Having only started M:tG during Time Spiral I missed the heyday of classic elves. I used to play Duel Commander with my friends basically every day but we took a 6 month break after Derevi got banned and I just recently got an urge to rush over to people with some elves.
My Ezuri, Renegade Leader is primarily an elf deck but I run a wide range of strong green effects and non-elf creatures. I think of my deck as being a green deck first and foremost.
This deck can be so fast and explosive that I believe it can easily overwhelm control decks. It is more than capable with correct play to bounce back from board wipe and can also play a very strong Land Destruction game with some draws.
I've had this deck built for a year and a half and I've been playing it and tuning it for a meta of Geist, Skullbriar, Edric, Derevi, Zur, Malestrom Wanderer, Krenko, Marath, Sygg, and 5 color combo. The last 10 cards that I changed haven't gotten a ton of testing and I'd love for some feedback and experience from other Ezuri players.
So it comes out super fast and puts an enormous amount of fat on the table. It has a fun toolbox of huge things to drop into play and occasionally you get support in the form of planewalkers or equipment. The critical mas of tutors ensures a ton of consistency in your explosiveness.
Concordant Crossroads: Too much aggro in my meta, this murders me if I don't hold it for a late game wombo-combo play and i'd prefer to not have nasty surprises in the control match. Mirri's Guile: Not great late game, not a dude early game. Elvish Skysweeper: Too specific, too many conditions that are easy to disrupt. Boreal Druid: Not green mana. Seeker of Skybreak: Bad on it's own, unlike every other elf. Crushing Vines: Too narrow. Caller of the Claw: Not even that great in the situation it is best in. Viridian Shaman: Outclassed by reclamation sage and zealot. Viridian Corrupter: The infect plan is cute but wasted resources and it is easily disrupted. Wirewood Channeler: Costs too much to be good. Argothian Elder: Same here. It is possible that these last 2 go in the build with concordant crossroads and maybe also Swiftfoot boots, but that build also runs 2-CC elves that tap for 1, which is a different deck that runs bad elves instead of good green cards and I just think that isn't good enough to compete.
VS. Geist of St. Traft: This comes down to 3 things: A) Removal for Geist pumps for a manageable clock, B) Slow rolling your threats to bait Mass Removal too early and C) Winning the mana war.
Sometimes C) means having the LD to keep them off of white and sometimes it means just ramping every turn you can before slamming 5 & 6 CMC dudes every turn. This match is hard because sometimes they have it all, but Cavern of Souls can help push through a Regal Force or Thragtusk in a pinch. Sometimes they just don't keep 2 white up and you can basically rampage all over them.
VS. Krenko, Mob Boss:
This is basically a combo race, and many games come down to a die roll. If you can take out his haste enablers somehow your chances improve, but there is very little you can do about dudes on the ground if he elects not to attack with them. This match is like the cleanest 50/50 in the format, possibly depending on their LD suite compared to yours.
VS. Skullbriar, the Walking Grave: This match up can be very difficult if they find the sweetspot for their removal. The targeted removal in this format is very strong and the X sweepers let him play out his x/3s and x/4s and then wipe my x/1s and x/2s and go for the alpha. Disrupt his black mana as best you can and focus on getting difficult to manage threats in play. (Extrememly difficult for him to get around chameleon colossus and a little elf to protect him from edicts. Don't worry about skullbriar and focus on beating his attrition/draw engines like Phyrexian Arena and Vengevine.
VS. Maelstrom Wanderer: My worst match-up. The specific build I play against runs a good amount of burn and Inferno Titan and I just sort of get wiped out in most games. If he keeps a hand of super fast ramp with no removal my chances go up but he can always just wander into Titans or extra turns and just steal the game from you. Do you best to keep him off of red, and blow up their mana rocks.
VS. Marath, Will of the Wild: So if they assemble bomberman and you don't have Krosan Grip you lose, but otherwise you can try to race them. It can be very hard to play around Marath but sometimes you can assemble lord pumps enough to buy your elves enough time to drop some fatties into play.
