[Official Thread] BG Elves

[Shinjutsei]

This thread is for discussion of the BG Elves archetype. Here is a sample decklist:

BG Elves, by Sean Og Murphy - GP Barcelona Top 8
Lands 4 Forest 4 Gilt-Leaf Palace 4 Llanowar Wastes 2 Mutavault 2 Swamp 4 Treetop Village 3 Twilight Mire Creatures 3 Chameleon Colossus 2 Civic Wayfinder 2 Cloudthresher 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Llanowar Elves 3 Noble Hierarch 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege 4 Wren's Run Vanquisher	Other Spells 2 Garruk Wildspeaker 3 Maelstrom Pulse 2 Nameless Inversion 3 Profane Command 3 Thoughtseize	Sideboard 1 Chameleon Colossus 1 Eyeblight's Ending 1 Hurricane 1 Kitchen Finks 1 Maelstrom Pulse 2 Pithing Needle 2 Primal Command 2 Puppeteer Clique 3 Shriekmaw 1 Thoughtseize

Keep all posts on-topic. Decks posted in this thread are to be of similar design and all posts herein are to be related to this archetype. Anything else will be marked as spam and infracted.

[JollyTheOctopuss]

Originally Posted by rambull

i think 3 profane command was a bad idea. it is only good in some late-game situations when there are better threats to use. congrats to murphy on the top

What are those better threats? IDK, Profane seems pretty hot in here. Pretty much all 4 of the options work really well with the deck and the deck has enough mana production to really take advantage of it.

Like, I can't imagine this deck going for the same sort of speed that Kithkin has, it comes off as more of a mid-range kinda thing. Profane seems kinda perfect for it.

The only other stupid crap that I could think of, would be maybe stuff like Lord of Extinction or Shriekmaws, but there's probably better. Just kinda throwing out ideas.

[Nick_]

Profane Command is one of the best cards in the deck, I wouldn't play a list without three.

I think that Putrid Leech is very good in the deck though, he puts so much pressure on your opponent so quickly. Between him and Vanquisher, your two-drops can take down just about everything in the format for not much mana.

Because of the high curve of the deck, I play 4x Wayfinder. He's usually better than Hierarch, even though he doesn't accel you like Hierarch, he thins the deck and is a much better topdeck late game than the Hierarch is.

[Houndofkonda]

Originally Posted by Nick_

Profane Command is one of the best cards in the deck, I wouldn't play a list without three.

I think that Putrid Leech is very good in the deck though, he puts so much pressure on your opponent so quickly. Between him and Vanquisher, your two-drops can take down just about everything in the format for not much mana.

Because of the high curve of the deck, I play 4x Wayfinder. He's usually better than Hierarch, even though he doesn't accel you like Hierarch, he thins the deck and is a much better topdeck late game than the Hierarch is.

I agree Putrid Leech is very impressive in this deck. I was testing the Chapin 5CB deck earlier against Swans and everytime I got down Putrid Leech on turn2 I won because I simply beat him before he could do anything .. I had a few disruptive spells like Maelstrom Pulse to stop him from the combo and I beat him out... I just thought to myself after a few games, I wonder how fast Elves could beat Swans down with Thoughtseizing to slow them down and getting Leech and a Vanquisher down to beat him out before he can do anything. I think Elves is very well positioned in the meta right now.

[PhanTom]

It would be really nice to see Nakamura's list, he played with Leeches in the GP.

[Houndofkonda]

Originally Posted by PhanTom

It would be really nice to see Nakamura's list, he played with Leeches in the GP.

Indeed, Saito, Yuuya and Nakamura. I really hope they post the day2 decklists or mention them in an article.

[HulkamaniaHogan]

I ended up running B/G Elves at Regionals this year. I did horrible the year before with it because I was still new to the game and didn't play smart at all. I went 6-3 and got 32nd place in Orlando and I was happy with how I did and knowing that I had came a long way from last year, even though I only made one play mistake all day.

I like how the deck always feels like it has a good, well-rounded match-up for most decks out there. Mine tends to struggle against B/W and G/W Tokens, but I run 4 Maelstrom Pulses in the main, as well as Scattershot Archers and Deathmarks in the sideboard.

I ran Putrid Leach for some testing and I didn't seem to like him to much. I play-tested against R/B Blightning and he always did more harm than help. But, with in combination with Kitchen Finks, I think it's still a great card.

I'm curious to see how well the deck will be with Magic 2010. I can see myself having a better sideboard with Duress and Black Knight packing heat for some of the match-ups out there. Both will help the match-up against Tokens for sure, and both can help simultaneously with other match-ups.

