Yes i have. I play tested it extensivley for like the past month. I just feel it needs something more than just NO+Prog
I did basically this by adding Survivals to the deck. This gives you 3 engines (NO, Surv, Glimpse) and lots of redundancy in the enablers. Worth noting that hardcast Regal Force off Druid or Priest tends to also mean game. I play relevant numbers of both to facilitate an "untap and win"-playstyle to put the opponent under different kinds of pressure. Also, I main Elvish Champion that can be dug for via. Pact or Survival, along with Druids, which enables for beatdown victory.
I find having a number of different threats is the best way to go with the deck, and as such have pushed that angle as it suddenly makes you very strong against Countertop & improves your match-up against disruptive decks like Thrash and Zoo, while not giving up your good match-ups. The engines also support each other very well; Glimpse acting as a Recall is fine for digging for e.g. NO>Proge win and NO>Regal can kickstart Glimpse-engine, while Survival enables straight win with Glimpse without dedicating any slots on wincons, and digs out Visionaries + Symbiotes for a draw engine if you can't go off or need a different win condition.
Eldariel - Having played with legit Survivals, how do you feel about Fauna Shaman? If I wanted to abuse that card, would I be better off just hunting down some Survivals?
I feel Fauna Shaman is really very slow in the deck. You absolutely want a secondary Haste-enabler for it, while Survival actually acts as one itself, and even then it's nothing but a slow tutor, while Survival sort of acts as a constant quality enhancer. Being an Elf isn't all that useful when the ability you want out of him requires Tap anyways. Survival can also effectively combo by itself while Fauna acts as a small enabler at best.
Thanks for your input, Eldariel. I guess I just wanted somebody else to confirm what I was afraid to hear. A few of the Legacy players I talked to at the M11 prerelease were a bit surprised that I was trying to trade for Fauna Shamans (Shamen for plural?) so hard when Survivals were, at the time, easier to get and presumably better.
@AznSeal - He posted a couple lists within the first few pages of the thread.
Holy crap.
I tested a modified survival list based on the survival list he posted and it's AMAZING. Usually if someone sets a chalice at 1, i lose, but survival made it so i can keep going. It's cool to have my opponent worry about either getting grapeshotted, progenitused, or just beaten down by elves pumped by the lords from survival.
It's really cool. Any suggestions?
Survival
Lands: 14
5 Forest
4 Taiga
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Gaea's Cradle
Creatures: 33
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
2 Birchlore Rangers
2 Wirewood Symbiote
3 Elvish Visionary
3 Priest of Titania
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Elvish Champion
1 Eternal Witness
1 Regal Force
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Anger
1 Progenitus
1 Viridian Zealot
Others: 13
4 Glimpse of Nature
2 Summoner's Pact
3 Survival of the Fittest
3 Natural Order
1 Grapeshot
No SB yet
And has anyone tried the living wish engine for more answers?
I came upon this list full circle, trying everything to get the most value out of the survival+vengevine engine. I had a madness list with LED, but the format can handle ten power on turn one with frightening ease. From there I moved to UG survival, but couldn't beat merfolk for the life of me, and Goyf was more and more lackluster every time I played with it. Modern zoo lists are designed with that card in mind. Finally, I started running more and more mana critters, leaving me with the following list:
8 sacklands
4 tropical
5 forest
3 gaea's cradle (tried crop rotation, felt like garbage without at least a bajuka bog or cephalid coliseum or something.)
9 Llanowar
1 Wirewood Symbiote (should be two)
1 Quirion
1 Visionary
4 Birchlore
4 Heritage
4 Nettle
3 Elvish Archdruid (Seems good so far, but I hadn't considered forestwalk before reading this thread...)
1 Wilt-Lief Liege (Added to boost vengevines and allow for a turn three kill, as well as beating down itself.)
4 Vengevine
2 Basking Rootwalla (For instant-speed recursion)
4 Survival of the Fittest
3 Brainstorm
SB:
4 Force of Will
4 Spell Pierce
2 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Daze
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Trygon Predator (seems weak)
Other cards I'm considering:
Cloud of Faeries as a way of untapping Cradle and adding some oomph while upping the blue count for the boarded forces.
Regal Force: Tried it, found it was answered more often than not. Still on the fence.
Selkie Hedge Mage: Ups the blue count and provides a serious tempo hindrance to zoo, especially if we have double of both. Unfortunately, we don't really want to be fetching nonbasics against them.
