Cloudy with a Chance of Elfball (Primer)

Modern filthyc4sual

SCORE: 26 | 69 COMMENTS | 3762 VIEWS | IN 10 FOLDERS


Chord of Calling —Aug. 31, 2017

-4 Summoner's Pact

+4 Chord of Calling

At this point in time, my meta is too reactive for a Pact deck to do well. I've spent the last 3 rounds losing game one to them Path to Exile- or Fatal Push-ing my mana dorks. I decided to bite the bullet and switch to Chord.

I know im gonna sound like a broken record, but especially now that you have the infinite mana combo, 4 Chord of Calling or at least 2 should be included alongside of or instead of the pacts

Reasoning:

Pact may seem good, but it technically costs 4 and can easily lose you the game if your opponent manipulates it

Secondly, on top of the 4 mana upkeep cost it tutors TO HAND, meaning it costs an extra 1-3 mana to cast the creature and also makes the creature counterable as well as the pact

On top of that, casting a pact followed by an elf triggers Eidolon of the Great Revel twice per pact, and burn is pne of your harder matchups which makes it even harder for you whereas chord does not trigger it (chord where x>=1 Is 4+ cmc) and the creature goes straight to field, meaning it is not cast so eidolon does no damage, as well as not being targetable by Essence Scatter and similar cards

Pact is just too easy to manipulate for you to cause a loss, for example if your opponent blows up your lands or elves and you cant pay it, giving your opponent a free win, they can alsp let pact resolve and counterspell your creature, unlike chord

Lastly, with infinite mana from Devoted Druid, chord can tutor Craterhoof Behemoth and any other creature with ease onto field without any awkward counterspells or damage from eidolon after chord resolves, and can, unlike pact, summon a surprise creature on an OPPONENTS TURN for flash speed blocking

If thats not enough, go to mtggoldfish and look up modern elves list, more than 90% run 4 chords, including the one that went 5-0 a week ago at competitive modern.

If you want to run pact, so be it, but know that its strictly worse than chord for consistency in every possible way

August 30, 2017 3:52 p.m.

Also for some insight, i used to play modern back before Birthing Pod was banned, and pod decks often ran chord with it, as soon as pod was banned everyone replaced it with 4 chord (this was before coco got printed.) And none of the pod toolbox decks ran pact, even after the ban.

If you still arent sold, run a single copy in the deck for playtesting, and uI guarantee after a few casts you will see why it is a 4 of in elves like it was before coco

August 30, 2017 3:58 p.m.

filthyc4sual says... #3

I used to run chord, and I've found that the deck is faster and runs smoother with pacts. The combo isn't the focus of the deck, it's just a random "I win" button. Also, there are a lot of times when I pact for Ezuri or Craterhoof and win immediately after, so I don't even have to pay.

August 30, 2017 7:02 p.m.

And what about the other 50% of the time when u do pay?

Point is, pact is very situational and is only "sometimes" good, whereas chord is good/consistent 100% of the time and has no downside.

Yes, 1 out of 10 games pact is faster, but its strictly worse unless you can win the turn you cast it, which is unlikely without haste, and the other 9 games chord works as intended and doesnt have you paying 4-16 mana on your upkeep.

You probably arent playing chord correctly then, because you cast it on your opponents end step or declare blockers phase to give pseudo haste/flash and "win that turn" like you said as well as being able to block lethal damage.

Ask any elfball player at a pro tour or grand prix and they will tell you the same thing, i asked my LGS elfball player whose been playing the deck for 3 years and he runs 4 chord 0 pact

Elfball decks run chord and always have, if you want a different and strictly worse/far less consistent deck than pro players thats your choice, but im speaking from statistics that elfball runs chord and not pact.

Here's proof

1st place elf deck from 2 weeks ago

Average modern elf deck

Notice how the 5-0 placer runs 4 chord 0 pact, as does literally every other elf deck in the database, so why then would EVERY elf player not run pact except for you if its so good? Did the player go 5 wins 0 losses with pact? Or chord. Do any of the decks/players in the online database run pact? Nope. Idk where u get the idea pacf is better but you're the only elfball player i know who thinka so, and i know at least 10 that regularly attend grand prix with 3 chords, but i can see that you arent going to listen so i will cease trying

August 30, 2017 8:45 p.m.

Scrolling down om the Second link shows 100% of elf decks run 4 chord, whereas 0% run pact, could ALL of those players be wrong? I doubt it.

August 30, 2017 9:08 p.m.

filthyc4sual says... #6

I don't think they're wrong necessarily, I just think Pact fits my personal playstyle better.

Also, pact isn't "strictly worse unless you can win the turn you cast it". You can pact a turn faster than you can chord-the fastest chord can come online is turn 3, but pact on turn 2 can complete a heritage druid draw to be able to pay on turn 4.

If you look on the MTGSalvation Elves forum, there are people who play Pact. For example, here's a quote-

"I play a list with 4 pact instead of chord. It speeds up the whole deck by a turn (or more) by allowing you to fetch a heritage druid or nettle sentinel if you've got the other one, and kick-start an early chain into a huge turn 2 board presence, or perhaps a turn 3 craterhoof behemoth. The list plays like legacy elves in that sense.

Good luck, it's a really explosive build"

August 30, 2017 9:32 p.m.

you may be better off running chord, especially now that you have the vizier combo. Being able to shoot a chord and combo off at instant speed is much better than having to pact for your creature, giving your opponent information before you attack.

August 30, 2017 11:33 p.m. Edited.

filthyc4sual says... #8

As I said before, the combo is a backup plan. My main plan is still the Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel plan.

August 30, 2017 11:35 p.m.