Many can stand where one would fall
The Deck
Some of you may know that this was a combo deck that I made a couple years ago, but with the printing of Collected Company, it's gone through a lot of changes. The description may seem a little bit wonky because it will have elements of the old deck while I'm fixing it.
This is my modern elf aggro/combo deck. It's based around comboing off to draw lots of cards and/or generate lots of mana in many ways using the following cards:
Those are the main combo pieces, but not necessarily the most important cards. Many support cards like the dorks, tutors, and Collected Company help a lot. The deck can easily be played as an aggro deck if the pieces don't come together, with Elvish Archdruid to pump my army of elves, but is optimally (and usually) comboing out earlier than that needs to be relevant.
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Combo Explanations:
This section is to show you guys how some of the combos work, if you don't already know them.
Combo #1: Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel
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This is the classic, most well known elf combo. Easy to get, quick to pull off, but needs a small amount of setup.
How It Works:
Two Nettle Sentinel and one Heritage Druid on the battlefield, and a bunch of cards in hand. Tap the three elves to generate GGG. Use 1, sometimes 2 of it to cast any elf in hand. This untaps both of the Nettle Sentinels. Then, tap the newly dropped elf with the Sentinels for another elf. You leave mana floating every time you cast a dork (or a Visionary), and Your three drops, excluding Cloudstone Curio, are free. This works especially well after a Beck / Call. After Combo #1 or Regal Force into Regal Force into Regal Force, this combo generates some crazy mana and elves on the field.
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Combo(s) #2: Cloudstone Curio shenanigans.
Bouncy bouncy!Elvish Visionary, Nettle Sentinel, and Heritage Druid for infinite cards:
Two of the creatures on the battlefield with Cloudstone Curio an the other in hand. You need to have enough mana to cast the creature in your hand with one mana left over to win on the spot. (using Nettle Sentinel as example, but it works with any of the creatures in hand).
Cast Nettle Sentinel targeting Elvish Visionary with Curio. In response to the Curio trigger, use Heritage Druid's ability, tapping all three guys to float GGG. Visionary bounces. Cast Visionary leaving G floating, untapping Nettle Sentinel, bouncing Heritage Druid (normal bounce this time), and drawing a card. Then cast Heritage Druid targeting Elvish Visionary with Cloudstone Curio and again responding by tapping all three guys. Rinse and repeat until you've drawn your deck (or what you need). Then tap all three for GGG casting another Nettle Sentinel, and a dork and combo from there, making a lot of mana, guys, and finishing it off with a Craterhoof Behemoth.
A dork, Nettle Sentinel, and Heritage Druid for infinite mana using the above combo.
Add Beck / Call and you have infinite cards and mana.
Additionally, you don't always have to infinite combo with Curio, it can just be a value play. Curio and Elvish Visionary is one of the best draw engines in modern.
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Card Choices:
The purpose of each card in the deck:
Combo Pieces:
These are the cards that make the deck what it is. Elf combo can't be elf combo without elves that combo.
Utility:
Be it making mana, finding combo pieces, or just drawing tons of cards, these cards support the deck and a lot of the time keep my combos going.
Finishers:
My ways of winning. Elvish Archdruid is there because it's not that uncommon to dump a lot of elves, fail to combo off but have so many pumped dudes that I can just win through my army.
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Nut Draw:
T1: Land, Dork
T2: Land, Cloudstone Curio or land, Heritage Druid, Nettle Sentinel, Cloudstone Curio
T3: Land, Elvish Visionary, infinite combo, win.
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Conclusion
This deck has been growing on me and proving itself by getting more and more consistent. Help me make this competitive! Comment, criticize, +1, suggest any card or anything that comes to mind. Thanks!
