I have won many a FNM's with a deck similar to the one you listed.
The purpose of Lead/Messenger versions of elves is such that you can recover from boardwipes and spot removal. We just outgrind those who have spot and boardwipes by keeping playing Elves and pinging them. We can dig for Ezuri/Archdruid through the Collected Company and Lead the Stampede. It can be tough against Grixis due to sheer amount of card advantage they play, but we can hang with them due to ours.
One of the ways we operate is to force them to have the combo/boardwipe etc. As long as you have the gas in hand, you can suffer a board wipe or two. I ended winning a match after having been pyroclasmed 3 times against Grixis Twin.
Our Burn matchup is better the longer it goes on. I wouldn't completley side out Sylvan Messengers vs. them as they can get over eidolon which is important. In complete variance, most of my burn opponents didn't get out Eidolon much or I had the timely rec sage to deal with it.
I have never played with Craterhood or Summoner's Pact, so I can't say in regards to that. I went with a pure Elf Lead/Messenger build and the only white was in the sideboard. The only times I mulligan is I have 4 or more land, no landers, or 3 Land with no Lead/Messenger/Company, a low land count hand and where most of the cards are 3 or more and I need to race which happens especially if I don't have a dork or 2.
The essential answer is Mulligan until you feel comfortable playing out. Since the Deck runs the same and has plenty of card advantage, you can go lower if you don't feel comfortable or has a large amount of high casting stuff which can be detrimental since we are only running 18 lands. Keeping hands with only 1 mana dork and many cards with 3 or more casting costs will and can kill you if you don't draw the lands you need to cast them in a timely manner. It can happen more times that you expect to not be able to cast Collected Company or Sylvan Messenger, because they keep killing your dorks and you are stuck on 3 land. Hello, Grim Lavamancer or Grixis decks or pyroclasm/anger.
The reason I don't run Craterhoof is that it would be a dead card against alot of removal heavy decks and fast decks and burn. I find that I generally don't the large amount of mana to cast a Craterhoof, but I do have the mana to cast an Ezuri due to the way mana is generated off of Heritage Mana.
Summoners Pacts, I haven't run, because I don't have any and it seems better in a more Combo version of the deck then the Aggro/Combo of ours.
What decks did you lose to may tell and dictate your mulliganing strategy and other strategies in general.
I think 3 Leads/3 Messengers is better, but only once you get Cavern. I like 3 Messengers, because Lead can find them and has found them for me to keep going and going.
I will keep all explosive hands no matter the match up. If you have a slow hand, it is ok to mull down if you feel you need it. I have won against burn after mulling to 4. I am not saying aggressive mulliganing is the best way, but it is safer to go lower. You have the card advantage to come back from that. The flooding on 18 lands is probably variance at work.
I would say the most important extra lands are Cavern of Souls followed by Horizon Canopy. Playing against a blue deck and using cavern to play sylvan messenger is fantastic as well as your important pieces. Horizon Canopy can also help you recover from a bad start. That is the power of Elves. Great starts are golden, but bad starts aren't the end all and be all. Since you are running craterhoof behemoth, then Nykthos is probably a good pick up as well as an additional archdruid.
SB - Relic of Progenitus might be decent depending on your Meta. Choke might be decent depending on your meta. Chameleon Colossus might be good depending on your meta.
Game 1 - If you are playing the Lead/Messenger version, the idea game one is to force them to have it. Game 1 isn't the game where you can get cute or fancy. Game 1 is where you let them have it as fast and as hard as possible.
Game 2/3 - Is where actual decsions come into play about holding mana and more mulliganing choices etc.
I haven't played Affinity, so I can't give you an answer there.
