Or let's assume it goes as you say. You go to 18, then 16 or less from two flayer attacks plus the goyf. Then you despair him, he takes 4 and loses his hand. But he's now got a 4/4 flayer, 2 4/5 minimum goys and a shambling vent. Your opponent is at 16 because you swung all out, they crack back for 14, 2 goyf, 1 flayer, and a vent. You go to 2 or you're just dead if you were at 14 and your opponent goes back up to 18. I'm just not seeing it here. I mean this situation seems bad for any elves player, but driven//despair isn't any closer to getting you out of it.
Would they really attack and leave themselves open knowing despair is in the yard? They have perfect information and you should assume your opponent is competent. And why would they take driven//despair with thoughtseize when it forces you to cast it and either make an unprofitable attack or no attack just to get it in the yard. They'll keep taking your threats and removing your board making driven//despair a dead card or at least less potent. If you get in to top deck mode, lead seems much better since you don't have to rely on having a positive board state for it to be effective.
He was putting me on a clock each turn by attacking and so I eventually had to make the decision to block anyways. If he didn't discard Driven and I attacked with 5 elves and both modes, I would lose one attacking creature to two of his blockers and net 6 cards (3 draw/3 discard), I'd say that's totally profitable.
If he didn't choose to continuously attack, that means Despair is threatening enough to change his line of play. That means I wouldn't have to chump block to survive big goyf/flayer hits. That means I would have survived more turns to hopefully draw into a company. In my situation, Lead in my opener remains inferior to Driven // Despair for all these reasons.
I won't deny that with a weak board state and if my opponent has at least 4 untapped creatures, Lead is no doubt the better top deck.
Ok so he puts you on the clock in your example, and he makes you discard despair. This means Despair isn't changing his game plan like you say. And if you start to make the decision of chump blocking then you definitely aren't attacking all out to maximize the card anyway.
As you say, it's a *****ty situation no matter what card the chord could be but what I've been trying to say is that with Despair I'll have some line of play vs no line of play.
Ultimately, only so much can be hypothesized so let me come back to you guys with actual results.
The card can have wild degrees of variance, from win-more to a do-nothing (i.e. casting both halves with a full board vs having both halves countered).
Being better than x, y, or z in a given scenario can potentially mean it is too niche to run in larger numbers.
Despair appears to be the real power on the card, as menace is much harder to deal with than trample, and discard is as good or better than the card draw (at least, in my opinion).
This is also besides the fact that, unlike Lead, Chord, or Company, we already need bodies on the field capable of attacking for the card to be usable. Otherwise it's just dead in our hand.
Worth testing, and I think I might even pick up one or two for fun, but I'm a hopeful skeptic over exactly how good the card will be for now.
Had a very magic dense day today, played a six round PPTQ and 3 Comp Leagues on MODO, ended up:
4-2 at the PPTQ (died at a win and in vs Jund)
2-3
3-2 - across 3 comp leagues
4-1
13-8 for the day using the list I listed a page back, which is not a bad effort overall for the day.
Will likely play with the following list tomorrow for a couple leagues. Notable changes/test cards:
Driven // Despair in the main - I drew it one game during the 4-1 run and I managed to draw 3, make opp discard 3 for value, but he was on Blue Tron so stuck a Platinum Angel and my Rec Sage was already used up. It showed some promise that game, and since there's been a ton of discussion about it, I might as well give it a go.
Brain Maggot acts as a fourth Thoughtseize for all our fun combo matchups, seems like a good time to bring it out.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary has been getting some hype locally, so I might as well test it too.
Eventually, I will get around to doing some recordings, so look forward to those.
I just went 5-1 for a fourth place finish in a mid size event here in Japan. I used my sultai elves I have been working on for a while. My deck list will be posted on the Monthly Modern Masters site, so I will post my list on here once it's up. I will write a short report once I have a good nights rest. Didn't face many grindy matchups, but faced a lot of fast, linear strategies. I equipped my sultai list with Nissa to beat grindy matchups, but apparently, they weren't bad against fast decks either lol my testing has been that nissa actually helps us combo and become a turn 4 kill deck consistently, rather than hinder it. It has versatility and does some cool things. The main winner for going blue, however, was playing phantasmal image. It was probably the all star of the deck.
It's cool to see @Syreal94 back and rocking the world and see some results from elves decks. Keep the innovation going fellow elves! The deck is not dead at all!
Hello!
Today I went to an Invitational Qualifier and won 1st. 6 rounds with a cut to top 8. Overall great day for me since I literally 2-0 every game except the semi-finals. Sometimes I feel awkward talking about what I did in each round since everyone here knows elves do elf things. Ill keep it minimum.
Round 1: Eldrazi and Taxes (2-0)
This is our free win. Their deck is focus on taxing the meta and D&T just don't have anything that interacts with us besides making us not be able to search our deck sometimes. Which paying (2) allows us to ignore this.
Round 2: Merfolk (2-0)
Same player who knocked me out in top 8 last time. He is definitely one of the better Merfolk players. Knows his outs in bad situations and plays to them. Sadly I did Elf things and won.
Round 3: Eldrazi-Tron (Draw)
My buddy from another store attended and although I most likely would have won, I excepted the draw in favor of not making it two hard on the other for top 8. We instead played EDH at the number 2 table.
Round 4: Company Counters (2-0)
Raced him game 1 and won.
Game 2. A well times Revoker prevented him from winning. He later removed the revoker and i responded with a dismember on Vizier. Later he cast'd Eternal Witness to return Vizier and I responded with Chord for 2, exile it with Ooze. Answered his combo 3 times while setting up lethal.
Round 5: Eldrazi-Tron
Ran him over. Twice.
Round 6: Unsure (Draw)
Round 7: Jeskai Creature Tempo (2-0)
Ran him over quickly.
