This part is WIP as I dont get many games in
If you have creatures in your opener you can almost alway put them away, what you really want to see are non-cantrip 2 and 3 drops, also Wiccan Tools feels very good
AURA
Evil Presence - This one is a No-Brainer and probably the most synergistic card Animist has right now
Sow the Earth - Not only does it Ramp you to 6 Mana as early as turn 3 if City of Glass or Tower is in play, 2 Mana (or 3 if we hit a Tower) become available immediately for double spelling
ARTIFACT
Cores - Ramp, might get cut
Silver Bullet - Access to Collection Cards,
casting from Collection Exceptional Minions which are neither Beasts nor Spirits seems really interesting to me, might get cut
Toolbox - Collection Access, its so sweet not having to play Zap! and Artifact Hate in main
Wiccan Tools - card is here right now for testing as Treshhold is sometimes a problem in this deck, so far feals really great as basically a cantrip
MINION
Carion Beetles - Graveyard Hate
Frisky Red Squirrel - Artifact Hate
Gyre Hippogryphs - Flexible Aggro Beast
Root Spider - its just to good of a card to not play
Squirming Mass - I wished this card had Burrowing but it stays for now as its grows big and it grows fast when timed correctly
Hounds of Ondaros - Midrange Beaters, super flexible movement, might go if to slow but excited to see how they fare in testing
Gargantula - Root Spiders Cousin, very nice Tempo Play
Draco Corvus- the Top End of our Curve and Removal on a Stick, closes out games fast enough to earn a slot (also maybe just a Pet Card)
MAGIC
This is where Animist shines, in raising the Floor for Magics to always be a Minion, we get a broad selection of usually Mid spells to be game winning cards
This section is probably also the one where most things will be changed over time
Arcane Barrage - One of the best examples of what you have just read above, X-Spells are highly synergistic with Animist, remove stuff or make creature as big as you want. Makes it important to have some Spellcasters in our List
Assorted Animals - this card led me to the idea for this deck and is the reason we play Beasts, right now the only X-Spell requiring only 2 Threshold so its much more feasible to play early
Browse - will mostly stay Magic as its too good to be a onedrop, great card selection
Tithe - we want to draw as few Sites as we can get away with, this helps
Common Sense - Not much to say here, incidentally the next few Magics in this List are the ones we want to fetch with this Tutor
Gift of the Raven - Cantrips are one of my favourite things with Animist
this might be removed sometime tho as we only heal when striking units but for testing it stays now
Gift of the Wolf - Simple Combat Trick that replaces itself, what more do we want?
Blink - Cantrip and Movement Trick
Magic Missles - our main spell to break Wards
Bury - Just some good removal, could even be used to bury our Hounds to protect them
Feast for Crows - Combo hate, also great in the Mirror Match to disable their Evil Presence
Kiss of Death - even better Removal with Animist
Murder of Crows - Spells that can be cast again from the graveyard really intrigue me, they bring another layer of flexibility to the deck. This one is to beat Necromancer
Witching Hour - This card has surprised me in how potent it is in taking over the game quick. Will probably stay as a staple for Animist
Vanishment - Replaces itself and protects our board
Cave-In - nice Removal
Gigantism - one of the best cards in Earth, makes us win fast
Unlikely Alliance - with so much different rarity among our Spirit Magics, drawing 3 or 4 Cards is quite realistic, makes it a staple in Animist
Earthquake - R E M O V A L
Whirling Blades - can turn the tide of the game in our favor especially if we stack this with one of the Gifts / Witching Hour
SITE
Bower of Bliss - Turn your enemys Mortals to Vanilla Creatures
City of Glass, Dark/Gothic/Lone Tower - Mana acceleration and our best hits of Sow the Earth
Cloud City - double dare your opponent to attack this Site
Fertile Earth / Mountain Peaks - we are a HEAVY Threshold Deck, these two are essential
Fields of Phyxis - great for dealing with any Sites that annoy us
Haystack - Tutor Hate
Merlins Tower - a free Spell? what not to like, also if your in Europe get your copy NOW, it was almost impossible for me to find
Observatory - smooths out our next Draws
Heirloom Lost - Site Hate
Pebbled Paths - Aggro Hate
Perilous Bridge - for Defense, best placed on the middle column
Pillar of Zeiros - super sweet as all our Magic Spirits are Magics again in the Yard
Rustic Village - gives us a cheap blocker
Treetop Hideout - if manage to give Stealth to White Hart we are probably winning
Varmint Warrens - more synergy for our Beasts
Windmill - Color fixing
Wormelow Tump - Protects our reanimation Side-hustle
Collection
Zap! - Removes Deaths Door as a mechanic from the game
Dispel/Disenchant - Artifact Hate
Pith Imp - if you give him Wiccan Tools he gets to cast the stolen card now????
Flanking Maneuver - Big Movement that Cantrips, might be moved to Main Deck
Order of the Pale Worm - Ward Hate
Another Gift of the Wolf
Pudge Butcher - Big Value Creature
Daperyll Vampire - Big Value Lifegain
Considering
Craterize - Big Finisher
Onyx / Amethyst Core - Ramp, gives insanly fast starts
Torshammer Trinket - Utility to enable profitable attacks
Sisters of Avalon - Support Card for our Deck, another Spellcaster is always good, they help with bad Mulligans and play nicely with Skeleton Mage
Skeleton Mage - Skeleton Mage gets a Slot as he is also a Spellcaster and reanimates our best Utility Cards
Divine Healing - against Aggro, if we play against Control its a Minion, thats the beauty of Animist
White Knight - no direct synergy with this Deck but 3 Mana for 3/5 is a Treat for this Midrange List, also it being Exceptional makes them important Blockers against Aggro
Squirming Mass - This one I am quite unsure about, its a target for Assorted Animals and could scale nicely in aggro matchups, but might as well be removed if testing shows its to slow
White Hart - AA Target, one of the best Defensive Cards there is, especially if we manage to give it Stealth with Treetop Hideout