Animated Army+ by lordhoekage

Format: Commander

Commander: Bello, Bard of the Brambles

Bracket: 2

DeckCheck Threat Index: 28

Deck overview

This deck is a Gruul Midrange Aggro list helmed by Bello, Bard of the Brambles, designed to weaponize high-cost non-Equipment artifacts and non-Aura enchantments. During your turn, Bello turns these 4+ mana value permanents into 4/4 indestructible Elementals with haste that draw cards on combat connection. Supported by dense early mana acceleration, the deck smoothly curves into 4-drop and 5-drop utility engines, transitioning from early card draw into overwhelming combat steps. Board-wide damage doublers and triplers such as Gratuitous Violence, Unnatural Growth, and Fiery Emancipation amplify the animated pieces into lethal threats. Because the animated pieces revert to non-creature permanents during opponents' turns, they dodge traditional creature board wipes like Wrath of God. However, the deck is heavily reliant on Bello staying on the battlefield, possessing limited reactive interaction and minimal stack protection.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Abrade
  • 1 Alchemist's Talent
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Asceticism
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Bello, Bard of the Brambles
  • 1 Berserkers' Onslaught
  • 1 Big Score
  • 1 Blasphemous Act
  • 1 Bootleggers' Stash
  • 1 Brightcap Badger // Fungus Frolic
  • 1 Case of the Locked Hothouse
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Cinder Glade
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Copperline Gorge
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Decimate
  • 1 Esika's Chariot
  • 1 Etali, Primal Storm
  • 1 Evercoat Ursine
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Explore
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Fellwar Stone
  • 1 Fiery Emancipation
  • 10 Forest
  • 1 Game Trail
  • 1 Garruk's Packleader
  • 1 Garruk's Uprising
  • 1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
  • 1 Gilded Lotus
  • 1 Glorious Sunrise
  • 1 Goblin Anarchomancer
  • 1 Gratuitous Violence
  • 1 Greater Good
  • 1 Gruul Signet
  • 1 Gruul Turf
  • 1 Gruul War Chant
  • 1 Guardian Project
  • 1 Harmonize
  • 1 Hedron Archive
  • 1 Karplusan Forest
  • 1 Kodama of the East Tree
  • 1 Llanowar Loamspeaker
  • 1 Lotus Cobra
  • 1 Mana Reflection
  • 1 Mind Stone
  • 1 Mossfire Valley
  • 1 Mosswort Bridge
  • 8 Mountain
  • 1 Ohran Frostfang
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Path of Discovery
  • 1 Primeval Bounty
  • 1 Pyreswipe Hawk
  • 1 Raging Ravine
  • 1 Rain of Riches
  • 1 Rampaging Baloths
  • 1 Rampant Growth
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rolling Hamsphere
  • 1 Rootbound Crag
  • 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
  • 1 Sheltered Thicket
  • 1 Sight of the Scalelords
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Starstorm
  • 1 Sunbird's Invocation
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Talisman of Impulse
  • 1 Temple of Abandon
  • 1 Tendershoot Dryad
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 Thickest in the Thicket
  • 1 Thought Vessel
  • 1 Thran Dynamo
  • 1 Trailtracker Scout
  • 1 Unnatural Growth
  • 1 Wandertale Mentor
  • 1 Warstorm Surge
  • 1 Wildsear, Scouring Maw
  • 1 Wooded Ridgeline