NoSoyYucateco says... #2
Cicjose: I have thought about it. I'm aiming to get Doubling Season in here first, so once that's in, then maybe I'll find room for Hardened Scales. Thanks for looking and for the suggestion!
December 17, 2015 5:22 a.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #5
MusicMaster: I had her in my original dream decklist. I'll make room for her when the funds allow. Thanks!
December 17, 2015 11:05 a.m.
MusicMaster says... #7
Birthing Pod is a good card, but i don't feel it has a place in this deck. With Ezuri, Claw of Progress you are looking to abuse the ETB and combat triggered abilities to pump your creatures, so you want to keep them on the field. Birthing Pod forces you to sac the creature (only one per turn) to search for another creature (specifically for cmc 1+). It is specific, and causes you to get rid of the creatures you have on the battlefield. The deck isn't meant to abuse sacrifice triggers, so your looking for the tutor effect, which I feel there are better ways to do that with your deck and keep your creatures on the field. You can use Fauna Shaman or Survival of the Fittest to tutor to hand, and then Elvish Piper or something to place them on battlefield (Although your creatures are low enough CMC where you probably don't need Elvish Piper except for bigger threats like Avenger of Zendikar). Or you can use cards like Chord of Calling, Tooth and Nail, Green Sun's Zenith or Natural Order for great tutor to battlefield effects. I just don't see how Birthing Pod fits into this deck except for the argument that "Its a good card so I put it in". Was hoping for maybe more clarification.
December 17, 2015 11:45 a.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #8
All of those are green staples that I am familiar with, and if I had them/had the money for them, or wanted them in here (again, keeping instants/sorceries to a minimum), they would be in here. I do plan on adding Fauna Shaman, and in the meantime, Birthing Pod is serving quite well. I've yet to have a game where I thought, "Oh, crap, why am I still playing this card?"
Turning a 0-CMC token spawned by Wirewood Hivemaster, Imperious Perfect, etc..., into Essence Warden or Copperhorn Scout is a very good thing. Turning Solemn Simulacrum into Prophet of Kruphix or Kalonian Hydra is even better. And sometimes I don't want to commit to having Sages of the Anima on board, so swapping it for Vigor or Primordial Sage is a good trade-up. And creatures that ETB but don't do much after, such as Wood Elves or Farhaven Elf are great pod fodder.
December 17, 2015 5:11 p.m. Edited.
NoSoyYucateco says... #10
smackjack: Haha. I had thought about it. It's a very tempting idea...
December 18, 2015 11:37 a.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #11
MusicMaster: I got an unexpected bonus check for the holidays, so I snagged myself a Fauna Shaman and Doubling Season.
December 20, 2015 6:23 a.m.
thegigibeast says... #13
I know it is not an elf, but Sage of Hours to go infinite!!!
December 27, 2015 4:39 p.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #14
thegigibeast: Hahaha. That's brilliant, but my playgroup tends to frown on extra turns AND infinite combos. But yes, if you wanted to be that player, that's a very good idea.
December 27, 2015 6:16 p.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #16
Midwest: I had thought about Edric. I think I have enough draw here that I don't need to go giving it to my opponents as well, and he isn't going to put in the kind of work that, say, Fathom Mage or Consecrated Sphinx will. But he is an elf, and he has great synergy here. I'll put in him the maybe list.
December 31, 2015 6:15 a.m.
Hangarback Walker does some pretty juicy things with Ezuri, and so does Mycoloth.
December 31, 2015 12:52 p.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #18
Scorprix: Good suggestions. I think I'll wait for Hangarback Walker to rotate out of standard, because it's so overpriced at the moment, in my opinion. Mycoloth would be great though.
December 31, 2015 5:40 p.m.
Oh, and how could I forget to mention Cold-Eyed Selkie? It's even good on its own, but with Ezuri it absolutely kicks ass. And same is applicable to Cephalid Constable, except the latter is more of a finisher. Best of all, both are cheap and offer massive utility, even without massive numbers of counters.
Also, I see that you aren't playing Asceticism or Lightning Greaves, both of which are very good. I understand they are a bit pricy, but they are COMPLETELY worth it. Some counter spells would be nice too, most notably Arcane Denial, Negate and Disdainful Stroke. All are cheap and aren't really considered "douchey" or "unfun", due to their situational nature. They are powerful, yet attract no hate whatsoever because they are nothing less than staples. A few counterspells never hurt anybody, especially when their commander is so fragile. Even something like Dispel would be wonderful.
Also, on a completely separate note, I am personally not a huge fan of the elf-tribe. I don't know why, since I love pretty much every other tribe (I even play competitive Mardu Dragons and competitive B/W Warriors in Standard!), but either way, have you considered dropping the elf tribe and building more around your Commander? And if you want to play tribal elves and not play with Ezuri, Renegade Leader or Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen at the helm, I would reccomend Edric, Spymaster of Trest over Ezuri, Claw of Progress, as he gives tribal elves the card advantage they desperately want. If you don't like him, then at least give Biomantic Mastery a shot. It may seem lackluster, but the card has legitimately WON games on its own.
Sorry for the long post, I just had some ideas. Lol
January 1, 2016 8:05 p.m. Edited.
Sorry for the double post, but I also just remembered Sylvan Safekeeper and Reclamation Sage exist. xD
Speaking of Sylvan things, Sylvan Library is pretty good, and sits at like 20 bucks so it's not a HUGE stretch or anything...
January 1, 2016 8:16 p.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #21
Scorprix: I already have Reclamation Sage in here.
I bought the Ezuri box, so I have several of those cards, like Cold-Eyed Selkie and Biomantic Mastery. The reason they aren't in here is because I wanted to build this as an elf deck (I've seen plenty of Ezuri builds that are more focused on him, and I'm bored of them already--just like I'm bored of seeing the same mono-green elf deck over and over again.)
I would argue that elf tribal actually already works very well with Ezuri regardless, thanks to cards like Zameck Guildmage, Master Biomancer, Bramblewood Paragon, and especially Immaculate Magistrate.
As for counterspells, I am using Glen Elendra Archmage, which has so much synergy with Ezuri it's practically criminal. I could use more (I would probably go with Dissipate and Counterspell, personally,) but I don't want to water down the effectiveness of my Primal Surge, which can easily put Biomantic Mastery to shame in terms of win-cons.
I was actually running just Lightning Greaves in here, but decided to swap it for Swiftfoot Boots because I'll take hexproof over shroud, though I have a weirdly adament aversion to paying the equip cost on the boots. Both would be nice, but I'm already having a hard time making room for everything I want in here, and Wirewood Symbiote easily makes up for the missing one in a manner I prefer over Sylvan Safekeeper.
Sylvan Library is great, I think, in a mono-green deck, but when you're running blue, I don't see the need for it, frankly.
Good suggestions, though. A few of them are already in here, but I'm glad you are taking the time to look at the deck and make recommendations.
January 2, 2016 2:02 a.m. Edited.
NoSoyYucateco says... #22
Oh-- I meant to say, Asceticism would be very smart in here, though. I will try to find a spot for it. I want to ideally replace a non-creature spell with it. If I did replace a creature, it wouldn't be an elf, though all the non-elf creatures I have in here are here because they put in too much work with Ezuri to leave them out.
January 2, 2016 2:24 a.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #23
I could maybe swap Cold-Eyed Selkie for Soul of the Harvest. I'll think on it. Soul ends up getting me so much draw, and the people I play with most don't play a whole lot of blue, but it's so easy for me to give Selkie trample that I may, in the long run, end up paying less mana for the same amount of draw.
January 2, 2016 2:31 a.m.
Personally, I feel like Arachnogenesis would be worth cutting. It does have some use against certain plays, but (I would think) for the most part it just gives you like 2-3 tokens, which isn't really worth it. The fog is nice, but still seems underwhelming.
If you want to play elves, that's fine if not better than normal Ezuri, it's just a preference. However, since you are playing elves, I have to reccomend Joraga Warcaller, because this dude can easily win games.
Also, Beast Within > Scour from Existence all day everyday.
January 2, 2016 9:40 a.m.
NoSoyYucateco says... #25
My only worry is that without Scour from Existence I have no answer against indestructible permanents or Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Yes, I'd much rather play the card that costs 3 instead of 7, but my curve is really low here as it is, and that 7 is easily attainable with the ramp I am getting. I'll think on it.
There is a reason Arachnogenesis is currently trading at $3.50. It wins games--especially with the reach. Very rarely have I used it to get fewer than five tokens.
Cicjose says... #1
Hardened Scales?
December 17, 2015 4:44 a.m.