As one of the most popular and well-supported types in MTG, Elf Commanders have a lot of tough competition. The best of these Commanders can create tons of tokens or mana, but very few can do both. This, however, is exactly where Thranduil the Strategist excels, as with minimal support, this Commander can easily spiral out of control.
MTG Thranduil the Strategist
Technically, at five mana, Thranduil the Strategist is a rather unorthodox ramp engine, since it’s slow to get started. If you can set up with cards like Elvish Warmaster and Imperious Perfect, however, dropping Thranduil creates a massive burst of mana. Technically, you can use cards like Cultivate, Farseek, and Rampant Growth to drop Thranduil sooner, but those are better saved.
Once Thranduil the Strategist is in play, the mana advantage from these ramp spells is effectively doubled. With Thousand-Year Elixir letting you access this immediately, too, these cards become effectively free. As if that wasn’t enough, these cards also become cantrips alongside Kindred Discovery, which provides insane value.
With a draw engine and a deep well of mana established, Elf Typal, as usual, creates a nigh-unstoppable snowball. Typal payoffs like Marwyn, the Nurturer and Elvish Archdruid can easily get out of hand, for instance. At the same time, Coat of Arms, Door of Destinies, and Banner of Kinship buff your entire board to an insane degree.
As if this somehow wasn’t enough to guarantee victory, Thranduil the Strategist has some absolutely busted synergies. Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, for instance, makes Landfall triggers trivial, while Elvish Promenade provides an avalanche of mana. Speaking of, using Intruder Alarm with Thranduil can easily create more mana than you’d ever dream of needing.
To top it all off, there are plenty more Landfall synergies that you can exploit to push Thranduil even further ahead. Staples like Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Straight are naturally fantastic, but so is Thranduil, Sindarin Liege. Offering identical Elf Token on Landfall, this card literally doubles the deck’s effectiveness, just as Doubling Season does, too.
Infinite Tokens, Mana, and All Your Lands
As if winning fairly with a monstrous amount of value wasn’t enough, Thranduil the Strategist also has combo potential. Most of these are thanks to Kodama of the East Tree, since it can cheat lands into play whenever you make a token. On its own, this lets you play every land in your hand each turn, but it goes infinite with Simic Growth Chamber.
Since you can use this Bounce Land to bounce itself, you can create endless Landfall triggers effortlessly. While this won’t win you the game on its own, it will give you infinite tokens, which could swing instantly with Concordant Crossroads. Technically, this will also give you infinite mana; however, there’s a simpler combo if you’re after that.
Using Intruder Alarm and Deadeye Navigator, you can endlessly blink Deadeye to untap your board repeatedly. With more than two other Elves alongside Thranduil, you can do this infinitely, netting at least one mana each time. Once again, this combo technically won’t win on its own; however, Finale of Devastation should take care of that.
If you want to be a bit fairer, Thranduil the Strategist can also use Perilous Forays and Spelunking to play every land with a basic type in your deck. Since Forays can always sacrifice Thranduil’s token, and the new land pays for the next activation, you can keep going till you run out of lands. While this won’t win you the game, it does mean you’ll almost always be drawing gas, basically cementing your victory.
Frustratingly Flawed Availability
As much as Thranduil the Strategist does look like an incredibly fun Commander, building around it isn’t cheap. Not only does this deck have some seriously high-priced staples, but Thranduil is unlikely to be affordable, too. In The Hobbit, the card will only appear in Collector Boosters, and it won’t see a wider release until next year.
Hopefully, once the Battle of the Five Armies Co-Op Kit rolls around in 2027, Thranduil the Strategist will become significantly more affordable. Until then, however, there’s a good chance that this Elf will be wildly expensive, given how playable it is. After all, not only is this card a fantastic Commander, it’s basically an auto-include for on-color Elf Typal and Landfall decks.
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