Game 2 hes Spell Queller Ezuri. Then again on company. I knew he was playing Quellers since i saw him play in an earlier match. So I brought in dismember even though I didn't see Spell Queller game 1. Because of this, i cast'd 2 companies in the same turn and killed him with Shamans and Chords.
Round 8: Eldrazi-Tron (2-1)
Same player from round 5. Had a great hand game 1 and killed him.
Kept a garbage had which drew into more garbage game 2. Obvious mulligan and I don't know why I kept.
Game 3 I was running him over until 2 Walking Ballista started clearing most of my board. Had him at 3 and he miss played by taping out to put more counters on 1 instead of casting more blockers. Got through for the exactly 3.
Round 9: Affinity (2-0)
Had a pretty fast hand both games. Game 2 I didn't need any of my hate for him. Had a faster hand.
Decided to put the rest in a spoiler since well, don't like spamming my 75 everytime I post results. Especially since my list is pretty standard tight elf list. Also some back story I don't feel like sharing with everyone. Just anyone who is interested in reading the karma.
Wanted to share but I am unsure if its appropriate on here. Last IQ I fell short of top 8. Luckly my buddy stayed till top 4. Before this, the breakers were tight. Didn't think my buddy would make it unless he played and he drew anyway. Knocking another player out and putting in 9th by like .01 or something. He was very unhappy about this. Caused a fuss and said another player in the top 8 bribed a player(which he didnt) to DQ him so he could play. Yeah, got him DQ. an investigation was held but in the end, didnt get what he wanted which was to be in top 8. In my opinion, one of the worse players I have interacted with.
Today, He was there again. Same store. This time he earn his way to the top 8. We played the first round and won. Me and two others discussed splitting the cash payout and playing for invitation. He insisted on playing. I played my round 8 opponent and he played his and won. So final round I was matched against him. He asked me if I would split. I promptly said No. I want to play. Possibly not the nicest move on my part but I can tell he was picking his matches at that point and was being greedy. I insisted on playing him and he wasn't happy but it's my choice. I beat him 2-0 and took 1st place prize which I had never received before since I always split at top 4. Even after, he made a huge fuss because his list was going to be posted online but he didn't want his name online. I took my cash and treated my buddy to dinner. Great night and a lot to talk about.
Also final note. I have been working on foiling elves for a while now but I don't want to just buy them online. I enjoy the scavenger hunt. Today I also got my first foil cavern of souls. GREAT DAY. #elves
Apologies for typos. Reread this but it's pretty late for me.
I just went 5-1 for a fourth place finish in a mid size event here in Japan. I used my sultai elves I have been working on for a while. My deck list will be posted on the Monthly Modern Masters site, so I will post my list on here once it's up. I will write a short report once I have a good nights rest. Didn't face many grindy matchups, but faced a lot of fast, linear strategies. I equipped my sultai list with Nissa to beat grindy matchups, but apparently, they weren't bad against fast decks either lol my testing has been that nissa actually helps us combo and become a turn 4 kill deck consistently, rather than hinder it. It has versatility and does some cool things. The main winner for going blue, however, was playing phantasmal image. It was probably the all star of the deck.
It's cool to see @Syreal94 back and rocking the world and see some results from elves decks. Keep the innovation going fellow elves! The deck is not dead at all!
Haven't thought about Phantasmal Image. We've got some ETB targets like Elite, Visionary and Shaman which is nice. Though if you get an Image and a Shaman off CoCo, Image won't see the Shaman since they're coming in at the same time. Would love to see your decklist, asap.
Thanks for the inquiry. Phantasmal Image really shined and I am quite impressed with how it performed. Yes, I am aware that the reveal off of CoCo makes it so the Image can’t copy its partner. I only have one in the deck and with two Chord of Calling, it makes it easy to go pull it out of the deck when we need it. Since the website hasn’t been updated with my deck list, I will go ahead and post it on here and give a short report of what happened yesterday.
Ever since Nissa was spoiled, I have been brewing with the idea that Nissa is actually stronger than she looks. Basically, I had this idea that she can be a flexible version of Lead the Stampede and a win-con on its own against grindy decks that have sweepers, but hard time within permanents (i.e. Path decks). I love the fact that we can use her as a three drop when we need to or a mega drop for a 10/10 when we untap with archdruid. Since grinding some matches, my conclusion that she definitely competes with the Lead slot has not changed, although I have cut down from the original three to two. She is great early, mid and late, but not so great in multiples.
Some may wonder why I have her “compete” with Lead the Stampede. Basically, she is a three drop that smooth out our draws and drop a creature for free for card advantage and help us elf ball. I was skeptical at first, but she actually does not slow our turn four kill anymore than Lead does and definitely give the deck flexibility to win different ways instead of digging for Shaman or Ezuri. Just like when Shaman was spoiled, I found her differing angle of attack to be her most valuable trait.
What I was not expecting, however, was discovering Phantasmal Image. I had traded a foil copy with my friend to help him get his pieces and decided to run some casual games with him. I was pleasantly surprised at how valuable his copying ability was and most importantly, that it costs only two to get another Kitchen Finks, Shaman or Archdruid. Chording for 2 is much easier, I find, than 3.
Games
Round 1 vs Bant Midrange
Game one I lose against a thrice exalted flying 1/1 and I was stuck on lands.
Game 2 we were tied at 4 life, but I found my shaman.
Game 3, I was stuck on two lands with only Heritage Druid on the field. Opponent had four creatures. He beat me down to 1 before I could find my second archdruid with a chord. I thought I had made a mistake since I didn’t have enough to untap and over-run. Somehow, I was thinking that two archdruid would be enough chord for Ezuri (I had two chords in my hand rotting the whole game) and overrun, but I didn’t. Opponent had 13 life and I thought I was dead to the flying beasts, so instead of chording for Ezuri knowing that I wouldn’t have enough damage, I decided to attack with my Druid, Archdruid and Archdruid to the opponent’s untapped creature. Somehow, he decided not to block?! And dropped his life down to 4. I had six mana, so I tapped and pulled a Shaman for the win.
