so any new adds from m14? now that we have full spoiler the only one i can see might be the Hydra that doubles counters but really only useful in a +1/+1 matters animar build right?
I think the new Garruk and Ogre Battledriver are definitely playable, especially in aggro decks.
I agree that those are interesting. Ogre Battledriver of course has to compete with Urabask for a spot.The Ogre has the advantage of lower CMC and the +2/+0 Bonus, Urabasks strong points are that he also hinders our opponents and that he also grants haste to creatures which hit the board before him.
New Garruk definitely has a lot of synergy with the deck altough we have to consider that 6cmc for a non creature is a lot. I had both Wild Pair and Lurking Predators in my list but cut them because they took a whole turn to cast and didn't affect the board without anything else happening. Garruk has the advantage that he at least nets you some cards. I could see myself testing him...
I would definitely try Domri Rade if I had one. His +1 has a more than 50% chance of getting me a card and helps me secure landdrops, his -2 is solid removal in a deck with a lot of creatures and if he ever ultimates it'd sure suck to it on the other side of the table.
Also most wraths can't it PWs so I'll be left with a board position that helps me to build up again.
I'll try to pick one up once he goes out of standard.
Planeswalkers are a bit tricky to evaluate for the deck. I think it depends a lot of the meta you play in, as in mine Planeswalkers are usually quickly dispatched and as such rarely are worth the mana investment. Garruk in all his monogreenforms isn't bad, acting respectively as extra mana or card draw although the 5 or 6 mana might make him too slow for the combo build, instead shifting you towards the longer game where he competes with card advantage engines like Recycle, Wild Pair or Lurking Predators.
Domri Rade is good because he is cheap to cast, so can come down without spending a whole turn inhibiting the combo. He works well with Oracle of Mul Daya, but otherwise should net a card every second turn and offers utility in the form of removal. His ultimate will win any aggro game, but if you can get his ultimate off you've probably already won.
But if you're playing Planeswalkers for card draw, Jace Beleren might be a better choice. He has the same initial converted cost as Domri and will always draw at least one card. Speaking of Jace, the Mind Sculptor is (as always) a powerhouse, offering solid draw options and letting us reuse our own enter the battlefield abilities, as well as offering an alternate win condition and some deck manipulation. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage could also potentially draw a lot of cards if you target yourself with her second ability. Again though once non-creatures start costing more than 3 mana they become pretty disruptive to the deck's tempo. The othertwo Jaces don't really make the cut.
If you're playing very aggresively, Sarkhan Vol is another way of granting haste.
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded has the advantage of being cheap to cast, but in our least used colour. His abilities are interesting (perhaps not on theme) but his card filtering is less than desirable and frankly in green and blue there are much better draw options.
Looking forward to a Green Blue walker someday
Edit: The biggest problem with Planeswalkers in this deck is the limit of one use per turn. Once this deck gets going you can do a lot during your turn, by extending your mana through untap effects, getting extra uses out of enter the battlefield effects and drawing cards by getting creatures onto the field. When effects are once per turn or require your opponents to have their turns (such as Consecrated Sphinx, Lurking Predators, Erratic Portal) they really end up being sub par compared to things that can be used many times per turn. Also when you have a choice between casting a six casting cost enchant or planeswalker for six, or three six cost creatures for two each... well that powerful enchant/planeswalker probably just sits in your hand.
I recently acquired a candelabra of tawnos and have been building pretty much this deck. Just wanted to ask if it has a place as a color fixer or mini ramp with Karroo lands
I recently acquired a candelabra of tawnos and have been building pretty much this deck. Just wanted to ask if it has a place as a color fixer or mini ramp with Karroo lands
I wouldn't go out of my way for one and it seems less useful that Earthcraft or Cloud of Faeriesandco., but it could potentially give a bit more reach in a combo turn. Give it a go and let us know how it plays
M14 brings with it some pretty major rule changes that directly impact the Commander format. The new Legend rule no longer allows clones to double as legendary creature removal. Instead clones will (more intuitively) act as intended, creating a copy of another player’s legend that you can use yourself.
