MTG Best Elves

Of the many, many creature types in Magic: The Gathering, few are more iconic than Elves. Since Alpha, Elves have been associated with ramping mana and going wide on the board, and they still do both better than most creature types today. They’re especially deadly in Commander, where the extra breathing room of a multiplayer format really gives them the chance to build up to full strength.

Today, we’ll be going over the very best Elves for MTG Commander: those that fit well into the 99 of decks of all types, and those that serve as the best Elf Typal Commanders.

The Best MTG Elves in the 99

5 | Bloom Tender

Mana dorks that produce more than one mana have a long history of being broken in Magic, and Bloom Tender is a prime example. Since it only cares about the colors of your permanents, popular Commander engines like Rhystic Study Rhystic Study Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may draw a card unless that player pays {1}. and Smothering Tithe Smothering Tithe Whenever an opponent draws a card, that player may pay {2}. If the player doesn't, you create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") can contribute to its mana production. It’s also terrifying alongside cards that grant all colors, like Leyline of the Guildpact Leyline of the Guildpact If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it on the battlefield.
Each nonland permanent you control is all colors.
Lands you control are every basic land type in addition to their other types. and Tam, Mindful First-Year Tam, Mindful First-Year Each other creature you control has hexproof from each of its colors.
{T}: Target creature you control becomes all colors until end of turn. , which let it tap for a whopping five mana right away.

Thanks to these synergies, Bloom Tender is a staple in all manner of decks. In any Commander deck with three or more colors, particularly three-mana ones like Glarb, Calamity’s Augur Glarb, Calamity’s Augur Deathtouch
You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may play lands and cast spells with mana value 4 or greater from the top of your library.
{T}: Surveil 2. , it’s good enough to run fairly. Tender also sees a ton of play in high-level combo lists like Sisay, Weatherlight Captain Sisay, Weatherlight Captain Sisay gets +1/+1 for each color among other legendary permanents you control.
{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Search your library for a legendary permanent card with mana value less than Sisay's power, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle. , where you can repeatedly untap it with cards like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician Derevi, Empyrial Tactician Flying
When Derevi enters and whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent.
{1}{G}{W}{U}: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone. for infinite mana. Appearing in around 425,000 Commander decks in total, Bloom Tender is an undeniable staple of the format, at all levels.

4 | Allosaurus Shepherd

We’ve seen a lot of anti-countermagic measures in recent years, from Hexing Squelcher Hexing Squelcher This spell can't be countered.
Ward—Pay 2 life.
Spells you control can't be countered.
Other creatures you control have "Ward—Pay 2 life." and Frenzied Baloth Frenzied Baloth This spell can't be countered.
Trample, haste
Creature spells you control can't be countered.
Combat damage can't be prevented. , to Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun Samut, Tyrant of Naktamun Instant and sorcery spells you control have split second. (As long as a spell with split second is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.) and Mistrise Village Mistrise Village This land enters tapped unless you control a Mountain or a Forest.
{T}: Add {U}.
{U}, {T}: The next spell you cast this turn can't be countered. . Even with all this competition, however, Allosaurus Shepherd remains one of the best cards in the category because of its extremely cheap one-mana cost. This lets you cast it on curve early in the game, or tutor it up later with something like Nature’s Rhythm Nature’s Rhythm Search your library for a creature card with mana value X or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
Harmonize {X}{G}{G}{G}{G} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its harmonize cost. You may tap a creature you control to reduce that cost by an amount of generic mana equal to its power. Then exile this spell.) without spending too much mana.

Once it’s out, Shepherd protects all of your green spells from countermagic, not just your creatures. This means you can fire off combo starters like Natural Order Natural Order As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a green creature.
Search your library for a green creature card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. , or protection like Veil of Summer Veil of Summer Draw a card if an opponent has cast a blue or black spell this turn. Spells you control can't be countered this turn. You and permanents you control gain hexproof from blue and from black until end of turn. (You and they can't be the targets of blue or black spells or abilities your opponents control.) , with no fear of reprisal. This makes it particularly good in green decks that win via combo lines, such as Chatterfang, Squirrel General Chatterfang, Squirrel General Forestwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls a Forest.)
If one or more tokens would be created under your control, those tokens plus that many 1/1 green Squirrel creature tokens are created instead.
{B}, Sacrifice X Squirrels: Target creature gets +X/-X until end of turn. . Add in a dangerous Overrun Overrun Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample until end of turn. (Each of those creatures can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.) effect for Elf decks, and Allosaurus Shepherd is, unfortunately for our wallets, well worth its $50+ price tag.

3 | Beast Whisperer

Beast Whisperer is an all-time classic among Commander card draw engines, giving green great draw long before it became the norm. While triggering only off of creature casts is a bit of a drawback, that’s still fantastic in plenty of decks. Low-to-the-ground lists like Elves or Fynn, the Fangbearer Fynn, the Fangbearer Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)
Whenever a creature you control with deathtouch deals combat damage to a player, that player gets two poison counters. (A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.) can easily chain through their deck with this, especially with Cryptolith Rite Cryptolith Rite Creatures you control have "{T}: Add one mana of any color." in tow. It also works well with decks that can re-cast their creatures from the ‘yard, like Karador, Ghost Chieftain Karador, Ghost Chieftain This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature card in your graveyard.
Once during each of your turns, you may cast a creature spell from your graveyard. .

Beyond its fair applications, Beast Whisperer is also a key part of many juicy combo lines. Discount Ancestral Statue Ancestral Statue When this creature enters, return a nonland permanent you control to its owner's hand. down to zero in Animar, Soul of Elements Animar, Soul of Elements Protection from white and from black
Whenever you cast a creature spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Animar.
Creature spells you cast cost {1} less to cast for each +1/+1 counter on Animar. , for example, and you can cast and bounce it repeatedly to draw your whole deck with Whisperer out. You can also loop two one-mana dorks using Cloudstone Curio Cloudstone Curio Whenever a nonartifact permanent you control enters, you may return another permanent you control that shares a permanent type with it to its owner's hand. and a Haste Granter for the same result. While it faces a lot of competition in the green draw-engine slot nowadays, Beast Whisperer remains one of the best Elves in all of MTG.

2 | Formidable Speaker

While it’s very much on the new side, Formidable Speaker is so pushed that its place on this list is undeniable. Right off the bat, getting to trade a card in your hand for any creature in your deck is a fantastic deal. Both Survival of the Fittest Survival of the Fittest {G}, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal that card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. and Fauna Shaman Fauna Shaman {G}, {T}, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. have been green staples for years, and this is arguably even better since you can discard any card, not just another creature. While it’s not repeatable on its own, being a creature, you can easily blink or reanimate it to get more tutor triggers.

This ability alone would likely earn Formidable Speaker a slot in countless green Commander decks, but it offers even more. Untapping any permanent for one mana is a fantastic add-on here, letting you generate a bunch of extra mana with something like Gaea’s Cradle Gaea’s Cradle {T}: Add {G} for each creature you control. , or draw more cards with The One Ring The One Ring Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring. in a pinch. Both abilities are useful almost everywhere, but together they make the card a banger, even in cEDH, where decks like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy Whenever you tap a nonland permanent for mana, add one mana of any type that permanent produced.
{5}{G}{U}: Look at the top five cards of your library. You may put a non-Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. use both to the fullest.

1 | One-Mana Mana Dorks

Elves in MTG are best known for their one-mana dorks, and for good reason: they are the main reason to play green in most formats, Commander included. Jumping straight to three mana on turn two gives you a huge edge, letting you power out Commanders like Slimefoot and Squee Slimefoot and Squee Whenever Slimefoot and Squee enters or attacks, create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.
{1}{B}{R}{G}, Sacrifice a Saproling: Return this card and up to one other target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery. , or draw engines like Tribute to the World Tree Tribute to the World Tree Whenever a creature you control enters, draw a card if its power is 3 or greater. Otherwise, put two +1/+1 counters on it. . They can also start an immediate snowball effect, ramping you into more ramp like Cultivate Cultivate Search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal those cards, put one onto the battlefield tapped and the other into your hand, then shuffle. to pull even further ahead.

These one-mana dorks are so good, in fact, that the main question most green Commander decks need to answer is how many they want to run. Llanowar Elves Llanowar Elves {T}: Add {G}. , Fyndhorn Elves Fyndhorn Elves {T}: Add {G}. and Elvish Mystic Elvish Mystic {T}: Add {G}. are best in low-color lists, since they only give you more green. Elves of Deep Shadow Elves of Deep Shadow {T}: Add {B}. This creature deals 1 damage to you. , on the other hand, fixes for black in exchange for life, making it a serious Golgari staple. Arbor Elf Arbor Elf {T}: Untap target Forest. may be the most interesting of them all, working like the first group with regular Forests, but offering fixing alongside Shocklands and the like, or even double ramp with land enchantments like Utopia Sprawl Utopia Sprawl Enchant Forest
As this Aura enters, choose a color.
Whenever enchanted Forest is tapped for mana, its controller adds an additional one mana of the chosen color. .

While they’re more vulnerable to removal than other forms of ramp, like mana rocks and Farseek Farseek Search your library for a Plains, Island, Swamp, or Mountain card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. et al, one-mana dorks are still an integral part of the Commander format. The day that this is no longer true will be the day we know power creep in Magic has really gotten out of hand.

The Best MTG Elf Commanders

5 | Maralen, Fae Ascendant

While it works with both Elves and Faeries, theoretically allowing for a dual-typal deck, Maralen, Fae Ascendant is far better as an Elves Commander. Elves swarm the field better than most other types in Magic, both with their low-cost creatures and token generators like Imperious Perfect Imperious Perfect Other Elves you control get +1/+1.
{G}, {T}: Create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token. . Because of this, you’ll be stacking up triggers constantly with Maralen, and stealing a huge number of cards. This tendency to go wide also ensures you’ll get to cast whatever you’d like from among those cards, too.

Maralen is great when played straight, but you can also get funky by bringing in Flash granters like Radagast of Rhosgobel Radagast of Rhosgobel The first creature spell you cast each turn costs {2} less to cast and can be cast as though it had flash. and Vedalken Orrery Vedalken Orrery You may cast spells as though they had flash. . These let you deploy your Elves at instant speed and cast anything they exile on opponents’ turns, quadrupling your value. Thanks to these instant-speed shenanigans and Theft synergies like Gonti, Night Minister Gonti, Night Minister Whenever a player casts a spell they don't own, that player creates a Treasure token.
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to one of your opponents, its controller looks at the top card of that opponent's library and exiles it face down. They may play that card for as long as it remains exiled. Mana of any type can be spent to cast a spell this way. , Maralen offers a different kind of Elves experience than most other top Commanders in the category.

4 | Thranduil, the Elvenking

While it’s one of the newest Elves Commanders in MTG, arriving earlier this year in The Hobbit, Thranduil, the Elvenking is still one of the best. You’re essentially getting a Necrotic Ooze Necrotic Ooze As long as this creature is on the battlefield, it has all activated abilities of all creature cards in all graveyards. for Elves in the command zone here, which opens up a ton of possibilities.

If your opponent removes your heavy-duty mana producers like Elvish Archdruid Elvish Archdruid Other Elf creatures you control get +1/+1.
{T}: Add {G} for each Elf you control. and Priest of Titania Priest of Titania {T}: Add {G} for each Elf on the battlefield. , Thranduil can give you access to them from beyond the grave. It can also inherit protection from cards like Iron-Shield Elf Iron-Shield Elf Discard a card: This creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it. If its toughness is 0 or less, it still dies.) , or Overrun Overrun Creatures you control get +3/+3 and gain trample until end of turn. (Each of those creatures can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.) effects from cards like Tyvar, the Pummeler Tyvar, the Pummeler Tap another untapped creature you control: Tyvar gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
{3}{G}{G}: Creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control. .

This gives Thranduil a ton of utility, especially if you’re running a lot of legendary Elves to maximize its looting ability. On top of this, it’s also a terrifying combo enabler, easily generating infinite mana with Devoted Druid Devoted Druid {T}: Add {G}.
Put a -1/-1 counter on this creature: Untap this creature. and a buff Elf like Immaculate Magistrate Immaculate Magistrate {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature for each Elf you control. in the graveyard. Though Elf decks typically care more about the board than their graveyard, Thranduil flips that idea on its head to devastating effect.

3 | Voja, Jaws of the Conclave

Voja needs little introduction, being one of the most notoriously powerful Elf Typal Commanders released in the past few years. With just a few Elves in play, a single swing from Voja can buff your board to nigh-unstoppable heights, especially paired with trigger doublers like Firebender Ascension Firebender Ascension When this enchantment enters, create a 2/2 red Soldier creature token with firebending 1.
Whenever a creature you control attacking causes a triggered ability of that creature to trigger, put a quest counter on this enchantment. Then if it has four or more quest counters on it, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy. . You’ll also get some incidental card draw from Voja’s Wolf typing, which you can push further with cross-typal cards like Wolf-Skull Shaman Wolf-Skull Shaman Kinship — At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with this creature, you may reveal it. If you do, create a 2/2 green Wolf creature token. and Wren’s Run Packmaster Wren’s Run Packmaster Champion an Elf (When this creature enters, sacrifice it unless you exile another Elf you control. When this creature leaves the battlefield, that card returns to the battlefield.)
{2}{G}: Create a 2/2 green Wolf creature token.
Wolves you control have deathtouch. .

