Elementals aren't huge in the standard meta these days, but they see a bit of success in Historic. As a tribe, Elementals have been non-prominent until the Zendikar expansions. After that set, with its landfall triggers, and elementals that trigger with other elementals, they got out of hand. However, seeing them in historic competitive play is still a rarity, as there are many more competitive decks (and decks that need fewer wildcards to make) out there. However, suppose you've got a few wildcards lying around and want to try something that'll surprise most people on the Historic queue. In that case, I'd like to introduce you to the top five competitive elemental lists I've run across in my time playing Arena.

1.    Five-Color Elementals Goodstuff

It's hard to pin down what makes this deck such a banger. It could be the inclusion of Ashaya, which turns all your creatures into lands. It could be the surprising tech with Blackblade Reforged, making a HUGE threat out of any single legendary creature. It could be the surprise at seeing Binding of the Old Gods in a Historic list. Like most elemental lists, this one goes all over the place, but it has a solid game plan at heart.

What's Good About This Deck

• It has five-color elementals. That's WUBRG in elemental form.
• It has Omnath, Locus of the Roil, not a common sight in Historic.
• It runs Nissa, Who Shakes the World.
• Pretty much any all-star legendary creature you can think of runs in this deck, as long as they're an elemental
• When it goes big, it goes REALLY big.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• This is a deck that wants to get down threats earlier than expected. The ramp package with Risen Reef is crucial in this regard. You want to resolve one of these as early as possible.
• Yarok doubles up your landfall triggers. Try to keep him alive for as long as possible for maximum impact.
• One of the underrated and overpowered combos you can mix and match in this deck is Risen Reef and Omnath. You can get a ton of landfall triggers on a single turn with both of them down.
• Since Ashaya turns nontoken creatures into forests, you may be able to play them off the top of your deck with Risen Reef’s ability.
• Don't be afraid to equip your Blackblade Reforged to a legendary creature and swing in. More often than not, it'll be a threat your opponent can't handle.
• Look out for mass removal and board wipes. They'll rain on your parade since you don't have any counterspells or regeneration.

Decklist:

• 2 Blackblade Reforged
• 2 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
• 2 Sylvan Awakening
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 2 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
• 3 Omnath, Locus of the Roil
• 4 Risen Reef
• 3 Yarok, the Desecrated
• 2 Nyxbloom Ancient
• 4 Unknown Shores
• 4 Indatha Triome
• 4 Ketria Triome
• 2 Raugrin Triome
• 4 Savai Triome
• 4 Zagoth Triome
• 2 Zendikar's Roil
• 4 Mana Geode
• 2 Ashaya, Soul of the Wild
• 4 Tangled Florahedron
• 4 Binding the Old Gods

2.    Elemental Disaster Starring Ghidorah

I wasn't a fan of Ikoria block (there, I said it), but Ghidorah was always one of my favorite monsters growing up. This deck features the MTG card Ghidorah, although the in-game equivalent is Iluna, Apex of Wishes. It's the same card; trust me on this. What Iluna’s mutate trigger does is exile cards until you find a nonland permanent card, then put that card onto the field. That has a lot of room for abuse, but you also need a decent amount of mana to get Iluna out and mutate on her a couple of times. Do you know what generates pantsloads of mana? That's right - elementals.

What's Good About This Deck

• It gets creatures onto the field without casting them, which means you get to sidestep counterspells (since mutate is a triggered ability).
• You get to play enormous creatures for free, and as anyone knows, the best price you can pay to cast a spell in Magic is zero.
• There's a LOT of all-stars that line the list, including a few Planeswalkers.
• It's a Temur list, meaning you get access to green, red, and blue creatures and planeswalkers.
• There are enough elementals so that you can get your ramp on early on.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• Playing this deck effectively starts with getting your ramp creatures out early. So you should have some ramp early on, like Leafkin Druid or Risen Reef.
• Use your removal to clear the way for smaller creatures. The deck can play for a mid-game win, but you have to survive the early game to get there.
• Counterspells may make your life miserable from turn three onwards. Be careful of them.
• Even if you can't trigger Iluna's ability, you can still cast every spell in the deck. With a suitable ramp and fixing setup, you might not even need Iluna to pull off a win.
• Your target to pull off an explosive attack is Craterhoof Behemoth. With him on the field, you'll be able to swing in with some massive creatures to close out the game.
• Board wipes will hose you, so be aware of your opponent's plays.
• This deck has multiple roads to victory, and you can choose which one you prefer to go with.

Decklist:

• 3 Hinterland Harbor
• 2 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 3 Steam Vents
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
• 1 Scampering Scorcher
• 3 Healer of the Glade
• 2 Leafkin Druid
• 2 Creeping Trailblazer
• 2 Omnath, Locus of the Roil
• 4 Risen Reef
• 2 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
• 1 Thryx, the Sudden Storm
• 1 Storm's Wrath
• 2 Sea-Dasher Octopus
• 2 Genesis Ultimatum
• 2 Illuna, Apex of Wishes
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 2 Stormwing Entity
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 2 Scorching Dragonfire
• 2 Cloudkin Seer
• 2 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Brainstorm
• 2 Shock

3.    Elemental Collected Company (COCO)

Ever since COCO made its way into Historic, it's found a home in many lists. Humans usually play it as an auto-include, but seeing it in an elementals list is pretty interesting. The catch is that the card can only get creature cards with converted mana cost three or less, making them ideal for decks running smaller creatures. Since elementals usually win with larger haymakers, COCO might not seem like it fits in this tribe. However, if you look at this list, you might realize that COCO is a lot more useful in elementals than you first thought. This is a surprising list, and I only realized how good it was after seeing this in action and playing it a few times. It's probably my favorite one out of all of the five I've tested.

What's Good About This Deck

• Collected Company is a blowout winner in many cases since it's an instant that you can cast on your opponent's turn and then attack with those creatures on your own turn.
• Instant-speed elemental triggers are insanity squared.
• A surprising inclusion of Kaheera, The Orphanguard makes for a unique pseudo-lord.
• Ashaya serves as limited protection against board wipes since it turns creatures into lands.
• Landfall and Risen Reef are explosive together making the elemental ramper the MVP in this deck.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• Don't be afraid to use COCO to find your elementals. If you get to turn four and have the mana, keep it up to COCO on your opponent's end-step.
• Payoffs like Creeping Trailblazer and Risen Reef are low on the mana scale. So you should get those out early if you can before casting your COCO.
• Glasspool Mimic can serve as an extra Risen Reef (for more land-ramp/card draw) to trigger additional land drops, pumping the landfall creatures to stupid power and toughness levels.
• The damage output of this deck is insane with the landfall creatures in it. Brushfire Elemental will get you evasion, and with the size of those creatures, your opponent won't be able to block forever.
• Color fixing is sometimes a problem in this deck, even though Fabled Passage does ease the pain somewhat.

Decklist:

• 3 Unclaimed Territory
• 1 Steam Vents
• 2 Breeding Pool
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 4 Leafkin Druid
• 4 Creeping Trailblazer
• 4 Risen Reef
• 1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard
• 1 Ketria Triome
• 3 Raugrin Triome
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 4 Collected Company
• 3 Unsummon
• 4 Akoum Hellhound
• 2 Ashaya, Soul of the Wild
• 4 Brushfire Elemental
• 3 Glasspool Mimic
• 3 Cragcrown Pathway
• 4 Riverglide Pathway
• 2 Barkchannel Pathway
• 1 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 1 Forest

Sideboard

• 1 Chandra, Novice Pyromancer
• 1 Scampering Scorcher
• 1 Illuna, Apex of Wishes
• 1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard
• 1 Scorching Dragonfire
• 1 Reflections of Littjara

4.     Tribal Elemental Machine-Gun

As far as combo decks go, you don't really expect there to be an Elemental combo deck. Yet here we have one—sort of. There's one complicated combo setup for the deck to win, but there are many mini-combos inside here that are straight out of Value-town. Pyre of Heroes gets a spot in this deck, and it deserves it. Since we're running like 20+ elementals here, you always have something to get, even if it's “just” an Omnath.

What's Good About This Deck

• Pyre of Heroes finally sees some play in Historic
• Massive Ramp with Glasspool Mimic/Risen Reef (as a combo)
• Terror of the Peaks is a game-ender alongside Risen Reef and Zendikar's Roil (another combo)
• It's a combo involving elementals!

