Xackee's picture
By: Xackee, Kevin Bono
Jul 10 2013 12:51pm
0
Login to post comments
3240 views


Hello Everyone and Welcome to The Rogue Side of Pauper!

In my first article, I’ve told you guys that my very first deck was Elves. Even when I stopped playing Magic, my love for this little tribe always remained in me. In almost all online games I played, the race I would always choose was Elves. I don’t know why I like this tribe so much but hey, some of my friends love goblins. Nothing can really answer why we have different choices to tribes. When I played magic again after a long break, the first thing I asked my best friend Jesse, was “are elves in standard now?”

Ever since I've started playing Magic again, I always did my best to bring Elves as the deck of choice. The second deck I got to build in legacy was Elves. It was second because it was so hard to find the components from where I was staying. I slowly had to buy cards like Priest of Titania and Quirion Ranger. Even forgetting that I ordered 4x Nettle Sentinel and 4x Heritage Druid from a friend who's dad was working in the U.S. But despite all the lack of cards, I slowly starting playing Elves. I remember I didn't even have (Green Sun Zenith) at the time but yet, it was still a very fun and explosive deck to play. 

When I first started playing MTGO Pauper last May, I wasn't looking to build Affinity first. I wanted Elves. But I built affinity first because someone was selling components in a very cheap price at the time so I just had to take them. But after a weeks of saving up, I had enough money to buy all the components of Elves and I have NEVER been so happy with the deck.

As a Magic Player, I tend to become very competitive. But whenever I played dailies with my other decks, I usually feel unconfident and tend to lose horribly which frustrates me. But since I've gotten my Elves deck, I have felt much more confident with it and will run it in a daily soon (when I get the cash). I, like most players I'm sure, take note of the number of games, wins, lose, win percentage and sideboard plan. This is a Microsoft Excel Page I made to write down all the games I've done with Elves:

Okay, I may not have done a lot of games yet but I'm still very proud of my results. Every result here came from the Tournament Practice Room. And if anyone was wondering, here is my Elves List:

 

For purposes of the article, let us name this list as the "Stock" list of almost all Elves players run. This is the list that has been making 3-1's in the dailies. This has been working out for not only me but also most of the elves players.

Why I wrote this article?

I've wanted to write an article about Elves since I started The Rogue Side of Pauper. But I've not seen a list that has been different or a list I can consider "Rogue Enough". Until I found that list. It was on the afternoon of July 4, 2013 Dubai Time. I was browsing the dailies list and found an elf list that wasn't like the rest. It was a very different list and when I say different, I mean 8-only lands different! Once I saw the list, I just had to add the guy who made the list and talk to him about it. Only to find out that the person I was talking to was Eric Rill. I know a lot of you know this name and I know why. This guy has been winning a lot last year. Why would I talk about it? I would let Eric tell you about himself. But before I show you the contents of my interview with Eric, I would like to show you the Elves list he got 4-0 in.

 

Now for the interview:

Me: Hey Eric. First off, why don't you tell us about yourself?

Eric: Hi, I'm Eric Rill. I live in Dayton, Ohio and have been playing magic competitively for the last 3 years or so.

Me: How long have you been playing Magic the Gathering?

Eric: I first learned how to play casually when I was about 5 so I've pretty much grew up with it. In the last year, I've started having more success at tournaments, winning 2 SCG Opens and Ohio's 2012 States in the past twelve months.

Me: Wow, that is quite an achievement. What were you thinking when you made the Elf Deck?

Eric: This pauper Elf deck isn't actually my brew but my friend's Chris Kronenberger's (MTGO Name: jacinator). I've been working with him and helping him test it though and I think it's pretty good in the current meta. Basically if you dodge U/R Post, I feel favored against everything.

Me: Why did you guys choose that sideboard?

Eric: The sideboard is interesting with Birchlore and Manamorphose in the deck, we felt we can fairly reliably get any color of mana so we have a couple off-color sideboard cards that often surprise people. I will note that Land Grant is a bit of a non-bo with these surprise counterspells ((Hyrdoblast) and Pyroblast). It's not quite as good when they know what's coming.

Me: Why didn't you play the usually choices of elves? Like Priest of Titania?

Eric: Uhmm, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the traditional Pauper Elves Deck Looks like as it's not something I've ever ran into. Thought Mono Green Stompy is like our best match-up though so I'm sure I'd feel favored against it. I don't think Priest of Titania has a place in this list as we generally have enough mana by turn 3 or so, which is when Priest is active. This deck's curve is very low and most of our guys produce mana already.

Me: How do you think this would fare with the rest of the meta?

Eric: I think this deck is fairly well-positioned in the current meta. The toughest match-ups are Delver, U/R Post and Monoblack. Decks that can't interact well are all quite favorable. Decks like Monowhite, monogreen and monoblue storm-post.

Me: Last Question Eric. What's your favorite card in the deck?

Eric: My favorite and possibly the best card in this deck is Quirion Ranger. It does so many things from accelerating your mana to getting double Timberwatch activations, to letting you operate on one-land draws.

That was the interview with Eric. I've been running the list he has minus the 4 Land Grants and 2 Multani Acolytes replacing them with 4 Forests and 2 more Distant Melody

This was the sideboard card explanation Eric shared to me before the interview and also my card explanation:

(Doomblade) is for Atog.
Hydroblast is for Atog, Fling and anything against Red
Pyroblast is for anything against Blue
Spidersilk Armor is brought-in for against Electrickery.
Essence Warden is, for me, Burn and Stompy.
Fog is for the decks that tend to do too much damage.
Wirewood Pride is for the decks that we MUST win early.

Overall:

Elves is and will always be the best tribe for me. I enjoyed writing about the people from Pendelhaven. I wish I could see more Elves in the dailies. But the thing about Elves is that, if it rises, MBC and decks that would interact with this deck would rise too. Making it harder for it to be a contender. Well, thats the circle of Magic. 

Thank you to Eric Rill for having the time to talk to me about his deck and giving me a few sideboarding tips as well.

I am still looking for decks for the next articles so please don't hesitate to talk to me online (Xackee) or email me at kevinjacalanbono@gmail.com. Also if you have suggestions or reactions to what I've written or how I'm writing please don't hesitate to email me as well.

One more thing, THANK YOU AGAIN EVERYONE! For having the time to read my articles.

I think I will end it up here guys and thank you for reading The Rogue Side of Pauper. Until next time.

Yours,

Kevin B.