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What is Elves?
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Well...a deck that uses elves to fight and Keebler cookies for mana (let me dream!).
Elves is a thread devoted to competitive elf decks. Currently GB is the most popular, but with Shadowmoor, GW has opened up significantly. Mono G is still played, but only by newer players and budget seekers (not the cheapest deck to build), so it will not be focused upon here in Decks to Beat.
Currently elves revolves around a lord and token nature backed by heavy beaters and removal spells, giving it a nature of a consistent aggro feel that gets stronger the later on. The cards, while self supportive, have an added bonus of tribal and even color synergy that really makes the deck shine.
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Cards to Use[indent][indent]
Creatures
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Staples
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Llanowar Elves 
: A staple for all Elf decks.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Wolf-Skull Shaman 
: A bear that can make bears (wolves) through tribal synergy.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Wren's Run Vanquisher 
: A 3/3 deathtouch beater for cheap.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Imperious Perfect 
: The best elf lord available and a great token generator.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Shriekmaw 
: Good cheap removal with a good evasive body attached later on. Very good for non-black match ups.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Safehold Elite 
: A bear that can survive to put in extra damage later on, great for stalling till you can take the win and is green and white to take advantage of certain tactics as well.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers 
:A very solid wall/beater that has the benefit of being green and white. Generally good in all builds for it's cheap cost and bulk.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Wilt-Leaf Liege 
: All GW builds should run this as it gives a huge boost to your army, stands alone as a 4/4 for 4cc, and even has an anti-discard feature built in. AND it's and elf! Even non-GW variants should consider it.
(GW)Optional -
Birds of Paradise 
: If you need more mana accel, a few of these can help. Has the benefit of color fixing and flying if pumped but will have limited use to most decks.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Boreal Druid 
: If you need more mana accel, a few of these can help. Is and elf, but only makes colorless mana which can be unhelpful in heavy color cost builds such as GW.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Tarmogoyf 
: One of the best 2cc cards period, but may not be the best pick for this deck despite since it is not an elf and the P/T can be unreliable.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Chameleon Colossus 
: 4/4 for 4 elf, problack, and can get HUGE. A great consideration for a lot of decks.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Masked Admirers 
: A decent 2 of that can help recover from discards, board wipes, and help fight counters.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Rhys the Redeemed 
: a decent 1cc for 1/1 that has the advantage of being green and white. Favorable in token builds, but the abilities are a bit costly and may not be tempo friendly enough to validate him.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Saffi Eriksdotter 
: Not an elf, but has the benefit of being green and white and is not bad as a bear. This can be really handy in saving a lord from removal.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Kitchen Finks 
: Not an elf, but has the benefit of being green and white while also giving you a life and a decent beater/2 time chump blocker. You may not have room for this, but consider it, particularly if you have a heavy RDW meta.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Oversoul of Dusk 
: Can win games simply by hitting the board early, but the heavy mana cost may not be worth the wait and the risk of counter. Has the added benefit of being green and white.
(GW)[/indent][/indent]
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Spells
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Staples -
Garruk Wildspeaker 
: Survives most removal, can create an army on it's own, helps untap mana, and can make a game winning pump to your army the next turn. Card is very effective but may be vulnerable to Faeries and RDW.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Harmonize 
: Helps feed the hand and ensure you're doing something productive every turn. However be wary of this card also slowing you down if you devote a turn to it and nothing else.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Oblivion Ring 
: A great general answer to most any permanent, despite being reversable.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Thoughtseize 
: Effective in disabling control and preventing troublesome 2cc drops from landing turn 2.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Nameless Inversion 
: Is effective in destroying numerous targets in the meta, particularly tribal ones, and can even on occasion pump a creature for the win.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Eyeblight's Ending 
: Can hit a lot of creatures but can backfire in a mirror match.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Profane Command 
: effective as removal, recovery from grave, hitting the dome, and sending an army with fear in for the win. A very good card for the deck of it's amazing tempo swing, but demands some mana consideration depending on the number you run.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Mercy Killing 
: A great card for combating spot removal and generating surprise attacks/blocks. The card is a house if you have any lords or a prepped planeswalker waiting the next turn. The card can be considered situational so running 4 may not be the best idea for all decks.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Shield of the Oversoul 
: Can be very tough for some decks to face if it lands and can sometimes spell "gg" right there. It is very synergetic with GW variants, but is vulnerable to bouncing and spot removal in response. You may not want to run too many.
(GW)Optional -
Temporal Isolation 
: Instant speed, cheap cost. A fairly solid pseudo removal card. A bit weak against decks that can bounce or champion though.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Crib Swap 
: Solid removal that has the added effect of RFGing the creature to prevent graveyard tactics or even get around regeneration and similar effects. However the 1/1 changeling they net can sometimes hurt your game against tribal decks and such.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Terror 
: If you feel
Shriekmaw is not enough solid removal, a few of these can help but beware of a meta that has black creatures that will render this a dead card.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Loxodon Warhammer 
: Very effective with the tokens and getting past certain defenses. As good as it is though, th amount of removal in the format could have you wasting your turns attempting to equip it to something that will get to attack with it.
(mono G, GW, GB)[/indent][/indent]
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Lands
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Brushland 
: Reliable color fixing put beware of pinging damage.
GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gilt-Leaf Palace 
: All GB variants should run 4.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Horizon Canopy 
: Good color fixing, but the guaranteed ping can be dangerous. But, due to the draw ability, GW variants should consider running at least 2.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mutavault 
: A good man-land that is counted as an elf but may not be favorable for it's colorless mana it produces. It can also help fight merfolk occasionally.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pendelhaven 
: Running 1 is usually a good idea due to the amount of 1/1's you will control.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terramorphic Exapanse 
: While not good for tempo, it can help mana fix as well as dig and is good for variants attempting to run basics to avoid
Fulminator Mage 
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(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Treetop Village 
: You should run a few man-lands in case of mass removal. Beware of tempo loss however.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wooded Bastion 
: All GW variants should at least run 2. Usually it's always a welcomed dual, but can be bad if no colored mana sources are drawn early. (GW)
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Sideboard
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Krosan Grip 
: The most solid Enchantment/Artifact removal there is right now.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Cloudthresher 
: Great anti-faerie tech and any deck that may be packing a heavy flyer such as
Akroma, Angel of Wrath 
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(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Squall Line 
: Great anti-faerie tech and can seal the deal by hitting straight to the dome.
(GW, GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Deathmark 
: helps fight against mirror and many other decks for really cheap.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Extirpate 
: Anti-Graveyard spell that can hose combo decks and make control think twice before playing certain spells.
(GB)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Condemn 
: Cheap anti-attack removal that can hit some of the fat flyers running around and slow down aggro decks.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Gaddock Teeg 
: Helps protect against heavy board wipes, commands, and a lot of high costed instant/sorceries in control decks. Also sits as a decent 2/2 and is both green and white.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Wheel of Sun and Moon 
: Can stop deck out, graveyard tricks, and persist decks.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Harmonic Sliver 
: Anti-Enchantment/Artifact spell with legs. Has the downfall of potentially hitting yours however, but has the added benefit of being both green and white.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Dawnglow Infusion 
: A few in sb can help fight RDW and many aggro decks. A rather weak spell outside of GW however.
(GW)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Tormod's Crypt 
: Anti-Reveillark, Mannequin, Reanimator, and Haakon Inversion.
(GW)[/indent][/indent]
Sample Decklists [indent][indent]
IvyFanboy's GW List
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IvyFanboy's GB List
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Past Versions
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1st Michigan States - Dan Cato's GB List
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1st Texas States - Carl Hendrix's GB List
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1st Utah States - Collin McClintock's Mono G List
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1st Florida States - Conrad Jackson's GW List
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1st Indiana States - Josh Guibault's GB List
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Top 8 Win a Car qualifier at GP Daytona - "Obv's" GB List
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The Variants[indent][indent][indent]Elves has a huge array of different paths to take and you'll find your own preferences, but for now there are certain strategies each color combination tends to follow by the general public.[/indent][/indent][/indent]
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GW
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Green/White takes advantage of Shadowmoor's hybrid cards as they sit conveniently well in the deck and have the amazing lord, Wilt-Leaf Liege , to help stomp opponents to the ground at alarming speeds. This variant has the fattest creatures and utilizes a few anti-death strategies such as persist, indestructible, and a few creatures to save the others to ensure you have an overwhelming army come mid-game.
When you play this build, you're often going to attempt to over extend as your deck thrives on having the biggest guys for the cheapest cost before your opponent can set up a proper defense. So, the key is to figure out some strategies to help combat strategies aimed at over extended boards and dependence on certain creatures. Have enough anti-death effects but keep in mind you still need enough creatures to work with them while still keeping a healthy mana curve. This build generally doesn't like to wait for draw to be an option, it wants to establish solid threats and keep the opponent occupied. So figure out a way to not only fight spot removal and board wipes, but also keep the flow going or even make them waste the cards and still benefit from the counter strategy despite (EX: Mercy Killing a creature targeted for death while having a lord out, making your army even bigger and having them waste a card. This results in not just trading, but you actually double or tripled you attack power of that one unit, thus keeping the flow going in your favor without slowing down).
The deck is pretty intense on having colored mana, so make sure your lands and mana sources all produce at least green mana to avoid missing turns waiting for a 3rd one to come by.
Author's Note - In my build you'll notice I put in Kitchen Finks . Some regard this as more of a sideboard card, but I wanted it in for the simple fact that it had persist and was gold, the fact that it netted me life was just an extra bonus. GW tends to have to fight early removal in order to still have troops around when you get to finally dropping the lords, so persist as an awesome way to make your opponent waste answers furiously before you can. [/indent][/indent]
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GB
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Green/Black has been the best variant pre-Shadowmoor and unfortunately did not net much, if anything, from the new set. However it's still effective and could rise to what it was pre-Morning Tide in the meta shift.
This variant plays the typical array of green elves and taps into black for its powerful removal to remove any unwanted blockers or attacks. Like all the elf decks, your tying to amass an army of cheap fatties while dodging removal. The trick here is to not over extend too much and attempt to win the game off of token makers with a few beaters inbetween. Always predict the Wrath of God 
and have a back up plan for next turn such as Profane Command or another token generator. Masked Admirers can also help a lot if drawn with enduring counters and removal.
The deck takes on a theme of 2 (or more) for 1 cards. In other words, almost every card will do more than just trade, you'll be producing more bodies or removing enemies at the same time while also getting a body on the field. This constant tempo is the reason this deck is very hard to stop and puts a lot of decks on defense very quickly. The deck also forces opponents to deploy multiple strategies to fight you as your threats exist as planeswalkers, beaters, token makers, and life reducing sorceries.
Author's Note - You'll notice in mine I have an extra 2 Boreal Druid . Not a huge difference, but I find having a little extra accel can really pay off for getting an early Garruk Wildspeaker and other such key cards, but can also help Profane Command . [/indent][/indent]
