On The Mana Drain forums last December, Rich Shay wrote the following, which is one of my favorite statements of all-time from a tournament report:
“I have a first turn Llanowar Elf. He casts Ancestral <Recall>, a slightly stronger card from the same set.”
What on earth was Rich doing playing Llanowar Elves in Vintage?
Vintage on a Budget
Vintage has a serious barrier to entry into the format: cost. We all know this to be true. Many people have argued, correctly in my opinion, that once you’ve made your initial “down payment” into either Vintage or Legacy that they actually become considerably cheaper formats than Extended or Standard, due to the lack of rotations in Eternal environments. Regardless, the up-front cost is something that turns away many people from these formats, and understandably so. This is unfortunate, because the benefits to playing Vintage and Legacy are many. Among the best reasons: they are fun and varied formats that tend to offer a better prize structure than what you commonly find for Standard and Extended events, and they tend to have a close-knit community that often skews slightly older and more mature.
“Budget” Vintage decks are an attempt to bridge the price gap, by providing cheaper alternatives that allow one to play Vintage without having to front the cost. These decks tend to be meta-game decks designed to prey upon fully-powered Vintage players, typically by running some combination of Chalice of the Void, Null Rod, Gaddock Teeg, Avon Mindcensor, Kataki, Blood Moon, and Magus of the Moon. Recently, Stephen Menendian explored the potential for a Green/White budget deck along these same lines. His initial sketch has expanded to included Black and has had some impressive success to date. In the past, six months, he has also looked at Suicide Black, as well as a reworked (and effective) Red/Green budget deck. It is also possible to play budget versions of Fish, which had a past history of success against Drain archetypes, haven’t been as successful against modern Tezzeret builds (with the possible exception of Selkie Strike). Ichorid is also a relatively budget-friendly alternative in a proxy tournament, although that deck runs the risk being blown out by hate cards if the meta-game is prepared.
Outside of Ichorid, however, most of these decks don’t really “feel” like Vintage decks at all, at least not to me. They offer a certain level of effectiveness, but they don’t really feel powerful or “broken” in any way.
Vintage Elves
Vintage Elves offers the chance to play a deck that feels like a Vintage deck (albeit one a lot, uh, “greener” than normal) but costs less than the majority of Standard decks. The basic framework of the deck is based on the Extended Elves combo deck from last season, which caused such concern after PT: Berlin that many people expected some part of it to be banned. This proved to be unnecessary, as the heart of the deck is a Storm engine that is vulnerable to most of the same hate cards that have always beaten Storm decks, and it is also very vulnerable to Jitte (so that Faeries became one of its logical enemies). As the Extended format adapted, the deck was mostly kept in check at Worlds and the following PTQ season, although it did manage some PTQ wins as the season went on and the amount of hate in the field lessened over time.
If you aren’t familiar with the way the deck functioned in Extended, I suggest you read one of the many primers or tournament reports from last fall before continuing. Benjamin Peebles-Mundy wrote a good primer on the deck (both strengths and weaknesses) here.
The build that Rich Shay played to a Top 8 at Myriad Games on 12/6/08 looked like this:
Elves, by Rich Shay and Owen Turtenwald
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Forest
4 Windswept Heath
1 Bayou
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Regal Force
2 Elvish Visionary
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
4 Skullclamp
4 Glimpse of Nature
1 Grapeshot
4 Summoner’s Pact
Sideboard:
1 Viridian Shaman
3 Gleeful Sabotage
4 Thoughtseize
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Xantid Swarm
As you can see, the basic core of the deck remains intact from Extended, including play-sets of Nettle Sentinel, Heritage Druid, Birchlore Ranger, Llanowar Elves, Wirewood Symbiote, and Glimpse of Nature. In place of the Wirewood Hivemaster / Chord of Calling tutor engine, the Vintage version is able to add another set of combo enablers by playing 4 Skullclamp. It is also able to run less land, because it can add a play-set of Fyndhorn Elves, along with a Mox Emerald and Black Lotus (which could be substituted as Elvish Spirit Guide and Gaea’s Cradle in non-proxy events). Quirion Ranger is a very powerful addition, which provides extra acceleration, enables an even lighter land count, and untaps Elves to keep the combo running. This list opts for a Grapeshot kill, which is perhaps less “elegant” than the Mirror Entity kill, but has advantages in Vintage (it wins through Platinum Angel and ignores some potential corner cases like Moat).
