I think Hakeem is running the pair like I suggested earlier, but from the way you've posted the comment I think you're under-valuing Graveblade, especially in this deck. While I don't agree with the choice not to run another easy win con with a singleton Gaea, Graveblade does a lot in this deck and is live a hell of a lot earlier than GR.

Marauder shuts out aggro, counters mill and provides a win con all for 3 mana. If you ask me if I'm running double Marauder or a single Gaea I'm picking the Marauder's every time.

In the XBone meta, he probably doesn't. At least not right now.

I see too many Radkos and Gruul decks on Steam to not run a Gaea's Revenge. He hits the board running, and they have no way of really interacting with it. With the Graveblade, in several games, I am pretty sure I would have lost due to Act/Sac or a well placed Ravaging Blaze (or at least would have had to sac them to Evolutionary Leap).



While I like the idea of the Marauder, he doesn't shut down aggro nor counter mill. Aggro just either ignores it (since it can only kill one of their attackers if they are going wide) or kills it (if they can, which is of some use to the pilot of the deck, probably a 2 for 1). Mill just deals with it.

Gaea's Revenge is the hardest card for an opponent to deal with in the current meta, hands down. Graveblade comes down earlier and can do some marvelous things, but for a finisher I'd pick the Revenge any day because it's hard for the opponent to interact with it.

Of course, ask 3 people and you'll get 4 opinions, so run what works well for you.

Graveblade is a good card, but not a great one. It's easily removed and really does more work in a Graveyard/Reanimator deck vs this Control. Yes, it has the potential to do lots of damage, but it dies to at least 80% removal in the current meta. And suffers summoning sickness, giving the opponent a turn to deal with it. GR is an instant threat with so little lifegain options and shroud. Just one tips the balances the moment it hits the field. It's the very definition of a bomb. That is why I think it's a great card for this deck.

yeah guess I'm still on withdraws from 2015's Bros Tokens and just knee jerk at any deck that might miss a turn 2 blocker

So I am liking some things on this list and not others. From playing Hakeem's deck to this one, the thing that hurts the most is Cruel Revival. Getting Gravedigger back as well as Fleshbag is something I missed. I do love the interaction of Erebo's Titan and Necromatic Summons. Overall it's a great build though, Winnower surprised me how well it removed things and remained a threat. I took the Titan and Summons into my own build.

Ok so after playing with this deck a lot here is my tweaked version:

// land (23)
8 x Forest
1 x Foundry of the Consuls
4 x Golgari Guildgate
8 x Swamp
2 x Woodland Cemetery

// 1 drop (1)
1 x Bone Splinters

// 2 drop (16)
3 x Elvish Visionary
2 x Evolutionary Leap
3 x Gatecreeper Vine
4 x Perilous Myr
3 x Reave Soul
1 x Shadows of the Past

// 3 drop (11)
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
2 x Graveblade Marauder
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 x Read the Bones
2 x Reclamation Sage

// 4 drop (4)
2 x Gravedigger
2 x Languish

// 5 drop (3)
2 x Cruel Revival
1 x Necromantic Summons

// 6 drop (1)
1 x Woodland Bellower

// 7 drop (1)
1 x Gaea's Revenge


I went down to 23 lands because I felt like flooding a lot and the curve is mostly 2s and 3s. Also Gatecreeper Vine obviously gets you land too. Thougts on that?

Gaea's Revenge is worth it in my opinion. It is needed to win against the mill control decks that are otherwise a really bad matchup.

Graveblade Marauder is 100% worth it. This guy is an allstar against every deck. Good early blocker against aggro. Can trade with a big minion like Gaea's Revenge and he hit's like a truck if he gets trough, especially against mill.

Also I might try out running Evolving Wilds, since my Nissa often gets killed in response to her trigger. Evolving Wilds can be cracked in response to flip her immediately. Not sure if its worth it though. Since Necromantic Summons and Gravedigger can get her back anyway.

I actually do run 2 copies of wilds over brown lands in my version for a couple reasons a) it filters the deck more to get to your engine faster if you didn't draw the leap b) in m opinion at least the deck doesn't need the evasion both brown lands provide and c) they can be used to "counterspell" any removal spent on nissa

That 'c' reason is cute

your face is cute

Awwww...

I wanted to see if I could make combo work in duels so I threw some stuff together to see if I could make it work.

The basic idea is to get Lys Alanas Huntmaster and hopefully an Evolutionary Leap to pull out a bunch of cheap elves and then burn out with Shaman of the Pack or pump a unblocked token. Unfortunetely it is a combo that sort of requires building the board up and the games where you don't draw Evolutionary Leap are much harder. Additionally mass removal is very hard to bounce back from as the deck is filled with very unimpactful cards. The Thopter matchup is absolutely horrid and is almost an auto concede unless they are very light on removal and I can manage to sneak the combo in.

