Modern

Winning the Toronto Open with Elves

Elves has been a mainstay tribe in Magic since Alpha. Elves was my very first casual deck when I started playing all those years ago. And 3 weeks ago I played an Elf deck for the first time in about 6 years at the Face to Face Toronto Open and took the whole thing home. Here I’m going to discuss some specific card choices, the Black versus White splash, and what I think of the deck moving forward.

Before we get into more specifics, here is the list that I ran on October 15th:

Green/Black Elves 2016 – Zach Okkema

[deck]
[Lands]
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Pendelhaven
4 Verdant Catacombs
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Dwynen’s Elite
4 Elvish Archdruid
3 Elvish Mystic
3 Elvish Visionary
1 Eternal Witness
2 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Reclamation Sage
3 Shaman of the Pack
1 Spellskite
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Elvish Champion
1 Dismember
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Essence Warden
2 Fracturing Gust
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Fecundity
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Back when Modern first started, I played a version of Elves with [card]Cloudstone Curio[/card] that would loop [card]Elvish Visionary[/card] with [card]Heritage Druid[/card] to gain mana and draw to a single copy of [card]Emrakul, the Aeons Torn[/card]. That deck was not great, and the combo was hard to actually pull off. Now we have [card]Collected Company[/card], which gives the deck better game against control decks by playing creatures at instant speed and is just a great card in general. Hitting an [card]Elvish Archdruid[/card] and any other creature off of a Company is just great. The “combo” in the deck now is really just [card]Elvish Archdruid[/card] plus [card]Ezuri, Renegade Leader[/card]. By the time you are able to get those cards with [card]Chord of Calling[/card] or Company (often turn 3 or 4) you have enough 1-drop elves for a large swing to end the game.

The main “engine” of the deck revolves around [card]Heritage Druid[/card] and the various 1-drops. With [card]Llanowar Elves[/card] or [card]Elvish Mystic[/card], a turn 2 [card]Elvish Archdruid[/card] or turn 3 [card]Collected Company[/card] are likely and very powerful plays. The draws with T1 mana elf into turn 2 [card]Heritage Druid[/card], 1 drop, plus Archdruid puts 8 power on the board on turn 2. Turn 1 [card]Heritage Druid[/card] into turn 2 [card]Dwynen’s Elite[/card], [card]Elvish Archdruid[/card] is also very good. In this deck, you don’t need [card]Nettle Sentinel[/card] for your mana to generate value, but she is definitely powerful in actually netting mana when you cast your spells. As a turn 1 2/2 she is also surprisingly relevant. Speaking of [card]Dwynen’s Elite[/card], that card is an all-star. I would not play less than 4, as it combos so well with [card]Heritage Druid[/card] and gives you two bodies, which is great against decks like Jund that want to 1-for-1 you.

You win the game usually by getting out [card]Ezuri, Renegade Leader[/card] and tapping an Archdruid or [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card] for a bunch of mana to overrun with your 1/1s, and even just beating for incidental damage here and there will go a surprisingly long way. But sometimes that’s just not enough, particularly against control decks like Jeskai or Jund. Or sometimes an opposing combo deck is too fast, and you have to race them, but don’t have enough mana to Chord for Ezuri and overrun in the same turn. That’s one of the reasons I like the black splash in the deck. [card]Shaman of the Pack[/card] gives Elves reach, and won me so many games that I’m not sure I would have been able to win otherwise of the course of the tournament. Sometimes a 3-mana-lose-8-life spell is good. Who knew?

White is splashed more often for its powerful sideboard cards, but I’m not sure if it’s always better. Conceivably you could play Abzan colours, but it makes the deck more fragile and quite weak to [card]Blood Moon[/card], and I like the consistency of a 2-colour build. [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] plays the same role a lot of the time as something like [card]Stony Silence[/card], only Decay is good against [card]Blood Moon[/card] and random other threats or even [card]Tarmogoyf[/card]. It also functions like a [card]Path to Exile[/card] in white, but is uncounterable which is very relevant against a deck like Infect. Admittedly, 1 mana can make a lot of difference when you run so few lands, but uncounterability is so strong against Infect, which is already a bad matchup for the deck (hence the 2 [card]Melira, Sylvok Outcast[/card]). [card]Fracturing Gust[/card] can sometimes be a little slow against Affinity, but between the maindeck [card]Reclamation Sage[/card] and [card]Spellskite[/card] as Chord targets, the matchup is definitely winnable. Cards like [card]Selfless Spirit[/card] and [card]Burrenton Forge-Tender[/card] are the real pulls to white as defenses against [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], [card]Damnation[/card], [card]Whipflare[/card], and [card]Anger of the Gods[/card] but [card]Golgari Charm[/card] could conceivably fill that role along with Ezuri (although not against [card]Damnation[/card]). Not over-extending is very important, and it’s very tempting to do so especially with [card]Shaman of the Pack[/card] in the deck, but you should be aware that your opponent could have a sweeper. This is another reason [card]Collected Company[/card] is great, because it helps to refill the board after a flurry of removal from Jund, and otherwise gives your deck more options.

