Lathril, Blade of the Elves Deck Tech - QUEEN OF THE ELVEN EMPIRE // MTG // EDH // Commander

Finally a Gogari elves commander that is really good -- Lathril, Blade of the Elves. Now we can add more black cards to our near mono-green deck. These little pesky creatures are an EDH staple tribe. It’s time to go wide and hit hard with our little friends. Let’s see how we can upgrade the precon with our elven twist.
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#vexmtg #kaldheim #elves

[@kristoferhammerstone7023]

When talking about the best tutors ever I always wonder why nobody plays diabolic revelation??? Now in most decks it would be to expensive but in my Lathril deck with all the mana I make I have been able to tutor more then 30 cards to my hand…I stopped at 30 just to keep cards in my deck but if you can make the mana diabolic revelation to me is BY FAR the best tutor EVER!!! Well at least that I have found so far!!!

[@Tealeafs1]

Thanks for this dude i love your passion

[@bazrin]

Super nice deck. Must be a joy to play!

[@vex_mtg]

Thanks, elfball is always fun to play.

[@ryanrex297]

Great video. Thrones of the God pharaoh makes for great turns with this card.

[@vex_mtg]

@Ryan Rex, totally agree, I definitely recommend it for the deck.

[@barbasfear16]

This is such a fun deck to build. I skewed a little more towards the tapping theme in mine with throne of the god pharo, staff of domination, copperhorn scout. And I added my box topper doubling season and bolas' citadel so i can cast elves off my library to get a critical mass of elves to use for Lathril's ability.

[@vex_mtg]

Hi @Daniel Stuart, I do like what you got going on there, I think I didn't hit the them of Lathril enough. I think I'll incorporate some of the cards you mentioned into my deck. Thanks!

[@dylanthornton7510]

Do you have a list of your own to share?

[@dylanthornton7510]

Do you have a decklist of your own to share?

[@leonardwilliams5333]

You make the best videos bro thanks

[@vex_mtg]

Thanks, glad you enjoy them.

[@mietto]

I like this list, nice stuff there

[@vex_mtg]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

[@txag007]

Cool deck! Thank you for some additional ideas for my deck!

[@vex_mtg]

Glad you like it @txag007!

[@txag007]

@@vex_mtg I was looking over elves a little more and came across Bramblewood Paragon. With all of our tokens being warriors and a lot of the other elves too, why not throw him into the deck? for a casting cost of 1G, he adds a +1/+1 counter on each warrior that enters the battlefield and additional each creature with a +1/+1 counter has trample.

[@vex_mtg]

@txag007, that's a nice find, yeah I would recommend giving it a try, you can always cut if it's not working out, but I think it's a good inclusion.

[@maxwimmer8185]

That's a gooood one! Keep it up dude!

[@vex_mtg]

Thanks @max wimmer.

[@maxwimmer8185]

@@vex_mtg u are welcome, .... did u allready add "Imaryll" to your Elfs?

[@Jasongy827]

I bought a pre set commander for this, now I want to add in more cards, to make it better, originally I wanted to make a avacyn, angel of hope deck, or lyra. I love this elvish deck.

[@vex_mtg]

@Armani Nguon, I agree, this deck is super fun, good luck with your build!

[@kristoferhammerstone7023]

I also HAD to add the sanguine bond/exquisite blood combo to go with Lathril’s second combo…I’ve always wanted that combo but never built a deck it worked really good in…have not got to use it yet tho

[@vex_mtg]

It's definitely a fun combo and each piece is pretty good on its own.

[@sambaker1121]

great video.

[@vex_mtg]

Thanks @Sam Baker!

[@yeschef9749]

Gotta get the wellwisher in there and I'd tech ambush commander for nostalgic reasons lol

[@vex_mtg]

@YesChef!, gaining tons of life with Wellwisher seems fun. As for Ambush Commander, I would be careful of broad wipes.

[@abiggs4828]

Says it's not an upgraded precon, but a whole new deck... Is literally most of how I upgraded this deck based off many upgraded deck techs for this precon. Minus the untap stuff mentioned below. That being said, this deck slaps, so I aint complaining! I was hoping to see some spicy tech I hadn't seen before tho.

