"Pauper" Animar + Keruga [Budget/Casual]

Commander / EDH Budget Cascade Casual Keruga, the Macrosage RUG (Temur) Theme/Gimmick Wizards

Kazierts

Lands (38)

• 1x Brokers Hideout
• 1x Cabaretti Courtyard
• 1x Cliffgate
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 9x Forest
• 1x Great Furnace
• 1x Halimar Depths
• 1x Hickory Woodlot
• 1x Highland Forest
• 5x Island
• 1x Molten Tributary
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Saprazzan Skerry
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Silverbluff Bridge
• 1x Slagwoods Bridge
• 1x Tangled Islet
• 1x Tanglepool Bridge
• 1x Volatile Fjord
• 1x Wooded Ridgeline

Cascade (3)

• 1x Boarding Party
• 1x Annoyed Altisaur
• 1x Maelstrom Colossus

Initiative (3)

• 1x Aarakocra Sneak
• 1x Stirring Bard
• 1x Avenging Hunter

Protection (3)

• 1x Elgaud Shieldmate
• 1x Sporeback Troll
• 1x Dread Linnorm

Recursion (2)

• 1x Archaeomender
• 1x Evolution Witness

Tutors (2)

• 1x Drift of Phantasms
• 1x Fierce Empath

Ramp (20)

• 1x Elvish Rejuvenator
• 1x Exhibition Magician
• 1x Farhaven Elf
• 1x Jewel Thief
• 1x Jungle Wayfinder
• 1x Llanowar Visionary
• 1x Patron of the Arts
• 1x Plundering Barbarian
• 1x Redcap Thief
• 1x Rift Sower
• 1x Sailor of Means
• 1x Simian Spirit Guide
• 1x Springbloom Druid
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Yavimaya Granger
• 1x Grabby Giant
• 1x Migratory Greathorn
• 1x Young Red Dragon
• 1x Beanstalk Wurm
• 1x Peregrine Drake

Combo Line 1 (5)

• 1x Etherium Spinner
• 1x Ingenious Artillerist
• 1x Molten Gatekeeper
• 1x Ancestral Statue
• 1x Guardians of Koilos

Interaction (3)

• 1x Vedalken Dismisser
• 1x Mirrorshell Crab
• 1x Sword Coast Serpent

Other (2)

• 1x Vigean Graftmage
• 1x Nimbleclaw Adept

Repeatability (2)

• 1x Stickytongue Sentinel
• 1x Winter Eladrin

Combo Line 2 (1)

• 1x Clever Conjurer

Commander (1)

Companion (1)

Card/Impulse Draw/Advantage (15)

• 1x Cloudkin Seer
• 1x Elite Instructor
• 1x Generous Stray
• 1x Merchant of Secrets
• 1x Psionic Snoop
• 1x Sea Gate Oracle
• 1x Serum Visionary
• 1x Tomakul Scrapsmith
• 1x Windrider Wizard
• 1x Alania's Pathmaker
• 1x Faerie Mechanist
• 1x Gurmag Drowner
• 1x Joraga Visionary
• 1x Skyswimmer Koi
• 1x Mulldrifter

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Sideboard

Other (1)

• 1x Keruga, the Macrosage

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Maybeboard

Lands (24)

• 1x Bleeding Woods
• 1x Bristling Backwoods
• 1x Cliffgate
• 1x Conduit Pylons
• 1x Fertile Thicket
• 1x Gruul Guildgate
• 1x Gruul Turf
• 1x Hidden Cataract
• 1x Hidden Grotto
• 1x Hidden Nursery
• 1x Hidden Volcano
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Izzet Guildgate
• 1x Khalni Garden
• 1x Maestros Theater
• 1x Manor Gate
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Ravaged Highlands
• 1x Rimewood Falls
• 1x Riveteers Overlook
• 1x Sea Gate
• 1x Seafloor Debris
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Simic Guildgate

Interaction (8)

• 1x Keldon Overseer
• 1x Infernal Captor
• 1x Mold Shambler
• 1x Wickerbough Elder
• 1x Ingot Chewer
• 1x Spitebellows
• 1x Fang Dragon
• 1x Faultgrinder

Reapeatability (6)

• 1x Invasive Species
• 1x Thalakos Scout
• 1x Keymaster Rogue
• 1x Storm Sculptor
• 1x Skyskipper Duo
• 1x Ambush Krotiq

Graveyard Hate (2)

• 1x Tormod's Cryptkeeper
• 1x Malevolent Chandelier

Pump (2)

• 1x Lavafume Invoker
• 1x Spectral Hunt-Caller

Unblockable (1)

• 1x Stoneshock Giant

Card/Impulse Draw (6)

• 1x Irascible Wolverine
• 1x Soaring Show-Off
• 1x Tome Raider
• 1x Wirewood Savage
• 1x Woodland Liege
• 1x Pygmy Kavu

Other (7)

• 1x Krosan Restorer
• 1x Rushwood Herbalist
• 2x Soratami Rainshaper
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Tuktuk Rubblefort
• 1x Shell Skulkin

Free Creatures (4)

• 1x Halo Hopper
• 1x Living Totem
• 1x Skyshroud Cutter
• 1x Thunderhead Squadron

Ramp (1)

• 1x Plundering Pirate

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One deck I'm very happy with is my "Pauper" Korvold [Budget/Casual]. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King is an extremely strong and popular commander. However, I don't like building and/or playing things things other people make, I'd rather put my own touch. So, in order to be comfortable with playing such a well -known commander, I decided to try to limit myself either by playing only commons or fitting as many restrictions as possible. Although Korvold, Fae-Cursed King could certainly do with a few more restrictions, it's the first deck with these kinds of limitations, which means I'll it as is. However, I want to get more creative with other commanders.

I've tried build some others with commons only in mind. card:Yuriko,the Tiger's Shadow, Edgar Markov, Krenko, Mob Boss, Urza, Lord High Artificer and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines are the others I tried to build, but didn't feel satisfied to keep developing. Then, while doomscrolling Scryfall, I saw Animar, Soul of Elements and started wondering what could I make with it. After that, I looked at EDHREC and saw that, after all of these years, it's still one of the most popular {G}{U}{R} commanders. I made my decision at that moment. However, I knew just playing with commons wouldn't make Animar, Soul of Elements challeging at all to brew. With this in mind, here are the restrictions (all arbitrary) that I imposed myself in order to come up with this list:

1. Only commons - This usually forces some creativity and gives me the opportunity to play with cards I've never seen before.
2. Only creatures - Although the color identy does not allow, I wanted to add Umori, the Collector's restriction to spice things a bit more.
3. Keruga, the Macrosage - Even with the two aforementioned restrictions, I don't think it would be enough to power Animar, Soul of Elements down to force me to come up with something truly spicy. However, CMC {3} and above cuts many staple ramp and card draw options. Now, I think I found what I want to build.

Because there's still a lot of tinkering and polishing to be done, I'll summarize just the two main combo winconditions and I'll update the rest whenever I have the time/motivation and/or want.

Combo Line 1

• Ancestral Statue and card:Guardiands of Koils - Both are necessary and, unfortunately, unsearchable. If Animar, Soul of Elements is big enough, both can be cast for free for infinite ETBs.

• Ingenious Artillerist or Molten Gatekeeper - Although the above mentioned artifact creatures do not have ETBs themselves, Ingenious Artillerist or Molten Gatekeeper provide the effect necessary to win the game. Of course, only one is needed on the battlefield, the other is just for redundancy. Both are searchable with Drift of Phantasms.

Combo Line 2

• Ivy Lane Denizen and Aerie Ouphes - This is not exactly a win button, but it's basically a boardwipe for flying creatures. Worth to keep it in mind.

• Ivy Lane Denizen + Aerie Ouphes/Trapjaw Kelpie + Thermopod/Bogardan Dragonheart - By adding a sacrifice outlet to the previous setup, it becomes an infinite sac loop. However, as it might be obious, this also does not win the game. Even if infinite mana is generated with Thermopod, another piece, such as Molten Gatekeeper is needed. I'm currently trying to find a mana sink or something else that can profit from infinite ETBs.

This is definetly the more shakky of the lines. I need to test a bit more to see if it's even worth to keep it in the deck.

As a sidenote, Animar, Soul of Elements's correct art is the first one. Double Master's art looks weird.

Date added	1 month
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 0 - 1 Rares 4 - 0 Uncommons 72 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.82
Tokens	Citizen 1/1 GW, Dungeon: Undercity, On an Adventure, Skeleton 4/1 B, The Initiative, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure