It was grixis and his first time
He leaked my lead the first time
2nd lead resolved and I cast 2 elves to not die to the board. He eot snap terminated and crashed in
Thanks for the MU breakdown MrBurp. Surprised to see Affinity and Bogles rated so favorably. I'm about 50/50 vs Bogles and the same against Affinity, although that one feels more like 40/60, at least in game 1. Same with infect. How much of this do you chalk up to the maindeck Spellskite? I'm not running one currently. I'm sure a lot of the problem is suboptimal play on my part, so I'd love to hear any pointers you can share on handling these matchups.
That's a good question. I didn't see any white; but he wasn't on screen super long...I'll try to find the list (it will obviously be up if and when he makes the top 8).
P.S. Tronix, well put about each type (GW, GB, Abzan, etc.) no version seems massively superior to the other. The core is what matters. Meta and play preference determine the rest. Of course, the core represents a large portion of the deck; but there is enough room to justify different archetypes within elves. Well said Tronix!
I'm assuming with this version you'd always side in the Melira/Finks/Seer combo together. And if you do that, you're always bringing in Chord to find the pieces, in which case you usually bring in Spellskite...so you're basically siding in the whole board a lot of the time?
Not necessarily. Melira is for infect. finks are for burn, zoo, and other such decks. Seer is mainly to deal with living end . The infinite life combo is incidental and rarely ever boarded into for the combo.
That being said, this newer Abzan list of his with chords in the board and leads main is interesting to say the least. Seems very streamlined from the creatures to the mana base.
It's worth noting the 4 ofs every elf save ezuri. No main board bullets like Spellskite. No fetchlands either, just the 4 horizon canopies and 2 nykthos. No removal in the board either making room for 3 chords and a couple chameleons. Surprisingly, Sullano did not run any artifact hate either. No kataki or gusts in the board. Maybe our affinity matchup is good enough without them?
Good enough to go undefeated day one. So close to top 8 too.
Having played this deck for a while, the affinity matchup comes down to the cranial plating. I still run a one-of corrosion just to seal the deal, but never had too much trouble playing against affinity
I honestly doubt Viscera Seer is just there for Living End, given that Tajuru Preserver exists and can come in against other cards like Liliana.
What I like about his deck is that he has a lot of 3-drops. By not playing Sylvan Messenger or Chord (at least not main), he has more stuff that he can potentially ramp into on turn 2, or flip off a Collected Company.
I've been playing chords in the board for a while now. The most success I had with the deck was when running 1 chord main, and 3 summoner's pact.
The more I played the deck, the more I realised that there was a disconnect between having the toolboxy value approach, and having game 1 speed. Eventually I dropped chords from the main entirely and ran 3 summoner's pact with 2 lead the stampede.
I still win games with craterhoof where you'd have no right to win with just ezuri.
It seems like there's emerging a nice shell for shaman of the pack to fit. I have been down on the card before but in the right place I believe it can be great (for reasons I stated previously).
I think not including kataki is actually a mistake? Seems like it's very little opportunity cost for what is effectively a win condition against affinity and lantern (both seeing play at this moment in time).
Affinity is a really tough matchup for this deck because it's effectively a huge die-roll and affinity has the potential to be more consistently faster (which is why it's the most top-8-est deck out there). Any way to crush this hugely popular deck should be considered. If it's only one card, even better! 1x Kataki should be a solid lock for any elves deck playing chords (even if they're in the sideboard).
I took elves to FNM on Friday and had a good experience, plus learnt a few things.
Round 1- burn. Wasn't too hard. Game one he put me to 9, and passed the turn with four cards in hand. I was fairly sure he had 3 bolts (or equivalent) so I had one turn to win. I counted for a bit, played a couple of elves, then tapped an archdruid and 2 lands to produce 8 mana. Summoner's pact for craterhoof, win on my third turn.
Game 2 was a non-game. He was chipping away, and i combat-step chorded for ezuri to block-regen and counter-swing with the team for lethal. Didn't even need my sideboard cards.
Round 2- death and taxes.
Good matchup. Not much to say except that thalia doesn't do jack against us. Ghost quarter my Cavern of Souls? Sure. Only issue at one point was a couple of Flickerwisp and a Resto angel beating down. Thankfully they don't play much in the way of removal so I just cracked back with a craterhoof both games in a timely fashion.
Round 3- Affinity
The eventual winner? Game 1 I flooded the board with my entire hand on turn 2, but couldn't find any "business" afterwards. I lamely attacked for 5 or 6 at a time and took him pretty low, but this gave him the time he needed to find and stick a cranial plating for his etched champion.
Game 2 I had to mulligan and kept what was in hindsight an amazing hand, but i played wrong. Couple of mana elves, chord and couple of lands was all I needed but for some idiotic reason I didnt chord for kataki! Was too focused on trying to get my beatdown going I massively misplayed. Oh well, chalk it up to tiredness I guess. Sorry elves I didn't do you justice here.
Round 4- tron
Welp. Both games were the same. Turn 3 karn followed by turn 4 ugin. Nothing I could do. I did keep a shoddy hand in game 2 but honestly I don't think I was ever winning this matchup. I really think we need good Sideboard options for this (currently tier 1) deck.
So i went 2-2 but i felt like the deck did ok. I was playing an experimental build and honestly I think some of the losses could have been due to this internal inconsistency which needs to be ironed out. I was trying to do too much, and was attempting to cram chords into the main (despite realising a while back that they are probably better in the board).
The lessons from this are clear. Elves is really a knife of a deck and needs to be sharp. It doesn't really do "half measures" in the maindeck and needs to be completely single minded on its focus for speed and resiliency in the main, with more thoughtful and toolboxy answers in the board.
Viva la elves
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
As someone who absolutely loves both Shaman of the Pack and Horizon Canopy...I was very happy to see this list do well. I may have to stop playing my Combo Elves build (although it too plays both of the above) Nd look into getting back into straight up Company Elves!
I hope Mr. Sullano comes here to provide a GP Pittsburgh report as well as some commentary as to his deck decisions. I am interested in them especially the removal of Messenger and his sideboard. I personally love the 4 of all our key elves including Visionary and Elite. I wonder if Shaman of the Pack makes up in the loss of card advantage/Elfstorm capability.
R1: GB Chord Elves 1-2 G1 L: I had a pretty good start whereas he had a slow one. I ended up getting mana flooded and whiffing two companies so he soon gained the advantage and won.
