Monday MtG: Elf Tribal

Tribal decks built around Elves are as old as Magic: the Gathering itself.  So much so that - according to Scryfall - there are 505 Elf Creatures in Magic, mostly Green.

The most recent Commander deck to feature Elf Tribal was Kaldheim's Elven Empire, fronted by this elf:

Lathril, Blade of the Elves.  MY Decklist.

Keen eyes and keen memories will point out that this card (and Commander deck) appeared back in January of 2021, so about 18 months ago.  Those observers are correct.  That said, I picked up my copy of the deck well after January '21, after having seen what it can do straight out of the box.  After the table suffered that stunning loss, I decided to pick one up and improve it.

My first step in upgrading a precon is to read through each card and set aside cards I know I won't be running.  Sometimes I immediately have an idea for a replacement, but not always - just a secure knowledge that I won't run a card.  For this deck, I found a dozen definites and a half dozen maybes.

Step two is to go through my cards and set aside things that might work.  In Lathril's case, I have a stack of mostly green cards (elves) far taller than eighteen cards.

The third step is seeing what others have done. Unlike many, I don't automatically turn to EDHRec.  Instead, my research starts with mtggoldfish's Unofficial Precon Upgrade articles by Tomer Abramovici.  This is Lathril's link.  In my case, many of his recommendations are already in my 'get rid of' and 'add this' piles.  

The fourth and final step is putting the deck together and sleeving it up.  Play and revision won't fall under this post.

Note that the last time I built a Commander deck themed on Elves was in 2014, after picking up the Green Commander deck headed up by this lady-elf.  As such, I already own lots of Green Elves.

Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury.   Decklist?

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What I lacked back then was a good reason to run Gilt-Leaf Archdruid and Greatbow Doyen.  Kaldheim provided us Maskwood Nexus, so now I have the best reason to run both of these 5cmc elves (I just need to get a Maskwood Nexus!).

Lorwyn Block contains all sorts of yet-to-be-reprinted gems.

Another recent addition to the Elf-Mage's spellbook is Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth.  This isn't so much to help fix mana, though it does this.  Yavimaya is grand because now that all players have Forests, my Forest-walking token horde of Elf-Archer-Druids can slip past defenders to win.  Elvish Champion is my go-to for this trick, as the +1/+1 bump helps, but I can improve chances with Hidden Path and Nature's Cloak.  In all three cases, I need to alpha strike immediately so that others' creatures aren't used against me - because they would and should be!

I briefly mentioned a +1/+1 bump.  Elves have several such mass-pumping lords.  Imperious Perfect, Elvish Archdruid, and Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen come with the Lathril deck, while my collection provides Elvish Champion, Joraga Warcaller, Elvish Warmaster, Pendelhaven Elder, and Ezuri, Renegade Leader.  All of these tempt me to just stick with mono-green Elves, but I want the black magic access.

There are many tribal-focused cards for people like me.  Many of these are solid artifacts, like Belbe's Portal, Door of Destinies, Herald's Horn, Icon of Ancestry, Urza's Incubator, and Vanquisher's Banner (among others).  There are also color-specific tribal cards, with either Elf or 'choose a creature type' on them.  Or just color-pumping cards, like Kaysa (errata'd into an Elf Druid - who knew?).

Some fun cards for me are Elvish Guidance, Kindred Summons, and Patriarch's Bidding.  Each of these cares about a specific creature type, but lets me choose which one.  If you like tribal decks, add the last two to your kit-box.  So good.

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Ritual of Subdual.  

Throughout legend and myth, Elves have the reputation as being tricky, so I am doing the same with this deck.  One mean trick I am keeping from my earlier Elf deck is Ritual of Subdual.  Sure, Eon Hub gets around Cumulative Upkeep costs, but so does my army of mana-elves.  The only difficulty will be accessing Black mana, forcing me to rely on Elves of Deep Shadow (the good art) and Wirewood Channeler and maybe some rocks or treasures. The occasional artifact or Eldrazi deck isn't much phased by this enchantment, but all the other decks are.  I highly recommend this card to create the soft lock you need to win a game.  The other mean tricks in the deck are Triumph of the Hordes and Exsanguinate, but these two cards don't really need much explanation. 

Earlier I mentioned Freyalise.  She is in the deck, as is fellow planeswalker Tyvar Kell.  A notable absence is Nissa Revane - a great card for Elf decks, but that is it, so I am unlikely to pursue a copy.  Between the planeswalkers and tokens, there is no excuse to not run Doubling Season, though, especially as I already own a copy.  Its planeswalkers that keep Doubling Season's price so high - coming into play and immediately being able to trigger a planeswalker's ultimate is strong.  Whether or not it is good planeswalker design to be able to immediately ult with DS in play is its own discussion.

Another card I am not running is Heroic Intervention.  It is a sweet card, but in keeping with my EDH box, my lone copy is already in use (in my Jenara deck).  So as a replacement, I am running Wrap in Vigor.  Both save my Elven horde at instant speed, and that is all I really want.

So there you have it - BG Elves.  If it works as I suspect it may, I can easily see myself losing to overdrawing my deck, and I would be good with that.  I need to keep it built long enough to make a trip to Ohio, where J and B and I (and maybe others) can all run our Elves decks in a glorious game of pointy-eared madness!

Not as good as an all-Slivers-decks game, but definitely a hoot.