While this is really the extent of Voja’s synergy potential, it still works incredibly well as a Commander due to its raw efficiency. Ward 3 makes it hard to remove Voja without a board wipe, so it’s likely to stick around for at least one attack. On top of that, access to red lets Elves tap into a deep suite of Haste granters like Rhythm of the Wild Rhythm of the Wild Creature spells you control can't be countered.
Nontoken creatures you control have riot. (They enter with your choice of a +1/+1 counter or haste.) and Samut, Hazoret’s Champion Samut, Hazoret’s Champion Creatures you control have haste. , which unlocks some wild lines via accelerated mana production. Overall, while it’s less problematic in higher brackets, Voja is undeniably one of the best Elf commanders in MTG.

2 | High Perfect Morcant

Magic’s Elves are generally more creative than destructive, but High Perfect Morcant is a very notable exception. Whenever an Elf enters with her around, which happens all the time, your opponents have to Blight 1, which will quickly start eating into their creature count. While this can be a little slow to get going at first, it’s notable removal that bypasses pretty much every form of protection. Indestructible creatures can still die from -1/-1 counters, after all. Since Blight doesn’t target even creatures with Hexproof and Shroud aren’t safe.

This ability alone would likely make Morcant a strong Elves Commander, but it also lets you Proliferate on demand by tapping three Elves. This lets you stack up more -1/-1 counters following a Blight trigger, which in turn lets you reap a ton of value from synergy pieces like Blowfly Infestation Blowfly Infestation Whenever a creature dies, if it had a -1/-1 counter on it, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. and Necroskitter Necroskitter Wither (This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it dies, you may return that card to the battlefield under your control. . It also lets you branch out into different subthemes, like bumping up poison counters with Glistener Elf Glistener Elf Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.) or immediately nabbing ultimates on planeswalkers like Tyvar Kell Tyvar Kell Elves you control have "{T}: Add {B}."
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target Elf. Untap it. It gains deathtouch until end of turn.
0: Create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token.
−6: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast an Elf spell, it gains haste until end of turn and you draw two cards." .

Add in a scarily easy on-curve infinite combo with Flourishing Defenses Flourishing Defenses Whenever a -1/-1 counter is put on a creature, you may create a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token. , and High Perfect Morcant really is the whole package. Whether you want to play traditional Elves or a funky counter-based offshoot, you can’t go far wrong with this modern Lorwyn classic.

1 | Lathril, Blade of the Elves

Since its debut back in 2021, Lathril has been the top dog among Elves Commanders, for multiple reasons. First of all, it’s one of the best Elf token generators in the game by itself, easily generating a couple per turn without support. This goes much further, however, with buffing effects Crown of Skemfar Crown of Skemfar Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each Elf you control and has reach.
{2}{G}: Return this card from your graveyard to your hand. or Timberwatch Elf Timberwatch Elf {T}: Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of Elves on the battlefield. .

This, in turn, lets you get a lot more out of the usual Elf Typal payoffs, generating a ton of mana with Marwyn, the Nurturer Marwyn, the Nurturer Whenever another Elf you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on Marwyn.
{T}: Add an amount of {G} equal to Marwyn's power. , or setting up lethal swings with Craterhoof Behemoth Craterhoof Behemoth Haste
When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control. .

What really makes Lathril exceptional, however, is the fact that it comes with its own Elves payoff built in. Once you’ve got 10 Elves in play, which is trivial for Lathril, you can tap them down to deal a whopping 10 damage to each opponent. Add in untappers like Seeker of Skybreak Seeker of Skybreak {T}: Untap target creature. , and life loss doublers like Bloodletter of Aclazotz Bloodletter of Aclazotz Flying
If an opponent would lose life during your turn, they lose twice that much life instead. (Damage causes loss of life.) , and this can legitimately end the game in a single turn.

While it’s quite a simple design overall, Lathril is undeniably effective in the command zone. No other legend balances Elf production and Elf payoff better, and its abilities are generically useful enough to serve an Elves deck well at every stage of the game. Despite many challengers over the years, the crown of ‘Best MTG Elves Commander’ still very much rests on Lathril’s head.

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