Why Ezuri?
When I decided I wanted to build an elf deck, there were a few generals I was looking at initially.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: This guy is very good. He runs lots of evasive creatures to draw lots of cards and slowly whittle down his opponents. He also plays counterspells. Counterspells are for tools. Donald can keep him.
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves: Shroud is very handy, but it also makes a lot of cards useless. The forestwalk is kinda cool, but who knows what my opponents are going to be playing. He was out of the running fairly quickly.
Glissa Sunseeker: Having a pseudo-Deconstruct in the command zone seems like it could be pretty good, but it's not very "elfy" and her usefulness seems limited.
Kaysa: I was strongly considering her, but she seems like she's more for a token deck, and while elves do often produce a lot of creatures, she doesn't do enough.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary: Not going for combo elves... Even if I'm not playing combo everyone will think I am and go after me. >.<
And again, blue is lame.
Nath of the Gilt Leaf: This guy's pretty cool, but he's noramally targeted quickly because the discard is bothersome, and he has a bit of a reputation as a pseudo-stax general whose wincon is Death Cloud. Not very elfy.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Amazing. Cheap to cast, regenerates other elves, and Overrun's when I need it. Even better, he doesn't have to tap to do any of this, so you can keep Overrunning as long as you have enough mana.
You might want to play Ezuri if:
You like elves
You like getting ridiculous amounts of mana
You like attacking with huge creatures
You like barely being able to see the board because you have so many elves
You might not want to play Ezuri if:
You don't like playing creatures
You don't like attacking
You don't like pressing the "increase power and toughness" button on Cockatrice a lot
All of these decks lacked some flexibility, maybe that was the fault of the colors, or maybe it was just a bit of a lack of deckbuilding skill on my part.
I decided it was because of the lack of colors, so I moved on to Lyzolda, the Blood Witch and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. 2 color was definitely better, but blisteringly fast artifact aggro with a splash of mass LD and infect wasn't fun for anyone. Lyzolda was fun for a while just because of the novelty, but it got boring fast.
I'd looked at a few Ezuri lists on here before, but they looked extremely linear and not very fun to play. Not gonna lie, it is pretty linear, but it's fun as hell to play.
I started it out by looking through Magiccards.info for anything with the "elf" creature type. Going down that list and putting all of the elves that looked good into a deck on TappedOut, alongside some green staples. This gave me an 85 creature list with more than 125 cards. Then came the long painful process of cutting creatures and any cards that didn't look up to snuff.
After playing Solitaire with the post-cut list I came up with, until it functioned smoothly, I took it onto Cockatrice and playtested it a few times. I've made a few changes, but I'm sure the deck is nowhere near finished as I've only been playing it for a couple of weeks.
Step 1. During the beginning of the game, you're going to want to be playing small mana dorks and the occasional buff. So throw down some Llanowar or Fyndhorn Elves, and follow them up with a token spawner or big mana producer, like Lys Alana Huntmaster or Priest of Titania.
I don't normally do this, but you can just play Ezuri as early as possible and Overrun every turn to go for general damage.
Just in case you don't get it, here's how it works. You probably need to Overrun one time to get the combo started, but it shouldn't be too hard, considering you have a Mana Reflection.
After you Overrun, tap Druid for GG. Then put a -1/-1 counter on her to untap her, and tap her for 2 again. What you get is -3/-3 P/T, for 6 mana in your pool. So you can Overrun with Ezuri to give Druid +3/+3, so that she taps for 6 again, and repeat.
I know I phrased that awkwardly, but hopefully you get the gist of it.
You end up with ∞/∞ trampling elves. Hopefully you can win with that.
Card Choices
Omnomnom mana!
Creatures:
Creatures are very important to this deck. You can probably tell that from the half of the deck that's devoted to them. Most of the deck is elves, and the creatures that aren't elves have to have something pretty special going for them.
Leaf Gilder, Quirion Dryad, Wirewood Elf: A bit of a downgrade from the above creatures, these cost 2 mana and tap for 1. Obviously not the best, but they ramp you and up your elf count.
Joraga Treespeaker: A pretty big upgrade from the first couple of mana dorks. This is a great turn 1 play. Second turn you can play a land, level up Treespeaker, and tap it for GG, which means you don't lose any tempo.
Late game you can fully upgrade her to turn every one of your elves into a mana producer.
Wood Elves: Spend 3 mana, get an elf and get 1 mana back. This guy is a staple in EDH, he's good outside of elvish tribal decks.
Yavimaya Elder: An EDH staple. Helps hit land drops and draws a card when you need it.
Devoted Druid: Amazing card. An elf, that can tap other elves for mana, even if they have summoning sickness. This guy lets you tap Elf Warrior tokens and elves you've just played that can't tap for mana yet, to get mana.
Wirewood Channeler, Priest of Titania: Both of these are amazing. Early game they accelerate you by 2+ turns, and late games they allow you to activate Ezuri an absurd number of times.
Oracle of Mul Daya: Early game he helps you get down more lands, and late game he helps you clear the top of your library so you can draw better cards. Unfortunately your opponent gets to see everything you draw, but it's well worth it.
Look at how happy he is! He has all the manas!
Masked Admirers: One step up from Elvish Visionary. Play it, draw a card. When it dies, return it to your hand, and draw more cards.
Heart Warden: Heart Warden taps for mana in the early game. In the late game, when you no longer need the mana, you can just sac him to draw a card.
Sylvan Messenger: When you're running out of cards in your hand, Messenger usually finds you at least one, and clears lands from the top of your library.
Wellwisher: Life gain has always been relevant to me. I would say that this card is meta-dependant, but Cockatrice doesn't really have a specific meta type, and life gain is relevant more than 50% of the time. Also helps remove some of the sting from Sylvan Library.
