ELFSPLOSION! - TRIBAL ELVES - BY MOMIR VIG
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 32 | 14 COMMENTS | 5907 VIEWS | IN 20 FOLDERS
V 13.0 - PROTECTION, RAMP, AND RECURSION. —May 30, 2018
-1 Slate of Ancestry >>>> +1 Skyshroud Poacher
-1 Nissa, Steward of Elements >>>> +1 Nissa Revane
-1 Viridian Longbow >>>> +1 Prodigal Sorcerer
-1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
Flip >>>> +1 Craterhoof Behemoth
-1 Lurking Predators >>>> +1 Intruder Alarm
-1 Birchlore Rangers >>>> +1 Marwyn, the Nurturer
-1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary >>>> +1 Eternal Witness
-1 Master Biomancer >>>> +1 Silent Arbiter
-1 Rhystic Study >>>> +1 Beast Whisperer
-1 Cryptolith Rite >>>> +1 Heart Warden
Now for the breakdown on why I made these changes.
1) Slate of Ancestry vs Skyshroud Poacher
This one was a really really difficult decision. Slate of Ancestry can draw a huge amount of cards in this deck. However Skyshroud Poacher is a creature instead of an artifact, which is good for many reasons, its activation is cheaper, and it puts the Elf directly into play. So with this I can tutor even without Momir Vig and I can even drop a "Tap for X" elf or other combo piece elf during my opponents end step right before its my turn, so that none of my opponents will see the Elfsplosion coming and therefore wont have the opportunity to use sorceries to mess up my combo out. We'll just have to see how it goes in play.
2) Nissa, Steward of Elements vs Nissa Revane
Now Nissa, Steward of Elements is definitely good. Scry mixed with some free play that Vig can stack the deck to get the most of. However the Ultimate is never ever going to get used, the Scry isn't great because with Momir Vig out you are already stacking the top of the deck, so you don't want to send those cards to the bottom, and free play is great, but it's only once per turn and that just isn't super powerful. Nissa Revane has its own downsides and upsides. It is a card I have been wanting to play forever but I generally think that it't just too slow for a format like modern, and up to this point, even too slow for commander I had thought. Recently though I have been trying to add in more defensive options to this deck. Ways to stop my opponent from wiping me out or messing up my plans before I can close out the game. Generally with this deck you don't want to be sacrificing creatures to block your opponent attacks, so you usually just end up taking the hits to your life total. Nissa Revane's first +1 ability may be literally useless, but as our best friend Wellwisher Elf can tell you, getting life for each elf you have adds up FAST!! Even more so when it's +2 life per Elf. As far as her ultimate goes, it may take 5 turns to go off, but commander does tend to run slower than other formats, so even if it doesn't go off and play most of your deck, you are still getting huge chunks of life to keep you alive long enough to wipe your opponents out. I wouldn't ever replace either of these with a Non-Nissa though, because, I mean c'mon, she is THE ELF PLANESWALKER. Its a huge flavor win no matter what, and that matters to me.
3) Viridian Longbow vs Prodigal Sorcerer
This one is super simple. It's the exact same effect as far as its purpose in the big combo is concerned, but Prodigal Sorcerer is a creature, not an artifact, so if you should ever need it for some reason outside of the combo, it is tutorable with Momir Vig, and will trigger all of the other abilities where being a creature as opposed to an artifact matters.
4) Growing Rites of Itlimoc
Flip vs Craterhoof Behemoth
Growing Rites of Itlimoc is super cool in its mana ramping, but it doesn't start to ramp until your next turn since we don't play any instants, and it's initial effect isn't huge. Craterhoof Behemoth on the other hand is a bomb that ends the game. So in games where your combos have been destroyed due to repeated removal or you just don't feel like going through the trouble of explaining the combo, you can use this to close out the game quickly and efficiently, so that games don't run super long. Trust me, it can get super annoying for your opponents when your combo has been destroyed, and you can still play crap tons of cards on your turn, which takes a long time, but can't close out the game, because your combos are gone. This has happened to me a couple of times, including in a game where one person was milling all of us heavily. This fixes that. To some degree at least.
