Elves -
This is a very fast combo deck that can win by making tons of mana and drawing through the deck to resolve some big scary creature. Or just overwhelming the opponent with lots of little elves.
Creatures:
Deathrite Shaman is possibly one of the most powerful and useful 1-drops every printed. It can be used as a mana accelerator, a way to gain life or deal damage, and selective graveyard removal. Being a two toughness creatures can also be very relevant. It's a utility belt for this deck.
Heritage Druid is the mana engine of this deck. It is what allows the deck to produce all the mana needed play all of the elves that you can draw each turn.
Nettle Sentinel is practically stapled together with Heritage Druid. Because he can keep untapping, he can be used to continually tap for mana, or just be a 1-mana 2/2 with vigilance.
Quirion Ranger is another toolbox in the deck. She can save a Bayou from being destroyed, return a blocking Dryad Arbor to your hand to save the land or get extra mana out of a missed land drop. And that's just half of her ability. The other half can untap an elf to allow you to continue to combo off. If the elf is a Deathrite Shaman to use any of his abilities again. It can only be used once a turn for each copy in play.
Wirewood Symbiote provides a similar effect to Quirion Ranger but allows you to replay and untap elves in play. This can be used in conjuction with the mana engine and the draw engine. It can also let you use Quirion Rangers ability a second time in a turn if you return and replay her.
Elvish Visionary is one of my favorite cards to return with Wirewood Symbiote. This card is the weaker of the two draw engines despite still being incredibly powerful. It doesn't hurt that the card is also an elf that goes right in with the mana engine.
Birchlore Rangers is definitely a worse version of of Heritage Druid but it makes up for it by producing black mana for Deathrite Shaman and still being able to produce mana from the turn it comes into play when you don't have enough elves for another Heritage Druid activation.
Craterhoof Behemoth - HULK SMASH
Spells:
Glimpse of Nature is the primary draw engine for the deck. It functions really well with the mana engine to keep drawing into more fuel. It's a great fit for the deck that practically draw through your whole deck for a single mana. Drawing cards is fun.
Green Sun's Zenith gives the option to find pieces of the combo, or the right creature for the right situation. It adds flexibility by being extra copies of every creature card in the deck and sideboard.
Natural Order is one of the most powerful cards in the deck. Often tinkering for the Craterhoof Behemoth to win the game.
Crop Rotation is an instant speed tutor for any land I need in the deck. It mostly takes the place of a fourth Gaea's Cradle but with quite a lot of added utility. Including the ability to use the last mana of the Gaea's Cradle in play to go find another one and make even more mana. I'm still trying to figure out if this card is better than another Cradle. Right now I think it is.
Sideboard:
Cabal Therapy is a skill intensive card, but it's possible remove quite a few important cards from tor opponents hand. The flashback cost isn't too bad with all of the elves and Dryad Arbor to sacrifice. With the ability to look at the hand the first time around. It is easy to decide whether it's worth it to sacrifice the creature.
Thoughtseize is another hand disruption card. It's a very versatile sideboard slot that requires a little less information than Cabal Therapy but is still very powerful.
Abrupt Decay is one of the best reasons to splash black besides Deathrite Shaman. The ability to remove a pesky permanent without fear of a counter makes it great against a lot of permanents that will beat elves. This includes cards like Counterbalance, Aether Vial, Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Blood Moon, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Ensnaring Bridge, Engineered Plague, and tons of other stuff.
Progenitus is another win condition in matches where your opponent runs a lot of creature removal. It can be put in play with Natural Order, Green Sun's Zenith. I guess it could technically be played with Birchlore Rangers and Deathrite Shaman but I wouldn't necessarily rely on that.
Reclamation Sage will remove any artifact giving you trouble. This includes the same cards mentioned above from Abrupt Decay plus a few others that will show up every once in awhile. This card has the advantage of being tutorable and being an elf.
Scavenging Ooze is great for graveyard heavy strategies when Deathrite Shaman isn't quite enough. Decks like Reanimator, Dredge, and and those running Treasure Cruise get hosed by this guy. He is again tutorable and he can remove multiple cards the turn he comes into play. The lifegain isn't relevant very often, but it definitely doesn't hurt!
Sylvan Library deck filtering and extra card advantage are useful in slower control matches. In a deck that relies so heavily on card draw, this provides extra help when the opponent doesn't want to beat your face in as fast as possible.
Null Rod is great against cards like Aether Vial, Umezawa's Jitte, or anyone playing Affinity.
Pithing Needle is very powerful but can only stop one specific card. This can easily be enough to turn the game around.
Check out my other legacy decks!
Miracles
Pox
Death and Taxes
Elves
Burn
