As an Elf-tribal themed deck, it's original purpose was to mass fast and conquer, aggro style. It's built for budget, 1 vs 1, casual play, and after failing miserably, I decided to add a 'top decker' mechanic in order to increase the ability of creatures entering my side of the battlefield. It's still not there yet and falls short in several ways. First, I don't have very much mana, but do have MANY creature mana fixers; is this wise? Second, none of my creatures are heavy hitters, but the deck was designed with many +1/+1 effects stacking, essentially making many heavy hitters, is this wise? Third, being a creature heavy deck, what should my creature ratios be? Do I have too many spells still? What other cards would be recommended to make this deck more efficient? Any help would be greatly appriciated!!
All my decks try to adhere to these guidelines:
1) Be able to win.
2) Be mostly true to a flavor and a theme.
3) Be good against one or multiple opponents.
5) Be fun to pilot or to play against and interactive.
6) Have multiple paths to victory.
7) Have lots of cool interactions and synergy.
8) Play out differently every game to keep it fun over a long time.
9) Be streamlined and fast to play without excessive upkeep, time-consuming play or overcomplicated boardstates.
10) Integrate the Commanders abilities into the strategy at least a little, but be able to win without ever playing the commander.
As a note, the number in front of the card will denote CMC of the creature/spell.
Also, as another note, our meta plays with 40 life totals and no general damage.
I have a similar-ish deck built around tolsimir, though mine focuses more on tokens than on elves. There are 2 or 3 superstars in my deck that you're missing that I'd like to suggest, though they all fill a similar role.
These make you more capable of dumping your hand onto the board without losing card advantage when you get wrathed, and have been absolutely stellar in my deck.
Something else you might consider is building the deck to be slightly less beatdown and slightly more combo. If you look at the elf combo lists from Pro Tour Berlin, you can get a lot of ideas about how to build a deck to be explosive, and to build draw engines into the deck such that on turn 2 (probably more like 4 or 5 in this format), you can explode a huge number of elves onto the board, and potentially just win.
@cag08055
Awsome idea with the card draw. Fits perfectly with the theme. Will have to add those.
Question: Tooth and Nail is a awesome card as EDH goes, but was wondering if it's worth it for my deck? Do I have enough heavy hitters to make this card make the cut?
Question: Should I add a Behemoth Sledge or a Rancor or both ? In general, would I assume correct that the later is better than the first?
Any suggestions in the form of "this card should be replaced with that card" would be greatly appriciated!! I need to filter out some of these less efficient cards out of my deck.
@cag08055
Awsome idea with the card draw. Fits perfectly with the theme. Will have to add those.
Question: Tooth and Nail is a awesome card as EDH goes, but was wondering if it's worth it for my deck? Do I have enough heavy hitters to make this card make the cut?
Question: Should I add a Behemoth Sledge or a Rancor or both ? In general, would I assume correct that the later is better than the first?
Any suggestions in the form of "this card should be replaced with that card" would be greatly appriciated!! I need to filter out some of these less efficient cards out of my deck.
Tooth and Nail is AWESOME. Granted, my deck is a little (a lot) more focused on generating tokens, but let's see what we can do to make Tooth broken.
If you ran Ambush Commander, you could Tooth and Nail for Ambush Commander + Regal Force to draw a TON of cards. You could do something similar with Deranged Hermit if you're afraid of getting your lands wrathed away.
@cag08055
I've been looking at Regal Force to add to my elf deck for a long time now; I just wasn't sure if I was going to break away from that sole-elf deck. Ambush Commander is just broken for my deck! Definately going in!!
If I get wrathed I'm in trouble anyways, might aswell lose the lands too.
Updated Deck List with reccnt purchases, but I'm still looking for a bit more fine-tuning.
Would anyone be willing to give me a "5 worst cards" list?? That would help me determine if it's my creatures that are weak or if my other spells are the culprit.
I'm also not limiting myself to elves anymore, so if there are some tricksy creatures that enhance my "top decking" theme, I'd love to hear about them??
