Ruminations on Elves in Pauper - 3-2 17th @ Lega Pauper Lipsia 26/27 Day 4

Upkeep

Hello everyone! Since last time, I have recovered well. My pauper spirit is pretty much back, I’d say, and it’s thanks to the Zeta set and also… Elves.

I’ve been brooding over the best version of Elves, and also how to make my next choice for Elves successful against the “new” Meta. Let’s start by going in depth into my deck choices and plans. I’m putting it all into this blog post! Be sure to read everything to have a very slight advantage if you run into me :)

That said, my hottest take here will be that Elves is situated fantastically in the meta, and Spy Elves is a sleeper best deck of the format, purely by fusing the deck with the highest winrate (according to that one thumbnail and mtgdecks) and the one with the best matchup spread (according to me).

Just imagine one of them being a Spy and then you get the idea.

Elven Nonsense

Up to now, I have played two different types of decks:

• Regular old Elf decks with Timberwatch Elf , Quirion Ranger , and Priest of Titania . Let’s call this Type A
• “Elf” decks where at least 2 creatures are Elves. Most prominent examples are Infect and Bogles, with 2 different Elves each. Totally different type of deck. Let’s call this Type B

My original plan was to play both types equally. Maybe in a pattern of ABABABAB. This is hard to do, because there are simply not very many B decks. So I have already broken my pattern! But that is okay, because the Priest+Quirion+Timberwatch package is just really nice to build around. You can do anything you like!

Also, I wanted to try and make every deck more competitive than the last. So I started with a meme deck - 5c singleton Elves - which managed to have a good result. And the very next deck impressed me a lot and performed even better! There is no way I can line up 6 more Elves decks that are more competitive than the last, now. So that was out of the window now too!

So it turned out I didn’t manage to do either. But that’s okay. I can still play 8 different Elves lists. I can also promise at least one more Type B list. I will do regular Mono Green Elves as well as Pizza Elves at some point.

But on the way I noticed something cool. Spy Elves! Let’s talk about this deck that, right now, I would bring to a serious tournament.

Forbidden Love

Spy Elves is an Elves deck, that happens to run the Spy combo to improve some matchups. It is not a Spy deck. And that is where it’s power lies! Sideboarding into Mono G Elves to take advantage of the amazing matchup spread of Elves, while also having a combo. Imagine being able to apply pressure with your all your tiny 1/1 Elves, and if the opponent ever taps out, you can also just combo kill them :)

That is the appeal, and that is often how it goes. If you would like the deck list and even more of my thoughts in the form of a primer, please follow this link. I recommend giving it a chance!

The unfortunate downside is that it suffers from a bit of inconsistency. But I do love the deck and I think being able to do a combo or not is huge. Also having access to black is huge - Snuff Out is a huge problem and having Black creatures solves this. I’m actually considering adding some creatures that a lot of you problably have never seen before!

These three basically have hexproof against Dimir once they’re on the board. Slap a hydra on these and go to town! I think this will be very fun to try out. Thank you Universes Beyond for bringing innovation to the pauper format by printing legendaries at common :)

I have promised to go in depth, so here is a little chart of matchups and how adding Spy changes the matchup! But you have to take it with a little grain of salt, it has to be tested thoroughly!

And be aware that you can also board out the combo :) so the matchups that get worse probably don’t get worse by much. Also also, the equal sign means no change.

Here's my sizzling hot take

I really am convinced of this being the best deck and I am aware that I am probably overestimating at least a little bit. But it’s good to be convinced your deck is good, no?

I think control decks really struggle against Spy Elves! They need to not tap out ever as long as the opponent has 2 creatures or more!

Anyway, that’s enough about a deck I didn’t even play at this league! Once again, check out my list and primer to read more about the best deck that also happens to have Elves.

Elf Brained

Elves are so cool! They can do anything! As long as it’s a creature. I am a huge believer in that most of your sideboard should be creatures, just because Winding Way and Lead the Stampede are SO STRONG! And that leads to sideboards looking very funky.

That is my Sideboard for the deck I played at this league. I played Rainbow Elves, specifically the Flicker sub-sub-archetype. Or as I call it: 5c Winding Way

I do so want to talk about my deck! Card choices specifically! Cool interactions afterwards! And we will even get to the games! :) The whole list is here

I decided on this deck because I saw it on Reddit, posted by someone who does really well with it. Not only that, but also because I really enjoy the Mesmeric Fiend + Flicker interaction. (In case you don’t know: the Fiend has two triggers. So if you flicker it before the first one resolves, the card you choose will be forever exiled.)

I think this deck is also different to Elf decks I usually play, because this is not aiming to do early aggression at all. It sets things up nicely, and if you get a Timberwatch, sure, then you can attack. But usually you draw more cards and try to find a flicker target for a big turn. Overwhelm the opponent with numbers, life gain, and a little bit of disruption. But let’s see how I did with the games later!

Interlude

The Zeta set coming to Pauper has everyone excited. What kind of meta will we experience ? Can old decks adapt to the new meta or do we all join the dark side? Fear not, I am pretty convinced that Elves decks do NOT care about the impact of the set - with one caveat.

This is how Wotc approached Gavin of the Pauper Format Panel after he announced the Zeta Set won't be legal

Zeta Set Schmeta Set

The Zeta Set made me really worried about Dimir being really popular. I thought all week about how to be good against Dimir. And I didn’t really have a great answer. But I think there are some things that this deck does really well. Before I get into my sideboard, let’s think about what the Zeta set does to Elves

• Dispatch: This is a 1 to 1 removal spell that is sometimes a terrible card that does nothing. Do we care about this? We like playing against artifacts anyway, exiling a land with a Masked Vandal is always a great feeling. It is basically equivalent to a Cast Down for us. It’s fine. We have so much card advantage.
• Cut Down: This is Dispatch, but worse? It is better in the early game, and worse in the middle game once a Timberwatch Elf lives for a turn. I am not worried about this at all. It is a dead draw sometimes, and other times is just a 1 to 1 removal spell like Cast Down . Sure, decks having a higher amount of instant speed interaction can be annoying, but I will simply draw more cards than them.
• Baleful Strix: The one card that I think might be annoying. It is a deathtoucher so you cannot attack into it with a big creature. But this deck specifically doesn’t run Hydra nor Avenging Hunter . I can see this being annoying to deal with, but also not too much of a problem. You have a ton of Elves to attack with, and opponent using 2 whole mana to draw 1 card is not something that is scary to Elves. Also can be exiled by Masked Vandal of course.
• An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Usually, Elves only have Sorceries, so this is strictly worse than Envelop . In this deck, I also have 3 Instants on my Pegasus, so it is a bit more annoying. Will anyone be brave enough to run this? 2 Treasures seems like a lot. I can see it being good againt Elves, because our draw spells are so so so important to counter. But just like Dispatch and Cut Down, those answers already existed.

All of the cards have Universe Beyond printings... coincidence?

Now why was I worried about Zeta? Because Baleful Strix is in Dimir colors and Dimir is a bad matchup for us! And why is that the case? They can both kill our key creatures in Priest of Titania and Timberwatch Elf , as well as Counterspell our draw spells. That’s often how it goes. Just a long game where eventually the Dimir player has survived all the threats and wins by Monarch or by fliers.

But, that is all for normal Elves. My version of Elves? It plays totally different!

The Deck

Flicker Elves. The idea is to have access to every color and to flicker good cards with your Pegasus.

What can we flicker?

• Boulderbranch Golem . Cast as Prototype, Flicker, get a 6/5, gain 9 life. If you have a Timberwatch, you gain even more life. Quite useful!
• Salt Road Packbeast . Card draw. Always good
• Masked Vandal . Interact with those pesky artifacts

And in the Sideboard we have

• Spellstutter Sprite . Counter a spell and then just repeat it!
• Mesmeric Fiend . As I already explained, very disruptive

Flicker also works as a protection spell for Timberwatch Elf or Priest of Titania .

