4 Mana is already a lot and you want a Mana sink, which is only good for grindy match ups like jund. Everywhere else shalai is slow, picking up one copy is never bad since it's gavony on a creature.
The Ross deck seems like just playtesting the marwyn as a 5th worse archdruid. Boreal druid was already fine because it's another Mana dork that has no drawbacks to it. All in all, I believe the vizier + devoted druid combo carried his games more than the single copy of marwyn.
Thd fact us, shakai is s creature, snd this means se is tutorable in many natchups where hexproof is usrful. It's a better aegis ofg the gods, i wouldn't be durprised in seeing her in the toolbox version
Woooooooooooooooooooow those typos.
But agreed that I'd love to try her out in GW or Abzan toolbox lists.
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WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
A 3 mana 5/4 elf that can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
No downside.
What...
It's a really interesting card. Some are down on it since it doesn't work with the elfball strategy, but I think it's worth a serious look since it lets us fight on an axis that isn't "Have tons of dudes" or "Ezuri combo."
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I think their policy is no functional reprints of Reserved List cards.
Also a bear that's also an Elf Shroud Lord could easily push the deck way too far. All the cheap removal in the format is one of the biggest checks against everyone getting run over by Elf Balls.
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WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
What do people thing about Lead the Stampede with Bloodbraid? I’ve been using 2 in my sideboard to replenish after board wipes (basically CoCo numbers 5 and 6), and it plays better with Bloodbraid Elf than CoCo or Chord on both ends (both hitting BBE and being hit by it).
CoCo is just straight gas, despite missing BBE. So I can’t imagine cutting them, but it does seem like it may be worth checking out Lead as a main-deck inclusion in some configurations.
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WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
My snap judgment is that it trades some consistency for some speed. This build has more pieces that don't really do much alone, although 4 Canopy helps with that, as do CoCo and Chord of course. In exchange, you can just close out a game if your opponent doesn't disrupt you.
In a meta where Death's Shadow is everywhere, the top deck is full of disruption and everyone else is running even more disruption to fight it. That makes me feel like the combo may not come together as often as we'd like. But in a goldfish meta, I think it would have a much better shot.
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Legendary means we don't want too many, but it's pretty consistent reach given we don't have trouble tapping creatures one way or another. Although it's somewhat reliant on Heritage Druid if we can't swing in.
The biggest downside I can see is that it decreases our creature density. It does nothing on its own and less than a creature when we're trying to rebuild, so topdecking it when after a wipe is harsh. And of course it whiffs CoCo.
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WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
There's a case to be made for Nettle vs. X, and I do feel strongly that Nettle is a fine card. But I very much disagree that Cooperhorn is only good when we're way ahead. I've run two tournaments with Copperhorn over Nettle now. Both times it's won me games I'd likely have lost through boardstsres as delicate as letting me untap with 4 creatures on board after a wipe while staring down Batterskull + Titan vs. Amulet. Granted, there's no way to know how Nettle would have influenced those games and my N is very small (hence my going back and forth to test), but my experience has been that Copperhorn is certainly not just good when we're already way ahead.
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Quick FNM report, followed by some musings and deckbuilding!
Second time running Elves, once again on Abzan. Still don't have an optimal mana base, but the last few weeks were good to me so the Caverns and Pendelhaven are en route! Tried cutting the Nettles for 3 Copperhorn Scout and a 3rd Visionary. I'm pretty unsure on how to board out, so let me know if you have suggestions!
Round 1: Vs. Affinity (1-1-1)
Game 1 I lose the roll, then play the longest game of Elves vs. Robots ever. I draw into tons of dorks and an Archdruid and Heritage with 7 bodies on the table but no payoff. He gets a Plating on his Skirge and goes swinging. Gets himself up to the low 30s, and I finally manage to flip Ormendahl to stall him. He gets Inkmoth, trades with Ormendahl. I resolve the the worst CoCo ever (Llanowar, land, Chord, and the other 3 CoCos!). I get a Selfless Spirit to block his flying Plating-equipped guys, but he has mana to re-equip and that's game.
Game 2 I open with Forest - Llanowar with turn-2 Stony and Fracturing Gust for backup. He proceeds to drop a Memnite, Opal, Citadel, Ravager, eat Opal, Opal, Skirge. Suddenly Stony doesn't look so hot. I play it, having no better options than to try to survive until I can Gust. He eats his board and drops it on Skirge. Two turns later, I manage to wipe his entire board with Gust (taking Stony along with it of course), going up from I think 3 to 11, and the rest is a cakewalk.
Game 3 we start on turns, but it's clear neither can win within 2-3 turns so we draw.
Round 2 vs. UR Prowess (2-0)
Easy matches. He wasn't familiar with Elves and had a pretty budged homebrew build, so his only real out was me getting flooded or screwed. I did have to mull my first opener (6 lands and my 1-of Rec Sage), but he never had much of a chance.
In: 2 Finks to gum up the board, 1 Forge-Tender and 1 Spirit to stave off boardwipes (rightly suspecting Anger SB, as his list is a little slower than the stock UR Prowess builds)
Out: ???
Round 3 vs. Eldrazi Tron (2-0)
I'd played this guy for fun after my first Elves tournament and he topdecked All is Dust for the win while I represented lethal in 3 ways on my next turn (including flipping Ormendahl). I win the roll, and this time, the tables turn. That was his only game ever vs. Elves so he doesn't really know the lines. He gets a turn-2 Reshaper while I go dork into Spirit. He lands Chalice on 2 (big mistake) and we both stall out while we swing back and forth. Eventually I draw into CoCo, casting at his EoT with a decent number of dorks out and proceed to hit Archdruid/Ezuri. He Dismembers the Ezuri, but the 4 life he loses puts him at dead on my next swing.
In: 1 Glissa, the Traitor (secret tech lol!), 1 Rec Sage, 2 Lead, 1 Bestiary (remembering the All is Dust from before)
Out: 1 Spirit (it stops literally none of his removal), 1 Visionary, 1 Copperhorn, 1 Chord, 1 CoCo (again not wanting too many because of Cage)
Game 2 he keeps a greedy 1-lander with Map. I keep a dork into Archdruid hand with Chord and CoCo as payoff. I vomit hand and Lead to fill back up, hitting 4 creatures. He doesn't draw his 2nd land until far too late.
Round 4 vs. (another) Affinity (1-2)
Lose the roll, proceed to lose a long game to Skirge beats with Overseer backup, drawing 3 dorks, one Archdruid, a Heritage, and 7 lands.
Game 2, he does almost an identical opening to Match 1 Game 2, with double Opal and Ravager and everything, but with a Pest instead of a Skirge. I end up clogging the board so he sacs his side and dumps 8 counters onto an Inkmoth. At that point Heritage gives me enough mana to Fracturing Gust him out of the game. He just scoops right there.
Game 3, I once again draw the nuts with Heritage, Dwynen's, Stony, Gust, Dork, and 2 lands. Turn 1 he vomits hand onto the field, ending with a Skirge. I Heritage-Go. He expects to play his Master of Etherium, but instead topdecks a Cranial Plating. The nuts. The one topdeck that will crush me. I abandon the Stony plan and go Dwynen's knowing my only hope is that he misses lethal and I can use the two lands + Heritage taps to Gust him. He ends up able to hit me for exact (11).
So 2-1-1 record, with lots of variance on display. Robots can be a rough matchup, and my opponents' good hands were just on fire. I got super lucky drawing my hate, but if they were on the play, they had just enough velocity to get out ahead of it. I can't believe that I drew my 1-of Gust in 3 of my 4 post-board games vs. Affinity; it's easy to cast on turn 3 since they often don't/can't really commit to disrupting your acceleration (unless they have Whipflare, which is a possibility). For now I feel like it's easily earned its place in my board; I'll probably throw in a Creeping Corrosion as well, but it's worth noting that Corrosion wouldn't have helped me where Gust could have since they could let it resolve, activate a manland in response to Ravager's trigger, and then move the counters. (I think; am I correct on that?)
