I'll make it easy and list what's different from the current Pauper Elves builds and then go over the reasons if you are still interested:
+2 Mana Dorks (9 instead of 7 total of Llanawor elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves)
+4
Thornweald Archer
+1
Viridian Longbow
+3
Vivien's Grizzly
+1 Forest
-3
Nettle Sentinel
-2
Spidersilk Armor
-2
Distant Melody
-2 card:Slylvan Ranger
-1
Elvish Vanguard
-1 Island
The big change is trying
Vivien's Grizzly
instead of
Distant Melody
. Distant Melody is amazing when you can cast it with a few elves on the board, but is not a good recovery card and is sometimes dead for too long while waiting for blue. Vivien's Grizzly is a good mana sink that can draw you extra creatures, but it is hardly in the same league as a good Distant Melody in a single card comparison.
Vivien's Grizzly adds a lot of small advantages that all add up to be worth considering over Distant Melody though:
-
No need for 1 of your only 13 lands to be an Island (fewer 1 Island mulligans)
-
Opens 2 deck slots from the
Sylvan Ranger
(a 2 drop 1/1 that got the island)
-
Doesn't get skipped over by Lead the Stampede
-
Continuous mana sink once in play
-
2/3 body ain't bad with so many X/1s in the deck
-
Another MUST remove threat to a lot of decks
I'm sure the above will be discussed elsewhere; I will move on to the other choices.
Thornweald Archer
is a card I didn't know existed until a couple of days ago. It fills 2 very big roles we need in elves: A way to stop Flyers, and to take out a big blocker like
Gurmag Angler
so we can swarm profitably again. It adds to the count of creatures that must be removed for decks relying on a couple early blockers slowing us down enough to stabilize. After trying 2 for a couple of games, I immediately replaced the 2 main deck Spidersilk Armors for the play set. Game 1 we need to have a way to deal with Kor Skyfishers and Delvers, but we do not need the +0/+1 for electrickery yet. Deathtouch with the Viridian Longbow was so good I wanted another in the deck (still +3 creature slots for Lead the Stampedes overall with it).
The Nettle Sentinels were a tough cut. The extra dorks feel to be worth it so far between the 4 more mana sinks and the higher elf count though. I have only be testing game 1s, so maybe I will want to change those back when Electrickery is sided in.
sideboard is still untested