The other change that impacts this deck is the way additional land drop permissions are handled. Basically, Oracle of Mul Daya can no longer be bounced over and over to generate infinite land drop permissions. The additional land drop only exists while she is on the battlefield. If she leaves the field, you’re back down to one land drop a turn.
Here are some links to articles outlining and discussing the M14 rule changes:
But enough rules chatter, let’s delve into the M14 cards to see what’s hot and what’s not in the world of Animar!
Mechanics:
As with the last two core sets, M14 revisits a mechanic/theme from the long history of Magic the Gathering. This time around that theme is Slivers with a slight thematic twist in that these Slivers only help other Slivers you control.
Slivers aren’t a particularly great fit for this Animar deck, however you could probably get away with building a RUG Sliver deck with Animar at the helm if you were so inclined. They do lend themselves to aggressive creature heavy play. You could throw in colour relevant Changelings and even Xenograft to turn Animar into an Elemental Sliver.
There really isn’t much more to say about the Slivers. They’re not really worth playing on their own, so you’d best go full tribal with them if you’re playing them at all. It is nice that an old tribe gets new tricks even if I’m not going to rush out and rebuild Animar around them so let’s move right along.
The Rest:
Most of these are new cards, but I also discuss some reprints if I haven't seen them/considered them before.
UUUBLUEUUU
Colossal Whale – I like this card because it is so grokable “The whale swallows your dude!” This card has a lot of great flavour and in an aggro deck it acts as removal (albeit temporarily). Pros: Evasive, acts as removal and benefits from Animar’s discount. Cons: It has to attack before it has an impact and when it dies your opponents might get an army of creatures back.
Elite Arcanist – Animar loves it when a creature is released that can replace a non-creature spell, so I mention the Arcanist as the creature equivalent of Isochron Scepter, however to be functional it requires playing a high number of instant spells and unfortunately my deck simply doesn’t have the spell slots. In many ways a deck focusing on this sort of effect would benefit more from the (slightly more limiting) Isochron Sceptre simply because this has such a fragile 1/1 body.
Jace's Mindseeker – A decent bodied flyer that benefits from Animar’s discount, it reminds me of Mindclaw Shaman. I suspect like the Shaman it is potentially very swingy and could lead to some epic plays, however more often than not it would probably miss unless your opponent plays with a particularly high spell count.
Warden of Evos Isle – A deck with sufficient flyers could benefit from this as redundancy in reducing creature costs.
Windreader Sphinx – Another decent bodied flyer that benefits from Animar’s discount. It rewards aggressive play and a high proportion of flyers, but also benefits from opponents attacking with flyers, so if you have an aggro meta this may incidentally draw you cards throughout a multiplayer game.
RRRREDRRR
Academy Raider – A looter variant that rewards attacking. As a red creature with Intimidate this is harder to block than it first appears, so it may suit an aggro Animar build.
Chandra, Pyromaster – I mention Chandra here because planeswalkers always garner a lot of attention when they are first released. The new Chandra is most valuable for her second ability which is almost ‘draw a card’. Her first ability can keep utility creatures off the field or blank a blocker, while her ultimate is unlikely to be relevant in this instant and sorcery light deck. For a red card, almost drawing an extra card each turn is pretty good, but given we have access to both blue and green draw engines I don’t think Chandra, Pyromaster can make the cut, especially when activating her ultimate it unlikely to do anything for us.
Fleshpulper Giant – Initially I thought this could play as removal for utility creatures, but the more I thought about it the weaker it appeared. When we consider that Duplicant and Phyrexian Ingester both of which exile creatures, are much less conditional and cost less (with discount) it becomes pretty obvious this sits a long way down the removal list. Essentially this is a very budget consideration for removal, but as a plus it has cool flavour.
