[Deck] Elves Combo

Hi there. I've bought an Elfball deck recently, and tested it with some great results. I'd like to hear some opinion from experts in this archtype and maybe some advices.

My list:

Lands [17]
14 Forest
2 Gaea's Cradle
1 Dryad Arbor

Spells [8]
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature

Dudes [35]
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Vengevine
4 Fauna Shaman
2 Fyndhorn Elves
2 Llanowar Elves
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader

Sideboard [15]
4 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Choke
3 Faerie Macabre
2 Krosan Grip
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Phyrexian Metamorph

Some explanations:
-No Emrakul maindeck: This is a dead slot when you cannot combo, and Vengevines always get there.
-Viridian Shaman over Viridian Zealot: ETB ability, which can be abused with Symbiote.
-4 Vengevine and 4 Fauna Shaman maindeck: If Fauna Shaman lives until she can tap, you'll see that angry plants are coming with anger.
-No Natural Order/Progenitus sideboard: not really necessary in this metagame.
-Faerie Macabre/Gaddock Teeg/Phyrexian Metamorph: all fetchable with Fauna Shaman.
-Only 2 Gaea's Cradle maindeck: I've tested from 0-4 in numbers, 0 sucks, and 4 your mulligans are very common. So I've settled in 2, which seems to be a good number.

I don't recall the last time Emrakul was a dead slot when I couldn't combo--in fact, with the list I'm using now it's either: a) combo and win, b) don't combo and aggro out, c) don't combo, produce 15 mana anyways and play him from my hand / produce 18 mana and pact for empath then play him / produce 19 mana and GSZ for empath and play him.

The last tournament I went to I tied for second going 3-1, only losing to flashless hulk combo (we meet every tournament, he was super prepared for me, I had shitty draws). The number of times I could just produce 15-20 mana and go off was many. I top decked Emrakul in at least 3 or 4 of the 9 games played and was able to hard cast him every time.

Fierce Empath is absurdly good.

In regards to your deck, you should fit Summoner's Pact in there, I suppose it's not quite as useful to you if you aren't trying to find combo pieces to ramp out on mana. However, pacting for a much needed symbiote can be game changing.

What's your list looking like, Kich? I'm wondering.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bakofried

What's your list looking like, Kich? I'm wondering.

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I'll have to look at it again, it's something like this though:

//Creatures:
4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Birchlore Rangers
4x Wirewood Symbiote
2x Quirion Ranger
3x Elvish Visionary
3x Priest of Titania
1x Elvish Archdruid
2x Fyndhorn Elves
1x Fierce Empath
1x Regal Force
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

//Spells:
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Summoner's Pact

//Lands:
1x Gaea's Cradle
14x Forest


mm.. that should be 60, yeah. That's my list atm. I wouldn't mind going G/W for mirror entity, but, so far I don't see a super need to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vandalize

Hi there. I've bought an Elfball deck recently, and tested it with some great results. I'd like to hear some opinion.

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Your lists seems to have the ability to fall heavily on the aggro plan when the combo just won't happen, which is quite often in the current metagame.

I would definitely suggest you to fit in Mirror Entity. Taking in account that he's fetchable through your Faunas and that you are running 4x Vengevines which he can pump, and has the Symbiote infinite loop, he's the best pump you could run.
You would have to run Fetchlands and Savannah or Birchlore Rangers. If you aren't a Duals fan (with Canadian unleashed all over), I would take out 1Arbor, 1Quirion and 1Visionary or Fauna to make room for 3 Birchlore.

I must say that I can't see why people run Dryad. When I tested it, I always regretted having spend Zenith on it, becausef the sorcery is such an important piece to set the combo or to find an answer that wasting it on mana acceleration just seems absurd.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kich867

I don't recall the last time Emrakul was a dead slot when I couldn't combo.

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Most lists don't have the ease that yours has in producing 15 mana. That's what we always mean by saying that it is a dead card, because if our lists have 15 mana floating in the pool then we've already comboed out anyway. So Emrakul becomes an win-more card, which is dead if we haven't already won.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

I know I'm stating the obvious, but Empath grabs Regal Force, too...that's kind of hawt tech, my friend. I've been fiddling around with a singleton Weird Harvest lately, and this seems like a potential upgrade.