Why Elves?
Playing Elves offers several advantages over traditional budget decks. First and foremost among these advantages: you aren’t relying on Null Rod, Chalice, or Moon effects to keep you in the game against fully-powered opponents. Instead, Elves is actually among the faster decks in the format today (given that most TPS builds are geared towards resiliency rather than speed). Even without drawing Mox Emerald, Fastbond, or Black Lotus, this deck is perfectly capable of winning on turn 2. A typical example might look like this:
Turn 1: Land, Llanowar Elf
Turn 2: Land, Glimpse of Nature, Quirion Ranger, draw a card, play Heritage Druid using Llanowar Elves, draw a Card, untap Llanowar Elf using Quirion, play Nettle Sentinel, draw a card, tap three Elves to float GGG, play Pact for a Birchlore Ranger, untap 1st Nettle, play Birchlore, draw a card, and so on.
Skullclamp is a little bit more mana-intensive than Glimpse, and usually results in a combo on turn three, but the card is extremely effective in this deck and with sufficient mana, fuctions very similarly to a Glimpse (and often powers the deck into a second “explosion” of cards if the Glimpse starts to falter due to a clump of lands). The use of extra mana elves, Quirions, and Symbiotes gives the deck plenty of “expendable” Clamp targets, especially considering each Heritage Druid and Birchlore Ranger beyond the first is not necessary for the combo.
Unlike typical Storm decks, this deck packs 29 creatures and two draw engines. Even if the draw spells get countered or discarded, this deck is often able to drop 4-6 power worth of creatures into play by turn two (and sometimes considerably more), and has a perfectly viable beat-down plan considering the creature-light format we see in Vintage. As many Vintage decks take damage from fetches, Force of Will, Thoughtseize, City of Brass, and so on, Elves can sometimes win just by attacking for lethal with surprising speed. In this way, Elves functions as a fast and resilient Storm deck that is quite powerful for an almost mono-green combo deck.
Considering its effectiveness, Elves is also very affordable. If you owned none of the cards, and built the deck with the changes I’m going to suggest below, you could buy 60 of the 75 cards in the deck from StarCityGames.com today in NM condition for under $200*. This means that in a 15-proxy Vintage tournament, you can play this competitive budget deck for less than the cost of a deck in almost any other normal Magic format.
When is Elves an Effective Choice?
Some environments are friendlier to Elves than others. The deck has considerable game against Tezzeret, which in and of itself is a good reason to play it. Because it doesn’t have to lean on Null Rod and Chalice, Elves puts considerable pressure on Tezzeret decks to quickly find and protect Tezzeret, or to assemble Time Vault and Voltaic Key. Generally, they will not be able to win quickly enough using Inkwell Leviathan unless they Tinker for it on the first turn (although decks using Darksteel Colossus may still be able to race). A draw engine like Mystic Remora is nearly useless against Elves, as the Elves player can just drop a bunch of one-mana creatures and attack.
The real problem with Tezzeret is that the power level of the deck is so incredibly high. The combo of Vault and Key is easy for Tezzeret to assemble, and hard for Elves to disrupt. Unlike the Extended version of the deck, the Vintage version does not run the Chord of Calling package that would allow Elves to tutor out a Viridian Shaman at Instant-speed to disrupt a Vault/Key combo. The actual match-up percentage depends heavily on the Tezzeret list in question and the skill and familiarity of the players involved, but overall I would say Elves is evenly matched against Tezzeret, and against players unfamiliar with the way Elves functions, you should have an edge. For a budget deck to have an even match-up against the top dog in Vintage (while still having game in other match-ups) is a considerable achievement.
Remember, this is a deck that plays “Forest, Fyndhorn Elves, go!” on its first turn.
Elves is also a powerful deck against most traditional Fish decks, and other “budget” decks designed to perform against Mana Drain archetypes. Fish decks sometimes run creatures that are problematic for Elves (such as Meddling Mage or Ethersworn Canonist), however the density of creatures and dual draw engines of Elves, as well as the deck’s speed, give Elves a massive advantage in this match-up. Null Rod is mostly ineffective against Elves, hitting Skullclamp but otherwise not impeding the deck’s function. Defeating Elves by attacking with creatures like Tarmogoyf is difficult due to Skullclamp and Wirewood Symbiote. The fact that Elves is so fast without relying on traditional fast mana gives it the advantage against other budget decks. This makes Elves an ideal choice in a Tezzeret / anti-Tezzeret meta-game.
