In ancient times, Gaea was full of life and her creatures lived in harmony and bliss. Mana was abundant and magic was used for the benefit of all living and non living things. Over time, some creatures began to hoard this energy, growing in power and leading to rivalry and competition. Stricken by lust for power and greed, the development of artificial devices to contain this energy began to take place. These machines brought scarring and blight to her lush and fertile lands. Warring rather than harmony began to be the normal state of life.
The elves, creatures deeply rooted in a loving symbiotic relationship with their mother Gaea, took up arms and fiercely guarded her lifeforce from those which would cause her harm.
Because the elves were akin to living in harmony with their mother, they knew well how to work together to rapidly produce her mana. The
Heritage Druid
s, who had spent their life in a strong symbiotic relationship with the forest had learned to recognize this same energy within themselves. Combined together with a few of their brethren, they could produce the same energy of the forest from within. Combining their efforts with the
Nettle Sentinel
s, warrior guardians of the trees, they could quickly call upon the many creatures of the forest during the
Green Sun's Zenith
, when mana was at the peak of its power.
Of the creatures that heard the call, the
Elvish Visionary
s came and used their telepathic ability to communicate deeper into the forest and used their foresight to provide a
Glimpse of Nature
.
Dwynen's Elite
also heard the call and brought further reinforcements, the
Deathrite Shaman
and
Shaman of the Pack
offered their skills in dark magic to directly harm their enemies, and the
Reclamation Sage
s directed their fervor against the artificial machines, artifacts and evil enchantments that had been plaguing the land. The
Wirewood Symbiote
s, an insect with the innate ability of teleportation, joined in the efforts and assisted the elves in returning to safety when in life threatening danger. They also assisted the elves in reaching the
Birchlore Rangers
, well traveled and some of the wisest of their kind who had learned to harness the powers of all of the different elements.
Collectively, the elves had a very secret and ultimate power, they could collectively sync their minds with Gaea and use a
Living Wish
to ask Gaea to shape her surface into harsh environments or to call upon her ancient creatures to assist in battle.
Did the elves succeed in their efforts? Wizards and Planeswalkers know, even the past is not set in stone. You are the shaper of their destiny and you hold their fate within your hands. The outcome is up to you.
Card Draw:
Elvish Visionary
allow for an extra card to be drawn when played while
Glimpse of Nature
enables you to draw cards every time a creature is played and stack with each other allowing you to draw more cards and effectively play most of your deck in a single turn
Mana Production:
Heritage Druid
and
Birchlore Rangers
are both used to produce mana without summoning sickness penalties buying a turn in creature setup.
Combination Creatures:
Nettle Sentinel
untaps every time a creature is played further enabling the possibility to use the ability of the mana producing elves.
Dwynen's Elite
bring up to two elves into play making more elves available to tap for mana
Wirewood Symbiote
while not an elf, allows elves to be returned to the hand once per turn. This comes in handy in returning card drawing elves to the hand and replaying them in order to mitigate sticky points in card draw such as multiple lands being drawn in a row that can slow down the casting of creatures to the battlefield. They are also useful for bouncing
Shaman of the Pack
for recurring damage effects to an opponent
Tutoring:
Green Sun's Zenith
is a cheap tutor used to bring any green creature currently in the deck to the battlefield.
Living Wish
another tutor specifically for pulling creatures and land from your sideboard or in casual, from anywhere in your collection.
Direct Damage:
Both
Deathrite Shaman
and
Shaman of the Pack
allow for thr player to do direct damage to your opponent.
Deck Smoothing Effects:
Vitalize
works similar to
Intruder Alarm
but costs and is an instant. It untaps all creatures so that they can be tapped again to create more mana or to prepare for an attack after creatures have been mostly tapped for mana
Natural Order
allows for you to search for and play
Craterhoof Behemoth
, a hasted creature that adds vertical growth to both itself and your creatures for a turn along with trample for the price of four mana and a sacrificed creature. This creature can potentially win you the game with just three other creatures in play on your field. An option on the sideboard is switching in
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
for opponent decks that rely heavily on non creature spells.
Living Wish
opens up the sideboard for additional cards for use in play. This keeps these cards from disrupting the probability of drawing the important mana producing cards needed to play them. With red mana in play either from
Birchlore Rangers
or
Taiga
,
Stingscourger
can return a nasty creature to its owner's hand to enable a clear path for attacking, and
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
deals direct damage to players for each non creature spell played. With Black mana in play from
Birchlore Rangers
or
Bayou
,
Shaman of the Pack
can be played and potentially bounced with
Wirewood Symbiote
to do direct damage to your opponent.