Ogre Battledriver – In the Web of War on a body! This haste enabler is a real contender for an aggressive build as it provides both haste and a power boost for creatures that enter the field after it. More conditional than Urabrask the Hidden, but potentially better than Anger who has the same converted mana cost. This guy is probably the best card in the set for Animar.
Scourge of Valkas – Another decent flyer, although the triple red means it doesn’t benefit much from Animar’s discount. Probably doesn’t warrant running unless you’re also running a number of other dragons, at which point it actually becomes pretty good, especially if you’re bouncing and recasting it. Animar, Soul of Dragons anyone?
GGGGREENGGG
Advocate of the Beast – If you’re playing that fabled +1/+1 counters matter build, and you’re playing a lot of beasts, then this card is ok. Might be better off playing with Ivy Lane Denizen though.
Enlarge – In many ways this is similar to Overrun in that it pushes a lot of damage through a defensive field. It has the added benefit of forcing disadvantageous trades (often acting as a board wipe) on an opponent. I like this card, but this deck probably isn’t the best fit for it.
Garruk, Caller of Beasts – For six mana you’re probably going to draw two or three creatures the turn you play him, which isn’t too bad. Potentially you’ll get two extra creature draws every time it’s your turn, a decent draw engine in the longer game. His second ability could let you drop a creature like Sylvan Primordial or Terastodon in the event that Animar hasn’t stuck around on the field and if you get off the ultimate, well if you hadn’t already won, you just did. However investing six mana into a single permanent isn’t ideal in this deck build where for the same mana investment you could get several creatures. He competes with card advantage engines like Recycle, Wild Pair or Lurking Predators, which are arguably less fragile and ones I don’t pay because I think that six mana is simply too heavy a mana investment in a deck which aims to cheat on mana costs. I believe he suits a longer paced controlling build where you have the extra turns to really gain the advantage he offers.
Hunt the Weak – Creature removal for the +1/+1 counters matter build. It’s not always going to work, but it’s nice to see the fight mechanic becoming a green staple.
Into the Wilds – Suits the longer game, potentially ramping several lands (untapped too) for a one off cost of four mana and improving your draws at the same time. Good stuff without any particular synergy I think it will appear in a lot of decks but maybe not this one.
Kalonian Hydra – This is a very efficient beater, being an 8/8 on its first swing and 16/16 on its second for a mere five mana. It also doubles Animar’s counters, but I don’t think it’s worth playing unless you’re putting +1/+1 counters on a lot of other creatures too. That said, this could quickly end games on its own due to its ability to grow and trample. I’d love to see this, Primordial Hydra and Doubling Season on the same field just for the lols.
Primeval Bounty – In my deck this would generate a lot of beasts and occasionally put +1/+1 counters onto something. The life gain wouldn’t be unwelcome either, but again we’re in 6 mana enchantment territory, and in terms of deck synergy there is better out there (Recycle, Wild Pair and Lurking Predators again spring to mind).
Savage Summoning – Given the number of utility critters in the deck, this could be a handy trick, defeating counterspells and combat math at the same time. With Animar reducing the cost of creatures, a surprise Sylvan Primordial or Duplicant could be devastating. Perhaps this would be most useful as a way of untapping with Animar on the field already with a +1/+1 counter on him against control decks. If Animar has already died a couple of times, this could well be the trick needed to pull off a combo victory. I’m certainly interested in trying this one out.
Vastwood Hydra – Another Hydra to add to the growing ranks. I like that you can get a lot of free counters on it with Animars discount, and then redistribute those counters if the Hydra meets a tragic end. Unfortunately in my meta that tragic end is likely to the Wrath of God, which means no one gets the counters.
x0ARTIFACTS & LANDSxx
Darksteel Forge – Given the synergy Animar has with artifact creatures, it’s worth mentioning that this makes them all indestructible. I’m not going to include it in my build, but If you’re building around artifact creatures you might as well give them sweeper protection.
Door of Destinies – If you’ve decided to go tribal Elementals, Slivers or Hydras with Animar at the helm, why not throw in the Door of Destinies to make them massive in no time?
Guardian of the Ages – As an artifact creature this golem can enjoy the full benefit of Animars discount! I think this guy is more valuable as a rattlesnake than a 7/7, encouraging your opponents to attack elsewhere rather than risk giving you a 7/7 trample to send back at them. Don’t underestimate the political impact of a card like this.
Strionic Resonator – Animar certainly makes use of a lot of triggered effects in the form of ‘Enter the Battlefield’ and ‘When cast’ abilities so there would be value to be had from the Resonator, although with cost reduction and free or cheap bounce engines (Cloudstone Curio, Equilibrium, Words of Wind) most of these triggers can already be repeated numerous times a turn, so it may be redundant anyway, especially when it can only be used once per turn. Still it is an interesting effect, and perhaps one day we will see it on a creature Elite Arcanist style which would make it much more exciting for Animar.
Mutavault – If you’re playing a tribal list it’s probably worth considering this little manland. Otherwise it doesn’t have great synergy as a colourless mana producer in a colour heavy deck.
A lot of the new cards encourage building the deck in different directions than the way I chose to build, and it's nice to consider alternate builds. There certainly seems to be a push towards attack triggers, which favours playing more aggressively. For my build I will probably try to get my hands on Savage Summoning and Ogre Battledriver for testing in the deck.
Any cards I've missed that you're thinking of including?
I'll test some more with the candelabra. But after a quick scan i cant see anyone mention Shardless Agent. After just a couple of games it seems at least as good as Bloodbraid Elf if not better for being cheaper to cast.
I'll test some more with the candelabra. But after a quick scan i cant see anyone mention Shardless Agent. After just a couple of games it seems at least as good as Bloodbraid Elf if not better for being cheaper to cast.
Thoughts?
Cascade spells with lower CMC also net you fewer cards. A lot of the combo pieces in this deck have 3 CMC so Bloodbraid Elf is better in this case.
It's a 30% chance of a bad cascade compared to a 26% chance of a bad cascade, so there isn't a huge difference. If you want to play Shardless Agent perhaps modify the lower end of the curve to get better cascade odds. Also I don't own one and they're pretty pricey for an uncommon.
I run Shardless Agent in my build and it's been great. Of course I don't have a combo list and I don't run any of the bad cascades. My list is a really explosive aggro one that can also switch to more of a a grindy control gameplan if needed.
Check out the list in my sig if you're interested.
Unfortunately looks like Reklaw hasn't been active for a couple of years, so the deck list hasn't been updated, but for those interested in using the M14 Slivers with Animar it's worth checking out.
Savage Summoning seems like a really great way to get Animar out before the start of my turn potentially allowing for a surprise combo victory. It takes the spot of Whim of Volrath, which was a fun card and often took people by surprise, but just as often it sat dead in my hand or was discarded to a looter (that said I was always happy to see Whim of Volrath against red/burn decks).
Words of Wind replaces Erratic Portal. It is more situational, has an activation cost (a draw and 1 mana) and can't target a specific permanent controlled by an opponent, however it comes down cheaper too, and potentially can be used many times in a turn while benefiting me and simultaneously harming my opponents' board presence.
Tooth and Nail. Simply put this card is too good. When I draw it I almost always win immediately unless an opponent has a counterspell or instant speed removal. Choosing any other combination of creatures that doesn't 'just win' feels like I'm patronising my opponents. I think I'm going to move it to a mono green deck where it still can have a massive impact but is less likely to 'just win'. I know this card causes some controversy and I'm not opposed to people playing it to win. My feeling at the moment is that I'd like to sit it out for a while and pursue more convoluted victories.
Taking the Tooth and Nail's place; Nullstone Gargoyle. Far more likely to hurt opponents that me, makes life a bit more difficult for control decks, and potentially a free creature I can tutor up in a number of ways (Fabricate, Fierce Empath, etc).
