Last updated on March 5, 2024
Realmwalker | Illustration by Igor Kieryluk
I’m no Lord of the Rings buff, but even I know elves and Tolkien is a match made in Middle-earth heaven. Yes, I know, another elf precon. We’ve been down this road before. But never have the elves of Magic been so… democratic.
Elven Council combines a typical “elfball” strategy with the a voting subtheme, and the blue splash makes it feel distinct from Kaldheim’s Elven Empire and Commander 2014’s Guided by Nature. Today I'm leveling this deck up, offering 10 swaps to make it more competitive at an average casual EDH table.
You get a say in the matter, of course. The will of the council deems it so!
Deck Overview
Elven Council is a Simic () Commander precon in the Tales of Middle-earth Commander decks. It has many characteristics of a typical elf deck, including mana dorks, elf lords, and expensive threats to ramp into. The blue portion of the deck provides card draw, interaction, and a voting subtheme that’s perfect for casual Commander. The overall package is best described as “a green elf deck splashing blue.”
The LTC precons are a Universes Beyond product showcasing the Lord of the Rings IP in Magic form. Universes Beyond sets are distinct from the flavor and world-building of Magic’s Multiverse, so you won’t see callouts to Magic planes or characters in this product. Individual cards make sense under the LotR umbrella, something I’ll try to preserve.
These changes are intended to level the deck up without necessarily optimizing for hyper-competitive gameplay. That means cutting chaff for cards that are flavorful, on-theme, and generally good in Commander. I’m avoiding power outliers like Expropriate and Jeweled Lotus to keep the deck casual-friendly.
These are also mostly budget-friendly changes, and I’m excluding anything that explicitly breaks the immersion of the LotR universe. Sorry Selvala's Stampede, but last I checked there’s no Selvala in Tolkien’s catalog.
- MAGIC MEETS THE LORD OF THE RINGS—Experience the beloved story of The Lord of the Rings with the strategic gameplay of Magic: The Gathering, facing off against opponents in thrilling magical battles
- EPIC MULTIPLAYER BATTLES—Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue
- ELVEN COUNCIL—Join the elven council with a 100-card Green-Blue deck containing 2 Foil Legendary Creature cards and 98 nonfoil cards
- INTRODUCES 20 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 20 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 special treatment cards from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil
Strengths and Weaknesses
Elven Council‘s greatest strength is the consistency of its gameplan. Cast elves, make a lot of mana, cast big spells. Nothing revolutionary. There’s quite a bit of redundancy, it has an effective mana base, and the elf synergy is front and center.
I also find the political part of the deck fun and interesting. The Conspiracy voting mechanics are on full display, and I honestly wish they were more emphasized. The commander, Galadriel, Elven-Queen, showcases everything this deck has to offer.
The finishers are a glaring weakness here. Colossal Whale and Hornet Queen? Really, those are my elfball finishers? Genesis Wave and Overwhelming Stampede are fine, but the expensive ramp targets should at least synergize with the rest of the deck.
There’s also some disconnect between this deck and the Simic “scrying matters” theme in the main Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set. Not that they have to line up exactly, but there are a few one-off cards that play into the main set and don’t really make sense in this commander precon.
It also means Simic cards from the main set aren’t perfect fits here. No big deal, just a point of contention. Scry me a river, I guess.
Illusion of Choice
Suggested Cut: Learn from the Past
Illusion of Choice fits the theme, replacing itself and rigging a vote in your favor for almost no opportunity cost. My vote: it’s a perfect fit.
You need to be hard-pressed for graveyard hate to include Learn from the Past. Don’t worry, Travel Through Caradhras has you covered on the Gandalf art.
Coercive Portal
Suggested Cut: Trap the Trespassers
Coercive Portal is the only other voting card that felt appropriate here. It’s either your own personal Howling Mine, or it blows up the board (itself included). That’s up to your pod, but you obviously get to sway the vote.
The best-case scenario for Trap the Trespassers is tapping down a couple creatures for a few turns. Fun political card for sure, but your opponents have too much say in the results, with the ideal situation for you still not being that good.
Coiling Oracle
Suggested Cut: Wose Pathfinder
Coiling Oracle is a classic Simic card that just happens to be an elf. It ramps a decent percentage of the time, and it draws a card instead when it “misses.” If Elvish Visionary is good enough for this deck (and it is), so is Oracle.
Good riddance to Wose Pathfinder. The expensive second ability isn’t even good when you do activate it, and it’s outclassed by every other mana dork in the deck. You could play Priest of Titania as a closer 1:1 swap, but I didn’t like the Titania name-drop for this upgrade.
Wolverine Riders
Suggested Cut: Hornet Queen
Don’t mind me Kaldheim elf Commander deck, I’m just gonna borrow Wolverine Riders for a moment. This card creates an elf every upkeep, and gains life as elves hit the board. It’s no Koma, Cosmos Serpent, but I’m also not not saying that.
Sadly the wolverines don’t seem to be doing much. You can do better than Hornet Queen. It’s a 7-drop that’s best at stabilizing and playing defense in a deck that wants its high-mana value plays to start closing out the game.
Galadriel, Gift-Giver
Suggested Cut: Mirkwood Trapper
Galadriel, Gift-Giver doubles down on the flavor of the deck. Galadriel is literally the commander, after all. This version provides ramp, Food, or a +1/+1 counter on ETB and attacks.
Mirkwood Trapper discourages attacks against you and rewards opponents for attacking one another. It’s just not a strong enough deterrent, and this style of card doesn’t play out the way you want it to that often. Players sometimes feel manipulated by cards like this and will attack you because you played it.
Beast Whisperer
Suggested Cut: Celeborn the Wise
It’s unwise to keep Celeborn the Wise around. The Simic scry theme from LTR wasn’t ported over, so there’s virtually no bonus for scrying. Besides, why scry when you can just draw cards?
Beast Whisperer is a tried-and-true draw engine, and lo and behold! It’s an elf. It can also get scrappy with a few elf lords on board.
Leaf-Crowned Visionary
Suggested Cut: Mirror of Galadriel
I appreciate the addition of Mirror of Galadriel alongside the name-sake creature as the commander, but the card is better suited for all-in legends-matter decks. Even with a few legends present, you’re not consistently getting the mirror down to a reasonable activation cost.
Let Leaf-Crowned Visionary handle your card draw needs instead. Plus one to the elf count, an anthem for your creatures, and consistent card draw. Easy upgrade if you ask me.
Master Biomancer
Suggested Cut: Radagast, Wizard of Wilds
Radagast, Wizard of Wilds is a wildly cool card, but it’s head-scratchingly off-theme for this deck. You can trigger it, but the payoff isn’t anything this deck cares about.
I’ve made a synergy swap with Master Biomancer. This adds another elf to the pile, one that makes your other elvish friends enter as bigger threats.
Realmwalker
Suggested Cut: Elven Farsight
Elven Farsight isn’t criminally bad, but how many cantrips do you really need in an elf deck? Besides, Realmwalker is too perfect for the deck.
It might seem overkill to add so many card advantage elves to the deck, but decks are so much better the more your cards interact with one another. That means most cards have utility here just by virtue of having “elf” in their type line.
Er… or changeling in their textbox.
Kindred Summons
Suggested Cut: Colossal Whale
Wow, they really put Colossal Whale in an elf precon in the year 2023. I’m vaguely aware of a whale named Uin somewhere in LotR, so it’s not completely farfetched, but it’s still a hellaciously bad card, so sorry to break the immersion.
Why not ramp into Kindred Summons instead? It doubles your board by pulling elves from your library, and it’s an instant. You can block or untap with a much scarier army than your opponents anticipated.
Elvish Has Left the Building
Coiling Oracle | Illustration by Mark Zug
Elven Council is perfect for elf lovers, Lord of the Rings fans, and people who enjoy the civic duty of voting. The political approach is a welcome departure from typical elf decks and helps distinguish this precon from others. That Colossal Whale is really blowing my mind though, folks.
So what’s the vote? How’s this precon treating you, and how do you feel it stacks up against other elf-themed decks we’ve seen in the past? Let me know in the comments below, or over on Draftsim's official Twitter.
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