G2 W: I managed to chain lead into messengers and quickly gained board state then won.
G3 L: I had have an aggressive start and managed to get him to 1 life before it became a board stall. He won the topdeck battle by drawing CoCo, CoCo, then Chord in that order and I drew land, land, and land, only seeing 1 of 9 value engines.
R2: Junk Midrange 2-0 G1 LW I had to mullgian down to 5 cards but I drew into 2 Leads so I quickly came back and he scooped.
No sideboard
G2 W: He just couldn't keep up with all my draw power and I overran for 46 damage.
R3: Mardu Tokens 2-0 G1 W: I had an explosive start and even though he did have an army of tokens through lingering souls and monastery monk, I had a bigger army.
Out: Visionary In: Abrupt, Dismember,
G2 W: Spent turns not drawing into any of my engines but I was aggressive enough to get his life within Shaman range and topdecked one for game.
R4: Boros Norin Soulsisters 0-2
G1 W: Fought for 1st. This is a pretty annoying matchup as my build that focuses on creature density for an impactful Shaman is suddenly pointless. I had windows to close out the game early if I drew into one of my lords but it did not come into fruition. He eventually won through Purphoros triggers.
G2 L: Mulligan to 5. My strategy was to be aggro-control which was working wonders until I misplayed and destroyed his Champion of the Parish instead of Genesis Chamber killing his only creature threat but he drew into purphoros and combo'd out.
Post-game Thoughts:
Value is no longer being as rewarding in my meta due to more people running fast decks. I noticed more games where I rely on top decking or on L/M to draw into something game-winning when a Chord could easily have won me the game and not prolong it. When Plan B fails and you have a huge board state but you can't find a way through, Chord goes a long way and I need that advantage again if I want to beat this meta.
For my Chord list I'm taking notes from Matsume, NewModern, others, and most importantly Sullano's list. The Leads in the board is definitely the route I want to go and I've been wanting to make room for Canopies for a while now - land flooding is a recurring problem - so I'm interested in the route Sullano took. This would mean not relying on black or white non-creature spells which is fine considering Chord's toolbox strength but it would require me to maybe cut TS and/or Chalice.
I have not gotten enough practice with Chalice as it doesn't show up as often as I would like it to when I board it in. I still think its great tech just like TS to tackle difficult matchups. I will think about both for my deck going forward but for now I'll focus on the toolbox.
Overall I had a great run with this deck and admired when it made value matchups a breeze.
@Sullano's List:
Even in GB he runs 4x Canopies and it makes complete sense in his list. They are so important alongside visionary by helping with topdecking and manaflooding among other things. As for his manafixing it's just like I thought, Canopy + Cavern is enough white for an Abzan list that isn't relying on white non-creature spells - with Chords as an alternative. I'm really liking his manabase and since it's similar to the direction I want to go, I'm going to run with it even though without fetches and so few basic lands I see it struggling against Blood Moon.
As for his mb, Lead with no Messenger instead of Chord is interesting. I'm guessing what influenced him to put Chord sb is that he expected more value matchups than fast ones - whereas my meta is the reverse. Removing Messenger fixes the curve but there has to be a better reason for not running it. Maybe Shaman compensates for the extra value from Messenger making CoCo/Lead/Visionary/Canopy enough value to allow the rest of the shell to be intact while not losing much speed.
For starters, this is what I'm going to run with next week. It's pretty much a carbon copy of Sullano's new list. It's possible that the 4th chord hurts my curve but I feel like if I run them mb I might as well run a set. Elvish Champion had to be in my 75 because of elf decks running rampant in my meta. Having thoughts on Copperhorn Scout, Athereos - even though he might not work with this manabase, something for blue, and something for graveyards.
This is quite a different take on it, getting 7th in a field of 178. I'm not sure how exactly the deck plays out so I have a hard time evaluating it but it at least gives a different perspective. Is the plan to just overwhelm the board with minnows then finish with one of the lords?
This list remains unchanged since my top 8 in a WMCQ 2 months ago (haven't played since then). I won a tournament on Saturday going 5-0 against a field 60-70% of which were grinders. Matchups were as follows:
R1 (Domain Zoo) 2-0 - Went off too fast for him and he lacked good interaction. In game 2, I managed to beat a turn 2 Mirran Crusader thanks to drawing Spellskite to chump and managing to dump my hand on t3/t4 for a double overrun the following turn with help from Nykthos.
R2 (Allies) 2-1 - This deck was surprisingly fast and I could've easily lost the match if he drew Kabira Evangel in game 1. Without Path or a nut draw though, we should be favoured.
R3 (Skred) 2-1 - I thought it would be pretty tough to beat a playset of Pyroclasm/Anger of the Gods but I managed to pull through, with every game depending on the top of the deck after he sweeps my board but I rebuild with a CoCo and Lead.
R4 (UR Twin) 2-0 - I had the nuts game 1 (on the draw as well!), with a turn 2 Spellskite cutting off Twin followed by a CoCo and chord (after 1 CoCo was countered) to overrun around turn 6. Game 2 a rules misunderstanding allowed me to keep Spellskite and Ooze on the board and eventually overwhelm him with Elves under the protection of Spellskite.
R5 (Living End) 2-1 - Pull off game 1 with Scavenging Ooze and Mirror Entity, drop game 2 despite him on a mull to 5 due to a turn 2 Living End with double street wraith and deadshot. Game 3 he puts in Leyline of the Void, I slam a bunch of Elves and when he attempts cascade into Living End I chord for Eidolon of Rhetoric and shut it out. Despite an anger next turn leaving only the rhetoric his life is low enough that I finish him off a few turns later.
Overall, deck still feels great! I still have yet to give the GB a go and it seems to be the one pulling off the results, but my fear of the fast combo decks makes me want to stick the GW for Chords (I guess I could try Abzan but fear the pain of Fetch/Shock, given I have not got Horizon Canopy or Gilt-Leaf Palace).
Currently am thinking to do the following changes:
Main
-1 Reclamation Sage
+1 Spellskite (from SB)
Sage mainboard hasn't seemed too relevant of late. Wasn't sure what else to fill it with so I just moved Spellskite into the main, which is mostly a solid choice.
