Element of surprise by MrWidward

Format: Commander

Commander: Animar, Soul of Elements

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is a +1/+1 counter tribal deck helmed by Animar, Soul of Elements that transforms its commander into a massive cost-reduction engine. By chaining cheap or free artifact creatures (Ornithopter, Memnite, Phyrexian Walker), the deck rapidly piles counters on Animar, then deploys enormous Eldrazi and artifact threats like Blightsteel Colossus, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth for pennies on the mana curve. The deck backs this with a robust counter-doubling suite (Doubling Season, Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution) and All Will Be One to turn counter accumulation into direct damage. It lacks infinite combos, relying on combat pressure and sheer board presence to overwhelm opponents.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Abrade
  • 1 Aftershock
  • 1 All Is Dust
  • 1 All Will Be One
  • 1 Ancient Grudge
  • 1 Animar, Soul of Elements
  • 1 Annul
  • 1 Anticausal Vestige
  • 1 Arcane Denial
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archway Commons
  • 1 Arid Archway
  • 1 Artisan of Kozilek
  • 1 Bane of Bala Ged
  • 1 Beast of Burden
  • 1 Bladegriff Prototype
  • 1 Blightsteel Colossus
  • 1 Bountiful Landscape
  • 1 Branching Evolution
  • 1 Brush Off
  • 1 Burnished Hart
  • 1 Chaos Warp
  • 1 Circuit Mender
  • 1 Command Bridge
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Conduit of Ruin
  • 1 Counterbore
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Crystalline Giant
  • 1 Darksteel Juggernaut
  • 1 Dispel
  • 1 Doubling Season
  • 1 Drillworks Mole
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Fabled Passage
  • 6 Forest
  • 1 Frontier Bivouac
  • 1 Gateway Plaza
  • 1 Hardened Scales
  • 1 Haywire Mite
  • 1 Hidden Hideout
  • 1 High Score
  • 1 Innkeeper's Talent
  • 1 Iron Apprentice
  • 1 Iron Bully
  • 1 Iron Giant
  • 6 Island
  • 1 Jhoira's Toolbox
  • 1 Ketria Triome
  • 1 Kodama's Reach
  • 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
  • 1 Krang, Utrom Warlord
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Mana Drain
  • 1 Many Partings
  • 1 Memnite
  • 1 Misty Rainforest
  • 6 Mountain
  • 1 Ornithopter
  • 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
  • 1 Phyrexian Walker
  • 1 Precursor Golem
  • 1 Public Thoroughfare
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Rogue's Passage
  • 1 Scalding Tarn
  • 1 Shield Sphere
  • 1 Sire of Seven Deaths
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Solemn Simulacrum
  • 1 Sparring Construct
  • 1 Stuffy Doll
  • 1 Suspicious Bookcase
  • 1 Temple of the False God
  • 1 Temur Ascendancy
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Ozolith
  • 1 Thopter Assembly
  • 1 Thran Dynamo
  • 1 Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
  • 1 Troop of Ponies
  • 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
  • 1 Wild Swing
  • 1 Wooded Foothills
  • 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth