Intro:
Decided to revisit doing elves.
When putting these together I started equating these to a baskin robbins flavors.
Elves decks have many different ways they can be put together. With GRN rotation we can explore different builds under the different color combinations and come up with different decks to attack the OP differently.
This deck needs some tweaking, but I remember seeing an older deck that had used Grand Warlord Radha. Since convoke isn't an option from white. We go to red because red allows us to drop the hammer with banefire and do uncounterable damage. We also have fight with fire for midrange threats. Mana is probably a bit heavy handed at 24 lands.
Other thoughts:
1. Card advantage isn't super great with Treasure Map
2. Sideboard needs some adjusting as well.
3. Risk factor should be able to help as well acting as a punisher.
I thought about this build after thinking about merfolk since merfolk have a lot of synergy and push out a lot of counters and try to flip Hadana's Climb. I figured let's try to apply this to elves and with Steel Leaf Chamption. I also considered the auras decks since blue is deep with cheap low to the ground auras that push evasion. Also blue gives us Dive Down and card advantage cards like Opt / Search for Azcanta.
Sideboard is probably gonna need some adjusting I do have Nezahal in there though.
This golgari should be straight forward. Just topdeck Underrealm Lich and then has some removal dropped in. 1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed to make use of the graveyard if necessary. The usual suspects are there and lay the foundation for the deck. It will probably need Find\\Finality. I'm still questioning this deck a little because graveyard interaction is limited. A little bit limited on removal as well and going to need to do some further tweaking of the sideboard.
I think a bant deck could be put together. I do believe you can do.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I have definitely noticed that people run 3 copies of Find, pretty much a staple in most golgari decks. Golgari Findbroker I am still somewhat out on this card but it seems to have found itself as a staple in decks because it can recover removal and just about anything out of the graveyard to keep the match grinding along.
I did see Memorial to Folly make some of those lists but I am not sure if that is the card I am looking for.
Deck feels a bit creature heavy at the moment, will do some more fine tuning as it moves a long. It may be that deck should start out aggro and then switch to control later and grind it's way forward. We do have a way to recover creatures back now after getting wiped out and can pull removal back as well. I'm tempted to add Ochran Assassin, granted the card is not very good but it may get me out of a jam during a boardstall and allow me to close out a match against tokens/aggro.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
How does this deck get around sweepers? Gaea's Blessing seems good to start refueling your library.
I've thought about this a few times as sweepers can leave these decks hosed, but being low to the ground with the 1/2 drops the deck should be able to refuel itself quickly. It really depends on when the sweeper hits like in the mid-late game we should have Vanquisher's Banner up which will allows to draw cards and re-populate the board quickly, because if Marwyn, the nurturer / Steel Leaf Champion / Beast Whisperer aren't checked they will close out a game.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Also note Song of Freyalise gives all creatures indestructible but only on 3rd section
and Vivien Reid's ultimate can give all creatures indestructible
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Assuming we hit all land drops Llanowar Scout pulls lands from our hand. Steel Leaf Champion can come in hopefully not countered and get haste or +1 counter, puts him out of lava coil range. Grand Warlord Radha can come in hopefully not countered and gets a +1 putting her out of lava coil range. Growth-Chamber Guardian not sure if this fits the game plan. Treasure Map Lets us scry and filter cards off the top. Elvish Clancaller Pumps entire team, Need a lot of mana to hit the mana sink, most likely dies to removal.[ Nikya of the Old Ways this opens up the option for mana sinks.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Gruul Elves has been my pet deck ever since the release of Grand Warlord Radha.
With the reprint of Stomping Ground the deck can really take off without losing tempo but to me, the card that will break it is Electrodominance.
The value on this card when used during an alpha strike with Radha is very real and can end matches as soon as turn 4.
It will be all-out aggro though, and i have no clue if it will have legs in the upcomming meta. It will be lots of fun, i know that much.
I can see a hyper aggro strategy. Though against control and sweepers I don't see this working.
