“My hands all in, skin’s crawling.”
Art:Feral Animist
by Dave Kendall
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Feral Animist is a very cool commander and reminds me a ton of Khenra Spellspear // Gitaxian Spellstalker
. While it is not exactly the same, this deck is explosive and hits like a truck! Commander damage is truly the name of the game in this one and it is shockingly easy to get a one-shot on an opponent. While we do need a lot of mana to accomplish this because a one-shot typically requires us to activate our commander, we have the advantage of being in Gruul so we have a ton of awesome ramp and can accelerate our gameplan very quickly. This deck is a little bit of a glass cannon, but when it goes off, it’s nuts. This is certainly a little more than a causal deck, especially because you just take opponents out of the game with one attack so I typically like to play this among a little big higher power decks, this is by no means CPDH but is quite strong. I am very excited to showcase this deck, without further adieu lets get it!
The Deck:
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Why Feral Animist?
Feral Animist is pretty much the whole package for the deck; since we have an absolute ton of buffs, we can take out opponents with pretty much any one of our creatures, but we typically use Animist because the sixteen commander damage threshold is very easy for the deck to hit and it can do it quite consistently. Between our temporary buffs like Fists of the Anvil
or some more permanent ones like Dueling Rapier
, it is very easy to get to eight power total, and with a commander activation that can set us up for a one-shot very easily. Feral Animist is a huge part of our glass cannon and because of that, it typically is targeted with a ton of removal, but since we are in Gruul, we have access to a lot of strong protection spells.
Gameplan:
The gameplan for this deck is pretty simple; we like to spend our early turns ramping as much as possible whether it is creatures like Llanowar Elves
spells like Rampant Growth
or even enchantments like Utopia Sprawl
we want as much mana as we possibly can as early as we can, the deck is built to support this and there is a ton of very early ways to increase our mana. Once that happens, we gather as much pump spells, artifacts, and enchantments and get our commander out, and then its time to start looking for a one-shot, decks that don’t run a lot of creatures are very good for us as we can just freely take them out, we also have a decent matchup against strategies because they tend to tap out their board with attacking and the early damage we take doesn’t really matter when we respond with a one-shot on our turn. The game plan for this deck is very straightforward, and as long as you have a hand that lets you get your commander out and ramp a little bit, you should be in good shape.
Deck Matchups:
Since this is Pauper EDH, there are an absolute ton of things that can tip a game in your favor or out of it. While an archetype may seem favorable, there are absolutely good and bad commanders for our deck to go up against; I have included both these, which were all played among my testing groups using various decks, and I have included the sample size for clarity purposes. This is just meant to be a guide after testing a bunch of games with this deck!
The information below is notes about specific decks that were featured in our testing pods and how we fared against them. Naturally, Pauper EDH is a multiplayer game, so these are just a summary of my notes against different commanders and strategies. When we test these decks we try to test to its strengths and weaknesses to give a full spectrum of what the deck has to offer. Various commanders and archetypes/strategies are used to get the most accurate information.
Commanders, we have a good matchup against:
Indulging Patrician
Record against Indulging Patrician 6-1
This is a very favorable matchup for us; we just don’t really care that much about what Patrician is doing. They can gain and drain us all they want it just typically doesn’t matter when they are always effectively as sixteen health, they typically have a lot of early game creatures so we do often need trample to take them out but overall we are very strong against them.
Murmuring Mystic
Record against Murmuring Mystic 3-0
We actually have a very good matchup against this deck; while this deck doesn’t seem like it would be very good against a control strategy, we are just much faster than them, and if we can avoid their counterspells and get our commander on the field we have enough protection to keep them on the field and perform a one-shot, we do need to watch their commander because they can make a ton of chump blockers but trample really shines in this matchup. Overall, I like this matchup a lot, and we aren’t as susceptible to control as I initially thought while building this deck.
Coruscation Mage
Record against Coruscation Mage 4-1
This is another deck that has a very low creature count and takes quite a while for them to get going. They do quite a bit of damage by the time we get set up, but since they are effectively at sixteen health and rarely have blockers once we are set up, we can just simply take them out, it can get a little dicey if they have their commander and an offspring copy because they damage output is much higher, but overall this is a very good matchup for us.
Commanders, we have a tough matchup against:
Khenra Spellspear // Gitaxian Spellstalker Record against Khenra Spellspear 0-4
While our deck is very similar to a Khenra list, we just are not as speed as they are; the double prowess and amount of cantrips they have access to in Izzet makes this matchup very hard; this matchup is truly a race, but it typically has Khenra winning, if you have a very fast hand you can definitely win but his overall is a tough matchup.
Mayhem Devil
Record against Mayhem Devil 1-3
Since we focus heavily on our commander and they are quite often the only creature we have on the battlefield, we can fall victim to the litany of Fleshbag Marauder
and other sacrifice effects that Mayhem Devil decks typically run if they just simply don’t have them and we can avoid them we can absolutely pull off a one-shot against them but if they start getting rid of our commander our gameplan goes so much slower and they are much better when the game gets grindy.
Lazotep Chancellor
Record against Lazotep Chancellor 2-4
This deck fills up their board very efficiently with 2/2’s which can make our commander, even with trample, much less effective; they are also in Dimir and have a lot of great removal. This is one of those decks that I mulligan aggressively for some of our protection from removal like Snakeskin Veil
but overall this is a very tough matchup for us, if you or your other opponents can keep their commander off the field it’s not as bad but this is not a matchup we look forward too.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck! We don’t have a ton of non-basics we have omitted the landbase overview section.
Creatures:
We don’t have a ton of creatures in the deck but all of those ones we have provide a ton of utility and mostly mana ramp, cards like Simian Spirit Guide
and Tinder Wall
as well as our mana ramp help us to speed out our commander and help pay the cost to activate their ability. We also have some awesome bloodrush cards like Slaughterhorn
and Rubblebelt Maaka
, which are great ways and very cheap ways to give a big buff to our commander before we activate their ability when looking for a one-shot on an opponent these cards help an absolute ton. If our commander isn’t able to stick on the field, we do have some alternate creatures that arent bad to buff up, like Zhur-Taa Swine
; while we would certainly be happier to use this for its bloodrush ability there is nothing wrong with buffing this up and swinging hard, its certainly not as good as our commander but in a pinch, it can be a great option. That is true for pretty much any of the creatures in our deck, but I certainly prefer Zhur-Taa Swine.
Instants:
We have a very aggressive Instant package full of some of the best combat tricks we have and awesome ways to perform a one-shot like Uncaged Fury
and Temur Battle Rage
, which are effectively our commander’s ability on a card and when used in conjunction can allow us to do a crazy amount of damage. We also have some great pump spells that work with our commander’s ability, like Antagonize
and Fists of the Anvil, which are both cheap and huge buffs; we can play these out quite early, and it gets us very close to the magic number eight. While we do have a ton of buffs in the deck we are a little defensive at instant speed as well with cards like Snakeskin Veil and Gaea's Gift
as well as my personal favorite in Vines of Vastwood
which is hexproof and a huge buff as well, Vines provides the true best of both worlds for our gameplan. While we have a big commander, they can always be chump-blocked so cards that give trample are very valuable to the deck, like Brute Strength
and Colossal Might
which are very strong buffs and the trample is one of the main ways we can end the game, these are high-value cards and cards I always pay second attention too while mulligan’ing.
Sorceries:
Our sorcery package has quite a few effects that stop our opponents from blocking, which is very good, especially against decks that are heavy on creatures. Cards like Cosmotronic Wave
are a little pricey but can absolutely dominate token decks, and those creatures being unable to block and clears the way for our commander and allow us to perform that sweet, sweet one-shot. We have some mana production and ramp at sorcery speed like Rite of Flame
and Rampant Growth, which are both strong turn two plays to get some extra mana, speed out our commander or even activate them, while they are both great on-curve they can be quite effective at any time. We have some strong sorcery speed buffs, while these don’t provide a gotcha moment against our opponents they can be pretty good like Larger Than Life
which is a very strong buff and the trample is great as well.
Artifacts:
We have a lot of cheap two-mana rocks within our artifact package mostly because they are awesome early plays after we play a dork on turn one, and with cards like Rite of Flame, we can ramp into them. Another thing our artifact package focuses on is very cheap equipment that auto-equip when they come in; these permanent buffs are amazing for our commander and their ability, I love keeping hands with a couple of these because they are cheap and efficient and accelerate the gameplan like crazy if you see cards like Dueling Rapier or Mirran Banesplitter
in your opening hand you certainly have a leg-up on the overall gameplan. By far, my favorite artifacts make our commander unblockable, like Wedding Invitation
and Whispersilk Cloak
. These are both very cheap and easy ways for us to guarantee a one-shot on our opponents.
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package is super sweet and has a ton of very cheap ways to give our commander trample like Rancor
and Setessan Training
having very cheap trample with a buff is a super sweet way to guarantee we hit and hit hard. Predatory Hunger
is another favorite among our enchantments as we are able to keep making our commander bigger and bigger and make them pretty unstoppable even without our buffs. We have some very cheap ramp as well in Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth
which are both very strong turn one plays. Last but certainly not least, we have to talk about Runes of the Deus
, which is a little pricey but so powerful for our deck and is practically made for our commander. For only five mana, we get a double buff as well as trample and double strike. If you see this hit the field, just know the one-shot is coming!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Our opponents essentially start the game at sixteen health since we are very easily able to pull off a commander damage kill.
- We are quite fast and explosive and can eliminate an opponent pretty much out of nowhere.
- Being in Gruul we have a ton of awesome ramp and ways to get extra mana in a pinch like Tinder Wall
and Rite of Flame.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- This deck is definitely a glass cannon. If our opponents can consistently keep our commander off the field, we can have a very rough, much slower game plan.
- We don’t have very much card draw within the deck.
- We are very focused on our offense in this deck and don’t have much in the form of removal and we typically just ignore what our opponents are doing, depending on how fast our opponents can be this can be very rough.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Conclusion:
I hope you all enjoyed this one! This is definitely a very interesting one; while I would consider this nothing more than a Gruul version of Khenra, it feels a lot different in the way you play. This deck is a glass-cannon and is perfect for a table of other glass cannons. This deck is an absolute blast to play at tables which are a little higher power than casual. I hope you all enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions on who we should do next, shoot us a message on our socials. Stay tuned for more and more articles! Thanks for reading to the end.