Ballad of the Two Nations (Jaheira EDH)

Commander / EDH* BGW (Abzan, Junk) Elves Enchantment Lifegain Sacrifice Tokens

Jokulmorder1

Green (65)

• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Copperhorn Scout
• 1x Elven Ambush
• 1x Elvish Archdruid
• 1x Elvish Warmaster
• 1x Essence Warden
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 18x Forest
• 1x Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
• 1x Fyndhorn Elves
• 1x Genesis Wave
• 1x Glorious Sunrise
• 1x Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip
• 1x Imperious Perfect
• 1x Joiner Adept
• 1x Joraga Treespeaker
• 1x Kindred Summons
• 1x Llanowar Elves
• 1x Lys Alana Huntmaster
• 1x Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1x Nullmage Shepherd
• 1x Oracle of Mul Daya
• 1x Overwhelming Stampede
• 1x Paradise Druid
• 1x Parallel Lives
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Priest of Titania
• 1x Quirion Elves
• 1x Quirion Ranger
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Rofellos's Gift
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Sylvan Ranger
• 1x Thriving Grove
• 1x Timberwatch Elf
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Vernal Equinox
• 1x Wave of Vitriol
• 1x Wellwisher
• 1x Windswift Slice
• 1x Wolverine Riders
• 1x Wood Elves
• 1x Wrap in Vigor

White (33)

• 1x Brushland
• 1x Collective Blessing
• 1x Congregate
• 1x Deafening Silence
• 1x Emmara Tandris
• 1x Fanatical Devotion
• 1x Fortified Village
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Glare of Subdual
• 1x In the Trenches
• 1x Join Shields
• 1x Martyr's Bond
• 1x Mercy Killing
• 1x Moon-Blessed Cleric
• 7x Plains
• 1x Queen Allenal of Ruadach
• 1x Rhys the Redeemed
• 1x Rumor Gatherer
• 1x Selvala, Explorer Returned
• 1x Shield of the Oversoul
• 1x Sigil of the Nayan Gods
• 1x Sterling Grove
• 1x Sundering Growth
• 1x Sungrass Prairie
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Tolsimir Wolfblood

Black (33)

• 1x Deadbridge Chant
• 1x Elderfang Venom
• 1x Elvish Dreadlord
• 1x Essence Pulse
• 1x Glissa Sunslayer
• 1x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
• 1x Kagha, Shadow Archdruid
• 1x Koma's Faithful
• 1x Lathril, Blade of the Elves
• 1x Lich's Mastery
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Moldervine Reclamation
• 1x Mortality Spear
• 1x Necroblossom Snarl
• 1x Ochran Assassin
• 1x Poison-Tip Archer
• 1x Rhys the Exiled
• 1x Rise of the Witch-king
• 1x Ruthless Winnower
• 1x Skemfar Avenger
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Malady
• 1x Tyvar Kell
• 1x Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
• 1x Underrealm Lich
• 1x Viridescent Bog

Commanders (3)

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• Major Themes/Archetype: Elf tribal
• Subthemes: Tokens, Lifegain, Enchantments, Graveyard
• Planar Flavor: Kaldheim, Dominaria, Lorwyn, Ravnica
• Basic Land Art: Enchanted {G}, gloomy {BG}, radiant {GW}

Inspiration

The elves of Magic are inspired by nearly a hundred years of fantasy literature, which in turn is inspired by many centuries of European mythology and folklore.

Supernaturally closer to an ideal of beauty and vitality than humankind can aspire to, elves are at once primitive and sophisticated, heavenly and chthonic. Ironically, the contradictions in elvenkind results in division.

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These dichotomies are present in all manner of elf media.

Looking back to Norse mythology, Alfheim was home to both the luminous Ljósálfar or “light elves,” and the jet-black Dökkálfar or “dark elves.” Cribbing heavily from the Norse, Tolkien’s works featured the Vanyar (called “light elves” or “fair elves,” who remained in the Undying Lands and who cherished a connection to the Valar), alongside the Wood Elves, Grey Elves, Sea-Elves, and others. To appreciate the distinctions among Tolkien's elf-clans, it feels like you need a command of three made-up languages, but the point remains that modern fantasy's most foundational text presents elvenkind as diverse and multifarious.

