abby315 Wife of Bloodbraid Elf

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Hm. I don't think a 2/2 is a fast enough clock to be denying your own resources. Just think about running into a Tarmogoyf or a Death's Shadow on turn 2.

Honestly, I think the Guide Beast has a home as a 2-3 in a Zoo deck, with Steppe Lynx, as a "late-game" play that allows you to pick up a land and keep the damage coming. But that would be a Tier-Two deck, as it's much slower than Red Prowess.

I have to say, I've never seen anyone buy singles on Amazon.

Having watched the card over the last two years, I expect it to go up and be stable around $15-18 until the next reprint, which should only crash it to about $6-7 for a few months. It's a very stable card, which makes it a pretty bad investment in multiples unless you want to make a very meager turnaround.

But if you mean is $10 a good price to pick up a few copies to have on hand, it's not bad. You missed the boat on very good prices but it should continue to go up over the next year or so.

acadey Thanks! I didn't include Magus because he only produces infinite mana, without any of the ETB-combo lines. Basically he's the worst option between Quirion Ranger, Scryb Ranger, and himself; plus he's not incidentally a mana dork, like Arbor Elf is.

It's possible it's right to just run as many combo pieces as possible, and you could slot him in for probably one of the counterspell-protection pieces like Defense Grid if you want!

I like Brawl as a fun way to do daily missions - e.g. super casual - but don't like it as a format very much. Maybe it will be better now that Nicol Bolas rotated.

It's not condescending if it's true, Daveslab2022 - not that you're bad at draft, but that if you're good at draft, it can have better EV than cracking packs. You, and the article, value draft as if you get zero prizes (except where they mention going infinite, which is just a good occasional side-effect but not the point). That's fair, because it's hard to calculate EV, but it's also leaving out a whole part of the picture!

There's also no evidence to support "you'll get overall worse cards" except for the progress towards wildcards, which are part of the prizes, which are totally disregarded. There's no valuation of the EV of winning or of drafting bulk rares - which works towards your wildcard count because it gets you gems, which can be used to buy packs or entry fees - and that's not to mention being passed a good constructed-playable rare, which increases the average number of rares you have access to when drafting vs cracking packs.

There's also no mention of the value of building up a well-rounded collection vs. focusing all resources on one deck at the expense of the rest of your cards. Again, there's no right answer to that, but some players prefer having more cards over one or two specific decks.

It's literally up to how you want to spend your time. You're the one coming in and claiming that there's only one good option. :P

hwhat are you guys talking about? There's a Premier Draft and a Quick Draft right now for M21. It's 5000 for the Quick Draft and 10000 for the Premier Draft (because prizes scale accordingly). They are most often the most current set but also rotate around standard sets (I frickin' hate when Eldraine comes back around).

Whatever; it is up to preference. It's at least indisputable that if you're good at draft, it's better to draft than buy packs. C'est la vie. ;)

DragonSliver9001 - You can draft with gold (and you can also get gems without paying money). Unless you go like 0-3 drop, drafting gets you more cards than just buying boosters. You get to keep the cards you draft, plus you get any rewards from wins.

It's not that easy to go truly infinite, where you make your gold/gems back and get "free" cards, but either way it's almost always a better deal to pay 5000 for three packs worth of draft cards + rewards than paying 1000/pack.

I don't think you have nearly enough token targets for all of your Polymorph spells. It's a bit hard to count but I think you have about 9, and most of those are lands (which you might need)?

There's a lot of efficient token generation effects in your colors:
Dragon Fodder / Krenko's Command
Saproling Migration
Arachnogenesis
Lazotep Plating is also a fantastic card that happens to create a token.

Sandwurm Convergence is a great enchantment hit that would also allow you to keep the Polymorph train running.

I don't think you have nearly enough cycling to take advantage of Unpredictable Cyclone or Hollow One (which is also a sad hit off of Polymorph) so I would cut them.

Also, Polymorphing into a cascade creature does not get you the cascade trigger. I know they might be in there as pseudo-Polymorph effects, but there are so many legit Polymorph effects that I don't think the ones you have are worth it. Maelstrom Wanderer is a possible exception because it has a decent ability if you hit it with Polymorph.

Titanoth Rex and Yidaro, Wandering Monster are super underwhelming.

