Subject: GA States Report: Big honkin' elves Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 13:06:37 -0500 (EST) From: Rod Rombauer To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com I had been messing around with an all elf/Coat of arms fun deck for a bit, nothing real serious, unti I hear som eof the guys at Neutral Ground mentioning the Elf/Fire deck, I got some tips and revised it quickly, threw in 4 Overruns, and instead of going with fire, I go mono-green and use Hurricanes and only get to play-test it twice against an Acadamy deck and eat Academy for lunch real quick. Flushed with my new-found success, I work the deck a bit more and decide to play it the next day in States. Its a very simple deck to build, and highly effective. The deck ----------------- 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Priest of Titania 4 Skyshroud Elves 4 Seeker of Skybreak 4 Elvish Archer 4 Skyshroud Elite 4 Elvish Lyrist 4 Coat of Arms 4 Overrun 4 Hurricane 4 Urzas Bauble 4 Gaeas Cradle 12 Forest Sideboard ------------------ 4 Fecundity (against red burn/black speed) 4 Clodchaser Eagle (Ill explain in a sec) 4 Titanias Song(!!!) (Super Stupid Tech!) 3 Eleadamri, Lord of Leaves Like I said, very simple deck to make. I also heard fromthe guys at N.G. that the real Acadmy deck to beat actually didnt use Academy. It used Show and tell to get MoMa out, and run the strokes off of a Mana Vault, so I decided the Cloudchasers would be sweet to show and tell, as well as the Titanias song against regular Academy (which hoses all of oppnents Moxen, baubles, Claws etc, and makes his Vaults and Scroll Racks look really stoopid.) My strategy is very simple. Elf, Elf, Elf, POW! In playtesting, a 20+ pt attack was pretty common turn 3 or 4. Heres how it went in real life. Round 1: Ralph Dennis, Marietta, GA Ralph was playing a very similar deck, but went the Elf/Burn route with some surprises. Game 1: My deck did what its supposed to do, got out a CoA early, wehen he only had like 1 elf out, got him down to 2 real fast and then hurricaned for 3. Game 2: It went great for a while, then the nearly impossible happened! Elves poured out quickly, and I got him down to 1, the he hit the brakes, got out some elves of his own, and then his secrets startes showing up while I was searching for a win card. Citanul Flute, Powered by his Priest of Titania. Mirri. Blanchwood Armor! My life goes 20, 18, 16, 14, 7,0. 6 turns to find an overrun or hurricane and I came up with nothing. *sigh* Game 3: WE both dum elves very quickly, so its an early stall, until his Titanis Chosen shows up and gets big fast. Real fast. I manage to get him to 9 before I have to start chump-blocking his Chosen, over and over and over. Whenall my elves are gone, he whaps me for 22 in one turn. 0-1 1-2 Round 2: Alexander Hudgens, Woodstock GA Standard Academy Game 1: I look awful silly with a forest and an Elf on the table as he goes off on turn 2, stroking me for 80. In go my Super Stupid Tech Titanis Songs Turn 1, Elvish Lyrist! In a few turns I have him down to 14, and he then attempts to go off. He casts MoMa, as soon as he activates it, I Elf it. He then keeps going, Spiral, Spiral, Spiral, Meditate, Meditate..... um.... um... nothing! He ends his turn. I had no idea what happened. He should have eaten my luch by now, he must not have drawn a stroke. I proced to have an Elf party. Game 3: His TDS were on. I get a Lyrist turn 1, get him down to 14. He draws a capsize, and goes off. 0-2 2-4 I think about dropping, but decided Im there to trade and have fun. Round 3: Sam Guthrie, Woodstock, GA White weenie, life gain. He gets some shadow early, but I get some nice elves out fast. He pops a Spirit link on his Soltari Priest, which is highlky annoying, especially when he has a soul warden and I keep drawing elves instead of CoA or Overrun Heres my track of his life total. 19, 21,17,21,13,15,16,8,9,10,12,7,8,9,10,11. Up and down like a Yoyo, but Im gaining round, tho my life total is looking kinda worrisome at 7. I draw the Overrun, Game. Game 2: Heres how my side of teh game went, as his side was pretty inconsequential. T1: Forest, Llanowar T2: Cradle, Elf, Priest. T3: Elf, Elf, CoA, attack for 10. He draws a disenchant, hits the CoA. T4: Overrun 1-2 4-4 Round 4: Eric Deluca, Marietta GA Black weenie with Knights and Cathodion(?) Game 1: He shadow beats me for a while,as I build up elvs. Im at 9, I hit him once for 9. Next turn I drop CoA, Overrun, hit him for 40(?) (my life totals for him say 20, 11, -29) Game 2. We trade blows for a while, He takes me to 12, I take him to 15, then I Overrun twice in a row. 2-2 6-4 Round 5: Ron Hrt (a.k.a Santa Claus(he looks like him!)), Cumming GA Sophisticated Elf/Burn Elf vs Elf can be ANNOYING! Game 1: We both get fast elves out, but he drops a treetop ranger and hits me once with it. I am not looking well. I draw, CoA and hatch a plan and do some bad math. I hadnt seen much of his deck and was worried about a Giant growth or Gaeas Embrace, so I rip off a hurricane for 1 too little, I go to 9, him to 11. I was thinking if I hurricaned for any more, hed whip some badness on his Ranger and eat me next turn, but he didnt, and just got me for 4. I had 3 elves, he had 2. 5 in play. He has a priest untapped. I draw something inconsequential. I can drop the CoA and attack, but only for 10. If I had hurried fopr 1 more last turn I would have won. I resign instead. Game 1. We both drop mad elves, beat on each other for a while, until he comes up with a CHILD OF GAEA! Ouch! Ouch! Game. 2-3 6-6 We both decide to drop and play in a sealed. I had fun and went even with a made in a few minutes elf deck. :> After looking at some of the other green decks that did well, I decided to go a little different route: sticking with the Elven theme, but adding LD and FAT. 4 Llanowar Elves (1 4th ed, 1 German WB, 1 Japanese BB, 1 Italian BB) 4 Priest of Titania 4 Elvish Lyrist 3 Skyshroud Elf 4 Elvish Archers 3 Wood Elves (for deck thinning) 4 Argothian Wurm 4 Winters Grasp 4 Overrun 3 Hurricane 3 Coat of Arms 4 Wasteland 4 Gaeas Cradle 12 Forest Sideboard 4 Titanis Song 4 Fecundity 3 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves. 4 open slots for future ideas. :> Ill give it a shot next tourney. :> In closing I must relay this story told about one Acadmy player that must have the SuperGenius play of the year! The details are sketchy, but heres the general idea (and Iapologize to the guy wo told this story, as I dont know your name) Academy player goes off. Strokes himself for bunches, Momas a bunch to get tons of mana in his pool and Spirals. He draws NO card drawers. None. Ok, fine, so he Moms a card to untap his Scroll Rack, draws 6 new card. NO CARD DRAWERS! AHH! Then the genius idea hit. He moms another card, to untao his scroll rack again, draws 5, plays his Jesters Cap, and (this is the good part) CAPS HIMSELF! He then shuffles, Moms the Rack again and draws a Spiral and proceeds to finish his opponent off. Sir, if you are out there reading this, you get the Big Brain Medal of Excellence! :>