Zoetic Cavern which was almost always a 2/2 instead of a land gets replaced with Nantuko Vigilante so I still have a morph creature and have the upside of a Naturalize should I need it. There are several useful morph creatures I was looking at, but in the end this took the spot because it is removal but will never be a dead draw, and the 'turn face up' cost is cheap enough that I can save mana for it without gimping my turn too much. Also if I leave a forest and an island untapped people may well assume it's a Willbender which always makes people play around the possible Swerve.
Finally Kessig Wolf Run is replaced by a basic Forest. As discussed a lot, colourless producing lands are a real liability the longer the game goes. At this stage I am still keeping Winding Canyons in the deck (for the same reason I just added Savage Summoning), but all the other colourless lands have been removed (the filter lands don't really count). I chose to put in a forest because of Sylvan Primordial ramp. Honestly if I had a Tropical Island I'd put that in instead.
Making deck changes is getting harder and harder the more refined the deck becomes. I would like to fit in Ogre Battledriver, but I'm finding it hard to justify a cut for him. I'm playing a few games this weekend and during the week and will modify the OP once I feel comfortable with these changes.
what about Wall of Roots? I know it's only green mana but i think it might not be too bad in Animar. (just started playing the deck a couple weeks ago.)
i like the addition on the vigilante, i got torpor orb'ed the other night and it hurt....a lot.
I tend to avoid mana-dorks simply because they usually die before they have an opportunity to make any mana. I prefer creatures that put a land into play, because land is harder to destroy and therefore gives you ramp for longer part of the game. Wall of Roots at least has the bonus of adding a mana to the pool the turn you cast it. With Animar out (1 counter) it essentially just became a free creature comparable to Burning-Tree Emissary. If it lives a round (or if you have a sink for the mana it can generate during other players turns, like Survival of the Fittest) then it gains a lot of value.
The next question, is being a free creature good enough to be included? I don't run Burning-Tree Emissary because it can only break even on mana. The advantage of free creatures such as Palinchronandco. is that they create mana profit later in the game, once Animar has hit a certain number of counters. Likewise morph creatures don't require the tapping the any land, letting you put more counters on Animar and potentially draw more cards before you have to make a decision about what mana you want to generate. Morph also have a turn-face-up ability as potential utility. All Wall of Roots does is act as a trigger for Animar's counter ability and offer a limited ramp (G per turn) up to 5 mana.
In short: yes, I think Wall of Roots would work in an Animar deck, however I would struggle to find a spot for it in my deck. It's a trade off between increasing the speed with which you gain counters on Animar and the utility each creature itself brings to the battlefield.
I managed to get a Sylvan Primordial out quite early providing amazing ramp as I recurred him a couple of times (I could have kept playing him, but chose not to hit lands).
After the battlefield was swept I then fell back into draw-go mode, using Winding Canyons to flash things in as I needed them. I managed to use Nullstone Gargoyle to avoid another wrath effect, which caused quite an animated response from the guys ("What the hell is that guy? Is that unglued? That is so busted! I'm buying 10!")
Definitely pleased with Nullstone Gargoyle and also happy to leave Winding Canyons in the deck. Unfortunately didn't see any of the other new cards that game.
Myojin of Lifes We would also help you to pseudoflash along with the rest of your hand, just saying. (I'm a huge fan of the card and I think you should try it in your build ;))
Also, what about Voidmage Prodigy? It's an extra morph creature which helps to avoid those pesky sweeps and can even be used multiple times by sacing other wizards (I would run Seagate Oracle instead of Raven Familiar along him).
About cuts: I would cut Mad Prophet for Ogre Battledriver. It doesn't seem to be too good without Animar (because of the rather high cmc) and you have to toss the card before you draw which is also a disadvantage compared to other looters.
OP has some outdated information about bouncing oracle btw. Also about killing legendaries with phantasmal image.
