Elvish Archdruid

Creature — Elf Druid

Other Elf creatures you control get +1/+1.

: Add to your mana pool for each Elf you control.

Discussion (51)

dingusdingo on Tana / Tymna, Draft Two

1 week ago

Alright, lets look at Loyal Retainers in another way.

You're running 7 legendary creatures outside of your commanders (which we will assume you WONT send to GY), so there are only 7 creatures that Loyal Retainers can return. Assuming a 99 card deck, 7 in starting hand, and 2 specific cards to see (retainers + legend), you've got a 7% chance to get Retainers, and a 41% chance to have one of your legends in your opener. After 5 draws, you're only at a 60% chance to hit a legend.

Now lets compare to Life . Same chance to see the card, 7%, but it works with 29 creatures instead of 7. Geometric calculator is telling me 91% chance to see a creature in your opener that works with Life . After 5 draws, 98.8% that you'll have a critter.

Obviously Retainers does have some benefit. It can be used to make an infinite etb/ltb loop for winning. How valuable is that to your deck though? Loyal Retainers can only be used BEFORE combat on your turn, and Tymna gives you cards AFTER combat. Your main source of card advantage is going to cause you to have to wait a rotation after finding all the pieces to your combo. This is a massive downside. You can already assemble infinite loops with Saffi + Titan, or Saffi + Karmic.

Lets imagine another scenario. You have the Saffi on the board with Retainers, but you have Sun Titan/Karmic Guide in the graveyard. Loyal Retainers can't grab that half of your combo back for you.

Reveillark is going to outperform Loyal Retainers most of the time. It forms a loop with Saffi + Karmic + sac outlet to recover your entire GY.

• Sacrifice Saffi Eriksdotter targeting Karmic Guide
• Sacrifice Karmic Guide . It returns to battlefield, we put ETB trigger on stack targeting Reveillark
• After Reveillark returns to battlefield, we sacrifice Karmic guide. We now have both Saffi + Guide in GY
• Reveillark is sacrificed, we will return both Saffi AND Karmic.
• We now pull creature 1 we want from GY with Karmic
• Sacrifice Saffi, targeting Karmic. Sacrifice Karmic, it returns from Saffi effect, giving us Reveillark again. Sac Karmic so its in GY, then sac Reveillark to give us Karmic + Saffi. Karmic entering gives us creature 2 from our GY. Rinse and repeat until you pull entire GY and combo finish.

Other Stuff

You're running Kiki and splinter twin but you don't have any creature payloads to win. If you want to value reuse/copy creatures with an ETB, there are more cost efficient ways of doing it. I recommend you either cut these or put in Village Bell-Ringer or Combat Celebrant to have a Kiki payload. Overall though, I would just cut this combo.

You're running Yisan and Birthing Pod but you aren't running the cards to make them go. You need effects that untap them based off creature ETBs or actives, which are slot intensive. Yisan is dope, but if you aren't running the cards to support it you're running a slow tutor. Once again, I'd cut these if you aren't going to build around.

You are trying to fit too many combos in. Pick 1 or two that overlap in card usage and cut the others. Its better to do two things extremely well than it is to do 5 things mediocre. You should run reanimation loops + protean hulk + sac outlets, OR you should run kiki combo + pod/yisan lines. The hulk/animation loops both require sac outlets to be present on your field, while kiki/pod lines require untap effects. This will let you reuse your combo cards in multiple spots which will help reduce dead draws. Nothing feels worse than when you're holding 3 different pieces to three different combos that have very little utility outside combo lines. This is also why you're struggling to find space for more stax and ramp pieces.

You are also running a pretty high amount of beater cards. You should pare them down and run only the most efficient beater cards with high utility. Cathars' Crusade is a nice card but it does nothing on its own and buckles from Wrath effects. Compare to Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite which gives a buff but can also beat even if its your only creature. It also hurts your enemies board presence greatly. Bitterblossom is a fantastic card but you aren't getting as much value out of it because you aren't running enough pieces to slow down the game. Keep it but consider that a 1/1 flyer doesn't do much if your opponent is able to drop their giant dragon commander, you have to slow the game! Champion of Lambholt will provide you with free swings, but if you just lock the game out instead you don't need the evasion and this card doesn't beat that well. Custodi Soulcaller is a meme card, it requires either haste or an untap step (so its slow), you have to swing to use it, and its limited in what it can grab, and it gets worse the fewer players there are.

Price of Glory is a wonderful hate card, but unfortunately far less effective than you think. Compare to Grand Abolisher . Abolisher can beat down, which is your game plan. Abolisher 100% protects your combo window. Price of Glory doesn't stop the counterspell that stops your combo, it just exacts a massive price for your opponent casting it. However, when faced with the option of losing the game or losing two lands, every single opponent is going to choose the two lands. Strong card but you don't need to run it.

Zombie Infestation is a nice discard outlet, and great when you're ahead and have locked the board. Just like Bitterblossom though, you have to slow the game or this card will be outclassed by the casual stompy 6 drops that are allowed to hit the table. Stax up or cut out.

