Mono green Creature swam elf deck featuring
Primal Surge
and a number of powerful elves. Don't be fooled by the number of cards, this deck will spill out am army of elves every turn. One of the key concepts of this deck is using elf lords to boost a number of creatures and creature tokens and overwhelming opponents with superior numbers (stronger creatures in greater number) adding up to the turn when
Joraga Warcaller
hits the field, making every creature you control a deadly threat. You get your creatures going early, with t1
Elvish Mystic
,
Llanowar Elves
, and
Heritage Druid
can set the tone for the game, giving you access to mana early, which is the only way to get
Primal Surge
t4. t2 elvish archdruids is the best play,
Marwyn, the Nurturer
or
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
are also great, as well as
Elvish Clancaller
. Primal surge is the primary win condition, allowing you to instantly amass an army of elves, and with a little help it can be played t4-t6, making it deadly and relevant to any game. The idea play is t1 elvish mystic t2 elvish archdruid t3 beast whiperer or
Lys Alana Huntmaster
with another mana dork or elvish clancaller. t4 the random nature of the game dictates what happens from here actually makes t4 and past widely variable, the idea here would be to get a primal surge, dig through the deck for some elves, and use the rest of the mana on a joraga warcaller or ezuri to end the game t4-t5. I'm currently messing with a bunch of elves, but the concept is solid, the deck draws a lot of cards and primal surge often leads to more creatures and lands that can keep the combo going. Its alternative currently focuses on 2 strategies that pair well, druids that make mana and let you draw cards, and warriors that make tokens or give a great buff. For the druids I'm using
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
who will straight steal all of your opponents mana and lets you draw when you drop a druid. For the warriors besides those mentioned already I have parrallel lives which combined with lys Alana and marwyn is really great (oh and new tokens and
Heritage Druid
are a resource of their own. I've also tried this deck with
Elemental Bond
which is just nuts, but I'd have to give up on
Elvish Promenade
and primal surge to do it, you can't use them simultaneously
Creatures
Elvish Mystic
an awesome 1 cost creature that helps speed up your mana. Its best play is on turn 1, giving you 3 mana on turn 2, which is insane. I chose this creature over Llanowar elves due to text, this one matches the large number of creatures with elvish in their names.
Llanowar Elves
another 1 cost creature that generates a green mana. Great in any situation an elvish mystic is.
Heritage Druid
possibly the best mana engine in the deck. This card is very aggressive, trapping creatures with static abilities or mana sickness, and giving you the ability to utilize them for mana immediately. Her ability doesn't have it can be used the turn she enters play and on creatures with summoning sickness. This card is capable of producing a lot of mana, especially with Lys Alana Huntmaster + Parallel Lives
. Combos with
Nettle Sentinel
but I'm not currently running the sentinel because without her he's a waste of space.
Joraga Warcaller
one of the strongest cards in the deck, and one of its finishers. His multi kicker ability is monstrous, and he gives all elves 1/1 for each counter. Now utilizing
Bow of Nylea
, this creature is the finisher move of the deck. Joraga warcaller ezuri, renegade leader is an amazing combo, giving your creatures 3/3 plus trample on top joraga's 1/1 counters
Elvish Clancaller
cheap and effective Lord that gives all your elves 1/1. Also can fetch more copies of itself for 6, which can build up the bodies for the archdruid to generate enough mana to go primal surge. Works very well with
Bow of Nylea
allowing you to shuffle the deck after cards are on the bottom of the deck.
Elvish Visionary
((not currently running, he hasn't been doing as much for me as I would like)) this card is just amazing, it doesn't seem like much of a bonus, but you'll always be glad to draw this creature. He costs 2, lets you draw a card, and is a body. With all the lords in this deck this creature gets scary strong, and is usually attacking when the joraga combo goes off t5-6 instead of 4.
Dwynen's Elite
((sadly not running this currently, it's amazing with parrallel lives but doesn't offer any recurring value as the game goes on)) a great cheap creature that gives you immediate value. She gives you good creature advantage early on, and with the help of some lords she can actually be a real threat. It also synergies with heritage druid, allowing you to successfully use her on t2 like a normal mana dork (not using this combo currently). All in all this card delivers as long as you control another elf, and can get ridiculous if you have enough elf lords
Elvish Archdruid
one of the best green mana producers in the game, and an elf Lord that gives all your elves 1/1. He's essential in playing primal surge early enough to change the game because he taps to add a green mana to your mana pool for each elf. This is the decks key card, essentially winning games through the advantage he creates with mana
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
a great card, if he wasn't legendary he'd be a must have 4 of. As it stands with primal surge he's not that great, but otherwise a worthwhile card, defeating spot removal and giving you a potential at will overrun ability. If multiple copies prove to be viable I'd like to use 2, but I'm leery of it.
Imperious Perfect
a staple of any elf deck, this creature serves both as a Lord, giving all of your elves 1/1 and as a 1/1 elf generator for 1 mana. It will flood the board with elf tokens that actually start out as 2/2 and can get a lot stronger.
Marwyn, the Nurturer
Congress I comes into play as a 1/1 but every elf entering the battlefield (which can be outrageous) gives her a +1/+1 counter, quickly making her a huge threat. Her second ability is like
Gyre Sage
letting you tap her for a green mana counter. A versatile creature that serves the clan of druids but can stand in with the warriors. She can be almost as good as
Elvish Archdruid
with her mana ability.
Immaculate Magistrate
(( not running currently in favor of
Bow of Nylea
for obvious reasons)) this creature is expensive, yet essential to this decks main kill combo. Her tapping instantly creates a threat every turn, unless Joraga warcaller is on the field, because if her effect is applied to him it's applied to every creature you control
Beast Whisperer
this is a great elf, a little costly, but provides decent card draw. Chose this card over elemental bond for a few reasons, because your hand won't get flooded on a primal surge (it's cool but you end up losing a lot of cards at the end of the turn) and it's an elf so it's yet another body I can use to pressure opponents. Also doesn't have a power restriction so
The smaller creatures can still draw you cards if you don't have your lords
Elvish Piper
((possibly running in the future)) one of my favorite elves of all time.
Lys Alana Huntmaster
a costly elf but the advantage it creates is game changing. There is a list of cards that pair very well with this creature, but Heritage druid + lys Alana huntmaster + parrallel lives will keep your elves relevant. The huntmaster is a set up card for
Joraga Warcaller
, giving you plenty of creatures to kill your opponent. This card synergies with all the elf lords (and is a reason I still like
Elemental Bond
)
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
at 5 mana this creature is expensive, but its utility is well worth it. It primarily serves as another draw engine like
Beast Whisperer
but can turn into a finisher by tapping 7 druids to gain control of all of your opponents lands. It is the best insurance policy that your opponent won't wipe your board.
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
(( not currently running) this is an elf lord that costs an extra manabut gains you life if it attacks. It's worth mentioning that this creature is being tested, it's actually a really good card
The non-creature(s)
Elemental Bond
(not currently using this card) this card is a great method for making up for a lot of the fallbacks of having a creature heavy deck. Best played early so you can quickly begin to take advantage of all the card drawing or further once you've gotten your combo going, or once you're running out of cards. With a couple of lords on the field, or during a primal surge, this card will let you draw a ridiculous number of cards.
Primal Surge
this card is insanely expensive, but it has a huge payoff. It can be played as soon as t4, with a good hand, but t5 with the archdruid is easy. It lets you exile cards from the top of your deck and play them as long as they're a permanent, which every card in the deck besides primal surge is. It lets you play every single card in between 2 primal surges. This triggers an insane number of effects which should let you end the game immediately. Elemental bond works really well with this, as it will flood your hand and set you up with a perfect 7 just in case your opponent tries to wipe
Parrallel lives this 4 cost enchantment that literally doubles the number of tokens you generate. The multiplication stacks (×16 with all 4 copies) parrallel lives + Elvish promenade is a devastating combo that can net a truly massive army, which joraga can then boost the next turn
Elvish Promenade
This is the second draft of this deck, hopefully more to follow. Right now this deck has too many cards, so any suggestions for shrugging off some extra cards would be helpful. Also, if anyone has any suggestions of elves missing I always have room for more lol