So I had great fortunes the other day and was able to obtain a copy of Nissa Revane for my elf deck. Yeah! While I understand she's no Elspeth, her final and life gain abilities is still worth having on the board.
It's that first ability that's a little disconcerning: Being able to search your library for Nissa's Chosen and put it into play seems a little weak for a planeswalker. It would have made more sense for it to say "seach library for an elf card and put it into your hand", but I suppose she'd be a $10 card then instead of a $5.
Anyways, I was wondering, is it worth putting Nissa's Chosen into my deck?
May I have a few recommendations for what to cut out of my deck?
As an Elf-tribal themed deck, it's original purpose was to mass fast and conquer, aggro style. It's built for budget, 1 vs 1, casual play, and after failing miserably, I decided to add a 'top decker' mechanic in order to increase the ability of creatures entering my side of the battlefield. It's still not there yet and falls short in several ways. First, I don't have very much mana, but do have MANY creature mana fixers; is this wise? Second, none of my creatures are heavy hitters, but the deck was designed with many +1/+1 effects stacking, essentially making many heavy hitters, is this wise? Third, being a creature heavy deck, what should my creature ratios be? Do I have too many spells still? What other cards would be recommended to make this deck more efficient? Any help would be greatly appriciated!!
All my decks try to adhere to these guidelines:
1) Be able to win.
2) Be mostly true to a flavor and a theme.
3) Be good against one or multiple opponents.
5) Be fun to pilot or to play against and interactive.
6) Have multiple paths to victory.
7) Have lots of cool interactions and synergy.
8) Play out differently every game to keep it fun over a long time.
9) Be streamlined and fast to play without excessive upkeep, time-consuming play or overcomplicated boardstates.
10) Integrate the Commanders abilities into the strategy at least a little, but be able to win without ever playing the commander.
As a note, the number in front of the card will denote CMC of the creature/spell.
Also, as another note, our meta plays with 40 life totals and no general damage.
6 Tolsimir Wolfblood
//Planeswalkers (1)
4 Nissa Revane
//Elf Creatures (38)
1 Ezuri's Archers
1 Essence Warden
1 Rhys the Redeemed
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Llanowar Elves
2 Nissa's Chosen
2 Talara's Battalion
2 Bramblewood Paragon
2 Devoted Druid
2 Wolf-Skull Shaman
2 Wren's Run Vanquisher
3 Elvish Champion
3 Elvish Harbinger
3 Farhaven Elf
3 Gilt-Leaf Seer
3 Imperious Perfect
3 Jagged-Scar Archers
3 Lys Alana Bowmaster
3 Mirror Entity
3 Mul Daya Channelers
3 Silhana Starfletcher
3 Viridian Joiner
3 Viridian Shaman
3 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
3 Greenweaver Druid
4 Masked Admirers
4 Immaculate Magistrate
4 Lys Alana Huntmaster
4 Nullmage Shepherd
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Wren's Run Packmaster
5 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
5 Greatbow Doyen
5 Nath's Elite
5 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
5 Garruk's Packleader
//Card Draw + Effects (9)
2 Cream of the Crop
2 Nature's Spiral
3 Genesis Wave
3 Congregation at Dawn
3 Fecundity
4 Abundance
5 Soul's Majesty
5 Hibernation's End
6 Lurking Predators
//Buff Spells (7)
2 Rampant Growth
3 Harrow
3 Beastmaster Ascension
4 Elvish Promenade
5 Overrun
5 Overwhelming Stampede
7 Howl of the Night Pack
//Control Spells (9)
1 Condemn
1 Windstorm
2 Back to Nature
2 Gleeful Sabotage
2 Revoke Existence
3 Mercy Killing
3 Safe Passage
5 Fracturing Gust
5 Hallowed Burial
2 Crown of Convergence
2 Selesnya Signet
2 Talisman of Unity
3 Behemoth Sledge
5 Coat of Arms
//Land (30)
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Saltcrusted Steppe
1 Sapseep Forest
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
16 Forest
10 Plains
Currently 100 cards in the decklist.
