[Primer] Elves!

[Julian23]

Hey guys, short update while waiting at JFK for my flight back to Munich.

Yesterday I placed unfortunately only 11th at SCG Richmond. Still, #TeamEuroSwag put 2 people in the Top8 (Marc, Tomas) + Philipp and me in 10th and 11th. Oh, and Niklas Kronberger won the Modern event. Awesome conclusion to two of the best weeks I ever had. Every member of our team is currently working on a huge report and Felix and me will also put together a video about our whole trip soon.

In the meanwhile, here's a short conclusion to my SCG Richmond experience:

R1: UW Stoneblade, 2-0 WIN
R2: Jund, 2-0 WIN
R3: Miracles, 2-0 WIN
R4: UR Delver, 2-1 WIN
R5: RG Lands, 1-2 LOSS (On camera feature match)
R6: UWr Delver, 2-1 WIN
R7: Miracles, 1-2 LOSS (Off-camera feature)
R8: UWr Delver, Bob Huang, 2-0 WIN
R9: UW Painter, 2-0 WIN after he concedes to me because he was paired up.

My list can be found here. The only change I made was moving the 4th NO to the maindeck and benching the Reclamation Sage. With anything Midrange (Junk, Shardless etc.) suffering from Treasure Cruise, I strongly believe streamlining Elves is the way to go right now. Wren's Run Packmaster for example just doesn't cut it vs UR Delver. The only thing I really didn't want to drop was the Ooze even though I would have loved to have the 2nd Birchlore Rangers. Pendelhaven has been absolutely amazing and is here to stay for me.

Overall, I feel that Elves is still one of the top-dogs of the meta. Miracles is still not as heavily played as it should be so feel free to keep taking advantage of all the Stoneblade decks running around. Game1 against most SFM-based decks is in favor of Elves but it surely gets harder after boardings. Thus far, my approach to any Containment Priest deck has been to actually side out all NOs (+sometimes even 2 GSZ) and just go for the grindy game with Abrupt Decay shutting down any Jitte or SoFI shenanigangs. I don't know whether that's the actual way to go; I like testing the extremes until I settle on a more sophisticated boarding plan.

[Richard Cheese]

I sat (diagonally) across from Marc at the player meeting for the GP! Did he tell you guys about the madman that insisted he could beat any deck with some AdNaus deck running Force of Will?

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

I hate Lands. I have always found it a tough match up. With Crop Rotation and Gamble, they can really go fishing for problems for us. In this more mid-game oriented format, we're likely to see more of them emerge, as well. Quite honestly, I have never found a solid side-boarding strategy against them. Putting lands in the yard, does little to slow them down. Our objective is to outrace them, which we are capable of doing. But they have lots of ways to add drag to our progress, even if we get off to a good start.

[starfox444]

Thus far, my approach to any Containment Priest deck has been to actually side out all NOs (+sometimes even 2 GSZ) and just go for the grindy game with Abrupt Decay shutting down any Jitte or SoFI shenanigangs. I don't know whether that's the actual way to go; I like testing the extremes until I settle on a more sophisticated boarding plan.

Any other reactions to containment priest? I haven't had to play against it so I don't really have an opinion either way.

Here's my best guess:
I think all the containment priest decks are fair decks so we don't give too much of a fuck. Maybe go up to the 4th decay or 2nd rec sage in the 75 since they will be spread over equipment/cage/priest now and otherwise let glimpse and BFF combo do their work. I'd be more concerned about the rise of sweepers in the decks that do have access to containment priest.

[Havoc]

Any other reactions to containment priest? I haven't had to play against it so I don't really have an opinion either way.

Here's my best guess:
I think all the containment priest decks are fair decks so we don't give too much of a fuck. Maybe go up to the 4th decay or 2nd rec sage in the 75 since they will be spread over equipment/cage/priest now and otherwise let glimpse and BFF combo do their work. I'd be more concerned about the rise of sweepers in the decks that do have access to containment priest.

Ive played against the priest in Dnt and Stoneblade. its not as bad as you think. you just have to be more all in on the glimpse plan if shes on the board or you suspect they have it in hand. i think its smart to remove all the NO theyre dead if it hits but maybe not all the green suns. +4 decays -4 NO and maybe -2 GSZ for Nullrods / Pithing needles if you need it I guess. i havent seen may list adding sweepers ether, just lots of different spot removal.