1-0
Round 2 vs GW Tron
Game 1, I mulliganed a lot and he had three Karns!
Game 2, I elfballed before he could pull the trigger.
Game 3, our game stalled with me drawing lands and him drawing lands. The unfortunate thing is that his top deck was better.
1-1
Round 3 vs RG Ramp/Land destruction
Game 1, He ramped into Emperion and I had no answer.
Game 2, He stalled and I stalled, but I pulled a CoCo for the win.
Game 3, Longer game than it should’ve been, but he couldn’t dig for his angers and I CoCoed him to death.
2-1
Round 4 vs BW Aristocrats (friend)
TOTAL ELF BALL TO THE MAX
3-1
Round 5 vs Bogles
Game 1, he mulliganed down to 4! He played first, passed the turn without playing a land and won in three more turns O_0. I couldn’t believe it. He pulled two lands, an enchantment and the crown. It was unbelievable.
Game 2, I won right before he could get his life linker enchantment on.
Game 3, I Reclamation Saged and went faster.
4-1
Round 6 vs Naya Burn
Game 1, he top decked his last spell to kill me. I had brought his life down to 1.
Game 2, I blocked with Nettle Sentinels to drop creatures into the yard so I could eat up to power 4 with my Scavenging Ooze that I had been holding for a while. He couldn’t beat the ooze.
Game 3, I attacked with my ooze which he tried to block with Goblin Guide. I pushed the guide and ate it when he tried to finish my ooze with a helix. He shot two more spells to kill the ooze. His turn ended with only one mana up, so I chorded for kitchen finks. Then, I copied my finks with my image and pulled another finks for the win.
5-1
I hope this report helps. Let me know if you are curious about anything. As you can probably see from the matchup, I found myself pulling out Nissa in a few rounds, but that is expected since I faced many linear decks. It does, however, show the power of Nissa being able to compete in speed with some linear decks.
I don’t think Sultai is the ultimate answer, but I certainly think I it should be serious tested. I am going to stick a while with this deck and will let you all know if I have anything more to report.
I uploaded an image of my deck for those who are more visual
Nissa is fantastic. I have always wanted to fit Nissa in the deck, but with the previous iterations, it wasn't quite synergistic. Voice of Zendikar was close. I used her as a sideboard card against grindy matchups and it did shine there. Steward of Elements is definitely synergistic. Being able to drop a three drop onto the battlefield helps us save on mana (ultimately) and go wide while also providing a win-con when necessary. Nissa doesn't make the deck "faster" than Chord decks, but it isn't any slower compared to Lead decks. At least, this is my limited amount of testing speaking. I think if one is still going for Chord in their build, it would be better to stick to Chord since it is one tempo faster. If, however, one is looking into Lead for grindy matchups, Nissa becomes a competitive option. If Phantasmal Image proves to be quite powerful, as I have surmised, it could give the blue variant some legs to be a serious contender. That is my current thinking.
Yes, the mana was a problem sometimes. No excuses and no belittling of that fact. If the blue cards were all creatures, that would be one thing. But, Nissa is a non-creature and so are Thoughtseizes from the side. I dropped Cavern of Souls count to up the U to ten sources and B to nine sources, which is a minimum for Thoughtseize. I did find that Thoughtseizes are a necessity to fight creature less combo decks. If the color screw is a serious problem, I will have to scrap the idea and stick only to Phantasmal Image, which makes going to blue rather weak. More testing will have to see if it is powerful enough for the risk.
I actually used her +2 ability more than 0. I found that it is more important to threaten an ultimte rather than help going wide. I used the 0 when I would scied and left a powerful elf second from the top (to put down on the battlefield next turn). I found I didn't want to risk an unknown elf when I can just scary into a powerful one or one needed at the moment.
I tested against UW (my friends version), and I found the Nissa to be clutch. UW has a hard time getting rid of planeswalkers and the card advantage or info advantage (from scrying) was powerful against them. Jeskai, I have not tested, but bolts are generally bad for us so we might be less powerful against them with a Nissa build. I just have no idea.
Let me know if you do try it and if you find anything interesting! I am still in the developing and learning stage, so any info will help!
Nissa is fantastic. I have always wanted to fit Nissa in the deck, but with the previous iterations, it wasn't quite synergistic. Voice of Zendikar was close. I used her as a sideboard card against grindy matchups and it did shine there. Steward of Elements is definitely synergistic. Being able to drop a three drop onto the battlefield helps us save on mana (ultimately) and go wide while also providing a win-con when necessary. Nissa doesn't make the deck "faster" than Chord decks, but it isn't any slower compared to Lead decks. At least, this is my limited amount of testing speaking. I think if one is still going for Chord in their build, it would be better to stick to Chord since it is one tempo faster. If, however, one is looking into Lead for grindy matchups, Nissa becomes a competitive option. If Phantasmal Image proves to be quite powerful, as I have surmised, it could give the blue variant some legs to be a serious contender. That is my current thinking.
Yes, the mana was a problem sometimes. No excuses and no belittling of that fact. If the blue cards were all creatures, that would be one thing. But, Nissa is a non-creature and so are Thoughtseizes from the side. I dropped Cavern of Souls count to up the U to ten sources and B to nine sources, which is a minimum for Thoughtseize. I did find that Thoughtseizes are a necessity to fight creature less combo decks. If the color screw is a serious problem, I will have to scrap the idea and stick only to Phantasmal Image, which makes going to blue rather weak. More testing will have to see if it is powerful enough for the risk.
I actually used her +2 ability more than 0. I found that it is more important to threaten an ultimte rather than help going wide. I used the 0 when I would scied and left a powerful elf second from the top (to put down on the battlefield next turn). I found I didn't want to risk an unknown elf when I can just scary into a powerful one or one needed at the moment.