SB Mindbreak trap. Really good against some decks, or even some openings like mox-ritual-sneak attack. Seems worse than Pierce but better than Daze for what this deck needs.
I messed around with the Glimpse package for a bit and couldn't really get it to work, so I switched to brainstorm and threw some forces in the side. It's probably more correct to take a standard version of elfball and add 3-4 vengevines into the sideboard, as the french seem to be doing. Still, I like the ability to beat chalice of the void G1, not to mention countertop, grim lavamancer, sharpshooter, multiple bits of removal, board wipes, and countermagic in general. Oh hey, isn't that most of the format? I'm guessing I'll be playing some version of this in Columbus.
Hey guys,
Just played a tourney in Pawtucket yesterday. Unfortunately went 2-3 but with a few VERY tiny tweaks I would have gone undefeated. Here is my decklist:
4 Birchlore Rangers
2 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
6 Forest
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Heritage Druid
1 Joraga Warcaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Regal Force
4 Summoner's Pact
1 Tendrils of Agony
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Viridian Zealot
1 Weird Harvest
4 Wirewood Symbiote
SB:
1 Elvish Champion
3 Fecundity
3 Krosan Grip
4 Leyline of Lifeforce
4 Tormod's Crypt
Matchups:
1- Zoo
Lost the first round because of a poor blocking choice by me, boarded in a champion and had him at 10 with 16 unblockable damage coming his way and FORGOT TO PAY FOR SUMMONER'S PACT. I SUCK!!!!!! Record: 0-1
2- Gobbos
Smokeshow, elves destroyed them 2 to nothing. Record: 1-1
3- Burn
Tried to race me instead of killing my elves, another smokeshow 2 to nothing. Record: 2-1
4- Landstill
This kid went undefeated in this tourney. Game 1 He taps out to play jace so I go for the combo while I have the chance and hit lands. Dammit! He counters everything I cast after that. Wins with Elspeth. Game 2 I board in Leyline for glimpse to go aggro since he would just wait to counter glimpse. I have a heritage, llanowar, warcaller, and archdruid out on turn two. He swords the Archdruid and I start to chip away, casting every creature I draw. I didn't board in Fecundity cause I didn't think sweeps would be a problem but he wraths me and then vindicate's leyline. I cast another leyline but it does't matter, I can't draw enough guys to keep up. He beats me 2 to nothing. Record: 2-2
5- Bant countertop
Game 1 I DOUBLE GLIMPSE AND COMBO INTO LANDS TWO SEPARATE TIMES!!!! ARE YOU F***** KIDDING ME?? Anyway, he beats me with progenitus that game. Game two I board in leyline and don't draw any (a bad play by me, I should have mulliganed until I got one), and coutnertop stops me. End the day with a record of 2-3
Things I've learned:
-Leyline is UNBELIEVABLE. A must have in every sideboard for this deck.
-With Leyline in the board, Krosan grip is completely unneccesary. This frees up a board slot, suggestions?
-If you need leyline enough to board it in, mulligain till you get one, it's worth taking the hit in card advantage.
-Having the backup plan to switch to aggro against control when you board in leyline with champion is phenominal
-Summoner's pact is absolutely a must, but for this deck to be top tier (which I really believe it can be) we need a better second tutor than weird harvest, chord, or natural order. We need a cheap one. I'm toying with the idea of wordly tutor (only 2 of them) but I don't know if it is too slow.
Most of all: This deck would have trounced zoo if I didn't play it horribly. This deck CAN BE TOP TIER. It is really F***** good.
Oh and as for a second tutor, not survival either.
Seems too cumbrous for the combo itself. Also, I at least prefer having my sideboard on the sideboard. Most of the answers you want you tend to be able to MD and Pact/Survival/NO for anyways (yeah, sometimes you Tinker for Nevinyrral's Disk, or NO for Viridian Zealot). My sideboard is already overcrowded since there are so many things you want to address; combo, graveyard-based strategies, countertop/chalice/jitte, specific hate-cards, etc. As such, I don't really like Living Wish. I think one should focus on optimizing the 3-engine shell instead.
Also, I do think Mirror Entity warrants consideration if not worrying about Stifle; in that case Stomping Grounds can go, fetches can come and Savannah becomes a painless addition.
I'm looking through all of this, looking at the list that glimpse elves was imported from, and remembering the combo fundamentals, and I have to ask: Why no Duress/thoughtsiezes in the list? Elves have the tribal land for black, along with elves of deep shadow to create a consistent way to get the black mana needed. The lists I've seen have no way to protect the combo, simply praying that they don't have so many spells countered that they can't go off. I play with a variation of the list, and I get consistently wrecked by any type of control decks.
To list:
4x Nettle
4x Heritage
4x Glimpse
2x Birchlore (I've found not too need any more, when you go off, you'll see them)
4x llanowar elves
3x Fydhorn elves
4x Pact
2x Weird harvest
4x Thoughtsieze
4x Elves of deep shadow
1x Eternal Witness
1x Regal Force
2x Viridian Shaman
1x Tendrils (not hard to get BB, and you're already splashing as is)
4x WireWood
3x Visionaries (Bouncing visionaries works well if you start hitting a land pocket)
4x Gilt Leaf palace
2x Bayou
9x Forests
Sideboard is meta-dependent.
Last edited by Syaoran; 07-20-2010 at 08:24 PM. Reason: Added in a list
Fauna Shaman should really be discussed a little bit. Imo he will have a hard time making the cut in this deck, but in Aggro Elves he should be in.
But i enjoy Combo more, so here some Pros and Cons:
Pro: --Its and Elf, and thats freaking important:
- We can untap him and use him atleast twice a turn in normal circumstances.
- We can get him via Pact and Sylvan Messanger
- He taps for Mana with Heritage
-- He can deal damage
-- Another creature for NO, if we plaay it
-- We are still blanking artefact and enchantment removal
-- We don`t have to build our deck about it (just add Champion and perhaps one our utility creature)
Cons: - Dies to Perish,Firespout like every other card in our deck
-Creature Spot removal
Imo a deck using 2-3 Crossroads main could take advantage of this one.
I like the idea of Fauna Shaman as well. The biggest advantage that you listed of course is that it is an elf. I think boarding for either fecundity or Caller of the Claw is the only legitimite answer to sweeps anyway, and is somewhat of a must. In all of my testing, running crossroads in combo slows the combo down way too much for my liking. With birchlore, heritage, Nettle, and untappers, there should be no reason why you need to tap first turn with any other abilities.
If you look at the decklist I posted a few posts ago, and replace Weird harvest and, say for now, viridian zealot, with 2 Fauna Shaman's, then the only things that can slow down the combo are lands and tendrils. That's a pretty huge advantage, as I design my deck to combo as fast and consistantly as possible.
The tourney solidified in my mind that weird harvest is not a good option, and I like the looks of the shaman.
why fauna over survival?
Sure you can. From my experience the only mandatory sideboard slots are 4x Krosan Grip since pretty much all the major things that typically cannot be played around are certain enchantments (CBalance, E. Plague with removal, Humility etc), leaving plenty of room to include a wishboard if you are willing to eschew either Pithing Needle or Gravehate, depending on meta.
I'm currently testing the following wishboard (using my standard list with 3 Wishes > Maindeck Zealot and Pacts, might change to 2 Wishes and an extra maindeck Q. Ranger).
1 Gaea's Cradle (helps tremendously if I'm comboing out using Heritage Druid)
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (answers 43lands and Solitaire as well as being a random "I win" in the mid to lategame)
1 Regal Force (another pretty good high mana bomb in the midgame, might be Sylvan Messenger to abuse the Wirewood synergy but I already have Eternal Witness for rebuilding after sweepers, and if I can muster 2 + 4 mana I can generally do 2 + 7 unless playing from an empty board)
1 Eternal Witness (Just good. Rebuilds after sweepers, recurs Glimpses vs. Control etc etc)
1 Faerie Macabre (Better than Loaming Shaman in most circumstances)
1 Viridian Zealot (Answers Enchantments)
1 Viridian Shaman (Answers Artifacts, gets obnoxious with Wirewood Symbiote)
1 Quirion Ranger (Mana dork)
4 Krosan Grip
3 Tormod's Crypt
My friend got third at Knight Ware yesterday, winning $35 credit. This was his first Legacy event, which is really insane considering how well he did. I guess Combo Elves was the right deck for the metagame? :)
I'll have him submit a report later if anyone wants it.
The list I built for him was this:
14 Forest
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Sylvan Messenger
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Joraga Warcaller
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Quirion Ranger
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Glimpse of Nature
2 Concordant Crossroads
2 Weird Harvest
SB:
4 Krosan Grip
1 Nature's Claim
4 Mindbreak Trap
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Vexing Shusher
He never sided in Vexing Shusher and almost always sided in Krosan Grip. He also said Weird Harvest did nothing, but he's really happy with the rest of the deck.
I don't remember all his matchups but I know he went 4-2. I think he played Zoo, Hypergenesis, 43 Lands, Aggro Elves (he lost this one to 2x Wellwishers on the other side... lolololololol), Scepter-Chant, and New Horizons.
That made me laugh so much....Tell your friend to keep brain freeze in the sideboard. :)Aggro Elves (he lost this one to 2x Wellwishers on the other side... lolololololol)
First time posting here, been lurking here for a while. Built up Combo elves and tried my hand the local legacy... Had fun, but will talk about that later...
Reading the thread, I came upon Frenchy-Man's post #170... he detailed the various combos you can do with Mirror Entity + Elves, but wrote it in french. Since I was trying to learn this deck, I translated it and re-wrote it to get the muscle memory of what is needed down/ my own personal stylings....
Figured I should post this so others dont have to bash their heads on this problem...
The Simple Combo Loop
Situation#1; Mirror Entity + Symbiote’s + Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel ; 0 mana in pool
1- Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Mirror Entity, Nettle Sentinel and Heritage Druid ; GGG
2 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; GG
3 - Use Symbiote’s ability; bounce Symbiote, untap Heritage Druid ; GG
4 - Play Symbiote, untap Nettle Sentinel ; G
5 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling;0
6 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote, Nettle and Heritage; GGG
7 - Use Symbiote’s ability: Bounce Symbiote, untap Heritage Druid; GGG
8 - Play Symbiote, untap Nettle Sentinel; GG
9 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; G
Result: In step 9 we are at the same point as step 5 but with a single extra mana. Repeat Steps 5 thru 9 as much as you want. Since you have infinite mana at this point, feel free to activate Mirror Entity and bounce Symbiotes infinitely and get unlimited untaps. This allows the untaping of everyone that doesn’t have summoning sickness to get in a single hit with a 100/100 Nettle Sentinel/Heritage Druid etc… (My meta has enough people that try for infinite life, so this is a bummer for them…)
If you already have one mana feel free to begin @ step 5.
That is the easy part. Here’s the combo without Heritage Druid and with Birchlore Ranger
Situation #2 ; Mirror Entity + Symbiote x2 + Nettle Sentinel x2 + Birchlore Ranger; 0 mana
Note- X Can be any color mana you want, but usually will be green…
1 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: Nettle Sentinel x2 and birchlore ranger+ Entity Mirror ; XG
2 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; X
3 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: tap both Symbiotes; XG
4 - Use Symbiote’s ability; bounce both Symbiotes, untap Mirror Entity and birchlore ranger; XG
5 – Play Symbiote #1, untap 2 Nettle Sentinels; X
6 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: tap Both Nettle Sentinels; XG
7 - Play Symbiote #2, untap both Nettle Sentinels; X
Result: We reach the same situation as in step#1 mana but with an extra mana of any color . This combo is like the simple combo in that it will have an unlimited amount of untaps, but will guarantee that the Symbiotes will have summoning sickness, so you will have hopefully 4 elves of 100/100 to beat face in with…
Situation#2b: Mirror Entity + Symbiote + Nettle x3 + birchlore ranger, 0 mana in pool
1 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: tap 2 Sentinels; X
2 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
3 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: tap Sentinel+ Symbiote, then birchlore + Entity; XG
4 - Use Symbiote’s ability; bounce Symbiote, untap birchlore; XG
5 – Play Symbiote, untap all 3 Nettle; X
6 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
7 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: Tap Nettle x2 then Nettle+ Symbiote; XG
8 - Use Symbiote’s ability; bounce Symbiote, untap Mirror Entity; XG
9 - Play Symbiote, untap all 3 Nettles; X
Result: Infinite mana, however if you need extra untaps of Lawnmower elves or extra guys for the Alpha Strike… here’s how you do it. We can cut out steps since we have a starting mana to avoid tapping Mirror Entity for mana.
10 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
11- Use Birchlore’s Ability: Tap Nettlex2 and Symbiote + last Nettle; XG
12 - Use Symbiote’s ability; bounce Symbiote, untap Other Elf; XG
13 - Play Symbiote, untap all 3 Nettles; X
Result: Same mana as when you started but an extra untap…
Next is a useful part to use if you don’t have the pieces you need, but have a Glimpse of Nature resolved….