I don't really think this deck is good or even that it is the best version of the concept but I was surprised at how well it actually preformed often burning people out for 18-28 damage in a single turn. More of a thought experiment in seeing if something along these lines is worth testing. This is my second draft of the deck.

Combo Elves
4x Thornbow Archer
3x Sunblade Elf
2x Fog
4x Might of the Masses
3x Dwynen's Elite
4x Elvish Visionary
2x Shadows of the Past
2x Evolutionary Leap
2x Reave Soul
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2x Reclamation Sage
3x Shaman of the Pack
3x Lys Alanas Huntmaster
1x Zendikar's Roil
1x Plains
7x Swamp
11x Forest
2x Woodland Cemetary
3x Evolving Wilds

Cards worth commenting on.
Fog - Actually played a big role in many victories eating an alpha strike to the face. Generally I only ever played this card on the turn before I won though so drawing multiples seems bad.
Might of the Masses - This was the source of most victories but also the more fragile of the win conditions.
Shadows of the Past - Added this in just in case I couldn't burn out for lethal. The scry helped find the combo pieces but honestly I could see cutting it as you really don't have a shot in games where you can't combo them.
Reclamation Sage - Added this in to combat the enchantments running around but honestly I don't really see this card having much impact on those games unless it is their only win condition and leaping into this is pretty painful with the mana requirement.
Zendikar's Roil - Added this in as a one of to see if it could be good for reach in the late game but haven't drawn it to test it yet.

Other ideas yet to be tested.
Bone Splinters - I opted out as keeping up my creature count is pretty relevant but I could see running this card.
Read the Bones - I would love the card draw but don't feel the deck really has time to play it.
Gather the Pack - I think I will add this one in as it would add a ton of consistency to the games that lack Evolutionary Leap.
Gatekreeper Vine - It lacks the key elf sub type but is still a low cost creature and also helps it land drops. If I were to run this I could possibly drop down to 23 lands.
Nissa's Pilgramage - I could take the deck down a more rampy variant as the deck can really explode out of nowhere with enough lands but I haven't been impressed when I have tried it so far.
Chorus of Might - More Might of the Masses effects but I feel the mana cost is too high even with the trample.
Runed Servitor - The extra card draw could be nice.
Perilous Myr - Good combo with Evolutionary Leap.
Sigil of Valor - I had this in my first draft of the deck but found that the power of might of masses is throwing it on an unblocked creature so this didn't play out too well. Though on the other side it did help out slightly with the Thopter matchup so maybe it is a decent idea.

Still have 3 packs to get so I am also missing a few cards as options. namely Liliana, 2 Reave Souls, and my fourth Evolving Wilds.

Anyone else want to take a stab at their take on Combo Elves?

I've been playing a variant of the Golgari Control for the better part of ten days now, although I dropped the Myrs out after the third day. I still think they are a very good early aggro deterent, but I have more Gravediggers instead and only a single Graveblade instead of two. Seems odd, but it hasn't been a problem so far. While I'm sure having two out on the board would be scary, you only ever really need one in play most of the time, and with three Gravediggers, it is easy enough to bring back if it dies. I am also only using one Bone Splinters and a single Reave Soul, but two Cruel Revival and a single Unholy Hunger to kill beefy Zombie types when the opponent has more than a single creature in play. Seems kind of random, but it's been extremely successful. Mostly due to the Fleshbag recycling. Nothing can really stay on the board, and I either win from Gaea's Revenge, the single Marauder, or just draining them to death with Shadows of the Past.

One thing I'm not sure about though is Korthophed. Without a Shadows in play, she's extremely risky to play against certain decks. I actually killed myself with her when an opponent blew up three of his own Myrs.

imo Kothophed is a trap for control players. sure in a format where you have everything she's great but as it stands most of our lifegain is inefficient. From my experience running her this was the average game: Elf or Thopter player goes wide. I have kothophed but no bone splinters left and the elf player killed my evo leap (or I didnt get one against the thopters). I need to languish the board but then kothophed kills me... but wait if I don't languish they're too wide and I still die.

So you cut Myrs and Reave Souls, what did you put in? More top end like Kotophed? Running 2 Gaea's Revenge?
I don't think it is right, you just get so much weaker against aggro. This deck already beats most midrange decks. It's problems are against very fast decks or creature light control decks (mill).



I agree, she's a trap. You don't really need the card draw from her anyway. A couple Read the Bones or Bitter Revelations is more than enough coupled with the Elvish Visionarys and Evolutionary Leap. I think she would actually be better just as a 6/6 flyer with no effect.