Elves is really fun to play. I like to play creatures and turn them sideways. No deck plays as many creatures as Elf decks do. Each elf you cast especially in the early game facilitates more Elves being cast. I have played the Lead/Messenger version of Elves essentially GW. It is amazing how often I can have a bad draw or mulligan turn into golden ticket win through sheer power of Lead/Messenger/Company and the humongous mana that can be generated off an Heritage druid, Archdruid, or Nytkhos. We can dump our hand on turn 2 as well as with the right cards see even more of the deck thanks to visionary/lead/messenger/company. We are also resilient to boardwipes especially the Lead/Messenger versions. Chord versions kill faster then Lead/Messenger and generally has better hate then Lead/Messenger versions. Lead/Messengers trade Speed/Hate for Resilience, Elfstorming, and simplicity. The simplicity straightforward nature of the Lead/Messenger versions is underrated by a lot of players. You generally don't hold up mana or elfs and you go all in on the game plan of elf storming. The only deck you generally can't do this is against Twin if you have a Collected Company or a Dismember in hand or other anti-twin instants.
Elfstorming is when Combined with Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel/Dwynen's Elite and other great mana generators, you can keep chaining Elfs together. On Turn's 2-4 I must have cast multiple Sylvan Messengers, Lead the Stampedes, and Elvish Visionaries. It is quite fun and exciting to keep chaining to see how far you could go with chaining Elves. I have won multiple games on Turn 3 or 4 by Elfstorming into 10 more Elves and having floated 10 mana to activate Ezuri twice into 2 non-summoning sick Nettle Sentinels with 2 Archdruids on board for 20 damage right there. It is a critical mass combo deck with a ton of resiliency.
With Shamans, it gives Elves another angle of attack rather than just pure attacking. I am going to try to cram messengers into my shaman build simply because I enjoy Elfstorming and want the Card Advantage and Resiliency it brings.
I don't think I like non-permanent based sideboard cards. It isn't how I like to play the deck. I think that after thinking about it and thought through the implications of the black sideboard cards, I may stick with the white or green. The only black sideboard card I like is the charm. And I think Dromokas command does roughly the same thing anyway, now that I think about it. I generally either want to hold up mana for collected company or a dismember. It is the reason I don't like the twin match up is that we generally can't go balls to the wall elf storming because of twin.
What do you think about trying to bring sylvan messengers? Even if we have to trade to other pieces for it? It could also be another sideboard card to bring in with the Grindy matches if we can't find room in the main deck.
Any problems with this or my previous analysis on sideboard cards or match ups?
I think the problem with the lots of lord strategies is that they aren't bad. I have won a lot of games off of Archrduid beat downs, but they rarely do well against wipes due to the spot removal therefore enabling more wipes. It is why I replaced mine with Sylvan Messengers because getting more cards can just be better on the whole. They aren't bad though and I am glad to see they are being tested.
Do you use Sylvan Messengers as well? I would try them in addition to or instead of the Lords. Lead/Messenger is a great combination of card advantage. What is your list by the way?
Screeching SLiver could be replaced by more telekinetic, more dismember, or lead the stampedes just for grindier matchups which might not be a bad idea
I am having trouble taking out too much for the sideboard decisions in some matchups with this list. Against Twin, Grixis Twin, and Grixis, I am taking out way too much either gas or explosion to get things done. I need to trim my sideboard, not because of fear or power, but because I don't want to side in more then 6 cards against any matchup. I would add Thoughtseizes, but I could replace like Leads or Sylvans for the faster combo decks, but I don't know what I should remove for the sideboards.
I might be able to with the Golgari Charm's reduce the number of Spellskite in the board, but they are very good in certain matchups like Twin, Bogles, and Infect. Golgari Charm can be good against infect and bogles as well, but I ma not willing to trade spellskite for just a straight set of Golgari Charm. Although the are somewhat, but not entirely equivelent.
One of the primary purposes of Spellskite is to always be there, findable by Lead and Company and can be used in that fashion. I think this sideboard might be weaker on the whole to Twin. I could go 2 Thoughtseize and 2 Abrupt Decay, but I don't like that either.
My meta is full of Grixis, Jund, Grixis Twin, UR Twin, Merfolk, Abzan both little kid and traditional and other more aggro and occasional burn matchups. I alternate between 2 stores now due to my work schedule, but the other one is generally filled with interesting, but weaker decks.
I think the white sideboard cards are better, but I can see equivelents being used. Lets look at some commonly and obscure white sideboard cards to see what options we have.
1. Burrenton Forge-Tender/Mark of Asylum vs. Golgari Charm - Burrenton Forge-Tender is one of the most commonly played white sideboard card for its incrediably ability to prevent a red boardwipe and to stop an eidolon's activation costs. It is findable through Chord, Lead, and Company making it versitle and easy to play. It is generally played in matches that see red-based board wipes in games 2 and 3. Mark of Asylum functions in the same mold as BFT in that it prevents boardwipes and damage based removal. Why it isn't played as much as its not findable by our spells, 2 mana opposed to 1, and the best turn to play it tempos us. This is less bad against say grixis, but can be really bad against twin or other red combo decks like Scapeshift, Ad Nauseum, Blood Titan, and Goryo's Vengeance decks. Golgari Charm has 3 main moods only which 2 of them are relavant and 1 is highly situational. It has some pros and cons to it. Pros - it can protect all our creatures from all boardwipes that BFT/MoA can, but can also protect against Supreme Verdict. It can also help us chump block and come out better or at least unhurt while they are tapped it so a beter combat trick. 2. The second ability can permantely take care of an Eidolon, helps against Twin, Tokens, Bogles, Ad Nausuem. The serious double duty in some of these matchups make it a great play. Cons 1. It is 2 mana and one of which is black. This means we need a decent amount of black sources probably minimum is 7. Unlike Shaman of the Pack, we can't fake the black source with Cavern. 2. We have to hold up the mana. This can be relevant as we generally want to explode as far and as fast as possible. To get us to the best state we tap out our land mana on turn 2 to get that explosive turn in general. We can slow us down, but it can be problematic especially if we have a good explosive hand. 3. It is an instant and Dispel is a real card that is used against us because of Company/Chord. It not being a creature means we can't bluff or get it through with Cavern, nor find it through Company, Lead, Messenger, or Chord. 4. To make sure we have it, we would need to play it in multiples to get the full use out of it.
Verdiect - Golgari Charm is weaker, but more versitle due to its multiple modes. An acceptable substitue for the all-star. Note: if we play it in multiples we can reduce some of other Twin hate.
Rest in Peace - Relic of Progenitus/Scavenging Ooze/Leyline of the Void - Rest in Peace is the single best sideboard card against graveyard strategies. It is cheap with 1W. Due ot this, it doesn't require as many copies in the sideboard as the equivelant effect of Leyline of the Void which is 4 and double black which is generally too late for Graveyard strategies like Dredge, Goryo's, and sometimes even Abzan Company. Relic is the clear winner here as a secondary graveyard card. The 1 colorless mana, the exiling of graveyards, and the draw a card effect make it the premier choice. If graveyard decks become more powerful or more common, Leyline of the Void could be a more tempting choice of side cards. Scavenging Ooze is an interesting choice on the whole. It is findable by the majority of our Spells, is color friendly, gets bigger which is very relevant, gains life which can also be relavant. I think it comes with 2 major drawbacks which is why I favor other effects. 1. Its strength to be found is undermined that it can just as easily be removed, by most of the Graveyard heavy decks either through path or bolt. 2. We have to spend and uphold mana to use it against the combo decks which we might not have or want ot spend it getting creatures down. Rest in Peace/Leyline is play and forget. Relic is 1 mana of any persuasion to exile target players.
Verdict - Relic is best if you are going to run graveyard hate - it saves the more slots then Leyline, is versitle and replaces it self when you crack it. Note: If you are going all in on graveyard hate - Leyline of the Void is better, but run 3-4 of them.