I should also note that my sub-optimal mana base really hurt me here; shocking myself directly lost me my last game (would have been at 2 and able to Gust him otherwise), so I feel like that upgrade will help a lot.
The Eldrazi Tron matchup feels super good to me. They bank on Chalice, but we have so much velocity and enough outs that it doesn't really phase me. I imagine that getting Caverns in will help a ton.
I only got to use Copperhorn Scout's ability once, and it wasn't relevant at the time. Part of that was just that I had a hard time sticking mana sinks. On that note, I may go up to a third Ezuri, since the Ezuri mortality rate was extraordinary.
On a final note, I'm harboring a suspicion that running Abzan is a little bit of a trap. That is, it can do great things, but I'm starting to think that I may be better served running some broader sideboard pieces and saving a lot on life. On top of the Robots, this store also a fair amount of burn, plus some Merfolk and Revolt Zoo, so lots of decks pressuring your life total. Spirit and Forge-Tender are great cards, but even if our opponent can pull off a wipe, I feel like other sideboard tools like Thoughtseize and Lead/Bestiary are enough to get us back in the game anyways. A couple Abrupt Decay would I think also do wonders, although BG on a noncreature spell isn't trivial. All that said, if Path is important in your meta, I can totally understand Abzan being the right play.
Anyways, I had an absolute blast with this deck once again. I'm convinced this will be one of my go-to decks for a long time to come, hence finally finishing the mana base. (Finding a great deal on Caverns and Palace sure helped!) I still don't have any Horizon Canopies, but... I'm OK with that for now. Can only do so much at once, and I'm still down two Goyfs for my other decks. Between the painless mana fixing of Cavern/Palace in G/B and the extra resilience against Chalice, this feels like a really solid list.
Here's the list I ran last night for those interested:
And the new deck, in G/B with a retooled mana base. (I'm not sure what the consensus is on the right number/configuration of lands, but I feel like the 9 turn-1 black sources for Thougtseize rule is a good one.)
Depending on the next few games there, I may pull the Finks for other tech. I haven't seen many decks where blocking is a thing; just Burn really. In their place, maybe a Creeping Corrosion and another Fracturing Gust. Like I said, I'm not certain on the land configuration, but I'm hoping to avoid self-damage and hedge against both Chalice and Blood Moon (hence the fetches).
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WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
Is Creeping Corrosion better to run than Fracturing Gust? I get that one is an instant but the 4 mana wrath seems to good to pass up for the more expensive cmc option. What situations would I want Gust for?
In my experience, the times we bring either in are matches where the opponent has next to no spot removal, making Gust easy enough to power out. The lifegain is nice vs. Affinity (although it's usually lights out for them anyways), but the instant speed is really the winner there, since it can hit their manlands.
I haven't brought it in vs. any other decks yet, but I've been very happy with 2-2-1 Rec Sage (1 MD)/Stony/Gust so far. May go to 2-2 Sage/Gust if I drop White.
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My take is that Bestiary outperforms Lead/Chord vs. decks that grind us out, and in other matchups, it underperforms those counterparts. What puts me off of it is that "grindy deck" usually means Jund, Junk, or Grixis – each of which has maindeck answers for Bestiary. Two of them even have a maindeck 2-for-1 in K-Command.
I get that it's drawing removal from another target, but I don't think that's a great argument compared to Lead, which just gets you the value almost guaranteed and all at once.
I agree with the fact that bestiary is not a card for every season.
To give its best it has to be on the battlefield for some turns.
Hence against fast deck it is orrible.
And in fact I prefer to have it on the sideboard.
But I do not think that the fact that it can be destroyed is relevant.
Yes it can be removed by kolaghan's command.
But this means that another effect of kolaghan's command will not be used against us.
Yes it can be removed by abrupt decay.
But this means that we will keep in safe another elf.
