Topic: G/W Elephants

So I've been tossing around the idea of building an elephant-centric deck for a couple years now, and after some time away from the game (last set I was directly involved with playing was Avacyn Restored with some hints of Return to Ravnica since), I wanted to make a splash as I came back into the game and make the deck I've wanted to make.

https://deckbox.org/sets/1233334

The basic idea started out just as elephants, then expanded out a little more to take advantage of the 2-3 main ways I have of generating elephant tokens.  Further, I wanted to do this without any of the changelings or the Artifacts like Door of Destinies or the Artifact Creatures that act like lords to try and keep this build a little more challenging and fun.

This deck is definitely a casual deck that will be played in both 1v1 and 3+ free for alls, though mostly the 3+.  That being said, my friends don't mind having "money" cards in decks, budget permitting.  Eventually I want to put a couple Elephant Graveyards in the deck, but I fully realize that'll be down the line assuming my budget expands some. I've got a decent amount of wiggle room, but getting into the $25+ range for a single card is outside my current budget.

Being elephants with no real way to cheapen the cost through cards like Stinkdrinker Daredevil, I fully realize the deck's curve will naturally be a little on the wonky side.

Also of note, I realize technically Brawn isn't an elephant, but the art is still an elephant.....plus he's a funny card that actually does provide something worthwhile.

The early build of this deck did contain more elephants and flavor like Woolly Loxodon, Loxodon Partisan, Loxodon Gatekeeper, Frontier Mastodon and Loxodon Warhammer, but in the interest of curve, theme, and for Warhammer, just feeling the Sledge was a better fit, they were cut.  Similarly, I was also considering Selvala's Charge, Bestial Menace, and Intangible Virtue.

Thank you in advance for any and all help you can provide!

Last edited by Ralnakor (2015-11-15 15:19:22)

Re: G/W Elephants

Interesting tribal to go with.  I can see a few glaring issues:

1) You have almost zero ways to interact with the opponent.  This means that an opposing flyer, a solid value creature, or pretty much anything threatening on their side has to be susceptible to creatures, otherwise you're just SOL.  Green is typically lacking in this area, but white hands you a TON of ways to punish the opponent - Oblivion Ring, Banishing Light, etc are all great options to deal with opposing problem cards that capitalize on the fact that enchantment removal is not commonly played in most formats (definitely not mainboard).

2) You're running far too few lands to reliably get to the 7 and 8 CMC of Sandsteppe and Terastodon.  Even with 4x Rampant Growth you're frequently just not going to get up there.  I would suggest either considerably more ramp spells (think Explore, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Explosive Vegetation) and also about upping the land count to no less than 24 (I would even say you want to get to 25).

3) You don't have much in the way of evasion.  One of the real strengths of green is the ability to grant trample en masse.  Whether you look into Nylea or other less costly options, you need some way to force the damage through.  An army of 3/3s will frequently get you there, but going wide is a really risky strategy if any of your friends have mass removal/board wipes in their deck.

4) As a thought, since you're so focused on tokens, why not toss in Trostani to have repeatable populate?

5) You'll likely want to figure out some way to generate additional card draw.  I can see where you're going to run out your hand and are stuck in topdeck mode while the opponents can work around things.  Shamanic Revelation is one solid casual option that will likely draw 2-4 cards easily.

Good luck!