In Fantasy lore; Drow (aka Dark Elves) are the “sinister” counterpart to the High Elves. The truth is, times have changes and mono-green competitive Elf lists are almost an extinct race. The Drow branches into other colors of the wheel giving us great versatility to new fields of the meta. Like every other good primer, lets start with the core and break it down from there.
Table of contents: (Updated: 12/21/12)
The Core
The Card Pool
The Lists
Playing Drow / Matchups
Tourney Results
Conclusion / Links
1. The Core
“The Core” of your deck is a simple but important term to understand. We are identifying the best cards in our deck so we get a good understanding of how it works and how to maximize our synergy with the other card choices we make. (Note: Heritage Druid is being added to the core. Need to get picture altered)
The above cards you will find in every competitive Elf list to date. It is built upon a creature heavy ratio. Llanowar Elves (aka mana-dorks) are the classic backbone of Elf tempo and synergy. Nettle Sentinel is an extremely efficient creature and when combined with Heritage Druid things get bonkers. Elvish Archdruid is the best Elf lord in Modern and can put you ahead quickly if unchecked. Finally, Lead the Stampede is pure card Advantage because of the high creature ratio we will have.
The nifty Deathrite Shaman fills one of our mana-dork slots. He gives us multiple attributes that we didn’t have prior to his addition and he is a perfect example of synergistic versatility.
Prowess of the Fair gives Elves something that it’s lacking; resilience to creature removal. Unlike the popular card Fecundity, Prowess of the Fair makes it quite difficult for your opponent to permanently wipe your board and is effective at allowing you to maintain battlefield advantage. Additionally it counts as an Elf meaning you can do some “techy” things. You can regenerate it with Ezuri, Renegade Leader; use it to activate Heritage Druid; fetch it with Elvish Harbinger; or it can just sit there and fuel your Elvish Archdruid.
Bloodbraid Elf (being added soon to images) is a beat-stick that gives immediate card advantage/battlefield presence. Cascading into a Elvish Archdruid or Lead the Stampede is never a bad thing. His elvish synergy combined with efficiency sets him as a top contender for aggro style Elf lists.
2. The Card Pool
From here options open up. Elves have two popular styles: Combo (Ramp) and Aggro: One style tries to win by exploding into an unstoppable ball of elves, and the other just consistently and effectively attacks for damage each turn. We have created a card pool to examine the choices we have for each route. Remember, all the choices we make must synergize with our core.
Mana-dorks control the consistency of your speed. The more you have, the faster you go; at the sacrifice of versatility. Combo lists will want to run a high count of mana-dorks so they can consistently get the high amount of mana they need.
Utility (aka silver bullet) creatures give us ways to gain advantage and give us answers to problems we encounter. These cards are all effective at doing their job and usually will be fetched/dug for.
Non-creature spells - These spells synergize greatly with our creature heavy ratio; important, but must be limited because of that. Here, we will only need the essentials. No more than 8 non-creature spells are recommend in the mainboard (Including the core).
Bombs - This slot is left for the combo route. If you decide to go “balls to the walls” ramping mana, you will want to consider these cards. Don't flood your list with bombs, use as few as possible.
The Manabase is quite specific because we don’t have many slots to work with. 15-17 land is the sweet spot. We are a very explosive deck and we can play our entire deck with just 1-2 lands. This, of course, means we don’t want any of our lands to come into the battlefield tapped. Fetch-lands are encouraged because they feed our Deathrite Shamans.
The goal of the sideboard is to strengthen your weak spots. Everybody's sideboard is particular to their own meta and has the most room for options. Drow is an unexplored branch of the Elven archetype and there is room for innovation. Listed below is a collection of successful sideboard options.
4. Playing Drow / Matchups
Below are all the statistically proven archetypes competing in Modern tourneys today. Lets discuss game-plan and card choices for these matchups. This section will update with the meta.
