State Champs have come and gone, and as predicted I was unable to attend. The problem with a state like Pennsylvania is that it’s hundreds of miles wide, so when the tournament’s at the wrong end of the state you might just be out of luck. While I would have loved to play, I wasn’t willing to make the six hour drive on my own, and none of my friends felt particularly motivated to play Standard.
A friend from the GoodGamery message board, though, took my Reveillark deck to Connecticut States, and managed to take down second place. He says that he lost the finals to a “twenty Planeswalker deck,” but the closest list I can find on the internet only runs fourteen. Awkward either way.
Besides triple Shards draft, the format that I’ve been playing most is Extended. Obviously, I’ve been playing the Elves Combo deck, as I just feel like it’s the best possible choice given its raw power and supreme resiliency. However, the opposition on Magic Online isn’t taking the Elf beatings lying down, and they’ve begun hating on the deck in earnest. For a day or two people would just sit there while you combo-killed them on turn 3, but these days you actually have to play some Magic against your opponent.
Today’s article is a play-by-play analysis of a few games with Elves that I found particularly interesting. They’re split between games I win and games I lose, because you can learn from both outcomes more than you could learn from just one. I do want to say, though, that I’ve won many more matches than I’ve lost, with my only losses so far coming from the mirror match or games where I just roll over and die.
Here is the decklist I’ve been battling with:
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Wirewood Hivemaster
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Predator Dragon
1 Regal Force
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Chord of Calling
4 Pact of Negation
16 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
Sideboard
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
3 Viridian Shaman
1 Brain Freeze
1 Blasting Station
3 Krosan Grip
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Nullmage Shepherd
1 Indrik Stomphowler
My maindeck is exactly the same as Saito’s was at the Pro Tour, but my sideboard is my own concoction. The Jittes are effective in many places, including the mirror where any edge you can get is very valuable. The Viridian Shamans are amazing answers to hate like Chalice of the Void and Trinisphere, while Grip cleans up Enchantments as well as things like Engineered Explosives. Brain Freeze and Blasting Station are alternate win conditions in case you don’t think Predator Dragon can get the job done. Nullmage Shepherd and Indrik Stomphowler are more answers to Artifacts and Enchantments, and either bring along a solid body or give you access to repeated Disenchants. Lastly, Orzhov Pontiff is a Chord-able way to interrupt an Elf opponent; again, any edge you can get is precious.
All of these matches took place in Magic Online’s sanctioned queues. In general, I find that the Tournament Practice room is little more than a glorified Casual Decks room, and that real testing must be done in an arena with an (admittedly small) entry cost. I’ve also edited out everyone’s screen name, in case one of my opponents would rather not have their name plastered all over Star City. Additionally, any time a turn includes double-digit numbers for triggered abilities, I deleted them all from the logs so that you can more easily read what is really going on. You can assume that I always chose to untap my Sentinels and always chose to make a token with my Hivemasters.
Finally, please bear with me for the following fact: Magic Online V3 has a nasty habit involving game replays. While games 2 and 3 tend to always be saved, game 1 rarely is. This is one of my favorite bugs, and the end result is that I can’t give a real play-by-play for game 1. This isn’t too worrisome to me, as game 1 tends to be dramatically easier as you fight against someone without much dedicated hate. In the end, I seem to win the vast majority of game 1s.
Playing Against Tezzerator
I won the die roll, and wound up going off on turn 4 from a strange position: My opponent had just tapped out to play Vedalken Shackles, and my board was three Forests, Nettle Sentinel, Wirewood Symbiote, and Birchlore Rangers.
I had three options. The first was to pass the turn holding Glimpse of Nature, Chord of Calling, and a second Wirewood Symbiote. Clearly this is a losing proposition, as my opponent’s Shackles and full grip will likely take over the game. The next option is to tap my three creatures and three lands to Chord out Viridian Shaman, destroying his Shackles and putting five power on the board. This is a fairly conservative play, and leaves me open to something like Trinket Mage for Pithing Needle or Engineered Explosives (though if he plays the Explosives immediately I can bounce my Shaman and replay it). The final option is to try to go off. I played the Glimpse and the Symbiote, Chorded for Heritage Druid, and then used the Symbiote abilities to draw cards and generate mana. I was home free when I hit the second Nettle Sentinel.
I boarded:
+3 Viridian Shaman
+2 Krosan Grip
+1 Brain Freeze
-4 Elvish Visionary
-1 Wirewood Symbiote
-1 Wirewood Hivemaster
You want all the artifact hate you can get, though I left the Nullmage Shepherd in the board because I felt that it was less important than a second win condition. The win condition is necessary because he likely has Aether Spellbomb, and if he sits on that I might not be able to actually swing with my Dragon.
