Elves of the Swarm (Budget)
Standard
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Bant with Amonkhet - Updated: 4-20-17 —April 17, 2017
Amonkhet spoilers are over and the entire set has been revealed. I decided not to do a new spoilers continuing update for Amonkhet like I do for each new set. Instead waiting to see the whole set and what cards might fit into this deck and do an update on just those cards. For sets that don't have Elves in them this will be my new approach. Sets that do have Elves the updates during spoilers and after will be different, a much more in depth look. Amonkhet is a plane with no Elves. I expected this because Kaladesh had them and they were a large part of the lore. It's rare now that two blocks in a row have Elves. I expect the next sets in the block after Amonkhet where ever it takes place, which hasn't been revealed yet, to have Elves. This deck hasn't been Elf tribal for months now which will unfortunately continue until the next block and next Standard rotation. I'm hoping that cards in Amonkhet can be used to strengthen or support the Elves, the energy and counter strategies.
Instead of doing a review of Amonkhet in this update I'm diving straight into brewing with the new cards. There are several that stand out to me. Here's a breakdown of the stand-outs for this deck in each color.
- Green cards: Rhonas the Indomitable, Manglehorn, Channeler Initiate, Mouth / Feed, Vizier of the Menagerie, Dissenter's Deliverance, Benefaction of Rhonas and Haze of Pollen
- White cards: Cast Out, Forsake the Worldly, Renewed Faith, Oketra the True and Aven Mindcensor
- Blue cards: As Foretold and Galestrike
- Black cards: Scarab Feast, Trespasser's Curse and Plague Blecher
- Red cards: nothing
- Gold cards: Nissa, Steward of Elements, Khenra Charioteer, Samut, Voice of Dissent, Prepare / Fight and Failure / Comply
- Artifacts: Rhonas's Monument
There are six cards that I feel can bring new and more powerful interactions to this deck; Rhonas the Indomitable, Cast Out, Manglehorn, Forsake the Worldly, Khenra Charioteer and Nissa, Steward of Elements. Red, blue and black really don't bring anything new or better. The gold with red cards have some potential as a splash for Charioteer and Samut, Voice of Dissent both are great cards giving all Elves abilities. Other than As Foretold and Failure / Comply blue doesn't bring anything else that this deck wants. Black in Amonkhet is all about Zombies which is great, the tribe got the royal shaft in Shadows over Innistrad and it deserves some time in the limelight. This deck doesn't benefit from black really at all except Scarab Feast and Trespasser's Curse in the sideboard to combat delirium, aftermath, embalm and the Copy Cat combo. Nissa, Steward of Elements looks to be one of the most interesting cards in Amonkhet. There's no denying that Nissa is a powerful card and is great with ramp due to the X in her casting cost. I definitely want to brew a deck with Elves especially Rishkar, Peema Renegade with her, but she's not part of this update.
Rhonas the Indomitable is the green God of the five new Gods and he looks incredible. He can only attack or block if I control another creature with power 4 or greater. He doesn't seem like he would pair well with Elves, but he does because of his activated ability which gives a target creature +2/+0 and trample until end of turn. Any 2 power Elf such as Sylvan Advocate in the mid game can be targeted and become a 4 power creature which turns on Rhonas allowing him to attack. Rhonas's ability can be used as many times with as many different or the same creature as mana I have. I can use his ability to pump Elves and give them trample. Swarming the battlefield is what Elves do, but sometimes they just can't get through for enough damage, trample helps with this. Using Rhonas really requires that all my creature have at least 2 power or more. Creatures with 4 or more power are of course ideal.
Rhonas is a 5/5 with deathtouch. Deathtouch with indestructible is a pretty amazing combination for an attacking creature. He's always a creature when in play he just can't attack or block unless I have another creature with 4 or more power; for this reason cards that allow target creature I control to fight one of my opponent's creatures such as Nature's Way or the aftermath side of Prepare / Fight could be very good with him.
Cast Out is a card which has potential to put me in white going with four colors or cut another color such as black or blue. Cast really does everything this deck needs, takes care of any non-land permanent at instant speed or can be cycled to draw a card for a single mana. It's so good because it can stop the Copy Cat combo from happening, being able to target either Saheeli or Felidar Guardian, stop Heart of Kiran or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Cast is an excellent way to deal with the Gods. The new Gods will be played in Standard and since they're indestructible a lot of other removal won't stop them. Cast might be the best card in Amonkhet and I foresee it having the same impact that Fatal Push had in Standard. Ideally, I would want to use both Cast and Push in this deck, going with Abzan colors, but I'm not sure if the manabase can support both. Both are so good together; Push in the early game and Cast in the mid to late game.
Manglehorn helps in both matchups of the two top decks right now in Standard; Copy Cat and Mardu Vehicles. Making it a fantastic new creature to combat these oppressive decks. It can kill Vehicles, Heart of Kiran and Aethersphere Harvester as well as shut down the Copy Cat combo because all Cats who are made from Saheeli Rai's ability are artifacts, they enter the battlefield tapped, not allowing them to attack for the turn. At the end of the turn they're all exiled. Manglehorn has 2 power which is important because this means Rhonas can make him a 4 power creature using his ability.
Another strong white card in Amonkhet is Forsake the Worldly it can exile any artifact or enchantment or be cycled to draw a card for . Because it exiles it's an answer to Scrapheap Scrounger that can also deal with Heart of Kiran. It can also exile an enchantment which will be needed to deal with Cast Out, As Foretold and Drake Haven. The best thing Forsake has going for it is cycling; making a situational card have a use any time in a game because it can be cycled to draw a new card is very powerful.
Khenra Charioteer is a reason to use red. This guy can give all Elves trample which is the ability that's best with them. Khenra can also give Rhonas the Indomitable trample making him even better. Khenra has 3 power putting just a single counter on him from Rishkar, Peema Renegade gives him 4 power which is the condition that needs to be met allowing Rhonas to attack. An interesting and potentially great combination is Khenra and Tajuru Warcaller. Warcaller pumps my team of Elves and Rhonas which gives them a lot of power allowing Rhonas to attack and Khenra gives them trample letting them get in for a lot of damage. Khenra gives me a reason to revisit Warcaller and Allies with Elves.
Nissa, Steward of Elements X in her casting cost does look great with a ramp strategy with Elves especially Rishkar, Peema Renegade who can make other Elves into mana Elves. A powerful potentially broken interaction is with Vizier of the Menagerie and Nissa's +2 ability of scry 2. Being able to manipulate the top of my library up to two cards a turn to find creatures who I can play then cast from the top with Vizier seems very good. Vizier also lets me look at the top card of my library which is excellent with Nissa's 0 ability letting me put if revealed as the top card either a land or a creature right onto the battlefield. The amount of information and value Vizier can give me with Nissa in play while kind of slow to assemble also seems amazing. There are a lot of new directions with new strategies to explore using Nissa as a build around card and I look forward to brewing with her.
Bant
The first version of Energy Elves with Amonkhet is Bant, . I'm splashing white and blue. White is for Cast Out, blue is for Skyrider Elf and Tamiyo, Field Researcher is in Bant colors. The energy strategy is still here Energy Elves is still a primary green deck, but the splashing of two other colors helps to converge Skyrider Elf and Woodland Wanderer. Converging is the reason for the energy strategy which is still powered by Attune with Aether, Aether Hub and Servant of the Conduit.
Rhonas the Indomitable is the new build around card. I need to use creatures that have 2 power or more, ideally ones who can have 4 or more power since they let him attack or block. Skyrider Elf and Woodland Wanderer are very good with Rhonas. Both can be 4/4 or more for four mana. Either one can be cast turn three for four mana with help from Servant of the Conduit. It's this curve that I like, three drop Rhonas into either four drop Skyrider or Wanderer, lets Rhonas attack turn four. Both have evasion; Skyrider has flying and Wanderer has trample making them great targets to pump with Rhonas's ability and in the case of Skyrider he also gets trample. Wanderer can't be killed by a non-revolt Fatal Push or Grasp of Darkness as well as six energy with Harnessed Lightning making it more resilient. Skyrider is a versatile flier because it can be cast for two to five mana. It's flying ability is excellent with Rhonas's ability to pump creatures.
