Elves are a strange creature type in the culture of Magic, The Gathering. They are both casual and competitive. They are weak and strong. Elves are both loved and hated.
We love this game though, so we like to make fun of it at times. Elves seem to be teased as a noob's creature or as weaklings in some of the jokes I've heard. They are a sort of running joke along the lines of, "magic is a game where people play a million elves and sit at tables in mom's basement." This really shows the popularity of the Elves archetype. It is such a big part of Magic that it is included in jokes that poke fun of the game as a whole.
Now when I first started playing Magic I got into Legacy and my girlfriend wanted to play with me. Now while she was interested in the format, she didn't want to drop a ton of cash on it so she made Natural Order Elves which then was a cheap and powerful deck. I had never experienced any elf decks until I proxied that one. Now I didn't love it, but it was fun and different then the normal decks I played.
Years later we have moved from Legacy to EDH. The changing face of Legacy and the lack of fun really drove me away from it and towards the 99 card singleton format. Enter Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Despite the weaknesses weenie decks have in a format, elves are very fun and powerful. At least here in EDH you can have fun when you lose to the board wipe. Lets take a look at Ezuri.
The Renegade:
Ezuri, Renegade Leader is the perfect general. He protects any elf besides himself for one green mana. He also has an Overrun built right in! This is the perfect ability for an elf deck. This is really embodies that 'weak but strong' feeling that elves have. When they work together as a team the little 1/1s and 2/2s become very scary when they are getting +6/+6 and trample. There are a lot of other options if you want to include other colors, but this deck is going for the traditional elf deck. Little green dudes, with some huge bombs, and pumps added.
Comments and Suggestions are welcome. I do not feel this list is optimal yet, but its more about fun then winning so I haven't tried to tune it. If there seems to be a demand for it I will go through card by card choices and write up a strategy guide.
Comments and Suggestions are welcome. I do not feel this list is optimal yet, but its more about fun then winning so I haven't tried to tune it. If there seems to be a demand for it I will go through card by card choices and write up a strategy guide.
your missing some important staples and you need to refine. i started to just type things. hope some of it helps.
cards to take out:
Bloodline Shaman (you need an extremely high elf-count which just isn't doable in my opinion for this card to be worth it - i've tested her and ended up cutting her because she never really gives me good results)
Nissa's Chosen (not efficient enough in edh)
Sylvan Messenger (again, like the bloodline shaman, cards like this seem good at first glance, but arn't as efficient in EDH compared to legacy)
Farhaven Elf (she is a ****ty wood elves in a mono green elf list)
Quirion Trailblazer (this is even a ****tier wood elves, lol)
Caged Sun (its too easy to kill and an elf deck isn't necessarally all about tons of lands, so this won't always be efficient)
Collective Unconscious & Elvish Promenade (these cards might be worth keeping in the list, but i try to stray away from all the non-essential non-creature spells; so we maximize our creature heavy ratio.)
cheap additions:
wood elves
spore frog (just a perfect creature for edh)
boreal ranger
boreal druid
fyndhorn elves
viridian corruptor (the infect seems like it would be a drawback, but its not at all)
nullmage shepherd (ive had mucho success with this card)
scryb ranger (not an elf but i find him effective and versatile)
acidic slime (solid green creature)
indrik stomphowler (solid)
more expensive addiitons:
cloudstone curio (this card is pure advantage in elf edh lists. not only can it allow you to "reuse" your creatures with come into play abilitys, it is also a part in an infinate combo. this is an extremely powerful card imo)
concordant crossroads (we do have akroma's memorial, but concordant is so much faster and sneakier, also gives us more of a chance to draw a haste enabler)
genesis (solid green recursion)
chord of calling
primal command
seedborn muse (+yeva = elfball)
survival of the fittest
jitte
swords
I appreciate the suggestions! I want to stress once again that this deck isn't meant to be super tuned and is more about fun then anything. It is piloted by my girlfriend 90% of the time and she doesn't really care how powerful it is. I also don't have multiples of the really expensive format staples so my one Survival of the Fittest is going to stay in my BUG deck lol. Same goes for my Chord of Calling and my Swords.
