Lilliana's Elves V. 1
Lands (20)
9x Forests
7x Swamps
4x Jungle Hollow
Creatures (36)
1x Brutal Hordechief
3x Dwynen's Elite
2x Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daean
4x Elvish Mystic
2x Elvish Visionary
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
3x Gnarlroot Trapper
5x Leaf Glider*
1x Lilliana, Heretical Healer
2x Llanowar Empath
1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
4x Shaman of the Pack
3x Sylvan Messenger
4x Thornbow Archer
* - This is illegal, and it was an honest mistake on my part. Good to know though, as that's a cut.
Artifacts (2)
1x Angel's Tomb
1x Sigil of Valor
Instants (1)
1x Might of the Masses
Enchantments (1)
1x Palace Siege
Round 1
Went up against an Abzan deck. Game 1, he squashed me, and I'm thinking this deck is really underpowered. Game 2, I get out
Angel's Tomb and
Sigil of Valor, and keep hitting him with flying damage that he can't answer, because all his removals are sorceries or monocolor creatures, neither of which help him against Angel's Tomb, which turns into a 3/3 flier every time a creature comes into play under my control. But just when I'm about to win, he casts two
Feed the Clans for 20 life, and comes back to win it. After the game, he congratulated me on the surprise insertion of Angel's Tomb, which isn't normally see in these decks. Not a single
Shaman of the Pack in either game.
Round 2
A dreaded mirror match. His decklist was very close to
BYU 14's. First game, I lose because I attacked at the wrong time. This is also the game that saw
Brutal Hordechief hit the battlefield, leading to lots of jokes from people nearby about an orc leading an elf army.
Second game, I'm down to 3 life when I get
Palace Siege out. He's sitting at 14 life. Naturally, I choose the gain 2 life, opponent loses 2 life, on my upkeep. And that drain and gain is ultimately what wins me the game, even when he could have
Nissa, Sage Animist creature/planeswalker's ultimate go off. So Palace Siege, another surprise inclusion, got me the win.
Third game, it's back and forth until I double-block his
Dwynen, Gilt-leaf Daean, while keeping mine alive.
Shaman of the Pack hit the table multiple times on both sides. The guy was mad about losing, too, though he's a cool, laid back dude overall, who has a carefree attitude while playing. He's also the one who had the foil
Nissa in the prerelease. Beat him then, too, as you'll recall.
In one game, I don't remember which one,
Shaman of the Ways hit the board, which not only got props, but provided a great mana source to get more board presence.
So at 1-1, having gone 0-2 and 2-1, I still have an outside shot at Top 4...
Round 3
First game, I place my
Shaman of the Packs right to drain him down, and then was able to finish him off because he only had 3 blockers to my elf swarm coming in.
Erebos, God of the Dead made his first appearance in this one. Second game, he gets out
Managorger Hydra, who fucks my world up. I still manage to come close to coming back, thanks to Shaman of the Pack,
Might of the Masses, and
Sigil of Valor, but it just wasn't enough. Third game, I got the land pocket from hell, and it was all she wrote. Oh, and I was up against yet another Abzan deck.
Heroes of the Afternoon
Shaman of the Pack
While not *quite* a wincon as such the way I played it (though it did get me the Game 3 win in the mirror match as a finisher), it's still a fantastic card that really drives this deck.
Palace Siege
It literally won me a game, so of course it's going to go here.
Shaman of Forgotten Ways
The mana ramp is real, and perfect for this deck. Although he got killed once, when he was able to stay on board, he was brilliant.
Sigil of Valor
Put me in position to come back and/or win the game twice, and even though it failed both times,
Duds of the Afternoon
Brutal Hordechief
Good idea in theory. In practice, he wasn't the finisher I anticipated, so he's going to get dropped. It also goes against the minor exalted theme I have going with Sigil of Valor and Might of the Masses.
Lilliana, Heretical Healer
Hit the board twice, but couldn't manage to pop her either time. I think it came down to bad luck, however, because she's quite easy to turn into a Planeswalker.
Overall Thoughts
This deck is competitive, but it's not a top tier deck.
Languish hits the field, and it's good night. Which is why I'm surprised
BYU 14 has ~80% win rate. But it just might be that my meta runs heavy on Abzan, so I can expect to see Languishes.
There's a distinct lack of punch, in addition to that very real vulnerability. I was also sitting with a lot of empty mana sources in a deck that wants to play defensively. There's a couple of ways I can go about this - add bigger fatties or find ways to make creatures fatties.
Collected Company gets a lot of love in this deck, but when I saw it in play, I just wasn't impressed by it. I'd rather be able to control my Shaman placements, and it'd take out my Dwynen, Gilt-leaf Dean, which is kind of necessary to keep this deck alive.
Chord of Calling is something I saw in the mirror match, but also didn't like it. Llanowar Empath was very meh to me. I mean sure, I got deck thinning and a creature out of it every time, but for 4 mana, it seemed a little too expensive. I'd rather those slots went to Elvish Visionary.
Cuts
1x Brutal Hordechief
2x Llanowar Empath
1x Leaf-Glider
Adds
2x Elvish Visionary
1x Gnarlroot Trapper
Which leaves one slot open.
I realize most are considering this as an aggro deck, but for me, because of the amount of waiting you're doing to build up enough elves for Shaman of the Pack to hit, it's a defensive mid-range in reality.
I don't know... maybe cut back on some of the high costing cast elves and put in Managorger Hydras? I think that's the direction I'm pushing for now. A playset will currently run me under 10 bucks... something to think about, at any rate.
Or, if I did go CoCo, cut every single 4 drop and make everything a 3 drop or less. Hmm.