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weird harvest creates awkward siutations where they get snapcaster mage and kill you. just stopping by to mention that.

I'm finally going to be able to play again over this holiday break and I have a quick question. Is regal force optimally a one of now? Some months ago I remember him getting quite a bit of love as a 2 of because there were many times where you needed the second one. Has playtesting shown the costs outweigh the benefits of the second one?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sdefreit8

I'm finally going to be able to play again over this holiday break and I have a quick question. Is regal force optimally a one of now? Some months ago I remember him getting quite a bit of love as a 2 of because there were many times where you needed the second one. Has playtesting shown the costs outweigh the benefits of the second one?

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The deck definitely wants at least one, and sometimes wants two. It depends on the specific build. Versions that play more Archdruids and/or Mirror Entity and/or Vengevine maindeck can usually be OK with just one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rukcus

The deck definitely wants at least one, and sometimes wants two. It depends on the specific build. Versions that play more Archdruids and/or Mirror Entity and/or Vengevine maindeck can usually be OK with just one.

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Aww yes that makes sense. Well I'll probably stick with two since I'm running a more pre-VV list.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Branches

weird harvest creates awkward siutations where they get snapcaster mage and kill you. just stopping by to mention that.

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Yeah...testing was abysmal!!:tongue:

Is anybody still using a 1-shot of Joraga Warcaller in their MD? I have gotten to the point of having 4 Archdruids and 3 Priest of Titania in the deck (I have already pushed out Birchlore Rangers...they went from 4 down to 3, down to 2, then gone) and I'm running out of space considering I want to keep the 1-mana elves at a premium to make sure Glimpse does its job. The Archdruids/Priests give you an incredible amount of consistency though...I've gotten Emrakul turn 3 many times with no Glimpse.

Current List:

4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Fyndhorn Elves
4x Quirion Ranger
4x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Elvish Archdruid
3x Priest of Titania
4x Elvish Visionary
1x Regal Force
1x Joraga Warcaller
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Summoner's Pact
8x Forest
1x Overgrown Tomb
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Wirewood Lodge

Sideboard:
4x Buried Alive
3x Vengevine
4x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Viridan Zealot
2x Autumn's Veil





So for discussion's sake, understanding the budget nature of my list, here are my questions:

1) What is the appropriate number of Quirion Ranger?

2) Wirewood Symbiote?

3) Are Birchlore Rangers neccessary?

4) I will be upgrading the list to add in 3x Green Sun's Zenith. What should I cut to make room?

Rangers, I say 2. Symbiotes, 4--this is unavoidable. They are too good. IMO--Birchlore's are necessary. A 3 of is fine. They allow you to squeeze extra mana out of dudes you normally wouldn't. I rarely get turn 2 wins, but I have, and they're amazing.

Lords I found to feel consistent but in actual practice make the deck highly prone to removal moreso than it already is. Lords are easy to target, they're frequently removed and if you rely on them it's too easy to get wrecked. Aim more for birchlore rangers and heritage druids, it's more tedious, but it's easier to use them than it is a lord for mana.

I've often had games with only a gaea's cradle and a fistful of elves, pseudo-heritage nettle combo up to about 8 mana, tap cradle and hardcast emrakul from my hand. No mana lords (cradle I guess can be considered one), just tapping and untapping nettles with heritage/birchlore activations.

The more 1 mana elves you can play that further the purpose of the deck the better. The fewer lords you can play, the better (especially archdruid, he's an enormous mana sink).

I like the Archdruids for the aggro secondary win/con...I think I have to keep them in here. The swap would have to be putting in 3 Birchlores in the Priest of Titania slots. Is that what you're recommending?

Oh, and what do I cut to make room for GSZ? Summoner's Pact?

BTW, I'm working on getting the Gaea's Cradles...they can be somewhat hard to trade around for.

How about Cabal Therapy In This deck?, Sorry If It Was Discussed Before, I used to watch list that included many, but not lately ...

Do not work as expected?