5) Lurking Predators vs Intruder Alarm
Lurking Predators seems really cool at first, but 6 mana is steep, and its ability to do anything depends on your opponents pace. Instead I replaced it with Intruder Alarm, which in most decks, wouldn't be a very good card, but in this deck can serve an incredible purpose in the same vein as Paradox Engine. Since this deck generates most of it's mana through creatures, you can tap all of them, including creatures that tap for other non mana producing purposes, such as Wellwisher Elf , play a creature, then all of them untap, and you can retap them all again. So as you do, the amount of mana piles up higher and higher each time you do, allowing you to string together huge amounts of creatures onto the battlefield. With enough mana dorks, and one of the creatures that allow you to draw a card when you play a creature, and having Momir Vig on the battlefield, you can even go so far as to just string together ALL of your creatures in a single turn. The power of this effect is not to be underestimated and honestly, considering this is a card I used in a merfolk combo deck of mine many years ago, its crazy that it took me this long to think of putting it in here, since its such an obvious fit and so crazy powerful.
6) Birchlore Rangers vs Marwyn, the Nurturer
The mana ability of Birchlore Rangers is just not nearly as good as it seems and Marwyns is way way better, for the same reasons as Gyre Sage and Viridian Joiner. She doesn't just get big and make tons of mana, but she is yet another elf who can fill a vital spot in the primary Infinity Combo. Plus the art on Marwyn is awesome, so that was a consideration as well.
7) Lifecrafter's Bestiary vs Eternal Witness
So one of the issues I discovered with this deck, is that if somebody wipes out Staff of Domination, there is only one card in the deck that can get it back, and since that card is a land it is non tutorable Academy Ruins, it leaves you in a really tough spot. So when the main combo goes off, if they kill staff, you have a long grindy game or a loss ahead of you. Eternal Witness is tutorable with Momir Vig, and can get you back ANY combo piece that got removed, in order to get you back on track, and close out the game. Lifecrafters is good, but it requires more mana for its draw, and.... well something had to get cut for Witness !??!?!? lol.
8) Master Biomancer vs Silent Arbiter
Master Biomancer is cool, but in real life play, putting counters onto all your creatures, including your tokens, is a big pain in the ass that generally doesn't end up rendering a useful effect anyways. At best it could potentially make some of your elves big enough to be blockers without dying but that minor possibility just doesn't outweigh the inconvenience. So instead I added in a utility card to bring aggro decks to a near stand still in order to buy time to bring out the combo and end the game. It won't stop decks that pump their commanders to ridiculous heights, but it will really quicksand the horizontal decks. It even slows down your opponents killing each other off as well in order to keep them fighting each other, instead of killing each other off quickly and coming after you.
9) Rhystic Study vs Beast Whisperer
Rhystic Study is good, but in practice, opponents generally just end up paying the extra 1 generic mana. instead of giving you card draw. Beast Whisperer on the other hand is a Creature (Win), an Elf (Win), a Druid (Win), and makes every green creature you play into a "Tutor any creature to your hand" ability when paired with Momir Vig (HUGE WIN!!!). It's just straight up better in this deck.
10) Cryptolith Rite vs Heart Warden
Cryptolith Rite has proven to be less useful than initially anticipated. The tap for any mana is useful, and making non mana dorks into tap for any color mana droks is useful, but there are so few non mana dork creatures in the deck now, that having another Elf Druid Mana Dork in the deck is just more useful to the game plan. Plus in a pinch, Heart Warden can be sacrificed to draw a card, such as when you have a green creature to play to tutor up a combo piece to the top of your deck, but don't have any other way of drawing it right then. Heart Warden could fix that. Overall I feel like it wins out.