Dime a Dozen #17: The Green Rangers

If there’s one thing that can be said about the current Pauper metagame, it’s this: writers like me have plenty of fresh topics to focus on. I’ve certainly been enjoying the evolution of the competitive field, and have been doing what little I can to influence change and keep all of you informed. Thank you for supporting my endeavors, and please continue to do so!

Today I’m going to talk to you about a deck that has been putting up 3-1 and 4-0 results in the hands of multiple pilots. Sounds good so far, right? This deck also floods the board with small green creatures, and plays four copies of Rancor in its maindeck. There’s a twist, though: the deck in question isn’t Stompy. This could get a bit interesting.

As it turns out, today’s deck is none other than Elves. Yes, Elves has at last crossed over into the realm of competitive Pauper. So how did this happen? What does the deck do, exactly? How do we fight it? All of these questions will be addressed, but first we should probably take a look at the deck itself. Currently there are a few iterations, but the most prominent is the one that pokey44 used to 4-0 a Daily Event on February 27th:

Elves by pokey44

Creatures (38) 4 Arbor Elf 4 Birchlore Rangers 3 Kavu Primarch 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Llanowar Sentinel 4 Nettle Sentinel 4 Priest of Titania 4 Quirion Ranger 3 Sylvan Ranger 4 Timberwatch Elf Other spells (9) 3 Distant Melody 4 Rancor 2 Spidersilk Armor Lands (13) 12 Forest 1 Island Sideboard (15) 3 Gleeful Sabotage 2 Spidersilk Armor 4 Thermokarst 2 Viridian Longbow 4 Wellwisher

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So there’s quite a lot to process here, but we’ll start by trying to identify what the deck wants to do. This list is playing a bare minimum of lands, but supplements its early development with a dense population of cheap mana producers. What results is an unconventional swarm strategy that focuses on playing out a number of dorks in order to set up a potentially backbreaking Distant Melody or Timberwatch Elf.

While sporting a plethora of cheap creatures, Elves is not in fact a dedicated aggro deck (or representative of what I like to call the “pure” archetypes). It is instead a hybrid Aggro-Combo deck that can incorporate a number of win conditions (formerly Roar of the Crowd and Lys Alana Huntmaster). The above list does, however, sport some oomph in the beatdown department, opting not to run popular cantrips like Elvish Visionary or Multani’s Acolyte.

Let’s break things down further by assessing the numerous facets of the deck.

Mana Production and Utility

The base level Turn 1 plays of Arbor Elf, Birchlore Rangers and Llanowar Elves all get us up to 3 mana on Turn 2, while at the same time adding to our elf count. I want to point out here that while the majority of decklists online feature Arbor Elf, it is strictly worse than Fyndhorn Elves (which can still produce mana in spite of Forests being bounced or destroyed) in this deck. Birchlore Rangers have the added benefit of producing blue, and getting nutty with Nettle Sentinel (he can be tapped to cast an elf, then untaps to do it again with his new pal).

The subsequent mana producers are Priest of Titania and Quirion Ranger. Priest is pretty straightforward in that it just makes a bunch of mana, while Ranger has a number of uses. Firstly, she can net us one mana by returning a tapped Forest to our hand and then replaying it. She can also untap any of the mana dorks for added utility. Lastly, she allows for additional Timberwatch Elf activations, which can be quite deadly.

The last utility creature is Sylvan Ranger who can pick up a much-needed Forest, or our single (lonely?) Island. There are eight blue sources total between the Island, Birchlore and Sylvan Rangers. This isn’t many (especially considering the absence of any cantripping elves), but with such a light splash, it may be correct.

Card Advantage

With a card like Distant Melody, the sky really is the limit. You’re rarely going to get anything worse than a Harmonize, and will quite often get something absurd that more than replenishes your hand. This card is slightly reminiscent of Rush of Knowledge. In this deck, it’s not uncommon to have a Melody draw into the next, vaguely resembling a Sphinx’s Revelation. Essentially, this is a spell that should win you the game (though not on the spot). This particular list is playing three, likely because the builder felt that drawing into one was sufficient.

Providing virtual card advantage is the chain-able Llanowar Sentinel, which can equate to some explosive starts with Priest of Titania. Putting between 6 and 8 power across multiple bodies down on Turn 3 (at the earliest) should be a problem for more than a couple of decks. 2/3 is a nice size right now (and has been traditionally), as it handles Frogmite, Phantasmal Bear, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Mulldrifter, opposing Nettle Sentinels and more.

Buffs

Rancor is a card that carries over from the card advantage department, making mana elves useful later in the game, Primarch is even more obnoxious and any Timberwatch target utterly brutal. This card alone makes the beatdown plan reasonable. The trick is deciding in the early turns if you want to get in extra damage or develop the board. Much will depend on what the opponent is playing, but the fact that we at least have the option is admittedly pleasant.

The only other enchantment in the deck, Spidersilk Armor, is a multi-purpose trump. Not only does it preserve our board in the face of Electrickery and Sandstorm; it also makes the red zone more realistic and keeps Delvers and Somber Hoverguards from taking bites out of our life total.

The last buff in the deck is Timberwatch Elf, and it’s a doozey. After dumping a truckload of green people onto the board, it’s not very hard to have one of them go unblocked. Timberwatch Elf makes said unblocked guy (or gal) into a monster. He at the very least adds to the list of “must-kill” creatures in the deck.

Big Fat Fatty

I’m honestly not convinced that Kavu Primarch needs to be here. A Hill Giant is not cutting it, so we’ve got to assume that we’re paying the kicker cost and making a 7/7 every time. This is (maybe) frightening with a speedy Priest of Titania draw, but is it going to be better on average than something like Maul Splicer? The token producer from New Phyrexia synergizes a bit more with Rancor and Spidersilk Armor. Lys Alana Huntmaster is another very appealing option, he always costs 4, and gets nutty in multiples. While I’m not saying to cut Primarch before testing it, I am a bit concerned about devoting a full turn to making a 7/7 vanilla that gets bounced, countered or destroyed with the best of em’.

The Sideboard

Green is a good place to be right now when it comes to sideboards. Gleeful Sabotage is easily cast as a two-for-one in this deck, and targets a number of Affinity staples, obstructive Spire Golems and even Serrated Arrows. That means it has applications against three of the most popular decks around right now.

Additional copies of Spidersilk Armor combat the sweepers that still see play, and could serve as a screen for the majority of offenders in Mono-Blue Faeries. If White Weenie makes a resurgence in the metagame (fingers crossed!), Armor should be quite a role-player in that matchup as well.

The stock of Thermokarst is about as high as its ever going to get, with several Cloudpost variants prolonging Daily Event rounds across the world, and Temporal Fissure strategies playing footsie with their lands for unhealthy periods of time. The potential to slam one on Turn 2 (on the play against a Cloudpost, or on the draw against a Karoo land) makes an already playable card that much better.

Two copies of Viridian Longbow serve as the only source of removal in the entire 75 (aside from the cards that remove target opponent from the game). Longbow can be utilized to obliterate Faeries and temper the Goblins offensive. In the late game I can see this being equipped and activated approximately a billion times per turn (thanks Priest of Titania!), either to burn someone out, or subject their creature to an elvish firing squad.

And then there was Wellwisher. If you haven’t seen this gal get busy, you should. In creature matchups, she is a “kill me now or else” sort of proposition. Because she doesn’t discriminate against the opponent’s creatures, I expect Elves mirrors to end up getting laughably out of hand. She will be similarly beneficial against Stompy, and just generally coaxes aggro players into uniting their heads with a wall.

A simple yet effective sideboard with cards that can come in for multiple matchups. Now that’s what I like to see.

Green on the Scene

So why now? All of the aforementioned cards have been around for quite a while at this point, so we can’t credit Gatecrash or Return to Ravnica with spawning Elves’ newfound viability. I believe there are a couple factors, the first of which being the bans. With various sweepers leaving Pauper sideboards (now that Empty the Warrens has been fitted with cement shoes and tossed into a swimming pool), Elves has a lot less residual hate to be afraid of. Deckbuilders have also been inspired to either try out new ideas, or revisit less-appreciated strategies in the wake of the changing field. There’s also the benefit of the Elves player not having to worry about Storm or Infect (as much) these days.