The reason for splashing white is for Cast Out as well as a wealth of good sideboard cards such as Forsake the Worldly. White also has access to cheap mana instant removal options, Immolating Glare and Blessed Alliance. Cast is replacing Fatal Push it's much more versitle providing draw in the from of cycling, when it's not needed or in the early game. It's incredible in the mid to late game effectively stopping any threat including Planeswalkers.
Other Elves are still here, although their numbers are starting to decrease. Sylvan Advocate, Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Servant of the Conduit as well as Skyrider Elf make the Elf core in this deck. Advocate is very good with Rhonas the Indomitable he starts with 2 power and when I have six lands in play he becomes 4 power. Rishkar can put counters on other creatures I control which helps them to have 4 power. Vigilance on Advocate and Woodland Wanderer is also great with Rishkar because I can attack with them and then use them to make green mana. This allows me to possibly attack with them and then tap them to pump either one with Rhonas's pump ability. Servant is still the best mana Elf and is the heart of the energy strategy.
Both Verdurous Gearhulk and Tireless Tracker are some of the best green cards in Standard. Both are also excellent with Rhonas the Indomitable. Verdurous starts with 4 power as well as can pump up other creatures to 4 power. Tracker is an amazing source of card advantage and cracking just a single clue gives me a card and a 4 power creature. The combination of Tracker and Rhonas if not dealt with fast can really take over a game.
Tamiyo, Field Researcher joins the party. She's very good with Rhonas because attacking with him he will most likely do combat damage meaning I'm drawing a card using her +1 ability. This draw ability is also excellent with Skyrider Elf because he's flying and Woodland Wanderer because it's a big dude, most likely 6/6 or more, when he attacks he'll do combat damage. Wanderer and Sylvan Advocate have vigilance which is great with Tamiyo's draw ability because the ability works until my next turn. I can block with Wanderer or Advoate on my opponent's turn thus doing combat damage and draw card(s). Her -2 ability can shut down Gods, Vehicles from attacking and blocking and Gideon of all flavors from attacking. Exert may be a formidable deck in the upcoming Standard. Tamiyo does a good job of tapping down exert creatures not allowing them to attack thus not getting exert bonuses.
The manabase has a welcomed addition, Scattered Groves. Groves is the new Forest Plains cycle land, it gives me the ability to draw if I'm too flooded with lands or don't really need to play anymore lands. Once I get into play six lands that's all the land I really need since it turns on Sylvan Advocate. Being able to discard Grove to draw a card in the mid to late game is very nice. Irrigated Farmland is the Plains Island cycle land, it too could find it's way into this deck, but for now I'm only using Groves. The drawback of these cycle lands is they always come into play tapped. Using too many of them could cause problems with casting my spells in the first four turns.
The Cuts
Black is being cut and replaced with white. Winding Constrictor is the number one up in the air card that's being cut because of the strong -1/-1 counters theme in Amonkhet. The theme is to put these counters on my creatures which is just plain terrible with Constrictor. Any time whether it's from me or my opponent if a -1/-1 counter is placed on one of my creatures an additional counter is also placed. The snake really reinforces the energy theme; which I hate to lose. Constrictor is also be very good with Rhonas the Indomitable because it increases the amount of counters that are placed on my creatures thus making them bigger with more power. It's much easier to get a 4 power creature when using the snake. The snake is also a 2/3 creature making it a fine target for Rhonas's pump ability. If I'm over estimating the power level of the -1/-1 counter theme in Amonkhet then black and the snake may return.
Aethersphere Harvester is a great energy card, one of my favorites from Kaladesh, but I think Vehicles are going to have a hard time surviving in the upcoming Standard. There are so many good cards in Amonkhet that stop them namely Manglehorn, Cast Out and Forsake the Worldly. The lifelink that Harvester gets by using energy is still a valuable resource to have, but for now Harvester will be in the sideboard. I may need to use other non-artifact ways of gaining life such as from Prepare / Fight, Renewed Faith or Lantern Scout.