I tested against UW (my friends version), and I found the Nissa to be clutch. UW has a hard time getting rid of planeswalkers and the card advantage or info advantage (from scrying) was powerful against them. Jeskai, I have not tested, but bolts are generally bad for us so we might be less powerful against them with a Nissa build. I just have no idea.
Let me know if you do try it and if you find anything interesting! I am still in the developing and learning stage, so any info will help!
Hey mike,
How do you feel about a potential deck rework that removes the Seizes on your sideboard so you can pack the full playset of Cavern? I think Unified Will does a great job of doing what Seize does in the matchups you'd want it. Maybe something like this?:
3 Forest
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Cavern
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
Thanks for the input! I really haven't tested counterspells, but are they worth it? I have a feeling that they are too reactive and holding up two mana may be an issue, but that is from inexperience, so I am willing to try it. I am definitely wanting to move away from Thoughtseize if I can. I will let you know in my testing how it goes.
I do have experience with Coilling Oracle. I tested him a while and found that he is only worth it after a land drop and revealing a land. If not, it would be the same as visionary. For example, if I was on three mana and I hadn't made a land drop. Coiling oracle would put the land directly into play where as Visionary would draw me the land and I can use my unused land drop to drop the land. Ultimately, it only ramps after I make a land drop and only if I hit the land. I felt that the second color and the fact of showing the card was a bigger negative than the rare times it ramps.
I also tried going strait UG. I just found Nissa's 0 ability to be most relevant when I used it to drop impactful three drops. Dropping Shamans would also make Phantasmal Images less powerful, so I would like to explore Sultai a bit further, but I am certainly willing to be wrong.
I will order Unified Wills and test them. If they work, that would be amazing as I would need a lot less Black sources for my mana.
I tested Unified Will and it served me well. Playing counterspells slows down our game plan a tad but they're generally played on the same turn as Thoughtseize to counter that nasty Anger/Damnation/Karn etc. So rather than going all in and dumping our hand, you play a little more conservatively to keep mana for counter up. Later on we're keeping mana up for Chord/CoCo anyway so they don't always know what might be coming.
As far as cards themselves go, unless your meta game is really creature heavy, I'd rather go for Negate than Unified Will. Creatures generally aren't a problem for us and they can mess with Unified Will if they lower our creature count in response to casting it. Another great early game option is Spell Pierce but this one loses effectiveness later in the game.
FNM Report: 1st place
2-0 Mono-Red Goblins: easy match up, no noticeable highlights with d/d.
2-1 grixis Death's Shadow: I went wide 1st game. 2nd game he had removal for dorks and I got manascrewed. 3rd game Colossus took it.
2-1 Naya burn: 1st game he kept a bunch of two drops then I resolved a T4 d/d discarding 3 of his cards. G2 searing blaze wrecked me. G3 he kept a one lander and got punished for it.
2-0 W D&T: Another easy MU. Driven/Despair resolved both games but they were overkill.
Monday Cash: Drop
2-0 4c Shadow: 1st game he made me go into top deck mode and I got a driven / despair. He was at 10 life with an untapped goyf and 2 DS. I had 10 power on the field, used d/d, drew 4 cards, he discarded 2 bluff cards (land+TS), he took 8, and I played 2 dorks for blocks and a guaranteed win. 2nd game I resolved 2 company by T4 and won because of it.
1-2 Counters company: Definitely one of GB's worst mu. G1 he T3 combos me. G2 I resolved a T3 Thoughtseize getting chord, on his EOT I played company (he had eidolon), and won on my turn. G3 I t1 TS revealing 4 sb cards against me and I chose Mirran but I should've chose path and it cost me the game.
0-2 Counters Company: G1 T3 combo and G2 I t2 TS his Devoted druid. He had 2 lands total with a bunch of chord and companies. He top decks lands and I lose.
Recap on Driven // Despair:
It's good in MUs where Lead is good. Sometimes way better because of Despair's menace and discard. Worse when there's a weak board state. I think a split is optimal as they sorta work in conjuction with each other because Lead gets more Elves for D/D's maximum effect. As someone mentioned earlier, 1-2 seems to be the right number.
I will note that despair does offer some playability in G1 against fast MUs where Lead would be too slow.
For testing purposes, it sucks when I'm up against fast decks like Counters Company and I'm not running Chord. Hopefully I get some less fast MUs in the coming days. Thanks for reading.
I tested Unified Will and it served me well. Playing counterspells slows down our game plan a tad but they're generally played on the same turn as Thoughtseize to counter that nasty Anger/Damnation/Karn etc. So rather than going all in and dumping our hand, you play a little more conservatively to keep mana for counter up. Later on we're keeping mana up for Chord/CoCo anyway so they don't always know what might be coming.
As far as cards themselves go, unless your meta game is really creature heavy, I'd rather go for Negate than Unified Will. Creatures generally aren't a problem for us and they can mess with Unified Will if they lower our creature count in response to casting it. Another great early game option is Spell Pierce but this one loses effectiveness later in the game.
Unified Will seems better than Negate right now simply because it counters Titans and the Storm dorks imo, and it's not like we're ever struggling to get dudes on board.
Edit: You can also mask Unified Will behind a Coco or Chord.
RE: Driven//Despair -
I played it for about 5 leagues on MODO before I found that it just wasn't impactful enough a lot of the time. There were games where it won me the game (one, to be precise), but there were many more times where I drew it on an empty hand, or I drew it facing down a Gideon Jura or other such nonsense.
On a side note, if anyone is curious, my MODO spreadsheet is here. It has my sideboarding + notes on each game, plus mull notes.
[quote from="kavselj »" url="http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/tier-2-modern/767834-collected-company-elves?comment=1110"]
RE: Driven//Despair -
I played it for about 5 leagues on MODO before I found that it just wasn't impactful enough a lot of the time. There were games where it won me the game (one, to be precise), but there were many more times where I drew it on an empty hand, or I drew it facing down a Gideon Jura or other such nonsense.