I know that Farhaven Elf and Quirion Trailblazer are slow and sort of bad in a deck that needs to come out fast and hard. They have their upsides to creatures that tap for mana though. When the board wipe comes they created mana sources that don't die to the card text "destroy all creatures." Collective Unconscious and Elvish Promenade have been amazing so far. If you're playing for fun you should try them. I run Nissa's Chosen because I run Nissa Revane. This is a flavor choice, I'm not really worried about how they're bad.
Scryb Ranger is pretty cool. I didn't consider it before because it wasn't and elf but I can give it another look. Concordant Crossroads is a card that I've been considering for a while. It's going into the deck as soon as I get one.
Cloudstone Curio is okay but going infinite isn't my idea of fun. It is a good way to win but it isn't my style. I wouldn't mind using as a way to gain lots of card advantage though.
On the Non-Elf creatures you suggested: I already feel like there are too many non elf cards in the deck and I don't really want to add more. Caged Sun is sketchy I admit. I might add Scryb Ranger for it or maybe Fyndhorn Elves.
- Drove of Elves is too vanilla and is win more. By the time you have enough green perms on the board, an Ezuri overrun is going to win you the game, regardless of this guy.
- Elvish Promenade Always found this to be a card I want to hold on to and never use. Plus, it's sorcery speed. Recommend Gilt-Leaf Ambush instead. You don't get as many elves...but you don't need as many....3-4 elves and you can Ezuri overrun.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm really like some of the suggestions like Creeping Renaissance and the elves you mentioned. I'm going to do a few changes as soon as I work it out with my lady. She liked Umbral Mantle a lot so I think that might go in as soon as I get one.
Ill keep up a change log and let everyone know how new additions play out.
We love this game though, so we like to make fun of it at times. Elves seem to be teased as a noob's creature or as weaklings in some of the jokes I've heard. They are a sort of running joke along the lines of, "magic is a game where people play a million elves and sit at tables in mom's basement." This really shows the popularity of the Elves archetype. It is such a big part of Magic that it is included in jokes that poke fun of the game as a whole.
Now when I first started playing Magic I got into Legacy and my girlfriend wanted to play with me. Now while she was interested in the format, she didn't want to drop a ton of cash on it so she made Natural Order Elves which then was a cheap and powerful deck. I had never experienced any elf decks until I proxied that one. Now I didn't love it, but it was fun and different then the normal decks I played.
Years later we have moved from Legacy to EDH. The changing face of Legacy and the lack of fun really drove me away from it and towards the 99 card singleton format. Enter Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Despite the weaknesses weenie decks have in a format, elves are very fun and powerful. At least here in EDH you can have fun when you lose to the board wipe. Lets take a look at Ezuri.
The Renegade:
Ezuri, Renegade Leader is the perfect general. He protects any elf besides himself for one green mana. He also has an Overrun built right in! This is the perfect ability for an elf deck. This is really embodies that 'weak but strong' feeling that elves have. When they work together as a team the little 1/1s and 2/2s become very scary when they are getting +6/+6 and trample. There are a lot of other options if you want to include other colors, but this deck is going for the traditional elf deck. Little green dudes, with some huge bombs, and pumps added.
The Deck:
1x Arbor Elf
1x Elvish Lyrist
1x Elvish Scrapper
1x Essence Warden
1x Heritage Druid
1x Joraga Treespeaker
1x Joraga Warcaller
1x Nettle Sentinel
1x Qurion Ranger
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Bloodline Shaman
1x Bramblewood Paragon
1x Eladamri, Lord of the Leaves
1x Elvish Visionary
1x Farhaven Elf
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Gaea's Herald
1x Priest of Titania
1x Nissa's Chosen
1x Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1x Sylvan Ranger
1x Viridian Emissary
1x Viridian Zealot
1x Wellwisher
1x Wolf-Skull Shaman
1x Caller of the Claw
1x Civic Wayfinder
1x Elvish Archdruid
1x Elvish Champion
1x Elvish Harbringer
1x Fierce Empath
1x Imperious Perfect
1x Jagged-Scar Archers
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Wood Elves
1x Drove of Elves
1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Quirion Trailblazer
1x Sylvan Messenger
1x Yeva, Nature's Herald
1x Ambush Commander
1x Voice of the Woods
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
1x Eternal Witness
1x Primordial Sage
1x Regal Force
1x Soul of the Harvest
1x Wirewood Symbiote
1x Nissa Revane
1x Akroma's Memorial
1x Caged Sun
1x Skullclamp
1x Beast Within
1x Nature's Claim
1x Tribute to the Wild
1x Collective Unconscious
1x Elvish Promenade
1x Genesis Wave
1x Glimpse of Nature
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Natural Order
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Wirewood Lodge
33x Forest
Comments and Suggestions are welcome. I do not feel this list is optimal yet, but its more about fun then winning so I haven't tried to tune it. If there seems to be a demand for it I will go through card by card choices and write up a strategy guide.
