Magic Origins (MTG) Hunting Pack Intro Pack Deck Review - Magic the Gathering

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

The Magic Origins set was very good to the  Elves tribe, and Wizards of the Coast did Elf fans a favor by including some of these great Elf cards in a single Intro Pack. Hunting Pack, the green/black intro pack for Magic Origins, was one of the best Intro Pack printed in a long time. It features two strong rare cards: Dwynen, Gilf-Leaf Daen and Managorger Hydra, as well as strong Elf creatures such as Shaman of the Pack and Dwynen's Elite.

Let's take a look at the deck list

Creatures (25)
3     Timberpack Wolf    
2     Dwynen's Elite
2     Elvish Visionary    
2     Thornbow Archer   
2     Leaf Gilder    
2     Yeva's Forcemage    
2     Deadbridge Shaman    
2     Eyeblight Assassin    
2     Shaman of the Pack    
2     Sylvan Messenger
1     Dwynen, Gilf-Leaf Daen
1     Hitchclaw Recluse    
1     Managorger Hydra    
1     Skysnare Spider    

Spells (11)
2     Eyeblight Massacre    
2     Joraga Invocation    
2     Might of the Masses   
2     Weight of the Underworld    
1     Macabre Waltz    
1     Nightsnare    
1     Consecrated by Blood

Lands (24)
12     Swamp        
11     Forest        
1     Evolving Wilds

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Thornbow Archer is a one-drop Black Elf from Magic Origins that shouldn't be overlooked. Not only is she a 1/2, but whenever she attacks, each opponent who doesn't control an Elf loses 1 life. Obviously, she's pretty bad in a mirror match, but the life loss, while seemingly minor, adds up. If you can add a couple more copies to the deck, these suddenly become a lot more effective.

Leaf Gilder is no Elvish Mystic. The Gilder gives you a Green mana like the Mystic, sure, but costs you one more to cast.

Yeva's Forcemage is a reprint that has been good in Limited in the past, but +2/+2 until end of turn, while cool, isn't strong in a Constructed deck. 2G for 2/2 in Elves isn't quite enough.

Deadbridge Shaman and Eyeblight Assassin are two new Magic Origins Elves that won't win any awards, but do a good job for what they do.. Deadbridge Shaman is a 3/1 for 2B that forces an opponent to discard a card when it dies. The Assassin is a 2/2 for 2B that gives a target creature an opponent control -1/-1 until end of turn. Both of these are commons and are fine additions to Limited decks, but are a bit underwhelming for Constructed.

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Dwynen, Gilf-Leaf Daen is a strong Elf Lord and she's easily the best card in the  "Hunting Pack deck. But with all the creatures you'll be casting, Managorger Hydra, while not an Elf, is going to get very big and be very hard to deal with.

But the real prizes here are two copies each of Dwynen's Elite and Shaman of the Pack,. The Elite give you two bodies for the price of one, and the Shaman can cripple an opponent as soon as it hits the battlefield.

The three Timberpack Wolves seem a bit random, but they do become bigger with each copy you play. Still, they're an odd choice for an Elf deck. Elvish Visionary is a simple 1/1 for 1G that draws you a card, but it's good enough that it's been played competitively.

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Sylvan Messenger has been reprinted a few times, but not in a Standard-legal set since way back with her debut in Apocalypse.. The Messenger is good as ever, though. A 2/2 with Trample for 3G looks a bit strange, but her effect is why you play her.

When the Messenger enters the battlefield, you reveal the top four cards of your deck. You get to put all Elf cards revealed that way into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your deck in any order. In a dedicated Elf deck, this is an awesome effect. Who doesn't want to potentially pick up 4 cards for 4 mana?

