I've always kept an eye on this deck because I play Elves in every format (except Standard) and I feel like this is the best iteration if the deck that I've seen in a long time! Bant seems to be a great combination for it right now, especially with Radiant Destiny.

Here's to Dominaria and the hope that we get some new, great Elves. :)

Hey Variux, thanks for your continuing interest.

Destiny is great, the anthem effect is what Elves needed. I'm more impressed with the interaction of vigilance and Rishkar, it's huge for Elves. It enables some crazy turns of attacking, then emptying my hand of Elves. If one is Judge then drawing close to a whole new hand. I'm pretty happy, other than an actual Elf tribal lord, Destiny is just what Elves needed for more advantage with Rishkar and mana Elves.

Blue for Hadana's Climb and Negate out of the sideboard add a lot. Climb is kind of nuts especially with Blossoming protection and pump. If Aether Hub does get banned on Monday then I think it's too challenging to splash blue even with Servant and Sanctum, resulting instead playing a two color Selesnya manabase. I'm currently playtesting this scenario.

If we get an actual Elf lord in Dominaria then I'll be ecstatic especially more so if it's a two drop. Both Merfolk and Vamps tribes got a nonlegendary two drop lord in RIX; Wizards is not afraid to make new two drop lords. I hope this is a sign of more powerful playable tribal cards to come for other tribes we will seen in Dominaria.

Getting to pair a new Elf lord with both Rishkar and Destiny will finally since Shaman of the Pack make Elves in my opinion a real option to play in Standard. It's very possible we could get both, an Elf lord and Llanowar Elves that would be amazing. I think it's safe to assume fun/good times for Elves are ahead. It's pretty hard for the tribe to sink any lower than it is in Standard.

multimedia, do you think today's bannings would position the deck a little better in the meta now?

Hey kshock68, the Standard bans helped all tribal decks. Aggressive swarming tribal strategies got a big boost. I think Elves are better positioned now because they can do things that the other tribes can't. But, compared to the other tribes I don't think Elves are a contender yet simply because other tribes got so many good creatures in RIX.

Elves are at a disadvantage because the main strategy +1/+1 counters is done better by Merfolk with Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca and explore with Winding Constrictor. In this current version Elves have an advantage with three colors, ramp, trample and flying. These abilities separates the Elf tribe from the other tribes. Some of these abilities have the possibility of going over the top of a swarm of creatures which is what Elves need to do because they can't match, go toe to toe with the amount of creatures that other tribes can put on the battlefield as fast as they can.

Ramp with Rishkar, Peema Renegade and ascended Radiant Destiny gives Elves an advantage because if my opponent stumbles which will happen then I can potentially get ahead with board position. Ramp also gives Elves some much need game against midrange. I'm very happy that Aether Hub didn't get banned because it pairs so well with Servant of the Conduit, this is a color advantage Elves have over other tribes. Trample becomes pretty important in Vamp matchups because of tokens and flying is a way to go over the top of Merfolk, Dinos and midrange.

Taking even more advantage of ramp maybe the next step for this deck. Ramping into River's Rebuke can wreck any tribal deck. Ghalta, Primal Hunger because of trample also seems very good, going completely over the top. Armorcraft Judge can be good for draw advantage in some matchups, but he can also be too slow, requires some set-up or the perfect hand. He's better in midrange matchups such as Temur, Sultai, Grixis. Baffling End becomes much better with the bans because it's very good in nonDino tribal matchups and wrecks Snake decks.

Control is set to return to the meta as a real option. Temur and Mono-Red are what was keeping control in check. Temur was able to out value control with all of it's energy producing cards backed up with Negate and Mono-Red was too fast for control to deal with. I expect to have to prepare for variations of decks with Approach of the Second Sun or The Scarab God. Making Negate, Ixalan's Binding great sideboard cards for the future meta to stop Settle the Wreckage, Fumigate and Scarab.

Temur, Sultai and Mono-Red took a big hits with the bans, but they will all survive in Standard. I think they will survive, but look very different Jadelight Ranger can replace Refiner, more land can replace Attune, but a fourth splash I don't think is possible. Sultai still has Winding Constrictor, Rishkar and the new explore creatures are nuts with the Snake.

Red will survive, but it will look different because it's reach, Ruins and it's tribal hate, Ferocidon were banned. Hazoret is still here, some deck will play it maybe Vehicles will return and play it as top the end. Red may morph to accommodate Pirates or Path of Mettle  ^Flip, using Metzali, Tower of Triumph as it's new reach, Ruins replacement. Glorybringer is a fantastic card to combat the tribal decks I expect to continue to lose to it in Standard.

Grixis Midrange is set to become the new midrange deck to beat in Standard. I expect to have to plan more sideboard for this matchup. The manabase is very good and it can play Ravenous Chupacabra, Glorybringer and The Scarab God and back-up these powerful creatures with Negate for control. Essentially mimicking aspects that made Temur energy so oppressive.

wow, great looking description, let alone the deck! =)

Thanks Gattison for the upvote.

Today we reached 500 upvotes! I don't promote this deck other than deckcycles or ask for upvotes, but 500 upvotes is a great milestone to celebrate.

