Elves

Do you enjoy playing lots of creatures, ramping mana and pointy ears? Then have I got a deck for you! Elves have always been synonymous with fantasy, so it should come as no surprise that they’ve always been a part of Magic. What IS surprising however, is that they originally did not get a Lord like Goblins, Merfolk or Zombies did. They’ve gotten them since however, along with lots of other awesome cards that have made them into the powerhouse tribal deck they are today.

Why play Elves? Well for starters, the deck has a lot of fun synergies. For example, the amount of mana you can generate on turns 2-4 can be pretty ridiculous(ly awesome). The most obvious creature for this is Priest of Titania, which pairs well with Quirion Ranger and Wirewood Symbiote to untap and produce more and more mana. Birchlore Rangers are also good at generating a lot of mana by allowing creatures you just cast to be tapped as well. An example of this would be to cast Birchlore Ranger, a bunch of 1-drop Elves, tap those for more 1-drop elves, then tap Priest of Titania for even more mana to cast more 1-drop elves and continue the cycle. Did you follow me there? The deck isn’t as simple as you might think.

Another strength of this deck is its ability to generate a lot of card advantage. The two ways of doing this are via Multani’s Acolyte and Sylvan Messenger, both of which allow you to draw more cards to add to your arsenal. Combine this with the aforementioned mana ramp, and you can constantly draw and cast more recruits for your forest army. Yes, you read that correctly – you can do this constantly. Remember when I mentioned Wirewood Symbiote untapping your mana creatures? These two are the ones you want to be bouncing back to your hand. That means you can re-cast them again and again to draw more cards. Playing this deck often means having 4-5+ creatures on the board and 7 cards in your hand at the end of turn 2.

Options. I put the Weird Harvest there as a pseudo 5^th copy of Sylvan Messenger or Multani’s Acolyte, but unless you cast it for one of these two creatures it’s just card disadvantage. Living Wish was added as a toolbox/game 1 answer against artifacts/enchantments et cetera but I admit I haven’t put much thought into the sideboard as the card is just a 1-of. Both of these sorceries are big maybes and the deck definitely has other options.

One of the great things about Elves is its resiliency. Yes, board sweepers exist, but this deck is so fast at generating mana and drawing more cards that it can recover from Wrath-effects. Elves' have been around since the beginning of the game, and their popularity has ensured a lot of new printings; this means there are a LOT of Elf cards you can use to customize the deck the way you want. Happy brewing!

 

Elves

Land:

5 Forest

2 Bayou

4 Windswepth Heath

4 Gaea’s Cradle

2 Wirewood Lodge

Total: 17

Creatures:

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Fyndhorn Elves

4 Priest of Titania

4 Quirion Ranger

4 Wirewood Symbiote

4 Birchlore Ranger

4 Multani’s Acolyte

4 Elvish Champion

4 Sylvan Messenger
2 Wirewood Hivemaster

1 Elves of Deep Shadow

Total: 39

Spells:

2 Overrun

1 Living Wish

1 Weird Harvest

Total: 4

Sideboard:

4 Tormod’s Crypt

1 Wellwisher

2 Naturalize

2 Caller of the Claw

4 Duress

1 Elvish Scrapper

1 Elvish Lyrist