MTG Salvation

We already have a lot of elf support from Dominaria and Core19, in addition to lots of Tribal goodies from Ixalan.

Looking at all the Golgari and Selesnya Elf Support from Guilds of Ravnica, is there a basis for a semi-competitive elf ball deck in standard?
Moving to New Card Discussion because that's where new cards get discussed until the full set is spoiled. - hoser2

Given the smaller card pool and WoTC not really liking to push things as far as they used to, I'm not sure there will be an elf ball deck in standard. They did print a promising 4 cmc elf that can act like a Glimpse of Nature, but it requires setup to work and a lot of mana, plus puts a lot of pressure on that one point in the deck. I'd say there is an elf mid-range deck that is possible. If I have time to do a little brewing I could answer the question better as it's been a hectic week so far. We did just have Vizier of the Menagerie last standard that basically never saw play because of the casting cost and the meta it was put in.

I think the best way to figure something like this out is to see what the limited strategies are in the Guilds of Ravnica set and see if there is a subtheme there. From that, see what the elves from Dominaria and Core 2019 do for the strategy and if they are the right fit. The other way works as well with looking at what the limited strategies were in dominaria and core 2019 and figuring out what cards from the other two blocks supplement those. It is very rare that some kind of strategy completely unrelated to the limited strategies appear in a fresh standard because there aren't enough cards to really get that adventurous yet.

I'm testing with a sleeper card right now : Song of Freyalise. I guess such a shell can support Abzan colors but I prefer to focus on 2 colors for now (Conclave Cavalry is hard to mix in a 3-color deck for ex). I feel like GB is more focused on graveyard strats, where the usual elves wouldn't fit too well, like Clancaller or Champion. White seems to let elves be resilient to control decks, which is appealing.



A list like that gets value off almost every play, and there's a few slots to play with still : District Guide, Knight of Autumn, etc...

While a black version doesn't really care about the elf type : you want to play both Stitcher's Supplier & Glowspore Shaman together, maybe to ramp into Golgari Raiders, Izoni, Thousand-Eyed and Underrealm Lich, or reanimate Bone Dragons. In a similar but different approach, blue provides the only good reanmiation spell so far : Connive // Concoct.

Elves tribal will become a thing...just have to be prepared for sweepers.

Kind of wonder if Untap.in has the cards up yet. I like that tool a lot more than deck stats these days since you can see the cards and what they do.

Quote from headminerve »

I'm testing with a sleeper card right now : Song of Freyalise. I guess such a shell can support Abzan colors but I prefer to focus on 2 colors for now (Conclave Cavalry is hard to mix in a 3-color deck for ex). I feel like GB is more focused on graveyard strats, where the usual elves wouldn't fit too well, like Clancaller or Champion. White seems to let elves be resilient to control decks, which is appealing.

killerja0's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Llanowar Elves 4 Thorn Lieutenant 4 Elvish Clancaller 3 Emmara, Soul of the Accord 4 Steel Leaf Champion 4 Conclave Cavalry 3 Shalai, Voice of Plenty	4 Song of Freyalise 4 Sprouting Renewal 3 Assurance // Association 4 Temple Garden 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Unclaimed Territory 9 Forest 2 Plains

A list like that gets value off almost every play, and there's a few slots to play with still : District Guide, Knight of Autumn, etc...

While a black version doesn't really care about the elf type : you want to play both Stitcher's Supplier & Glowspore Shaman together, maybe to ramp into Golgari Raiders, Izoni, Thousand-Eyed and Underrealm Lich, or reanimate Bone Dragons. In a similar but different approach, blue provides the only good reanmiation spell so far : Connive // Concoct.

idk maybe there could be a abzan build that might be viable.