URThe Joy of Painting with Nin, the Pain Artist!UR
I agree that those are interesting. Ogre Battledriver of course has to compete with Urabask for a spot.The Ogre has the advantage of lower CMC and the +2/+0 Bonus, Urabasks strong points are that he also hinders our opponents and that he also grants haste to creatures which hit the board before him.
New Garruk definitely has a lot of synergy with the deck altough we have to consider that 6cmc for a non creature is a lot. I had both Wild Pair and Lurking Predators in my list but cut them because they took a whole turn to cast and didn't affect the board without anything else happening. Garruk has the advantage that he at least nets you some cards. I could see myself testing him...
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer
I like Ogre Battledriver and new Garruk. The Hydra probably only matters if you're putting +1/+1 counters on more than just Animar.
I think though that Hydra density may be getting high enough to even warrant Hydra tribal?
I will likely update the primer this weekend with the rule change adjustments and my M14 review for Animar cards.
Also most wraths can't it PWs so I'll be left with a board position that helps me to build up again.
I'll try to pick one up once he goes out of standard.
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer
Domri Rade is good because he is cheap to cast, so can come down without spending a whole turn inhibiting the combo. He works well with Oracle of Mul Daya, but otherwise should net a card every second turn and offers utility in the form of removal. His ultimate will win any aggro game, but if you can get his ultimate off you've probably already won.
But if you're playing Planeswalkers for card draw, Jace Beleren might be a better choice. He has the same initial converted cost as Domri and will always draw at least one card. Speaking of Jace, the Mind Sculptor is (as always) a powerhouse, offering solid draw options and letting us reuse our own enter the battlefield abilities, as well as offering an alternate win condition and some deck manipulation. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage could also potentially draw a lot of cards if you target yourself with her second ability. Again though once non-creatures start costing more than 3 mana they become pretty disruptive to the deck's tempo. The other two Jaces don't really make the cut.
If you're playing very aggresively, Sarkhan Vol is another way of granting haste.
Nissa Revane, Koth of the Hammer and the all the Chandras are all focused in ways not so useful for the deck.
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded has the advantage of being cheap to cast, but in our least used colour. His abilities are interesting (perhaps not on theme) but his card filtering is less than desirable and frankly in green and blue there are much better draw options.
Looking forward to a Green Blue walker someday
Edit: The biggest problem with Planeswalkers in this deck is the limit of one use per turn. Once this deck gets going you can do a lot during your turn, by extending your mana through untap effects, getting extra uses out of enter the battlefield effects and drawing cards by getting creatures onto the field. When effects are once per turn or require your opponents to have their turns (such as Consecrated Sphinx, Lurking Predators, Erratic Portal) they really end up being sub par compared to things that can be used many times per turn. Also when you have a choice between casting a six casting cost enchant or planeswalker for six, or three six cost creatures for two each... well that powerful enchant/planeswalker probably just sits in your hand.
For reference: Candelabra of Tawnos.
Works well with Gaea's Cradle, Vorinclex and Zhur-Taa Ancient for colour fixing and/or creating large pools of mana.
I wouldn't go out of my way for one and it seems less useful that Earthcraft or Cloud of Faeries and co., but it could potentially give a bit more reach in a combo turn. Give it a go and let us know how it plays
Edit: Updated OP with M14 rule changes.
M14 brings with it some pretty major rule changes that directly impact the Commander format. The new Legend rule no longer allows clones to double as legendary creature removal. Instead clones will (more intuitively) act as intended, creating a copy of another player’s legend that you can use yourself.
The other change that impacts this deck is the way additional land drop permissions are handled. Basically, Oracle of Mul Daya can no longer be bounced over and over to generate infinite land drop permissions. The additional land drop only exists while she is on the battlefield. If she leaves the field, you’re back down to one land drop a turn.