[DarthObiwan]

I hate Lands. I have always found it a tough match up. With Crop Rotation and Gamble, they can really go fishing for problems for us. In this more mid-game oriented format, we're likely to see more of them emerge, as well. Quite honestly, I have never found a solid side-boarding strategy against them. Putting lands in the yard, does little to slow them down. Our objective is to outrace them, which we are capable of doing. But they have lots of ways to add drag to our progress, even if we get off to a good start.

A guy at my LGS has been playing Lands. I've got a few matches in and they have been rough. Most games end up being a race to who can Combo off faster. Lands definitely has more ways to interact with us. Punishing Fire and Loam+Wasteland being the most annoying. So far I've been lucky enough to have a Cradle when Tabernacle is out, though Wasteland definitely becomes very scary at that point.

DRS and Ooze can help dealing with Loam shenanigans, Sage for taking out a random Mox.

For sideboarding I have been bringing in 2x Pithing Needle, 4th NO and Elderscale Wurm. I was able to win one game through Wurm facing down a Marit Lage. Since I had him in a slight lock I was able to buy the extra turn I needed to develop my board and hoof in for exact damage. I don't like bringing in removal for Mox and Exploration. Diluting our way to win fast while still not really slowing them down seems like a losing proposition. By the time we can destroy those things they've already gotten their advantage out of them.

Thankfully since I only play Paper Legacy and Lands is much more expensive to put together, that should keep the count down a bit :)

[Julian23]

Streaming the Legacy DE with #Elves! Join us at http://twitch.tv/itsJulian

Bonus: Mario Kart 64 in-between rounds!

[Arksz]

Organized the Legacy weekly at my store today.

Went 2-1


Won 2-0 - UG Turbo Eldrazi
Lost 2-1 - Infect
Won 2-1 - MUD

So I figure infect is a die roll combo situation. I boarded in 3 Decay, 1 Sylvan and a Pithing Needle. I decayed his infecter but turn inkmoth, double invigorate and berserk seems to get there. I might toss a Melira in the board just for the local store games.

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

We demand f-zero between rounds

[Lemnear]

Rated R content coming! Skip if your underaged!

Still reading? Slow scrolling from here for your own sake, while we recap:

Other than discard, what are good ways for us to deal with direct damage (e.g., Lightning Bolt, Mogg Fanatic, and the like)?

The problem is that they can both race and disrupt us at the same time in several ways :
- play goblin guide and kill elves clearing the way for it
- kill elves with lavamancer while pointing burn spells to the face
- cast searing blaze and searing blood that by definition race while disrupting
- cast eidolon of the great revel that can sometimes be a huge problem

Don't get me wrong, i think elves are favoured, but not by a lot because all the things i listed are very real. Just don't underestimate burn , play tight and you should win.

This was what I wish I had written. If we had extra slots in our sideboard, what would we put in to address this?

Maybe I should work on a Burn.deck rap next...

YESSSSSSS.

Lights!

Camera!

Action!



This ain't the Legend of Zelda, but a Link to your Past?;
Wanna waste slots in da board, 'cause of all the matches you've lost?;
Tell your local burn player, the show's over;
The discussion's so-so, Peter's posts pwn posers!;
I wrote a rap, motherfucker! Hope your reading it too;
Giving specific instructions how to fuck with burn players like you;



Wanna burn me out after I got Ruric down?;
You better re-read Mike Flores' "Who's the beatdown?";
You think, killing my creatures is destructively?;
I got a million elves - they die for me!;
I know that you like to think you're so macho;
But you can play your deck with one hand while eating some nachos;
I work hard for my wins, while you and your boyfriend Steve;
Just keep tapping a Mountain for dealing me three?;
Look, we all want to win, kid, but you took it too far;
You played butthole roulette and you lost the draw!;
Are you already afraid? Am I smelling some pee?;
Yo, Homeboy! Finish this rhyme for me!;



They call me Ruric Thar, you wanna mess with me?;
I'll put my balls in your mouth like Ogre tea!;
I got an axe on my arm! Yeah, I steal the show!;
6 damage to your face for every spell, you know?;
I don't tap for attacking, so you can't get past me;
This battle's your last judgement, Trust me!;


Now hand me some of these:

[haganbmj]

SCG Atlanta mini report I guess. Went 5-3-1 (bleh), losing to winnable matches at least.

Spells (28+12)	Lands (20)	Sideboard (15)
4 Quirion Ranger 4 Wirewood Symbiote 4 Deathrite Shaman 3 Nettle Sentinel 3 Heritage Druid 2 Birchlore Rangers 4 Elvish Visionary 1 Scavenging Ooze 1 Reclamation Sage 2 Craterhoof Behemoth 4 Glimpse of Nature 4 Green Sun's Zenith 4 Natural Order	2 Dryad Arbor 2 Forest 2 Bayou 1 Pendelhaven 4 Gaea's Cradle 2 Misty Rainforest 2 Windswept Heath 2 Wooded Foothills 3 Verdant Catacombs	1 Pithing Needle 1 Surgical Extraction 2 Disfigure 2 Thoughtseize 3 Cabal Therapy 1 Null Rod 1 Sylvan Library 3 Abrupt Decay 1 Progenitus

I didn't really take notes for the event so I'll just try to comment on what I do remember from each match.

Round 1 (W 2-1) v Bant Stoneblade
- Game one I'm stuck on a single land, but his only pressure is a Jitte and an Ooze. Unable to poke through my Wirewood Symbiote, I'm able to take a few turns to bounce an Elvish Visionary and recast it (using Quirion Ranger for my second mana source) eventually drawing out of it.

Round 2 (W 2-0) v Mono Black Pox
- Game one he does the usual pox thing leading off on Inquisition of Kozilek into a Hymn to Tourach. He draws a couple lands in a row, however, and dies to Natural Order.
- Game two he plays a turn 3 Trinisphere, but I Craterhoof him on my turn 3 for 17, with a Deathrite, Hoof, Quirion Ranger, and a Pendelhaven in play. He shows me a hand including The Abyss, Chains of Meph, and Night of Soul's Betrayl.

Round 3 (W 2-0) v ____ (local guy, John)
After some confusion and a repair (opponent has the wrong number of points) my new opponent is still playing his standard finals match and no-shows for our match. I turn in the match slip and get enough time to watch some sourcers in their matches: Megadeus storming off against a UR Delver man, nedleeds rocking Huntmaster Jund, alphastryk and his sexy korean foil Digs, Tyrio with Lands, Jon going Ape-shit on some guy with Hooting Jund, biglongjohn on Metalworker, and some other buddies on UWR Not-Miracles, Death and Taxes, and Miracles.

Round 4 (L 1-2) v Lands (Sourcer: Tyrio)
- Game one he has a Mox Diamond, Exploration, Dark Depths, and an Academy Ruins, whiffing on a land drop. I natural Reclamation Sage his Mox Diamond then go for a lethal Craterhoof, forcing him to play a Crop Rotation with a newly drawn Verdant Catacombs and knock back his manabase even further with a Glacial Chasm. He is unable to draw relevant spells before being forced to sac the Chasm while I have a Scavenging Ooze and Deathrite in play.
- Game two he leads on Mox Diamond + Thespian Stage into Chalice on 1. Turn two he has another Mox Diamond and a Dark Depths. Marit Lage slaughters me on his turn 3.
- Game three is quite the grinder, he has a Tabernacle, Chalice on 1, Containment Priest, and a Phyrexian Revoker on my Scavenging Ooze. This game involves me running 1-drops into his Chalice to eat with a pair of Deathrite Shamans so I can pay life on my Sylvan Library to dig deeper. I'm unable to find answers and eventually die with a lethal Natural Order in hand after he builds up a critical mass of Punishing Fires to take out the Deathrites before finishing me off at my reduced life total from all the Sylvan Library payments.

Round 5 (L 1-2) v UR Delver
- Game one I get with a relatively quick Natural Order after taking a few hits from Swiftspear.
- Game two he has an overloaded Electrickery to 3 for 1 me, then follows it up with a Forked Bolt to 2 for 1 me, followed by another Electrickery to 2 for 1 me again. I die to Pyromancer and his goons.
- Game three I have a reasonable hand and we fight a little for board presence. I Decay a Delver and a Pyromancer, but he has a second Pyromancer and winds up with a handful of guys. I'm forced to run a Natural Order out with mana for Daze knowing that I won't get another shot soon if I let him untap, but run into a Spell Pierce instead. We trade swings for a bit, but I'm unable to draw relevant spells for a couple turns while he proceeds to stack up his Elemental tokens.

