Elf typal is a beloved strategy that unfortunately, over the years, has faded in a variety of formats. While Elves is still a top tier Pauper archetype, it’s far from as strong as it used to be in Legacy, Modern, and beyond.
However, over the past few months, an interesting development has given a similar shell a new lease on life in Legacy. By taking the traditional Elves deck and tweaking it to implement an all-powerful Bird Wizard combo piece, the classic deck is not only surviving, but it’s thriving. Yesterday, this shell made top four of a Magic Online Legacy Challenge, and it seems pretty well positioned in the current metagame. There’s a lot to like here, so let’s see how the deck has adapted.
Building Around Gaea’s Cradle
Like the older versions of Elves, this deck is built to maximize the power of Gaea’s Cradle. Gaea’s Cradle is an unbelievable land, assuming you have a high density of cheap creatures around it.
While it is true that the number of actual Elf creatures in this decklist has been reduced significantly, the gameplan of playing efficient mana dorks and using Gaea’s Cradle to pull ahead is still there. Some of the stronger Elves reappear, including Allosaurus Shepherd and Quirion Ranger. You just aren’t going all in to utilize Heritage Druid or Cavern of Souls.
Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise replace the more traditional Elf dorks, making it easier to splash your combo pieces and sideboard cards. Green Sun’s Zenith acts as a mana dork when necessary thanks to the presence of Dryad Arbor but can also be used to tutor for combo pieces or silver bullet creatures like Collector Ouphe out of the sideboard.
With access to so many small creatures, you still get to abuse the Natural Order/Craterhoof Behemoth package, too. It doesn’t take long before Craterhoof Behemoth threatens lethal in one turn.
Modernizing Your Win Condition
Back when Elves was a top option in Legacy, your easiest way to gain card advantage was to use Glimpse of Nature. Heritage Druid and Gaea’s Cradle provided huge bursts of mana, and you could even bounce and replay Elvish Visionary with Wirewood Symbiote to keep the cards flowing. With this in mind, it may be a bit shocking to see none of those cards present.
However, by implementing Nadu, Winged wisdom as a finisher, there’s no need to jump through hoops anymore. Nadu is a card advantage machine in its own right.
Unlike Glimpse of Nature, though, Nadu can be tutored for with Green Sun’s Zenith or Chord of Calling. It doesn’t leave you vulnerable to Orcish Bowmasters while going off. Plus, you even get to put in extra lands with your triggers! As you churn through your library, finding copies of Gaea’s Cradle will enable you to cast all the cards Nadu gives you.
Your best option to maximize Nadu is to find Nomads en-Kor. Nomads en-Kor lets you repeatedly target any of your creatures for free. With two Nadu triggers per creature, you shouldn’t have a problem digging through a huge chunk of your deck. Once you find Gaea’s Cradle and Natural Order, Craterhoof Behemoth should lock the game up. Allosaurus Shepherd makes Nadu as well as your creature tutors uncounterable, which goes a long way.
Obviously, Nomads En-Kor can’t be searched for with Green Sun’s Zenith. Sylvan Safekeeper is a decent option in that case; it just isn’t as reliable as Nomads.
A Strong Blend
While it’s sad to see some of the cards that made the Elves decks of old special get outclassed, the way this build blends different strategies together gives it a unique angle of attack. Typical Nadu decklists tend to play less creatures, opting to make use of cantrips and more interaction. This deck takes the strong elements of a Gaea’s Cradle shell and adds a potent combo finish.
Having so many ways to tutor for Nadu and accelerate towards it is a huge luxury. Against Reanimator, your combo gameplan can overwhelm your opponent even if they manage to put a big creature into play. This is easier said than done in the first place for them, considering that these tutors are able to grab hate pieces such as Keen-Eyed Curator to keep your opponent’s graveyard in check. Add in Allosaurus Shepherd as a way to play through Force of Will, and you’re in business.
Of course, there are advantages to playing a more interactive variant of Nadu combo. Playing blue cantrips enables you to run Force of Wills of your own. Without them, fast combo matchups become more concerning.
Regardless, playing extra mana accelerants, tutors, and tutor targets has its benefits. Gaea’s Cradle and Nadu are both broken Magic cards, and having a deck built to abuse both at once is awesome.
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