Pumbles Mumbles joined the game.
[opponent] chooses to play first.
[opponent] keeps this hand.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.
My hand is Forest, Llanowar Elves, two Heritage Druid, Viridian Shaman, Wirewood Hivemaster, and Summoner’s Pact.
Usually I evaluate hands based on whether or not they have the ability to actually win the game. I guess that that sounds pretty obvious, but the point is just that a hand of all Elves and lands won’t necessarily go anywhere, and you want to avoid those. I don’t have a turn 3 win in my hand, really, since I don’t have Glimpse or Chord, but I do have a fast start, the ability to answer a hate card like Chalice, and some solid long game with Hivemaster. I also have Heritage Druid + Pact, so I can get my engine rolling as soon as I need to.
[opponent] skips their draw step.
[opponent] plays Snow-Covered Island.
[opponent] plays Aether Spellbomb.
Turn 1: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
I draw another Llanowar Elves. I always lead with Llanowar Elves when I have the option to lead with it or with something else, like Heritage Druid here. This is because you can simply use the mana that Llanowar makes to play whatever you would have played turn 1. If I were worried that my Heritage Druid could get hit by a counter, I might change my play. However, I don’t suspect that that will ever happen (no Force Spike or Counterspell any more), and I have a backup copy.
Turn 2: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Snow-Covered Island.
[opponent] plays Chalice of the Void. (X is 1).
Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
I draw a third Llanowar Elves, which is a bummer since a land would have let me blow him out with a second-turn Viridian Shaman on his Chalice. Without that option, I play the Hivemaster.
Turn 3: [opponent].
[opponent] plays activated ability from Aether Spellbomb targeting Llanowar Elves.
Llanowar Elves is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
[opponent] plays Flooded Strand.
Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Wirewood Hivemaster
[opponent] plays activated ability from Flooded Strand.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
I draw a Forest, but it’s a turn too late now that my Elf is back in my hand. I swing for one because it’s all I can do.
Turn 4: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Snow-Covered Island.
Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Wirewood Hivemaster
[opponent] plays Venser, Shaper Savant.
[opponent] plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Forest.
Forest is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
Venser, Shaper Savant blocks Wirewood Hivemaster.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Llanowar Elves.
I draw my Predator Dragon, which really sucks. It’s a completely blank card without Birchlore Rangers in play, and it’s going to take a ton of work to get to the point where I can cast it. I swing in with my Hivemaster, and get ambushed by Venser. I have to discard one of my many Llanowars at the end of the turn.
Turn 5: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Polluted Delta.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Venser, Shaper Savant
Turn 5: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Viridian Shaman.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Viridian Shaman targeting Chalice of the Void.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Polluted Delta.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
I draw a third land, and go for the Shaman on his Chalice. I don’t expect it to resolve, really, since he’s got plenty of mana up to defend his artifact, but it surprisingly makes it into play.
Turn 6: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Chalice of the Void. (X is 1).
[opponent] plays Snow-Covered Island.
Turn 6: Pumbles Mumbles.
I draw Nettle Sentinel. It has become clear why he let the Shaman resolve; a backup Chalice is better spent than a counterspell in “defending” his lock.
Turn 7: [opponent].
Turn 7: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Llanowar Elves.
I draw Wirewood Symbiote, and my Viridian Shaman stares at his Venser.
Turn 8: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Engineered Explosives (with Sunburst 1). (X is 2).
Turn 8: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles discards Regal Force.
I draw Regal Force, and ship it to the graveyard as the standoff continues.
Turn 9: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Riptide Laboratory.
Pumbles Mumbles has conceded from the game.
With the Riptide Lab in play, he’s got a soft Venser lock going. Given that he’s also got a Chalice and an Explosives, both set to one, it’s much more likely that I’ll be able to win a third game before running out of time than that I’ll be able to break out of this lock.
I lost this game to a combination of factors, but the most important was a quick Chalice of the Void. If it had come down even a turn later, I would have been able to play out some more Llanowar Elves and not worry about the fact that I was sitting on only one land. That would have left me open to Engineered Explosives, yes, but it would still have been the thing to do so that I could play my spells in the future.
Once the Chalice was in play, he was able to fight a fair fight, and I was playing a crippled creature deck based on 1/1s. LSV brought Jittes in against Oberg in the Pro Tour so that this fight would be more winnable, and I might have gone with that plan if my sideboard didn’t have more artifact hate than his did. In the end, Venser + Riptide Lab put the nail in the coffin.
