Birchlore Rangers

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Birchlore Rangers

Creature — Elf Druid

Tap two untapped Elves you control: Add one mana of any colour.

Morph (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up at any time for its morph cost.)

jarncards on Sleeping Elves Kill

3 months ago

Collected Company is one of the better cards in a deck like this.

If you run Green Sun's Zenith, I think you should run Dryad Arbor 100% of the time. Having the option to 1 mana ramp tutor as needed is the best in the game, even if it's fragile.

If you want to do the whole tap ten elves thing Benefactor's Draught, Vitalize, and Mobilize are useful. And as long as you're using mana dorks, they are good throughout the game. Birchlore Rangers is also a good mana dork for getting either color as needed if it matters. Like some of the others you have it can use creatures with summoning sickness.

Add Regal Force, you'll have the mana, and it draws infinity. Toski, Bearer of Secrets is also amazing at this.

Consider Patriarch's Bidding for when your ridiculous board state earns the response it will deserve. Also Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant

I cant build a green/black deck without Gaze of Granite and Pernicious Deed. They are great

Timberwatch Elf for the commander, or maybe Gempalm Strider might be better than Overrun. Trample isnt so important with so many creatures that will likely outnumber blockers, and the extra card from cycling and utility of another creature is worth considering. Ezuri, Renegade Leader is already in your deck and he's definitely the best option though. Beastmaster Ascension also works like a really inexpensive overun and turns on really easily.

Some of the green and black backgrounds area awesome Criminal Past, Cultist of the Absolute, Haunted One and Raised by Giants will stick around for the next cast even after your commander gets removed.

Consider Constant Mists or even instead of Fog, however I really don't think you need any of the fog effects. Honestly, you might actually need to worry about other people's fogs instead. Questing Beast is the only card that is capable of piercing though a Teferi's Protection or The One Ring in these colors. THrow in a Natural Order and you can get that, or a Craterhoof Behemoth when it matters most

Viridian Zealot, Reclamation Sage, Nullmage Shepherd, and Elvish Lyrist are useful for removal. You already have Glissa, but I dont think she's enough.

Elvish Champion might be your best lord. Pair it with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. Also definitely want to add Shizo, Death's Storehouse. Having lathril connect is important.

If you keep the tyvar planeswalkers, Harald Unites the Elves does a lot.

Kithkin Mourncaller might draw cards to use with your excessive mana. Leaf-Crowned Visionary, Skemfar Avenger, Miara, Thorn of the Glade do too, at a cost.

consider Crop Rotation. It can get nythkos, yavimaya.

Looking at your list you have almost nothing that turns on lathril in combat. look at Alpha Authority, Familiar Ground, Alpha Status, Gift of Doom, Rancor, Spider Umbra, Alpha Authority, Canopy Cover, Vorrac Battlehorns. Fallen Ideal is possibly my favorite with the die/sacrifce synergies you already have. Im not a fan of token doublers. I think youd be better off powering up lathril to make more tokens in the first place.

I would dump any ramp card that costs more than 3

multimedia on Lathril Elves in the Shadows (Budget)

2 years ago

Hey ionlyplayelves, here's the MTG Wiki that explains activated ability.

If a creature has an activated ability, the cost has and it doesn't have summoning sickness then you can tap it to activate at any time of the game (your turn or any opponent's turn) at instant speed. However, if the effect of the ability specifically says "activate this ability only during your turn" or "activate only as a sorcery" then there's some restrictions of when you can activate. You can only activate at those times of a game, only on your turn, but Lathril doesn't have these restrictions for it's effect.

The creature who to activate can't have summoning sickness since that prevents a creature from tapping and all creatures get this when they first enter the battlefield (ETB) and keep it until your next turn. Haste such as from Swiftfoot Boots when equipped removes summoning sickness letting a creature tap the same turn it ETB or on any opponent's turn that follows after.

Instant speed means being able to tap to activate at any phase of the game on any player's turn when you have priority or in response to another trigger that a player puts on the stack. Just like any instant spell, activated abilities can happen at this same speed. "Activate only as a sorcery", sorcery speed is different, can activate only on your turn and only on one of the two main phases, just like a sorcery spell. "Activate this ability only during your turn" doesn't means sorcery speed it means you can activate the ability at any time only during your turn. Activate on your turn at any phase, a main phase or any other such as in combat phase at instant speed.


Lathril's activated ability has a cost and then an effect. The cost must be paid before the effect can happen and that cost is tapping 10 other Elves. Lathril can't have summoning sickness, but any or all of the 10 other Elves can, to still tap them to pay for the cost. Tapping the 10 other Elves is an action not an activated ability. You're simply tapping the Elf to pay a cost and the tapping is not activating anything.

Another example of this here is Birchlore Rangers, summoning sickness doesn't matter to activate it's ability since to pay the cost you don't have Rangers. It can tap along with any other Elf even the same turn it enters the battlefield to make one mana. If you control other Elves, any two can tap to make one mana.

Quest for Renewal takes advantage of being able to untap Lathril once on each player's turn. If Lathril doesn't have summoning sickness, you control 10 other Elves who are untapped and she becomes untapped then you can tap to activate her again. Repeatedly do this as long as you can keep untapping Lathril and have 10 other Elves to tap. Because Renewal untaps Lathril and 10 other Elves once at each player's turn then Lathril can tap/untap at least that many times in a full cycle of all player's turns.

Staff of Domination with infinite mana is a good example of repeatedly tap/untap Lathril and 10 other Elves all on one turn which can happen on any player's turn. Because like Lathril, Staff can tap to activate it's ability at instant speed and artifacts don't have summoning sickness.

multimedia on Latty the baddie

2 years ago

Hey, one drop green mana Elves are really good, a big reason to play Elves. They aren't just ramp with Lathril they're also fuel for her activated ability when you don't need them for ramp and lets you get more Elves onto the battlefield quicker.