Stony Silence/Kataki's War Wage - Fracturing Gust/Creeping Corrosion/Reclamation Sage - Stony Silence shuts down some of the key cards of Affinity, but it doesn't knock them out and they can still win through infect and/or etched champion or just straight up beats by vault skirge. IT also can Tempo GR Tron which can be extremely useful in the match up even if it is only 1-3 Turns. It is 1W which is useful to get it down on turn 2 with a second 1 mana elf. Kataki's War Wage is really only good against Affinity, but like BFT can be found by our Spells and also only for 2 mana. It is more of a devestating card than Stony Silence, but more vulnerable to Galvanic Blast. Creeping Corrosion/Fracturing Gust have the issue in that their mana costs are late. They are still very good against affinity, but their high costs could be insurmontable compared to the speed of affinity after a Whipflare (happened to me). Land this like Kataki and will probably be game over. They really no place against Tron, but Fracturing Gust does have relevance against Enchantment based decks like Bogles. Reclamation Sage is decent and tutorable by all the tutorable spells. Very good, but a limited affect. IT is good for spot removal or removing a key piece, but not a good hate card for the strategy. It also has a place against Burn due to Eidolon.
Verdict - Stony Silence shine here in versitility, but power in its low cost.
Thalia, Archangel of Tithes/Hushwing Griff/Athreos - These are primarily found in and are ok for dedicated Chord lists, but there are no equivelants in black for its hatebear effect
Common Non-Equivalavant Black Sideboard Cards - Discard Spells - Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Stain the Mind are all powerful and relevant effect that can help us Tempo Combo decks which is where we would only bring them. THey have value in removing necessary combo pieces that our opponents might have in either the combo piece itself or the engine to find it.
I think the only other Cards worth mentioning is Abrupt Decay. Abrupt Decay is a policeman card in the format. It is best against Twin, Jund, and possibly Grixis. I don't know if this surpasses Dismember. Although I had dismember remanded once and it cost me the game as it got me in range of snap caster beats.
White has the better hate cards, but the black cards provide a different avenue of attack to many of the cards available to us. It is choice. The White Sideboard seems to have more powerful effects and hate for those matchups where it is used, but lacks a more versitle game plan that the black cards can bring in attacking from a variety of angles and Golgari charm. Stony Silence into Tron is a unique avenue to attack them where Black sides in Discard and Golgari Charm.
I am interested in this. I am currently playing a version of Elves that favors Lead the Stampede over Chord. I am interested in Slivers as Tribal is my favorite type of deck and slivers like Elves ooze tribal flavor.
I am not sure of the specific build, but is there way to gain more card advantage? One of the things that I found with Elves was that there were many times in which I wanted 1 more card trying to dig for an answer. This was more prevelant when I did the GW Lead/Messenger builds.
I like the Defender Sliver, but there isn't a lot of ways to sacrifice him if I need to attack. Is there another way outside Coco that could get more slivers onto the field or into my hand? I think I am going to miss Horizon Canopy, Elvish Visionary, Collected Company, Lead the Stampede, and Sylvan Messenger. Maybe 1 or 2 Leads might be a good way to go on the whole in case of grindier matchups or to better find the correct slivers/spellskite in tim.
I would like Birchlore Rangers to be reprinted in modern. I don't think it would be too powerful or push Elves into the vaulted top tier, but it would make the deck a bit better by providing better off color mana. If Birchlore Rangers came back in though, Beck/Call might be the go to deck of choice rather then the GW/GB versions of Chord/Lead style company decks.
Beck/Call would be tested, but also I believe at least a couple would be in the other decks and more interesting tech could be gotten without a lot of painful land.
The other legacy elf deck cards that aren't in modern like Quiron Ranger or Wirewood Symbiote probably shouldn't be reprinted although Elves would absolutely use Wirewood Symbiote if it was reprinted. The value would be quite large.
Affinity is the more popular and has more high finishes than Elves. It is considered Tier 1 for many reasons and is the premier aggro deck of the format due to the many and vareity of its lines of play.
I am sorry about missing things. I would say add a Forest and 1 Gideon and 2 Ondu Cleric main board and you can replace the 2 Ondu Cleric in the side with Gideons or something else you may prefer like Abrupt Decay.