I'm been playing this deck and updating here for 3 years now and although it doesn't feel like it's been that long since Magic Origins a lot of versions have come and gone in this time. New version almost every time a new set comes out is most certainly what keeps this deck interesting, much fun to play.

I try to keep things fresh here, not boring or bogged down in the same strategies for too long, but up until the release of RIX its has been very difficult to do. My hope is for future sets namely Dominaria and Core 2019 I can get back to a routine of discovering actual Elf strategies again, tribal strategies. For the longest time it seems strategies used are not built around Elves, but around the powerful mechanics Standard has to offer. Essentially squeezing Elves into these strategies as best I can. This does make deck building more challenging, but it's not about Elves. I hope deck building in the future can return to being about actual Elves.

For those of you, who are interested in the design of this page and how I did it I'm releasing soon a tutorial guide on how to customize a deck page on TappedOut. Including how set-up everything for better workflow, usability practices, CSS tricks, accordion tricks and incorporating other Bootstrap components, some Photoshop tricks and how to incorporate jQuery into deck pages. Lots of good information about web design for anyone that's interested in the field.

Thanks to everyone for the past as well as continuing support and viewership.

+1 for the tribe no one seen coming.

Calling it... Shaman of the Pack and Llanowar Elves or Elvish Mystic are coming back. Looking forward to tricking out the decklists with jQuery/CSS/Elvish Archdruid. Congrats on the milestone.

Calling it... Shaman of the Pack and Llanowar Elves or Elvish Mystic are coming back. Looking forward to tricking out the decklists with jQuery/CSS/Elvish Archdruid. Congrats on the milestone.

Thanks Darsul for the upvote.

Last weekend the first two big Standard tournaments after the bans happened, MTGO Standard PTQ and SCG Dallas Standard Classic. The results are very disappointing for tribal out of the top 32 decks in the MTGO PTQ there's not even one tribal deck :( Gruul Monsters with Commune with Dinosaurs, Regisaur Alpha, Thrashing Brontodon and Ghalta, Primal Hunger is the only tribal synergies, but even this deck is not considered tribal. In fact out of both tournaments Temur Dinosaurs in the Classic is the only tribal deck that placed, it placed 7th.

Tribal is being held back I think because for two reasons: shitty manabases and red. It appears that Wizards really messed up by not giving enemy colors Check lands in RIX as this would make the mana for both Simic Merfolk and Orzhov Vamps a tier above where it's at. Perhaps, Wizards is scared that if they print enemy colored Pain lands in Dominaria that tribal decks will then have too big of a manabase advantage. Well they have to print some kind of good enemy or tri-color lands in Dominaria because these color combos are behind ally colors in Standard. I wish they didn't think like this because they're very bad at predicting anything about what Standard will be like. Give the players good manabases, not broken ones and let them guide Standard. Current enemy colored manabases are a huge damper on tribal decks from flourishing.

Red appears to have all the tools to stop tribal: cheap mana early game removal Magma Spray Abrade, board wipes Sweltering Suns as well as go over the top with Glorybringer. Red has too many tools to stop tribal even after banning Rampaging Ferocidon, it doesn't matter.

The overall results however are encouraging for Standard because there's 18 different varying archetypes represented in the top 32 decks of the MTGO PTQ which is a lot and 11 different archetypes of the top 16 in the Classic. Red is overwhelming present and looks to be back to dominating Standard. Banning both Ramunap Ruins and Rampaging Ferocidon you would think would take red down a notch, but that's not the case. Yikes, I hate to think what red would be like if those two cards were still in Standard.

Players took the easy road no creativity, playing already established archetypes: Mardu Vehicles and Mono-Red that dominated when Temur Energy was not the best deck. Gixis Midrange is also a no brainer deck because just looking at the cards it's Rakdos good stuff with blue for The Scarab God, Torrential Gearhulk and Negate, boring. There's some high spots however for creative decks in the Classic. Azorius Auras is very interesting, it's creator Jim Davis I respect him for bringing something new to the table. Izzet Winds is another brew that placed and Abzan Tokens while not a new concept, it's good to see tokens place.

One Sultai Midrange with Servant of the Conduit, one Golgari Midrange with Winding Constrictor and one Gruul Monsters with some Dinos, in the MTGO PTQ green is the least played color. The Classic is a little better, but not much with four decks playing green: one Temur Dinos, two Gruul Monsters and one Golgari Midrange placing in the top 16. Explore has replaced energy as the green mechanic of choice. Banning Attune with Aether and Rogue Refiner looks to have stifled green. Seeing no Longtusk Cub or Bristling Hydra are clear signs that energy in green is dead. Jadelight Ranger and Ghalta, Primal Hunger from RIX are the bright spots for green.

The top played deck of the MTGO PTQ is Grixis Midrange with energy accounting for 8 decks in top 32. Energy is however not the reason this deck is so good its because it can play Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Glorybringer and best of all The Scarab God. This trifecta of threats is hard for any deck to completely deal with. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and Harnessed Lightning are by far the most represented energy cards in both tournaments. In the Classic Grixis Midrange is less represented only two decks placed, 11th and 14th which is a positive sign it might not be as dominate.

