Archers Done Right

by Beowulf85 on 06 September 2012

Main Deck (60 cards)

Sideboard (12 cards)

Creatures (4)

Sorceries (4)


Instants (4)

Submit a list of cards below to bulk import them all into your sideboard. Post one card per line using a format like "4x Birds of Paradise" or "1 Blaze", you can even enter just the card name by itself like "Wrath of God" for single cards.


Deck Description

My elf archer deck. I saw Greatbow Doyen and decided that I had to design one. He's really beautiful.

Opponent: "I'm going to attack you!"
Doyen: "You die."
Opponent: "In that case, I'll defend!"
Doyen: "You die."
Opponent: "Can't I live?"
Doyen: "No."

Team him up with Jagged Scar Archers and an unorthodox use of Evolution Charm, and you have a pure green direct damage deck that would make red players drool! No need to risk your creatures attacking someone, just make their creatures fly, and then shoot them down! Oh, I promise, your opponents will not know if they should be laughing at the hilarity of it, or crying because they just died.

It should be noted that doyen's ability stacks. Double Doyens = Double Direct Damage!

Priest of Titania and Joraga are in here because IMHO they belong in EVERY elf deck. I wanted to make this a strict archer deck, but as it turns out, the best archers are elves.

(I didn't see that coming...) <---Sarcasm

Unfortunately it doesn't classify as a strictly archer tribal, because there aren't enough cards that qualify as archers (needs 1/3), but archers are the win con.

Primal Command makes sure you have every creature you could possibly need and allows you to reshuffle your graveyard and set off Genesis Wave over and over again if you get wrathed. Elixir of immortality allows you to Genesis Wave without fear, because you can set off your Elixir with all the mana you just dropped in to play as soon as wave resolves.

If you're running an elf deck without Wirewood Lodge, then you're doing it wrong.

Nissa is a revised addition to the deck, you can set her off to gain life as soon as she drops, which is great with a massive genesis wave. Alternatively, she also BECOMES a Genesis Wave. She shouldn't be in much danger from your opponent's creatures because your archers can provide a solid defense as she builds up and you steadily gain life.

Deck Tags

  • Creature-Based
  • Elf
  • Archer
  • Tribal

Deck at a Glance

Social Stats

11
Likes

This deck has been viewed 11,573 times.

Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

000054

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Archers Done Right

Don't you have too much mana? 4 priest of titania and 4 gaea's cradle are, well, too much to handle. Yes I know Joraga has multikicker, but still a couple more wouldn't be so bad if Joraga is unavailable or it gets murdered.
You may want to try and find place for an X card, Untamed Might being the most useful I can think of.
Wurmcalling is a close second but don't fit much with the deck theme.

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Posted 06 September 2012 at 16:22

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Genesis Wave is my X card. With my mana ramp, it plays half my deck (or more) instantly. I considered putting in hurricane for the fun of more green direct damage (global) because I usually end up with enough life to handle it.

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Posted 07 September 2012 at 10:41

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Oh, and there's never such a thing as too much mana, only such a thing as too little to spend it on.

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Posted 07 September 2012 at 10:44

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How do tokens work on Cockatrice?

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Posted 07 September 2012 at 00:37

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You create them manually. Ctrl+T, but I'm not sure.

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Posted 07 September 2012 at 02:58

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If you type in the proper name for the token, switch it to the right color, and add the P/T, it usually automatically generates the correct token, though for some reason it seems Cockatrice's token data banks are not comprehensive.

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Posted 07 September 2012 at 10:43

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Playing through an entire deck in a single turn is always fun. Biggest kill(s) I've had with my Elf deck: Drew my entire library, dropped them into play for free with Aluren, Fires gave all my creatures haste, Fireballed one player, Tribal Unity and attacked another one, sacrificed all my creatures to Goblin Bombardment to kill another one, brought everything back out again using Yagmoth's Will, Milled another player using Laquatus, and then sacked again to Goblin bombardment for a fifth kill.

And now when I play my Elf deck it becomes me vs everyone.