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• Pyre of Heroes and Thunderkin Awakener can help you to get value for your elementals. First, attack with Awakener, then sacrifice the reanimated elemental to Pyre of Heroes to grow the board.
• Collected Company also helps you get ramping elementals (Risen Reef, Glasspool Mimic) onto the field at instant speed.
• You also want to get a Zendikar's Roil onto the field before you play a Terror of the Peaks.
• Play a land, and it'll trigger your Zendikar's Roil to create a token. The token is also an elemental and will deal damage to your opponent from Terror as well as trigger Risen Reef. Reef will put another land onto the field, which will create another elemental, and so on.
• The combo may not kill your opponent outright, but it will do enough damage so that you can end the game on your next turn.
• COCO can help you get your pieces set up at instant speed, aside from the Terror of the Peaks.
• A single Fae of Wishes can help get Emergency Powers or Scapeshift from your sideboard to finish the game.

Decklist:

• 2 Omniscience
• 3 Steam Vents
• 3 Breeding Pool
• 3 Stomping Ground
• 2 Flood of Tears
• 4 Thunderkin Awakener
• 4 Healer of the Glade
• 4 Leafkin Druid
• 2 Omnath, Locus of the Roil
• 4 Risen Reef
• 1 Fae of Wishes
• 2 Terror of the Peaks
• 4 Zendikar's Roil
• 2 Collected Company
• 4 Glasspool Mimic
• 2 Maskwood Nexus
• 4 Pyre of Heroes
• 4 The World Tree
• 2 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 3 Forest

Sideboard

• 2 Scapeshift
• 3 Emergency Powers

5.    Spirits, Goblins, and Elementals (Oh My!)

So this deck isn't strictly an elemental list, but you'll have to excuse me since I'm trying to give you a competitive option. This one is a token-based deck that uses Young Pyromancer to generate its elementals. Anointed Procession ensures that each instant and sorcery you cast will net you an extra 1/1 elemental, growing your board rapidly. Other token-generators include Krenko, Mob Boss (for that good old goblin value), and Hofri Ghostforge. You can generate a lot of tokens really quickly if things line up for you.

What's Good About This Deck

• It might seem all over the place, but it's got a simple game-plan - swing in and whittle your opponent down.
• You want to establish a solid board presence early and use it to your advantage.
• Your best card is probably Anointed Procession, allowing for more token production.
• Blade historian turns all of your creatures into double-striking attackers.
• Hofri Ghostforge can keep your threat-generation engines like Young Pyromancer and Krenko alive for longer, forcing your opponent to use two removal spells instead of one.
• Maskwood Nexus can turn all your elementals into spirits, which Hofri pumps.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• Get down Young Pyromancer or Krenko as early as possible if your opponent doesn't have removal. If they do, hold back until you get Hofri.
• The value engine you have comes from using your removal spells with your payoff cards. It may be a hard decision whether to drop your Pyromancer to the field early, but he could create a considerable force if you have enough spells.
• Swing as often as you can with your elementals. They're expendable for the most part, and you can just make more using the spells in your hand or your Krenko.
• Use First Day of Class to buff your threats up to make a formidable blocker and get your utility lessons out of your sideboard.
• Krenko by himself could take over a game, and those goblins get more significant once you have a Maskwood Nexus on the field.
• You want to go wide with this deck, so get as many tokens as possible and swing out for the win.

Decklist:

• 4 Temple of Triumph
• 3 Krenko, Mob Boss
• 4 Young Pyromancer
• 4 Anointed Procession
• 4 Needleverge Pathway
• 3 Maskwood Nexus
• 4 Study Break
• 4 First Day of Class
• 2 Blade Historian
• 3 Hofri Ghostforge
• 4 Rip Apart
• 4 Thrilling Discovery
• 6 Plains
• 11 Mountain

Sideboard

• 4 Environmental Sciences
• 4 Academic Probation

Elementals can be competitive, but they don't have the same tools as other tribes. Even in paper, it's not common to run into an elementals list in Modern (for example). In Pioneer, it has seen a bit of success, but not nearly as much as it should. Human remains, by far, the most prominent tribe across all of Magic, and they see far more play. Maybe we might see more elemental support incoming sets to change that dynamic. What kind of elemental decks have you played, and what have your results been with them?

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