I am still a bit wary of fast combo and getting Canonist provides a chord target for 2 (as opposed to Eidolon for 3). I didn't put Canonist in initially due to fear of Bolt/Anger (not relevant for some decks but relevant against others). I initially thought Infect was good enough with being able to tutor for Spellskite, but given the greater breadth of answers for Spellskite I've added Melira, which can only be dealt with by Dismember.
Tournement Report for Friday - Tarnival! It was a tournement run by our local game store to win an Expedition Scalding Tarn. I achieved second with an Expedition Temple Garden. It was a 4 round tournement with a cut to the top 4.
The choke was there because I knew somebody playing Twin, Merfolk, and Mono-Blue Tron. It wasn't great and I will be taking it out in my next list. I will probably follow Sullano into Chords in the side plan.
Round 1 - Merfolk - 2-1 - 1-0 Overall
These games revolved around speed for the most part. He had hibernation and I knew he had hibernation specifically due to me as I beat him a couple weeks ago. He dismembered early mana elves in an effort to slow me down, but it ultimately came down that I was much more able to get elves on the field and to be faster especially if we didn't have fast hands. I didn't really misplay and he for hte most part knew to play lord lord lord lord or to get as many of his lords on the table as fast as possible. I think there were times when he got mana screwed for the double islands. Elves are faster although the Lead/Messenger version is slower, but can Elfstorm for better effect which will be important in later matchups. These games played pretty much the same. We both attempted to flood the board with creatures in an attempt to win, but Ezuri is just better save for when Islandwalk is better.
Round 2 - UR Twin - 2-1 - 2-0 Overall
Game 1 - Twin on turn 3. He had it, I wasn't fast enough although I wasn't exactly slow either. I tried to flood the board with elves, but Twin was there.. This seems to be the usual factor. Game 2 was far more interesting and I remember a little bit more about it. I had a cavern of souls in hand and named Horror so he would think I had a Spellskite in hand. I didn't. It was a bluff. I played a few elves which I apparently upset the divine nature of twin as I borught on an Anger of the Gods. He played a pestermite, I cocoed and found an elf and a Spellsite which he snapcasted a roast he played earlier to kill it. This was back and forth a few turns then he misplayed twice. The turn before and the turn after I played Ezuri. He snapcasted Serum Visions instead of Anger of the Gods. I played Ezuri, Renegade Leader keeping up 3 mana to regenerate incase of Anger of the Gods. Second Misplay which I pointed out after the turn, He first mainphased snap castered anger of the gods instead of attacking first with his guys for some damage before snapcasting anger of the gods. These plays saved me as I regenerated 3 times, cast the second Ezuri I had in my hand and won shortly afterword for Game 2. Game 3 was easier. I had a spellskite in my opening hand with a 1 lander and 2 mana dorks. I drew a second land and then I played the spellskite on turn 2 and proceeded to dump elves from my hand. It was over. *phew* I haven't beaten splinter twin before. I am glad that I had 3 spellskites in the side.
Round 3 - Abzan Chord Elves - 2-0 - 3-0 Overall
He played Elves as we discussed each decks merits and flaws earlier. He didn't play Ezuri's but Craterhoof behemoth and both fetchlands and shocks. He didn't have dwynen's elite in his decks. He also had chord as well. These games proceeded along the same lines as Merfolk. We attempted to dump our hands for victory. I had the better draws and the card advantage engines of Lead and Messenger did me proud with Elfstorming (which is now what I call it instead of Elfsplosion). I got there faster and more consistant then he did. I think it may have been a weaker elf deck, but he did well with it from what I understand beating a couple decks one of which I knew was Modern Slivers on the back of a double Shaman Company.
Round 4 - Mono-Blue Tron - 1-2 - 3-1 Overall
I think the Lead/Messenger version is much weaker against this Tron deck then the Chord version. Not being able to tutor for answers against his Oblvion stones, Ugins, etc. is just rough and the Card advantage doesn't help you as much against a resolved UGIN or an Oblivion Stone or Mindslaver lock or heck even a Platinum Angel. I attempted to Elfstorm each time, but each time he got tron quickly enough and I didn't have any nuts hands to compete or fight. The countermagic didn't help at all, but it wasn't as crippling as I didn't get what I needed. I was at 8 and he had a Wormcoil out and I was at 8 I think. he was at 21. I had an Ezuri and a handfull of elves on the field. He main played a Platinum Angel and attacked with the worm coil. I collected company during the attack step. I got my singleton Reclamation sage and an Archdruid. I targeted the Platinum Angel, chumpblocked the wormcoil, regenerated my dude. Untapped swung and dealt 31 points of damage the next turn. Other games I had down to 4 before he stablized and even with Ugin I was trying to cast a few elves each turn to force him to ugin to kill him that I could play more elves and win the following turns. I misplayed at this so he plussed one and that was game enough for that as I didn't draw enough gas afterwords to challenge him.
Round 5 - a Mono-Red Storm brew - 2-0 - 4-1 into the TOP 4 overall with second seed. The mono-blue tron player and a different Merfolk deck were the other seeds and they inentionally drew into the top 4
This was a very strange deck as he had 17 mountains. He was 3-1 with it so it must have had some play to it. I didn't see alot of it as I Elfstormed my way to victory with a Reclamation sage on a Pyromancer's Ascension. He said he just through a sideboard together so there wasn't any red wrath affects.
TOP 4 - 1 drop Zoo (Naya) - 2-1.
I have played this person before and they are getting better and better as I am since I am farily new as well. They usually play Naya Burn effectively. These games with Burn ALWAYS turn into a grind. ALWAYS! He won the first game after finding the correct and only path to victory as I thought I had the game locked away. He had played Goblin Guide early and on one of hte triggers he found a reclamation sage, so he played his Eidolon, got 2 damage from me and played his second one. At this time I had attacked him several times and had mini-Elfstormed to have a bunch of 2/2 and 1/1 on the field. He was at like 4 life with an Eidolon in play. I was at 9 Life. He had 3 creatures, a Kird Ape, A Goblin Guide, and a Grim Lavamancer. I had just cocoed into 2 heritage druids. I had a dwynen's elite and a llanowar elf in hand and a lead the stampede. I wanted to attack him low enough that he couldn't kill me with a burn spell lest he take eidolon damage and die first. So I attacked him with everything. I don't remember the exact board state that I had, but it was something like 2 Heritage Druids, Reclamation Sage, 2 Elvish Visionaries, 1 Elf Warrior Token, 2 Elvish Mystics. He did the right grim lavamancer play, by killing rec sage and killing a dude, and blocking the 2 heritage druids, but before damage he Lightning helix another dude that I had so I had 3 tapped dudes at 9 life with a goblin guide and an Eidolon in play. He was at 3 Life as the turn ended. I thought I had him, so I cast a Dwnyen's Elite to get two blockers which put me down to 7 Life. Here I think I had a misplay. I asumed he had a Searing Blaze or a Searing Blood that he could kill a dude and deal 3 damage to me putting himself down to 1, but without a second blocker would could kill me with a dudes or something. So I played a second dude to get me to 5. This would have been fine if he had searing blaze, but not if he had a second lightning helix which he then proceeded to play and kill me.
