[Deck] Combo Elves

[izzetmage]

I was looking around at possibly making combo elves work, once I read the bannings. After the hubbub of Jace and SFM and the other huge bannings, I saw that Glimpse had been banned. Dangit!


But then Gavin Verhey posted a list this morning that was mimicking a list I had been trying to come up with.

Naturally, I realize there is an Elves thread here, but the thread is for discussing pure beatdown elves - and frankly, it seems rather dead. This thread is for discussing combo elves, and what we can do to make it a viable archetype.




The basic idea of the main combo, is that cloudstone curio vaguely replaces Glimpse of Nature. The deck, in a land with no mental misstep and no completely dominant control decks off the surface, manages to play the beatdown role relatively well. However, it can combo off with Cloudstone Curio in play, which, with Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel and any one mana elf (you have plenty) in play, you can produce a huge amount of mana and completely draw your deck by consistenly replaying and bouncing Elvish Visionary.

Now, what can we do with a ton of mana?

How about hardcasting Emrakul, the Aeons Torn? It runs similarly to the legacy version of the deck, without some of the more broken cards (Cradle, Glimpse, etc)


Here's a sample list from Verhey

Deck
Artifacts 4 Cloudstone Curio Creatures 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Arbor Elf 4 Heritage Druid 4 Elvish Visionary 4 Nettle Sentinel 4 Elvish Archdruid 3 Essence Warden 2 Regal Force	Legendary Creatures 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader Instants 2 Summoner's Pact Sorceries 4 Green Sun's Zenith Land 16 Forest 2 Pendelhaven 1 Dryad Arbor

The basic idea, obviously, is either playing beatdown against a control deck or combo deck that can't outcombo you, or just comboing off on your 4th or 5th turn to draw your deck and cast emrakul. Or discard emrakul, and draw your deck again after a boardwipe.

Some basic ideas, Verhey was throwing idea the idea of splashing white with some fetch/shocklands to play Ranger of Eos

Another gimmicky idea that might be worth trying is a red splash for a single Goblin Bushwacker? Play your deck, kick a bushwacker, swing for a billion.

EDIT: This is izzetmage speaking. I have been made the new OP of this thread. Everything above was posted by someone else. I have not edited anything yet, but when I have a few good, tested decklists from MTGO and GP Portland, I will analyze them and update this post with a primer.
You can view my current Elves primer here, or click the link in my sig.

[Seanrus]

How is this deck working? I'm playing with BBE and i love it.

[mistikl]

I'd rather splash red for Banefire or Grapeshot than Goblin Bushwhacker.

[Triumphforks]

A blue splash forintruder alarm should be considered. This means ALL your elves untap each time you play a creature, and make it much easier to go infinite by drawing your deck, or by creating infinite creature tokens with Imperious Perfect + 1 mana dork. Also, instead of goblin bushwacker, why not use akroma's memorial? Give everyone evasion, pro two colors and haste.

Deck
3xCloud Stone Curio 3xIntruder Alarm 4xGreen Sun's Zenith 4xLlanowar Elf 4xHeritige Druid 4xNettle Sentinel 4xElvish Archdruid 4xElvish Visionary 4xCoiling Oracle 4xImperious Perfect 3xRegal Force 1xEmercul, The Aeons Torn	4xBreeding Pool 4xMisty Rainforest 1xIsland 7xForest 2xFlooded Grove

This deck kicks some serious ass and has multiple combos that all work in perfect harmony together.

[Raggedjoe]

What if you ran Staff of Damnation? You already have Archdruid, and them together=auto win

[Triumphforks]

Ok, after some serious playtesting on MTGO, here is the list I am currently using and kicking EVERYONE'S butt with. Twelve post, zoo, jund, you name it, I can rock their world. No one seems to see this deck coming, though memoricide is REALLY annoying.

U/G Curio Elves
4xHeratige Druid 4xNettle Sentinal 4xLlanowar Elf 4xElvish Visionary 4xCoiling Oracle 4xImperious Perfect 4xElvish Archdruid 2xRegal Force 1xEmerkul, the Aoens Torn Spells 4xGreen Sun's Zenith 3xCloudstone Curio 3xIntruder Alarm 1xAkroma's memorial	Lands 4xFlooded Grove 4xMisty Rainforest 2xIsland 8xForest	Sideboard 4xGhost Quater 3xChoke 4xRelic of Progenitus 4xKrosan Grip

The Ghost Quarters > 12 post, and they work really well against any deck that is not running any basics, and generally are much more helpful then say, pithing needle.