Affinity
A popular archetype and easy to sideboard against. Viridian Shamans and Zealots work nicely along with Creeping Corrosion for a mass removal effect. Essence Wardens can also be effective vs the all-in burn style of Affinity. Birthing Pod
xxx Jund
Elvish Champion
Prowess of the Fair Red Deck Wins
Gaining life vs Red Deck Wins is crucial. Siding in cards like Essence Warden and using Deathrite Shaman to gain you life can give you strong advantage in this matchup. Tron
xxx Twin
xxx UR Storm
Storm lists are faster than Elves. Deathrite Shaman can help slow them down, but sideboard options are pertinent in this matchup. Thorn of Amethyst is usually a silver bullet. Relic of Progenitus and Tormod’s Crypt can keep their yard clean. Enchantment removal is key when facing Pyromancer’s Ascension. Ux Tempo
xxx Uxx Control
Cavern of Soul is the new amazing tool we have vs Control decks. A playset of Cavern’s in your mainboard should be all you need. White Lifegain
Combo (Ramp) Elf lists have a better time vs White Lifegain than Aggro lists. We can explode into the win no matter how high our opponents life is. Having a Cloudstone Curio package in our sideboard is an option to help us switch styles from Aggro to Combo.. Wx Tokens
Your sideboard should be equipped with general removal cards to prevent your opponent getting a battlefield advantage while you’re ramping your Elves. In a pure Elf versus Token matchup, you can win, given a good starting hand and some top-decking. If you’re not packing Viridian Zealot or any other enchantment hate, you’re going to have a bad time.
5. Tournament Results
MTGdecks.net & mtgtop8.net are non-profit websites run by a few dudes who have a bunch of extra time on their hands. They have connections to MTG players, judges and communities from around the world who submit lists and statistics, which they professionally organize and present on the site. They are both great resources for getting real statistics on deck performance. Elves have made 34 top-8 recorded appearances on MTGdecks.net compared to Affinitys 200+. There are no Drow lists recorded placing in any of the top-8.
6. Conclusion / Links
This primer was created for the Elf community, based on the fact that there are very few sources discussing Gb Elves. Feel free to share your thoughts and questions. If you have played Drow and have had success, please share your deck and experiences in this thread. Lets grow like Elves should; together.
Here are some recommended links for any Elf mage who wants to further their knowledge pool:
Hey, glad to see the primer up. I expect some good things to come from this deck.
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"I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about."
-H. P. Lovecraft
So this is what I've been testing and it is at 12-6-0 on Cockatrice. I must say I am impressed I like this deck a lot! I had 4 of my wins with rage quits and no game 2. Most notable matches for improvement are RDW, Valakut, and I faced a red/black blightning burn that was rough. Regular Elves can be scary if they drop a champion and swing but not much of a problem after I added the Lys Alana Scarblade repeatable removal is sweet! Any way let me know what you guys think!
@Neliz i hadn't thought of him, most games I've played he wouldn't be that big honestly, i just ditch late game mana dorks to Scarblade to kill thing like Olivia before they get big, and since it's -x/-x it gets around indestructibility.
Abrupt Decay could only be better if it was an Elf! Any game where it is relevant I put in the 2 others from the board, and you would be surprised how often that is. This is a format run by three drops or less after all!
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Special thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios (.torrent, DarkNightCavalier, XenoNinja) or the awesome sig. Murder, murder, mermaid murder!:D
Lys Alana Scarblade... Cool idea, I'm going to add her to the honorable mentions and i'm going to test her out. love how she is a creature. she seems a bit conditional, but i still like her. keep us posted. i like what your workin with.
Descendant's Path seems pretty bad in general. It keeps an aggro deck from drawing possibly relevant cards, which is terrible.
I have to ask why nobody is playing this deck as an all-in combo deck with Elvish Visionary and friends? Is it just too susceptible to hate?
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It's flavor-tastic
Sig made by Tiiratore. PM him if you want one.
Disappointing avatar made by Mirror Entity at Disappointing Signets Inc.
My Decks:
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
Played some games the other day with my Drow Regal Ramp list. Started mainboarding Essence Warden and found the only real drawback is me gaining a bunch of life. Destroyed a R/W proclamation list with him.
I took out Elvish Visionary from the main and added in some more mana-dorks for more consistent early speed.
Also faced a Gravecrawler/Rancor list, my Deathrite Shaman was successfully annoying.
Both games sided in a few Prowess of the Fair after game one and won because of it; countering the boarded removal.
I'm currently running a version of elves that's working very effectively. So far cavern of souls,Joraga Warcaller has been mvp in a few games. 9 out of 10 games have been turn 3 turn 4 kills.
I'm liking it, i'll post the list once its more tuned.
Also, i have faced Fish, Storm, Jund, pod with excellent results
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Modern: B 8Rack RX Goblins BG Elves (Attempting) UBW Mill G Stompy UB Tezzerator
Legacy: W Stax
Descendant's Path seems pretty bad in general. It keeps an aggro deck from drawing possibly relevant cards, which is terrible.
I have to ask why nobody is playing this deck as an all-in combo deck with Elvish Visionary and friends? Is it just too susceptible to hate?
If you ask me, playing elves without the ability to combo win is just selling the deck short. I've tried a lot of times playing aggro elves, but I usually find that the combo version can play aggro just as well or better than "aggro" elves can. As for being susceptible to hate, I think most normal elves decks (not including decks like these with maindeck prowess) have a problem with red mass removal.
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Find me online - I'm on Cockatrice * Tag - Badd B - Or on MTGO - Tag - Cbus05
If you ask me, playing elves without the ability to combo win is just selling the deck short. I've tried a lot of times playing aggro elves, but I usually find that the combo version can play aggro just as well or better than "aggro" elves can. As for being susceptible to hate, I think most normal elves decks (not including decks like these with maindeck prowess) have a problem with red mass removal.
well it really depends on your meta. pure aggro elf lists have actually done well in recent tournys. elf lists running bloodbraid elf and 16 lords. combo elves do have a different approach, but you are by no means "selling yourself short" if you don't put Emekrul in your elf deck.
in my current meta, if i didn't run prowess of the fair my elves would get smashed. being aggro allows you to swing for damage each turn, even after a board wipe because you will have the Prowess tokens. combo elves won't have that consistant aggressive factor. since they run less lords, they will be swinging for less damage. and if mass removal hits combo, they are worse off.
combo elves can be stronger if their early game isn't messed with too much and are allowed to combo. aggro elves will be a more steady source of damage, even if disrupted in the early game.
I'm currently running a version of elves that's working very effectively. So far cavern of souls,Joraga Warcaller has been mvp in a few games. 9 out of 10 games have been turn 3 turn 4 kills.
I'm liking it, i'll post the list once its more tuned.
Also, i have faced Fish, Storm, Jund, pod with excellent results
please post your list and how the matchups went!!
i hear Jund lists are getting pretty nasty these days.
Written by: pork_rine
Images by: neliz
In Fantasy lore; Drow (aka Dark Elves) are the “sinister” counterpart to the High Elves. The truth is, times have changes and mono-green competitive Elf lists are almost an extinct race. The Drow branches into other colors of the wheel giving us great versatility to new fields of the meta. Like every other good primer, lets start with the core and break it down from there.
Table of contents: (Updated: 12/21/12)
1. The Core
“The Core” of your deck is a simple but important term to understand. We are identifying the best cards in our deck so we get a good understanding of how it works and how to maximize our synergy with the other card choices we make. (Note: Heritage Druid is being added to the core. Need to get picture altered)
The above cards you will find in every competitive Elf list to date. It is built upon a creature heavy ratio. Llanowar Elves (aka mana-dorks) are the classic backbone of Elf tempo and synergy. Nettle Sentinel is an extremely efficient creature and when combined with Heritage Druid things get bonkers. Elvish Archdruid is the best Elf lord in Modern and can put you ahead quickly if unchecked. Finally, Lead the Stampede is pure card Advantage because of the high creature ratio we will have.
The nifty Deathrite Shaman fills one of our mana-dork slots. He gives us multiple attributes that we didn’t have prior to his addition and he is a perfect example of synergistic versatility.
Prowess of the Fair gives Elves something that it’s lacking; resilience to creature removal. Unlike the popular card Fecundity, Prowess of the Fair makes it quite difficult for your opponent to permanently wipe your board and is effective at allowing you to maintain battlefield advantage. Additionally it counts as an Elf meaning you can do some “techy” things. You can regenerate it with Ezuri, Renegade Leader; use it to activate Heritage Druid; fetch it with Elvish Harbinger; or it can just sit there and fuel your Elvish Archdruid.
Bloodbraid Elf (being added soon to images) is a beat-stick that gives immediate card advantage/battlefield presence. Cascading into a Elvish Archdruid or Lead the Stampede is never a bad thing. His elvish synergy combined with efficiency sets him as a top contender for aggro style Elf lists.
So, the core of Drow looks like this:
Llanowar Elves
Deathrite Shaman
Nettle Sentinel
Elvish Archdruid
Lead the Stampede
Prowess of the Fair
Bloodbraid Elf
2. The Card Pool
From here options open up. Elves have two popular styles: Combo (Ramp) and Aggro: One style tries to win by exploding into an unstoppable ball of elves, and the other just consistently and effectively attacks for damage each turn. We have created a card pool to examine the choices we have for each route. Remember, all the choices we make must synergize with our core.