Hey everyone!

I'm new to this site, but not new to magic I've been playing Magic since the 90's. I recently last week finally downloaded Magic Origins on my Xbox bought a crap ton of tokens for cards and started messing around in the deck building. I've been poking in an out of this website and checking out some other player builds and I've had a lot of success with most of them.

Anyways here is my first deck build I've made in the game, Everyone is welcome to tweak it to their own liking and play style.

Burial Grounds

Speed 2/5
Strength 2/5
Control 5/5
Synergy 4/5

Green Cards

x2 Primal Bellow
x2 Fog
x1 Animist Awakening
x1 Dwynen's Elite
x2 Gatecreeper Vine
x2 Elvish Visionary
x2 Titanic Growth
x1 Nissa, Yaslwood Seer
x2 Jagged Scar Archers
x2 Reclamation Sage
x2 Wildsize
x1 Dwynen Gilt-Leaf Daen
x2 Lys Alana Huntmaster
x2 Llanowar Empath


Black Cards

x2 Thornbow Archer
x2 Deadbridge Shaman
x2 Eyeblight Assassin
x1 Read the Bones
x2 Gravedigger
x2 Consecrated By Blood
x1 Languish
x1 Gilt-Leaf Winnower
x3 Unholy Hunger
x2 Shaman of The pack


Lands

x10 Forest
x10 Swamps
x2 Woodland Cemetery

Total Green- x34
Total Black- x26
Total Deck Count x62


The deck has a bit of a slow build but not as bad as you might think especially in 2 headed giant with a partner that can support you. I find this deck to be very versatile and have had a ton of success with it, very flexible for many situations. I have played with this deck a bunch and probably lost 3 or 4 times due to terrible starting hands. Besides that this deck is very hard to stop once it gets started unless you have massive creature clear cards. I'm sure you can add some Yeva's Force Mages or Scarred Vinebreeders if you feel that it is necessary, but overall if you like to control the board and play patiently, this is a deck you'll enjoy playing, plenty of creature cards to keep your opponents from attacking you, and just enough kill cards to take out the big guys.

Let me know what you guys think

Sanctuary,

Welcome to the forums!

Not sure what you are playing against, but it seems light on killy. Like, non-existent from what you described. If you count the Myrs, I am running 17 removal spells, 20 if you count the Reclamation Sages. And I sometimes wish I had more.

Can you post your deck list?

Also, Korthophed is pretty bad. I had my opponent at 10 a few games ago and he cast him. I sacced 1 to Evo Leap dealing 2 to the face, -1 life, brought it back the next turn with Lilli's -X abiilty, cast another, sacced both of them dealing another 4 damage and -2 life and swung in with a Gravedigger for the win. I mean, he's great stats for his casting cost but he's a liability in a control style deck.

I'm running all three atm. You can use one to get another one back and then get something else back or you can just create a loop of continually getting a gravedigger back. I still don't have all the cards yet which is why I'm using three copies.

I run 3 copies of Gravedigger because everything I run in the deck has an ETB ability (or LTB ability, in the case of Perilous Myr)except for Liliana, Heretical Healer and Gaea's Revenge, so you get good value when you get a creature back.

I still haven't gotten the game to run on my own laptop, but I really want to create a Reanimation deck. This is not intended to be a tier 1 deck, keep that in mind.

4 x Gather the Pack
4 x Reave Soul

3 x Fleshbag Marauder
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
2 x Graveblade Marauder
1 x Reclamation Sage

4 x Bitter Revelation
4 x Undead Servant

3 x Cruel Revival
3 x Necromantic Summons
3 x Rise from the Grave

2 x Kothoped, Hoarder of Souls

2 x Gaea's Revenge

24 land

Gather the Pack and Bitter Revelation fuel the graveyard. Both Undead Servant and Graveblade Marauder benefit from it, as do your Reanimation spells.

Alright, done some updates to the list Beast and I built, I will have my version up tonight after work.


So here is the list I am running:

4 x Perilous Myr
4 x Gatecreeper Vine
4 x Elvish Visionary
1 x Shadows Of The Past
2 x Evolutionary Leap
3 x Reave Soul
1 x Liliana, Heretical Healer
3 x Fleshbag Marauder
1 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 x Nissa's Pilgrimage
1 x Erebo's Titan
2 x Gravedigger
2 x Languish
2 x Outland Colossus
2 x Cruel Revival
1 x Necromatic Summons
2 x Gaea's Revenge
6 x Swamp
6 x Forest
2 x Woodland Cemetery
1 x Rogue's Passage
4 x Golgari Guildgates
4 x Evolving Wilds