This could be a bomb. Could be win more. Warrants testing. Kind of the same problem of elvish promenade vs. hunting triad.
I'm seeing other interesting cards in rix as well. I know joraga warcaller isn't favored for coco chord. But I'm still tinkering with a non coco list. There's a 1 Mana explore a creature you control in rix as well as the legendary blue green transformer land. Both of these cards can be sequenced with a Mana to spare on turns 2 and 3. And you've given your elves +2/+2. I like the gb land generally speaking, but not for elves. But I digress.
Sadly, I don't think this can put up against the format after unbannings.
(edit: the easiest combo to achieve against URx was Curio/Heritage/Warden, and now it isn't enough since Jace scoffs at infinite life; while BGx now has many more ways of dealing with a Curio).
Being disfunctional on MODO does not help with the evolution of the archetype, certainly.
A quick question (partly to subscribe to this thread): Has anyone tried to use Aether Vial? I only ask because I feel like a) Instant speed creatures would help circumvent some of the problems we have, and b) it would help play out our threats faster.
Edit: Never mind. I played it tonight and it sucked.
A quick question (partly to subscribe to this thread): Has anyone tried to use Aether Vial? I only ask because I feel like a) Instant speed creatures would help circumvent some of the problems we have, and b) it would help play out our threats faster.
Edit: Never mind. I played it tonight and it sucked.
Yeah, your dudes ARE your your Vials... You just open to a Vial taking the place of a G creature to trigger your untaps of your Nettles...
I’ve been playing a Devotion Deck with Karametra’s Acolyte and Umbral Mantel...I’m thinking Marwyn, the Nurturer May solidifi it.
I’ll post the updated list this evening after some testing.
It’s exciting to think of brewing. Even a 1 of since I play Leap combo. She could either become MASSIVE to attack or fling, or straight tap and add a ton of mana to either keep going with the combo chain or hardcast Emrakul or Craterhoof without having to sac your board at the same time. Being a Druid could be helpful if I try to retest Elvish Archdruid as a draw engine i’ve used in the past.
Played B/G Elves at a Modern tourney last Wednesday, went 3-1 into top-4 where I lost to Spirits in round 1 (because I'm an idiot, as you'll see). My deck was far from complete/optimized; the land base was trash and the sideboard was thrown together at the last minute. Nonetheless, I was happy with it, and it was good to see all the other players at the store freaking out about seeing it because it's so explosive.
I lost to Bogles 2-0 round 1. He got Daybreak Coronet out both games and I never drew an answer, so even though I was swinging for 30+, his lifegain/vigilance (along with unblockable) was too much to overcome. I'll be adding Devour Flesh to the sideboard next time.
Round 2 I fought against a token deck that I made quick relatively work of (2-0). They simply don't have enough oomph to outduel the elves. It was at this point, though, that I started to find my mana base to be an issue, slowing me down.
Round 3 I played Gifts Ungiven combo. He won game 1, at which point I sided in the four Thoughtseizes. Game 2 he got land screwed and I overran him pretty quickly. Game three I opened with Thoughtseize and trashed his Gifts Ungiven. The look on his face was priceless - he did not expect Thoughtseize from an elf deck.
Round 4 2-1 against another token deck - this one was closer than round 2. I sided in the two Essence Wardens, and he ended up tossing his Fatal Pushes at them early (unnecessarily, IMHO). But those EW's protected my Ezuris so they more than did their job. All three games were close, and I got lucky that he didn't make it to four mana in game 3.
Round 1 of top 4 I had a god draw game 1 and overran him with Craterhoof Behemoth. Game 2 I found out how vulnerable the deck is to flying spirits as he pushed past me with some fat in the air before I could get established. So, figuring I had to race him, I left Thoughtseizes, Duress, Shaman of the Pack, Beast Within, Abrupt Decay, and Reclamation Sage all in the sideboard, only to watch him drop a Worship. Live and learn, I guess.
A few notes I came away with:
1) The Thoughtseizes were outstanding, totally a reason to run black. Additionally, black will offer Devour Flesh or Cruel Edict, which is vital against Bogles.
2) The mana base, as stated, was trash and needs fixing. I'm ordering Gilt-Leaf Palace, Unclaimed Territory, and Overgrown Tomb. Bloodbraid Elf hit hard, but just wasn't synergistic enough and spread the mana base too thin, so I'm cutting red.
3) I liked what Lead the Stampede did so much that I'm going to just bite the bullet and purchase Collected Company.
4) I suspect the meta will be a little more prepared for Elves next week, so I'll probably see more sweepers. Thoughtseize will help, and I think I want to up the lord ratio to help protect against things like Zealous Persecution.
