Middle-Earth, Lorwyn, Dominaria, Kaladesh, Ravnica, The Forgotten Realms, Kaldheim, Fiora, Mirrodin, Zendikar... No matter where you go, don't try to outsmart the elves. There are more of them than you, they can move without being seen, and they are always prepared.

(--> Never Trust an Elf meme goes here <--)

This list started by just mashing together the LotR Elf deck and part of the Kaldheim Lathril deck, and throwing in other cards that looked like they would work. I was pretty satisfied with the first version of this deck, Still Can't Trust Elves, but then I started tinkering and the maybeboard got away from me. After testing, trimming, and repeating, this is where I ended up. On top of the massive piles of mana Elves can pull together normally, there are a few infinite mana combos here, based around Staff of Domination. The main outlet is Ezuri, Renegade Leader, who can grant Elves +inf/+inf and trample. Skemfar Shadowsage and Shaman of the Pack also work well with Deadeye Navigator and infinite mana, as long as you keep the flowing as well. (Tip: If you can add nine mana with two creatures, you can untap them both with the Staff and have one left over.) If that fails, straight beatdown with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth + Elvish Champion, Thassa, God of the Sea, Joraga Warcaller, and Immaculate Magistrate will also work.

The biggest strength of Elves is resource generation. They can scry, tutor, draw, dump out mana, flood the board with bodies, and generally take over a match. Their biggest weakness is overextending. If Elves commit too many of their resources at once, they can be punished hard by a well-timed boardwipe or protected combo. Play aggressively, but always keep reserves and recursion available.

Leovold, Emissary of Trest is banned, and there's not really any other thematic commander options that I found. Since the creatures are a little fragile before they get rolling, I'm going with a recursion commander. Suggestions for commander welcome, but Muldrotha, the Gravetide has proven to be a high-quality choice, covering some key weaknesses of the deck. Other thoughts, suggestions, and random musings also welcome, as always.

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91% Casual

Competitive

Revision 4 See all

(1 week ago)

+1 Cascading Cataracts main
-1 Darkwater Catacombs main