4 Elves of Deep Shadow
3 Llanowar Elves
4 Shinen of Life's Roar
4 Golgari Guildmage
4 Civic Wayfinder
3 Stinkweed Imp
3 Elvish Bard
4 Gaze of the Gorgon
4 Vulshok Morningstar
3 Natural Affinity
18 Forest
4 Swamp
2 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb |
  The
Ugly Stick.
Description of deck by its author (quoted):
Now, what happens when Elves get really
cranky?
They beat people.
They beat people with what I like to call The Ugly Stick (also known as
Gaze of the Gorgon).
By now, many of you have no doubt picked up on the synergy between Gaze
of the Gorgon and creatures like Elvish Bard. It's like a one-sided
Wrath of God!
Kinda.
Sometimes.
It depends.
Only creatures able to block Shinen of Life's Roar and Elvish Bard are
forced to do so. A creature that is tapped from an attack (say, Goblin
Brigand), a creature that just tapped to activate an ability (say,
Orcish Artillery), or a creature that just plain can't block (say,
Goblin Raider) won't have to block any of your “Lure-d” guys. It's
inconsistent, sure, but in the right situation, it's devastating. Forget
sonnets, this Bard's business is murder … and business is good! The
White Weenie body-count alone is staggering. Other victims of a
hellacious hornblowing include such Kamigawa block celebrities as
Meloku, Kodama of the North Tree, Yosei, and Kokusho.
How humiliating! Some big, mean ol' dragons, killed by a short,
pointy-eared ugly-guy!
The rest of the deck is full of Elves, because, well, I like them and
they make mana. Golgari Guildmage is a card I've come to like, even
though his abilities are a little pricey. Sometimes, he is just a bear.
Other times, he is a complete house! Still other times, he is a house
with central air and a two-car garage. Rarely is he a bachelor
apartment. I went through a bunch of cards before deciding on Vulshok
Morningstar. I tried Strands of Undeath and then Serpent Skin, but they
just didn't do enough and it was too easy to lose two cards to one
removal spell. The Morningstar gives you a similar effect - making your
guys harder to destroy - but it's more resilient.
I wanted to keep this deck rare-free, but Natural Affinity just solved
too many problems. It's a nasty surprise for an opponent with mass
removal, it can make a sudden army of attackers who can get through
while everyone is blocking Elvish Bard, and it gives you a chance in the
late-game against decks with a lot of creature removal. Without it,
you're relying on Svogthos, the Restless Tomb. Feel free to change them
to something else, if you prefer. Ursapine was the other rare that I
tested and it worked pretty well for me, too.
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