I believe the play sequence here is:
T1: llanowar
T2: steel leaf
T3: radha (and steel leaf hit) 8 damage generate 2 mana(add a body or use lightning strike)
T4: swing with radha and steel leaf again and do 8 damage and generate 2 mana and use with electrodominance to do 4/5 damage to win the game.
I also see you can cast any other spell from your hand probably would be lighting strike or add more bodies.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
In a vacuum:
T1 Pelt Collector;
T2 Thorn Lieutenant, Swing 2
T3 Champion, Swing 6
T4 Radha, Swing. Drop Electrodominance x=2, drop Clancaller, for a total of 20.
This is 28 potential damage by turn 4 but there are more ways to do lethal. The trick is getting most of it past blockers and removal
In a vacuum:
T1 Pelt Collector;
T2 Thorn Lieutenant, Swing 2
T3 Champion, Swing 6
T4 Radha, Swing. Drop Electrodominance x=2, drop Clancaller, for a total of 20.
This is 28 potential damage by turn 4 but there are more ways to do lethal. The trick is getting most of it past blockers and removal
Long and short, will not buy in on this. I will also end the conversation right there.
Discussion of new cards before the complete spoiler is released should be in New Card Discussion. - hoser2
I will also end the conversation right there.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
some slots are left open in sideboard. Not sure what works there. Also 3 slots open in the main, not sure what works there either.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Assuming we hit all land drops Llanowar Scout pulls lands from our hand. Steel Leaf Champion can come in hopefully not countered and get haste or +1 counter, puts him out of lava coil range. Grand Warlord Radha can come in hopefully not countered and gets a +1 putting her out of lava coil range. Growth-Chamber Guardian not sure if this fits the game plan we can find it, adapting it and finding more might be tricky. Treasure Map Lets us scry and filter cards off the top. Elvish Clancaller Pumps entire team, Need a lot of mana to hit the mana sink, most likely dies to removal. Nikya of the Old Ways this opens up for a lot of mana.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Hmmm, I need to keep brewing for a little bit. I think there are some variants in here that might be cool like selesnya, bant, naya, gruul, simic, abzan, and mono-green.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Here's a shell that I am currently working with. The emphasis here is generating a lot of mana. Notice that it's only 56 cards. I need help deciding what the other four cards should be.
The deck doesn't have to stay mono-green so the four cards can be a splash. The candidates are:
Rhythm of the Wild - This deck probably makes better use of Rhythm of the Wild than any other deck. It's relevant early game when on curve. It synergizes well with the adapt creatures. It's relevant later in the game vs. control or if you go off and want all your creatures to have haste when you dump them onto the battlefield. This is what I'm leaning towards at the moment.
Banefire - They call it Elfball for a reason. Not sure I'd go all-in with four Banefire but maybe as a singleton.
Unbreakable Formation - The white weenie decks are running this in the main to good effect in Arena. A white splash is a doable thing if we want to go that way.
Biogenic Ooze - Kind of insane with a ton of mana floating around. Feel like a 1-2x type card though.
I also note that most people are playing 20 or 21 lands so I conceed that I could cut two lands but if I did then I'd feel obligated to replace them with Adventurous Impulse or something like that.
I am leaning towards the red splash because it does provide a lot of good sideboard opportunities. Cindervines is a card I like in the sideboard very much. I could even see going full-blown Naya with it so I could have Unbreakable Formation in the sideboard as well.
Anybody else want to brainstorm with me? I wish I could build this on Arena but there are sooooooooo many rares (27!) and many of them can only be used in this type of deck. I have it built on MTGO. It's really cheap there but for Standard most things are these days.
T1 llanowar, t2 steel leaf champion, t3+ protect champion for the win.
Stick early clancaller and chain ten for a big board to overpower.
Chain krasis off all ramp
Hadana's climb off krasis or pelt collector for arial beats.