Here are some links to articles outlining and discussing the M14 rule changes:
But enough rules chatter, let’s delve into the M14 cards to see what’s hot and what’s not in the world of Animar!
Mechanics:
As with the last two core sets, M14 revisits a mechanic/theme from the long history of Magic the Gathering. This time around that theme is Slivers with a slight thematic twist in that these Slivers only help other Slivers you control.
Slivers aren’t a particularly great fit for this Animar deck, however you could probably get away with building a RUG Sliver deck with Animar at the helm if you were so inclined. They do lend themselves to aggressive creature heavy play. You could throw in colour relevant Changelings and even Xenograft to turn Animar into an Elemental Sliver.
In brief, the new Slivers at our disposal:
There really isn’t much more to say about the Slivers. They’re not really worth playing on their own, so you’d best go full tribal with them if you’re playing them at all. It is nice that an old tribe gets new tricks even if I’m not going to rush out and rebuild Animar around them so let’s move right along.
The Rest:
Most of these are new cards, but I also discuss some reprints if I haven't seen them/considered them before.
UUU BLUE UUU
RRR RED RRR
GGG GREEN GGG
x0 ARTIFACTS & LANDS xx
A lot of the new cards encourage building the deck in different directions than the way I chose to build, and it's nice to consider alternate builds. There certainly seems to be a push towards attack triggers, which favours playing more aggressively. For my build I will probably try to get my hands on Savage Summoning and Ogre Battledriver for testing in the deck.
Any cards I've missed that you're thinking of including?
Thoughts?
Cascade spells with lower CMC also net you fewer cards. A lot of the combo pieces in this deck have 3 CMC so Bloodbraid Elf is better in this case.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Regarding Shardless Agent, the possible cascades in the deck are:
1 Shrieking Drake
2 Cloud of Faeries
2 Dream Stalker
2 Fauna Shaman
2 Merfolk Looter
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Sylvan Ranger
2 Willbender (bad cascade)
2 Earthcraft
2 Sylvan Library
Instants
1 Crop Rotation (potentially bad?)
1 Whim of Volrath (bad cascade)
1 Glimpse of Nature (probably bad)
When we are using Bloodbraid Elf we have all the above plus:
3 Eternal Witness (potentially bad)
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Fierce Empath
3 Man-o'-War
3 Raven Familiar
3 Wood Elves
3 Cloudstone Curio
Enchantments
3 Equilibrium
Instants
3x Chord of Calling (bad cascade)
3 Fabricate
It's a 30% chance of a bad cascade compared to a 26% chance of a bad cascade, so there isn't a huge difference. If you want to play Shardless Agent perhaps modify the lower end of the curve to get better cascade odds. Also I don't own one and they're pretty pricey for an uncommon.
Check out the list in my sig if you're interested.
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer
Animar Slivers by Reklaw
Unfortunately looks like Reklaw hasn't been active for a couple of years, so the deck list hasn't been updated, but for those interested in using the M14 Slivers with Animar it's worth checking out.
Out:
- Erratic Portal
- Whim of Volrath
- Tooth and Nail
- Zoetic Cavern
- Kessig Wolf Run
In:
+ Savage Summoning
+ Words of Wind
+ Nantuko Vigilante
+ Nullstone Gargoyle
+ Forest
Savage Summoning seems like a really great way to get Animar out before the start of my turn potentially allowing for a surprise combo victory. It takes the spot of Whim of Volrath, which was a fun card and often took people by surprise, but just as often it sat dead in my hand or was discarded to a looter (that said I was always happy to see Whim of Volrath against red/burn decks).
Words of Wind replaces Erratic Portal. It is more situational, has an activation cost (a draw and 1 mana) and can't target a specific permanent controlled by an opponent, however it comes down cheaper too, and potentially can be used many times in a turn while benefiting me and simultaneously harming my opponents' board presence.
