A Mina and Denn EDH deck
"Call of the Wild."
I only need one word to pitch the idea for this deck.
Elves.
Not sold? Okay well let me back up a little bit here. I remember when I was first introduced to elf tribal. It was just a normal day and that evening I went out to play some magic with a friend. This friend had also just so happened to get his hands on the Goblin vs Elves duel deck.
He was so excited about the goblins that he didn’t even take the elf deck out of the box. After a couple of rounds I asked if I could try out the other deck just for laughs. Then I played it. Then again. Then again. I was hooked. By the end of the night I asked him if he was ever going to use the elf deck and if not could I buy it from him?
He said yes.
After a while I had a really amazing sixty card elf deck. My playgroup would groan whenever I decided to get it out. It was the best thing ever. But like all good things it came to an end when a majority of my collection was stolen by my roommate at the time. Shrugging off the loss I continued my Magic the Gathering path. Then eventually Oath of the Gatewatch was released and with it Mina and Denn, Wildborn. My heart skipped a beat and I felt something I had not felt in a long, long while. The call of the wild.
Pros:
-Massive amounts of ramp.
-Elves.
-plays very aggressively.
Cons:
-susceptible to board wipes.
-Limited interaction with opponent’s boards.
The Elven Hierarchy:
The deck naturally has a ton of elves in it. However I don’t think anyone wants to read through a list of thirty some descriptions. So with that in mind let’s look at some of the more notable inclusions.
Copperhorn Scout: This deck actually likes to be fairly aggressive and copperhorn allows us be as aggressive as we wish with minimal repercussions. Also allows for some fun plays in letting us untap cards like Fauna Shaman and Elvish Archdruid to use them a second or possibly third time a turn.
Quirion Ranger: She is a fun individual. Her ability is really all upside for us allowing to consistently play our second or third land per turn. This really allows us to abuse the secondary function of the deck. Landfall.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer
: This deck ramps insanely hard so getting her to flip turn five is not uncommon. The biggest advantage of causing her to turn into Nissa, Sage Animist is her +1 ability letting us get an extra card per turn.
Oracle of Mul Daya: I mean.... Extra land... Deck filter... Elf... is there really anything else that needs to be said?
Nullmage Shepherd: Really good at keeping artifacts and enchantments in check. While she dos require three other creatures to activate her ability that’s not too much of a draw back with the amount of token generation this deck produces.
Elvish Archdruid: RAMP!!!
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds: While her draw ability is kinda a crap shoot in EDH the amount of Mana she can generate is ridicules.
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves: Generates defense for all our elves and makes others playing green have a bad day. However this is an old card so he dos effect ALL elves on the battlefield not just ours.
Fierce Empath: This guy acts as a second copy of our heavy hitters being able to fetch Craterhoof Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar, Bane of Progress, Soul of the Harvest or Omnath, Locus of Rage
Chameleon Colossus: An honorary elf who punishes anyone for playing black and is a lethal mana sink late game.
Lands matter:
Elves have always been portrayed as having a bond with the world they inhabit. Magic is no different in this aspect. Elves have always been able to fetch lands from your deck. These cards allow us to gain massive advantage off of our elves natural ability’s.
Horn of Greed: While this do’s allow your opponents to draw a card we are able to get more value out of this than them since we can play more lands than them thanks to cards such as Mina and Denn, Wildborn.
Seer's Sundial: A one sided more mana intensive Horn of Greed. However being in the colors that we are I won’t sneeze at any decent card draw engine. And this is a very good one.
Avenger of Zendikar: This guy is a massive threat. When he hits the board your opponents will have to deal with him.
Rampaging Baloths, Zendikar's Roil: Rewarding us creatures for playing lands is insanely good. Especially once we start being able to play three or four lands per turn.
Omnath, Locus of Rage: It’s angry!
Nissa, Vital Force: While she dos not necessarily care about lands entering immediately her ultimate generates so much pure value for this deck. Also Considering that she can use it the turn after she comes down just makes Nissa, Vital Force insanely powerful.
Nissa, Who Shakes the World: our version of Mirari's Wake that makes 3/3's each turn and eventually fetch all our forests making them indestructible death machines.
Win conditions:
Each of these don’t end the game by themselves but once we have a decent board state settled they close the game out incredibly swiftly.
Beastmaster Ascension: Attacking with seven creatures is very easy for this deck. Omnath, Locus of Rage tokens suddenly become 10/10’s. Your thirteen single power elves suddenly become 6/6’s. Dropping this down right before you swing with a small army and suddenly your opponents are desperately struggling to stay alive.
Ezuri, Renegade Leader: You know what elves do? They make lots of mana. You know what Ezuri dos? He makes your elves massive. You know what massive elves do? They smash!
ELVES SMASH PUNY HUMANS!
Craterhoof Behemoth: you hear that? yes, that is what you think it is. No, it dos not want to be friends.
I looked at a lot of other deck lists for Elves before building this deck. I wanted to make this deck different from a majority of the lists I've seen. So I decided to meld Elves and Landfall into a single deck. It's been a blast to play so far and I'm extraordinarily happy with how it’s been playing. Thank you for taking the time to look at my list for Mina and Denn, Wildborn.
Happy draws!
