Why take out Collected Company? Its still in Standard

Moomoomooo, Collected Company could easily just replace Sylvan Messenger. It has done well in playtesting. Although, I'm finding Messenger to be better with Cryptolith Rite since she is a creature and because she can find other copies of herself which Company can't do. This deck is using 12x mana Elves that can ramp into a turn 3 Messenger where as it's only using 4x Leaf Gilder which can ramp into a turn 3 Company. Now a turn 2 Rite can help to cast a turn 3 Company if you hit your land drops which is strong, but this deck has much better odds of getting a Messenger turn 3.

It might turn out that the instant speed of Company is just better, while also giving this deck more sideboard creature options, than Messenger can offer. We will have to see what happens, but for now I'm sticking with Messenger.

Hello,

I've been playing this deck for a while, and wanted to thank the hard work, it works great, and been able to defeat almost every other meta deck. I also wanted to ask with the changes of SoI, what more can you update the sideboard to make this deck more competitive. I have cards like Might of the Masses, Oath of Nissa, and Tajuru Warcaller working on the deck, since where i play it's difficult to find high budget decks, but when they come, they're hard for me to counter or play right against them

poshakitoo, Hello, thanks for the props. I'm so glad that this deck is working so well for you.

As far as sideboard options, the first SOI tournament is today, Star City Games Open in Baltimore. After this weekend we will know a little better what the current best decks are so we can sideboard more effectively. For now, I'm using sideboard cards that are best vs the worst cards I want to face. Are you playing in budget-friendly meta and asking for budget friendly sideboard options?

The current sideboard I'm using is working well for me and is competitive, but it's built for non-budget matchups:

• 4x Duress vs any deck using Chandra, Flamecaller such as Ramp, board wipes and white decks using Declaration in Stone, Always Watching , Secure the Wastes, etc.


• 4x Ultimate Price is an excellent card right now vs all the tribal decks especially Humans. The only decks it is bad against are Eldrazi and Ramp. Price is a way to kill Avacyn at instant speed which you must do before she flips.


• 3x Clip Wings the only way not to lose to Ormendahl, Profane Prince  ^Flip other than having your own on the battlefield and is also great vs Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip gets around her indestructibility, Archangel of Tithes and Dragonlord Ojutai gets around his hexproof.


• 2x Ruinous Path for Planeswalkers that Duress doesn't take and creatures that Ultimate Price can't kill such as, Reality Smasher, etc.


• 2x Soul of the Harvest is board wipe insurance since he survives most board wipes that you will face Languish, Flaying Tendrils, Avacyn, the Purifier  ^Flip. His card drawing ability helps you recover faster after a wipe. He is good in a variety of midrange matchups like Eldrazi and Jund.

Now that I have replaced Sylvan Messenger with Collected Company again, haha. This opens up more opportunity to use some creatures that Company can find in the sideboard. If you're still using Messenger than you don't really have that many Elf options besides, Gilt-Leaf Winnower, Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen and Tajuru Warcaller.

The tricky thing about sideboards is you want to build them around the meta you play in. If your meta doesn't have a lot of non-budget decks in it which means you don't face them much then planing your sideboard around them is not the best idea. Instead plan it around the most played hardest matchups that you face. Sounds like you are beating all the matchups in your meta, which is great. Are you winning using the current sideboard I have made for this deck or your own?

I'm sorry I don't really understand what you are saying in the last part of your comment. Are you using Might of the Masses, Oath of Nissa and Tajuru Warcaller in your version of this deck? Are you playing a budget version like Budget Messenger Elves? That's cool if you are, but cutting any cards from this current non-budget version for any of those will hurt your chances of beating non-budget decks.

I'm happy to give more advice, but please post your current decklist in the comments, thanks.

Is the deck still standard? Because Soul of the Harvest is not standard legal. Is it? Am I missing something here? Just figured I'd point that out if you hadn't noticed.

TannerP1997, Soul of the Harvest is Standard legal now since SOI is out. Soul is a green rare in the Welcome 2016 deck or Booster Battle Packs. Any card in that deck and packs is Standard legal as long as SOI is.

Wizards has announced Booster Battle Packs here and read the thread about some of the cards featured here. Technically Wizards hasn't yet announced a list cards in the Booster Battle Packs, but they have updated Gatherer with some of the Welcome Deck 2016 cards, here is Soul.

I have to say I am absolutely in love with this deck! I love anything tribal and elves are probably my favorite! I have been trying to find a way to use that stupid flip demon land (I'm too lazy to get the name right haha) and I didn't even think of elves! Thank you so much for posting this and I look forward to any and all updates! With luck I hope to acquire the last few pieces for my version of this deck and will let you know what I think! I also hope to take it to states in a few weeks!

Hey multimedia. I'm back again with another little suggestion I have after going to a PPTQ at my local game store. What do you think about Eldrazi Displacer? If you manage to get a Shaman of the Pack to survive like one turn and drop a displacer and blink him once or twice, you win. There's also Eerie Interlude, but I really like displacer for multiple blinks. Eerie Interlude can blink your board out of board wipes though, so I'd like to hear your opinion. It can also produce a lot of 1/1 elf warriors and draw a few cards. Now that we are running 4x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip and 4x Llanowar Wastes, getting colorless mana should she be super easy. Also, we can run a few Caves of Koilos for some swamps to make up for the times we dont get Cryptolith Rite to get some white mana. Finally, I wanted to talk to you about Gnarlroot Trapper. I keep finding him so underwhelming. I can never find a way to use his death touch ability and he needs black to cast. Usually we get those from llanowar wastes. I just find that he deals so much damage to us for the little effects he has on the board. Perhaps you have advice for me on how to use him properly. Thanks again.

TheFirst, Hello, thanks, glad you like this deck so much. I really look forward to reading your thoughts when you get your deck completed. Good luck at States.

codach, Hey, how did you do at the PPTQ?

I think Eldrazi Displacer is an excellent card and a great suggestion, it really showed it's power today in the SCG Open in a variety of matches that I saw. It's like a pseudo removal spell since the creature you blink comes back into play tapped. It would be great with Shaman of the Pack and any other Elves with enters the battlefield abilities. Collected Company has now replaced Sylvan Messenger, Company interacts great with Displacer because of this you don't need to use as many white sources to play it. Beastcaller Savant can also help to make white mana to cast it which is strong.

Good point about the 8x lands that can activate Displacer in this deck. This is however on the low side of the amount you want, but still fine. Replacing Swamps with Caves of Koilos is an option which would give you 10-12x colorless sources which is much better to use Displacer. The problem with replacing Swamps with more Pain lands is the life loss from using your lands. I tried using 8x Pain lands in an Abzan version of this deck and it was just too many. Having opening hands of all Pain lands is just bad.

I've been playtesting an Abzan version of this deck using Eerie Interlude as a center piece and I have found Eerie to be great with Elves and Rite, but the Abzan manabase to be really bad. In fact all three color manabases I have tried have been very inconsistent hence why this deck is still Golgari colors.

I can see Displacer working out much better than Interlude for the very reason that you don't have to rely as much on white mana from lands. Give Displacer a try and let me know how it turns out.

Gnarlroot Trapper can be underwhelming in some matchups you are right about that, but he is only 1 drop Elf left to play. Having a 1 drop Elf is so important not only for faster starts, but to make it easier to flip Westvale Abbey  ^Flip. One of the problems is if you were to replace Trapper what would you replace him with? It would most likely need to be an Elf. The only Elf that I could see replacing Trapper is Nissa, Vastwood Seer. Without using Trapper you would most likely need to include another land since he is a mana Elf after all.

I find it much easier to be aggressive with Elves with a Trapper on the battlefield. Without him I would be hesitant to attack with a bunch of little Elves. I'm sorry that his Deathtouch is not working out for you, but I find his ability to be very important if I want to be aggressive. The biggest downside of Trapper is as you mentioned he costs black mana meaning you need a manabase that can support a turn 1 black source. Cutting him would really help the manabase to be mostly green and just splashing black for Shaman and black sideboard cards. I admit I haven't really thought about what this deck would look like without using Trapper, but now that you brought it up I'm interested.

My advice of how to use Trapper is not to be scared to attack with your Elves as long as you leave him back untapped this puts a lot of pressure on your opponent to not only not block, which means you might trade an Elf for a bigger creature, or let some damage through or kill Trapper. Which you should be fine with since that means your opponent is using a removal spell on a meesely 1 drop. Don't be afraid to sacrifice some Elves to do some damage to your opponent.

If I have a Trapper in play depending on the board state and what is in my hand I will most likely always start the turn attacking with some of my Elves while leaving Trapper back this way I can get a better idea of what my opponent might have to deal with my Elves before I start putting more of them onto the battlefield. After the first 4 turns or so I rarely ever use Trapper to play other Elves so I don't really consider his 1 life loss per mana use as much of a liability more as an asset for the early turns of the game which are the most important turns for this deck.

One matchup that Trapper is terrible in and it's a big one, is Humans. I'm currently sideboarding him out in this matchup. WU Humans, WG Humans and Mono-White are all playing Knight of the White Orchid and Consul's Lieutenant they both have First-strike this combined with the pump from either or both Thalia's Lieutenant and Always Watching makes them impossible to attack through even with Trapper. Since Trapper's Deathtouch does nothing to these creatures. You most likely will not be attacking with Elves much in this matchup because you will have to leave them back to block this is another reason Trapper is not good in this matchup. Humans looks like it's going to be one of the best decks in Standard for a while which does give more incentive to cut Trapper.

multimedia, I was wondering if you had any updates for sideboard. I know with SOI and all the humans (as you said, they are probably one of the best standard decks now), Ultimate Price has become infinitely better. What are you thoughts on what to sideboard/how to sideboard effectively?

Love these elf decks, including yours, hoping they'll go somewhere in this new standard with the elf love SOI gave us. I just recently built an Elf deck in abzan colors for standard and ofc trying to abuse Eerie Interlude. I'm also trying Sorin to top the curve, also heavily considering cutting my 3rd Lord for Cryptolith Rite for more ramp. Check it out here if you want to see what I'm running and let me know what you think Eerie Abzan Elves. +1 for elves!

AjaniShaman, thanks for the upvote! Go Elves!

I'm a big fan of Eerie Interlude as well as Declaration in Stone in Abzan and I wish I could use Abzan colors, but the manabase is just too bad. Without using Evolving Wilds and Canopy Vista it's too hard to hit your colors when you need them. Using Wilds with Elves is not good because you want to be fast which means having the majority of your lands come into play untapped.

I took a look at your deck, it looks really good except the manabase. I see that you are using 4x Wilds with 24x lands. Are you finding 24x lands to be too many, don't you get flooded? How has using 8x Pain lands been working for you? Are you losing a lot of life in games using this many? How is Wilds working with wanting a turn 1 Trapper and/or getting a turn 2 Elf? Using Sorin, Grim Nemesis is really interesting, nice, something I haven't thought of. He can be reusable removal and give you some card advantage, but six mana is a lot.

I'm very much on the Cryptolith Rite train with Elves both go together so well. I playtested Interlude with Rite in an Abzan version and found the ability of Rite to put more Elves in play faster was very good with Interlude. You've included Woodland Bellower I've forgotten he was in Standard, haha. He is for sure a great blink target with Interlude, getting you more Shaman of the Packs.

TheFirst, I'm currently working on a updating the Sideboard Card Choices section of this page. Here is a summary of my findings so far for SOI Standard.

Humans Matchup

This deck folds to Declaration in Stone having an answer for it game 2 is very important. Duress is the best answer because it can also take Always Watching , Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Hallowed Moonlight which your opponent will board in to stop Collected Company. Another possible way to combat Stone is with Evolutionary Leap this not only prevents the exile, but it fizzles the target while also getting more Elves into your hand.

Because of the presence of Stone I try to not double up any Elves in play in this matchup instead keeping the battlefield as best as I can with one of each type of Elf. This makes Stone not as bad if it's only exiling one Elf instead of many.

Of the Human matchups, W/U Humans is a hardest one because of Reflector Mage. Sylvan Advocate is your best Elf in this matchup because of his 3 toughness and vigilance. Mage bouncing him turn 3 hurts a lot. Mage also can't be killed by Ultimate Price which all other Humans can be including both Archangel of Tithes and Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip.

You need an answer for Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip before she flips. If she flips it's most likely game over. Clip Wings is what I'm using to combat her because it's also great vs Archangel of Tithes and Ormendahl, Profane Prince  ^Flip. Both also show up in Human matchups.

The real killer besides Declaration in Stone in this matchup are the Humans with first strike. Especially Consul's Lieutenant. You don't want him to become renowned when he does he is pretty unstoppable. I tend to save an Ultimate Price in my hand for him, Avacyn or Tithes. All the other Humans are annoying, but not as dominating as these three.

Ultimate Price is the best removal spell we have access to in this matchup. 3-4x in the sideboard is a must. 2-3 Clip Wings is also important as is 3-4 Duress.

I've been boarding out Gnarlroot Trapper, Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, 2x Beastcaller Savant and 1-2x Cryptolith Rite in this matchup. I find that attacking with Elves is not what you should be doing. The combination of first strike with Always Watching as well as Thalia's Lieutenant's pump, Archangel of Tithes being untapped and a possible flashed in Avacyn makes attacking really hard. Taking a defensive stance is better conserving your life total, controlling the game with Duress and Price, until you draw Shamans, Companies or Abbeys.

Ormendahl, Profane Prince  ^Flip is still good in this matchup even though Declaration in Stone owns him. Stone is a sorcery so even getting one hit in with a hastey Ormendahl is good and can be game winning. Being able to activate and flip Westvale Abbey  ^Flip at instant speed can be very useful. Sacing a bunch of Elves being targeted by Stone or going to die from major blocks or Avacyn, the Purifier  ^Flip can at least leave you with Ormendahl.

Thanks for all the sideboard thoughts. I had hoped to see 'Elf Languish' - Eyeblight Massacre - in your plans for Humans. 4 mana is rather steep, and they get large quickly.

Thank you multimedia! I just did an update on the deck answering your questions and other things I noticed while playing. ( Eerie Abzan Elves )

also big thanks to TheFirst for adding my deck in your Elves perfection folder with this deck. Waiting to see your take on the elves when you get your deck together!

Thank you very much multimedia! One more question, in what situations would it be a good idea to board in Soul of the Harvest?

CloudThumper, Eyeblight Massacre can be a huge blowout vs Humans if everything goes right in the game because as you said they can get large quickly. Both Always Watching and/or Thalia's Lieutenant make Massacre not reliable enough for its cost, we need a sweeper that does 3 or more damage.

However, we do need an answer to tokens especially Secure the Wastes end of turn. I have gone with Minister of Pain because Collected Company can get him at instant speed. Being able to get Pain with Company gives you the possibility of responding to a pump from your opponent of their tokens. Eyeblight might just be better vs tokens, 2 damage is definitely better than 1, but I really like that Company can get Pain.

AjaniShaman, Hey thanks for answering my questions with your Eerie Abzan Elves update, much appreciated.

TheFirst, I've been using Soul of the Harvest in matchups that I'm expecting a board wipe to happen, especially Languish, vs Eldrazi, vs Tokens, vs Ramp and in the Mirror match. Being able to possibly ramp him into play with both Leaf Gilder and Beastcaller Savant as well as Cryptolith Rite is quite strong. Soul can also block and attack through Thought-Knot Seer and/or Reality Smasher while still giving you possible card advantage. Soul has Trample making him a good creature vs Tokens.

Soul is also good in any non-aggro matchup where your opponent is attacking you from the ground. Midrange matchups like Werewolves, Jund and Abzan where Sylvan Advocate, Tireless Tracker and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet can be problems.

I love elves n I love how u broke down n dissected each card in details. .
Which lead me to think....
Soul of the Harvest IS NOT standard legal.
Is it a mistake? Or is this a modern deck?
Sorry lol i run elves in std mdn n edh as well, so I was surprised to see it.
Great dwck thou! I have nade d following based off ur lists n am currently using this for gpts n pptqs
4x gnarlroot trapper
4x lead gilder
4x elvish visionary
4x beastcaller savant
4x dwynen's elite
3x sylvan advocate
1x nissa vastwood seer
4x shaman of the pack
3x sylvan messenger
1x dwynen, gilt-leaf daen

4x collected company
4x cruptolith rites
4x llanowar wastes
3x westvale abbey
4x hussing quagmire
1x blighted fen
5x forest
3x swamp
Sideboard vs human meta
3x self-inflicting wound
3x ultimate price
2x clip wings
2x transgress the mind
3x evolutionary leap
2x fleshbag maurader

Hear from u soon!

LarryLiu, Hello, thanks for the props. Haha, everyone keeps telling me that Soul of the Harvest isn't legal as if I wouldn't know that I can't put a certain card in this deck. I wish Tappedout would update their card database with the Welcome Deck 2016 cards. Soul is Standard legal as long as SOI is in Standard. Here is Soul at Gatherer. He is a rare in the Welcome Deck 2016, all cards are Standard legal now in that set.

Thanks for your continuing interest in this deck and It's great that you are choosing to play Elves at GPTs and PPTQs. Good luck to you!

Your version looks good. How is only using 20x lands working out? Are you still able to cast a turn 4 Collected Company consistently?

I have now cut Gnarlroot Trapper in favor of main deck removal, Ultimate Price. This was done because of the Humans matchup. I was constantly sideboarding out Trapper for removal. I've found Trapper to be quite bad vs Humans. He is only good in this matchup as a chump blocker which I don't care to use a creature if that is all it's good for. Beastcaller Savant has also been lackluster for these same reasons in the Human matchup. Sylvan Advocate has been the best Elf vs Humans. He is a roadblock for all the 1 and 2 drop Humans. Unless he is bounced by Reflector Mage or exiled by Declaration in Stone your opponent can't really attack until they find a Thalia's Lieutenant or Always Watching . He can possibly by you a few turns to get more Elves into play. What is your reasoning for only using 3x Advocate instead of 4?

It's great seeing both Collected Company and Sylvan Messenger in the same deck again. I used both of them together for quite some time in past Standard seasons. Although, now there is just not enough deck space for both. The problem with using both now is Westvale Abbey  ^Flip. Other than Shaman of the Pack Abbey is your win condition with Rite. Using 7x cards that will put Abbey on the bottom of your library if you find one can be problematic. Abbey with Elves makes this deck competitive. Without Abbey, Elves are back to being just not powerful enough. Oath of Nissa might be better in Messenger's spots because it can find both Abbey and Shaman as well as help you hit your land drops. I can't believe I just said that, haha.

I see that you aren't using Duress in your sideboard? What is your plan to stop a turn 4 Languish or turn 3 Kozilek's Return, Radiant Flames or Flaying Tendrils? Transgress the Mind is excellent, but only using 2 is not enough if it's your only out to these cards. Relying on getting a Evolutionary Leap into play and having enough mana to replace your Elves from a board wipe is a risky plan.

Now that you know that Soul of the Harvest is Standard legal, try him out. If he sticks around in play he is incredible with both Rite and Company. He also gives this deck another powerful threat to ramp into besides Abbey and more Elves.

Yes I have checked before I saw ur repky n its LEGAL!! YES!!LOLwell 20lands is good enuff. I have been running elves since origins n I havent looked back since. I had quite a number of fantastic results with it both in standard n modern.With soth usable in standard, I might seriously consider ur list instead!:)Previously I ran 20 lands with fetches n its extremely good. Bad matchups r BW control (few..) & Dark Jeskai (recurring cheap burnspells to correctly removal dorks r sick..)I dont usually look for a t4 coco, but instead a t4 shaman. An optimal t1 to t3 play would beT1 land gnarlT2 land beastcaller dwyneneliteT3 land cryptolith dwynenelite shaman for 7.T4 sylvan messenger to prep for boardwipes n beatdown. Of cos theres other routes to take and it isnt as linear as u know too. Hence if an opponent shows signs of ramp or boardwipes, sylvan messengers n coco r my fav two to hold til they utilize itIt means d window usually is open for me to take down between 5to10life as they will tend to leave few blockers in play to "supposedly" minimize their own lose n gain "supposedly" value off their boardwipes.Indeed my area meta is full of white humans too. Am looking for boardwipes (althou declaration is also kinda a boardwipe against us..) n transgress disrupts their gameplan to stall til then. I agree 2 is alittle, perhaps I will work it to 3 instead. But evol leap has been doing lots of work against humans. D trades r real n gains value off it. With more creaturea on board than humans, we tend to hand more expendables to search up another 1 or 2 shamans, to finish off d remaining life offset from prior dmg:)I will test out soth, n b expecting lots of "wtf??? Judge!!!" coming to look for me lol

Interesting changes you made there - follows the flow of current torrents in standard. Would you still consider this Recruiter for Collected-less version on Messengers?

Randsome, thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have now updated Budget Rite Elves adding Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip.

Duskwatch is good in the budget version using Sylvan Messenger instead of Collected Company because he can find Messenger. Is he as good in the budget version as this version, no because the budget version can't really take advantage of playing the game at instant speed because it's not using Collected Company and Westvale Abbey  ^Flip. Duskwatch is still excellent with Cryptolith Rite which the budget version is using.

Both Gnarlroot Trapper and Beastcaller Savant are better in the budget version than this version because they both can be used to cast Messenger. Still cutting them in favor of Duskwatch because he has more impact, but I could see it being fine leaving 4x of one of them in place of Duskwatch and 2x Forest.