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By: runeliger, Sebastian Park
Nov 27 2008 10:22am
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If Tom Lapille, now of the Magic the Gathering R&D fame, is to be believed (which he should), ELVES! is here to stay. Does that degenerate the format? Definitely. It completely alters sideboards (as it becomes necessary for many decks to run 8 sideboard slots to interact with the deck, only to lose on turn 2 anyway) and shifts the focus of decks such as Domain Zoo, which now has to run cards like Seal of Fire and Ethersworn Canonist to interact with the deck. But oh well. They didn’t ban hammer any of the Dredge parts from the last PTQ season and the same arguments were made against that deck so there’s no choice but to prepare for a format with this elephant (or pile of elves) in the room.

So what exactly does a deck need to do to beat this ELVES combo?

Well, first off, here’s what the deck is:

Of course that’s just LSV’s Pro Tour winning version. It basically wins by generating a storm of 20 by playing and replaying a flood of elves in combination with the card drawing power of Glimpse of Nature and the mana acceleration of Heritage Druid with Nettle Sentinel.  There exist a few other versions that one should look out for (Specifically the Dragon-Elves version which runs Wirewood Hivemasters, Chord of Calling and has a toolbox of creatures and a finisher in Predator Dragon. Also noteworthy is the Mirror Entity version that goes infinite by making Wirewood Symbiotes elves, and the Cloudstone Curio version that Sam Black recently piloted to a GPT win), but all of these versions run the same engine to generate card advantage and mana acceleration.

So how does one interact with it? Well, the core of the combo revolves around one drops. Nettle Sentinel, Heritage Druid, Birchlore Rangers, etc. In LSV’s version, 1 mana drops consist of 40% of the deck.

Chalice of the Void and the Punishment half of Crime/Punishment interact with these creatures really well, but both of these cards must be cast at sorcery speed, and are easily disrupted by the common sideboard card of Thorn of Amethyst.

The other way of interacting with the combo is to exploit the toughness of the creatures involved in comboing out. 25 out of the 60 cards in the Elves deck that LSV runs have a toughness of 1. That’s over 41%.

This means cards like Pyroclasm, Firespout, and other red board sweepers (as well as slower white and black board sweepers such as Infest and Wrath of God ) can interact with the deck at a sorcery speed. In addition, instant speed removal (such as Shock, Incinerate, Darkblast, can also deal with these creatures with relative ease). However, again these cards can be further slowed by the sideboarding of Thorn of Amethyst (which by the way, if you’re running the ELVES! deck, you should already have 4 of these in your sideboard along with ways to kill a certain canonist).

So then what’s the best way to interact with ELVES? The card that’s been suggested and I believe has the best game against the Elves deck is the cycling side of Slice and Dice. At instant speed, Slice and Dice for three mana can deal one damage to each creature, replace itself, and dodge Thorn of Amethyst hate. It’s clearly the best answer to an ELVES deck that’s liable to go try to Thorn of Amethyst turn 2 and kill you the subsequent turn.

In talking to Joshua Claytor, an amazing writer and Kentucky magic player (who also happens to be the editor of this website), the major problem with Slice and Dice is that it lacks a true home. In fact, it’s somewhat disgusting to see Slice and Dice in a deck that doesn’t abuse Lightning Rift or Astral Slide. Other than to deal with Elves in a very narrow way, the card doesn’t fit in with any other deck.

On top of that, should people realize Slice and Dice is the best sideboard choice, it still becomes necessary to devote 4-8 sideboard slots at all times to deal with the ELVES threat. That just leaves  7 slots to deal with every other deck.

Over 600 words in, what’s my point with talking about all this?

ELVES is no longer the best deck in the extended format.

