The infamous Ezuri commands the highest bounty the vedalken have ever placed upon an outlaw.
One of the first things that I wanted to do when I decided to assemble multiple decks for EDH was to create a couple of tribal decks that I could put up against one another in a sort of tribal wars type matchup. Elves vs. Goblins was an intriguing product that my brother and I had a lot of fun battling with, so I decided to replicate that using the EDH rules. Over time, this deck grew out of that original intent to be a fairly good demonstration of power, versatility, and synergy that can go aggressive, runs surprising amount of removal and card draw to help control the board, and generate tons of mana to cast gamebreaking cards.
With the banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, it seemed like a good time to dust the deck off and update it.
Update 2/8/2019 through Ravnica Allegiance (deck link)
10/25/2014
-1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary - Banned
-1 Eternal Witness - Just seemed out of place
-1 Genesis - Great card to pitch to Survival, but was never good otherwise
-1 Chameleon Colossus - I need a beater to do more; was replaced with Polukranos
-1 Survival of the Fittest - Obviously a great card, but this was already redundant with Fauna Shaman and Skyshroud Poacher
11/20/2014
-1 Primordial Sage - This rarely works out the way it should, but I'm still wondering whether Deranged Hermit or Garruk's Horde would be a better cut.
-1 Garruk Wildspeaker - A victim of space for the most part, but its primary usage (as an Overrun) was redundant with Ezuri
-1 Scroll Rack - A 'good stuff' card that isn't as useful here as it is on other decks.
+1 Song of the Dryads - Nice unconditional removal
+1 Unstable Obelisk - More unconditional removal
+1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Elf Druid tokens, removal or card draw, its the perfect swiss-army knife
-1 Nissa, Worldwaker - upgraded
-1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - upgraded
-1 Cultivate - upgraded
-1 Unstable Obelisk - I don't need the mana rock and I have enough other ways to kill creatures that this doesn't need to be in anymore
-1 Song of the Dryads - Didn't really work out as planned.
-1 Garruk's Horde - Had to cut some high-end stuff, and the CA from the other spells is better than this
-1 Green Sun's Zenith - I didn't need the tutoring with the added card draw spells
-1 Dryad Arbor - I only play this if I'm playing GSZ
-1 Yavimaya Elder - I love this card, but its not an Elf and something had to be cut
-1 Yeva, Nature's Herald - Great card, but the flash it grants doesn't necessary make it worth the slot
4/24/2017:
+1 Vizier of the Menagerie - I'm going to give this a whirl as a cheaper card advantage engine than Soul of the Harvest. I'm also going to add in a few Fetchlands to help reset the top of my library (helps with Oracle of Mul Daya and Bloodline Shaman as well).
+1 Wooded Foothills, +1 Windswept Heath, +1 Misty Rainforest, +1 Verdant Catacombs - Mainly for shuffle effects.
+1 Regal Force - I've resisted putting this card back in as I hated getting blown out by mass removal and drawing this off the top, but I'm thinking that I'm missing out on real card drawing by not including this.
+1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - I'm realizing more and more that this card is just silly and that my creatures can get really big with all the Lord effects that I'm running.
8/24/2017:
-1 Mana Reflection - This is great for creating huge G-Waves, but its too much of a "do-nothing" in a deck that otherwise has no issues making mana
-1 Garruk, Primal Hunter - I love this card, but I have enough other good card draw options now
+1 Kindred Summons - Seems perfect for this deck.
+1 Herald's Horn - I have a ton of ways to manipulate and look at the top of my library, so this should be a consistent source of card advantage
1/19/2018:
-1 Nissa's Revelation - I like this card in principal, but green is just getting cheaper/better card draw options
-1 Kindred Summons - I am generally not a fan of cards that require you to be ahead for them to be good. I've made an exception for Regal Force, but I'm not going down the path of including Shamanic Revelation or Collective Unconscious. Kindred Summons is good, but it has too much of a win-more feel to it.
+1 Vanquisher's Banner - Being an Anthem effect and a source of permanent card advantage makes this perfect for the deck.
+1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc - A nice addition to the deck, giving it some early game digging and some late game mana production once it flips into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun.
With one of the C14 decks essentially being an Elf-tribal deck, it makes sense that Ezuri would get tons of new toys to play with. Some of the newer cards that struck my fancy as possible inclusions:
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Practically an auto-include, especially since it makes Elf Druid tokens. I don't know about going up to 5 Planeswalkers in the deck, so might need to look at cutting one of the Garruks.
Grave Sifter - Since I'm running a tribal deck I'm pretty sure that I will get more value out of the ability than the rest of the table, but I'm still unsure as to how much I want to give opponent's back creatures.
Song of the Dryads - This is definitely cheaper than some of the other removal options I'm running. Given that your creature removal options are slim in mono-green, this will likely make the deck at some point.
Sylvan Offering - I like the idea of a mass-token maker for Elves, but I don't quite know if this is some thing the deck wants or needs.
Where's Survival of the Fittest and Aluren? Also, Lightning Greaves might help too.
I recently cut Survival of the Fittest to free up deck space. It was somewhat redundant with both Fauna Shaman and Skyshroud Poacher, and even though Survival is better than both of them they are more on theme.
I never really thought about putting in Aluren. I don't see myself using it to combo out and it's not like the deck needs to save on mana. I can see wanting to run it if I was going to take the deck down a more combo-oriented route, but I don't see myself doing that anytime soon.
Great post, apply for and develop as a Primer! Ezuri needs one for sure.
