In today’s experiment, we use Dominarian Coalition magic to pump our small, Dimir-aligned creatures to massive proportions.

Though, historically, my favorite three-color combination has been B/G/W, or Necra, the Necra Sanctuary is somewhat weak and plays a pretty passive role—perhaps an Orzhov-based Necra Sanctuary deck would work out, though. However, Ana Sanctuary has quote a potent superpower.

Ana Sanctuary keys off blue and black permanents and pumps up creatures with a massive +5/+5. The ideal card to synergize with it would be a Llanowar Elves that costs a hybrid U/B mana. We could play that on turn one and the Sanctuary on turn two, and turn three, the Sanctuary would pump our Dimir Elf to 6/6, and we could attack. As Dimir Elf doesn’t exist—and rightly so—we’ll just have to play a bunch of U/B 2-drops.

U/B 2-Drops

Esper Stormblade – This guy is a 3/2 with flying for 2 as long as we control another multicolored card. A 2/1 for 2, assuming we don’t have another multicolored card, isn’t great, but at least it still works with the Sanctuary.

Inkfathom Infiltrator – And here’s a 2/1 for 2 that synergizes with the Sanctuary and is unblockable. It can’t block, but Ana Sanctuary doesn’t work on defense anyway.

Tidehollow Strix – This has an additional point of power over its Baleful brother, but it doesn’t draw a card. Still, it’s a bit more defensive in lieu of a Sanctuary but just as defensive with its deathtouch.

Sygg, River Cutthroat – Sygg can serve as a U/B 2-drop while also potentially drawing us cards either to find a Sanctuary or keep up pressure without one. In concert with all the evasion, drawing extra cards shouldn’t be too tricky.

Other U/B Helpers

Mask of Riddles – This deck is mostly about attacking with pumped-up creatures, but Mask of Riddles is a sweet source of both card advantage and evasion, and as it is both blue and black, I couldn’t resist at least one in an Ana Sanctuary deck.

Utility

Recoil – If you have ever wondered what Magic’s head designer Mark Rosewater considers the best-designed card, whenever asked, he claims he changes his mind daily, but Recoil is often his answer. Conveniently, it’s also pretty sweet and works with our deck. If the opponent has no cards in hand, Recoil is an instant Vindicate.

One with Nature – Given that we’re playing green, I wanted to find a way to use green a little more to its potential. I love searching up extra lands, and with our evasive threats, One with Nature will let us start ramping as early as turn two (with an upcoming 1-drop), and it can even find more than one land over time, making it potentially more powerful than Explosive Vegetation. A 1-mana Rampant Growth isn’t that bad either. Of course, the downside is having a One with Nature but no creatures able to profitably attack—so let’s not think about that.

Some 1-Drops

Vault Skirge – When putting together a deck built around Ana Sanctuary, I knew I wanted to find some room for lifelink. Making Vault Skirge 6/6 means gaining 6 life, and this little guy can be played on turn one for only 1 mana (and 2 life), making it a better option than Daggerdrome Imp.

Ana Tribal

Anavolver – The main power of the Volver cycle is the Volvers’ versatility. Much like it’s important to know when to play Kavu Titan just as a Grizzly Bears, knowing which “mode” of a Volver to use is key in tempo-based games. That’s why the Volvers don’t run rampant in Commander—players regularly have access to a bunch of mana, so investing a card’s power in its versatility throughout a game is a bad call. Here, though, in an aggro deck, there might be a right time for a 4-mana 3/3, and the Anavolver will just ramp up from there as more resources are available, eventually making it castable as a 6/6 flying regenerator. With a blue and a black permanent and a Sanctuary, we can close out the game with an 11/11, leaf-blade-wielding, insect-winged beatstick. Plus, this is an Ana deck, and this guy is a Volver. How could I resist?

Ana Battlemage – This Planar Chaos throwback is potentially powerful, but I don’t plan to have the 5, 6, or 8 mana to make him useful, and the discard effect doesn’t even synergize with the aggro-based tempo strategy we have going—we want to be removing threats our opponents paid mana for, not just making them discard cards of their choice.

Ana Disciple – Sorry, little guy; not this time.

"Ana Aggro"

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Baleful Strix
• 2 Anavolver
• 3 Cloudfin Raptor
• 4 Inkfathom Infiltrator
• 3 Tidehollow Strix
• 3 Vault Skirge
• 4 Esper Stormblade
• 2 Sygg, River Cutthroat

• Spells (17)
• 2 Recoil
• 4 Far // Away
• 2 One with Nature
• 4 Ana Sanctuary
• 1 Mask of Riddles
• 4 Mistvein Borderpost

• Lands (21)
• 4 Forest
• 4 Island
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Overgrown Tomb
• 2 Watery Grave

Buy This Deck

If you’ve always wanted to make a 7/6 Inkfathom Infiltrator and play One with Nature and Mistvein Borderpost in the same deck, this is the list for you. It could also be the deck for you if you just loved the wedges from Apocalypse and needed twelve more years’ worth of cards to synergize with them first.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com