Games 2 and 3 were less stressful. He never landed an Eidolon and I was capable of outvalueing him by getting gas cards and casting more elves then he had dudes. I eventually would draw an Ezuri and win through that method or Elfstorming into multiple archdruids. I think there was a game I ended at 18 life thanks to a having 2 consecutive Essence Wardens.
Finals - Merfolk - 1-2 Lost
I was happy that Merfolk beat Mono-Blue Tron, but ultimatly I lost. I didn't draw the faster hands that I needed and he had great hands with many many lords in it. The first game I had enough of a Misplay that looking back on it, I see the error. I had just Elfstormed with a bunch of summoning sick elves and I had 1 Archdruid on the Field. I attacked with a Nettle Sentinel and an Dwyenen's Elite against two Master of the Waves and he dismembered my archdruid. I eventually lost the game by 4 points. If I had just waited one more turn into attacking. I could have perhaps overwhelmed them with even more dudes and gotten that 4 points of damage in. I didn't have enough dudes the next round to get through. The second game I had won because he hadn't drawn an island all game with a hibernation in hand. I eventually drew the things that I needed to win. The last round I misplayed with mana and attacking where I lost a 1/1 Warrior dude that I didn't need to send knowing that he would die, but I did get 4 damage in that i probably could have gotten in anyway. I also had 2 Nettle Sentinels in with a Heritage Druid and didn't use that to cast the Ezuri, but he had a hibernation in hand the next turn, but i couldn't swing for lethal that turn to stay alive due to spreading seas in place. Still this is my highest scoring in a break to to a top tournement ever. My previous one I got to top before losing to Goryo's Vengence Reanimator in the Quaters.
I can lay an excuse that it was past midnight on a day that I worked a full day before hand and played 7 total rounds of magic, but ultimately the misplays were mine and mine and alone. I can see the value of slow playing and not taking Merfolk lightly. We still need to play Merfolk tightly. I happy with the result. I can see why people favor shaman of the pack. Having a little bit more reach in games like Mono-Blue Tron or Merfolk agianst blockers is great if the Elf-storming doesn't work out to provide the pieces you need when you need them. I also think Razorverge Thicket might not be the correct land to play or to have fewer of them. I there were times that I wish they came in untapped as some of the games extended. I don't think I can play fetchlands/shocks as the damage will be just too much against burn. I don't fear burn as other decks fear burn precisely because that 20 damage with Burrenton Forge-Tenders/Essence Wardens/Kitchen Finks can be tough to get if they don't have an Eidolon in play. I think against Elves, burn becomes a more controlling deck then an pure racing deck which means that we grind more and 4 mana spells aren't unviable such as Dwyen or Sylvan Messenger.
I am loathe to give up Sylvan Messenger. They help the Elfstorming so much. However, I may have to try variations of Andrew Sullano's build out as I love the simplistic and Elegance of his main board choices although I wonder if the lands are good enough. There were many games that were lost or iffy because of the presence of Sylan Messengers along side Leads or Companies in the hands against fast or faster decks than us. While I can be happy to cast them especially in burn matchups to gain the needed card advantage over Eidolon. I can't help but feel that they are the first to go in a revamped deck. However, I miss the card advantage. I feel the Card Advantage is so very important in Elves as that is what seperates the Elves deck from other aggro deck. We can play grindy better than any other linear aggro deck out there and win from nowhere with it. I have also felt that Archdruid/Ezuri isn't enough against many decks especially Merfolk at times although I think we are still favorable that Shaman of the Pack would be just steller in the role.
I would like to hear about his Sideboard Choices and Land Choices for the most part. I can't see not playing any sort of Graveyard Hate or Artifact hate. I think we would just fold to most Goryo's Vengence decks and Grixis decks now that sylvan messenger isn't there for as much card advantage. I don't think 4 White sources are enough to play stony silence or rest in peace. I think Leyline of the Void is too variable and 4 black sources aren't enough to play it and 3 or 4 slots maybe needed to even bring it in. Affinity is still faster I think, but Andrew might provide us a different picture of affinity and spellskite/revoker might be enough to slow them enough for us to win.
I am assuming Chords come in during Infect (spellskite/melira), Affinity(Burrenton Forge-Tender/revoker/melira/Reclamation Sage), Living End(viscera seer, Burrenton Forge-Tender), maybe Zoo(Burrenton Forge-Tender/Reclamation Sage), Amulet Bloom (Reclamation Sage, Revoker, Burrenton Forge-Tender), Twin (Spellskit, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Reclamation Sage), Footprints Hulk? Goryo's Vengence?
Yeah, been testing something similar, though suboptimal and not worth posting, it feels like I'm able to leverage a turn one dork into a turn two three-drop-or even a turn two H Druid+1 or 2 more one-drop into three-drop- way more often than with the Chord build. Just had a game against a GW Aggro deck in which I played a T3 Shaman for 5 into T4 Shaman for 15 and won without swinging once. Seems like our best plan against a lot of decks is to go wide and race to turn 4, which the Lead build feels like it does more consistently.
For sideboarding during the tourament, I went with this philosophy. If I needed to be Faster than what I was I took out visionary/lead/messenger depending on what I was facing. If I needed to be grindier, I took out the Elites on the whole.
He is the first person I know to have played seer in the board against living end and he mentions that the infinite life combo is purely incidental. This was also the same tournament Andrew Sullano top 8'd with proplayer77's g/w lead / messenger list iirc.
What's interesting is he chose to run an Abzan list this time rather than the previous list he top 8'd with. I cannot say for sure but I would not be surprised if he took note of Chris Lopez's list and, by the looks of it, may have merged proplayer77's list with Chris Lopez's list. This is just speculation on my part, I would love for mr. Sullano to tell us himself.
He leaked my lead the first time
2nd lead resolved and I cast 2 elves to not die to the board. He eot snap terminated and crashed in
P.S. Tronix, well put about each type (GW, GB, Abzan, etc.) no version seems massively superior to the other. The core is what matters. Meta and play preference determine the rest. Of course, the core represents a large portion of the deck; but there is enough room to justify different archetypes within elves. Well said Tronix!
That's gotta be heartbreaking.
Either way, it appears he does have Canopy and Shaman of the Pack.
...darn splinter twin
gross topdeck
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gppit15/day-one-undefeated-decklists-2015-11-22
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Collected Company
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Pendelhaven
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
3 Forest
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Viscera Seer
2 Spellskite
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Chameleon Colossus
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Chord of Calling
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
That being said, this newer Abzan list of his with chords in the board and leads main is interesting to say the least. Seems very streamlined from the creatures to the mana base.
It's worth noting the 4 ofs every elf save ezuri. No main board bullets like Spellskite. No fetchlands either, just the 4 horizon canopies and 2 nykthos. No removal in the board either making room for 3 chords and a couple chameleons. Surprisingly, Sullano did not run any artifact hate either. No kataki or gusts in the board. Maybe our affinity matchup is good enough without them?
Good enough to go undefeated day one. So close to top 8 too.
I honestly doubt Viscera Seer is just there for Living End, given that Tajuru Preserver exists and can come in against other cards like Liliana.
What I like about his deck is that he has a lot of 3-drops. By not playing Sylvan Messenger or Chord (at least not main), he has more stuff that he can potentially ramp into on turn 2, or flip off a Collected Company.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
The more I played the deck, the more I realised that there was a disconnect between having the toolboxy value approach, and having game 1 speed. Eventually I dropped chords from the main entirely and ran 3 summoner's pact with 2 lead the stampede.
I still win games with craterhoof where you'd have no right to win with just ezuri.
It seems like there's emerging a nice shell for shaman of the pack to fit. I have been down on the card before but in the right place I believe it can be great (for reasons I stated previously).
I think not including kataki is actually a mistake? Seems like it's very little opportunity cost for what is effectively a win condition against affinity and lantern (both seeing play at this moment in time).
Affinity is a really tough matchup for this deck because it's effectively a huge die-roll and affinity has the potential to be more consistently faster (which is why it's the most top-8-est deck out there). Any way to crush this hugely popular deck should be considered. If it's only one card, even better! 1x Kataki should be a solid lock for any elves deck playing chords (even if they're in the sideboard).
I took elves to FNM on Friday and had a good experience, plus learnt a few things.
Round 1- burn. Wasn't too hard. Game one he put me to 9, and passed the turn with four cards in hand. I was fairly sure he had 3 bolts (or equivalent) so I had one turn to win. I counted for a bit, played a couple of elves, then tapped an archdruid and 2 lands to produce 8 mana. Summoner's pact for craterhoof, win on my third turn.
Game 2 was a non-game. He was chipping away, and i combat-step chorded for ezuri to block-regen and counter-swing with the team for lethal. Didn't even need my sideboard cards.
Round 2- death and taxes.
Good matchup. Not much to say except that thalia doesn't do jack against us. Ghost quarter my Cavern of Souls? Sure. Only issue at one point was a couple of Flickerwisp and a Resto angel beating down. Thankfully they don't play much in the way of removal so I just cracked back with a craterhoof both games in a timely fashion.
Round 3- Affinity
The eventual winner? Game 1 I flooded the board with my entire hand on turn 2, but couldn't find any "business" afterwards. I lamely attacked for 5 or 6 at a time and took him pretty low, but this gave him the time he needed to find and stick a cranial plating for his etched champion.
Game 2 I had to mulligan and kept what was in hindsight an amazing hand, but i played wrong. Couple of mana elves, chord and couple of lands was all I needed but for some idiotic reason I didnt chord for kataki! Was too focused on trying to get my beatdown going I massively misplayed. Oh well, chalk it up to tiredness I guess. Sorry elves I didn't do you justice here.
Round 4- tron
Welp. Both games were the same. Turn 3 karn followed by turn 4 ugin. Nothing I could do. I did keep a shoddy hand in game 2 but honestly I don't think I was ever winning this matchup. I really think we need good Sideboard options for this (currently tier 1) deck.
So i went 2-2 but i felt like the deck did ok. I was playing an experimental build and honestly I think some of the losses could have been due to this internal inconsistency which needs to be ironed out. I was trying to do too much, and was attempting to cram chords into the main (despite realising a while back that they are probably better in the board).
The lessons from this are clear. Elves is really a knife of a deck and needs to be sharp. It doesn't really do "half measures" in the maindeck and needs to be completely single minded on its focus for speed and resiliency in the main, with more thoughtful and toolboxy answers in the board.
Viva la elves
FNM Results: 5th // 22 players
4 Cavern of Souls
5 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
4 Windswept heath
//Creatures
4 Dwynen's Elite
3 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Mystic
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Shaman of the Pack
3 Sylvan Messenger
4 Collected Company
3 Lead the Stampede
3 Thoughtseize
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Dismember
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Spellskite
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Abrupt Decay
R1: GB Chord Elves 1-2
G1 L: I had a pretty good start whereas he had a slow one. I ended up getting mana flooded and whiffing two companies so he soon gained the advantage and won.
Out: Visionary, Forest In: Abrupt, Dismember, Pact
G2 W: I managed to chain lead into messengers and quickly gained board state then won.
G3 L: I had have an aggressive start and managed to get him to 1 life before it became a board stall. He won the topdeck battle by drawing CoCo, CoCo, then Chord in that order and I drew land, land, and land, only seeing 1 of 9 value engines.
R2: Junk Midrange 2-0
G1 LW I had to mullgian down to 5 cards but I drew into 2 Leads so I quickly came back and he scooped.
No sideboard
G2 W: He just couldn't keep up with all my draw power and I overran for 46 damage.
R3: Mardu Tokens 2-0
G1 W: I had an explosive start and even though he did have an army of tokens through lingering souls and monastery monk, I had a bigger army.
Out: Visionary In: Abrupt, Dismember,
G2 W: Spent turns not drawing into any of my engines but I was aggressive enough to get his life within Shaman range and topdecked one for game.
R4: Boros Norin Soulsisters 0-2
G1 W: Fought for 1st. This is a pretty annoying matchup as my build that focuses on creature density for an impactful Shaman is suddenly pointless. I had windows to close out the game early if I drew into one of my lords but it did not come into fruition. He eventually won through Purphoros triggers.
Out: Lead, Messenger In: Abrupt, Dismember, Pact, Chalice
G2 L: Mulligan to 5. My strategy was to be aggro-control which was working wonders until I misplayed and destroyed his Champion of the Parish instead of Genesis Chamber killing his only creature threat but he drew into purphoros and combo'd out.
Post-game Thoughts:
Value is no longer being as rewarding in my meta due to more people running fast decks. I noticed more games where I rely on top decking or on L/M to draw into something game-winning when a Chord could easily have won me the game and not prolong it. When Plan B fails and you have a huge board state but you can't find a way through, Chord goes a long way and I need that advantage again if I want to beat this meta.
For my Chord list I'm taking notes from Matsume, NewModern, others, and most importantly Sullano's list. The Leads in the board is definitely the route I want to go and I've been wanting to make room for Canopies for a while now - land flooding is a recurring problem - so I'm interested in the route Sullano took. This would mean not relying on black or white non-creature spells which is fine considering Chord's toolbox strength but it would require me to maybe cut TS and/or Chalice.
I have not gotten enough practice with Chalice as it doesn't show up as often as I would like it to when I board it in. I still think its great tech just like TS to tackle difficult matchups. I will think about both for my deck going forward but for now I'll focus on the toolbox.
Overall I had a great run with this deck and admired when it made value matchups a breeze.
@Sullano's List:
Even in GB he runs 4x Canopies and it makes complete sense in his list. They are so important alongside visionary by helping with topdecking and manaflooding among other things. As for his manafixing it's just like I thought, Canopy + Cavern is enough white for an Abzan list that isn't relying on white non-creature spells - with Chords as an alternative. I'm really liking his manabase and since it's similar to the direction I want to go, I'm going to run with it even though without fetches and so few basic lands I see it struggling against Blood Moon.
As for his mb, Lead with no Messenger instead of Chord is interesting. I'm guessing what influenced him to put Chord sb is that he expected more value matchups than fast ones - whereas my meta is the reverse. Removing Messenger fixes the curve but there has to be a better reason for not running it. Maybe Shaman compensates for the extra value from Messenger making CoCo/Lead/Visionary/Canopy enough value to allow the rest of the shell to be intact while not losing much speed.
@My Chord List:
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
3 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
// Creatures
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Dwynen's Elite
3 Nettle Sentinel
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Collected Company
4 Chord of Calling
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Lead the Stampede
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Chameleon Colossus
2 Spellskite
1 Viscera Seer
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Elvish Champion
For starters, this is what I'm going to run with next week. It's pretty much a carbon copy of Sullano's new list. It's possible that the 4th chord hurts my curve but I feel like if I run them mb I might as well run a set. Elvish Champion had to be in my 75 because of elf decks running rampant in my meta. Having thoughts on Copperhorn Scout, Athereos - even though he might not work with this manabase, something for blue, and something for graveyards.
GBRJund Elves
GWDevoted Elves
WDeath & Taxes
GWUBRHumans
EDH:
GTitania, Protector of Argoth
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=95323
4 Arbor Elf
4 Dwynen's Elite
1 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Essence Warden
4 Heritage Druid
1 Joraga Warcaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Evolutionary Leap
4 Chord of Calling
4 Summoner's Pact
Lands
5 Forest
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Spellskite
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thragtusk
4 Rally the Ancestors
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
This is quite a different take on it, getting 7th in a field of 178. I'm not sure how exactly the deck plays out so I have a hard time evaluating it but it at least gives a different perspective. Is the plan to just overwhelm the board with minnows then finish with one of the lords?
My list
2 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Elvish Visionary
3 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Mirror Entity
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
1 Lead the Stampede
Lands
4 Cavern of Souls
7 Forest
3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Pendelhaven
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Beast Within
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Dismember
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Lead the Stampede
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
This list remains unchanged since my top 8 in a WMCQ 2 months ago (haven't played since then). I won a tournament on Saturday going 5-0 against a field 60-70% of which were grinders. Matchups were as follows:
R1 (Domain Zoo) 2-0 - Went off too fast for him and he lacked good interaction. In game 2, I managed to beat a turn 2 Mirran Crusader thanks to drawing Spellskite to chump and managing to dump my hand on t3/t4 for a double overrun the following turn with help from Nykthos.
R2 (Allies) 2-1 - This deck was surprisingly fast and I could've easily lost the match if he drew Kabira Evangel in game 1. Without Path or a nut draw though, we should be favoured.
R3 (Skred) 2-1 - I thought it would be pretty tough to beat a playset of Pyroclasm/Anger of the Gods but I managed to pull through, with every game depending on the top of the deck after he sweeps my board but I rebuild with a CoCo and Lead.
R4 (UR Twin) 2-0 - I had the nuts game 1 (on the draw as well!), with a turn 2 Spellskite cutting off Twin followed by a CoCo and chord (after 1 CoCo was countered) to overrun around turn 6. Game 2 a rules misunderstanding allowed me to keep Spellskite and Ooze on the board and eventually overwhelm him with Elves under the protection of Spellskite.
R5 (Living End) 2-1 - Pull off game 1 with Scavenging Ooze and Mirror Entity, drop game 2 despite him on a mull to 5 due to a turn 2 Living End with double street wraith and deadshot. Game 3 he puts in Leyline of the Void, I slam a bunch of Elves and when he attempts cascade into Living End I chord for Eidolon of Rhetoric and shut it out. Despite an anger next turn leaving only the rhetoric his life is low enough that I finish him off a few turns later.
Overall, deck still feels great! I still have yet to give the GB a go and it seems to be the one pulling off the results, but my fear of the fast combo decks makes me want to stick the GW for Chords (I guess I could try Abzan but fear the pain of Fetch/Shock, given I have not got Horizon Canopy or Gilt-Leaf Palace).
Currently am thinking to do the following changes:
Main
-1 Reclamation Sage
+1 Spellskite (from SB)
Sage mainboard hasn't seemed too relevant of late. Wasn't sure what else to fill it with so I just moved Spellskite into the main, which is mostly a solid choice.