You may have removed him but Garruk Wildspeaker has amazing synergy with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gaea's Cradle, even more crazily if both are on the field and untapped with him. This makes Primordial Sage more powerful as you can continually cast and draw with all the mana available. Just a thought, it's something I've had before, though it is magical xmas combo!
Also, Tooth and Nail can be used as a brutal finisher to fetch Craterhoof Behemoth and a token generator to give your Elves a huge pump, such as Avenger of Zendikar or Deranged Hermit, or even a Lord. It also has the added benefit over Green Sun's that Craterhoof can be in your hand, as opposed to the limitation Green Sun's has in it being required to be in the library.
Just some things to think about. Overall, a great list!
Great post, apply for and develop as a Primer! Ezuri needs one for sure.
I might. I have several threads that I think I could develop into a primer. This one didn't seem to generate much interest, but it might be a worthwhile exercise.
You may have removed him but Garruk Wildspeaker has amazing synergy with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gaea's Cradle, even more crazily if both are on the field and untapped with him. This makes Primordial Sage more powerful as you can continually cast and draw with all the mana available. Just a thought, it's something I've had before, though it is magical xmas combo!
It's also great with Wirewood Lodge and Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, but I agree that Garruk is a tough cut. I think that if I had one more card slot that I would put Garruk back in. This also reminds me that I need to pick up a Nykthos for this deck... thanks for the reminder.
Also, Tooth and Nail can be used as a brutal finisher to fetch Craterhoof Behemoth and a token generator to give your Elves a huge pump, such as Avenger of Zendikar or Deranged Hermit, or even a Lord. It also has the added benefit over Green Sun's that Craterhoof can be in your hand, as opposed to the limitation Green Sun's has in it being required to be in the library.
I'm running GSZ as both a ramp spell (where it an fetch Dryad Arbor) as well as a tutor. I am also not a fan of Tooth and Nail in general, mostly on philosophical grounds. I did consider putting in Natural Order, but I felt that the deck already has plenty of ways to fetch what it wants.
Overall, the deck could easily run another 20-30 cards and see little drop in overall power; there are just that many good green cards that work very well with the Elvish tribal theme.
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2 full art damnation
Staff of Domination is definitely legal again, and if I ever decided to take this deck down a more combo route then it would most definitely have a place in the deck. Same with Sword of the Paruns and Umbral Mantle. The other issue is that with the banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, we now only have Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid that can tap for 4 or more mana unless we have Mana Reflection and a leveled up Joraga Treespeaker. That's not a lot of cards to interact with. I can see myself running Staff because this deck generates enough mana to make it good even without going infinite, not to mention that a green deck can always use more card drawing.
Gempalm Strider and Tribal Forcemage are fine cards, but when your commander is already an Overrun effect for your tribe then these become much less necessary to the deck. When I added Craterhoof Behemoth, I removed Gempalm Strider from the deck because he deck didn't need so many Overruns (I was also still running Garruk Wildspeaker at the time). I think I would probably add Garruk back in before going back to Gempalm Strider, but I would definitely look to running Overrun effects that pump non-Elves first. There are other really good Overrun effects out there as well, Beastmaster Ascension being the biggest one of note.
As for Slate of Ancestry, I am not a fan. I would much rather run something like Collective Unconscious or Regal Force, but I don't like card draw that is dependent on me having a lot of creatures in play. However, the card I really like more than all of these options is the newly printed Loreseeker's Stone.
I know that overextending invites sweepers, but any type of draw based on creatures in play is well worth it, and in the case of Elves, makes Aluren more attractive. At least that is the reasoning behind adding Slate to my Elf deck.
anti board wipe, can grab it in response to a wipe
Yeah, I love Caller of the Claw. I run it in Rhys the Redeemed as an anti-wrath deterrent and it works great. It would definitely be very useful here, seeing that if I get into a position where I can play it I can move all-in with the rest of my cards.
I like Channeler, but not at 4 mana. If I was running a combo version that wanted another creature that can go infinite with Staff of Domination, then I would definitely add it, but not here.
I know that overextending invites sweepers, but any type of draw based on creatures in play is well worth it, and in the case of Elves, makes Aluren more attractive. At least that is the reasoning behind adding Slate to my Elf deck.
I am not a fan of cards that only work if you are already ahead or do nothing. If I add another card draw card to the deck, it is surely going to be Loreseeker's Stone (which I have been testing on and off in a lot of decks). For a deck that takes a certain amount of restraint to not just dump your hand on the table, Loreseeker's Stone seems perfect.
How about Viridian Joiner? You seem to have a lot of pump effects.
I never really ever thought about Viridian Joiner. I may have to try and work that card into the deck, but I'm also working on trying to get some other things into the deck. There is only so much mana that the deck needs to generate after all; it eventually needs thing to spend all that mana on.
Did you think about including Fresh Meat, Caller of the Claw or Wild Pair? I think board wipes are possibly the biggest threat for this deck, with these cards you can recover more quickly. I am building an Elf deck myself so curious for your thoughts on this.
Caller of the Claw is a really good card for an Elf deck, and I'm strongly moving towards getting it put into the deck. When aggrosdemise suggested it, I almost wrote back that 'duh, its in the deck already', only to see that it wasn't in the list... Fresh Meat doesn't have the same level of synergy with Elves, but it is an amazing card that I run in Wort, the Raidmother and Rhys, the Redeemed and I'm very happy with it there. I'm a big fan of Wild Pair in principle, but I chose instead to go with Garruk's Horde, Soul of the Harvest, Garruk, Primal Hunter, and now Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury for card advantage engines. When looking at Wild Pair you have to take a good look at you power + toughness breakdown to make sure it's worth it:
So it's great at 2 or 4, and good at 3, 6, or 10. It's only really dead at 5, 8, 12, 14, and 20, so it hits on 34/39 creatures. At that point, I can see where running it is probably worth it; not only that, but I could potentially take out Soul of the Harvest and Garruk's Horde for other creature whose power + toughness lines up with other creatures in the deck to make it a near 100% hit rate, especially given that it would fulfill a similar task. Granted those cards are tutorable with Green Sun's Zenith and Fauna Shaman and Wild Pair isn't, so you have to weigh the pros and cons.
Anyway, I'm working on an update for this deck soon since a few things moved in and out of the deck with Tarkir block and Battle for Zendikar, so I'll have to analyze the newer configuration for Wild Pair and then look to see if it makes sense to add or not.
Dragons of Tarkir Collected Company - At the time, there were 23 creatures with CMC 3 or less, which means a whiff rate of about 20% (100%-(23/99)=76.77%; 76.77%^6=20.5%) and only hitting one about 37%. With Sylvan Library, Sensei's Divining top, and a few cards that have us play with teh top card revealed, we obviously get to skew some of those odds in our favor. If I can get a few more small creatures into the deck CoCo will get reconsideration, but I passed on it for now.
Magic Origins Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen - Slam dunk to be included. Dwynen's Elite - Another slam dunk Nissa, Vastwood Seer/Nissa, Sage Animist - Another great card for this deck. Will replace the other Nissa. Nissa's Pilgrimage - This is an ever-slight upgrade over Cultivate on the off-chance that I actually hit spell mastery. Nissa's Revelation - I like this one a lot. It's a great mana sink and it really allows for the deck to have some long game. Woodland Bellower - There are lots of juicy targets for this, but overall I cut it to make space for other stuff.
Battle For Zendikar Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - I'm playing the original Ulamog as as source of removal, so the new version ends up being 1 mana cheaper and twice as effective at exiling permanents.
Commander 2015 Blade of Selves - This is really good if you can equip it to a Lord, and there are some really good ETB effects in the deck.
Oath of the Gatewatch Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - This Nissa is okay in this deck, but not great. It was worth it to try out and I can totally see people wanting to run it. Zendikar Resurgent - Although the deck prefers to run creatures, this card is sufficiently better than a Garruk's Horde to run it in the 7-drop slot.
Shadows Over Innistrad
Nothing - Seasons Past looks promising, but its not what this deck wants.
Eldritch Moon
Nothing
Conspiracy: Take the Crown Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - The deck suffers from not always having the highest power of creature a lot of the time, but the mana production can be absurd. Selvala's Stampede - A little on the expensive side and often a total dud if everyone chooses Free and I'm low on cards.
Kaladesh
Nothing - There were a few interesting Elves in the set, but nothing that made me want to go out of my way to test them.
Commander 2016
Nothing
Aether Revolt Lifecrafter's Bestiary - This is amazing in this deck. Metallic Mimic - Another solid Lord and a good add to the 2-slot. Paradox Engine - Given all the creature sources of mana, this card should be amazing. Rishkar, Peema Renegade - Solid card. Rishkar's Expertise - The jury is still out on this one. It is often a draw 2 or 3 with the ability to play a card for free. It's often not great, but its never truly dead and it has a big upside when I can draw 6 or 7 off of it.
So even though there were some sets where nothing worked for this set, there were still lots of cards going in and out when we did get some goodies.
It's a bit more fragile but it's the reason I've put in some cards to:
1) Slow down opponents: Winter Orb - with the amount of mana producing creatures in elves this is amazing but I usually feel bad playing it Hall of Gemstone - more effective against multi-coloured decks + prevents removals/counters on your turn
It's a bit more fragile but it's the reason I've put in some cards to:
1) Slow down opponents: Winter Orb - with the amount of mana producing creatures in elves this is amazing but I usually feel bad playing it Hall of Gemstone - more effective against multi-coloured decks + prevents removals/counters on your turn
Winter Orb is interesting on a certain level, but I'm usually not playing this deck as part of an ultra-competitive game so I don't think I'd add it in here. Hall of Gemstone makes sense when you are going more all-in on the combos, but for the most part I just try to overwhelm people with synergy and not worry too much about opponent's disruption.
To be honest, I never thought about that and even more surprisingly it hasn't been an issue yet. He provides some much needed "protection" for key elves and some nice evasion.
Winter Orb is interesting on a certain level, but I'm usually not playing this deck as part of an ultra-competitive game so I don't think I'd add it in here.
It's mostly there to provide some extra time on multiplayer games. After most of my most-likely-to-wipe-the-board opponents tap out/tap most of their mana, I'll drop this in which pretty much tells me when the next clear is coming so I can plan accordingly.
I like the sound of that. I already run Oran-Rief, so it would just be a matter of slipping in Melira and Cauldron.
It's even better the first time you use this against your playgroup. They don't realise the effect (especially with oran-rief), until after you've used it. It's not some amazing combo, but it's fun.
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I never had very good luck with Caller as away to recover from board wipes. When you can fetch it at instant speed its great, but I'd end up never having it when I needed it, and opted for more effects like Praetor's Counsel.
Praetor's Counsel would be very good here. I run it in Jarad and it has never disappointed. I'm going to squeeze it in here somehow.
Metallic Mimic is in the current iteration of the deck. The artifact creatures are in with the rest of the creatures (in CMC order), not with the artifacts.
Thanks for the suggestions. Your deck goes in a bit of a different direction than mine, but if there is one thing I have learned about Ezuri (and many other commanders) is that there are often several good ways to build a deck.