So we give up the explosiveness of Elves for some Rainbow options. How do we improve some matchups with our other sideboard cards?

• Coalition Honor Guard : is a Standard Bearer with 4 Toughness. Can’t be cut down. Can’t be bolted.
• Granger Guildmage : Viridian Longbow on a stick, to find it with your draw spells. Extremely good in some matchups.
• Benevolent Unicorn : Against Breath Weapon and 1 damage Board wipes, saves a lot of your creatures.
• Vedalken Aethermage : I was playing Bant Wizards, really. I have 3 Wizards and can find them with this. Great include.

The Games

Match 1 versus White Weenie. Game 1 I lose due to only having mana dorks and no action at all. Game 2 and 3 both work in a similar way. My opponent tries to aggro me, and I build up my board, and eventually get enough stuff on the board to turn the corner. A lot of life gain, pinging opponents birds with my Granger Guildmages , My deck worked quite well here. Mesmeric Fiend also took 2 relevant cards.

Match 2 versus Boros Metalcraft. In theory, I have a lot of tools for this. I have ways to get around removal, I have lifegain and I have artifact hate. It just kind of didn’t work out. There are a lot of mistakes to make with this deck, especially in the middle game, cause you have to count all your colored mana and play the right cards. All my good Elves got removed and eventually I died to fliers. I think this is winnable with practice and good plays.

Match 3 versus Gruul Ponza. A matchup that is favorable for regular Elves, and less so for Rainbow Elves, I think. The land destruction is not really a problem, but the speed in which they can develop threats is a huge issue. Game 1 and 3 I held on with a bunch of Elves, life gain to assemble a big board, while they eventually ran out of cards. Game 2 I got ran over by Turn 2 Chrysalis into Turn 3 Avenging Hunter . Classic

Match 4 versus Altar Tron. I played like Breath Weapon doesn’t exist, and it paid off. Game 1 and 2 I just had a bunch of elves and Timberwatch Elf to deal serious damage. Opponent kept himself alive with Weather the Storm , and almost assembled the combo. Game 2, I had Spellstutter Sprite , which countered Expedition Map to keep them off Tron. That was really fun. But yeah, one Breath Weapon or Arms of Hadar and it would have been a different game.

Match 5 versus Dimir Affinity. This is the matchup I was worried about. Mostly because of the removal options and Counterspells. And it was true! I got completely destroyed. All my little elves that I played didn’t make mana by themselves, Priest and Timberwatch got removed, and I was just stuck on low mana and no good creatures. Even exiling artifacts didn’t do anything. My relative slowness compared to regular Elves came to bite me. There was no recourse against Affinity’s control elements and their large board that got quickly assembled.

I got massacred. It felt like this - roles reversed.

Learnings (for Learnings?)

What did I learn? Mana dorks that cost 1 mana and add 1 mana by themselves are really really strong. Others can’t compete. Put Sagu Wildings into your deck. Maybe just choose one color that you add to Elves. It’s good to have fun. Spellstutter Sprite is the best card in Magic. It is okay to not be the beatdown sometimes.

End Step

So, I got a 3-2 today. Happy with the result, as this deck was completely untested for me. What do I think of the deck? It’s fun! The drawback is that you do not have the explosive Elves starts, because all your dorks don’t create mana by themselves or come into play later. Then, in the midgame, your decisions become very interesting and fun, but overall not as powerful as I would like. Still, a very fun deck to try!

I am also very happy that the pressure is totally off, I get to enjoy the game again. I got a trophy with Spy Elves, and now I can just play whatever.

My thoughts about the Dimir matchup for Elves? It remains to be seen. Today was not my usual Elves list, so losing to it doesn’t really matter. What I really mean is Baleful Strix too strong, please ban. Also Dispatch. I only lost to those two decks. Clearly broken. Help me, Gavin!

Thanks everyone for playing and attending the league and everything! :)

61% spicy Elves. Good number, I think