I personally have no interest in Chord of Calling in the GB build of elves, we plan to put as many elves as possible on the battlefield so that we can optimize the damage output of Shaman of the Pack. I feel like it goes better in GW or abzan builds where we want to tutor options for each scenario, but hey, all that is an opinion of mine, not a fact.
As for dealing with tron, the best strategy is to attack their mana base, so having a tutorable land destruction creature with Fulminator Mage that can also be put down with Collected Company looks like something worth trying. The BB mana cost is a bit harsh, but I think we can deal with it. Worst case scenario, you just name elemental with Cavern of souls (HA! Try to counter that now!).
In my B/W token deck (Another deck that really really hates tron), I usually go for the Ghost Quarter + Surgical Extraction combo to break the cycle of urza lands, but elves don't play a lot of lands and therefore don't have a lot of space for Ghost Quarter, not to mention we need that turn 1 green mana.
The way I really like to deal with Tron and also other three color greedy mana base decks is Root Maze . It sets them back a ton of turns and you drop it turn one and can save chord for ezuri or something else to finish them off. If they are digging with stars and map it can take them a couple extra turns to get there. Just a thought. It slows down fetchlands severly. I play three in my board as there is a ton for tron in my meta that im preparing for. I just picked up Elves! a week ago.
I have been playing this deck for almost a year. This deck has game against anything an I have had a lot of success with it at my LGS. I'm going to bring it to regionals this weekend. I'm playing Wurmcoil Engine because of blessed alliance. I expect to see it in some more lists in the future. Stormbreath Dragon is the 2nd best card in the deck behind Blood Moon. It closes games faster than Geist of Saint Traft. Huntmaster of the Fells has been very good at stalling the game in a land flood to find bigger threats. All around it has been very good and being able to stock up on small spells to keep flipping it to break board stalls or just kill my opponent has been critical for my win rate. I haven't had a hard time getting the mana to deploy white spells from Utopia Sprawl, Birds or Paradise or fetching and it solves a lot of problems for the deck with the white splash. I have really been trying to decide on weather or not to run Worship in the board, because answering Thrun, The Last Troll is nearly impossible outside or Wrath of God or Languish.
I played a lot of Inferno Titan in Ponza and while it's an amazing card, I think Wurmcoil has been much better with through the breach. The lifelink has saved me a few games where titan just probably wouldn't have finished the job. Wurmcoil is great against blood moon decks and everything except path which this deck loves some path to exile.
I've never heard of or tried Woodfall Primus. That is a sweet card.
I picked this deck back up after a few month layoff when I went back to playing Naya Ponza fora bit. I have gone 14-1 mostly online, but I also went 3-1 in a Monday modern at my LGS only losing to Skred Red. I could have won that match up, but I hadn't played it in a while.
I have been playing Windswept Heath over Bloodstained Mire to help get a basic Forest against Blood Moon decks. There have been a lot of them around the past few months. You really only need one forest to get the ball rolling G1.
Oracle of Mul Daya is a house, especially against grindy decks. It can help get the lands needed to hard cast Titan or Wurmcoil or it can end the game by it's self with a few fetchlands or other land seeking cards.
Wurmcoil Engine is fantastic and is great when your opponent goes to attacks and you breach it to block and then attack on your next turn. 12 life plus two 3/3s left over can be game ending.
Beast Within I havent had a chance to test this as much, but I was playing two Scapeshift in this slot and found it to be underwhelming. With Valakut I figure giving my opponent a 3/3 to kill any permanent isn't much of a draw back. Also being able to hit one of your permanents at opponents end step can end up winning the game more often than not if your opponent brought in life gain.
Engineered Explosives in the main over Anger of the Gods has been good, but is meta dependent. I have the Sacred Foundry in the deck because EE on 3 is very good in Modern against the likes of Geist of Saint Traft, Ensnaring Bridge, etc.. I'm Still not sure it's the best in the main or the board, but I like the Utility in combination with Beast Within.
Grim Lavamancer has saved my butt on many occasions and has given me that extra two damage over an Anger of this Gods or Bolt to kill the likes of Baneslayer Angel or big Goyfs. Also a good chump blocker early if you need it and can control a board until the heavy hitters come in. This deck also like to fill up the yard fetching for lands. I average about 6-7 cards in the yard per game.
The board is still up in the air. I'm second guessing the Nature's Claim, Scooze and Melira. I like Scooze because it can be good against Burn, Dredge, BG/x. I want to keep my board oriented towards, Burn, Infect and Affinity since the deck has the best late game in Modern and if will outgrind just about anything.
I'd like to know your thoughts if you have tried some of these card choices. The only thing I wouldn't change about this list is the Lavamancer and the two Oracle. They are the two best cards outside of stock lists for me.
Has anyone used Cavalry Pegasus for breaking up board stalemates? Seems pretty good especially with the build mentioned in the article above. I'm new to legacy, but I have been testing this deck this week and have been getting romped on. Mostly by play errors. It seems like shardless BUG is the only deck I am getting to test against.
Hey Microjfox I've considered adding that to my list but the only problem is Emperion doesn't have any kind of evasion and it's fairly open to enemy hate.
It may be worth testing in a shell without borderposts, but personally I see the borderposts as one of the best parts of the deck because they mess with enemy lands. I'm not sure a version playing 0 borderposts would be able to affect enemy lands as much. Granted I haven't tested this out but that's just my theory.
Actually, what I've been looking into is a Kitchen Finks/Eldritch Evolution type thing. I'm sure there's a TON of good 5-6 CMC creatures that could port into this deck well. The trick is finding out which one.
and the list goes on..
Might be something I look into more seriously later on. Right now I'm still testing Metalwork Colossus and while it is a huge beater I'm actually not super fond of it. It doesn't really do anything other than be a big beefy creature. At least Gargadon is part of the Balance package.
I tested a Mad Cap version this morning and it went very well against a splendid reclamation and a kiki evolution deck.I lost my match to fish, but only barely. The deck performed really well. Being able to balance and then cast a madcap with a bunch of already suspended creatures was good. With a gargodon out it is an absurd finisher. I'll let you know how it goes as I test against some more top tier decks.
Edit: I should have beat fish, but I made some grave play errors.
Has anyone here thought about using the mad cap imperion combo in cubit's list since it doesn't run artifacts. It seems like a turn 3 or 4 imperion could really save your life against a lot of decks.
so lightning storm isn't combat damage? I guess what I am getting at is if someone goes to bolt me and I play fog in response I was under the impression that fog would negate that damage from bolt, so that not is not a correct assumption? It only prevents damage done on the combat damage attack step?
Also then as Ad Naus hate would we chalice on 3?
I would go either chalice on zero if they have a lotus bloom suspended or chalice on one to stop angels grace. I use beast within to either keep the off of mana or to blow up phyrexian unlife when they go off. Outside of that you just have to combo faster. The deck slows down a lot in G2 G3 in my experience.
Quick question would a Fog after the AD Naus player casts Ad Naus prevent damage from their storm that turn and throw off the Ad Naus player enough to win the match?
Fog Only prevents combat damage. It will not prevent Lightning Storm or Conflagrate from killing you. It could buy you a turn against Empty the Warrens, but it's not a good card for the match up, unless there is something I am missing here.
Beast Within is an absolutely absurd card in it's utility with a draw back that really doesn't hurt us as we can just drop a mountain and kill the beast in a lot of cases. it is a little slow at 3 CMC, but it hits lands, enchantment, artifacts, fatties, all of it. After Playing RG Ponza to much success for three months I can tell you that it was the card that I always like having in my opening seven in game one because of it's utility. It is not as fast as lightning bolt, but the board i feel deals with those problem matchups where Bolt is much better. Not to mention what it can do as a combat trick out of nowhere for blockers. It will almost always buy you that one turn that you need to close it out.
Oracle of Mul Daya have been so good in aggro matchups I really couldn't even believe it. Of course the obvious draw back is that it dies to bolt. When you play oracle you can hold priority and just getting that extra land is huge and you can even just dump your hand if you are flooded. Late game it becomes more powerful that titan. With all of the search mechanics in the tech you can get a land on top and continue to put damage on the board. I won a game the other day where i had the opponent at 9 life and had only one valakut in play. I had a pact in hand and a search for tomorrow as well. I was able to manipulate the top deck with the search functions to put another valakut off the top and on the board and I used pact for tribe elder to search mountain for the kill. It can really get out of hand and can even draw a path that usually leads to six damage. If not dealt with it will find the answers you need and gives you a way to get through the deck fast and also gives you a lot more late game lines of play.
I have been having a blast playing this deck and I can't wait to see where is goes next.
Thank you for the kind words, I am definitely am going to use both of the buddy lands for some shock lands. I think it's a very good idea. One other small thing about wheel of sun and moon is if you run in to a rogue mill deck you can just target yourself with it and laugh all the way to the victory bank.
unsubstantiate looks really good in a fast build. I may even put one in the board for vial decks, abrupt decay, thrun, verdict etc. It is really spicy.
I'll keep you updated after I play another five matches and I'll try to take some notes this time.
I have, this deck already had 7 main deck counter spells that play faster in the early game. Quelled is a good card, but it feels like and iteration card that is best with support like Company or Mausoleum Wanderer where it's tribal ability is more powerful. Clicque is better because you get the added bonus of seeing their hand. Just my opinion.
The way I really like to deal with Tron and also other three color greedy mana base decks is Root Maze . It sets them back a ton of turns and you drop it turn one and can save chord for ezuri or something else to finish them off. If they are digging with stars and map it can take them a couple extra turns to get there. Just a thought. It slows down fetchlands severly. I play three in my board as there is a ton for tron in my meta that im preparing for. I just picked up Elves! a week ago.
6 Forest
1 Plains
2 Temple Garden
4 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
CREATURE
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Huntmaster of the Fells
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Beast Within
4 Blood Moon
3 Bonfire of the Damned
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
4 Stone Rain
4 Utopia Sprawl
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Beast Within
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Stony Silence
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Ancient Grudge
I've never heard of or tried Woodfall Primus. That is a sweet card.
2 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
6 Mountain
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
Creatures
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Beast Within
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Farseek
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Search for Tomorrow
2 Summoner's Pact
4 Through the Breach
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Chalice of the void
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Nature's Claim
1 Obstinate Baloth
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 SpellSkite
I have been playing Windswept Heath over Bloodstained Mire to help get a basic Forest against Blood Moon decks. There have been a lot of them around the past few months. You really only need one forest to get the ball rolling G1.
Oracle of Mul Daya is a house, especially against grindy decks. It can help get the lands needed to hard cast Titan or Wurmcoil or it can end the game by it's self with a few fetchlands or other land seeking cards.
Wurmcoil Engine is fantastic and is great when your opponent goes to attacks and you breach it to block and then attack on your next turn. 12 life plus two 3/3s left over can be game ending.
Beast Within I havent had a chance to test this as much, but I was playing two Scapeshift in this slot and found it to be underwhelming. With Valakut I figure giving my opponent a 3/3 to kill any permanent isn't much of a draw back. Also being able to hit one of your permanents at opponents end step can end up winning the game more often than not if your opponent brought in life gain.
Engineered Explosives in the main over Anger of the Gods has been good, but is meta dependent. I have the Sacred Foundry in the deck because EE on 3 is very good in Modern against the likes of Geist of Saint Traft, Ensnaring Bridge, etc.. I'm Still not sure it's the best in the main or the board, but I like the Utility in combination with Beast Within.
Grim Lavamancer has saved my butt on many occasions and has given me that extra two damage over an Anger of this Gods or Bolt to kill the likes of Baneslayer Angel or big Goyfs. Also a good chump blocker early if you need it and can control a board until the heavy hitters come in. This deck also like to fill up the yard fetching for lands. I average about 6-7 cards in the yard per game.
