Animist's AwakeningAnimist's Awakening | Art by Chris Rahn

Zimone is one of my favorite characters in the Magic universe. I figured we'd get another Zimone in Secrets of Strixhaven, but I couldn't imagine how incredible she would be. I never had a +1/+1 counters deck or an spell deck. I loved Magus Lucea KaneMagus Lucea Kane and Shalai and HallarShalai and Hallar, so now I get the best of both worlds!

This is my first iteration of a Zimone, Infinite AnalystZimone, Infinite Analyst deck.

What Does Zimone, Infinite AnalystZimone, Infinite Analyst Do?

Zimone reads, "The first spell you cast with in its mana cost each turn costs less to cast for each +1/+1 counter on Zimone." And, "Whenever you cast your first spell with in its mana cost each turn, put two +1/+1 counters on Zimone."

This deck focuses on +1/+1 counters and spells. It wants big explosive turns during everyone else's turn, ideally, since Zimone triggers every turn, not just on your turns.

Similar to Magus Lucea KaneMagus Lucea Kane, you want more value than what you put in. Lucea Kane reduces cost as a mana dork and doubles her effects. Zimone is doing something similar, trying to reduce how much you pay for an spell but to a less cheeseable - from my perspective - extent. I think it'll lean into a sort of Voltron archetype at times, but its a big Tammy deck, wanting to put big Hydras into play.

Key Cards for Zimone, Infinite AnalystZimone, Infinite Analyst

This deck is very synergistic. If I could find a spell that does something worse, but with in it's cost, I used it.

Getting Zimone Out ASAP

We want to get Zimone out on turn two as much as we can. It's why we're running Dryad ArborDryad Arbor to get with Green Sun's ZenithGreen Sun's Zenith on turn one, to ramp into a turn two Zimone. The same with Birds of ParadiseBirds of Paradise and Delighted HalflingDelighted Halfling.

We need Zimone out on turn two so we can ramp into an spell as soon as we can. Zimone is fairly slow at rolling in the beginning and we want to mitigate that by getting her out ASAP.

How To Put Counters on Zimone

Assisting Zimone with building up counters outside of her ability might to some extent be needed. If we want a big blowout turn, we'll need a way to build her up early. Elusive OtterElusive Otter's Adventure side distributes X +1/+1 counters among any number of target creatures. Being able to, on turn three or four, put potentially four counters on her from the spell and two more from her ability would make the next turn very explosive.

Broodguard EliteBroodguard Elite is another card that can warp in for X being four, gaining two counters from Zimone's ability and then putting four on her when it warps away. You could even do it again by casting it from exile, but getting someone to kill it might make it less easy. It's a good way to buff Zimone up right on curve the turn after you play her.

Forgotten AncientForgotten Ancient is another way to do that exact thing, give her counters right on curve. The OzolithThe Ozolith is able to do this too, but not perfectly on curve without another creature with counters on it leaving the battlefield. The Ozolith is more for a post-board wipe turn.

Power FistPower Fist is another way for Zimone to deal commander damage and get more counters on her. It's significantly slower and chump blocking is possible - I might even say, ideal for other players. I thought about running more of these effects, but it pulled too far away from the win con. Zimone casting two or three X spells on her own with a Hardened ScalesHardened Scales or Branching EvolutionBranching Evolution out might be enough.

Sphere GridSphere Grid and Kalonian HydraKalonian Hydra are also good ways to increase the counters on her without putting them directly on with another spell.

Hydra/Trample Creatures

One of the ways this deck will win is with combat damage. Either with Voltron-ing Zimone with counters or making huge Hydras and Tyranids with trample. I tried to focus on creatures with trample like Goldvein HydraGoldvein Hydra and Nyxborn HydraNyxborn Hydra, but there weren't a ton of them. I started leaning into the , , and creatures like Hydroid KrasisHydroid Krasis, Neverwinter HydraNeverwinter Hydra, and TervigonTervigon respectively.

The reason I wanted creatures with trample natively is because I couldn't guarantee trample with things like Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising. The need for damage in this deck is so important. I'm not sure how else it intends to win. It's sort of more like [/el]Hakbal of the Surging Soul[/el] decks: a little Aggro. It wants to get a ton of value from the commander to make the creatures imposing.

With Zimone, the acceleration into big creatures is so quick with her discount. It's efficient use of mana.