One thing that I did try from your suggestions was Creeping Renaissance. The card proved to be fantastic. It has taken the place of Rishkar's Expertise in the deck.
Amonkhet update:
+1 Vizier of the Menagerie - I'm going to give this a whirl as a cheaper card advantage engine than Soul of the Harvest. I'm also going to add in a few Fetchlands to help reset the top of my library (helps with Oracle of Mul Daya and Bloodline Shaman as well).
+1 Wooded Foothills, +1 Windswept Heath, +1 Misty Rainforest, +1 Verdant Catacombs - Mainly for shuffle effects.
+1 Regal Force - I've resisted putting this card back in as I hated getting blown out by mass removal and drawing this off the top, but I'm thinking that I'm missing out on real card drawing by not including this.
+1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - I'm realizing more and more that this card is just silly and that my creatures can get really big with all the Lord effects that I'm running.
Honorable Mention from Amonkhet: Rhonas's Monument - At some point, I think I want to try this. Throne of the God-Pharaoh - Because this damages all opponents, I can attack at the most vulnerable player then drop this post-combat to deal loads of damage elsewhere. I'm going to try this soon. Mouth // Feed - I'm going to keep track of what this would draw me, but I think it might be perfect for what the deck wants.
How do you handle the 'empty hand syndrome'? As I view through your list, I see very few carddraw effects. My previous versions of Ezuri elves has really struggled with carddraw once my hand was empty. Am I missing something here?
One of the first things that I wanted to do when I decided to assemble multiple decks for EDH was to create a couple of tribal decks that I could put up against one another in a sort of tribal wars type matchup. Elves vs. Goblins was an intriguing product that my brother and I had a lot of fun battling with, so I decided to replicate that using the EDH rules. Over time, this deck grew out of that original intent to be a fairly good demonstration of power, versatility, and synergy that can go aggressive, runs surprising amount of removal and card draw to help control the board, and generate tons of mana to cast gamebreaking cards.
With the banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, it seemed like a good time to dust the deck off and update it.
Update 2/8/2019 through Ravnica Allegiance (deck link)
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Creatures - 44
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Boreal Druid
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Arbor Elf
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Heritage Druid
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Elvish Skysweeper
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Bloodline Shaman
1 Wirewood Hivemaster
1 Priest of Titania
1 Incubation Druid
1 Metallic Mimic
1 Dwynen's Elite
1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
1 Wood Elves
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Marwyn, the Nurturer
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Elvish Champion
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Beast Whisperer
1 Skyshroud Poacher
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Sylvan Messenger
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Lys Alana Huntmaster
1 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
1 Vizier of the Menagerie
1 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Kaysa
1 Deranged Hermit
1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
1 Duplicant
1 Regal Force
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Beast Within
1 Hunting Triad
1 Creeping Renaissance
1 Genesis Wave
Enchantments - 3
1 Sylvan Library
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 Guardian Project
Planeswalkers - 3
1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Karn Liberated
Artifacts - 10
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1 Herald's Horn
1 Door of Destinies
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 Coat of Arms
1 Caged Sun
1 Obelisk of Urd
Lands - 35
1 Pendelhaven
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Treetop Village
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mutavault
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Wirewood Lodge
1 Dust Bowl
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Caacombs
20 Forest
10/25/2014
-1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary - Banned
-1 Eternal Witness - Just seemed out of place
-1 Genesis - Great card to pitch to Survival, but was never good otherwise
-1 Chameleon Colossus - I need a beater to do more; was replaced with Polukranos
-1 Survival of the Fittest - Obviously a great card, but this was already redundant with Fauna Shaman and Skyshroud Poacher
+1 Elvish Mystic - Moar mana
+1 Reclamation Sage - Moar removal
+1 Polukranos, World Eater - Some much needed creature removal
+1 Obelisk of Urd - Awesome addition to the arsenal for tribal decks
+1 Nissa, Worldwaker - Great addition to a deck running this many Forests
11/20/2014
-1 Primordial Sage - This rarely works out the way it should, but I'm still wondering whether Deranged Hermit or Garruk's Horde would be a better cut.
-1 Garruk Wildspeaker - A victim of space for the most part, but its primary usage (as an Overrun) was redundant with Ezuri
-1 Scroll Rack - A 'good stuff' card that isn't as useful here as it is on other decks.
+1 Song of the Dryads - Nice unconditional removal
+1 Unstable Obelisk - More unconditional removal
+1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Elf Druid tokens, removal or card draw, its the perfect swiss-army knife
3/22/2017:
+1 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen - Moar lords!
+1 Dwynen's Elite - Moar Elves!
+1 Metallic Mimic - Another solid "Lord"
+1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade - Solid card that pumps and gives me more mana.
+1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer - A vast improvement over the other Nissa.
+1 Nissa's Pilgrimage - An ever so slight improvement over Cultivate
+1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - Upgrade over Ulamog 1.0
+1 Nissa's Revelation - The deck needs some card draw, and this is a great way to feed the long game.
+1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary - Amazing card draw
+1 Rishkar's Expertise - More great card draw
-1 Nissa, Worldwaker - upgraded
-1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - upgraded
-1 Cultivate - upgraded
-1 Unstable Obelisk - I don't need the mana rock and I have enough other ways to kill creatures that this doesn't need to be in anymore
-1 Song of the Dryads - Didn't really work out as planned.
