[Primer] Elves!

[Justin]

I'm one hell of an Elves! player!

Bully for you.

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

I'm running 4x Thorn of Amethyst, and they're amazing. I can't imagine running Mindbreak instead...

They're great. Of course, they don't help us disrupt the turn 1 and--on the draw--turn 2 win for some of the faster decks. That said, reliably finding 2 Mindbreak Traps just doesn't appear to be worth the slots for a versatile sideboard. I'm curious what you (and others) think about going with Winter Orb over Thorn of Amethyst.

[Julian23]

Going to stream some 2man action with Elves for about 2 hours, depending on how much action I get.

http://twitch.tv/itsJulian

Let me know in the chat if you want me to try a certain built, card or style with Elves. Looking forward to your feedback guys. And of course you know: we're all godlike..unless we are on camera

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

Going to stream some 2man action with Elves for about 2 hours, depending on how much action I get.

http://twitch.tv/itsJulian

Let me know in the chat if you want me to try a certain built, card or style with Elves. Looking forward to your feedback guys. And of course you know: we're all godlike..unless we are on camera

Thanks for posting these games publicly. They are great to watch. I especially appreciate the games where you're commenting--not that the music isn't good. Keep up the great work.

[Julian23]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the feedback. I never thought commentating while playing was actually something you have to put a lot of effort into. Especially during my first streams, I had felt that I could have done better with the quality of my plays. But the more I get used to it, the easier it flows. Also, I just set up a Premium Account on Spotify, so you guys won't have to listen to any more German adds inbetween songs

I'll be streaming the next Legacy Daily event at 13:30 CEST, which is in 45 minutes. Come and join me, looking forward to seeing you on stream. I also just bought a webcam on amazon and will incorporate it (as well as a view of the livechat) into the stream. Right now, we're still in the setup phase but I love doing it!

[_Fortune_]

For those of you running Ruric Thar, are you swapping a Craterhoof Behemoth out for it? If so, do you ever miss having the second hoof in the main deck?

[Alexeezay]

I run the Ruric in addition to 2 craterhoofs...it's one of the few flex spots & is a great big Zenith target when I can't get Craterhoof. Combo opponents basically scoop when Ruric hits play (happens fast with NO)
I think 2 Craterhoof Behemoths belong to the core nowadays...you can always sideboard one out if needed.

Funny thing from GP Prague legacy event: Omni-Tell opponent thought he had the win...until I flip over Ruric Thar from his Show and Tell! :D

[Koby]

For those of you running Ruric Thar, are you swapping a Craterhoof Behemoth out for it? If so, do you ever miss having the second hoof in the main deck?

I run 1 Hoof 1 Regal Force, SB Ruric Thar to increase the density/variety of targets. Vs RUG, for instance, just landing Ruric Thar is enough to win the game, as he's bigger than every creature RUG has and punishes them severely for playing their game. I don't think Ruric Thar is maindeck is most metagames.

[catmint]

Progenitus is a much better target versus Canadian if you want 1 monster which does not depend on a bunch of elves on the board.

1) In case you can race Canadian, Progenitus does a much better job than Ruric which I guess is your plan since neither Progenitus nor ruric are very good at stalling.
2) Ruric can be submerged and likely not recast due to lack of red. He can also be blocked by mongoose and bolted which is not a bad trade, but if we got the rest of our board submerged we might still lose.
3) They can just double block Ruric with a Goyf and another random creature and trade 1 for 1.

I think Ruric deserves his slot in the SB.

[Koby]

Progenitus is a much better target versus Canadian if you want 1 monster which does not depend on a bunch of elves on the board.

1) In case you can race Canadian, Progenitus does a much better job than Ruric which I guess is your plan since neither Progenitus nor ruric are very good at stalling.
2) Ruric can be submerged and likely not recast due to lack of red. He can also be blocked by mongoose and bolted which is not a bad trade, but if we got the rest of our board submerged we might still lose.
3) They can just double block Ruric with a Goyf and another random creature and trade 1 for 1.

I think Ruric deserves his slot in the SB.

On the other hand, Ruric Thar nullified Delver, which Pro can't. Both are valid in this matchup, and your points add more favor to Progenitus. Very good counter pointers actually.

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the feedback. I never thought commentating while playing was actually something you have to put a lot of effort into. Especially during my first streams, I had felt that I could have done better with the quality of my plays. But the more I get used to it, the easier it flows. Also, I just set up a Premium Account on Spotify, so you guys won't have to listen to any more German adds inbetween songs

I'll be streaming the next Legacy Daily event at 13:30 CEST, which is in 45 minutes. Come and join me, looking forward to seeing you on stream. I also just bought a webcam on amazon and will incorporate it (as well as a view of the livechat) into the stream. Right now, we're still in the setup phase but I love doing it!

I just finished watching your games from the fifth; thanks so much for twitching them. You hit some hard luck in a couple of those games. We really got to see ow seemingly small choices can have a significant impact on the game.

I'm a big fan of Winter Orb as a viable threat in the sideboard and was glad to see you put one in there. (I'm curious why you didn't board it in against that last deck you played against, the one with the Young Pyromancer (what kind of deck was that, anyway?).) If you've got the inclination, I'd be interested to see you try putting a couple of more in the board; it tends to be a wrecking ball against many decks that rely on multiple colors.

[LeoCop 90]

I'm curious what you (and others) think about going with Winter Orb over Thorn of Amethyst.

The cards are not interchangeable, thorn of amethyst is for fighting combo, wich really doesn't primarily rely on lands to cast its spells.

Anyway i think winter orb is quite good against miracles so it could be tried in that matchup.

[PendelSteven]

I'm having theorical fear against the "new" Young Pyromancer.

I was sifting in my my mind and instead of taking it out with Abrupt Decay or discard, I had another Elf in my head...

Deranged Hermit is an elf which makes 4 tokens which are 2/2 if you can keep him in play. Sort of keeps the Pyromancer in check.



Then again, is YP really an issue for our deck?!?




As for the rest: I finally got my 2nd Bayou in as well as 2 Thoughtseizes which are now in my 75. A forest made room for the 2nd Bayou and most will be happy to hear that I cut 2 Mindbreak Trap to add 2 Thoughtseizes in the sideboard (which already contains 4 Therapy).

[spetznaz]

Played a local Bazaar of Moxen tiral today and brougt some Elves. 19 Players showed up in Uppsala.

List with 2 Craterhoof, 4 Natural Order, 4 Quirion Ranger, 2 Birchlore Rangers, 1 Llanowar Elves, 18 lands + 1 Dryad Arbor

Round 1: Draw on time against UWR Control with Supreme Verdict and Izzet Charm. Lost game 1 after like 40 min, won game 2 right after time was called
0-0-1 (1-1)

Round 2: Win against BG Dark Depths combo. Game 1 won with Craterhoof on like turn 5 against Gitaxian Probe, Cabal Therapy and Thoughtseize. Game 2 was grindy, both were in topdeck mode but I had more guys
1-0-1 (3-1)

Round 3: Win against UW Miracles. Won game 1 trough a Counterbalance (He was new to legacy and drew the 4CMC card the turn before I played NO). Game 2 was long, very long. He played Humility so I had about zero outs to win, but I managed not to lose by playing Abrupt Decay on Rest in Peace as response to him activating Helm :)
2-0-1 (4-1)

Round 4: Loss against UWR Delver. Lost game 1, won game 2. My notes for game 3: Delver, flip with Lightning Bolt, Delver no2, Swords, Flip delver no2 with Swords, Rough Tumble. GG. Yeah I lost that one :)
2-1-1 (5-3)

Round 5: Win against Elves. This game was for top 8. Sad to kick out another Elves player. Lost the dieroll but kept my hand, he mulled. I won on my turn 3 with Glimpse. Game 2 I held a slow hand with Cabal Therapy. Emptied his hand (NO and Regal Force) turn 2 but didn't manage to take the game. Game 3 he misstakenly announced that he would use GSZ, like thinking loud but changed his mind. I played Therapy turn 1 to take it and sacrificed my drop turn 2 to flash it back taking 2x Glimpse. Further down the game I had a GSZ in my hand with mana to find a Hoof next turn but he had a Therapy. So played my other cards but left 5 mana opened and passed the turn. He thought I didn't have the GSZ so I won on my next turn
3-1-1 (7-4)

Top 8. Same BG Dark Depths. I comboed turn 3. He did the same. I won a slower game 3.
(9-5)

Top 4: Punishing Jund. First game was good. Turn 1 Fetch and GSZ for Dryad Arbor. Turn 2, Birchlore, Nettle, Visionary, 2x 1 drop elves, NO for Hoof. Untap Dryad Arbor, hit you for 18. Game 2 was good for him, double Punishing Fire, I couldn't get NO in time. Game 3 I had a turn 3 Progenitus but he took my NO. I drew a GSZ a few turns later and found a Hoof.

Split in finals. Left with 2 Windswept Heath, a FTW Realms and 2 byes for Bazaar of Moxen :)

[danyul]

I'm having theorical fear against the "new" Young Pyromancer.

I was sifting in my my mind and instead of taking it out with Abrupt Decay or discard, I had another Elf in my head...

Deranged Hermit is an elf which makes 4 tokens which are 2/2 if you can keep him in play. Sort of keeps the Pyromancer in check.

Then again, is YP really an issue for our deck?!

As for the rest: I finally got my 2nd Bayou in as well as 2 Thoughtseizes which are now in my 75. A forest made room for the 2nd Bayou and most will be happy to hear that I cut 2 Mindbreak Trap to add 2 Thoughtseizes in the sideboard (which already contains 4 Therapy).

I find this thought process (and your use of line breaks) irrational.

Against any deck running Young Pyromancer, you should be more afraid of the cards supporting the Pyromancer than the Pyromancer itself. Like most fake gangsters, Young Peezy ain't shit without his homies.

You are afraid of a few 1/1s when instead you should be afraid of:
Cabal Therapy+Gix Probe
Lightning Bolt
Grim Lavamancer
Counterspells
Stifle
Etc.

IRT Deranged Hermit - why would I spend to "stall" Young Peezy when I can spend to win the game?

[Lord_of_Rivendell]

The cards are not interchangeable, thorn of amethyst is for fighting combo, wich really doesn't primarily rely on lands to cast its spells.

A fair point. Would you be willing to talk a little about where you feel thorn of amethyst operates most effectively? That is, against which decks and cards do you find it most effective?

Many thanks,

LoR

[LeoCop 90]

Thorn is especially good against ANT and TES, wich usually let you have the time to cast it. Against superfast combo like belcher it is too slow, but it's not worth to dedicate sideboard slots to fight belcher unless it is constantly present in your meta. If that's the case, you should run mindbreak trap.
Consider that thalia guardian of thraben has the same effect of thorn of amethyst while also beating, so she also is a good choice in my opinion, although she can be removed more easily than thorn.

[Kayradis]

Thorn > Thalia since people don't tend to bring artifact hate/removal against Elves! and bring more creature removal.

And Im still convinced that Ruric Thar deserves a slot in the MB

[Dice_Box]

If you do run Thar main you need the Taiga. I won a game at the GP because I had a Tiga in my deck, the guy checked out my board and saw I had no red (I had two fetches active), he bounced Thar and I just fetched out the Taiga and hit him in the face again. He sighed and told me he did not see that land main in elves coming.

[Kayradis]

I did cut the savannah and running a taiga instead.
Ruric Thar is NUTS