[@vex_mtg]

Thanks for the comments @ABiggs. I started from an empty decklist without looking at the precon deck list, but in the end, played it a little too safe with elfball (I really like elfball decks though).

[@abiggs4828]

@@vex_mtg Elf tribal decks have so many good things that are must includes, all of them are gonna overlap in many areas, nbd. Honestly, this was an affirmation that I got my deck built out right lol. Keep it up, homie!

[@mtgsus]

I just watched a secret commander deck. This looks a lot like a mono-green elf ball when you where playtesting. Just get rid of craterhoof and find Ezuri with your Finale of Devastation, X equals 10 (to get haste and +10/+10). Use the remaining green mana to activate him and give your team trample. Maybe less effective, but at least more creative ;) Edit: I'm currently tinkering about the tap/untap synergies for my lathril deck.

[@dylanwilliams1195]

This deck looks dirty af. The precon is strong af with just a few upgrades so I can only imagine how fast this build gets out of hand for opponents that aren’t playing stax/boardwipe tribal

[@jasonyang81]

Parallel lives and doubling season with Lathril can cause opponents to scoop.

[@vex_mtg]

@Jason Yang, it does get a little out of control with all of those extra tokens.

[@alyx6719]

I love your playmat!! Where’s it from??

[@Agitabodie]

Shame you didn't talk about the Warmaster, Wolverine riders, and Timberwatch elf combo :) Warmaster and Wolverine Riders elf triggers off each other, and you can buff a creature with Timberwatch elf before the life gain triggers and gain a lot of life. With anthem effects, I gained 120 life in one turn cycle once with Warmaster and Wolverine Riders.

[@vex_mtg]

@Yeahinsertnamehere, That is indeed a way to gain a bunch of life.

[@NeonDemon88]

Overall a decent deck. I don't know what your local meta looks like that you play against and why you built it this way, but I really only see aggro as your only win-con for the deck. While elves can steamroll into a brute force win, typically a smart EDH player knows to shut down elves before they can ramp up or create a board state like you would want. There are two elements to elf tribal your deck is missing; lifegain and ramp - and having outlets for those. You are running Growing Rites of Itlimoc, which is a must have for sure, but you don't have many options to dump all that potential mana into aside from a board wipe like Toxic Deluge, or casting Devastation to fetch Hoof. Since this is a Golgari deck, you have access to plenty of X spells that you could dump that mana into. Also, lifegain. The addition of creatures like Essence Warden and Wellwisher would give you an insane amount of health in a short amount of time. Combine with artifacts like Alhammaret's Archive for even faster health ramp. Dump your health into an instant like Hatred to kill an opponent with commander damage when Lathril isn't blocked. Or, utilize all that health and run draw enchantments like Necropotence and Bolas' Citadel. Run Ad Nauseum for even more card draw to waste life on. And if you have an ability to gain or lose life at will, running the infinite combo of Sanguine / Exquisite is a no-brainer. It's a Golgari deck, and you should be utilizing so much more of the powerful black cards around to take full advantage of the mana and lifegain capabilities of elves. Running Mikaeus, the Unhallowed would give your elves greater flexibility in case they die, being able to have them return to the battlefield with counters on them.

[@macces82]

Do you have an own Lathril deck list to share? I am really interested in how you have built the deck!

[@monomanamaniac]

Throne of the god-pharoh

[@vex_mtg]

Oh that is a spicy one @Chris Kyger. 🌶

[@monomanamaniac]

@@vex_mtg it's very worthy because you have lathril's ability to tap down 10 elves and her, deals 10 to each opponent, then at the end step they all take 10 more. I've had this card over perform almost every time it hits the battlefield. Even just 3-4 dorks tapping each turn usually adds up quick

[@vex_mtg]

I totally agree @Chris Kyger, my friend plays it against me all the time and always gets me with it, I can't believe I didn't think about it.

[@thedeadfool1]

@@monomanamaniac its eleven. Kathril also taps herself. It was the first card I thought of when she was spoiled

[@monomanamaniac]

@@thedeadfool1 indeed, at least 11 when she uses her ability. I've gotten much higher than that when i had heritage druid down lol

[@bobusan_duuuugnut-oh]

Im surprised elvish clan caller isnt in this deck.

[@vex_mtg]

I’ll have to fix that in the next update.

[@KingKoral]

Hello, I'm currently building this deck for my friend, who wanted to play EDH with me and wanted Elves :) What are your thoughts about new Glissa Sunslayer? She's a 3/3 for 3 CMC with First Strike + Deathtouch and can work as offense, defense and even repeatable card draw option. Also as a budget card draw I've added Minions' Murmurs, which worked fantastic in a similar strategy of mine (Edgar Markov Ad Naus Aggro). Oh, and there's a combo with Elvish Champion: with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth every land of your opponent becomes Forest so Champion basically grants other Elves unblockability (with the warning you said in the video that it works for opposing Elves too!). I'd also like to know your opinion on following cards: Abomination of Llanowar (big body, that has some evasion), Sylvan Anthem (enchantment with lord effect that can filter out top of deck with Scry 1 - if I'm correct this works with tokens too!) and finally a brand new card called Pile On (removal with Convoke that can also Surveil 2 - there's not much Grave recovery and/or utility but I think this might help fixing dead draws in a budget list). Once again thank you for your insightful videos! Hope you make updated lists/videos sometimes :)

[@vex_mtg]

👍 Show support for the channel by hitting the Like button and leaving a Comment. 🔗 Decklist: bit.ly/4a248aO -- TCGplayer Affiliate: bit.ly/49HHlRx 🎉 Thanks for watching!

[@monomanamaniac]

After making some changes to my lathril deck i could also suggest selvala, heart of the wilds, circle of the dreams druid, and the most spicy card that i can think of for this deck is staff of domination

[@vex_mtg]

@Chris Kyger, definitely Circle of Dreams Druid and Selvala. I'm medium of Staff of Domination, I might have to try it out, thanks for the update!

[@monomanamaniac]

@@vex_mtg staff takes a lot of work to pull off, but it's a win condition for lathril. If you can get the infinite mana off it and be able to tap lathril for her effect, you win lol

[@RVZL2008]

@@monomanamaniac This is a super late comment but I was actually looking to build this deck...what is the infinite mana combo you are talking about if you dont mind sharing? I'm still a little new to magic

[@mr.g5369]

@@RVZL2008 With an elf creature that can produce 5+ mana by tapping (like Priest of Titania, Elvish Archdruid, Selvala Heart of the Wilds, Circle of Dreams Druid, etc.) you can produce infinite mana with Staff of Domination by putting the 5 mana into the Staff of Domination's activated abilities (3 mana to untap target creature, and 1 to untap the Staff; leaving 1 mana in your mana pool... you then rinse and repeat by going up 1 mana with each iteration of the combo). Once you have achieved infinite mana, you can then draw your entire deck with the Staff's last activated ability. Alternatively, you could use the infinite mana and the Staff of Domination to untap all of your elves including Lathril in order to drain your opponents of all their life. You can only do this though if you have Lathril in play and ten other elves, which can be harder to achieve in more seasoned playgroups that play removal and interaction. Most players who know what they are doing will not let a Staff of Domination sit on the battlefield, so only play it from your hand if you can go off and win that turn.

[@RVZL2008]

@@mr.g5369 oh wow awesome! Thanks so much for the explanation! I’m definitely going to give that a try

[@dakotavaughn-luttrell6593]

Add in seller of sky breaker and illusionist bracer for ista win with commander or other combos in your deck that you can come up with

[@vex_mtg]

@Dakota Vaughn-luttrell, I don't believe Seeker of Skybreak and Illusionist's Bracers go infinite, but it's pretty close to instant win if it can be pulled off, I'll have to keep that combo in the back of my mind next time.

[@craigbradley3393]

Could you do a update to this deck? Please!

[@vex_mtg]

I don't usually update my decks often, I have decks that are 2-3 years old that are still good!

[@unequaled_beef1521]

Check out the card hatred, it will win you the game

[@vex_mtg]

@Marcus West, I agree Hatred would be good for the deck, however I tend to not include Reserved List cards.

[@realdirtydantv5584]

Our builds much similar would recommend garruks wake over kindred deluge due to super friends

[@vex_mtg]

@RealDirtyDan TV, good suggestion for anyone facing superfriends deck. I'm the only one in my playgroup that has a superfriends deck, so my removal doesn't really lean on killing planeswalkers too much.

[@karljolley4951]

Have you got a written deck list for this?

[@vex_mtg]

Indeed I do, it's in the description.

[@sergiotamezvilla4756]

Gensis wave...staff of domination......this deck needs combo yo win

[@johnlemus7921]

Could you please explain how those work together or with Lathril?

[@sergiotamezvilla4756]

@@johnlemus7921 .....elves like marwyn the nurturer produce infinite mana with staff of domination...... Ir umbral mantle.....use this to draw Many cards AND win

[@vex_mtg]

@Sergio Tamez villa, I do like a good combo, but I have so many combos in my other decks techs I tried to stay away from them for this one. But if that's your jam, then I definitely recommend you go that route.

[@francogentile383]

@@sergiotamezvilla4756 love the combo with the staff or sword of paruns. And its condition its pretty easy to complete. Just get an elf that can get u 5 mana (4 with the sword) and get at least infinite mana. With 10 elfs on board +lathril = gg

[@dakotavaughn-luttrell6593]

Love the deck but I would add life gain to it like essence warden

[@vex_mtg]

@Dakota Vaughn-luttrell Essence Warden seems like a good addition to the deck.

[@dakotavaughn-luttrell6593]

@@vex_mtg you need reliquary tower for no maximum hand size lol

[@jamescruz8678]

What mat is that?

[@brandonketuri924]

Added corpsejack and throne

[@vex_mtg]

@Brandon Keturi, good includes!

[@Taphosthewarlock]

Having some double sleeved and others not is a big nono from me. You either full double sleeve or you don't, otherwise you can tell from card thickness whats what to a degree.

[@vex_mtg]

@Taphosthewarlock, my permanent decks are all double sleeved. I like to make temporary decks with the cards I have plus my piles of "staple" cards, therefore some of those cards aren't double sleeved.

[@JinzoTonic]

this deck is super pay to win and i love it hahaha

[@vex_mtg]

@Jinzo&Tonic ❤️

[@erikdegelman6186]

Does this deck really even need Lathril? There doesn't seem to be many synergies with the commander. Like when you started goldfishing you never even considered casting the commander! The charm of this commander is that you can drop the commander early use buffs/equipment to develop the board without dumping your hand out. Additional exclusions from your deck are cards like Seedborn Muse that allow for you to repeat Lathril's ability on each players turn. Seems like an easy replacement for Wiirewood Symbiote. I am sure your deck performs well but you could have any BG Legend leading this charge.

[@vex_mtg]

@Erik Degelman, you have a great point, after playing this deck more, I rarely put out my commander and just go elfball crazy. Maybe because I like the play pattern of just dumping my entire hand and flooding the board. I definitely will have to update the deck to synergize better with the commander. Thanks for your constructive criticism.

[@dylanthornton7510]

@@vex_mtg would love to see that updated list aswell. Currently building Lathril & want it to synergise more with the commander itself

[@jadynbacon8956]

Add a bolas citadel and u good

[@vex_mtg]

@Jadyn Bacon, I do enjoy playing Bola's Citadel, I cut it because I wanted to add more Elves. But it is indeed a good include.

[@LibertyFixxxer]

do you innersleeve every card in every deck?

[@vex_mtg]

@Richard Bennett, good question. I use KMC inner sleeves for all of my permanent decks. Sometimes when I want to test out a deck or create a temporary deck for fun, I will use staples from my piles which are double sleeved and fill out the rest of the cards with single sleeves. My playgroup is okay with it.

[@LibertyFixxxer]

@@vex_mtg Could you sometime do a video of your staples collection? :)

[@vex_mtg]

@Richard Bennett, that's on the list, it might be a while because those cards are usually in my rotating decks.

[@LTJ]

My entire Lathril deck is built around tapping Lathril multiple times in a turn. Elfball is boring imo, but tapping Lathril and 10 Elves to drain everyone 40 life in one turn is the nuts and literally the only reason I bought the pre-con. However, you need to focus on one strategy or the other...DO NOT TRY AND DO BOTH...it won't work as you'll be diluting the focus of the deck. I've used cards such as Throne of the God-Pharaoh and Wound Reflection to synergise with the tapping and life drain/damage. And used cards such as Seedborne Muse, Quest for Renewal, Mobilize, Vitalize and Awakening to untap all my creatures to be able to execute Lathril's winning ability. I've also found that although I have token generators and doublers in the deck, by far the most efficient and effective way to produce token is through Lathril Voltroning people until you've got enough tokens/Elves to start tapping. Also, I'm experimenting with Bubble Matrix to see if I can use my wall of Elves to pillowfort with (Bubble Matrix prevents all damage to creatures)

[@vex_mtg]

@Lee Kernan-Eyre, thanks for the insight. I do agree, my deck is too much of a generic Elfball deck. Thanks for some recommendations, I'll have to adjust the deck to lean harder on the tapping theme.

[@LTJ]

@@vex_mtg No worries. I love playing her and she is certainly mid power with a poss (if you go the stax route which I didn't want to go) of being High/Fringe CEDH power. Good luck!

[@tapanddestroy]

no Deathrite Shaman?

[@vex_mtg]

@Evan Chisam, indeed not, I wanted to squeeze in a more reliable mana dock as my playgroup doesn't play they many fetchlands.

[@tapanddestroy]

@@vex_mtg completely understand, I recently tested my lathril build at a LGS and realized I was trying to do too many things with it so now have to thin it out and concentrate on a single idea. Love the video btw

[@oxiarr2897]

no cradle, no bayou?

[@vex_mtg]

@Oxiarr, those cards would be great for the deck. I usually don't include Reserved List cards in my deck techs unless its a "Baller" deck tech.

[@oxiarr2897]

@@vex_mtg oh ok

[@txag007]

Growing rites is the poor man’s cradle and insanely easy to flip in this deck.

[@unequaled_beef1521]

Because they are a waste of money for a deck that doesn't need them

[@oxiarr2897]

@@unequaled_beef1521 you technically dont need any cards at all so that statement doesnt make much sense

[@CVL2802]

no umbral mantle nor staff of domination? missed infinite mana opportunities with this powerhouse of a deck. i would get the great henge out of there as the mana cost reduction isnt that high with little elfs and put at least a staff of domination in there, it just wins games with elvish archdruid or priest of titania.

[@JoDPeoplePower]

No scullclamp?

[@vex_mtg]

@Иван Муранов, Skullclamp would be great in the deck. I didn't include it due to repetitive play patterns (I have it in too many decks).

[@JoDPeoplePower]

@@vex_mtg Skemfar Shadowsage instead of shaman of the pack also seems pretty good)

[@KodamaoftheWeastTree]

Based on how you built, Harald is absolutely stronger than Lathril in the command zone

[@justindietz4078]

Got like 2 mins and couldn't stand the smacking noise anymore 😒

[@davelinton4180]

OMG! Craterhood Behemoth? Who would ever have thought of THAT? And Allosaurus Shepard? What a crazy, weird idea! $40 cards are powerful??🤯 Please, try a little harder to find things that are actually interesting, maybe even especially synergistic with this commander or with the strategy of this deck. This just sounds like everybody's elf tribal deck-tech. Where is YOUR insight, or even flavor, to make this deck more than elves and 'good stuff.'

[@vex_mtg]

Hi @Dave Linton, I do agree, the synergy is lacking in the deck and I went too far with the good stuff theme.