ACDAMAN, thanks for the upvote. I just updated Budget Energy Elves for you.

Since Aetherworks Marvel has been banned this deck is very viable. One of the top decks right now is Temur Energy Midrange; think of this deck as a variation of it with Elves. Glorybringer is very good right now.

The only real difference between this deck and the budget version is the budget has a worse manabase using Evolving Wilds and Cinder Glade with no Botanical Sanctum or Game Trail. I recommend spending some extra money to use the manabase here instead of the budget version manabase.

Tireless Tracker is replaced with Mouth / Feed in the budget version which is obviously not as good, but a fine budget replacement for the Midrange matchups such as Temur Energy and Golgari Energy you want draw in.

I've choosen to main deck Magma Spray because you need it vs Zombies and that deck is very popular right now and the worst matchup. If Zombies aren't a problem at your FNM then you can either cut entirely or move all Spray to the sideboard. Here's a small guide of how I would change the main deck to reflect different most popular matchups at FNM:

1. If you're expecting a lot of Midrange decks like Temur Energy or Golgari Energy then replace Magma Spray with Mouth / Feed. In these matchups having a mass draw spell is much better than a spell that only does 2 damage to a creature.
2. If you're expecting a lot Aggro like Zombies and Mardu Vehicles then keep Spray main deck with a fourth in the sideboard.
3. If Control dominates FNM then replace Spray with more Bristling Hydra; likewise if you find that you're losing to Control then add more Hydra either main deck or sideboard.
4. The 4x Negate in the sideboard is for Control, but if no Control then you can cut some Negate for other cards.

Think of it like this Spray is to combat Aggro, Mouth is to out card advantage Midrange and Hydra can be an unkillable nasty threat vs Control. If one of these archetypes dominates your FNM more than the rest then you can adjust to reflect this.

multimedia Thanks! I have a lot of lands that I could use... and I used to play a Sigarda deck so I've got the Tireless Trackers and a few other things that I could use.

Thank you for responding so in depth!

ACDAMAN, that's good you have Tracker she along with the manabase: Sanctum, Trail and Fumarole are really the only large price differences between this deck and the budget version. What's your FNM like? Does one deck or a couple dominate or is there a variety of decks?

Good luck at FNM!

multimedia Haven't been to FNM in a few weeks, but the last few times control dominated, and a few Marvel decks which probably cycled to other Energy decks. There was also a zombie deck, but I think I'll just focus on the controls.

multimedia Going out to buy the cards I need now! I bought a SOI deckbuilder kit a while ago, so I think I've got the lands I need!

multimedia So I bought the cards, got most of them + a few lands that I need. Missing a Manglehorn and 4 Rogue Refiners.

Any replacements for Rogue Refiner?

ACDAMAN, you could try to use Empyreal Voyager. Flying, trample, gains energy equal to the amount of damage it does. Same CMC as Rogue Refiner, minus the card draw which is a big upside.

multimedia, how has the deck been performing as of late?

Variux, I'm having fun playing the deck. It had a terrible Marvel matchup, but Marvel is now banned so this deck is much more viable since it has a good matchup vs Temur/GB Energy and Mardu Vehicles. Zombies are a problem.

ACDAMAN, sounds great, that was fast. As far as lands go 4x Aether Hub, 4x Botanical Sanctum are the most important. You can get away with not using Game Trail if they are not of your price range or you can't get them, but I recommend 4x Trail also. Rogue Refiner is a must and are very cheap.

Replacements for Refiner are Tireless Tracker, you said you had 3x Tracker if so just main deck them. There's also Whirler Virtuoso; I used Virtuoso for a while, but he was ultimately cut for other cards. However, he's a fine energy producer replacement for Refiner. A recommend 2x Tracker and 3x Virtuoso if you're choosing this route. Another option is to increase the amount of Bristling Hydra to 3-4x for more energy and main deck Tracker for draw.

Manglehorn is less needed if you don't expect any Mardu Vehicles with Heart of Kiran and Aethersphere Harvester at your FNM. Mardu is the real reason for Manglehorn in the sideboard.

multimedia Thanks! I'll test that out!

multimedia I copied your deck and edited it a bit, can you check out the manabase and see if it's ok?

Budget Energy Elves (Adapted)

Standard* ACDAMAN

8 VIEWS

I just updated the Deck Strategy section here with a writeup including a new Gameplay portion which I'm not quite done with, but it's a start.

I have some bad news it looks like Ixalan the set after Amonkhet doesn't have Elves. Although not offical yet pictures of the entire rare and mythic rare sheet of cards were leaked and there's not one Elf present. Not having a rare Elf in the set is a pretty good indicator that Elves are not on Ixalan. Dinosaurs and Merfolk appear to be the tribes in green.

If I'm right about no Elves in the Ixalan set then we will have to wait a long time before any new Elves are in Standard until Dominaria, the next set after Ixalan. It releases in April 2018...

Hey I have a love of elves as much as you do! And was wondering if you had a sec if you could check out my standard dec?

So I did some changes to my deck, thank you so much for the advice I did not even think about Aetherwind that was a great choice. If you want to see the changes and have any other ideas I'm great full for the advice.

Hey Multimedia! I just 'went public' with a new Elf deck, Elvish Menagerie (AKH). Since you are convinced that elves are about to hit a low point, I thought you might need an alternative to your overpowered (get it... energy...) barely Elvish list. ;) I think this one has some potential with a little work. Check it out. Thanks for keeping an eye on the new stuff for us.

I was reading the Timeline tab, and saw your section on Westvale Abbey... It could still be really good in this deck, thoughts on putting it back in? Maybe as a 2-of?

Hey ACDAMAN, thanks for your interest. The manabase here is three colors unfortunately there's no room for Abbey. I'm already stretching the amount of colored sources, even green, in the manabase to the limit I can't afford to play a land that doesn't make colored mana.

A Simic, two color version I'm testing is Monument Elves (HOU) which uses Abbey.

You can also check out CloudThumper's Elvish Menagerie (AKH) which is also Simic and using Abbey.

multimedia Ah I see what you mean, thanks. I guess I might just throw them in when I play it and see how it goes! Thanks though!

What are you planning to do post-rotation? Too many of the elves will be out to keep this deck standard, maybe change to frontier (or even modern)?

ACDAMAN, I'm really not sure what's going to happen post-rotation. One thing is for sure big changes will happen here. The energy strategy might be over and something else will takes it's place?

There's still an okay pool of Elves to choose from in Standard just finding the right combination and strategy to build around is going to be a new fun challange. I would like to continue to try to play Elves in Standard using new strategies or improving on existing ones such as ramp since Servant of the Conduit and Rishkar, Peema Renegade become the best Elves. The main reason I keep up with this deck and have for two years now is because it's fun to build new versions either with tribal Elves or find good shells that Elves can fit into. This is the challenge that I like and would like to continue here.

I could switch to Frontier it would definitely give a much larger pool of Elves to choose from especially Shaman of the Pack, but Frontier is not played in my circle and I don't see people playing the format on Untap.in or Xmage. The format seems kind of dead.

I don't think I will switch to Modern because of the cost and Elves are already pretty much solved. While they look very fun to play I want the challenge of making Elves work when they aren't solved.

It appears that Ixalan, the next set, although not official, doesn't have Elves. It's possible they're the dino riders, but this is pure speculation on my part. What it does have are tribal cards which can be used for any tribe. Are these cards good enough to build around I don't know yet. I'm not going to rule out no Elves in Ixalan until all the tribes for the set have been revealed which most likely will take place when the official Ixalan plane site on Wizards site is added or the Ixalan product page is updated.

Worst case scenario is I stop playing this deck after Ixalan, working on improving it or trying to make Elves work and return to it in April 2018 when Domanaria is released. I'm expecting Domanaria to have Elves.

I see what you mean about frontier and modern, and good luck with the rotation! Hopefully you can get something to work with it!

do you think Dominaria will go back to having Llanowar Elves reprinted in Standard?

If I remember correctly, in Time Spiral~Future Sight, the entire skyshroud forest was destroyed by the rifts and Freyalise, and Multani the maro sorcerer of Yavimaya disappeared (or died?).

I hope Llanowar is a region on Dominaria we visit. Freyalise saved the Elves of Llanowar from the Ice Age with the World Spell ending the Ice Age and Elves survived the Phyrexia invasion; they're still alive on Dominaria. Llanowar is also one of the most rejuvenated regions on the plane after the invasion which is good if that's the direction that Wizards is going with Dominaria.

The Elves of Llanowar powers were about making mana and ramp. If we're visiting Llanowar then a reprint of Llanowar Elves makes a lot of sense. The problem is ideas that makes sense for Standard is not what Wizards does with Magic. Their track record in the last two years has been shit and because of this I find it unlikely we'll get a reprint or new one mana Elf mana dork. It's possible that with the Eldrazi out of the picture that Wizards will again push ramp as an archetype in Standard which would mean Standard needs a one mana dork. The most logical set to reprint staples which should be in Standard and never leave such as Llanowar Elves, Lightning Strike, Pithing Needle is in Core 2019, the return of core sets.

Unfortunately, you're right the Skyshroud Forest and Freyalise are gone. Freyalise sacrificed herself using the rest of her powers along with all the mana energy from the Forest to seal the rift. It's sad that they're gone because both have great lore especially Freyalise. It would be nice to get a new Freyalise Elf Planeswalker in Dominaria, but I'm not expecting it unless Wizards is retelling the events on Dominaria for nostalgic reasons including the Ice Age and Phyrexia invasion.