Garruk is very good, but I noted that according to their GDS, they didn't like bad tension within the abilities. For Garruk that meant trying to make creatures and trying to overrun which never complemented each other
Anyways what's the metagame now? And what are the most sideboard cards you choose?
In my region it's mostly Caw-Blade (often with UWB), UW control, UB Tezzeret, Boros. Valakut has lost lots of support lately. There are a lot of different deck types being played, though.
Been testing some more, against serious decks and Copperhorn Scout has been very underwhelming for me. Often it's win more. It can steal a kill here and there, but it just as often does completely nothing. If your opponent lets you keep Archdruid, Ezuri AND Scout on the table, they're stupid.
Imho Ranger beats Treespeaker by far. I play 4 Rangers, no Speakers.
Best card from New Phyrexia: Beast Within. Can kill ANY problem card, but can also be used to turn your excess land into a beater, at instant speed, and all this for the mere cost of 3 mana. I might play 4 main, I'm not sure yet.
I'm not saying Garruk is horrible, but he just doesn't fit in the deck. Oran-Rief, Warcaller and Treespeaker were all skipped by me (although I might put 1 Warcaller in the sideboard). Ranger is awesome. Vengevine is very necessary in the deck, as is 4x Ezuri.
And I'm very fond of Lead the Stampede. Awesome green card drawer. Can get you back in the game in a pinch. It's so good because people think they can out-card advantage you by playing a mass removal spell, but next turn you can play a bunch of creatures and get Vengevine back. And they're in the same situation again.
I'm still trying to figure out the ideal configuration for my version of the deck. In my region, Caw-Blade (often with black splash) and Boros are the top decks. Valakut has lost some support here, but still present; UB and RUG decks show up every now and then. In my deck, I try to maximize the usability of Lead the Stampede (I play 4 and 35 creatures).
So I have some cards to consider, I hope you can help me out:
* Eldrazi Monument - this card was an auto-include a while a go, but no more. It shines against aggro and Valakut, I think. So should this leave the main? Sideboard it or skip it entirely?
* Green Sun's Zenith. I see succesful versions with or without this card. It gets sided out a lot. So is this card still useful? Makes the deck more consistent, but also slower. Doesn't work that good with LTS.
* Verdant Catacombs - was played a lot, but I don't see anyone using fetch lands anymore. With Ranger, it smoothens draws and improves LTS. Why are fetch lands skipped?
* Tectonic Edge: good vs. control and Valakut, so why not 2 main and 2 in the board? I don't see them main anymore, in most decks, only sideboard.
* Garruk Wildspeaker: lost it's appeal, but seems to show up again. Good against control, I think. Not so good against aggro. Your opinion?
* Leatherback Baloth: I play 4 main. T2 Baloth on the play is a force to reackon with. Works against both aggro and control. Why isn't the guy played more?
* Sideboard Naturalize / Nature's Claim: do you side this in vs. Caw-Blade? I already have 3 Viridian Corrupters and 2 Acidic Slime. Is this overkill and should I leave it for the UB artifact decks?
* Leyline of Vitality: still viable against decks that pack Slagstorm?
Thanks in advance for your answers. Any tips on other cards are welcome too.
You are always sideboarding out Lead the Stampede. Why still play them main? I find that they give me huge card advantage, especially against control decks. I'd rather board in more creatures (Slime, Viridian Corrupter) to keep the LTS.
You're not playing Tectonic Edge either. Is there a reason?
Knowing what to sideboard IN versus specific decks is usually not that hard, but what do you sideboard OUT? I know that cards that are generally weaker versus a deck type get sided out, but what cards are that for the Elves deck?
For example:
Copperhorn Scout - does that get boarded out vs. decks with Pyroclasm / Arc Trail?
Eldrazi Monument - out vs. control? (too vulnerable for counters)
What do you generally side out vs. these 3 deck types:
* Caw-Blade
* Aggro (R/W or mono R)
* Valakut (or Eldrazi ramp)
And if you side in Tectonic Edges, do you replace them for other lands, or do you side out other cards? (Edges are basically half land / half spell, so you can't count them as full lands).
I got a qualifier coming up this weekend and I'd like to test the deck a bit, so any help is appreciated.
aspire to without any real expectation of success because casual players are the ones actually buying packs and supporting the game.
I think you are right, except for one thing: tournament players buy singles, but these singles have to come from booster packs too. They are just not bought by tournament players, but by the shops (whether B&M or online only).
Ultimately Wizards profits from both casual and tournament players, thus will try to keep both happy.
The site has been closed down. This is what it says:
Apparently this site was working too well for Wizards' taste and has been ordered to be shut down. I respect that the cards are their property and therefore I have no choice but to shut down the site despite the fact that several nearly identical sites have been around for years. I was open and willing to make any requested changes, but they seemed pretty pissed and revoked permission to use anything related to their products. If you have any questions, I will still check this email for a little while at info at magicdraftsim.com.
Thanks for all the help with the site,
~MagicDraftSim.com
It sometimes looks as if fakers purposely put in errors. I mean: it can't be that hard to spell the text correctly and make it look real?
Try overrunning without creatures.
Why? You can't remove poison tokens.
In my region it's mostly Caw-Blade (often with UWB), UW control, UB Tezzeret, Boros. Valakut has lost lots of support lately. There are a lot of different deck types being played, though.
Imho Ranger beats Treespeaker by far. I play 4 Rangers, no Speakers.
Best card from New Phyrexia: Beast Within. Can kill ANY problem card, but can also be used to turn your excess land into a beater, at instant speed, and all this for the mere cost of 3 mana. I might play 4 main, I'm not sure yet.
And I'm very fond of Lead the Stampede. Awesome green card drawer. Can get you back in the game in a pinch. It's so good because people think they can out-card advantage you by playing a mass removal spell, but next turn you can play a bunch of creatures and get Vengevine back. And they're in the same situation again.
So I have some cards to consider, I hope you can help me out:
* Eldrazi Monument - this card was an auto-include a while a go, but no more. It shines against aggro and Valakut, I think. So should this leave the main? Sideboard it or skip it entirely?
* Green Sun's Zenith. I see succesful versions with or without this card. It gets sided out a lot. So is this card still useful? Makes the deck more consistent, but also slower. Doesn't work that good with LTS.
* Verdant Catacombs - was played a lot, but I don't see anyone using fetch lands anymore. With Ranger, it smoothens draws and improves LTS. Why are fetch lands skipped?
* Tectonic Edge: good vs. control and Valakut, so why not 2 main and 2 in the board? I don't see them main anymore, in most decks, only sideboard.
* Garruk Wildspeaker: lost it's appeal, but seems to show up again. Good against control, I think. Not so good against aggro. Your opinion?
* Leatherback Baloth: I play 4 main. T2 Baloth on the play is a force to reackon with. Works against both aggro and control. Why isn't the guy played more?
* Sideboard Naturalize / Nature's Claim: do you side this in vs. Caw-Blade? I already have 3 Viridian Corrupters and 2 Acidic Slime. Is this overkill and should I leave it for the UB artifact decks?
* Leyline of Vitality: still viable against decks that pack Slagstorm?
Thanks in advance for your answers. Any tips on other cards are welcome too.
You're not playing Tectonic Edge either. Is there a reason?
For example:
Copperhorn Scout - does that get boarded out vs. decks with Pyroclasm / Arc Trail?
Eldrazi Monument - out vs. control? (too vulnerable for counters)
What do you generally side out vs. these 3 deck types:
* Caw-Blade
* Aggro (R/W or mono R)
* Valakut (or Eldrazi ramp)
And if you side in Tectonic Edges, do you replace them for other lands, or do you side out other cards? (Edges are basically half land / half spell, so you can't count them as full lands).
I got a qualifier coming up this weekend and I'd like to test the deck a bit, so any help is appreciated.
I think you are right, except for one thing: tournament players buy singles, but these singles have to come from booster packs too. They are just not bought by tournament players, but by the shops (whether B&M or online only).
Ultimately Wizards profits from both casual and tournament players, thus will try to keep both happy.