Staff of Domination does everything as a mana sink for Elves and can be an enabler for Lathril to be a win condition. With Staff you first make infinite green mana by tapping and untapping one of Archdruid, Marwyn(with 5 or more power), Priest of Titania, Circle or Wirewood Channeler. When you have infinite green mana then Staff is the mana sink to draw and cast enough Elves to control 10 or more. When you have 10 or more Elves then Staff can be the mana sink to repeatedly untap Lathril and each one the 10 Elves as the win condition.

Quest for Renewal is another enabler for Lathril and 10 Elves to be win condition. When Quest has four counters which is not difficult especially with more mana Elves, you can untap all creatures you control during each opponents turn. With Lathril each opponent loses 10 life on each player's turn, resulting in all opponents losing 40 life in one cycle of all player's turns if you have three opponents.

Chord of Calling is a helpful instant creature tutor since can tap Elves to help to pay for it's convoke, with enough Elves it's a free spell to cast and it puts the creature you search for onto the battlefield. It has nice interaction with Elf tokens since can tap them to convoke the turn they're created. With Chord get Ezuri or Miara, Thorn of the Glade in response to removal, get Archdruid so you can tap him on your turn, get Magistrate so you can tap her on your next turn, get Varragoth so you can attack with him on your next turn, etc.

Patriarch's Bidding is among the most powerful tribal spells for quick recovery. For five mana it reanimates all Elves in your graveyard. Play a Regrowth just to have another potential Chord or Bidding or recur any other card.


An area to consider improving to help with competitiveness is the manabase by upgrading to Golgari dual lands that ETB untapped.

Cabal Stronghold only works with basic Swamps and there's only 9 here which is not enough to really get much if any ramp making it consistently only a colorless source of mana.


Some cards to consider cutting: Blightbeetle, Mana Bloom, Terramorph, Serpent's Soul-Jar, Return Upon the Tide, Masked Admirers, Wild Pair, Golgari Guildmage, Korozda Guildmage, Rhys the Exiled, Blanchwood Armor, Dowsing Dagger  Flip, Harvest Season

If Blightbeetle is tech in your playgroup than nice, but if it's not then it looks out of place. Most if not all mana ramp sources can come from actual Elves instead of other sources like Mana Bloom or land ramp like Terramorph. I would even play one drop mana Elf or Farhaven Elf over Cultivate or Harvest Season.

Serpent's Soul-Jar is not a good card, exiling an Elf when it dies is not a may you have to do it and hoping to be able to cast many Elves later, one at a time with Jar is not going to consistently happen. Instead most if not all your exiled Elves will be stuck in exile for the rest of the game because Jar will be destroyed or removed another way.

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on OMG they're EVERYWHERE! (Elfball)

2 years ago

Hey, well done so far at upgrading the precon on a budget.

Some suggestions to consider are how to improve the manabase and other ways to get black mana without Swamps. The amount of basic lands is backwards; there's more Swamps than Forests. Forests/green mana is much more important than Swamps/black mana because the majority of the Elves including one drops are green. By cutting some Swamps and adding more Forests or more Golgari dual lands you can make it more consistent in getting green mana to cast Elves. With less Swamps then Green Elves who can make black mana are helpful.

Woodland Chasm is budget and Overgrown Tomb is expensive are lands that Verdant Catacombs or Wood Elves can search for.

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on Elf ball help

2 years ago

Hey, I don't think you need them. Cutting an Elf, a land or another support spell that has more impact for either of these cards doesn't seem like it would help. Honestly, with Elf tribal the less artifacts you play the better.

If you want this effect then instead consider Heritage Druid and Birchlore Rangers ? They're Elves who can make more than one mana and can tap Elf tokens the turn they're created which is powerful. You might already have Heritage since it's well known, but Birchlore is not as known and it's underrated with Lathril. Able to make black mana is helpful.

Romer on Lathril's Dark Elfball

3 years ago

Thanks multimedia! Everything you're saying makes sense about Immaculate Magistrate , Timberwatch Elf , Birchlore Rangers and Nullmage Shepherd , I just struggled to find room in the deck to keep them. Their effects all feel a bit conditional based on having a lot of elves on the field, at which point I'm already doing well and ready to swing in for big beats so they almost feel like win-more cards. I'm going to keep them in mind though, if I can find things that aren't performing as well that I want to take out.

Smart thinking on your tutor and Elves of Deep Shadow suggestions. Adding them!

FounderX on Cunning Dark Elves

3 years ago

Hi multimedia thanks for your time, really appreciate it! Yeah Fallen Ideal is an underplayed card, hard to get rid of, like Rancor . Great tips indeed. I'll test them out as proxies, Birchlore Rangers will probably go straight in the 99.

multimedia on Cunning Dark Elves

3 years ago

Hey, nice version. Fallen Ideal is spicy tech to give Lathril evasion and pump.

On a budget some cards I've been impressed with.

  • Birchlore Rangers : able to tap pairs of Elf tokens the turn they're created to make mana and being able to make green or black is helpful. Tapping out and still being able to pay for Ezuri's regenerate and/or Miara's draw or an instant speed spell is nice.
  • Chord of Calling : powerful creature tutor with Elf tokens. Instant speed get Archdruid or Magistrate, etc. and then be able to use their tap ability on your next turn. Get Ezuri in response to removal. Chord can get any creature, get Toski or Frostfang.
  • Pyre of Heroes : tribal Pod repeatable Elf tutor.
  • Rhonas's Monument : repeatable way to give Lathril pump and trample as well as reduce the casting cost of many Elves.
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