[Deck] Elves Combo

Druid/Priests are interchangeable, but I like being able to use Priests earlier and not rely on having 3 mana (for instance, mana elf + forest). Quirion Ranger hasn't helped me much in this build as it does in the SotF build. Untapping a non-Priest elf isn't the biggest concern. Wirewood Symbiote serves the same function but also fuels Glimpse triggers which is far more important.

Eternal Witness gets whatever is good at the time. I have never tutored for it midcombo however. I've used it many times to get back another Pact mid-combo, a fetchland prior to going off, or returning a dead Archdruid/Viridian Shaman.

As for Viridian Shaman maindeck, he's saved my skin a few times vs Jitte and other nuisances like Affinity, which is abundant in the MTGO meta. Wirewood Symbiote + V. Shaman = victory!

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Originally Posted by rukcus

Druid/Priests are interchangeable, but I like being able to use Priests earlier and not rely on having 3 mana (for instance, mana elf + forest). Quirion Ranger hasn't helped me much in this build as it does in the SotF build. Untapping a non-Priest elf isn't the biggest concern. Wirewood Symbiote serves the same function but also fuels Glimpse triggers which is far more important.

Eternal Witness gets whatever is good at the time. I have never tutored for it midcombo however. I've used it many times to get back another Pact mid-combo, a fetchland prior to going off, or returning a dead Archdruid/Viridian Shaman.

As for Viridian Shaman maindeck, he's saved my skin a few times vs Jitte and other nuisances like Affinity, which is abundant in the MTGO meta. Wirewood Symbiote + V. Shaman = victory!

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I think I'd rather just race affinity than worry about blowing their stuff up

The reason I like ranger is because of two turn 2 plays that I make very often:

-Only have one land in play and a ranger, and no lands in hand. tap the land, bounce, play again, tap again.

or the better play:
-Have one land in play and a llanowar/fyndhorn. Tap the forst for a ranger, tap the llanowar/fyndhorn for a heritage. Bounce the land to untap the llanowar/fyndhorn, float three with heritage to start comboing or cast an archdruid.

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Originally Posted by k2thej

Ruckus- we seem to be going for similar builds. Few things:

Do you think the priests are worth it?

Why not 4 rangers? They save my ass quite frequently.

I tend to go for more one drops instead of priests/archdruids since they are more vulnerable to spot removal if you concentrate the mana production in fewer creatures. Benefits of priests over druids? I have rarely ever been able to cast a priest without a druid.

Is it worth it to have shaman in main?

What are your main witness targets (I would imagine glimpse but are there others)?

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I'm totally agree with that. Maybe there is no reason for including 4, but 3 would be a nice number to include Quirion Ranger. I think Priest/Archdruid are better with Concordant or something like that giving him haste.

I've obviously confused top, I thought you were speaking about if it worths including divining top to tutor in the deck. It seems ridiculous, but I think it's worthy to discuss about other ways to tutoring, not only Summonre's, will also be interesting to be possible to tutor the Grapeshot or another cards.

And about Countertop, obviously City doesn't help us a lot, if we have this archetype we must sideboard not only City, also Krosan Grip. City only helps us against hand counters, but I've mentioned City because it seem the only menace we have for our play were counters/stifles and it helps for sure play in our turn against fire, against creatures with flash with nasty effects of the like "when X comes into play", also substract interaction of our rival, when he saw what we did in our turn, not letting him to draw/interact with his deck in the manner "before my turn I cast Brainstorm/Top...", protects us against something like "I prevent damage dealt by Grapeshot" (Fog to Emrakul it's worthless because he sacrifices 6 permanents).

Keeping to fiddle around with Living Wish. The card really is quite diverse and has saved my ass in a number of situations and singlehandedly beats any and all hatecards game 1 save Humility (and that's only until they print something with Channeling/Cycling Enchantment removal), so I went ahead and cut a Messenger to adda 3rd copy main (moving the Messenger to the side in lieu of Viridian Shaman). Paying 1G for Cradle or Faerie, 1GG for the 6th Symbiote or 3GGG for Sylvan Messenger or Viridian Zealot are all perfectly viable at different stages of the game (especially as tutoring up Symbiote still is essentially card advantage at a negative mana cost with Priest/Archdruid out), making it another bomb to complement the draw engines.

