Welcome back to the Modern Perspective! This week, we are going to run some trials with one of the oldest Green tribes in the game; the nature loving Elves! The Elf Tribe has been putting up some really solid results of late in Legacy. While one of the key cards in the deck, Glimpse of Nature, is banned in Modern, several pieces of the Mana production engine ARE legal. Wondering if "Producing Large Amounts of Mana" is enough to make the deck hum, I drafted up a list and set to work testing it.

Part I. Elves!

Part II. The Test Matches

Part III. The Modern Land Prices

Part I. Elves!

I wanted to take advantage of Deathrite Shaman so I purposely did not include Blue for Beck/Call. Was that a mistake? I'd just have to find out.



What does it do?

Using Heritage Druid and Nettle Sentinel, you can quickly generate a great deal of mana. Since Nettle will then untap when you cast a spell, you can sometimes play out your entire hand in one fell swoop. After that, all you need is a Genesis Wave or Craterhoof to seal the deal. Sometimes mana alone won't solve your problems, in that case, cast Ezuri or Elvish Archdruid and go on the offensive!

The Sideboard Plan

I want to say right up front that I didn't get my playset of Thoughtseize until after I'd started testing. In order to keep it consistent, I left the Sideboard as is, but I'm sure that making room for a 4x of 'seize is worth. What did I decide to do with the SB in the mean time? A smattering of graveyard hate, a little life gain, the ability to regen through sweepers and A LOT of Artifact hate. Perhaps a little too much artifact hate? Also, the inclusion of my sideboard gem, Choke, that really helps against Merfolk and the Time Walk deck. (It's not horrible against MonoU Tron or Splinter Twin depending on which lands are on the table.)

Cards of Note in the Main Deck

Heritage Druid - A deceptively powerful card. When combined with Nettle Sentinel, you can flood elves onto the board. While over-committing can be a scary prospect, against some decks there is no choice but to go for it. The reward for taking the chance is often a game win the next turn. Don't forget that the Druid's ability does not have a 'Tap' symbol so any elf can be used to activate it, even elves that were just cast.

Wood Elves - Probably one of the more unusual choices for the deck. Since the deck will often hit three mana on T2, being able to fix mana, ramp and deck thin seemed like a great way to spend that turn. While the 1/1 stats aren't great, on a turn where most other decks are still setting up, the combination of abilities this brings to the table do what you need them to do. The deck thinning is actually useful as every statistical little edge you can get for explosive Genesis Waves is useful. Also, it can find Overgrown Tomb as it counts as land type - Forest.

Fauna Shaman - The Shaman is often too slow in the Modern format. In this deck though, if you power out enough mana on T2, the Shaman can help you find a Craterhoof to end the game. It can also help search out any of the other silver bullet cards, such as Viridian Shaman, Viridian Zealot or Ezuri.

Garruk Wildspeaker - When I was originally planning the deck, this was going to be Xenagos. I already owned the Garruks, so they became a "place holder". I stumbled upon what several other players had already figured out; Garruk plus Nykthos can get really crazy really fast. In addition, Garruk's ultimate is also handy when you have 3-5 tiny elves on the board and really need to swing in to finish them off with damage.

Chord of Calling - This should probably be a third Genesis Wave, but I wanted to see if this was as awesome with Nettle Sentinel as I thought it would be? Sometimes it did work out; I could go find the few 'silver bullet' elves, or after SB find the Scavenging Ooze.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - I only owned one, so I tossed it in. I was worried that more than one would throw off my T1 Green source. I will say that Nykthos is just ridiculous. This deck could easily go up to two copies and safely still hit T1 G. Don't forget that you can "funnel" colors through Nykthos as well. One time I had two Deathrites but only one Overgrown Tomb. I used Nykthos to produce two black mana so I could use the "burn" ability for both Shamans. To read more about my current opinion of Nykthos, check out the Modern Land Prices Section where it has earned a spot starting this week.

Part II. The Test Matches

I played more test matches with this deck than I usually get to. Instead of just listing out every match, I will talk about some of the archetypes I ran into and what my results were.

Grixis Control

Match Record: 1-0

Game 1 I did 50+ damage on T4 while my opponent was drawing cards to find lands.

Game 2 Deathrite Shaman and some Wood Elves get me to enough mana to cast a Hoof and do 40+ damage.

GWB Junk

Match Record: 1-0

Games 1 and 2 - Without board wipes, Junk was totally unprepared for this deck. They would tap out T3 to cast Lingering Souls and I would Genesis Wave for 6. It wasn't close either game. Nykthos was an all-star both times.

URW Control

Match Record: 0-2

This deck can't stomp everybody. UWR has so many removal spells that can destroy my team, it's just depressing. Electrolyze is a house against this deck; it is almost always a 2 for 1 with a card. Both matches went to Game 3, which I think is important. Elves doesn't straight auto-loose, especially if you can get a good combination of early pressure and a Choke that locks down two or more lands. You have to go carefully on the aggro plan and only go for a big mana combo if the situation presents itself. Still, this is not the match up you WANT to see across from you, that's for sure.

Mono-White Control

Match Record: 1-0

This one was unexpected. I kept applying as much pressure as possible without over extending. Eventually my board was hit with Day of Judgment twice and I had very little gas. I kept on regardless as my opponent only had 1 card left and was several lands away from activating Emeria. Eventually I rebuilt my board and the turn after my opponent cast a Sun Titan I dropped a Genesis Wave for 7 and suddenly had an army protecting me. Garruk also came along, so I bumped up his loyalty, held the ground and next turn used the ultimate to trample in for a lot of damage.



My opponent conceded the match after that. It was quite the upset.



Merfolk

Match Record: 2-0

I actually love that Merfolk is on the rise. Merfolk does not run a sweeper and has very little removal as well. Sure, the UB version has discard as a back up, but I would often just drop my whole hand on the table on T2 or T3 and discard is worthless against an empty hand. When possible, save Nykthos in hand until you can get as much mana as possible out of it in one shot to avoid Spreading Seas; Hoof or Wave duty only.

Master of Waves can be scary; the Elf deck also has very little removal, so the full amount of Devotion will be on the board for them to make a bounty of Elemental tokens. Craterhoof can trump a sudden supply of chump blockers, but you'll need the end game quickly or else. Another card that can mess up your day is Tidebinder Mage. Once after a very good Genesis Wave I had about 11 Elves out, one of which was Fauna Shaman. Thinking that I would easily search for Hoof next turn for insane damage, I was easily thwarted by the 2 mana Merfolk. When boarding, don't be afraid to bring in the extra Viridian Shaman and aim for early Vials; it can push them back a lot.

UR Storm

Match Record: 1-0

Game 1 my opponent was stuck on 2 land, which would be okay if I weren't charging Elves in as quickly as possible.

Game 2 my opponent plays some bolts and a Pyroclasm, but then I slam Choke down. They have one turn before I kill them, so they try to go off, but fizzle.

Mono Black Discard

Match Record: 1-0

Game 1 I drop my hand as quickly as possible and just race the damage coming from The Rack.

Game 2 I try to do the same, but a Black Sun's Zenith leaves me with 2 Forests in play to my opponents 10 life and 1 card in hand. Again, I resist the urge to auto concede. Don't concede if the opponent isn't actually doing anything. I top deck an Obstinate Baloth that gets discarded into play a turn later. Eventually that one Baloth eats a Black Sun all by itself and then I plop a 2/2 Elf out that tries to go the distance. Eventually I cast another Baloth who also gets removed. with just the 2/2 on the board, I top deck Ezuri, who lives until the next turns untap and then the pump wins the game for me.

Afterthoughts

I really liked this version of the deck. It isn't optimal yet, but it can certainly come out of the gates with speed AND power. It might be possible to shave one more land and squeeze in another silver bullet. Three Wood Elves might be too many, so that tweak could happen as well. Find two more spots and it's entirely possible that the deck could support being G/u/b just for Beck/Call. This would open up even more sideboard options and might allow for some extremely explosive turns.

Part III. The Modern Land Prices

All prices are from MTGOtrader.com. The version linked was the cheapest when the land was added, but be sure to check for the best available price!

The Zendikar Fetch Lands

The Fetch Lands are the lynchpin of most mana bases in Modern. Being able to fix your colors by finding a Ravnica Shock Land is critical to the various top tier multi-color decks. The Fetchlands also have great synergy with the best one drop creature in the format, Deathrite Shaman. The price of Fetchlands is often considered the defining cost barrier of Modern, however, on MTGO, they are usually cheaper than many high demand Mythics.

Tarn and Catacombs jump back up in price. Rainforest dropped a teensy bit, but nothing too surprising. The White fetches are climbing slowly, so still not a bad time to pick them up.

The Ravnica Shock Lands

The Shock Lands, with their dual basic land types, are very important pillars of the Modern format. The nickname is derived from the 2 life paid to put the land into play untapped compared to the 2 damage from the card Shock. After being reprinted in the Return to Ravnica block, the prices dropped dramatically and it is now much easier for players to acquire these lands with a modest budget.

Another weekend of Devotion decks doing well, another week where the prices are low. Foundry is still hanging in there. I would expect the Esper lands to be a little higher though?

The Scars of Mirrodin Fast Lands

The Fast Lands are a great way to ensure two colors of mana in the first few turns of the game. Only available in allied color pairings, they see the most use for colors that have strong aggressive themes that are not affected by the drawback. The Fast Lands have a relatively low price threshold and are an inexpensive way to add mana consistency to a deck.

The usual bobbing and rising on Fast lands. Most of them are still budget friendly for those that need to improve their mana base.

The Worldwake Man-Lands

The ability to produce two colors and provide a creature with an ability makes these lands rather attractive. More useful in mid-range and control oriented decks that don't mind the drawback as much. Currently only one of these lands appears as a '4-of' in a deck; so while they have a moderate price threshold, keep in mind that you usually only need about 1-2 copies of each per a deck.

Tar Pit finally decreased a little. Other than that, not much to report.

The Core Set/Innistrad Check Lands

While they do not provide mana on the first turn of the game, the Check Lands still have enough potential to see use in Modern. When combined with the Ravnica Shock Lands, the Checks are an inexpensive way to create reliable 2 color mana bases. Now that the Check Lands have rotated out of Standard, their prices are extremely low. Newer players to Modern, as well as those with very tight budgets, may want to start with these extremely cheap lands.

Sulfur Falls goes right back up again. I'm not surprised in the least.

The Utility and Deck Specific Lands

This section covers Utility Lands, off cycle mana fixers and Deck specific lands that you might need if you want to build a Modern deck. Whether it's the Urza Tron Cycle, Affinity or you just want to know how much the most used lands that blow up other lands cost, this should give you some idea of what you are working with.

Some slight increases in several lands in the last few days. Will Grove go back down, or start soaring again?

Let's talk about the new additions to this table:

Mutavault - With the recent surge in Merfolk decks, tribal synergies are back in the Modern spotlight. While Vault's value is at a high point from Standard, if Tribal is what you want to experiment with, then the current price has to be included in your budget.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - I have no problem admitting I was wrong. In my "set review" of Theros, I wasn't very enthusiastic about Nykthos' chances in Modern. Seems like, thankfully, I was mistaken. After making an immediate impact in Standard, the Shrine is starting to show some promise in Modern as well. Predominately appearing in Mono-G and Mono-B builds, all of the colors gain more "heavy color castings cost" cards thanks to Shadowmoor Block. I am excited that this land is adding something new to the format. I can't wait to see what other brewers come up with.

Eye of Ugin - A 1x mainstay in Tron builds, whether Mono-U or R/G, the Eye lets you tutor for powerhouses such as Wurmcoil Engine and Emrakul. All Tron lists are better with one of these in the mix.

Conclusion

Here we are at the end of the article! Playing around with the Elf tribe was a great deal of fun. Sure, there were games where I got blown out by Electrolyze or Pyroclasm, but there were also games where I was swinging for 40 or more damage on Turn 3! If anything, I can see the potential in the Mono-Green Wave decks that use Enchantments so that they are less vulnerable to creature removal. Keep an eye out for them in the future.

Next week we'll see if adding Young Pyromancer to a pre-existing deck idea gives it some new sizzle.





Until next time,

- Gio

The Modern Perspective Archive