On a side note, if anyone is curious, my MODO spreadsheet is here. It has my sideboarding + notes on each game, plus mull notes.
In those scenarios when it wasn't impactful, would a Lead have been strictly better? Were both sides weak compared to Lead?
I've been hopeful that it could work in a broad meta but maybe it's more of a niche pick than Lead. That being said I keep thinking about Despair's potential. I'll keep testing and come back to you guys.
Very nice pool of information you got there! I wish I had your patience to sit down and write notes after each game. Keep it up!
@mikeduges:
Since you're in Japan, I thought I might as well give you another crazy meta idea regarding UG Elves that popped into my brain during a shower -
You said last time Phantasmal Image was bad once you drop the Shamans, but how about if we add another target in Thought-Knot Seer instead? 9 blue sources to cast Nissa, and Unified Will/Hurkyl's from the board, and 9 colourless sources main to cast the TKS. You can even supplement the colourless count with Boreal Druid, but I don't think that's quite necessary considering TKS is a four drop - but TKS should prove to improve/justify the Phantasmal Image in the main, and make cards like Visionary/Elite/Archdruid/Witness interact better with it as well. TKS also seems like a good hit off Nissa especially considering X=4 is extremely reasonable in our deck.
Hehehe, check out my picture Syreal. This is why you are my virtual friend and we have been so for two years through thick and thin LOL. Our minds think on the same path.
My thought process was like this. When you recommended again GU Elves, I thought I'd give it another try. And with four cavern's and four Yavimaya coasts, and one shrine, we naturally had nine colorless sources. I actually used for tks in my previous scg top eight build and thought naturally that I would try it in the UG too.
With this Im going to try three spell pierces instead of two mana counter spells so that I can protect tks better. You putting it in main deck is interesting. I don't know if I have enough guts to do that LOL. But it might be worth Exploring.
Thought-Knot Seer proved as a viable option in my limited testing with Eldritch Evolution back when it was spoiled. People simply weren't expecting an Eldrazi from an Elves deck.
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
He was putting me on a clock each turn by attacking and so I eventually had to make the decision to block anyways. If he didn't discard Driven and I attacked with 5 elves and both modes, I would lose one attacking creature to two of his blockers and net 6 cards (3 draw/3 discard), I'd say that's totally profitable.
If he didn't choose to continuously attack, that means Despair is threatening enough to change his line of play. That means I wouldn't have to chump block to survive big goyf/flayer hits. That means I would have survived more turns to hopefully draw into a company. In my situation, Lead in my opener remains inferior to Driven // Despair for all these reasons.
I won't deny that with a weak board state and if my opponent has at least 4 untapped creatures, Lead is no doubt the better top deck.
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
BLiliana, Heretical HealerB| |GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
GWBDoom Plane EnchantressBWG
Ultimately, only so much can be hypothesized so let me come back to you guys with actual results.
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
This is also besides the fact that, unlike Lead, Chord, or Company, we already need bodies on the field capable of attacking for the card to be usable. Otherwise it's just dead in our hand.
Worth testing, and I think I might even pick up one or two for fun, but I'm a hopeful skeptic over exactly how good the card will be for now.
My Modern Playlist:
BWTokens | GBElves
4-2 at the PPTQ (died at a win and in vs Jund)
2-3
3-2 - across 3 comp leagues
4-1
13-8 for the day using the list I listed a page back, which is not a bad effort overall for the day.
Will likely play with the following list tomorrow for a couple leagues. Notable changes/test cards:
Driven // Despair in the main - I drew it one game during the 4-1 run and I managed to draw 3, make opp discard 3 for value, but he was on Blue Tron so stuck a Platinum Angel and my Rec Sage was already used up. It showed some promise that game, and since there's been a ton of discussion about it, I might as well give it a go.
Brain Maggot acts as a fourth Thoughtseize for all our fun combo matchups, seems like a good time to bring it out.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary has been getting some hype locally, so I might as well test it too.
Eventually, I will get around to doing some recordings, so look forward to those.
I just went 5-1 for a fourth place finish in a mid size event here in Japan. I used my sultai elves I have been working on for a while. My deck list will be posted on the Monthly Modern Masters site, so I will post my list on here once it's up. I will write a short report once I have a good nights rest. Didn't face many grindy matchups, but faced a lot of fast, linear strategies. I equipped my sultai list with Nissa to beat grindy matchups, but apparently, they weren't bad against fast decks either lol my testing has been that nissa actually helps us combo and become a turn 4 kill deck consistently, rather than hinder it. It has versatility and does some cool things. The main winner for going blue, however, was playing phantasmal image. It was probably the all star of the deck.
It's cool to see @Syreal94 back and rocking the world and see some results from elves decks. Keep the innovation going fellow elves! The deck is not dead at all!
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Today I went to an Invitational Qualifier and won 1st. 6 rounds with a cut to top 8. Overall great day for me since I literally 2-0 every game except the semi-finals. Sometimes I feel awkward talking about what I did in each round since everyone here knows elves do elf things. Ill keep it minimum.
Round 1: Eldrazi and Taxes (2-0)
This is our free win. Their deck is focus on taxing the meta and D&T just don't have anything that interacts with us besides making us not be able to search our deck sometimes. Which paying (2) allows us to ignore this.
Round 2: Merfolk (2-0)
Same player who knocked me out in top 8 last time. He is definitely one of the better Merfolk players. Knows his outs in bad situations and plays to them. Sadly I did Elf things and won.
Round 3: Eldrazi-Tron (Draw)
My buddy from another store attended and although I most likely would have won, I excepted the draw in favor of not making it two hard on the other for top 8. We instead played EDH at the number 2 table.
Round 4: Company Counters (2-0)
Raced him game 1 and won.