The match-up against traditional Vintage Storm combo, such as TPS, is also interesting. Current TPS builds are usually designed to beat Mana Drain decks, specifically Tezzeret. This means that they have sacrificed some amount of speed in exchange for more resiliency. In a pure race between Elves and most current TPS decks, Elves actually has the advantage. However, decks designed purely for speed, such as Long variants or Ad Nauseam have a large advantage against Elves; Rich’s Elves list has nothing to disrupt its opponent, and many Long and ANT decks have no problem winning on turn two.
The two worst match-ups for Elves are Ichorid and Workshop decks. Ichorid decks running Fatestitcher are very difficult to race, due to the constant threat of a turn-two Hypnotist. Elves must be on the play and have an extremely fast hand to have a chance of winning game one. Ichorid decks that run Leyline of the Void can prevent Skullclamp from working, and Ichorid also has access to Cabal Therapy and Unmask to try and keep Elves off its draw engines. A weak game one against Ichorid is obviously not unique to Elves, however the mana base of Elves makes running hate cards outside of the traditional Artifacts (Pithing Needle, Tormod’s Crypt, Relic of Progenitus) a little bit risky, and it is difficult for Elves to get a Jailer into play on turn one compared to most decks in Vintage that would run that card. Further, the amount of hate required to beat Ichorid puts a lot of strain on Elves, which begins to lose speed and consistency when side-boarding in more than four or five cards. Elves also doesn’t run Wasteland and therefore has few ways of interacting with Ichorid at all in game one, outside of the ability to break Bridge from Below via Skullclamp or blocking.
Workshop decks are probably the worst match-up for Elves, particularly decks that run Sphere of Resistance instead of (or in combination with) Thorn of Amethyst. The number of problematic cards these decks field is staggering: Trinisphere, Sphere of Resistance, Smokestack, Tangle Wire, Chalice of the Void, Triskelion, and so on. Admittedly, Elves does put a lot of pressure on a Workshop player to get a lock piece into play almost immediately, but that is exactly what those decks are designed to do, and once the Workshop deck gets rolling, Elves can do very little about it.
Updating the List
A number of cards from Rich’s list are candidates for removal, and although the basic engine has to remain the same, certain cards stand out as possible additions to the list. Let’s look at the cards we might be able to cut first:
• Elvish Visionary: A carry-over from the Extended list, this creature set up an alternate draw engine (using Wirewood Symbiote) that was typically used to find a Glimpse of Nature or to build up Hivemaster tokens. Because the Vintage list plays Skullclamp, Visionary is nice but not really required.
• Wirewood Symbiote: Mirror Entity allowed the Elves deck to go “infinite” in Extended, but we’re not using that kill condition here. This card’s value decreases if you cut Visionary, but it does play nicely with Quirion Ranger. Cutting all of the Symbiotes isn’t advisable, but it might be worth going down to two or three.
• Regal Force: Just as in Extended, Regal Force can “put a game away” by allowing the Elves player to draw a massive amount of cards in one shot. Again, Skullclamp is able to do the same thing without requiring as much mana up front, meaning that while Regal Force is an excellent card, it is also an awkward draw in an initial seven and isn’t strictly necessary.
And the cards that might be worth playing:
• Fastbond: At the top of the list is Fastbond. In some ways this card functions like Regal Force, in that it is at its best mid-combo. However, Fastbond can also be a powerful accelerator in an opening hand. Mid-combo, Fastbond lets you play out the lands you draw, fueling you with additional mana, and further allows you to replay lands you’ve bounced with Quirion Ranger, and the Symbiotes will let you bounce and replay Quirion Ranger.
• Eternal Witness: In Extended, most builds that killed with Grapeshot ran one Eternal Witness. Besides allowing you to “regrowth” a Grapeshot you lost to Duress or Thoughtseize, Eternal Witness makes it easier to build a lethal Grapeshot (play eight spells, Grapeshot, Eternal Witness targeting Grapeshot, replay Grapeshot). It is also a solid utility spell, bringing back a Glimpse of Nature, Skullclamp, Pact, and so on.
• Thoughtseize: Some Extended Elves lists ran Thoughtseize main. Choosing to run Thoughtseize gives the deck the ability to disrupt an opposing combo deck, remove permission spells, and preemptively deal with Chalice of the Void. However, freeing up these slots also makes the deck less efficient, since it always wants to play a first-turn mana accelerator.