The board is still up in the air. I'm second guessing the Nature's Claim, Scooze and Melira. I like Scooze because it can be good against Burn, Dredge, BG/x. I want to keep my board oriented towards, Burn, Infect and Affinity since the deck has the best late game in Modern and if will outgrind just about anything.
I'd like to know your thoughts if you have tried some of these card choices. The only thing I wouldn't change about this list is the Lavamancer and the two Oracle. They are the two best cards outside of stock lists for me.
I tested a Mad Cap version this morning and it went very well against a splendid reclamation and a kiki evolution deck.I lost my match to fish, but only barely. The deck performed really well. Being able to balance and then cast a madcap with a bunch of already suspended creatures was good. With a gargodon out it is an absurd finisher. I'll let you know how it goes as I test against some more top tier decks.
Edit: I should have beat fish, but I made some grave play errors.
platinum Imperion
I would go either chalice on zero if they have a lotus bloom suspended or chalice on one to stop angels grace. I use beast within to either keep the off of mana or to blow up phyrexian unlife when they go off. Outside of that you just have to combo faster. The deck slows down a lot in G2 G3 in my experience.
Fog Only prevents combat damage. It will not prevent Lightning Storm or Conflagrate from killing you. It could buy you a turn against Empty the Warrens, but it's not a good card for the match up, unless there is something I am missing here.
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
6 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle
4 Wooded Foothills
CREATURES
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Beast Within
3 Farseek
4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Summoner's Pact
4 Through the Breach
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Crumble to Dust
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Fog
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sudden Shock
So, the two biggest changes from most lists are of course Oracle of Mul Daya and Beast Within.
Beast Within is an absolutely absurd card in it's utility with a draw back that really doesn't hurt us as we can just drop a mountain and kill the beast in a lot of cases. it is a little slow at 3 CMC, but it hits lands, enchantment, artifacts, fatties, all of it. After Playing RG Ponza to much success for three months I can tell you that it was the card that I always like having in my opening seven in game one because of it's utility. It is not as fast as lightning bolt, but the board i feel deals with those problem matchups where Bolt is much better. Not to mention what it can do as a combat trick out of nowhere for blockers. It will almost always buy you that one turn that you need to close it out.
Oracle of Mul Daya have been so good in aggro matchups I really couldn't even believe it. Of course the obvious draw back is that it dies to bolt. When you play oracle you can hold priority and just getting that extra land is huge and you can even just dump your hand if you are flooded. Late game it becomes more powerful that titan. With all of the search mechanics in the tech you can get a land on top and continue to put damage on the board. I won a game the other day where i had the opponent at 9 life and had only one valakut in play. I had a pact in hand and a search for tomorrow as well. I was able to manipulate the top deck with the search functions to put another valakut off the top and on the board and I used pact for tribe elder to search mountain for the kill. It can really get out of hand and can even draw a path that usually leads to six damage. If not dealt with it will find the answers you need and gives you a way to get through the deck fast and also gives you a lot more late game lines of play.
I have been having a blast playing this deck and I can't wait to see where is goes next.
Thank you for the kind words, I am definitely am going to use both of the buddy lands for some shock lands. I think it's a very good idea. One other small thing about wheel of sun and moon is if you run in to a rogue mill deck you can just target yourself with it and laugh all the way to the victory bank.
unsubstantiate looks really good in a fast build. I may even put one in the board for vial decks, abrupt decay, thrun, verdict etc. It is really spicy.
I'll keep you updated after I play another five matches and I'll try to take some notes this time.
I have, this deck already had 7 main deck counter spells that play faster in the early game. Quelled is a good card, but it feels like and iteration card that is best with support like Company or Mausoleum Wanderer where it's tribal ability is more powerful. Clicque is better because you get the added bonus of seeing their hand. Just my opinion.