For the unfamiliar, Elfball is an archetype in Magic that, as the name implies, plays a ton of Elf creatures. The term came from making enough mana with Elf mana dorks to cast Fireball to win as quickly as possible. Nowadays, Elfball refers to Elf decks that generate a ton of mana quickly to turbo out win conditions. There are a lot of great Elfball commanders, and for this, we’ll be looking at Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu as the commander. cEDH Shang-Chi is a newer cEDH deck, but one that has put up results in tournaments and can be very formidable in the metagame.
Only just dipping your toes into cEDH? Then make sure to check out our overview on how to transition from casual to competitive Commander.
Why cEDH Shang-Chi?
There have been Elfball commanders that have popped up, the most popular being Marwyn, the Nurturer. However, what Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu offers is what Elfball lacks: speed. cEDH Shang-Chi is the best variant of Elfball because you can actually win as early as turn one. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu lets you use the abilities of creatures you control as if they had haste. This enables you to tap your mana dorks for mana the turn they come down. Since Shang-Chi only costs two mana, you can take advantage of its effect right from the get-go.
You are locked into Mono-Green, so you lack some of the better options cEDH has to offer. It’s not Mono White bad, but Mono-Green is the second-worst Mono-Colored option in the format due to its lack of good interaction or amazing ramp. However, thanks to your commander, it enables quick games before your opponents even have a chance to get a land onto the battlefield.
The Mana Dorks
The main part of Elfball is well, the Elves. The strongest ones are the ones that can tap for more than one mana, as this makes going infinite a lot easier. Examples include Wirewood Channeler, Priest of Titania, Karametra's Acolyte, Elvish Archdruid, Circle of Dreams Druid, and Fanatic of Rhonas. Since there are ways to untap all these creatures, this enables massive bursts of mana generation, Elfball’s signature gameplay loop.
On top of these, you also have a suite of mana dorks that only cost one mana. If your commander is on the battlefield, they’re essentially free to cast since they can start making mana the turn they enter, the same amount they cost to play. Cards like Delighted Halfling, Birds of Paradise and Fyndhorn Elves are classic examples. The deck has a lot of mana dorks, and they make up a good percentage of the creature lineup.
Creature Tutors
Often, you’ll find yourself needing specific creatures. Luckily, the deck features a lot of ways to find creatures. There is the traditional way of using Worldly Tutor to put one on top of your library, but many cards in Green can put them directly on the battlefield. You can use Archdruid's Charm to do this for no extra cost, while Nature's Rhythm, Green Sun's Zenith, Celestial Reunion, and Finale of Devastation can bring any creature out by paying extra mana. Natural Order works as well, along with Eldritch Evolution to sacrifice a creature for another one from your library.
Another way to tutor for creatures is by discarding a creature card. The deck has a lot of mana dorks, but you generally don’t need all of them, so you’re bound to wind up with some clogging up your hand. The best tutors under this umbrella include Survival of the Fittest, Fauna Shaman, Formidable Speaker, and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard. Get rid of the creature you don’t need, get the creature you do.
Draw Power
Something important with Elfball is being able to actually draw cards you need. You can generate mana quickly and a lot of it, but you need something to actually, well, cast. This is where cards such as Beast Whisperer, Disciple of Freyalise, Generous Patron, Leaf-Crowned Visionary, and Regal Force
Many of these draw effects can be done infinitely by doing various loops in the deck. These are vital for being able to draw into your game enders, as without them, you’re just relying on top decking your win conditions. In many ways, these are the most important cards in the deck in order to actually close out games.
Protection Cards
cEDH Shang-Chi is Mono Green, so you lose out on a lot of useful protection options. You don’t have any counterspells to speak of, so you have to rely on other means to keep your combo lines safe. To keep spells from being countered, you have Veil of Summer while giving protection from Blue and Black for the turn. These are both the most common colors, and the colors with the most removal spells. Mono Green is beneficial with Allosaurus Shepherd, as (mostly) all your spells are Green, meaning (almost) all your spells are uncounterable.
To prevent creature spells from being countered, you have Destiny Spinner. To really shut down spells, Dosan the Falling Leaf shuts down everyone’s ability to play spells on turns that aren’t their own. While abilities can still be used, there aren’t a ton of these that can hinder you too much, so odds are you’ll be safe comboing off.
Untappers and Bouncers
To help generate infinite mana, you need ways to untap creatures. Luckily, Elfball has plenty of ways to do that. You have it on a land wth Wirewood Lodge, though it’s limited to Elves. You also have Seeker of Skybreak for untapping, along with Staff of Domination.
Now, cards like Arbor Elf and Magus of the Candelabra can untap lands. This is where Ashaya, Soul of the Wild comes in, which makes all your creatures into Forests. This enables these cards to untap your mana dorks, as well as your untappers themselves.
