Thought Game: What elf card in (G/B) would need to be printed to make scapeshift a favorable matchup?
They can't really print anything to make it a favourable matchup, its just a bad matchup by design. For the most part they can completely ignore our gameplan, wipe our stuff away with their payoff or their md sweepers, and then kill us.
Thought Game: What elf card in (G/B) would need to be printed to make scapeshift a favorable matchup?
To even it up? An in-color magus of the moon, maybe make nonbasics forests instead. We missed the planeshift boat though.
To make it favorable? Valakut beats up on creature strats, so to turn it around inevitably involves serious sideboarding. tbh I don't think u can make this MU favorable without a card that would be too busted for modern, such as a creature with ETB: destroy all lands. Ultimately we're a creature toolbox.
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BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Rather than thinking about what would "beat scapeshift" by harming scapeshift, I think it's more likely that something gets printed that helps us by making us faster or having a bigger/better effect than we already have with an existing card. Some sort of green sun's zenith, natural order, or glimpse of nature effect could be the thing that pushes us up just a bit quicker than we are now.
Am I overvaluing self-less spirit and forgetenders abilities to much?
I don't think think you're overvaluing the cards at all. In fact, Selfless Spirit is one of the primary reasons to play White to begin with. It's excellent with and without chord and consistently performs.
The definitive list of matchups we side out chord in is......
The short list:
Jund
Abzan
Deaths Shadow (all variants)
Control (all variants)
Death and Taxes (all variants)
Blood Moon based Prison (Skred/Sun and Moon)
Let me run through the tier forums and list more down...
Edit:
Restore Balance/As Foretold
Bant Eldrazi
Big Zoo (aka Knight of the Reliquary)
RG LD/Ponza
Is Wolf-Skull Shaman a playable card? 60% chance for free 2/2 every turn, even though the token is not an elf, can still help us build board presence at a very good rate. Seems like it would shine in GBx matchups, and also when paired with Nissa, Steward due to the scry 2 - could almost guarantee a free 2/2 creature every turn.
Is Wolf-Skull Shaman a playable card? 60% chance for free 2/2 every turn, even though the token is not an elf, can still help us build board presence at a very good rate. Seems like it would shine in GBx matchups, and also when paired with Nissa, Steward due to the scry 2 - could almost guarantee a free 2/2 creature every turn.
What are you replacing for it is the real question? Visionary and Elite are more impactful, and I don't want any more twos for the most part - and even then, another great two is Devoted Druid.
After playing Elves in Abzan colors for more than a month, I've decided to go BG again. The awesome white hate cards in my sideboard are sweet but I just couldn't get the hang of piloting Elves in three colors. I'm missing the catch all utility of thoughtseize and the smooth almost painless manabase that BG offers.
Hey guys! I played elves at an FNM for the first time last night and went 3-1
It was awesome because one of my matches was a mirror and I have never seen sooo many elves on board and so much power haha
Anyhow, my one loss was against dredge which I was surprised because I figured that our deck would be able to race it. I also didn't run any hate in my sideboard because you don't see it often in my local area. Do you guys have any tips on going up against it?
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UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Hey guys! I played elves at an FNM for the first time last night and went 3-1
It was awesome because one of my matches was a mirror and I have never seen sooo many elves on board and so much power haha
Anyhow, my one loss was against dredge which I was surprised because I figured that our deck would be able to race it. I also didn't run any hate in my sideboard because you don't see it often in my local area. Do you guys have any tips on going up against it?
My recommendations for Dredge:
Step 1: Hide the tears
Step 2: Load up Youtube
Step 3: Search for Gary Jules - Mad World
Step 4: Arsenal
Step 5: Press Play
Step 6: Sign the 0-2 match slip
Step 7: ???
Step 8: Success
Seriously though, the matchup is awful. Regardless of what you put in your sideboard, you generally cannot beat a resolved Conflagrate (and heres the kicker - they "draw 5" cards a turn if not more to find them).
Hey guys! I played elves at an FNM for the first time last night and went 3-1
It was awesome because one of my matches was a mirror and I have never seen sooo many elves on board and so much power haha
Anyhow, my one loss was against dredge which I was surprised because I figured that our deck would be able to race it. I also didn't run any hate in my sideboard because you don't see it often in my local area. Do you guys have any tips on going up against it?
My recommendations for Dredge:
Step 1: Hide the tears
Step 2: Load up Youtube
Step 3: Search for Gary Jules - Mad World
Step 4: Arsenal
Step 5: Press Play
Step 6: Sign the 0-2 match slip
Step 7: ???
Step 8: Success
Seriously though, the matchup is awful. Regardless of what you put in your sideboard, you generally cannot beat a resolved Conflagrate (and heres the kicker - they "draw 5" cards a turn if not more to find them).
Wow, that is so incredibly accurate haha
I was on the play and couldn't hit a critical mass before he was able to produce enough chump blockers to completely take over.. That and tron were incredibly difficult last night, but I was able to beat tron by just swinging with early Nettle Sentinels
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UU"Brute force can sometimes kick down a locked door, but knowledge is a skeleton key"UU
Hey guys! I played elves at an FNM for the first time last night and went 3-1
It was awesome because one of my matches was a mirror and I have never seen sooo many elves on board and so much power haha
Anyhow, my one loss was against dredge which I was surprised because I figured that our deck would be able to race it. I also didn't run any hate in my sideboard because you don't see it often in my local area. Do you guys have any tips on going up against it?
Stain the Mind in the sideboard naming Conflagrate will go a long way.
What's the better non-creature graveyard hate on the side, Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb? Or should I invest in Leyline of the Void? I feel that Scavenging Ooze is just too slow most of the time and the meta here just changed with lots of Grixis DS, Grixis Delver, Jund, Abzan, Living End, GR Vengevine and Dredge decks coming out of nowhere. I stopped splashing for white since I didn't get the hang of three colors so Rest in Peace is not an option now.
Has anyone tried Summoner's Pact? It seems good because it gets around Cage and Teeg, and can occasionally be free.
I play a list with 4 pact instead of chord. It speeds up the whole deck by a turn (or more) by allowing you to fetch a heritage druid or nettle sentinel if you've got the other one, and kick-start an early chain into a huge turn 2 board presence, or perhaps a turn 3 craterhoof behemoth. The list plays like legacy elves in that sense.
Bear in mind, to fuel these chains of elf-elf-elf-coco-elf-elf etc, you need to have more elves that draw cards in the deck (beck // call is not an adequate substitute for the legacy engine) so instead of black you really have to dip into blue and run 3x coiling oracle. This makes your cocos and chains really explosive and draws you into more pacts and more elves
Good luck, it's a really explosive build.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
They can't really print anything to make it a favourable matchup, its just a bad matchup by design. For the most part they can completely ignore our gameplan, wipe our stuff away with their payoff or their md sweepers, and then kill us.
To even it up? An in-color magus of the moon, maybe make nonbasics forests instead. We missed the planeshift boat though.
To make it favorable? Valakut beats up on creature strats, so to turn it around inevitably involves serious sideboarding. tbh I don't think u can make this MU favorable without a card that would be too busted for modern, such as a creature with ETB: destroy all lands. Ultimately we're a creature toolbox.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
I don't think think you're overvaluing the cards at all. In fact, Selfless Spirit is one of the primary reasons to play White to begin with. It's excellent with and without chord and consistently performs.
The short list:
Jund
Abzan
Deaths Shadow (all variants)
Control (all variants)
Death and Taxes (all variants)
Blood Moon based Prison (Skred/Sun and Moon)
Let me run through the tier forums and list more down...
Edit:
Restore Balance/As Foretold
Bant Eldrazi
Big Zoo (aka Knight of the Reliquary)
RG LD/Ponza
What are you replacing for it is the real question? Visionary and Elite are more impactful, and I don't want any more twos for the most part - and even then, another great two is Devoted Druid.
Also: stream in 15mins, hop in.
It was awesome because one of my matches was a mirror and I have never seen sooo many elves on board and so much power haha
Anyhow, my one loss was against dredge which I was surprised because I figured that our deck would be able to race it. I also didn't run any hate in my sideboard because you don't see it often in my local area. Do you guys have any tips on going up against it?
My recommendations for Dredge:
Step 1: Hide the tears
Step 2: Load up Youtube
Step 3: Search for Gary Jules - Mad World
Step 4: Arsenal
Step 5: Press Play
Step 6: Sign the 0-2 match slip
Step 7: ???
Step 8: Success
Seriously though, the matchup is awful. Regardless of what you put in your sideboard, you generally cannot beat a resolved Conflagrate (and heres the kicker - they "draw 5" cards a turn if not more to find them).
Wow, that is so incredibly accurate haha
I was on the play and couldn't hit a critical mass before he was able to produce enough chump blockers to completely take over.. That and tron were incredibly difficult last night, but I was able to beat tron by just swinging with early Nettle Sentinels
Stain the Mind in the sideboard naming Conflagrate will go a long way.
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW
I play a list with 4 pact instead of chord. It speeds up the whole deck by a turn (or more) by allowing you to fetch a heritage druid or nettle sentinel if you've got the other one, and kick-start an early chain into a huge turn 2 board presence, or perhaps a turn 3 craterhoof behemoth. The list plays like legacy elves in that sense.
Bear in mind, to fuel these chains of elf-elf-elf-coco-elf-elf etc, you need to have more elves that draw cards in the deck (beck // call is not an adequate substitute for the legacy engine) so instead of black you really have to dip into blue and run 3x coiling oracle. This makes your cocos and chains really explosive and draws you into more pacts and more elves
Good luck, it's a really explosive build.
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW