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Animar, Soul of Elements

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Animar, Soul of Elements

At a glance

  • Commander: Animar, Soul of Elements
  • Colors: Temur
  • Archetype: Temur creature cost-reduction aggro
  • Power tier: mid-high

Cards

The commander (real printed text)

Protection from white and from black Whenever you cast a creature spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Animar. Creature spells you cast cost less to cast for each +1/+1 counter on Animar.

No discrepancy with the scout’s paraphrase — the engine is exactly as described. Animar grows on every creature cast and discounts your creature spells (generic mana only) by its counter total. After a few creatures it’s discounting everything down toward its colored pips, so the back half of a turn is a flood of near-free bodies. The protection from white and black is real upside: the most common premium commander removal (Swords, Path, most black kill spells, edicts that target) can’t touch it, so the snowball is hard to interrupt outside of blue bounce/counter or red burn.

Gameplan

Curve out a mana dork or fixing source turn 1-2, land Animar turn 3, then start chaining creature spells. Each cast bumps the counter and cheapens the next, so a hand of two- and three-drops empties fast. The deck is built almost entirely out of creatures that do something on cast — cantrips on bodies (Elvish Visionary, Cloudkin Seer, Mulldrifter), ETB bounce/tempo (Man-o’-War, Mist Raven, Stingscourger), and ETB pings (Viashino Pyromancer, Forge Devil) — so even when the chain doesn’t kill, it refills the hand and clears blockers. Close with evasive beaters (flyers/trample) that Animar has discounted to near-free, plus the incidental reach from Reckless Fireweaver / Voldaren Epicure.

Because the generic-cost discount only helps creatures, the noncreature slots are kept lean and cheap: one-mana burn, one-mana bounce, and three asymmetric mini-sweeps that punish go-wide opponents without hurting your own evasive threats much.

Key synergy lines

  • Animar + any ETB-cantrip creature (Elvish Visionary, Pond Prophet, Merchant of Secrets, Cloudkin Seer, Tome Raider, Skyscanner, Mulldrifter): each one is a counter, a discount, and a card — the chain pays for itself.
  • Animar + ETB-bounce (Man-o’-War, Mist Raven, Aether Adept, Bigfin Bouncer, Stingscourger): repeatable tempo. Stingscourger’s echo and bounce effects re-trigger if you flicker/recast.
  • Burning-Tree Emissary is a free body — it refunds , so it’s a “0-cost” counter that keeps the chain going.
  • Cost reduction on big bodies: Iceridge Serpent, Academy Journeymage, Assault Zeppelid, Azure Drake become trivially cheap once Animar has 3-4 counters, and they’re the evasive closers.

Role breakdown (actual counts)

  • Lands: 37 — high end for three colors. 21 nonbasic (3 guildgates, the relevant taplands for all three pairs, Command Tower / Path of Ancestry / Arcane-style any-color lands, two fetch-to-basics) + 16 basics.
  • Ramp / fixing (non-land): 11 — Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Jaspera Sentinel, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Ornithopter of Paradise, Arcane Signet, Commander’s Sphere, Rampant Growth, Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach (plus Farhaven Elf / Wood Elves / Borderland Ranger / Wild Cantor / Springleaf Drum / Chromatic Star double as fixing — closer to ~17 total fixing sources counting these and the any-color lands).
  • Card advantage: 10 — Elvish Visionary, Pond Prophet, Generous Stray, Llanowar Visionary, Merchant of Secrets, Cloudkin Seer, Tome Raider, Skyscanner, Mulldrifter, Serum Visionary, plus Pyknite/Aven Fisher and the spells Brainstorm / Reckless Impulse / Wrenn’s Resolve.
  • Spot removal / interaction: 9 — Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, Galvanic Blast, Fiery Impulse, Frost Bite, Bounce Off, Repeal, Prey Upon, Plummet (plus ETB-removal creatures Sparkmage Apprentice, Forge Devil, Viashino Pyromancer, Stingscourger, Man-o’-War, Mist Raven, Aether Adept, Bigfin Bouncer, Academy Journeymage, Iceridge Serpent, Aven Fogbringer — heavy on-body interaction).
  • Pseudo-wipes: 3 — Scouring Sands, Cosmotronic Wave, Barrage of Boulders (all one-sided 1-damage sweeps; clear opposing go-wide tokens/dorks without wrecking your evasive board).
  • Payoffs / finishers: the evasive creature suite (Cloudfin Raptor, Azure Drake, Assault Zeppelid, Aspiring Aeronaut, Iceridge Serpent, Academy Journeymage) + reach from Reckless Fireweaver / Voldaren Epicure.

Manabase / fixing note

37 lands: 3 guildgates + pair-fixing taplands for UR/UG/RG, plus Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, Crystal/Shimmering Grotto, Painted Bluffs, Holdout Settlement, Survivors’ Encampment (any-color) and Evolving Wilds / Terramorphic Expanse / Bountiful Landscape to fetch basics; backed by ~6 fixing dorks/rocks (Ornithopter of Paradise, Arcane Signet, Commander’s Sphere, Jaspera Sentinel, Chromatic Star, Springleaf Drum) and green land-ramp (Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, Rampant Growth, Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, Borderland Ranger, Sakura-Tribe Elder) — roughly 17+ fixing sources so GUR is castable.

Pilot notes

  • Lead on a dork or any-color source so Animar lands on curve; you want Animar down turn 3 with a creature to cast turn 4.
  • Sequence the chain to bump counters before casting your expensive bodies — cast a -creature cantrip first, then the discounted beater.
  • Hold one bounce/burn for the mirror-breaker: your protection covers W/B removal, but blue bounce on Animar resets the counters, so play around it (don’t overcommit Animar’s value if a Cyclonic-style effect is live).
  • Use the asymmetric sweeps proactively against token/dork decks; your evasive threats mostly survive 1 damage.

Weaknesses

  • Bounce/counter on Animar resets the discount — biggest soft spot, and blue is in the format.
  • No hard removal for big single threats at common — relies on chump + race + bounce; a resilient fattie can be awkward.
  • Sweepers from opponents hurt the go-wide plan; the deck rebuilds via card-advantage creatures but can stall after a real Wrath.
  • Colorscrew risk is the three-color tax; mitigated by the heavy fixing package but a slow no-dork hand is the worst case.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

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