[Primer] Elves!

[Poron]

(decks that pack Humility often run 4 Terminus in their 75)

so Humility is a bitch to you. ok

[MD.Ghost]

EDIT: And stuff a Viridian Shaman somewhere in there. Just wrong to not play him. No Shaman maindeck, you lose to one Souls token carrying Jitte. You don't want to lose to one Souls token carrying #¤!&!*!.

With Pridemage/Sliver maindeck you also don´t lose against a flying Jitte and have an edge against rare stuff like Moat, Counterbalance, Energy Field, Enchantress etc. For game 1 (with less disruption): Lingering Souls + Jitte + Attack, are more than enough time for us to end the game with a successful Comboturn.

I think, if you fear Deathblade/Stoneblade decks, Viridian Shaman is a good sideboard option (and can win random games against MUD/ UB Tezz / or other Chalice&Co decks). As i said, game 1 we are most of the time fast enough to avoid an active jitte, so we need stuff like Viridian Shaman only game 2 and 3. After boarding, most games goes longer because we have to fight through more disruption. In these cases we need something to fight back. As discussed before, Viridian Shaman, Cabal Therapy, Abrupt Decay, NO+Prog, Ooze etc are enough options to grind out longer games.

how do you deal with a resolved Humility?

I have 1 Oblivion Ring (mainly against Show&Tell, but also helps against Blazing Archon and stuff like Moat, Peacekeeper, Iona, Elesh Norn etc.) On the one hand it is a lucky one off, but i don´t have more sideboard slots. On the other hand we are a combodeck with a very good card draw engine.

I agree with Zombie, normally Humility isn´t so scary with 30-32 creatures, you can still cast most stuff (a 1/1 for 1 mana is ok) and can cast Glimpsechains. If you fear Humility you can also add 1 Pendelhaven (i had good results with it) or sideboard cards like Krosan Grip. Sure Humility + Jitte is a nasty combo, but in this case you can also draw an uncounterable answer for the equipment (Abrupt Decay) and overwhelm the opponent with an 1/1 army.

EDIT: Terminus + Humility, in this case they also have Counterbalance etc. Miracle is a difficult matchup, you need a balanced play between enough pressure and something to recover (means don´t overextend).

[Kayradis]

Miracle is a difficult matchup, you need a balanced play between enough pressure and something to recover (means don´t overextend).

You should never overextend, even if the deck wants to go that way. That applies to any deck.

[Zombie]

Random thought that struck me reading old articles: If we still played the Entity win, the deck has enough spells to combo-Deathrite people dead through a Moat or somesuch.Probably not relevant at all, but an interesting curiosity nonetheless.

[igri_is_a_bk]

I just played against the new Thespians/Depths deck and got worked game one because I couldn't interact with their combo at all. Games two and three, I brought in Therapy for Living Wish and hitting that really messed up his deck. I'd like to play this more, but that's what worked for me if you get a chance to play it.

[Kayradis]

It's in my opinion that G2 against combo, removing the master key in their combo with cabal therapy is how it's done.

[Lemnear]

It's in my opinion that G2 against combo, removing the master key in their combo with cabal therapy is how it's done.

Requires that you know, what to name with therapy to snatch their most valuable card in hand, something that sadly even the majority of combo players is not aware off ... lol

[nudon]

Random thought that struck me reading old articles: If we still played the Entity win, the deck has enough spells to combo-Deathrite people dead through a Moat or somesuch.Probably not relevant at all, but an interesting curiosity nonetheless.

You can still glimpse combo through a moat (and other similar cards) with a non-sick DRS, untap effects, and birchlore ranger. After drawing up a good chunk of your deck, it's easy to drain for 8 on your turn and another 8 on your opponent's turn with symbiote. If extra sorceries are needed, you can always discard extra gszs at the end of your turn and drain again on their upkeep. Even with a sick DRS, your opponent is still on a 1 turn clock (assuming you've played all of the symbiotes and quirion rangers in your deck out).

[Julian23]

Before somebody says this line of play only works every once in a blue moon: I've seen it happen more often than you'd think. Sadly, most of the time it was people giving up midcombo without realizing all they'd had to do was to discard their GSZ's at end of turn.

[Zombie]

TIL: Machineguns are better than they seem.

[trevaftw]

On the subject of miracles, why aren't people just running more cavern of souls?

[jrw1985]

TIL: Machineguns are better than they seem.

Ok, that the fuck does TIL stand for? I'm only used to seeing it in mortgage banking where it stands for Truth in Lending. Now I've seen it like five times today and I'm lost.

[Dice_Box]

Ok, that the fuck does TIL stand for? I'm only used to seeing it in mortgage banking where it stands for Truth in Lending. Now I've seen it like five times today and I'm lost.

Today I Learned

[chinEsE girl]

TIL stands for today I learned.

Also on the subject of cavern, sure you can name elf and play out one uncounterable creature per turn. But that means you have to cut down on fetches or duals or cradles, you can't have your symbiote a come down off it, and you can't glimpse chain with only 1 uncounterable creature. It's better just to play bayous, have a pridemage/sliver in the board, and have some number of abrupt decays.

[Dice_Box]

On Cavern.

Playing Goblins or Stompy it has its place. In Elves what does it get you? You have one critter a turn of the 3 you play unable to be counted, only if it starts in your opening hand and it limits what you can play... I mean when you look at your opening hand what do you want to see, the card that makes everything simple but offers only a colour or two or do you want:

A single creature unable to be counted
Unable to play spells off it (GSZ first turn or without a mana dork)
Unable to play the non chosen creature type
Able to be eaten by wasteland

Cavern does not suit this deck. It runs too few mana that have other roles to fill. If you really wanted to run them I would take out your Cradles, you need everything else to either be a fetch target or be a fetch.

[Kayradis]

No cavern.
It's anti-synergic.
And please. Do not cut Gaea's Cradle. Nothing is more enjoyable than using your last remaining G to recycle your used cradle for a new one mid-way thru a Glimpse chain.

Also. I do believe now there should be a test before playing in a tournament with Elves!

Q : Do you think you can do worse than Jackie Lee?

A : Yes? Can you count to 20? Here's Mono-R Burn. Play that instead.

I'm still astonished by how bad she played it.

[Dice_Box]

Hay, I play burn too... Just a question, it's 17, 18, 20 right?

Also I was not meaning for anyone to really cut cradle. I just wanted to point out that all you could do to play cavern in this deck was to cut cradle. A statement to prove how silly the idea is.

Lastly, does anyone have a link to this video? I see you all talk about it buy I have not seen it yet.

[Kayradis]

Lastly, does anyone have a link to this video? I see you all talk about it buy I have not seen it yet.

Look for the last SCG Sunday.

Round 5 I believe.

[catmint]

I had to go away... could not watch Jackie... too painful. But also the other guy had no clue what he was doing... lol.
If people want to take difficult decks they don't know properly to a tournament that is fine...but why do you send those on camera!?!

[Kayradis]

I think we (I?) ranted enough about that dark day in Elves! history.

Didn't Danyul or somebody else had the whole thing foiled?

I was thinking about a weird interaction yesterday with [card]Chord Of Calling[/card], Cratherhoof Behemoth and Ensnaring Bridge.

Situation :

Let's say you have 1 card in hand(CoC) and 6-8 Elves (1/1,1/2) and Ensnaring Bridge in play.
Declare Attackers Step, swing with the good old green swarm
Declare Blockers Step, opponent block everything, thinking you're doing a desperate swing.
Before Damage Step, Chords of Calling, fetching my good friend Hoofy Doofy, EtB trigger, gives between +7/+7 or +9/+9 tramble.
Pass Priority.

Will it work or I'm just going way off the road?