So I made a few mistakes.... Or maybe so many mistakes that my article (and particularly the sample game) looked like Swiss cheese. The point is that Nantuko Husk is great with Caller of the Claw, and Verdant Succession with Elves only adds to the broken quality of the interaction.

I believe that the first article suffered under the weight of too-little testing, and not enough understanding. The fact that I was able to post even the dismal records that I was against top-tier decks makes me optimistic about the deck as I improve it. I think that this situation provides an interesting context for readers to watch the evolution of a unique deck from the standpoint of someone who is not a Pro Tour player.

Here is the first list I gave last week:

3 Wirewood Herald
3 Wood Elves
2 Elvish Soultiller
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Wirewood Elves
3 Birchlore Rangers
3 Caller of the Claw
3 Nantuko Husk
3 Wirewood Channeler
2 Gempalm Strider
1 Anger
1 Aggravated Assault
2 Living Wish
3 Verdant Succession
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
10 Forest

This incarnation of the deck, the original build that I was playtesting and using, suffered from trying to do too much. There were at least three different avenues the deck could take to victory - but the variety weakened the deck's overall strength. Here is the deck that Mark Young suggested:

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Wirewood Herald
2 Gempalm Strider
4 Elvish Pioneers
1 Elvish Soultiller
3 Caller of the Claw
4 Nantuko Husk

3 Living Wish
4 Verdant Succession
3 Cabal Therapy

1 Mountain
5 Swamps
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
10 Forest

He eliminated the Wirewood Channeler/Aggravated Assault combo from the deck, and added a Living Wish to put Anger in the sideboard. He also argued about the viability of a three casting-cost Elf other than Caller of the Claw. Mark's decision to run Elvish Pioneer is a logical step, but one I have to disagree with.

Wood Elves serves a dual task of tapping for Birchlore Rangers, but also thinning out the deck. With so few ways to draw cards in the deck, ripping another land when you really wanted to find Nantuko Husk is just a kick right in the nuts. Wood Elves puts you above the curve in terms of economy, because every time you sacrifice them to Husk, you get both a Forest and another Elf... A net gain of three or four cards after all is said and done.

With Elvish Pioneer, you have to have the land in hand already, which means that you won't be drawing it any way. And although I don't particularly care for"mind tricks" any way, having one land in your hand (unknown to your opponent) is better than having no cards to bluff with.

Mark also took out Wirewood Elves, which is fine, and is a little fat-trimming I should have done myself. It allows me to run more lands, and more consistent numbers of the remaining elves.

His twenty-four land mana-base is much stronger than mine was, and makes playing a fourth turn Verdant Succession much more consistent. I don't like running five Swamps, however. And I've developed an affinity for cycle lands. Tranquil Thicket serves the purpose of thinning out my deck of lands, and allows me to dig another card deeper in the well of the deck.

My twenty-four lands are, at this stage in evolution:

1 Mountain
4 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Tranquil Thicket
10 Forest

Without Anger in the main deck, and without Aggravated Assault, the Mountain is at times just for show. But there will be times when the Nantuko Husk needs Haste to surprise finish off an opponent, and Wishing for and dumping Anger in the 'yard may do the trick.

Four Swamps has been plenty, because Bloodstained Mire adds a virtual four more Swamps to the deck, and there are only seven black spells.

I've already explained why I like the cycle lands, but sometimes they are cumbersome. It remains to be seen if they will stay in the deck in the final incarnation.

Mark Young also suggested that the deck needs a name. I don't usually see the need for such nomenclature, but I agree in this case that combo-decks should be called something other than Kai Wake. He says that the name should be Insect-based, and offered up"Superfly."

Even though the deck is Type 2 and not Extended, I really prefer"Apple Jacks" at this point. So you can call the deck what you want, and I'll go with Apple Jacks because even though they don't taste like Apple, they are still damn good.

