MTG Salvation

True words,

but i ask myself what does clancaller better than visionary.

Visionary is never a dead draw, but clancaller is in certain situations
Visionary draws into my wincons ( Ezuri to trample over or SotP for the final punch, comapny lead the stampede)

I often found myself in the situation while testing clancaller, that i rather tap my elves for mana than attacking for two or three because i wanted to cast a lead the stampede or company for example.

Clancaller gives the elves some more aggro where i don´t see my deck at the moment.

Over the last couple weeks I've found clancaller to be more impactful than visionary overall. Visionary is a good card, and I still have 1-2 copies in my mainboard, but in my opinion she is not at the same power level as a 2-mana lord that can also provide card advantage and buff our board in grindy matchups. I believe clancaller is also a better hit off Collected Company, especially against the decks we race against, and lets us win games a turn earlier.

I also find visionary alone to not be enough for grindy matchups like jund, abzan, and other midrange decks. Sometimes I think 4 Lead the Stampedes maindeck is a better idea instead of 2 Visionaries and 3 Leads. Lead is the card that wins against midrange and control, where a 1/1 body that cantrips is just not enough.

EDIT: added decklist

Quote from Khalar89 »

True words,

but i ask myself what does clancaller better than visionary.

Visionary is never a dead draw, but clancaller is in certain situations
Visionary draws into my wincons ( Ezuri to trample over or SotP for the final punch, comapny lead the stampede)

I often found myself in the situation while testing clancaller, that i rather tap my elves for mana than attacking for two or three because i wanted to cast a lead the stampede or company for example.

Clancaller gives the elves some more aggro where i don´t see my deck at the moment.

I'm not telling you which is better. I'm just saying you have to compare them in response to someone who said they shouldn't be compared because they do different things. They are compared because they compete for the exact same slots. There is no room for both caller and visionary.

Quote from MarcWizard »

Quote from Khalar89 »

True words,

but i ask myself what does clancaller better than visionary.

Visionary is never a dead draw, but clancaller is in certain situations
Visionary draws into my wincons ( Ezuri to trample over or SotP for the final punch, comapny lead the stampede)

I often found myself in the situation while testing clancaller, that i rather tap my elves for mana than attacking for two or three because i wanted to cast a lead the stampede or company for example.

Clancaller gives the elves some more aggro where i don´t see my deck at the moment.

I'm not telling you which is better. I'm just saying you have to compare them in response to someone who said they shouldn't be compared because they do different things. They are compared because they compete for the exact same slots. There is no room for both caller and visionary.

I think both can squeeze in, but at smaller quantities. Right now 3 Clancallers and 2 Visionaries has been working well for me.

I'd love Wizards to print a card like one below - I think they would make us better without being overpowered.

Elvish Medium - (G)
Creature - Elf Druid
Tap to add G
Pay 2 life: convert G to B

Elvish Séance - (G)
Instant
Create a 1/1 Green Elf Druid token with Tap to add G

Quote from ketoglutarate »

Quote from DB0013 »

I'd love Wizards to print a card like one below - I think they would make us better without being overpowered.

Elvish Medium - (G)
Creature - Elf Druid
Tap to add G
Pay 2 life: convert G to B

Elvish Séance - (G)
Instant
Create a 1/1 Green Elf Druid token with Tap to add G

why would you want something like elvish seance? It seems worse than a classic mana dork

For instant speed. Could be nice to play it end of opponents turn and maybe avoid removal.

Quote from ketoglutarate »

I'm not sure, it's a nonbo with collected company

ah true.

I played in my first PPTQ last weekend with the following list:



I ended up doing 2-3 and dropping, a disappointing finish, but I can say, I think it was more due to play decisions than the deck itself.

R1 - Mardu Pyromancer - Loss - (0-2)
G1 - I had a slow start (kept a 1-lander), and couldn't keep up against removal. Didn't draw a CoCo or a Lead.
G2 - Better start, but then he played a Thing In the Ice. I had played out my hand but with no CoCo or Lead, and no Ezuri, couldn't convert before getting bounced.

0-1
R2 - Bant Spirits - Win (2-1)
G1-G3 - was mainly a die roll. When he played first (G2) he had a stronger start. I overwhelmed him both games I was on the play.

1-1
R3 - Humans - Win (2-1)
G1-G3 - I don't remember much about these games, aside from the fact that the last one was an incredibly cluttered board that I eventually won the combat math on - without Ezuri (mainly just raw power of elves plus Lords). I was able to tutor for two extra callers in this game - relatively early, thanks to an online Nykthos).

2-1
R4 - Ponza / L/D - Loss (0-2)
G1 - Didn't know what I was up against. I had a 1-lander + 2 dorks, so I kept. Build board until T3 when he molten rained my only land. I then proceeded to continue to play without lands for several turns (didn't draw any more). Weirdest game of magic I have played in a long time. By the time his Inferno Titan hit the board, I still didn't have enough board presence to kill him in time.
G2 - He boarded in 3 Anger of the Gods. He plays 2 on me, and when I scoop, he shows me the third in his hand. Not sure what I could do about that.

2-2 (Need to win for even a chance here)
R5 - Burn - Loss (0-2)
I don't even want to talk about it. My hands were crappy, and it was likely more of a mulligan issue.

Thoughts (including on Clancaller vs. Visionary)

I find that Clancaller over-performed every time it came into play, other than when it was alone on the board. It really turns elves into more of a truer aggro deck over a combo. I won no games with an Ezuri activation, other than ones that I would have won even if he wasn't on the board. My games were won by armies of 3/3s or 4/4 with a splash of Shaman to boot. So many explosive starts.

I really am thinking about dropping the Visionaries all together, because I never felt I lost a game due to card advantage, and if I did, it was because I didn't draw a CoCo or a Lead, not the single from a visionary.

I've also been thinking about several games that I lost, and am thinking hard about: Steel Leaf Champion.

It is out of range of Bolt, Collective Brutality, an un-revolted Push, Electromancer, Electrolyze, etc. all without a lord in play (which is where a lot of our other creatures are fragile). It is NEVER a dead draw, is a target for CoCo, and can attack uncontested against almost every deck in the format for 1-2 turns, and a common play would be to T1 Dork, T2 Champ, and then T3 Clancaller/Archdruid and attack for 6 on T3, likely unblocked - especially on the play. We would always also have the aggressive T2 of Heritage + Dwynen's and tap for 3 more, but in that case if the next play is a Champ, we are doing mountains more damage.

I am seriously considering dropping the 2 Visionaries, and putting 2 Steel Leaf in, and trying to find more room. I am even considering removing 1-2 of my Ezuri. Ezuri ate removal every time he hit the board if I couldn't activate him in response the same turn, and Steel-Leaf doesn't die to the same removal that Ezuri does by default.

I know that Steel Leaf got some chatter when Dominaria was first out, but I just feel that with Clancaller, this deck (at least the G/B version) is way more aggressive / aggro, and that maybe the Champ needs a second look.

@TheThominator, I am currently running 2 Steel Leaf Champion in my deck at the moment in place of the visionaries and I love it! If you look at the most popular decks in the format right now (Mardu Pyromancer, Elves, Humans, Dredge styled decks, Jeskai), all of them rely on small 1/1 and 2/1 creatures gumming up the board as blockers... Steel Leaf is unblock able to every Lingering Soul/Pyromancer token as well as a lot of the humans
I've won a lot of games with just one of them and 1-2 lords in play

Nissa revane really works in modern elves deck? Gain life for each elve was really good

Quote from SergeLunart »

Nissa revane really works in modern elves deck? Gain life for each elve was really good

She costs too much for the mediocre effects she produces. What really nails her coffin is that she dies to lightning bolt even after ticking up.

