Lobstercon 2026 Tournament Report - Top8 Elves
Before I begin, I have to give kudos to many folks from the event. Starting with Duress Crew: you guys absolutely rock. From operations, stream, logistics, and crowd control, you knocked it out of the park. Thank you for volunteering your time to make our weekend special!
Next, I’d like to thank all of my friends at the event. Their support was a constant presence that propelled me throughout the day. Not to mention the last minute accommodations. Real homies. I wore my Zoo Crew shirt proudly.
Finally, huge congratulations to our Lobstercon 2026 champion, Brian Siu. Brian is an absolute class act and a Replenish master. It's Brian’s world now and we are all just living in it.
For this tournament report I want to try and keep it brief with a focus on the matchup and key moments or strategy. I won’t have time to dive fully into the Elves capabilities, interactions, or sideboarding. If people want a more in depth breakdown of my deck and thought process I would be happy to write one!
Day 0
Round 0: Why Elves?
I picked Elves for a few reasons. To start it is the most powerful Premodern deck that I have significant reps with. Power level is a big factor when I choose a deck for a large tournament. Especially a tournament such as Lobstercon where I know the spread of decks will be large. The Elves deck can go fast or long and is very resilient to mana disruption, a key feature of the Premodern format. I’m rarely unhappy to see a deck across from me because I know there is at least one draw possible from my deck that can find a way to win. The final reason I chose Elves was I believed it had a good matchup against many of the top decks while also being good against the more fringe decks. Specifically with my version I find that I am able to beat Enchantress and Stiflenought by going fast in game one. Simply by nature of the deck’s fundamentals I think it has a strong game, one into Moneyball Black and most Terrageddon variants. Postboard all of these matchups can be much closer due to some of the many exploits Elves can face. Finally the many flavors of Psychatog and Grow are matchups I am happy to see. I have seen these decks rising in popularity locally and on the internet. I thought both Oath Ponza and Red decks were in a perceived state of decline and prepared a strong sideboard plan for Replenish, although in the end maybe not strong enough! I was willing to be an underdog against most fast combo if the Replenish/Echantress sideboard hate did not overlap.
Here is my list from MTGTop8: https://mtgtop8.com/
Day 1
Round 1: “UB Psychatog”
I like this matchup. Skyshroud Poacher enabled me to close a game through an Engineered Plague on Elf and a Masticore by tutoring up Deranged Hermit three times in the postboard game.
2-0, Overall Record 1-0
Round 2: “4C Terrageddon”
Another good matchup. A well-timed Cataclysm helped my opponent win the first game, but I was able to win both postboard games with no issue.
2-1, Overall Record 2-0
Round 3: “Stiflenought”
In my opinion, a close matchup. I was fortunate to avoid turn two Phyrexian Dreadnought game one which let me put an abundance of power on the table using Deranged Hermit and Skyshroud Poacher. Getting Skyshroud Poacher into play feels great as you take counterspells out of the equation by putting the Elf you tutor into play.
2-0, Overall Record 3-0
Round 4: “UW Landstill”
A matchup that can go either way in my experience. Both decks have a lot of tools for each other and respective card choices go a long way. My opponent did a good job having Disenchant for Survival of the Fittest even in game one. My biggest focus in this matchup was setting up haste with Anger in the graveyard. I also think it’s important to identify opportunities to resolve spells such as after your opponent has used significant mana on a Wrath of God or on a turn where they want to cast Fact or Fiction.
2-1, Overall Record 4-0
Round 5: “Replenish”
A tough matchup. Game one I am able to go fast and punish my opponent for stumbling on mana. Game two I have an excellent draw where I have mana producing creatures to go fast, threats to close the game, and relevant interaction in the form of both Naturalize effects and Tormod’s Crypt.
2-0, Overall Record 5-0
Round 6: “Stiflenought”
This time, my opponent had a fast Phyrexian Dreadnought during game one. During games two and three, I prioritized hands with fast mana and interaction, which let me represent multiple answers through Daze quickly. I chipped in damage with small creatures to cross the finish line.
2-1, Overall Record 6-0
Round 7: “4Color Oath Ponza”
This is a bad matchup. Game one I need to hope that my opponent keeps a hand that doesn’t have an early Oath of Druids. This happens and I am able to beat a draw of land destruction and Sphere of Resistance. Game two I need to avoid Oath of Druids and sweepers in this case Pyroclasm. I know I can go slower and keeping a mountain in play is no guarantee so I cut my Anger package and some Priest of Titania in order to be more resilient to Pyroclasm. Game three Claire again sees a hand with only land destruction effects and Sphere of Resistance which was particularly weak to my hand containing Quirion Ranger which allows me to pick up forests at instant speed! Good new for Claire Ackerman though as she was able to continue through the tournament and make Top 8.