Walking Ballista is an artifact which just like Vehicles is going to be much worse than it is now in Standard. Without Winding Constrictor Ballista gets worse requiring four mana to be a 2/2 creature is not what I want to be doing using Rhonas the Indomitable. If the snake and black returns then maybe Ballista will too.
Final Thoughts
Even though Amonkhet has no Elves which I dislike, I still really like the set as a whole. The flavor and art are great. The set gave this deck a slam dunk new addition in Rhonas the Indomitable as well as Cast Out one of the better unconditional removal spells to be in Standard in a long time. Many good sideboard options are in Amonkhet that help to combat the oppressive decks in the current format. Bant is by no means a final version of Energy Elves. In the coming weeks I'll brew other versions starting with ramp with Nissa, Steward of Elements as well as Naya with Khenra Charioteer. My hope is that Amonkhet will shake up the metagame just enough to start having fun playing Standard again.
multimedia says... #3
Hey CloudThumper it's been a while. I'm very happy with the wealth of Elves in Standard right now. There's so many that not all of them can go in a single deck. There's also tons of good/great build around cards for Elf strategies and support cards to strengthen strategies. This is exciting and a welcomed change in Standard. I playtested about 10 different Elf decks of varying color combinations with different build around cards and strategies. Golgari so far has been the best, splashing blue for Skyrider Elf brings some added fun.
Several of the best Elves this time around are expensive options with Rishkar, Peema Renegade leading in price and he will most likely go up more. Metallic Mimic is also not a budget Elf and Sylvan Advocate while more budget then the others is on the cusp. Expensive Elves is not a norm when it comes to Standard, but to get the power level of Elves to increase I guess price must also increase.
Of the Elves you mentioned I like both Ajani's Comrade and Cultivator of Blades as Elf options for budget brews. I'll most likely use both when I update Budget Energy Elves. Comrade's trample does seem very good with a +1/+1 counters strategy.
I playtested a Temur Energy version of this deck using Aetherwind Basker as the win condition. It's splashing red for Spontaneous Artist and Harnessed Lightning. Artist is great with energy because he can give Aetherwind haste for only one . Giving other Elves haste such as a huge Skyrider Elf is also nice. It's a fine version, it's fun, but I've found energy as the main and or only strategy to not be as powerful as +1/+1 counters.
If you recall the first version of Energy Elves played both Skyrider Elf and Woodland Wanderer with Servant/Sage/Attune/Hub/Lightning as the energy producers. Wanderer is a real beast, but I ultimately cut him in the version for Peema Outrider for more Elf synergy.
January 26, 2017 3:07 a.m.
So I don't post here often, but I had to come and say that this may be the most well done deck I've ever seen on tappedout. I made a G/B snek deck right when I saw the AER spoilers and love it, but I have to say that I have a soft spot for elves as it was the first deck I ever played and built back in the day. Not only is this deck well done it's ridiculously explosive and I think I like it more than my G/B snek deck, so yeah just wanted to say this is awesome.
January 27, 2017 7:43 p.m.
CloudThumper says... #5
Skyrider Elf was the reason I played Bant Hardened Scales, and at the time Stubborn Denial was excellent too.
One little idea worth noting for the sideboard perhaps... Animation Module. In a deck with 4 Rishkar, Peema Renegades, 4 Metallic Mimics, and 4 Winding Constrictors, it could be useful. If one of your Mimics is set to 'servo', taking a turn to use your mana and your creatures with counters (Rishkar's ability) to pay the Animation costs, you will end up with lots of 2/2 or 3/3 Servos (if there is a Winding Constrictor around). The new servos can judiciously block. Obviously, doing it again the following turn would lead to mayhem, when the servos you created last turn pay for the new ones (Rishkar again). Maybe Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, arrives next turn to immediately pump and swing the team. Could be useful for a go wide strategy against other counters, fabricate tokens, and/or energy decks. It's only right that an Elf deck should include a convoluted combo, even if it is with Servos...
The Module can just make 1/1 servos with random extra mana periodically for Nissa to pump up, and then Constrictor does her thing, and you have some 3/3s for cheap and useful future counter/Rishkar activity.
January 28, 2017 10:36 a.m.
multimedia says... #6
CthulhusNo1FavCultist, thanks a lot.
reyv6925, wow that's a huge compliment thanks.
CloudThumper, great suggestion and explanation of Animation Module, thanks. I'll add one to the sideboard.
January 28, 2017 3:20 p.m.
multimedia says... #7
Some big changes happened recently with the biggest being the manabase. I want to thank djnewellmit for the idea of using Attune with Aether. In his version of this deck AER Aether Elves he's using 20x lands and 3x Attune. I've decided on 20x lands and 4x Attune. I feel Attune is a 4 of or none type of card since It's best turn one. Attune and newly added main deck Aethersphere Harvester add a lot to the energy strategy of this deck. They combine very well with Winding Constrictor to meet all my energy needs.
Pro Tour Aether Revolt has shown us that the Saheeli Rai combo is not as formidable as it appeared it would be. Both Golgari Constrictor and Mardu Vehicles dominated the Pro Tour and shut Saheeli down. I've adjusted the main deck removal spell cutting Grasp of Darkness for Fatal Push. Push is much better in just about all matchups other than Saheeli especially Mardu Vehicles and Constrictor matchups. Since it's only to cast makes a huge difference in speed and ability to have a removal spell to use when I really need it in the early game.
I've cut Nissa, Voice of Zendikar for Aethersphere Harvester. I haven't been impressed with Nissa. She's great when the Snake is on the battlefield before I use her -2 ability, but without the Snake she's pretty lackluster. Walking Ballista, Heart of Kiran and Harvester is also very good at killing Nissa before I can get much value from her. In control matchups is where Nissa shines because she's a Planeswalker who I can potentially get into play early. Haverster fills this need while also being a resilient threat at my opponent and Planewalkers. Harvester is very good in both Vehicles and Constrictor matchups where as Nissa is not.
The sideboard has been updated. Here's the current sideboard and some explanations of the changes:
- 4x Metallic Rebuke
- 3x Narnam Renegade
- 2x Aethersphere Harvester
- 2x Tireless Tracker
- 1x Heroic Intervention
- 1x Nissa, Vital Force
- 1x Noxious Gearhulk
- 1x Walking Ballista
I still need answers to the Saheeli combo, but I feel safe putting most of them in the sideboard. Walking Ballista is the best answer to the combo, 3x of it remain in the main with one more in the sideboard, but including other cards that have synergy with Ballista as well as able to stop the combo are beneficial. Metallic Rebuke is my additional answer to the combo because it can counter both of Saheeli and Felidar Guardian as well as Torrential Gearhulk who's honestly just as much of a problem as the combo in control matchups. In matchups where I want Rebuke improvise is powered by 12+ artifacts: 4x Walking Ballista, 4x Metallic Mimic, 4x Aethersphere Harvester, 1-2x Verdurous Gearhulk and 2x Tireless Tracker who makes clues which are artifacts making it most of the time at least a Mana Leak. It's the single that's great for a hard counter most of the time. 4x Rebuke are being used because I need it to stop the combo by turn four. Having access to 4x Ballista and 4x Rebuke I feel gives me some extra security to stop the combo.
Narnam Renegade is in the sideboard because he's an Elf with deathtouch who's good in Constrictor matchups. He needs to be dealt with before my opponent can start pounding me with creatures with +1/+1 counters. Being able to trade a one drop Elf for any large creature with lots of counters on it is nice.
Tireless Tracker adds additional ways to draw in matchups where I want it. Clues add to improvise for Rebuke.
Aethersphere Harvester is a road block for Heart of Kiran and aggro and a great source of life gain in these matchups. He pairs nicely with Skyrider Elf giving me two flying threats in the Constrictor matchups. Fliers are important in these matchups because the ground will be clogged.
February 7, 2017 2:40 a.m.
How has the deck been performing? I'm a huge elf fan too and I've gotta say, this looks a lot of fun.
February 21, 2017 7:12 a.m.
multimedia says... #10
Some interesting and possibly surprising changes have taken place. I've been playing this deck for about a month now. It's a good time to do a new update. Look for a strengths and weaknesses new update in the next few days.