That left the match at 1-1, all riding on the third game.
Pumbles Mumbles joined the game.
Pumbles Mumbles chooses to play first.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.
[opponent] keeps this hand.
My opening hand for the final game is two Forests, Llanowar Elves, Nettle Sentinel, Birchlore Rangers, and Viridian Shaman. I have an engine but no way to win with it, which is fine since I have another second-turn Shaman hand, which is almost certainly more important to have than a Glimpse or Chord.
Pumbles Mumbles skips their draw step.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
Turn 1: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Flooded Strand.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Flooded Strand.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
[opponent] plays Chrome Mox.
[opponent] plays triggered ability from Chrome Mox. (Removing Thirst for Knowledge)
[opponent] plays Chalice of the Void. (X is 1).
Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Viridian Shaman.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Viridian Shaman targeting Chalice of the Void.
I draw Heritage Druid, and immediately play my Viridian Shaman to kill his Chalice.
Turn 2: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Flooded Strand.
[opponent] plays Engineered Explosives (with Sunburst 1). (X is 1).
Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Viridian Shaman, Llanowar Elves
[opponent] plays activated ability from Flooded Strand.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
I draw Krosan Grip, which will be a great answer to the Explosives at some point. For now, though, I just swing for three and drop an Elf that costs something other than one mana.
Turn 3: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Pyrite Spellbomb.
[opponent] plays Steam Vents.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Pyrite Spellbomb targeting Wirewood Hivemaster.
Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Krosan Grip targeting Engineered Explosives.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
I draw Llanowar Elves. At this point he’s got the ability to activate his Explosives, and I only have my three power in play. I lead with Heritage Druid, assuming that he’ll always let it resolve so that he can kill it with Explosives. It makes it into play, and I use the mana it provides to Grip his Explosives. I use my remaining land to play out another threat.
Turn 4: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Chrome Mox.
[opponent] plays triggered ability from Chrome Mox. (Removing Mana Leak)
[opponent] plays Vedalken Shackles.
This empties his hand completely. The Mana Leak that he removed for the Mox was probably not in his hand on the last turn, given that he likely would have cast it to stop my Nettle Sentinel.
Turn 5: Pumbles Mumbles.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Vedalken Shackles targeting Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Pendelhaven.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Nettle Sentinel, Viridian Shaman
Heritage Druid blocks Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Pendelhaven targeting Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays a card face down.
He steals my Druid inside my upkeep, so that I can’t use it to cast spells during my turn. I draw Pendelhaven, play it, and swing with my 2/2s. He blocks, I put damage on the stack, and then I use the Pendelhaven to save my Druid, even though he’s controlling it. If I don’t save the Druid, then he’ll just Shackles away another one of my creatures, so even though making this play loses the two damage I could have gotten by swinging with the Llanowar Elves and pumping it, I am certain that it deals more damage in the long run. After combat, I play my Birchlore Rangers as a 2/2.
Turn 5: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Vedalken Shackles.
He untaps his Shackles, and then plays a second. That is a pretty awkward draw given that he could have left his other Shackles tapped if he knew the second one was coming, but two Shackles and five mana threaten to take over the game either way.
Turn 6: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Nettle Sentinel.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Face down creature #1, Nettle Sentinel, Viridian Shaman, Llanowar Elves
[opponent] plays activated ability from Vedalken Shackles targeting Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles turns Birchlore Rangers (Face down creature #1) face up.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Pendelhaven targeting Llanowar Elves.
On my turn I draw a Forest, and play a Llanowar Elves to untap my Nettle Sentinel. I attack with my 2/2s and my active Llanowar, leaving my Heritage Druid and new Llanowar Elves untapped. I could have attacked with the Druid as well, but that would have been worse, I believe. He re-steals my Druid, and I flip up my morph and use the Druid and new Llanowar to add G to my pool. Again, I’ve lost two damage by making this play (one less attacker, unmorphing into a 1/1), but I’ve also removed his blocker for the turn and kept all of the creatures in play. While I mana burn for one, this attack puts him on the ropes.
Turn 6: [opponent].
Turn 7: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Glimpse of Nature.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Nettle Sentinel.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Llanowar Elves, Birchlore Rangers, Nettle Sentinel, Viridian Shaman, Llanowar Elves
[opponent] plays Venser, Shaper Savant.
[opponent] plays triggered ability from Venser, Shaper Savant targeting Nettle Sentinel.