Changelog:
Out: Beastmaster Ascension
In: Bramblewood Paragon.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
your missing some important staples and you need to refine. i started to just type things. hope some of it helps.
cards to take out:
Bloodline Shaman (you need an extremely high elf-count which just isn't doable in my opinion for this card to be worth it - i've tested her and ended up cutting her because she never really gives me good results)
Nissa's Chosen (not efficient enough in edh)
Sylvan Messenger (again, like the bloodline shaman, cards like this seem good at first glance, but arn't as efficient in EDH compared to legacy)
Farhaven Elf (she is a ****ty wood elves in a mono green elf list)
Quirion Trailblazer (this is even a ****tier wood elves, lol)
Caged Sun (its too easy to kill and an elf deck isn't necessarally all about tons of lands, so this won't always be efficient)
Collective Unconscious & Elvish Promenade (these cards might be worth keeping in the list, but i try to stray away from all the non-essential non-creature spells; so we maximize our creature heavy ratio.)
cheap additions:
wood elves
spore frog (just a perfect creature for edh)
boreal ranger
boreal druid
fyndhorn elves
viridian corruptor (the infect seems like it would be a drawback, but its not at all)
nullmage shepherd (ive had mucho success with this card)
scryb ranger (not an elf but i find him effective and versatile)
acidic slime (solid green creature)
indrik stomphowler (solid)
more expensive addiitons:
cloudstone curio (this card is pure advantage in elf edh lists. not only can it allow you to "reuse" your creatures with come into play abilitys, it is also a part in an infinate combo. this is an extremely powerful card imo)
concordant crossroads (we do have akroma's memorial, but concordant is so much faster and sneakier, also gives us more of a chance to draw a haste enabler)
genesis (solid green recursion)
chord of calling
primal command
seedborn muse (+yeva = elfball)
survival of the fittest
jitte
swords
I know that Farhaven Elf and Quirion Trailblazer are slow and sort of bad in a deck that needs to come out fast and hard. They have their upsides to creatures that tap for mana though. When the board wipe comes they created mana sources that don't die to the card text "destroy all creatures." Collective Unconscious and Elvish Promenade have been amazing so far. If you're playing for fun you should try them. I run Nissa's Chosen because I run Nissa Revane. This is a flavor choice, I'm not really worried about how they're bad.
Scryb Ranger is pretty cool. I didn't consider it before because it wasn't and elf but I can give it another look. Concordant Crossroads is a card that I've been considering for a while. It's going into the deck as soon as I get one.
Cloudstone Curio is okay but going infinite isn't my idea of fun. It is a good way to win but it isn't my style. I wouldn't mind using as a way to gain lots of card advantage though.
On the Non-Elf creatures you suggested: I already feel like there are too many non elf cards in the deck and I don't really want to add more. Caged Sun is sketchy I admit. I might add Scryb Ranger for it or maybe Fyndhorn Elves.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
- Wolf-Skull Shaman is too slow for Ezuri.
- Drove of Elves is too vanilla and is win more. By the time you have enough green perms on the board, an Ezuri overrun is going to win you the game, regardless of this guy.
- Elvish Promenade Always found this to be a card I want to hold on to and never use. Plus, it's sorcery speed. Recommend Gilt-Leaf Ambush instead. You don't get as many elves...but you don't need as many....3-4 elves and you can Ezuri overrun.
Other useful additions:
Thornweald Archer
Greenweaver Druid
Argothian Elder
Seeker of Skybreak
Creeping Renaissance
Instill Energy
Wrap in Vigor
Elvish Guidance
Triumph of the Hordes
Cauldron of Souls + Oran-Rief, the Vastwood = pseudo indestructability
Check out my decklist in my sig for more details if interested.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
Ill keep up a change log and let everyone know how new additions play out.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG