Spoiler Highlight: Craterhoof Behemoth on Standard & Pioneer

Elves are one of the most famous creature types in Magic. Since Urza's Saga, this theme has had several interactions between cards like Quirion Ranger and Priest of Titania that have made it one of the most synergistic decks of all time, establishing an archetype known as Elfball, where several creatures of this type come together on the board to generate an absurd amount of mana that can be used in several ways.

The main target of all this mana in Modern and Legacy tends to revolve around a card released in Avacyn Restored: Craterhoof Behemoth. With its high cost that can be easily circumvented with Elvish Archdruid and the like, the Behemoth considerably increases the power of the creatures in play, multiplies this boost for each of them and gives them Haste, allowing a lethal attack in a single turn.

Despite their fame, Elf decks, in general, are not very well-known in Pioneer or Standard, and one of the main reasons is the lack of a payoff for excess mana. Sure, cards like Tyvar, the Pummeler or Elvish Clancaller in Pioneer can work, but none of them compare to Craterhoof Behemoth when it comes to closing games.

Now, the wait is finally over and the great game-winning colossus for Elves arrives in both formats with its reprint in Tarkir: Dragonstorm.

With the return of Craterhoof Behemoth, is it finally time for Elves to have their place in competitive Magic again? In this article, we delve into the potential of the latest reprint for Standard and Pioneer, analyzing how Elf decks can benefit from it and whether there are other archetypes capable of getting the most out of it.

The reprint of Craterhoof Behemoth comes at a good time for Standard. After all, Foundations brought some historical Elf staples.

In addition, Foundations also reprinted Genesis Wave while Duskmourn brought Tyvar, the Pummeler as a payoff for Elvish Archdruid's mana.

The Brothers’ War offers Citanul Stalwart as an additional one-drop, and Phyrexia offers Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler to give pseudo-Haste to mana dorks and generate absurd amounts of mana with Elvish Archdruid. Finally, Leaf-Crowned Elder works as both a source of card advantage and a lord to increase the power of creatures on the board.

All this mana allows you to use cards like Invasion of Ikoria or even a combination of Fauna Shaman, or Fierce Empath to find and cast Craterhoof Behemoth, contributing to potentially lethal damage. If this plan doesn't work, Tyvar, the Pummeler still operates as a mass pump for all creatures, but without giving them Haste to attack immediately.

A first draft of Elves in Standard with Craterhoof Behemoth could start with something along these lines.

It's worth noting that Standard has Elves in other colors as well: Glissa Sunslayer can function as an attrition tool and Werefox Bodyguard as removal, in addition to cards like Wilt-Leaf Liege and Imperious Perfect as mass pumps. The addition of this excess mana can also be transferred to other high-cost cards, but having a specific focus is a bit better than trying a bunch of different cards. In addition, lands like Three Tree City can also generate absurd amounts of mana with enough creatures in play.

The problem with Elves in Standard, as in all formats, is the archetype's susceptibility to cheap sweepers, and the format has no shortage of them today. A simple Pyroclasm is enough to ruin your plans, and there are few cards in the current Metagame that help protect your creatures in green. Perhaps other splashes would be necessary to achieve this result.

Another archetype that generates absurd amounts of mana with creatures today is Temur Otters, a combo deck that uses the interaction of This Town Ain't Big Enough with Stormchaser's Talent and cards like Up the Beanstalk to play several non-creature spells in one turn. The game ends with a gigantic Song of Totentanz for lethal damage, along with a group of otters with very high power on the board.

In this case, I don't think Craterhoof Behemoth would be the best payoff even if the player wants some creatures on the board to make an immediate impact since Valley Floodcaller already does enough to increase the power of creatures with each spell, and the new Ureni, the Song Unending does a better job of having a resilient threat that deals with the player's board when it comes into play, while setting a two-turn clock.

In addition to the extensive pool of Elves already presented in Standard, the years in Pioneer were quite generous with them and with the support for it in the format.

Elvish Clancaller adds considerably to the consistency of a beatdown plan outside the combo, Elvish Mystic increases the amount of one-drops that generate mana and Shaman of the Pack benefits from the number of creatures on the board to pressure the opponent.

You can also increase the number of ways to generate absurd amounts of mana with Circle of Dreams Druid, or use Elvish Warmaster as extra copies of Dwynen’s Elite, and even insert a splash for Glasspool Mimic, which would ideally copy Elvish Archdruid or Shaman of the Pack.

For more consistency, cards like Collected Company and Storm the Festival dig deep for the right elves, and Storm the Festival even lets you include Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler in the equation. As for the Craterhoof Behemoth tutors, Chord of Calling provides an easy way to use the Elves that came into play to search for it, while Finale of Devastation can add lethal damage even while searching for another card if the X value is high enough.

With so many permanent cards and green mana symbols, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx provides much more value than Three Tree City, acting as another enabler for the archetype, and if you'd rather go the Devotion route, cards like Tribute to the World Tree does a good job of making the Elves more relevant on the board while adding enough devotion to generate positive mana.

A good starting point for Elves in Pioneer with Craterhoof Behemoth is in the list above, where the foundation of what was built in Standard remains while other cards add consistency. Chord of Calling becomes the best way to take advantage of the Behemoth while Shaman of the Pack and Collected Company provide more consistency in a plan that doesn't rely exclusively on the new card.

In addition, the green sideboard in Pioneer has viable options to protect your board, with cards like Heroic Intervention and Shapers' Sanctuary. There are also several other Elves and interactions with them in the format that can be taken advantage of.

A more aggressive version of Mono Green Devotion has been doing some good in Challenges recently and could be a good starting point for a copy of Craterhoof Behemoth if it can be picked up somehow, perhaps with Archdruid’s Charm. Big mana versions could also take advantage of the card, but since it bypasses Storm the Festival and there is already the option of Ulvenwald Oddity, it might be better to stick with the current setup than have a seven-mana card that requires an established board to work.

As with Standard, I don’t think any more traditional Ramp lists would be interested in Craterhoof Behemoth. Overall, there are already good payoffs, and the new Ureni, the Song Unending benefits from lists that put lands into play, such as the Aftermath Analyst archetypes that appeared occasionally in March and late February.

It's also worth noting that Craterhoof isn't the ideal card type for Transmogrify unless your list is heavily geared toward token aggro. And even then, cards like Valgavoth, Terror Eater or Atraxa, Grand Unifier are probably better since they provide value on their own rather than relying on board position.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!