Nettle Sentinel is returned to Pumbles Mumbles’s hand from play.
Heritage Druid blocks Birchlore Rangers.
Venser, Shaper Savant blocks Viridian Shaman.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Pendelhaven targeting Birchlore Rangers.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Glimpse of Nature.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Luckily, I draw Glimpse for my turn. It doesn’t really matter what I draw, as long as it’s a Green spell I can cast to untap my Nettle Sentinel. I enter my attack step, and none of my guys are stolen by Shackles, which I find strange. I send the team in there, and it turns out that the card he drew (and the last card in his hand) is Venser, which is really the only thing it could have been given that he didn’t activate Shackles before I tapped my guys. The end result of this attack is that my opponent has no creatures and I have 3 1/1s, but I get to replay my Nettle Sentinel (untapped!), draw a card (Chord of Calling), and pass the turn with 5 power and my opponent at two life.
Turn 7: [opponent].
[opponent] plays activated ability from Vedalken Shackles targeting Nettle Sentinel.
[opponent] plays Academy Ruins.
Turn 8: Pumbles Mumbles.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Vedalken Shackles targeting Birchlore Rangers.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Chord of Calling. (Getting Wirewood Symbiote)
Shuffling Pumbles Mumbles’s library
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote targeting Birchlore Rangers.
Pumbles Mumbles’s activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote is countered because of no legal targets.
[opponent]’s activated ability from Vedalken Shackles is countered because of no legal targets.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Llanowar Elves, Llanowar Elves
Nettle Sentinel blocks Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Pendelhaven targeting Llanowar Elves.
He steals my Sentinel and passes the turn. He then tries to steal my Birchlore Rangers, which I use to Chord out a Wirewood Symbiote. I use the Symbiote to untap one of my Llanowar Elves and bounce the targeted Birchlore Rangers. I draw my card and attack with my two 1/1s into his one blocker. Pendelhaven pumps for lethal.
I like this game for two reasons. First, it shows that you can beat the hate even when it’s out in force. My opponent had a first-turn Chalice of the Void, and I was able to quickly answer it while adding pressure to the board. His Explosives was answered with a little bit of luck, but the Shackles stayed in play all game and I was able to fight through them. This leads to the second point: while I’m not sure that I played perfectly, I feel like playing any worse than I did would have led to a loss. Multiple friends I’ve talked to about the Elves deck seem to think that playskill is not important when playing the deck. While killing someone on turn two after they drop a Tron land might not take much skill (though it still takes a decent amount), the grind games actually reward you for tight play.
Here, the general strategy for fighting his Shackles was simply to keep as many creatures in play as I could. If I just trade guys off left and right, he’ll be killing essentially four elves every turn, and without a big combo-esque turn there’s no way for me to keep up with that pace. That is why I made sure to trade some short-term damage in for long-term creature count. It’s not often that you Pendelhaven your opponent’s creature, but by doing so you’ve given yourself a free elf.
People have said over and over that Kenny Oberg got unlucky to lose to LSV in the quarterfinals of the Pro Tour, but I’ve never really been clear on exactly why that is. If you look at the metagame analysis up on mtg.com, you can see that Tezzerator only had a 50% matchup against Elves on the weekend. In the Top 8 Profiles feature of the PT coverage, Oberg even says that his worst matchup is “Turn 2 Combo.” Sounds like Elves to me.
Of course, you do have an uphill battle. The Tezzerator deck is packing all sorts of hate, and much of it is tutorable by Trinket Mage. The reason that I think you have a legitimate shot at beating them in any given match is that a tap-out for a Trinket Mage is essentially an invitation to combo-kill them, so they have to slowroll the Mage until they can fetch the Chalice and play it in the same turn. In my eyes, it comes down to the fact that they are playing with three- and four-drops, and you are playing with one- and two-drops, so unless you get completely manhandled by a hate card, you are going to come out on top.
This means that you need to make sure that you can beat hate cards. This is true pre-board (though you won’t necessarily know that they’re playing Tezzerator before you begin game one), but especially important for post-board games. You might keep hands that look like resilient turn-two wins even if they fold to a Chalice just because you believe your opponent isn’t holding Chalice + Mox, but you are very well served by easy access to a Viridian Shaman or two. There’s a good chance that your opponent will correctly value his hate cards quite highly, and wind up keeping a hand that is leaning heavily on one Chalice. If you can answer that Chalice, they might be left without much going on, giving you time to kill them a turn or two later.
Playing Against Zoo
Game one is unexciting, as I manage to kill him on turn 3 after he taps out for a Dark Confidant.