Here's a summary of the new update:
The card that makes this deck tribal is Metallic Mimic. Unfortunately, it's the worst card in this deck. I've found Mimic to be completely lackluster compared to any other card. All cards can function by themselves except Mimic, which is a huge drawback. Mimic is only good as turn two play any time after it literally does nothing. After turn two it's just way to too slow. Mimic is the card that's stuck in my hand more than any other card because I would rather play any other card after turn two.
In a large amount of games I've played I've had the option of playing a turn two Mimic or Winding Constrictor and almost every time I'm playing Constrictor over Mimic because frankly Mimic is too fragile compared to the Snake. The one toughness of Mimic is very bad because of the presence of Walking Ballista. It can kill Mimic very easily by removing just one counter. The "Magic Christmas Land" scenario is to get both Mimic and Constrictor on the battlefield before I start playing other cards, they're the +1/+1 counters engine, but this is not realistic at all. It's very hard to keep both alive on the battlefield gaining an advantage from both at the same time. Without this scenario Mimic is just not good enough, which is a problem.
The best deck in Standard is Golgari Constrictor and if I'm cutting a main deck card every time in this matchup in this case Mimic then it doesn't belong main deck or needs to be cut. I try to keep this deck Elf tribal and the cutting of Mimic doesn't help with this, but I won't play a card that is currently bad in Standard just to keep this deck tribal. I'm still playing a lot of Elves just the tribal bonuses for Elves is now missing.
February 22, 2017 5:42 a.m.
djnewellmit says... #11
I concur on your conclusion that Metallic Mimic is the weakest performer in this deck. I haven't been playing this deck too much recently (back to my Pummeler), but I contemplated swapping in a pair of Woodland Wanderer to take advantage of our converge capability. As an added bonus, he doesn't fall as easily as Skyrider Elf to Fatal Push and he can sometimes power through a Grasp of Darkness. I am also considering mainboarding a pair of Tireless Tracker and a couple more removal like Fatal Push or Grasp of Darkness to the mainboard.
I did make several changes to my build based on your very helpful comments on AER Aether Elves. I feel like there is still some room to make more use of blue in this build - maybe mainboard a couple Metallic Rebuke?
February 22, 2017 2:44 p.m.
multimedia says... #12
Hey djnewellmit, our decks do fold to Fatal Push, but so do just about all decks in Standard. A double Push opening hand from our opponent is very hard to come back from. One way to get around Push is to play more 3 drops since requires some work from our opponent to first trigger revolt which is actually difficult to do. This is one of the reasons I'm a big fan of Rishkar, Peema Renegade.
I would prefer to add more 3 drops than 4 or 5 drops because I still want to keep the mana curve low. You mentioned Tireless Tracker who's a great suggestion. Tracker can be incredible I'm currently playing three in the sideboard, but I could see her being an excellent main deck addition. It's possible that I should switch Narnam Renegade and Tracker around between main and sideboard. Both are excellent in the Golgari Constrictor matchup which is the reason I'm main decking Narnam. Narnam brings some added aggression which I like since him turn one into any 2 drop into Rishkar brings the beats.
Due to the way my three color manabase is built my removal options are very limited to just Push, making Grasp of Darkness in my opinion not a viable option because of the double black in it's cost. Botanical Sanctum is the problem I could replace it with Evolving Wilds, but this slows down the deck a lot and is not what I really want when using so many 2 drops. Noxious Gearhulk and Ob Nixilis Reignited are my sideboard removal answers to big creatures that are out of the range of Push. I don't need them until later in the game where double black is completely doable, but in the early game it's not. I feel 4x Push main deck, if you have them, should be the norm.
I like your suggestion of combating Push with Woodland Wanderer there's also Peema Outrider who goes more with the Elf theme. The problem is finding room for these creatures main deck or even sideboard. Aethersphere Harvester also plays a similar role like these creatures. It doesn't die to Push without a revolt trigger and it survives Grasp. It has the added benefit of being a great way to gain life with lifelink. I'm a big fan of Harvester and after sideboard I can go up to three copies of it. I recommend you add it main deck or sideboard because getting counters on it from a Rishkar or Verdurous Gearhulk makes it even more amazing and resilent. With Mimic gone the counters strategy is now on the shoulders of both Rishkar and Verdurous. Creatures that enter the battlefield or can make their own counters with an ability are very good because they can get bonuses from Winding Constrictor without needing other cards.
One of the best things going for this deck is it's ability to keep up with other decks or overtake them with board position in gameplay. Using a very low mana curve made up of mostly 2 drops who are all powerful for their two mana costs. I've taken a different approach after cutting Mimic without it Armorcraft Judge loses a lot and has also been cut. Using Mimic with Winding Constrictor I was finding that some set-up was required before playing other cards. This took away from the aggression. Ignoring this set-up now and just focusing on playing these great 2 drops getting them on the battlefield and being aggressive with them simplifies the strategy. I've cut all main deck draw instead putting it all in the sideboard. This might be a mistake, but I've done this to keep the curve as low as possible for game one of a matchup.
It's possible that Metallic Rebuke should be playing a bigger role here like you suggest. Being able to counter a turn five Verdurous from my opponent in the Golgari Snake matchup or turn four Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in Vehicles seems very good and a huge swing in my favor. I haven't really explored the possibilities with Rebuke it's really here for the Saheeli Combo matchup and Torrential Gearhulk Control matchups.
Metallic Rebuke got worse with the cutting of Metallic Mimic because he's fine in control matchups because he's an artifact which can get into play as early as turn two. Having 8x possible turn two artifacts, 4x Mimic and 4x Walking Ballista was very good to improvise Rebuke early. Rebuke is still amazing even with Mimic gone because of it's synergy with Ballista, Aethersphere Harvester and Tireless Tracker. Although Tracker is by far the slowest of the options to get an artifact into play. Choosing to main deck Rebuke is fine option and it would for sure help to give more uses for Mimic if you're using Mimic.
February 23, 2017 4:27 a.m.
djnewellmit says... #13
Nature's Way has worked very well in my deck AER Aether Elves recently. It is not instant speed removal, but it makes for excellent creature removal with the bonus of the vigilance and trample for my creature, letting me slap down one of their creatures with a Skyrider Elf, attack them with the elf, and leave the elf up for defense on their turn. It also works great with Aethersphere Harvester since the damage dealt by Nature's Way also counts towards lifelink. I think you have the Narnam Renegade filling the similar role in your deck.
February 25, 2017 11:01 p.m.
I dont know how you made the layout look like this. But amazing job! You did a rather swell job on aesthetic with the background art, colour combination and fonts. Excellent job, well done.
February 26, 2017 12:42 a.m.
multimedia says... #15
djnewellmit, you're totally right the cutting of Metallic Mimic makes our decks not actually tribal Elf decks now. Using Elves isn't a requirement or really a strength. They're now decks that have Elves in them purely trying to keep with the theme of using Elves. I'm still making Elves a priority for the creatures I use for the sake of the Elf theme, but only to a point. For instance I won't move away from the Elf creature core of 16x Elves because all these Elves are just very good. 4x Servant of the Conduit, 4x Skyrider Elf, 4x Rishkar, Peema Renegade and 4x Sylvan Advocate. This keeps the creature core other than Winding Constrictor as Elves.
The first version of Energy Elves I had the same problem with lack of tribal which I evidently changed it to use Stoneforge Masterwork as the Elf tribal card. Looking back that was a mistake because the deck was bad and I didn't really have fun playing it. I'm still having fun playing the Elves in this current version which is big difference than before.
Wow, I don't know about using our decks in anything bigger, more competitive, than FNM. Good luck to you if you do. I can't wait to hear some battle reports :) I would just play Golgari Snake at SCG Indy. Better more consistent manabase allowing better access to both Fatal Push and Grasp of Darkness as main deck removal.
I've never playtested with Nature's Way, but you make a compelling argument to try, thanks for the suggestion. I just don't know if I can get past the sorcery speed as well as requiring that I have a creature in play to even use it. Most cards like this are deemed unplayable because of this, but I'll give it a try. It's worth mentioning that Narnam Renegade is actually a creature removal spell in combination with Way because of his deathtouch. I thought the creature you did damage to also did damage back to your creature like fight, but I see now that it's only one sided in my favor. This makes Way, way better.
I've been sideboarding Transgress the Mind along with Metallic Rebuke to fight Four-Color Saheeli Combo (the most popular Sahelli version) it's using Elder Deep-Fiend who's a real problem, various other Aetherworks Marvel decks that are popping up with Ulamog and Temur Dynavolt Tower Control which is also becoming popular.
February 26, 2017 3:58 a.m.
multimedia says... #16
Ares666, thanks for the upvote and your kind words.
I made this layout with Photoshop, CSS and knowing how to change/style Bootstrap which is the HTML framework that the TappedOut site is built from. I'm actually an experienced graphic/web designer and manage other designers. I pride myself on the aesthetics of a design your praise is much appreciated, thanks.
February 26, 2017 4:27 a.m.
multimedia says... #18
Thanks LCJ38 for the upvote.
There's actually 392 total comments since July 2015. You can click on the View Archive button right above your comment to read them.
March 3, 2017 2:10 a.m. Edited.
PW_Ian_Bolas says... #20
In the description it says you play Metallic Mimic, but the card is not in the deck, did you leave the mimic out? I thought every tribal deck need it, if not what is the point on playing only elves?
March 7, 2017 6:09 p.m.
multimedia says... #21
PW_Ian_Bolas, actually in the description I say that Metallic Mimic is not a good option right now in Standard therefore I'm not using it. I cut Mimic completely quite a while ago. I haven't fully updated the Deck Strategy section it's still referencing Mimic, sorry for the confusion.
There's no pure tribal reason right now to play only Elves. The point of playing Elves is because I like to play them; Elves are the theme here. After each new set comes out I try to build the best deck I can with Elves that are in Standard. Most of the time this deck is tribal, but sometimes it isn't. Right now it's not tribal.
March 7, 2017 7:18 p.m.
Multimedia - Ran a very similar version of this deck at last nights FNM. The results were outstanding went 8-1 and came in first place. I cut Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Walking Ballista, and Aethersphere Harvester Down to 3. Used 3x Metallic Mimic in their place. Substituted 2x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar for 1x Swamp and Island.
Also in main board, removed 3x Fatal Push and inserted 2x Grasp of Darkness and 1x Natural State.
4 of the matches were against Dynavolt Tower decks, and these were interesting since my first match and last match were against the same player. He was my only loss in round 1. I beat him game 1 around turn 6, he then pelted me the next two games. When we met in the finals, I beat him first game, side boarded in 3x Natural State and 1x Transgress the Mind. Turn 7 took him out with a 10/11 Sylvan Advocate
April 1, 2017 11:12 a.m.
multimedia says... #23
systip, sorry I've been away from this deck for a while, but I'm back now that Amonkhet is here. Great job winning FNM. Now that you've included Mimic did you find it useful at all? I've down voted the card a lot here because it's so fragile and it needs to be played turn 2 and really only turn 2.
Not playing Push is a major metagame call and I'm glad it work out for you. I started playing 4x Evolving Wilds main deck to make Push more versatile and I've liked the results.
This discussion is however all moot because I've updated this deck with Amonkhet. It's now Bant colors instead of Sultai.
CloudThumper says... #1
Excellent work here multimedia, I'm in for an elf deck this round, especially since I have most of these cards. Always enjoy watching the Elf evolution. I like the Sultai approach. I'll try your version soon.
I had seen a 4-color deck as doable. With Attune with Aether/Servant of the Conduit/Aether Hub/Beastcaller Savant it was almost too easy to get the colors, but the power was lacking. Now with Rishkar, Peema Renegade, the Beastcaller's limitations show a bit. There are some cards I was considering... Aetherwind Basker, Cultivator of Blades, Woodland Wanderer, Ajani's Comrade, Ajani Unyielding, and Oath of Ajani. The comrade's trample at 2 mana seems helpful. When I played the Bant Hardened Scales deck, trample was slightly better than vigilance (the Wanderer has both!) While I get your fondness for Sylvan Advocate, I may try a mix of the above cards too.
January 24, 2017 1:03 p.m. Edited.