[Report] LOL Elf Survival Top8s

I wanted to write this so there is a written account proving green is a better color than blue.

Here is the list I played:

4 Survival of the Fittest
1 Anger

4 Llanowar Elves
3 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Priest of Titania
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
2 Quirion Ranger
4 Elvish Champion
4 Imperious Perfect
2 Mirror Entity
3 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Sylvan Messenger
2 Wren's Run Vanquisher
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
1 Wood Elves
1 Viridian Zealot

5 Forest
3 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Taiga
3 Savannah

Sideboard
4 Orim's Chant
4 Krosan Grip
3 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Choke
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Magus of the Moon

I noticed there was a TON of combo before the tournament, so I threw in more hate. Birdman and I ended up adding in ESG before the event as well so we could potentially get the Thorn or Teeg turn 1.


I didn't end up taking down names, so I apologize to those who I didn't know.


Round 1: Jander78 with Dreadstill

Game 1: I'm on the play, and open with a mana elf. My turn 2 Priest resolves, and he plays a Standstill. Turn 3 I play a Perfect and that resolves, then resolve a Quirion Ranger and Mirror Entity. Turn 4 I swing for 50 something.

Game 2: This game involves him having 3 Mishra's Factory, and sticking a Dreadnought while I get land flooded and don't find a Krosan Grip. He also played a Clasm on my team.

Game 3: He gets Counter/Top around turn 4-5, but I resolve a Choke and lock down 4 lands, and he can't find a Pyroclasm to stop my army.

1-0


Round 2: Some guy playing the Rock

Game 1: He mulls, and I open with Savannah and a mana elf. He plays a Mishra and passes, so I think I'm playing against Dreadstill again. I play a land and cast Survival and it resolves. He Wastelands my Savannah and says go. I eot grab Priest of Titania, and on my turn I play a land and cast Priest and Wirewood Symbiote. He plays Forest, Tarmogoyf, go. Not Dreadstill. I untap, search for Mirror Entity, and combo infinate turn 4 damage on his face.

Game 2: He opens with land go, and I have a turn 1 mana elf. He has turn 2 Goyf, and I respond with a turn 2 Perfect. He is land light, and Crop Rotates a Wasteland for a Bayou, then Living Wish for Shriekmaw and attacks for 2. I play a Ranger and another mana elf and say go. He untaps and taps out to play a Pernicious Deed and attacks, and I make a token and block. I rip Zealot and kill the Deed. He Shriekmaws my Perfect and plays another Goyf. I rip Survival and search up Magus of the Moon and lock out all his lands except a basic Forest. He attacks and I shrug it off, untap and search for Elvish Champion and attack for 8. He attacks me again, I untap and grab another Champion and smash.

2-0

Round 3: Some guy playing 4c Counterbalance (he made top8)

Game 1: I play the Elves hand and open with turn 1 Elf, turn 2 Priest, Ranger, turn 3 Lord, Entity. All that on one land.

Game 2: He sticks Counterbalance and I'm landscrewed on two lands with 5 lords and a Grip in hand and never drew a mana guy. He has Goyfs and kills me.

Game 3: I play a turn 1 Ranger, turn 2 Survival. He dazes. I remove ESG. He FoWs pitching Counterbalance. Sweeeet. He play an attrition war for a while as I'm stuck on lands with a Symbiote and Vanquisher beating down. He sticks a Goyf and a Jitte and is containing me, but has to gain life to stay alive. I eventually get another Vanquisher and more creatures and he can't contain them as he couldn't find a Swords.

3-0


Round 4: Some guy with Dreadstill.

Game 1: I stick a Survival, but he's got the maindeck Grip for it. I then revert to elf mode and stick an Elvish Champion and beat with Forestwalk. Then savagly attack with the Champion into a Trinket Mage, but thankfully then play a Sylvan Messenger to find another one and go nuts.

Game 2: Turn 2 Dreadnought with FoW backup for my Vanquisher. That was lame.

Game 3: He has a FoW for my opening Survival, a couple Fire/Ice for my guys, a Firespout to wipe out my team, and another FoW for my last ditch effort and beats me with a Goyf. He had a nutty hand here.