[weltkrieg]

I'm curious how you guys would modify this list in a meta with 5cB, grixis control, planeswalkers, 4 color aggro, and b/w and g/w tokens lists? maelstrom pulse and jund charm see lots of play, so I figured that the bigger green/black elf beats could work. however, upon inspection of my collection, I find some glaring deficiencies, which I was looking at a decklist like this for:

Deck
4 imperious perfect 4 wren's run vanquisher 2 chameleon colossus 2 cloudthresher 4 llanowar elves 4 civic wayfinder 3 wilt leaf cavalier spells 3 garruk wildspeaker 3 profane command 4 terminate 4 thoughtseize lands 4 treetop village 2 mutavault 4 savage lands 4 llanowar waste 4 forest 4 swamp 1 mountain sideboard 3 thought hemorrhage 4 naturalize 2 mind shatter 5 other?

I can modify the list as suggested for testing. I have 4 profane commands, 3 bitterblossoms (if needed, but yuck), can get pretty much any common/uncommon, but rares are a bit of a hassle. might be able to get a couple of lieges. if so, will toss the perfects in their place. maybe have 3 kitchen finks, but wasn't sure there either. cards like hurricane, firespout, infest, shriekmaw, all not hard to get. if anyone has any ideas, I'm up all ears. thank you!

--welt

[xpolosp0rtx]

Can this deck ever beat Cascade Swans?

[Ninety-Three]

After playing against the deck (and pilot) that pulled 2nd place at Dallas Regionals at FNM, I would highly reccomend that BG Elves not leave home without Wilt-Leaf Lieges and Noble Hierarchs in addition to the standard Llanowar Elves.

The turn one mana-accel consistency combined with the sheer power of a third turn Liege pumping Kitchen Finks twice along with everything else getting +1/+1 is tremendous pressure for any control deck to hande, and comes down faster than a control player can reliably set up, especially when you're on the draw.

Plus it's a doozy for other aggro players to catch up with as well, especially when backed up by the great removal that BG Elves packs.

[smor]

I Quallified on regionals (2nd) with this list
We done well against tokens, 5cc, RDW, but loose to redkithkins (didn see my Infests and loxodons in this games)...

Deck
4 Thoughtseize 4 Wren's Run Vanquisher 4 Bitterblossom 3 Civic Wayfinder 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Chameleon Colossus 3 Troll Ascetic 2 Cloudthresher 1 Snakeform 3 Eyeblight's Ending 2 Loxodon Warhammer 3 Garruk Wildspeaker 3 Profane Command 4 Treetop Village 3 Mutavault 4 Gilt-Leaf Palace 4 Llanowar Wastes 1 Twilight Mire 3 Forest 3 Swamp

Deck
	Sideboard: 2 Pupeteer Clique 3 Guttural Response 2 Snakeform 3 Infest 3 Necrogenesis 2 Head Games

there`s no acceleration allways have turn1 Treetop or thoughtseize...

[bunisher34]

I found it interesting that the Japanese players were still using Imperious Perfect. I like perfect alot. Though he is bad against infest. The Japanese players were also using snake form in the SB, peculiar.

[Nick_]

Snakeform is one of the only ways to actually deal with a Colossus for GB.

I still don't like Imperious Perfect, the deck is so good because Volcanic Fallout, Infest, etc. do nothing against it. Playing Perfect is so bad with Infest in the board, because the matchups where you'd want Infest, you would also want to be making tokens to keep up with theirs.

[HulkamaniaHogan]

Originally Posted by Nick_

Snakeform is one of the only ways to actually deal with a Colossus for GB.

I still don't like Imperious Perfect, the deck is so good because Volcanic Fallout, Infest, etc. do nothing against it. Playing Perfect is so bad with Infest in the board, because the matchups where you'd want Infest, you would also want to be making tokens to keep up with theirs.

Snakeform also deals with 'Lark, Stillmoon Cavalier, Figure of Destiny, any Liege, and ect. It's a great card for sideboard.

I don't like Imperious either. It's too slow and as Nick said, dies to all forms of mass removal. Having a Putrid Leech or Kitchen Finks in main is much better for creating pressure, as well as both can survive mass removal.

Originally Posted by xpolosp0rtx

Can this deck ever beat Cascade Swans?

There's no reason it shouldn't. A turn one Thoughsieze, combined with Terrors/Eyeblight's Ending and Maelstrom Pulses should handle the deck just fine. Swans can't go off until turn 4 or five, depending on their draw, so simply holding onto removal and keeping a good tempo should fight the deck just fine.

Heh, Snakeform on Swans of Bryn Argoll in response to a land sacrifice from Seismic Assault. Ha! I am SOOOOO running some Snakeforms now.

[Aman2468]

is black the correct splash for elves becuase i have been lovin white?