Mana-dorks control the consistency of your speed. The more you have, the faster you go; at the sacrifice of versatility. Combo lists will want to run a high count of mana-dorks so they can consistently get the high amount of mana they need.
Arbor Elf
Boreal Druid
Elves of Deep Shadow
Heritage Druid (being added to core)
Lords and cheap beaters control the damage output. Drow can be very aggressive with a lord heavy list.
Bramblewood Paragon
Wren’s Run Vanquisher
Imperious Perfect
Joraga Warcaller
Elvish Champion
Bloodbraid Elf (being added to core)
Utility (aka silver bullet) creatures give us ways to gain advantage and give us answers to problems we encounter. These cards are all effective at doing their job and usually will be fetched/dug for.
Essence Warden
Elvish Visionary
Scryb Ranger
Viridian Zealot
Fauna Shaman
Elvish Harbinger
Viridian Shaman
Eternal Witness
Non-creature spells - These spells synergize greatly with our creature heavy ratio; important, but must be limited because of that. Here, we will only need the essentials. No more than 8 non-creature spells are recommend in the mainboard (Including the core).
Chord of Calling
Summoner's Pact
Cloudstone Curio
Bombs - This slot is left for the combo route. If you decide to go “balls to the walls” ramping mana, you will want to consider these cards. Don't flood your list with bombs, use as few as possible.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Regal Force
Emrakrul, the Aeons Torn
Craterhoof Behemoth
The Manabase is quite specific because we don’t have many slots to work with. 15-17 land is the sweet spot. We are a very explosive deck and we can play our entire deck with just 1-2 lands. This, of course, means we don’t want any of our lands to come into the battlefield tapped. Fetch-lands are encouraged because they feed our Deathrite Shamans.
Forest
Cavern of Souls
Overgrown Tomb
Verdant Catacombs
Misty Rainforest
The goal of the sideboard is to strengthen your weak spots. Everybody's sideboard is particular to their own meta and has the most room for options. Drow is an unexplored branch of the Elven archetype and there is room for innovation. Listed below is a collection of successful sideboard options.
Removal
Krosan Grip / Beast Within
Nature’s Claim
Creeping Corrosion
Duress / Thoughtseize
Abrupt Decay
Dismember
Protection
Spellskite
Vines of the Vastwood
Fecundity
Chameleon Colossus
Hatebears/permanents
Dryad Militant
[card]Disciple of the Vault[card]
Choke
Raking Canopy
Thorn of Amethyst
Grafdigger’s Cage
Loaming Shaman
Relic of Progenitus / Tormod’s Crypt
Faerie Macabre
Lifegain
Leyline of Vitality
Obstinate Baloth
If you didn't see a card in this list it's most likely not good enough to make the cut.
3. The Lists
Drow Combo
I prefer the Regal Ramp method instead of a heavy cloudstone build.
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Arbor Elf
3 Boreal Druid
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Essence Warden
2 Viridian Zealot
2 Scryb Ranger
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Joraga Warcaller
2 Regal Force
4 Lead the Stampede
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Forest
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Viridian Shaman
4 Chord of Calling
4 Viridian Zealot
Drow Aggro
This is a lord heavy aggro list.
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Elvish Champion
4 Joraga Warcaller
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Lead the Stampede
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Cemetery
1 Stomping Grounds
5 Forest
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Viridian Zealot
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Essence Warden
4 Prowess of the Fair
4. Playing Drow / Matchups
Below are all the statistically proven archetypes competing in Modern tourneys today. Lets discuss game-plan and card choices for these matchups. This section will update with the meta.
Affinity
A popular archetype and easy to sideboard against. Viridian Shamans and Zealots work nicely along with Creeping Corrosion for a mass removal effect. Essence Wardens can also be effective vs the all-in burn style of Affinity.
Birthing Pod
xxx
Jund
Elvish Champion
Prowess of the Fair
Red Deck Wins
Gaining life vs Red Deck Wins is crucial. Siding in cards like Essence Warden and using Deathrite Shaman to gain you life can give you strong advantage in this matchup.
Tron
xxx
Twin
xxx
UR Storm
Storm lists are faster than Elves. Deathrite Shaman can help slow them down, but sideboard options are pertinent in this matchup. Thorn of Amethyst is usually a silver bullet. Relic of Progenitus and Tormod’s Crypt can keep their yard clean. Enchantment removal is key when facing Pyromancer’s Ascension.
Ux Tempo
xxx
Uxx Control
Cavern of Soul is the new amazing tool we have vs Control decks. A playset of Cavern’s in your mainboard should be all you need.
White Lifegain
Combo (Ramp) Elf lists have a better time vs White Lifegain than Aggro lists. We can explode into the win no matter how high our opponents life is. Having a Cloudstone Curio package in our sideboard is an option to help us switch styles from Aggro to Combo..
Wx Tokens
Your sideboard should be equipped with general removal cards to prevent your opponent getting a battlefield advantage while you’re ramping your Elves. In a pure Elf versus Token matchup, you can win, given a good starting hand and some top-decking. If you’re not packing Viridian Zealot or any other enchantment hate, you’re going to have a bad time.
5. Tournament Results
MTGdecks.net & mtgtop8.net are non-profit websites run by a few dudes who have a bunch of extra time on their hands. They have connections to MTG players, judges and communities from around the world who submit lists and statistics, which they professionally organize and present on the site. They are both great resources for getting real statistics on deck performance. Elves have made 34 top-8 recorded appearances on MTGdecks.net compared to Affinitys 200+. There are no Drow lists recorded placing in any of the top-8.
6. Conclusion / Links
This primer was created for the Elf community, based on the fact that there are very few sources discussing Gb Elves. Feel free to share your thoughts and questions. If you have played Drow and have had success, please share your deck and experiences in this thread. Lets grow like Elves should; together.
Here are some recommended links for any Elf mage who wants to further their knowledge pool:
Legacy Elf Primers:
"I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about."
-H. P. Lovecraft
I going to love making the Chocolate Drow less "Janky"
Deathrite Shaman certainly is an awesome card. Never thought to use it in an elf deck, but it's a good idea.
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Overgrown Tomb
5 Forest
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
4 Elvish Archdruid
3 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
3 Prowess of the Fair
2 Rhys the Exiled
3 Joraga Warcaller
4 Imperious Perfect
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Lead the Stampede
3 Lys Alana Scarblade
4 Arbor Elf
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Rhys the Exiled
GWUbant.fogGWU
Thorn of Amethyst makes non-creature spells cast more. How does this hurt 1-drop elves?
Abrupt Decay could only be better if it was an Elf! Any game where it is relevant I put in the 2 others from the board, and you would be surprised how often that is. This is a format run by three drops or less after all!
GWUbant.fogGWU
Lys Alana Scarblade... Cool idea, I'm going to add her to the honorable mentions and i'm going to test her out. love how she is a creature. she seems a bit conditional, but i still like her. keep us posted. i like what your workin with.
GWUbant.fogGWU
I have to ask why nobody is playing this deck as an all-in combo deck with Elvish Visionary and friends? Is it just too susceptible to hate?
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
Legacy:
(paper)The Gate
(paper)Dream Halls
I took out Elvish Visionary from the main and added in some more mana-dorks for more consistent early speed.
Also faced a Gravecrawler/Rancor list, my Deathrite Shaman was successfully annoying.
Both games sided in a few Prowess of the Fair after game one and won because of it; countering the boarded removal.
I'm liking it, i'll post the list once its more tuned.
Also, i have faced Fish, Storm, Jund, pod with excellent results
Modern:
B 8Rack
RX Goblins
BG Elves (Attempting)
UBW Mill
G Stompy
UB Tezzerator
Legacy:
W Stax
If you ask me, playing elves without the ability to combo win is just selling the deck short. I've tried a lot of times playing aggro elves, but I usually find that the combo version can play aggro just as well or better than "aggro" elves can. As for being susceptible to hate, I think most normal elves decks (not including decks like these with maindeck prowess) have a problem with red mass removal.
well it really depends on your meta. pure aggro elf lists have actually done well in recent tournys. elf lists running bloodbraid elf and 16 lords. combo elves do have a different approach, but you are by no means "selling yourself short" if you don't put Emekrul in your elf deck.
in my current meta, if i didn't run prowess of the fair my elves would get smashed. being aggro allows you to swing for damage each turn, even after a board wipe because you will have the Prowess tokens. combo elves won't have that consistant aggressive factor. since they run less lords, they will be swinging for less damage. and if mass removal hits combo, they are worse off.
combo elves can be stronger if their early game isn't messed with too much and are allowed to combo. aggro elves will be a more steady source of damage, even if disrupted in the early game.
please post your list and how the matchups went!!
i hear Jund lists are getting pretty nasty these days.
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