Why did you take out Stoneforge Masterwork? It's the only card that pointed to a tribal theme.

HairyManBack, Metallic Mimic replaces Stoneforge Masterwork as the tribal card.

Cool. Play on.

*Elf player. And now fan of Standard Elves

Man, I'm getting some crazy inspiration from your deck, really brilliant. My only suggestion for you, is maybe cutting some of those Lifecrafter's Bestiary in favor of the Implement of Ferocity. It's quicker, adds to your counters, and still keeps you drawing cards.

MidnightTrain, thanks a lot and thanks for the suggestion of Implement of Ferocity. I haven't played with it yet, but I'll add it to the makeshift playtester sideboard :). Lifecrafter's Bestiary is pretty amazing with Rishkar, Peema Renegade's ability to make Elves into mana Elves.

HairyManBack, If you're interested in continuing to play Elves with Stoneforge Masterwork I've updated Budget Energy Elves.

It's using both Masterwork and Metallic Mimic as the tribal theme. I've kept it Temur for Harnessed Lightning. It's not using Winding Constrictor because he's not an Elf. The entire creature base are Elves. Some other changes are Rishkar, Peema Renegade replaces Sage of Shaila's Claim. Armorcraft Judge replaces Rashmi, Eternities Crafter. Narnam Renegade replaces Sylvan Advocate.

Thanks for the link. Think Mimic satisfies my tribal lust. Especially when everything getting big anyways. I'll be interested in how green expertise play here.

Looks like your mana base could be tweaked for consistency. Current access to 21 green could be shaved down a couple. Make way for an extra black and blue, which looks close to that thin red line. If you know what I mean, of course.

Omg!, Elves are back.... I was bored of playing grixis control :D, thanks again Multimedia

Hey poshakitoo, Elves are so back! All hail Rishkar, Peema Renegade for he will take the tribe to the promised land!

HairyManBack, I agree about the manabase, it could be better. How would you restructure the manabase?

I added Beastcaller Savant to help with the casting for both Skyrider Elf and Winding Constrictor. These two cards put the most strain on the manabase. Savant's haste has been good.

Beastcaller Savant! 12/10 idea. So simple.

MidnightTrain, excellently simple.

How has Aetherwind Basker been for your deck?

I haven't proxied this deck up and played it for reals yet, but the Basker did WORK for me during the prerelease, and paired with cultivator in playtesting, makes for a pretty reliable win con.

Game shop near me is having a pre-AER proxy tourney this week, I'll let you know how it does in the wild.

Hey multimedia, I've been brewing up a similar theme. I was amazed at how bonkers the Armorcraft Judge can be, even as early as turn 4 with all the counters between Rishkar, Peema Renegade + Metallic Mimic + Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. I was also contemplating which draw engine to play, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Soul of the Harvest, or the Judge (I even bought a playset of Soul of the Harvest for <$1). The Judge is even more incredible if you have a Paradox Engine on the field to cast all 10+ cards you just drew using all your little mana dork plants.

I wasn't planning on using Walking Ballista in my build, but I did pull one (and played with) during pre-release and it would make a solid addition both with the +1/+1 theme and as a nice mana-to-damage converter.

Does anyone know a 100% for certain if Walking Ballista comes in with an additional counter from the Snake? Different judges keep referring to different rules to prove two different points.

Cuz if it does it looks like a worthy SB consideration with the elves.

If Skyrider Elf's ETB gets bonus counters from snake, then so does Walking Ballista.

If not, then at least Ballista will get an extra counter when you pay 4 to add a counter. That's value.

MidnightTrain- from the rulings on the Gatherer page for Winding Constrictor: "If an artifact or creature you control would enter the battlefield with a number of any kind of counters on it, it enters with that many plus one instead."

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?&multiverseid=423807 (hyperlink formatting not working?)

So what I'm hearing is don't play winding constrictor with Thing in the Ice  ^Flip

Happy to hear Ballista does indeed come in with the additional counter. However, is there a source your getting your information from? Sorry, but I'm hearing this and that. Feel as if I need to call Wizards headquarters for this one, lol.

Hey everyone I just officially updated the deck with a complete Sultai version. Expect a new update some time soon explaining my card choices and more. I've added Grasp of Darkness and Walking Ballista to the main deck with another Ballista in the sideboard. Grasp is an instant speed answer to kill Felidar Guardian stopping the Saheeli Rai combo. It's also just an excellent versatile creature removal spell for an unknown metagame. Ballista can also stop the combo by removing a single counter targeting my opponent and redirecting killing Saheeli with her -2 ability targeting Guardian on the stack.

I've also added the first complete sideboard although the metagame hasn't even started. The sideboard will change a lot, but this is a starting point.

Here's a summary of four notable other fun versions that I've playtested, but they ultimately just missed the cut because they are all too slow and not as powerful compared to Sultai. Only one uses energy.

Gruul Ramp with Paradox Engine
• Uses Soul of the Harvest as the draw engine with Paradox and Decimator of the Provinces as the win condition. Red is for Chasm Guide to give all Elves that I play the turn I combo off haste. Both Beastcaller Savant and Sylvan Advocate are the Ally Elves that can trigger Chasm when the time is right to attack.

Temur Energy with Aetherwind Basker
• Uses Skyrider Elf, Peema Aether-Seer with Aetherwind Basker as the win condition. Red is for Spontaneous Artist to give Aetherwind haste and any other Elves haste.

Selesnya with Renegade Rallier and Oath of Ajani
• Another +1/+1 counters version using Oath of Ajani, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Collective Effort as the +1/+1 counter engine cards and Renegade Rallier as a recursion engine. It can compete with the Sultai version and can have some insane draws. I also tried Abzan, but the mana doesn't work. I almost picked this version over Sultai, but instead stuck with Skyrider Elf. I will most likely return to it later on.

Golgari with Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• Another +1/+1 counters version using Sylvan Advocate in place of Skyrider Elf. Drana is very good with Winding Constrictor. I ultimately didn't choose this version because Drana is slow having to attack and do combat damage to gives Elves counters.

djnewellmit, Armorcraft Judge is amazing now. I'm so glad she's an Elf. In my testing she's been the best draw engine because she's not just a spell, but a creature to put counters on.

I recommend adding Walking Ballista not only is it a colorless out to the Shaheeli combo, but it's just an excellent versatile creature because it can potentially kill with damage creatures, your opponent or Planeswalkers. It's an mana sink as well as having great interaction with the +1/+1 counters strategies.

HairyManBack, MidnightTrain: Yes Walking Ballista when it enters the battlefield will get an additional counter for each Winding Constrictor you control. Likewise if you use it's activated ability to put a counter on it, it will get an additional counter for each Constrictor you control.

HairyManBack, Winding Constrictor at Gatherer has a ruling about creatures that enter the battlefield with counters.

The ruling straight from Wizards page scroll down the page to read the second ruling: "If an artifact or creature you control would enter the battlefield with a number of any kind of counters on it, it enters with that many plus one instead."

This ruling applies to what you're asking about Walking Ballista. It's proof to show those that are telling you the wrong information.

Alright that's what I originally thought. Somehow I now question every true understanding I have for these God forsaken changes of rules. Ty for the link. Very appreciative.

MidnightTrain, that's true about Thing in the Ice  ^Flip good eye; getting more ice counters is terrible. How does Ice apply to this deck though?

I like the flying elf