The Power of Black Green Elves. Standard

Worlds has just ended and a three color Doran deck took the trophy home while mono-red Dragonstorm decks were a hit. However, I have noticed the major changes in the metagame include the absence of Cryptic Command decks and a lot of Black Green variations floating around. I can understand that, from the previous, that Monoblue had been consistently losing to Elves due to its speed and Treetop Village, and all Black Green decks featured those elements.

At one point, I was pretty sure I was going to play a Blue Control deck in Worlds, but since I found myself consistently losing to Elves, why not give it a try? The result was fantastic. Here is my exact Elf list that I piloted to a 4-1 result in Worlds;

BG Elves Terry Soh
2007 Worlds, 4-1 Format: Type II - LRW
Main Deck
4 Boreal Druid
3 Civic Wayfinder
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Masked Admirers
3 Tarmogoyf
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
3 Eyeblight's Ending
3 Profane Command
4 Thoughtseize
5 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Pendelhaven
2 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard
2 Cloudthresher
1 Liliana Vess
1 Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
2 Naturalize
2 Serrated Arrows
4 Shriekmaw
3 Viridian Shaman

This list is almost optimal, although I would still make a minor tweak which I will disclose later. As a comparison, here is Katsuhiro Mori's top 8 list compared to mine;

TarmoRock Katsuhiro Mori
2007 Worlds New York City, NY Format: Type II - LRW
Finished: 5th - 8th Place Number of Players: 388  
Main Deck
1 Boreal Druid
1 Civic Wayfinder
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Masked Admirers
1 Mirri the Cursed
3 Tarmogoyf
3 Troll Ascetic
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
2 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Nameless Inversion
4 Profane Command
4 Thoughtseize
5 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Pendelhaven
4 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard
2 Cloudthresher
1 Krosan Grip
3 Liliana Vess
1 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Phyrexian Totem
2 Razormane Masticore
2 Slaughter Pact
2 Viridian Shaman

As you can see, the Japanese always love their one-of cards plan in the deck. Sure, it will shine in some situations when you need it, but at times, it can be horrible or totally useless. I prefer a consistent plan and a direction to where I am heading to. One of the major differences between my list and Mori's are the Civic Wayfinder vs Troll Ascetic. I was initially using Troll Ascetic in my list, and then a friend of mine told me that some Black Green Elf deck uses Civic Wayfinder and asked me to try it out. It was wonderful. Not only does it give you easier access to black mana, it provides the very needed card advantage to fight battles of Attrition wars with a lot of decks that are designed to beat this kind of deck. Mori's list only played five mana producing elves while I had the full eight. I think the mana elf is really important to have in the opening grip, or else there is not much point in running them. There was even a point I had a Birds of Paradise as the 9th one mana elf in the deck, but I took it out for an additional Civic Wayfinder.

Cards that I ended up not playing;

Troll Ascetic - it is very good in the mirror, but doesn't do much against control. I underestimated the amount of mirror Black Green decks that appeared at Worlds, therefore I didn't run them. Also, it works very well along with Loxodon Warhammer. However, the aspects which I dislike about troll are not being an elf and requiring double green mana.

Loxodon Warhammer - As I tested the deck, I felt it often has an edge against other aggro decks in the field and Loxodon Warhammer is a win more card in this situation. I always ended up wanting for more creature removal to push damage instead of paying 6 mana and clinching some life. Nevertheless, it is a good card against aggro decks, especially mirror.

Nameless Inversion - Tarmogoyf, Bogardan Hellkite, Cloudtresher, Teferi, Guile, Mistbind Clique. These are the cards you simply can't kill with Nameless Inversion whereas Eyeblight's Ending will get the job done. I really don't mind paying the extra mana for the additional list of creatures that you can kill. The biggest downside of Eyeblight's Ending is that it never kills a Imperious Perfect, which could single-handedly win games on its own.

Elvish Champion - There were so many times I had lost because I had to hold Elvish Champion in hand against another Elf deck or its double green requirement. Believe it or not, double green mana is actually something you might not able to assemble in the early game. It also barely does anything against those Red decks and Blue White decks with a lot of mass removal.

Matchup Analysis

Monoblue control
-1 Profane Command
-3 Civic Wayfinder
-1 Garruk
-1 Boreal Druid
-1 Masked Admirer

+3 Viridian Shaman
+4 Shriekmaw

This is your easiest matchup. Out of 10 games, sideboarded or pre-sideboard, you usually win 9 games. Cast your early critters to put pressure and use Thoughtseize to push for your other spells. Usually this is how it goes: turn 1 mana elves, turn 2 Thoughtseize and Tarmogoyf/ Vanquisher or either one of them combined with Treetop. If you are on the play and could play out a turn 2 Imperious Perfect, you have almost won the game. You can still play spells on turn 3, but never on turn 4. I always turn my guys sideways along with Treetop Village or Pendalhaven and said go. The purpose is to clog the control player's hand with counters. Sooner or later, they would have to respond to the board of creatures, and that is where you start unloading your spells. For example, they would need to cast the Teferi or Guile to defend themselves. At that point, you simply try to play the multiple threats in your hand and they can never use all those Counterspells in time. Play tight and you always win this matchup, trust me.

RG Mana Ramp
-4 Imperious Perfect
-1 Boreal Druid

+3 Shriekmaw
+1 Nath of the Glit Leaf
+1 Liliana Vess

Imperious Perfect is totally useless in this matchup. You never want to make guys with him in this matchup; in fact, he always turn sideways along with other elf for quick damage. Game 1 is tough, but if you have multiple Thoughtseize or their has a land heavy hand, which happens most of the time, you can keep pushing with reusable resources like Masked Admirer and Garruk. Speaking of Masked Admirer, this is the card that makes you stands a chance against all those designated Elf killer decks. Sure, Molten Disaster kills all your men, but as long as you kept 1 Llanowar Elf in hand and you have Masked Admirer in your graveyard, you can build up very fast again. I played 2 copies at first, then upped to 3, and finally decided to play 4 copies on the night before Worlds. The downside is, the plan costs a lot of mana though. That is why I chose to play Civic Wayfinder over Troll Ascetic because it supports the plan of Masked Admirer.

After boarding, you have more disruption. The big discarders (Nath and Liliana) is pretty good against any nonblue control decks. Shriekmaw clears the path of any annoying Wall of Roots, opposing Tarmogoyf and also answers late game Cloudtresher and Hellkites. Always try to keep an mana elves in hand if possible if you have a Masked Admirer. It helps a lot when you are rebuilding your force, which happens a lot of time.

Faeries (both UG and UB)
-3 Garruk
-1 Masked Admirer
-4 Thoughtseize

+2 Cloudtresher
+2 Serrated Arrows
+4 Shriekmaw

Garruk is useless in this matchup, as you can never keep him long on the table. Thoughtseize is okay, but losing 2 life for trading a card is hefty in a matchup where both players are racing for damage. Masked Admirer is also pretty irrelevant in this matchup, but it is still slightly better than Thoughtseize or Garruk. If you plan to sideboard more heavily against Faeries, just take out remaining Masked Admirers. Game 1 is less favourable because they flies and you don't, simple as that.

Game 2 is more favourable because you have 4 one sided Wrath of God and 4 additional removals against their lord, Scion of Oona. Bait with some creatures and once you sensed that they are low on counters, go for Serrated Arrows and Cloudtresher (evoked most of the time) and those should win you games most of the time. Always play your cards rather than waiting because this is a tempo oriented matchup, where both players are looking to keep up creatures on board and denying opponent's resources with removals and counterspells.

Mirror Match
Black Green Elf
-4 Thoughtseize
-3 Eyeblight's Ending
-1 Tarmogoyf

+4 Shriekmaw
+2 Serrated Arrows
+1 Liliana Vess
+1 Nath of the Glit Leaf

Black Green Non-Elf
-4 Thoughtseize
-2 Civic Wayfinder

+4 Shriekmaw
+1 Liliana Vess
+1 Nath of the Glit Leaf

This matchup is highly dependant on speed and acceleration, therefore never cut down on mana elves. You will find the board is pretty one sided if one has mana elf and another does not. The difference is in the elf mirror, Eyeblight is utter crap while it is good against the non-elf version of black green. Thoughtseize is equally bad on both matchup,so don't hesitate to side out all of them. It is pretty much you switched all 4 Thoughtseize for 4 Shriekmaw in the board. Nath and Liliana Vess is good because the matchup tend to be slower after sideboard with both players boarding in more removals. Do try to play around Damnation, because some Black Green did have them in sideboard. I mean, you don't have to expect all of your opponent has it, but if you have 2 guys on board and he has none, maybe you can attack with Treetop Village instead of casting the 3rd guy.

Explained above are all those matchups you will expect to face in the current environment. The only deck that I didn't explain is the Monored Dragonstorm, which my sideboard has nothing to board against them. Well, it is supposed to take the field by surprise, and I don't see any decks has prepared against it. I suppose playing cards like Riftsweeper helps a little and additional discards like Stupor gives you some time to kill them before they go off. But none of these directly hit them hard though. Nevertheless, it is a racing game between both decks and Thoughtseize hurts them a lot.

If I were to play the deck again, I would cut a Boreal Druid for a Swamp. I realized that the deck doesn't really lose games when it you has lands in play, but if you has too many mana elves and too little land, it can be a problem due to the massive amount of mass removals in the format. I think 7 mana elf is still a healthy number to go, but going down to 5 or 6 is just trying to cheat yourself. It is so much harder to play one on turn 1 if you keep reducing the numbers. I really like Profane Command as well, but I'm not sure if I would go 4 copies. If any of you really wants to play 4 copies, I recommend cutting a Garruk for it. Overall I like the sideboard a lot, because I have cards to board in for all matchups except for the new Dragonstorm deck. I might switch the Naturalize for Riftsweeper or Stupor for the matchup. Originally, Naturalize was there to fight those pesky UW control decks featuring Teferi's Moat and Story Circle on Modo, but I think those decks no longer survive in the current metagame filled with Dragonstorm decks.

I really liked the deck a lot and how fast games could be ended. My strategy for Worlds is play two aggro decks, because of the tight schedule of 5 constructed rounds and 3 rounds of limited for 2 consecutive ways. In this way, I was able to minimize my Stamina loss on constructed portion and able to concentrate more on the draft portion. Unfortunately, I screwed up in the draft, going 0-3 in the first pod, which hurts my chance of excelling in this tournament. Maybe I should start to practice more drafts and start all over from the bottom again.

Til then, may you enjoy beating down with these friendly elves!
by Terry Soh