Voyaging Satyr isn't an elf, but it would add some much needed redundancy to the deck.

Thanks infinitemana! I will add Voyaging Satyr to the build now and test it in place of a few different cards. I appreciate the suggestion.

Mana is typically not an issue in this deck (if there is one thing the deck does....it creates mana :) but if Voyaging Satyr ends up being superior to any of the other cards; of course we will add it. It is a great card that can do some amazingly broken things :) Garruk Wildspeaker is the All-Star of any devotion deck because he can untap any lands...so there is no reason why Voyaging Satyr couldn't be equally as powerful. Thanks for your help and the +1!

I mainly run EDH so my advice isn't flawless but I think the deck could be improved in a few ways. First off I would drop the land enchantments and the fetch lands. The fetch lands make the deck too pricey and the enchantments just don't flow well enough in my opinion. You could achieve the same effect with 2 or 3 Heartbeat of Spring s. I would also consider dropping the playset of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx down to 2, that way you can assure your green mana early game. Ezuri, Renegade Leader doesn't have to be a 3 of, one or two would cut it. Mostly I would say you should be less concerned about the chance to draw your big hitters and focus on how much you can Genesis Wave for. Heartbeat of Spring will help you get that number up in the 20's or 30's with the right support. Maybe run an Elvish Mystic or two just to help get your 3 drop slot out turn two. Lastly, throw a couple Islands in to get your color coordinated if you do decide to keep the Coiling Oracle s in.

Chris62295....Thanks for the suggestions. EDH players often give the best advice because they see so many cards from throughout magic that they know interactions those of us (like me...I play almost exclusively Modern) don't see.

Actually, the enchantments are extremely important to the deck. This deck is a devotion deck at its core. The speed of the deck is based on the fact that it builds up a board of numerous green symbols quickly. It draws out tons of cards via "card draw" ETB effects on permanents as well as large Genesis Wave 's.

Abundant Growth basically acts as a "free cantrip", It provides one devotion, helps fix the mana (for any splash...in this case blue), and draws card.

You are 100% right about the fetch lands. Between the enchantments and the ability to draw into a land (As well as casting Cavern of Souls on "elf" ; they really are unnecessary damage. I have taken them out. There is a neat/fun little interaction between Abundant Growth and the fetch lands where you can basically enchant them if you have no need of sacrificing them and taking the damage. It basically gives you the choice as to whether you wish to fetch a land or not and still utilize the land. This is a "cute" interaction (that actually works amazingly well in Michael Jacob's version of Green Devotion because he also has Eternal Witness to grab back the Abundant Growth if he sacrifices the fetch land to draw another card....but without Eternal Witness the interaction is just king of "cute" thing that does little in terms of helping us win; and the damage taken is probably not worth it.

I've actually been tempted to see if the Cavern of Souls and enchantments alone would provide enough blue mana for me to get rid of even the Breeding Pool (so that Merfolk decks do not get the advantage of Islandwalk that they thrive on). I doubt this will ever work (although I may reduce the total Breeding Pool to only two...but it is definitely a consideration given the popularity of Merfolk in Modern.

Coiling Oracle is a useful card in the deck as he represents card draw, ramping, and devotion (all three of the main con. His "draw a card" ability is even stronger than normal; because if it is a land it goes into play immediately (ramping even more)! He is sort of (although not exactly) like an Explore on a 1/1 body.

Heartbeat of Spring would still allow me to produce additional mana (just as Utopia Sprawl , etc. It, however, also helps our opponent (which I try to avoid when possible). Having said this, it may help us more :) The fact that Utopia Sprawl costs only 1 is a BIG deal, however. Getting it out on turn 1 or 2 changes everything (As Arbor Elf can untap the land as can Garruk Wildspeaker and it is "off to the races" by turn two :) Having said all of this, there is no way to know that Heartbeat of Spring isn't great until I've tried it out! So that is what I will do. I will test it ASAP. Thanks again to Chris62295 for the suggestions!

As an aside, The easiest way for me to explain how the deck runs is through seeing the comments on our original devotion deck Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW)...dozens of people helped test the deck and streamline it (and we did ample testing as well). This deck runs on early interactions and card draw to quickly build up an insurmountable board state. It is kind of one of those "gotta play it to see it". This deck is very similar to it (it needs the card draw/ramp/ and "win-con" sections of the deck; however its win-cons and draw cards are slightly different (mainly to take advantage of the "elf" creature type and the way elves work together.