• Elvish Spirit Guide: Running ESG gives the deck additional “fast mana” and has the added benefit of being a Pact target. However, running more than one of these could actually flood the deck with too much mana, and you can’t really use them to replace lands.
• Wirewood Hivemaster: Even without Chord of Calling, Hivemaster provides the deck with targets for Skullclamp and makes that plan more effective.
• Gaea’s Cradle: Elves decks in Eternal formats have a long history of using the explosive mana provided by Gaea’s Cradle. Cradle is the best second-turn land this deck could play. However, replacing another land with Cradle is risky, since any hand that has only Cradle for mana needs to be a mulligan.
• Demonic Tutor / Vampiric Tutor: Tutors to find a draw engine make sense in this deck, and the deck’s mana base easily supports splash colors. Vampiric Tutor might actually be the better tutor in this deck given the lower casting cost and the fact that you can draw into whatever you tutor for mid-combo thanks to Glimpse and Clamp.
• Ancestral Recall, Time Walk: These might sound far-fetched, but they really are quite playable in this deck. Adding one Tropical Island in place of a Forest, in combination with Black Lotus, Birchlore Rangers, and the fetches would allow the deck to cast these easily. Running 8 fetches, a Tropical Island, 4 Birchlore Ranger, and Black Lotus provides the deck with 14 sources of blue. Time Walk seems like the more powerful choice, as playing it mid-combo is insane, and playing it on turn 2 to set up for an easier combo on turn 3 is very appealing.
Here is the revised Elves list I would suggest:
Elves, suggested by Matt Elias
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Forest
3 Windswept Heath
3 Bayou
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Gaea’s Cradle
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
3 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Regal Force
1 Eternal Witness
4 Quirion Ranger
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Skullclamp
4 Glimpse of Nature
1 Grapeshot
4 Summoner’s Pact
1 Fastbond
Sideboard:
4 Seal of Primordium
4 Thoughtseize
2 Xantid Swarm
3 Tormod’s Crypt
2 Pithing Needle
Compared to Rich’s original list, I’ve added more actual lands, and more lands that tap for black, because playing a first-turn Thoughtseize (or Duress if you go that route) is so important in some match-ups (Oath of Druids, Shop decks, ANT). I cut both Elvish Visionaries for Fastbond and Gaea’s Cradle, and one Wirewood Symbiote for an Eternal Witness. I’m still somewhat in the air about Gaea’s Cradle, which has been hit or miss in testing; my original testing list had 3 Thoughtseize main in place of Gaea’s Cradle, Fastbond, and a Wirewood Symbiote. Gaea’s Cradle and Fastbond both help you “get there” once you start to combo; Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor would make starting the combo easier; and playing Ancestral Recall and Time Walk in those slots would up the overall power level.
I chose Seal of Primordium over Gleeful Sabotage because I think it is more effective against Shop decks. In combination with the discard spells, this also gives you plenty of game against Oath of Druids. I cut the Leylines for Tormod’s Crypt and Pithing Needle — I like Needle because it is a more flexible option and can be applied against other decks. I also dropped to two Xantid Swarms as the deck is already decent against Drain decks. When sideboarding, the most expendable parts of the list are Gaea’s Cradle, Eternal Witness, Fastbond, Regal Force, and Wirewood Symbiote; while all are very effective and help the deck function optimally, all can be removed during sideboarding.
Note that I haven’t had a chance to test Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Ancestral Recall, or Time Walk in the deck. Time Walk seems particularly interesting to me, in that if you run out of steam mid- combo, you can untap and do it all again, and it also gives you another way to win outside of Grapeshot.
Vintage Elves is a deck still in development, and you do get five or six slots in the main to optimize the deck to your expected meta-game. This deck is fast, powerful, and flexible, and is perfectly capable of holding its own against fully-powered Vintage decks. If you played the Extended version, and have any interest in Vintage, I strongly suggest you give this version a try in your next local Vintage tournament. I’m very interested in hearing from anyone who has played this deck in Vintage events, as well as thoughts on the deck in general.
Until next week…
Matt Elias
[email protected]
Voltron00x on Xbox Live and SCG Forums
Samuraielias on AIM
* Note that this statement was accurate based on the pricing as of this writing, but prices and availability are subject to change by the time this article is posted. Purchasing cards in SP condition would further decrease the cost of the deck.