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I would like to thank everyone who replied to "Please" since it was posted. I didn't reply individually since I only had one negative email, and that was only partially.

Let's talk about elves.

Elves are those little green guys who make mana, and swing for small amounts of damage. Elves are good support cards with aspiration to be attackers. Elf decks usually draw too much mana, but we will fix that today. Today, the Elves will rule.

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I have made and remade this deck many a times, as my first deck was a green portal, and I have always like the mana advantage of elves. I have been playing for 3 years now, and as you can guess, this deck has been modded and remade with each set after Urza's Saga. Anyways, I have been playing this deck heavily, and it has begun to place in the top 8 in locals, but I want the deck to be changed for serious tournament play (ptq, regional, etc...). Any suggestions; even the smallest tweaks will help. Thanksabunch.

Creatures(25)
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Elvish Archers
4 Llannowar Elves
4 Priest of Titania
4 Rhox
4 Roffelos, Llannowar Emissary
3 Skyshroud Troopers
4 Vine Trellis

Spells(6)
3 Stream of Life
3 Vitalizing Wind 

Artifacts(5)
2 Masticore
3 Tangle Wire

Lands
16 Forest
4 Gaea's Cradle

This deck is quite functional right now, but there are a few things that strike me. Stream of Life would be much more effective as Kaervek's Torch. Why gain twenty life when you can win the game? Also, this deck has an extremely low mana curve, but too many creatures produce mana. For instance, Vine Trellis would be much better as Fyndylhorn Elves. While Vitalizing Wind will win you games, Overrun is four mana cheaper. With five 1/1 elves and Overrun, you win if unblocked. There are some other sub optimal cards, but I'll deal with them later

3 Sylvan Library
2 Abundance
4 Llannowar Elves
4 Priest of Titania
3 Roffelos, Llannowar Emissary
4 Fyndylhorn Elves

3 Creeping Mold
3 Overrun
3 Rancor
4 Masticore
4 Deranged Hermit
3 Winter Orb

17 Forest
3 Gaea's Cradle

Not sure how many Rancor are necessary, but I think three is the right number. The finisher configuration works well with Overrun and the Elf theme. Masticore is a big, bad colorless bulldozer, especially with all your mana. There is also something to be said for splashing colors, most likely White or Red for Disenchant type cards and X burn spells respectively. It's possible to use Black for discard and creature elimination, but I don't like that idea much.

Why use Winter Orb instead of Tangle Wire? Tangle Wire might be preferred against other weenie decks, but Winter Orb is perfect with Gaea's Cradle and all your elves. Winter Orb is much more useful in the late game. Tangle Wire has its strengths, but Orb is better in this deck. If you prefer Wire, go for it. I'm not sure how much I like Creeping Mold. It's fairly easy to cast, but if you splashed another color, you could use Seal of Cleansing or Hull Breach. Either way, keep the board clear of Powder Keg and Nevyneral's (unspellable) disk.

The last bit I want to talk about is Sylvan/Abundance. Independently, they are fairly useful, and together they just win you games. I was looking for a way to pay Masticore's upkeep. I thought about four Survival of the Fittest and two Squee, and pulling a Creeping Mold, but with the banning in Extended, this option is reserved for other formats. Another possible, cheaper, if less useful option is Stampeding Wildebeest and Wall of Blossoms, but that would take up seven slots, and is not as useful.

For those of you into fun games, look into Coat of Arms and the various Elf Legends.

I mentions the Wildebeest/Wall combo with is central to the Stupid Green decks of past. Here is a quickie deck list.

2 Masticore
3 Natural Order 
4 Stampeding Wildebeest
4 Llannowar Elves
3 Fyndylhorn Elves
2 Blastoderm
3 Wall of Blossoms
3 Spike Feeder
2 Spike Weaver
3 Cursed Scroll
4 Wall of Roots
3 Creeping Mold

18 Forest
2 Gaea's Cradle
4 Wasteland

This is a very flexible deck that can handle all sorts of threats with ease. In its prime, it ran Survival of the Fittest, but then again, didn't everything? Sorry, I'm bitter because I understand why they banned it, even though I love that card. That's all the time I have for now.

Until a Cowardice/ Pestilence deck is named Chicken Pox, Make Mine Magic.

Kevin Williams
Kevin@pojo.com