In the weeks since the Open though, I have experimented with the white splash, and have found it to be extremely good. Having a [card]Selfless Spirit[/card] is more than just sweeper-protection, but flying gives your deck a way to interact with an [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card] or any of the other random flyers in the format. More powerful sideboard cards are a bonus but not as big of a deal as others might make it out to be. [card]Horizon Canopy[/card] is great, and I would continue to play it as a 2-of even in a GB Elves deck as a way to draw cards when I run out of gas, which happens often against control decks. I think both colours are good, and am still unsure as to which is better. For now I would go with white, but as my opponents would tell you, GB is often good enough.

There are a few spots that seem to be in contention between Elf players. Some play a third Ezuri, an eighth mana dork, or any number of toolbox cards to get with [card]Chord of Calling[/card]. Let’s go over my choices. Firstly, [card]Reclamation Sage[/card] is a popular choice, and I like it because it gives us an removal spell against Affinity which is a deck that is difficult for us to race. In the tournament, I also chorded for it after my Infect opponent went all in on an [card]Inkmoth Nexus[/card]. In my opponent’s defense, I had lethal on the swing back, so he thought it was necessary to go all in. But it was very satisfying to get a 4-for-1. It also helped me in my matches against Lantern Control, allowing me to beat [card]Ensnaring Bridge[/card]. Notably, [card]Shaman of the Pack[/card] also beats the Bridge.
 
[card]Spellskite[/card] also helps against Affinity and Infect, two matchups that, as I’ve said, are otherwise difficult to race. I’ve played games against Infect where I’ve cast a turn 2 [card]Spellskite[/card] in game 1 and they just could not realistically play Magic.
 
[card]Eternal Witness[/card] is just so much value that I couldn’t pass it up. Getting to cast 1 [card]Collected Company[/card] is nice, but getting to cast it twice is pretty nasty. Having a Witness can help you “combo off” by looping Company, get back a dead Shaman for the win, but is at least a 2-for-1. I could see playing a [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] or another Ezuri in this slot, but I like Witness and she served me well.

As for the sideboard, [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]; [card]Dismember[/card]; [card]Fracturing Gust[/card]; [card]Melira, Sylvok Outcast[/card]; and [card]Reclamation Sage[/card] are all there for decks like Affinity, Infect, or [card]Death’s Shadow[/card]. We have a hard time racing some decks and need to make some concessions. [card]Dismember[/card] and Decay can also come in against Goyf decks, as fatties are sometimes hard to deal with. [card]Chameleon Colossus[/card]; [card]Fecundity[/card]; [card]Eternal Witness[/card]; [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card], and [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] are there for “fair” matchups that are trying to 1-for-1 us. And [card]Elvish Champion[/card] is there against decks we need to race. I bring it in against Jund, Abzan, and could even bring it in against Infect. [card]Essence Warden[/card] is there for Burn, and I think I would like to play another [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] in that slot.

Other sideboard changes I would consider making is cutting the second [card]Eternal Witness[/card] in the sideboard and the [card]Fecundity[/card] for a card like [card]Golgari Charm[/card] that would give a little more resiliency. In the main deck I would also consider cutting a Nykthos, as it makes some opening hands awkward. Very often the deck keeps 1-landers, but too often I’m stuck with that land being Nykthos whereas the hand would have been a keep if it were a [card]Forest[/card]. I’m also happy with 3 [card]Cavern of Souls[/card], as blue counterspells aren’t very popular lately and it often just acts as another [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card].

Additionally, I think finding room for a [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] maindeck in exchange for one of my flex spots would help to give the deck reach. As I said before, if I were to cut a card it would likely be an [card]Eternal Witness[/card]. Either that or Shaman. [card]Shaman of the Pack[/card] is great when you are slightly ahead, but if you’re behind, a card like [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] can help you to pull back into the game whereas another Shaman would be a 3 mana 3/2.

Otherwise I am very happy with the deck and the free wins it provides. As long as you sequence properly and are able to correctly assess your role on any given turn, the deck works quite well. I look forward to testing the deck further.

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