Elvish Harbinger: This card is amazing. It tutors for elf ramp in the early game, and tutors for a buff or one of the elves that makes stuff big, mainly Immaculate Magistrate and Joraga Warcaller. He can also tutor for your general if he's been tucked. It also taps for mana!
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary: This is usually Elvish Harbingers tutor target. There's a reason he's banned as a general. He's extremely cheap to cast, and he generates obscene amounts of mana.
Devoted Druid: This elf normally just taps for mana, but sometimes it does amazing things. It's a vital part of the only infinite combo in the deck, described above, and even without Mana Reflection, it gives you three free mana every time you Overrun.
Viridian Joiner: This little elf seems pretty bad, right? He costs 3 mana and only taps for one. But he's actually amazing. With an Elvish Champion or any other buff out, he taps for more and more. He has amazing synergy with Immaculate Magistrate, and every time you Overrun with Ezuri, he can tap for more.
Immaculate Magistrate, Timberwatch Elf: These are grouped together, even though one is obviously better than the other. They both have great synergy with Viridian Joiner and Jagged-Scar Archer. Even without that synergy, they still pump up your elves, and let you do a lot more damage.
Gaea's Herald: Mainly useful against control. Prevents your elves from being countered.
Seeker of Skybreak: Seeker doesn't do much by himself, but he acts as a copy of whatever elf with a tap ability is on the field.
Jagged-Scar Archer: This guy's ability to hit fliers hasn't been relevant to me yet, but he gets huge, and I'm sure his sniping ability will be useful eventually. The giant body isn't very bad either.
Elvish Champion: I play this mostly for the buff, but forestwalk never hurts, and sometimes it wins games.
Lys Alana Huntmaster: I wasn't sure about this guy before I played the deck, but after I tested it a few times I realized that he was amazing. He has synergy with so many other cards in the deck, and he makes elves cheaply, so you have more attackers when you need to win, and you have chumps when you need to block. He goes insane with Gaea's Cradle, and all of the counting elves.
Imperious Perfect: Perfect is just so perfect. She makes elves when you need to attack or to power up the counting guys, and she buffs up all of your elves to make them better chump blockers and attackers.
Joraga Warcaller: Warcaller is a great finisher. When you get up to 10+ mana and have nothing to do with it, Warcaller is a great place to put all of it. Even if you only have 5 mana, if you have enough elves out, things can get pretty stupid.
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid: This guy's first ability is great. A lot of the elves in this deck are druids, so he draws you a lot of cards. The second ability is super douchey, but sometimes you just need a game to be over.
It's an elf. Definitely.
Primordial Sage: The non-elf creatures in this deck have to be pretty good, and Primordial Sage definitely meets this condition. Sage draws you ridiculous amounts of cards, and his ability triggers on cast, so even if there's a Torpor Orb out, or your elf gets countered, you still draw a card.
Nullmage Shepherd: People play artifacts and enchantments, Nullmage Shepherd destroys them. Having four untapped creatures really isn't a hard condition to meet.
Regal Force: Another one of the few non-elf creatures, Regal Force deserves a spot in most mono G lists. In the late game, when you only have a few cards in your hand and a lot of creatures on the field, Regal Force can draw a good portion of your deck. Its pretty funny when somebody Chaos Warps your Joraga Warcaller into a Regal Force that draws Joraga Warcaller again.
Fauna Shaman: If Survival of the Fittest and Llanowar Elves had a bastard lovechild, it would be Fauna Shaman. She's obviously not quite as good as Survival because she can only be activated once per turn, and she's easier to remove because she's not an enchantment, but she's an elf, and she attacks people.
Viridian Zealot: Instant speed artifact/enchantment removal, and an elf to boot.
Primeval Titan: Last but most definitely not least, Prime Time deserves every bit of his deckspace. He searches out one of the stupidest cards still legal, Gaea's Cradle, and doubles the absurdity with Deserted Temple.
Lands
Land. It makes mana. Mana is kinda important. You need mana to cast spells.
Deserted Temple: All those lands with tap abilities... You can get twice as much mileage out of it.
Gaea's Cradle: One of the most broken cards in the format. This thing makes so much mana, it's pretty hard to use all of it. This wins games.
Planeswalkers
There are only three mono green planeswalkers, and one of them is virtually unplayable. I'm playing the other two because they have some pretty important abilities.
Garruk Wildspeaker:
The original Garruk is very well costed, and has a very balanced suite of abilities.
+1: Untap two target lands. This is the ability that I use most often. There are a few lands that are usually the target of this ability.
Scrying Sheets: Sheets should only be untapped if the top card was snow. Obviously. Otherwise you're just going to reveal another non-snow land. Wirewood Lodge: Untapping an elf two times can be an extremely powerful ability. Imagine untapping your Immaculate Magistrate to put the second batch of counters on your Viridian Joiner so that it taps for ridiculous mana. Deserted Temple: Untapping Temple and another land essentially lets you untap one land two times. If that land is Wirewood Lodge or Gaea's Cradle, you can end up with huge amounts of mana. Gaea's Cradle: You know how much this tapped for the first time? Now you can tap it again to double that mana.
-1: Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield.
Nothing super special. You get a chump blocker.
-3: Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample until end of turn.
Ezuri already gives you this, but if you need to spend mana on more important things (what's more important than winning?) you can just use this ability.
Garruk, Primal Hunter:
Garruk 2.0 is very different from his little brother. He usually ends up being played and going suicidal with his -3.
+1: Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield.
Pretty much the same thing as Gattuk 1.0. Nothing special. Chump blocker.
-3: Draw cards equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.
This is the ability I use the most on Garruk 2.0. When I've played out my hand I need a little Soul's Majesty to keep things going.
-6: Put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token onto the battlefield for each land you control.
If people are stupid enough to let him get to six loyalty, punish them by GOING ULTIMATE. 6/6 Wurms usually kill people.
Sorceries
Everybody do the wave!
