holding back against control works, but not when I have to suffer boardwipes on the field, and inquisition/thoughtseize in hand. lead ends up working better, because its not a common target from inquisition and thoughtseize, and helps stuff my hand up with cards to bait my opponent. against control, i end up favoring lead because chord is simply not as good when the creatures i cast die, and i have to hard cast chord.

I'm curious as to why you choose not to run any Nettle Sentinels in your mono-green list? It seems like you could cut a land or 2 and shave another 2 cards for the set in order to combo more with Heritage Druid.

if i were to add nettle sentinel, i would cut joraga warcaller, and I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet. I would not cut lands, as staying at 20~21 ensures I can still be drawing some lands, while cutting more lands means that my hands depend all on one land; and then fall apart if I don't draw any more.

You have 8 1-mana dorks, so most elf decks can get away with running only 18 lands. I also play elves with only 18 lands, and it feels like I'm flooding if I ever draw my 4th land since you always want a ton of elves every game. Here's my list if you're interested- Chord of Collected Elves.

you are running Cavern of Souls, which can make all the difference, as generally, if on the play, I turn one elvish mystic and they respond with a push. or, if on the draw, i try to play mystic, then meet a spell pierce. (i know cavern doesn't protect against push). probably because most of my opponents are quick to target any 1 mana creatures, as well as any elf lords. also, since i run Lead the Stampede, having 20 lands let me play more of the creatures I hit. nice deck anywho, i'll go take a better look at it

If you're running mono-green, you really want Nettle Sentinels to combo with Heritage Druid. Two Sentinels and the Heritage is enough to let you play a lord and then swing for 6 damage without using any land-produced mana to pay costs that turn. While I personally love Imperious Perfect as a card, Elves wants to play fast, and Perfect's value engine is too slow - if the game goes long enough that she makes 3+ tokens, you've probably already lost. Elvish Champion may be more expensive, but it's much more useful (and you can enable forestwalk by being cheeky and copying what Merfolk does with Spreading Seas: enchanting an opponent's land with Nylea's Presence if your opponent lacks forests/green shocks). Eldritch Evolution is slower and requires a creature to be sacrificed, but it might optimize casting costs for your deck ( is always less than , and Visionaries make perfect sacrificial elves to snag Ezuri with). A fourth Company is practically required since the card is just so good. Essence Warden can shore up matches against other swarm decks and burn lists, being a cheaper alternative to Kitchen Finks (plus, Warden's another elf that can make mana with Heritage or Archdruid). Lastly, you really can cut two lands - I play BG myself, and having 4+ lands means you're flooding. Two more elves will give you more redundancy, and therefore more potential mana generation. I would recommend you pick up a Pendelhaven at some point, as it can make early turns combat math difficult for your opponent, and losing one land to Blood Moon is not really any concern to you.

I don't know why I don't see this in more lists but Wren's Run Vanquisher? It's got a great body and can early game block goyfs and other creatures. It's also hard to block because most of the time against a lot of decks, they don't want to block their big guy and trade with a vanilla 3/3. Also, in those positions where both you and your opponent are just sitting it out improving the board on a stalemate, this guy can swing each combat and most likely have no blocks.

mattman856: Wren's Run Vanquisher looks like a great card, I'll try it out! thanks for the suggestions :)

EWDijkstra: I don't run Eldritch Evolution because it is a sorcery, and can be harder to cast. Chord of Calling can instant speed fetch whatever I want, and in addition, it has convoke. works really well with me having a lot of elves.

Nettle Sentinel is something I've already tested, and they simply don't end up being good enough, and can't be played turn 1 anyway (or I can't ramp fast enough). Theyre also more fragile to push, and I run imperious perfect because I simply don't have enough lords.

I don't run any Essence Warden because my meta doesn't have many decks that try to swarm, and the few have other vulnerabilities such as being able to rec. sage an Intangible Virtue.

I actually have 2 Elvish Champion in the sideboard (because people keep using spells to steal a bunch of my creatures and attack me with my own deck), I believe you overlooked them while looking at the list.

Collected Company is currently fine as a 3 of, as the more Lead the Stampedes and CoCo's I have, the more they disrupt eachother (finding lead with coco or vice versa).

I will be picking up a copy of Pendelhaven, just not soon.

Thanks for the time you've spent into making suggestions! Since so many people have been suggesting Nettle Sentinel, i'll go back to trying them out. Cheers!

Why not try Gyre Sage in place of Heritage Druid? It's roughly the same amount of mana, potentially more, without the tapping effect.

Gyre Sage doesn't allow for a potential turn 3 win, and a not so uncommon win, and so would destroy the point of having such a creature. Gyre Sage is not that good for this deck, as If it is tapping for a ton of mana, I should've lost the game. Heritage Druid is always more superior for this kind of elves build, as it ignores summoning sickness, and combos really well with Nettle Sentinel. none of that gyre sage can do. So no, although gyre sage may be able to tap for mana, it can only do that after I should've lost the game already, while heritage druid is an all star of the deck, allowing for absurd turns.

You really got to bump Nettle Sentinel to 4. It's combos with Heritage Druid are so crazy. Just have a sentinel and heritage druid and tap 3 for 3 mana, play an elf, untapping the nettle sentinel and tapping those 2 and something else for another elf etc...

I would cut an Imperious Perfect (kind of slow to get going) and a Chord (Toolboxing for one green guy where just about all your guys do just about the same thing like a lord or a mana tapper. Chord just doesn't seem amazing compared to a possible 4 nettle sentinel.)

Chord of Calling as a 2 of is necessary for any 1 of sideboard creatures, as well as being able to fetch a lord at instant speed before combat damage is dealt

once I have time to spend more money on this, I will add at least another nettle sentinel. Thanks!

Elves are my favorite tribal in Magic, this is a great Elf deck you've made here. One suggestion I could make, add Metallic Mimic into the deck. It's free +1/+1 counters for your other Elves, most importantly Joraga Warcaller. You could even bump up to three Joraga Warcallers if you decide you like the idea. Mixed with Imperious Perfect that's 5/5 Elves you could produce with her. Just a thought. +1

Thats a nice suggestion! I've tried that out once, and it didn't work out for me, Joraga warcaller was just too heavy, and ended up being a 1 mana 1/1 for heritage druid (so most of them were replaced by nettle sentinel). Maybe Metallic Mimic could find a place in the sideboard?

Joraga Warcaller would be a 3/3 with Metallic Mimic on the board and kicked once for a total of 3 mana, giving every other Elf +2/+2. That would make Imperious Perfect a 4/4 that produces 5/5 elves for 1 mana. With Ezuri, Renegade Leader in the deck, it gets even more dangerous. That would make Metallic Mimic your 2 drop, Joraga Warcaller your 3 drop, then Ezuri, Renegade Leader or Imperious Perfect an excellent choice on turn 3 or 4 depending on your ramp maybe even earlier. You also don't even have to kick Joraga Warcaller if you have Metallic Mimic on the board. It's a 1 cost 2/2 that gives +1/+1 to other elves that way too.

It works well in the deck that I have been running, its Elfpocalypse 2.0 on my profile. It's nowhere near as polished as this deck, but that main combo becomes quite the terror for opponents.

Tbh I'm not too familiar with the elf archetype but maybe Llanowar Mentor to get extra elves from your excess lands?

Most of the elf decks I've seen ramp into something hard to deal with so you always have things like eldrazi or Wurmcalling for the sideboard if you wanted.

Ever thought about a black splash for Shaman of the Pack as an alternate win condition?

It is very effective against a stalled board, and can easily b chorded in if you need it.

Edit: never mind, didn't see the link to the black green version.

Polupus: I don't use Llanowar Mentor because it only starts getting better after I've played 3 lands, as that is all I need, and that means after turn 4. that is around the time you want to be winning the game, and mentor simply does not do that. As for adding a creature to ramp into, I could include a single copy of Craterhoof Behemoth.

demonicgrizzly: Shaman of the Pack has been a good card so far, should I bump it up to 4, or is 3 enough? (manabase will be done by end of year)

You probably only need two to be honest. You will usually vomit your hand and win via overrun most of the tme anyways. It's just a great chord target that makes for some out-of-nowhere wins. Three is more than plenty, since you'll probably be siding them out.

Rhys the Exiled ?

Always loved gaining tons of life with Wellwisher however I know that it's not modern legal, and would Verdant Catacombs+Overgrown Tomb be better as dual lands? Looks awesome +1

I had Rhys the Exiled in the sideboard, but after enough playtesting, If I want to gain life I'd just put in Nissa Revane. She can gain a lot more life, and, if my opponent somehow allows me to, the ultimate is very powerful. I'll think about putting him back in, but for now, I'd rather have removal.

Fetches and shocks would be better dual lands, but I'm on a budget, and I'll get those next time. (by the way, didn't get the upvote)

You need Gilt-Leaf Palace in here bud.

Actually, I don't require any gilt-leaf palace. They are way too expensive, cannot be used for other builds, and don't work well with Woodland Cemetery. Please actually look at the list and think about before commenting.