What exactly is Combo Elves?
Combo elves is a Creature based combo deck. It uses a combination of creatures to create a mana engine it can then exploit to play a storm like strategy with Glimpse of Nature or use Natural Order to find a single card win condition. The common choices include Craterhoof Behemoth to win in a single devastating attack or Progenitus in the cases where removal is an issue.
There is another Primer (Better done than mine) over on The Source. There is a lot of cross over between what is discussed. I am active on both threads and I would suggest you check out that one too.
Over time decks change, Elves is far from different. The early combo decks look nothing like the deck does now as the deck slowly matured. The ages of the deck, as the options in cards, pass in time with set printings. Lets have a look at them:
The age of the Elfball.
Yes, that is the name of the earliest decks. I was not playing elves at this point, but I was playing. More than once I took a Fireball to the face from an Priest of Titania buffed blast. Yes you read that right, the early days of Elves combo used a Fireball to kill. The deck looked like an aggro deck, running big beats off massive mana that could end a game with a single card draw. The deck was very consistent, yet it was not as fast as some of the more modern builds.
The Tides of Change.
The Tides pulled with them change. Early builds used cards like Birchlore Rangers to make quick mana, but something new was in the air. Lorwyn. The Block brought new toys, the most potent was the combination of Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel. The two cards together where powerful, but long before, in a set people like to pretend was never printed, another card had been printed. That card was Glimpse of Nature. When the three cards where combined, the deck could draw as many cards as the Channel Fireball decks of old. But that was not all. Another card, Regal Force had also been printed. While not an elf, he could help with the drawing of cards and its cost was a non issue. Oh and the most nuts thing, three of the four cards where printed in the same block. Change was upon us, a new age of Elves was on the rise.
Rise of the Eldrazi.
We all know that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world after drinking far too much. I have no idea what Wizards was drinking when they decided to make a card in his image. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is, to this day, one of the most crazy cards printed. Know the wonderful thing? 15 mana, yea, so what we have elves. So it came to be, that a 15 mana bomb was added to our decks. That 15 mana card could not be counted, untapped everything and had Haste as well as just all round breaking the other guy. The deck was close to its apex, it just needed one more push.
The age of the Mirror.
It took some time but the push needed came. That push was Mirror Entity. The card itself was not a big deal, but its ablity to make Wirewood Symbiote an elf, add on any big mana producer and you had a fun time ahead. With this mana you could then pump all your creatures to insane power and attack for an arbitrary number of damage. You would do this by tapping a creature for at lest three mana, making everything an elf, bouncing Wirewood to untap the mana elf, replaying it and starting over. Fun times. But...
The age of Power. Craterhoof Behemoth was soon printed leading to the current age of elves. This 8 drop, 5/5 monstrosity was the last push the deck needed to become Tier One. The card found itself quickly accepted, but people where not totally sure what to do with its power. Some builds ran one Hoof, one Regal Force. Others ran Emrakel main still. It would take one last push to end confusion and unite the Elvish Masters. I honestly feel this came with the changing of the Primers on MTG The Source and the latest offerings that SCG had been hit with. This pushed out all of the older Tec and hammed home Hoof, NO, and GSZ as the optimum build of elves. This also pushed the deck to the very limits of its power, letting it win quite consistently on its third turn. Not a bad achievement for Legacy's weakest Colour. But there was still one more gift to come.
The new age of change.
On the 13th of July 2013, the Legend rule in MTG changed again. The new changes found Elves with even more power. Under the old rules you could only have out one Legend card with a given name. If you played another they both went to the grave as a state-based action. The new rules said you could have 2 at once, only you had to sacrifice one of the two Legendary cards. What this meant was that the deck could go from running two Gaea's Cradle and two Crop Rotation, to running four Gaea's Cradle. This change may seam small, but it had a massive impact on the deck. With the changing of the options, the whole mana base was re-examined. People went from 16 land builds to 19 and 20 lands. The deck started to run more smoothly and you no longer had the weakpoint of Rotation. This weakness had been that a Rotation could be counted levering you with one less mana source and one likely broken combo play. With this we enter the current age, the dawn of the green men and women that, with a touch of mana can do crazy plays in little to no time at all.
In a word? Redundancy. This deck can win on its second turn, more commonly it wins on it's third or forth. But it can also grind out a long game amassing a stockpile of creatures that make the win feel almost inevitable. The deck is also a rewarding one if you take the time to learn it's different pathways and tricks. Cards like Green Sun's Zenith and Natural Order make for some highly complex lines of play that benefit those that are highly in tune with their own deck.
The deck also has a mass of "Must Answer" spells that give control decks headaches. While the days of playing against inexperienced players whom are willing to counter a turn one Heritage Druid appear to be a thing of the past, NO, Glimpse, GSZ and some of the hardcast creatures lead into situations that other decks need to respond to or lose. This means that game one, even without protection, you can still play past counters with the sheer weight of spells that must be answered.
Lastly, the deck has what I personally think is one of the most broken lines of play in the format. I am told Ancestral Recall is not a half bad card. We just happen to play a better one.
The deck seams simple when you look at it. You wish to either gain enough Creatures that can attack and hit with a Hoof, or you want to have in play a Heritage Druid, any number of Nettle Sentinels. In the former situation you simple attack for lethal. In the case of the latter you play Glimpse and then tap your Druid and Sentinels (Or whatever else you have on hand) and play a creature from you hand, the Sentinel's trigger, you untap and then you draw. As you find more Glimpse or if you happen to find an Elvish Visionary you can draw extra cards letting you push past lands you may draw. Cards like Wirewood Symbiote can be used to return already played elves to your hand so you may continue a chain.
An old card that is still kicking around. Kind of a Heritage lite, Birchlore Rangers is at lest a one of when building this deck. It's ablity to tap two elves for a mana of any colour is wonderful when using Deathrite Shaman to deal loss of life, it can be used to push turn two kills with a Nettle Sentential and Glimpse and it's Morph ability lets you get around Pro Green creatuers or Equipment and cards like Engineered Plague.
Its a 1 of at lest for its off colour mana generation, its even more useful if you are pushing the Glimpse chain. Also, I have hadcaste a Progenitus with this guy before. Useful trick that.
The one drop mana producer, a long staple in the history of the game. Starting with Llanowar Elves, then Fyndhorn Elves, Arbor Elf, Elvish Mystic and a few others, each card tends to do the same thing, tap and add a mana. While Llanowar, Fyndhorn and Arbor add the mana directly as a mana ability, Arbor and Deathrite do not. Their abilities target and can be answered. Because of this I do not sugest using Arbor Elf, unless you are very much invested in a second colour and thing the ability to uptap duals is worth more than having your target Wasted from under you.
The strength of a turn one Mana elf is quite large. With 8 other cards that untap creatures, one of them for the cost of returning a land, you can make some explosive openers with a single mana elf. A hand with a single land, a single mana elf and a Quirion Ranger can break out faster than some decks can dream of answering. Returning the land to replay it after untapping a Llanowar for large and powerful starts.
The amount you use of these Elves will often be a personal choice. I only run a single Fyndhorn Elves, but that is a product of my build. These cards offer you many lines of play and I believe in strong testing to work out the right number for yourself.
A newer card in the history of the deck, this guy has made some real waves in Legacy overall, not just in Elves. For anyone that happens to not know, Deathrite Shaman does everything you need a one drop to do. He gains you mana, he gains you life, he hurts the other guy and he trades with most turn one creatures in the format. He really is a very strong choice. The deck with a count lower than four is either doing something fancy or doing something on a budget.
DRS adds in excess of 500 dollars to your deck. With the cost of the card alone on the increase, the necessary additions of 8/10 Fetch Lands and 2 Bayou make this one of the single most wallet punishing choices when building this deck. While black opens up sideboard options, it's not a necessitation to run this card in the deck. A cheaper choice would be to run any single cost mana elf in his place until you have the funds needed to upgrade.
The mana engine of the deck. I have seen more Heritage Druids eat removal that almost any other creature in my deck. This guy is the core of many of the decks plays, it turns one drop elves into fast mana and it can do crazy things alongside cards like Nettle Sentinel. Add in Glimpse of Nature and you can draw your whole deck in a turn. Even outside of that play, you can get more mana turn two off this guy than most legacy decks see in a game.
Run four but do not be afraid to side him out.
So you want a one drop 2/2 with Vigilance in your deck yes? Well then let me suggest Nettle Sentinel. Not only is he a working part of the combo alongside Heritage Druid, he is also a great turn one play. He can beat down early if needed, but he can also be used to power out mana as you untap him just to tap him each time you play a creature. This means you can make a large amount of mana as you use him with Druid in a glimpse chain.
A four of easy. Good card all round.