Game 2. A well times Revoker prevented him from winning. He later removed the revoker and i responded with a dismember on Vizier. Later he cast'd Eternal Witness to return Vizier and I responded with Chord for 2, exile it with Ooze. Answered his combo 3 times while setting up lethal.
Round 5: Eldrazi-Tron
Ran him over. Twice.
Round 6: Unsure (Draw)
Round 7: Jeskai Creature Tempo (2-0)
Ran him over quickly.
Game 2 hes Spell Queller Ezuri. Then again on company. I knew he was playing Quellers since i saw him play in an earlier match. So I brought in dismember even though I didn't see Spell Queller game 1. Because of this, i cast'd 2 companies in the same turn and killed him with Shamans and Chords.
Round 8: Eldrazi-Tron (2-1)
Same player from round 5. Had a great hand game 1 and killed him.
Kept a garbage had which drew into more garbage game 2. Obvious mulligan and I don't know why I kept.
Game 3 I was running him over until 2 Walking Ballista started clearing most of my board. Had him at 3 and he miss played by taping out to put more counters on 1 instead of casting more blockers. Got through for the exactly 3.
Round 9: Affinity (2-0)
Had a pretty fast hand both games. Game 2 I didn't need any of my hate for him. Had a faster hand.
Decided to put the rest in a spoiler since well, don't like spamming my 75 everytime I post results. Especially since my list is pretty standard tight elf list. Also some back story I don't feel like sharing with everyone. Just anyone who is interested in reading the karma.
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Dwynen's Elite
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Shaman of the Pack
2x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4x Forest
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
4x Blooming Marsh
2x Horizon Canopy
Spells (8)
4x Collected Company
4x Chord of Calling
2x Chameleon Colossus
2x Reclamation Sage
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Fecundity
1x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Spellskite
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Tajuru Preserver
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Burrenton Forge-Tender
1x Dismember
Wanted to share but I am unsure if its appropriate on here. Last IQ I fell short of top 8. Luckly my buddy stayed till top 4. Before this, the breakers were tight. Didn't think my buddy would make it unless he played and he drew anyway. Knocking another player out and putting in 9th by like .01 or something. He was very unhappy about this. Caused a fuss and said another player in the top 8 bribed a player(which he didnt) to DQ him so he could play. Yeah, got him DQ. an investigation was held but in the end, didnt get what he wanted which was to be in top 8. In my opinion, one of the worse players I have interacted with.
Today, He was there again. Same store. This time he earn his way to the top 8. We played the first round and won. Me and two others discussed splitting the cash payout and playing for invitation. He insisted on playing. I played my round 8 opponent and he played his and won. So final round I was matched against him. He asked me if I would split. I promptly said No. I want to play. Possibly not the nicest move on my part but I can tell he was picking his matches at that point and was being greedy. I insisted on playing him and he wasn't happy but it's my choice. I beat him 2-0 and took 1st place prize which I had never received before since I always split at top 4. Even after, he made a huge fuss because his list was going to be posted online but he didn't want his name online. I took my cash and treated my buddy to dinner. Great night and a lot to talk about.
Also final note. I have been working on foiling elves for a while now but I don't want to just buy them online. I enjoy the scavenger hunt. Today I also got my first foil cavern of souls. GREAT DAY. #elves
Haven't thought about Phantasmal Image. We've got some ETB targets like Elite, Visionary and Shaman which is nice. Though if you get an Image and a Shaman off CoCo, Image won't see the Shaman since they're coming in at the same time. Would love to see your decklist, asap.
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW
Thanks for the inquiry. Phantasmal Image really shined and I am quite impressed with how it performed. Yes, I am aware that the reveal off of CoCo makes it so the Image can’t copy its partner. I only have one in the deck and with two Chord of Calling, it makes it easy to go pull it out of the deck when we need it. Since the website hasn’t been updated with my deck list, I will go ahead and post it on here and give a short report of what happened yesterday.
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Dwynen’s Elite
3 Elvish Visionary
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Collected Company
2 Chord of Calling
Planeswalker
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
Lands
2 Forest
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Windswept Heath
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Yavimaya Coast
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Chord of Calling
1 Fatal Push
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Thoughtseize
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Chameleon Colosus
2 Hurkyl’s Recall
1 Phyrexian Revoker
Reason for Sultai
Ever since Nissa was spoiled, I have been brewing with the idea that Nissa is actually stronger than she looks. Basically, I had this idea that she can be a flexible version of Lead the Stampede and a win-con on its own against grindy decks that have sweepers, but hard time within permanents (i.e. Path decks). I love the fact that we can use her as a three drop when we need to or a mega drop for a 10/10 when we untap with archdruid. Since grinding some matches, my conclusion that she definitely competes with the Lead slot has not changed, although I have cut down from the original three to two. She is great early, mid and late, but not so great in multiples.
Some may wonder why I have her “compete” with Lead the Stampede. Basically, she is a three drop that smooth out our draws and drop a creature for free for card advantage and help us elf ball. I was skeptical at first, but she actually does not slow our turn four kill anymore than Lead does and definitely give the deck flexibility to win different ways instead of digging for Shaman or Ezuri. Just like when Shaman was spoiled, I found her differing angle of attack to be her most valuable trait.
What I was not expecting, however, was discovering Phantasmal Image. I had traded a foil copy with my friend to help him get his pieces and decided to run some casual games with him. I was pleasantly surprised at how valuable his copying ability was and most importantly, that it costs only two to get another Kitchen Finks, Shaman or Archdruid. Chording for 2 is much easier, I find, than 3.
Games
Round 1 vs Bant Midrange
Game one I lose against a thrice exalted flying 1/1 and I was stuck on lands.
Game 2 we were tied at 4 life, but I found my shaman.
