Those silly elves and their magical silver yo-yo +1 hijinx! Yes, I'll totally be punning on yo-yos this deck.
While I have "found myself" as a blue player, my first-ever deck was green, and I always wanted to go back & make a themed green deck centered around very green mechanics. Mana ramp, trample, elves, all iconic green. The resulting trampling herd of elves is a little funny when I think about it, but Gaea's Herald's art & flavor text remind me that green can be pretty cacophonic. Of course, my love for blue has turned the majority of the deck into instants with a series of counter-removal mechanics, but I still think it feels very green. We can call it green's blue side showing through. I thought it fitting that my first-ever deck here on Tapped Out should be green as well, and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! =)
The concept of the deck is several years old, and there are many versions running around, most of them running Heritage Druid. I wanted to be more original, so no Druid. I haven't seen another using flash/haste yet, either. The ability to protect your Cloudstone Curio is something new in M15.
- Cloudstone Curio + Elvish Archdruid
+
Swiftfoot Boots
+ Elvish Mystic + 4 elves: The break even point for mana. Archdruid costs , yo-yos Mystic to hand, equips boots for & for with haste. Mystic costs & yo-yos Archdruid to hand. Rinse & repeat for no benefit... yet.
- Add Lys Alana Huntmaster: Every yo-yo generates another elf, gradually growing Elvish Archdruid's mana generation. The above combo could now be infinite. + 5 elves instead of + 4 elves could also make it infinite, of course. Every token generated is another creature entering the battlefield, so any creature in my hand could get its ETB proc and immediately yo-yo itself.
- Add Eternal Witness: My graveyard becomes an extension of my hand. It's almost a black mechanic, really. Cloudstone Curio
+
Eternal Witness
= return creature from battlefield + return ANYTHING from graveyard to hand. She's an incessant blocker, always rezzing herself. (Yeva, Nature's Herald's flash + legendary rule protect herself from exile, if she's all I have in hand, but Eternal Witness must then fetch her from my graveyard. Legendaries can't yo-yo themselves.)
- Add Essence Warden: All the health I need to stall.
- Add Elvish Harbinger
+
Elvish Visionary
: Put elves on top of my deck & draw them immediately, or just draw half the deck with Elvish Visionary alone (which is what usually happens).
- Primal Rage: Give everything trample. Since my enchantments will never have flash, these are susceptible to removal during combat. While Invasive Species could save them, I can't return them to the battlefield until combat is resolved. Best to have both out before going in for the kill.
- Joraga Warcaller: Boost everything over the top to exploit trample. About 50 +50/+50 elves & tokens with trample ought to do it.
- Evolving Wilds: Seems a bit out of place at first, but Eternal Witness turns this into a 2-for-1, or better. Windswept Heath or Wooded Foothills wouldn't my lands, but paying 1 life felt too black to me. Also sucks lands out of my deck to improve odds of drawing other cards.
- Weird Harvest: I end up fetching Elvish Visionarys more than anything else, but it's situational. I considered Wild Pair, but it's slower, requires certain creatures in order to fetch certain creatures, and my tribal buffs being in constant flux with Elvish Archdruid yo-yoed every turn can complicate this. Weird Harvest helps my opponent, but is much faster, and I can limit my opponent's benefit by fetching only the creatures I need.
- Reclamation Sage: For pesky things like Rule of Law, Argentum Armor, Godsend, etc.
- Tajuru Preserver (sideboard): For the rare non-enchantment sac mechanic, such as Agent of the Fates.
Caveat:
Eternal Witness and
Invasive Species keep this from being a completely tribal deck, but they really have no replacements. Species is totally new; its missing ability was the only thing holding a deck like this back. M15 PROMPTED this deck with the introduction of Species. And Witness... Amazing card, amazing art, recently brought back AGAIN in Commander reprints. It's a green staple, totally irreplaceable. IMO, if elves want to go full tribal with acts like these to follow, they really need to step up their game.