3-1


Round 5: Daze Elrod (Freakish777) with 4c Threshold

Game 1: I have a ridiculous hand, and he has a turn 2 Counterbalance. He has a lot of Ponders and Brainstorms for CB and a lot of FoWs and Stp and I can't stick anything and die miserably.

Game 2: He gets CounterTop down after I get a Symbiote and Ranger down. I stick a Champion and beat him down low. I eventually get a Messenger too which gives me another Champion. He counters one and trys to get rid of the other which I continuously return with Symbiote. He gets double Goyf down but can't find another Swords to get rid of my guys and forestwalk takes it. According to Dave, there was a Mirror Entity in here somewhere.

Game 3: I honestly don't remember this game. It was close, but I pull it out somehow. Mirror Entity may have been involved.

4-1

Round 6: Irish Mafia (?) with Dreadstill

Game 1: He has a Spell Snare for my opening Priest, a FoW on a Perfect, and a turn 4 Dreadnought.

Game 2: It involves me playing lots of Elves and doing a big rush.

Game 3: My Survival gets countered, but I stick a Choke to lock him down. He Pyroclasms my board and has 2 Factory, but I topdeck Perfect and start making guys. He eventually gets a Needle on Perfect, but I eventually get too many guys and widdle away his life.

5-1

ID into top8

5-1-1


Top8: Bryant with TES

Game 1: I open with a Symbiote. He plays LED, LED, go. He has the Mystical Tutor hand, but no other mana source to go nuts with. I play Survival. He doesn't find a mana Source. I get Priest and say go. He doesn't get the mana source, so I untap and get Mirror Entity and combo him.

Game 2: He kills me turn 1 on the play.

Game 3: We both mull, and my hand is garbage of 3 land, Chant, Anger, Perfect. I draw another Chant, but he Duresses me. Then Chants me and I chant in response. I get him down to 7 with triple Perfect in play, but he is able to combo and kill me.

5-2-1

Thoughts:


- This deck has incredible game against blue decks.
- It is very difficult to play. This was my first tournament with it and I made a handful of play mistakes, but it's also very forgiving.
- Green > Blue, but Combo > Green.


Kudos:
- Me.
- Birdman and rsaunders dad who also rocked the deck.
- Green decks.
- Bryant for top8ing.
- Everyone who helped me put the deck together.

Fail:
- Virginia's lack of appearance.
- Dreadstill. Nice dead cards you got there.
- Pyroclasm

Gratz on the Finish Colin, the deck is a lot of fun, I'm thinking about rocking it at the next Hadley.

Green > Blue ?

LOL

On the other hand, your deck is very creative and congratz on the finish... perhaps a few discard spells would help a little bit, as you have a quick clock anyways.

Game 3 was actually game 2. Game 3 I had double Counterbalance and no Top, and you resolved Mirror Entity on turn 5 or so (with a lot of other dudes in play and a Priest of Titania), which I couldn't find Swords for.

It turns out I grabbed up 2 of Mr. Saunders's duals after we played the mirror. Too bad I couldnt get past bryant to make it in for the double elves beatdown of the t8. Congrats on the finish, this is the 2nd t8 in a row for this deck.

Very nice result.

Any thoughts about this list? I've seen your non-ESG lists before, have you finally decided on playing ESG, of was it just a test?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Atwa

Very nice result.

Any thoughts about this list? I've seen your non-ESG lists before, have you finally decided on playing ESG, of was it just a test?

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I tested it out for about a week leading up to the event, but wasn't sold on it, so I went back to the normal list. As mentioned in the report, we added it very last second to speed the deck up a little bit and for the likelyhood of turn 1 Thorn of Amethyst post-board against combo decks. I liked it all day, so it might stay. I'm not sure yet.

There were a few other things I didn't like about the list (like only 2 Vanquisher, we cut the other deathtouchers to make room for ESG) and some other things I'll just discuss in the actual thread.

Sexy. Rock those Elves!

elves FTW!!

But... no Tarmogoyfs?!? How can this be!!!

Nice writeup, very informative. Thanks for posting it!