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2 Cabal Coffers
2 Deserted Temple
24 Swamp

Anti Elf.

Description of deck by its author (quoted):
I hate Elves! Well, that's not precisely true. I just hate Elf Decks. Why? Oh, there are many reasons. First, they show a complete lack of creativity. Every Elf Deck has about 75-80% of the same cards as every other Elf Deck. Second, too many people are using Elf Decks. Third, I lose to them too often.

Ok, it is the third reason that is the most important to me. But, there is a story behind it. I first started playing online right after Onslaught was released. At that time, everybody and his brother had an Elf Deck. Considering the sheer number of Elves that were in Onslaught, that's not too surprising.

I didn't use that many Elves. Instead, I was putting together unusual decks. These decks were so unusual that I had to go to the New Player section in order to play them. Half the time, they didn't work right and I would lose spectacularly. I had no problem losing as long as I had time to try out the cards that were in the deck.

Elf Decks stopped my experimentation. Suddenly, even beginners had super fast decks capable of having a dozen creatures and twenty mana out by turn 3. (Ok, that's a slight exaggeration.) And then, there was Bob.

Bob (not his real alias) is a hawk. He is an extremely skilled player with tons of cards who goes to the New Player section to pick on the newbies. There are many hawks out there, but there is only one Bob. He loves to taunt the other players. He will post to the general discussion how his Elf Deck can beat anyone else's. In the match, he won't win the game. Instead, he wants you to concede. He will kill all of your creatures and then stop attacking. When you bring out another creature, he will attack with a Taunting Elf since it has to be blocked. With 15-20 Elves out and 2-3 Coat of Arms in play, his Taunting Elf can destroy anything you play.

I first met Bob one day when I was trying out a Wizard deck. It wasn't a very good deck and Bob quickly had me down to two life. I would bring out a creature and he would attack with his Taunting Elf to destroy it. If I didn't bring out a creature, he wouldn't attack. He would say things like ´´What's the matter, can't you handle an elf?´´ A real jerk.

When he finally beat me (I refused to give him the satisfaction of conceding), I went and made an Anti-Elf Deck. I started another duel and waited for Bob.

I knew that I couldn't match creature for creature with an Elf Deck. So, I didn't try. Instead, I picked a few creatures for their special abilities.

2: Guiltfeeder
1: Eastern Paladin
2: Visara the Dreadful
1: Western Paladin

The Guiltfeeders have fear. The green Elves couldn't block it. It had 0 power but caused damage according to the number of cards that was in my opponent's graveyard. With all of the instants and sorceries that are used in Elf Decks, the graveyard would be full.

The Eastern Paladin is a decent 3/3 creature. However, its ability makes it fantastic against Elves. For two black mana, you can tap the paladin and kill a green creature.

The Visara the Dreadful is a particularly powerful card. To start with, it is a 5/5 flyer for only six mana (3 black and 3 general). Plus, you can tap it to kill any creature (that doesn't have protection from black) and the creature can't be regenerated. My favorite trick was to wait until my opponent attacks. Then, I will block with Visara to kill one creature and tap it to kill another. Two for the price of one.

The Western Paladin is identical to the Eastern Paladin except that it will kill a white creature. I actually wanted two Eastern Paladins for this deck, but I only had one.

Of course, if I were building the deck today, I wouldn't use the paladins at all. Instead, I would use two Royal Assassins. The assassins are great against Elves. You can tap an assassin to kill a tapped creature. Elves are always tapping. They tap to attack. They tap to provide mana. They tap to provide life.

With so few creatures, I needed some other way to protect my life. I used artifacts.

3: Caltrops
4: Ensnaring Bridge

The Caltrops deal one damage to each attacking creature. In the early part of the game, Elves are generally 1/1. This card completely stops them from attacking. By the time they are powerful enough to get by the Caltrops, you can use the next card.

The Ensnaring Bridges prevent any creature from attacking if its power is greater than the number of cards in your hand. Since you will be playing cards as fast as you can get them, your hand will be empty most of the time.

One word of warning. Creatures that have 0 power will always be able to attack. A Taunting Elf has 0 power and can generally be pumped up after an attack has been called. On the other hand, your Guiltfeeders also have 0 power and since there are only 3 Caltrops, they will always be able to attack.

Even though Visara and the paladins will be controlling most of your opponent's creatures, it is still a good idea to have plenty of creature control.

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by Al Hetzel @ www.cardshark.com

UNIQUE: ANTI - Elf