Elves of the Swarm (Budget)

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Golgari is Back —Jan. 11, 2016

Messenger Elves is now back to Golgari colors. Last weekend I playtested on LackeyCCG and paper with proxies as Golgari and Jund colors. After doing so I have come to the conclusion that including red, Jund colors, for Atarka's Command is not really needed. This is mostly because Nissa, Voice of Zendikar fills in for the most important role that Command offers which is +1/+1 to your team of creatures. Nissa's ability is repeatable and Command is not. Command's other modes are also nice, but not nice enough to go with three colors and have to rely on fetchlands and tango lands for the manabase which has turned out to hurt the use of Hissing Quagmire.

The best additions to this deck from OGW so far have been Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Oath of Nissa. I have been most surprised at how good Oath is. Oath adds something to this deck that Elves decks in Standard really need, a green one drop. Oath is basically a green one drop can-trip which is really strong. Since Oath is only one mana it's best cast in the early game, but also a fine top-deck in the late game because it can find any creature such as a Sylvan Advocate or Shaman of the Pack as well as Nissa herself, Hissing Quagmire or Sea Gate Wreckage. All of these cards are excellent in the late game.

Oath can find a land this means you can keep one Forest opening hands with it. This came up so many times in playtesting. Turn one Forest, cast Oath find your second land and never miss a beat. Another nice early play with Oath has been turn one Gnarlroot Trapper, turn two Forest or Llanowar Wastes cast Oath finding something that can help you the next turn and play a two drop Elf using Trapper. Oath is excellent at helping you to make your land drops each turn until turn 6 to activate Advocate.

I really thought Nissa, Voice of Zendikar -2 ability was going to be very good with Elves, but I didn't think it would be as good as it has turned out to be. Nissa is by far the best addition to this deck from OGW. Turn three Nissa make a Plant token and then -2 her for turn four and five is nuts. I even found myself holding back from -2ing her so I could get more Elves on the battlefield and activate a Hissing Quagmire before giving counters to everything. What makes Nissa so amazing is you can -2 her the turn she is played and after this she is still alive.

Her 0/1 Plants are pretty useless without counters, but they are still fine chump blockers. I would rather chump block with a Plant than an Elf. I have decided to use 3x Nissa instead of 4x because both Sylvan Messenger and Collected Company can't interact with her. Oath of Nissa can find her which is great, allowing less copies to be used.

Having a team of Elves that can help to protect Nissa is a great way to use her. This allows the use of her -2 ability more while still protecting her low loyalty. Her ultimate never came up, but the increase in lands to help Sylvan Advocate also makes it more powerful. In Control matchups just using her to make Plant tokens each turn until she has 7 loyalty could be strong.

Everyone I have talked to about Sylvan Advocate agrees that it's bonkers. It is even more bonkers in this deck because of all the ways that you can find him. Both Sylvan Messenger, Oath of Nissa as well as Collected Company can find Advocate. Since Advocate is an Elf he plays extremely well with Gnarlroot Trapper not only because Trapper can help to cast him, but because he can give him deathtouch when he is attacking. Cutting Skyrider Elf for him has turned out to be the right thing to do. He allows much less stress on the manabase with almost just as good as a pay off in the end.

Advocate is a magnet for removal. Both Silkwrap and Abzan Charm are good vs him. Wrap in the early game and Charm in the late game when you have six lands.

I basically added more lands to this deck for Sylvan Advocate thankfully this hasn't hindered this deck's strategy. Oath of Nissa also helps a lot with this because if you are land screwed it can find a land for you and if you are land flooded it can put three possible lands on the bottom of your deck. More lands has also helped for better use of activating Hissing Quagmire as a land creature.

Activating Hissing Quagmire with a Sylvan Advocate or two on the battlefield when you have six lands is so extremely powerful. These two cards are another reason that Oath of Nissa is so good because it can find both of them helping to pair them up when you have six lands.

One reason to go with just Golgari colors is to have the best possible way to use Hissing Quagmire. I have been very impressed with Quagmire not just when I have six lands and a Sylvan Advocate on the battlefield to pump it, but also as a great target for Nissa's -2 ability and as a surprise blocker. Leaving him and three other lands or a Leaf Gilder untapped can be a good defensive play if your opponent doesn't have instant speed removal. This came up vs a Rhino in playtesting. Rhino didn't attack because Quagmire could block and trade.

A negative against Quagmire is he can delay a turn one Gnarlroot Trapper or Oath of Nissa. This came up some in playtesting, but isn't enough of a negative to not play the card.

A late addition to my Golgari playtesting has been Sea Gate Wreckage. In most games you empty your hand playing this deck. Wreckage's draw ability can be great card advantage when this happens. Wreckage is best to use as a late game play when both you and your opponent are in top-deck mode. Llanowar Wastes other copies of Wreckage are required to use Wreckage's draw ability which is another reason it is best to use later in the game.

Since this deck is now only two colors it can get away with using Wreckage as just a colorless mana source for most of a game. Oath of Nissa allows Wreckage to be used as a green source to cast Nissa which is a nice bonus that has come up some in playtesting.

Some glaring omissions from this new Golgari decklist are Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip and Tajuru Warcaller. Both these cards are very good, but to make room for Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Oath of Nissa something had to be cut.

New Nissa has a much better early game pay off then flip Nissa. Flip Nissa might still be included, but in the sideboard for Midrange and Control matchups. I'm most sad to not have Warcaller in the deck anymore. She is great with new Nissa's Plant tokens as well as Sylvan Advocate, but there just isn't room for her at the moment. Having only 4x current Allies is another hit against using Warcaller, as she will most likely just be a massive pump for only one turn, which is still good, but currently not worth it. Before this deck was playing 10x Allies which was great to trigger her rally ability each turn.

I have been very pleased with how this deck is preforming with Golgari colors. So pleased with such fast results that very little playtesting of other colors is needed at all. That being said, I still intend to playtest Mina and Denn, Wildborn with Sylvan Advocate in Jund colors. As well as a pure Midrange approach with Elf Allies, Beastcaller Savant, Sylvan Advocate, Tajuru Warcaller and Tajuru Pathwarden Golgari version.

Stay tuned for more...