Later fantasy worlds would recapture and emphasize this division between elevated "high" elves, earthy wood elves, and fallen dark elves. Take for example the Eladrin, Elves, and Drow of Dungeons & Dragons.

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At the same time, elven dichotomy is explored even within individual elves. When Frodo offers Galadriel the One Ring in Fellowship, she takes on a terrible aspect:

“In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.

“I pass the test,” she said. “I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.”

How easily righteousness can be tempted into tyranny.

Conversely, the beloved Dungeons & Dragons character Drizzt Do’Urden is one of the drow—the dark elves—which in D&D lore are subservient to the cruel spider goddess Lolth and revel in violence and perversion.

“What place is this,” Drizzt asked the cat quietly, “that I call home? These are my people, by skin and by heritage, but I am no kin to them. They are lost and ever will be.”

While Drizzt escapes drow society as soon as he’s able to champion friendship and justice, he remains grim and reserved.

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Elves in Magic were almost exclusively green for many years. These early monogreen elf cards married the spiritualism of high elves, the earthiness of wood elves, and the brutality of dark elves. In December 2021, Mark Rosewater doubled down on the sylvan elves trope in Magic.

Ravnica: City of Guilds introduced the Silhana and Devkarin branches of elvenkind, thematically divided among the Selesnya and Golgari guilds. The original Ravnica story also hinted at a third tribe of elves, of which Simic guildmaster Momir Vig was supposedly the last remnant—though I'm not sure how to square that factoid with the existence of Coiling Oracle and later Simic elves like Vannifar and Lonis—perhaps these are all mutated converts from the Silhana or Devkarin. To date there have been no Gruul-aligned elves on Ravnica.

Two years after Ravnica, Lorwyn introduced a race of predatory, beauty-obsessed elves in black-green. These were then transformed by the Great Aurora into the green-white elves of Shadowmoor, noble martyrs in pursuit of hope and beauty.

Years later, Magic revisited black-green elves in Kaldheim, this time with a more traditional sylvan/dark elf split (in Kaldheim, the Wood Elves and Shadow Elves). The elves of Skemfar were recently united by King Harald under the shared goal of reclaiming their godhood from the Skoti  usurpers.

Deck Structure

Drawing on the precedents established in Magic lore as well as classic elf tribal strategies, this is two elfball decks in one. The name of the game is amassing elves, producing a ton of mana, and buffing our team for a huge swing.

What sets it apart is the two mini-deck modules it can play with. Most elf tribal decks are going to play a solid core of staple cards, right? I typically try to steer clear of staples myself, but with elves there are so many—you can pass on Elvish Champion and still end up with five common elf lords.

With two mini decks, the recipe is:

1 commander, 65 {G} cards (including 42 nonlands, and 24 green and green+ lands—2/3 of land total)

Combined with either

33 {B} and {BG} cards (including 21 nonlands, and 12 black and black-green lands—1/3 of land total)

or

33 {W} and {GW} cards (including 21 nonlands, and 12 white and green-white lands—1/3 of land total)

plus 1 background, Inspiring Leader or Agent of the Iron Throne.

Wincons

We have a few wincons. First and most obvious is Genesis Wave: vomit a pile of elves on the table and you're ending the game soon. Next is Lich's Mastery. When you cast Lich's Mastery, your exact life total stops mattering so much as the size of your hand, graveyard, and board. Since you lose if Lich's Mastery leaves the battlefield, it's important not to drop until you're ready to use it. If your board presence is small and your graveyard is empty, you can find yourself wishing to take normal damage as you start exiling your lands. And don't forget about non-targeted enchantment removal like Akroma's Vengeance.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 weeks
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	134
Avg. CMC	3.40
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elf Druid 1/1 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 G, Elf Warrior 1/1 GW, Emblem Tyvar Kell, Soldier 1/1 W, Voja
Folders	EDH current decks