I board:
-1 Viridian Shaman
+1 Nullmage Shepherd
This is a bad board plan. My opponent has access to Ethersworn Canonist, so I should not be taking out my Shaman. I board more correctly for game 3.
Pumbles Mumbles joined the game.
[opponent] chooses to play first.
[opponent] keeps this hand.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.
My opening hand is Forest, Heritage Druid, Birchlore Rangers, two Elvish Visionary, Wirewood Hivemaster, and Wirewood Symbiote. This is a hand that I have a hard time mulliganing, but it may well be that I should. The problem that I have with it is that it only has one land, and my Elvish Visionaries cost two. I am on the draw given that I’m up a game, so I have two shots at sixteen outs, as well as various half-outs like Llanowar Elves and Nettle Sentinel. In the end I decide to keep it because it has so many cards that I need to win this matchup, even though it doesn’t really have any combo potential immediately.
[opponent] skips their draw step.
[opponent] plays Temple Garden.
[opponent] plays Wild Nacatl.
Turn 1: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
I draw Llanowar Elves, and play it. Assuming it lives through the turn, I am basically up one elf, and if it dies, I’d rather lose a Llanowar than a Heritage Druid or Birchlore Rangers.
Turn 2: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Steam Vents.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Wild Nacatl
[opponent] plays Ethersworn Canonist.
There’s the Canonist I no longer have a good answer for!
Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Elvish Visionary.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Elvish Visionary.
I draw a Forest and play my first Elvish Visionary, drawing into Summoner’s Pact. With the Canonist in play and well under four mana sources, that’s essentially a dead draw for now. At least I’m one card closer to my Nullmage Shepherd.
Turn 3: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Seal of Fire.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Seal of Fire targeting Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Ethersworn Canonist, Wild Nacatl
[opponent] plays Windswept Heath.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Windswept Heath.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Elvish Visionary.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Elvish Visionary.
I draw Chord of Calling. With two creatures in play, I would be pretty close to Chording out a Viridian Shaman that should be in my deck. I draw into Nettle Sentinel.
Turn 4: [opponent].
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Wild Nacatl
[opponent] plays Wooded Foothills.
[opponent] plays Kird Ape.
Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Wooded Foothills.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
I draw a third land, and play it along with Wirewood Hivemaster. At this point I’ve got six Chord mana sources, which means that I could possibly kill his Canonist and go off on my next turn if there were a Shaman in my deck.
Turn 5: [opponent].
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Kird Ape, Wild Nacatl
Pumbles Mumbles plays Chord of Calling. (Getting Nettle Sentinel)
Shuffling Pumbles Mumbles’s library
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Wirewood Hivemaster.
Nettle Sentinel blocks Kird Ape.
Insect token blocks Kird Ape.
[opponent] plays Isamaru, Hound of Konda.
However, there is not a Shaman in my deck. This means that the Chord can’t get me out from under the Canonist before the end of my next turn (I could kill his Canonist on my turn 6, if everything went well), and I’m in danger of simply dying before I get my act together. I Chord out a 2/2 and make a 1/1, and then take out his Kird Ape.
Turn 5: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Wirewood Hivemaster.
Turn 6: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Pyroclasm.
[opponent] plays Tribal Flames targeting Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Wild Nacatl
This clears my board when I’m at six, leaving him with just a 3/3. Of course, that’s more than enough to deal me lethal on his turn.
I really got punished for boarding out my Shaman, and I deserved to be. I had brought Nullmage Shepherd in because of its large-ish body and catch-all ability in case I was facing something like Pyrostatic Pillar. However, it’s just too slow as a real answer to Canonist, so I re-boarded for game 3:
-1 Wirewood Hivemaster
-1 Elvish Visionary
+2 Viridian Shaman
The Hivemaster and Visionary are both good under certain circumstances, but they are also relatively slow cards, and not really core cards necessary for the smooth functioning of the deck. It’s much easier to trim a Hivemaster than a Birchlore Rangers, for instance.
It should be noted that LSV ran Mycoloth for the same reason that I initially boarded in Nullmage Shepherd: it’s big. If you make it even just a 6/6, they will need to spend two cards (or one Oblivion Ring, if they have that) on it or lose. If you make it an 8/8 or a 10/10, assuming you can afford the creature sacrifices, they will be incredibly hard-pressed to kill it. Even just raw-dogging it out there as a 4/4 can be quite the speedbump.
Pumbles Mumbles joined the game.
Pumbles Mumbles chooses to play first.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.
