Llanowar Elves

Creature — Elf Druid

: Gain .

Discussion (51)

HezTheGod on Saskia is itchy and hateful

1 day ago

mana dorks like Arbor Elf, Fyndhorn Elves, Llanowar Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Elvish Mystic, Birds of Paradise and Deathrite Shaman might help to midigate the hurt you feel from you MLD

dingusdingo on Yuriko Reality and Consultants - cEDH

1 day ago

I'll cede the Nevermore point to you, the commander does indeed slip through it and yes I also know the card isn't played. The larger overall point though is that at any table you only have control over 100 of the 400 cards that see play and being vulnerable to a single card that shuts down your entire strategy is a liability. Especially when you play paper, people don't have 100% powered lists and often substitute hoser or situational cards. Regardless, the deck is still 100% dependent on the commander sticking on the table, and its practically your only source of card advantage. Any deck that handles the commander easily is going to shit all over your pile of 99. Replace Nevermore with Lignify or Kenrith's Transformation or Darksteel Mutation or Song of the Dryads or Imprisoned in the Moon and you have the exact same problem, your deck is shut off when your commander is handled. Rather than engage the actual logic of what I'm saying, you and your buddies are getting caught up on specific cards instead of overall types of interaction.

This deck crumples if it can't get commander triggers. That is the point I've been making. Stop misconstruing it.

You'll notice how when I talked about alternate costs, I even said you don't cast it for the regular CMC normally. I did say that in some situations, especially in grindier games, you may find yourself in a position where you end up casting the actual CMC of cards like Force of Negation as you don't wish to -1 card advantage your hand and you're packing the mana. Once again, why do you ask me if I'm reading your primer when you aren't reading my replies?

Yeah its neat that misdirection handles spells, I never said it didn't. I said it doesn't handle the 3 most important spells resolving in the format right now. I am well aware how it interacts with uncounterable cards. Once again, are you reading what I'm writing? Losing a permanent to Abrupt Decay sucks but losing the game to Tainted Pact is 100% worse. This is extremely easy comparative logic for anyone who is trying to win games.

I never spoke badly about Dark Ritual except to note its a consumable piece of mana, and doesn't help you in creating turn loops. I have no problem with its inclusion.

You must be seriously new if you don't understand that when I say Pyroclasm and variants, I'm talking about cards besides simply Pyroclasm. Every time I've mentioned it I've talked about pyroclasm effects, I'm talking about Anger of the Gods Earthquake Toxic Deluge Rolling Earthquake Fiery Confluence Sweltering Suns Fire Covenant Sudden Demise and Subterranean Tremors. There are also all kinds of "Destroy all creatures" effects that I didn't list. Yes, I am highly aware that 2 damage from pyroclasm doesn't kill Yuriko, but it sets back your board state, and all the other pyroclasm VARIANTS do kill Yuriko. This strategy is also seen in decks like Ruric Thar or Keranos. Its more usually seen in tier 2 decks that are able to engage the meta due to how creature heavy the current meta is. Being proud for playing cedh but only playing against 6 different decks doesn't really give you a huge representation of the viable decks in the format. It means you're still new. Yes its good to be aware of the tier 1 decks and the commonly played decks, but if you're running into more fringe decks that are able to leverage these kinds of cards against you, your deck is going to lose in more places than it should. Especially since many tier 1 partner decks are able to utilize these creature blow out cards with things specifically like Sudden Demise.

This leads into Xantcha being a competitive deck. It is 100% a competitive deck, there are decks besides Flash Hulk you need to be aware of. Especially in the current creature heavy meta, continuously blowing out the board turns your Pyroclasm effects into 3-for-1 or 4-for-1 trades to keep ahead of Blue and Green decks. It isn't a tier 1 deck, but if you play cedh you'll run into this deck or another deck that trades specifically on big creature hate. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/xantcha-combo-control/

Similarly, you'll run into a planeswalker commander like Animatou that is able to run big creature hate effects like Humility that once again, completely blow this deck apart.

I am not friends with SolelySelesnya and I don't know him personally or online. I just find these lists haven't explored new territory with Yuriko.

You guys can spend all day saying I'm rude until you're blue in the face, but I made a simple comment on both lists asking why they didn't run a specific card. Rather than respond, or tag me, or answer me, they deleted the comment and wrote a note about it that I received no notification for, and had to dig to find. Me posting on their lists is not passive aggressive, not being able to even respond to a comment and deleting it is passive aggressive. Also why complain about my tone when you use the same post to engage in the exact behavior you're so mad about? If you had just taken 3 minutes to respond giving your very basic reasoning for card justification instead of deleting comments, we could have had this conversation without you getting upset.

Now to respond to Rad Dummy specifically

If you don't think pyroclasm is cedh playable you need to reevaluate. Look at the proliferation of green due to the 7 mana different turn 1 mana dorks available to the color. Players keep 2 land hands because it includes a Llanowar Elves. Look at the amount of hatebear strategies that are significantly chipped away at from Pyroclasm and variants. Look at value enablers like Edric, Spymaster of Trest or even just Dark Confidant that are blown out by Pyroclasm. For real, the card definitely sees play. Board wipes ARE relevant for Yuriko because without a creature on the board you must cast then pass, not getting the immediate card advantage trigger. You also lose further card advantage from not being able to land other ninjas on players too for additional triggers. Your inability to see this makes me think little of your critical faculties.

Diving Top is indeed a grindier card, but you're missing the point I've been making the entire time. Your ONLY pile cracker outside of your commander is Brainstorm or Thought Scour. When your commander isn't available, your DD is a dead card in hand. Rather than respond to this point, you keep sidetracking about how its too much mana investment or only good for grindier games. Not every game is going to curve perfectly into a turn 4 or 5 win. Running DD and only running a pilecracker via your commander is short sighted. Rather than respond to that point, you keep sidetracking. Have you considered that maybe Doomsday isn't the exact same strategy as the rest of the Yuriko deck? Maybe by choosing to slot DD, you have to include build around cards to help find it and resolve it smoothly?

Its neat that you're getting real upset and want to patronize me about math. I only talked explicitly about mana costs, and didn't misspeak. The ability to start the time warp with 5 mana and take the extra turn into the land drop for the 6 mana for the loop is neat and should be included in the primer for the combo, but the combo has far bigger problems. You also never responded to my point about assuredly getting to 6 mana reliably with 29 lands and 4 pieces of ramp, only 3 of which can execute the loop. You're assuming a lot of Yuriko triggers that are not guaranteed. Once again, the back up combo still relies heavily on getting Yuriko triggers. It isn't helping you in match ups where Yuriko struggles.

• Breezecaller is a creature and can be removed by LITERALLY any color at any point to disrupt the combo
• Mystic requires 3 other islands in play, meaning you absolutely 100% cannot start the combo before turn 4 at the earliest
• Mystic requiring 3 other islands means you are vulnerable to Strip Mine or Wasteland or MLD while setting up
• Mystic returning from GY means literally any piece of targeted grave hate stops this combo. Any deck can run Tormod's Crypt, while many opt for more efficient pieces of GY removal or GY hate
• Time Warp requires a cast every time and can be disrupted. It can also be Misdirection'd lol
• Extra turn hate is present in some decks especially in the form of Stranglehold.

The combo is basically hoping everyone is tapped out or has 0 instants in their hands. While it may be slot efficient with other things that you wish to run, it is by no means efficient or fast overall.

I know you're trying to carve out a name for yourself, but you are clearly inexperienced. Playing against 6 decks that are copies of Shaper lists doesn't encompass the entirety of the competitive scene. Both this deck and your own list are extremely vulnerable to a handful of cards and a couple overarching strategies. Rather than engage critically and employ your big boy thinking pants, you would rather split hairs over "Xantcha could NEVER be competitive viable" or "Go watch casual YT video". My point stands. Rather than engage with honest critique, your ego is much too fragile to imagine that maybe the list you made has problems and isn't perfect. @ me if you wish to continue further discussing these points, otherwise lets save both of us any future headaches and leave this be.