Deceptively powerful, Quirion Ranger is an often overlooked powerhouse in an Elf deck. Not only can she save your nonbasic Forests, She can be used with a Fetch to find a Dryad Arbor, block any big creature and then return the Dryad to your hand to null out the attack.
But that's not the real power here. That would be her use turn 2. If you have dropped a mana elf turn one (Llanowar elves, DRS so on) you can play Ranger off a land, tap the elf for mana, untap the elf and replay the land. This basicly nets you 3 mana for a single card played. If you have any other one drop and a Heritage Druid, you can play them too and tap for another 3 mana. This can make opening hands highly explosive.
Later in the game her use does not decrees thanks to use combat trick with Dryad and her ability to untap creatures for lethal attacks. Run at lest 3 of her, I run 4.
Do note, her ablity is a once a turn trick, unless she is bounced and replayed with Wirewood Symbiote. Then you can do it twice.
Welcome to the most Elvish non elf card in the game. (Sylvan Safekeeper does not count) Wirewood Symbiote is a lovely little monster than likes to send stuff back to you hand and then untap stuff. The thing here being that the cost is often more useful that the effect. Returing cards to your hand lets you replay them for Glimpse, draw two extra cards a turn with Elvish Visionary and Maze of Ith big creatures in combat. All ticks of high value, so much so that this guy is the single most killed card in my deck. He sees more bolts, dismembers and Tarfire's than almost the rest of the deck put together.
Solid 4 of. Until the rules change and let us run more.
Combo decks, what do they almost always need to combo off? Cards. Let me introduce you to Elvish Visionary. The decks second draw engine. Why do I say draw Engine, because with Wirewood Symbiote you can draw 3 cards a turn. If you return her to your hand in your opponents turn and play him at the start of your own, then return her after and replay her again, you get a card off her twice. Add in the card you get for the turn and you are gold. This is really a very powerful trick and it is one of the many things that change this from a good deck, to a powerful and great one.
I run 4, even without the trick, she is still an elf that replaces herself. Nothing to shrug at there.
There is something to be said about a card that makes the most expenive cards in the game look cheep. Priest of Titania is easily one of the most powerful elves ever to see print. (Urza's, no shock the card was nuts.) The sad thing is, she does not see the kind of play she once did in the past. But do not let that stop you. She shows up in lists here and there even today and helps fuel some insane lines of play. In decks that are more likely to use Ezuri, Renegade Leader as a seconady win condition.
The card also sees play as a replacement for the land Gaea's Cradle, but this is not really optimal for the deck.
More often a sideboard choice than Main, Viridian Zealot is the most effective answer most elf decks have to enchantments. While some spells that are run also deal with them, Zealot can be tutored for with GSZ, or NO in a pinch. Cards like Moat can shut the deck down cold, so running answers for them is suggestible, even if its not often used.
How much fun can be had with this card. Viridian Shaman, alongside Elvish Visionary, is one of the cards that combo's very well with Wirewood Symbiote. The strong ETB effect with recursion lets you play longer games against decks that run equipment or the dreaded Chalice of the Void. While useful, it is often only a one of due to tight space and its limited use overall. I run one Main, some move it to the side. Does not matter where you have it but having at lest one in your 75 is a must. This card since the printing of M15 has found itslef replaced with our next creature on the list.
The latest update to our little family, sage is a better upgrade from Shaman. The card not only hits Artifacts, but it also targets enchantments in effect replacing Shaman, Zelot and Harmonic Sliver as cards in the 75. The 2/1 stat line is not the best ever for a creature that has a CMC of 3, but it is well worth it. I would suggest one main, one side.
How does this guy not have Trample? Ok he has it when he enters play but after that, I mean have a look at him, please tell me how a Goblin can stop THAT.
Every deck needs a win con. Ours, more often than not is Craterhoof Behemoth. A 5/5 for 8 with Haste, Hoof has the strange ability to make everything very large the turn he lands slamming home for the win with a small army of large trampling elves. Its not very often he is played for the hand either, mostly cheated into play with Natural Order or Green Sun's Zenith . For this reason, you do not need a large amount of the card in your deck, as your plan is not to draw him, but to draw one of your cheat cards and then tutor for him.
So how does he work? Think about it like this. On your second turn you have three elves in play, you pass as you do not have any more elves you can play. But you have a Fetchland. When your next turn comes, you play your fetchland, find a Dryad Arbor, make some mana with either elves you can play or say, Gaea's Cradle, cast Natural Order and find Hoof.
When he enters play he sees your three elves that you have left and himself. So he gives each Creature +4/+4 and Trample. So now you have a 9/9 Hoof and 3 5/5 elves. You attack and you win. Done deal.
Hoof has the most power when he is in your deck, but you may draw one as you play. For this reason it is highly suggested that you play with two. The second adding redundancy in case you draw one, or your made to discard or your Hoof is counted. I personally run two. I would not run more than two.
There is something to be said about Card Advantage, some more to be said about Green Card Advantage. Something that lets you draw your whole deck in a turn? Well now that's something else entirely. Glimpse of Nature is one of the most powerful draw spells in the game. The reason it finds itself used in only two decks though is that you have to build around it. The joy with Elves happens to be that we are a natural fit for the card, and what it lets us do is crazy.
While not the main combo piece any longer, the card still pushes the deck to its Tier One status. Working as both a combo when the stars align and as just a value draw card. Drawing for 6 is not a bad thing to do and when you are really only looking for Natural Order so you can find Hoof, this card lets to see more of your deck for a very cheep mana cost.
Chaining Glimpses can push you past Mana clumpse and Wirewood Symbiote can let you replay creatures. Keep this in mind when you are trying a Glimpse Combo. As for the number, I run 4, it has been the default number for many a year.
Glimpse was at one point the crowning card in the decks combo, the card you would cast and then win. The side effect of this happens to be that you in effect become a green Storm deck, needing to feed your combo or else you fall flat midway in. The issues would arise when clumps of land where hit and to get around this, cards like Regal Force, Weird Harvest and Summoner's Pact where a large part of the early decks.
Even into mid last year many decks (my own included) could be found running these cards. The final deathblow to this style came with the Legendry Rule change. Until this point many decks had run 15 lands max with maybe two Crop Rotation acting as extra lands. With the change the whole mana base found itself re-examined and restructured. With this, Glimpse no longer worked the way it once had as now the likely chance of hitting lands before you could cast a Wirewood or a second Glimpse was increased. As this issue became more and more apparent the change to a NO Hoof deck over full Glimpse was more or less assured.
In a deck where single creatures played at the right moment can make all the difference, Green Sun's Zenith can often be the difference between a game won and a game lost. Being used as extra copies of any of the creatures you have in the deck, alongside the option to grab Sideboard options to answer problematic situations that may arise as you play.
The card does add a lot of power to the deck, but with it comes complexity. Often a game can hinge on getting the perfect card for a situation, but that card may not be the most obvious choice. This increased complexity rewards the people that know the deck inside and out while sometimes punishing those that miss finer details and interactions that some cards may have with one another.
That aside the option to grab any card in the deck, from a Quiron Ranger to the Might Hoof makes it a instant 4 of. Grabbing Viridian Shaman in response to Chalice can sometimes be the most rewarding play you will make all night.
A green Tinker for creatures? Don't mind if I do thanks.
Natural Order order is one of the most powerful cards in this deck. A four drop Tinker than lets you find any single creature in the deck and put it into play. The cards found reflect the situation at hand and sometime choices that seam odd come up. In the middle of a Glimpse chain with your Hoof's in hand, do not fear using the card to fetch a Wirewood Symbote so that you can continue the chain and make more mana. The flashy cards are not always the answer. That said the most common cards found with it are Craterhoof Behemoth, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed and Progenitus. Each one often having the effect of winning the game in one fashion or another.
Even so, contrary to what you might expect, the card is often not a four of in the main. Many players split the card to have three main and one in the side. The reason for this is that drawing the card in multiples tends to do nothing but clump up your hand. This is not a bad plan since Glimpse can help you find the card. Still, feel free to experiment with your build. The power of NO is undebatable so feel free to Tinker.
Though not often played any more Summoner's Pact was at one point a poplar choice in this deck. While still seeing some fringe play in older style decks, it tends to be betten out by GSZ and NO as the tutor's of choice by modern players. Still if you wish to push the Glimpse Combo for whatever reason, this card is a good choice.
While not as common as it was before the rules change, Crop Rotation is still quite the played card. Seen in place of Gaea's Cradle, or sometimes in addition to them, this card is a fetchland for any land.
Do keep in mind that you have to Sacrifice a land as part of it's cost. So if it it counted, you lose that land and do not get a replacement.
The Forest is the traditional home of the Elves, run a few of these and give them somewhere to live.
