MTG Salvation

You really don't need 3 Elvish Champion, especially if it's a wishboard, just play one. To fight the green decks play meekstone. If you're worried about the mirror, run Orzhov Pontiff. Try Harmonic Sliver/Birchlore Rangers in SB. To give advantage versus fast combo/control decks, try Thorn of Amythest, Thalia, and Gaddock Teeg.

I have 4 birchlore rangers mainboard so I wouldn't be able to put any in my sideboard and since I run foodchain off colour answers shouldn't be too hard to run. I run 3 champions cause I tend to sidboard 2 in if board them in and I like to keep 1 still in the sideboard so I can wish for it if need be. Should I run any sergical extractions because I have 3. If you would like me to repost my list I could but I posted it a few pages back and you can just look at it if you need to and thanks for your input.

I think most of the cards listed in the Aggro Elves primer would be worth consideration.

It doesn't look like you're running white, so Gaddock Teeg and Qasali Pridemage might be risky - though I presume you'd only wish for them if you have the Birchlore Rangers in hand or play. Humility would probably need more than the Rangers for the WW casting cost.

A few other possibilities for the wishboard:

Gaea's Cradle if you can afford a copy.
Karakas for Sneak and Show, if you can afford a copy.
Caller of the Claw for Wrath effects.
Scavenging Ooze somewhat mitigates Wrath effects, can address some graveyard shenanigans.
Viridian Corrupter for artifacts.
Faerie Macabre for graveyard shenanigans.
Viridian Zealot for artifacts and enchantments.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader as an alternative win condition.

For the sideboard, a single Mortarpod shows up fairly frequently. And Thorn of Amethyst and Meekstone were previously mentioned.

Quote from Mitch, Spellweaver

Hi guys I'm new to this forum but teating on cockatrice I suggest u Flusterstorm in sb against show and tell decks or other combo decks! playing a tropical island and Birchlore Rangers in maindeck allow us to play counterspells!

This is exactly what Roberto Sartini did in his 2nd Place deck from D-Day V!


Now that we're in blue we might as well run Edric, spymaster of trest!

This deck is much more 'aggro-combo' (Ezuri, Emrakul, only 1 Quirion, no Priests, 1 Archdruid), with a control hate (Flusterstoem AND Choke) SB.
I'm afraid of 'jack of all trades, master of none' approaches, but is looks nice.
I will merge this deck with mine and test it on Cockatrice to see what happens.

Yeah it definitely looks a lot more midrange than the usual combo elves build. And I would take out Emrakul for Mirror Entity, and 1 Regal Force for Edric. Both Regal Force and Emrakul can be hard to play without priests and just one Archdruid. I don't get the Spike Feeder though!

Quote from .Ix

I don't get the Spike Feeder though!

Maybe as SB against Jitte/burn so when they give something -1/-1 or burn it then he gives it +1/+1?

I don't understand why Concordant Crossroads isn't an auto 2 or 3 of in this deck. Isn't playing 20+ creatures and attacking all in one turn just as effective as any finisher available in this deck?

Quote from Tykimeister

I don't understand why Concordant Crossroads isn't an auto 2 or 3 of in this deck. Isn't playing 20+ creatures and attacking all in one turn just as effective as any finisher available in this deck?

Emrakul can't be countered, and has it's own protection. The extra turn also gives you "haste" technically. If the Crossroads gets countered, it leaves a turn for the other player to possible get out of it.

Quote from Negator87 »

Also, would like some sideboard suggestions.

This is the current deck edit I am using right now. Not sure if 8 tutors is too many so I need to test it some more. BUt for my sideboard I have Nature's claim over kgrip because it's cheap so i won't have to worry about mana and in the end that 4 life won't matter when i hit them for 100+. The Faerie will deal with GY shenanigans. Thorn to use against combo/control. And beast within as an all around destroyer.

Hi TrevaFTW, don't you miss Quirion Rangers? And 4 Priests are a nice number for you? I'd expect 2-3 but with 1 Cradle it might do. With monogreen I'd also replace 2 Birchlore Rangers with 2 Fyndhorn Elves to speed the deck in early game.
Ezuri and Craterhoof are redundant IMO, and Craterhoof isn't an Elf so the deck loses a bit of sinergy, I'd put a Viridian Shaman instead.
How do Cavern of Souls work for you? If the meta is full of Wastelands, cut it, otherwise put more to protect you from FoW's.
If you don't feel yourself mana screwed often, that's it, otherwise cut Crossroads and Vitalize and put 2 more lands (or 1 land - maybe Pendelhaven - and 1 Crop Rotation).
About SB, the only question mark is Beast Within. My personal option is bounce Terastodon with Mirror Entity and Symbiote if needed be but it's way more expensive and don't stop creatures so I guess that'll work good.
HTH