VS. Sygg, River Cutthroat: This match up is about removal, specifically whether or not they draw into the right removal for the right situations. Your best bet is to actually go all in on one big threat time after time and exhaust their denial resources. Over-committing to this board will get you wiped hard.
Also if you want tips on running the deck feel free to ask about game states or other situations. I haven't playtest much with Gyre Sage, Nissa or Thragtusk, but I really like them in this format and suspect they will be very strong for me. Hope to see other elf players check it out!
EDIT ::FRIDAY JULY 18th 2014:: - Heart Warden + Wickerbough Elder. More removal over my now worst elf. the 4 mana to draw a card for no body is not worth it, and tapping her for 1 is lame. There are many other builds that focus more on comboing out and using all of the 2-CC elves that tap for 1 or 2 but I don't think they are good and like my more beats oriented build.
My Ezuri, Renegade Leader is primarily an elf deck but I run a wide range of strong green effects and non-elf creatures. I think of my deck as being a green deck first and foremost.
This deck can be so fast and explosive that I believe it can easily overwhelm control decks. It is more than capable with correct play to bounce back from board wipe and can also play a very strong Land Destruction game with some draws.
I've had this deck built for a year and a half and I've been playing it and tuning it for a meta of Geist, Skullbriar, Edric, Derevi, Zur, Malestrom Wanderer, Krenko, Marath, Sygg, and 5 color combo. The last 10 cards that I changed haven't gotten a ton of testing and I'd love for some feedback and experience from other Ezuri players.
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
5 Centaur Garden
6 Pendelhaven
7 Cavern of Souls
8 Gaea's Cradle
9 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
10 Treetop Village
11 Dryad Arbor
12 Mutavault
13 Wirewood Lodge
14 Mouth of Ronom
15 Wasteland
16 Dust Bowl
17 Tectonic Edge
16 Snow-Covered Forest
Elves (32)
1cc
1 Arbor Elf
2 Birchlore Rangers
3 Copperhorn Scout
4 Elvish Mystic
5 Fyndhorn Elves
6 Heritage Druid
7 Joraga Treespeaker
8 Joraga Warcaller
9 Llanowar Elves
10 Nettle Sentinel
11 Quirion Ranger
12 Elvish Visionary
13 Fauna Shaman
14 Fierce Empath
15 Gyre Sage
16 Multani's Acolyte
17 Priest of Titania
18 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
19 Talara's Battalion
20 Thornweald Archer
21 Viridian Zealot
22 Wirewood Herald
23 Wirewood Hivemaster
24 Wren's Run Vanquisher
3cc
25 Elvish Archdruid
26 Elvish Harbinger
27 Imperious Perfect
28 Reclamation Sage
29 Wood Elves
4cc
30 Chameleon Colossus
31 Masked Admirers
Dude Tutor (6)
1 Summoner's Pact
2 Worldly Tutor
3 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Survival of the Fittest
5 Chord of Calling
6 Birthing Pod
Non-Elf Creatures (12)
1 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Scryb Ranger
4 Eternal Witness
5 Wickerbough Elder
6 Acidic Slime
7 Thragtusk
8 Thornling
9 Primeval Titan
10 Sylvan Primordial
11 Regal Force
12 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Skullclamp
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Umezawa's Jitte
Green Spells (8)
1 Glimpse of Nature
2 Sylvan Library
3 Beast Within
4 Krosan Grip
5 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
6 Triumph of the Hordes
7 Primal Command
8 Plow Under
Planewalker (3)
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
3 Karn Liberated
So it comes out super fast and puts an enormous amount of fat on the table. It has a fun toolbox of huge things to drop into play and occasionally you get support in the form of planewalkers or equipment. The critical mas of tutors ensures a ton of consistency in your explosiveness.