>> Aura Shards ... with all the creatures, this card looks like it would be a good threat.
Aug 15 2009 update
Rite of Passage >> Fecundity
Flourishing Defenses >> Garruk's Packleader
Scattershot Archer >> Squall Line
Presence of Gond >> Strength in Numbers
Wildslayer Elves >> Windstorm
Selesnya Sagittars >> Back to Nature
Primal Rage >> Overwhelming Stampede
Sigil of the Nayan Gods >> Mul Daya Channelers
Call of the Wild >> Essence Warden
Shield of the Oversoul >> Nissa Revane
Jan 20, 2011 update (that's about when my order should arrive)
Enshrined Memories >> Genesis Wave
Prison Term >> Revoke Existence
Gaea's Herald >> Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Gilt-Leaf Ambush >> Nissa's Chosen
Reclaim >> Hibernation's End
Drove of Elves >> Masked Admirers
Twinblade Slasher >> Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
Brass Herald >> Ezuri's Archers
Strength in Numbers >> Selesnya Signet
Wood Elves >> Greanweaver Druid
Forest >> Selesnya Sanctuary
Forest >> Talisman of Unity
Any card suggestions of what to add and what to remove would help immensly!! Thanks in advance!!
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
These make you more capable of dumping your hand onto the board without losing card advantage when you get wrathed, and have been absolutely stellar in my deck.
Something else you might consider is building the deck to be slightly less beatdown and slightly more combo. If you look at the elf combo lists from Pro Tour Berlin, you can get a lot of ideas about how to build a deck to be explosive, and to build draw engines into the deck such that on turn 2 (probably more like 4 or 5 in this format), you can explode a huge number of elves onto the board, and potentially just win.
Awsome idea with the card draw. Fits perfectly with the theme. Will have to add those.
Question: Tooth and Nail is a awesome card as EDH goes, but was wondering if it's worth it for my deck? Do I have enough heavy hitters to make this card make the cut?
Question: Should I add a Behemoth Sledge or a Rancor or both ? In general, would I assume correct that the later is better than the first?
Any suggestions in the form of "this card should be replaced with that card" would be greatly appriciated!! I need to filter out some of these less efficient cards out of my deck.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
Tooth and Nail is AWESOME. Granted, my deck is a little (a lot) more focused on generating tokens, but let's see what we can do to make Tooth broken.
If you ran Ambush Commander, you could Tooth and Nail for Ambush Commander + Regal Force to draw a TON of cards. You could do something similar with Deranged Hermit if you're afraid of getting your lands wrathed away.
I've been looking at Regal Force to add to my elf deck for a long time now; I just wasn't sure if I was going to break away from that sole-elf deck.
Ambush Commander is just broken for my deck! Definately going in!!
If I get wrathed I'm in trouble anyways, might aswell lose the lands too.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
Updated Deck List with reccnt purchases, but I'm still looking for a bit more fine-tuning.
Would anyone be willing to give me a "5 worst cards" list?? That would help me determine if it's my creatures that are weak or if my other spells are the culprit.
I'm also not limiting myself to elves anymore, so if there are some tricksy creatures that enhance my "top decking" theme, I'd love to hear about them??
Thanks a million!!
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
So I had great fortunes the other day and was able to obtain a copy of Nissa Revane for my elf deck. Yeah! While I understand she's no Elspeth, her final and life gain abilities is still worth having on the board.
It's that first ability that's a little disconcerning: Being able to search your library for Nissa's Chosen and put it into play seems a little weak for a planeswalker. It would have made more sense for it to say "seach library for an elf card and put it into your hand", but I suppose she'd be a $10 card then instead of a $5.
Anyways, I was wondering, is it worth putting Nissa's Chosen into my deck?
May I have a few recommendations for what to cut out of my deck?
Thanks
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU