Well, I do run a GW build which has been working well. Splashing is really easy in modern :).
It basically turns everything into an elvish visionary. Getting value out of those late game manadorks. Often, I have druid+3 sentinels on the field, that plus this would let us draw until we ran out of draws. Most likely drawing out deck.
How do the primal command interactions work? I heard you can bounce all of their permanants, but how do you do that? Can you recycle the Command with its own ability?
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Standard: Esper Control | UWR Flash --- Modern: Melira Pod | Splinter Twin
I believe that it's a loop with Eternal Witness and infinite mana, generally if I've made infinite mana I can already win, but I suppose that that's a cool way to do it.
btw... has anybody looked into Sages of the Anima - sad it doesn't cost 4... but I remember reading on the WoTC site that if it would have cost 4 it would have been so *bonkers* - I wonder how *bonders* it is at CMC 5... though...
It's unnecessary. We can draw our whole deck. This is just an extra 4 mana to spend so we don't draw all of our lands along with it, really.
What are the colors people have been playing. I've gone GW, and I know many plat mono G. But how about GR or GB lists?
Also, what do people think of this?
I think he's better as an alternate to Cloudstone Curio, not in conjunction with it. He's a really expensive Glimpse of Nature, but he works well enough, I find. Builds including him should use tons of 1-mana Elves, though, to increase his consistency.
"Extra Costly Glimpse Man", in my (goldfish) testing, seems to be a more consistent but less explosive option than Cloudstone Curio for comboing off. On the one hand, the turn you have a Heritage Druid, two Nettle Sentinels, and a Curio is the turn you will fully steamroller your opponent in infinite mana and all your deck drawn. On the other hand, "Glimpse Man" actually lets you do something with one Heritage Druid, one Nettle Sentinel, and one mana dork Elf. Plus, Chord of Calling searches for him. Additionally, spare "Glimpse Men" aren't entirely useless, as they'll trigger off each other entering the battlefield.
Beware, though; the "Glimpse Man" does not play well with Elf Lords. (Thankfully, the average Combo Elves build here only runs 4 lords.)
Okay, further testing shows that "Glimpse Man" dies hard to any creature removal (and thus makes our Zoo match-up way worse). Back to the drawing board for him as the deck's sole draw engine.
if anything I think MotM can work with cloudstone. with heritage druid and nettle sentinel and 1 mana dude you already have infinite mana getting a net gain of 1 over and over again which you can use to pay to draw a card each cycle.
I play with intruder alarm for brokenness.
One card that not a lot of people use is Tangleroot. its only a one of in my deck- with cloudstone and at least one essence warden and another 1 mana dude (preferably another essence warden) you can cycle both of them in and out for free after paying for the first one and infinite life you shall have. I like this combo because its a 3 card base combo (essence, tangle, cloud; you will most likely have a one mana creature in hand) that doesn't depend on heritage druid. Not in the deck for win-con (and by no means the main combo) but in for an anti-lose-con to most decks. obv hive mind decks wont care about infinite life.
I tested the other day against my friend with Swath/Shot storm deck. It's a very hard matchup G1, but I've started running 3-4 Mindbreak Trap sideboard as that card makes the match extremely winnable. Anybody else having similar experiences?
I tested the other day against my friend with Swath/Shot storm deck. It's a very hard matchup G1, but I've started running 3-4 Mindbreak Trap sideboard as that card makes the match extremely winnable. Anybody else having similar experiences?
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against swath/shot yes it is a hard matchup- red in general is hard for elves. I have fought a couple of those decks and found that your strategy should be to swarm them with elves, not to combo off. If you try to combo off with those key creatures in one turn, they will just kill them when they come on board especially heritage druid. So your strategy against them is beatdown. Keep putting out guys so they are forced to waste their burn spells on your elves. Each burn usage will slow their game a lot while you should be getting in damage every turn as they will have no creatures. If you play someone like elvish archdruid, they will kill them instantly which is good because he is a part of any of your combos- so if you have enough mana and you bait out their burns for the turn then feel free to combo off if you can. Just don't attempt to combo off when they have a full hand and untapped lands. Also, any life gain at all will throw their game off. I mainboard 2 essence wardens for lots of life and primal command which is kinda clunky, but super good in this matchup because they have to work around an instant 7 more life. So make your elves a threat to his life and those burn spells won't be a threat to yours.
Also, any life gain at all will throw their game off. I mainboard 2 essence wardens for lots of life and primal command which is kinda clunky, but super good in this matchup because they have to work around an instant 7 more life. So make your elves a threat to his life and those burn spells won't be a threat to yours.
Yeah, I really noticed this in those games. Once, a T3 Primal command won me the game, Gain 7 and search for Viridian Zealot.
That brings me to another great anti-storm (Shot/Swath) tactic.
Completely nullifies Pyromancer's Swath, which is a key card in the vast majority of storm decks. The fact that it doesn't need haste to go off also helps a lot in the MU.
as already stated it is an instant. can be used as an expensive green sun's zenith but it has so many more uses.
random scenario: when your opponent tries to attack and they think its safe, put in an archdruid for surprise p/t boost but most likely, if you had enough to chord for 3, then you had a chance to somewhat combo off.
as expensive as that card is, the convoke portion of the card really helps in early turns getting what you need. this lets you tap your creatures (preferably the ones without tap abilities like nettle sentinel, elvish visionary, or essence warden if you run them) to reduce cost significantly. this is good when you don't have heritage druid around at that point b/c if he was, you shouldn't have that many untapped creatures. so tap your creatures to tutor for sometimes free cost. good to run these but essential to run more GSZ than this I think.
I like to run one vexing shusher against counters and surprise cast to stop
so just as GSZ is great for finding what you need to combo off, chord can do the trick. but it is exceptionally good for your defensive strategy also- as long as your have creatures in your deck that answer to certain things (viridian zealot/corrupter/shaman, shusher, etc)
but it is exceptionally good for your defensive strategy also- as long as your have creatures in your deck that answer to certain things (viridian zealot/corrupter/shaman, shusher, etc)
Love this idea, I'ma start a thread for all of the defensive targets for chord.
Also… have you noticed that we're the only 2 people posting on combo elves? what happened to everyone
So, mono green is great and all, but 2 colours is the way to go.
Blue has Intruder Alarm and Coiling Oracle, the former of which providing another combo (Imperious Perfect ) and easier mana production. White has, well, just look at the list from the Pro Tour. What do you guys think about adding another colour? The mana bases are easy to construct, and fairly stable.
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It basically turns everything into an elvish visionary. Getting value out of those late game manadorks. Often, I have druid+3 sentinels on the field, that plus this would let us draw until we ran out of draws. Most likely drawing out deck.
Currently Playing
Standard: Esper Control | UWR Flash --- Modern: Melira Pod | Splinter Twin
It's unnecessary. We can draw our whole deck. This is just an extra 4 mana to spend so we don't draw all of our lands along with it, really.
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=909713
check the cool sideboard, I think he planned for a toolbox with chord of calling (a card I think should be tested).
What does Chord of Calling give you that you can't regularly achieve with Green Sun's Zenith?
It can fetch non-green creatures, and can be cast for X if you have three creatures out, X-1 for four etc.
even more key, it's also an instant
I think he's better as an alternate to Cloudstone Curio, not in conjunction with it. He's a really expensive Glimpse of Nature, but he works well enough, I find. Builds including him should use tons of 1-mana Elves, though, to increase his consistency.
YAY we're in the competitive forum:):):):):):):)
Beware, though; the "Glimpse Man" does not play well with Elf Lords. (Thankfully, the average Combo Elves build here only runs 4 lords.)
Okay, further testing shows that "Glimpse Man" dies hard to any creature removal (and thus makes our Zoo match-up way worse). Back to the drawing board for him as the deck's sole draw engine.
What about Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre as an alternative to Eternal Witness-Primal Command? He's more useless outside of comboing out, but he sweeps their board!
I play with intruder alarm for brokenness.
One card that not a lot of people use is Tangleroot. its only a one of in my deck- with cloudstone and at least one essence warden and another 1 mana dude (preferably another essence warden) you can cycle both of them in and out for free after paying for the first one and infinite life you shall have. I like this combo because its a 3 card base combo (essence, tangle, cloud; you will most likely have a one mana creature in hand) that doesn't depend on heritage druid. Not in the deck for win-con (and by no means the main combo) but in for an anti-lose-con to most decks. obv hive mind decks wont care about infinite life.
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against swath/shot yes it is a hard matchup- red in general is hard for elves. I have fought a couple of those decks and found that your strategy should be to swarm them with elves, not to combo off. If you try to combo off with those key creatures in one turn, they will just kill them when they come on board especially heritage druid. So your strategy against them is beatdown. Keep putting out guys so they are forced to waste their burn spells on your elves. Each burn usage will slow their game a lot while you should be getting in damage every turn as they will have no creatures. If you play someone like elvish archdruid, they will kill them instantly which is good because he is a part of any of your combos- so if you have enough mana and you bait out their burns for the turn then feel free to combo off if you can. Just don't attempt to combo off when they have a full hand and untapped lands. Also, any life gain at all will throw their game off. I mainboard 2 essence wardens for lots of life and primal command which is kinda clunky, but super good in this matchup because they have to work around an instant 7 more life. So make your elves a threat to his life and those burn spells won't be a threat to yours.
Yeah, I really noticed this in those games. Once, a T3 Primal command won me the game, Gain 7 and search for Viridian Zealot.
That brings me to another great anti-storm (Shot/Swath) tactic.
Viridian Zealot
Completely nullifies Pyromancer's Swath, which is a key card in the vast majority of storm decks. The fact that it doesn't need haste to go off also helps a lot in the MU.
I've seen plays like
Storm: Spell, Spell, Spell, Spell, Spell, Pyromancer's Swath
Elves: Chord of Calling --> Viridian Zealot --> Destroy Swath
Storm: GG
as already stated it is an instant. can be used as an expensive green sun's zenith but it has so many more uses.
random scenario: when your opponent tries to attack and they think its safe, put in an archdruid for surprise p/t boost but most likely, if you had enough to chord for 3, then you had a chance to somewhat combo off.
as expensive as that card is, the convoke portion of the card really helps in early turns getting what you need. this lets you tap your creatures (preferably the ones without tap abilities like nettle sentinel, elvish visionary, or essence warden if you run them) to reduce cost significantly. this is good when you don't have heritage druid around at that point b/c if he was, you shouldn't have that many untapped creatures. so tap your creatures to tutor for sometimes free cost. good to run these but essential to run more GSZ than this I think.
I like to run one vexing shusher against counters and surprise cast to stop
so just as GSZ is great for finding what you need to combo off, chord can do the trick. but it is exceptionally good for your defensive strategy also- as long as your have creatures in your deck that answer to certain things (viridian zealot/corrupter/shaman, shusher, etc)
Love this idea, I'ma start a thread for all of the defensive targets for chord.
Also… have you noticed that we're the only 2 people posting on combo elves? what happened to everyone
Blue has Intruder Alarm and Coiling Oracle, the former of which providing another combo (Imperious Perfect ) and easier mana production. White has, well, just look at the list from the Pro Tour. What do you guys think about adding another colour? The mana bases are easy to construct, and fairly stable.