Creature (30)
- 1x Craterhoof Behemoth
- 4x Dwynen's Elite
- 4x Elvish Archdruid
- 4x Elvish Harbinger
- 2x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
- 4x Immaculate Magistrate
- 4x Joraga Warcaller
- 4x Shaman of the Pack
- 3x Temur Sabertooth
Land (22)
Sorcery (3)
Sideboard
Creature (7)
Enchantment (4)
Sorcery (4)
Maybeboard
Creature (9)
Artifact (6)
Elf Swarm Deck
Copied a deck I made for Standard Format, I just had to try a Modern version.
I have no idea how it stands up to Modern Meta or if it's even playable. If it's not consider it a Kitchen Table Casual deck for fun. That's what i'll be using it for anyways.
Elves have long been one of the most popular creature types to play in Magic the Gathering tribal themed decks. And for good reason.
Elves have absolutely great effects in numbers.
Many Elves of the past have had effects for the number of elves you have in play. And many Elves have had effects that make it easy for you to acquire more elves. Elves usually have very good synergy which is why I'm excited for what the future holds for Elves in Standard.
That's what this deck is all about. Swarming the battlefield with Elves!
The game plan of the deck is fairly straight forward. Collect a bunch of Elf creatures. What are you to do with this board presence full of Elves?
Just Win.
The main win con of the deck is still Shaman of the Pack and main combo pieces from Standard are still in effect (until someone suggests cheaper/better ones I should be using in Modern format).
You got Shaman of the Pack + Temur Sabertooth as your main damage engine. We have a lot more options to ramp mana now so theoretically you could bounce it back to hand and recast it enough in one turn to deal lethal... maybe.
That or with Elvish Promenade you might just have enough Elves with one or two casts where you don't need to mana ramp and recast it 3 to 4 times in a turn.
Now for the Modern Stuff:
Elvish Promenade is a great great card for flooding the board with Elves. DOUBLE whatever you have. 5 elves become 10. It makes Shaman of the Pack twice as effective every time it's cast. Such a key card for this modern version of this deck and that's why I list it first. It makes swarming the field with Elves that much easier for Modern format. I'm not familiar with all these older sets so if anyone knows of any more cards like this but better or cheaper that can swarm elves out so easily please drop it in the comments or suggestions but I'm completely happy with this card for now.
Elvish Champion - This one is a quite simple really. Any deck with elves will benefit by having this in it. It further Anthems and pumps all other elves but it provides a second Win Con by letting your Elves hit home. In such builds you either use their own forests (if they're playing green) or play Nylea's Presence . This combo is similar to all those Merfolk decks using Spreading Seas and creatures granting Islandwalk. Plus Nylea's Presence at minimum draws a card and adds 1-devotion, where Elvish Champion at minimum gives all elves a pump and is great against decks with green in them already (Tarmo Twin (tarmogoyf), Pod, GR Tron, Zoo, etc.)
[I looked at it as we need 8 cards out of 60 for this combo to work, so I don't think it's very good. I know it's 3CMC makes it a viable Collected Company target and it does pump all Elves +1/+1 but we got better uses for those 8 spots.]
Ezuri, Renegade Leader. This deck creates an extremely large amount of mana and with Ezuri on board you got a mana dump that can pump your elves +12/+12 or more easily. More importantly, he can do so at instant speed! He can help against board-wipes (by regenerating your elves). He's not part of the "main engine" of the deck; so there are only two; plus he's Legendary but he can be so crucial at times he really pulls his own weight and then some in this deck. He's very helpful.
Elvish Harbinger : It has great synergy with the core of this deck. Bouncing ETB Elves for re-value. It can also come into play via Collected Company for free from off the top of your deck allowing you to search your library for anything you need (Shaman of the Pack is a great choice).
Joraga Warcaller is the perfect one-drop that this deck needed. If you need him early go ahead and get him out but it's best to draw this mid-match or when you can multi-kick him. Works with Immaculate Magistrate because buffing it buffs everyone!
We also might still play Dwynen's Elite and her Elf token because getting 2for1 is nice value and it makes for another strong bounce target. Return it to hand and put out more and more elves on the double!
Use Heritage Druid in combination with Nettle Sentineland/or Dwynen's Elite to chain together elves and play out your hand. Once you've flooded the board simply cast your main win con Shaman of the Pack.
There's a better Mana Ramper though...
Elvish Archdruid - A lot of Elves? A lot of mana... Simple as that.
Umbral Mantle - When this is paired with Elvish Archdruid and 3 other elves; you have one infinitely large elf and with 4+ elves you got infinite mana! You can then either play out your entire hand casting things like a multi-kicked Joraga Warcaller and give all your elves a big boost, cast a Craterhoof, or even cast your entire deck (if you have a Genesis Wave on hand). What we look to do with infinite mana though is use Ezuri, Renegade Leader's ability by pumping any elves infinitely and giving them Trample so they hit home or simply bounce Shaman of the Pack back to hand via Temur Sabertooth for and recast him for as much as you have access to! However many times you can do that, usually you'll have enough elves in play where it'll only take 1 or 2 times to deal lethal damage.
It's important to note this is not a combo that happens a lot. While most times you will not put this infinite mana combo together until after a wave; it's always nice to have an infinite combo in a deck and then have mana dumps to use that infinite mana on.
Craterhoof Behemoth - This is a standard Elf Deck Win-con. It's simply great in any deck with a board full of little guys. With haste and pumping everyone by +5/+5 or more; if this resolves it wins the game nearly every time it's cast.
Masked Admirers is also a strong consideration to replace Elvish Visionary in this deck. It has the built in draw when it ETBs but is harder to get rid of not that it was any major threat for removal.
Eternal Witness lets you cast a Collected Company and then immediately return it to your hand from the graveyard if that's the one you select.
Mirror Entity might be worth fitting in somehow, as a Mana Dump it can pump everything to X/X and turns everything into Elves if they aren't already.
Gameplan
The perfect game involves us just getting everything you need in order. First since you only really need to get to 4 mana (lands) to cast anything you want to play and tap out your lands efficiently.
The ideal scenario would be to get to 4 mana and cast Collected Company to boost out 2 more Elves for free basically off the top 6 of your deck. Then lay down a Elvish Promenade to double your Elvish army and follow it up by hittin em with a hastily casting of Shaman of the Pack for a bunch of direct damage. Then bounce it back to your hand and replay it over and over with Temur Sabertooth. Rinse and repeat until they succumb to lethal damage.
Of course this is all made easier if you assemble either the infinite mana combo of Elvish Archdruid + Umbral Mantle or the infinite +1/+1 counter combo of Immaculate Magistrate + Joraga Warcaller .
Still at it's basic and most simplest form it's about casting a bunch of elves and then casting and bouncing our Shaman of the Pack back to our hand over and over. That's the gist of how this deck should win. There are other secondary ways to win by just attacking wide (sending more than they can block) or tall (sending huge creatures that deal overkill damage.) with the elves you assembled.
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| Date added | 9 years |
| Last updated | 9 years |
| Key combos | |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 1 - 1 Mythic Rares 21 - 8 Rares 20 - 2 Uncommons 0 - 4 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 3.16 |
| Tokens | Elf Warrior 1/1 G |
| Folders | elves |
| Votes | |
| Ignored suggestions | |
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