If you read the title, it may be of no surprise what I believe is currently the best deck in the format is this deck:

 

Mono Red Win
Deck Suggested by Sebastian Park
Creatures
4
Mogg Fanatic
4
Spark Elemental
4
Keldon Marauders
1
Goblin Sharpshooter
13 cards

Other Spells
4
Lava Spike
4
Incinerate
4
Magma Jet
3
Shard Volley
4
Shrapnel Blast
4
Rift Bolt
4
Sulfuric Vortex
27 cards
Lands
4
Darksteel Citadel
4
Great Furnace
12
Mountain
20 cards


15 cards
Slice and Dice

(Just a quick sidenote. The sideboard numbers are a bit off and the land count is also questionable. Depending on how popular the Storm Mechanic is, Pyrostatic Pillar may at this point be a little over kill and replaced with Dragon's Claw if one anticipates a heavy mono red meta. In addition, the current artifact destruction card is geared for the Jitte decks, and wouldn't be as effective against Affinity. Also 20 lands, with Shard Volleys and 3 mana topping the curve may be the wrong choice. Possibly cut a Shard Volley or a Keldon Marauders for another mountain. Haven’t done enough testing to really prove whether 20 lands is the right choice

Lastly, it's important to note that this deck is very much a conceptual deck at this point. If you're planning on running the red deck, adjust your sideboard according to your metagame).

So why is the Mono Burn deck the best in the format?

First and foremost, it interacts with the elephant. With 19 burn spells and 5 creatures that deal damage maindeck, the first game becomes about even for this deck (don't believe anyone who believes their game 1 matchup against a deck that can win turn 2 on the play is better than 50%), with its ability to kill off the combo cards while keeping opponents on a clock. People have been tossing Zoo around as a deck able to interact with ELVES because of its removal. Well, Zoo's removal suite has nothing on Mono Red's.

The sideboard skews this match into the Red deck's favor. With 8 sideboard hate cards coming in, the ELVES deck has a hard time dealing with the clock and removal this deck has. Unlike in most other decks, the sideboard hate that Red runs, Slice and Dice and Pyrostatic Pillar in particular contribute to the overall plan of dealing an absurd amount of damage to the ELVES deck. Whereas Slice and Dice may look out of place in almost every other deck (save Slide decks), it finds a great fit in the Mono Red strategy.

Next, the mono red deck, as a powerful and fast linear strategy, requires dedication of sideboard space to deal with it. However, So too does the faster and more linear ELVES deck. When a deck must dedicate 8 slots to deal with ELVES, it becomes questionable, with the remaining 7 slots in the sideboard, if dedicating more than 1/2 of that to deal with Red decks. Depending on the metagame read, individuals will dedicate different amounts. However, any deck that doesn't dedicate at least 4 slots to deal with the Red Deck would be blown out of the water (and we have sideboard and maindeck technology to deal with the hate we do encounter

 However, the single best reason Mono Red Burn is my deck of choice is that it matches up well against the decks that can beat ELVES.

Faeries for instance, is a deck with the permission and disruption necessary to beat ELVES. However, similar to how it got destroyed by Mono Red in the last Standard season, Faeries suffers the same fate against an overwhelming burn suite of this Mono Red deck. Add the fact that Goblin Sharpshooter provides collateral damage against the faeries deck and the matchup is further solidified.

Last extended season, Mono Red took advantage of the fact that Domain Zoo frequently took themselves to 14 life to provide a faster clock against the deck. Although the deck did gain (Wild Nactal), that deck also falls victim to the ELVES metagame. Switching up powerful beaters for Seal of Fire and (Aethersworn Cannonist), the Zoo deck gains a slower clock, while being unable to disrupt the Mono Red Burn deck. Although this matchup is still very much a race (and the sideboard combination determining who is the dog in the matchup), Mono Red Burn has a good game against Zoo.

Lastly, as always, the Mono Red Burn deck punishes stretched manabases and sub-optimal draws (In that it punishes bad players with losses).

 

With all of these factors working in Mono Red Burn's favor, there shouldn't be a doubt that the deck should be either played or tested/hated against. Depending on how testing goes, I may even take this deck to GP Los Angeles in January.

Good luck with the deck!

-Sebastian Park

AKA runeliger on MODO

Airizel AT Gmail DOT Com

 

11 Comments

by Anonymous(Unregistered) 97.115.52.253 (not verified) at Thu, 12/04/2008 - 04:56
Anonymous(Unregistered) 97.115.52.253's picture

Does chalice being all over the place factor into the equation?  Chalice for 1 kills 15 cards, Chalice for 2 kills 16.  Seems bad for you.  Also, did you try slice and dice in anything else?  UR tron, maybe.  Fire spout and jund charm dont seem like bad answers either, esp accessed by glittering wish in something rockish.  Don't think mono red burn is a bad idea as a meta game deck, but best deck in format?

 That said, good ideas and good article.

Not quite sure what to say. by runeliger at Mon, 12/01/2008 - 07:37
runeliger's picture

I'm very much tempted to say you two are both approaching the matchup incorrectly. You don't burn every card, the trick is to find the correct balance.

 Post sideboard, with the addition of the sideboard hate cards, it makes the matchup even better due to the ability to cut off more heads.

I'd hate to cite Classic as an example, but this is exactly why some people do far worse in Classic than others with the Red deck. Simply put, this deck relies on not wasting all your burn on creatures, but rather using enough while dealing damage to beat the Elves deck. Obviously, if you're going to waste all your burn on every elf that comes into play, you're doing something wrong.

That said, wasting all your burn on someone's face is also problematic in the elves matchup.

by runeliger at Mon, 12/01/2008 - 07:43
runeliger's picture

That said, if you guys are interested, message me up either here or CQ and I'll be happy to talk about it

by DRAGONDUNG at Mon, 12/01/2008 - 05:39
DRAGONDUNG's picture

I have tried it and the elves simply develop way too fast.  I have gotten them down to 4 life and all it gained me was an empty hand and an opponent who is comboing out on me.  I dont think its the answer, marauders where nice but if they stuck around one more turn i coulda won more match ups.  Think I tested 4-5 times against elves, I think i won one match.

by iceage4life at Sun, 11/30/2008 - 14:02
iceage4life's picture

I've seen no evidence that burn has a good elf matchup.  Sure you shoot a bunch of guys but then you can't kill them.  Not to mention cards like Elvish Visionary and Glimpse of Nature drawing them a ton of elves.  Oh and access to extra Pendelhavens post SB can't help the red deck...  The burn deck rellies on using its burn to kill the opponent, having to use lots of burn on 1/1s is not the way for the deck to win.

I'd be pretty shocked to see the burn deck do well at worlds.

by Anonymous(Unregistered) 216.158.175.55 (not verified) at Sun, 11/30/2008 - 06:04
Anonymous(Unregistered) 216.158.175.55's picture

Neat article!  I have a few questions.  In the elf deck, how is Grapeshot used?  I missed something on how to get the red mana?  Also I am curious on how to see the Sam Black deck.  Is there a way to find that to look at it?  Thanks a bunch!

Answer: by runeliger at Sun, 11/30/2008 - 06:14
runeliger's picture

Hey. Grapeshot is used by playing a bunch of elves, then using the Birchlore Rangers to make Red (basically tap 2 elves to generate 1 mana of any color to make a red).

 

Sam Black's list  can be found here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcove...

by runeliger at Fri, 11/28/2008 - 11:47
runeliger's picture

Yeah no doubt. My main thing with Zoo was that it has to weaken its deck in order to get the 4-8 cards that blow up elves.

 That is, if you were following how the deck was developing leading up to the PT, people were cutting mogg fanatics and seals to strengthen the deck with other powerful stuff.

Right by walkerdog at Fri, 11/28/2008 - 12:14
walkerdog's picture

But if you're weakening the best deck (as many feel it is), and it's still the best (which some people feel), it's ok.

Comment by walkerdog at Fri, 11/28/2008 - 10:29
walkerdog's picture

Zoo has as good removal as you do for elves.  You have 4 1CC cards that will kill an elf, 8 if you want to count shard volley.  They typically have 6-8 cards that will blow up elves on T1, between moggs and seals.  That's not to say you don't have a better m/u against Elves, just that Zoo has the same ability to answer on T2 as you.

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