Apple Jacks, v. 2
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Wirewood Herald
2 Gempalm Strider
4 Wood Elves
1 Elvish Soultiller
3 Caller of the Claw
4 Nantuko Husk

3 Living Wish
4 Verdant Succession
3 Cabal Therapy
1 Mountain
4 Swamps
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Tranquil Thicket
10 Forest

Once I had the new deck, it was time to do some testing. Since I've had such short notice (a little under twenty four hours) it wasn't going to be the kind of marathon session of Magic that I would love to do, but one of my friends was offering to flop some cards, and I might as well take the opportunity when it punches me in the face.

The opponent would be Ken Ho's U/G Madness. Let me tell you something about blue/green madness when it has Standstill: You lose. Not always horribly - several games came down to me being one creature short of a kill (I did twenty-eight damage to trample over Roar of the Wurm and Arrogant Wurm) - but they are still losses by any account.

I went one for five against the deck, and only won when he couldn't play Standstill due to my superior board position.

I thank the gods whom all net-deckers serve that they don't copy Ho's particular deck, although that will probably change at Regionals. I can't fathom Standstill being all that effective against many of U/Gs matchups, but I am certain that it wrecks this deck.

After my opponent left, I shuffled silently and mulled over what had happened. Clearly, my deck needed more control and less combo elements, or at least a response to opposing creatures.

Gempalm Strider just isn't as effective as I want it to be. It works well as a very slow draw mechanism (with two Elvish Soultillers and Verdant Succession with Wirewood Herald in play you can draw out your deck) but otherwise, did nothing except surprising my opponent when I could kill his Basking Rootwalla with a Wood Elf.

Moreover, four Wood Elves are too many. The cumbersome nature of a three-casting cost Elf is only emphasized in a fast match-up (against R/G or U/G for example). I am unwilling to change the Wood Elves into Elvish Pioneers. For the sake of argument, I tried it, and never had that much basic land in my hand.

For the next version of the deck, I took out the Gempalm Striders and one Wood Elf for three Smother. This is like a godsend. Smother wrecks U/G and R/G thus far. Arrogant Wurm is the only thing in the deck that it doesn't stop, and Arrogant Wurm is not nearly the problem that 6/6 fliers are.

I am debating whether or not to add a fourth Smother, perhaps taking out a Verdant Succession. Many comments from people who read the article made me nervous about running only three Succession, yet I was doing that before, and I didn't have a problem finding the card.

Adding three more black cards meant that I had to rework the mana-base. Before, eight swamps for seven black spells was fine - and even now, all of the black spells have only one black in the casting cost, but I wanted to make sure things would work properly. Rather than test out whole games for this aspect of the deck, I experimented drawing seven-card hands.

The Tranquil Thickets work very well, especially since I took out the Gempalm Striders. I went the extra yard and added a fourth Tranquil Thicket and removing another Wooded Foothills.

The black was fine. I never ran out of black mana for casting Cabal Therapy or Smother. And I almost always had a source of black in the opening hand.

The mana-base would be fine after I added a Tranquil Thicket and took out a Wooded Foothills.

More testing, this time online, led to the following results.

Against U/G with Standstill, my percentage improved dramatically (although the small sample size is still a problem and is probably a source of bias). I went from 20% to 50%.

Sligh is no longer the problem it once was. And the matchup against Psychatog even improved.

In regards to the rest of the gauntlet: Astroglide is still a relatively simple game. If there is a proliferation of this deck-type (which I really don't see, since Psychatog beats it like a three-day dead equine) then it might be worth it to add Tranquility or Naturalize to the board, but the reality is, the Elvish Lyrist works fine, especially with Anger to make sure the Astral Slide can't just slide it into that magical world in the creases of your couch cushions. Your main deck is usually enough to win, but Smother can become a dead card if your opponent doesn't morph the Angel. Cabal Therapy helps here, and Megrim is good solid tech, as well.

Against MBC, the matchup has actually gotten worse... Mostly because relying solely on the Husk gives the opponent a very appealing Smother target. This is another reason why Compost is so necessary in the sideboard.

The last touch that needed to be made was the fact that you could not really go infinite with the deck any more. I didn't even notice this (it is hardly a factor in most games) but with only one Soultiller, you can't recycle the Elves forever.

Caller of the Claw is amazing, but I have to agree with the advice I received regarding this dilemma: Taking out the 3rd Caller of the Claw (you can still fetch it with the Herald, and you only want it in specific situations) for the second Soultiller, you get to have your infinite combo and make hundreds of bears, too.

So now, going into my last round of playtesting at this time, this is the deck list I am running:

Apple Jacks (Type 2 Elf Combo)
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Wirewood Herald
3 Wood Elves
2 Elvish Soultiller
2 Caller of the Claw
4 Nantuko Husk

3 Smother
3 Living Wish
4 Verdant Succession
3 Cabal Therapy

1 Mountain
4 Swamps
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Tranquil Thicket
10 Forest

Sideboard:
1 Elvish Lyrist
1 Elvish Scrapper
1 Caller of the Claw
1 Anger
1 Brawn
1 Sylvan Safekeeper
1 Silklash Spider
1 Fallen Angel
3 Seedtime
4 Compost

In regards to the sideboard, which I haven't really talked about, there is still a lot that can be done to change it.

The Utility Duo are staples - and I'll never change those, unless I change their numbers. The Caller of the Claw is probably unnecessary, especially since Living Wish is a sorcery; that slot is mostly open.

Right now, Sylvan Safekeeper can stop Smother and Aether Burst, but could be replaced with Spellbane Centaur if MBC isn't huge.

Silklash Spider is hugely destructive against U/G and any deck that runs fliers. Fallen Angel gives you a target to Wish for when you already have four Nantuko Husks in the deck; it also evades a deck that doesn't have any flying creatures.

I love Seedtime (maybe because I have foil versions of it - who knows?) and it's ability to ruin any counter-based deck."EOTFOF","Sure but I'll cast Seedtime then," seemed limited. I don't think Seedtime should be considered the foil to Fact or Fiction, which a lot of people saw it as - but it does give you another turn to draw into a Living Wish for Anger if your Husk gets bounced. If something is Counterspelled, you have a chance to draw another copy. But mostly, it can plain and simple win you games.

Compost is probably staying in my board forever. The new incarnation of the deck doesn't rely so heavily on the graveyard, and so anti-Withered Wretch tech in the form of Ground Seal is unnecessary, so instead I favor drawing huge amounts of cards.

I encourage experimentation with the sideboard, though; in order to use tech, you have to discover it. But this is what I am going with for now.

Testing has been limited for this last version, as I've been basically playing this deck all day, and writing while I'm playing.

I played one match against Astroglide and swept.

One against Psychatog that went to three (I lost).

I played against The Graveborn Identity and swept.

Against R/G I got swept, but I don't think that the draws were comparable. It is unreasonable to assume that any of these matches are indicative of anything, but the match against R/G especially.

As it gets later in the evening and my eyes droop from staring at a computer screen for almost twelve hours, I've decided that I'll end my agony by playing against U/G Madness, Ken Ho's version.

The match went to three. Silklash Spider won me game one when I surprised my opponent with it.

When Standstill dropped on turn two of game three, I thought it was over. Basking Rootwalla beatdown for sure. I've concluded that breaking the Standstill while they are tapped out is the best play, and I break it as early as possible. In this case, I played my Husk to hurtle through the Hesitation-like lock. Next turn, I dropped two Elves.

Turn 5 saw an unopposed Verdant Succession. Turn 5 also saw me win.

His creatures had all attacked me the turn before, and I knew I could win, unless he had something weird that I hadn't put in the decklist I told him to play. I attacked, sacrificing enough Elves to get 20/20, and sure enough, it was a Aether Burst I hadn't anticipated. But, Seedtime came out with the help of Birchlore Rangers (even though I was tapped out, the elves still get to add mana, even when they are dizzy from the summoning Succession), and I won on my extra turn.

I said before I was optimistic about the way my deck was evolving, and sure enough, at the end of the day now, I'm confident it has become solid enough to compete at any level. Take the deck out for another spin. Pretend the deck is a nice girl who wouldn't go home with you the first time, and give it another try - except this time, leave out the part when you tell her that you play Magic: The Gathering and videogames when you have free time...

(Or don't. Only idiots lie about the things they love to women they date - The Ferrett)

Questions and comments, as always, can be sent to stormskull@aol.com.