Piloting Elves To The Nationals

Okay, so I took elves to regionals. But first, why elves? After the SCG 5k and 2k events, the general consensus was faeries were on the top of the food chain. So the logical thing to do would have been to run with the best deck in the format. If not, go anti-meta and beat the hell out of the best deck. So why exactly did I play elves? Is it because I didn’t have the cards to play faeries or maybe I just don’t like playing control? The answer to both of those questions is no. I do have the cards to play the fae, well, at least my card pool can lend it to me and I’m a control player by nature. The reason I decided to go with elves is…

I. The Preparation

Flash back to one week before regionals. I was planning to go anti-fae and play the big red variant, Skred Red.

Skred Red
Format: Standard Legal
by Rei Anthony Coo

Main Deck
Lands (24)
2 Molten Slagheap
4 Mouth of Ronom
4 Scrying Sheets
4 Tresserhorn Sinks
10 Snow-Covered Mountains

Creatures (12)
3 Stuffy Doll
3 Shriekmaw
3 Stalking Yeti
3 Phyrexian Ironfoot

Spells (24)
4 Incinerate
4 Skred
3 Sulfurous Blast
3 Molten Disaster
1 Disintegrate
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Coldsteel Heart
2 Mind Stone

I thought this deck had a good match against the fae with the many ways to burn those little winged annoyances to the ground, also killing some fishes along the way. As Jaya Ballard would say “fight everything with fire”, that would be my philosophy. The bad match up I foresaw was reveillark so I was planning on extirpates and mind shatters for the board.

One fateful afternoon however, when I was play testing in our local shop, a guy offers me his cheap set of thoughtseizes. I pounce on the opportunity, and now I have my own set. What was so special about these thoughtseizes anyway?

A little background on me. I’ve been playing magic since revised. I love force of will, my first real deck was counter-post. I’m an eternal player. I still play standard though I limit myself to only buying blue and black standard cards and cards that are worthy of the eternal formats.

Enter Lorwyn. Lorwyn brings to the eternal formats duress numbers 5-8. The price skyrockets and the MTG community dubs it as “Cashseize”.

As a tactic to minimize my spending, I try to wait for standard cards to rotate out then buy them at a discounted price, so I hold off on buying thoughtseizes when they first enter the market.

Back to reality. I just spent my hard earned salary on 4 pieces of cardboard. I must use them immediately. I look for an appropriate deck, which finally leads me to elves.

G/B Elves, 7th place at a StarCityGames.com $5,000 Standard Open tournament in Richmond, Virginia, United States on 2008-05-11
Format: Standard Legal
by Calosso Fuentes

Main deck
Lands (24)
5 Forest
3 Swamp
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Treetop Village
2 Mutavault
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Pendlehaven

Creatures (22)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Imperious Perfect
2 Civic Wayfinder
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Shriekmaw

Spells (14)
4 Thoughtseize
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Profane Command
2 Garruk Wildspeaker

Sideboard
2 Shriekmaw
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Squall line
3 Primal Command
4 Cloudthresher

I used this as the base of my deck. I play test, edit some cards, play test more and then edit some more.

G/B Elves, 2nd place at Cebu Regionals, Philippines on 2008-05-18
Format: Standard Legal
by Rei Anthony Coo “vintage player wannabe”
Main Deck
Lands (22)
3 Forest
3 Swamp
4 Gilt-leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Treetop Village
2 Mutavault
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Pendlehaven

Creatures (24)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Wolf-Skull Shaman
4 Imperious Perfect
1 Civic Wayfinder
2 Chameleon Colossus
2 Shriekmaw
1 Boreal Druid

Spells (14)
4 Thoughtseize
2 Nameless Inversion
3 Profane Command
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
2 Terror
1 Eyeblights Ending

Sideboard
4 Stupor
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Damnation
2 Primal Command
3 Cloudthresher

My decklist seems a little unfocused, with many 1 of’s and 2 of’s and only 22 lands. Although I’m no Pro, let me try to explain some of the unusual choices.