Game 3, I was stuck on two lands with only Heritage Druid on the field. Opponent had four creatures. He beat me down to 1 before I could find my second archdruid with a chord. I thought I had made a mistake since I didn’t have enough to untap and over-run. Somehow, I was thinking that two archdruid would be enough chord for Ezuri (I had two chords in my hand rotting the whole game) and overrun, but I didn’t. Opponent had 13 life and I thought I was dead to the flying beasts, so instead of chording for Ezuri knowing that I wouldn’t have enough damage, I decided to attack with my Druid, Archdruid and Archdruid to the opponent’s untapped creature. Somehow, he decided not to block?! And dropped his life down to 4. I had six mana, so I tapped and pulled a Shaman for the win.
1-0
Round 2 vs GW Tron
Game 1, I mulliganed a lot and he had three Karns!
Game 2, I elfballed before he could pull the trigger.
Game 3, our game stalled with me drawing lands and him drawing lands. The unfortunate thing is that his top deck was better.
1-1
Round 3 vs RG Ramp/Land destruction
Game 1, He ramped into Emperion and I had no answer.
Game 2, He stalled and I stalled, but I pulled a CoCo for the win.
Game 3, Longer game than it should’ve been, but he couldn’t dig for his angers and I CoCoed him to death.
2-1
Round 4 vs BW Aristocrats (friend)
TOTAL ELF BALL TO THE MAX
3-1
Round 5 vs Bogles
Game 1, he mulliganed down to 4! He played first, passed the turn without playing a land and won in three more turns O_0. I couldn’t believe it. He pulled two lands, an enchantment and the crown. It was unbelievable.
Game 2, I won right before he could get his life linker enchantment on.
Game 3, I Reclamation Saged and went faster.
4-1
Round 6 vs Naya Burn
Game 1, he top decked his last spell to kill me. I had brought his life down to 1.
Game 2, I blocked with Nettle Sentinels to drop creatures into the yard so I could eat up to power 4 with my Scavenging Ooze that I had been holding for a while. He couldn’t beat the ooze.
Game 3, I attacked with my ooze which he tried to block with Goblin Guide. I pushed the guide and ate it when he tried to finish my ooze with a helix. He shot two more spells to kill the ooze. His turn ended with only one mana up, so I chorded for kitchen finks. Then, I copied my finks with my image and pulled another finks for the win.
5-1
I hope this report helps. Let me know if you are curious about anything. As you can probably see from the matchup, I found myself pulling out Nissa in a few rounds, but that is expected since I faced many linear decks. It does, however, show the power of Nissa being able to compete in speed with some linear decks.
I don’t think Sultai is the ultimate answer, but I certainly think I it should be serious tested. I am going to stick a while with this deck and will let you all know if I have anything more to report.
I uploaded an image of my deck for those who are more visual
Happy elfballing friends!!!
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Nissa is fantastic. I have always wanted to fit Nissa in the deck, but with the previous iterations, it wasn't quite synergistic. Voice of Zendikar was close. I used her as a sideboard card against grindy matchups and it did shine there. Steward of Elements is definitely synergistic. Being able to drop a three drop onto the battlefield helps us save on mana (ultimately) and go wide while also providing a win-con when necessary. Nissa doesn't make the deck "faster" than Chord decks, but it isn't any slower compared to Lead decks. At least, this is my limited amount of testing speaking. I think if one is still going for Chord in their build, it would be better to stick to Chord since it is one tempo faster. If, however, one is looking into Lead for grindy matchups, Nissa becomes a competitive option. If Phantasmal Image proves to be quite powerful, as I have surmised, it could give the blue variant some legs to be a serious contender. That is my current thinking.
Yes, the mana was a problem sometimes. No excuses and no belittling of that fact. If the blue cards were all creatures, that would be one thing. But, Nissa is a non-creature and so are Thoughtseizes from the side. I dropped Cavern of Souls count to up the U to ten sources and B to nine sources, which is a minimum for Thoughtseize. I did find that Thoughtseizes are a necessity to fight creature less combo decks. If the color screw is a serious problem, I will have to scrap the idea and stick only to Phantasmal Image, which makes going to blue rather weak. More testing will have to see if it is powerful enough for the risk.
I actually used her +2 ability more than 0. I found that it is more important to threaten an ultimte rather than help going wide. I used the 0 when I would scied and left a powerful elf second from the top (to put down on the battlefield next turn). I found I didn't want to risk an unknown elf when I can just scary into a powerful one or one needed at the moment.
I tested against UW (my friends version), and I found the Nissa to be clutch. UW has a hard time getting rid of planeswalkers and the card advantage or info advantage (from scrying) was powerful against them. Jeskai, I have not tested, but bolts are generally bad for us so we might be less powerful against them with a Nissa build. I just have no idea.
Let me know if you do try it and if you find anything interesting! I am still in the developing and learning stage, so any info will help!
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
Hey mike,
How do you feel about a potential deck rework that removes the Seizes on your sideboard so you can pack the full playset of Cavern? I think Unified Will does a great job of doing what Seize does in the matchups you'd want it. Maybe something like this?:
3 Forest
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Cavern
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Shaman of the Pack
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Eternal Witness
4 Collected Company
3 Nissa, Steward of Elements
sideboard:
3 Unified Will
3 Chord of Calling
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Fracturing Gust
5 left over slots
I think moving away from Seize and towards more Blue sources and Unified Will will help alleviate your mana problems - Cavern or not.
Alternately - a deck list move away from Shaman and black spells entirely and towards Coiling Oracle might help your mana out a ton.
4 Forest
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Cavern
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 flex land
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Coiling Oracle
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Elvish Archdruid
3 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Collected Company
3 Nissa, Steward of Elements
3 Unified Will
3 Chord of Calling
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Fracturing Gust
Thanks for the input! I really haven't tested counterspells, but are they worth it? I have a feeling that they are too reactive and holding up two mana may be an issue, but that is from inexperience, so I am willing to try it. I am definitely wanting to move away from Thoughtseize if I can. I will let you know in my testing how it goes.
