Last Words On Animar

I solemnly swear this will be my last hurrah.

In my final Animar piece, I want to talk about building your own successful Animar deck, name some of my disappointing adds/future cuts, and show you some of the cool digital renders/proxies I've put in to replace some of the not-so-aesthetic art.

So we're gonna go a little all over the place. But in a good way I hope.

The cards that have disappointed me have a sort of interesting theme, because it's honestly not what the card does for the deck per se, but how I'm playing them in the deck. Often, this is particularly more important.

So really, I've got no hard feelings, no bad blood- I'll just have to find slots for them in other decks.

The first of these cards is Taurean Mauler. I was looking for a 3-cost red creature that would be useful, and I thought "Hey! There's no better creature than Mr. Mauler! He gets bigger like Animar, and I can cast him on the cheap."

What I didn't realize is that in multiplayer, when I have so many guys out on the battlefield, following Mauler triggers are kinda difficult. It's not that I'm incapable of doing this, I just feel like Mauler might as well be Rhystic Study, considering how many times I have to announce the triggers on his ability. And we all know that if a new Magic-related serial killer were to somehow emerge in our midsts, people who are constantly asking about their Rhystic Study trigger would be a good Boondock-Saints-Style M.O.

So adios, Taurean Mauler! You're awesome- just not in a deck where I have to deal with a bunch of other triggers, and I've got miles to go before I sleep.

The next card I've been pretty disappointed with is Sarkhan Vol. Having haste, though relevant, often just feels disappointing because I have to actually pay its mana cost in a deck where I don't do this unless I'm ready to cast a Genesis Wave or one of the other two "Win Target Game" sorceries I have in the deck.


I have yet to find him relevant in most decks, which is a tragedy- cause everyone at the table likes Sarkhan and wants to see him spitting out dragons. He's like elusive Dratini in the Safari Zone, for you uber-nerds who like Pokemon namedrops.

Cascade into Sarkhan hasn't been so bad- however, if I can get another dude in here, it'll probably just be better.

Garruk's Packleader has been another card with underwhelming tendencies. I think maybe it goes better in that Mayael the Anima deck where all you're drawing is 5+ power dudes, and maybe that's really is only home. Cause with all my goofy utility dorks, I have to scheme how I'm going to cast and draw, and it disrupts the natural flow of this deck, trying to make relevant-but-not decisions about adding value. Again, more semantics- but if you're not conforming your deck to your specifications, it isn't gonna drive quite right.

PROXY SPOILZ! I LOVADUH RHINO ON FIRE!

The last card I've been disappointed with is Maelstrom Wanderer. Not because he isn't awesome. He's the Fires of Yavimaya that I really needed in this deck, and Cascading twice is relevant.

The trouble is that I have wayy too many little guys to play that often, I'm casting Wanderer for less than 8 to get only 10-12 mana worth of creatures or spells. It's not exactly ideal unless I'm hitting at least one 6 cost dude- or something that the Metal Minotaur can't cast. So I think I'm going to end up cutting it. My butler Alfred told me there might be a day where I would have to cut Wanderer. Today he gets to say I told you so, even though he probably doesn't want to.

Now there are many other ways to play Animar than with just cascade and cheap dudes.

Obviously, the better versions will be playing dudes.

To me, the best incarnations of Animar involve dudes with midrange costs and a good curve, similar to the way someone might construct a deck with Birthing Pod.

The big difference though is that you're looking for dudes with single-colored mana costs. Multicolored creatures are also fairly optimal, as are Artifact dudes and Eldrazi.

These are good places to start in any generic Animar build.

The next step is mechanics. I like Cascade. With 50+ dudes, the odds of hitting something unfortunate is pretty slim.

However, Cascade isn't the only decent mechanic here.

Graft and the the new Evolve seem very good with Animar. Outside of Cytoplast Manipulator and Llanowar Reborn, you might play Sporeback Troll- but that's about it.

As far as Evolve is concerned, I'm testing Fathom Mage in this deck, but I haven't drawn it, so it's just been another card at this point. I do think it'll be better than Packleader though.

As Grandpa Growth mentioned in his Gatecrash review, Evolve overall should really help Animar in the same way he mentioned that this set helped Momir Vig become relevant.

Animar decks with only 25-30 dudes seem like they'd be okay- I just don't know why you'd want to waste time countering stuff or playing other things when you should just be focused on doing the one thing this deck does well. Beating down with Animar. The protection is just too relevant.

Of all the builds though, my favorite version of this deck that I've heard about is the "AniMorphs" deck, predicated on the combo of casting Morph creatures for 3 colorless.

I haven't seen this deck in action, but it seems awesome. Having to only cast 3 creatures before you start throwing down dudes for free seems relevant for sending Animar into the red zone.

Also, getting to keep your mana untapped seems really cool if you have cards in your hand and face-down dudes on the table.

I'm pretty up on this deck. It fits my "right card, right place" EDH deckbuilding mantra, and would inhibit an otherwise bizarre and unused Magic mechanic as a real thing.

Plus, any chance to use this Ixidor alter seems cool.




Speaking of alters, we're going to close with some of the stuff I've found on the MTG Salvation Digital Rendering thread and in other little proxy hovels.

Not necessarily a fan of the bordlessness, but black borders can be added. NBD.

Enjoy!

Peace, Love, Land Drops

-UL