20 Best Elf Cards for Commander | Commander's Herald

"What Do Your Elf Eyes See?" Why, the Best Elf Cards for Commander, of Course

Elves in Magic are a noble race. Hailing all the way back to Magic's first set, Alpha, this creature type has been showcased heavily over the years, with almost no set being complete without featuring the archekindred mascot creature type for green mages. Today, we're exploring the best Elf cards for Commander in Magic's history.

When it comes to playing Elves in Commander, they're usually laser-focused on one thing: mana acceleration. Starting with the first common-rarity Elf in Magic history, Llanowar Elves

, Elves have always been a top-shelf option for players looking to ramp into beefy threats and that throughline continues into modern-day Commander.

Without further ado, let's take a look at Magic's favorite leaf-peepers.

20. Fauna Shaman

Elf decks often have a plethora of different creatures they want on the battlefield simultaneously, and sometimes it's hard to get the exact creature you need at the right time. Enter this Elf Shaman that was first introduced in the core set Magic 2011.

Ditching an unnecessary or redundant creature from your hand in order to seek the exact answer you're looking for in your library is a decisively impactful ability, making this Shaman invaluable for Elf toolbox decks in the early or late game.

19. Priest of Titania

As previously evinced, one thing that Elves do extraordinarily well is produce mana. One glance at this beautifully illustrated mana dork is enough to convey that simple truth with aplomb.

First debuting in Urza's Saga, this two-mana Elf produces green mana equal to the number of Elves on the battlefield, and not just ones you control. This means that this card can produce absolutely absurd amounts of mana in the right pod, allowing you to drop some mana-intensive monsters onto the board well above curve.

18. Lathril, Blade of the Elves

First printed as part of the Kaldheim Commander bonus sheet in 2021, Lathril, Blade of the Elves was reprinted in Foundations, meaning it will be Standard-legal for at least five years. That's great, as this is a fun Golgari Elf option to choose as your commander as well as in any Golgari Elf deck.

While tapping ten Elves (11, including Lathril

herself) sure sounds like a lot, it's exceedingly easy to snowball with Elves and create a critical mass of them in a short amount of time. If you can do that, you'll be dealing boatloads of damage to your opponents with ease. Toss in Bloodthirsty Conqueror

, Exquisite Blood

, Sanguine Bond

, or Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

(or some combination therein) for maximum fun as well as an instant win.

Exquisite Blood

Sanguine Bond

+1 other prerequisite

Infinite lifegain triggers

Infinite lifeloss

Infinite lifegain

Commander Spellbook

17. Heritage Druid

Originally printed in 2008's Morningtide expansion, this Elf Druid packs three Llanowar Elves

into one card. Notably, this card has no limitations, so if you've spent your turn producing ample Elf tokens or dropping tons of one-drop Elves (both examples with summoning sickness), you can tap them all down for loads of mana.

With absolutely awesome arboreal artwork from Larry MacDougall (a criminally underrated MTG artist whose work only graces the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block of four sets and one card in Commander Masters), this card remains a potent one-drop in the early game or the late game.

16. Bloom Tender

Mostly employed in five-color decks, Bloom Tender

is still an engaging option for Elf decks that want to branch out into more colors (say, with Morophon, the Boundless

or Voja, Jaws of the Conclave

as their commander).

Tapping a two-mana Elf for five mana is just nutty, and its utility in five-color Commander decks is likely the reason why this rare that debuted in Morningtide retains such an impressive price point ($18.25 median value across all printings).

15. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

Originally released in 2016's Conspiracy: Take the Crown set, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds

is a brilliant Elf synergy piece that works well when you plan on dropping Stompy all-stars onto the battlefield after you've created a hefty amount of mana via your Elven mana dorks.

Sadly, Selvala

's card-drawing effect is symmetrical, so it effects all players in a Commander pod, but as long as your deck is crafted correctly, you should be the one reaping most - if not all - of the benefits of casting some hulking bruisers after heavily ramping mana with your myriad Elves.

14. Tyvar the Bellicose

This legendary Golgari Elf Warrior hails from the despised March of the Machine: The Aftermath set, which sees a desparked Tyvar

turn into an excellent mana dork lord, especially for Elves.

While Tyvar

's attacking trigger isn't the most engaging, it certainly has its merits once you've built up an immense army of Elves. Instead, it's the second ability here that is the real star. Placing a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the amount of mana produced by a mana ability can get out of hand quickly, especially for cards that look at the number of Elves you control like Priest of Titania

or Elvish Archdruid

13. Lys Alana Huntmaster

2007's Lorwyn set introduced a number of notable Elf cards, including this four-mana 3/3 common Elf Warrior with a tremendous triggered ability: whenever you cast an Elf Spell, create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token.

You'll notice that there's no limit to the number of times this can trigger per turn, so if you have tons of mana - which you should as an Elf deck - you can likely have this pop multiple times in a turn. With this card's strength, ubiquity (roughly 10 reprints) and terrific Pete Venters artwork, it surely qualifies as one of the most iconic modern Elves of all time.

12. Imperious Perfect

The first Elf lord on this list debuted back in the kindred extravaganza Lorwyn, which boasted a number of notable new Elves as well as brilliant synergistic pieces that slot in perfectly in Elf decks. While Eladamri, Lord of Leaves

from Tempest was the first-ever Elf lord printed, Elvish Champion

from Invasion was the first one to provide a power and toughness boost.

Lorwyn upped the ante with this card, as it provided a strong Elf lord at the uncommon rarity, and it also delivered an activated ability that could provide a simple 1/1 Elf token for just one green mana and a tap whenever you wanted it. Still a strong Elf card, and one that has retained the same artwork across its many printings.

11. Elvish Warmaster

A new take on an Elf lord is this rare two-mana 2/2 from Kaldheim. Instead of boosting power and toughness as a static ability, this Elf Warrior creature features a mana sink (and what a sink it is, with an activation cost of ) that boosts the power and toughness of all of your Elves by two while tacking on deathtouch.

While that is surely strong, it might be the Warmaster

's triggered ability that is truly special, as you get to create a 1/1 Elf Warrior token (once per turn) whenever an Elf joins your side of the battlefield. This ability helps Elf decks stay ahead on board - which should be the name of the game for any deck of the Elven variety.

10. Tireless Provisioner

Since Landfall decks are huge in Commander, it's no surprise to see a card like Tireless Provisioner

fairly high on this list. Debuting in 2021's Modern Horizons 2 set, this card is a major boon to any deck that wants to play lands; seeing as that's all decks, this card can usually be placed into any deck that includes green.

Of course, this card goes best in decks that want to disavow the "one land per turn" limitation via cards such as Uro

, Exploration

, Azusa

, Risen Reef

, or any other land-ramping cards that run rampant

through Commander. As a bonus, this card also lets you use Landfall triggers to net you Food tokens for emergency lifegain or Food synergies.

9. Llanowar Elves
/Fyndhorn Elves
/Elvish Mystic

No "best Elf cards" list would be complete without the one that started it all: Llanowar Elves

, originally printed in Alpha, is perhaps the card that's most synonymous with this creature type. Wizards of the Coast enjoyed a 1/1 Elf that taps for so much, in fact, that they decided to print two identical versions of it with different names.

That sort of redundancy is great for an Elf Commander deck's 99, so it's not uncommon to see at least two of these cards in an Elf deck, and sometimes all three. The original, in this writer's opinion, is always the best, so you'll find this brewer always placing Llanowar Elves

at the top of hierarchy when it comes to Elf mana dorks.

8. Devoted Druid

A delightful little combo piece, this Elf Druid debuted in 2008's Shadowmoor set, and it has been granted a number of infinite combos due to its easily abused activated abilities of tapping to add one green mana to your mana pool and - the more important one - putting a -1/-1 counter on it to untap it.

So many cards help Devoted Druid go infinite: Swift Reconfiguration

, Vizier of Remedies

, and Solemnity

to name a few, but the most interesting ones might be Luxior, Giada's Gift

from Streets of New Capenna (since it can easily slot into mono-green decks) and Machine God's Effigy

from The Brothers' War Commander (though that card is reserved Simic Elf shells).