Hello! Wanted to share my bad beats and maybe someone knows something I do but damn did I have some bad beats against U/W Miracles.
Last weekend I went to an IQ and I did very well. Considering I was matched up against my local tron player who's deck is triple sleeved and fully foiled round 3 and I managed to win using my patent pending technique of having the tron player mul to 4 on the play game 2. It was a very shiny game since hes the Tron player with the foil'd deck and I'm the elf player with the foil'd deck. lmao! But i did win the match. Followed by my first lost against tron right after. This is not the bad beats. The bad beast is how I continued to win up to the top 8. Lost to U/W Miracles which is basically playing Terminus instead of Supreme Verdict which is all I really care about. Kinda gave him the win game 1 due to lack of knowledge of what he was playing. Game 2, I cast Stain the Mind naming Terminus which really helped but it was to late. And I was just testing Stain the Mind but its the only answer I can think of for terminus. Continuing on, Me and some buddies drive 2 hours south to another IQ and round 1 I got matched against the same U/W Miracles deck and player. Unlucky but i'm ready this time but he did get me good. game two I had the nut hand and he accidentally turn 2 Terminus. Accident cause there was no scry effect for it. We joked about how He was the last one i played and the first one i played 2 hours south. both 50 plus people. I'm ready to move on from this. I don't let myself get put on tilt. Round 2 I joke to my opponent how I just got done playing so-and-so twice in a row before round 2. He tells how they know he each and drove down together. By turn two, i see hes playing the same List. So 3 rounds of the same miracles deck. Jeez... Game one I kept a great one lander but i ended the game with maybe 12 of my 18 lands. 1 being a cycled horizon canopy. Just unlucky but he did eventually terminus on turn 500. Deck drew poor. Game 2, I sided the same again with stain the mind but i had a turn 2 company. so i did it. and yes... he did terminus on his turn one with a basic plains and no scry effects. All of this its purely a coincidence and we all joked about it. But starting that IQ 0-2 really hit me hard. plus my buddies kept me there so i continued to play. i left and i was 3-2 but whatever. bad beats.

So U/W Miracles is a deck and I wasn't ready for it. Made my fecundity look like joke card. I am already playing choke and right now I like the 2x Stain the mind. Anyone wanna share what they would do?

Thanks for letting me rant. Hope nobody minds. All elf related and nobody else wants to hear bad elf beats and sorry for any typos.

Hey Rets, my solution is Choke against the terminus decks. Acts as a powerful hate card rather than trying to play around terminus.

Terminus sucks. Say it with me: Terminus Suuuuuuuuucks.

Sideboard Ghostway or Eerie Interlude?

I don’t play very often so I was debating selling my cavern of souls. I play GB painless mana with palaces and marshes. What do you suggest I run in caverns place? Unclaimed territory? More basic forests? Or do I go fetches and shocks now..

Best planeswalker for elves in modern?

went 3-0 on yesterdays FNM. Went over GW Value, GR Ponza and some jank.



Clancaller is huge. I never liked Visionary with her much "needed" ability. Like Jeff Hoogland says "dont pretend, Elves are nothing more than an aggro". We need cheap lords, way to fill up the hand with more creatures and cheap creatures. No need for Chord and silver bullets. Before Clancaller when I had to start t1 Nettle Sentinel I was like meh. Now it is my favourite play. t1) Nettle Sentinel t2) Clancaller t3) Heritage Druid, Archdruid, Clancaller, Ezuri. Lethal next turn.

For those advocating Steel Leaf Champion - I tried so much to squeeze him in - but he cant replace Archdruid nor Ezuri in 3cmc mana slot.

Clancaller was what GB needed to make that final leap. Its amazing to see GB finally get its time in the sun. the best part is, the decks that would normally beat up on fair aggro like GB elves are all in hiding, because they just can't deal with unfair aggro like Hollow One and Humans running amok. I'm thinking of switching my Abzan combo into straight GB now.

Nissa vastwood seer really work in gb modern elves?