also Master Biomancer

Master Biomancer is possible, especially if animar needs to be cast to catch up

right but Conjurer's Closet.... not for animar but for all the other etb effects.... especially things you Cloudstone Curio'd that have summoning sickness...

Hmm that actually sounds awesome! I'm playing alot of different cards so I won't be updating the decklist until it's set so that if I stray too far I can come back to this

Draining Whelk could be fun too!

Made sure i got him in there :). He's been a nice surprise

You've got a pretty decent set of dudes here. I play my deck a little different, trying to slam as many dudes (I play 53) in it as possible and go to work with Maelstrom Wanderer and his favorite Cascade dudes like Shardless Agent and Etherium-Horn Sorcerer. It's pretty fast, and even though it might not survive the first Wrath in Multi, It's easy to build it back up because I don't play a lot of other spells. Also, I have enough land to launch the big guys in the late-late.

Maybe you'll find a card or two from my list. It's fairly tuned, it's funny, and it's a hell of a beating if you get it 1-on-1. Animar, Soul of Elements EDH.

Nice one + with one third of the deck being creatures, Domri Rade might be an option to consider over Garruk.

mmm Domri Rade sounds good, ill have to trade for one soon

what about Phantasmal Image , Pongify and Rapid Hybridization as straight general killers?

im with you there man i already got Phantasmal Image on order, with Mystic Snake , Bloodbraid Elf , and Etherium-Horn Sorcerer on order

ninnyz, I like what you've done here. I have some ideas, but first I wanna mention what I like. I don't quite remember the original design, so I might be re-commenting on stuff that was in here before. Oh well.

First, way to get the creature count up over 40. If you haven't playtested or battled with it yet, I think you're going to be pleased with the results.

Second, Gilder Bairn . My goodness, how funny and relevant. I love it. I hope it works as well as I think it will. Your opponents will be blown away when they have to waste removal on it. Truly one of the better examples of "niche cards" for Animar. I'm still partial to my Hunting Moa , but sweet find.

I also really like Guided Passage and Signal the Clans . I think GP was already in here, and I've actually considered it too. Without the other spells, GP would get me Domri + 2 things. Lemme know what you think of Signal also. I've been interested in trying it, but we've already talked about my "all-in on creatures" philosophy.

Time Spiral seems really intriguing. Some cards you do have to make for your metagame, and I'm guessing that this is one. Seems cool. Way to upgrade from Time Reversal . Far superior.

Ceta Sanctuary is also really nice tech, and another card I'm curious about. Not a fan of Rhystic Study because you create an echoing voice of "Did you pay extra for that?" and that's just too much work for card draw in my opinion.

I'm not really considering running Sanctuary either, but I think if it has any chance to shine, it's in here, not with Riku or Intet. I also really like Sphinx Ambassador and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar . Fun cards that won't draw soo much unbearable hate seem like they're good choices for what I'm guessing is a pretty hectic control metagame.

Overall, the fun is there, as is the teeth with stuff like B-Dubz Beast Within and Counterflux . So let's talk a little bit of improvement.

Two cards that really stick out to me are Trygon Predator and Momir Vig, Simic Visionary . Those are two cards in my own playtesting that have slowed me down a lot. Trygon, being because he doesn't really do a whole lot if your opponents are trying to protect their boardstate, and Vig, mostly because I play more artifact dudes, but also because having to slow down, search, draw, blah blah blah. It just seems really annoying, especially if you're trying to be political. Taking long turns annoy people, and I take enough time without having to worry about his lengthy trigger searches. So use him only if you've practiced, and you know exactly what you're going to get every time. It's not impossible, but mostly improbable. I'd consider cutting him, maybe for a Fauna Shaman if you want something better and similar. Possibly just more tutelage or card draw.

Next, I mentioned this to another guy about Dryad Arbor . If you're just playing the Arbor cause you like it, then great. It's on theme, he just doesn't help Animar. Unfortunately, he's not a spell, so you can't trigger Animar with it. If you want to replace that, I'd suggest Llanowar Reborn . It's my favorite tap land, and it does what you're really trying to do anyway. Having that in an opening hand is really nice.

I also tried Fathom Mage , and wasn't too impressed, but if you're liking it, sounds good. Cloudstone would probably help change my opinions on her too. I think Prime Speaker Zegana or Knollspine Dragon are probably just better for those purposes though. Bigger card draw, and you should be getting a bunch of damage after a few turns. I can do 24 to someone on Turn 5 or 6 typically. Also, I don't know if you want some more removal or not, but I love Phyrexian Ingester . He's good, and he's another Fierce Empath target.

Anyway, really happy to see how well this deck is coming along. I've said before that telling people what to play isn't so fun, and it's really refreshing to see how this deck is coming together and how you've made it your own design. You're doing a good job with that.

I'd say continue to work towards pulling out the kinds of cards that feel like an obligation to play. That's a weird definition for what I call "GoodStuff," but when you're able to take those cards that have the perception of being "played just to be played cause they're good everywhere else," you really start to have more of that personal ownership and pride in the deck due to the creativity and individuality that you've put into tweaking and working on it. I know it's a little new-age-y, but if you've ever built a deck you didn't like and tried to play it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

The example of this phenomena here for me is Sol Ring . Sure, it's good- but isn't a land or a mana dork just better for Animar? Either one of those would tap for a color, which is what Animar really has problems with. He eats all your colorless mana.

I know that concept's a little weird, so if you've got questions, comments, you know where to find me. Good stuff ninnyz! Keep it up!

UncleLanddrops, I always enjoy your "Essay" structure comments and I'm glad you like the changes. I usally have an archive of my deck edits stocked in case I mess up royally in an update so if your interested I can un-private it so that you may see the difference now onto your discussion.

Gilder Bairn is something I hope will work in execution as much as theory, Hunting Moa is nice but in my meta Animar could use some back-up.

Guided Passage would work well with you, especially if it and Domri Rade are your only two choices for the "Non-creature non-land part", play it, hand your deck to your opponent and snicker gleefully. Signal the Clans is a new addition that I hope will pan out well, I'll probably find three creatures that will help me win and let luck choose my path.

Rhystic Study can be a pain but now due to the new-ish ruling about activated effects you won't have to become the broken record, play the card, mention it from time to time, but leave it up to your opponents to pay attention. (I think I understand that ruling right, and dont just appear ignorant). Now lets see some of the stuff you were iffy about

Lets Start with Dryad Arbor the secret to her is Cloudstone Curio , sure she is your land per turn and she has summoning sickness but she is also a creature entering the battlefield.(she also can be played with flash), so you get a creature/land then bounce a fancy ETB creature or Phantasmal Image (i love the fact cloudstone doesent target so i dont have to sac him) and engage in madness. Trygon Predator or as our group calls him "Try hard" predator. the three cost on-hit bomb can take down some early game tempo advantages your opponent may have or annoying enchantments that have been played over zealously. (i blew up a turn 2 Sylvan Library sad day for that guy). I agree with you on Fathom Mage but i'm willing to see the girl out. Prime Speaker Zegana might take her spot or something else but for now i'm letting the debut star in the spotlight. Knollspine Dragon might be better for my Rakka mar deck, Phyrexian Ingester was in here and while I hold a spot in my heart for it, he may not return.

I share your insight about the ''Good Stuff" theory. So many times have I shown my commander to a player and get a "oh your playing Karador? I bet you have that Saffi Eriksdotter + Reveillark + Karmic Guide Combo, or Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Triskelion infinte" or even with Animar they think i'm waiting to play Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and (15 other combo spells). I'm all for the elemination of preconceived notions about color combinations. EDH "Commander", should be different from the other formats that are full of the "Must have" list for a color and is the reason why I don't play Modern, Vintage, or Legacy. I would like to start Limited and possibly standard

That said Sol Ring even with the colorless elimination still matters to me with Non-creature spells. I know i'm running more non-creature spells in my version of the traditional Animar deck so I justify the artifact for myself, not to mention if I acquire Mossfire Valley that colorless just turned into colors and the tempo advantage.

Thank you as always sir, I Made sure to add you so that I can follow your decks and give my two cents and you have given yours

You have a lot of good stuff in here. But I think some alternate choices might be better.

Some spells can probably be replaced for creature equivalents in order to get counters on animar,Joiner Adept is a much cheaper fixer then Chromatic Lantern and Sylvok Replica makes for fantastic artifact destruction for as little as G compared to Krosan Grip . I've also had way more effectiveness with 'big draw' such as Prime Speaker Zegana over Rhystic Study . Lightning Greaves is very powerful, but animar rarely needs haste but often needs the protection. Canopy Cover is a great non-creature alternative while Elgaud Shieldmate is a great creature alternative. Whispersilk Cloak is also another fantastic option.

On the topic of mana you're running very low, only 34 of your lands can produce colored mana (or are feteches) while the last three are utility, and many come into play tapped which can hurt Animar coming in on turn 3. I'd highly recommend search lands such as Flooded Strand . They can help mana fix (by drawing Breeding Pool for example) and most importantly they don't cause lands to enter tapped. Mana dorks such as Birds of Paradise and Silver Myr are very effective despite being vulnerable to board wipes. I would especially recommend the birds as they can mean a turn 2 animar. I would remove Crop Rotation for some of these fixes. I see that card in decks that have the big lands such as Gaea's Cradle where a significant gain is made.

Instead of the utility lands such as wolf-run, i've found creatures to be more useful such as Sun Quan, Lord of Wu . They add counters to animar and with reduced cost are often vary easy to play. They also don't require mana to activate every time you need to use them and often come with superior abilities.

If you like the untapping of time spiral, you may enjoy the creatures that do it as well. Cloud of Faeries , Great Whale , and Palinchron . All are fantastic options in Animar even without infinite combos.

My deck can be found here. AnimaRAWR! Soul of the beatdown!. I'm still tweaking it a whole bunch so I have a maybe board that stretches from here to mars. You might find some interesting options there.

Wow. Dryad Arbor makes a lot of sense now. Sometimes I miss the obvious things.

I'm glad you share my sentiments about deckbuilding. I run an EDH blog that's mostly geared towards creating designs that purposely inhibit "niche" cards.

My working theory is that when someone is able to craft a deck that powers up a bunch of previously underappreciated cards, your big bombs like Tamiyo, the Moon Sage , or Insurrection or a kicked Rite of Replication never quite feel so lost or variable in power, so they don't feel "dirty" or "old." Ultimately, I think that this contributes to games where you don't get sick of seeing someone do these age-old boring combos or cast these game ender, even if they might get a little stale. They still feel fun, or funny, because you've placed displaced the value and strength of the card by playing fun and goofy stuff that creates absurd interactions.

I say it now, but I've never been bored casting the creatures I've put in Animar. Sure, I've been constantly switching stuff out, but I'm finally at a place where the deck is thrumming on all cylinders, and that's pretty exciting when you find something you can be happy with. Believe me, I've played and designed over 100 decks I estimated. Of those, probably 3-5 decks actually met the sort of requirements I've been talking about.

And if you're interested in any more of my nonsense, here's a link to my blog, The General Zone. Me and a couple of my friends do a lot of different things, and it's all about EDH. So if you're bored and you've got some time, we've got a lot of different articles and whatnot. One of the big articles people seem to like is this weekly series I'm trying called "Repay in Kind," where I find decks on the Internet that have some of these qualities and inspire me to want to play them or build a design of my own.

Also, I'm always building stuff here on TappedOut, and I've currently got 3-4 lists, so when I get those done I'll be anxious to know what you think.

What's next in the deckbuilding for you? Is Rakka on tap? Lemme know if you need some more help with that one.

Zharmiso i will consider Joiner Adept thank you for that. I thank you for your suggestions and while you have your opinions as do I.

That said, Krosan Grip could be replaced one day but I enjoy the utility of "split second" there are plenty of enchantments and artifacts that have activated abilities that I would like to not become the victim of again. I still shudder

As i told UL, Prime Speaker Zegana might find her way in here, momir vig sure is, and the draw might help. Rhystic Study is the broken record of cards but it's a tax, even if i'm not drawing iv'e already made each of their spells cost (1) more.

The High dollar fetchlands are something i would like. but iv'e thought about mana dorks and decided to leave them at home. as far as untapping Time Spiral is the only one i want to run, the creatures will make me want to go infinite. I will check out your deck, perhaps after work

Mr.UncleLanddrops, I am not too sure that Rakka is on top, she is definitely going to be made, but I'm going to wait and see what comes out this spring with Dragon's Maze, Modern Masters and M14. Animar was after Karador for deck strength, Being me, I have ideas flying out my ears and always plans for the future, Rakka is coming, but someone else might get there first.

I really like the setup you have here. Looks pretty sweet.

The only suggestion that came to mind while looking over your decklist was using Inexorable Tide as an alternative/complement to Gilder Bairn . It's 2 more mana, true, but proliferating whenever you cast a spell would be pretty nice.

+1 for the deck name and concept.

Since you enjoy Beast Within so much, you might want to look at Sylvan Primordial and Terastodon . Keep in mind that the latter says "up to". Also, of course, Yeva, Nature's Herald and Alchemist's Refuge can make these guys awesome with flash.

@Kogarashi - ah yes Inexorable Tide good idea. I might try it out with animar. Although I'm hoping to get domri's ultimate off asap so having Gilder there might have a nice combo to play out but ill surely consider it. Thanks

@Timekeeper glad to see you again. I do love Beast Within so much haha and I have both the mighty elephant and sylvan at the ready ready to go in. Ill most likely part with the sorcery soon

have you thought of Cryptic Command and Hinder ?

i have, although those would find themselves in a deck that didn't have a "creature matters" deck style. thank you for the comment :)

Okay, so wizards just previewed a card that I think would be a better alternative to Gilder Bairn .

It's Vorel of the Hull Clade, the new simic champion.

Vorel of the Hull Clade (1GU) [1/4]

UG, T: For each counter on target artifact, creature, or land, put another of those counters on that permanent.

@Timekeeper i do like Vorel, he actually mat make the cut for gilder. i'm still waiting on the combo with him and Domri Rade but that's probably going to be seen a mile away. at leas with vorel his ability is cheeper, his CMC is about the same and i can do it multiple times with Seedborn Muse

The repeatability with Seedborn Muse does sound very nice, even if Vorel can't double up Domri Rade 's loyalty counters.

Of course, there's always the option of trying to run both....

i'll play with them both. and it if makes sense to run both i will. gilder is there for the doubling of counters but so far there are only two main targets. it's more so an argument of focus rather than potential gain