The purpose of Lead/Messenger versions of elves is such that you can recover from boardwipes and spot removal. We just outgrind those who have spot and boardwipes by keeping playing Elves and pinging them. We can dig for Ezuri/Archdruid through the Collected Company and Lead the Stampede. It can be tough against Grixis due to sheer amount of card advantage they play, but we can hang with them due to ours.
One of the ways we operate is to force them to have the combo/boardwipe etc. As long as you have the gas in hand, you can suffer a board wipe or two. I ended winning a match after having been pyroclasmed 3 times against Grixis Twin.
Our Burn matchup is better the longer it goes on. I wouldn't completley side out Sylvan Messengers vs. them as they can get over eidolon which is important. In complete variance, most of my burn opponents didn't get out Eidolon much or I had the timely rec sage to deal with it.
The essential answer is Mulligan until you feel comfortable playing out. Since the Deck runs the same and has plenty of card advantage, you can go lower if you don't feel comfortable or has a large amount of high casting stuff which can be detrimental since we are only running 18 lands. Keeping hands with only 1 mana dork and many cards with 3 or more casting costs will and can kill you if you don't draw the lands you need to cast them in a timely manner. It can happen more times that you expect to not be able to cast Collected Company or Sylvan Messenger, because they keep killing your dorks and you are stuck on 3 land. Hello, Grim Lavamancer or Grixis decks or pyroclasm/anger.
The reason I don't run Craterhoof is that it would be a dead card against alot of removal heavy decks and fast decks and burn. I find that I generally don't the large amount of mana to cast a Craterhoof, but I do have the mana to cast an Ezuri due to the way mana is generated off of Heritage Mana.
Summoners Pacts, I haven't run, because I don't have any and it seems better in a more Combo version of the deck then the Aggro/Combo of ours.
What decks did you lose to may tell and dictate your mulliganing strategy and other strategies in general.
I think 3 Leads/3 Messengers is better, but only once you get Cavern. I like 3 Messengers, because Lead can find them and has found them for me to keep going and going.
I will keep all explosive hands no matter the match up. If you have a slow hand, it is ok to mull down if you feel you need it. I have won against burn after mulling to 4. I am not saying aggressive mulliganing is the best way, but it is safer to go lower. You have the card advantage to come back from that. The flooding on 18 lands is probably variance at work.
I would say the most important extra lands are Cavern of Souls followed by Horizon Canopy. Playing against a blue deck and using cavern to play sylvan messenger is fantastic as well as your important pieces. Horizon Canopy can also help you recover from a bad start. That is the power of Elves. Great starts are golden, but bad starts aren't the end all and be all. Since you are running craterhoof behemoth, then Nykthos is probably a good pick up as well as an additional archdruid.
SB - Relic of Progenitus might be decent depending on your Meta. Choke might be decent depending on your meta. Chameleon Colossus might be good depending on your meta.
Game 1 - If you are playing the Lead/Messenger version, the idea game one is to force them to have it. Game 1 isn't the game where you can get cute or fancy. Game 1 is where you let them have it as fast and as hard as possible.
Game 2/3 - Is where actual decsions come into play about holding mana and more mulliganing choices etc.
Elves is really fun to play. I like to play creatures and turn them sideways. No deck plays as many creatures as Elf decks do. Each elf you cast especially in the early game facilitates more Elves being cast. I have played the Lead/Messenger version of Elves essentially GW. It is amazing how often I can have a bad draw or mulligan turn into golden ticket win through sheer power of Lead/Messenger/Company and the humongous mana that can be generated off an Heritage druid, Archdruid, or Nytkhos. We can dump our hand on turn 2 as well as with the right cards see even more of the deck thanks to visionary/lead/messenger/company. We are also resilient to boardwipes especially the Lead/Messenger versions. Chord versions kill faster then Lead/Messenger and generally has better hate then Lead/Messenger versions. Lead/Messengers trade Speed/Hate for Resilience, Elfstorming, and simplicity. The simplicity straightforward nature of the Lead/Messenger versions is underrated by a lot of players. You generally don't hold up mana or elfs and you go all in on the game plan of elf storming. The only deck you generally can't do this is against Twin if you have a Collected Company or a Dismember in hand or other anti-twin instants.
Elfstorming is when Combined with Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel/Dwynen's Elite and other great mana generators, you can keep chaining Elfs together. On Turn's 2-4 I must have cast multiple Sylvan Messengers, Lead the Stampedes, and Elvish Visionaries. It is quite fun and exciting to keep chaining to see how far you could go with chaining Elves. I have won multiple games on Turn 3 or 4 by Elfstorming into 10 more Elves and having floated 10 mana to activate Ezuri twice into 2 non-summoning sick Nettle Sentinels with 2 Archdruids on board for 20 damage right there. It is a critical mass combo deck with a ton of resiliency.
With Shamans, it gives Elves another angle of attack rather than just pure attacking. I am going to try to cram messengers into my shaman build simply because I enjoy Elfstorming and want the Card Advantage and Resiliency it brings.
I don't think I like non-permanent based sideboard cards. It isn't how I like to play the deck. I think that after thinking about it and thought through the implications of the black sideboard cards, I may stick with the white or green. The only black sideboard card I like is the charm. And I think Dromokas command does roughly the same thing anyway, now that I think about it. I generally either want to hold up mana for collected company or a dismember. It is the reason I don't like the twin match up is that we generally can't go balls to the wall elf storming because of twin.
What do you think about trying to bring sylvan messengers? Even if we have to trade to other pieces for it? It could also be another sideboard card to bring in with the Grindy matches if we can't find room in the main deck.
Any problems with this or my previous analysis on sideboard cards or match ups?
Do you use Sylvan Messengers as well? I would try them in addition to or instead of the Lords. Lead/Messenger is a great combination of card advantage. What is your list by the way?
4 Sliver Hive
4 Mutavault
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
Creatues
4 Galerider Sliver
4 Manaweft Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Sedge Sliver
3 Diffusion Sliver
2 Blur Sliver
2 Spellskite
2 Necrotic Slier
2 Sentinel Sliver
1 Syphon Sliver
4 Aether Vial
4 Collected Company
3 Harmonic Sliver
2 Spellskite
2 Syphon Sliver
1 Sliver Hivelord
1 Telekinetic Sliver
1 Darkheart Sliver
2 Frenetic Sliver
1 Dismember
2 Screeching Sliver
Screeching SLiver could be replaced by more telekinetic, more dismember, or lead the stampedes just for grindier matchups which might not be a bad idea
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Horizon Canopy
3 Llanowar Wastes
1 Nykthos Shrine to Nyx
1 Pendelhaven
2 Forest
Creatures
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3 Shaman of the Pack
2 Sylvan Messenger
4 Collected Company
3 Lead the Stampede
4 Spellskite
3 Golgari Charm
1 Dismember
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Reclamation Sage
3 Essence Warden
I am having trouble taking out too much for the sideboard decisions in some matchups with this list. Against Twin, Grixis Twin, and Grixis, I am taking out way too much either gas or explosion to get things done. I need to trim my sideboard, not because of fear or power, but because I don't want to side in more then 6 cards against any matchup. I would add Thoughtseizes, but I could replace like Leads or Sylvans for the faster combo decks, but I don't know what I should remove for the sideboards.
I might be able to with the Golgari Charm's reduce the number of Spellskite in the board, but they are very good in certain matchups like Twin, Bogles, and Infect. Golgari Charm can be good against infect and bogles as well, but I ma not willing to trade spellskite for just a straight set of Golgari Charm. Although the are somewhat, but not entirely equivelent.
Perhaps if I did that
3 Thoughtseize
2 Chameleon Colossus
1 Dismember
2 Reclamation Sage
3 Essence Warden
One of the primary purposes of Spellskite is to always be there, findable by Lead and Company and can be used in that fashion. I think this sideboard might be weaker on the whole to Twin. I could go 2 Thoughtseize and 2 Abrupt Decay, but I don't like that either.
My meta is full of Grixis, Jund, Grixis Twin, UR Twin, Merfolk, Abzan both little kid and traditional and other more aggro and occasional burn matchups. I alternate between 2 stores now due to my work schedule, but the other one is generally filled with interesting, but weaker decks.
1. Burrenton Forge-Tender/Mark of Asylum vs. Golgari Charm - Burrenton Forge-Tender is one of the most commonly played white sideboard card for its incrediably ability to prevent a red boardwipe and to stop an eidolon's activation costs. It is findable through Chord, Lead, and Company making it versitle and easy to play. It is generally played in matches that see red-based board wipes in games 2 and 3. Mark of Asylum functions in the same mold as BFT in that it prevents boardwipes and damage based removal. Why it isn't played as much as its not findable by our spells, 2 mana opposed to 1, and the best turn to play it tempos us. This is less bad against say grixis, but can be really bad against twin or other red combo decks like Scapeshift, Ad Nauseum, Blood Titan, and Goryo's Vengeance decks. Golgari Charm has 3 main moods only which 2 of them are relavant and 1 is highly situational. It has some pros and cons to it. Pros - it can protect all our creatures from all boardwipes that BFT/MoA can, but can also protect against Supreme Verdict. It can also help us chump block and come out better or at least unhurt while they are tapped it so a beter combat trick. 2. The second ability can permantely take care of an Eidolon, helps against Twin, Tokens, Bogles, Ad Nausuem. The serious double duty in some of these matchups make it a great play. Cons 1. It is 2 mana and one of which is black. This means we need a decent amount of black sources probably minimum is 7. Unlike Shaman of the Pack, we can't fake the black source with Cavern. 2. We have to hold up the mana. This can be relevant as we generally want to explode as far and as fast as possible. To get us to the best state we tap out our land mana on turn 2 to get that explosive turn in general. We can slow us down, but it can be problematic especially if we have a good explosive hand. 3. It is an instant and Dispel is a real card that is used against us because of Company/Chord. It not being a creature means we can't bluff or get it through with Cavern, nor find it through Company, Lead, Messenger, or Chord. 4. To make sure we have it, we would need to play it in multiples to get the full use out of it.
Verdiect - Golgari Charm is weaker, but more versitle due to its multiple modes. An acceptable substitue for the all-star. Note: if we play it in multiples we can reduce some of other Twin hate.
Rest in Peace - Relic of Progenitus/Scavenging Ooze/Leyline of the Void - Rest in Peace is the single best sideboard card against graveyard strategies. It is cheap with 1W. Due ot this, it doesn't require as many copies in the sideboard as the equivelant effect of Leyline of the Void which is 4 and double black which is generally too late for Graveyard strategies like Dredge, Goryo's, and sometimes even Abzan Company. Relic is the clear winner here as a secondary graveyard card. The 1 colorless mana, the exiling of graveyards, and the draw a card effect make it the premier choice. If graveyard decks become more powerful or more common, Leyline of the Void could be a more tempting choice of side cards. Scavenging Ooze is an interesting choice on the whole. It is findable by the majority of our Spells, is color friendly, gets bigger which is very relevant, gains life which can also be relavant. I think it comes with 2 major drawbacks which is why I favor other effects. 1. Its strength to be found is undermined that it can just as easily be removed, by most of the Graveyard heavy decks either through path or bolt. 2. We have to spend and uphold mana to use it against the combo decks which we might not have or want ot spend it getting creatures down. Rest in Peace/Leyline is play and forget. Relic is 1 mana of any persuasion to exile target players.
Verdict - Relic is best if you are going to run graveyard hate - it saves the more slots then Leyline, is versitle and replaces it self when you crack it. Note: If you are going all in on graveyard hate - Leyline of the Void is better, but run 3-4 of them.
