Alright, took this for a spin today although I've made some changes. Notably I've added 4 fetches to increase potency of Hedron Crab, swapped Logic Knots for Mana Leaks and swapped two Sanity Grinding's for two copies of Fraying Sanity. As far as sideboard goes, I took out Delvers and put in two copies of Surgical Extraction and Pithing Needles.
Round 1: Bushwacker Zoo with Pelt Collectors - Lost 0-2
Round 2: UR Arclight Phoenix - Won 2-1
Round 3: Dredge - Lost 0-2
Round 4: Dredge - Lost 0-2
Creeping Chill is really annoying and so are Phoenixes which means I'll be running Surgical Extractions in mainboard next week. With Cryptic Command costing 4 mana and Devastation Tide being 5, it feels like there is something missing till you get there. Relying on Miracle'd Tide is too iffy. Perhaps some copies of Echoing Truth?
Went to GP Prague last weekend to grind the side events. Plan was to play Elves and take Cheeri0s for a spin or two. Well, I started off first double-up on Friday with Elves and went 1-2 after losing to G-Tron and Infect while beating Jund.
Figured I'd give Cheeri0s a try for the next one and what do you know, 3 rounds later I was 2-0-1 (Affinity, Dredge) bagging 200 tix. I said to myself, let's see how far we can take this. Took down the next one 2-0-1 (Storm, BR Hollow One) again, 2-0-1 (GW Hatebears, G-Tron) double up on Saturday, 1-2 (Lost to Jeskai Control and Burn, won vs Burn) and 2-1 (Won UW Control, Jund, lost to Temur Delver) double up on Sunday. Altogether a 9-3-3 score for a total of 1140 tix which got me 3 boxes.
Went 3-1 (Lost to Storm, won vs Aristocrats, Bant Spirits, BR Hollow One) this Monday and 4-2 today at a PPTQ (34 people, lost to Mardu Pyromancer and Jund, won vs Jeskai Control, Storm, Ad Nauseam and Bant Vizier Combo).
All in all 16-6-3 in the past week. I love Claim // Fame and two Noxious Revivals in the mainboard, it makes the deck incredibly resilient.
As for the main page, I think we need to update the SB card guide for 2018. Merfolk is getting an update thanks to it's community.
I would like to propose a list of cards to update as well for 2018.
scavenging ooze is the main GY hate card that can be tutored off chord and LTS, you can play it off heritage Mana and almost instantly attack their GY. It is a very MB-able card atm thanks to all the snap decks and hollow one. It is even good against burn and the control decks because of logic knot. MB 1/ SB 1 or MB 2 to attack your regionals metagame.
It is very good against a heavy hollow one, creature based format like humans. You want it on the draw vs. control decks because you want a bit less spells, and more creatures for them to deal with. Since G1 will always be a linear gameplan, this isn't an elf to produce Mana.
reclamation sage is a powerful toolbox elf atm. It is very good against amulet Titan, aethervial, and hollow one. All of which are recently popular decks. MB interaction against affinity is also a plus, and killing off a t2 azcanta against control means they can't filter their draw step, which is good for you to hasten your gameplan.
MB 1/ SB 1 seems to be the main plan with this card atm, which is fine since there is no way to know if the card will interact with the lower rounds of the tournament (i.e. non pyromancer storm decks, ad nauseum, etc.)
I'll continue with more cards later since I have to work, but I'll continue to update with my thoughts and choices on MB and SB cards.
I'll be updating the primer in the coming days. Lots of new information as well as new variations (RG, Jund etc.) to add
playing Elves now for about a year, i am glad to share my experience with you.
I think the pure G/W List is too prone against removal. If they disrupt your Combo you are just out of cards, if you play with chord.
Playing GB with Shaman and Lead for the last couple of Tournaments it felt just better in grind out your opponents and have another good wincon alongside Ezuri. I rly dont wanna Cut Shaman entirely, even in the combo List.
Shaper´s Sanctury is defefinitly a great Sideboard Card and a must have i think!
That's what I thought at first too. But I tried out GW and having a single copy of Vizier doesn't significantly dilute our elf base and in return it gives us the oops-I-win combo, especially in game 1. Devoted Druid's can also go infinite on their own with 2 of them and an Ezuri out.
I definitely miss Shaman but current metagame (at least my local one) is better suited for GW version rather than grindier GB. And like Larriepogi said, white sideboard options are plentiful.
Ravager is also problematic if we don't have enough blockers and a Ballista to ping whatever they want to put the counters on. Same goes for Plating. At least sideboarding is easy as Lodestones are useless against them.
I tried out Eldritch Evolution when it was spoiled but instead of going for a sideboard like yours, I focused on turning 2CMC cards like Dwynen's Elite & Elvish Visionary into 4CMC threats like Chameleon Colossus, Thrun and even Thought-Knot Seer. Could be worth trying out again as there aren't many counterspells being played, at least in my local meta.
If you're seeing a lot of burn, you can always switch Nettles for Essence Wardens. You'll give up the Nettle + Heritage shenanigans but with an early Warden, you can easily go out of burns reach.
Best thing about God-Pharaoh's Gift is that tokens don't get exiled in the end step. Hit for 4 with Wanderer and have it ready to sac and force them to pay 4 if they want to resolve an instant or sorcery.
Mark of Asylum was discussed in the primer as a potential sideboard but I've never really seen it used by any Elves deck this year (as far as I remember). What could be the reason behind it? Seems really good (in theory) against decks that mostly rely on burn spells for removal (Burn, Valakut, Ponza, etc.)
I ran Mark of Asylum in my Abzan list for quite a while. My local meta game at the time was full of Jund, RG Tron, Jeskai with the odd Skred here and there. That meant lots of Bolts, Angers, Pyroclasms and other red damage based spells. Mark makes our elves immune to all those spells which is a huge advantage. It also works against creatures like Grim Lavamancer.
But with the printing of Fatal Push the meta game shifted as well with damaged based removal being far less prevalent than before. If that's the case with your meta game then you can easily skip Mark altogether.
4 Hedron Crab
Spells
4 Archive Trap
4 Cryptic Command
4 Devastation Tide
3 Mana Leak
4 Mission Briefing
2 Sanity Grinding
4 Thought Scour
2 Trapmaker's Snare
4 Visions of Beyond
2 Fraying Sanity
Lands
4 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
2 Ipnu Rivulet
10 Island
3 Shelldock Isle
2 Dispel
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Jace's Phantasm
2 Negate
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Surgical Extraction
Round 1: Bushwacker Zoo with Pelt Collectors - Lost 0-2
Round 2: UR Arclight Phoenix - Won 2-1
Round 3: Dredge - Lost 0-2
Round 4: Dredge - Lost 0-2
Creeping Chill is really annoying and so are Phoenixes which means I'll be running Surgical Extractions in mainboard next week. With Cryptic Command costing 4 mana and Devastation Tide being 5, it feels like there is something missing till you get there. Relying on Miracle'd Tide is too iffy. Perhaps some copies of Echoing Truth?
4 Hedron Crab
Spells:
4 Archive Trap
4 Cryptic Command
4 Devastation Tide
3 Logic Knot
4 Mission Briefing
4 Sanity Grinding
4 Thought Scour
2 Trapmaker's Snare
4 Visions of Beyond
4 Field of Ruin
2 Ipnu Rivulet
14 Island
3 Shelldock Isle
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dispel
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Jace's Phantasm
2 Negate
2 Ravenous Trap
4 Sram, Senior Edificer
4 Accorder's Shield
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Paradise Mantle
4 Sigil of Distinction
4 Spidersilk Net
4 Mox Opal
1 Grapeshot
2 Noxious Revival
1 Paradoxical Outcome
2 Repeal
4 Retract
3 Serum Visions
1 Godless Shrine
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Seachrome Coast
3 Windswept Heath
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Claim // Fame
1 Fragmentize
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
3 Path to Exile
4 Silence
1 Wear // Tear
Went to GP Prague last weekend to grind the side events. Plan was to play Elves and take Cheeri0s for a spin or two. Well, I started off first double-up on Friday with Elves and went 1-2 after losing to G-Tron and Infect while beating Jund.
Figured I'd give Cheeri0s a try for the next one and what do you know, 3 rounds later I was 2-0-1 (Affinity, Dredge) bagging 200 tix. I said to myself, let's see how far we can take this. Took down the next one 2-0-1 (Storm, BR Hollow One) again, 2-0-1 (GW Hatebears, G-Tron) double up on Saturday, 1-2 (Lost to Jeskai Control and Burn, won vs Burn) and 2-1 (Won UW Control, Jund, lost to Temur Delver) double up on Sunday. Altogether a 9-3-3 score for a total of 1140 tix which got me 3 boxes.
Went 3-1 (Lost to Storm, won vs Aristocrats, Bant Spirits, BR Hollow One) this Monday and 4-2 today at a PPTQ (34 people, lost to Mardu Pyromancer and Jund, won vs Jeskai Control, Storm, Ad Nauseam and Bant Vizier Combo).
All in all 16-6-3 in the past week. I love Claim // Fame and two Noxious Revivals in the mainboard, it makes the deck incredibly resilient.
I'll be updating the primer in the coming days. Lots of new information as well as new variations (RG, Jund etc.) to add
That's what I thought at first too. But I tried out GW and having a single copy of Vizier doesn't significantly dilute our elf base and in return it gives us the oops-I-win combo, especially in game 1. Devoted Druid's can also go infinite on their own with 2 of them and an Ezuri out.
I definitely miss Shaman but current metagame (at least my local one) is better suited for GW version rather than grindier GB. And like Larriepogi said, white sideboard options are plentiful.
I tried out Eldritch Evolution when it was spoiled but instead of going for a sideboard like yours, I focused on turning 2CMC cards like Dwynen's Elite & Elvish Visionary into 4CMC threats like Chameleon Colossus, Thrun and even Thought-Knot Seer. Could be worth trying out again as there aren't many counterspells being played, at least in my local meta.
I ran Mark of Asylum in my Abzan list for quite a while. My local meta game at the time was full of Jund, RG Tron, Jeskai with the odd Skred here and there. That meant lots of Bolts, Angers, Pyroclasms and other red damage based spells. Mark makes our elves immune to all those spells which is a huge advantage. It also works against creatures like Grim Lavamancer.
But with the printing of Fatal Push the meta game shifted as well with damaged based removal being far less prevalent than before. If that's the case with your meta game then you can easily skip Mark altogether.
@Mikeduges: Congratulations!