I am looking forward to your take on all the new elves being spoiled for Guilds of Ravnica!

Great approach with the current spoilers! The only thing that I'd take a closer look would be the zombie there. You could go with Orchan Assassin for pseudo-unblockables. Or Izoni to work as a "master of waves" alike.

I like the update, Midnight Reaper seemed out of place to me though, what about Ochran Assassin maindeck? It's a good answer to multiple creatures at once, effectively a 3 mana one sided board wipe that has to survive until your next combat but that seems pretty strong

Hey djnewellmit, thanks, lots of good new Elves in the set I'm excited to get to brewing. I've already updated with the first version, it's back to Golgari, but Selesnya with Emmara, Soul of the Accord, Conclave Guildmage with Radiant Destiny and Shalai, Voice of Plenty also has real potential.

Hey joaoguaxinim and vomitpile, thanks for the suggestion. Ochran Assassin is in the sideboard when I get a chance to playtest her this evening/weekend in place of Midnight Reaper; we'll see if her ability is better than Reaper. Reaper may not be an Elf, but it's a powerful card against removal/board wipes cards Elves have problems with and is good if I want to keep the aristocrat strategy. The theoretical decks I'm playtesting against right now are Boros Goblins, Mono Green Midrange and Mono Red Midrange. 1 toughness of Assassin is not good against Goblin Chainwhirler. Reaper survives Chainwhirler's ETB and if Chainwhirler kills any of my 1 toughness creatures like Llanowar Elves I'm drawing a card for each one while also losing 1 life.

Chainwhirler will however help if I want to play undergrowth. It may actually be beneficial to play more 1 toughness creatures who die to Chainwhirler, but realistically going to need more self mill and a low mana cost card/no mana cost sac outlet, to play undergrowth. Glowspore Shaman is a good start, but it's not enough yet. I really like that Secrets of the Mausoleum can tutor for Izoni, Thousand-Eyed or Underrealm Lich depending on how many creatures are in my graveyard. If I can't tutor for either of them then I can possibly get Assassin's Trophy or Vraska, Golgari Queen. Secrets is a good two drop instant tutor payoff to want to play undergrowth, but need more enablers.

I may be over-hyping Beast Whisperer because he's a four drop who without ramp I can't get value the turn I play him. He's also not very good with undergrowth if I choose to play it. With Whisper I want to have in my hand and play Elves to draw cards, but with undergrowth I want to do the opposite. I want to get Elves into the graveyard before they're even cast. If I play undergrowth than Vraska will most likely be my four drop in place of Whisperer since she can be an enabler to get Elves who are on the battlefield into my graveyard while also providing draw.

Surveil is a nice mechanic with undergrowth, but I don't see myself playing Sultai with blue currently because the mana situation is problematic, having only one playable blue dual land, Hinterland Harbor that can make green mana. Chart a Course, Dimir Informant, Nightveil Sprite, Rain of Notions, House Guildmage all seem like good blue undergrowth enablers, but I don't think splashing blue just for some undergrowth enablers is where I want to be. Explore (Jadelight Ranger, Merfolk Branchwalker) is a good green mechanic with undergrowth, but like surveil there's no Elves with explore.

Hey man would you mind sending me the decklist you had before this, i bought most of the cards you had but i cant find the GR (Gruul) deck you had up till now. Im pretty sure it was you who had the deck that contained the elves+red combo with Aethersphere hubs etc. Please and thank you - having alot of trouble with ratios.

Hey Sephigeta, thanks for the upvote. I save lists all my versions, here's the previous Gruul version:

• 5x Forest
• 1x Mountain
• 4x Unclaimed Territory
• 3x Aether Hub
• 4x Rootbound Crag
• 3x Sheltered Thicket
• 2x Hashep Oasis
• 4x Llanowar Elves
• 3x Narnam Renegade
• 4x Elvish Clancaller
• 4x Thorn Lieutenant
• 3x Servant of the Conduit
• 4x Steel Leaf Champion
• 3x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 2x Rhonas the Indomitable
• 3x Grand Warlord Radha
• 4x Abrade
• 4x Blossoming Defense

Sideboard:

• 2x Banefire
• 2x Deathgroge Scavenger
• 2x Aethersphere Harvester
• 2x Reclamation Sage
• 2x Vine Mare
• 2x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Vivien Reid
• 1x Nissa Vital Force

Brewing with Elves for Guilds of Ravnica Standard has been amazing fun because Elves have so many options right now (and more are still to be revealed). More than any other time I can remember there's been this many playable Elf options in Standard :) Elves are in both Golgari and Selesyna guilds and each guild brings something different to the tribe. So many possibilities; why not combine them? This weekend I've done just that and as a result this deck has changed, it's now Abzan.

White for Emmara, Soul of the Accord and Trostani Discordant and black for Assassin's Trophy and Swarm Guildmage. Having access to both black and white for the sideboard will open up a lot of versatile options; some are Knight of Autumn, Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Midnight Reaper and Duress. Emmara and Trostani add a new Solider token theme with Elves. New Trostani is pretty powerful for a five drop with Elves because she can give them all +1/+1 as well as make tokens who have lifelink. She's great at stabilizing against aggro as well as making my army of Elves and tokens safe from Goblin Chainwhirler's ETB ability.

Shes another anthem effect for the tribe to go along with Elvish Clancaller. Against control she puts out 5 power, 8 toughness over three bodies, good recovery from a board wipe. Trostani is great with ramp with Elves following a Trostani after a Steel Leaf Champion is a power play. Currently I'm playing 2x Trostani main deck, but I could see playing a third copy since she's another anthem effect for Elves.

A three color manabase is tricky and it's the main thing I worked on this weekend; can't play three colors if the manabase is shitty. I came to conclusion that Abzan could work with Steel Leaf Champion and Assassin's Trophy because of Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden and by adding two cards District Guide and Song of Freyalise. Both these cards can help to fix colors of mana.

Guide is an underrated card. I tested Elvish Rejuvenator instead of Guide, but came to the conclusion that Guide is better even though if I reveal a land with Rejuvenator I can put it onto the battlefield tapped (including a dual land). Guild only puts the basic land I tutor for into my hand, but the difference is Guide can as long as I have a basic land in my library tutor for a land. Rejuvenator can miss in the top five of my library. With 30 creatures I was finding this was happening and Rejuvenator is a terrible card if he doesn't get me a land.

The 1 toughness vs 2 toughness is another factor since I'm relying on Elvish Clancaller as the tribal lord (reason to play Elves) or Trostani as anthem effects. A 3/3 Guide is much better than a 2/2 Rejuvenator with one of these anthems. 2/2 Guide survives Chainwhirler's ETB, 1/1 Rejuvenator doesn't.

I've been waiting for a reason to play Song of Freyalise with Elves and Emmara, Soul of the Accord is now the reason. Emmara and the tokens she can create have amazing interaction with Song. With Song Emmara can be ramp of any color as well as create more fuel for even more ramp the next turn. This interaction creates more creatures for more ramp, more color fixing, but these creatures are also making Song much better for it's chapter three ability which can be a win condition now.

Another reason I added Song is to make Beast Whisperer better. Using Elves as ramp instead of attacking to play even more Elves and draw cards. This is doing things that are good with Song it's adding more creatures to the battlefield who can be more ramp the next turn and it's creating a bigger army to smash my opponent with chapter three of Song.

I don't want to be attacking with Whisperer unless I know for sure it's safe. He's much better to have alive on the battlefield then attacking and doing some damage. With Song I can use Whisperer as ramp to help to play Elves which in turn is making Whisperer double useful (draw and ramp). Whisperer's draw allows me to trim the numbers of cards making it easier to build a clear core (4x Llanowar, 4x Thorn, 4x Clancaller, 4x Champion, 4x Trophy) while also having enough draw power to help to draw supporting cards.

I'm playing both Swarm Guildmage and Conclave Guildmage. It's amazing that both the Golgari and Selesyna Guildmages are Elves; these guys provide a lot of utility for the tribe. I'm been very impressed with Swarm, much less so with Conclave. Swarm in combination with Song's chapter three ability can wreck my opponent. Song gives all my creatures vigilance, I can attack with all of them including Swarm and then with five mana I can tap Swarm and give all my creatures a pump and menace. Song gives vigilance, trample and indestructible to my creatures until EOT and Swarm gives them menace EOT making my army pretty much unstoppable for the turn potentially winning the game.

Conclave is a lone 1 of because it's abilities while good are less needed and as impactful as Swarm. Giving Steel Leaf Champion or 6/7 Thorn Lieutenant trample are good reasons to play Conclave, but these are too situational scenarios. Emmara is the same exact casting cost as Conclave and she's a much more integral part of this deck's new strategy.

Assassin's Trophy is a card that's worth playing and heavily testing a three color manabase to play it. This card is powerful that theoretically I don't need to play any other removal because it can destroy anything including a damn land. Giving my opponent a basic land that they can put into play untapped does have it's disadvantages though when against aggro especially red with burn spells. As a result Trophy is a not good removal spell for the early the game, it's a mid and late game removal spell when lands matter much less to my opponent. I'm playing 4x Trophy main deck right now, but if aggro is dominate in Standard then I could see cutting some for other removal early game removal like Seal Away or Cast Down.

Why only one Unclaimed Territory?

Hey Hex, short answer is I don't need it. Territory can't help to turn on Check lands, that's the main reason I've cut it down.

Territory is less needed because of Tomb and Garden that can ETB untapped turn one or any other turn to make one of two colors and a single one of these lands turns on all the Check lands. I've left Territory as a 1 of for now because it's still a good land with Elves because it can ETB untapped, but I don't want an opening hand of two of them.

The big difference is with Abzan I have 8x Check lands that I want to turn on. In contrast with Golgari I only had 4x Cemetery and lots of Forests which can turn on Cemetery. Territory is fine with a Golgari manabase because it's only bad with 4x Cemetery. With Abzan Territory is bad with 8x Check lands, in my opinion that's too many.

Using District Guide and with the most likely upcoming presence of Trophy in Standard, basic lands are good. I've however reached the limit of the amount of basic Plains and Swamps that I'll play (2x of each is still a lot, would rather only play 1x of each) any more and I risk hurting the consistency of playing Steel Leaf Champion and Llanowar Elves.

hey man, I'm really sorry maybe I just don't understand how to navigate this site, but I'm looking for your current standard list (M19) without the GRN updates. On the timeline I can only find the Dominaria update, which is missing a lot of key pieces. Maybe you can help me out, thanks!

Hey benjonator, is this the old deck list you're looking for?

• 5x Forest
• 1x Mountain
• 4x Unclaimed Territory
• 3x Aether Hub
• 4x Rootbound Crag
• 3x Sheltered Thicket
• 2x Hashep Oasis
• 4x Llanowar Elves
• 3x Narnam Renegade
• 4x Elvish Clancaller
• 4x Thorn Lieutenant
• 3x Servant of the Conduit
• 4x Steel Leaf Champion
• 3x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 2x Rhonas the Indomitable
• 3x Grand Warlord Radha
• 4x Abrade
• 4x Blossoming Defense

Sideboard:

• 2x Banefire
• 2x Deathgroge Scavenger
• 2x Aethersphere Harvester
• 2x Reclamation Sage
• 2x Vine Mare
• 2x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Vivien Reid
• 1x Nissa Vital Force

I've been getting some requests for the old final Gruul version of this deck. If you're still interested in this version then I've included the deck list in the deck description area at the top of the page. To see the deck list click on the show button. I'll leave it on the page until Oct. 5th rotation.

When I get around to updating the Timeline then that's the place that the final Gruul version deck list will be after Oct. 5th :)

yeah thats exactly it, thanks so much man!

I think GRN standard season may be your time to shine. This deck is crazy powerful! I was able to dump 27 power onto the battlefield by turn 4 and still had an Emmara and a Knight of Autumn in hard. This thing is terrifying!

I think we can all agree here that Knight of Autumn is OP and if it were 5 life, then my life will be complete.

hello multimedia, i suggest cutting the non tribal cretures for 1 more Pelt Collector that is fuckin awesome, and maybe a 2/3x of Conclave Cavalier with great body/thougness, vigilance that leaves 2 elves tokens if leaves the ground.. i thought too that going bant to add Negate in sideboard and maybe a 2x of Mirror Image in MB acting as a 5th and 6th elvish clancaller could be resonable. what fo you think?

Hey, Soulcommando, haha lets hope :) The explosiveness is definitely back and there's so many avenues/lines of play that can be good with Selesnya and convoke. Pelt Collector is the one drop Elf who the tribe needed and Guilds of Ravnica delivered. I've surprised myself how fast the pieces fell into place to make Selesyna work. And I'm happy with the results.

The most damage I've done playtesting so far attacking turn four is 20 damage. That's with a god hand: turn one Llanowar, turn two Collector and Emmara, turn three Loxodon, turn four 2x Clancaller and attack with a 6/6 Collector, 4/4 Llanowar, 4/4 Loxodon, 5/5 Emmara and 1/1 token. That's 25 power on the battlefield turn four. Even with only one Clancaller turn four I'm still attacking for 17 damage.

Venerated Loxodon brings the speed with his convoke. He's the new addition and one of the main reasons the deck is now Selesnya instead of Abzan. He replaced Song of Freyalise as the convoke enabler for Emmara. I really like the interaction of Loxodon with Elves especially Pelt Collector putting two counters on him just by convoking. Loxodon can also be slow if I can't play him turn three, but even so he can make a very powerful board state for the next turn. Knight of Autumn being a Knight is super helpful for the manabase with Territory (big reason I can consistently play it turn two) because Steel Leaf Champion is also a Knight. It also helps that both Autumn/Trostani are Dryads and Emmara/Loxodon are Clerics. This makes it easier to craft a hand with these creatures around Territory as my white source.

Hey, KiroiSenko, welcome to TappedOut :) Conclave Cavalier is a good suggestion, the card is definitely strong, but it's not amazing enough to have to change the manabase for it's CMC. It's CMC is very difficult to consistently make. I'm playing Steel Leaf Champion he's a core Elf, many people including myself say he is the reason to play green in Standard. Even with Unclaimed Territory's help (Cavalier is a Knight) it's still too difficult to play both Champion and Cavalier in the same deck, is the problem. Adding Song of Freyalise back into the deck would help.

If I was going to add a card four drop to this deck it would be Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants. Ajani is very versatile being a counters engine or reanimation of Thorn, Emmara or Collector. He's very good with Collector and Emmara putting counters on either getting Collector closer to trample and giving Emmara more toughness so she can safely attack. I'm currently playing one Ajani in the sideboard, wish I could play more, but can't consistently cast cards.

Lava Coil is going to be a big problem for midrange decks in Standard. It's the card red aggro needed to combat Champion, Rekindling Phoenix and Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip. If Cavalier get killed by Coil it's exiled and as a result I don't get the tokens. Loxodon also has 4 toughness, but I got value from him when he ETB since he gives all creatures used to convoke him counters. I'm less upset if Coil exiles Loxodon.

Pelt Collector is an amazing card and I've taken your advice and added a fourth copy cutting 1x Seal Away, thanks. I'm not willing to cut a creature to add a fourth Collector, but cutting 1x Seal is fine. Four Collector does make him potentially worse as a top deck later in the game, but it also increases the consistently, my chances of having him turn one which is more important for the strategy of this deck.

Adding blue for Bant will have to wait until Jan. 2019. Then all ten Shock lands will be in Standard and it will be a wild ride for brewing in Standard. When this deck has access to Breeding Pool then blue and Bant has potential for Negate and Hadana's Climb  ^Flip. Mirror Image is an interesting suggestion, but I don't think it's good enough card to warrant cutting something else. Maybe as a one of.

Hey multimedia,

Last time I commented on your deck was probably Origins... So it's been awhile. I just saw your post on the Jeskai Control deck and frankly, I'm worried about my meta being control heavy in the terms you mentioned on that post. I think that will be our hardest matchup, and was wondering what you think we'd need to break through such a robust defense? My only thought in maybe 1-2x Carnage Tyrants in the sideboard to side in vs. Jeskai control, but if they start the whole History of Benalia shenanigans, should the side have a couple Reclamation Sages? I know my meta is going to be control heavy, be it Jeskai or Esper, and I'm not looking forward to it.

Hey Melanthios, wow three years ago? Long time, welcome back :)

If your meta becomes Jeskai Control heavy then you'll want to consider making some changes to the main deck to combat Settle the Wreckage. First consider dropping the aggressive strategy with Venerated Loxodon and shifting into a midrange strategy with ramp and Shalai, Voice of Plenty. You'll want main deck Shalai to stop Settle. Main deck more Assure / Assemble; Assemble gives you an instant spell to use all the lands that Settle gives you to quickly rebound with a new board state and it works well with more ramp. Assure is a way to protect an Elf from damage removal spell (Lightning Strike, Justice Strike, Lava Coil, Deafening Clarion, etc.) these are spells that Jeskai Control will most likely be using. Beast Whisperer is also good against control with more ramp because you draw when you cast a creature which triggers before a counterspell.

If your meta becomes Esper Control heavy then you'll want to plan the main deck to recover from Ritual of Soot. Just like with Jeskai Control I think going midrange with more ramp is better to consistently be able to play four/five drops faster which don't die to Soot. Beast Whisperer being a four drop survives Soot which is good. The aggressive Loxodon plan will consistently fail if Soot is a big part of the meta. Selesnya is the not the direction I would go if Soot is a problem in Standard. Golgari or Abzan are better options.

Carnage Tyrant is problematic to play against control that's using Settle and Cleansing Nova, but if you want a big creature to block the battlefield from Knights from History then he's an option. If Selesnya then you don't need Reclamation Sage because of Knight of Autumn which is a better Sage and it's in the main deck. If History is a huge part of the meta you play in then consider a fourth copy of Autumn in the sideboard? Tyrant is much better against Esper Control than Jeskai Control because Esper will most likely not have Settle/Nova instead playing Soot and Vraska's Contempt which are two spells that can't stop Tyrant.

Realistically though if any control is a major problem in the Standard meta or in your specific meta than we'll want to play black for Duress; either Golgari or Abzan are choices, most likely Golgari. Abzan is less desirable because of the lack of basic lands which are needed in the manabase to get any kind of mana advantage after a Settle. That being said Abzan gives you access all of Shalai, Duress and Assemble which is a great combination to combat/rebound from Settle as well as convoke. See my version of Abzan, Elves of Dark Conclave (GRN).

In my opinion Golgari is the direction to go if control is a problem. More black not just for Duress, but also Golgari Findbroker, Plaguecrafter, The Eldest Reborn and Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip. These are good cards to play against control and Findbroker can recur Plaguecrafter, Reborn, Blood Fast or a Planeswalker, etc.; she's anti counterspell/Soot tech. See my version of Golgari, Elves of the Swarm (GRN). Golgari also has a good matchup against Mono Green/Golgari Stompy.

The current Selesnya version is not built for control matchups; it's built to beat Mono Green/Golgari Stompy and Goblin Chainwhirler red aggro. Going wide and tall, winning the Steel Leaf Champion, Thorn Lieutenant and Pelt Collector battles with Elvish Clancallers. The reason for all the life gain main deck is to beat aggro. Early on I like the main deck aggressive explosiveness of Loxodon and convoke right now.

Just updated with the new budget version, Budget Elves of Ravnica.

The strategy is some what different to account for the considerable decrease in deck price. Notable main deck cards excluded are: Pelt Collector, Steel Leaf Champion, Trostani Discordant, Knight of Autumn and Temple Garden. It's also Selesnya tribal Elves with Elvish Clancaller using convoke with Emmara, Soul of the Accord, Venerated Loxodon and Conclave Tribunal. The difference is I've added a ramp strategy with Marwyn, the Nurturer and Druid of the Cowl. The added ramp is for main deck Shalai, Voice of Plenty. The budget version can go aggressive with Loxodon or midrange/ramp with Marwyn/Shalai/Loxodon.

I decided to add main deck Shalai over main deck Whisperer because Shalai is much better against aggro than Whisperer. With the loss of Steel Leaf Champion in the budget version than the power level is decreased a lot therefore I need to add something that could recoup some power level; Shalai with ramp is my answer. Whisperer is still a powerful strategy with Elves, but for now he'll go in the sideboard for midrange/control matchups.

The sideboard is much different to also account for the decrease in deck price. Most notable card excluded is Vivien Reid. Unfortunately, Vivien is not a budget card for Standard. In her place I've added more Whisperer and Find / Finality. Find is quickly becoming one of my favorite cards in Guilds of Ravnica; I find my self putting it in all my green decks. Find is very good at recovery after removal or nonSettle board wipe; two mana to recur two different creatures is very good.

Finality is good too especially with Marwyn and Shalai and I could see adding some Woodland Cemetery to play it, but for now I'm leaving black out in the manabase. With the lose of Vivien, the budget version needs alternative ways of card advantage for midrange/control matchups which Find provides. Citywide Bust replaces Settle the Wreckage and is a significant downgrade, but it's a necessary answer to Carnage Tyrant or Ghalta, Primal Hunger. Reclamation Sage replaces Knight of Autumn.

@multimedia Decklist is looking pretty spicey as always. One of my favorite deck threads by far. Keep up the good work :)

multimedia I just have to say it: I love the formatting, the deck, and I just wanted to thank you and say that I admire the enormous amount of effort you dedicate to this deck. Also I really like the changes you've made for GRN, can't wait to see the changes for the next set!

Great job!!!

Stazeeee, thanks so much.

magicsheep, thanks for the upvote and the props. I've actually lax on the effort I put into this deck. I used to write a lot more updates about the various versions I was playing as well as complete each set spoilers and give overall final thoughts about each set. Real in depth update about the current version, but the last two versions I haven't done this because I felt there was a loss of interest. You thanking me and admiring me for the amount of effort I put into this deck makes me feel good :)

Mannnn your change ups are screwing with me bro... I didn't get any Marches and now you've got a version with them in there... How am I supposed to keep up :|