The difference between 15 and 17 mana for Emrakul is neglible (and I get to play 3 virtual copies to boot without the hassle of actually drawing it), and having access to it without bogging down the main is strangely convenient; Emrakul beats Show and Tell, Emrakul beats damage prevention, Emrakul beats my largely unfounded fears that my opponent is coy enough to play enchantment on Crossroads removal into next turn sweeper. Hell, in conjunction with Masticore Emrakul even beats infinite life combos by singlehandidly locking them out of the game and decking them (combo out, Emrakul, blow up world, play masticore, discard down, kill off as many Elves as I please, then spend 30 mana to burn Emrakul to death (killing Masticore itself in response to avoid StP) and shuffle my gy into my library only to combo out again next turn - rinse and repeat). Also it can be sided in against milling combo decks.

Masticore is there to beat Peacekeeper and Fortune Thief, as well as being a decent ace in the sleeve against tribal decks that might or may not pack Perish/Plague. Witness is overall quite redundant as a card engine with access to Messenger, but does recycly Glimpse and Grip against decks running sweepers and counters (where the combo win is safer when possible).

Is it better than Survival? I think so. It's just more diverse, more mana efficient, doesn't necessitate running Taigas, isn't vulnerable to GYhate and allows me to hold up on running silver bullets maindecked. It doesn't win the game singlehandedly off an empty board given time like survival can however (especially against decks running obnoxious amounts of removal). Giving up half the the sideboard isn't much of an issue; it's mainly for Krosan Grip and GYhate anyhow (even in my non-Wish builds), and unless you really want to commit 7 spots to the combo matchup it's probably better not to side in most matchups anyhow what with how tight the maindeck is. I somewhat miss Needle, but overall it's an improvement in testing.

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Originally Posted by Infinitium

Keeping to fiddle around with Living Wish. The card really is quite diverse and has saved my ass in a number of situations and singlehandedly beats any and all hatecards game 1 save Humility (and that's only until they print something with Channeling/Cycling Enchantment removal), so I went ahead and cut a Messenger to adda 3rd copy main (moving the Messenger to the side in lieu of Viridian Shaman). Paying 1G for Cradle or Faerie, 1GG for the 6th Symbiote or 3GGG for Sylvan Messenger or Viridian Zealot are all perfectly viable at different stages of the game (especially as tutoring up Symbiote still is essentially card advantage at a negative mana cost with Priest/Archdruid out), making it another bomb to complement the draw engines.

The difference between 15 and 17 mana for Emrakul is neglible (and I get to play 3 virtual copies to boot without the hassle of actually drawing it), and having access to it without bogging down the main is strangely convenient; Emrakul beats Show and Tell, Emrakul beats damage prevention, Emrakul beats my largely unfounded fears that my opponent is coy enough to play enchantment on Crossroads removal into next turn sweeper. Hell, in conjunction with Masticore Emrakul even beats infinite life combos by singlehandidly locking them out of the game and decking them (combo out, Emrakul, blow up world, play masticore, discard down, kill off as many Elves as I please, then spend 30 mana to burn Emrakul to death (killing Masticore itself in response to avoid StP) and shuffle my gy into my library only to combo out again next turn - rinse and repeat). Also it can be sided in against milling combo decks.

Masticore is there to beat Peacekeeper and Fortune Thief, as well as being a decent ace in the sleeve against tribal decks that might or may not pack Perish/Plague. Witness is overall quite redundant as a card engine with access to Messenger, but does recycly Glimpse and Grip against decks running sweepers and counters (where the combo win is safer when possible).

Is it better than Survival? I think so. It's just more diverse, more mana efficient, doesn't necessitate running Taigas, isn't vulnerable to GYhate and allows me to hold up on running silver bullets maindecked. It doesn't win the game singlehandedly off an empty board given time like survival can however (especially against decks running obnoxious amounts of removal). Giving up half the the sideboard isn't much of an issue; it's mainly for Krosan Grip and GYhate anyhow (even in my non-Wish builds), and unless you really want to commit 7 spots to the combo matchup it's probably better not to side in most matchups anyhow what with how tight the maindeck is. I somewhat miss Needle, but overall it's an improvement in testing.

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Are you running Nettle/Heritage in the board to have access to them too? Maybe you could post your list?

Nah. Same deal; 4x Heritage maindecked, no Nettles. I only have access to 7x Wishboard slots and those are currently filled (since I consider 4x Grip/Faerie Macabre mandatory to deal with assorted hate and Reanimator/recursion).

It's hard to imagine this deck without Nettle Sentinel. After Heritage Druid it'd be the last card that I'd cut. I'll have to see how that works, considering that it works for you. Now that you've told more about the wish sideboard I'm seeing more in that plan as well. I'd run Pact even if it was only to get a free untap from the Sentinel, but if you cut that Living Wish really makes a lot more sense. I have to be careful not to get stuck in the "I want Sentinal and Pact in my deck because I am in luv" mode :)

Living Wish into Masticore seems awesome. Connecting this to the previous page: how does this help you against Zoo with burn? Not quite I guess.

It's basically the Goblins deal; as long as you survive the first few turns outside burn range (which is doable since like Goblins they really have to answer quite the few creatures immedieatly or risk losing) you will eventually overwhelm them. Your fundamental is also faster but competent opponents will disrupt that so playing miniglimpses aggresively to cycle chumpers is probably a good idea until you stabilize. Slighesque builds are generally worse than big Zoo since they run 1-drops that matter and more burn, but in my experience the mu has been slightly negative to even.

Nettle Sentinel is a matter of taste but personally I dislike that engine since it's reliant on both Heritage and Glimpse being available for it to actually do something other than being a slightly anemic beater, and aggressively summoner's pacting backfires easily. Heritage Druid really is the broken part of the interaction anyway, essentially getting you several free dark rituals with which to find Crossroads/Priest ftw (the untappers and 4 virtual Cradles helps with this).

EDIT: Oh, yeah. List. Not much has changed since I started posting it on this thread really, just the number of Messengers main and the tutor slot.

// Lands
15 [TE] Forest
1 [US] Gaea's Cradle

// Creatures
4 [ALA] Elvish Visionary
4 [WWK] Joraga Warcaller
3 [EVG] Sylvan Messenger
3 [10E] Llanowar Elves
4 [MOR] Heritage Druid
4 [FNM] Priest of Titania
4 [M10] Elvish Archdruid
3 [EVG] Wirewood Symbiote
3 [DM] Fyndhorn Elves
3 [VI] Quirion Ranger

// Spells
4 [CHK] Glimpse of Nature
2 [LG] Concordant Crossroads
3 [JU] Living Wish

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [US] Gaea's Cradle
SB: 1 [EVG] Wirewood Symbiote
SB: 4 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 [ROE] Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
SB: 1 [DS] Viridian Zealot
SB: 1 [UD] Masticore
SB: 1 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 [FD] Eternal Witness
SB: 1 [EVG] Sylvan Messenger

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Originally Posted by Infinitium

It's basically the Goblins deal; as long as you survive the first few turns outside burn range (which is doable since like Goblins they really have to answer quite the few creatures immedieatly or risk losing) you will eventually overwhelm them. Your fundamental is also faster but competent opponents will disrupt that so playing miniglimpses aggresively to cycle chumpers is probably a good idea until you stabilize. Slighesque builds are generally worse than big Zoo since they run 1-drops that matter and more burn, but in my experience the mu has been slightly negative to even.

Nettle Sentinel is a matter of taste but personally I dislike that engine since it's reliant on both Heritage and Glimpse being available for it to actually do something other than being a slightly anemic beater, and aggressively summoner's pacting backfires easily. Heritage Druid really is the broken part of the interaction anyway, essentially getting you several free dark rituals with which to find Crossroads/Priest ftw (the untappers and 4 virtual Cradles helps with this).

EDIT: Oh, yeah. List. Not much has changed since I started posting it on this thread really, just the number of Messengers main and the tutor slot.

// Lands
15 [TE] Forest
1 [US] Gaea's Cradle

// Creatures
4 [ALA] Elvish Visionary
4 [WWK] Joraga Warcaller
3 [EVG] Sylvan Messenger
3 [10E] Llanowar Elves
4 [MOR] Heritage Druid
4 [FNM] Priest of Titania
4 [M10] Elvish Archdruid
3 [EVG] Wirewood Symbiote
3 [DM] Fyndhorn Elves
3 [VI] Quirion Ranger

// Spells
4 [CHK] Glimpse of Nature
2 [LG] Concordant Crossroads
3 [JU] Living Wish

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [US] Gaea's Cradle
SB: 1 [EVG] Wirewood Symbiote
SB: 4 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [ALA] Relic of Progenitus
SB: 1 [ROE] Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
SB: 1 [DS] Viridian Zealot
SB: 1 [UD] Masticore
SB: 1 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 [FD] Eternal Witness
SB: 1 [EVG] Sylvan Messenger

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As someone who optimizes the combo in elves combo, I have to disagree that Nettle is optional. Nettle, heritage, and glimpse are MUSTS. With nettle in hand, it usually speeds up the goldfish by a full turn. Why wouldn't you want that?

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Originally Posted by k2thej

As someone who optimizes the combo in elves combo, I have to disagree that Nettle is optional. Nettle, heritage, and glimpse are MUSTS. With nettle in hand, it usually speeds up the goldfish by a full turn. Why wouldn't you want that?

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What he said ^^^ lol

Whether you're focusing on combo (like myself and k2thej) or aggro, Nettle Sentinel along with Heritage Druid/Birchlore Rangers is the stone cold nuts. I've had games where I got 5-6 elves on the battlefield along with an Imperious Perfect on turn 2. That means even if you don't draw Glimpse/Regal Force/Summoner's Pact to GET Regal Force, you'll still have the potential for attacking for 10-12 damage on turn 3. Not the fastest aggro clock, but pretty damn fast.

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Originally Posted by k2thej

As someone who optimizes the combo in elves combo, I have to disagree that Nettle is optional. Nettle, heritage, and glimpse are MUSTS. With nettle in hand, it usually speeds up the goldfish by a full turn. Why wouldn't you want that?

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Again, because the format runs enough relevant disruption that the goldfish isn't happening consistently enough to sacrifice resilience in my opinion. Same difference as Belcher and FT to make a very rough comparison. Also as I cannot resist the rhetorical point - Nettle: heritage and glimpse ARE musts.

Still, this is going nowhere. Agree to disagree?

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Originally Posted by Infinitium

Again, because the format runs enough relevant disruption that the goldfish isn't happening consistently enough to sacrifice resilience in my opinion. Same difference as Belcher and FT to make a very rough comparison. Also as I cannot resist the rhetorical point - Nettle: heritage and glimpse ARE musts.

Still, this is going nowhere. Agree to disagree?

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Seems like a good move right now. I think a good topic to move to would be what to do against sweepers. In general, if people don't have sweepers, I win, so naturally this is my biggest concern. I am running fecundity in the sb right now but I still feel like there has to be something that would be better (and less than 3 mana).

I've seen people with the chord of the calling build running dauntless dourbark.

Dauntless Dourbark

Are you sure that's the card? It doesn't seem to have any synergy that I'm aware of..?

that indeed isn't the card I was looking for. I ment dountless escort!

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Originally Posted by Waikiki

that indeed isn't the card I was looking for. I ment dountless escort!

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Ya that card isn't bad but it isn't too great either. I'd rather look for a permanent effect like fecundity. I really don't like chord of calling at all, it's just too expensive.

Wirewood Symbiote and not overextending the board too much is what I generally go for. There is no catch-all card that will completely nullify sweepers, but in my experience as long as you manage to outdraw the opponent and they don't keep you under pressure you will stick enough to win eventually (unless they completely deprive you of mana sources, which is another good reason not to skimp on forests in favor of temporary mana sources such as Spirit Guides etc).

Has anyone thought of the applications of comboing with food chain? The easiness of turn 2 combos made me happy. Example:

Turn one: forest, llanowar
Turn two, forest, food chain. Remove llanowar for glimpse and another one drop and off you go!

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Originally Posted by k2thej

Has anyone thought of the applications of comboing with food chain? The easiness of turn 2 combos made me happy. Example:

Turn one: forest, llanowar
Turn two, forest, food chain. Remove llanowar for glimpse and another one drop and off you go!

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There was a foodchain-elves thread already on the source, and I tested with it. It was nice, but I just liked the consistancy of the normal elves combo better. My list didnt run glimpse of nature, and I dont think thats the way to go.

I tried Army of Ancients (Glimpse + Food Chain Elves), but the list relies too heavily on Food Chain.

Turn 2 Eldrazi is really funny however. :)

And its a casted Eldrazi, not cheated you get the perks.

Hey ruckus, if your meta on paper is ideal for Elves Combo and Survival of the Fittest gets the axe, how would your list look like. Would it look the same as your MTGO list? How would this affect your deck's playstyle?

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Originally Posted by rukcus

I tried Army of Ancients (Glimpse + Food Chain Elves), but the list relies too heavily on Food Chain.

Turn 2 Eldrazi is really funny however. :)

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True, though I get turn 2 Emrakul quite a bit as it is...

Just a question: if I decide to utilize Emrakul in my build, does Priest of Titania become neccessary? I would think so...

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Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

Just a question: if I decide to utilize Emrakul in my build, does Priest of Titania become neccessary? I would think so...

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No it doesn't. I optimize my build for combo, so I want as few creatures that are more than one mana as possible. Visionary is necessary for consistency in the combo, so she's in, and then I figure I need a lord for an aggro backup and a mana lord. Archdruid does both in one card and leaves room for more one drops. Thus, he is the choice.

k2thej could you post your latest deck list? Also on what turns do you likely combo off?

Most of the discussion from August to today is relevant. I highly recommend interested players in reading the thread from then.

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Originally Posted by rukcus

Combo Elves can conceivably go off turn 2. Turn 3 is very common start up as well. 4 Summoner's Pact make it easy to get the right pieces; just watch out for potential mass/spot removal in case you need to pass the turn.

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Well....i'm starting with this deck with a "full combo" ie no natural order. I goes off pretty good but i know it dies to plague. But well, it's just the begining. Suggestions are welcomed and advises too.


// Lands
3 [ON] Wooded Foothills
8 [P3] Forest (2)
1 [ON] Windswept Heath
2 [US] Gaea's Cradle

// Creatures
4 [ALA] Elvish Visionary
1 [IA] Fyndhorn Elves
4 [5E] Llanowar Elves
4 [ON] Birchlore Rangers
4 [MOR] Heritage Druid
2 [US] Priest of Titania
4 [EVE] Nettle Sentinel
4 [SC] Wirewood Symbiote
2 [EVG] Sylvan Messenger
1 [EVE] Regal Force
1 [FD] Eternal Witness
1 [EVE] Wickerbough Elder
1 [ROE] Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 [FNM] Quirion Ranger

// Spells
3 [RAV] Chord of Calling
4 [CHK] Glimpse of Nature
3 [FUT] Summoner's Pact
1 [TSP] Grapeshot

// Sideboard
SB: 3 [LE] Caller of the Claw
SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [LRW] Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 4 [SHM] Faerie Macabre
SB: 3 [TE] Choke


3 NO + 1 Proggy post side is good?? What about leyline of the vitality?

Thx you all!

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Originally Posted by (nameless one)

Hey ruckus, if your meta on paper is ideal for Elves Combo and Survival of the Fittest gets the axe, how would your list look like. Would it look the same as your MTGO list? How would this affect your deck's playstyle?

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I believe my metagame is about 40-50% blue decks, comprised of Merfolk, X-still, and CB/Top. The remaining is random decks from every gamut (Affinity, RDW/Burn, Goblins, Aggro Elves, Zoo, etc). Only about 15-20% of it is Survival decks right now. Until Jan 1st (once bannings are in place), I would say that the metagame is marginally positive for combo Elves.

I would very likely play a list very similar to k2thej's. It is very streamlined. Unfortunately, I prefer the SotF back-up plan with Anger/utility, and that may sadly get banned. We'll see soon enough.

Hello :)

I got to say I really like k2thej's list. Quite stable and really quick, I've gotten Emrakuls on turn 2 with surprising regularity. It's on page 24 if I'm not mistaken.

I'd be interested in an updated list as well if you have one.

As for Priest of Titania, I haven't missed it in my 20ish matches with the deck.

Also, yes, Survival might get banned, according to BDM's last article.

I like this list as well. It is suprisingly stable and within a few turns it can fully recover from opponent's bomb. I was just thinking that the inclusion of single viridian shaman might be vital. Chalice turn1 just kills this deck, doesen't it?
I am not sure if that is relevant argument for weakaning maine? And if the calls for it, what to replace?
Second. Is Gaea's Cradle all that necessary? Doesen't if weaken your opening hand?

I am just starting with this decek eventhough I play legacy for a long time.

Thank to all for comments.

I like this list as well. It is suprisingly stable and within a few turns it can fully recover from opponent's bomb. I was just thinking that the inclusion of single viridian shaman might be vital. Chalice turn1 just kills this deck, doesen't it?
I am not sure if that is relevant argument for weakaning maine? And if the calls for it, what to replace?
Second. Is Gaea's Cradle all that necessary? Doesen't if weaken your opening hand?

I am just starting with this decek eventhough I play legacy for a long time.

Thank to all for comments.

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Originally Posted by Koplinchen

I like this list as well. It is suprisingly stable and within a few turns it can fully recover from opponent's bomb. I was just thinking that the inclusion of single viridian shaman might be vital. Chalice turn1 just kills this deck, doesen't it?

Thank to all for comments.

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I'm running 1 x of Wickerbough Elder and it works awesome!

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Originally Posted by GoldenCid

I'm running 1 x of Wickerbough Elder and it works awesome!

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Your list isnt bad, but Emrakul+Grapeshot=overkill. The reasons this deck works is because you maximize the number of favorable opening hands, and to do this you want to minimize the number of times your wincon is in your opening hand, thus, only play one. Especially if your one goes back into your library if discarded.

I will post a new list once I finalize the few slots I am toying with right now.

Just thought of new terminology we should start thinking about using.

Tapper- heritage, birchlore
Untapper- Nettle (yes I want to consider Nettle an untapper), wirewood, quirion
Starter- glimpse, Regal (ideally through a summoners pact)

You generally want one of each of these categories in your opening hand (or a pact so sub for one or even two), usually, in the order they are written down. This deck is all about getting one of each of these puppies in your opening hand, design accordingly!

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Originally Posted by k2thej

Just thought of new terminology we should start thinking about using.

Tapper- heritage, birchlore
Untapper- Nettle (yes I want to consider Nettle an untapper), wirewood, quirion
Starter- glimpse, Regal (ideally through a summoners pact)

You generally want one of each of these categories in your opening hand (or a pact so sub for one or even two), usually, in the order they are written down. This deck is all about getting one of each of these puppies in your opening hand, design accordingly!

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I'm agree with that clasification if we speak about opening hands and odds. Which is in your opinion the best possible hand/s?

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Originally Posted by abel_lg

I'm agree with that clasification if we speak about opening hands and odds. Which is in your opinion the best possible hand/s?

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Anything that gets you a turn 2 combo. Almost always involves glimpse being in your hand. Something like this:

Glimpse
Land
Heritage
Nettle
Qurion
Land
Llanowar/fyndhorn

Note that you can have a pact to replace anything you would play on the turn you combo. They are literally interchangeable at that point with no drawbacks; one of the main contributions to the consistency of this build.



The main change I am toying with in my build right now is 3 wishes for the emrakul and two other spots. I really like the idea of never having emrakul when you don't need him (again, ups the consistency of opening hands) since you would always be able to get him when you need him as well. It seems to remove the downside of having emrakul in your opening hand without contributing and new drawbacks. It also allows you access to a cradle mid combo if you are running out of mana, and access to a regal force if you are running out of dudes. It seems like a good idea, my only hesitation is what other two cards to remove to free up the three slots for the wishes.


I do, however, think the maindeck is pretty set. Let's face it, it works. The thing keeping this from being a top-tier deck is that there arn't many complementary sideboard cards, especially since anything we add to the deck to, in a sense, up the defense against something will weaken our combo consistency. If we can figure out sideboard choices and what to board out for them to maintain consistency (mainly against sweepers) this will become a top tier deck. But it is the sideboard that is holding it back not the main deck.

My suggestion to strengthen the deck against sweepers would be to include some combination of Elevish Messenger (the Apoc. elf ringleader) and Elvish Champion.

These adjustments to the board allow you to become a more aggro oriented build that is not dependent on comboing off and reduces the opponents ability to gain card advantage and thus in turn reducing there ability to win through brute card advantage.

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Originally Posted by nodahero

My suggestion to strengthen the deck against sweepers would be to include some combination of Elevish Messenger (the Apoc. elf ringleader) and Elvish Champion.

These adjustments to the board allow you to become a more aggro oriented build that is not dependent on comboing off and reduces the opponents ability to gain card advantage and thus in turn reducing there ability to win through brute card advantage.

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I don't think diminishing the combo is the way to beat sweepers. In fact, it hurts us against sweepers. The combo allows you to wait to drop your elves until you will win that turn, removing the threat of any sorcery sweepers. Aggro leaves your guys out vulnerable to all sweepers on the field. It is better to keep everyone you can in hand until you go off. The deck should be played by only dropping the elves you NEED out in order to combo off the following turn.

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Originally Posted by rukcus

I tried Army of Ancients (Glimpse + Food Chain Elves), but the list relies too heavily on Food Chain.

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Well, the Food Chain Elves list relies on Food Chain just as much as the Glimpse Elves list relies on Glimpse of Nature.

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Originally Posted by kicks_422

Well, the Food Chain Elves list relies on Food Chain just as much as the Glimpse Elves list relies on Glimpse of Nature.

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Food chain is 3 mana and it is on the field and can be killed. It is much better to rely on glimpse. Also, we have regal force and pacts to get him if need be.

We should be focusing on sb though.