Devoted Druid

Luxior, Giada's Gift

+2 other prerequisites

Infinite green mana

Commander Spellbook

7. Circle of Dreams Druid

This card is part of a series of Elf cards that give you an amount of mana based on the number of creatures or Elves you control. Though the mana cost of this Elf Druid from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is stiff for a multicolored deck, most Elf decks will likely be mono-green, even Commander decks.

This card's artwork deserves special praise, as it features the work of rising star Magic artist Sam Guay (no relation to legendary artist Rebecca Guay) in an ethereal, mystical style that perfectly suits the druidic qualities of this creature.

6. Eladamri, Korvecdal

Printed in Modern Horizons 3 from 2024 is Eladamri's second-ever creature card, the other being Eladamri, Lord of Leaves

all the way back in 1997's Tempest expansion. This Elf lord features a fun "top of library" effect that allows you to tap two creature and toss down a top-tier threat out of nowhere from the top of your library or your hand.

Interestingly, "korvecdal" is a unique term created for Magic that refers to a prophesied leader that can unite the three tribes from the plane of Rath - the Kor, Vec and Dal tribes - in a fight against the Evincar

. Either way, this card is a nifty addition to Elf decks and its utility is apparent, hence why it's hard to find a copy of this for under $9.

5. Ezuri, Renegade Leader

One thing that Elf decks can always capably employ are mana sinks. This legendary Elf Warrior creature that originally debuted in 2010's Scars of Mirrodin set has one built in, and it happens to mimic the effect and casting cost () of all-time Mono-Green Stompy classic sorcery Overrun

: Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample until end of turn.

This terrific Elf lord also features a repeatable activated ability that allows you regenerate another Elf for the paltry sum of , which can negate any targeted removal or board wipes aimed at your most important Elves.

4. Elvish Archdruid

Much like Priest of Titania

and Circle of Dreams Druid

, this Elf lord features an impressively powerful mana-ramping ability that looks at the number of Elves you have in play and then produces green mana equal to that number. Not bad at all, especially when paired with the Archdruid

's +1/+1 boost to power and toughness for your other Elves.

This lord is a staple in kindred Elf decks, and it's understandable why: It does the main thing that Elves are known for (accelerating your mana) while also powering up your other mana dorks and the tons of Elf tokens you'll be creating when playing an Elf deck.

3. Beast Whisperer

One thing that Elf kindred decks often need in order to truly pop off is card-drawing engines. Enter this 2/3 Elf Druid from 2018's Guilds of Ravnica set.

While this card sadly doesn't ping whenever a creature enters on your side of the battlefield, getting this trigger on casts is nearly as good, and it will surely aid you in filling up your hand with more threats so you can employ all that mana, which Elves are so good at producing.

2. Allosaurus Shepherd

One of the best Elf mana sinks is this unassuming mythic rare one-drop from 2020's Jumpstart set. While its static abilities are fairly impressive on their own - stopping all of your green spells from being countered including your Elf creature spells - it's Allosaurus Shepherd

's activated ability that truly sets it apart.

Being able to turn all of your Elves (which are normally not well-statted) into 5/5 Dinosaurs, in addition to any boosts they might have from lord effects, is a true game-changer, making this clever little 1/1 into a potent finisher for Elf aficionados.

1. Marwyn, the Nurturer

While the top of this list would certainly feature the likes of Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

from Urza's Destiny, that card is actually banned in Commander due to the fact that it simply doubles up the mana you get from Forest

s - an objectively overpowered effect.

In Rofellos

's stead, we have Marwyn, the Nurturer

, which is a great choice for your Elf kindred Commander decks, either as your commander or as part of the 99. This Elf Druid's power and toughness can skyrocket in rapid fashion since Elf decks are known to snowball relatively quickly, and Marwyn

can also help with that herself thanks to her extremely powerful activated mana ability. For only three mana, Marwyn

takes the cake as the best Elf to employ in Commander.

Elves Have Left the Building

And there you have it! Elves are a wonderfully enjoyable deck archetype, and if you haven't piloted a simple yet brutally effective mono-green version, then you simply aren't living. Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

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