Gwu Elves!

[Thibir]

I got bored with my GR after last Highlander tournament here in Bratislava, so I built something myself. It started as Mono G Elfball, than I added Natural Order + Progenitus, just to satisfy Timmy in me. Then I splashed Mirror Entity, then Intruder Alarm, then Survival, just to throw away drawn Mr. Pro. And I foud out that I play survival, mirror entity and blue mana. so I added lark and Body Double. I want to hear a few of your opinions and remind my card I possibly left out or show my bad card choices

I played it yeastrerday and finished with score 3:2. I lost to UG aggro control and mono U control. I beated Zoo, 5c reanimator and 5c ramp.

Decklist goes like this:

Lands:
17 Forests
Gaea's Cradle
Mutavault
Pendelhaven
Misty Rainforest
Verdant Catacombs
Windswept Heath
Wooded Foothills
Flooded Strand
Temple Garden
Breeding Pool
Tropical Island
Savannah
Land Grant

Mana Elves:
Llanowar Elves
Fyndhorn Elves
Elves of Deep Shadow
Boreal Druid
Arbor Elf
Birchlore Rangers
Quirion Ranger
Heritage Druid
Rofellos, Llanowar Emisary
Priest of Titania
Devoted Druid
Wood Elves
Elvish Archdruid
Elvish Habinger

Elvish Lords:
Joraga Warcaller
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
Elvish Champion
Imperious Perfect
(Elvish Archdruid)
Wilt-Leaf Liege

Muscles:
Nettle Sentinel
Nissa's Chosen
Wren's Run Vanquisher
Talara's Battalion
Chameleon Colossus

Tokens:
Rhys the Redeemed
Wirewood Hivemaster
Selesnya Guildmage
(Imperious Perfect)
Wren's Run Packmaster
Deranged Hermit

Power Boost:
Overrun
Coat of Arms
Gempalm Strider

Refill:
Elvish Visionary
Bloodline Shaman
Eternal Witness
Sylvan Messanger
Genesis
Regal Force
Glimpse of the Nature
Slate of Ancestry

Tutors:
Wirewood Herald
(Elvish Harbinger)
Skyshrouod Poacher
Ranger of Eos
Summoner's Pact
Crop Rotation
Wordly Tutor
Eladamris Call
Survival of the Fittest
Chord of Calling
Natural Order
Tooth and Nail

Progenitus:
Progenitus
(Natural Order)
(Tooth and Nail)

Lark Combo:
Essence Warden
(Elvish Visionary)
(Wood Elves)
Caller of the Claw
Squee, Goblin Nabob
Mirror Entity
(Eternal Witness)
Body Double
Acidic Slime
Reveillark
(Survival of the Fittest)

Infinite Combos:
Staff of Domination
Intruder Alarm

Planeswalkers:
Garruk Wildspeaker
Nissa Revane

Support:
Wirewood Symbiote
Burrenton Forge-Tender
(Essence Warden)
Viridian Shaman
Concordant Crossroads
Lightning Greaves
Krosan Grip

I-Kill-You-In-Response-To-Your-EOT-Gifts:
Squall Line


Comments:
Lands: I want to avoid as many nonforests as possible, because of Rofellos and Arbor Elf. So I cut nonforest, nonfetch lands just to mutavault and Cradle. Still cant decide about Pendelhaven. Other problem I got with land are off color fetch lands like Polluted Delta. I can still fetch two UG duals with it, but if I got these in play already, it is a dead card. Can somebody count the odds of something like this happening?

Mana Elves: Not much to say about then. Still not sure about Wood Elves, they help to fetch needed color and in lark combo are insane, but they alone are just 1/1 for 3 with not so relevant ability. Other candidates are: Elvish pioneer, Wirewood Channeler and even Leaf Gilder.

Lords: Not sure about Eladamri. But still he lets elf walk the forests and evasion is never bad. Other quick note: Joraga Rocks the world!

Muscles: I wanted to cut all of them, just to make combos running more smoothly, but I am glad, I kept them in. A few things are better post-Wrath than Vanquisher + Battalion.

Tokens: Still not sure about Rhys, but I want to play as much "XT: crate token" as possible because with Intruder alarm and some mana elves I got infinite.

Power boost: There are still 3 other decent power boosts - Door of Destinies, Eldrazi Monument and Tribal Forcemage, and I dont know whether I chose the best of them

Refill: althougt Witness is not an elf, she is must play. the question here is if I want to sacrifice elves theme a litle bit to gain advantage of Genesis. I think definitely yes.

Tutors: Did I miss some good Tutor? (I would give my left little and middle finger just to be able to play Enlightened Tutor). I just dont know about Ranger of Eos. I hadnt seen him in 5 rounds turnament, nor in previous testing. But I think, he should be good. He can fetch Joraga

Progenitus: I am thinking of cutting all these three cards. Natural Order to Progenitus on turn 3 is definetly unfair, unfun and totaly random. Progenitus got score 3:2:1 on yesterday turnament. He killed somebody 3 times, got bribed and killed me 2 times and hit the table and died once.

Lark combo: Here is questionable just Squee. But I just enjoy playing him with survival. Acidic Slime is suprinsigly realy good even without combo.

Infinite combos: Warning Timmy/Johnny content.

Planeswalkers: Garruk is autoinclude. and Nissa. I mean. She is elvish planeswalker. I simply must play her in elvish deck.

Support: Not sure about burrenton. But still Earthquake got rennesance and friend of mine is playing staxx with wildfire etc. And with genesis in grave he kept bribed progenitus away from me for a while other dilema is krosan grip vs. Viridian Zealot. zealot is 2/1 elf for just 2 but split second is split second...

Squall line: it is quite frequent that I drop my opponent just below 5 life and then he starts to stabilise the game. Instant Hurricane is in my opinion the best solution for this situations...


Any suggestions?

[Pennywise]

Hi there,

I'm playing Gbw Elves with Staff and Mirror Entity Combo.
I think you have another nice deck made of elves (there are too many possibilitys tio build elves )

my two cents

Lands:
I play 31 lands (including: Mutavault, Factory, Yavimaya Hollow, Wasteland, Cradle) but I want also to play the highest amount of forests, cause of Rofellos...
I think you should cut the off-color fetchland, because I play also two Splash-colors and with four fetchlands (the green ones) and Wood Elves I#m always able to have the colors I need.

Mana Elves:
I think you have all the good one-mana-mana-producing and all the no-brainrs like Priest.
But is Devoted Druid necessary?
I kicked the Elvish Habinger, he was always to slow.

Elvish Lords:
nothing to add about the lords.
But is Eladamri, Lord of Leaves good enough? I would hat to have him and Sword of ..., or Timberwatch Elf on the board. What are your experiences with him?

Muscles:
I do not play Nissa's Chosen or Nissa Revane, beacause I don't know waht to kick for and I thnik they do nto do enough.

Talara's Battalion: I played him, but I always wanted to play him as early as possible (turn 2) but therefor you would need a mana prodcuer first turn and second turn a one-drop and Battalion (which dies realy fast because of thoughness=3), so I kicked him.


Tokens:
Wirewood Hivemaster <-- godfather of elves !!!

Rhys the Redeemed: I think about adding him, is he good enough?

Selesnya Guildmage: too mana expensive for the effect

Power Boost:
You MUST!!! add Tribal Forcemage, he is always able to generate a very fast kill!

Refill:
Bloodline Shaman: I think I run a lot of elves, but they are still less then 50% of the deck, so I fear to hit very often nothing, or something important like Symbiote etc.

Eternal Witness: kiccked her two weeks ago.

Genesis: I do not play survival and do not think Genesis is good enough without.

Regal Force: playable, but i do not have room for...

Glimpse of the Nature: good enough? lasts only one turn, dont know

Slate of Ancestry: after mass removal a dead card, I played it years ago but kicked it soon.

Tutors:
Elvish Harbinger: as mentioned above, too slow

Ranger of Eos: I think about adding him.

Wordly Tutor: too slow in my oppinion

Survival of the Fittest: I cant say why, but I dont like to play this card

Natural Order: kicked it some time ago, cause I think its too expensive, to pay 4 and get a creature, but it is playable with Progenitus.

Tooth and Nail: never thought about this card.

Lark Combo:
Squee, Goblin Nabob: maybe good enough with survival
Mirror Entity: part of the combo with Wirewood Symbiote

Body Double: I do not play blue, so can't say anything
Acidic Slime: seems to be ok with survival
Reveillark: part of your combo, no discussion
(Survival of the Fittest)

Infinite Combos:
Staff of Domination: love this kiddie-card wich is able to start the combo on a nearly empty board (did you think about staff-combo with primal Command and Regrowth? I love it)
Intruder Alarm: with blue a nice kill

Planeswalkers:
Nissa Revane: needs two slots (cause of Chosen)and I'm not sure, if she does enough

Support:
Burrenton Forge-Tender: do have so much trouble against red?

Concordant Crossroads: played it years ago, but now Lightning Greaves are enough.

Krosan Grip: i play naturalize, because it is cheaper

Squall Line: dont know about this card...

But you made me thinking about removing black from my Highlander and adding blue, or splashing another color, to play Intruder Alarm...