But as we always say, there is always room for improvement :) Chris62295 has already provided an instant improvement, and testing may prove even more. Thank you!

nice deck! very fun and good too!

Thanks Elliote50! And thank you for the +1! We appreciate it.

Just playtested this deck and by turn 5 I had 56 life and all my creatures got +108/+108 and trample. AAAAWWWWEEEESSSSOOOOMMMMEEEEE DECK MAN.

oh and +1

darthrevanbeast

That is the coolest thing I have seen in a while! I absolutely love when other people play a deck we've made and have a blast!

We ended up adding back the fourth Genesis Wave at the cost of one Nissa's Chosen (down to 2) because we found that once you hit that first wave; you pretty much just "go off" from there :) My last match, I ended with only 48 life (but I didn't bother to trigger my second Nissa Revane ) and even though I could only attack with 3 elves (the ones that didn't have summoning sickness); each attacked as 19/19 trampler's for 57 total damage!

This deck has a special place in my heart because I have always loved elves (it's the only legacy deck I've built, etc.) as I'm a self-described "Green Mage" :) Needless to say, I've been going nuts ever since Devotion came out (with Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW) and now this deck). I actually think this one is my favorite though!

Thanks so much for testing the deck, darthrevanbeast. It's a huge help when other TappedOut members test decks and provide any insights they have. Let's us know when and if we are on the right path. I appreciate the kind words and of course I appreciate the +1!

Imperious Perfect , Joraga Warcaller & Immaculate Magistrate are your friends.

killkong1211...I have worked on several ways to get at least a 1-of of many each of these creatures in at one point!

My first wish was Joraga Warcaller because with the mana this deck can generate and given the fact that his ability hits all Elves; I thought he was a great benefit to the deck. The difficulty became that when he entered the battlefield off of the Genesis Wave he could not be "kicked". This made for some difficulty (As the win-con of the combo typically is off of a Wave).

Immaculate Magistrate and Imperious Perfect ran along the same vein, but didn't have an issue for the same reason. The reason they were difficult to add as 1-2 of's was that if they were hit off of a Genesis Wave ; they have summoning sickness and thus their abilities cannot be utilized.

One idea I am working with now, however, is adding some of these elves as well as 1-2 Thousand-Year Elixir 's to the deck. This way, when the combo has "gone off" any ability may be utilized the same turn the creatures hit the battlefield. I have to make sure that adding these cards doesn't effect the overall synergy of the deck (as this deck really is a combo deck and has to maintain a certain sequence to consistently "go off" quickly each game).

These are all AMAZING suggestions killkong1211 and I will certainly test each and every one to get these amazing elves into the deck where I can. It can only help! Thanks again for your suggestions.

To deal with the inherent problem of Waving into Warcaller is the prime reason for the Magistrate, Tap Immaculate Magistrate to put counters on Joraga Warcaller ...buffs for all!

The imperious is also good just because she's a lord (i.e. All my dudes get +1/+1), which is great if you wave into say two of her and two of the Elvish Archdruid , there's +4/+4 without doing anything. :)

Thousand-Year Elixir seems good, another alternative would be Akroma's Memorial for the haste (and other assorted buffs), while it is more expensive, it is also more versatile and if you can Genesis Wave for above 7 you're golden. :)

Also, Ezuri, Renegade Leader , he loves hanging with the elf bros!

killkong1211

I love the Akroma's Memorial idea (will definitely be giving that a try!)

Ezuri, Renegade Leader actually is already a 3-of in the deck (he is the main win-con); so great minds think alike :).

I will also try the deck out replacing Nissa Revane and Nissa's Chosen for Joraga Warcaller and Immaculate Magistrate and see if you can still build up the initial devotion consistently and/or whether the life gain even matter. Basically whichever works better will be in the deck :).

Thanks for putting so much time and effort into this deck by the way killkong1211. It's been a huge help.

Completely missed old Ez in there haha.
Yeah no worries man, I like elves, I like seeing elves do terrible things to people more :P

Trust me, I run Ezuri as my general in edh, I know how to elfwave/elfball :P
But yeah, see how the changes play, I think it should do you pretty well.

Based on my experience, this deck would greatly benefit from more Llanowar Elves /Elvish Mystic , Intruder Alarm , and Craterhoof Behemoth . I would probably cut your biggest "do-nothing" cards, such as Nissa's Chosen , Abundant Growth , and Thousand-Year Elixir . You may also want to move Nissa Revane to the sideboard, as she only thrives against aggro matchups.

You made a really good point about the draw from Abundant Growth but I think it could be done a better way. I think cards like Soul's Majesty or Hunter's Prowess would help kickstart a win condition after you have your mana secured and a decent field. Even something as simple as Edric, Spymaster of Trest could help a lot. I'm not saying any of the examples should be implemented into the deck but the concept should be considered. I always favor single cards with large scale draw over cards with a single draw and utility.

Thanks PhageTheUnbeatable....these are some interesting ideas!

Arbor Elf was used in this deck over Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic in this deck given the addition of Utopia Sprawl . Utopia Sprawl is used over the other mana dorks for a few reasons:

1. It can "instantly ramp" as it doesn't have summoning sickness and can be casted on any untapped land after turn two to add to your mana pool immediately.
   

2. It can be untapped with both Arbor Elf and Garruk Wildspeaker to ramp even further.

I'm not sure what other cards I would replace for another mana dork as the deck does not really have a problem generating mana and/or casting its cards. I will most certainly take a look at switching a few out to see if it helps.

I do love Intruder Alarm and have built it into several Elf decks! The elf tribal deck with this card is really fun to play! It would be great in this deck given the many elves that enter the battlefield. My only concern is that it may be more of a "win more" card in this particular build (i.e. you will already be wining when it's effect becomes important) and that it may throw off the overall "sequencing" of the deck. This can also be true of the Staff of Domination as well in many situations (which is something I have to test and even make sure is necessary). This, however, can't be known for sure until I test it! And I most certainly will be doing that.

Craterhoof Behemoth is a great card that can be great in a Genesis Wave deck. Most likely there should be one in this deck. I will add one in tonight's testing. Thanks for the suggestions!

This was a great set of suggestions as it reminded me that I needed to provide a little more detail on the deck. I had a few suggestions like this one in my other greeen deck Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW), which led to my adding more clarity and gold-fishing examples. I should have done so with this deck as well.

One area I do think I need to provide more clarity on is the Coiling Oracle , Abundant Growth and Elvish Visionary cards within the deck. Many suggestions revolve around removing these. PhageTheUnbeatable even had mentioned that they are "do nothing" cards. I can certainly see how on paper they may seem somewhat underwhelming. This is actually is a misunderstanding numerous people make when looking at decks such as this.

I've played green devotion decks for some time now (see Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW)) and I can promise you that if you don't have adequate card draw the deck will often "poop out" :)

The reason for this is because you have so much mana that you can quickly cast all of the cards in your hand. If you don't have cards like Abundant Growth that both draw you a card and add to your devotion often times you quickly get into "top deck mode" hoping to God you draw a Genesis Wave :) (or in Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW) one of your fatties). This is especially true in this deck (given the low curve).

It is very hard to see this just looking at the list (it's kind of one of those "you have to play the deck to see it" type things). I should have been far more clear than I was.

Craterhoof Behemoth is a great card that can be great in a Genesis Wave deck. Most likely there should be one in this deck. I will add one in tonight's testing. Thanks for such great suggestions!

Chris62295 had also mentioned a larger draw-card utility that Abundant Growth ...a good card for this function in devotion decks is Regal Force ...it is also a card that has seen time in numerous Elf lists. I will give this card a try tonight as well! Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Can't thank everyone enough for the ideas you've put forward. Cards I will test this evening include:

1. Craterhoof Behemoth
2. Regal Force
3. Intruder Alarm
4. Staff of Domination
5. Thousand-Year Elixir
6. Immaculate Magistrate
7. Joraga Warcaller

The biggest decision to make in a deck like this is if a card is helpful in a few different lines and most importantly if it helps build into the "combo" (which is really the main win-con of this deck). One issue we run into is that several cards that are astoundingly good cards that are simply "win more" cards. They are great cards; but their only use comes along when you have already won (i.e. when you hit a Genesis Wave .

This deck does, however, have an aggro line as well; so this must always be considered. We will (no surprise) test all of this to see where we think the best balance lies. Of course, we will let you know what we find and make sure we update the deck IMMEDIATELY when we feel we have a better set of cards! Thanks again to all who have taken the time to help!

forgot to mention Akroma's Memorial as a card we are testing tonight too! Sorry.

With such a huge mana base, I would strongly consider putting in Mistcutter Hydra .

We just played a game and I wanted to provide a sample "Gold Fish" to help show how the deck works. Here goes!

Turn One - Cards in Hand (7) Devotion (0)

1. Play Forest
2. Cast Utopia Sprawl attached to Forest.

Turn Two - Cards in Hand (6) Devotion (1)

1. Play Forest
2. Cast Abundant Growth attaching to other Forest. (draw a card)
3. Tap Enchanted Land for Blue Mana (and obtain 1 green from Utopia Sprawl )
4. Cast Coiling Oracle revealing Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx which is put into play.

**Turn Three - Cards in Hand (5) Devotion (3)

1. Play Breeding Pool
2. Cast Garruk Wildspeaker using enchanted land and two others.
3. +1 Garruk to untap the enchanted Forest and other land.
4. Cast second Utopia Sprawl in hand and attach to enchanted land.
5. Tap enchanted land for 3 mana. Use 2 to trigger Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to produce 6 green mana for a total of 7 mana.
6. Cast Genesis Wave with X=4.

This provides Elvish Visionary , Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx , Garruk Wildspeaker and Coiling Oracle . We draw an additional 2 cards for Elvish Visionary and Coiling Oracle triggers.

1. Use Garruk Wildspeaker to untap enchanted land and Breeding Pool
2. Tap Enchanted land for 3 mana. Use 2 to trigger new Nykthos for 8 mana for total of 9 mana...with Breeding Pool we have 10 total mana.

At this point we still have 3 cards in hand due to multiple "draw card" spells such as Coiling Oracle , Abundant Growth , and Elvish Visionary .

1. Cast 2nd Genesis Wave with X=7

This dropped Akroma's Memorial , Nissa Revane , Abundant Growth , a Genesis Wave that was discarded, two Forest s and one Elvish Archdruid . We then drew one card from the Abundant Growth

Summary - (3) card in hand, (2) untapped Forest s, (4) elves, and (13) devotion

1. +1 Nissa Revane to find Nissa's Chosen .
2. Tap Elvish Archdruid for 5 mana (as Nissa's Chosen made 5 elves.
3. Cast 2nd Elvish Archdruid
4. Cast Nissa's Chosen that we drew into.

At this point, we have 6 untapped elves. With the Akroma's Memorial and two Elvish Archdruid pumps, they are as follows:

a. A 3/3 Elvish Archdruid b. Two 4/5 Nissa's Chosen c, Two 3/3 Coiling Oracle d. A 3/3 Elvish Visionary

This is a total of 20 Trample, First Strike, Vigilance, Haste, Flying, Pro Red/Black Damage ON TURN THREE

This is without casting a single Ezuri, Renegade Leader or Overrun -ing a Garruk Wildspeaker . This showed us that we needed Akroma's Memorial in this deck unless we every try to splash red for Fervor , Mass Hysteria or something crazy like that. This also showed us that Elvish Archdruid is really good in this deck. We also drew 5 cards over the two turns; showing just how important the "draw card" triggers can be (as this wouldn't have worked without them).

This doesn't mean there is no room for improvement...it only means that we are getting somewhere and that several of the card choices thus far seem right.

Sully351...I LOVE Mistcutter Hydra !

I don't know if you've seen my other devotion deck Devotion to Green (Modern) (NEW)...but Mistcutter Hydra is the biggest and best win-con in the deck. It is a great card (especially in Modern) due to it's blue protection and "can't be countered" clause.

I will certainly try this out in this deck as well. Thank you for the suggestion!

This is a great deck!I just try played and it was an amazing deck!I've attempted making an elf deck myself, but it was nowhere near as good as thisGreat job!

That is awesome CharlieS! I love hearing when people enjoy playing deck we've worked on! Please do let me know if you think there is anywhere the deck could improve. Thanks so much for both the comment and the +1!

Another consideration is Phyrexian Metamorph . It's a great card with a lot of utility, copying Regal Force (if you choose to run it) or Elvish Archdruid . Nissa Revane will refund your life if you chose to pay the 2 life instead of 1 blue, and it will copy the green mana cost in the copied card's converted mana cost, so it'll assist devotion as well.