22 lands - I thought 22 lands and 5 one drop elves plus a wayfinder was just enough to not get mana flooded and still curve out just fine. The first argument to run 24 lands is that you run 6 man lands and eventually if you start attacking with those lands some of them are going to die to removal. I say, just manage your man lands well and not letting them die to removals early. Anyway if you are left with no other choice but to attack with man lands you are on the losing end of the board position anyway. You’re opponent will be developing his board while you will be sinking your mana on your man lands turn after turn with out board development. The second argument was that with so many lands you can Profane Command FTW. Yes Profane Command is that good, but I believe if you have to Profane for 8+ damage for the win, you are playing the deck wrong. A Profane Command with X=10 is 12 mana, what are you doing with that much mana and not winning yet?

3 Wolf-Skull Shaman - I love this card. This was one of my solutions to the faerie problem. This guy is a one man army, able to neutralize bitterblossom tokens by providing enough pressure that the 1/1 faeries must block the 2/2 wolves. And remember vanilla 2/2’s beat vanilla 1/1’s every time. Oh, and turn 1 elf, turn 2 shaman, turn 3 kinship trigger + Garruk + untap + another elf, turn 4 overrun = GG.

3 Tarmogoyf - WTF, only 3? Run 4 or none NOOB. I run 3 because an early goyf usually stays at 0/1 or 1/2 for too long, not giving enough pressure on the opponent. The 3-3 split between the shaman and goyfs compliment each other very nicely. Shamans for the early game and goyfs for the late game.

2 Terror - I made a split of 2-2-1 for terror, nameless inversion and an eyeblights ending for the random big boys that terrors and inversions can’t take out. I took a hint form the faerie world who were running maindecked terrors. The terrors and eyeblights are great at killing eot Cloudthreshsers and upkeeped Mistbind Cliques.

4 Stupors - I saw some mind shatters floating in some of the elf deck’s sideboards, which they say is for the reveillark match up. I simply went with the cheaper costing stupor. Turn 1 elf, turn 2 stupor could ruin such beautiful hands. And I board it in against faeries too, who knew that they were susceptible to discard? Discard the cryptic command you’re holding you stupid faerie, hehe.

II. The Tournament

Although I brought with me my pad for life total purposes, I wasn’t able to take down any specific notes, so accounts here maybe somewhat inaccurate. This is just a little overview of how my tournament went.

Round 1: Reveillark against teammate Jonathan Tabalina

Game 1: God got angry at the elves and showed them his wrath. Then the reveillark – body double combo comes online. On to game 2…

Game 2: I side in 2 primal commands for shuffling his graveyard purposes and 4 stupors for disruption. God wasn’t angry this game and the little green men got the job done.

Game 3: This game went long, I was able to primal his graveyard but to no avail. The massive card advantage of the reveillark-mulldrifter tandem was too much.

Games: 1-2
Matches: 0-1

I start the tournament with one foot in the grave. An ominous sign.

Round 2: RDW against Clint

Game 1: I play elves, he burns elves. When both our hands are depleted, I drop a massive goyf.

Game 2: Out thoughtseizes, in finks and primal commands. Too bad I wasn’t able to draw any of them. The result? Burnt to a crisp.

Game 3: Finks online, and primals too. Go gay life gain.

Games: 3-3
Matches: 1-1

A glimmer of hope appears at the end of the tunnel.

Round 3: Reveillark against Raymund

Game 1: This game sees me going on the offensive, dropping elves and beating face. My opponent desperately searches for his Wrath of Gods by evoking mulldrifter after drifter. He finally taps out to evoke his lark and brings back 2 drifters for a massive four cards and for blocking duty. But it was too late, My Garruk was all charged up and Chameleon Colossus and his friends came in for 22 points of trampling damage.

Game 2: This game is a little anti-climactic. My opponent fails to find a fourth land and couldn’t mount a proper defense. Elves did what elves do best, beat on opponents with bad draws.

Games: 5-3
Matches: 2-1

We’re getting there.

Round 4: Merfolk against Joselito

Games 1 & 2: I don’t remember much about this round other than he seemed to have had bad hands in both games. Game 2 sees him drawing down to 5 and being stuck on one land even after pondering several times. My notes show me winning both games with profane command.

Games: 7-3
Matches: 3-1

We’re halfway there, Whoa oh, living on a prayer!

Round 5: G/B Elves against Marvin

Game 1: I start the the game on the offensive, able to bring him down to 6, then he manages to stabilize. We are in a stand off, both at top deck mode. His Garruk clogs the ground with beasts while my imperious perfect tries to swarm him out of the game. Top deck after top deck gives me lands, until at last I mise my profane command.

Game 2: I side in damnations. He starts this game like I did the first. He kills some of my elves and drops a 4/5 goyf. I visibly grimace in pain and let out a groan. He takes my bait and drops a second goyf. He passes the turn. I untap, draw and promptly Damn them to hell and pass the turn back. He draws, does nothing and passes me the turn where I drop the 2 goyfs I was sandbagging. Two goyfs on the board on one side and 2 goyfs in the grave on the other side. How do you think it went?

Games: 9-3
Matches: 4-1

Winning this round meant that I could draw in to the top 8. WOOT!!! Or so I thought…

RDW against Jonathan

I get paired down and have to play it out =(

Game 1: By some grace of god, I’m able to pull this one out despite seeing two thoughtseizes. Garruk was able to give me all of his 3 beasts while my opponent was playing target practice with my face. Eventually he ran out of cards and those 3 beasts got the job done. Whew.

Game 2: He goes turn 1 nom-nom, turn 2 marauders, turn 3 ram-gang. I manage to subdue the red horde but am at a very precarious life total. Every time I draw a card, I mentally chant “life gain, life gain”. But alas, no can do, I suffer a flame javelin to the head instead.

Game 3: Could it be that my winning streak is coming to an end? Nooo!!! I refuse to lose. I draw 7 cards and see a kitchen finks and decide to keep. The finks give me a nice life buffer while I resolve an imperious perfect and a chameleon colossus. Jonathan then throws a javelin at my colossus failing to realize that it too is an elf. Yay for confusing creature types. This error however doesn’t deter him, He manages to kill the colossus next turn by throwing another javelin at it this time coupled with a ping from his keldon megaliths. But the damage has been done, he no longer has any cards in hand. When I cast my primal command gaining me seven life and searching for a goyf, he knew it was over. It took a few turns but he then extends his hand and I take the win.

Games: 11-4
Matches: 5-1

Winning streak still intact, Yeah!!!

After 6 rounds of swiss:
1. Coo, Rei Anthony
2. Nava, Ray II
3. Tirol, Patrick
4. Yap, Mark
5. Simpao, Starry
6. Suan, Aga
7. Tan, Marvin Jason
8. Tancongco, Kevin

Time now for a fifteen minute break. I finish the swiss seeded first with my teammate Patrick following closely at third. Team Iloilo heads to Mcdo to grab a quick burger. I will be playing against Kevin in the quarterfinals, a mirror match. My teammate Marco, who faced Kevin in the last round of swiss, informs me that this particular build of elves has maindecked cloudthreshers, a very useful tip. This is the reason you should have teams, teams help not only with play testing but also with scouting reports too. We head back to the tournament area and start the round.

III. The Play-Offs

Quarterfinals – G/B Elves against Kevin

Game 1: We trade vanquishers and removal on a few creatures until he eot cloudthreshers. He attacks me and I’m forced to block with my civic wayfinder. I manage to hardcast a shriekmaw to kill his thresher. The following turn he hardcasts a vanquisher that is met by another hardcasted shriekmaw. Shriekmaw beats for the win.

