Combo Elves or Aggro Elves
Modern forum
Posted on May 30, 2016, 6:35 p.m. by Kizzel
In your opinion/experience, which Elf version has had better results. Combo elves utilizing Heritage Druid and others or going more Aggro utilizing all the lord cards with other boosting spells like Coat of Arms. And in either of those variants, is there a place for Shaman of the Pack? Thank you for your help.
If having Heritage Druid is your definition of "combo Elves", then that version is hands down the better one.
May 30, 2016 7:35 p.m. Edited.
vampirelazarus says... #4
I played aggro elves for some time. It's definitely not tier one, but I enjoyed every game.
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I ran Shaman in it, and absolutely loved that guy. Of the two decks, I would say combo is the stronger.
May 30, 2016 10:57 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #5
There really aren't any elf decks that aren't at least partially combo decks. Even the most aggressive versions run the Heritage Druid
+
Nettle Sentinel
package to flood the board and make tons of 
, typically in order to close out the game with Shaman of the Pack, Craterhoof Behemoth or Ezuri, Renegade Leader.
I haven't seen elf decks running Coat of Arms or large numbers of lords. They really aren't needed. Elvish Archdruid is a core part of the deck, but you don't really need much more than that; some lists run Elvish Champion and you see Imperious Perfect now and then, but that's about it.
On that note, Shaman of the Pack is amazing, and you should absolutely play it. With Chord of Calling or Collected Company it can kill at instant speed. It provides excellent reach. It's a decent, tribally relevant body even if your board isn't super-impressive. It can also kill through Worship, which is a corner case but worth mentioning for sheer hilarity.
I'm going to dissent here and say I think that going aggro is a better plan. The combo version with Cloudstone Curio/Eternal Witness has not had the same sort of results as just stomping on people's faces with green dudes. One of the strengths of the more aggressive version is that a lot of interaction is underwhelming against it. It plays around counterspells pretty easily, laughs at spot removal, and is still fast enough to kill before most non-red sweepers can do anything about it. It also doesn't care much about its graveyard, if it does at all.
Combo elves does not have these strengths, at least not to the same degree. At the same time, it has all the same weaknesses (soft to sweepers, minimally interactive).
May 31, 2016 2:56 a.m. Edited.
So it depends on what deck you define as "Combo Elves". I am of the opinion that the Cloudstone Curio + Eternal Witness version is jank, and should not be considered a serious competitive deck. If that's Combo Elves, then Aggro Elves are better. However, that was not how this was defined earlier in the thread. He mentioned Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel and massive mana generation. That combined with Collected Company, Elvish Archdruid, Ezuri, Renegade Leader, and whatever else you want to put in there is the optimal version of the deck, no matter how you label it.
Servo_Token says... #2
Combo elves is generally accepted as being better because it can turn onto the aggro plan at a moment's notice. It also sometimes is the version that plays shaman, I don't think i've seen a black aggro build.
May 30, 2016 7:13 p.m.