Hope to read some more

[TeKo]

Intruder Alarm is really good in an Elves! Deck, but good enough to splash blue?
Lark Combo is just bad in Elves imo there are enough (better) combos.

I thought about "Umbral Mantle" with Priest, Arch, Channeler or Rofellos +2 Elves.

Maybe ill try Intruder, Trop and Pool, but without a counter it seems a bit random.

Staff of Domination: love this kiddie-card wich is able to start the combo on a nearly empty board (did you think about staff-combo with primal Command and Regrowth? I love it)

Explanation plz

[Pennywise]

Staff + Primal Command + Regrowth

First you must have an elf, able to produce more than 4 mana (for Staff-Combo)
So you are able to generate "infinite" life, draw any number of cards.
If you draw cards, until you get the Primal Command, you play the Command, sending an opponents noncreature permanent to top of his library and shuffle your graveyard back into your library.
Now the only card in your graveyard is the Command, so you draw cards from the Staff until you get the Regrowth, return the Command and shuffle Regrowth back into your library. Now you can repeat this process any number of times, always sending your opponents permanents to top of his library.
If you dont' have the combo, neiter Command nor regrowth are bad on their own.

[Helle]

Why not play make a creature 1000/1000 with Mirror Entity, give it haste with Lightning Greaves, trample with Overrun and just win right away? I think you don't need to bounce your opponents permanents if you got infinite mana and cards. So Primal Command may be cut, if its effect isn't worth without the combo.

Concerning the Manabase I agree with Pennywise. You should play as many Forest as possible (making you resistant to B2B, PoP and the like).

I don't like Nissa's Chosen in Highlander, fetching one creature only and beeing next to useless afterwards. Same is true for boosting my opponents creatures with Concordant Crossroads giving him/her advantage in the damage race. I wouldn't play those.

Squall Line should only be played if youre facing lots of flying creatures like fish and skies.

In my oppinion Eldrazi Monument is missing. Giving all your creatures evasion and a litte boost is huge. Additionally, you should definitly play some removal. Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile and Oblivion Ring are too good not to play.

[Pennywise]

I like to play the Command, because its so flexible (the combo is more a spin-off), but you are right, creating a huge creature is enough.

Many people like to play Eldrazi Monumentum in Elves,  but do you realy have enough creatures to feed it and take advantage of the abilitys? I'm not sure about this.

Just counted some bit, what I am playing in Gbw Elves:

4 Removal (2 fetchable with Sylvan Messenger)

manabase:
13 basic forests
5 nonbasic-forests (Duals, Shockduals and my favourite forest: Murmuring Bosk)
4 fetchlands (only the green one)
gaeas cradle
mutavault
yavimaya hollow
wasteland
I think these lands are too solid to be not played.

But I play currently also:
wirewood lodge
mishras factory
treetop village
gilt-leaf palace
pendelhaven
and I am not sure if they are good enough...
What do you think?

[GoblinPiledriver]

mhm...
never thought about a Combo to support Staff + Priest. Normally all players concede after you gain infinte life, and watching you drawing many cards. Just Eladazri Monument for indestrucible, Mirror Entity for enough damage, with infinte mana you can untap your old creatures  for the kill(don`t need Lightning Greaves or Verdant Crossroads)

I think Inruder Alarm is not a good addition for a elves deck. Splashing blue for one single card sounds uncool. Of course this card seems to be effective for pruducing huge or infinte amounts of mana, but you also need a card which consums the mana you generated. So you need Mana elves + Intruder Alarm + mana consuming card  --> this sounds for me as a laborious card. In addition to the fact that the card itself is not aggressive at all, this seems to be a bad deal.

Eladazri Monument -- mhm.. it's difficult to approximate the amount of creatures you have in play. But you always play(in deck) many creatures, and mass removal kills your deck. +1/+1 is not not a huge kick, but the Monument also gives flying which none of your creatures has, so this card is like overrun in creature fight.
Result: Against controll this card could save you from Wrath of God, against creatures this card could be the ovverun, even maybe for the next turn. This is why players like E.Monument it's flexible and strong.

I play Nissa and her chosen, both are nice but not overwhelming. Nissa gives one creature and then many life. So this card is good against aggro. Against control this is weak, the creature is going too fast to the exiled pile(sword, path) and life gaining is not efficient.

Natural Order is good enough even without Progenitus, just fetch Regal Force. With the new cards you get you could change the situation to your favour. You never want to draw Progenitus. But the probability of drawing Progenitus or Natural Order is the same.

Eternal Witness is great I see no point not playing her(better then Regrwoth)
same is true for Survival(also better than Regrowth ).