Remember that with Fauna Shaman you typically go for the mid/lategame which means that stunting your land development is a bad idea all things considered (since having forests in play is what keeps you in the game post-sweeper). Don't get me wrong, Quirion is still a powerful card only you don't want to use it repeatedly for such a minor incremental advantage as Shaman activations.
Also, don't be afraid to use GSZ for mana development. The Llanowars are the weakest cards in the deck past turn 1, but having access to 3 mana turn 2 (or at the very least bait removal if the opponent's smart) is vital. Unless your hand already contains 3+ lands or is completely devoid of other business spells other than GSZ you should always get the Arbor.
@Blind: Sylvan Library? It's not like you're long for life anyway once they cast Entreat, and it makes it easier to sandbag creatures pre-sweeper. Losing Venegevine as a way to put safe pressure on versus mass removal sure blows, but whatcha gonna do.
Last edited by Infinitium; 07-14-2012 at 07:45 AM.
So I've been bouncing in and between decks lately as I'm trying to build a budget deck that doesn't really have to sacrifice too much to get it's power. I see the G/w Elf lists from Chris Andersen are pretty much ripping it up (seriously check the top 30 of SCG's, Elves is just all over. And no one talks about this deck).
So I was thinking of running NO-Elves!. I already have the NO's, and I could just sell my 2 extra fetchlands to buy the remaining pieces instead of buying 5 more fetchlands and 2 Savannahs.
This is what I've been testing;
13 Forest
3 Gaea's Cradle
1 Pendelhaven
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Fyndhorn Elves
2 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Natural Order
2 Summoner's Pact
1 Crop Rotation
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Progenitus
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Zealot
SB;
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Faerie Macabre
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Krosan Grip
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Mortarpod
What do you guys think?
Edit: Running 3 Jitte, instead of 1 Jitte 2 Choke/City of Solitude. They are so damn grindy.
Last edited by Kanti; 07-17-2012 at 06:15 PM.
Don't you think that 6 Llanowar elves are too much?? I'd level up to a set of rangers in exchange for 2 fybdhorn.
Why dont you like pure combo version?? Glimpe is so unhealthy with proggy...
I think that without Priests or Archdruids that 2 Quirons is just enough.
NO-Prog is kinda my Glimpse 5-8. Basically 8 "I win". This deck used to be talked about a lot (check the first couple pages of the thread) but after Mental Misstep got banned NO lost it's flavor of the month.
I think this deck is probably worse than the G/w variant, but who knows. I wanna fix the sb more than anything, as I feel that the md is solid.
Ok, but if i'd ran proggy + glimpe, i'd add a seocnd proggy or Terastodon though.
You may want Fauna Shaman MD to avoid Proggy getting stranded in hand. Sideboard looks Ok. City of Solitude could feasibly become Choke or Sylvan Library since either are better in general versus slower blue decks (you can overload their counters anyway, the real problem lies with the sweepers).
Consider running a singleton Emrakul SB - it might be a mallet, but it's still a useful toolbox card in that it beats all damage prevention not named Peacekeeper and is situationally very useful versus mill (mainly Painter's Servant) as well as S&T.
Mindbreak Trap is probably a lost cause since mulling into one piece of protection isn't going to save you versus storm combo. I like Essence Warden as the crapshot card of choice versus fast combo as it hoses EtW, can still buy you a turn versus shorter spell chains and is also good versus decks with burn in general.
What's the Jitte for? Tribal? You could try Masticore x2 in that and the Mortarpod slots instead for those matchups - dodges Perish and doesn't afraid of much anything else they might board in, and it has good synergy with the deck in general.
No way ; (.
There would be absolutely no benefit to running more than 1 Progenitus. If I draw into Progenitus I will just NO-Regal. Terastodon might be okay (And I'm only thinking it would be so in situations where you are racing Delvers and Progenitus might just not get there. I still don't think it would help too much).
I've really just been trying to find a mono-g card similiar to Absolute Law and can come up with nothing (Steely Resolve fucking sucks). I've been testing with 3 Jittes as in place of the City of Solitudes. They are probably just as strong vs Delver or Snapcaster decks while providing huge benefits in the Zoo match-ups.