Sideboard is a work in progress for bo3. Tons of options. Incubation Druid can tap for any color off unclaimed territory btw. It's in the oracle rulings.
@mapcu - I'm not sure if the sultai shell is what you want.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
hey all, I've been playing bant elves with a lot of success/fun. The deck splashes for some interesting synergies, because while elves definitely have legs, they kind of lack a real finishing play. I've found the deck to be particularly resilient to control and burn while still being able to outpace other more midrange aggro decks, although things like black based hand disruption have given it some trouble. I'd be interested to what yall think of the list! I think it's pretty viable, but also might not be "optimal" as I chose to go with a more fun route in deckbuilding. Here's the list
I've loved the elves shell but feel honestly that the deck needs to expand to find it's finisher. At the same time, you don't want to add a card that has a win more effect.
The four non elf creatures have totally served as great finishers all in themselves, with Zegana making unbreakable formation a formidable finishing blow even past it's stand-alone main phase advantage or counter sweeper, as well as providing card advantage on it's own (with pelt collector, a turn 3 zegana is wonderful tempo. Trostani serves nicely as a fifth lord as well as something that provides some life gain, which the deck definitely needs to keep up with red (but once it can keep up, it feels like a good matchup). Hydroid krasis offers a similar advantage to swing the tempo. I tried hadana, but found it to be very very underwhelming, it just didn't accomplish much.
Spell pierce has won me more games than a lot of the other cards, being able to turn 3 drop a steel leaf using ur llanowar and then protect it with pierce is great, and it can counter sweepers turn 4/5 when you've got an established board and your opponent doesn't have mana to pay. Teferi also is really great, allowing crab elf to adapt easier, opening mana for clancaller, spell pierce, and giving the psuedo removal of bounce.
March of the multitudes is the latest test, we'll see how it works out. Before I've tested domriv (doesn't fit the deck but has it's utility) and Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants (I may come back to this card). Ajani was an interesting disappointment: I thought between the +1 synergy with crab zegana and druid it would be great, plus the -2 can get you back clancallers or whatever, but ultimately he proved too hard to cast, and Shalai has done a similar job while being a much smoother fit in the deck.
Anyway, I want to start building sideboard for this deck, it's really a blast to play. What are some must haves for sideboard? Let me know your thoughts!
Decided to revisit doing elves.
When putting these together I started equating these to a baskin robbins flavors.
Elves decks have many different ways they can be put together. With GRN rotation we can explore different builds under the different color combinations and come up with different decks to attack the OP differently.
6 Mountain
10 Forest
1 Memorial to Unity
4 Rootbound Crag
Creatures (21)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Pelt Collector
3 Marwyn, the Nurturer
2 Grand Warlord Radha
3 Banefire
2 Fight with Fire
3 Risk Factor
1 Vivien Reid
2 Treasure Map
4 Lava Coil
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Shapers' Sanctuary
4 Vine mare
This deck needs some tweaking, but I remember seeing an older deck that had used Grand Warlord Radha. Since convoke isn't an option from white. We go to red because red allows us to drop the hammer with banefire and do uncounterable damage. We also have fight with fire for midrange threats. Mana is probably a bit heavy handed at 24 lands.
Other thoughts:
1. Card advantage isn't super great with Treasure Map
2. Sideboard needs some adjusting as well.
3. Risk factor should be able to help as well acting as a punisher.
7 Island
13 Forest
1 Memorial to Unity
4 Hinterland Harbor
Creatures (16)
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
2 Pelt Collector
4 Steel Leaf Champion
4 Arcane Flight
4 Curious Obsession
3 Hadana's Climb
2 Dive Down
3 Negate
4 Opt
1 Negate
2 Nezahal, Primal Tide
3 Skyrider Patrol
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Shapers' Sanctuary
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Vivien Reid
4 Vine mare
I thought about this build after thinking about merfolk since merfolk have a lot of synergy and push out a lot of counters and try to flip Hadana's Climb. I figured let's try to apply this to elves and with Steel Leaf Chamption. I also considered the auras decks since blue is deep with cheap low to the ground auras that push evasion. Also blue gives us Dive Down and card advantage cards like Opt / Search for Azcanta.