(sorry for my google-translate-english)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

I like the Archdruids for the aggro secondary win/con...I think I have to keep them in here. The swap would have to be putting in 3 Birchlores in the Priest of Titania slots. Is that what you're recommending?

Oh, and what do I cut to make room for GSZ? Summoner's Pact?

BTW, I'm working on getting the Gaea's Cradles...they can be somewhat hard to trade around for.

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Priests of titania >>>>>>>> Archdruid.

GSZ and Pact are run together, not one or the other. You need to drop something else for them, I posted my list earlier--I've had tremendous success in my meta with it, you can see how I make room for them there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Safety

Yeah...testing was abysmal!!:tongue:

Is anybody still using a 1-shot of Joraga Warcaller in their MD? I have gotten to the point of having 4 Archdruids and 3 Priest of Titania in the deck (I have already pushed out Birchlore Rangers...they went from 4 down to 3, down to 2, then gone) and I'm running out of space considering I want to keep the 1-mana elves at a premium to make sure Glimpse does its job. The Archdruids/Priests give you an incredible amount of consistency though...I've gotten Emrakul turn 3 many times with no Glimpse.

Current List:

4x Heritage Druid
4x Nettle Sentinel
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Fyndhorn Elves
4x Quirion Ranger
4x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Elvish Archdruid
3x Priest of Titania
4x Elvish Visionary
1x Regal Force
1x Joraga Warcaller
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Glimpse of Nature
4x Summoner's Pact
8x Forest
1x Overgrown Tomb
4x Verdant Catacombs
1x Wooded Foothills
1x Wirewood Lodge

Sideboard:
4x Buried Alive
3x Vengevine
4x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Viridan Zealot
2x Autumn's Veil





So for discussion's sake, understanding the budget nature of my list, here are my questions:

1) What is the appropriate number of Quirion Ranger?

2) Wirewood Symbiote?

3) Are Birchlore Rangers neccessary?

4) I will be upgrading the list to add in 3x Green Sun's Zenith. What should I cut to make room?

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Without Gaea's Cradle is viable the Vengevine plan?

I use to have 3 Elvish Archdruid and 3 Priest of Titania but they were removal targets in almost games and i decide to cut them off and only left 2 Priest in MD. With Green Sun's Zenith you can search them in turn 2 if you need it. You can try -4 Elvish Archdruid --> +4 Green Sun's Zenith. (I'm from Argentina so sorry for my poor English)

I played the list under at a local 20 man tournament to a 7-1 record(counting 5 rounds + top 8):

2 Gaea's Cradle
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Bayou
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath

2 Priest of Titania
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Llanowar Elves
1 Elvish Archdruid
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Wirewood Symbiote
2 Quirion Ranger
2 Regal Force
2 Birchlore Rangers
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Summoner's Pact

Sideboard:
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Krosan Grip
3 Thorn of Amethyst
3 Vengevine
3 Buried Alive
1 Choke
1 Mortarpod

I like the maindeck a lot. Lords do draw spot removal and it might have been correct to go -1 priest of titania +1 quirion ranger, however they did lead to a lot of hardcast emrakulks when i was not able to combo (having my draw spells countered or just drawing emrakul instead). With 2 Regal Forces, Fierce Empath should never be necesarry, but there were loads of cases where Fierce Empath would not have been enough and i was really happy with 2 Regal Forces all day. I would want more chokes in the sb, as it is just so good against such a large porition of the metagame, but not sure what i want to cut. All the sb cards were awesome with mortarpod giving me outs to blazing archon out of dredge(as well as stopping bridges), with it, you are probably a favourite even before counting crypts. Krosan Grip never feels amazing, but there needs to be some outs to stuff like coutnerbalance. I played against dredge, mono black, storm(lost), hivemind, UW stoneforge and in the top 8 4 color counterbalance(with firespout and punishing fire), UR delver and finally storm again. Faeries macabre is probably better than crypt as Reanimator should be a harder matchup than dredge. If storm is to be a good matchup a lot more hate is needed, but that depends on your metagame. The vengevine plan is very good against counterbalance/decks with a lot of removal, but it does take up a lot of space, it is possible just playing more chokes and devoting the space for other cards would be more effecient.

Olivier Pamart made 1st @ Magic Bazaar League (Paris) 71 players

Surprising that he made 1st with such tough MUs in the top4. His SB is definitely interesting... Is NO a game-changer vs Reanimator? Haven't tested yet, but looking forward to!

Pamart's list: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=2368

MD:
12 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Heritage Druid
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Vengevine
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Joraga Warcaller

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature


SB:
3 Dismember
1 Progenitus
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Carpet of Flowers
4 Natural Order

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godmode

Olivier Pamart made 1st @ Magic Bazaar League (Paris) 71 players

Surprising that he made 1st with such tough MUs in the top4. His SB is definitely interesting... Is NO a game-changer vs Reanimator? Haven't tested yet, but looking forward to!

Pamart's list: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=2368

MD:
12 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Heritage Druid
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Vengevine
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Joraga Warcaller

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature


SB:
3 Dismember
1 Progenitus
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Carpet of Flowers
4 Natural Order

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Four Vengevines and Fauna Shamans main deck is SUCH A BEATING against those tempo decks that are having success today. Vengevine is so good. Hits hard and fast enough.

I think this approach is better in the new metagame, full of removal and counterspells. The list is far more solid, as it doesn't depend on Glimpse of Nature that much. Casting Emrakul is cute, but Quirion Ranger + Fauna Shaman + Wyrewood Symbiote is so powerful. You guys should give it a try.

Carpet of Flowers looks interesting in this Stoneblade meta, NO+Prog is definitely nasty against Punishing Maverick type decks, but 3 Ooze looks little protection vs Reanimator. I mean Elves can go off on turn 3 easily, but Iona/Elesh turn 2 is also too fast for us. Maybe NO+Prog in the Reanimator MU? They can't do shit about it and puts a 2 turn clock and looks like the only way to survive after Elesh hits the board..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godmode

Carpet of Flowers looks interesting in this Stoneblade meta, NO+Prog is definitely nasty against Punishing Maverick type decks, but 3 Ooze looks little protection vs Reanimator. I mean Elves can go off on turn 3 easily, but Iona/Elesh turn 2 is also too fast for us. Maybe NO+Prog in the Reanimator MU? They can't do shit about it and puts a 2 turn clock and looks like the only way to survive after Elesh hits the board..

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Perhaps, the best hate avaliable for Fauna Shaman builds is Faerie Macabre. Tutorable, and can delay Reanimator for a while.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godmode

Carpet of Flowers looks interesting in this Stoneblade meta, NO+Prog is definitely nasty against Punishing Maverick type decks, but 3 Ooze looks little protection vs Reanimator. I mean Elves can go off on turn 3 easily, but Iona/Elesh turn 2 is also too fast for us. Maybe NO+Prog in the Reanimator MU? They can't do shit about it and puts a 2 turn clock and looks like the only way to survive after Elesh hits the board..

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No prog requires 4 mana to do, which, unfortunately is actually kind of hard to pull off turn 2 with elves unless you have a llanowar, quirion ranger, and heritage druid in your hand with 2 lands and Natural Order. That seems like a stretch.

Faerie Macabre is the best anti-reanimator card around.

This is a list I've been tweaking for a long time. Still feel really weak to Team America, but other than that it's very well-rounded I feel.

Creatures: 34
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Wirewood Symbiote
3 Elvish Visionary
3 Fauna Shaman
3 Quirion Ranger
3 Vengevine
2 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Priest of Titania
1 Mirror Entity
1 Regal Force

Spells: 11
4 Glimpse of Nature
3 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Chord of Calling
1 Crop Rotation

Land: 15
4 Forest
3 Gaea's Cradle
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
1 Savannah
1 Dryad Arbor

@boneclub24 Take a look at the list I've posted in the previous page if you have problems against TA-like decks.


Yesterday I played a few games with Olivier Pamart's list and it was great. It's very consistent and seems to be like Emrakul or Mirror may be "win more" cards that could give slots to some consistensy.

I want to ask something to you all. I've been playing dredge for a long time and for a long time most of the dredge players have been playing unecessary cards like Flame-Kin Zealot and other "win more/overkilish" Dread Return targets. Now and in the last year, the deck has evolved leaps and bounds due to players discussion, information sharing and kinda working together in a direction that leads the deck to it's maximum potencial and I for sure elves can be a better deck. It all comes to a point where meta can pretty much dictate your playstyle with the deck but can a list without Emrakul or Mirror could be the better based on consistensy and resilience?

I'm not a big fan of fauna shaman because it just feels so... slow. Turn 3 is the earliest you can activate her unless you use ESGs like some lists I've seen. Of course, turn 3 is the earliest you're recurring VVs with any list, so it might not be that bad. This is the list I've been playing
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Regal Force
3 Vengevine
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Priest of Titania

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature
3 Intuition

4 Gaea's Cradle
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Tropical Island
2 Forest

SB: 4 Cabal Therapy
SB: 3 Duress
SB: 1 Viridian Shaman
SB: 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
SB: 1 Vengevine
SB: 3 Purify the Grave
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Savannah

The sideboard is still experimental, but it hits everything that really gives me trouble. One problem is that my list is extremely weak against surgical extraction and extirpate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godmode

I want to ask something to you all. I've been playing dredge for a long time and for a long time most of the dredge players have been playing unecessary cards like Flame-Kin Zealot and other "win more/overkilish" Dread Return targets. Now and in the last year, the deck has evolved leaps and bounds due to players discussion, information sharing and kinda working together in a direction that leads the deck to it's maximum potencial and I for sure elves can be a better deck. It all comes to a point where meta can pretty much dictate your playstyle with the deck but can a list without Emrakul or Mirror could be the better based on consistensy and resilience?

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Dredge can win without those because it has inevitability: it puts a huge threat on the battlefield, disrupts the opponent with discard, then can creature more threats the next turn with Ichorid.

Elves only has the first option: put a staggering amount of Elves on the battlefield in one turn. However, it is really susceptible to mass removal like Firespout, Pyroclasm, Wrath, EE, etc. For this reason, having a way to ensure they survive is important.

One method for this is to make sure they don't get another turn. Emrakul neatly achieves this. Another is to win the same turn, Mirror Entity ensures this (with infinite mana). Storm based spells also work, but have less synergy with the rest of the deck.

I do not think that the deck is functional without this "win-con" method; the deck would otherwise become "Elven Advantage" that Infinitum often brings up.

@Godmode: Depends. Concordant Crossroads acts as a win condition and utility in one (albeit it gets much better with Priest/Archdruid). If you run Vengevine getting a few of them on the field with a full grip of elves on hand is fairly inevitable. Ezuri is an on-color option to Mirror Entity should you not want to splash white. If you're something of an asshole I suppose getting infinite life with Staff of Domination shenanigans and using GSZ to prevent you from decking somewhat counts as well.

@rukcus and Infinitium


Well, Olivier made 1st in two tournaments in a row (57 and 71 players) in the last two months, in a very competitive meta.

Link here: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=2228&d=215190

and here: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=2368&d=215777

Allways using the same list based alot on consistensy, with the VV/Joraga/Glimpse combo win-con, can go infinite counters with Joraga Warcaller because of the Nettle + GSZ synergy, you never deck urself.. There's no dead-cards in hand and that's gotta make a significant diference. Let's be real too, when the VV gang hits the board, it's pretty much over - any thing plus might be "win-more".

I'm just trying to be the most open minded possible in order to improve the deck I love (not despising Emrakul/Mirror lists).

I'm definitely not knocking the list nor the player. It does however seem that the particular metagame is advantageous to beatdown Elves. Especially against most of the SFM decks, Elves fights on another level (orthogonal if you will) that those decks aren't equipped to handle properly. When there's a lot of Tempo, Elves shines (lack of mass removal in those decks).

I've won more "stale" games by simply casting Emrakul with mediocre hands + gaea's Cradle. Emrakul also allows you to outrace certain decks (Dredge, combo, High Tide, etc) in which you have to put in all your resources to combo off, but can't pass the turn back. I've been sold on Emrakul due to this scenario; but i can understand some might not prefer it.

Olivier lists (and Vengevines MD lists) doesn't depend on Glimpse of Nature that much. By the way, they don't depend on it at all.

I've been testing this configuration for some weeks and about ~70% of the matches I won, I didn't cast a single Glimpse of Nature.

Vengevine is simply stunning. Mostly in a deck that runs 30+ creatures. If Fauna Shaman lives until she can tap (and Wirewood Symbiote allows us to do that), she can get AT LEAST 2 activations (4 Symbiotes + 4 Quirion Rangers), and that means that those angry vines are coming.

Moreover, that list is more resilient against mass removal (namely Wrath of God, Perish and Firespout). Just bounce some elves, and replay them, to get Vengevines back (which makes Elvish Visionary much better, actually).

The only bad interaction of Vengevines, is that Surgical Extraction is quite popular nowdays. But that's why Olivier plays Natural Order in sideboard. And it works.

My list is the following:

13 Forest
3 Gaea's Cradle (do not own the fourth, but not sure if needed).
1 Dryad Arbor (singleton to abuse Fauna Shaman and GSZ)

4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Vengevine
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature

SB: 4 Thorn of Amethyst
SB: 3 Choke
SB: 3 Faerie Macabre
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze

I didn't opt for NO+Prog sideboard, because my meta has a lot of Combo (Storm, Hive Mind and Dredge).

Choke is awsome, and it's a must handle spell against Control. If it sticks, GG.

@Vandalize

How do you do agaisnt combo decks like ANT, Show and Tell, Dredge, Reaminator...? Thorn of Amethyst seems to be very fragile or easy to get dealt with and ultimately will take consistensy from the deck.
This deck seems to be the best version of Elves in the current meta (Stoneblade, Punishing Zoo, Canadian Threshold, Stone Bant, Punishing Maverick) just because of it's versatility and consistensy, but in a storm/combo meta the Emrakul/Mirror seems to be a must.

Again, this all comes to a question of metagame

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godmode

@Vandalize

How do you do agaisnt combo decks like ANT, Show and Tell, Dredge, Reaminator...? Thorn of Amethyst seems to be very fragile and easy to deal with.
Obviously this deck it's better in the current meta (Stoneblade, Punishing Zoo, Canadian Threshold, Stone Bant, Punishing Maverick) just because of it'sversatility and consistensy, but in a storm/combo meta the Emrakul/Mirror seems to be a must.

Again, this all comes to a question of metagame

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By the time you can cast Emrakul or Mirror Entity (turn 3, at least), the ANT player has already stomed you, or you've been Cabal Therapied twice by Dredge.

So, Thorn delays them pretty well (you might gain 1 turn, or 2). That's enough time to set up Vengevines, or even GSZ into Gaddock Teeg.

I know this deck is very poor in a Combo infected meta, but if you tweak the sideboard a little, and be a little lucky, you can win many matches.

I've been playing Elves for a while now (with VV MD) but I keep having problems with the BUG MU. Any advice on your sideboarding strategy to tackle this problem? Most BUGlists in my meta play with Liliana of the veil, snapcaster + churgical Extraction & Deed. (Deed & Extraction after SB)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darklingske

I've been playing Elves for a while now (with VV MD) but I keep having problems with the BUG MU. Any advice on your sideboarding strategy to tackle this problem? Most BUGlists in my meta play with Liliana of the veil, snapcaster + churgical Extraction & Deed. (Deed & Extraction after SB)

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My plan against BUG used to be to cheat out VVs, but if they stock up on extractions, it will be a lot harder. What i've been doing is siding in Cabal Therapy and Though seize to aggressively attack their removal while still trying to cheat out VVs.

Also, I'm going to try out a Fauna Shaman build. Though with intuition, I don't know what to take out. Also going to try and fit in brainstorms with my intuition build since I'm already splashing blue.

Hi guys,

It's Pamart Olivier. I think my decklist it's the best if you haven't combo.deck in your meta.

Decklist full combo it's not good actually because lot of tempo deck.

Natural Order it's very very good Vs hate grave and it's obvious win in lot of Mus (Maverick, Zoo, Loam...).

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Originally Posted by blind

Hi guys,

It's Pamart Olivier. I think my decklist it's the best if you haven't combo.deck in your meta.

Decklist full combo it's not good actually because lot of tempo deck.

Natural Order it's very very good Vs hate grave and it's obvious win in lot of Mus (Maverick, Zoo, Loam...).

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First of all, congratulations on your recent sucess!

I've been testing your list and the results are great vs any deck other than ANT, show n tell, Reanimator - it's kind of a coin toss, it's a question of who goes off first. The Scavenging Ooze has been helping in the Reanimator MU tho. I love the list, its probably the most consistent Elves deck I've played. But, at the end of the day the best style to play depends on the metagame despite the core of the deck beeing allways the same.

I just want to ask you how do you deal with Reanimator decks? And what about combo/storm? Play and pray? And by the way, can you tell us a little about your choice to play Carpet of Flowers in the SB?


Edit: I gotta say the results are very similar to Samuel Poulain's list. The diference it's a big change in playstyle both in MD and SB. I love both lists, I don't even know what list to use if I go to a tournament!

Why don't you play Ezuri, Renegade Leader over Joraga Warcaller? He can pump the turn he comes into play even without Symbiote's Bounce Protection and also gives trample. I guess there's not much difference between them when you go off, but Ezuri is better than Joraga IMO when you're not going off, but just going beatdown.

Also, Ezuri is better against Counterbalance.deck

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I just want to ask you how do you deal with Reanimator decks? And what about combo/storm? Play and pray? And by the way, can you tell us a little about your choice to play Carpet of Flowers in the SB?

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Reanimator it's not a good Mu, Scavenging Ooze is too slow. Vs Combo : I think pray it's good game plan. :) If you side 5-6 cards Vs combo (Cabal, Gaddock, Orim...) you can always lose. This Mu becomes less bad but still bad.

Carpet of Flowers is pretty good Vs RUG Tempo. In this Mu, post sb, Llanowar-like are very bad (Submerge = Timewalk). Ooze it's very important in this Mu (gain life is relevant).

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Why don't you play Ezuri, Renegade Leader over Joraga Warcaller?

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Because he cost 1. My decklist has a high curve. I rarely need Joraga to kill, 4 VV is suffisant. I wanted a victory condition the least restrictive and Joraga it's better : He cost 1 (good foor VV and Glimpse plan...)

About my previous deck, I just realized that I'm an idiot and coffin purge does the same thing as purify the grave, but is in the color that I'm already playing.

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Originally Posted by Godmode

Olivier Pamart made 1st @ Magic Bazaar League (Paris) 71 players

Surprising that he made 1st with such tough MUs in the top4. His SB is definitely interesting... Is NO a game-changer vs Reanimator? Haven't tested yet, but looking forward to!

Pamart's list: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=2368

MD:
12 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
1 Dryad Arbor

4 Heritage Druid
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Vengevine
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
2 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Joraga Warcaller

4 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Glimpse of Nature


SB:
3 Dismember
1 Progenitus
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Carpet of Flowers
4 Natural Order

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I just want to say that this build is completely nuts and I want to give huge props for the creator. I've tested the shit out of it and the way everything plays out is just simply amazing. The fact that it doesn't rely on manalords at all shows that the amount of mana you create with cradle/heritage is enough and running priest or archdruid now feels like it's absolute overkill and it is completely unnecessary to run them. I'm so glad that finaly someone found a perfect elf list and hoghly recommend it to anyone playing elves. Great job Olivier Pamart!

Really nice list!

1. Wouldn't it be useful to splash Blue & play 3 Intuition, 1 Fauna Shaman, 1 Land instead of 4 Fauna Shaman,1 Gaea's Cradle? I guess Olivier doesn't splash because of the many Tempo/Canadian Threshold Decks with Stilfe/Wasteland in the current Metagame.

!Questions on the sideboard:
2. For what creatures do you need Dismember except Ethersworn Canonist? Is it that good?
3. How do you use Carpet of Flowers? Where is it useful, how & in which matchups do you sideboard it in?
Thanks :)