Best card advantage spell for Elves?

Modern Deck Help forum

Posted on Aug. 9, 2017, 1:21 p.m. by WizardOfTheNorthernCoast

Yo guys.

So here's my question : I was wondering which of the following spells you think is better to generate card advantage off of green mana in a Gx Elves deck.

I'm thinking about building in the first place, because... Shaman of the Pack. I want it to be competitive enough, but my heart is good so I'm not interested in unfair strategies (aka Ezuri combo) nor linear ones (aka Tron/Turbo Fog). I want to be able to still play the deck and have fun with my friends (owning them, obviously).

So far, here are the cards I think might suit the best:

  1. Collected Company : the most 'random' (revealing 1 creature can always happen), but might be better to pump up my army EOT before dropping SotP
  2. Chord of Calling : here's the linear aspect I mentioned. It's really good and can turn your deck into a toolbox Elves but I'm affraid you actually always end up tutoring the same things in the end (Hello Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Craterhoof Behemoth!). Maybe as a one of?
  3. Lead the Stampede : obviously a powerhouse, also help refilling the hand to drop more before casting SotP. Call also fizzle sometimes but too good to pass on, right?
  4. Aether Vial : here's the tricky one. The mana advantage Vial offers is undeniably the best, but it doesn't pair off very well with the spells above. Do you think coupling them is viable? Or do you think one is strictly better?

My humble opinion is that playsets of CoCo and Stampede would match my excpectations better but I want to have your insight aswell. If you guys know any experienced Elves player, please tag him/her ;)

Thanks!

Wurmlover says... #2

I feel like Collected Company and Aether Vial as playsets or 2 of each would work well, given that elves is very low cost. with aether vial word especially well with SotP because it prevents counters. so you leave vial on 1 or 2, and when you think the time is right, tick it up to 3 and just win.

August 9, 2017 2:03 p.m.

Bulldawg1310 says... #3

Youre slowing yourself down by using vial. Your first turn in competitive elves should almost always be a mana dork. That way you can attack as early as turn 2, as with vial, youll have a tiny army of dorks by turn 2 but youre not swingin until turn 3, in which time burn could potentially have half your life total diminished. Its rare that we say this, but aether vial is just too slow for elves. Plus its used for flashing in creatures to spam ETB effects which the only elf that really has any are visionary and shaman.

August 9, 2017 2:10 p.m.

TreeCat says... #4

Vial doesn't give you card advantage, it is good though.

August 9, 2017 2:15 p.m.

TreeCat you're right, I meant mana advantage. My bad.

August 9, 2017 2:34 p.m.

Sinist3r says... #6

I'll say CoCo is the best, because it's Divination + conditional Tooth and Nail's second line put into a neat 4 drop. If you're looking for pure card advantage however, Lead the Stampede is a must for elves as it can potentially refill your hand for 3 mana.

August 9, 2017 3:07 p.m.

Oloro_Magic says... #7

CoCo is your best option in my opinion though Aether Vial is a cool way around counters.

The best elf focused player I know of is WiltLeafElves so if they have any more insight they can probably help you more so than me.

August 9, 2017 3:37 p.m.

rothgar13 says... #8

Modern Elves runs Collected Company 100% of the time. After that, given that you're on the Shaman of the Pack plan, I would prefer Chord of Calling - it's not a card advantage piece, but it does enable stacking 2-3 Shamans in the same turn for lethal.

P.S.: Aether Vial isn't a card advantage piece, it's a tempo advantage piece that lets you cheat on mana. Needless to say, cheating on mana is not something an Elf deck needs help with.

August 9, 2017 3:51 p.m.

Gleeock says... #9

I'm a big fan of Selvala's Stampede the chaos is so great & it isn't restricted to creatures

August 9, 2017 7:55 p.m.

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