Little salty at this point having lost two in a row. My match with Tyrio was great and he deserves to win one every now and then after losing to me in the Nashville top 8, but losing to UR Delver when it was something I had modified my deck specifically for and to a player that didn't understand the matchup (at all) or legacy was a bit rough.
Still live for top 16, maybe an outside shot at top 8, since the tournament had just barely made it to 9 rounds. Pretty sure I'm dead for top 8 though as I doubt my breakers will be anything spectacular.

Round 6 (W 2-1) v Manaless Dredge
- Game one I have a turn one Deathrite and hold down the fort against Phantasmagorian while a Cradle propels me to a GSZ for Ooze with mana open - I let her have Ichorids, Shadows, Bridges, and Cabal Therapies - which has her surprised I think? Then I eat her Griselbrand when she targets it with Dread Return, having to explain that Dread Return does indeed target. I untap with 7 or 8 mana, Ooze 4 Ichorids and a Nether Shadow, and the game is beyond over.
- Game two she has a nutty start, double cycling a Street Wraith off a Phantasmagorian. My double glimpse sacks me into a turn two Progenitus, but needing two swings I die to the army of Zombies she makes and the Elesh Norn she reanimates (one of THREE dredged in the first 18ish cards). Quite the game.
- Game three I have a decent Glimpse hand and she, fortunately, doesn't have a quick start - discarding a dredger finally instead of Magorian. My glimpse propels me into a quick Natural Order for the game.

Round 7 (W 2-0) v UWR Stoneblade with Sensei's Tops
- Game one he leads on a Sensei's Top and spends some time spinning it and Swords-ing a dude of mine. I widdle down his life total with a couple power on board, putting him on Miracles. I gain some value out of a Visionary and am able to resolve Craterhoof after some effort.
The True-Name leads me to believe he might be some Stoneblade deck with access to Counterbalance, but I'm put him on having access to Containment Priest, Ethersworn Canonist, Jitte, Counterbalance, and some form of Wrath. Kind of scary.
- Game two he has two swords and some soft permission, but isn't able to do much before I Hoof him.

Round 8 (L 1-2) v Death and Taxes
- Game one he has a turn two Jitte but I have a Reclamation Sage to match it. He casts a Brimaz and I go for Natural Order. He Swords-es the Hoof, taking the hit and dropping to 5 life. Brimaz and a Flickerwisp go on the offense and soon he builds up a small army of cats that I can't get through. Didn't expect to lose this one. Probably could have waited a turn on the Natural Order since I knew he didn't have Jitte anymore, might have been an oversight not to play around the Swords.
- Game two I run him over.
- Game three he has the ideal curve of Mother, Containment Priest, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Flickwisp your Deathrite permenantly. I die a couble turns later to the flier.

This matchup isn't quite as easy now that they have Containment Priest to neuter their biggest threat; Natural Order. Changes the dynamic of the match a bit.

Round 9 (ID) v Death and Taxes (local guy)
We play it out anyways and I win in two. He borrowed the deck from nedleeds, whose Containment Priests hadn't shipped in yet. I Abrupt Decayed a Grafdigger's Cage in game two while he had a Mother of Runes in play. Would've been been a completely different game had the two been switched.

Our breakers were not that impressive so we took the ID to lock us both into top 64. There were a few X-4s that did money actually, all with higher breakers than ours were though.

Overall the list felt fine. I never felt entirely out of any match (except that game three against Death and Taxes where he curved beautifully to counteract my hand).
I might go to 4 Heritage Druid soon, though the 2 Birchlore + 3 Heritage split has been doing fine for me. I feel more comfortable leaving Birchlore in as he helps to cast my sideboard cards without exposing a Bayou and can still make for decent Glimpse of Natures.
I get the impression that I want to increase the liklihood of a game-winning Glimpse of Nature in my game ones though.
Sideboard was fine. The Surgical Extraction was a last minute add when I realized I had an extra slot. I only brought it in against Manaless Dredge, but never felt like there was a card my sideboard was desperately in need of that would compete with that slot.

Gotta say that Marsh Casualties is a saucy one from the top 8 list. Not entirely sure how I feel about the double black cost, however. Could be fun.
Maybe Jitte is the way to go. I'll have to give it a shot.