Also the ability to drop a Basic in a format where Wasteland is worshipped as a Demi God is a very strong thing. I run two, others one. Just run some. Also if you want to be mean you can run Foil basics from the new sets to confuse people when you play Dryad Arbor. Speaking of which;
Is it a creature? Is it a land? Yep, its both. Dryad Arbor is one of those oddities in Magic. Something that you know really should not be but you are thankful does anyway. Useful for all kinds of tricks, Dryad is run often as a one or two of in decks. While I will cover the tricks used more in that part of the Primer, I would like to point of the two most common.
First turn you can GSZ for 0 and get a Dryad. While this is not the most effective use of a GSZ, sometimes that extra speed is what you need to kick yourself off.
The second is using it in a sweet little combat trick. With Quiron Rangers you can block an incoming creature, say a Germ token, return the Dryad to your hand and nullify all the damage. You do not lose a land, they gain no life. Then on your turn you drop the Dryad again as an uncountable land and do it all over again.
Two other rules to keep in mind.
One, if she does not have Haste, she can not tap for mana the turn she enters play.
Two, She counts as your land drop to play from your hand.
Still a very useful card.
There are four kinds of fetchlands that can be used in Elves. They are Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath and Wooded Foothills. Other than being a way to fix your Colours, Fetch a Dryad Arbor and food for DRS, Fetchlands do little more than take the place of whatever land you happen to need at the time. Due to the need to feed DRS, I personally suggest at lest 8. Some lists run as many as 10.
On a side note, you have access you 4 lands, if you plan on playing in competitive matches, I suggest swapping them up a little. While uncommon some people will try and Extract your fetchlands. If you only run 2 of each then that trick will not do much, if you run 4 of one set, it can hurt.
There are four Dual lands that can be used in Elves. These are Bayou, Savannah, Taiga and Tropical Island. Bayou is often the only one that has any maindeck use, the others will be picked dependent on sideboard choices.
Welcome ladies and gents to Urza's Block. One of the most broken sets ever printed. From this block we get the card Gaea's Cradle. (Its not all good news, Goblins got Lackey...) There is much to be said about the power of this card, but mostly it comes down to this, if you have them, your deck will often be faster. Fast can and sometimes does mean turn two kills.
The most powerful thing about Cradle now happens to be that you can chain them. This can lead to Hardcast Hoof's on turn 3 by chaining a second turn Cradle into a third turn one. There are few other cards that can make so much mana.
The cracks in the cards power start to show when its the only card in your opening hand. This can sting. Add on top of this that the card will lose almost all power after a board sweeper and it can be a pain. I have had my Bayou Wasted and my board wiped before, only to sit looking at a Cradle wishing it was a basic. So play smart, while it is powerful, it has its cost.
Most decks these days run a playset, if you do not have four running Crop Rotation in place of the ones your missing is the best plan.
While Affinity as a deck is not common in Legacy, Artifacts and Enchantments are. Krosan Grip lets you destroy most of them with almost complete impunity. Please do note that casting this spell will Trigger Counterbalance and if the card on top of that players library as a CMC of 3, Grip will still be counted. In most other situations you will find whatever you want gone, gone. Use this if you need it.
Crop Rotation is sometimes seen in the side as a toolbox so that you can get lands that you have in your sideboard too. Cards like Bojuka Bog and Karakas can be fetched from your deck at instant speed with Rotation.
This is a useful trick, but your open yourself up to issues should you draw the card you would normally Rotate for.
Some people place their fourth copy of Natural Order in the sideboard. This is not a bad plan if you find you draw into too many of them.
Anyone need a touch of Therapy? Cabal Therapy is an effective discard spell that requires a large amount of knowledge about the game and the decks you will face. You bring this in against Combo, but you also need to know what to name. While you can use it as a Probe and then sac a creature, its most effective when used with in-depth understanding of the different decks in the format.
Its a strong choice and its use as an anti combo card is sometimes the very thing that will save you. If you think you might lose next turn and you do not know what to name, name the most scary thing that they could be playing and hope for a hit.
Another strong combo hate card, Thoughtsieze is an easier card to use than Therapy but that does not make for worse card. You get to openly see someone's hand, then pick the card and take it. This is most effective against decks that can just win in a turn as you can take the cards they need and then race them.
Every good deck needs removal and Abrupt Decay is ours. This card is powerful and in our colours. But the biggest draw for me is that it can take out Counterbalance. Do not think that's all. You can pick off problem cards like Æther Vial, Painters Servant, Blood Moon ect. The trick with this card is knowing when to bring it in and when to leave it out. Some decks it will just need to be used, but against others you need to weigh up the loss of speed you risk when you dilute your core list against the value of the targets you take out.
A strong card that can be used against Strom, Mindbreak Trap is seen as a catch all way to stop some decks cold. The issue is that the card in itself is a trap because most Storm players can and do play around it. As it only hates on one deck and only to a limited effect, I would play Ruric Thar over it. But some like it and it can have a strong effect on the game.
A relatively new card, (as of the date of this primer) Swan Song is making waves as an answer to board wipes and other crazy things. While having match ups against Combo, it also holds use against decks like Delver. The reason is that you can stop Rough from dealing two damage to everything. It can stop some charms from giving your creatures -1/-1 and other board wipe effects. I am about to test this, I will update in the future as to how I feel it goes. But as of submission, the option holds promise.
What do you call two turn clock with pro everything? Answer Progenitus. This is a very common sideboard card, coming in as a second win con against decks with heavy disruption. See there is not a lot of decks that can stop a creature like Progenitus making him a great option in those matches where you cannot hope to have enough elves for a single leathal strike.
Fairly self explanatory, Viridian Shaman comes in when you need art hate. Good card, can be fetched and is an elf. Bounced and replayed with Wirewood. If not main, you want one here.
Once the crown in the debate to splash white, Qasali Pridemage is now often unseen. Still it is a tutor target and it does its job well.
Lets all break stuff in harmony. Harmonic Sliver is another card carried over from the fading white splash. Still a very strong card. Also since its effect happens AS it enters play, sometimes you can sneak it in with GSZ when it would have otherwise found itself counted and get its effect right there on the spot.
Once the card seen as most useful against combo. These days that role falls mostly to the Discard and Counter cards. Still he is very strong and if needed, Gaddock Teeg can see some games though that you had no right in winning.
He is a Pridemage that costs slightly more to use but is mono green and an elf. I like him, others don't. But if you are having issues with Enchantments, Viridian Zealot has you covered.
Well well, when you need good storm and combo hate, sometimes you get everything you need right here. Ruric Thar, the Unbowed is a great card to stop some decks. Those that storm off or durdle around with deck manipulation die to him. Honestly though, there is few feelings that are better than dropping him on your second turn off a NO against Storm.
Grave hate? Check. Life gain? Check. Big beater? Check. Sounds like Scavenging Ooze is a good card to have around then.
This two drop 2/2 is mostly in the sideboard as a tutorable grave hate card. Its a job he does well. Thanks to the massive amounts of mana this deck can make, I have emptied out someone's dredged up grave in a single turn before. Have one at hand, two is not a bad call either. Also very good against RDW's so stop their Undying creatures and gain you life.
The artifact grave hate of choice. Tormod's Crypt is free but only hits their grave, Relic of Progenitus costs two mana and nets you a card while blowing out both. I used to use Relic as it can stop Gofy, but these days I use Ooze. Still are both strong cards, I would have a look at them both.
TNN, Delver, Knight and Gofy now do not untap? Wow what's the downside? Good news, there is no downside. Meekstone is a great Weapon against the Legacy format. (Get it?) It will hose some decks like Fish quite hard and makes Delver cry. If you are having issues with these decks or others that try and Tempo you out with cheap but effect beaters, Stone them to death.
This card hoses this deck. Really really hates on it. But there are some decks it hates on Harder. Dredge, some Storm, Reanimator and other GSZ heavy decks. Its a Meta call, but if you need it, use it.
This little guy is a godsend in some matches. You can shut down some decks with it. Hitting top with a Pithing Needle and shutting down some of Miracles power is fun. Hitting Sneak Attack or Griselbrand can be just as fun. I do suggest a look at this guy.
Sometimes you feel the need to add in some more grave hate. If you happen to be running Crop Rotation then Bojuka Bog is a fine answer. I do warn against leaning too hard on it though. It you happen to draw it you lose your instant speed Grave wipe. Still its a strong card and black can be used in this deck. Give it a look.
SnT or Reanimator getting you down? Try Karakas as an effective way of being a royal pain. Simple to use, hard to stop this card can be rotated in to stop big beastys from breaking your night. Have a look at it if you do happen to be running Crop Rotation.
Elves is not a simple deck. While it looks that way at first glance, if you look deeper, you see some very powerful lines of play. These can win games for those that are in the know but can be overlooked by those that don't.
