Now, I contend that Elise can definitely be cut for some of the cards you described. In the end though, different players will obtain different results with the same deck, so it all boils down to what you feel works best for you and which cards you have experimented with produces the most desirable results.

I’m currently testing Rag and Ysera as we speak. It’s just right now I feel the current meta is too fast/too flexible for Rag and Ysera to catch up, but, like I said, I’m going to test more to verify this sentiment.

I included Elise because in a CW-CW matchup, Elise can really the be the pivotal card that has the potential to decide the entire match with the monkey. For example, many times, CW-CW games drag out towards fatigue, and some of the spells or weaker minions aren’t able to used/drawn late. Thus, Elise shines here by replacing your hand of redundant cards with beefy legendaries that have the power to swing the game in your favor when all your other “good” cards have been exhausted. That’s just one example too; there’re a plethora of other scenarios where monkey can help. Elise is also a 4 for 3/5 body, which is not terrible, and can help this deck control the board early-mid to ease the transition into late game.

And yes, Death’s Bite is OP.