[opponent] keeps this hand.
My opening hand is Pendelhaven, Forest, Llanowar Elves, Wirewood Symbiote, Elvish Visionary, Regal Force, and Summoner’s Pact. This hand is strong because it contains the Symbiote + Visionary combo which must be answered, a Pact to complete my engine whenever I draw one piece of it, and Regal Force to hopefully accelerate out.
Pumbles Mumbles skips their draw step.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
Turn 1: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Wooded Foothills.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Wooded Foothills.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
[opponent] plays Wild Nacatl.
Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Pendelhaven.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Elvish Visionary.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Elvish Visionary.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Symbiote.
I draw Glimpse of Nature, and a Wirewood Hivemaster off of my Visionary trigger.
Turn 2: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Godless Shrine.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Wild Nacatl
Elvish Visionary blocks Wild Nacatl.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote targeting Llanowar Elves.
[opponent] plays Lightning Helix targeting Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles’s activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote is countered because of no legal targets.
I block and use the Symbiote to save my Visionary, buying three life and another card. He has Lightning Helix, but uses it on my Llanowar Elves, likely to try to buy time.
Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Elvish Visionary.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Elvish Visionary.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Wirewood Symbiote
I draw a third land, and a Nettle Sentinel off of my Visionary. I am now presenting my opponent with two must-kill targets, and the ability to save one of them with the other. I can’t go off right here, but I can probably Pact for Heritage Druid and generate enough mana to get Regal Force into play on my next turn. Even if I can’t continue to go off from there, I should be able to sit on my 5/5 for a turn or two and assemble another shot at the combo.
Turn 3: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Wooded Foothills.
[opponent] plays Wild Nacatl.
Pumbles Mumbles is being attacked by: Wild Nacatl
[opponent] plays activated ability from Wooded Foothills.
Shuffling [opponent]’s library
[opponent] plays Lightning Helix targeting Wirewood Symbiote.
He has to kill the Symbiote because it protects the other Elves, but leaving Nettle Sentinel on the board is always a risky proposition.
Turn 4: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Glimpse of Nature.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Summoner’s Pact.
Pumbles Mumbles reveals: Nettle Sentinel.
Shuffling Pumbles Mumbles’s library
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Birchlore Rangers.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Regal Force.
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Regal Force.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Birchlore Rangers.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
[opponent] has conceded from the game.
My draw for the turn is the Heritage Druid I was planning to Pact for. With the Druid in hand, I can spend my Pact on a second Nettle Sentinel, which will assure that I have the mana for Regal Force, and almost certainly for the kill this turn. The only question is what order to play my spells in. I play the Hivemaster before the Pact for Nettle Sentinel because I believe that my mana production abilities are strong enough that I would rather have a 1/1 token than the extra mana I’d get by playing the Sentinel before the Hivemaster. Additionally, even if I somehow fizzle here, I’ll make enough Insects that he’ll need to have Pyroclasm or lose in short order just to the 1/1s.
Honestly, I am much more frightened of Zoo with Pyroclasm than I am of Tezzerator. Zoo’s clock is not quite as fast as yours against a goldfish, but they are much better at slowing you down than you are at slowing them down. Cards like Seal of Fire and Mogg Fanatic are good answers to your game plan that also further their own. Canonists similarly hurt you while still putting you on a clock. However, it’s the Pyroclasm that really breaks my back. The Zoo deck has plenty of things that die to it, from Fanatic to Confidant to Canonist, but they also have a hefty dose of one- and two-drops that don’t die to it. This means that they can clear out your combo pieces and your chump-blocking tokens all with one card, and still hit you for six damage in the same turn.
I have been unable to think up a good answer to Pyroclasm. It’s clear that many players in the PT tried to solve this same problem, as you can find Elf Combo sideboards sporting Forge[/author]-Tender”]Burrenton [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]-Tenders as Chord targets, essentially turning Chord into a four-mana counterspell for Pyroclasm or Firespout. However, I just don’t honestly see being able to make that play too often, and I further don’t like the idea of drawing a Forge-Tender in my opener; having a Predator Dragon in there is already enough for me.
Regardless, your hope against Zoo is to build up a gassy hand that can go from zero to combo in the span of one turn. Exposing pieces like Nettle Sentinel and Heritage Druid for a turn is often necessary, but ideally you’d want to be able to kill them with just the cards you’re holding. This means that land-light hands are a little scary, and that Wirewood Symbiote + Elvish Visionary is quite strong. If you manage to find yourself in this position, remember that you can get double-duty out of your Symbiotes if you bounce a Visionary both on your turn and on theirs.
Some Magic Online players have begun sporting Flame Jab as yet another way to make sure that all Elves die, and that just further reinforces the idea that you’re trying to get a lethal hand rather than a lethal board. After I ran into Zoo and the Red Burn deck multiple matches in a row, things got so dire that I added Steely Resolve to my board!
Playing Against Elves
The mirror match has often been described as a coin flip, and while there is some truth to that, there is still something to be learned from mirror games. The advantages that you can get come primarily from Chord of Calling, as you can use it to interrupt their combo, though you might also be able to use a surprise sideboard card against them.
This game is the last of a match in which I got combo-killed game 1, and then won game 2 after my opponent cast a Weird Harvest but didn’t go off in the same turn.
Pumbles Mumbles joined the game.
[opponent] chooses to play first.
[opponent] keeps this hand.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.
My hand is two Forests, Heritage Druid, two Nettle Sentinels, Summoner’s Pact, and Umezawa’s Jitte. Two lands, Heritage, and two Nettles is the basis for a turn 2 win, and if that Jitte were a Glimpse he would probably just be dead. However, it’s also the basis for an attack with Jitte on turn 2, and that should be plenty unless I’m already dead.
[opponent] skips their draw step.
[opponent] plays Forest.
[opponent] plays Llanowar Elves.
Turn 1: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
I draw a third land, and play Nettle Sentinel. I’m planning to attack with Jitte, so I want to be swinging with a 2/2 rather than a 1/1.
Turn 2: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Llanowar Elves.
[opponent] plays Llanowar Elves.
Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Summoner’s Pact.
Pumbles Mumbles reveals: Nettle Sentinel.
Shuffling Pumbles Mumbles’s library
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Symbiote.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Umezawa’s Jitte.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Umezawa’s Jitte targeting Nettle Sentinel.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Nettle Sentinel
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Umezawa’s Jitte.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Umezawa’s Jitte targeting Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Umezawa’s Jitte targeting Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote targeting Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays activated ability from Umezawa’s Jitte targeting Nettle Sentinel.
I draw Wirewood Symbiote, and lead with the second Sentinel and Heritage Druid. I tap these for three mana, and Pact up a third Sentinel. Playing takes me down to two mana, tapping them brings me to five mana, and playing the Symbiote puts me back down to four. That’s just right for Jitte + Equip, and I swing in and pick off two of his Elves. Post-combat, there’s no reason not to bounce an Elf and re-equip Jitte, discouraging any attacks from him.
Turn 3: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Elvish Visionary.
[opponent] plays triggered ability from Elvish Visionary.
[opponent] has conceded from the game.
He taps out for an Elvish Visionary and concedes, presumably because he doesn’t have another land. Even if he did, it would take a miracle for him to beat my active Jitte.
For the mirror, I usually board out my Viridian Shaman and Elvish Visionaries for Blasting Station, Brain Freeze, Orzhov Pontiff, and two Jittes. The Jittes are extra paths to victory, though they can clog your hand and don’t help you combo, so I don’t believe that you want more than two. Brain Freeze will let you hijack your opponent’s turn, and Blasting Station + Wirewood Hivemaster is extremely difficult to beat. Even just a Blasting Station can let you trade your irrelevant Elves for their important ones. Orzhov Pontiff is just a nice Chord target that will let you interact with your opponent, as in the next game:
Pumbles Mumbles joined the game.
[opponent] chooses to play first.
[opponent] keeps this hand.
Pumbles Mumbles keeps this hand.
My opening hand is Forest, two Nettle Sentinels, Llanowar Elves, Wirewood Hivemaster, Regal Force, and Chord of Calling. While land-light, this hand has most of what I’m looking for: Sentinels, Wirewood Hivemaster, and Chord. I’m on the draw, so a turn-two Hivemaster with Chord in hand will protect me from a third-turn win on his end. An easy keep.
[opponent] skips their draw step.
[opponent] plays Forest.
[opponent] plays Llanowar Elves.
Turn 1: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
I draw a second Chord of Calling. While the first one was already scheduled for Orzhov Pontiff, this reinforces that plan, since I’ll still have another Chord to dig up my Dragon on my next turn.
Turn 2: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Forest.
[opponent] plays Glimpse of Nature.
[opponent] plays Birchlore Rangers.
[opponent] plays Birchlore Rangers.
[opponent] plays Wirewood Symbiote.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote targeting Llanowar Elves.
[opponent] plays Essence Warden.