Game 2: He keeps a bad hand that didn’t have enough mana. So what did we learn today? Aggro punishes bad draws.

Games: 13-4
Matches: 6-1

I’m going to Nationals!

Semifinals – U/B Fae against Mark

Game 1: I start the game with llanowars elves and vanquishers, putting him on the defensive. He starts with a land and an untapped secluded glenn, revealing a spellstutter sprite, and the dreaded bitterblossom. I play around the sprite by not playing low cost spells and attack with my treetop villages instead. He manages to terror my treetop and inversion my vanquisher. When I saw both terror and nameless inversion, I quickly remember the decklist piloted by Takashi that won a GP, it ran both terrors and inversions but with no rune snags. I gamble that this is the list Mark is playing. He stabilizes at 6 life and is gaining on me by counter-attacking with his mistbind clique. I manage to make him tap down his mana leaving him only two mana open. Thinking it is now safe with only his spellstutter sprite for defense, I go for it, profane command for the win, which is met by his rune snag.

Game 2: Mark once again starts game 2 with a second turn blossom, tapping out. I safely drop my chameleon colossus, who goes in for 8 damage the next turn. The colossus keeps on the pressure and eventually goes the distance.

Game 3: We shuffle up and present decks. He draws seven, doesn’t like what he sees and ships it back. He shuffles again, I cut his deck and he draws six. Still not satisfied, he mulls to five and decides to keep. I keep my hand. He opens with island, while I open with thoughtseize. I see, 2 mistbinds, a cryptic and a pendlehaven. I take the command and pass the turn. He plays the pendlehaven and passes the turn. I destroy his land by playing my own pendlehaven and play another thoughtseize taking his clique. Next turn I drop a big goyf with no resistance. He draws no lands for the next few turns and I take the win.

Games: 15-5
Matches: 7-1

One more to go, can I do it?

Finals – Mono Blue Fish against Ray

Game 1: He starts with a few fish, an aquitect’s will and starts islandwalking over me. I try to catch up by counter-attacking with goyfs. I count 8 damage on his side, I’m at 11. I play thoughtseize, dropping me to 9, I take his cryptic command and pass the turn. He attacks me declaring 9 damage, I miscalculated and loose. Where have all my removal went?

Game 2: He mulls to 6, I mull to 6. I keep a mediocre hand with wolf-skull shaman as the only threat. I resolve the shaman hoping he could swarm my opponent. Turn after turn it misses it’s kinship. My opponent builds his board with 2 bannerets and a reejery. I try to damnation but it is met with a sage’s dousing. With a heavy heart, I extend the hand of a graceful loser. My miracle run ends here.

Record: 15-7
Matches: 7-2

IV. The Conclusion

I finished second, taking an invite to Nationals and half a box of Shadowmoor. Team Iloilo takes two of the four invites for this event. Congratulations to my teammate Patrick, who finishes one place behind me. I’m going to Nationals and I don’t know jack about drafting LOL!

Props:

• Team Iloilo for the great play testing and brainstorming.
• Mark Co for his ever loyal Tarmogoyfs.

Slops:

• Wolf-Skull Shaman for not once triggering the entire day.
• No Dci certified judge, resulting in a few miscalls and lots of arguments.

V. The Aftermath

After several hours of brain melting games, it was time to relax. We head back to have dinner after which we went to Mango Square to get LOW, LOW, LOW, LOW… where our master Zeichen redeemed himself after having a disappointing tournament. If you want to learn more about this, head on over to our forums at http://www.magiciloilo.com/forum/ or contact zeichen95@yahoo.com ask him what happened to that thing Mao gave him.

VI. The Reason

You’re still reading? Not yet tired? After reading such a lengthy and boring article you deserve something to lift up your spirits. I present to you the real reason I played elves. Enjoy!