GhostChieftain on Korvold's Sacrifice

1 day ago

I truthfully think you have a cool deck here, but there are a lot of things you could do for upgrades. I think you could improve your mana ramp by adding in a few 1 drop mana dorks. Birds of Paradise, Fyndhorn Elves, Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Boreal Druid, Deathrite Shaman, Joraga Treespeaker, Orcish Lumberjack, Arbor Elf, Elves of Deep Shadow etc... all make it so you have a turn 1 play and can make your korvold come out much much faster.

I think that anything over 4 mana should basically be able to win the game on its own or at least be part of a combo, so things like molderhulk or overseer could definitely go away in favor of a lower cmc card that packs just as much of a punch.

Again, this is meta dependent. If you are in a group that can't deal with a turn 3 korvold or stop a Dockside Extortionist+Temur Sabertooth combo, then it would make sense to not make these changes.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Her Royal Fluffness

2 days ago

RxPhantom: What you say makes sense. After writing my question, I thought about it by myself. I decided to drop Beanstalk Giant, Nissa's Pilgrimage and Bow of Nylea, and I replaced them with one copy of each Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic and Arbor Elf. The Giant is a worse Cultivate, and the deathtouch bow grants isn't as useful as I thought. Right now, I'm undecided if I should re-add Pilgrimage for Skyshroud Claim. As all my basics are forest, it's basically a Cultivate with a slight upside. I'll have to think about this.

RxPhantom on Her Royal Fluffness

3 days ago

Dude. T1 ramp has been awesome for me. Sol Ring is obvious, but Wild Growth, Elvish Mystic, and Llanowar Elves. Git it!

Randomsome1 on Kethis, this deck is legendary

1 week ago

I like the self mill cards, but have you thought about a mana dorks, reanimation, or recursion package to make it a little faster/resilient? Like Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves (and the mechanical reprints), Elves of Deep Shadow, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Animate Dead, Entomb, Reanimate, Dance of the Dead, Noxious Revival

Also highly recommend Sylvan Library if you can afford it.

Andrew30001 on Thefty Muldrotha

1 week ago

Nice unique take on Muldrotha! For starters, I would try to cut as many nonpermanents as possible because the less of those, the more cards you can cast with Muldrotha. I would take out Counterspell, Devious Cover-Up, and Price of Fame and replace them with cards like Lunar Force and Decree of Silence or even Siren Stormtamer and Kheru Spellsnatcher. You could also replace them with plain removal like Pernicious Deed, Oblivion Stone, Hostage Taker, etc. However, I very much like Spelljack because it is so on theme with the deck, keep it in! In terms of ramp, Cultivate and Explosive Vegetation are great choices, but you can get by with using Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wayfarer's Bauble, Khalni Heart Expedition, The Mending of Dominaria for your ramp package. These are useful because, once again, they are repeatable. I would also cut the Llanowar Elves if you add enough other ramp cards. Archaeomancer can be upgraded for Eternal Witness. Bond of Insight, Merfolk Secretkeeper, and Mire Triton feel a little out of place because they only mill a few cards. If you want big mill spells I would put in Mind Funeral and Traumatize and for permanents that mill, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Stitcher's Supplier, and Dreamborn Muse from your sideboard are all great cards and to top it all off Mesmeric Orb is a terrific card. If you want more instant and sorcery recurral The Mirari Conjecture is great for that. I'm not sure what Deadeye Navigator and Peregrine Drake are doing for you when they are on their own. Evil Twin, and any cards that copy other creatures are flavorful additions. Lastly, why not just steal their permanents when you can also steal their turns with Mindslaver. I hope my ideas have helped, and I hope you keep improving this deck!

GhostChieftain on Group Goad Unblockable Tribal

1 week ago

I would cut about 4 lands to add in Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, and Boreal Druid. Doing so increases your early creature count for extra bits of damage, it ramps you into your commander more quickly, and it makes it so you have less dead draws later. Mana dorks op. Turn 3 commander for you nearly every time