This is in no way a full list, and I fully expect to be increasing this as time goes on. But for now, count this as an incomplete learning tool. I am going to make this simple, only listing out the tricks and not going into depth over them.
Dryad Arbor
GSZ on turn one for it. This gives a speed boost turn two as if you had played a Mana elf.
Qurion Ranger lets you bounce and null damage. Then you can play Dryad as your land drop so it can not be countered. Stops things like Batterskull from gaining life or Jitte from gaining tokens.
Fetch lands can look for the card. Then the card can be used as a Creature for NO's sac cost or to block an incoming attack.
Wirewood Symbiote
Wirewood combo's well with almost any card that produces mana as an untap target. Also can untap elves for Heritage activations. Do note you can untap your opponents creatures. This comes into play when they have creatures that would die when targeted with a ability. (Phantasmal Image for example.)
The cost to untap is returning a Creature (Elf) to your hand. As it is a cost, it can not be responded to. You can use this to save creatures from removal or to regain effects like Visionary's Draw trigger or Shaman's Destroy Artifact trigger.
This means you can Draw Three Cards a Turn by returing Visionary during your opponents turn, playing it in your turn and then bouncing it to play it again. On top of your draw step that's two extra cards a turn.
You can use him in a Glimpse chain to have extra creatures to play if you are out of options in your hand.
You can Null Damage with him and any elf by bouncing the elf to your hand after blocks but before damage. You can do this with a Morphed Birchlore Rangers, blocking the card, flipping rangers and returning it to your hand, to get around Pro Green effects.
You can use this card with Dryad Arbor to null damage of incoming attacks.
You can use a land twice in a turn if you are going to miss your land drop by returning a tapped land to your hand, replaying it untapped and tapping it again.
You can use this card to great effect with Heritage Druid to gain massive amounts of mana with her untap effects.
With Wirewood Symbiote you can gain large use of her effects by returning her to your hand, to replay her and getting a fresh use of her ability. Yes you can in effect use her twice in a turn.
Green Sun's Zenith
You can use this as an accelerant with Dryad Arbor by fetching it on your first turn.
It can be used as a toolbox card, letting you answer situations by finding answers to issues. This helps by letting the deck run a few one of's in the main and side.
As some of you may know, Julian Knab took out the BOM last year with a 61 card elf deck. It powered I think a good amount of interest that the deck has had since. Here is his list:
Figure I may as well move my report over to the new thread.
This is my mini tournamant report from playing Friday at the MVP 1K event in Lancaster PA. There were 19 players.
Here is the list I played.
X4 Wireewood Symbiote
X3 Heritage Druid
X4 Deathrite Shaman
X4 Elvish Visionary
X4 Quirion Ranger
X4 Nettle Sentinel
X2 Craterhoof Behemoth
X1 Birchlore Ranger
X1 Llanowar Elves
X4 Glimpse of Nature
X4 Green Sun's Zenith
X4 Natural Order
X1 Crop Rotation
X4 Verdant Catacombs
X3 Mysty Rainforest
X2 Wooded Foothills
X2 Gaea's Cradle
X1 Overgrown Tomb
X1 Bayou
X2 Dryad Arbor
X5 Forest
Game 1 against RUG Delver, win 2/3
Meekstone single handidly won me the final two games. Its so good if you can get it to stick.
Game 2 against Jund, loose 0/2
Game one, I drew 6 lands in a row, and just did nothing, game two he devistated my board and hand. It was a sad game for the little green guys.
Game 3 against Landstill, win 2/3
Game three he had Jace at 12 counters and I was dead next turn. I came back in the craziest way! Hard casted Craterhoof met a FOW, then I followed it up with a Natural Order into my 2nd Craterhoof to win with just enough damage to get it done!
Game 4 against GWU delver/Stoneforge/TNN/exalted., I'm sure there is a proper name for the deck.. win 2/0
Playing 4 natural Order's won me this game with no question. At one point I cast 3 Natural Order's in two turns. The final one got me Hoof for the win!
Game 1 of top 8 against RWU Delver, win 2/3
Game one I had Progenitis turn 3 and there is just no answer to it.
Game two, just sad face on my side of the board.
Game 3 my opponent made two mistakes in a row with countering poorly, then not using his Grim Lavamancer to take out my Drad Arbor. This gave me the opening for turn 4 Progenitus and a fast scooping of the cards on my opponents side.
At this point it was 12:30am, and I was ready for bed! Luckily for me, the rest of the guys felt the same and we decided to split the winnings. I walked away with a Force of Will, and a Misty Rainforest.
A few things I learned from the matches.
4 Natural Orders will be staying main deck from now on! Its just so good.
Quirion Ranger with Deathrite Shaman almost feel like cheating!
Meekstone against Delver decks is crazy!
The biggest thing though is never fold early! This deck is so resiliant againt board disruption its sick! There were two diffrent games that I was sure I was going to loose and came back in both. One against an active Jitte and the other against a Jace at 12 counters.
Kevin
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Vintage! Where the early game is Shuffling, the midgame is Mulliganing, and the Late game is turn 1
I'll share my most recent list I've had for little while now. It has been performing great on MTGO. I was preparing for a large GPT at my LGS but was unable to make it this weekend.
There are probably some slightly different things going on here than whats been the most main stream. To start, I've dropped back to 1 Dryad Arbor. There has been only a couple circumstances I wished I had 2 and honestly this may not be a permanent change. My thought process behind the main deck is to be as consistent as possible. I personally hate seeing Dryad in my opening hand. Having 2, with 2 Craterhoofs, makes for 4 cards (plus Ruric for those running him main) we do not want to see in our opener or early draws. So far the drop to 1 Dryad is working; however I'm not saying its better than 2. I love having 2, I was a big advocate for elves players to make the move to 2, just trying it this way for now. I dropped to 3 Heritage Druid just because I don't think the 4th was necessary, and I wanted Ooze main deck to deal with main deck things.
I don't have Ruric at all in my list anymore. I did the main deck Ruric, didn't care for it as it never won me a game 1. Game 2 and 3 when I put that 4th NO in, and identified what deck I was playing before losing to it, yes sure it was great; however Swan Song/Mindbreak Trap helps there too. Is it as good?
Swan Song, as suggested in the new primer, is the new hot thing running around. It has won me games, most notably against Miracles and also against other combo. When this losses its luster I'll likely add Ruric back, and drop that Tropical Island for either a 3rd Basic or 10th fetch. If I put Ooze back in the board I'll likely go back to 2 Arbors, but Ooze main deck has been an MVP. Never a disappointment to see it, and the same goes for Viridian Shaman most of the time.
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GBR Elves UBR ANT R Burn
UR Gift Storm GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron GW Aura RW Burn
GBWUR Child of Alara BWR Kaalia of the Vast UWR Narset, Enlightened Master GWR Uril, the Miststalker
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
This is Andrew Cuneo's Top 8 list from GP Washington DC last November. He is probably one of the best Elves players I've ever seen and is the reason why I built the deck. He often streams it on Twitch as well.
I've played this list with great success, and still like the White splash over Red. The single Ooze in the main has really made a difference in my Meta. Lots of Dredge, Goyfs and Snapcaster Mages. Being able to tutor it up, and keep these decks in check is worth the 1 of slot in this list.
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I know what it does, what does it DO?
-Michael Jacob
This is Andrew Cuneo's Top 8 list from GP Washington DC last November. He is probably one of the best Elves players I've ever seen and is the reason why I built the deck. He often streams it on Twitch as well.
I've played this list with great success, and still like the White splash over Red. The single Ooze in the main has really made a difference in my Meta. Lots of Dredge, Goyfs and Snapcaster Mages. Being able to tutor it up, and keep these decks in check is worth the 1 of slot in this list.
Do you happen to have a link to his stream?
And yes, Ooze is great in my meta as well. I think anything with gyard related decks (combo or not) and tempo in general, Ooze is a monster. I've never regretting having it main, and only regretted taking it out a while back. Of course its a meta thing and Elves players have played great with it just in the board, but I'm a fan of it main for that added help.
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GBR Elves UBR ANT R Burn
UR Gift Storm GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron GW Aura RW Burn
GBWUR Child of Alara BWR Kaalia of the Vast UWR Narset, Enlightened Master GWR Uril, the Miststalker
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
I will add that to the deck lists when I am home. Done.
I have played with Ooze main, while I see what he can do, I just don't need him there. Still he can save some games you have no right in winning. Also, I tend not to fear Goyf, we just have far too many combat tricks as well as far too much speed that I seldom find him an issue
I have played with Ooze main, while I see what he can do, I just don't need him there. Still he can save some games you have no right in winning. Also, I tend not to fear Goyf, we just have far too many combat tricks as well as far too much speed that I seldom find him an issue
My sideboard is mainly focused towards the faster combo decks, like Belcher, Storm, and Oops All Spells. I feel like the maindeck has a strong match-up against a lot of the fair decks like RUG, Death & Taxes, etc. My only fear is the lack of basics, only having 2 seems to be a bad game against Wasteland. I would cut the singleton Savannah, but I can't count how many times Gaddock Teeg has won me games 2 & 3 against fringe decks. Sometimes it feels like win-more though, or just guarantee's my lock, so I may just cut him so I can have more diversity in the side, and another Forest in the main.
I know it isn't very popular lately, but I'm still a very big fan of Elvish Archdruid. It's allowed me some wild come-backs. Not being afraid of trade with other 1/1's and get more aggressive is a nice plus too. A lot of the time I just win by flooding the board and turning dudes sideways... not combo or Craterhoof needed!
Ruric-Thar is by far my favorite addition to the deck.
My sideboard is mainly focused towards the faster combo decks, like Belcher, Storm, and Oops All Spells. I feel like the maindeck has a strong match-up against a lot of the fair decks like RUG, Death & Taxes, etc. My only fear is the lack of basics, only having 2 seems to be a bad game against Wasteland. I would cut the singleton Savannah, but I can't count how many times Gaddock Teeg has won me games 2 & 3 against fringe decks. Sometimes it feels like win-more though, or just guarantee's my lock, so I may just cut him so I can have more diversity in the side, and another Forest in the main.
I know it isn't very popular lately, but I'm still a very big fan of Elvish Archdruid. It's allowed me some wild come-backs. Not being afraid of trade with other 1/1's and get more aggressive is a nice plus too. A lot of the time I just win by flooding the board and turning dudes sideways... not combo or Craterhoof needed!
Ruric-Thar is by far my favorite addition to the deck.
Have you ever playtested viridian shaman in the main? Also, have you encountered any mulligan issues running 4 cradles?
Have you ever playtested viridian shaman in the main? Also, have you encountered any mulligan issues running 4 cradles?
This may come off as sounding noob-ish, but I haven't really found a reason to maindeck a Virdian Shaman. Why? I haven't played an SCG event since March last year, but I do play Legacy tournaments about once a month, and still haven't found a reason why I should make a spot for it. Is it Stoneforge decks that rock Umezawa's Jitte? RUG Delver sees some play around here, but not a lot of people have caught onto Patriot Delver... one here or there. Esper Stoneblade type-decks have seen a huge decrease in play in my meta the last year. Death & Taxes isn't a bad match-up. There are plenty of decks I would bring in Shaman for, especially if they rock Grafdigger's Cage. Is Shaman just a safety precaution? I'm not quite sure what to cut to be honest...
Awkward hands occur more often with 4 Cradle's, and I'll be honest... it gets irritating. But our "outs," speed, and overall win percentage have increased greatly. I've had troubles with mulligans in the past where I get the 1 Cradle hand and no other lands, just to mulligan to a zero-land hand (or vice-versa), but in general the legend-rule has greatly benefited us. I was running 3 for a while and it generally ran the same.
The deck benefits from at lest 14 "Opening" lands. Those that can in some way give you mana on turn one. If your running less than that number, I would be surprised if your not finding yourself mulling a fair bit.
Viridian normally takes the place of NO number 4. But it's your call. I personally switch back and forth depending on how I feel that night, but in a large event, I would maindeck Art hate.
Just noted that Karametra's Favor Works in the elves list.
1G
Enchant creature
When Karametra's Favor enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Enchanted creature has "{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
If you can land it on Nettle Sentinel it basically fills the same role as Heritage Druid, making it so that Sentinel will provide one mana for ever spell. I know the deck already had access to Paradise mantle if it wanted to do this, but at the same time this has some pros and cons
Pros
Green so untaps sentinel
Immune to Null rod and Stony silence
Cantrips
Adds to devotion (if that becomes relevant with Nyxthos or something)
Cons
Costs 1 more
Weaker to removal
Anti Draw stuff hurts it a bit more (spirit of the maze and the like)
What do we cut for Karametra's Favor, and isn't Heritage Druid + Sentinel just better?
The value in Nettle Sentinel is to be able to cast a ton of spells to keep using it. 3 mana will let us cast nearly every card in our deck aside from NO and Hoof.
Karametra's Favor will not give us enough mana to cast Visionary, which is part of the draw engine. Visonary + Symbiote, draw cards with Glimpse cast another Symbiote, replay Visonary etc.
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I know what it does, what does it DO?
-Michael Jacob
No ninth fetch, no llanowar elves? Elvish Archdruid AND Ezuri? Plan B beatdown is sweet if Craterhoof gets plowed/stifled. Feedback is welcome. I'm a new elves player but i've been creeping on Salvation and the source. Julian's, cuneos, and LSV's streams have been tremendously helpful. I'm glad to be a part of the team!
edit: just ordered another windswept heath. Took julians advice and vow never go under 9 fetchlands!
I'm currently only at 6 Fetches due to budget restraints. My money is currently being geared towards Modern as no SCG's are coming by soon. I have a handful of other fetches, but eventually I'll let loose and get some Windswept's and/or Wooded Foothills. 4 Verdant and 2 Misty shall due for now
I'm honestly a big fan of 1 Ezuri and 1 Archdruid in my list. Going to a bigger event I would cut the Ezuri, but for local 4 and 5 round events, the plan B beatdown is sweet! I can keep pretty loose hands game 1 with just dorks, small dudes, and/or a Heritude Druid and go insane with the Archdruid or Ezuri. I'm honestly surprised just swinging with a board of 2/2's and 3/3's, or 4/4 tramplers for the win happen more often then I thought it would. The only disappointment is Ezuri's regeneration rarely plays a role in games. If they're killing our dudes, it's mostly from a Perish rather than a 1v1 removal spell. Always safe to have though if combat gets nasty.
I am not the biggest fan of the Ezuri lists. Yes, they can work, but they will not have the same strength as the other lists. Because you need to either cut a Hoof, or you need to cut some of the supporting cards. Both feel like bad ideas.
I'm still fairly new to legacy. I already have Merfolk deck, but have a question about Elves. How well does Deathrite Shaman work in mono green Elves? I understand I wouldn't be able to access one of his abilities due to not having black mana source. I can't splash black or any other color with Elves for awhile, but curious on Deathrite Shaman.
Also, would anyone happen to know the match up with Merfolk vs Elves? If I'm not mistaken, Elves win more times, but how do you even the match up out?
I've only faced Jund in testing. The ability to untap DRS means we can usually steal the lands they are trying to exile and deny them mana. They have no fliers, so we can block & bounce all day against them.
Most of their removal is one-for-one, and since we aren't on much of a clock that isn't a big problem. Lily can be a pain - especially if we are unable to go off early due to discard. It might not hurt to board in some discard for her.
I'm still fairly new to legacy. I already have Merfolk deck, but have a question about Elves. How well does Deathrite Shaman work in mono green Elves? I understand I wouldn't be able to access one of his abilities due to not having black mana source. I can't splash black or any other color with Elves for awhile, but curious on Deathrite Shaman.
Also, would anyone happen to know the match up with Merfolk vs Elves? If I'm not mistaken, Elves win more times, but how do you even the match up out?
The deck isn't mono green. There is a black splash, and then a choice between white and red for the second splash.
Alright, thanks. Just curious if it could run just mono green.
Sorry I misread your question. You could do mono green but it would be significantly worse (especially post-board) and you would probably want llanowar/fyndhorn/mystic instead of DRS.
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Combo elves is a Creature based combo deck. It uses a combination of creatures to create a mana engine it can then exploit to play a storm like strategy with Glimpse of Nature or use Natural Order to find a single card win condition. The common choices include Craterhoof Behemoth to win in a single devastating attack or Progenitus in the cases where removal is an issue.
There is another Primer (Better done than mine) over on The Source. There is a lot of cross over between what is discussed. I am active on both threads and I would suggest you check out that one too.
Over time decks change, Elves is far from different. The early combo decks look nothing like the deck does now as the deck slowly matured. The ages of the deck, as the options in cards, pass in time with set printings. Lets have a look at them:
The age of the Elfball.
Yes, that is the name of the earliest decks. I was not playing elves at this point, but I was playing. More than once I took a Fireball to the face from an Priest of Titania buffed blast. Yes you read that right, the early days of Elves combo used a Fireball to kill. The deck looked like an aggro deck, running big beats off massive mana that could end a game with a single card draw. The deck was very consistent, yet it was not as fast as some of the more modern builds.
The Tides of Change.