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Posted 07 September 2012 at 16:39

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LOL! That's quite the varied killing spree, I'm impressed. I can't say I blame the table for targeting you!

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Posted 08 September 2012 at 06:57

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ok im totally going to make this deck now!!! but ill drop gaea's cradle haha too expensive

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Posted 20 December 2012 at 17:18

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Priest of Titania is also a little pricey, but she can be subbed out for Elvish Archdruid. Since you commented, I'll update this deck! Please check out my other decks too. :)

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Posted 21 December 2012 at 02:17

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- 4 welwishers
+ 2 Nissa
+ 1 Elixir of Immortality
+ 1 Genesis Wave

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Posted 21 December 2012 at 02:30

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awesome deck yo, love the Gaea's cradle wicked card. check out this deck i just made bro.
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=415801

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Posted 21 December 2012 at 05:14

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Hm, I don't know. Archers done right? I can hardly see the archers because of the Cradles, Priests of Titania and Genesis Waves. See, this is basically a Genesis Wave deck now. And if you've got enough Cradle&Priest-mana rolling for a big Wave, then it doesn't really matter what you Wave into play. Do you think anybody will say "ah, nice synergy between Doyen and Jagged Scar Archers"? No, they just have been elfballed except you didn't use the mana to finish them right off and instead opted to put half your deck into play and are now fishing for compliments because what you put into play is casual. But your means of playing the casual part isn't casual. If I was your opponent I would have preferred a silly combo to end the game right away so we can start over.

So, if that was my deck I would go back to casual and cut the offenders to single copies or remove them altogether. The fact thar you think you need Elixir of Vitality to have enough cards for Genesis Wave is a hint that you are focussing on Wave way too hard. But this is supposed to be an archer deck. In casual, that sometimes means you have to build inferior decks on purpose because the parts that make it superior are so dominant that they hijack the deck.

Here is what I would do:
* Pixie Queen is a reuseable way to give your opponen't creatures flying (while stayin mono-green ... splashing blue would make things way easier)
* Doyen + Jagged Scar Archers + a way to give opposing creatures flying is still kind of cumbersome. You could as well add cards that allow your creatures to "fight": Cards like Hunt the Hunter would be a great alternative (or addition to) those Evolution Charms. Setessan Tactics would be especially powerful and even work well with the current mana production. Ulvenwald Tracker would provide a reuseable way to let your archers fight.
* When you have Nissa Revane, you should add at least one Nissa's Chosen to have more options.
* With Genesis Wave gone you need some card drawing. Sylvan Messenger would be a good option.
* The deck currently runs zero artifact and enchantment removal. I don't know about your environment but in mine, this would be suicide. The elven way to solve this would be Viridian Zealot.

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Posted 09 June 2015 at 11:00

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When I say "casual" I'm talking about a Vintage/Legacy deck that doesn't kill before turn 5 and isn't an unbeatable infinite combo. I could hardly call this competitive, and the fact that I don't have any way of dealing with artifact or enchantment removal adds to the idea of this being a casual deck. It's pure aggro and it gives your opponents ample time to either set off their decks or deal with what it does through creature removal (not at all uncommon). All my opponents needs is one wrath effect after I set off a wave and it would be crippled (hence Elixir of Immortality). This deck is powerful, but hardly unbeatable. It has been a lot of fun to play it on Cockatrice and in real life. :)

Cradles, Priests and Genesis waves are all just a means to more archers. That being said, if I managed to put in 4 more archers I could actually call this an archer tribal deck. I would be tempted to remove the Joraga Warcaller and maybe include Scattershot Archer. Either way, everything moves towards archers being the win con, but yes, this is basically a modified version of an elfball deck that isn't as good as elfball (I have seen some insane elfballs in my time, I avoid them).

Interesting ideas.
Pixie queen has far too high of a CMC for what she does though (total of 7 mana and waiting for summoning sickness when all is said and done, vs 2 mana for evolution charm which also has the ability to return creatures from my grave, or tutor for forests if I need it).
Hunt the hunter is great, and a slightly lower CMC, but it's a sorcery that lacks the versatility of Evolution Charm. In multiplayer, being able to use Evolution Charm as an instant can be quite beneficial when one can't guess what the other opponents may do.
I have no idea why I would want Nissa's chose in this deck, they don't contribute anything. All I need Nissa for is lifegain and a potential "BALHELEVES!" The ability is forgotten about because it's useless in this deck.
Sylvan messenger is OK, but I'd rather use a Slate of Ancestry or Memory Jar. If anything I'd like to have fewer creatures in this deck that aren't archers, if I'm going to abandon the archer theme I might as well just make a normal elf deck.
My suggestions if you actually want to tone down the power in order to make this deck fit your idea of casual:
-Remove Priest of Titania, Gaea's Cradle, Genesis Wave and Joraga Warcaller.
-Add Elvish Archdruid, Scattershot Archer, either Slate of Ancestry or Memory Jar (or even doubling chant) and 4 Forests.
This would significantly slow the deck down but preserve its end game stompiness, it would also significantly lower the price.

As always you have a well thought out criticism, though it initially came across as a little antagonistic. :p
Thanks for the thoughts either way!

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Posted 10 June 2015 at 09:31

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Well, that's because it has become increasingly difficult to define "casual", "fun" and so on. Especially when we are talking of "multiplayer" which can be anything between Pentagram and free-for-alls. Depending on the game mode, card availability and mindset of your environment decks could differ vastly, too. For example, in free-for-all, aggressive all-out-attack decks like these don't fare the best (or only once) but it would be a good call in something like two-headed giant.
But, aside from that, casual typically means "style and creativity is more important than winning". While this certainly isn't fast for tournament Legacy, that's not the point I was trying to make. I tried to explain that, when you run Cradles, Priests and Genesis Waves in 4s, then it doesn't matter much what you put into play with that. It's a Genesis Wave deck then.
Anyway, I knew it would be a tough call, but essentially I don't know what to suggest in this case, the CradleWave is too distracting, optimizing the deck would mean kicking out the archers (if you wave big enough, there are creatures you could wave into that end the game right there).

Hunt the Hunter is only one of over a dozen of cards that let your creatures fight. I picked that as an example because all your creatures are green (so the limitation is ok for you) but also gives +2/+2. Setessan Tactics is an instant, Pit Fight would also work. You could even use Arena. Also, while the Charm is flexible, remember that it needs both Doyen and Jagged-Scar Archers in play. All "fight" cards work fine just with Doyan.

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Posted 10 June 2015 at 10:17

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It's true, I could simplify the combo by turning this in to a "fight" deck. Even in that deck, Jagged Scar Archers would be very powerful (for the */* ability) but not necessary. Also, Elvish Archdruid might become preferable over Priest because of his +1/+1 ability. That is an interesting idea, I like the thought of comboing Doyen with Fight for the direct damage exploit.

Just looking at it, Setessan Tactics is a BEAUTIFUL idea to build a deck like this around. With 2-3 Doyens in play it could easily wipe out 2-3 other players if timed properly. Savage punch may also work well, as both Jagged Scar and Titania's Chosen easily get big enough to fully exploit the card. Both will be sideboarded for future reference (thanks for the ideas). I always though Fight is a cool mechanic, but have never been sure about how to properly exploit it.

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Posted 10 June 2015 at 10:30

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Yeah, I wasn't about to take out the Jagged, just adding a side dish, probably replacing the Charms. I can understand you, though, that it would hurt to ditch the Charms - I, too, enjoy to give underdog cards a chance to shine. But these days, games are so fast and combos so powerful (and any idiot can slam together a powerful deck now that R&D literally builds their decks for them) that a 3-card-combo hardly cuts the mustard anymore. I learned that the hard way ... beautiful synergy across three medium costed cards is like casting pearls before the swines :)

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Posted 10 June 2015 at 10:49

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I don't have anything to recommend for you in this deck. It is just too good! +1 from me.

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Posted 09 June 2015 at 22:17

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Lol, thanks. Glad you enjoy it.

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Posted 10 June 2015 at 10:17

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