I'll skip most of the introduction here, and just tell you flatly that I am a die-hard casual player. I don't care nearly as much whether my deck wins or loses; I just want it to work. I use pretty expensive cards, but for the most part they don't matter. The dual lands, the Swords to Plowshares... if you don't have ‘em, toss in something else instead (like Condemn, for example). Today, you get to hear about my three favorite decks: Elephant, Legend, and Faerie.

Oliphants!
Let's start with Elephant. This is pretty much my best deck: in addition to being fun to play, it posts a lot of wins, even in multiplayer (though Rogue Elephants positively shine when you have five opponents to capitalize on your loss of mana, let me assure you). The decklist is as follows:

Elephants Featured by Cory Arnold on 2006-04-30 As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11798.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 3 Crazed Armodon 4 Endangered Armodon 4 Loxodon Hierarch 4 Rogue Elephant Enchantments 4 Armadillo Cloak 4 Elephant Guide 4 Elfhame Sanctuary 2 Primal Rage	Instants 4 Congregation at Dawn 4 Swords to Plowshares Sorceries 3 Call of the Herd Basic Lands 4 Forest Lands 4 Brushland 4 Elephant Graveyard 4 Savannah 4 Temple Garden	Sideboard: 4 Loxodon Gatekeeper 4 Leyline of Lifeforce 3 Disenchant 4 Naturalize
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Yes, a lot of the cards are older. Most elephants these days suck. Yes, you, in the back – what's that? Loxodon Hierarch, you say?

Well, I guess he's okay.

Unfortunately, I don't make a habit of recording my matches, since most of them are in the main room at school. However, I promise you this has seen many battles against many different multiplayer archetypes and does fine against all of them. So instead I'll talk about the cards themselves.

All right, I'll start with a confession: This deck didn't originally have white. Don't ask me why. I can't even use the “Ravnica wasn't out yet, so Hierarch didn't exist” excuse; the best I can tell you is that I needed Forests for Rogue Elephant. But trust me, I'm glad I did add White. Hierarch is insane, as I'm sure most of you know, and Congregation at Dawn for three is brutal against anything but blue. Also, there's the ubiquitous Swords to Plowshares; I bet you can all guess why I included it.

That leaves Armadillo Cloak. Do I need to point out that anything wearing one gets me at least five life a swing? I've seen this get me to well over sixty life in multiplayer before.

Most of the rest of the deck is pretty basic: Green fatties who happen to share a creature type. Elephant Graveyard is old, but considering the vast number of Elephant decks running around these days, they shouldn't cost too much for an Arabian Nights-only card – and they really make the deck sing, transforming it from a limited green-white aggro to a complete beast. This deck does not lose if it can keep a Graveyard up. That's pretty much it for Elephant.

One last thought: When that Endangered Armodon is followed by Cloak, Cloak, Guide, it is considered bad sportsmanship to laugh at their tears.

Heroes of Battle
Legend. You know you've spent so long staring, say, Reya Dawnbringer or Patron of the Orochi, and wishing, just wishing, you could make them work.

I mean, besides in Reanimator.

Everyone wants to hard-cast Reya. And for you, I have three words: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. I don't know how much this guy costs, but trust me, he's necessary. I mean, I have a much more efficient sideboard, so I don't die against Counterspells…. But that just kills the dream, man.

Legends Featured by Cory Arnold on 2006-04-30 As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11798.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Loyal Retainers Legendary Artifacts 1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang Legendary Creatures 4 Captain Sisay 1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary 1 Commander Eesha 1 Gerrard Capashen 1 Glissa Sunseeker 1 Hokori, Dust Drinker 1 Hua Tuo, Honored Physician 1 Iwamori of the Open Fist 1 Jareth, Leonine Titan 1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa 1 Kodama of the North Tree 1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo 1 Masako the Humorless 1 Patron of the Orochi 1 Pianna, Nomad Captain 1 Reya Dawnbringer 4 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary 1 Silvos, Rogue Elemental 1 Yomiji, Who Bars the Way 1 Yosei, the Morning Star	Legendary Enchantments 1 Day of Destiny Sorceries 4 Time of Need Basic Lands 8 Forest 5 Plains Lands 4 Savannah 4 Temple Garden Legendary Lands 1 Eiganjo Castle 1 Karakas 1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers	Sideboard: 2 Arashi, the Sky Asunder 4 Dosan the Falling Leaf 4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda 3 Isao, Enlightened Bushi 1 Kataki, War's Wage 1 Major Teroh
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As you may have noticed, there are a lot of one-ofs. Why? Captain Sisay. This deck, with a God draw, can deal fifty-eight points of trampling damage on turn 5. (Turn 2 Rofellos, turn 3 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, turn 4 Patron of the Orochi. See if you can figure it out from there.)

That has yet to happen, though, for obvious reasons. This, too, links back to everyone's favorite captain. This deck can pull a lot of cool tricks: My favorite is Hua Tuo, Loyal Retainers, and Sisay. Sisay mimics your draws, but with selection, while Hua Tuo puts the Retainers back on top for your actual draw so you can get back anything that died. You can do this before you attack, and probably should. I could talk about the cards in specific all day, but I'd rather talk more generally.

I sort the legends that are not Sisay and Rofellos into two rough groups: offensive and defensive. This is not to say, however, that I will never be caught swinging with Cho-Manno, Revolutionary or holding Silvos, Rogue Elemental back to block.

The offensive group is, shockingly, the ones that mainly take my opponent's life total and drag it down to a more manageable level. The ones I count in this group are Tatsumasa, Day of Destiny, Pianna, Iwamori, Kamahl, Konda, Silvos, and Kodama of the North Tree.

The defensive ones are a little blurrier: many of them (Reya and Yomiji especially) have sizable power, but mostly make my opponent's life harder, not shorter. These guys include Reya, Jareth, Glissa, Yomiji, Hua-Tuo, Cho-manno, Commander Eesha, Hokori, and Masako. They're more varied then the defensive guys, and do cooler stuff. Reya is similar to Hua-Tuo/Loyal Retainer all in one, without the hassles of skipping your draw, paying three mana, and costing a reasonable amount. Glissa is can sometimes be no more than her power and toughness, but at the very least she often reads “Tap: destroy target Chrome Mox.” Jareth can get through those last few points of damage by protecting himself from their colors and swinging… But who would attack into an 11/14 that could gain protection from them anyway if things got ugly?

Hokori is one of the first to hit the board, but he and Rofellos make a great tag team. Masako gives you the comfortable feeling of swinging with Silvos and Kodama with no fear of dying to someone's counterstrike. And do I need to explain the uber-protected Cho-Manno and his bird soldier friend?

Lastly, there are the ones that straddle the line: Yosei, Gerrard, and our good friend the Patron. A 5/5 body in the air is nothing to sneeze at, but by himself he can hold off Wrath of Gods and Spiritmongers, along with any other fatties. Gerrard's life gain can keep you afloat, but his blocker-tapping makes him rather aggressive as well. The Patron I would have pegged as aggro early on…. But Patron with Sisay in a group game? That's just not fair. And he can save you from creature swarms in the same way Masako can.

Someone out there who's patiently sat through the Elephant and Legend decks, seeing creature after creature beating face in my descriptions has got to be asking: Why no Jitte? These are creature decks, and it's even legendary, for crying out loud! It's simple: I don't like it. Feel free to add your own if you try these decks, but I feel dirty winning with it. And besides, I like watching decks go off, mine or theirs, and Jitte's worse than LD there.

So why bring this up now? Read on...

Faeries!
Right. Both of the cards that make this a house are in Homelands, so they'll obviously be hard to find. It's worth it, though. There are many ways to lose in Magic, but few are more humiliating than death by faeries.

Faeries Featured by Cory Arnold on 2006-04-30 As written about in http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/11798.html Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 2 Vedalken Orrery Creatures 4 Cloud of Faeries 4 Faerie Noble 4 Faerie Squadron 4 Scryb Sprites 3 Silkwing Scout 4 Surveilling Sprite 4 Thornwind Faeries 4 Willow Priestess	Sorceries 3 Upheaval Basic Lands 5 Forest 6 Island Lands 4 Breeding Pool 4 Tropical Island 4 Yavimaya Coast Legendary Lands 1 Pendelhaven	Sideboard: 4 Sea Sprite 4 Uktabi Faerie 3 Weatherseed Faeries 4 Wind Dancer
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I told you that I didn't remember many specific matchups – but there is one that I do remember, and vividly, with this deck:

The time it beat Balance.

The deck ran four of them, and four Jokulhaups as backup. I'd been beating him savagely, and he finally pulls off the Jokulhaups-Terravore combo. I respond with Tropical Island, Scryb Sprite. I'm at twenty, he's at two. We count the lands: nine total. He plays Ancient Spring and attacks, putting me at eleven.

My Sprite pokes him down to one…. Be untaps, draws, and confirms my life total. He shakes his head, cycles Unearth, and says “Unless this is an Archaeological Dig, I lose.” It's a Chromatic Sphere, so he hits me down to one, and dies to Scryb Sprites.

Why? I had a Jitte on turn 2.

I was elated, of course, but every part of me was reminding me I won on the back of a random R&D mistake, not the power of faeries… And that's when I took them out of all of my decks. In Elephant they became Congregations, while in Legend they'd been dropped a long time ago, since their sheer efficiency didn't matter in the face of a turn 3 Silvos.

In Faerie they became Upheavals, which I misremembered as instants (Tap Willow Priestess, Upheaval, Willow Priestess was my dream) - and when a friend pointed out that they weren't, I cut one and a Wizened Snitch for two Vedalken Orrerries, so that I could sometimes pull it off. I later cut the Snitches altogether for three Silkwing Scouts, and unfortunately at this point I have no idea which is better. But I'm perfectly willing to cut them and bring back my Snitches if that turns out to be correct.

This deck is very simple to play, and I doubt I need to explain any of the cards further. Pendelhaven's in there since it's strictly better than a forest, and I have plenty of 1/1s until my Faerie Nobles come out and play.

So that's it. For the record, my other four permanent decks are Buyback, Banding, Confiscate, and a little number I call Living Deluge. I'd love to tell you about them, but this whole thing is running long already, so peace out.