Sideboard is probably gonna need some adjusting I do have Nezahal in there though.
11 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Memorial to Unity
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (28)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 District Guide
4 Steel Leaf Champion
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Poison-Tip Archer
3 Underrealm Lich
4 Assassin's Trophy
2 Cast Down
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 The Eldest Reborn
3 Duress
3 Plague Mare
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Plaguecrafter
1 Vivien Reid
4 Vine mare
This golgari should be straight forward. Just topdeck Underrealm Lich and then has some removal dropped in. 1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed to make use of the graveyard if necessary. The usual suspects are there and lay the foundation for the deck. It will probably need Find\\Finality. I'm still questioning this deck a little because graveyard interaction is limited. A little bit limited on removal as well and going to need to do some further tweaking of the sideboard.
I think a bant deck could be put together. I do believe you can do.
T1: Llanowar Elves
T2: Knight of Autumn
T3: Hadana's Climb
-Stay Frosty
7 Island
13 Forest
1 Memorial to Unity
4 Hinterland Harbor
Creatures (20)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Pelt Collector
4 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Arcane Flight
4 Curious Obsession
3 Hadana's Climb
3 Negate
3 Opt
2 Dive Down
2 Nezahal, Primal Tide
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Silent Gravestone
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Vivien Reid
4 Vine mare
11 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Memorial to Unity
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (28)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 District Guide
4 Steel Leaf Champion
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Poison-Tip Archer
3 Underrealm Lich
4 Assassin's Trophy
2 Cast Down
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 The Eldest Reborn
3 Duress
3 Plague Mare
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Plaguecrafter
1 Vivien Reid
4 Vine mare
-Stay Frosty
SB options
Deathgorge Scavenger
Eldest Reborn
Arguel's Blood fast
Did not see Vine Mare in any of those lists...may have to cut it.
11 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (29)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
3 District Guide
4 Steel Leaf Champion
2 Ravenous Chupacabra
2 Poison-Tip Archer
3 Underrealm Lich
2 Golgari Findbroker
1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
3 Cast Down
3 Find \\ Finality
1 The Eldest Reborn
2 Assassin's Trophy
3 Duress
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Arguel's Blood fast
2 Plaguecrafter
1 Vivien Reid
2 Vine mare
1 The eldest Reborn
I have definitely noticed that people run 3 copies of Find, pretty much a staple in most golgari decks.
Golgari Findbroker I am still somewhat out on this card but it seems to have found itself as a staple in decks because it can recover removal and just about anything out of the graveyard to keep the match grinding along.
I did see Memorial to Folly make some of those lists but I am not sure if that is the card I am looking for.
Deck feels a bit creature heavy at the moment, will do some more fine tuning as it moves a long. It may be that deck should start out aggro and then switch to control later and grind it's way forward. We do have a way to recover creatures back now after getting wiped out and can pull removal back as well. I'm tempted to add Ochran Assassin, granted the card is not very good but it may get me out of a jam during a boardstall and allow me to close out a match against tokens/aggro.