Concordant Crossroads: Too much aggro in my meta, this murders me if I don't hold it for a late game wombo-combo play and i'd prefer to not have nasty surprises in the control match.
Mirri's Guile: Not great late game, not a dude early game.
Elvish Skysweeper: Too specific, too many conditions that are easy to disrupt.
Boreal Druid: Not green mana.
Seeker of Skybreak: Bad on it's own, unlike every other elf.
Crushing Vines: Too narrow.
Caller of the Claw: Not even that great in the situation it is best in.
Viridian Shaman: Outclassed by reclamation sage and zealot.
Viridian Corrupter: The infect plan is cute but wasted resources and it is easily disrupted.
Wirewood Channeler: Costs too much to be good.
Argothian Elder: Same here. It is possible that these last 2 go in the build with concordant crossroads and maybe also Swiftfoot boots, but that build also runs 2-CC elves that tap for 1, which is a different deck that runs bad elves instead of good green cards and I just think that isn't good enough to compete.
VS. Geist of St. Traft: This comes down to 3 things: A) Removal for Geist pumps for a manageable clock, B) Slow rolling your threats to bait Mass Removal too early and C) Winning the mana war.
Sometimes C) means having the LD to keep them off of white and sometimes it means just ramping every turn you can before slamming 5 & 6 CMC dudes every turn. This match is hard because sometimes they have it all, but Cavern of Souls can help push through a Regal Force or Thragtusk in a pinch. Sometimes they just don't keep 2 white up and you can basically rampage all over them.
VS. Krenko, Mob Boss:
This is basically a combo race, and many games come down to a die roll. If you can take out his haste enablers somehow your chances improve, but there is very little you can do about dudes on the ground if he elects not to attack with them. This match is like the cleanest 50/50 in the format, possibly depending on their LD suite compared to yours.
VS. Skullbriar, the Walking Grave: This match up can be very difficult if they find the sweetspot for their removal. The targeted removal in this format is very strong and the X sweepers let him play out his x/3s and x/4s and then wipe my x/1s and x/2s and go for the alpha. Disrupt his black mana as best you can and focus on getting difficult to manage threats in play. (Extrememly difficult for him to get around chameleon colossus and a little elf to protect him from edicts. Don't worry about skullbriar and focus on beating his attrition/draw engines like Phyrexian Arena and Vengevine.
VS. Maelstrom Wanderer: My worst match-up. The specific build I play against runs a good amount of burn and Inferno Titan and I just sort of get wiped out in most games. If he keeps a hand of super fast ramp with no removal my chances go up but he can always just wander into Titans or extra turns and just steal the game from you. Do you best to keep him off of red, and blow up their mana rocks.
VS. Marath, Will of the Wild: So if they assemble bomberman and you don't have Krosan Grip you lose, but otherwise you can try to race them. It can be very hard to play around Marath but sometimes you can assemble lord pumps enough to buy your elves enough time to drop some fatties into play.
VS. Sygg, River Cutthroat: This match up is about removal, specifically whether or not they draw into the right removal for the right situations. Your best bet is to actually go all in on one big threat time after time and exhaust their denial resources. Over-committing to this board will get you wiped hard.
Also if you want tips on running the deck feel free to ask about game states or other situations. I haven't playtest much with Gyre Sage, Nissa or Thragtusk, but I really like them in this format and suspect they will be very strong for me. Hope to see other elf players check it out!
EDIT ::FRIDAY JULY 18th 2014:: - Heart Warden + Wickerbough Elder. More removal over my now worst elf. the 4 mana to draw a card for no body is not worth it, and tapping her for 1 is lame. There are many other builds that focus more on comboing out and using all of the 2-CC elves that tap for 1 or 2 but I don't think they are good and like my more beats oriented build.
- Momir Vig, Simic Visionary (Zero Artifacts, Creature Control)
- Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter (W/B Reanimator Combo)
Duel Commander:Sygg, River Cutthroat (U/B Disruptive Aggro)