Quote from Alexandre

Hi TrevaFTW, don't you miss Quirion Rangers? And 4 Priests are a nice number for you? I'd expect 2-3 but with 1 Cradle it might do. With monogreen I'd also replace 2 Birchlore Rangers with 2 Fyndhorn Elves to speed the deck in early game.
Ezuri and Craterhoof are redundant IMO, and Craterhoof isn't an Elf so the deck loses a bit of sinergy, I'd put a Viridian Shaman instead.
How do Cavern of Souls work for you? If the meta is full of Wastelands, cut it, otherwise put more to protect you from FoW's.
If you don't feel yourself mana screwed often, that's it, otherwise cut Crossroads and Vitalize and put 2 more lands (or 1 land - maybe Pendelhaven - and 1 Crop Rotation).
About SB, the only question mark is Beast Within. My personal option is bounce Terastodon with Mirror Entity and Symbiote if needed be but it's way more expensive and don't stop creatures so I guess that'll work good.
HTH

I don't really miss the quirion rangers because when I go off I can' really keep playing the lands I'm bouncing (or drawing). Having the birchlore rangers allows me to play one creature, tap it, and tap nettle sentinel for one mana to play another 1cmc elf and keep the combo going. This is essentially like have another 4 heritage druids which people over look. The ezuri/craterhoof is so I have two ways to win. I don't like the idea of one win condition so if they happen to GftT of DB or counter ezuri, I still have craterhoof or vace versa (which can be found with 8 tutors, making the lack of synergy not a problem).

I also originally started with 12 lands and found that I was having to mulligan too often so I upped it to 14 and I'm comfortable with this. I like vitalize too because when you're going off you're eventually going to hit a point where you have a lot of creatures out, tapped out, and nothing to do so this way you can untap them and keep going or end your turn and have a lot of blockers or you could retap them and hardcast emrakul. Cavern of souls is nice but not necessary; same with the cradle.

Quote from Negator87

Nature's claim is interesting, but it can't deal with countertop, this is why I choose Krosan Grip... I were wondering about meekstone, mortarpod, gut shot, dismember, beast withinn.. all those cards can deal with pacekeeper / blazing archont (it can be put into play by show and tell not only reanimated) and such...

Wrt the sideboard if I come across countertop I could always use beast within on it and/or nature's claim giving me 7 cards against them. Really beast within gives you 3 free cards against almost every deck. I'm not too worried about other aggro decks because it will become a moderate race and the key is to realizing the life loss they give you won't matter cause once you combo off, play craterhoof behemoth, and attack with 15 creatures that all get +15/+/15 ... well, I'll let you do the math.

What is the best build if you are trying to play Emrakul as the main win condition, and maybe another green lord as a secondary.

What is the advantages of using Mirror Entity as the main win condition? If your taping a lot of your elves to generate mana/combo, you have to wait until next turn to attack. Doesn't Mirror Entity stand vulnerable just like any other win condition? For some reason I just think Gaea's Cradle, and other mana generating elves would be better with Emrakul.

I have never played this deck/am building it now. So any advice would be appreciated.

Crap, anyother one... Why play Paerie Macabre? Wont it be hard paying BB with most elf decks? I don't see the reliablilty with this card aside from the one elf that can tap 2 elves for any color mana.

Thanks!

Quote from Izor

Emrakul also gets around Moat and Glacial Chasm locks. Neither Crossroads nor Mirror Entity can do that. If you think this is never going to happen, ask Caleb Durward how his last SCG finals went.

If I'd had an Emrakul in my deck, I would not have top eighted, much less made it to the finals. Same goes for top eighting the open in St Louis last weekend. One of these cards is a stone mulligan until it's overkill, and one of these cards is the best topdeck in the deck and pulls wins out of nowhere.

Seriously, I figured that out from a few goldfishes with the deck. How is this even being debated? The list that top 32'd in GP Atlanta also followed Chris's shell. At this point, saying "both choices have their strengths and weaknesses" is willful ignorance. Entity is clearly better.

Also: Entity doesn't expose you for a turn. You play a Symbiote, use a mana to make it an elf, then bounce it with its own ability to untap a non-summoning sick elf. Repeat. Then make your non summoning sick elves 500/500s and kill them. The decks that you care about passing the turn to (combo and control) won't have blockers to not die.

