[Deck] Elves Combo

[TraxDaMax]

Caleb Dunward played one maindeck while ago, you can read his article about that build on Channelfireball, it talks about Shardless Agent a bit first, but just scroll down for the elves.

http://www.channelfireball.com/home/...nce-of-shards/

Yep, it wasn't my idea. I borrowed it from Caleb too.

[Koby]

Quick n dirty SCG Invitational Report for the Legacy Portion!

Reference list:

4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Llanowar Elf
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
2 Birchlore Rangers
2 Quirion Ranger
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Priest of Titania
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Elvish Archdruid

2 Regal Forge
4 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Emrakul
1 Gaddock Teeg

4 Glimpse of Nature
4 GSZ

3 Gaea's Cradle
1 Dryad Arbor
7 Fetch
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
4 Forest

SB:
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Cabal Therapy
3 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Thalia
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Scavenging Ooze

Round 5 - Hive Mind (2-0) - making 10 mana and 3 of any color can help. Won with beatdown however.
Round 6 - Merfolk (2-0) - No FoW on Glimpse, so that was quick.
Round 7 - Shardless BUG (GerryT) (1-2) - Combo G1, grind out G2 and lost, grind out G3 and lost to Diabolic Machine (A.Visions x3 each a turn apart, missed on a short Glimpse chain into land land runner)
Round 8 - Jund (2-1) - Combo, grind, grind when opponent flooded and beatdown with Regal Forces.
Round 13 - BUG w/ Bob (1-2) - Grind and lost to Deathrite Shaman superiority. Combo G2. Grind and lost to Deathrite Shaman superiority.
Round 14 - RIP Miracles (2-1) - Oddly not at all hard anymore thanks to Deathrite Shaman. He gets Moat out, and I cast Emrakul. Did I mention that I missed the Extra turn trigger facing lethal damage? Ya, I was that guy! (opponent scooped tho). G2 get Angel beatdown. G3 grind with beatdown and DRS.
Round 15 - Maverick (2-1) - DRS > Maverick, esp with all the untap effects we have.
Round 16 - NO BUG (2-1) - DRS can grind it out, and since they play a lot of spells, it makes it easy to clock them.

Finished 6-2 on the day for Legacy, which isn't a mythical "7-1" decklist, which is a shame. However, I felt pretty good about a lot of the matchups. Both the BUG decks I lost to were close enough to call. I missboarded vs GerryT putting in 3 Therapy and not bringing in 2 Ooze to counter DRS. The 2nd match was just the case of run bads - Glimpse cast Elf, draw Glimpse, cast it, play 2nd elf in hand, draw 2 lands. =[

Countering DRS decks with Ooze is really good, maybe one maindeck is worth it. Teeg is a nice way to hedge Game 1 vs Miracles, and the 2nd (or 3rd) in the board seals the deal against them.

Never brought in Thorns outside of Hive Mind for obvious reasons. There wasn't much storm in the Invitational.

Avoid boarding into more than 4 non-creature spells. It really dilutes the strength of Glimpse when you go for it anyway.

[andrebonotto]

Hey Koby, congratulations on your performance!

Since you are playing the full pack of DRS, and "only" 3x Llanowar Elves, I assume you chose DRS to be your "default" T1 mana dork.

Being this way, how did it play on the T1's throughout the tournament?
(e.g.: How often did you open a hand with DRS but no Fetch-land?)

Also, how do you evaluate the importance of the 2nd Regal Force?

[Koby]

Hey Koby, congratulations on your performance!

Since you are playing the full pack of DRS, and "only" 3x Llanowar Elves, I assume you chose DRS to be your "default" T1 mana dork.

Being this way, how did it play on the T1's throughout the tournament?
(e.g.: How often did you open a hand with DRS but no Fetch-land?)

Also, how do you evaluate the importance of the 2nd Regal Force?

Since I also ran Bayou, it's very easy to deceive your opponents in the first turn of the game. Fetch-Bayou-DRS = BUG? Junk? Nope, sorry, it's just Combo Elves!
I feel much safer playing DRS on turn 1 than Llanowar Elf, unless I have a combo hand for turn 2/3 since Llanowar Elf plays better with Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote (unconditional mana).

The 2 Regal Forces were boss. I cast them for value many times even when I couldn't combo, and having the 2nd one in case you get there for Combo also helps. I would board out 1 against decks that I needed to go faster and streamline (like Hive Mind, SNT, etc).

[Reagens]

@Koby

2 questions:

1) Did you ever test Mirror entity? Is it mutually exclusive with Emrakul (perhaps too similar a slot?)
2) Why not harmonic sliver? I think being able to hit enchantments as well as artifacts is quite relevant in the current metagame. Only minor issue I see is the color requirement.

[Darklingske]

About your first question: wichever you prefer is up to your personal playstyle. Emrakul is nice to have (and play) but is dead in your hands if you are not comboing. Entity is always handy to have in your hand, even if you are not comboing (since it is an Elf).
And the second question: Having a Savannah is not that straining on the manabase. And it is easy to meet the colors with 2 Birchlore Rangers.
Greets

[Infinitium]

2) Why not harmonic sliver? I think being able to hit enchantments as well as artifacts is quite relevant in the current metagame. Only minor issue I see is the color requirement.

The only Enchantments that are necessary to remove G1 are Counterbalance and Moat, and even then those can be played around with GSZ and/or Emrakul (albeit I still wouldn't run Spaghetti Monster MD). Basically Viridian Shaman does what sliver does, but with better p/t, color requirements and the elf creature type. And with Symbiote it does it over and over again versus artifact-based decks.

On a different note, does anyone have experience with Scattershot Archer as a sideboard card versus tempo decks? It Wirewood-chumps Tombstalker, trades with Insectile Aberration and murder Spirit Tokens nicely for the low, low price of one mana. Good synergy with untappers to boot.

[Koby]

I have no problem having Emrakul stuck in my hand to cast. I did beat Moat in Game 1 vs Miracles, so theres that.

I did test Mirror Entity and it was nit mutually exclusive with Emrakul. I would cut Regal Force for it, since you can go infinite with Visionary anyway.

Its definitely a preference call, and I prefer to have a gauranteed win with Emrakul than rely on just attacking with the elves I had in play from the start of the turn.

[Justin]

I like Emrakul in this deck as well. It's easy to draw and cast once you've comboed off. Not only does it give the deck a way to beat Moat, but the "Time Walk" ability gives you a chance to win without giving your opponent another turn. Although combo Elves is a tight list, it's not so tight that you can't fill one slot out of 60 with Emrakul.

[Darklingske]

Scattershot Archer It Wirewood-chumps Tombstalker, trades with Insectile Aberration and murder Spirit Tokens nicely for the low, low price of one mana. Good synergy with untappers to boot.

All I can say is: read the card. It doesn't have flying so chumpblocking Tombstalker is a no-go. It doesn't trade with Insectile also. You can murder the spirits yes. So if lingering souls is heavily played in your meta, try it out, but I'm not a fan of it. There are better cards to put in your SB.

[HoneyT]

If you're looking for something with that effect, try Lys Alana Bowmaster.

[Koby]

If you're looking for something with that effect, try Lys Alana Bowmaster.

LOL

I like Thornweald Archer myself - good vs Goyfs too.

[HoneyT]

I like Thornweald Archer myself - good vs Goyfs too.

Lol to be fair, the other 59 cards are also good against Goyf.

[.Ix]

So how do we find the OmniTell matchup? I haven't played Elves in a while and I have no idea how it goes. It looks like a horribly non interactive race on paper, and Omnitell looks a bit faster.

[Neil]

Long time since I have posted on this thread, but I attended a competitive 20 player tournament today in the Bay Area. I thought I would post a tournament report. Here is the decklist I was running:


60 Main Deck

36 creatures:

3 Birchlore Rangers
4 Elvish Visionary
4 fyndhorn elves
4 heritage druid
1 Joraga Warcaller
4 llanowar elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
3 Priest of Titania
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Regal Force
4 Wirewood Symbiote

4 Instant:

4 Summoner's pact

7 Sorcery:

4 Glimpse of Nature
3 Living wish

13 Forest

Sideboard:

1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Emrakul, the Aeons torn
1 Ezuri, renegade leader
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Regal Force
4 Vexing Shusher
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Krosan Grip
1 Gaea's Cradle


Now for the tournament repot:

Round 1 vs BUG Control (2-1, 3 points)

Game 1

Turn 1 Forest into Fyndhorn opponent fetches into a Bayou and plays Deathrite Shaman
Turn 2 I Lving Wish for elvish Archdruid and play a llanowar elves opponent played a land into shardless agent which got him a Brainstorm.
Turn 3 I play Elvish Archdruid and drop most of my hand including a wirewood symbiote.

I went aggro on him and using Wirewood symbiote I would bounce back anything that would have died to his blockers. Turn 5 he casted Abrubt Decay on wirewood symbiote but by then it was to late for him.

Game 2

I kept a hand with 2 forests 1 quirion 2 glimpse of nature 1 heritage druid. 1 Llanowar elves

Turn 1 he plays deathrite shaman I played a llanowar elves. I drew a Nettle Sentinel.
Turn 2 he plays tarmogoyf. I play glimpse of nature quirion ranger, Heritage druid, and Nettle sentinel. I remember drawing a bunch of forests causing me to fizzle.
Turn 3 I don't remember what he does . I try to go off again with my other glimpse but fizzle again. By the end I had a total of 8 forests out of 13!!!!! After that we duel it out but he wins.

Game 3 I keep a hand with 1 Forest, 1 Quirion Ranger, 1 Summoner's pact, 1 Glimpse of Nature, 1 Llanowar Elves, 1 Living Wish, and 1 Elvish Visionary. Great hand that can go off turn 2 all I am missing is a nettle sentinel but the Summoner's pact takes care of that.

Turn 1 I play Llanowar elves he plays a tropical island into a deathrite shaman.
Turn 2 he is tapped out so I was confidant I could go off successfully. I played the glimpse then quirion, heritage, Nettle. I won that game easy.



Round 2 vs BUG control (2-1 6 points)

Game 1

I don't remember much and my notes don't tell me anything.... All I remember is using living wish to get Joraga Warcaller and going aggro on him.

Game 2

my opening hand has no forests. draw 6 with no forests. Down to 5 with no forests!!!! I basically got to watch him beat me up with a goyf. On top of that he used Jace to fate-seal me on his turn 3.... Never drew a forest.

Game 3

No notes.... But I went Aggro on him again and won.



Round 3 vs Death and Taxes (2-0 9 points)

Game 1 was a breeze for me.

Turn 1 I play llanowar elves opponent plays Mother Of runes
Turn 2 I play fyndhorn elves. I had a glimpse of nature in my hand so I just wanted to make sure I have enough mana to go off successfully turn 3. It is important to make sure that you don't play to many elves before the combo. he plays mother of runes again.
Turn 3 I go off successfully

Game 2

I have an okay. hand that will be able to go off turn 3. He mulligans down to 6.

Turn 1 he plays a land and passes. I played a birchlore rangers. No llanowar ranger in my hand.
turn 2 he plays ethersworn canonist I really though I was going to lose. I play Heritage druid and pass I played no forest.
Turn 3 he attacks and Swords to plowshares my Birchlore rangers to mana screw me. Things were looking very bleak by then. Luckily I drew a forest and got to play my priest of titania.

For the next few turns I would play one elf and take what ever damage he dealt. Finally I drew into Joraga Warcaller, with the priest I had out I played the Joraga for 5 counters, that was game for him.



Round 4 vs not sure exactly but I believe it was Jund (1-2, 9 points)

Game 1

After a combo that fizzled we start to aggro it out. Unfortunately I couldn't deal enough damage to him and I lost to many elves to his goyf and scavenging ooze. I got him down to 4 life at one point but he started gaining life with the scavenging ooze

Game 2

I had to mulligan down to 6 due to a bad hand with no living wish or glimpse.

I remember going aggro on him. He played tabernacle but amazingly that mana screwed him and barely hurt me since I had plenty of forests in play. At one point I got a living wish and I got an Elvish Archdruid. Tabernacle hurt him a bunch now and barely annoyed me . I beat him going aggro on him after playing the Joraga Warcaller I drew.

Game 3

I had an okay hand that could go off turn 2. I felt that I should go off turn 2 instead of waiting because I feared the discard that he would have. Unfortunately I fizzled. In hind sight I should have gone off turn 3. We both agreed that I would have won if I had waited.



Round 5 (draw 10 points)

I drew this round because that way we both would go into the cut to top 8.

The top 8 players decided to split the prizes evenly instead of continuing the tournament.

Final notes:

Living wish is awesome. It allows me to keep hands that have a preist of titania or other good mana creation. I can go either Joraga or Elvish Archdruid and just go aggro on my opponent. This deck has a really good aggro fallback that can compete with the heavy BUG control in the meta. After winning the store credit I can splash black now

This would be the changes I am going to be making:

-4 Llanowar Elves / +4 deathrite shaman

Side board:

4 Abrupt Decay
4 Vexing Shusher
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Emrakul, the Aeons torn
1 Joraga Warcaller
1 Regal Force


Hope my report is actually useful. This is only my second tournament report. If you guys have any questions or suggestions I will be checking this thread often.

[rstevens]

I like the deck, but the question i have is why do you not run a cradle in the main board? Is it the fear of wasteland or do you only own 1?
I like the deck list and I ordered my own shaman for my combo deck. Im going to do the black splash that you had to see how it works. Generally my sb cards are circumstantial and i never see them in the match up/or when i do see see the match up i never see the cards. I feel like black adds more to the deck that just the mono green doesnt give.
I would like to try living wish out as well. There are a few cards that will stop elves (peace keeper being one) and with any creature wincon you cannot actually win.

[HoneyT]

There are a few cards that will stop elves peace keeper being one) and with any creature wincon you cannot actually win.

You mentioned playing black. Abrupt Decay kills Peacekeeper (and Counterbalance). Otherwise Mortarpod takes care of your problems.

[lord182]

I have no problem having Emrakul stuck in my hand to cast. I did beat Moat in Game 1 vs Miracles, so theres that.

I did test Mirror Entity and it was nit mutually exclusive with Emrakul. I would cut Regal Force for it, since you can go infinite with Visionary anyway.

Its definitely a preference call, and I prefer to have a gauranteed win with Emrakul than rely on just attacking with the elves I had in play from the start of the turn.

How can you do that?

[Koby]

How can you do that?

Hmm maybe you can't now that I think about it. Bouncing Regal Force should give you enough gas to keep on powering through.

[Neil]

I like the deck, but the question i have is why do you not run a cradle in the main board? Is it the fear of wasteland or do you only own 1?
I like the deck list and I ordered my own shaman for my combo deck. Im going to do the black splash that you had to see how it works. Generally my sb cards are circumstantial and i never see them in the match up/or when i do see see the match up i never see the cards. I feel like black adds more to the deck that just the mono green doesnt give.
I would like to try living wish out as well. There are a few cards that will stop elves (peace keeper being one) and with any creature wincon you cannot actually win.

Glad you like the decklist. I don't have cradle in main board for two reasons. first one is, I run only 13 lands so often I would get only one gaea's cradle and no forests. Honestly if I wouldn't know which creature to cut for it. Second, by the time I would draw into the cradle mid combo I wouldn't really need it. Nettle sentinel makes all the mana I would need. On top of that, often during the early stages of the combo I have to play all the lands I can. So, when I do draw into it sometimes I can't even play it. Using living wish to get it is always nice. I have found though that I personally never use it. Hence I am cutting it from my SB after the black splash. I felt exactly what you felt that mono green just doesn't have the answers I want. After some testing I feel inquisition of kozelik would be better than cabal therapy. Like one of the persons before me said abrupt decay will deals with almost all the hate.

Hmm maybe you can't now that I think about it. Bouncing Regal Force should give you enough gas to keep on powering through.

You can go infinite with an elvish visionary, 2 nettle sentinels, wirewood symbiote, mirror entity, and a forest. I still don't recommend using mirror entity though