-Stay Frosty
13 Forest
1 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
Creatures (27)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Druid of the Cowl
4 Elfhame Druid
3 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Beast Whisperer
4 Vanquisher's Banner
4 Flower \\ Fluorish
3 Conclave Tribunal
1 Camaraderie
3 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
2 Shapers'Sanctuary
1 Seal Away
2 Ixalan's Binding
1 Huatli, Radiant Champion
1 Gideon's Reproach
3 Centaur Peacemaker
1 Conclave Tribunal
-Stay Frosty
20 Forest
Creatures (32)
4 Beast Whisperer
4 Druid of the Cowl
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Pelt Collector
4 Steel Leaf Champion
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Vanquisher's Banner
4 Adventurous Impulse
4 Vine Mare
3 Diamond Mare
3 Shapers'Sanctuary
2 Vivien Reid
3 Reclamation Sage
-Stay Frosty
20 Forest
Creatures (32)
4 Beast Whisperer
4 Druid of the Cowl
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Pelt Collector
4 Steel Leaf Champion
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Vanquisher's Banner
4 Adventurous Impulse
4 Vine Mare
3 Diamond Mare
3 Shapers'Sanctuary
2 Vivien Reid
3 Reclamation Sage
Another 5-0 list
-Stay Frosty
I've thought about this a few times as sweepers can leave these decks hosed, but being low to the ground with the 1/2 drops the deck should be able to refuel itself quickly. It really depends on when the sweeper hits like in the mid-late game we should have Vanquisher's Banner up which will allows to draw cards and re-populate the board quickly, because if Marwyn, the nurturer / Steel Leaf Champion / Beast Whisperer aren't checked they will close out a game.
-Stay Frosty
The GW version has access to Make a Stand though I'm not sure if it is good enough at 3-mana
(compared to the rotated Heroic Intervention which was much better).
Radiant Destiny and Vanquisher's Banner can help survive Fiery Cannonade/Deafening Clarion/Golden Demise (and Goblin Chainwhirler).
Gaea's Blessing
Find // Finality
Golgari Findbroker
Recollect
preventative sweeper cards
Make A stand
Join Shields
Spot removal
Assure // Assemble
Sheltering Light
Dive Down
Shalai, Voice of Plenty
Adamant Will
There is probably more than that but that should cover most of the recovery cards.
Only ones I would use are Golgari Findbroker and Find // Finality
Shalai, Voice of Plenty although not technically spot removal it does force OP to attack her first and will prevent removal that targets the player: Settle the Wreckage / Duress
Also note Song of Freyalise gives all creatures indestructible but only on 3rd section
and Vivien Reid's ultimate can give all creatures indestructible
-Stay Frosty
20 Forest
Creatures (32)
4 Beast Whisperer
4 Druid of the Cowl
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Pelt Collector
4 Steel Leaf Champion
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Vanquisher's Banner
4 Adventurous Impulse
4 Vine Mare
3 Diamond Mare
3 Shapers'Sanctuary
2 Vivien Reid
3 Reclamation Sage
Another 5-0 list
-Stay Frosty
10 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
Creatures (29)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Llanowar Scout
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
3 Nikya of the Old Ways
4 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Grand Warlord Radha
3 Treasure Map
4 Experimental Frenzy
4 Rhythm Of The Savages
2 Vine Mare
3 Crushing Canopy
3 Shapers'Sanctuary
2 Vivien Reid
2 Carnage Tyrant
3 Kraul Harpooner
My thoughts are should be
T1: Llanowar Elves
T2: Rhythm Of The Savages
T3: Experimental Frenzy
Assuming we hit all land drops
Llanowar Scout pulls lands from our hand.
Steel Leaf Champion can come in hopefully not countered and get haste or +1 counter, puts him out of lava coil range.
Grand Warlord Radha can come in hopefully not countered and gets a +1 putting her out of lava coil range.
Growth-Chamber Guardian not sure if this fits the game plan.
Treasure Map Lets us scry and filter cards off the top.
Elvish Clancaller Pumps entire team, Need a lot of mana to hit the mana sink, most likely dies to removal.[
Nikya of the Old Ways this opens up the option for mana sinks.
-Stay Frosty
With the reprint of Stomping Ground the deck can really take off without losing tempo but to me, the card that will break it is Electrodominance.
The value on this card when used during an alpha strike with Radha is very real and can end matches as soon as turn 4.
It will be all-out aggro though, and i have no clue if it will have legs in the upcomming meta. It will be lots of fun, i know that much.
