[Modern] Mono-Green Elves Aggro - what to cut?

[remingtonrohrbach]

Mono-Green Elves Aggro

Okay, so I built this deck because I'd never focused much on elves before and they're awesome. I made it about a week or two ago, and then today I saw this thang on the interweb where the value of Elvish Champion was taking a major jump (to like $30 per card on mtgprice). So I checked my local game shop and they still had it priced at like $6 per, and since it was 7 in the morning and I hadn't had coffee I impulsively bought a few copies (with this 2 week old deck idea in mind). Now I have no idea what to cut to fit those in this deck, so I'm hoping some of you all might be able to help a girl out.

Thanks!

[G. Moto]

I would be more than glad to help a lady. I'm going to offer my suggestions based off the idea that you want to retain as much of this original deck as possible. In all honesty you should probably cut out the gleeful sabotage and replace it with reclaiming vines (does the same thing but hits one more target). Also to make room for your new elf the best thing to do would be to take out the over-sized hydra. It's a strong creature but it does not contribute to the whole of the deck. It's like a rock sitting in a river. Would you be opposed to adding one or two more colors or would you prefer to keep this a mono-green deck?

[remingtonrohrbach]

Thanks bro!!
The main reason I chose gleeful sabotage over reclaiming vines was its casting cost and conspire ability. Although some land destruction could be useful against certain decks.
And I hear ya, primordial hydra was more just for fun towards end game, and I have a foil copy that I've never used before. I'm totally down with making it a multicolored deck, I just saw most of what I liked was mono green so I went with it.

[G. Moto]

That's good. My best recommendation for multicolored elf decks would be either; Black/Green, Green/White, or Naya (Green/Red/White). If you want you can check out my naya elf deck (grouped with my standard decks). By adding some of the landfall beasts and elves such as tajuru stalwart, tajuru warcaller, and grovetender druids you could make a dangerous deck. The two decks I definitely want you to check out are my Abzan (named omnivores), and my Naya decks. Those should give you some helpful ideas. Tell me what you think later.

[G. Moto]

Also the thing about gleeful sabotage is that in this current set the lands are the most crucial part of the deck rather than the enchantments people add to them. For example, in Theros the enchantments would be the most crucial part of a deck because the majority of cards from that block were enchantment based. Same thing for the mirrodin blocks where artifacts and the infect mechanic played a big part in how people built their decks. You want to build a great deck that you are comfortable with and enjoy playing but at the same time you wanna know what are the major and even sometimes obscure cards from different sets that most people might exploit or sometimes overlook. Look at the creatures (in this case elves) that your deck contains, find out what their strengths and how to protect their weaknesses, and how to use their strengths to overcome the enemy. Also knowing how to side-board is crucial as well because you want to have cards in reserve that can cover your bases while at the same time still work with the deck in terms of function and play ability. Let me know what progress you're making cause i'm interested in how this deck turns out.   

[remingtonrohrbach]

I got rid of my instants that didn't seem to be doing too much other than fill up slots, and replaced them with some mana ramp and Elvish Promenade. I figure with everything giving my elves bonuses, I might as well just flood the battlefield with tons of elves as quickly as possible. Beat Umbra can help protect my main dude Ezuri, and Asceticism would help against removal.

I just bought the cards for my latest draft today, I'll be doing some play testing against my friends this week, which should help me tighten everything up and come up with a solid sideboard.

[G. Moto]

I'm glad to hear that. I wish you the best of luck on your deck building. Also playing red cards that give your creatures battle tricks (such as lightning talons and sure strke) and white cards that protect your entire board (such as encircling fissure) would be good ways to enhance the overall effectiveness of the deck. Also one thing I want you to consider is this; While you're making all of those tokens you should have creatures or spells on the board that are able to either give you health, take away health, or give you card advantage as you play multiple creatures. For instance, if you have two enchantments both being impact tremors and you started popping out elf tokens quickly then you could deal 2 points of damage per token just by them entering the field. Also playing cards that have the convoke mechanic would be a good way to use your creatures. If you play multiples of nissa's expedition by convoking with your elf tokens (two max in one turn would be 4 lands) and then had the retreat to emeria on the field (which would be 4 kor ally tokens) combo with tajuru warcaller (all creatures gain +2/+2 for every entering ally) with kor bladewhirl on the field (has the rally effect that gives all creatures first strike) then you'd have an army of possibly 8/8 or 10/10 elves that have first strike and would not be targeted because of your Asceticism. How's that sound for a Naya elf deck?   

[remingtonrohrbach]

That sounds awesome! I've been looking at a lot of naya elf decks since you've given me so many great suggestions. And I think I'm going to keep this deck mono green just because I love the cards. But I'm going to make a Naya one next, it might have some card overlap, but I'm going to try to incorporate Mayael the Anima (because the art is awesome!) and Mayael's Aria too, and make it something different.
I'll post it when I figure out what I'm doing

[G. Moto]

That sounds excellent. If you're gonna run Mayael the anima make sure you have plenty of big creatures in your deck that would be easy to play. A cool way to run this deck would be to play gahiji honored one to give your creatures on the board some serious strength. Big creatures plus first strike equals domination in combat. Also make sure you add plenty of cards that make your creatures fight such as hunt the weak (to give your creatures +1/+1 counters and make them fight), time to feed (to kill creatures and gain health), dragonscale boon (to strengthen your creatures with +1/+1 counters AND untap them), and other cards that have the "bolster" effect from the Tarkir block. Your decks should be great. By the way would you like to friend me sometime? 

[remingtonrohrbach]

Time to Feed is sick! I love it!

And sure thing! I think I sent a request, I don't quite know how it all works.