The Tides pulled with them change. Early builds used cards like Birchlore Rangers to make quick mana, but something new was in the air. Lorwyn. The Block brought new toys, the most potent was the combination of Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel. The two cards together where powerful, but long before, in a set people like to pretend was never printed, another card had been printed. That card was Glimpse of Nature. When the three cards where combined, the deck could draw as many cards as the Channel Fireball decks of old. But that was not all. Another card, Regal Force had also been printed. While not an elf, he could help with the drawing of cards and its cost was a non issue. Oh and the most nuts thing, three of the four cards where printed in the same block. Change was upon us, a new age of Elves was on the rise.
Rise of the Eldrazi.
We all know that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world after drinking far too much. I have no idea what Wizards was drinking when they decided to make a card in his image. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is, to this day, one of the most crazy cards printed. Know the wonderful thing? 15 mana, yea, so what we have elves. So it came to be, that a 15 mana bomb was added to our decks. That 15 mana card could not be counted, untapped everything and had Haste as well as just all round breaking the other guy. The deck was close to its apex, it just needed one more push.
The age of the Mirror.
It took some time but the push needed came. That push was Mirror Entity. The card itself was not a big deal, but its ablity to make Wirewood Symbiote an elf, add on any big mana producer and you had a fun time ahead. With this mana you could then pump all your creatures to insane power and attack for an arbitrary number of damage. You would do this by tapping a creature for at lest three mana, making everything an elf, bouncing Wirewood to untap the mana elf, replaying it and starting over. Fun times. But...
The age of Power.
Craterhoof Behemoth was soon printed leading to the current age of elves. This 8 drop, 5/5 monstrosity was the last push the deck needed to become Tier One. The card found itself quickly accepted, but people where not totally sure what to do with its power. Some builds ran one Hoof, one Regal Force. Others ran Emrakel main still. It would take one last push to end confusion and unite the Elvish Masters. I honestly feel this came with the changing of the Primers on MTG The Source and the latest offerings that SCG had been hit with. This pushed out all of the older Tec and hammed home Hoof, NO, and GSZ as the optimum build of elves. This also pushed the deck to the very limits of its power, letting it win quite consistently on its third turn. Not a bad achievement for Legacy's weakest Colour. But there was still one more gift to come.
The new age of change.
On the 13th of July 2013, the Legend rule in MTG changed again. The new changes found Elves with even more power. Under the old rules you could only have out one Legend card with a given name. If you played another they both went to the grave as a state-based action. The new rules said you could have 2 at once, only you had to sacrifice one of the two Legendary cards. What this meant was that the deck could go from running two Gaea's Cradle and two Crop Rotation, to running four Gaea's Cradle. This change may seam small, but it had a massive impact on the deck. With the changing of the options, the whole mana base was re-examined. People went from 16 land builds to 19 and 20 lands. The deck started to run more smoothly and you no longer had the weakpoint of Rotation. This weakness had been that a Rotation could be counted levering you with one less mana source and one likely broken combo play. With this we enter the current age, the dawn of the green men and women that, with a touch of mana can do crazy plays in little to no time at all.
The deck also has a mass of "Must Answer" spells that give control decks headaches. While the days of playing against inexperienced players whom are willing to counter a turn one Heritage Druid appear to be a thing of the past, NO, Glimpse, GSZ and some of the hardcast creatures lead into situations that other decks need to respond to or lose. This means that game one, even without protection, you can still play past counters with the sheer weight of spells that must be answered.
Lastly, the deck has what I personally think is one of the most broken lines of play in the format. I am told Ancestral Recall is not a half bad card. We just happen to play a better one.
Its a 1 of at lest for its off colour mana generation, its even more useful if you are pushing the Glimpse chain. Also, I have hadcaste a Progenitus with this guy before. Useful trick that.
The strength of a turn one Mana elf is quite large. With 8 other cards that untap creatures, one of them for the cost of returning a land, you can make some explosive openers with a single mana elf. A hand with a single land, a single mana elf and a Quirion Ranger can break out faster than some decks can dream of answering. Returning the land to replay it after untapping a Llanowar for large and powerful starts.
The amount you use of these Elves will often be a personal choice. I only run a single Fyndhorn Elves, but that is a product of my build. These cards offer you many lines of play and I believe in strong testing to work out the right number for yourself.
Run four but do not be afraid to side him out.
A four of easy. Good card all round.
But that's not the real power here. That would be her use turn 2. If you have dropped a mana elf turn one (Llanowar elves, DRS so on) you can play Ranger off a land, tap the elf for mana, untap the elf and replay the land. This basicly nets you 3 mana for a single card played. If you have any other one drop and a Heritage Druid, you can play them too and tap for another 3 mana. This can make opening hands highly explosive.
Later in the game her use does not decrees thanks to use combat trick with Dryad and her ability to untap creatures for lethal attacks. Run at lest 3 of her, I run 4.
Do note, her ablity is a once a turn trick, unless she is bounced and replayed with Wirewood Symbiote. Then you can do it twice.
Solid 4 of. Until the rules change and let us run more.
I run 4, even without the trick, she is still an elf that replaces herself. Nothing to shrug at there.
The card also sees play as a replacement for the land Gaea's Cradle, but this is not really optimal for the deck.
Every deck needs a win con. Ours, more often than not is Craterhoof Behemoth. A 5/5 for 8 with Haste, Hoof has the strange ability to make everything very large the turn he lands slamming home for the win with a small army of large trampling elves. Its not very often he is played for the hand either, mostly cheated into play with Natural Order or Green Sun's Zenith . For this reason, you do not need a large amount of the card in your deck, as your plan is not to draw him, but to draw one of your cheat cards and then tutor for him.
So how does he work? Think about it like this. On your second turn you have three elves in play, you pass as you do not have any more elves you can play. But you have a Fetchland. When your next turn comes, you play your fetchland, find a Dryad Arbor, make some mana with either elves you can play or say, Gaea's Cradle, cast Natural Order and find Hoof.
When he enters play he sees your three elves that you have left and himself. So he gives each Creature +4/+4 and Trample. So now you have a 9/9 Hoof and 3 5/5 elves. You attack and you win. Done deal.
Hoof has the most power when he is in your deck, but you may draw one as you play. For this reason it is highly suggested that you play with two. The second adding redundancy in case you draw one, or your made to discard or your Hoof is counted. I personally run two. I would not run more than two.
While not the main combo piece any longer, the card still pushes the deck to its Tier One status. Working as both a combo when the stars align and as just a value draw card. Drawing for 6 is not a bad thing to do and when you are really only looking for Natural Order so you can find Hoof, this card lets to see more of your deck for a very cheep mana cost.
Chaining Glimpses can push you past Mana clumpse and Wirewood Symbiote can let you replay creatures. Keep this in mind when you are trying a Glimpse Combo. As for the number, I run 4, it has been the default number for many a year.
Even into mid last year many decks (my own included) could be found running these cards. The final deathblow to this style came with the Legendry Rule change. Until this point many decks had run 15 lands max with maybe two Crop Rotation acting as extra lands. With the change the whole mana base found itself re-examined and restructured. With this, Glimpse no longer worked the way it once had as now the likely chance of hitting lands before you could cast a Wirewood or a second Glimpse was increased. As this issue became more and more apparent the change to a NO Hoof deck over full Glimpse was more or less assured.
The card does add a lot of power to the deck, but with it comes complexity. Often a game can hinge on getting the perfect card for a situation, but that card may not be the most obvious choice. This increased complexity rewards the people that know the deck inside and out while sometimes punishing those that miss finer details and interactions that some cards may have with one another.
That aside the option to grab any card in the deck, from a Quiron Ranger to the Might Hoof makes it a instant 4 of. Grabbing Viridian Shaman in response to Chalice can sometimes be the most rewarding play you will make all night.
Natural Order order is one of the most powerful cards in this deck. A four drop Tinker than lets you find any single creature in the deck and put it into play. The cards found reflect the situation at hand and sometime choices that seam odd come up. In the middle of a Glimpse chain with your Hoof's in hand, do not fear using the card to fetch a Wirewood Symbote so that you can continue the chain and make more mana. The flashy cards are not always the answer. That said the most common cards found with it are Craterhoof Behemoth, Ruric Thar, the Unbowed and Progenitus. Each one often having the effect of winning the game in one fashion or another.
Even so, contrary to what you might expect, the card is often not a four of in the main. Many players split the card to have three main and one in the side. The reason for this is that drawing the card in multiples tends to do nothing but clump up your hand. This is not a bad plan since Glimpse can help you find the card. Still, feel free to experiment with your build. The power of NO is undebatable so feel free to Tinker.
Do keep in mind that you have to Sacrifice a land as part of it's cost. So if it it counted, you lose that land and do not get a replacement.