This is where i'm at currently:
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
11 Forest
2 Mountain
Creature
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Pelt Collector
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Marwyn, the Nurturer
3 Grand Warlord Radha
2 Beast Whisperer
2 End-Raze Forerunners
3 Lightning Strike
3 Electrodominance
3 Vivien Reid
3 Shapers' Sanctuary
2 Sentinel Totem
3 Lava Coil
2 Reclamation Sage
3 Vine Mare
2 Carnage Tyrant
Remark: Jund could also very well be a possibility when Allegiance lands.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I believe the play sequence here is:
T1: llanowar
T2: steel leaf
T3: radha (and steel leaf hit) 8 damage generate 2 mana(add a body or use lightning strike)
T4: swing with radha and steel leaf again and do 8 damage and generate 2 mana and use with electrodominance to do 4/5 damage to win the game.
I also see you can cast any other spell from your hand probably would be lighting strike or add more bodies.
not sure how you fix bad draws either.
-Stay Frosty
T1 Pelt Collector;
T2 Thorn Lieutenant, Swing 2
T3 Champion, Swing 6
T4 Radha, Swing. Drop Electrodominance x=2, drop Clancaller, for a total of 20.
This is 28 potential damage by turn 4 but there are more ways to do lethal. The trick is getting most of it past blockers and removal
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Long and short, will not buy in on this. I will also end the conversation right there.
I will also end the conversation right there.
-Stay Frosty
4 Breeding Pool
12 Forest
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
Creatures (29)
2 Biomancer's Familiar
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Frilled Mystic
2 Beast Whisperer
4 District Guide
2 End-Raze Forerunners
4 Thorn Lieutenant
3 Steel-Leaf Champion
4 Incubation // Incongruity
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Dive Down
2 Negate
2 Vine Mare
1 Vivien Reid
3 Kraul Harpooner
some slots are left open in sideboard. Not sure what works there. Also 3 slots open in the main, not sure what works there either.
-Stay Frosty
10 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
Creatures (29)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Llanowar Scout
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
2 Nikya of the Old Ways
4 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Grand Warlord Radha
4 Treasure Map
4 Experimental Frenzy
4 Rhythm Of The Wild
2 Cindervines
3 Thrash // Threat
3 Lava Coil
2 Vivien Reid
2 Carnage Tyrant
3 Kraul Harpooner
My thoughts are should be
T1: Llanowar Elves
T2: Rhythm Of The Wild not sure about this card in the deck uncounterable is nice but getting down frenzy is probably more preferable and would rather play Treasure Map here.
T3: Experimental Frenzy
Assuming we hit all land drops
Llanowar Scout pulls lands from our hand.
Steel Leaf Champion can come in hopefully not countered and get haste or +1 counter, puts him out of lava coil range.
Grand Warlord Radha can come in hopefully not countered and gets a +1 putting her out of lava coil range.
Growth-Chamber Guardian not sure if this fits the game plan we can find it, adapting it and finding more might be tricky.
Treasure Map Lets us scry and filter cards off the top.
Elvish Clancaller Pumps entire team, Need a lot of mana to hit the mana sink, most likely dies to removal.
Nikya of the Old Ways this opens up for a lot of mana.
-Stay Frosty
Cards that got me thinking:
biomancer's familiar
electrodominance I kinda dislike this card but have to keep working with it.
stony strength might lead to busted plays with marwyn, the nurturer and incubation druid and growth chamber guardian
wilderness reclamation untap mana and bring in more elves
-Stay Frosty
4 Elvish Clancaller
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
4 Incubation Druid
3 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Steel Leaf Champion
4 Beast Whisperer
3 Vanquisher's Banner
22 Forest
Rhythm of the Wild - This deck probably makes better use of Rhythm of the Wild than any other deck. It's relevant early game when on curve. It synergizes well with the adapt creatures. It's relevant later in the game vs. control or if you go off and want all your creatures to have haste when you dump them onto the battlefield. This is what I'm leaning towards at the moment.
Banefire - They call it Elfball for a reason. Not sure I'd go all-in with four Banefire but maybe as a singleton.