Instants/Flash

Zimone triggers on every turn, making it important to get more value out of her by casting spells on other players' turns. Most of my instants are interaction, because a lot of people will try to remove Zimone. I need an effective way to protect her. However, I'm running RavenerRavener just to get another trigger out of her before my turn.

Aside from that one card, I'm running High Fae TricksterHigh Fae Trickster and Leyline of AnticipationLeyline of Anticipation. I thought about running Vedalken OrreryVedalken Orrery, but it seemed excessive. Most repeated effects of giving flash to your spells might be a dead card in your hand later. I didn't want to waste too much space on it.

Granted, being able to do it would be potentially game ending. It is so much value to this deck that I had to run some of them. Four discounted spells per turn cycle is crazy good value.

Ramp With Zimone, Infinite AnalystZimone, Infinite Analyst

There are a lot of cool ways to ramp with Zimone's spell discount. It was the first thing I became obsessed about doing in this deck. It helps pay into more spells per turn if you can't cast spells on your opponents' turns.

Animist's AwakeningAnimist's Awakening, Goldvein HydraGoldvein Hydra, SporocystSporocyst, Awaken the WoodsAwaken the Woods, and Open the WayOpen the Way are all ways to abuse the spell reduction. It gets an insane amount of lands. The ramp is so, so important; it's how we snowball.

Aside from spells that ramp lands, there are a handful of things that accumulate mana, like Elementalist's PaletteElementalist's Palette and Troyan, Gutsy ExplorerTroyan, Gutsy Explorer. They reward playing spells in the deck so it synergizes with Zimone.

In a similar sense; Selvala, Heart of the WildsSelvala, Heart of the Wilds ramps a ton because Zimone is likely to remain the biggest creature as well. It's also an excellent source of draw because the big stupid creatures coming out will likely get bigger and bigger over the course of the game.

Synergistic Card Draw, Interaction, and Recursion

Zimone's ability to provide efficient mana allows you to hold up a lot of mana for interaction and card draw. Spells like Mind SpringMind Spring, Finale of RevelationFinale of Revelation, Pull from TomorrowPull from Tomorrow, and Thassa's InterventionThassa's Intervention all draw and trigger Zimone. The same with the interaction. Tyvar's StandTyvar's Stand, March of Swirling MistMarch of Swirling Mist, and Change of PlansChange of Plans are all great ways to protect Zimone while triggering her. It's the same with counter magic like SyncopateSyncopate, Ertai's MeddlingErtai's Meddling, and Repulsive MutationRepulsive Mutation.

Curse of the SwineCurse of the Swine is a great one-sided board wipe that triggers Zimone. Rampaging Yao GuaiRampaging Yao Guai is really good to remove artifacts and enchantments in a more synergistic way than a Druid of PurificationDruid of Purification. I normally love that card, but doing it and triggering Zimone is so much better!

Weaknesses in Zimone, Infinite Analyst

One of the biggest struggles in this deck is that Zimone only triggers once per turn. The acceleration of the deck is pretty obvious. It's hard to hide your increasing power. It encourages opportune board wipes and a lot of removal aimed at Zimone. The deck has a lot of good ways to protect Zimone with counter magic and making her indestructible, but you can't have it all the time.

Losing her early game and having to rebuild her counters is devastating.

Additionally, Zimone struggles against decks that try to stop or disrupt combat. If there are stax pieces you might want to remove, stopping you from attacking, there isn't a ton of removal in this deck. Additionally, there's almost no creature removal. It tries to remove creatures with combat or the one fight spell in the deck, Voracious HydraVoracious Hydra. It loses to major pieces that it can't disrupt.

How Does Zimone, Infinite Analyst Win

Trample. Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth or Overwhelming StampedeOverwhelming Stampede. The creatures you make in this deck are huge and want to go to combat. You need to deal as much combat damage as possible. FogFogs are the bane of this deck. You want to build up your counters, ramp into bigger and bigger spells, protect Zimone, and then draw into an OverrunOverrun effect.

You just have to hope you don't get disrupted too much. Simple, right?

Zimone, Infinite Analyst Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Before building the deck for this article, I was only slightly interested in this Zimone, but now I'm certain I'm building it. I want to see all the weird lines and cool interactions this deck could use. I'm so excited.

Tell me what you all think! Would you build it or are we too locked into Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian? So many good cards spoiled already from Secrets of Strixhaven. Let me know which one you're building! I'm @strixhavendropout