Introduction
Since I started playing Magic Duels I've been looking for a good deck built for consistently winning Hard A.I. matches for easy and (relatively) quick gold farming. After taking this deck for nine straight wins against Hard A.I. I decided to drop it in a guide, I hope it's helpful to some of you.
Fair warning: my writing style can be a bit stream of consciousness, so sorry if the tangential parentheticals make things a bit convoluted.
The Deck
This is the deck as it currently stands, exactly as built for 9 straight wins:
Thornbow Archer x1
Sunblade Elf x3
Primal Bellow x3
Scarred Vinebreeder x4
Gatecreeper Vine x4
Deadbridge Shaman x2
Eyeblight Assassin x1
Jagged-Scar Archers x3
Reclamation Sage x3
Wildsize x4
Nissa's Pilgrimage x1
Lys Alana Huntmaster x4
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss x3
Gilt-Leaf Winnower x1
Outland Colossus x1
Flesh to Dust x2
Gaea's Revenge x1
Swamp x6
Forest x9
Woodland Cemetery x2
Golgari Guildgate x2
I've considered dropping Gaea's Revenge and running x2 Outland Colossus, as the 6/6 ==> 12/12 renowned is very attractive, especially late with lots of mana (thanks to the mana draw cards) and Primal Bellow, or for trampling with Wildsize, but I'm partial to Gaea's Revenge against decks with no green cards and it's usually easy to reach the necessary 2 Green and 5 to cast. Do note that removing it for Outland Colossus means there are no cards with converted mana cost greater than 5, which you should almost always have by turn 5 thanks to the mana draw.
Starting Hands
I always draw for 2 or 3 mana, preferably 1 forest and 1 swamp, or 1 forest or swamp with a Woodland Cemetery or Golgari Guildgate. The other thing to look for is at least one Gatecreeper Vine. If you have 1 forest, 1 swamp, and one of either Woodland Cemetery or Golgari Guildgate, all with a Gatecreeper you're guaranteed to make your first 4 mana drops allowing you to cast nearly every card in the deck on draw (only Gaea's has converted cost greater than 5).
Drawing another Gatecreeper along the way or using Mwonvuli Acid-Moss turn 4 (great for destroying Foundry of the Consuls and Rogue's Passage, or punishing an enemy who's drawing to mana drought) guarantees enough mana to cast anything in the deck (Gaea's excepted: see note about running 2x Outland Colossus in The Deck section).
How I Would Build It From Only A Starter Deck
All of these cards are available in the starter deck:
Sunblade Elf x3
Primal Bellow x3
Scarred Vinebreeder x4
Gatecreeper Vine x4
Lys Alana Scarblade x3
Jagged-Scar Archers x3
Reclamation Sage x3
Wildsize x4
Lys Alana Huntmaster x4
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss x3
Flesh to Dust x2
Swamp x6
Forest x9
Woodland Cemetery x2
Golgari Guildgate x2
All that's left in the build in The Deck section that are not starter cards are Nissa's Pilgrimage,
Gilt-Leaf Winnower, Outland Colossus, and Gaea's Revenge.
What follows is what I would include ==> what I would replace in to match the guide.
Flesh to Dust (extra removal) ==> Nissa's Pilgrimage
Nissa's is not strictly necessary, but it was in the deck I won with so I've included it in the guide. Alternatively you could skip the extra Flesh to Dust and include Accursed Spirit instead for an unblockable against non-black decks.
Primal Huntbeast ==> Gilt-Leaf Winnower
Huntbeast is great because Hexproof, it's only lacking Gilt-Leaf because Winnower has removal on entry (conditional to creatures non-elf with power/toughness not equal) and Menace (must be blocked by two or more creature) making it unblockable when your opponent has only one creature on the board.
Axebane Stag x2 ==> Outland Colossus and/or Gaea's Revenge
6/7 for a 7 drop isn't spectacular, but Stag is big enough to be a good target for late game Primal Bellows and Wildsizes, and with the mana draw you should get to 7 mana by turn 7 most game (maybe even turn 5 or 6 if your opponent is drawing to mana drought).
Strategic Concerns
The elves with special abilities should always be used to maximize those abilities unless you're at a disadvantage with no other options.
Reclamation Sage is included for destroying artifacts (Thopter are common in Hard A.I. decks) and enchantments (this is your card for dealing with small creatures that get buffed, so try to save them to use them for that removal).
Don't be afraid to trade down some of your elves once you're on 3 mana (one must be black). Buffing Scarred Vinebreeder to 4/4 or 7/7 can be great for combat tricks, as the A.I. will almost always block a 1/1 creature with anything toughness 2 or higher. The deck doesn't include any graveyard retrieval, so once an elf is in the graveyard, exiling it isn't hurting you since it isn't coming back anyway.
Lys Alana Huntsman and Jagged-Scar Archers can be win conditions if you can get them out turn 3 and turn 4 with elves in hand or with luck of the draw afterwards. Also, Jagged-Scar Archers are your protection against flyers, so be wary of blocking or attacking outright (same for Lys Alana, you really shouldn't be using these to attack unless you've already traded down all your opponents creatures or have Primal Bellows or Wildsize for buffing as combat tricks). Also be aware that Jagged-Scar's power/toughness relies on the number of elves on the field. Trading down elves during blocking can reduce it's toughness so that combat damage will kill it after all damage resolves.
Try to leave mana open by holding creature in hand when you don't need to play them. This will allow you instant access to Flesh to Dust, Primal Bellows, and Wildsize, which are crucial for preserving your creatures while maintaining board control by removing your opponent's creatures. Experience will prove the best guide for when you don't need to play your creatures, but as a rule of thumb, if the A.I. isn't attacking, you probably don't need to expand the board and can rely on baiting blocks by attacking with weak 1/1, 2/1, or 2/2 creatures and buffing them for favorable trades.
Lastly, mana draw is going to be your best friend with this deck. If your opponent misses turn 2 or turn 3 land drop or isn't playing creatures, don't be afraid to play extra Gatecreeper Vines to ensure your mana drops up through turn 5. Having 5 mana on turn 5 ensures you can play any card you draw for the rest of the match, with any extra mana allowing you to play multiple lower cost cards to your advantage to exploit Lys Alana or Jagged-Scar Archers.
Conclusions
There are still a lot of excellent cards that could make this deck truly terrifying that I haven't mentioned (mainly because I haven't unlocked them yet, thanks RNGesus =p ). I only intended to share my success so far, as I've been searching for a consistent deck for gold farming. Exploiting the blocking A.I. with buffs and removal allows for consistently creating favorable board control with this deck, and the mana draw ensures you'll be able to play out of hand or off draw for the entire game.
I've always like the MtG Elf decks in the DotP video games, as the Elf synergies combined with black's removal and green's buffs can be very potent. If you're playing Black/Green Elves and have suggestions for card substitutions from booster cards, please feel free to leave them in the comments for anyone who's reading the guide to peruse.
Good luck and happy Planeswalking!
Source: Guide by I_1n-Z- http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=494891119
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