Sylvan Tutor: Tutors are pretty good. First turn this almost always goes for Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. Later in the game it completely depends on the board situation, but I normally find myself getting Primeval Titan to get Gaea's Cradle to close things out with Ezuri, or Regal Force, to refill my hand. When Ezuri gets tucked, this can find him again.
Collective Unconscious: Crazy card draw. Elves are pretty easy to lay down, so this card usually ends up drawing you 10+ cards.
Elvish Promenade: Speaking of ridiculous numbers of elves... This doubles your elves.
Genesis Wave: This card is crazy. Generating ridiculous amounts of mana in this deck is easy, and the curve is mainly around 1-4, so Waving for low numbers, although a waste of mana, will probably get you somewhere.
Regrowth: Auto-include in any green deck. Return any card from your graveyard to your hand.
Praetor's Counsel: Regrowth on steroids. This card lets you come back flawlessly from a Wrath, and when you start drawing cards with Collective Unconscious, etc., You don't have to play everything before you discard.
Instants
Worldly Tutor: Pretty much the same things apply to this, as Sylvan Tutor. First few turns this goes for Rofellos, later in the game it goes for Primeval Titan or Regal Force. If Ezuri is tucked, this can find him.
Sylvan Library: More staples. This card is amazing, and there's usually no reason to not take 8.
Survival of the Fittest: All these staples! But they're staples for a reason. This card is so good. Instant speed tutor for the low cost of G. Almost 50% of the deck is creatures, so it's pretty rare that you don't have one in hand.
Mana Reflection: Read it. It's not adding one extra mana like Caged Sun. It's twice the mana. That means that if you tap Joraga Treespeaker for mana, you get GGGG. If you tap Gaea's Cradle for mana, you get GG for each creature you control. This card fuels the only infinite combo in the deck.
Abundance: Early game and you can't hit a land drop? Choose land. Late game and you keep drawing dead land drops? Choose nonland. IMO, this card is definitely underplayed. It's really good. It has amazing synergy with Sylvan Library. "At the beginning of your draw step, you may draw two additional cards. If you do, choose two cards in your hand drawn this turn." Abundance doesn't draw cards, it puts them in your hand, so you can just choose nonland three times, and since the cards weren't drawn, you get to keep them in your hand with no downside.
Concordant Crossroads: Gives all of your elves haste. When you get a huge army you can attack that turn. With Genesis Wave, this card can just win. You can activate abilities as soon as you play your elves. Unfortunately it gives your opponent's creatures haste too, but you can make much better use of it.
Artifacts
Caged Sun: Mana doublers are good. Caged Sun buffs all of your elves, and makes all of your lands tap for more. Not much else to say.
Thousand-Year Elixir: So there are a lot of creatures in this deck with activated abilities... This lets you pretend they all have haste, and untap them so you can use them a second time.
Lightning Greaves: This lets elves use their tap abilities the turn they enter the battlefield. That's pretty good.
I'm not a fan of going infinite or infect, but if you are here are some alternate cards you can play. If your meta is particularly cutthroat, you may need to combo out as soon as possible.
I love commenting on Ezuri builds, as I've put a lot of time and effort into mine (being a casual build however, mostly restricted by budget).
Never the less, you'll have to put up with my post:
Let's go through your decklist:
-Immaculate Magistrate: I've never really found this guy to be that good. Ezuri gives all the buff necessary to win.
-Primordial Sage: I've considered this for my build aswell, but you want to have speed with Ezuri, and a 6cc creature is not about speed....and it's conditional draw. And it's not an elf. And it has no evasion/protection. Kinda 'meh', imo.
-Patron of the Orochi: Definately a good card. Can't comment for or against this guy other than that this is the first elf deck I've seen him in....might be saying something.
-Krosan Tusker: While definately a staple, you generally want cards that accelerate your land...not just put it into hand.
-Sylvok Replica: Meh. I'd sooner run Viridian Zealot. Costs 1 more mana....but is an elf, so it's a major threat.
-Elvish Promenade: I've found this to be a 'win more' card. Odds are you want to play it as soon as possible, which only grants you 3-4 elves. Might as well play Gilt-Leaf Ambush for the instant.
-Praetor's Counsel: This card fell flat for me. Recommend Creeping Renaissance instead. Costs less, and while you are limited in what to get back, odds are it's creatures everytime.
Now for some cards that (I thought were good) from my list:
-Heritage Druid: I can't believe this isn't in your list. Tap all elves for more mana for more elves for more mana for.....no summoning sickness. Belch out your forces in a single turn.
-Viridian Joiner: I smell combo here. Similar to your Devoted Druid combo, Ezuri pumps Joiner for the potential of more mana. You just need an untap mechanic....which lead me to my next card...
-Umbral Mantle: THIS SHOULD BE HERE. Infinite mana with all of the following: Viridian Joiner, Elvish Archdruid, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Priest of Titania...and other abusice mana generator.
-Argothian Elder: Basically Garruk Wildspeaker since Ezuri is your trample effect and all you use Garruk for is to untap lands.
I also have Elvish Lyrist and Elvish Scrapper in my list. They not bad if you need that destruction in a pinch, but there are so many better elves to have....
-Elvish Guidance: Clearly you can see the abuse with this card?
He's a lot better than Timberwatch Elf, and he's been very good for me. I'm probably not taking him out, but I guess I'll try to reassess how well he does the next few games.
I found myself running out of cards in hand by around turn 6, and htis guy helped out a lot. Pretty much the same thing as Magistrate. He's been working out well for me, so I'll have to pay attention during the next few games before I decide whether to take him out.
Eh, I'm not really trying to combo out, the one that's in there isn't really intentional. I think I'll list this as an option along with Sword of the Paruns for the player to decide. I personally don't want my deck to be comboing out.
I also have Elvish Lyrist and Elvish Scrapper in my list. They not bad if you need that destruction in a pinch, but there are so many better elves to have....
I agree. The one-time use and lack of flexibility is the reason I was playing Replica over them. Also Replica doesn't need haste. (Same applies for Zealot)
Viridian Zealot...oops....didn't see that Sylvok Replica cost 1 mana for the sac.....so it's 4 mana or 4 mana. Zealot is the obvious choice.
Viridian Joiner. Sorry...missed it in your list. I've seen many decks that forget this little gem. So abusive with elves.
Glad I was more helpful than abusive.
Yeah, card draw was always a problem for me too, ussually burning out by rnd 6...
I ran Fecundity for awhile. Great when your opponent kills your elves. But it can hurt you too if your up against a token deck.
Also considered Garruk's Packleader, but most of your elves are tiny when they come into play.
Lurking Predators was another card I tried, but too slow as you become dependant on your opponent to increase the size of your overrun.....the plus with this is that summoning sickness was done away with....
Viridian Zealot...oops....didn't see that Sylvok Replica cost 1 mana for the sac.....so it's 4 mana or 4 mana. Zealot is the obvious choice.
I think when I originally chose it I liked it because it could block creatures with protection. For some reason I didn't think about the fact that most creatures with Pro Green are equipped with a Sword of Feast and Famine. Which Replica can destroy. Wasn't really thinking I guess...
Viridian Joiner. Sorry...missed it in your list. I've seen many decks that forget this little gem. So abusive with elves.
I didn't expect him to be quite as amazing as he is, but he's great.
I ran Fecundity for awhile. Great when your opponent kills your elves. But it can hurt you too if your up against a token deck.
Meh, too group-huggy. I've played it in other decks, and I never really like how it worked out.
Also considered Garruk's Packleader, but most of your elves are tiny when they come into play.
I looked at him, but it seems like it would only do anything with a Joraga Warcaller out.
Lurking Predators was another card I tried, but too slow as you become dependant on your opponent to increase the size of your overrun.....the plus with this is that summoning sickness was done away with....
You've got it pretty much covered...
EDIT:
EDIT: Also, I didn't look as to how many elves are druids in your deck, but Gilt-Leaf Archdruid could help you along the way with some card draw.
Already in there. Above the picture of Prime Time. I think the multiple card tags are confusing... Will find a way to clarify stuff.
hey, ive recently decided to make an ezuri edh aswell
i was looking for decklists and primers around, and this has attracted me
pictures help out a lot
i see this thread hasnt been updated in awhile and would like to contribute some suggestions myself. havent been playing edh for a long time so my knowledge is pretty recent
theres also the new and popular cavern of souls
possible creature type choices are
elves obviously but even elemental to make sure your regal force resolves
wirewood symbiote not an elf but it has amazing synergy
you can bring back an elf to save it, or to reuse an elf with an etb effect like masked admirers or elvish visionary
it also untaps target creature which is good
beast within is something to consider
its an effective permanent removal at instant speed
ambush commander can be deadly with ezuris overun
downside is that your landbase can be wrathed
so ambush commander would need to be played strategically
some more suggestions for consideration wirewood herald can tutor up any elf when it dies
The Lean Green Elf Machine
When I decided I wanted to build an elf deck, there were a few generals I was looking at initially.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest: This guy is very good. He runs lots of evasive creatures to draw lots of cards and slowly whittle down his opponents. He also plays counterspells. Counterspells are for tools. Donald can keep him.
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves: Shroud is very handy, but it also makes a lot of cards useless. The forestwalk is kinda cool, but who knows what my opponents are going to be playing. He was out of the running fairly quickly.
Glissa Sunseeker: Having a pseudo-Deconstruct in the command zone seems like it could be pretty good, but it's not very "elfy" and her usefulness seems limited.
Kaysa: I was strongly considering her, but she seems like she's more for a token deck, and while elves do often produce a lot of creatures, she doesn't do enough.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary: Not going for combo elves... Even if I'm not playing combo everyone will think I am and go after me. >.<
And again, blue is lame.
Nath of the Gilt Leaf: This guy's pretty cool, but he's noramally targeted quickly because the discard is bothersome, and he has a bit of a reputation as a pseudo-stax general whose wincon is Death Cloud. Not very elfy.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: Amazing. Cheap to cast, regenerates other elves, and Overrun's when I need it. Even better, he doesn't have to tap to do any of this, so you can keep Overrunning as long as you have enough mana.
You might want to play Ezuri if:
You might not want to play Ezuri if:
I'd been building mono color decks for a while, with Kemba, Kha Regent, Lovisa Coldeyes, Heidar, Rimewind Master, and Volrath the Fallen.
All of these decks lacked some flexibility, maybe that was the fault of the colors, or maybe it was just a bit of a lack of deckbuilding skill on my part.
I decided it was because of the lack of colors, so I moved on to Lyzolda, the Blood Witch and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer. 2 color was definitely better, but blisteringly fast artifact aggro with a splash of mass LD and infect wasn't fun for anyone. Lyzolda was fun for a while just because of the novelty, but it got boring fast.
I'd looked at a few Ezuri lists on here before, but they looked extremely linear and not very fun to play. Not gonna lie, it is pretty linear, but it's fun as hell to play.
I started it out by looking through Magiccards.info for anything with the "elf" creature type. Going down that list and putting all of the elves that looked good into a deck on TappedOut, alongside some green staples. This gave me an 85 creature list with more than 125 cards. Then came the long painful process of cutting creatures and any cards that didn't look up to snuff.
After playing Solitaire with the post-cut list I came up with, until it functioned smoothly, I took it onto Cockatrice and playtested it a few times. I've made a few changes, but I'm sure the deck is nowhere near finished as I've only been playing it for a couple of weeks.
Without further adieu... The list!
1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Creatures (42)
1x Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
1x Elvish Harbinger
1x Immaculate Magistrate
1x Imperious Perfect
1x Jagged-Scar Archers
1x Leaf Gilder
1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
1x Masked Admirers
1x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Boreal Druid
1x Nullmage Shepherd
1x Primordial Sage
1x Devoted Druid
1x Viridian Joiner
1x Timberwatch Elf
1x Wirewood Channeler
1x Argothian Elder
1x Wellwisher
1x Wirewood Elf
1x Sylvan Messenger
1x Gaea's Herald
1x Elvish Champion
1x Quirion Elves
1x Heart Warden
1x Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1x Yavimaya Elder
1x Priest of Titania
1x Wood Elves
1x Seeker of Skybreak
1x Quirion Ranger
1x Llanowar Elves
1x Devoted Druid
1x Regal Force
1x Elvish Archdruid
1x Oracle of Mul Daya
1x Joraga Warcaller
1x Arbor Elf
1x Joraga Treespeaker
1x Primeval Titan
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Viridian Zealot
1x Garruk's Horde
1x Mouth of Ronom
1x Scrying Sheets
25x Snow-Covered Forest
1x Tranquil Thicket
1x Windswept Heath
1x Wirewood Lodge
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Deserted Temple
1x Yavimaya Hollow
1x Gaea's Cradle
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1x Slippery Karst
Instants (2)
1x Worldly Tutor
1x Krosan Grip
Enchantments (5)
1x Sylvan Library
1x Abundance
1x Survival of the Fittest
1x Mana Reflection
1x Concordant Crossroads
Sorcery (7)
1x Elvish Promenade
1x Genesis Wave
1x Harmonize
1x Collective Unconscious
1x Sylvan Tutor
1x Regrowth
1x Praetor's Counsel
1x Thousand-Year Elixir
1x Caged Sun
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Cauldron of Souls
Planeswalker (2)
1x Garruk Wildspeaker
1x Garruk, Primal Hunter
Step 1. During the beginning of the game, you're going to want to be playing small mana dorks and the occasional buff. So throw down some Llanowar or Fyndhorn Elves, and follow them up with a token spawner or big mana producer, like Lys Alana Huntmaster or Priest of Titania.
I don't normally do this, but you can just play Ezuri as early as possible and Overrun every turn to go for general damage.
Step 2. After the early game, you need to get some action going. Play a big drawer like Garruk, Primal Hunter, Collective Unconscious, or Regal Force to refill your hand, then drop more elves.
Step 3. Drop Ezuri and use the mana dorks you should have played by now to Overrun multiple times and attack for a buttload of damage.
The Only Combo
I guess I'm obliged to tell you that there is one infinite mana/infinite overrun combo in here, that should win the game on the spot.
Devoted Druid + Mana Reflection + Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Just in case you don't get it, here's how it works. You probably need to Overrun one time to get the combo started, but it shouldn't be too hard, considering you have a Mana Reflection.
After you Overrun, tap Druid for GG. Then put a -1/-1 counter on her to untap her, and tap her for 2 again. What you get is -3/-3 P/T, for 6 mana in your pool. So you can Overrun with Ezuri to give Druid +3/+3, so that she taps for 6 again, and repeat.
I know I phrased that awkwardly, but hopefully you get the gist of it.
You end up with ∞/∞ trampling elves. Hopefully you can win with that.
Card Choices
Creatures:
Creatures are very important to this deck. You can probably tell that from the half of the deck that's devoted to them. Most of the deck is elves, and the creatures that aren't elves have to have something pretty special going for them.
Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Boreal Druid, Arbor Elf: Just your basic mana dorks. These guys ramp you in the early game and get big in the late game. They're also druids so they matter when you lay down your Gilt-Leaf Archdruid.
Leaf Gilder, Quirion Dryad, Wirewood Elf: A bit of a downgrade from the above creatures, these cost 2 mana and tap for 1. Obviously not the best, but they ramp you and up your elf count.
Joraga Treespeaker: A pretty big upgrade from the first couple of mana dorks. This is a great turn 1 play. Second turn you can play a land, level up Treespeaker, and tap it for GG, which means you don't lose any tempo.
Late game you can fully upgrade her to turn every one of your elves into a mana producer.
Wood Elves: Spend 3 mana, get an elf and get 1 mana back. This guy is a staple in EDH, he's good outside of elvish tribal decks.
Yavimaya Elder: An EDH staple. Helps hit land drops and draws a card when you need it.
Devoted Druid: Amazing card. An elf, that can tap other elves for mana, even if they have summoning sickness. This guy lets you tap Elf Warrior tokens and elves you've just played that can't tap for mana yet, to get mana.
Wirewood Channeler, Priest of Titania: Both of these are amazing. Early game they accelerate you by 2+ turns, and late games they allow you to activate Ezuri an absurd number of times.
Elvish Archdruid: This guy is a lot like the two elves above, except he buffs all of your elves, which makes him at least twice as good. He's one of your elf buffs, along with Caged Sun, Imperious Perfect, Elvish Champion, and Joraga Warcaller.
Oracle of Mul Daya: Early game he helps you get down more lands, and late game he helps you clear the top of your library so you can draw better cards. Unfortunately your opponent gets to see everything you draw, but it's well worth it.
Heart Warden: Heart Warden taps for mana in the early game. In the late game, when you no longer need the mana, you can just sac him to draw a card.
Sylvan Messenger: When you're running out of cards in your hand, Messenger usually finds you at least one, and clears lands from the top of your library.
Wellwisher: Life gain has always been relevant to me. I would say that this card is meta-dependant, but Cockatrice doesn't really have a specific meta type, and life gain is relevant more than 50% of the time. Also helps remove some of the sting from Sylvan Library.
Elvish Harbinger: This card is amazing. It tutors for elf ramp in the early game, and tutors for a buff or one of the elves that makes stuff big, mainly Immaculate Magistrate and Joraga Warcaller. He can also tutor for your general if he's been tucked. It also taps for mana!
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary: This is usually Elvish Harbingers tutor target. There's a reason he's banned as a general. He's extremely cheap to cast, and he generates obscene amounts of mana.
Devoted Druid: This elf normally just taps for mana, but sometimes it does amazing things. It's a vital part of the only infinite combo in the deck, described above, and even without Mana Reflection, it gives you three free mana every time you Overrun.
Viridian Joiner: This little elf seems pretty bad, right? He costs 3 mana and only taps for one. But he's actually amazing. With an Elvish Champion or any other buff out, he taps for more and more. He has amazing synergy with Immaculate Magistrate, and every time you Overrun with Ezuri, he can tap for more.
Immaculate Magistrate, Timberwatch Elf: These are grouped together, even though one is obviously better than the other. They both have great synergy with Viridian Joiner and Jagged-Scar Archer. Even without that synergy, they still pump up your elves, and let you do a lot more damage.
Gaea's Herald: Mainly useful against control. Prevents your elves from being countered.
Quirion Ranger: A slightly worse Seeker of Skybreak, Ranger untaps any of your elves. She gets better when you have an Oracle of Mul Daya out.
Seeker of Skybreak: Seeker doesn't do much by himself, but he acts as a copy of whatever elf with a tap ability is on the field.
Jagged-Scar Archer: This guy's ability to hit fliers hasn't been relevant to me yet, but he gets huge, and I'm sure his sniping ability will be useful eventually. The giant body isn't very bad either.
Elvish Champion: I play this mostly for the buff, but forestwalk never hurts, and sometimes it wins games.
Lys Alana Huntmaster: I wasn't sure about this guy before I played the deck, but after I tested it a few times I realized that he was amazing. He has synergy with so many other cards in the deck, and he makes elves cheaply, so you have more attackers when you need to win, and you have chumps when you need to block. He goes insane with Gaea's Cradle, and all of the counting elves.
Imperious Perfect: Perfect is just so perfect. She makes elves when you need to attack or to power up the counting guys, and she buffs up all of your elves to make them better chump blockers and attackers.
Joraga Warcaller: Warcaller is a great finisher. When you get up to 10+ mana and have nothing to do with it, Warcaller is a great place to put all of it. Even if you only have 5 mana, if you have enough elves out, things can get pretty stupid.
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid: This guy's first ability is great. A lot of the elves in this deck are druids, so he draws you a lot of cards. The second ability is super douchey, but sometimes you just need a game to be over.
Nullmage Shepherd: People play artifacts and enchantments, Nullmage Shepherd destroys them. Having four untapped creatures really isn't a hard condition to meet.
Argothian Elder: The ability on Garruk Wildspeaker I use the most is his +1 there are lots of lands that tap for more than one mana, like Gaea's Cradle, Wirewood Lodge, an Elvish Guidanced land, and sometimes Deserted Temple. At worst it just untaps two Forests.
Regal Force: Another one of the few non-elf creatures, Regal Force deserves a spot in most mono G lists. In the late game, when you only have a few cards in your hand and a lot of creatures on the field, Regal Force can draw a good portion of your deck. Its pretty funny when somebody Chaos Warps your Joraga Warcaller into a Regal Force that draws Joraga Warcaller again.
Fauna Shaman: If Survival of the Fittest and Llanowar Elves had a bastard lovechild, it would be Fauna Shaman. She's obviously not quite as good as Survival because she can only be activated once per turn, and she's easier to remove because she's not an enchantment, but she's an elf, and she attacks people.
Viridian Zealot: Instant speed artifact/enchantment removal, and an elf to boot.
Garruk's Horde: This card is a lot like Oracle of Mul Daya, except for creatures. When I have no way of drawing cards, Garruk's Horde makes it so that I don't have to.
Primeval Titan: Last but most definitely not least, Prime Time deserves every bit of his deckspace. He searches out one of the stupidest cards still legal, Gaea's Cradle, and doubles the absurdity with Deserted Temple.
Land. It makes mana. Mana is kinda important. You need mana to cast spells.
Snow-Covered Forest: These lands make SPECIAL mana. You can use it for Scrying Sheets or Mouth of Ronom. Speaking of which...
Scrying Sheets: When you have extra mana (which happens pretty often) you can use it to check your topdeck and maybe get some alnds.
Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills, Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs: Fetchlands. They thin your deck, and shuffle it when you know there's something on top of your deck you don't like from Sylvan Library or Scrying Sheets.
Tranquil Thicket, Slippery Karst: When you don't need the land, you can draw a card at instant speed.
Wirewood Lodge: Untaps any of your elves with a tap ability to get double usage.
Yavimaya Hollow: Regenerates any of your non-elf creatures, or any of your elves if Ezuri isn't out.
Oran-Rief, the Vastwood: Powers up any green creatures you just played. I guess you could also use it politically... Has great synergy with Cauldron of Souls.
Deserted Temple: All those lands with tap abilities... You can get twice as much mileage out of it.
Gaea's Cradle: One of the most broken cards in the format. This thing makes so much mana, it's pretty hard to use all of it. This wins games.
There are only three mono green planeswalkers, and one of them is virtually unplayable. I'm playing the other two because they have some pretty important abilities.
Garruk Wildspeaker:
The original Garruk is very well costed, and has a very balanced suite of abilities.
+1: Untap two target lands. This is the ability that I use most often. There are a few lands that are usually the target of this ability.-1: Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield.-3: Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample until end of turn.Garruk, Primal Hunter:
Garruk 2.0 is very different from his little brother. He usually ends up being played and going suicidal with his -3.
+1: Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield.-3: Draw cards equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.-6: Put a 6/6 green Wurm creature token onto the battlefield for each land you control.Sorceries
Sylvan Tutor: Tutors are pretty good. First turn this almost always goes for Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. Later in the game it completely depends on the board situation, but I normally find myself getting Primeval Titan to get Gaea's Cradle to close things out with Ezuri, or Regal Force, to refill my hand. When Ezuri gets tucked, this can find him again.
