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Animar, Soul of Elements

Legendary Creature — Elemental

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

CMC
3
Mana cost
{G}{U}{R}
Color identity
GRU
Rarity
mythic
Set
Commander 2011
Price
$47.83
EDHREC rank
#2323
Buy on TCGplayer
Animar, Soul of Elements card art
Animar, Soul of Elements snowballs out of control fast — every creature cast makes the next one cheaper, and a few triggers in you're casting Eldrazi for free. The kill condition writes itself: Ancestral Statue bounces and replays infinitely once Animar has enough counters, and Ashling, the Limitless turns that pile of counters into a one-shot.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Ashling, the Limitless

Ashling, the Limitless

51.3% of decks · synergy 0.48

Ashling, the Limitless runs Animar, Soul of Elements because the cost-reduction engine lets Ashling hit the board ahead of curve and then spend mana on activations rather than casting costs — the two cards share the same end goal of stacking counters and converting them into damage.

02
Omnath, Locus of the Roil

Omnath, Locus of the Roil

42.0% of decks · synergy 0.36

Omnath, Locus of the Roil shares Temur colors and a creature-heavy gameplan, so Animar, Soul of Elements slots in as a force-multiplier that lets Omnath decks flood the board with elementals a full turn or two ahead of schedule.

03
Eshki, Temur's Roar

Eshki, Temur's Roar

36.0% of decks · synergy 0.30

Eshki, Temur's Roar wants to cast big creatures repeatedly, which is exactly the environment Animar, Soul of Elements creates — each successive creature drops costs less, letting Eshki's triggers compound faster than opponents can answer.

04
Illuna, Apex of Wishes

Illuna, Apex of Wishes

32.6% of decks · synergy 0.27

Illuna, Apex of Wishes is a mutate commander that already wants a dense creature base, and Animar, Soul of Elements accelerates the point at which Illuna itself becomes free to cast and recast.

05
The Swarmlord

The Swarmlord

26.2% of decks · synergy 0.21

The Swarmlord's gimmick is flooding the board with insect tokens by casting creatures, and Animar, Soul of Elements turns that loop significantly cheaper — each token-producing cast discounts the next one, compressing the turns needed to overwhelm the table.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the only format where Animar, Soul of Elements is worth building around — as a commander it's always accessible, and the 100-card singleton environment gives you the space to load up on creatures that compound its discount. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but competes against faster, more consistent engines and rarely sees competitive play. Oathbreaker allows it as a planeswalker-commander-adjacent option, though the 60-card constraint and lower starting life make the snowball harder to sustain before opponents close out the game.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

4,620 decks
Ashling, the LimitlessGrave SifterAnimar, Soul of Elements

Ashling, the LimitlessGrave SifterAnimar, Soul of Elements

Each opponent returns all creature cards from their graveyard to their hand; Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite creature tokens with haste; Infinite death triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count; Return all cards from your graveyard to your hand

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

There's no true budget replacement for Animar, Soul of Elements because the combination of protection from white and black, built-in counter accumulation, and cost reduction on creatures is unique — cheaper options like Roaming Throne or Morophon, the Boundless offer cost reduction in creature-heavy strategies but only for specific creature types, lack the stat growth, and don't protect themselves the same way. If the goal is simply reducing creature costs in Temur, Morophon is the closest functional substitute at a fraction of the price, but you lose the recursive discount engine that makes Animar's combos viable.

Price Context

Current price

$47.83 premium tier

At $47.83, Animar, Soul of Elements sits firmly in the premium tier — justified for dedicated Animar commander builds where it's the engine of the entire deck, harder to defend as a 99 inclusion when you're only there for the cost-reduction text. Price has held because it's never been widely reprinted and demand from Commander is consistent.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.