Quote from CalebD

If I'd had an Emrakul in my deck, I would not have top eighted, much less made it to the finals. Same goes for top eighting the open in St Louis last weekend. One of these cards is a stone mulligan until it's overkill, and one of these cards is the best topdeck in the deck and pulls wins out of nowhere.

Seriously, I figured that out from a few goldfishes with the deck. How is this even being debated? The list that top 32'd in GP Atlanta also followed Chris's shell. At this point, saying "both choices have their strengths and weaknesses" is willful ignorance. Entity is clearly better.

Also: Entity doesn't expose you for a turn. You play a Symbiote, use a mana to make it an elf, then bounce it with its own ability to untap a non-summoning sick elf. Repeat. Then make your non summoning sick elves 500/500s and kill them. The decks that you care about passing the turn to (combo and control) won't have blockers to not die.

I get the feeling that many of the Emrakul proponents here haven't tested with Entity, or have a personal preference for Emrakul that they attempt to ultimately qualify as "truth" gained from "playtesting."

Entity will win you games where an Emrakul list wouldn't have had a prayer, and Entity will still win the games the Emrakul list would've won. I don't know why it's so hard to see that an infinite combo enabler combined with a pseudo-Ezuri is so good.

It's widely known any splash (and use of fetches, for that matter) increases the probability of being Stifled or Wastelanded. But Entity brings also more combo-ability with Wirewood Symbiotes and a wincon in itself. This and things like Gaddock Teeg and Qasali Pridemage (hell, even Karakas when wishboarding like me ) make the white splash more an opportunity than a threat IMO.

Quote from CalebD

If I'd had an Emrakul in my deck, I would not have top eighted, much less made it to the finals. Same goes for top eighting the open in St Louis last weekend. One of these cards is a stone mulligan until it's overkill, and one of these cards is the best topdeck in the deck and pulls wins out of nowhere.

Speaking of your deck, could you expand on why you choose to run so many 2-3 of's versus a list of solid 4's? For referenbce my deck is mostly 4 of's and 1 of's:

Do you think having 4 tutors is enough or would you think more would be better? Also, GSZ versus Summoner's Pact?

Were the savannah's and fetches necesary or do you think 4 birchlore rangers would work? If you had no ABUR lands would you still use crop rotation? Do you think cavern of souls has a place in this deck?

Did you find 17 lands too much? When I frist built my own combo elves I had twelve lands but was mulling to much and upped to 14 and am fairly comfortable with that.


Sorry if this is a lot of questions but you did fairly well so I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks

Anyone have any links to videos of people playing this deck with mirror entity?

Quote from TrevaFTW

Speaking of your deck, could you expand on why you choose to run so many 2-3 of's versus a list of solid 4's?

Cards like Birchlore Rangers and Heritage Druid, while sweet when comboing off, are the worst cards in the deck before that. Meanwhile, when you start to combo off you're drawing a pile of cards, increasing the likelihood of drawing your 3 of, and you can always GSZ for a missing piece.

Your other questions can be answered by realizing I played an almost identical list for three tournaments in a row (top eighting twice)

@ Caleb- Can I ask why you don't play a 2/2/2 split with arbor elf, llanowar, and fyndhorn.

Bacause Pendelhaven + Arbor Elf sucks. Or if anyone casts Armageddon
If you don't need WW, it's almost pointless to untap, say, a Savannah.
The only strong point is that Pithing Needle hurts less, but I guess the opponent will choose Heritage Druid instead.

Quote from Alexandre

The only strong point is that Pithing Needle hurts less, but I guess the opponent will choose Heritage Druid instead.

What? Arbor Elf's ability is not a mana ability, and Heritage Druid's is...

I think it is safe to assume if pithing needle is naming arbor elf your opponent is doing something wrong, so the question is is white mana dork worth a potential poor interaction with pendlehaven and horizon canopy?

Maybe I wasn't clear.
IMHO Arbor Elf has NO advantages over Llanowar and Fyndhorn, unless you play (or sideboard) any XWW spell like Humility. With 2 2W spells in main deck I don't see its value.
And Quirion Ranger already can replay a Savannah, and untap any other creature in the process.
Besides, if you have only non-Forest in your battlefield, it's useless as a mana source. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
At most it's a tie, but for me and for now thw other mana dorks work better for me, thanks.

Caleb's list had the two humility in the board so I think asking if he had trouble making ww is worth while, I'm extremely new to this deck and my starting point is very close to his, while his list is tuned to playing larger meta's I'll only be playing smaller local event's till I can get comfortable with the deck. So I've decided to start with a wish board for now for reference this is my list