Harmonize: Green's Concentrate. Pretty good card draw.
Collective Unconscious: Crazy card draw. Elves are pretty easy to lay down, so this card usually ends up drawing you 10+ cards.
Elvish Promenade: Speaking of ridiculous numbers of elves... This doubles your elves.
Genesis Wave: This card is crazy. Generating ridiculous amounts of mana in this deck is easy, and the curve is mainly around 1-4, so Waving for low numbers, although a waste of mana, will probably get you somewhere.
Regrowth: Auto-include in any green deck. Return any card from your graveyard to your hand.
Praetor's Counsel: Regrowth on steroids. This card lets you come back flawlessly from a Wrath, and when you start drawing cards with Collective Unconscious, etc., You don't have to play everything before you discard.
Worldly Tutor: Pretty much the same things apply to this, as Sylvan Tutor. First few turns this goes for Rofellos, later in the game it goes for Primeval Titan or Regal Force. If Ezuri is tucked, this can find him.
Krosan Grip: Mostly uncounterable instant speed artifact and enchantment removal. Amazing card.
Sylvan Library: More staples. This card is amazing, and there's usually no reason to not take 8.
Survival of the Fittest: All these staples! But they're staples for a reason. This card is so good. Instant speed tutor for the low cost of G. Almost 50% of the deck is creatures, so it's pretty rare that you don't have one in hand.
Mana Reflection: Read it. It's not adding one extra mana like Caged Sun. It's twice the mana. That means that if you tap Joraga Treespeaker for mana, you get GGGG. If you tap Gaea's Cradle for mana, you get GG for each creature you control. This card fuels the only infinite combo in the deck.
Abundance: Early game and you can't hit a land drop? Choose land. Late game and you keep drawing dead land drops? Choose nonland. IMO, this card is definitely underplayed. It's really good. It has amazing synergy with Sylvan Library. "At the beginning of your draw step, you may draw two additional cards. If you do, choose two cards in your hand drawn this turn." Abundance doesn't draw cards, it puts them in your hand, so you can just choose nonland three times, and since the cards weren't drawn, you get to keep them in your hand with no downside.
Concordant Crossroads: Gives all of your elves haste. When you get a huge army you can attack that turn. With Genesis Wave, this card can just win. You can activate abilities as soon as you play your elves. Unfortunately it gives your opponent's creatures haste too, but you can make much better use of it.
Caged Sun: Mana doublers are good. Caged Sun buffs all of your elves, and makes all of your lands tap for more. Not much else to say.
Thousand-Year Elixir: So there are a lot of creatures in this deck with activated abilities... This lets you pretend they all have haste, and untap them so you can use them a second time.
Lightning Greaves: This lets elves use their tap abilities the turn they enter the battlefield. That's pretty good.
Cauldron of Souls: Gives all of your elves persist. Even the 1 toughness elves can stay alive as long as you have a buff like Elvish Archdruid on the battlefield. Has great synergy with Oran-Rief, the Vastwood.
Thanks for reading! Any feedback is much appreciated.
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GRRWHazezon Tamar (Valakut)GRRW
UKami of the Crescent Moon (
Group Hug)UUHeidar, Rimewind Master [Mini-Primer]U
WKemba, Kha Regent (Stax)W
GEzuri, Renegade Leader [Primer]G
I'm not a fan of going infinite or infect, but if you are here are some alternate cards you can play. If your meta is particularly cutthroat, you may need to combo out as soon as possible.
Umbral Mantle and Sword of the Paruns: These go infinite with any creature that taps for more than three mana.
Triumph of the Hordes: Pulls out some quick infect wins. I dislike infect, so I don't play this.
Thanks to GFireflyE for the suggestions.
Watchlist
Some of these are cards that I had in the original form of the deck, but took out. I'm considering these cards for inclusion in the deck.
1x Riftsweeper
1x Elvish Soultiller
1x Bramblewood Paragon
Changelog
-Krosan Tusker
-Sylvok Replica
-Patron of the Orochi
-Fyndhorn Elder
-Greenweaver Druid
+Concordant Crossroads
+Lightning Greaves
+Cauldron of Souls
+Viridian Zealot
+Argothian Elder
+Devoted Druid
GRRWHazezon Tamar (Valakut)GRRW
UKami of the Crescent Moon (
Group Hug)UUHeidar, Rimewind Master [Mini-Primer]U
WKemba, Kha Regent (Stax)W
GEzuri, Renegade Leader [Primer]G
I love commenting on Ezuri builds, as I've put a lot of time and effort into mine (being a casual build however, mostly restricted by budget).
Never the less, you'll have to put up with my post:
Let's go through your decklist:
-Immaculate Magistrate: I've never really found this guy to be that good. Ezuri gives all the buff necessary to win.
-Primordial Sage: I've considered this for my build aswell, but you want to have speed with Ezuri, and a 6cc creature is not about speed....and it's conditional draw. And it's not an elf. And it has no evasion/protection. Kinda 'meh', imo.
-Patron of the Orochi: Definately a good card. Can't comment for or against this guy other than that this is the first elf deck I've seen him in....might be saying something.
-Krosan Tusker: While definately a staple, you generally want cards that accelerate your land...not just put it into hand.
-Sylvok Replica: Meh. I'd sooner run Viridian Zealot. Costs 1 more mana....but is an elf, so it's a major threat.
-Elvish Promenade: I've found this to be a 'win more' card. Odds are you want to play it as soon as possible, which only grants you 3-4 elves. Might as well play Gilt-Leaf Ambush for the instant.
-Praetor's Counsel: This card fell flat for me. Recommend Creeping Renaissance instead. Costs less, and while you are limited in what to get back, odds are it's creatures everytime.
Now for some cards that (I thought were good) from my list:
-Heritage Druid:
-Viridian Joiner: I smell combo here. Similar to your Devoted Druid combo, Ezuri pumps Joiner for the potential of more mana. You just need an untap mechanic....which lead me to my next card...
-Umbral Mantle: THIS SHOULD BE HERE. Infinite mana with all of the following: Viridian Joiner, Elvish Archdruid, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, Priest of Titania...and other abusice mana generator.
-Argothian Elder: Basically Garruk Wildspeaker since Ezuri is your trample effect and all you use Garruk for is to untap lands.
I also have Elvish Lyrist and Elvish Scrapper in my list. They not bad if you need that destruction in a pinch, but there are so many better elves to have....
-Elvish Guidance: Clearly you can see the abuse with this card?
Where is your haste package? I don't run it because of budget but Concordant Crossroads is a staple elf card.
Instead I run: Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Obsidian Battle-Axe, Instill Energy
I noticed you have Oran-Rief, the Vastwood but are not running Cauldron of Souls. They combo to protect your elves from 1 boardwipe per round. Excellant protection.
Other protectors worth including: Wrap in Vigor, Vigor, Asceticism
Triumph of the Hordes can also win you games out of nowhere.
Anyways, those are my thoughts on your primer. Hope it helps. Hope I wasn't too abusive...
| 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
He's a lot better than Timberwatch Elf, and he's been very good for me. I'm probably not taking him out, but I guess I'll try to reassess how well he does the next few games.
I found myself running out of cards in hand by around turn 6, and htis guy helped out a lot. Pretty much the same thing as Magistrate. He's been working out well for me, so I'll have to pay attention during the next few games before I decide whether to take him out.
This has seemed a little lame to me. There were normally better things to spend the mana on, and he costs the same as Ezuri+Overrun. Cut.
The card draw was also a factor, but I agree, there are better cards that I should be running. Cut.
Zealot is also cheaper to play. Replaced.
Again, same as Sage and Magistrate, this has been going very well for me. Further review pending.
This has been ridiculous for me, and the max hand size was a big contributor. I'll test Renaissance, and decide.
Not sure why this isn't in. Added.
Already in. Under the picture of Rofellos. And I agree, he's kinda crazy.
Eh, I'm not really trying to combo out, the one that's in there isn't really intentional. I think I'll list this as an option along with Sword of the Paruns for the player to decide. I personally don't want my deck to be comboing out.
Great. Elder incoming.
I agree. The one-time use and lack of flexibility is the reason I was playing Replica over them. Also Replica doesn't need haste. (Same applies for Zealot)
Errrrr... Yeah. This needs to be in here.
Yeah, didn't even notice that a large portion of elves were warriors. Crossroads, Battle-Axe, and Greaves are going in.
Asceticism and Cauldron will be going in.
Eh, same as for the infinite equipment. A bit douchey for me, but I'll list them as options.
Some great suggestions! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!
I'll update the primer to reflect the changes.
GRRWHazezon Tamar (Valakut)GRRW
UKami of the Crescent Moon (
Group Hug)UUHeidar, Rimewind Master [Mini-Primer]U
WKemba, Kha Regent (Stax)W
GEzuri, Renegade Leader [Primer]G
Viridian Joiner. Sorry...missed it in your list. I've seen many decks that forget this little gem. So abusive with elves.
Glad I was more helpful than abusive.
Yeah, card draw was always a problem for me too, ussually burning out by rnd 6...
I ran Fecundity for awhile. Great when your opponent kills your elves. But it can hurt you too if your up against a token deck.
Also considered Garruk's Packleader, but most of your elves are tiny when they come into play.
Lurking Predators was another card I tried, but too slow as you become dependant on your opponent to increase the size of your overrun.....the plus with this is that summoning sickness was done away with....
Also, Elvish Aberration + Umbral Mantle = Infinitely large guy.
EDIT: Also, I didn't look as to how many elves are druids in your deck, but Gilt-Leaf Archdruid could help you along the way with some card draw.
| 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
I think when I originally chose it I liked it because it could block creatures with protection. For some reason I didn't think about the fact that most creatures with Pro Green are equipped with a Sword of Feast and Famine. Which Replica can destroy. Wasn't really thinking I guess...
I didn't expect him to be quite as amazing as he is, but he's great.
Meh, too group-huggy. I've played it in other decks, and I never really like how it worked out.
I looked at him, but it seems like it would only do anything with a Joraga Warcaller out.
You've got it pretty much covered...
EDIT:
Already in there. Above the picture of Prime Time. I think the multiple card tags are confusing... Will find a way to clarify stuff.
EDITEDIT: I think that helped a bit.
GRRWHazezon Tamar (Valakut)GRRW
UKami of the Crescent Moon (
Group Hug)UUHeidar, Rimewind Master [Mini-Primer]U
WKemba, Kha Regent (Stax)W
GEzuri, Renegade Leader [Primer]G
i was looking for decklists and primers around, and this has attracted me
pictures help out a lot
i see this thread hasnt been updated in awhile and would like to contribute some suggestions myself. havent been playing edh for a long time so my knowledge is pretty recent
i think soul of the harvest can replace primordial sage
theres also the new and popular cavern of souls
possible creature type choices are
elves obviously but even elemental to make sure your regal force resolves
wirewood symbiote not an elf but it has amazing synergy
you can bring back an elf to save it, or to reuse an elf with an etb effect like masked admirers or elvish visionary
it also untaps target creature which is good
beast within is something to consider
its an effective permanent removal at instant speed
ambush commander can be deadly with ezuris overun
downside is that your landbase can be wrathed
so ambush commander would need to be played strategically
some more suggestions for consideration
wirewood herald can tutor up any elf when it dies
skyshroud poacher not an elf but you can tutor up elves
genesis brings back creatures from the grave when you lose fuel or an important player
thats pretty much all i have for now,
well see if this thread revives
check out my groovy elf list here
Ezuri + Joraga Treespeaker + Devoted Druid= infinite mana
You include both in your deck bringing your combo count to 3.