-1 Garruk's Horde - Had to cut some high-end stuff, and the CA from the other spells is better than this
-1 Green Sun's Zenith - I didn't need the tutoring with the added card draw spells
-1 Dryad Arbor - I only play this if I'm playing GSZ
-1 Yavimaya Elder - I love this card, but its not an Elf and something had to be cut
-1 Yeva, Nature's Herald - Great card, but the flash it grants doesn't necessary make it worth the slot
4/6/2017:
-1 Rishkar's Expertise, +1 Creeping Renaissance - Much better long-term card advantage card and better way to recover from a board wipe.
4/24/2017:
+1 Vizier of the Menagerie - I'm going to give this a whirl as a cheaper card advantage engine than Soul of the Harvest. I'm also going to add in a few Fetchlands to help reset the top of my library (helps with Oracle of Mul Daya and Bloodline Shaman as well).
+1 Wooded Foothills, +1 Windswept Heath, +1 Misty Rainforest, +1 Verdant Catacombs - Mainly for shuffle effects.
+1 Regal Force - I've resisted putting this card back in as I hated getting blown out by mass removal and drawing this off the top, but I'm thinking that I'm missing out on real card drawing by not including this.
+1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - I'm realizing more and more that this card is just silly and that my creatures can get really big with all the Lord effects that I'm running.
-4 Forest - To make room for fetchlands
-1 Kodama's Reach - To make room for Selvala
-1 Soul of the Harvest - To make room for Regal Force
-1 Wren's Run Packmaster - As good as this could be, I was rarely using its ability; removed for Vizier of the Menagerie.
8/24/2017:
-1 Mana Reflection - This is great for creating huge G-Waves, but its too much of a "do-nothing" in a deck that otherwise has no issues making mana
-1 Garruk, Primal Hunter - I love this card, but I have enough other good card draw options now
+1 Kindred Summons - Seems perfect for this deck.
+1 Herald's Horn - I have a ton of ways to manipulate and look at the top of my library, so this should be a consistent source of card advantage
1/19/2018:
-1 Nissa's Revelation - I like this card in principal, but green is just getting cheaper/better card draw options
-1 Kindred Summons - I am generally not a fan of cards that require you to be ahead for them to be good. I've made an exception for Regal Force, but I'm not going down the path of including Shamanic Revelation or Collective Unconscious. Kindred Summons is good, but it has too much of a win-more feel to it.
+1 Vanquisher's Banner - Being an Anthem effect and a source of permanent card advantage makes this perfect for the deck.
+1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc - A nice addition to the deck, giving it some early game digging and some late game mana production once it flips into Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun.
4/27/2018:
+1 Marwyn, the Nurturer, -1 Adaptive Automaton: Marwyn is tailor-made for Elf-tribal and Automaton lacks some synergy with cards like Bloodline Shaman, Sylvan Messenger, Lys Alana Huntmaster, Herald's Horn, or Vanquisher's Banner so it gets the axe.
+1 Garruk, Primal Hunter, -1 Gauntlet of Power: I miss my Garruk (and his ability to both draw cards and generate an immediate board presence), and I don't miss Gauntlet (and its ability to give my opponents running green an unintended boost).
11/25/18:
+1 Beast Whisperer, +1 Pelt Collector
-1 Spine of Ish Sah, -1 Nissa's Pilgrimage
2/8/2019:
+1 Guardian Project, -1 Harmonize
+1 Incubation Druid, -1 Pelt Collector
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Practically an auto-include, especially since it makes Elf Druid tokens. I don't know about going up to 5 Planeswalkers in the deck, so might need to look at cutting one of the Garruks.
Grave Sifter - Since I'm running a tribal deck I'm pretty sure that I will get more value out of the ability than the rest of the table, but I'm still unsure as to how much I want to give opponent's back creatures.
Song of the Dryads - This is definitely cheaper than some of the other removal options I'm running. Given that your creature removal options are slim in mono-green, this will likely make the deck at some point.
Sylvan Offering - I like the idea of a mass-token maker for Elves, but I don't quite know if this is some thing the deck wants or needs.
Unstable Obelisk - Having another removal option is nice.
Some of the cards I'm considering cutting are Garruk's Horde, Green Sun's Zenoth, and Garruk Wildspeaker. Thoughts?
EDIT: So I've decided to go with +1 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, +1 Song of the Dryads, +1 Unstable Obelisk, -1 Primordial Sage, -1 Scroll Rack, -1 Garruk Wildspeaker.
I recently cut Survival of the Fittest to free up deck space. It was somewhat redundant with both Fauna Shaman and Skyshroud Poacher, and even though Survival is better than both of them they are more on theme.
I never really thought about putting in Aluren. I don't see myself using it to combo out and it's not like the deck needs to save on mana. I can see wanting to run it if I was going to take the deck down a more combo-oriented route, but I don't see myself doing that anytime soon.
Lightning Greaves seems reasonable, although I'm thinking that Thousand-Year Elixir might be even better. I used to have Concordant Crossroads in the deck a while back, so that's another possibility.
You may have removed him but Garruk Wildspeaker has amazing synergy with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gaea's Cradle, even more crazily if both are on the field and untapped with him. This makes Primordial Sage more powerful as you can continually cast and draw with all the mana available. Just a thought, it's something I've had before, though it is magical xmas combo!
Also, Tooth and Nail can be used as a brutal finisher to fetch Craterhoof Behemoth and a token generator to give your Elves a huge pump, such as Avenger of Zendikar or Deranged Hermit, or even a Lord. It also has the added benefit over Green Sun's that Craterhoof can be in your hand, as opposed to the limitation Green Sun's has in it being required to be in the library.
Just some things to think about. Overall, a great list!
I might. I have several threads that I think I could develop into a primer. This one didn't seem to generate much interest, but it might be a worthwhile exercise.
It's also great with Wirewood Lodge and Oran-Rief, the Vastwood, but I agree that Garruk is a tough cut. I think that if I had one more card slot that I would put Garruk back in. This also reminds me that I need to pick up a Nykthos for this deck... thanks for the reminder.
I'm running GSZ as both a ramp spell (where it an fetch Dryad Arbor) as well as a tutor. I am also not a fan of Tooth and Nail in general, mostly on philosophical grounds. I did consider putting in Natural Order, but I felt that the deck already has plenty of ways to fetch what it wants.
Overall, the deck could easily run another 20-30 cards and see little drop in overall power; there are just that many good green cards that work very well with the Elvish tribal theme.
gempalm strider,tribal forcemage,slate of ancestry
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Staff of Domination is definitely legal again, and if I ever decided to take this deck down a more combo route then it would most definitely have a place in the deck. Same with Sword of the Paruns and Umbral Mantle. The other issue is that with the banning of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, we now only have Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid that can tap for 4 or more mana unless we have Mana Reflection and a leveled up Joraga Treespeaker. That's not a lot of cards to interact with. I can see myself running Staff because this deck generates enough mana to make it good even without going infinite, not to mention that a green deck can always use more card drawing.
Gempalm Strider and Tribal Forcemage are fine cards, but when your commander is already an Overrun effect for your tribe then these become much less necessary to the deck. When I added Craterhoof Behemoth, I removed Gempalm Strider from the deck because he deck didn't need so many Overruns (I was also still running Garruk Wildspeaker at the time). I think I would probably add Garruk back in before going back to Gempalm Strider, but I would definitely look to running Overrun effects that pump non-Elves first. There are other really good Overrun effects out there as well, Beastmaster Ascension being the biggest one of note.
As for Slate of Ancestry, I am not a fan. I would much rather run something like Collective Unconscious or Regal Force, but I don't like card draw that is dependent on me having a lot of creatures in play. However, the card I really like more than all of these options is the newly printed Loreseeker's Stone.
Caller of the claw
anti board wipe, can grab it in response to a wipe
Standard
BUG SuperFriends
Modern
RWGKiki's CastleRWG
UB Turns UB
GRBU HulkBreach GRBU
Legacy
GRWBNic-ShiftGRWB
I know that overextending invites sweepers, but any type of draw based on creatures in play is well worth it, and in the case of Elves, makes Aluren more attractive. At least that is the reasoning behind adding Slate to my Elf deck.
Speaking of overextending, what about Elvish Promenade?
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
Yeah, I love Caller of the Claw. I run it in Rhys the Redeemed as an anti-wrath deterrent and it works great. It would definitely be very useful here, seeing that if I get into a position where I can play it I can move all-in with the rest of my cards.
I like Channeler, but not at 4 mana. If I was running a combo version that wanted another creature that can go infinite with Staff of Domination, then I would definitely add it, but not here.
I am not a fan of cards that only work if you are already ahead or do nothing. If I add another card draw card to the deck, it is surely going to be Loreseeker's Stone (which I have been testing on and off in a lot of decks). For a deck that takes a certain amount of restraint to not just dump your hand on the table, Loreseeker's Stone seems perfect.
If this were more of a combo deck, then I would definitely go with adding in a Regal Force to search up with Natural Order or Summoner's Pact.
I never really ever thought about Viridian Joiner. I may have to try and work that card into the deck, but I'm also working on trying to get some other things into the deck. There is only so much mana that the deck needs to generate after all; it eventually needs thing to spend all that mana on.
Caller of the Claw is a really good card for an Elf deck, and I'm strongly moving towards getting it put into the deck. When aggrosdemise suggested it, I almost wrote back that 'duh, its in the deck already', only to see that it wasn't in the list...
2 Boreal Druid
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
2 Arbor Elf
2 Joraga Treespeaker
2 Heritage Druid
2 Joraga Warcaller
2 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Elvish Skysweeper
2 Bloodline Shaman
2 Wirewood Hivemaster
2 Priest of Titania
2 Wood Elves
2 Farhaven Elves
2 Deranged Hermit
3 Virdian Zealot
3 Yavimaya Elder
3 Reclamation Sage
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Adaptive Automaton
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Elvish Champion
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Shyshroud Poacher
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Sylvan Messenger
5 Kaysa
6 Nullmage Shepherd
6 Lys Alana Huntmaster
6 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
6 Duplicant
8 Yeva, Nature's Herald
10 Polukranos, World Eater
10 Wren's Run Packmaster
10 Craterhoof Behemoth
12 Soul of the Harvest
14 Garruk's Horde
20 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
So it's great at 2 or 4, and good at 3, 6, or 10. It's only really dead at 5, 8, 12, 14, and 20, so it hits on 34/39 creatures. At that point, I can see where running it is probably worth it; not only that, but I could potentially take out Soul of the Harvest and Garruk's Horde for other creature whose power + toughness lines up with other creatures in the deck to make it a near 100% hit rate, especially given that it would fulfill a similar task. Granted those cards are tutorable with Green Sun's Zenith and Fauna Shaman and Wild Pair isn't, so you have to weigh the pros and cons.
Anyway, I'm working on an update for this deck soon since a few things moved in and out of the deck with Tarkir block and Battle for Zendikar, so I'll have to analyze the newer configuration for Wild Pair and then look to see if it makes sense to add or not.
Fate Reforged
Nothing - Shamanic Revelation and Ugin, Spirit Dragon piqued my interest, but neither is good enough to make the deck.