Note: once I get Collected Company, Gilt-Leaf Palace, and Unclaimed Territory, those will all go in. I'll probably leave one or two forests in there in case of Path to Exile
Why has Summoner's Pact fallen out of favor? I never see it being used in any decklists, but it feels like it offers a significant cost reduction over Chord of Calling. For example, let's say you want to tutor up Ezuri, Renegade Leader. With Chord, you're paying 6 mana to put it on the battlefield or tapping down your potential attackers. With Pact, you're paying 0 mana to put it into your hand and then 3 mana to put it on the field, which means you have three more mana that can be used to pump Ezuri's ability.
Of course, Pact can't pull non-green creatures such as Vizier of Remedies or Burrenton Forge-Tender, which means it might be a sub-optimal choice in those decks. But if you don't have any non-green creatures, then the only advantage I can see Chord having is that it offers flash. But how often do you really need to flash in a creature on defense anyway? Is that ability worth the three mana trade-off?
Am I missing anything else? The differences that I can see (correct me if I'm wrong):
Cons:
Can't pull non-green creatures (Vizier of Remedies, etc.)
Can't flash in creatures without flash
My thinking is that if you're running a card base where your win cons are all green, then I think Summoner's Pact makes more sense, but I never see anyone running them. If you have white win cons, then going at least halfsies on Chord may be the better choice.
Why has Summoner's Pact fallen out of favor? I never see it being used in any decklists, but it feels like it offers a significant cost reduction over Chord of Calling. For example, let's say you want to tutor up Ezuri, Renegade Leader. With Chord, you're paying 6 mana to put it on the battlefield or tapping down your potential attackers. With Pact, you're paying 0 mana to put it into your hand and then 3 mana to put it on the field, which means you have three more mana that can be used to pump Ezuri's ability.
Have you ever played Yeva's Curio Elves?
It just blanks removal, sometimes even sweepers
Kind of slow for Modern, but BG elves could probably pull it off with some disruption tech
Eliminate the exile cards with Thoughtseize. Namely anger of the gods. It's not the turn one play in game one, but it can also eliminate combo pieces. Let the verdict you with a potf out and chord in hand. With maybe even heritage druid in hand. You could take it a step further with mass hysteria, beastcaller savant, BBE, copperhorn scout, etc. Potf IS an elf and acts broken in multiples.
Creatures with hexproof like gladecover scout and silhana ledgewalker. It seems you could vomit a bunch of elves on turn 3 and end up with a 7/7 or 9/9 hexproof trampler ready to attack. Hand is likely empty at that point, but a LtS or even Sylvan messenger for 3 Mana could be a nice way to do it all over again. Let's not forget that cost reduction.
The monument is legendary and it's bad as a top deck. Consistency would be an issue. But there are a lot of elves and I mean a lot of elves that get dope on this. Including bloodbraid elf granting +4/+4... You could be staring at a 5/5 hexproof trampler and a 3/2 haste with Mana potentially open.
Or you could just drop some Thoughtseize on turn 3 with LtS or or something, and just go insane on turn 4
Prowess of the fair ups archdruid's Mana, ups sotp life loss, can be regenerated by ezuri, can be tapped by heitage for mana. It will slow oponnents combat damage and is an outright moat in multiples.
I mean hey I get it, does nothing against exile. But it's arguably the best card to set up a game ending chord.
Good to see you back here CurdBros!
I just saw Beast Whisperer and immediately thought of this thread too. Beast Whisperer certainly breathes new life into both Curio and Intruder brewing efforts. My initial suspicion is that dying to bolt (and revolted push) this might be too fragile. I wonder if Yeva, Nature's Herald or Leyline of Anticipation could help..
Pretty exciting nonetheless, and I can't wait to see where brewers on this thread take this!
I've theory crafted with Vannifar+Alarm in a typical Elf shell, and with four mana, Vannifar, Alarm, and a one-drop, the following sequence wins in two turns from an empty board state:
Turn N: Vannifar
Turn N+1: Alarm, 1 CMC->Dwynen's Elite, Token->1 CMC->Dwynen's Elite/Phantasmal Image (Elite) [repeat until no more Elites/Images available], Token->Heritage Druid, float ?G (9 max), 2 CMC->Archdruid then float ?G again (9 max) [repeat until no more Archdruids are available], 2 CMC->Ezuri 1.0 then float ?G again (9 max), dump mana into Ezuri's 5 CMC ability (10 activations max), swing with a big tramply Vannifar (36/38 body max).
You can actually squeeze more mana out by trading Archdruids for additional Vannifars (that would be sacrificed to legendary sbe).
hmm surprising this thread hasn't been brought back up.
Also surprised Beast Whisperer didn't bring this thread back.
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So, I'm pretty sure Fiend Artisan could be abused with Intruder Alarm. You can abuse Heritage Druid's lack of haste requirement and fetch up Dwynen's Elite.. hmmm.... Maybe it's too brittle with the need for Intruder Alarm though. Thoughts?
Same issue as always, this kind of deck can find the creatures, but not the enchantments. Artisan doesn't tutor Alarm. It may help elves strategies overall though, while it doesn't make this specific combo easier to assemble.
It's another story when it comes to the Vizier combo... Curious to see what it's going to do for the archetype.
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I'm seeing other interesting cards in rix as well. I know joraga warcaller isn't favored for coco chord. But I'm still tinkering with a non coco list. There's a 1 Mana explore a creature you control in rix as well as the legendary blue green transformer land. Both of these cards can be sequenced with a Mana to spare on turns 2 and 3. And you've given your elves +2/+2. I like the gb land generally speaking, but not for elves. But I digress.
4 Essence Warden
4 Heritage Druid
3 Nettle Sentinel
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Joraga Warcaller
3 Dwayne's Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Devoted Druid
1 Vizier of Remedies
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Trophy Mage
1 Ranger of Eos
4 Cloudstone Curio
4 Chord of Calling
2 Eldritch Evolution
1 Summoner's Pact
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Windsweapt Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Pendelhaven
3 Forest
1 Westvale Abbey
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Narnam Renegade
3 Dismember
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Stony Silence
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reveilark
Sadly, I don't think this can put up against the format after unbannings.
(edit: the easiest combo to achieve against URx was Curio/Heritage/Warden, and now it isn't enough since Jace scoffs at infinite life; while BGx now has many more ways of dealing with a Curio).
Being disfunctional on MODO does not help with the evolution of the archetype, certainly.
Feel free to msg me on reddit (same username).
Edit: Never mind. I played it tonight and it sucked.
I’ll post the updated list this evening after some testing.
Yeah, your dudes ARE your your Vials... You just open to a Vial taking the place of a G creature to trigger your untaps of your Nettles...
It’s exciting to think of brewing. Even a 1 of since I play Leap combo. She could either become MASSIVE to attack or fling, or straight tap and add a ton of mana to either keep going with the combo chain or hardcast Emrakul or Craterhoof without having to sac your board at the same time. Being a Druid could be helpful if I try to retest Elvish Archdruid as a draw engine i’ve used in the past.
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3 Shaman of the Pack
3 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Lead the Stampede
4 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
5 Forest
1 Pendlehaven
1 Treetop Village
4 Thoughseize
1 Duress
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shaman of the Pack
1 Bloodbraid ELf
2 Essence Warden
1 Beast Within
1 Chord of Calling
2 Abrupt Decay
I lost to Bogles 2-0 round 1. He got Daybreak Coronet out both games and I never drew an answer, so even though I was swinging for 30+, his lifegain/vigilance (along with unblockable) was too much to overcome. I'll be adding Devour Flesh to the sideboard next time.
Round 2 I fought against a token deck that I made quick relatively work of (2-0). They simply don't have enough oomph to outduel the elves. It was at this point, though, that I started to find my mana base to be an issue, slowing me down.
Round 3 I played Gifts Ungiven combo. He won game 1, at which point I sided in the four Thoughtseizes. Game 2 he got land screwed and I overran him pretty quickly. Game three I opened with Thoughtseize and trashed his Gifts Ungiven. The look on his face was priceless - he did not expect Thoughtseize from an elf deck.
Round 4 2-1 against another token deck - this one was closer than round 2. I sided in the two Essence Wardens, and he ended up tossing his Fatal Pushes at them early (unnecessarily, IMHO). But those EW's protected my Ezuris so they more than did their job. All three games were close, and I got lucky that he didn't make it to four mana in game 3.
Round 1 of top 4 I had a god draw game 1 and overran him with Craterhoof Behemoth. Game 2 I found out how vulnerable the deck is to flying spirits as he pushed past me with some fat in the air before I could get established. So, figuring I had to race him, I left Thoughtseizes, Duress, Shaman of the Pack, Beast Within, Abrupt Decay, and Reclamation Sage all in the sideboard, only to watch him drop a Worship. Live and learn, I guess.
A few notes I came away with:
1) The Thoughtseizes were outstanding, totally a reason to run black. Additionally, black will offer Devour Flesh or Cruel Edict, which is vital against Bogles.
2) The mana base, as stated, was trash and needs fixing. I'm ordering Gilt-Leaf Palace, Unclaimed Territory, and Overgrown Tomb. Bloodbraid Elf hit hard, but just wasn't synergistic enough and spread the mana base too thin, so I'm cutting red.
3) I liked what Lead the Stampede did so much that I'm going to just bite the bullet and purchase Collected Company.
4) I suspect the meta will be a little more prepared for Elves next week, so I'll probably see more sweepers. Thoughtseize will help, and I think I want to up the lord ratio to help protect against things like Zealous Persecution.
So here's the state of my deck at the moment:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Joraga Warcaller
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Imperious Perfect
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
3 Chord of Calling
4 Woodland Cemetery
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
8 Forest
4 Thoughtseize
4 Devour Flesh
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Reclamation Sage
2 Imperious Perfect
Note: once I get Collected Company, Gilt-Leaf Palace, and Unclaimed Territory, those will all go in. I'll probably leave one or two forests in there in case of Path to Exile
Thoughts?
Of course, Pact can't pull non-green creatures such as Vizier of Remedies or Burrenton Forge-Tender, which means it might be a sub-optimal choice in those decks. But if you don't have any non-green creatures, then the only advantage I can see Chord having is that it offers flash. But how often do you really need to flash in a creature on defense anyway? Is that ability worth the three mana trade-off?
Am I missing anything else? The differences that I can see (correct me if I'm wrong):
Pros:
Generally costs three mana less than Chord of Calling
Cons:
Can't pull non-green creatures (Vizier of Remedies, etc.)
Can't flash in creatures without flash
My thinking is that if you're running a card base where your win cons are all green, then I think Summoner's Pact makes more sense, but I never see anyone running them. If you have white win cons, then going at least halfsies on Chord may be the better choice.
Have you ever played Yeva's Curio Elves?
It just blanks removal, sometimes even sweepers
Kind of slow for Modern, but BG elves could probably pull it off with some disruption tech
Thoughtseize
Chord
Prowess of the Fair
Eliminate the exile cards with Thoughtseize. Namely anger of the gods. It's not the turn one play in game one, but it can also eliminate combo pieces. Let the verdict you with a potf out and chord in hand. With maybe even heritage druid in hand. You could take it a step further with mass hysteria, beastcaller savant, BBE, copperhorn scout, etc. Potf IS an elf and acts broken in multiples.
Creatures with hexproof like gladecover scout and silhana ledgewalker. It seems you could vomit a bunch of elves on turn 3 and end up with a 7/7 or 9/9 hexproof trampler ready to attack. Hand is likely empty at that point, but a LtS or even Sylvan messenger for 3 Mana could be a nice way to do it all over again. Let's not forget that cost reduction.
The monument is legendary and it's bad as a top deck. Consistency would be an issue. But there are a lot of elves and I mean a lot of elves that get dope on this. Including bloodbraid elf granting +4/+4... You could be staring at a 5/5 hexproof trampler and a 3/2 haste with Mana potentially open.
Or you could just drop some Thoughtseize on turn 3 with LtS or or something, and just go insane on turn 4
I mean hey I get it, does nothing against exile. But it's arguably the best card to set up a game ending chord.
So does this make Curio Elves a thing again now? A Glimpse on a stick makes for true infinite combo
I just saw Beast Whisperer and immediately thought of this thread too. Beast Whisperer certainly breathes new life into both Curio and Intruder brewing efforts. My initial suspicion is that dying to bolt (and revolted push) this might be too fragile. I wonder if Yeva, Nature's Herald or Leyline of Anticipation could help..
Pretty exciting nonetheless, and I can't wait to see where brewers on this thread take this!
Growth-Chamber Guardian being both an elf and a warrior looks like it might combo with Bramblewood Paragon.
Prime Speaker Vannifar
Could make Intruder Alarm powerful again.
I've theory crafted with Vannifar+Alarm in a typical Elf shell, and with four mana, Vannifar, Alarm, and a one-drop, the following sequence wins in two turns from an empty board state:
Turn N: Vannifar
Turn N+1: Alarm, 1 CMC->Dwynen's Elite, Token->1 CMC->Dwynen's Elite/Phantasmal Image (Elite) [repeat until no more Elites/Images available], Token->Heritage Druid, float ?G (9 max), 2 CMC->Archdruid then float ?G again (9 max) [repeat until no more Archdruids are available], 2 CMC->Ezuri 1.0 then float ?G again (9 max), dump mana into Ezuri's 5 CMC ability (10 activations max), swing with a big tramply Vannifar (36/38 body max).
You can actually squeeze more mana out by trading Archdruids for additional Vannifars (that would be sacrificed to legendary sbe).
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Also surprised Beast Whisperer didn't bring this thread back.
-Stay Frosty
It's another story when it comes to the Vizier combo... Curious to see what it's going to do for the archetype.