The last two creatures in the deck are a bit oddly chosen. They're both spiders? Hitchclaw Recluse is a 1/4 with Reach for 2G and Skysnare Spider is a 6/6 with Vigilance and Reach for 4GG. They don't fit in with the deck at all, although the Skysnare is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Understandably, you can't have an intro pack with a full play-set (four copies) of any one card, so that's why there are some strange creature choices in here.. But conspicuously absent from the deck is Gnarlroot Trapper, a one-drop Elf with two tap abilities. One is to tap or green mana, although you have to pay 1 life and only use that mana to cast an Elf creature spell. The second is to give an attacking Elf you control deathtouch until end of turn. Investing in these would be a good place to start improving this deck.

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Onto the non-creature spells, the list has two copies of an interesting sort of board-wipe in Eyeblight Massacre. If you play nothing but Elves, giving all other creatures -2/-2 is going to devastate a lot of players. While 2BB is a lot to pay for only -2/-2, it skips over your Elves. In Constructed it's probably more of a sideboard card that one to be main-boarded. It's still a cool card.

Joraga Invocation can be a finisher if played at the right time, giving all your creatures +3/+3 until end of turn. One thing I don't care for is that your creatures then have to be blocked if able. While this can be a rout for your opponent, it's not like your creatures gain trample or anything, and 4GG is a steep price to pay for a card that's not Overrun.

Might of the Masses is a card I can get behind. For a single Green mana, this Instant gives a target creature +1/+1 for each creature you control. This can be even better than the classic Giant Growth if you get enough creatures on board. That's not hard to do with Elves. This card has been a Pauper favorite since its original release in Rise of the Eldrazi. But in this Standard environment, it may actually see some play.

Weight of the Underworld is an Enchantment that costs 3B to cast and gives a target creature -3/-2. That's a bit highly costed to serve as Constructed removal. Macabre Waltz allows you to get two creature cards back from your graveyard, but you have to discard a card, too. Nightsnare is an unusual discard card, which allows you to choose a nonland card from your opponents hand and discard it - the unusual part is that you can choose to have your opponent discard two cards of your own choice instead. It's like a Mind Rot with choices. I'm not really a fan of any of these cards, although Nightsnare is cool in Limited.

We finish with a cute Enchantment, Consecrated by Blood. It costs 2BB to cast and gives the Enchantment creature +2/+2 and flying. It also gives it the ability to sacrifice two creatures in order to regenerate it. It's no Gift of Orzhova and while I like it in Limited, what's it doing in an Elf deck?

With all my issues with some of the card choices in the deck, Intro Packs are meant to contain a wide variety of cards. But from a value standpoint, you're getting a lot of bang for your buck with the two rares and decent uncommons like the Shaman of the Packs, Sylvan Messenger,s and Dwynen's Elites. If we were to make some quick fixes to the deck, this is what it might look like::

Creatures (28)
4 Gnarlroot Trapper
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Visionary    
4 Thornbow Archer   
4 Shaman of the Pack    
4 Sylvan Messenger
2  Dwynen, Gilf-Leaf Daen
2  Managorger Hydra
     
Spells (8)
2  Eyeblight Massacre    
2  Joraga Invocation    
4  Might of the Masses    

Lands (24)
11 Swamp        
9  Forest        
4  Jungle Hollow (G/B Tap Land)

These changes focus completely on the Elves themselves, lowering the mana curve considerably. The expensive removal is out for additional copies of Might of the Masses and maxing out the creature line-up. The inexpensive mana base fix is to include the Green/Black tapland Jungle Hollow. Eyeblight Massacre and Joraga Invocation stay since they still work for the deck even if they may not be cards typically seen in high-level play. These additions would likely cost you no more than $10-15 USD.

Alternatively, if you want to spend more money, the 2 Eyeblight Masacre and 2 Joraga Invocation could be replaced with 4 Collected Company. Since much of your deck is now creatures with mana costs of 3 or less (including the Hydras) you have the potential of dropping two creatures directly into play more often than not. Those are some fairly expensive additions, however. You can also swap out the Hydras for two copies of Gilt-Leaf Winnower.

The "Hunting Pack" Intro Pack proved to be a great way for newer players to experience Green/Black Elves. Even now, it's still a strong Intro Pack.

Updated 2/21/2018

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