End Raze Forerunners - A good finisher. Solid as a 1-2x.
Unbreakable Formation - The white weenie decks are running this in the main to good effect in Arena. A white splash is a doable thing if we want to go that way.
Biogenic Ooze - Kind of insane with a ton of mana floating around. Feel like a 1-2x type card though.
I also note that most people are playing 20 or 21 lands so I conceed that I could cut two lands but if I did then I'd feel obligated to replace them with Adventurous Impulse or something like that.
I am leaning towards the red splash because it does provide a lot of good sideboard opportunities. Cindervines is a card I like in the sideboard very much. I could even see going full-blown Naya with it so I could have Unbreakable Formation in the sideboard as well.
Anybody else want to brainstorm with me? I wish I could build this on Arena but there are sooooooooo many rares (27!) and many of them can only be used in this type of deck. I have it built on MTGO. It's really cheap there but for Standard most things are these days.
4 breeding pool
4 hinterland harbor
4 overgrown tomb
4 woodland cemetery
3 forest
1 island
4 pelt collector
3 incubation Druid
4 elvish clancaller
4 steel leaf champion
2 marwyn, the nurturer
2 reclaimation sage
1 golgari findbroker
4 frilled mystic
4 hydroid krasis
1 hadana's climb
1 assassin's trophy
Basically it's one of the following:
T1 llanowar, t2 steel leaf champion, t3+ protect champion for the win.
Stick early clancaller and chain ten for a big board to overpower.
Chain krasis off all ramp
Hadana's climb off krasis or pelt collector for arial beats.
Sideboard is a work in progress for bo3. Tons of options. Incubation Druid can tap for any color off unclaimed territory btw. It's in the oracle rulings.
@mapcu - I'm not sure if the sultai shell is what you want.
-Stay Frosty
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Pelt Collector
2 Incubation Druid
2 Thorn Lieutenant
4 Growth-Chamber Guardian
4 Elvish Clancaller
2 Marwyn, the Nurturer
4 Steel Leaf Champion
1 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
1 Trostani Discordant
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Hydroid Krasis
Noncreatures
2 Unbreakable Formation
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Conclave Tribunal
1 March of the Multitudes
2 Spell Pierce
10 Forest
3 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
3 Hinterland Harbor
3 Sunpetal Grove
I've loved the elves shell but feel honestly that the deck needs to expand to find it's finisher. At the same time, you don't want to add a card that has a win more effect.
The four non elf creatures have totally served as great finishers all in themselves, with Zegana making unbreakable formation a formidable finishing blow even past it's stand-alone main phase advantage or counter sweeper, as well as providing card advantage on it's own (with pelt collector, a turn 3 zegana is wonderful tempo. Trostani serves nicely as a fifth lord as well as something that provides some life gain, which the deck definitely needs to keep up with red (but once it can keep up, it feels like a good matchup). Hydroid krasis offers a similar advantage to swing the tempo. I tried hadana, but found it to be very very underwhelming, it just didn't accomplish much.
Spell pierce has won me more games than a lot of the other cards, being able to turn 3 drop a steel leaf using ur llanowar and then protect it with pierce is great, and it can counter sweepers turn 4/5 when you've got an established board and your opponent doesn't have mana to pay. Teferi also is really great, allowing crab elf to adapt easier, opening mana for clancaller, spell pierce, and giving the psuedo removal of bounce.
March of the multitudes is the latest test, we'll see how it works out. Before I've tested domriv (doesn't fit the deck but has it's utility) and Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants (I may come back to this card). Ajani was an interesting disappointment: I thought between the +1 synergy with crab zegana and druid it would be great, plus the -2 can get you back clancallers or whatever, but ultimately he proved too hard to cast, and Shalai has done a similar job while being a much smoother fit in the deck.
Anyway, I want to start building sideboard for this deck, it's really a blast to play. What are some must haves for sideboard? Let me know your thoughts!