Also the ability to drop a Basic in a format where Wasteland is worshipped as a Demi God is a very strong thing. I run two, others one. Just run some. Also if you want to be mean you can run Foil basics from the new sets to confuse people when you play Dryad Arbor. Speaking of which;
Dryad Arbor is one of those oddities in Magic. Something that you know really should not be but you are thankful does anyway. Useful for all kinds of tricks, Dryad is run often as a one or two of in decks. While I will cover the tricks used more in that part of the Primer, I would like to point of the two most common.
First turn you can GSZ for 0 and get a Dryad. While this is not the most effective use of a GSZ, sometimes that extra speed is what you need to kick yourself off.
The second is using it in a sweet little combat trick. With Quiron Rangers you can block an incoming creature, say a Germ token, return the Dryad to your hand and nullify all the damage. You do not lose a land, they gain no life. Then on your turn you drop the Dryad again as an uncountable land and do it all over again.
Two other rules to keep in mind.
One, if she does not have Haste, she can not tap for mana the turn she enters play.
Two, She counts as your land drop to play from your hand.
Still a very useful card.
On a side note, you have access you 4 lands, if you plan on playing in competitive matches, I suggest swapping them up a little. While uncommon some people will try and Extract your fetchlands. If you only run 2 of each then that trick will not do much, if you run 4 of one set, it can hurt.
The most powerful thing about Cradle now happens to be that you can chain them. This can lead to Hardcast Hoof's on turn 3 by chaining a second turn Cradle into a third turn one. There are few other cards that can make so much mana.
The cracks in the cards power start to show when its the only card in your opening hand. This can sting. Add on top of this that the card will lose almost all power after a board sweeper and it can be a pain. I have had my Bayou Wasted and my board wiped before, only to sit looking at a Cradle wishing it was a basic. So play smart, while it is powerful, it has its cost.
Most decks these days run a playset, if you do not have four running Crop Rotation in place of the ones your missing is the best plan.
This is a useful trick, but your open yourself up to issues should you draw the card you would normally Rotate for.
Its a strong choice and its use as an anti combo card is sometimes the very thing that will save you. If you think you might lose next turn and you do not know what to name, name the most scary thing that they could be playing and hope for a hit.
Harmonic Sliver is another card carried over from the fading white splash. Still a very strong card. Also since its effect happens AS it enters play, sometimes you can sneak it in with GSZ when it would have otherwise found itself counted and get its effect right there on the spot.
This two drop 2/2 is mostly in the sideboard as a tutorable grave hate card. Its a job he does well. Thanks to the massive amounts of mana this deck can make, I have emptied out someone's dredged up grave in a single turn before. Have one at hand, two is not a bad call either. Also very good against RDW's so stop their Undying creatures and gain you life.
This is in no way a full list, and I fully expect to be increasing this as time goes on. But for now, count this as an incomplete learning tool. I am going to make this simple, only listing out the tricks and not going into depth over them.
Dryad Arbor
GSZ on turn one for it. This gives a speed boost turn two as if you had played a Mana elf.
Qurion Ranger lets you bounce and null damage. Then you can play Dryad as your land drop so it can not be countered. Stops things like Batterskull from gaining life or Jitte from gaining tokens.
Fetch lands can look for the card. Then the card can be used as a Creature for NO's sac cost or to block an incoming attack.
Wirewood Symbiote
Wirewood combo's well with almost any card that produces mana as an untap target. Also can untap elves for Heritage activations. Do note you can untap your opponents creatures. This comes into play when they have creatures that would die when targeted with a ability. (Phantasmal Image for example.)
The cost to untap is returning a Creature (Elf) to your hand. As it is a cost, it can not be responded to. You can use this to save creatures from removal or to regain effects like Visionary's Draw trigger or Shaman's Destroy Artifact trigger.
This means you can Draw Three Cards a Turn by returing Visionary during your opponents turn, playing it in your turn and then bouncing it to play it again. On top of your draw step that's two extra cards a turn.
You can use him in a Glimpse chain to have extra creatures to play if you are out of options in your hand.
You can Null Damage with him and any elf by bouncing the elf to your hand after blocks but before damage. You can do this with a Morphed Birchlore Rangers, blocking the card, flipping rangers and returning it to your hand, to get around Pro Green effects.
Quirion Ranger
Can save you lands from Wasteland.
You can use this card with Dryad Arbor to null damage of incoming attacks.
You can use a land twice in a turn if you are going to miss your land drop by returning a tapped land to your hand, replaying it untapped and tapping it again.
You can use this card to great effect with Heritage Druid to gain massive amounts of mana with her untap effects.
With Wirewood Symbiote you can gain large use of her effects by returning her to your hand, to replay her and getting a fresh use of her ability. Yes you can in effect use her twice in a turn.
Green Sun's Zenith
You can use this as an accelerant with Dryad Arbor by fetching it on your first turn.
It can be used as a toolbox card, letting you answer situations by finding answers to issues. This helps by letting the deck run a few one of's in the main and side.
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Heritage Druid
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Birchlore Rangers
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
Land
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Gaea's Cradle
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Dryad Arbor
2 Bayou
2 Forest
2 Windswept Heath
1 Taiga
1 Natural Order
2 Mindbreak Trap
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Progenitus
2 Pithing Needle
1 Scavenging Ooze
Earlier in the year, Leo Schulhof got second at the BOM with this:
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Priest of Titania
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
2 Birchlore Rangers
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Beck // Call
3 Natural Order
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Lands [15]
1 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
2 Forest
2 Gaea's Cradle
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Windswept Heath
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Flusterstorm
3 Spell Pierce
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Abrupt Decay
Andrew Cuneo, GP Washington DC November 2013. This deck demonstrates the White splash very well.
2 Bayou
2 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
4 Gaea’s Cradle
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
Creatures
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
1 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
3 Natural Order
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Thoughtseize
1 Worldspine Wurm
One of our own, Daniel Nguyen (The man that wrote the primer for this deck on The Source) got top 8 at SCG Seattle with this:
1 Birchlore Rangers
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
2 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Priest of Titania
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Regal Force
4 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Crop Rotation
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
Lands
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
3 Gaea's Cradle
1 Harmonic Sliver
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Progenitus
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Duress
1 Natural Order
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Karakas
At the SCG open Philadelphia Reid Duke took the money with this:
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Fyndhorn Elves
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Llanowar Elves
Spells
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Gaea's Cradle
2 Dryad Arbor
2 Bayou
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Savannah
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Forest
1 Natural Order
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Progenitus
2 Mindbreak Trap
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Thoughtseize
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.
This is my mini tournamant report from playing Friday at the MVP 1K event in Lancaster PA. There were 19 players.
Here is the list I played.
X4 Wireewood Symbiote
X3 Heritage Druid
X4 Deathrite Shaman
X4 Elvish Visionary
X4 Quirion Ranger
X4 Nettle Sentinel
X2 Craterhoof Behemoth
X1 Birchlore Ranger
X1 Llanowar Elves
X4 Glimpse of Nature
X4 Green Sun's Zenith
X4 Natural Order
X1 Crop Rotation
X4 Verdant Catacombs
X3 Mysty Rainforest
X2 Wooded Foothills
X2 Gaea's Cradle
X1 Overgrown Tomb
X1 Bayou
X2 Dryad Arbor
X5 Forest
Side board
X2 Meekstone
X1 Duress
X1 Thoughtseize
X3 Cabal Theropy
X1 Scavenging Ooze
X3 Abrupt Decay
X1 Progenitus
X1 Ruric Thar
X1 Veridan Shaman
X1 Pithing Needle
Game 1 against RUG Delver, win 2/3
Meekstone single handidly won me the final two games. Its so good if you can get it to stick.
Game 2 against Jund, loose 0/2
Game one, I drew 6 lands in a row, and just did nothing, game two he devistated my board and hand. It was a sad game for the little green guys.
Game 3 against Landstill, win 2/3
Game three he had Jace at 12 counters and I was dead next turn. I came back in the craziest way! Hard casted Craterhoof met a FOW, then I followed it up with a Natural Order into my 2nd Craterhoof to win with just enough damage to get it done!
Game 4 against GWU delver/Stoneforge/TNN/exalted., I'm sure there is a proper name for the deck.. win 2/0
Playing 4 natural Order's won me this game with no question. At one point I cast 3 Natural Order's in two turns. The final one got me Hoof for the win!
Game 1 of top 8 against RWU Delver, win 2/3
Game one I had Progenitis turn 3 and there is just no answer to it.
Game two, just sad face on my side of the board.
Game 3 my opponent made two mistakes in a row with countering poorly, then not using his Grim Lavamancer to take out my Drad Arbor. This gave me the opening for turn 4 Progenitus and a fast scooping of the cards on my opponents side.
At this point it was 12:30am, and I was ready for bed! Luckily for me, the rest of the guys felt the same and we decided to split the winnings. I walked away with a Force of Will, and a Misty Rainforest.
