1x Vivid Grove

Artifact (9)

• 1x Birthing Pod
• 1x Cloudstone Curio
• 1x Darksteel Ingot
• 1x Gruul Signet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Jar of Eyeballs
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Instant (4)

• 1x Back to Nature
• 1x Krosan Grip
• 1x Summoner's Pact
• 1x Tribute to the Wild

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Ancestral Vision
• 1x Bramblecrush
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Creeping Renaissance
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Foresee
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Harmonize
• 1x Soul's Majesty

Commander (1)

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Fun with Animar Mk. II is the primary EDH/Commander deck I run at the kitchen table, focused around winning either through brute-force aggro or several infinite combos built into the deck.

As mentioned above, the deck has two main methods of winning: through aggro or through combo. On the aggro front is Animar himself; the deck has many creatures with light color commitments, and with a lot of bounce built-in, Animar is able to pump itself up once it hits even two or three counters onward. Other creatures support the brutality with big bodies and big effects: Trench Gorger thins the deck of unnecessary lands and gets big doing so; Kederekt Leviathan helps keep elves, tokens and other swarm decks under control with a big body to boot; Tyrant of Discord is so far untested, but looks to be a great addition; Malignus is just too big not to include; and Maelstrom Wanderer rounds out the suite with high potential for hasted attackers.

As far as combo is concerned, there are a few in the deck; most require Animar in some fashion, but one or two don't strictly need him. The most potent combo is infinite mana with Deadeye Navigator paired with Peregrine Drake. Infinite mana can be siphoned into any number of tutors or bounce cards to make Animar infinitely big, or to fetch or play Apocalypse Hydra and deal infinite damage to each opponent.

Another combo the deck often utilizes is between Tidespout Tyrant, Peregrine Drake and any bounce card while Animar is on the field. AEthersnipe and Dream Stalker are the two cards I use for this purpose. The concept is simple -- play the Drake, bouncing an opponent's board piece using the Tyrant's effect, and then play the bounce creature, bouncing itself with its own ability and using the Tyrant's ability to bounce the Drake. This will make infinite mana and infinite bounce, wiping the opponents' board in one swoop.

The deck also runs Cloudstone Curio, which can be used for a number of combos itself, including getting Animar infinitely big with two Morph creatures, or any creature and the Drake.

Lastly, though I don't think it's truly a combo, with enough mana and any sort of bounce engine, I can stop my opponents' untap step each turn with Brine Elemental.

The deck has a lot of draw spells, and a few interesting things to get cards in hand, including Sages of the Anima and Whirlpool Warrior to shuffle an unneeded hand into the deck. There's also recursion from Creeping Renaissance and Eternal Witness.

The deck wins both ways, though clearly the combo aspect of the deck takes a lot more explaining than the aggro part. I'm looking for any suggestions on how to improve the deck in any way, though its current form seems lean and mean in my current meta (outside of it, I can't be sure).

Things to acquire include the two big Eldrazi (Ulamog and Kozilek) and possibly Glimpse of Nature.

Date added	12 years
Last updated	12 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 32 - 0 Uncommons 20 - 0 Commons
Cards	101
Avg. CMC	3.63
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Morph 2/2 C