Tooth and Nail. Simply put this card is too good. When I draw it I almost always win immediately unless an opponent has a counterspell or instant speed removal. Choosing any other combination of creatures that doesn't 'just win' feels like I'm patronising my opponents. I think I'm going to move it to a mono green deck where it still can have a massive impact but is less likely to 'just win'. I know this card causes some controversy and I'm not opposed to people playing it to win. My feeling at the moment is that I'd like to sit it out for a while and pursue more convoluted victories.
Taking the Tooth and Nail's place; Nullstone Gargoyle. Far more likely to hurt opponents that me, makes life a bit more difficult for control decks, and potentially a free creature I can tutor up in a number of ways (Fabricate, Fierce Empath, etc).
Zoetic Cavern which was almost always a 2/2 instead of a land gets replaced with Nantuko Vigilante so I still have a morph creature and have the upside of a Naturalize should I need it. There are several useful morph creatures I was looking at, but in the end this took the spot because it is removal but will never be a dead draw, and the 'turn face up' cost is cheap enough that I can save mana for it without gimping my turn too much. Also if I leave a forest and an island untapped people may well assume it's a Willbender which always makes people play around the possible Swerve.
Finally Kessig Wolf Run is replaced by a basic Forest. As discussed a lot, colourless producing lands are a real liability the longer the game goes. At this stage I am still keeping Winding Canyons in the deck (for the same reason I just added Savage Summoning), but all the other colourless lands have been removed (the filter lands don't really count). I chose to put in a forest because of Sylvan Primordial ramp. Honestly if I had a Tropical Island I'd put that in instead.
Making deck changes is getting harder and harder the more refined the deck becomes. I would like to fit in Ogre Battledriver, but I'm finding it hard to justify a cut for him. I'm playing a few games this weekend and during the week and will modify the OP once I feel comfortable with these changes.
i like the addition on the vigilante, i got torpor orb'ed the other night and it hurt....a lot.
The next question, is being a free creature good enough to be included? I don't run Burning-Tree Emissary because it can only break even on mana. The advantage of free creatures such as Palinchron and co. is that they create mana profit later in the game, once Animar has hit a certain number of counters. Likewise morph creatures don't require the tapping the any land, letting you put more counters on Animar and potentially draw more cards before you have to make a decision about what mana you want to generate. Morph also have a turn-face-up ability as potential utility. All Wall of Roots does is act as a trigger for Animar's counter ability and offer a limited ramp (G per turn) up to 5 mana.
In short: yes, I think Wall of Roots would work in an Animar deck, however I would struggle to find a spot for it in my deck. It's a trade off between increasing the speed with which you gain counters on Animar and the utility each creature itself brings to the battlefield.
Further edit: For reference Jester831's Imperial Animar deck runs Wall of Roots
I managed to get a Sylvan Primordial out quite early providing amazing ramp as I recurred him a couple of times (I could have kept playing him, but chose not to hit lands).
After the battlefield was swept I then fell back into draw-go mode, using Winding Canyons to flash things in as I needed them. I managed to use Nullstone Gargoyle to avoid another wrath effect, which caused quite an animated response from the guys ("What the hell is that guy? Is that unglued? That is so busted! I'm buying 10!")
Phyrexian Metamorph copied Mayael's Avacyn, Angel of Hope (Yay new legend rule!) to protect my board further and the following turn Maelstrom Wanderer cascaded into a Zealous Conscripts which stole Mayael's Kiki-Jiki for the infinite win.
Definitely pleased with Nullstone Gargoyle and also happy to leave Winding Canyons in the deck. Unfortunately didn't see any of the other new cards that game.
Also, what about Voidmage Prodigy? It's an extra morph creature which helps to avoid those pesky sweeps and can even be used multiple times by sacing other wizards (I would run Seagate Oracle instead of Raven Familiar along him).
About cuts: I would cut Mad Prophet for Ogre Battledriver. It doesn't seem to be too good without Animar (because of the rather high cmc) and you have to toss the card before you draw which is also a disadvantage compared to other looters.
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer