Arbor Elf vs. Abundant Growth
Deck Help forum
Posted on Sept. 11, 2012, 12:01 p.m. by vila_a23
Im building a jund deck for standard that can be found here deck:rtr-jund-06-09-12-1. Right now in the deck I have a playset of Abundant Growth in place of Arbor Elf . Is this the right choice? to me it seems like abundant growth is the better card for this deck because it allows for better mana fixing AND gives me an extra card. Ive heard some argument however that Arbor Elf should be put in place of Abundant growth. I don't really like this idea because while arbor elf does offer some ramp, he only works with 7 of the 24 lands in the deck. Lets take a look at an example here:
I am on the play my hand of 7 is as follows: Abundant Growth , Dreadbore , Rootbound Crag , Woodland Cemetery , Liliana of the Veil , Abrupt Decay , Thragtusk .
This hand seems like an interesting hand. Game 1 i would more than likely keep this. Albeit the hand is slow, it does offer some protection in the form of kill spells. Not to mention the ability to cast liliana as soon as a land is drawn.
Now lets look at the hand with arbor elf in place of abundant growth. The hand suddenly seems alot worse and I can almost assure you that I would mulligan this hand.
Now that you've seen my argument I want to hear yours. Tell me why you think I should run arbor elf instead of abundant growth and if you think Im correct feel free to comment anyway!
Abundant Growth doesn't actually ramp you any mana. Arbor Elf does. It depends on whether or not you need more speed or card-draw.
It should be noted that Arbor Elf can untap Overgrown Tomb .
September 11, 2012 1:44 p.m.
I would run Arbor Elf . With that hand, You would have Liliana of the Veil out turn two. Unless they answer your Arbor Elf . But if they did answer it with their turn one, you would then be in position to drop your second land and have an Abrupt Decay in hand to deal with their turn two drop. Then you drop Liliana of the Veil turn three with no creatures on the field to attack her (unless they dropped two one drops turn 2 instead of one 2 drop. Sounds better to me then Abundant Growth . If you ran both, Arbor Elf could untap a Forest with Abundant Growth ... or better yet, a forest with the new black enchantment Underworld Connections ...
September 11, 2012 1:59 p.m.
oops, i thought you had Overgrown Tomb in hand, not Woodland Cemetery ... but still, i feel the same haha
September 11, 2012 2:03 p.m.
@zandle, I noted that arbor elf does offer ramp although I may have not been clear that I knew abundant growth didn't offer ramp. My question to you is, do you think the deck needs more ramp than card draw? Keep in mind that my curve end at 5.
September 11, 2012 2:28 p.m.
venomous_rose says... #7
I'd say Abundant Growth would be better than Arbor Elf here. Unless you find that you need the ramp, with all that card draw you hopefully will be able to draw the land you need to not miss land drops. If you put in Underworld Connections as dmint mentioned above, I'd go with the Arbor Elf to untap the enchanted land.
Skythe says... #2
I like Arbor Elf specifically for Overgrown Tomb . I do like Abundant Growth as well though, easier mana fixing and deck thinning. To be honest, I'm not sure which to run either, so I may run Abundant Growth and Chromatic Lantern .
September 11, 2012 12:37 p.m.