Praise to the God of Elephants

Greetings, and Xenagos Bless.

So I revamped my configuration of the Herd, and I came up with this:

Lands (25):
4 Temple Garden
4 Stomping Ground
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Temple of Plenty
3 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Triumph
3 Mountain
2 Forest

Elephants (25):
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Fanatic of Xenagos
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Xenagos, God of Elephants
1 Aurelia, the Warleader

Spells (10):
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Mizzium Mortars
1 Selesnya Charm
3 Domri Rade

Sideboard (15):
2 Wear // Tear
1 Revoke Existence
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Boon Satyr
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Shock
3 Unflinching Courage

And here's how the rounds went:

Seriously, have you read this card?

Round 1: vs. Orzhov Midrange. I brought the beats, and he brought the removal. I think this matchup comes down to who can draw better. Game three, he ran out of removal, and I was able to land an Aurelia and slap Unflinching Courage on her. I won that one. Win, 2-1. Record: 1-0.

Sure, I'll discard my only threat after a mull to 5. Jerk.

Round 2: vs. Mono-Black. Similar matchup, but this time my opponent got the better draw. Game three I had to mull to a hand of four lands and something that got Thoughtseize'd turn 1. The my actual threat got Downfall'd, and the rest was academic. Loss, 1-2. Record: 1-1.

Chromanticore deck??

Round 3: vs. Azorius Midrange (brew). Nice guy, and a cool deck idea (he ran Civic Saber to take advantage of all his multi-colored doodz), and he was able to be tricky with the incessant stampede, but eventually he ran out of stall tactics, and I was able to trample him to death with random dooders. Win, 2-0. Record: 2-1.

Labyrinth's End?

Round 4: vs. Maze's End. Xenagos help me. The problem with this matchup is that I need to try to be a turn ahead of his stall tactics. It's different from normal control decks, because they have to draw well for like 15 turns. With this deck, they only need 3-4 Fogs while they durdle their way through the proverbial maze, and then they literally just win. This is kind of a unique matchup in which I don't know if there's much I can do except try to get pressure early and often. Not sure how to go about that. Not sure it's worth bothering too awful much about it. Loss, 1-2. Record: 2-2.

So, some bad luck for the herd, but it was still a good showing. I'm still having fun with the deck, and it's doing well enough, so I think I'll keep honing it. Speaking of which, here's the post-mortem list of bullet-points:

• I cut the Smiters for Fanatics, and I'm pretty sure I made the right choice. They usually can't, or ever even want to counter Smiter, so I figured I'd switch to something that natively has trample, and that helps fuel devotion to the God of Elephants.
• I moved Chandra to the 'board. There are enough matchups where she's not that great where she wasn't what I wanted to see in Game 1. But she's good enough where there were some matchups I did want to see her. So .. yeah.
• Courser of Kruphix and Domri is a really cute combo, but that interaction didn't really come up that often. I jammed three of her in my deck with the thought that she'd help me smooth my mana. But I found that I couldn't really rely on that. It's better to use the scrying and Caryatids to do that work, and Courser can smooth out later-game draws (filtering out lands). The lifegain was mostly irrelephant, but in certain matchups, I could see how it'd be nice to have. I think I'll try a 2/2 split. Also, in controllish matchups, giving them free information about everything I'm drawing isn't really where I want to be either (especially since a lot of my gameplan revolves around haste/flash creatures).
• Xenagos. Definitely a god worthy of our elephantile devotion. I usually end up with a random dooders, and he makes the less threatening ones become less threatening. Sometimes I would have a Voice and a bigger, non-trampler (like Polukranos) on board, and I'd buff the Voice so that they'd be under more pressure not to just chump the huge thing and take 2. But that's another reason why I like Fanatic so much--he has trample! Also, turning him into a creature actually happened in several games. And most of the time it was kinda win-more, but it was good to know that it was an option.
• Aurelia. Seriously. I think I'm going to try out a second one next week. Probably in the 'board.
• I'm also glad I put in the second Chained to the Rocks. With the way my deck runs now, I usually don't need it until later in the game anyway, and by then I almost always have a Mountain I can Chain something to (as well as something I want to Chain to it). I think 11 total Mountains is the right number.
• I'll probably tweak the ratio of Temples. I think 4/3/1 of Abandon/Plenty/Triumph is about right. With Fanatic instead of Smiter, I definitely want red more than white. Sometimes I like the idea of having more temples for more temple-scrying, but I really hate drawing a bunch of temples and being a turn behind all the time. I suppose maybe I could cut a Forest for a fourth Temple of Plenty? But as soon as they start playing Burning Earth again, I'm hosed. D:

Well, that's about it for now. Next time I write, I hope to have something to say about Modern. Until then, thanks for reading, and Xenagos be with you!

Invoking the God of Elephants

Hi everybody!

So, first Standard event of the new Standard season with my new and potentially improved Elephants deck. I kinda went back and forth in my head about which direction to go with it, and I decided that the only big change I was going to make was taking out Elvish Mystics and a random card for Courser of Kruphix and Xenagos, God of Elephants. And adding Temple of Plenty. Because Temple Scrying is awesome when they're all on-color. As of last night, my deck looked more or less like this:

Land (25):
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Temple of Plenty
3 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Triumph
3 Mountain
2 Forest

Elephants (25):
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze 
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Xenagos, God of Elephants
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Aurelia, the Warleader

Spells (10):
1 Chained to the Rocks
1 Selesnya Charm
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Domri Rade
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Sideboard (15):
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Unflinching Courage
2 Wear // Tear
1 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Selesnya Charm
1 Boon Satyr
3 Shock

So how'd it go? Well, read on!

Elephants don't like being splashed.

Round 1: vs. Bant Superfriends.
Super sweet deck. Jace, Kiora, and Elspeth all teamed up in game one to shut down my elephants in game one. Kiora's "splash" ability is pretty annoying when a lot of my gameplan seems to revolve around a few single big doodz. Post-board, splash-proof Mistcutters and other hasty threats did them in. And once again, I heard "I wasn't expecting Aurelia!" Win, 2-1. Record: 1-0.

My unflinchingly courageous elephants will make sure to tap you on the shoulder before trampling through.

Round 2: vs. White.
He admitted that his deck kinda wanted to be two or three different decks at the same time. He had that M14 enchantment that triggers when you gain life or something? And a bunch of Archangel of Thune. But it also wanted to be white weenie, with early aggression and Gods Willing/Brave the Elephants backup. Unfortunately, he was just a little too slow, and his Brimaz and Precinct Captains were quickly tromped over by my herd. My favorite moments came in game two, when I suited up an Elephantal token with Unflinching Courage, and Xenagos'd it to become an 8/8 lifelinking trampler. Sure, block with your Soldier of the Pantheon. I'm still gaining 8 life. :D Next turn, I played some random dood and did the same thing with a 10/10. Also, Unflinching Courage is good. Win, 2-0. Record: 2-0.

Xenagos help us, it's a @#$% WALL OF FROST.

Round 3: vs. Blue.
I landed a bunch of Elephants early, one of which got Tidebinded, and another of which got turned into a Frog Lizard, but eventually he ran out of answers, and I won. Game two, I faced a greater challenge: WALL OF FROST. Yes, a 0/7 defender that freezes my elephants for the next turn really crimped my style. I had to use two spells and lose two of my doodz for a turn to get rid of one (and a clone of one!). I think I ended up dying a couple turns later when he landed a rather splashy Master of Waves. Game three, he stumbled on mana, and I Chained his Wall to the proverbial Rocks, and Xenagos-devoted Elephants (Mistcutters, specifically) ran over his random Weirds and Owls. Win, 2-1. Record: 3-0.

Lesson learned: kill it while I can.

Round 4: vs. Black.
We were the only 3-0s at that point, so we ID'd and split the top two prizes. We played a match for fun, and it was pretty interesting how it played out. I haven't played this matchup much, and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I think the key to this match is to keep the pressure on them. And I should probably kill Pack Rat while I can. Ideally, exactly one turn before it becomes unmanageable. The last game we played was pretty crazy back & forth, with me having to sac a bunch of doodz to Desecration Demon so as not to die. I had an Elephantal token and a Stormbreath, and topdecked an Unflinching Courage to trample over for the win. We scooped up our cards, and were talking about the final game state, and he realized maybe he wasn't dead after all. But we couldn't remember for sure what was all on the board or who was at what life. I thought either way I had it, but I don't remember for sure. But yeah. Kill Pack Rat. Record: 3-0-1.

So yeah. Another good night for the Herd. The deck gained some worthy additions in Courser and Scrylands and the God of Elephants, and they all played their part. Some more detailed thoughts:

• Having Temple of Plenty is pretty awesome. The scrylands are incredibly useful in smoothing out draws, allowing me to sculpt sketchy hands into good ones.
• Similarly, ditching the Mystics and focusing more on playing on curve and fixing my mana and draws seems to be the right choice. I miss the explosiveness of playing huge creatures a turn earlier with regularity, but I think sacrificing explosivness for consistency is the right call.
• Xenagos. He is definitely a God worthy of our Devotion. He turns random dorks into serious threats, and turns serious threats into really serious threats.
• I'm happy with not cutting the white. Having the white gives me just a little bit of extra spice that I might lack otherwise. It's not any one card, but a few that all combine to give it just a little more versatility. Aurelia, Unflinching Courage, Voice, Chained to the Rocks, Wear // Tear. Some of them could be replaced by other things (e.g., Voice -> Ooze, Wear // Tear -> Unravel the AEther), but it wouldn't be *quite* the same. And there's really no other card quite like Unflinching Courage or Aurelia.
• Speaking of which, one swap I think I'm going to try is Fanatic of Xenagos instead of Loxodon Smiter. It makes me sad, because, well, Elephants. But Fanatic has trample, and it'll usually be a 4/4 for at least one turn. The "can't be countered" aspect of Smiter is nice, but it doesn't seem to come up all that often.
• I want to find room for one more Chained to the Rocks. I think maybe cutting the Selesnya Charm is the way to go. Most of the time, I want it for the removal mode. Sometimes the pump mode is nice to push through damage, but I think I'd rather just Chain the offending blocker to a Rock. Yeah.

I win!

Oh yeah, so I also got to play some Pauper this weekend! That was super sweet. I like this format a lot. I played some Dimir Control (Ghostly Flicker version). I won't go into too much detail, but the gist of it is that it's super durdly, with no real win condition other than a Ghostly Flicker/Mnemonic Wall lock of some kind (usually with Chittering Rats, but sometimes infinite chump blocking works just fine). The tweaks I made to it from the last time I played were effective (e.g., adding cycling lands and Mana Leaks). I lost only one match, a ridiculously grindy match to Delver. But the whole thing was super fun. Now I want to try brewing something even more horribly durdly: BUG Dredge.

Okay, well I guess that's it for now. Thanks for reading!