Situation#3: Mirror Entity + Symbiote + Nettle x2 + birchlore ranger, Glimpse of Nature resolved.
1 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: Tap both Nettle; G
2 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
3 - Use Birchlore’s Ability: Tap Symbiote +birchlore ranger; G
4 - Use Symbiote’s ability; untap birchlore; G
5 - Play Symbiote, untap 2 Nettle, Draw a card: 0
Result: We find ourselves in the same position as we started mana-wise, but are able to draw a card off of glimpse…
Here’s the Last Combo Loop that I know of. I will show it to you in 3 parts: The untapping engine, The Infinite mana generation engine with preparation, The Infinite mana generation engine without anything to start.
Untapping Engine
Situation #4: Mirror Entity + Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid + 1 Other Elf(For the sake of simplicity, I will name it Y below ); 1 mana in the pool already
1 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
2 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGG
3 - Use Symbiote #1’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Heritage Druid; GGG
4 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Heritage Druid, Mirror Entity and Elf named Y; GGGGGG
5 - Use Symbiote#2’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Heritage Druid; GGGGGG
6 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; GGGG
7 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; GGG
8 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGGGGG
9 - Use Both Symbiotes’ ability; Bounce both Symbiotes and untap Heritage Druid and another Elf, (Mirror Entity and Elf Named Y currently need it, but with enough cycles you can do your entire team); GGGGGG
10 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; GGGG
As you can see, Step 6 and 10 are exactly the same. This combo is just making infinite untaps, which will allow you to make infinite mana…
To show you the exact loop needed to generate infinite mana where you have the EXACT same board state that you had previously but with more mana, this is that sequence…
The Infinite mana generation engine with preparation
Situation #4B: Mirror Entity + Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid + 1 Other Elf Y; 1 mana in the pool already
1 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
2 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGG
3 - Use Symbiote #1’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Heritage Druid; GGG
4 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Heritage Druid, Mirror Entity and Elf named Y; GGGGGG
5 - Use Symbiote#2’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Heritage Druid; GGGGGG
6 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; GGGG
7 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; GGG
8 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGGGGG
9 - Use Both Symbiotes’ ability; Bounce both Symbiotes and untap Heritage Druid and Mirror Entity; GGGGGG
10 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; GGGG
11 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; GGG
12 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGGGGG
13 - Use Both Symbiotes’ ability; Bounce both Symbiotes and untap Heritage Druid and Elf Named Y; GGGGGG
14 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; GGGG
15 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; GGG
Result: Infinite mana in 3 green mana chunks.
Last Part of this loop is simple, once you know the loops… What if you didn’t have the necessary mana during the above operations to pay that first single mana in order to do the Mirror Entity activation?
The reason this is said last, rather than just tell you this part first and skip the 10 part loop, or the 15 part loop, is that this is a 29 part loop… and which would you rather learn, bits and pieces or the entire dictionary in 1 go….
The Infinite mana generation engine without anything to start
Situation #4C: Mirror Entity + Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid + 1 Other Elf Y; 0 mana in the pool
1 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Mirror Entity, Heritage Druid, and Other Elf Y; GGG
2 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; GG
3 - Use Symbiote#1’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Heritage Druid; GG
4 - Play Symbiote#1; G
5 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
6 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGG
7 - Use Symbiote #1’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Heritage Druid; GGG
9 - Use Symbiote#2’s ability; Bounce Symbiote and untap Mirror Entity; GGG
10 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; G
11 - Use Mirror Entity ability to make everything a changeling; 0
12 - Use Heritage Druid’s Ability: Tap Symbiote x2 + Heritage Druid; GGG
13 - Use Both Symbiotes’ ability; Bounce both Symbiotes and untap Heritage Druid and Other Elf Y; GGG
14 - Play Symbiote #1+#2; G
At this point you have a mana left over, so do the Infinite Mana Engine with preperation...
Weird Harvest seemed to do well, but messed me up a few times... Going to try out a Living Wish Engine... Loved Summoner's Pact but wished it could have gotten either Emerkul or Mirror Entity, which is usually what Weird Harvest would get me... Other peoples thoughts?
The very fact flamethrowers exist means that someone, somewhere said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire.... but I'm just not close enough to do it."
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