Putting Elves in a Box (and I’m not Talking Keebler Cookies)

Now that I’ve taught you just about everything there is to know about these cuddly forest dwellers, I know there’s one question still lingering in some of your minds: how do we kill them? First of all, you’re depraved. Second of all, there’re lots of ways!

Mass removal is going to be your best friend against Elves. Not only does it net you card advantage, it also wipes out their mana sources, damage sources and self-esteem. Not all sweepers are created equal (this is Pauper, after all), so choose wisely.

The best methods I can think of are in black (big surprise, I know). Crypt Rats and Evincar’s Justice in particular are going to be really good on average. Either can potentially be game-ending, with Justice doing a fairly convincing impression of Damnation(even when a Spidersilk Armor is on the table).

Serrated Arrows can certainly put in work, though it gets considerably worse if there’s an Armor around. Some Elves hands will fold to an Electrickery as well, but Armor can hit the board as early as Turn 2, making the Return to Ravnica spell a less than ideal elf-hoser.

Cards like Death Spark and Flame Jab can be notably demoralizing if utilized very early (as in Turn 1 early). Knocking down early runts like bowling pins can just stop their deck before it gets going. Arc Lightning has similar potential, but is obviously slower by a smidge.

Suture Priest can punish their game plan if no Wellwishers are around to counteract the life loss. When paired with aerial beats, Prismatic Strands and bigger creatures, Priest does a serviceable job of tipping the scales of a game.

These are the primary “hosers” that come to mind, but until the deck itself becomes more popular, we’ll be better off sticking with versatile options that apply to multiple adversaries across the field (which most of the aforementioned cards do, fortunately).

Cards to Consider

Fyndhorn Elves: As noted earlier, these blokes are going to be strictly better than Arbor Elf (unless I’m missing something), so get em’ in there!

Copperhorn Scout: While she is a bit of a win-more card (and mostly just worse than Quirion Ranger), there are plenty of upsides to swinging with your team and using all of their sweet abilities. She probably won’t make the cut unless some really broken synergies with her start showing up in the format.

Scattershot Archer: It’s good enough for Stompy, and would be ostensibly serviceable here. A dedicated sniper for Cloud of Faeries in the Temporal Fissure decks, and any faerie in the Faeries decks, Archer already takes up real estate in a lot of green sideboards.

Winnower Patrol: Probably too slow (though they hit the board as early as Turn 2), Patrol could provide a bit of inevitability (and does make for one of the better Rancor targets).

Serene Heart: Another recent (sort of) staple in green sideboards, this card is extremely narrow (though I imagine it’s very good at what it does). Wrecking Hexproof may be something that Gleeful Sabotage and Wellwisher are already capable of doing, but if not, this would certainly fit the bill.

Ulamog’s Crusher: Hey, I could see it happening. The main detractor? The fact that eight mana is a lot (even for Elves). Then again, if you’re already playing Kavu Primarch in your deck, maybe you should just get serious and try ending the game instead.

End Step

It’s hard to argue with the numbers Elves are putting up at the moment. I can’t say for sure that it’s long for the Pauper world, but I hope it is. These green xenophobes definitely need to be respected moving forward, and I’m curious to see exactly how the established decks are planning to adjust to them.

There are some variations that have a decent chance of popping up in the future, including ones that feature cantripping creatures, a splash of red for win conditions and who knows what else. In spite of this, I feel like the list I’ve covered today is a fine place to start (considering the number of Dailies it’s been cashing).

I’m pretty close to sleeving this up myself, so if it’s something you’d like to see in action, then please comment accordingly. Here are some questions for all of you to consider:

Do you think the deck has legs? What do you think are its strengths and weaknesses?

Have you played with or against the deck? How did things pan out?

What do you think of the current Pauper metagame? What would you like to see change?

What topics would like me to cover in the future? How do you feel about written deck analyses like this one?

Until next time! Thanks for reading, and please comment!

You can find Jason
co-hosting the Pauper’s Cage podcast
on MTGO as BambooRush
on Twitter @dimecollectorsc
and on Youtube at youtube.com/dimecollectorsc