I tested Choke and HATED it, which is weird since I remember loving it. Every time I ran it out my opponent either countered it, or just let it resolve, kept making land-drops, and dealt with it later. At the very least a City of Solitude would require to be dealth with immediately.
Though the Traps might be a lost cause I don't see much that is better in their place.
Jitte is for Zoo, Tribal, and RUG. I can imagine an online Jitte vs RUG would cause giant headaches, espcially if a Symbiote is out. I'm thinking about just running like 2-3 Caller of the Claws though. Even though I have no way of tutoring them they probably still rock against sweepers, and I can set up chump blocks to get some 2/2's, untap, attack and win.
Kind of off-topic, but woudn't a singleton Xantid Swarm rock in GSZ Elves?
Steely Resolve stops Symbiote tricks. It's terrible.
Pendelhaven is good, it never really hurt, and I used it to block some Goblin Guides in a match versus UR Delver. And I was thinking about Shusher. It's probably better.
The G/w version just seems loads better. Qasali is like needed to deal with Plague (I ran into Plague with my list and cried). Sweepers also take craps on Progenitus so...
Teeg seems especially saucy vs UW Miracle. Like seriously, if you resolve Teeg you are taking out Terminus, Jace, and Entreat the Angels. That is HUGE. I am really falling in love with Elves though through my testing and am thinking of just shelling out some cash for the G/w version. I'd really just need to buy the Savannah's and GSZ's, which doesn't seem so bad.
Running NO-Prog in the sb looks nice though. It freaking rapes Delver decks (don't know if the G/w does that already though)
Aha, did not realize that. I retract my statements. Pretty sweet.
edit: Has anyone checked out Elderscale Wurm?
Platinum Angel in green? It can be Natural Ordered. Oh my god.
Last edited by Kanti; 07-18-2012 at 12:20 AM.
I've won games and tipped board states because of Pendelhaven. It's worth it to me. If they blow a Wasteland on it, that's one less for them to aim at your GCradle.
And don't try to get too cute with the Natural Order targets. You are trying to win games after all. And NoProg isn't even that hot these days.
I've been loving playing Elves again so far. It is badass playing such a classic aggro-deck with a killer combo kill. I let go of the mono-g build and have been using Chrandersens G/w build, though slightly modified.
3 Birchlore Rangers
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Mirror Entity
4 Nettle Sentinel
2 Priest of Titania
1 Harmonic Sliver
2 Quirion Ranger
1 Regal Force
4 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Summoner's Pact
1 Crop Rotation
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Forest
2 Savannah
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Gaea's Cradle
1 Pendelhaven
4 Mindbreak Trap or 2 Faerie Macabre + 2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Choke
1 Absolute Law
1 Enlightened Tutor
2 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Path to Exile
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
I'm running Pacts over the Chords as I feel like they have been extremely helpful not most mid-combo but in enabling myself to go off. I've done mini-Glimpse many times enabled off of Pacts for Nettle/Birchlore/Heritage/X and been able to pay the upkeep cost easy. Having a Priest or Cradle in play lets you breeze by it, and if not you are just tapping a bunch of Elves which though bad, Wirewood Symbiote can mitigate the Timewalk effect of that. They are also really nice to have in g2/g3 vs decks where you want to have speed.
As for Harmonic Sliver vs Qasali Pridemage I figured they both function the same really (Qasali doesn't add too many beats) but Harmonic Sliver could be used to beat Enchantress decks as you use Mirror Entity to make it an elf and bounce it back to your hand with Symbiote, and proceed to machine gun down all enchantments in sight. Sweet deal.
I swapped GY combo hate for some storm hate because I figured Macabre isn't going to do shit vs Dredge, and Reanimator isn't as popular than all storm decks put together (ANT, TES, Doomsday, Belcher High Tide, and some other random ones that never see play but what the hell). And even if it was they run crazy shit like SnT out of the side to get around gy hate At least I can try to GSZ's or Pact into a Teeg vs storm while having x4 Mindbreak Traps in my deck. Edit: You could run a pair of Crypts with Enlightened Tutor. I'd say they get the favor over Relics as they dodge Daze/Pierce better.