[Shagstaman]

I thought a bit about marsh casualties for young pyro and the gang, but it also gives game vs v.clique, TNN, and flickerwisp...which are all the best creatures against us in their respective matchups. If we ever got to pay the kicker, nabbing a priest or a delver seems great. dat double black doe.

how was disfigure for you?

[haganbmj]

I thought a bit about marsh casualties for young pyro and the gang, but it also gives game vs v.clique, TNN, and flickerwisp...which are all the best creatures against us in their respective matchups. If we ever got to pay the kicker, nabbing a priest or a delver seems great. dat double black doe.

how was disfigure for you?

Good. I wanted an extra removal spell that I could play around Daze and other soft permission. It also helped the Death and Taxes matchup letting me keep up with Stoneforge, Mom, and theoretically Containment Priest. It's been good in the UR Delver match and the creature-heavy matchups. (I do not bring it in against most Stoneblade decks, I'd rather just run with Abrupt Decay - the exception to this is UWR with Grim Lavamancer)

[Vandalize]

Sup guys, I've finally stopped being a fool and started playing Elves. This deck is really fun.

My list is the following:

Lands [20]
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Bayou
1 Pendelhaven
4 Gaea's Cradle
2 Dryad Arbor

Creatures [28]
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Nettle Sentinel
3 Heritage Druid
2 Birchlore Rangers
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze

Spells [12]
4 Natural Order
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith

Sideboard [15]
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Thoughtseize
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Pithing Needle
1 Null Rod
1 Krosan Grip
1 Sylvan Library
1 Progenitus
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

I've seen some lists with Disfigure and Wren's Run Packmaster. How good are they? Disfigure is mainly to deal with problem creatures like Delver and Grim Lavamancer, but extra Pithing Needle solves the latter and is also useful against Miracles. WRP seems beefy and those tokens can be a good mana sink when the board is stalled, but why not just run Progenitus and win?

[Darklingske]

but why not just run Progenitus and win?

Because against Miracles they have Terminus & Councils Judgement to take care of your Progenitus. With WRP at least you still have a single Elf left after the terminus or Judgement.

[Lemnear]

Because against Miracles they have Terminus & Councils Judgement to take care of your Progenitus. With WRP at least you still have a single Elf left after the terminus or Judgement.

That's not the only advantage. WRP is edict-proof, removal-proof (with Symbiote), hardcastable (unlike Progenitus), GSZ-able without a million mana, feeds Cradle and is fueled by it, stalls the board

[danyul]

Lemnear that rap was the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. You should expand your technique into sonnets and stuff like that. Maybe even MTG haikus.

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

SCG Atlanta mini report I guess.
Round 4 (L 1-2) v Lands (Sourcer: Tyrio)
- Game one he has a Mox Diamond, Exploration, Dark Depths, and an Academy Ruins, whiffing on a land drop. I natural Reclamation Sage his Mox Diamond then go for a lethal Craterhoof, forcing him to play a Crop Rotation with a newly drawn Verdant Catacombs and knock back his manabase even further with a Glacial Chasm. He is unable to draw relevant spells before being forced to sac the Chasm while I have a Scavenging Ooze and Deathrite in play.
- Game two he leads on Mox Diamond + Thespian Stage into Chalice on 1. Turn two he has another Mox Diamond and a Dark Depths. Marit Lage slaughters me on his turn 3.
- Game three is quite the grinder, he has a Tabernacle, Chalice on 1, Containment Priest, and a Phyrexian Revoker on my Scavenging Ooze. This game involves me running 1-drops into his Chalice to eat with a pair of Deathrite Shamans so I can pay life on my Sylvan Library to dig deeper. I'm unable to find answers and eventually die with a lethal Natural Order in hand after he builds up a critical mass of Punishing Fires to take out the Deathrites before finishing me off at my reduced life total from all the Sylvan Library payments.

Did I mention that I HATE lands?

[Lemnear]

Lemnear that rap was the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. You should expand your technique into sonnets and stuff like that. Maybe even MTG haikus.

Na! You already know I'm a guys who likes to talk A LOT ... Keeping me short like Haiku's require isn't my thing. Sonnets could work, but I like it flexible, easy and dirty. Interpret this however you like ;DD

[Julian23]

Streaming the Legacy Daily Event with #Elves! Join us over at twitch.tv/itsjulian