Mythic-Level Elves: A Standard Deck Tech
This Elf Deck Can Break Through Strong Defenses
I said in my recent Foundations article that elves were really strong—and I proved my statement. I got Mythic with a standard white-green elves list. And, since it is the holidays, I figured it only made sense to pass on the gift of a strong deck. Unlike my last deck tech for timeless, this one is a lot more straightforward. You play the tempo game of getting value from various elf-based interactions, and then usually finish with a few big moves. But, just because it’s obvious, doesn’t mean that it’s not a ton of fun to hit someone for over a hundred damage in standard. And yes, this deck can do that. Let me show you how.
Starting Moves
This deck sometimes needs to mulligan to make sure it has a turn-two play, but most of the time you can do one of a few different opening moves. The best is obviously a turn-one Llanowar Elves into a three-drop, but don’t worry too much if that’s not an option. Setting up some card draw with Leaf-Crowned Visionary is fine enough and there’s a lot of power in flashing in a Wildborn Preserver on an opponent’s end step and then hitting for three damage on the following turn. The most important thing, though, is to make sure that you’re not putting all your resources into one basket. Day of Judgment is also in Foundations, and it will ruin your day.
Interaction
There are a lot of very annoying cards that your opponent will put in front of you (especially Authority of the Consuls), and these two cards help clear the way. But what I especially love about them is the little interactions that make them better than expected. There are basically three that aren’t always obvious but can really help win games.
The first is that you should always try to put Sheltered by Ghosts onto a Wildborn Preserver if you can. The lifelink can matter a lot and having a creature that can grow to massive amounts will prevent stuff like RDW from just taking the game from you.
The second is that you can target your own cards with Werefox Bodyguard. Now, you may be confused as to why someone would want to do this—and it is niche—but Werefox Bodyguard can protect key pieces from board wipes (or other removal, but this is less common). You flash it in, pick your own card, and then when Werefox dies, your creature is still on the board.
And the third is how these two cards work with Genesis Wave. I’ll talk about that card more in its own section, but, basically, as long as you have an existing creature on the board when you fire it off, you can put Sheltered by Ghosts onto it. And, of course, you can also get a Werefox the same way. This can sometimes mean you get a lot of removal at the same time you get team buffs. This does take a lot of mana—but that’s what the next section is about.
Fast Mana
Three Tree City is an incredible card with elves. You can actually activate more than one on the same turn if you’re creative about it. And pairing this with Elvish Archdruid makes getting 10-15 mana relatively easy. It can sometimes take some math to work it out, but you can also use up mana to play creatures (especially Dwynen’s Elite) and still get the same amount of mana from the abilities.
Mana Explosion
And then, once we have that mana, we do two big things with it. The first I’ve already talked about. Genesis Wave pulls a huge number of cards out of your deck and can set you up to win the game on the next turn—if not that very same turn. It also grabs lands, making it possible to do that two turns in a row. But the real fun is Tyvar. If you keep in mind who you have untapped, you can keep Tyvar alive long enough for the second ability. And that ability is based on the highest power, so if you happen to have grown a Wildborn Preserver to a 10/10 or more, well, you can see where this is going. Even the most gnarly board stalls are breakable if you have at least one more creature than your opponent. It’s a blast activating this two or three times in the same turn off all the mana you have.
Shenanigans
In addition to the linear stuff I’ve talked about, I added a few more finicky cards that help shore up some of this deck’s weaknesses. The biggest issues this deck runs into are hard control and hand attack. The first one is a big reason for adding Kayala’s Reconstructions. It’s basically meant to be another Genesis Wave for when you have a ton of lands out, but no creatures left. It’s not as good—it can’t get Sheltered by Ghosts—but it’s still a useful card. And then there’s Wilt-Leaf. It is immensely funny for an opponent to hand attack you on turn one or two when you have this card. Even if they remove it before you get in one attack, it’s just so much card advantage that it’s difficult to lose.
And that’s the deck. I hope—if you try it out—that you get some fun wins for the holidays. There are few things in Magic more fun than almost running out of cards in your deck because you put so many of them onto the board.
Deck
2 Plains (FDN) 273
3 Elvish Archdruid (FDN) 219
4 Wildborn Preserver (ELD) 182
3 Secluded Courtyard (NEO) 275
3 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege (FDN) 668
3 Werefox Bodyguard (WOE) 39
4 Genesis Wave (FDN) 221
2 Lush Portico (MKM) 263
7 Forest (ZNR) 280
2 Tyvar, the Pummeler (DSK) 202
4 Sheltered by Ghosts (DSK) 30
1 Etched Cornfield (DSK) 258
4 Razorverge Thicket (ONE) 257
4 Leaf-Crowned Visionary (DMU) 167
3 Dwynen’s Elite (FDN) 218
2 Three Tree City (BLB) 260
4 Llanowar Elves (FDN) 227
2 Kayla’s Reconstruction (BRO) 10
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