Broken Bond is nice for minor ramp but bad for sorcery speed. Doesn't let you stop combos popping off. Don't be tempted by this card. Run Nature's Claim for cheap instant speed removal.

Cryptolith Rite is strong when you have a mana sink or tons of critters. Tymna will keep you stocked up on cards to dump with, while Tana gives you the critters. If you can afford it, Carpet of Flowers will outperform this card though. Keep it around if you don't have access to the Carpet.

What Goes In

So after cutting down all the shenanigans, heres what you want to add

DORKS: You get cards for hitting with creatures. Dorks are creatures that give mana and come out very fast. The maximum density of turn 1 dorks means Tymna turn 2, means free cards turn 3. This will improve the consistency of your deck more than anything else you can put in. You're currently missing Llanowar Elves Fyndhorn Elves Boreal Druid Deathrite Shaman Arbor Elf Elvish Mystic . These have the bonuses of working well with Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid , which will help you if you decide to run mana denial cards like Winter Orb or Armageddon (which I recommend both). Deathrite hates on GY and will ramp consistently with fetchlands which are prevalent in the format, extremely value. Arbor Elf can ramp more than 1 in tandem with Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth . These dorks will help guarantee strong starts and consistent power to your deck I can't stress this enough.

ROCKS: Adding in the signets/talismans is going to ramp you, color fix you, and work in tandem with shutting off your opponents mana. Really really recommend these especially if your playtesting leaves you unhappy with mana availability.

STAX: This deck only works when you slow the game, I also want to stress this. Yeah you have some neat combos for winning discretely, but you are primarily a beater stax deck. Your commander gives you cards PER TURN, your other commander gives you CREATURES PER SWING. You want to games to go longer so you get more turns for more cards and more free creatures. It really isn't that hard dude. Cards that slow down the game will help you far more than they help your opponent, even symmetrical ones. This is why the deck runs Blood Moon despite being a four color deck. If you let your opponents start tutoring and dropping their big creatures, they will do better in combat than you and you will have a real bad day. If you hit their mana, stop their tutors and draw, and destroy their engines, you will pull ahead from the massive value you generate in the command zone. Please look at Root Maze Winter Orb Armageddon Rule of Law Deafening Silence Eidolon of Rhetoric Stranglehold Collector Ouphe Kataki, War's Wage

SAC OUTLETS: Real important if you decide to go with Reanimation/Protean combo lines. Look at Viscera Seer Carrion Feeder Altar of Dementia

Closing Thoughts

If you want to run a stax deck, you have to run the slow down pieces. If you want to build a cool reanimation combo deck, I recommend switching commanders or lists, take a peek at Karador Boonweaver

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/621075-karador-boonweaver-combo

This list is certainly looking a lot better with the first round of revisions! With some more cuts and shaving off some combos, you will improve its efficiency a lot!

P.S. I couldn't open the choice guidelines tab you made sorry bud.

davidsays1 on Selvala 2.0

1 month ago

Elvish Archdruid and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds as the last 2 infinite mana dorks in the deck. Elvish Harbinger as it counts as an elf, and tutors for your elves Ezuri, Renegade Leader to regenerate your elves Savage Summoning + Walking Ballista is an uncounterable win-con Mirror Entity + Wirewood Symbiote is amazing synergy add Wood Elves to that, and get all your forests Veil of Summer is really good. So is Mandate of Peace .

I also play selvala EVERYBODY PARL(T)AY [Combo][Primer]

Lanzo493 on Elf mana ramp

1 month ago

Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic are great. After Heritage Druid , they are the best one drops. That's because they can reliably set you up for a turn 2 Elvish Archdruid who makes insane mana. Yes, heritage druid makes mana, but he does so at the cost of tapped creatures. Ezuri works best with an elvish archdruid in play. But since there are only 4 Ezuris in a deck, you need more ways to get him out. I suggest either a playset of Collected Company or Winding Way taking the place of Elvish Promenade . The last card I suggest is Elvish Clancaller because it's a great alternate wincon. Getting 2 of elvish clancaller and/or elvish archdruid lets you kill people without Ezuri.

Inkmoth on Yeva Draw-Grow

1 month ago

Sorin_Markov_1947: The deck only has 15 elves including Yeva, Nature's Herald , which makes Elvish Archdruid inconsistent, that and I don't care to buff my elves with the exception of maybe, Marwyn ? Earthcraft allows me to storm off without worrying about summoning sickness while also becoming a Mana Reflection if I have Utopia Sprawl / Wild Growth on a Forest. Voyaging Satyr is for all intents and purposes a Mind Stone with summoning sickness, but once summoning sickness wears off it's a Crop Rotation away from storming off at instant speed. The primer goes into great detail regarding each and every card choice and this deck has been tried and tested so much that I can assure you that it works as is.

Deadpoo111: The actual list is $1,599.00, which I just verified with TCGPlayer. The budget version is actually $195.93 (TCGPlayer verified as well), but I place it at $230.00 cause card prices fluctuate and it had spiked up to $230 when it was originally $200.

The term budget is VERY relative and in this case. Paying for 14% (230/1599) of the original list's total and only losing about 1-2 turns worth of speed is a HUGE bargain and DEFINITELY budget if your goal was to play this without spending $1k+. Also, please note that a good portion of these cards are typically abundant in decent-sized collections, unless of course you're starting from scratch. BUT, back to relativity: The budget version is "Budget" relative to cEDH AND its original variation.

Thank you both for taking the time to read my guide! :D

Abzkaban on Yeva Draw-Grow

1 month ago

Sorin_Markov_1947

First of all, like Soren841, $230 is absolutely budget for a deck of this caliber. How much experience do you have in cEDH or high powered metas in general? Any deck in EDH that’s tuned will be at least $150. Anything less than that will usually benefit from upgrades.

Secondly, Earthcraft and Voyaging Satyr are MUCH better than Elvish Archdruid . This deck doesn’t really care about the boost (except maybe to Marwyn, the Nurturer ), but it’s a good cheap mana boost for the budget list. Earthcraft allows any creature you play (at instant speed, mind you) to be able to tap for mana as soon as you play it. This is great when digging for your infinite mana loop. Voyaging Satyr can untap Gaea's Cradle or any other mass mana producing land. Archdruid is good but outclassed. Especially when Priest of Titania exists for a mana less.

Sorin_Markov_1947 on Yeva Draw-Grow

1 month ago

I love how you say $230 is "budget". Anyway, Earthcraft and Voyaging Satyr don't add much to your mana production. I would recommend Elvish Archdruid . He's fantastic at mana production, and he gives a boost to any of your elves.

TypicalTimmy on Card creation challenge

1 month ago

Yorm of the Infinite

Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter Illusion

Changling, Vigilance

Whenever Yorm of the Infinite is dealt combat damage, prevent that damage and make a token copy of Yorm of the Infinite, except it isn't legendary.

"I can be whatever your heart desires..."

1/1

---

I feel like he / she / it has some wide utility here. Goes Aggro, and green loves pump spells. Blue might not get a lot of combat oriented synergy here, but blue has merfolk you could put in to make battlefield synergy, such as Lord of Atlantis . It can also gain Hexproof a la Lord of the Unreal , while adding to your Elf count with Elvish Archdruid .

And yes I realize giving it Illusion on top of Changeling is redundant. I did it for the thematic and flavor aspect. :)

Challenge: Make a Rakdos Shapeshifter with Changeling.

NV_1980 on Play It Again, Yisan!

1 month ago

Hello eerie343,

We gave your request a lot of thought. Our main objective was to keep the spirit of the deck the same. So we decided to try and find replacements for the more expensive cards while keeping the original thought of the replaced cards alive. Naturally this would mean we would end up with cards that are either slightly less effective at what the expensive cards do, or they have a higher CMC, or both.

Almost all replacements we have chosen cost below 1 dollar. Some of the replaced cards are cards we do not own, so we decided not to post a new deck as we only do so when we own all the cards in it. So, here is a list of the replacements we would make in order to turn this into a less expensive deck:

• Forest for all the non-basic lands
• Hermit of the Natterknolls  ^Flip for Beast Whisperer
• Ivy Lane Denizen for Bloodspore Thrinax
• End-Raze Forerunners for Craterhoof Behemoth
• Wirewood Channeler for Elvish Archdruid
• Skullwinder for Eternal Witness
• Rushwood Herbalist for Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• Evolutionary Leap for Fauna Shaman
• Elfhame Druid for Fyndhorn Elves
• Deadly Recluse for Hornet Queen
• Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen for Joraga Warcaller
• Ant Queen for Mycoloth
• Nullmage Advocate for Nullmage Shepherd
• Centaur Rootcaster for Oracle of Mul Daya
• Thunderfoot Baloth for Pathbreaker Ibex
• Mul Daya Channelers for Priest of Titania
• Initiate's Companion for Quirion Ranger
• Runic Armasaur for Regal Force
• Yavimaya Elder for Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Llanowar Scout for Sakura-Tribe Scout
• Deathgorge Scavenger for Scavenging Ooze
• Fyndhorn Brownie for Scryb Ranger
• Rampaging Baloths for Seedborn Muse (we know, not quite the same functions)
• Archetype of Endurance for Asceticism
• Overrun for Beastmaster Ascension
• Abundance for Burgeoning / Exploration
• Beast Within for Song of the Dryads
• Nature's Claim for Krosan Grip
• Vitalize for Benefactor's Draught
• Shared Summons for Green Sun's Zenith / Genesis Wave
• Mask of Avacyn for Lightning Greaves / Swiftfoot Boots
• Sol Ring for Worn Powerstone

We were not able to find suitable replacements (i.e.: cards that would do the same thing but be slightly less effective at it) for the following cards:

• Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
• Concordant Crossroads
• Mirri's Guile
• Quest for Renewal
• Heroic Intervention
• Worldly Tutor
• Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
• Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• Sensei's Divining Top
• Umbral Mantle

So if you have any suggestions for these, please let us know. For now, we hope we helped you a bit to make a cheaper version of our deck. Have fun brewing it!

Kind regards,

Mrs. and Mr. NV_1980