I do have experience with Coilling Oracle. I tested him a while and found that he is only worth it after a land drop and revealing a land. If not, it would be the same as visionary. For example, if I was on three mana and I hadn't made a land drop. Coiling oracle would put the land directly into play where as Visionary would draw me the land and I can use my unused land drop to drop the land. Ultimately, it only ramps after I make a land drop and only if I hit the land. I felt that the second color and the fact of showing the card was a bigger negative than the rare times it ramps.
I also tried going strait UG. I just found Nissa's 0 ability to be most relevant when I used it to drop impactful three drops. Dropping Shamans would also make Phantasmal Images less powerful, so I would like to explore Sultai a bit further, but I am certainly willing to be wrong.
I will order Unified Wills and test them. If they work, that would be amazing as I would need a lot less Black sources for my mana.
Keep the ideas coming!!
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
As far as cards themselves go, unless your meta game is really creature heavy, I'd rather go for Negate than Unified Will. Creatures generally aren't a problem for us and they can mess with Unified Will if they lower our creature count in response to casting it. Another great early game option is Spell Pierce but this one loses effectiveness later in the game.
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Windswept Heath
// Creatures
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Collected Company
2 Driven
2 Lead the Stampede
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Choke
2 Collective Brutality
2 Dismember
2 Fracturing Gust
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thoughtseize
FNM Report: 1st place
2-0 Mono-Red Goblins: easy match up, no noticeable highlights with d/d.
2-1 grixis Death's Shadow: I went wide 1st game. 2nd game he had removal for dorks and I got manascrewed. 3rd game Colossus took it.
2-1 Naya burn: 1st game he kept a bunch of two drops then I resolved a T4 d/d discarding 3 of his cards. G2 searing blaze wrecked me. G3 he kept a one lander and got punished for it.
2-0 W D&T: Another easy MU. Driven/Despair resolved both games but they were overkill.
Monday Cash: Drop
2-0 4c Shadow: 1st game he made me go into top deck mode and I got a driven / despair. He was at 10 life with an untapped goyf and 2 DS. I had 10 power on the field, used d/d, drew 4 cards, he discarded 2 bluff cards (land+TS), he took 8, and I played 2 dorks for blocks and a guaranteed win. 2nd game I resolved 2 company by T4 and won because of it.
1-2 Counters company: Definitely one of GB's worst mu. G1 he T3 combos me. G2 I resolved a T3 Thoughtseize getting chord, on his EOT I played company (he had eidolon), and won on my turn. G3 I t1 TS revealing 4 sb cards against me and I chose Mirran but I should've chose path and it cost me the game.
0-2 Counters Company: G1 T3 combo and G2 I t2 TS his Devoted druid. He had 2 lands total with a bunch of chord and companies. He top decks lands and I lose.
Recap on Driven // Despair:
It's good in MUs where Lead is good. Sometimes way better because of Despair's menace and discard. Worse when there's a weak board state. I think a split is optimal as they sorta work in conjuction with each other because Lead gets more Elves for D/D's maximum effect. As someone mentioned earlier, 1-2 seems to be the right number.
I will note that despair does offer some playability in G1 against fast MUs where Lead would be too slow.
For testing purposes, it sucks when I'm up against fast decks like Counters Company and I'm not running Chord. Hopefully I get some less fast MUs in the coming days. Thanks for reading.
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
Unified Will seems better than Negate right now simply because it counters Titans and the Storm dorks imo, and it's not like we're ever struggling to get dudes on board.
Edit: You can also mask Unified Will behind a Coco or Chord.
RE: Driven//Despair -
I played it for about 5 leagues on MODO before I found that it just wasn't impactful enough a lot of the time. There were games where it won me the game (one, to be precise), but there were many more times where I drew it on an empty hand, or I drew it facing down a Gideon Jura or other such nonsense.
On a side note, if anyone is curious, my MODO spreadsheet is here. It has my sideboarding + notes on each game, plus mull notes.
In those scenarios when it wasn't impactful, would a Lead have been strictly better? Were both sides weak compared to Lead?
I've been hopeful that it could work in a broad meta but maybe it's more of a niche pick than Lead. That being said I keep thinking about Despair's potential. I'll keep testing and come back to you guys.
Very nice pool of information you got there! I wish I had your patience to sit down and write notes after each game. Keep it up!
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
Since you're in Japan, I thought I might as well give you another crazy meta idea regarding UG Elves that popped into my brain during a shower -
3 Forest
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Breeding Pool
1 Pendelhaven
1 Westvale Abbey
//35:53
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Phantasmal Image
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Eternal Witness
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Collected Company
3 Nissa, Steward of Elements
3 Unified Will
3 Chord of Calling
2 Dismember
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Fracturing Gust
2 flex slots (season to taste depending on your meta, of course)
You said last time Phantasmal Image was bad once you drop the Shamans, but how about if we add another target in Thought-Knot Seer instead? 9 blue sources to cast Nissa, and Unified Will/Hurkyl's from the board, and 9 colourless sources main to cast the TKS. You can even supplement the colourless count with Boreal Druid, but I don't think that's quite necessary considering TKS is a four drop - but TKS should prove to improve/justify the Phantasmal Image in the main, and make cards like Visionary/Elite/Archdruid/Witness interact better with it as well. TKS also seems like a good hit off Nissa especially considering X=4 is extremely reasonable in our deck.
It's just a wild idea. But I think it could work.
Hehehe, check out my picture Syreal. This is why you are my virtual friend and we have been so for two years through thick and thin LOL. Our minds think on the same path.
My thought process was like this. When you recommended again GU Elves, I thought I'd give it another try. And with four cavern's and four Yavimaya coasts, and one shrine, we naturally had nine colorless sources. I actually used for tks in my previous scg top eight build and thought naturally that I would try it in the UG too.
With this Im going to try three spell pierces instead of two mana counter spells so that I can protect tks better. You putting it in main deck is interesting. I don't know if I have enough guts to do that LOL. But it might be worth Exploring.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW