[Primer] Elves!

[Kayradis]

Can't wait to read the full report. Been a while since the last edition of HotS.

Slowly getting ready for Washington. Starting to proxy decks to test against all possible match ups.

[trevaftw]

I'm sure calling the Ritual is the right call if you play against a deck which can topdeck Infernal, Burning Wish, Ponder or another Brainstorm and is immediately back in the game. I remind, that storm-decks can't do anything without their big mana accelerants (which Dark Ritual is without a doubt). I always tell peeps to target mana against storm with LED top on the list with blind Therapy, because the lack of that card often blocks Infernal Tutor and the Tutors and Cantrips are redundant unlike the +2/+3 mana sources

I would not burn a Petal and a Brainstorm against Therapy because that is an outright waste of resources. A Chrome Mox would have been a different story but I did not have access to a second blue card (in addition to the Brainstorm) to imprint.

My thinking was that either you take brainstorm and put them in top deck mode or take the ritual but that let's them dig 3 deep and possibly set-up the win next turn anyways. I think in this situation it's a toss up which is better but I do see your side of the argument.

[Lemnear]

My thinking was that either you take brainstorm and put them in top deck mode or take the ritual but that let's them dig 3 deep and possibly set-up the win next turn anyways. I think in this situation it's a toss up which is better but I do see your side of the argument.

I would just take the available mana into account and the fact that there are only 6 +2/+3-mana-sources left in the deck compared with more than a dozen Cantrips and Tutors, therefore the loss of a Ritual in addition to the LED is harder to make up.



Edit: Such complexity in decision making is the reason I creates the HotS-Series. I hope those reports help TES players to step up their game and show non-storm-pilots the weaknesses of the deck while trying to demystify it



@Kay
I know the next entry takes forever, but I was away for work 7 weeks straight and had to deal with a lot of stuff after :/
My appeal to M:TG atm isn't focused at TES since I'll not able to be at BoM in November, so I durdle more around with TRS Doomsday, BGw Elves and Miracles.

[PendelSteven]

Hello people!

Since I've getting back in the hobby last year, I've got myself an Elvesdeck of which I've had 10 lands (including Cradle's and fetches) from way back.
I've put the Hoof in it myself before GP Denver, but I completely forgot about NO. Nowadays I have, I guess the 95 % of a 'real' Elvesdeck. Oh, I've been following the dicussion and can tell you I have playsets of Birchlores and even PoT's from back in the day. I guess I want to goldfish with 3 Birchlores.

My list currently:

1 Birchlore Rangers
2 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Elvish Visionary
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Wirewood Symbiote

2 Crop Rotation
4 Glimpse Of Nature
4 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order (obviously the Visions-version)

1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbo[u]r
4 Forest
2 Gaea's Cradle
1 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

---
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Bojuka Bog (2 CR maindeck)
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Natural Order
1 Progenitus
1 Quasali Pridemage
1 Ruric Thar
1 Scavenging Ooze



So. Yeah. It's pretty updated, I guess. Guess I could use an extra Bayou and perhaps a Cradle, although CR vs GC is card-disadvantage vs. is-playable-after-you-played-your-land-and-can-fetch-a-bajuka-bog. Sometimes I rather think I buy a Karakas rather than a 3rd Cradle since the 2 CR's in my maindeck.

Anyhow. Personally I think multiple cradle's in overrated, especially since we need 4 mana nowadays. NO, remember?



The thing that got me here though, was this thought:

Can anybody find a reason for the new Garruk out of M2014? Obviously if it costed 2GG, it would be in every Elvesdeck by now. My conclusion thusfar is that I would rather add a 4th NO maindeck, but for those who are already maxed out on NO's...

Yeah I know. The question is: where do you find space for a one-off Garruk?
But still, the abilities Caller of The Wild has does reminds of Glimpse, Zenith and NO. At least there's one thing you can do with it: pay 4GG to "cast" the Progenitus in your hand.


Also, the observation that Elves is now an aggro-deck with combo is absolutely right. It might even be a midrange-deck since it's defensive abilities actually defends us before we hit the "Overrun". Sort of reminds me of my green deck with Aluren, Recycle and Overrrun it around Urza's block... And that's why I love my Elvesdeck: this totally reminds me of those days.


Anyhow! Just another two cents for a thought. Even if it's not good in Legacy, perhaps Caller of The Wild is our answer for a conversion to a Modern version of the deck?

[PendelSteven]

Oh myyyyy ... The spoilered Devotion-mechanic of Theros will bring up a nasty creature with 5/5 for GG for the formats #1 deck of colored permaments :)


(Double post for Headline)

Yup. Could definatly be interesting.


Also. It is confirmed that there will be a card that could be in Modern Masters. Of course, that could be a lot of cards, but since the rumour is already out that could be Thoughtseize, it is possiblie that is the card, which is good news for anyone interested in Thoughtseizes. Read: CT #5-8? :D

[Kayradis]

Im not 100% sure if Thoughtseize could be included.

Therapies are better for the flashback cost and the fact that they have to get rid of their multiples in the event of you naming the right card.
Still, i believe it's still debatable.

[Dice_Box]

Thoughtseize should, in my mind, only be used in addition to Therapy and not to replace it. The reason for that is that if you start relying on Seize, your skills with Therapy my suffer.

Sent from my mobile, forgive spelling and grammatical errors.

[trevaftw]

Went 3-0 tonight. Played Blue Zoo, ANT, and started with a bye. 4th round would've been esper stoneblade for 1st/2nd place but had to leave because of work. Will do small write-up tomorrow.

[Kayradis]

Went 2-2 last night.
Lost to my own stupidity against Merfolks and against 1-Land Belcher in Rd 4(Can't beat 20 goblins T1!)
Won against Jund(He flipped 2 Mindbreak Traps of his Bobs lategame) and 1-Land Belcher(stripped his hand and resolved Ruric Thar!)

I'm slowly going towards the 19 lands configuration. 18 is too tight.

[Zombie]

Mindbreak Trap against Elves? :'D

[Kayradis]

He used it game 2 against a GSZ for 8.
Wasn't expecting that.
He told me he was scared that I had a 1 of Grapeshot in the SB. I told him that I don't run that and I'd probably run Tendrils if I was doing some mad elves tech in that style.

[Dice_Box]

Mindbreak Trap against Elves? :'D

Have had it done against me before. Sometimes people either do not understand the deck, or they understand it and do not have dedicated hate. So they pull storm hate against us because lets be honest, while not the most effective choice in the world, it does its job if you hit the right target.

[Lemnear]

Have had it done against me before. Sometimes people either do not understand the deck, or they understand it and do not have dedicated hate. So they pull storm hate against us because lets be honest, while not the most effective choice in the world, it does its job if you hit the right target.

I rather have the impression that many peeps still think it's a Glimpse-combo deck and they just need to cast MBT against the Grapeshot/Emrakul at the end of the chain...

[andrebonotto]

Mindbreak Trap against Elves? :'D

I've seen that more than enough, around here. This may be one of the symptoms of people still overvaluing Glimpse of Nature.

[Dice_Box]

Just wanting to double check a rule. At the resolution of a tutor we hold priority and the other person can not interact with us until after the card chosen is in play right? For example Pyroclasm needs to be played in response to NO not in response to Hoof entering play off NO because once NO resolves they get no chance to interact. Is that right?

[Kayradis]

If im not mislead, they can respond to the ETB trigger.

[Dice_Box]

If im not mislead, they can respond to the ETB trigger.

Oh yea, forgot about that trigger, bugger. I have someone locally that is starting to run board sweepers because he is sick of losing to me and I was thinking I could hold priority and lock him out. Will have to come up with something else.

[Lemnear]

You can respond to the EtB-Trigger ... but not with a Sorcery like Pyroclasm ;)

[Dice_Box]

You can respond to the EtB-Trigger ... but not with a Sorcery like Pyroclasm ;)

He uses another card, its one of the Rav Guild charms but I could not remember what one. I just know Pyro off the top of my head so I quoted it. Looked up the card it is Golgari Charm. I hate that thing.

[Kayradis]

Golgari Charm?