[Primer] Elves!

[Prdgychild]

Bringing the following list to SCG Worcester in a few weeks. Still have 3 SB slots to nail down- I'm thinking the 4th Decay is absolutely going to sneak in there, as I know the field will have quite a few strong Miracles players, and I'm thinking potentially a Shaman of the Pack because I'll probably see the occasional lands player and I want something high impact (3 power and drain 1/2 life as a standalone threat vs miracles is decent, trades with most of the creatures I think I'll see there), but I've been wracking my brain for a 15th SB card that has high impact against miracles while also having some game against the other fair decks (ie garruk/bitterblossom/etc)- any thoughts?

The rest of the list:
Creatures:29
2 Dryad Arbor
2 Birchlore Rangers
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Heritage Druid
3 Nettle Sentinel
3 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Craterhoof Behemoth

Spells:13
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
2 Nissa, Vital Force

Lands:18
2 Bayou
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard:12
3 Cabal Therapy
2 Pithing Needle
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay


Edit: Specifically worried about the miracles list that A. Daas/Bob Huang/Chris Stitson(mzfroste) all play, as I expect that winning the tournament will involve beating them as well as people who have shamelessly copied their 75s. 3 predict/1 ee/1 cj- notable that build sides in wear//tear, so sylvan library and other enchantments open us up for a 2-for-1.

I went from a 2x Nissa to 1 Nissa and 1 jitte and oh man is jit amazing. It's understandable not running it. Sotp I've noticed over about 50 games played has been my most missed card.


Leovold or Shawman though........ Rec sage is good against miracles surprisingly. Also jkibb wrote that you can meta miracles players and actually leave NO in against them. Miracles not good matchup but play style has a huge effect on this matchup.

[abombdiggity]

Leovold or Shawman though........ Rec sage is good against miracles surprisingly. Also jkibb wrote that you can meta miracles players and actually leave NO in against them. Miracles not good matchup but play style has a huge effect on this matchup.

I've debated a second Reclamation Sage in the board, I ran one as recently as GP NJ- in the matchups where it's good (Miracles, Chalice decks, random jank like enchantress/engineered plague/NoSB) a second one is great, especially in the 2 Cavern of Souls builds- when you want it, you want to see it early and have it generate some nice value- machine gunning strixes/shardlesses/etc.

I do keep in at least 1 Natural Order (occasionally two if i see Venser) against some Miracles builds- typically the creature heavy builds that have a stronger late game with Venser/Clique/Karakas. They tend to not be running the 5th-6th hard counterspell, or if they do it's something like spell snare that's irrelevant against NO- my gameplan of minimizing 2-for1s is more difficult with the amount of instant speed blockers they can throw down- we'll often find ourself wanting to win as soon as possible, and the "i-win" button of Natural Order when they've tapped out is often a little better than trying to grind that style of Miracles out.

[resum]

would pendelhaven be a good 15th card? i like it vs delver and vs miracles.

[Shagstaman]

Bringing the following list to SCG Worcester in a few weeks. Still have 3 SB slots to nail down- I'm thinking the 4th Decay is absolutely going to sneak in there, as I know the field will have quite a few strong Miracles players, and I'm thinking potentially a Shaman of the Pack because I'll probably see the occasional lands player and I want something high impact (3 power and drain 1/2 life as a standalone threat vs miracles is decent, trades with most of the creatures I think I'll see there), but I've been wracking my brain for a 15th SB card that has high impact against miracles while also having some game against the other fair decks (ie garruk/bitterblossom/etc)- any thoughts?

[list-o!]

Edit: Specifically worried about the miracles list that A. Daas/Bob Huang/Chris Stitson(mzfroste) all play, as I expect that winning the tournament will involve beating them as well as people who have shamelessly copied their 75s. 3 predict/1 ee/1 cj- notable that build sides in wear//tear, so sylvan library and other enchantments open us up for a 2-for-1.

So I'd start with decay #4. I played an event 2 weeks ago with only 3 decay and I wished I had the fourth almost every match...I agree on cutting library, as it can be a liability when they bring in w//t, and if you have zero actual artifacts or enchantments it can be a forced mulligan to them (although if it sits in play for even 1 turn, you can pull way ahead...same with needle on SDT). I do like shaman, as ensnaring bridge and moat are both decently popular answers to TNN.

I tried a 1-of marsh casualties...it was gas. It doesn't really help the miracles matchup but it does wonders vs the sultai lists, DnT, and fringe tribal stuff (none of which are terrible matchups, but all lose-able).

Lastly...not a huge fan of Nissa. I know you've been using her to great effect on mtgo; but shes just not that great in paper I've found. There's a lot more decks in paper that don't care about her.. The change mentioned above to do 1 nissa, 1 jitte seems like a step in the right direction.

oh...I love 2 caverns btw.

[Shagstaman]

would pendelhaven be a good 15th card? i like it vs delver and vs miracles.

just main deck it. sb cards need to be high impact, and pendelhaven (while great) only really shines in corner cases. surely you can cut a land somewhere...usually a fetch?

[injakari]

What if you ran a sword out to pressure the miracles player without overextending your board and not dragging the game out as long? War and Peace could be nice since they'll have a grip and it'd turn off StP or Fire and Ice to blast something and draw with your beats.

[Prdgychild]

What if you ran a sword out to pressure the miracles player without overextending your board and not dragging the game out as long? War and Peace could be nice since they'll have a grip and it'd turn off StP or Fire and Ice to blast something and draw with your beats.

jitte

[injakari]

True, jitte is definitely first equipment choice, but I've stole a couple miracle games with War and Peace after my jitte was countered. But this was FNM territory. ;)

[Shagstaman]

What if you ran a sword out to pressure the miracles player without overextending your board and not dragging the game out as long? War and Peace could be nice since they'll have a grip and it'd turn off StP or Fire and Ice to blast something and draw with your beats.

The "swords of" cycle isn't bad...all except feast and famine are really viable. But yea, jitte can do most of that for cheaper while also giving splash damage in creature mirrors and delver decks (lol dnt hates it!!)

[injakari]

The "swords of" cycle isn't bad...all except feast and famine are really viable. But yea, jitte can do most of that for cheaper while also giving splash damage in creature mirrors and delver decks (lol dnt hates it!!)

Haha, they hate the taste of their own medicine. ;)

[Julian23]

I don't know. I probably wouldn't bring in Jitte vs DnT, it's really hard to connect and a pretty hefty mana investment for how fragile it can be. It's not a bad card and I can see myself using it if I am really low on reasonable cards to bring in vs them, but I doubt it.

[Shagstaman]

I don't know. I probably wouldn't bring in Jitte vs DnT, it's really hard to connect and a pretty hefty mana investment for how fragile it can be. It's not a bad card and I can see myself using it if I am really low on reasonable cards to bring in vs them, but I doubt it.

You kinda just described why I dont play jitte :)
but yea, "IF" it connects...its hard for them to beat.

[Julian23]

It’s the start to a fresh new season! The previous weekend in Milan some of the best and brightest minds in European Eternal gathered in the Lombard capital of Milan to crown the first champions of the season. And I was there, too! With MKM introducing the so-called “Power 8” rewards system, my plans are to hit all their events this season, hopefully finishing among the Top8 players in their leaderboard to collect the sweet attendance rewards of up to 300,- € per event. Last year Milan was my first step in establishing a strong lead in the rankings that I would not drop until the end of the season — and I was determined to repeat this performance in 2017! Kind of. As determined as someone not playing Miracles can be, I guess.

Hey guys, finally finished my report for the previous weekend's MKM Series Milan tournament I attended with Elves (Legacy) and Ad Nauseam (Modern). Check it otu on my website!

MKM Milan 2017 – Top16 in Legacy & Modern

Cheers,
Julian

[Krasman]

Anyone running Elves at Eternal weekend in Paris this weekend?

[abombdiggity]

Brought the list I posted a few days ago to the Community Legacy League quarterly (kind of a low turnout) on Saturday and a GPT today and won both. List felt really good, only card I wasn't completely sold on was Leovold, who underperformed in every matchup except the GPT finals vs Aluren. 2-0'd every match that I didn't ID. Today's matchups:
R1: BUG Delver (Stifle)
R2: D&T
R3: Dredge
R4: Lands
R5: Miracles (ID)
Top 8:
Eldrazi (guy had chalice on 1 T1 of both games, but wasn't able to land TKS on turn 2)
Lands (he scooped)
BUG Aluren

Leovold has been pretty subpar fairly often recently- the games it's been good have been nice, but the mana cost makes him super awkward to keep and protect with Symbiote. He also just eats it to Terminus or is a lightning today for removal- if we're looking for value, a GSZ for Visionary does the same thing for less and we can cast the card right away. Vs storm and sneak & show, getting it t2-3 is still rough because they've probably already gotten their cantrips/discard off and are primed to go off- it's still a very good card, don't get me wrong- it's just not always as high impact as we need it to be to justify jumping though hoops to cast it and having another clunky card mid-combo.

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

Congratulations. Sounds like you had a great experience. I'd be interested in more detail about your Lands match-ups. Thanks.

[Tormod]

I find ruric thar to be pretty relevant right now, playing him over leovold, and actually find ruric thar easier to cast.

[abombdiggity]

Congratulations. Sounds like you had a great experience. I'd be interested in more detail about your Lands match-ups. Thanks.

Lands is a pretty interesting matchup. The data I keep for my matchup history shows it's a pretty even matchup (it's probably my 2nd most played matchup due to its prevalence in my local meta, GWP of 48% over about 700 matches iirc), but the games are usually incredibly swingy- either we're blown out by one of their high impact cards (chasm/tabernacle) or they don't have it and we can do whatever we want. The longer the games go, the better chance they have getting there- protecting a scooze/drs is usually important, and gaining life/controlling the GY is critical if the game gets past t3/t4, and they have the tools to completely strip our resources.

Couple notes I've had on the matchup:

Biggest worry I usually have is that our combo is met by a crop rotation into Chasm or they EOT combo and we can't block a 20/20. Being stingy with our life and conservative with DRS can get us above 20 and buy us a turn. I usually look for them to tap out of green mana and go for it, but if they play conservitive it's on us to play correctly- keep track of everything they loam back and as they play it to see if they're leaving us an opening, and if going for an explosive turn try to pass it to them with both a Cradle and Heritage druid in case they have tabernacle + wasteland OR pfire, if they have both were going to have a bad time.

GQ is much better for them than port since we can use Cradle to negate tabernacle through port.

They will bring in permanent based hate for us, Chalice or Sphere. I am fine with chalice as we can hopefully maneuver around it enough to NO for lethal while letting chalice cut off crop rotation.

They SB in: Chalice or Sphere, Tireless Tracker (they bring it in since we SB in surgicals), 2nd Molten Vortex if available/Kozeliks Return, SB out some number of Maze of Ith, Bojuka Bog/Karakas/Manabond

I SB: + Surgical, 2ish decay, pithing needle, Shaman of the Pack/Scooze/Reclamation Sage if in SB but not MD.

[Noctalor]

jitte

Honestly, jitte is not that good against miracles

[Prdgychild]

Honestly, jitte is not that good against miracles

I agree. But i believe it is better than the swords due to mana costs.