Elves: Chord vs Cards
Modern forum
Posted on Sept. 16, 2015, 1:27 p.m. by awphutt
So at the recent GP, Elves did fairly well (although flying under the radar because of Lantern Control), putting 5 players into day 2, along with 1 in top 16 (12th) and 1 in the top 8.
The reason I bring it up because the 2 decks that went furthest had some differences. The 12th place decklsit was a slightly more traditional build with Chord of Calling and a number of "Silver Bullet" cards between the maindeck and the sideboard. The top 8 deck had 0 Chord of Callings, instead using Sylvan Messenger and Lead the Stampede to generate card advantage.
The thing I'm curious about is which is better currently. I've done a fair bit of testing with both, and come to the conclusion that the Chord version is better against the unfair decks, with the Messenger version being better against BG/X decks and the more fair decks. It has the upside of having decent draw power, and not needing to hold up mana to play around sweepers, because our hand can be reasonably full most of the time.
That said, I haven't put a huge amount of testing into the non-Chord version, so I'm curious as to other Elves player's thoughts.
vampirelazarus says... #3
Ive been running shaman with chord and Collected Company.... Its fun.
September 16, 2015 3:40 p.m.
I personally still like Chord of Calling. It's simply what allows the deck to adjust with a great degree of adaptability to other decks (ie. Kor Firewalker/Thragtusk against burn) and also allow you to play sideboard cards that aren't elf creatures more effectively. I could be wrong though.
notamardybum says... #2
I have been playing shaman of the pack with lead the stampede and it's been really good. I have been thinking of merging to two together, having chord for when I really need those key creatures, and lead the stampede is sooooo good at refilling your hand. I'm testing with 3 LtS and 2 chord with no sylvan messenger. I had messenger as a 2 of but i wasn't thrilled about that card
September 16, 2015 2:58 p.m.