...and if your Genesis Wave is countered, you've got a card draw engine sitting on the board with Argothian Enchantress .

deep_shadow... I hear ya! I'm working on consistency now too. Obviously the idea is there... It's just getting the perfect set of cards/sideboard to consistently be able to successfully get there :). I have three different "Builds" I'm working on now: and I'm trying to find the most consistent means of getting there ( just like you are). Keep me posted; and I 'll do the same. :). A couples days of testing and we'll have it!

The current version is the fastest way I've been able to draw though my deck without having to strictly rely on Genesis Wave to get me there. The problem is though, that if you only get one enchantress out, you can run into these doldrums where you are wasting whole turns drawing into land. I'm sure there is a way to win a game in that scenario, but what I'd really wish to see is a way to be able to scry as you're casting enchantments, so that you can keep drawing useful cards. I really care more about the mechanics of drawing through your deck with maximum speed, so I took out basically all the win-cons that you'd use in cases where you don't actually draw through your whole deck. That's why I took out Kamahl, Fist of Krosa , for example. He can win you games if you only manage to draw into a dozen cards by turn 3, but he also gets in the way of the card draw mechanism itself.

Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at....I feel like I either go Ezuri, Renegade Leader (which in your case would be Kamahl, Fist of Krosa ), or Gilt-Leaf Archdruid ...but I'm not sure both can fit...this is pretty much a combo deck....so it needs very fast ways to consistently get to its combo and/or get out of sticky situations....this calls for card draw; and lots of it. Having synergy among the creatures is spectacular; but you are absolutely dead to disruption if all you do is play creatures with synergy and hope they stick. This deck requires a large board state; so you kind of have to keep "refilling" it. Dreno33 may have been right when he said the last change slowed the deck too much.

I still have no idea which "version" is better (Ezuri is more of an immediate win as you attack for a ton; but Gilt-Leaf can potentially draw more if he's on the board and stealing their lands generally wins the game 9/10 times (although it's not a guarantee).

I hate having such choices; because I love them both. A lot of people have asked me to remove the Utopia Sprawl s and/or Abundant Growth s ; but that just makes you more vulnerable to Anger of the Gods and takes away some of the cycling and fixing solutions (as an Abundant growth on a Nykthos or Horizon Canopy can be a huge help).

Who knows....I'm trying to test at break-neck speeds to get the best version up here...the sideboard is coming along great. It's super close; just gotta figure out the absolute best 60.

i do not like Masked Admirers or Elvish Harbinger .

Masked Admirers - more SB in my opinion if against disruption.

Elvish Harbinger - no need to search. all the cards are great and you don't have one big hitter type card to search with this. slows down the deck too much.

the druid lord sped up and dealt with control nicely. reinsert (just my opinion) or find another suitable card

Dreno33....thanks for the thoughts/suggestions.

I'm trying a build with Gilt-Leaf Archdruid now....you know how I do, though....I put up each idea and let the community let me know what they think. Your testing has helped a ton though. Out of curiosity, In what way did you find that Gilt-Leaf Archdruid sped up the deck more than Masked Admirers does? I'm not disagreeing with you...I just want to know what your testing has shown to best make the right decision.

My current thoughts were that Masked Admirers costs one less and draws a card immediately; where Gilt-Leaf Archdruid costs 5-mana (seems to be a "threshold" that takes another turn to hard-cast in the deck) and only draws when you cast another druid. Also Masked Admirers can be used as an additional mana-sink when in the graveyard (as you can use their second ability to bring them back to your hand or even back on to the battlefield if you have the mana).

I do agree with you though that Elvish Harbinger may not be the best bet. I added it as an additional means to get Ezuri, Renegade Leader when you needed him (as you don't really even want to have him until you need him); but it is a little slow for what you get. I've currently just made it another Heritage Druid ; but will test a few other cards in it's place.

This build just seems "smoother"; but it could be because it is so similar to my original build that I had already played quite a bit with so I feel more comfortable with it....

That being said, I'm testing the version with Gilt-Leaf Archdruid in it because I LOVE the card. I can't give up on it. If it doesn't end up in this one; I will have a build with it in. I'm just not sure that both can fit in a deck (as they seem to take away from one another). Ezuri is not a druid, Gilt-Leaf costs 5-mana; you don't want either too early; but you want to play enough to ensure you get them when you need them; etc....again; it's just making sure the balance is there.

I've developed the sideboard to deal almost exclusively with control and/or disruption (as no matter if you have Ezuri, Gilt-Leaf, or both; your game one match-up against control / heavy disruption is extremely difficult and the sideboard needs to flip this). The sideboard is meant to turn control/disruption match-ups into not only winnable ones; but favorable match-ups in games two and three.

And I know all of these thoughts and suggestions are just your opinion; but your opinion is important to me. You have a lot of knowledge and testing with this deck; so having someone to have educated conversations with is extremely helpful. I do appreciate it!

Nice elf deck. +1. Heedless One was always a favorite of mine because it already had trample, but in your current build, I don't think you really need it.

Elauron...Heedless One would be amaze balls in this deck! I wish she was modern-legal :(. I need to build a legacy/casual version of this deck (but then you get into Gaea's Cradle , Glimpse of Nature , etc. and thugs start getting real crazy! Ha.

Thank you for posting and for reminding me of such a great elf card! Also thank you for the +1. I really do appreciate it.

I didn't even realize Heedless One wasn't modern legal (I don't really play modern because I can't afford the decks), but this one seems pretty reasonable to build (with the exception of Caverns and Nykthos, I think most these cards are pretty cheap.)

Gilt-Leaf Archdruid = faster than Masked Admirers because . . .

1. draw you more than one card = faster.

2. although not immediate, it gives you the juice to combo off if not dealt with for 1 turn. That being said, knowing when and exactly why they will be using up a kill spell on your deck is VERY advantageous. you may have a Ezuri, Renegade Leader in your hand but know that the control deck has AT LEAST one instant kill spell waiting for it. so you play the druid lord instead, eat their spell, then go big with the elf lord next turn for the win with a better probability of security. you NEED both threats in this deck. not one, both. have you not seen all the decks with Extirpate and Surgical Extraction ? you need both.

3. takes lands for more mana (even if colorless) = faster

4. you know this ability is essential to a deck with no control. you have speed, so utilize it by this synergetic ability of tapping you summoning sick druids from your wave (or just flat out stupid long turns ;) and steal the game. you need control, and you need your Ezuri, Renegade Leader trample / mana dump. keep both!

5. Masked Admirers requires more mana to reuse, and because of the fact is reusable, they will kill other threats (even though a 3/2 is not a threat) first, just to prevent the reuse and card draw for you

I've stressed how keeping both is essential. Now, as to how many, I am unsure. 3 and 3 sounds good but I don't know, honestly. keep play testing.

P.S. good luck saturday. you and Vito1014 are going to do great!

If you guys want to see something hilarious, check out the latest update on my Legacy Druids deck that shows how you can win on turn 2.

That is awesome deep_shadow! Legacy Druids has become so crazy good!

Thanks for the support CurdBrosBrewingCo :)

As far as my own thoughts on some of the more recent discussion, I definitely think that there are a lot of different directions you can take with the deck, and ultimately it comes down to preference. The way it led me was thinking about the control aspect of it. The refilling your board and drawing more cards through Genesis Wave and Coiling Oracle is one of the things I liked the most about it. But you can very easily switch it up to a more aggro approach and just beat face with a huge army of 10/10's.

I think if I had the ideal vision of what a turn 2 board would look like for me for modern in green, it would be 2 Forest , one with a Utopia Sprawl on it, a Garruk Wildspeaker with 4 loyalty on the board, an Arbor Elf and Verduran Enchantress in play, and a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and a Cyclonic Rift in my hand.

The reason I imagine it that way is because on turn 3, you basically have complete control of the board, and nothing that you're drawing into is a dead card. Plus, if they Anger of the Gods , it doesn't even matter that much at that point because you can follow up with a 3/3 beast. But that vision is probably the most control-oriented direction that you could go. That's where my own preferences would tend to lead me, just because it's so different from where one would normally go with elves.

I have always been a casual player, and for me it's ultimately about making the deck that's the most fun to play. Whichever direction you ultimately take the deck, I think that you've already achieved that.

Trying out the list I modified today (i.e. testing it all night tonight). The changes include:

Change One

-4 Arbor Elf +4 Elvish Mystic

-4 Utopia Sprawl +4 Llanowar Elves

Pros:

1. This change creates "smoother" turns (as you don't HAVE to have a Forest to play either Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves .

2. Allows us to main-board 4 Cavern of Souls (which helps vs. control and helps us cast Coiling Oracle .

Cons.

1. Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl = 4 Mana where Elvish Mystic + Llanowar Elves = 2 mana. Utopia Sprawl is a "free" ramps spell after turn-1 if you have two Forests. With Arbor Elf it goes even further. It is an extremely fast way to ramp in the early turns and this can't be replicated with two mana-dorks.

You lose some of the "Explosion" of the deck (and your Genesis Wave s will invariably be smaller) but in return you gain stability and versatility. Your turn-1's are better and things are easier to cast; but turn-2 Garruk Wildspeaker 's are not a possibility.

Change Two

-2 Masked Admirers +2 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid

Pros:

1. Because we run so many more "druids" now (4 additional with the first change for a total of 20) both of his abilities become more relevant.

2. It is an additional possible win-con.

3. Dreno33 loves it :)

Cons

1. He costs 5-mana (which is a large difference from 4 in this deck).

2. He doesn't immediately draw a card (it requires casting another elf) so he doesn't really "cycle" like Masked Admirers ...while he can draw more potentially, he doesn't draw as fast.

3. He is not a mana-sink (where a Masked Admirers in the graveyard is.

With this change, you have much better "long-term" chances against more control'distruptive decks. You also add a fourth potential win-con via his "steal lands" ability. It does, however, take away from the "cycling" nature of the deck which was important to its initial success.

Change Three

-2 Forest +2 Cavern of Souls

Pros

1. Can run four Cavern of Souls which both helps us against control and helps us fix our mana and cast Coiling Oracle

2. Opens up a slot in the sideboard that held one Cavern of Souls

Cons

1. We're more vulnerable to Blood Moon and other cards that punish non-basic lands.

Because we are not as dependent on basic Forest s any longer (with the removal of Arbor Elf and Utopia Sprawl ) we can run four Cavern of Souls . This is most likely a "net positive" change given the above.

SUMMARY

Basically, in sum we've made a more resilient and versatile deck that is less explosive. In return, however, we did get another win-con. It appears to be a "net positive change" in sum (in my opinion); but as always I will test it out. I would love to hear what you guys think!

These are most likely the last set of changes that will be made before the "Final" version of the deck is solidified tomorrow. It will be either the prior verision (the slightly more Explosive and more "Aggro-Cycling" version) or this one (which is more Versatile and Resilient).

I've tested enough with the prior version to know how it plays...and now it is literally down to testing with this one to see if this package is advantageous. The changes made during testing are down to just moving around a total of 6-8 different cards (each somewhat of a "package" as they must come together or none at all) to see which are the best fit. The core is done and now it is literally just finding the best build encompassing the cards we've use that is in the best position for the meta.

As always, we're open to any comments, suggestions, and opinions!

If you would consider having beast within just have Rapid Hybridization

magiceli That is a great point. I'm pretty sure I will at some point have Beast Within (and/or now Rapid Hybridization ) in the board. It would effect the match I am to play with Vito1014 on Saturday, so I did not add it yet (as it would be unfair as it wasn't in the sideboard before the decision for the match and could effect the match).

I will definitely test Rapid Hybridization though. One nice side effect of Beast Within is that it can target any permanent (Liliana of the Veil , Blood Moon , Celestial Colonnade , etc.) so it is very versatile...but if 90% of the time it is going to be a creature anyways; it may be worth the 2-less mana. Thanks for the suggestion!

I can see why you would consider Rapid Hybridization . And i'd be all for it if you weren't capable of mana ramp. And for 2 more mana BeastWithin gives you a lot more utility.

That sideboard looks amazing. I definitely added a Fecundity to my build after seeing it. Nice job, CurdBrosBrewingCo!

i would recommend Ambush Commander . Hes a bit slow but with the ramp its worth getting a bunch of 1/1s that get pumps and some boosts.

sadiuh....I LOVE Ambush Commander ! I actually used it (the duel deck version) as the photo for this deck (as I love the idea of a "wave" of elves" coming down and fighting :). Unfortunately, it isn't Modern Legal :( I was so bummed because I would love it in this deck. You are right that it would be a great fit! Great suggestion. They need to reprint it in a Modern-legal set ASAP!

I don't know if anyone ever said this but Craterhoof Behemoth is not an elf so Ezuri, Renegade Leader overrun ability would not give the any bonus's.

ShadowDeath1990 You're working the combo backwards.... Craterhoof Behemoth is meant to come out as a finishing move.

Strike my comment, misread Craterhoof Behemoth and your example and saw how he got the +12/+12.

Queima made a comment on another deck that Umbral Mantle is infinite mana with Elvish Archdruid and 3 elves...I may need to try this. After a wave this would allow me to play my entire hand or if Ezuri hits it would make any attacker +100...and it's not uncommon that I get to such a board position...may have to test this.

How amazing would that be if Craterhoof was an elf though!!!! That would be so cool. I'm writing to WOC :).