That's true, but you're comparing Bestiary to another Elf. I'm comparing Bestiary to what would replace it - Lead the Stampede. Is it better to have a Bestiary which may or may not draw a removal spell, or a Lead that's almost certain to gas us up (and filter past extra lands)? That's an honest question; I don't know the answer. But the fact that the best decks to run Bestiary against are also generally the ones that can kill it seems like a bad position for the card to be in.
I guess some of it depends on if we're expecting sweepers. If they have sweepers for our board and can spend spot-removal on Bestiary, that's a huge liability for us. If they have to go 1-for-1, it's probably not as big an issue.
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WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
My take is that Bestiary outperforms Lead/Chord vs. decks that grind us out, and in other matchups, it underperforms those counterparts. What puts me off of it is that "grindy deck" usually means Jund, Junk, or Grixis – each of which has maindeck answers for Bestiary. Two of them even have a maindeck 2-for-1 in K-Command.
I get that it's drawing removal from another target, but I don't think that's a great argument compared to Lead, which just gets you the value almost guaranteed and all at once.
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I think if you want to try to Deathtouch your opponent's Shadows and Goyfs, you may want to look at Chording for a Glissa, the Traitor rather than relying on Narnam. Glissa dodges all of their removal spells unless they can Revolt Push, and the first strike keeps her alive and stops them from trampling through your blocker if they have a trample effect.
Possibly too cute, but it's something I've been tossing around.
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Woooooooooooooooooooow those typos.
But agreed that I'd love to try her out in GW or Abzan toolbox lists.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
It's a really interesting card. Some are down on it since it doesn't work with the elfball strategy, but I think it's worth a serious look since it lets us fight on an axis that isn't "Have tons of dudes" or "Ezuri combo."
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
I think their policy is no functional reprints of Reserved List cards.
Also a bear that's also an Elf Shroud Lord could easily push the deck way too far. All the cheap removal in the format is one of the biggest checks against everyone getting run over by Elf Balls.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
It's an attachment, so you can click it and it will enlarge. (Maybe it's wonky on mobile, I suppose.)
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
CoCo is just straight gas, despite missing BBE. So I can’t imagine cutting them, but it does seem like it may be worth checking out Lead as a main-deck inclusion in some configurations.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
My snap judgment is that it trades some consistency for some speed. This build has more pieces that don't really do much alone, although 4 Canopy helps with that, as do CoCo and Chord of course. In exchange, you can just close out a game if your opponent doesn't disrupt you.
In a meta where Death's Shadow is everywhere, the top deck is full of disruption and everyone else is running even more disruption to fight it. That makes me feel like the combo may not come together as often as we'd like. But in a goldfish meta, I think it would have a much better shot.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
I'd love to see that list! Also, don't forget to pack Unified Will!
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
The biggest downside I can see is that it decreases our creature density. It does nothing on its own and less than a creature when we're trying to rebuild, so topdecking it when after a wipe is harsh. And of course it whiffs CoCo.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Second time running Elves, once again on Abzan. Still don't have an optimal mana base, but the last few weeks were good to me so the Caverns and Pendelhaven are en route!
Game 1 I lose the roll, then play the longest game of Elves vs. Robots ever. I draw into tons of dorks and an Archdruid and Heritage with 7 bodies on the table but no payoff. He gets a Plating on his Skirge and goes swinging. Gets himself up to the low 30s, and I finally manage to flip Ormendahl to stall him. He gets Inkmoth, trades with Ormendahl. I resolve the the worst CoCo ever (Llanowar, land, Chord, and the other 3 CoCos!). I get a Selfless Spirit to block his flying Plating-equipped guys, but he has mana to re-equip and that's game.
In: 2 Stony, 1 Fracturing Gust, 1 Rec Sage, 1 Revoker
Out: 1 Chord, 2 CoCo (I rightly suspected Cage post-board), 1 Visionary, 1 Copperhorn Scout
Game 2 I open with Forest - Llanowar with turn-2 Stony and Fracturing Gust for backup. He proceeds to drop a Memnite, Opal, Citadel, Ravager, eat Opal, Opal, Skirge. Suddenly Stony doesn't look so hot. I play it, having no better options than to try to survive until I can Gust. He eats his board and drops it on Skirge. Two turns later, I manage to wipe his entire board with Gust (taking Stony along with it of course), going up from I think 3 to 11, and the rest is a cakewalk.
Game 3 we start on turns, but it's clear neither can win within 2-3 turns so we draw.
Round 2 vs. UR Prowess (2-0)
Easy matches. He wasn't familiar with Elves and had a pretty budged homebrew build, so his only real out was me getting flooded or screwed. I did have to mull my first opener (6 lands and my 1-of Rec Sage), but he never had much of a chance.
In: 2 Finks to gum up the board, 1 Forge-Tender and 1 Spirit to stave off boardwipes (rightly suspecting Anger SB, as his list is a little slower than the stock UR Prowess builds)
Out: ???
Round 3 vs. Eldrazi Tron (2-0)
I'd played this guy for fun after my first Elves tournament and he topdecked All is Dust for the win while I represented lethal in 3 ways on my next turn (including flipping Ormendahl). I win the roll, and this time, the tables turn. That was his only game ever vs. Elves so he doesn't really know the lines. He gets a turn-2 Reshaper while I go dork into Spirit. He lands Chalice on 2 (big mistake) and we both stall out while we swing back and forth. Eventually I draw into CoCo, casting at his EoT with a decent number of dorks out and proceed to hit Archdruid/Ezuri. He Dismembers the Ezuri, but the 4 life he loses puts him at dead on my next swing.
In: 1 Glissa, the Traitor (secret tech lol!), 1 Rec Sage, 2 Lead, 1 Bestiary (remembering the All is Dust from before)
Out: 1 Spirit (it stops literally none of his removal), 1 Visionary, 1 Copperhorn, 1 Chord, 1 CoCo (again not wanting too many because of Cage)
Game 2 he keeps a greedy 1-lander with Map. I keep a dork into Archdruid hand with Chord and CoCo as payoff. I vomit hand and Lead to fill back up, hitting 4 creatures. He doesn't draw his 2nd land until far too late.
Round 4 vs. (another) Affinity (1-2)
Lose the roll, proceed to lose a long game to Skirge beats with Overseer backup, drawing 3 dorks, one Archdruid, a Heritage, and 7 lands.
In: 2 Stony, 1 Fracturing Gust, 1 Rec Sage, 1 Revoker
Out: 1 Chord, 2 CoCo (I rightly suspected Cage post-board), 1 Visionary, 1 Copperhorn Scout
Game 2, he does almost an identical opening to Match 1 Game 2, with double Opal and Ravager and everything, but with a Pest instead of a Skirge. I end up clogging the board so he sacs his side and dumps 8 counters onto an Inkmoth. At that point Heritage gives me enough mana to Fracturing Gust him out of the game. He just scoops right there.
Game 3, I once again draw the nuts with Heritage, Dwynen's, Stony, Gust, Dork, and 2 lands. Turn 1 he vomits hand onto the field, ending with a Skirge. I Heritage-Go. He expects to play his Master of Etherium, but instead topdecks a Cranial Plating. The nuts. The one topdeck that will crush me. I abandon the Stony plan and go Dwynen's knowing my only hope is that he misses lethal and I can use the two lands + Heritage taps to Gust him. He ends up able to hit me for exact (11).
So 2-1-1 record, with lots of variance on display. Robots can be a rough matchup, and my opponents' good hands were just on fire. I got super lucky drawing my hate, but if they were on the play, they had just enough velocity to get out ahead of it. I can't believe that I drew my 1-of Gust in 3 of my 4 post-board games vs. Affinity; it's easy to cast on turn 3 since they often don't/can't really commit to disrupting your acceleration (unless they have Whipflare, which is a possibility). For now I feel like it's easily earned its place in my board; I'll probably throw in a Creeping Corrosion as well, but it's worth noting that Corrosion wouldn't have helped me where Gust could have since they could let it resolve, activate a manland in response to Ravager's trigger, and then move the counters. (I think; am I correct on that?)
