1.21.02  Hi, everyone.  For this article, I was going to do a review of Miracle Grow, but I think everyone else has talked that deck to death.  So I am going to do a deck fix for one of my intrepid readers.  The following deck was sent to me by "Chathsolen":

4 Coat of Arms
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Llanowar Elite
4 Quirion Elves
4 Priest of Titania
4 Seeker of Skybreak
4 Elvish Archers
4 Sylvan Messenger
2 Overrun
3 Ghitu Fire
3 Urza's Rage
4 Karplusan Forest
1 Shivan Oasis
1 Gaea's Cradle
2 Treetop Village
2 Mountain
6 Forest

Obviously, this is a deck of the Elfball variety.  For those of you that can't quite see what the deck is supposed to do (yes, both of you), I'll show you.  The idea is to get out as many elves as possible to speed up Gaea's Cradle and Priest of Titania.  These in turn power up a huge Ghitu Fire or get a very fast Urza's Rage going.  If that fails, you can just cast Overrun or Coat of Arms and stomp your foe into the ground.

The first thing that I don't like about the deck is the Quirion Elves.  They do smooth out the mana curve by giving you something to cast on turn two, but the mana base should be able to support the needed extra colors by the time we're done.  These can come out to make way for Fyndhorn Elves or Birds of Paradise, whichever fits your budget.  The next thing is the Seeker of Skybreak.  Yes, I do realize that it can make the Ghitu Fire absolutely monstrous, but that is just overkill.  Elvish Lyrists would better serve these spots.  These guys also speed up the Priests, so it's not too big of a loss.  They can also give Donate fits if they don't have a way to deal with them. 

The deck doesn't really need the extra offense of Elvish Archers or the card drawing of Sylvan
Messenger, so they can be taken out to put in better offense and card advantage in the form of 3 Skyshroud Poachers and 4 Deranged Hermit.  Since we are putting in a few more little creatures, it wouldn't be a bad idea to add one more Overrun in place of one Coat of Arms since it can't be destroyed by a Disenchant or other annoying removal spell.  One other addition should be made at this time: one copy of Kaervek's Torch. 

This leaves us with the mana base to fix.  I really don't like cards like Shivan Oasis in a deck like this since it can cost you a turn.  Instead, let's add another Forest in its place.  Also, the Treetop
Villages are nice against control, but there are too few Cradles in the deck.  So, out go the Villages and in come two more Cradles. 

These changes should make the deck run at least a little bit smoother and also pack a better punch in the late game.  This is a great deck since it has the possibility of making a transition into a different type of deck in the mid to late game if its plan doesn't quite go as well as it should.  The sideboard should have some sort of blue hate in the form of Boil or Scald, and possibly Pyroblast.  Emerald Charm would also be a nice thing to have against donate.

Well, I can't wait to see the different decks that come out of Odyssey block now that Torment is coming out and Extended season is all but over.  Which reminds me, good luck to everyone next weekend at the Pre-Release.

Until next time, keep 'em legal,

Robby