Here are some other creatures to consider that are better Polymorph hits, because they have ETB effects:
Apex Altisaur
Terastodon
Nezahal, Primal Tide

Transmogrify is a polymorph spell you've missed, and it also works as a pseudo-removal spell. Reality Scramble is great, too, because you can polymorph any permanent.

Finally, you might want a few other Mutate creatures because they can retrigger Illuna. I'd only consider big creatures that you don't mind hitting on Polymorph, so:
Sawtusk Demolisher
Auspicious Starrix

Here's the code list that I used when I first started: https://cardgamebase.com/mtg-arena-codes/

Echoing the advice to keep drafting. IMO Quick draft gets really stale because the bots constantly enable the same strategies, but it's also pretty easy to consistently "cash out." If you're drafting M21, it's all GW counters and BW lifegain, but you can also run with Esper fliers. You can also easily raredraft in Quick Draft without wrecking your draft deck.

Build some shitty decks geared towards doing dailies. Try to get the two daily wins for 350 gold. Wait for ZEN to drop before you build any decks with rare or mythic wildcards, because shit's scarce and you want to make sure you get a deck you can run with for awhile.

TBH I get super bored with Arena because it feels unviable to try out new decks, which is what I like to do, but it's decently fun to draft and play events. Usually I end up as Mythic in draft and Bronze in constructed :P

I've got a Nethroi build here that I've been playing and I love it: Nethroi of the Squirrels and Golems

It does a similar thing by reanimating 0 and 1 power creatures that make a bunch of tokens on ETB if you're looking for suggestions. I don't have as many sac outlets, but Izoni, Thousand-Eyed and creatures with Devour, especially Skullmulcher and Mycoloth, are good includes.

smackjack - Legacy elves :))) (and also cEDH)

I don't think Llanowar Visionary is good enough to make the cut. You could try out Chevill, Bane of Monsters. I think you'll also want some number of Extinction Events for the aggressive decks that usually pop up around the start of a meta.

Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager is also a pretty good card for grindy decks like this one, especially when few decks are playing exile (aside from Extinction Event). That might slot right in for Visionary.

Hagra Mauling  ^Flip might be better than Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip as a black spell-land.

I'm not convinced you'll want 4 Nissa of Shadowed Boughs. Unlike mono-G Nissa, she's not a deck-defining play, just a value drop. I'd think 2-3 copies makes more sense.

Man, I love Legion Angel. I can't wait to play with it.

Wonder if you want Destiny Spinner over Gaea's Herald? It's got a bigger booty and you might occasionally use the activated ability. Also, some of the spell-lands in the new set might fit the deck well: Turntimber Symbiosis  ^Flip and Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip especially!

Great looking deck!

Black is going to be your best color for drawing cards. I'd replace Harmonize with Painful Truths, and you might also want to find room for some of these:
Night's Whisper
Recycle (great for dumping cards in your GY too)
Lifecrafter's Bestiary
Phyrexian Arena

There are higher-power options like Sylvan Library and Necropotence available to you, but I think the above options are good for a budget/casual build.

Since it doesn't have flash or haste, I get the sense Nighthawk Scavenger isn't going to be that impressive. Maybe some number of Slitherwisp for more card advantage and flexibility and Cunning Nightbonder for cheaper spells (and it's also a rogue)?

Elvish Guidance is a fun one with Arbor Elf. I also really like Bloodline Shaman and Descendants' Path for card draw in green! Gilt-Leaf Archdruid is also extremely fun for turning your mana dorks into late-game cantrips, and stealing people's lands. :)

Elfball was the first EDH deck I ever built, and I still have my list here: How Aluring~~ (Competitive Aggro/Combo Elves) It's a little out of date, but it has some fun ideas and unique cards.

Hexcimal Great call! I saw Lotus Cobra in other decks but totally missed that interaction with the Ranger combo. That's a very efficient way to get infinite mana without needing haste on an additional creature. Thanks!

Looking forward to how your list comes together :)

Other than Dark Depths token and Big Furry Monster? Nope. This is the biggest black bordered card. Yay for crab overlords

I think if your opponent has sided in Stony Silence against cantrips, you're already quite ahead. As you say, you can play through it; that's a pretty poor sideboard card. I can't think of which modern deck should be doing this, but if their goal is to side in Stony Silence to slow you down, side out all but the Mind Stones for other proactive cards.

That looks like a problem with your SB to me; it looks like you don't have a lot of good options for when you need more gas. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is a good option. I like the look of the new Valakut Exploration or possibly Valakut Awakening  ^Flip.