2-0, Overall Record 7-0
Round 8: “H-Feb”
A matchup that I think is very bad. Unfortunately, this was also my feature match. Galen Lemei was my opponent this round. He is an excellent player and Top 8'd this event. Game one, I kept a very strong hand. I fell just one turn short of having Masticore active to break up the combo. Game two, I chose not to mulligan aggressively for one of my three Tormod’s Crypts. Instead I opted for a hand that quickly produced mana. I flooded out and quickly lost to the combo with no interaction. I probably keep a different hand the second time around.
0-2, Overall Record 7-1
Round 9: “The Rock”
A tricky matchup. Worth noting this was the “BK” version of “The Rock” and it was actually Brian Kowal himself! “The Rock” and specifically BK’s version is another deck I occasionally play. I knew that to win, it was going to need to be quicker rather than a long, drawn-out Survival game due to the excessive grind of Pernicious Deed, Genesis, and a slew of walls. Going quicker also takes advantage of the lack of card selection found in “The Rock”. Game one was a quick win where I believe I closed the game with Masticore, a great threat in the matchup. The post board games get more challenging as Engineered Plague is introduced. My normal plan of leaning into my own walls and Call of the Herd is pretty weak here because of Pernicious Deeds and walls. Game two was a battle but after two Engineered Plagues and three Pernicious Deeds, I was toast. Game three I was able to get under him before he could find a Pernicious Deed...I consider myself pretty lucky! Brian played this match exceptionally well and it was one of my favorites from the weekend.
2-1, Overall Record 8-1
Day 2
Round 10: “GW Terrageddon”
The tournament is officially open deck list at this point. I have the advantage of knowing that my opponent’s list does not contain Cataclysm or an Oath of Druids sideboard pivot. Without these or other tools besides Cursed Totem to keep Elves in check, I was able to take care of business pretty cleanly.
2-0, Overall Record 9-1
Round 11: “UR Stasis”
Any Elves player would consider this a great matchup and in fact, the best matchup. I have a bad tendency where I keep horrible hands against Stasis, though. The hands in both games were mana light and unnecessary seven card hands. I kept them on the back of Llanowar Elves + Wirewood Symbiote + Wall of Roots, but there are many strong combinations of draws against Stasis. Forcing those keeps was wrong. My opponent on the other hand played exceptionally well. He mulliganed to find an opening hand Black Vise. This gave him a chance to end the game quickly. He also played to his outs with a Brain Freeze storm count 8! I foolishly played into it. Game two, I knew he would have Pyroclasm. Had he drawn one this game, I certainly would have lost. A turn one Black Vise + Chain of Vapor reset my initial mana creature opening. And a followup Stasis with Forbidden City almost went the distance against my unwisely kept one lander. I managed to find Gaea’s Cradle and the right spread of mana creatures to pull out in the end. Big shout out to Jacob Lee, my opponent, for the excellent play and sweet list.
2-0, Overall Record 10-1
Round 12: “Moneyball Black”
I play this matchup frequently in my local area. I consider it a close matchup because each deck has a lot of tools for the other. I was happy to have my arsenal of walls, elephants, and enchantment removal. Normally I like game one and expect to win it, but in this match I mulliganed to five and failed to find threats. Games two and three I pivoted to the plan mentioned above and was able to play through the hate. Very close match though.
2-1, Overall Record 11-1
Round 13: “Moneyball Black”
Opposite script this time. I did have a strong game one and took it down with little resistance. Game two, however, my opponent uncorked a brilliant opening. He led on turn one Hypnotic Specter, and followed it up with a second Dark Ritual this time casting an Engineered Plague and his other mana went to a Cursed Scroll. Game three I managed to get him to 1 life, or more accurately he got himself to 1 life. My opponent had three Dystopia and a Graveborn Muse over the course of the game. In the end he was able to sacrifice the Graveborn Muse with Cabal Therapy to stay alive while I lost to the build up of value and mass reduction of my permanents.
1-2, Overall Record 11-2
Round 14: “Pit Rack”
Intentional draw into Top 8, cool to see Pit Rack join me.