Sideboard
-1 Beast Within
-1 Spellskite (to main)
+1 Ethersworn Canonist
+1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
I am still a bit wary of fast combo and getting Canonist provides a chord target for 2 (as opposed to Eidolon for 3). I didn't put Canonist in initially due to fear of Bolt/Anger (not relevant for some decks but relevant against others). I initially thought Infect was good enough with being able to tutor for Spellskite, but given the greater breadth of answers for Spellskite I've added Melira, which can only be dealt with by Dismember.
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Razorverge Thickets
2x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1x Pendelhaven
1x Horizon Canopy
5x Forest
Creatures
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Heritiage Druid
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Llanowar Elf
4x Elvish Visionary
4x Dwynen's Elite
4x Elvish Archdruid
2x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1x Reclamation Sage
3x Sylvan Messenger
4x Collected Company
3x Lead the Stampede
2x Burrenton Forge-Tender
2x Essence Warden
2x Chameleon Colossus
3x Spellskite
2x Kataki's War Wage
1x Dismember
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Choke
The choke was there because I knew somebody playing Twin, Merfolk, and Mono-Blue Tron. It wasn't great and I will be taking it out in my next list. I will probably follow Sullano into Chords in the side plan.
Round 1 - Merfolk - 2-1 - 1-0 Overall
These games revolved around speed for the most part. He had hibernation and I knew he had hibernation specifically due to me as I beat him a couple weeks ago. He dismembered early mana elves in an effort to slow me down, but it ultimately came down that I was much more able to get elves on the field and to be faster especially if we didn't have fast hands. I didn't really misplay and he for hte most part knew to play lord lord lord lord or to get as many of his lords on the table as fast as possible. I think there were times when he got mana screwed for the double islands. Elves are faster although the Lead/Messenger version is slower, but can Elfstorm for better effect which will be important in later matchups. These games played pretty much the same. We both attempted to flood the board with creatures in an attempt to win, but Ezuri is just better save for when Islandwalk is better.
Round 2 - UR Twin - 2-1 - 2-0 Overall
Game 1 - Twin on turn 3. He had it, I wasn't fast enough although I wasn't exactly slow either. I tried to flood the board with elves, but Twin was there.. This seems to be the usual factor. Game 2 was far more interesting and I remember a little bit more about it. I had a cavern of souls in hand and named Horror so he would think I had a Spellskite in hand. I didn't. It was a bluff. I played a few elves which I apparently upset the divine nature of twin as I borught on an Anger of the Gods. He played a pestermite, I cocoed and found an elf and a Spellsite which he snapcasted a roast he played earlier to kill it. This was back and forth a few turns then he misplayed twice. The turn before and the turn after I played Ezuri. He snapcasted Serum Visions instead of Anger of the Gods. I played Ezuri, Renegade Leader keeping up 3 mana to regenerate incase of Anger of the Gods. Second Misplay which I pointed out after the turn, He first mainphased snap castered anger of the gods instead of attacking first with his guys for some damage before snapcasting anger of the gods. These plays saved me as I regenerated 3 times, cast the second Ezuri I had in my hand and won shortly afterword for Game 2. Game 3 was easier. I had a spellskite in my opening hand with a 1 lander and 2 mana dorks. I drew a second land and then I played the spellskite on turn 2 and proceeded to dump elves from my hand. It was over. *phew* I haven't beaten splinter twin before. I am glad that I had 3 spellskites in the side.
Round 3 - Abzan Chord Elves - 2-0 - 3-0 Overall
He played Elves as we discussed each decks merits and flaws earlier. He didn't play Ezuri's but Craterhoof behemoth and both fetchlands and shocks. He didn't have dwynen's elite in his decks. He also had chord as well. These games proceeded along the same lines as Merfolk. We attempted to dump our hands for victory. I had the better draws and the card advantage engines of Lead and Messenger did me proud with Elfstorming (which is now what I call it instead of Elfsplosion). I got there faster and more consistant then he did. I think it may have been a weaker elf deck, but he did well with it from what I understand beating a couple decks one of which I knew was Modern Slivers on the back of a double Shaman Company.
Round 4 - Mono-Blue Tron - 1-2 - 3-1 Overall
I think the Lead/Messenger version is much weaker against this Tron deck then the Chord version. Not being able to tutor for answers against his Oblvion stones, Ugins, etc. is just rough and the Card advantage doesn't help you as much against a resolved UGIN or an Oblivion Stone or Mindslaver lock or heck even a Platinum Angel. I attempted to Elfstorm each time, but each time he got tron quickly enough and I didn't have any nuts hands to compete or fight. The countermagic didn't help at all, but it wasn't as crippling as I didn't get what I needed. I was at 8 and he had a Wormcoil out and I was at 8 I think. he was at 21. I had an Ezuri and a handfull of elves on the field. He main played a Platinum Angel and attacked with the worm coil. I collected company during the attack step. I got my singleton Reclamation sage and an Archdruid. I targeted the Platinum Angel, chumpblocked the wormcoil, regenerated my dude. Untapped swung and dealt 31 points of damage the next turn. Other games I had down to 4 before he stablized and even with Ugin I was trying to cast a few elves each turn to force him to ugin to kill him that I could play more elves and win the following turns. I misplayed at this so he plussed one and that was game enough for that as I didn't draw enough gas afterwords to challenge him.
Round 5 - a Mono-Red Storm brew - 2-0 - 4-1 into the TOP 4 overall with second seed. The mono-blue tron player and a different Merfolk deck were the other seeds and they inentionally drew into the top 4
This was a very strange deck as he had 17 mountains. He was 3-1 with it so it must have had some play to it. I didn't see alot of it as I Elfstormed my way to victory with a Reclamation sage on a Pyromancer's Ascension. He said he just through a sideboard together so there wasn't any red wrath affects.
TOP 4 - 1 drop Zoo (Naya) - 2-1.
I have played this person before and they are getting better and better as I am since I am farily new as well. They usually play Naya Burn effectively. These games with Burn ALWAYS turn into a grind. ALWAYS! He won the first game after finding the correct and only path to victory as I thought I had the game locked away. He had played Goblin Guide early and on one of hte triggers he found a reclamation sage, so he played his Eidolon, got 2 damage from me and played his second one. At this time I had attacked him several times and had mini-Elfstormed to have a bunch of 2/2 and 1/1 on the field. He was at like 4 life with an Eidolon in play. I was at 9 Life. He had 3 creatures, a Kird Ape, A Goblin Guide, and a Grim Lavamancer. I had just cocoed into 2 heritage druids. I had a dwynen's elite and a llanowar elf in hand and a lead the stampede. I wanted to attack him low enough that he couldn't kill me with a burn spell lest he take eidolon damage and die first. So I attacked him with everything. I don't remember the exact board state that I had, but it was something like 2 Heritage Druids, Reclamation Sage, 2 Elvish Visionaries, 1 Elf Warrior Token, 2 Elvish Mystics. He did the right grim lavamancer play, by killing rec sage and killing a dude, and blocking the 2 heritage druids, but before damage he Lightning helix another dude that I had so I had 3 tapped dudes at 9 life with a goblin guide and an Eidolon in play. He was at 3 Life as the turn ended. I thought I had him, so I cast a Dwnyen's Elite to get two blockers which put me down to 7 Life. Here I think I had a misplay. I asumed he had a Searing Blaze or a Searing Blood that he could kill a dude and deal 3 damage to me putting himself down to 1, but without a second blocker would could kill me with a dudes or something. So I played a second dude to get me to 5. This would have been fine if he had searing blaze, but not if he had a second lightning helix which he then proceeded to play and kill me.
Games 2 and 3 were less stressful. He never landed an Eidolon and I was capable of outvalueing him by getting gas cards and casting more elves then he had dudes. I eventually would draw an Ezuri and win through that method or Elfstorming into multiple archdruids. I think there was a game I ended at 18 life thanks to a having 2 consecutive Essence Wardens.
Finals - Merfolk - 1-2 Lost
I was happy that Merfolk beat Mono-Blue Tron, but ultimatly I lost. I didn't draw the faster hands that I needed and he had great hands with many many lords in it. The first game I had enough of a Misplay that looking back on it, I see the error. I had just Elfstormed with a bunch of summoning sick elves and I had 1 Archdruid on the Field. I attacked with a Nettle Sentinel and an Dwyenen's Elite against two Master of the Waves and he dismembered my archdruid. I eventually lost the game by 4 points. If I had just waited one more turn into attacking. I could have perhaps overwhelmed them with even more dudes and gotten that 4 points of damage in. I didn't have enough dudes the next round to get through. The second game I had won because he hadn't drawn an island all game with a hibernation in hand. I eventually drew the things that I needed to win. The last round I misplayed with mana and attacking where I lost a 1/1 Warrior dude that I didn't need to send knowing that he would die, but I did get 4 damage in that i probably could have gotten in anyway. I also had 2 Nettle Sentinels in with a Heritage Druid and didn't use that to cast the Ezuri, but he had a hibernation in hand the next turn, but i couldn't swing for lethal that turn to stay alive due to spreading seas in place. Still this is my highest scoring in a break to to a top tournement ever. My previous one I got to top before losing to Goryo's Vengence Reanimator in the Quaters.
I can lay an excuse that it was past midnight on a day that I worked a full day before hand and played 7 total rounds of magic, but ultimately the misplays were mine and mine and alone. I can see the value of slow playing and not taking Merfolk lightly. We still need to play Merfolk tightly. I happy with the result. I can see why people favor shaman of the pack. Having a little bit more reach in games like Mono-Blue Tron or Merfolk agianst blockers is great if the Elf-storming doesn't work out to provide the pieces you need when you need them. I also think Razorverge Thicket might not be the correct land to play or to have fewer of them. I there were times that I wish they came in untapped as some of the games extended. I don't think I can play fetchlands/shocks as the damage will be just too much against burn. I don't fear burn as other decks fear burn precisely because that 20 damage with Burrenton Forge-Tenders/Essence Wardens/Kitchen Finks can be tough to get if they don't have an Eidolon in play. I think against Elves, burn becomes a more controlling deck then an pure racing deck which means that we grind more and 4 mana spells aren't unviable such as Dwyen or Sylvan Messenger.
I am loathe to give up Sylvan Messenger. They help the Elfstorming so much. However, I may have to try variations of Andrew Sullano's build out as I love the simplistic and Elegance of his main board choices although I wonder if the lands are good enough. There were many games that were lost or iffy because of the presence of Sylan Messengers along side Leads or Companies in the hands against fast or faster decks than us. While I can be happy to cast them especially in burn matchups to gain the needed card advantage over Eidolon. I can't help but feel that they are the first to go in a revamped deck. However, I miss the card advantage. I feel the Card Advantage is so very important in Elves as that is what seperates the Elves deck from other aggro deck. We can play grindy better than any other linear aggro deck out there and win from nowhere with it. I have also felt that Archdruid/Ezuri isn't enough against many decks especially Merfolk at times although I think we are still favorable that Shaman of the Pack would be just steller in the role.
I would like to hear about his Sideboard Choices and Land Choices for the most part. I can't see not playing any sort of Graveyard Hate or Artifact hate. I think we would just fold to most Goryo's Vengence decks and Grixis decks now that sylvan messenger isn't there for as much card advantage. I don't think 4 White sources are enough to play stony silence or rest in peace. I think Leyline of the Void is too variable and 4 black sources aren't enough to play it and 3 or 4 slots maybe needed to even bring it in. Affinity is still faster I think, but Andrew might provide us a different picture of affinity and spellskite/revoker might be enough to slow them enough for us to win.
I am assuming Chords come in during Infect (spellskite/melira), Affinity(Burrenton Forge-Tender/revoker/melira/Reclamation Sage), Living End(viscera seer, Burrenton Forge-Tender), maybe Zoo(Burrenton Forge-Tender/Reclamation Sage), Amulet Bloom (Reclamation Sage, Revoker, Burrenton Forge-Tender), Twin (Spellskit, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Reclamation Sage), Footprints Hulk? Goryo's Vengence?
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/tier-2-modern/561856-collected-company-elves?comment=3405
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
He is the first person I know to have played seer in the board against living end and he mentions that the infinite life combo is purely incidental. This was also the same tournament Andrew Sullano top 8'd with proplayer77's g/w lead / messenger list iirc.
What's interesting is he chose to run an Abzan list this time rather than the previous list he top 8'd with. I cannot say for sure but I would not be surprised if he took note of Chris Lopez's list and, by the looks of it, may have merged proplayer77's list with Chris Lopez's list. This is just speculation on my part, I would love for mr. Sullano to tell us himself.