Elves! A Rant... hey its my blog!

Just some thoughts that have been simmering...


One of the more hotly (well as hot as a forum discussion on mtg can get) is whether or not Elves!
should be neutered.


The reasons so far have been

1) took 6 out of 8 slots in PT Berlin 2008
2) Kills on turn 2


Some have compared it to dredge.

Other more imaginative persons have compared it to *gasp* FlashHulk




Now I am not arguing if the deck is over powered or unstoppable.


The dredge point is double edged. Proponents of not neutering Elves! say that, dredge is more powerful,
others say no. Thats about it actually =)


Thats the funny part.


There is not actually very much to argue about.


Reading the forum was like reading a bunch of kids ranting and scribbling.


So many ridiculous sweeping statements with no thoughts.

TROLLS challenging to playtest.. when their statements show their ignorance.


One kept harping on playtesting and that Elves! kill on T2.


Point is Elves! on average kills on T3/T4

Vargas's version had the fastest at 20% T2 (or was it 40% ... if it did his deck must suck and kept fizzing ;))


Did people even watch the webcast??????


I followed it every step.


Tezzerator died, because of mulls down to 4/5 (I can't recall and I can't be bothered to check)

If it was a best of 3 Vargas would have been long dead in the water!!!


It was a best of FIVE


And it was credit to Vargas's experience, to pull and react with his sideboard.

People speak of Viridian Shaman like it was some kind of panache for all of Elves! troubles.


But if you watch the match Vargas was very proactive with his side board, he boarded ALL Jittes as well as the Shamans.

This TOGETHER with the mulls was what killed Tezzerator.

I would even argue that it was skills that won the day.

The Tezzarator deck was finely tuned, but I suspect it was a case of playing the deck well but not being able to react well.


We should give credit to Vargas, not just his deck.




As for comparison to Jittes as well as the Flash.

Heres why its a stupid comparison.


Legacy was a tried and true environment. People knew what were the best cards for various purposes.

So when Flash came in. TRULY the best HATE was brought to bear on the Flash and it ...


survived.



Now that argument I can live with.


It was done with sound knowledge. We knew that was the best we have and it could'nt deal.


(Oh and I loved flash, it once again showed that P9 is no longer as powerful as it actually was... want to know how to open up the T1 market and kill demand for p9 ? UNRESTRICT Trinisphere. Trinisphere was unrestricted purely to let the p9 fantasy live on... oh and the price? it only went up in 2003, so the p9 value is really speculative at best -- but then you'd get legacy.... *faints*)


Also flash had the zeroth kill 20%.


NOTHING at that time would deal. FLASH had the kill with the counter back up.


it was beautiful.




...

and not too fun after awhile.

it was truly broken.


Now you want to compare that with Elves! ?????



Extended just had it legs cut out from beneath it. We do not even know what are the best and most effective cards.



And people are treating the results of PT Berlin like its the GOSPEL ???????




Please.



Grow up.


You have brains???? no?





I am not saying that Elves! should not be banned.




It may well be that Extended do not have the tools.


But we don't know that.


If we kill EVERY deck that is dominant. You kill an aspect of Magic.


Sure you say magic will live.


But is it magic or is it Pokemon dressed up as Magic?



You say control and combo are boring.


Dude even aggro gets boring. Control and combo are what gives Magic the competitive edge against the plethora of GAMES out there. And there are many games. Every damned expansion is competing with those games.




Now personally I think Elves! Should be banned.





I find it boring actually. One of the top 8 matches was particularly painful to watch. They were creating many.. many ... many insects. Cos they had big dragons and big life.



Sighs.


Oh if you watch rather than just read, you would have felt the pain of watching rather than wowed at the fantastically huge life and dragons.


Hey they banned Sensei's Divining Top for that reason. So why not Elves! ;)



Note: I am not usually this caustic. its just that the overbearing, condescending tone (some were moderaters... let die all hope...) and worst.... illogical sweeping statements made just so disgusted me that I cannot post a reply.. as it would just make two of us look stupid instead of just one.