Mardu Vehicles with Hazoret the Fervent won the MTGO PTQ and Mono-Red with you guessed it Hazoret won the Classic. Vehicles winning is very surprising because Abrade is a such a good removal spell for red and it wrecks Vehicles and crew.

The most played card in both tournaments is Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Chandra has always been a very good card, played in the two best previous decks Temur Energy and Ramunap Red, but looking at the amount of Chandras in decklists in these tournaments is sickening. She's set to become a real powerhouse in Standard because she's being played in all midrange, aggro and control which is impressive for a four drop. She's already ridiculously expensive more than $30, but I expect her to be a $50 Magic card soon. Mostly because she works so well alongside Glorybringer, the new Phoenix Rekindling Phoenix and Sweltering Suns.

Have to keep in mind that the sampling of Standard tournament ready decks is very small with just results from these two tournaments. The Standard meta is definitely not solved, not even close, but in the beginnings of a new Standard aggro usually reigns supreme because it's a sure thing to play in an unknown meta game and new Standard that's just been effected by bans.

Tribal Merfolk and Vamps have been unfortunately printed as aggro tribes, you would think because of this that the beginnings of this new Standard they would fit right in, but this is not the case at all. So much so that it's pretty alarming.

Given these results how can I adapt this deck? Stay tuned.

Haha, thanks CloudThumper, that would be amazing if both of those Elves are in Dominaria. We still have three months to wait to find out. That's a long time to wait with so much anticipation.

Hey love this deck !! Have you thought about running at least one copy of Rashmi, Eternities Crafter?

Hey love this deck !! Have you thought about running at least one copy of Rashmi, Eternities Crafter?

multimedia could you send me the link to the stylesheet for this deck? I'm trying to figure out the whole stylesheet thing and I'd like to see what you changed so I can do some trial and error.

Chrisprit thanks. If I was to include Rashmi what should I cut? I honestly forgot about her. During Kaladesh Standard I tried every way I could think of making her work with Elves, but nothing was good enough.

She can possibly fit with the current game plan, but I'll only consistently be able to utilize her ability one way. I want to tap out each turn playing cards, not leaving up mana to cast an instant. One of the reasons Rashmi can be powerful is getting card advantage two ways on my opponent's turn as well as mine. Reducing to only one way makes her less effective.

I'll give her a playtest and see how it goes.

As much as I love everything in this build, why not run Greenwheel Liberator over Ajani's Comrade? It doesn't have trample, but it's a much better late game card.

Hey love_by_zedruu, thanks for the upvote.

I like Liberator because it can put counters on itself which is good with the strategy here, but revolt is too hard to trigger requiring other cards to enable it. Too many things have to line up perfectly to enable revolt in this deck. Without revolt a 2/1 two drop Liberator with no other abilities is not very good. If I could easily trigger revolt then I would play Liberator, but this is the not the case currently in the deck. I would need to play Evolving Wilds, but Hub is much better. Rishkar is the only self revolt enabler currently using the legendary rule.

multimedia I had the same thoughts, but running some Revolt myself, and seeing how easily Revolt can be triggered in aggressive decks, i think it's probably worth trying out. But i can see why the Comrade may be the better option.

i do love your deck multimedia

Have you thought of adding 1 or 2 copies of Paradox Engine to go along with, Rishkar, Peema Renegade ability.

multimedia, have you seen the Dominaria leaks yet?

kshock68, I just now saw them all translated into English. Very exciting so far the set looks good. Elves are back and one in particular is making a much needed reappearance :) Six new Elves so far in the leaks including three legendary Elves. Look for a new update here on the leaks, but I have to careful with this update.

The entire set didn't get leaked there's still 130+ cards to reveal, but the majority of the meat of the set was leaked including cards of the three most represented characters of the set, the main villain and the new Weatherlight crew.

SirChris39, thanks for the upvote.

rviola, Paradox Engine is a fine a card, but for purposes of the strategy here it doesn't fit. Verdurous Gearhulk is the same CMC and it affects the board much more than Engine. If I was going for an all out ramp strategy with Elves wanting to make a ton of mana to cast a huge creature then Engine is good, but I'm not doing that. Ramp is a supporting strategy because of Rishkar and counters. I like and want ramp, but don't need a ton of it. A new legendary Elf in Dominaria might change things, have to wait and see :)

Wizards already released a statement confirming the leaks: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/dominaria-leak-2018-03-08

They also officially translated into English text of all the cards that have been leaked also including info about the new mechanics and changes in Dominaria. Anyone can download the English release notes: http://media.wizards.com/2018/downloads/DOM_Release_Notes/EN_MTGDOM_ReleaseNotes.docx

Because of these official release notes it should be okay to talk more in depth about specific cards leaked.

Someone, not me, has made a visual spoiler of all the leaked cards. Putting all the cards in make-shift by color card frames: https://imgur.com/a/ZcaAe.

I think this is very helpful to see and read what each card does, rather than in a text document. The text document however has game play notes of each card which are very interesting to read. Enjoy.