Now, the interesting part. I took a page out of Zoo's maindecks for my sideboard and am testing the Stoneforge package right now in my sb. It seemed the most lucrative as it only takes up 4 slots, as opposed to NO-Progs 5 or BA/VV 7-8 slots. Like Vengevine this package helps vs sweepers as Stoneforge fetches crazy fat enchantments that have to be dealth with, and is pretty much the best creature in the deck you can cast after Perish. It's also easy as hell to hardcast naturally drawn Batterskulls with this deck, so getting Stoneforge removed isn't really that bad at all. The package is really just still in testing, but I have been liking it so far.
My only complaints would be having 2 Chokes kind of sucks sometimes (3 would be nice but I can't find room. Somebody help). <------- FIXED!
Edit: Path comes in handy vs Maverick and Zoo. Thank you for the suggestion, Blind. Enlightened Tutor lets me run 3 Chokes and keep 2 Absolute laws, though it has some obvious drawbacks. Added benefits of it, and PtE, are that they stengthen siding in for gy matches.
I'd say this deck should keep 4 slots open vs combo decks, which are Storm and Graveyard decks respectively. If I were to read a GY-deck field I would would the appropriate hate package.
Last edited by Kanti; 07-23-2012 at 06:20 PM. Reason: updated sb
Why you play Batterskull in SB?
Why I don't see Dismember in American list? it's a good answer Vs gaddock, cannonist and equipement.
Mortarpod is funny but not tempo.
Does Cavern of Souls warrent any spots in the mono-green version of this deck?
I see more than others do because I know where to look.
I actually didn't think of removal instead of Mortarpod. I have since replaced it with a Path (I figured STP would only be better vs Goblins and we have enough cars to side in vs them anyways).
Batterskull is there to deal with Zoo, Tribals, and RUG. If I can stick a Batterskull I stand a good chance of either stabilizing and winning, or buying myself some draw steps to assemble the combo.
Updated my sb.
BUMP!
Looks like the deck made it to the finals in Ghent, finally losing to a pretty horrible match-up (UBr Ant) especially considering he chose to have game vs Graveyards rather than Storm. Pretty damn good too considering the top 8 has two UW Miracle decks (forgot if he played vs them).
He rans two Ezuri's as his kill con (ran more of a mono-g list). This is interesting though as I myself had been testing 1 Ezuri over 1 Mirror Entity as he's GSZable. Added bonuses are that you can give your creatures trample to punch through blockers, and regenerate isn't bad. Mirror Entity is still a better natural draw every single time I believe but if this guy almost won a GP running double Ezuri's it can only mean that Ezuri's power level isn't THAT low.
I've only recently been interested in Elves (well, since the GP, fairweather fan reporting in) but has anybody tested Thalia in the deck? Glimpse costing 2 is probably quite annoying but other than that, it can delay a lot of the "problem" decks long enough for you to get your own combo going- that one extra mana shouldn't be too much of a problem if you get a couple of extra turns.
Congratulations to Lukas Maurer who took the 2nd place at Grand Prix 2012 - Ghent (1345 players)!
Event Coverage
Top32 Decklists
Maurer's Decklist:
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Regal Force
2 Birchlore Rangers
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Quirion Ranger
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Priest of Titania
4 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Crop Rotation
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Pendelhaven
3 Gaea's Cradle
5 Snow-Covered Forest
6 Forest
SIDEBOARD
3 Faerie Macabre
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Krosan Grip
3 Meekstone
1 Mortarpod
2 Pithing Needle
1 Scattershot Archer
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Viridian Shaman
Also, congratulations to Frank Roelofs who made a very impressive run at the event and took the 10th place!
Roelofs' Decklist:
1 Regal Force
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Mirror Entity
2 Quirion Ranger
3 Birchlore Rangers
3 Fyndhorn Elves
3 Priest of Titania
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Chord of Calling
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Savannah
2 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
6 Forest
SIDEBOARD
1 Caller of the Claw
1 Elvish Archdruid
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Humility
1 Mortarpod
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Viridian Shaman
Last edited by Godmode; 07-29-2012 at 08:55 PM.
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