EDIT: Recently, I have taken to running 1 ghost quarter mainboard. It helps, against most decks actually. So many decks rely on non-basics that blowing up their non-basics means they often have very few substitutes.

[MichMash]

Ok... so after lot's of mindless gathering I stumbled upon this cool interaction:

+

Ad some creature pump (giving glistening Elf +10 power) and this cute combo allows you to instantly kill your opponent with POISON!!!...

I did some goldfishing (yes, I'm still in a goldfish phase), but the results are promising, the deck can reliably combo-off turn 3, turn 4 at the latest... still looking to get more consistency into the list... but this is what I've got right now:

MichMash's POISONED_ELVES
4 Gemstone Mine 4 Stomping Ground 12 Forest 4 Heritage Druid 4 Nettle Sentinel 2 Glistener Elf 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Arbor Elf 4 Elvish Visionary 4 Elvish Archdruid 2 Regal Force	1 Soul's Fire 2 Might of the Masses 2 Doubling Chant 4 Explore 3 Summoner's Pact

I haven't dabbled with Cloudstone Curio yet - since I find it to clunky/slow and it only works when you see an Elvish Visionary...

[ElricJC]

I have been tinkering with a build along these lines, since I used to play GW Elf-Ball during Lor/Sha standard, plus I have casual decks and a Commander deck centering on Elves. What I have been wondering as an alternative to Emrakul is Progenitus, since it can be tutor-casted with Green Sun's Zenith.

Also dropped in some Sylvan Ranger and grinding off the Curio combo to pull lands, then chuck them and thin out the deck to a large degree. Also trying to see how Lead the Stampede does as a 2-of for hand reload, since the deck is mostly critter-based, and after thinning with Ranger it is easy to draw mass of critter.

I will post my present build when I have more time.

[Triumphforks]

Originally Posted by MichMash

Ok... so after lot's of mindless gathering I stumbled upon this cool interaction:

+

Ad some creature pump (giving glistening Elf +10 power) and this cute combo allows you to instantly kill your opponent with POISON!!!...

I did some goldfishing (yes, I'm still in a goldfish phase), but the results are promising, the deck can reliably combo-off turn 3, turn 4 at the latest... still looking to get more consistency into the list... but this is what I've got right now:


I haven't dabbled with Cloudstone Curio yet - since I find it to clunky/slow and it only works when you see an Elvish Visionary...

That's a really interesting take. I have to say that it does look rather surprizing and come from nowhere. EDIT: And by that, I mean you should totally be able to clean house. Was a bit vague at first.

Curio is pretty clunky if you don't have multiple targets, you HAVE to use regal force and visionary, coiling oracle helps as well.

[Argetlam]

I definitely like the deck, after some testing i found it can beat zoo and 12 post, but how does it do vs. combo?

[Triumphforks]

Originally Posted by Argetlam

I definitely like the deck, after some testing i found it can beat zoo and 12 post, but how does it do vs. combo?

Against say, Living End, it is up to who combo's out first, and that's all. You can be REALLY fast, like turn 3 or 4 fast. But they are too. To help with this match up, I am actually considering running Preserver or Surgical Extraction or both, depending on how popular it is. It's a tough fight, I think I am 40/60 their favor, but don't quote me on that.

PS: I went 1-2 against Aaron Forsythe in the tourney practice room against his Big Zoo deck.

[ThisIsNotMyName]

Wow. I thought this deck was dead after the bannings, but behold, it's as alive as ever. The ingenuity and creativity of some people will never cease to amaze me. I am impressed.

Is genesis wave still bad?

[Addiction300]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNotMyName

Wow. I thought this deck was dead after the bannings, but behold, it's as alive as ever. The ingenuity and creativity of some people will never cease to amaze me. I am impressed.

Is genesis wave still bad?

Genesis Wave is indeed bad because you dont want to be forced to draw cards. With Curio + Elvish Visionary you choose how many cards you want to draw. Regal Force's triggered ability is not a "may" ability so you could potentially have to draw too many cards.

[Raggedjoe]

My issue with the poison list is that after game one you are basically dead vs control, as you have no real way to protect the spell... I'm currently goldfishing with intruder alarm and am loving it

[Outofnames]

Originally Posted by Addiction300

Genesis Wave is indeed bad because you dont want to be forced to draw cards. With Curio + Elvish Visionary you choose how many cards you want to draw. Regal Force's triggered ability is not a "may" ability so you could potentially have to draw too many cards.

However, Genesis Wave is a may for each permanent, so that is not really applicable.