I should also note that my sub-optimal mana base really hurt me here; shocking myself directly lost me my last game (would have been at 2 and able to Gust him otherwise), so I feel like that upgrade will help a lot.
The Eldrazi Tron matchup feels super good to me. They bank on Chalice, but we have so much velocity and enough outs that it doesn't really phase me. I imagine that getting Caverns in will help a ton.
I only got to use Copperhorn Scout's ability once, and it wasn't relevant at the time. Part of that was just that I had a hard time sticking mana sinks. On that note, I may go up to a third Ezuri, since the Ezuri mortality rate was extraordinary.
On a final note, I'm harboring a suspicion that running Abzan is a little bit of a trap. That is, it can do great things, but I'm starting to think that I may be better served running some broader sideboard pieces and saving a lot on life. On top of the Robots, this store also a fair amount of burn, plus some Merfolk and Revolt Zoo, so lots of decks pressuring your life total. Spirit and Forge-Tender are great cards, but even if our opponent can pull off a wipe, I feel like other sideboard tools like Thoughtseize and Lead/Bestiary are enough to get us back in the game anyways. A couple Abrupt Decay would I think also do wonders, although BG on a noncreature spell isn't trivial. All that said, if Path is important in your meta, I can totally understand Abzan being the right play.
Anyways, I had an absolute blast with this deck once again. I'm convinced this will be one of my go-to decks for a long time to come, hence finally finishing the mana base. (Finding a great deal on Caverns and Palace sure helped!) I still don't have any Horizon Canopies, but... I'm OK with that for now. Can only do so much at once, and I'm still down two Goyfs for my other decks.
Here's the list I ran last night for those interested:
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Copperhorn Scout
3 Elvish Visionary
4 Dwynen's Elite
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Eternal Witness
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands: 18
5 Forest
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Westvale Abbey
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Selfless Spirit
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Stony Silence
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Elvish Champion
1 Glissa, the Traitor
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2 Lead the Stampede
1 Fracturing Gust
And the new deck, in G/B with a retooled mana base. (I'm not sure what the consensus is on the right number/configuration of lands, but I feel like the 9 turn-1 black sources for Thougtseize rule is a good one.)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Copperhorn Scout
3 Elvish Visionary
4 Dwynen's Elite
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Elvish Archdruid
3 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Eternal Witness
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands: 18
3 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
2 Blooming March
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Westvale Abbey
4 Thougtseize
1 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Glissa, the Traitor
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
2 Lead the Stampede
1 Fracturing Gust
Depending on the next few games there, I may pull the Finks for other tech. I haven't seen many decks where blocking is a thing; just Burn really. In their place, maybe a Creeping Corrosion and another Fracturing Gust. Like I said, I'm not certain on the land configuration, but I'm hoping to avoid self-damage and hedge against both Chalice and Blood Moon (hence the fetches).
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Seems bad, but you never know.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
In my experience, the times we bring either in are matches where the opponent has next to no spot removal, making Gust easy enough to power out. The lifegain is nice vs. Affinity (although it's usually lights out for them anyways), but the instant speed is really the winner there, since it can hit their manlands.
I haven't brought it in vs. any other decks yet, but I've been very happy with 2-2-1 Rec Sage (1 MD)/Stony/Gust so far. May go to 2-2 Sage/Gust if I drop White.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
That's true, but you're comparing Bestiary to another Elf. I'm comparing Bestiary to what would replace it - Lead the Stampede. Is it better to have a Bestiary which may or may not draw a removal spell, or a Lead that's almost certain to gas us up (and filter past extra lands)? That's an honest question; I don't know the answer. But the fact that the best decks to run Bestiary against are also generally the ones that can kill it seems like a bad position for the card to be in.
I guess some of it depends on if we're expecting sweepers. If they have sweepers for our board and can spend spot-removal on Bestiary, that's a huge liability for us. If they have to go 1-for-1, it's probably not as big an issue.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
I get that it's drawing removal from another target, but I don't think that's a great argument compared to Lead, which just gets you the value almost guaranteed and all at once.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Possibly too cute, but it's something I've been tossing around.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon