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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
type 2 elfball deck
January 4, 2007

dylan sylvester wrote:
hello my name is dylan and this is my elfball deck. its a green weenie deck in the early game but come late game finished the job with a big demonfire (thanks to mana elves and gauntlet of power) to the dome. it has made the last few top 8s in my local FNM so I think it has quite a bit of potential to become a strong archetype. (and a couple people have already copied it) I've done a good amount of testing going from the original which was G/B for blacks strong removal and also was running elves of deep shadow. it hasn't won any tourneys yet but maybe thats where you come in.

22x creature spells
4x llanwar elves
4x boreal druid
4x silhana ledgewalker
3x selesnya guildmage (mana sink makes critters)
3x golgari guildmage (mana sink wroks with ledgewalkers)
4x elvish champion

18x non-creature spells
4x rift bolt
3x char
3x loxodon warhammer (beats other aggro decks)
4x demonfire
2x wurmcalling (gets big)
3x gauntlet of power

20x land
4x stomping ground
4x karpulsian forest
2x scrying sheets
10x snow covered forest
Well, Dylan, I'll be happy to try and bring this deck up to tournament caliber for you, and I think I see what your main problem is.  This is a deck of two strategies-- first, it wants to be a Green Weenie deck that comes out of the gate early and pounds away.  Trouble is, decks like that usually want to play Turn One Norwood Ranger, Turn Two Elvish Warrior, etc.  Your deck doesn't want those Elves, despite their impressive P/T to mana cost ratio, because they're not mana Elves.  That's your late game strategy-- stockpile mana into a backbreaking Demonfire or Wurmcalling.  Trouble is, you can't really bridge the two strategies together.  What are you doing in the midgame?  Elvish Champion is your most expensive creature, and it's a 2/2 for 3.  Your next biggest spell is Gauntlet of Power for 5, then Loxodon Warhammer which needs six mana to do anything, and then it's all pretty much X spells that want to wait until Turn Eight or Nine, at which point you will likely have nearly twenty mana thanks to the Gauntlets.  The problem here is that your small, mana producing creatures are getting outclassed by larger creatures and better spells before you can successfully get enough mana to end the game in an inferno of Demonfire.  The question now becomes, what do you do?
 
I think the answer here lies in multicolor cards.  Since multicolor crads are by their nature harder to cast than monocolor cards, they can be more powerful for their cost.  Just look at some of the Gruul Clan's heavy hitters: Burning-Tree Shaman, Rumbling Slum, Ulasht, the Hate Seed.  Any one of these, Elf or not, would make a good creature for your deck.  Ulasht particularly acts as another mana sink.  Burning-tree Shaman can give a lot of decks' strategies nightmares, though if you use him you should take out a few of those Guildmages.  And Rumbling Slum, a 5/5 for 4 mana, will pretty much pound its way through almost anything.
 
If you want to stick to an Elf strategy, then there's options there too.  You mention a problem with other aggro decks, so try Silhana Starfletcher (more mana abilities as well) or Nullmage Shepherd (2/4 plus a way to take out artifacts and enchantments).  Thornscape Battlemage would make a good addition as well, as a 2/2 plus an optional Shock.
 
If it's the big X spells you're after, then you may want to pull out Char in exchange for a land searching spell like Search for Tommorow, or even Civic Wayfinder.  Actually, the Wayfinder would probably be a good addition here no matter which path you take-- Turn One Llanowar Elves, Turn Two Wayfinder, Turn Three you have five mana.
 
Honestly, I think what this deck calls for is a transformative sideboard.  That's when you build your deck with one specific strategy in mind, but have a sideboard with cards that can change your whole strategy.  For example, you could add a few Wayfinders and Greenseekers at your dicretion, but then keep Rumbling Slum and Burning-Tree Shaman in the sideboard, ready to switch gears against an opponent who likes to swing with 3/3's.
 
There are sveral different ways to fix this deck, Dylan, and you need to pick which way works best for you.  One thing I will say for sure, though, is that Civic Wayfinder and also Skarrg, the Rage Pits should go in no matter which way you choose, because those two cards are just too good here to pass up.  Good luck, and may the mana always flow freely.
 
~BMoor


 

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