Stony Silence/Kataki's War Wage - Fracturing Gust/Creeping Corrosion/Reclamation Sage - Stony Silence shuts down some of the key cards of Affinity, but it doesn't knock them out and they can still win through infect and/or etched champion or just straight up beats by vault skirge. IT also can Tempo GR Tron which can be extremely useful in the match up even if it is only 1-3 Turns. It is 1W which is useful to get it down on turn 2 with a second 1 mana elf. Kataki's War Wage is really only good against Affinity, but like BFT can be found by our Spells and also only for 2 mana. It is more of a devestating card than Stony Silence, but more vulnerable to Galvanic Blast. Creeping Corrosion/Fracturing Gust have the issue in that their mana costs are late. They are still very good against affinity, but their high costs could be insurmontable compared to the speed of affinity after a Whipflare (happened to me). Land this like Kataki and will probably be game over. They really no place against Tron, but Fracturing Gust does have relevance against Enchantment based decks like Bogles. Reclamation Sage is decent and tutorable by all the tutorable spells. Very good, but a limited affect. IT is good for spot removal or removing a key piece, but not a good hate card for the strategy. It also has a place against Burn due to Eidolon.
Verdict - Stony Silence shine here in versitility, but power in its low cost.
Thalia, Archangel of Tithes/Hushwing Griff/Athreos - These are primarily found in and are ok for dedicated Chord lists, but there are no equivelants in black for its hatebear effect
Common Non-Equivalavant Black Sideboard Cards - Discard Spells - Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Stain the Mind are all powerful and relevant effect that can help us Tempo Combo decks which is where we would only bring them. THey have value in removing necessary combo pieces that our opponents might have in either the combo piece itself or the engine to find it.
I think the only other Cards worth mentioning is Abrupt Decay. Abrupt Decay is a policeman card in the format. It is best against Twin, Jund, and possibly Grixis. I don't know if this surpasses Dismember. Although I had dismember remanded once and it cost me the game as it got me in range of snap caster beats.
White has the better hate cards, but the black cards provide a different avenue of attack to many of the cards available to us. It is choice. The White Sideboard seems to have more powerful effects and hate for those matchups where it is used, but lacks a more versitle game plan that the black cards can bring in attacking from a variety of angles and Golgari charm. Stony Silence into Tron is a unique avenue to attack them where Black sides in Discard and Golgari Charm.
I am not sure of the specific build, but is there way to gain more card advantage? One of the things that I found with Elves was that there were many times in which I wanted 1 more card trying to dig for an answer. This was more prevelant when I did the GW Lead/Messenger builds.
I like the Defender Sliver, but there isn't a lot of ways to sacrifice him if I need to attack. Is there another way outside Coco that could get more slivers onto the field or into my hand? I think I am going to miss Horizon Canopy, Elvish Visionary, Collected Company, Lead the Stampede, and Sylvan Messenger. Maybe 1 or 2 Leads might be a good way to go on the whole in case of grindier matchups or to better find the correct slivers/spellskite in tim.
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Sliver Hive
4 Mutavault
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Water Grave
1 Forest
1 Windswept Heath
Creatures
4 Galerider Sliver
4 Manaweft Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Sedge Sliver
2 Blur Sliver
2 Sentinel Sliver
2 Spellskite
2 Frenatic Sliver
4 Aether Vial
4 Collected Company
2 Lead the Stampede
3 Harmonic Sliver
2 Spellskite
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Ghostflame Sliver
2 Syphon Sliver
1 Darkheart Sliver
1 Sliver Hivelord
1 Telekinetic Sliver
1 Screeching Sliver
1 Homing Sliver
Beck/Call would be tested, but also I believe at least a couple would be in the other decks and more interesting tech could be gotten without a lot of painful land.
The other legacy elf deck cards that aren't in modern like Quiron Ranger or Wirewood Symbiote probably shouldn't be reprinted although Elves would absolutely use Wirewood Symbiote if it was reprinted. The value would be quite large.