A few things I learned from the matches.
4 Natural Orders will be staying main deck from now on! Its just so good.
Quirion Ranger with Deathrite Shaman almost feel like cheating!
Meekstone against Delver decks is crazy!
The biggest thing though is never fold early! This deck is so resiliant againt board disruption its sick! There were two diffrent games that I was sure I was going to loose and came back in both. One against an active Jitte and the other against a Jace at 12 counters.
Kevin
I'll share my most recent list I've had for little while now. It has been performing great on MTGO. I was preparing for a large GPT at my LGS but was unable to make it this weekend.
3 Heritage Druid
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Birchlore Ranger
1 Viridian Shaman
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature
3 Natural Order
Land 18
4 Verdant Catacomb
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Gaea’s Cradle
2 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
2 Forest
2 Pithing Needle
3 Thoughtseize
3 Swan Song
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
There are probably some slightly different things going on here than whats been the most main stream. To start, I've dropped back to 1 Dryad Arbor. There has been only a couple circumstances I wished I had 2 and honestly this may not be a permanent change. My thought process behind the main deck is to be as consistent as possible. I personally hate seeing Dryad in my opening hand. Having 2, with 2 Craterhoofs, makes for 4 cards (plus Ruric for those running him main) we do not want to see in our opener or early draws. So far the drop to 1 Dryad is working; however I'm not saying its better than 2. I love having 2, I was a big advocate for elves players to make the move to 2, just trying it this way for now. I dropped to 3 Heritage Druid just because I don't think the 4th was necessary, and I wanted Ooze main deck to deal with main deck things.
I don't have Ruric at all in my list anymore. I did the main deck Ruric, didn't care for it as it never won me a game 1. Game 2 and 3 when I put that 4th NO in, and identified what deck I was playing before losing to it, yes sure it was great; however Swan Song/Mindbreak Trap helps there too. Is it as good?
Swan Song, as suggested in the new primer, is the new hot thing running around. It has won me games, most notably against Miracles and also against other combo. When this losses its luster I'll likely add Ruric back, and drop that Tropical Island for either a 3rd Basic or 10th fetch. If I put Ooze back in the board I'll likely go back to 2 Arbors, but Ooze main deck has been an MVP. Never a disappointment to see it, and the same goes for Viridian Shaman most of the time.
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker
2 Bayou
2 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
4 Gaea’s Cradle
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Savannah
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
Creatures
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
1 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun’s Zenith
3 Natural Order
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Thoughtseize
1 Worldspine Wurm
This is Andrew Cuneo's Top 8 list from GP Washington DC last November. He is probably one of the best Elves players I've ever seen and is the reason why I built the deck. He often streams it on Twitch as well.
I've played this list with great success, and still like the White splash over Red. The single Ooze in the main has really made a difference in my Meta. Lots of Dredge, Goyfs and Snapcaster Mages. Being able to tutor it up, and keep these decks in check is worth the 1 of slot in this list.
-Michael Jacob
Do you happen to have a link to his stream?
And yes, Ooze is great in my meta as well. I think anything with gyard related decks (combo or not) and tempo in general, Ooze is a monster. I've never regretting having it main, and only regretted taking it out a while back. Of course its a meta thing and Elves players have played great with it just in the board, but I'm a fan of it main for that added help.
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker
I will add that to the deck lists when I am home.Done.I have played with Ooze main, while I see what he can do, I just don't need him there. Still he can save some games you have no right in winning. Also, I tend not to fear Goyf, we just have far too many combat tricks as well as far too much speed that I seldom find him an issue
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
Very true. Goyf isn't a huge deal for us.
Mr. Cuneo's stream channel: http://www.twitch.tv/andrewcuneo
He streams pretty much most formats, though he's been less active lately. You can still go back and see him in action with Elves though.
-Michael Jacob
4 Heritage Druid
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Regal Force
1 Birchlore Rangers
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Ezuri Renegade Leader
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Gaea's Cradle
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Progenitus
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
I know it isn't very popular lately, but I'm still a very big fan of Elvish Archdruid. It's allowed me some wild come-backs. Not being afraid of trade with other 1/1's and get more aggressive is a nice plus too. A lot of the time I just win by flooding the board and turning dudes sideways... not combo or Craterhoof needed!
Ruric-Thar is by far my favorite addition to the deck.
ex-Moderator
Legacy love.
Have you ever playtested viridian shaman in the main? Also, have you encountered any mulligan issues running 4 cradles?
This may come off as sounding noob-ish, but I haven't really found a reason to maindeck a Virdian Shaman. Why? I haven't played an SCG event since March last year, but I do play Legacy tournaments about once a month, and still haven't found a reason why I should make a spot for it. Is it Stoneforge decks that rock Umezawa's Jitte? RUG Delver sees some play around here, but not a lot of people have caught onto Patriot Delver... one here or there. Esper Stoneblade type-decks have seen a huge decrease in play in my meta the last year. Death & Taxes isn't a bad match-up. There are plenty of decks I would bring in Shaman for, especially if they rock Grafdigger's Cage. Is Shaman just a safety precaution? I'm not quite sure what to cut to be honest...
Awkward hands occur more often with 4 Cradle's, and I'll be honest... it gets irritating. But our "outs," speed, and overall win percentage have increased greatly. I've had troubles with mulligans in the past where I get the 1 Cradle hand and no other lands, just to mulligan to a zero-land hand (or vice-versa), but in general the legend-rule has greatly benefited us. I was running 3 for a while and it generally ran the same.
ex-Moderator
Legacy love.
Viridian normally takes the place of NO number 4. But it's your call. I personally switch back and forth depending on how I feel that night, but in a large event, I would maindeck Art hate.
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
1G
Enchant creature
When Karametra's Favor enters the battlefield, draw a card.
Enchanted creature has "{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
If you can land it on Nettle Sentinel it basically fills the same role as Heritage Druid, making it so that Sentinel will provide one mana for ever spell. I know the deck already had access to Paradise mantle if it wanted to do this, but at the same time this has some pros and cons
Pros
Cons
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
The value in Nettle Sentinel is to be able to cast a ton of spells to keep using it. 3 mana will let us cast nearly every card in our deck aside from NO and Hoof.
Karametra's Favor will not give us enough mana to cast Visionary, which is part of the draw engine. Visonary + Symbiote, draw cards with Glimpse cast another Symbiote, replay Visonary etc.
-Michael Jacob
1 Birchlore Rangers
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
3 Natural Order
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
Lands: 19
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Bayou
2 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Pithing Needle
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Progenitus
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Natural Order
3 Thoughtseize
Thoughts on my deck?
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Birchlore Rangers
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Forest
2 Bayou
2 Dryad Arbor
1 Savannah
3 Gaea's Cradle
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
1 Emrakul
1 Meekstone
1 Rurica Thar, the Unbowed
No ninth fetch, no llanowar elves? Elvish Archdruid AND Ezuri? Plan B beatdown is sweet if Craterhoof gets plowed/stifled. Feedback is welcome. I'm a new elves player but i've been creeping on Salvation and the source. Julian's, cuneos, and LSV's streams have been tremendously helpful. I'm glad to be a part of the team!
edit: just ordered another windswept heath. Took julians advice and vow never go under 9 fetchlands!
I'm honestly a big fan of 1 Ezuri and 1 Archdruid in my list. Going to a bigger event I would cut the Ezuri, but for local 4 and 5 round events, the plan B beatdown is sweet! I can keep pretty loose hands game 1 with just dorks, small dudes, and/or a Heritude Druid and go insane with the Archdruid or Ezuri. I'm honestly surprised just swinging with a board of 2/2's and 3/3's, or 4/4 tramplers for the win happen more often then I thought it would. The only disappointment is Ezuri's regeneration rarely plays a role in games. If they're killing our dudes, it's mostly from a Perish rather than a 1v1 removal spell. Always safe to have though if combat gets nasty.
ex-Moderator
Legacy love.
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
Also, would anyone happen to know the match up with Merfolk vs Elves? If I'm not mistaken, Elves win more times, but how do you even the match up out?
Most of their removal is one-for-one, and since we aren't on much of a clock that isn't a big problem. Lily can be a pain - especially if we are unable to go off early due to discard. It might not hurt to board in some discard for her.
https://fieldmarshalshandbook.wordpress.com/
RUGLegacy Lands.dec
RUGBLegacy Lands.dec
RGLegacy Lands.dec
WUBRG EDH Lands.dec
UBR EDH Artificer Prodigy
B EDH Relentless Rats
The deck isn't mono green. There is a black splash, and then a choice between white and red for the second splash.
Sorry I misread your question. You could do mono green but it would be significantly worse (especially post-board) and you would probably want llanowar/fyndhorn/mystic instead of DRS.