0-0-1, Overall Record 11-2-1
Top 8
Quarterfinals: “Replenish”
As mentioned earlier I think this is a challenging matchup and one where you might need to get a little lucky. Game one I mulliganed to five in an effort to find a fast opening and was forced to keep a hand that quickly produced mana but without any gas. I was fortunate enough to find a Deranged Hermit and put together a large board that would have beaten just Parallax Wave but my opponent was able to set up Opal Wave turn five to close out the game. Worth noting, I goofed here as well by replaying a Multani’s Acolyte to try and draw my one Nantuko Vigilante which allowed my opponent to deck me by blinking my Multani’s Acolyte repeatedly! Kudos to my opponent for seeing the line where instead of permanently exiling my creature with OpalWave, he instead blinked my Multani’s Acolyte forcing me to draw my deck. Game two my hand had a lot of reactive spells and mana production but no gas. I kept it and managed to get my opponent to 1 life despite never drawing a threat. That game ended up being a real grind. But I was ultimately too slow and lost.
0-2, Final Record 11-3-1
Deck Takeaways
Competitive magic is really hard. Going 11-2-1 requires tight play but also a literal ton of luck. If you are interested in playing Elves I think it is a great choice! The deck is very fun to play as it has interesting choices and many different strategies that start when you begin deck building and continue while you play mid tournament. The thesis for my build was to be very fast and very consistent. I would label this version “Combo Aggro” with a backdoor grind option via Survival of the Fittest. This idea is why my list plays fewer Survival of the Fittest silver bullets and leans into 4 Deranged Hermits. For my specific list, my last minute changes were:
Out:
-1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa MB, -2 Crumble SB
In:
+1 Skyshroud Poacher MB, +2 Wall of Blossoms SB
I have long been a believer in 4 Deranged Hermits and was not a fan of just 3 with 1 Skyshroud Poacher. Leaning into my thesis for the deck above I chose to remove Kamahl, Fist of Krosa in favor of Skyshroud Poacher. The 2 Wall of Blossoms are mostly a reaction to “Moneyball Black”. I wanted more ways to invalidate the Dystopia plan and to help have a diverse board of creatures to mitigate exposure to Engineered Plague so that Gaea’s Cradle consistently made mana. Choosing to cut Crumble was a deliberate choice to be slightly weaker into “Stiflenought”, a deck that I hoped would be taken down a peg slightly by “Moneyball Black”.
I’m also happy to take a moment to explain some of the uncommon features of my list. I first added 4 Wall of Roots and 2 Masticore to my mainboard as a response to red decks believe it or not. Since making that change those matchups have improved dramatically. This wasn’t put to the test at Lobstercon though. Masticore does remain an excellent tool against the “Moneyball Black” decks. Wall of Roots outside of the red matchups is of course a great blocker but also a way to have faster Survival of the Fittest draws. Having an activation on each turn is very powerful and often lets you find Squee, Goblin Nabob and discard it right away so that you can get it in your following upkeep. And finally, Wall of Roots lets me cut a lot of mana producing creatures that may be weak to Engineered Plague or Pyroclasm in sideboard games while still letting me have mana acceleration and creatures to support Gaea’s Cradle. Over the course of the tournament I often cut all 4 Priest of Titania and 4 Quirion Ranger to minimize my exposure to those effects.
Some notable exclusions from my list include Tangle Wire, Winter Orb, and Rishadan Port. To me Wall of Roots occupies the Tangle Wire / Rishadan Port slot and right now I think Wall of Roots is better in the meta but this point could totally be contested especially in different contexts. Adding those alongside Wall of Roots would have me concerned with a lack of either action spells or earlier elves synergy. Winter Orb is a card I often enjoy in the sideboard. If Replenish lists were playing 2 or less Frantic Search in stock lists I would be much higher on both Tangle Wire and Winter Orb.
Moving forward, I continue to like Elves as a serious option to win a Premodern tournament but I might consider finding room for a fourth Tormod’s Crypt in the sideboard. Take this with a grain of salt though! It’s coming from a player who has a fresh “Replenish” loss in his mind! And I believe there are many different ways to build Elves and be successful.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone but Premodern is the best format and Lobstercon is the greatest magic tournament! There is something special about a low monetary stake competitive Magic tournament. In my opinion this creates an environment where competitive magic can be played at its purest. An event where love of the game and respect for your opponent can shine all while bettering communities near and far. If you get the chance to participate, I fully encourage you to!
“Claws Up!” - Zoo Crew (Stolen from Duress Crew member Billy)