Turn 2: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
I draw a second Llanowar Elves, and just play my Hivemaster. We’ll see what happens!
Turn 3: [opponent].
[opponent] plays Forest.
[opponent] plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
[opponent] plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
[opponent] plays Birchlore Rangers.
[opponent] plays Birchlore Rangers.
[opponent] plays Birchlore Rangers.
[opponent] plays activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote targeting Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Chord of Calling. (Getting Orzhov Pontiff)
Shuffling Pumbles Mumbles’s library
Pumbles Mumbles plays triggered ability from Orzhov Pontiff.
[opponent]’s activated ability from Wirewood Symbiote is countered because of no legal targets.
As you’ve probably guess, I deleted all of the triggered abilities so that it’s easier to read. He drops every card in his hand, building up a huge army of Insects and gaining a ton of life in the process. If I didn’t have Pontiff or Brain Freeze, he actually has enough life-gain in play that it would be impossible for me to win in one turn with the Dragon. However, I simply tap the Hivemaster and the five Insects I produced during his turn to Chord out Pontiff and clear his side.
Turn 3: Pumbles Mumbles.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Chord of Calling. (Getting Heritage Druid)
Shuffling Pumbles Mumbles’s library
Pumbles Mumbles plays Glimpse of Nature.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Llanowar Elves.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Glimpse of Nature.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Forest.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Heritage Druid.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Birchlore Rangers.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Wirewood Hivemaster.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Nettle Sentinel.
Pumbles Mumbles plays Predator Dragon.
[opponent] is being attacked by: Predator Dragon
I draw Glimpse of Nature, which is nice since I have 39 life to hack through. If I didn’t draw the Glimpse, I could play out two one-drops and Chord up the Dragon, planning to kill him in two swings since the only card in his hand is a Birchlore Rangers, but the Glimpse allows me to Chord up Heritage Druid and go off immediately.
In the games where neither player interacts with the other, the Elf mirror does sort of come down to a coin flip. One of you will combo-kill the other first, by necessity, and that player is usually determined by quality of draws and whoever plays first. That doesn’t mean that you have no edge though, as you can force the interaction that might give you an edge.
The Elf builds with maindeck Essence Wardens are trying to get an edge by playing more cards that do something while the opponent is going off. However, gaining one life per creature (which might be as much as five life per Elf played) isn’t an insurmountable advantage; the Grapeshot builds can burn a Grapeshot early to stop the lifegain, the Brain Freeze builds can ignore life totals, and the Dragon builds can overcome the lifegain by having more Hivemasters than the bad guy.
This means that your sideboard needs to have ways to address this problem. I play Jittes for various reasons, but the fact that they’re good in the mirror really helps pay for the space that they take up. I have extra win conditions so that I can play more cards that can turn an opposing combo into a win for me. And I have targets like Orzhov Pontiff to make sure that I can contain a combo on the other side of the table even if I can’t intercept it.
In the end, when you evaluate mirror match hands, you need to be looking at a set of cards that has a plan to win. You might just decide that your turn two or turn three win is good enough, or you might be satisfied with just a Hivemaster and a Chord of Calling. As long as you have something to do by turn two or three, you should be good to go.
Conclusion
For me, Elf Combo remains a great choice for Extended events. I really do enjoy puzzling out how to win each game, even when that doesn’t involve untapping Nettle Sentinels and drawing thirty cards. It has a ton of power, and the ability to overcome hate cards and hateful strategies.
Unfortunately, I do believe at this time that Wizards will address the power of the deck with a banning. People have speculated about which card would be likely to get the axe, and my opinion is that Heritage Druid should be the card to go. Wizards has a history of banning Dark Ritual effects, and I think that the deck with Glimpse and Pact but no Heritage Druid will simply be a fair combo deck. Having to rely on one set of mana producers, especially ones that only generate half a mana per elf as opposed to two mana per elf, will mean that the combo still exists but is much more “fair”. Wizards wants people to be able to play with their cards, and a turn 4 combo kill with an option for turn 3 is certainly something Extended can handle.
Until then, though, you should be playing Elf Combo too! The deck is tremendously fun and tremendously powerful. Not only that, but it’s pretty cheap to throw together on MTGO. Sure, cards like Glimpse have shot up in value, but even if you have to drop 70 tickets on the core engine cards, you can still fill the rest of the deck out for chump change. Compare that to a full package of Fetchlands and Ravnica Duals, and you’ll see what I mean.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me in the forums, via email, or on AIM.
Benjamin Peebles-Mundy
ben at mundy dot net
SlickPeebles on AIM