Ashaya is also where cards that can return lands/Forests to your hand come into play. These cards include Quirion Ranger, Scryb Ranger, and Wirewood Symbiote. Even though these cards can only be used once a turn, you can bounce them to your hand and recast them in order to be able to use them again. This is where a lot of infinite combos come into play.
Infinite Mana Combos
Infinite mana combos are the bread and butter of cEDH Shang-Chi. There are a lot of ways to generate infinite mana. All you need is a handful of specific cards to get things going. We’ll take this section to show off the combinations you have that can make infinite mana.
Circle of Dreams Druid
This combo only requires you to control enough creatures for Circle of Dreams Druid to generate enough mana to cast all of itself, an untapping bouncer (in this example we’ll use Wirewood Symbiote, and any other Elf (we’ll use Elvish Mystic here) and at least one extra mana. You also need Temur Sabertooth on the battlefield. All you have to do tap Circle of Dreams Druid to add mana. Then, use Wirewood Symbiote to bounce Elvish Mystic to the hand to untap Circle of Dreams Druid. Then, use Temur Sabertooth to bounce Wirewood Symbiote back to the hand. Finally, recast them all and repeat the process.
Note: You can replace
Priest of Titania
Perhaps the simplest combo in the deck. All you need is Priest of Titania, Temur Sabertooth, and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu on the battlefield, along with four other Elves to total five (or more). Simply activate Priest of Titania to generate mana, then use two of that mana to bounce it with Temur Sabertooth then recast it. Since you control Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, you can use Priest of Titania‘s effect right around since you can use it as if it had haste. Rinse and repeat for infinite mana.
Note: You can replace Priest of Titania here with any creature that can generate enough mana for the combo to loop.
Ashaya, Soul of the Wild Loops
There are two different ways to use Ashaya, Soul of the Wild to make infinite mana. One way is with any card that can bounce a Forest to untap a creature. For this example, we’ll use Quirion Ranger. You also want any creature that can tap for at least two mana (we’ll use Elvish Archdruid in this example). To start, tap Elvish Archdruid to add two or more mana. Then, use
Note: This combo also works with mana dorks that can tap for one mana. This is a way to get infinite creature casts to help draw through your deck with Beast Whisperer.
Staff of Domination
This is a two-card combo that only requires Staff of Domination, and any mana dork that can tap for at least five mana. Here, we’ll use Circle of Dreams Druid. Simply tap Circle of Dreams Druid to add five (or more) mana. Then, using three of that mana, untap Circle of Dreams Druid with Staff of Domination. Then, with one mana, activate Staff of Domination‘s ability to untap itself. Repeat this loop to create one Green mana each time. Then, once you have infinite mana, you can start using Staff of Domination to draw your entire deck and tap down everyone’s creatures.
Winning the Game
So, what do you do with all of this mana? The simple way is to dump your infinite mana into Finale of Devastation to give your creatures infinite power and toughness, and haste. By utilizing loops that recast creatures, you can draw out your entire deck with cards such as Beast Whisperer, Regal Force, and Staff of Domination in order to find it since you can’t actually tutor for it.
Another way to win the game is by abusing Eternal Witness to keep casting spells from your graveyard. Once you generate infinite mana, you can keep bouncing and recasting Eternal Witness. With just ten loops, you can take everyone out of the game through poison counters by constantly reusing Infectious Bite.
You can also win by using Beast Within. You can use it on any mana dork, then use Eternal Witness twice to bring both Beast Within and the mana dork back to your hand. Just bounce Eternal Witness and recast it with your infinite mana. You can also do this to make all your opponents’ creatures into 3/3 Beasts and remove any problem permanents that might prevent you from winning the game. If you control Yeva, Nature's Herald and Temur Sabertooth, this can be done at instant speed.
In Conclusion
cEDH Shang-Chi is a very fast deck. Its biggest strength is its speed and how easily it enables turn one wins with the right openings. It should only take a few turns before you can start running away with the game with infinite mana. There is a ton of redundancy in the deck that allows you to easily pivot if any key card gets countered or removed. Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu helps to make infinite combos easier and turns your mana dorks into cards that can generate instant value. Another strength is that it doesn’t need its commander to function, and you might win the game without ever casting it.
The biggest flaw of the deck is its color. Mono Green lacks a lot of interaction and recursion, making it much harder to deal with slower decks. It also can’t really interact with your opponents. You can’t really remove anything, nor can you counter anything, so you have to rely on your opponents to shut down someone else. It is also prone to bricking on cards and may require more mulligans to get a playable hand than you’d want.
Overall, cEDH Shang-Chi has very notable strengths and some very glaring flaws. It is a very fun deck, and one of the best available in Mono Green. There is a lot of enjoyment to be found in being able to combo off right away, instead of having to wait a turn to get rid of summoning sickness. It did solve Elfball’s biggest weakness of needing to rely on an enchantment (Concordant Crossroads) and instead puts that on a commander to make the deck more consistent.
Looking for some more Mono-Colored action? Then check out our cEDH Mono-Color Deck Showcase here.