Dragons of Tarkir
Collected Company - At the time, there were 23 creatures with CMC 3 or less, which means a whiff rate of about 20% (100%-(23/99)=76.77%; 76.77%^6=20.5%) and only hitting one about 37%. With Sylvan Library, Sensei's Divining top, and a few cards that have us play with teh top card revealed, we obviously get to skew some of those odds in our favor. If I can get a few more small creatures into the deck CoCo will get reconsideration, but I passed on it for now.
Magic Origins
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen - Slam dunk to be included.
Dwynen's Elite - Another slam dunk
Nissa, Vastwood Seer/Nissa, Sage Animist - Another great card for this deck. Will replace the other Nissa.
Nissa's Pilgrimage - This is an ever-slight upgrade over Cultivate on the off-chance that I actually hit spell mastery.
Nissa's Revelation - I like this one a lot. It's a great mana sink and it really allows for the deck to have some long game.
Woodland Bellower - There are lots of juicy targets for this, but overall I cut it to make space for other stuff.
Battle For Zendikar
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - I'm playing the original Ulamog as as source of removal, so the new version ends up being 1 mana cheaper and twice as effective at exiling permanents.
Commander 2015
Blade of Selves - This is really good if you can equip it to a Lord, and there are some really good ETB effects in the deck.
Oath of the Gatewatch
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - This Nissa is okay in this deck, but not great. It was worth it to try out and I can totally see people wanting to run it.
Zendikar Resurgent - Although the deck prefers to run creatures, this card is sufficiently better than a Garruk's Horde to run it in the 7-drop slot.
Shadows Over Innistrad
Nothing - Seasons Past looks promising, but its not what this deck wants.
Eldritch Moon
Nothing
Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - The deck suffers from not always having the highest power of creature a lot of the time, but the mana production can be absurd.
Selvala's Stampede - A little on the expensive side and often a total dud if everyone chooses Free and I'm low on cards.
Kaladesh
Nothing - There were a few interesting Elves in the set, but nothing that made me want to go out of my way to test them.
Commander 2016
Nothing
Aether Revolt
Lifecrafter's Bestiary - This is amazing in this deck.
Metallic Mimic - Another solid Lord and a good add to the 2-slot.
Paradox Engine - Given all the creature sources of mana, this card should be amazing.
Rishkar, Peema Renegade - Solid card.
Rishkar's Expertise - The jury is still out on this one. It is often a draw 2 or 3 with the ability to play a card for free. It's often not great, but its never truly dead and it has a big upside when I can draw 6 or 7 off of it.
So even though there were some sets where nothing worked for this set, there were still lots of cards going in and out when we did get some goodies.
1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Mana Dork (12)
1x Arbor Elf
1x Devoted Druid
1x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Heritage Druid
1x Priest of Titania
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Joraga Treespeaker
1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
1x Elvish Mystic
1x Elvish Harbinger
1x Heart Warden
1x Wirewood Channeler
Untappers (4)
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Scryb Ranger
1x Wirewood Symbiote
1x Seeker of Skybreak
Lord (6)
1x Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
1x Elvish Champion
1x Imperious Perfect
1x Tajuru Preserver
1x Elvish Archdruid
1x Joraga Warcaller
Removal (4)
1x Elvish Lyrist
1x Nullmage Shepherd
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Viridian Shaman
1x Elvish Visionary
1x Regal Force
1x Sylvan Messenger
Tutor (3)
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Skyshroud Poacher
1x Wirewood Herald
Simple (8)
1x Copperhorn Scout
1x Nettle Sentinel
1x Dwynen's Elite
1x Elvish Vanguard
1x Jagged-Scar Archers
1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
1x Heedless One
1x Wren's Run Packmaster
Ramp (3)
1x Farhaven Elf
1x Yavimaya Dryad
1x Wood Elves
Anti Board-Clear(4)
1x Caller of the Claw
1x Cauldron of Souls
1x Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
Land (31)
1x Dryad Arbor
22x Forest
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Wirewood Lodge
1x Beast Within
1x Chord of Calling
1x Summoner's Pact
1x Crop Rotation
Artifact (4)
1x Winter Orb
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Staff of Domination
1x Umbral Mantle
Enchantment (4)
1x Asceticism
1x Sylvan Library
1x Elvish Guidance
1x Hall of Gemstone
Sorcery (7)
1x Elvish Promenade
1x Genesis Wave
1x Glimpse of Nature
1x Green Sun's Zenith
1x Harmonize
1x Natural Order
1x Shamanic Revelation
Planeswalker (1)
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
Finisher (1)
1x Craterhoof Behemoth
It's a bit more fragile but it's the reason I've put in some cards to:
1) Slow down opponents:
Winter Orb - with the amount of mana producing creatures in elves this is amazing but I usually feel bad playing it
Hall of Gemstone - more effective against multi-coloured decks + prevents removals/counters on your turn
2) Recover from board clears:
Cauldron of Souls + Oran-Rief, the Vastwood or Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3) Prevent board clears (up to a point):
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
4) at least do something:
Caller of the Claw
Nice list. I'm surprised you run Eladamri, Lord of Leaves in a deck with so many targeted effects (Seeker of Skybreak, Staff of Domination, etc.), but other than that it seems like a really good list focused more on the combos.
Winter Orb is interesting on a certain level, but I'm usually not playing this deck as part of an ultra-competitive game so I don't think I'd add it in here.
Hall of Gemstone makes sense when you are going more all-in on the combos, but for the most part I just try to overwhelm people with synergy and not worry too much about opponent's disruption.
I like the sound of that. I already run Oran-Rief, so it would just be a matter of slipping in Melira and Cauldron.
I do this with some other decks already, so I probably wouldn't add it in here.
Yeah, I'm not sure why Caller of the Claw hasn't made it back into the deck... I will have to remedy that.
To be honest, I never thought about that and even more surprisingly it hasn't been an issue yet. He provides some much needed "protection" for key elves and some nice evasion.
It's mostly there to provide some extra time on multiplayer games. After most of my most-likely-to-wipe-the-board opponents tap out/tap most of their mana, I'll drop this in which pretty much tells me when the next clear is coming so I can plan accordingly.
It's even better the first time you use this against your playgroup. They don't realise the effect (especially with oran-rief), until after you've used it. It's not some amazing combo, but it's fun.
Praetor's Counsel would be very good here. I run it in Jarad and it has never disappointed. I'm going to squeeze it in here somehow.
Metallic Mimic is in the current iteration of the deck. The artifact creatures are in with the rest of the creatures (in CMC order), not with the artifacts.
Copperhorn Scout - With only few dorks on the field you basically get a second upkeep, with enough dorks it becomes a big punch enabler later on.
Devoted Druid - Great combo with your commander, as you do get GGG per 3GG spent on his ability.
Immaculate Magistrate - Brutal with Joraga Warcaller, strong with Devoted Druid | Viridian Joiner and generally a great guy to buff unblocked or blocking Elves.
Karametra's Acolyte - Can generate tons of mana, even after (creature only) board wipes.
Regal Force | Shamanic Revelation | Collective Unconscious - While not all of these are amazing they need less effort than Riskhar's Expertise.
Seedborn Muse - Buff and protect your Elves whenever.
Taunting Elf - Regenerate him and go to town with all your buffed Elves.
Wirewood Channeler - One can never have enough of the big mana dorks, right?
Asceticism - Keeps your Commander safe and makes all your Elves a lot sturdier.
Elvish Guidance - Oftenly overlooked, insanely strong with Arbor Elf.
Illusionist's Bracers - Double buffs, regens and others.
Thousand-Year Elixir - Grants pseudo-haste and untaps.
Benefactor's Draught | Vitalize | Heroic Intervention - Because who doesn't like surprises?
Creeping Renaissance - Recurr your creatures twice.
Elvish Promenade - Gets you anywhere faster.
Keep brewing!
3 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Creature (34)
1 Arbor Elf
1 Boreal Druid
3 Caller of the Claw
1 Copperhorn Scout
2 Devoted Druid
3 Elvish Archdruid
3 Elvish Champion
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Heritage Druid
4 Immaculate Magistrate
3 Imperious Perfect
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Joraga Warcaller
4 Karametra's Acolyte
1 Llanowar Elves
4 Lys Alana Huntmaster
2 Priest of Titania
1 Quirion Ranger
3 Reclamation Sage
7 Regal Force
2 Scryb Ranger
5 Seedborn Muse
4 Skyshroud Poacher
1 Taunting Elf
2 Thornweald Archer
6 Thunderfoot Baloth
3 Timberwatch Elf
3 Virician Corrupter
3 Viridian Joiner
2 Viridian Zealot
4 Wirewood Channeler
1 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Yeva, Nature's Herald
5 Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
Enchantment (7)
5 Asceticism
2 Cryptolith Rite
3 Elvish Guidance
3 Hall of Gemstone
2 Lignify
1 Mirri's Guile
3 Song of the Dryads
Artifact (7)
6 Caged Sun
2 Emerald Medallion
2 Illusionist's Bracers
2 Lightning Greaves
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Thousand-Year Elixir
Instant (10)
3 Beast Within
2 Benefactor's Draught
2 Deglamer
4 Fresh Meat
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Krosan Grip
2 Repopulate
2 Unravel the Æther
1 Vitalize
2 Wrap in Vigor
5 Creeping Renaissance
4 Elvish Promenade
3x Genesis Wave
5 Shamanic Revelation
4 Tempt with Discovery
Land (35)
24 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Homeward Path
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Strip Mine
1 Temple of the False God
1 Wirewood Lodge
1 Yavimaya Hollow
One thing that I did try from your suggestions was Creeping Renaissance. The card proved to be fantastic. It has taken the place of Rishkar's Expertise in the deck.
+1 Vizier of the Menagerie - I'm going to give this a whirl as a cheaper card advantage engine than Soul of the Harvest. I'm also going to add in a few Fetchlands to help reset the top of my library (helps with Oracle of Mul Daya and Bloodline Shaman as well).
+1 Wooded Foothills, +1 Windswept Heath, +1 Misty Rainforest, +1 Verdant Catacombs - Mainly for shuffle effects.
+1 Regal Force - I've resisted putting this card back in as I hated getting blown out by mass removal and drawing this off the top, but I'm thinking that I'm missing out on real card drawing by not including this.
+1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds - I'm realizing more and more that this card is just silly and that my creatures can get really big with all the Lord effects that I'm running.
-4 Forest - To make room for fetchlands
-1 Kodama's Reach - To make room for Selvala
-1 Soul of the Harvest - To make room for Regal Force
-1 Wren's Run Packmaster - As good as this could be, I was rarely using its ability; removed for Vizier of the Menagerie.
Honorable Mention from Amonkhet:
Rhonas's Monument - At some point, I think I want to try this.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh - Because this damages all opponents, I can attack at the most vulnerable player then drop this post-combat to deal loads of damage elsewhere. I'm going to try this soon.
Mouth // Feed - I'm going to keep track of what this would draw me, but I think it might be perfect for what the deck wants.
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