I found myself making a newbie mistake in a game today. When does that end?

I'll play anybody who wants a game, but I see all of these elf teams out there. How come they never ask for a game? Are these elf players avoiding my teams? I;m a new player, and I don;t know how to play elves because none will ever play against me. So I built my own elf team so I can learn by doing, since no elves seems to want to man up.