Most draft formats tend to include a few cards that, when drafted together, become extremely powerful. These cards are usually weaker by themselves, and only work well when you successfully draft as many of them as possible, but they are also have the highest potential thanks to their synergy.

In Magic Origins we have many examples of “all-in” archetypes: Aura value with Blightcaster, graveyard interactions and self-mill, and Artifacts with Reclusive Artificer, just to name a few. We also have a Tribal mechanic, Elves, which can be drafted as a synergy based strategy, but also as a regular value deck.

What makes Elves peculiar in this format is that most Elves are very good cards by themselves, and even the ones that rely on having a high amount of elves have decent stats. This means you don’t need to commit or force in order to draft a good elf deck, but it also makes it hard to get the perfect “full-elf” draft, because most elves are highly contested picks.

Draft priority:

This are cards that you always want to draft, even when you’re not going for an Elf deck. They are just very solid cards that will often be picked early or mid pack, which means they will be highly contested, even by non-Elf pickers. This is what defines the Elf strategy: you can just pick great cards that open the possibility of going Tribal without having to commit heavily. There’s no penalty for picking as many of these cards, because even if you don’t manage to draft enough Elves to make the synergy relevant, you’ll have a decent GB deck. Dwyven’s Elite is the card that embodies this situation the best: it’s a bear, which is already good enough for Limited, and it simply gets more powerful the more elves you have.

Next up, we have cards that can still fit in a regular midrange deck, although they aren’t amazing and are usually outclassed by their non-Tribal counterparts. In an Elf deck, however, they are much better, so the draft priority is a bit higher than it would be if they were just mediocre filler cards.

The reason I’ve included Shaman of the Pack as a lower priority card is because it’s two colors, which makes it a bit harder to draft early on. However, a 3/2 for 3 is definitely playable, and the upside you get from having other elves is great for an aggressive deck. Yeva’s Forcemage and Elvish Visionary aren’t very exciting for non-elf cards, and they are usually what you want to be looking for if you’re thinking about going all-in: if you don’t see them wheeling, chances are someone else is valuing them higher because of their creature type. Getting passed a lot of those is always a good sign.

Finally, we have the cards you only want in an Elf deck. Draft-wise, all three work in a similar way: the only deck that wants them is Elves, and they tend to be late picks for any other deck. Not seeing them wheel should be a clear sign that someone else is forcing Elves, and you should draft accordingly, by disrupting them when possible while drafting an ordinary value deck.

It should also be noted that Thornbow Archer is different from Sylvan Messenger and Gnarlroot Trapper. The former is a card that you only play in order to have a high amount of elves in your deck, while the latter two can be great in an Elf deck. Sylvan Messenger is a card I only like to play when I have at least 10 Elves in my deck, so that it’s likely to give me at least one card. The Trapper has two very powerful abilities, and it will put a lot of pressure on your opponent.

Last but not least, we have Eyeblight Massacre, one of the core cards of any Elf deck. Much like the high-value Elves, Massacre is a powerful card that can fit any black deck that wants to get some control against early aggression (especially in a format where bears are so common). It’s also the card that makes the Elf synergy worth it, as it allows you to wipe your opponent’s board while leaving yours almost intact. Having one or two copies of this card should be a top priority for any Elf deck.

Playstyle:

When building your deck, you need to judge if you have enough Elves to justify including weak tribal cards, or if you should just go for a regular GB deck.

Your playstyle will vary depending on how far you’ve been able to take the Elf strategy during the draft. If you didn’t get many Elves but still have some synergy cards, you should aim to play as a midrange GB deck and go for card advantage and efficiency.

If you’ve managed to get a lot of Elves, to the point where you’re playing cards like Gnarlroot Trapper, you can go for a much more aggressive playstyle. You will probably have a lot of early drops, and thanks to cards like Llanowar Empath and Sylvan Messenger, you won’t have to worry about running out of gas. If the board state becomes stale and your opponent gets enough blockers to stop you, Eyeblight Massacre will clear the path. Shaman of the Pack has the potential to do a lot of damage the turn it comes in, but you should also consider playing it on curve if you don’t have any better options.

Decklists:

Finally, I’ve decided to share two drafted decks that are good examples of different ways of drafting Elves:

The first deck is an aggressive GB deck with enough elves to be considered an Elf deck, although it doesn’t have an Eyeblight Massacre. It’s mostly focused on board control and early aggression, and it has a few bombs that make it an above average deck.

The second example takes the Elf strategy one step further, with more Elf cards and two copies Eyeblight Massacre. I also was lucky enough to draft Dwynen, which might be the best rare for this kind of deck.

I think that’s it for today. Have fun drafting!

Cheers,

Beu