Elves are one of the most iconic and popular creature types in Magic: the Gathering. Whether featuring in competitive tournament lists, cubes or Commander decks, Elves cemented themselves at the heart of Magic way back in Alpha. Join us as we count down the Top 20 Iconic Elves in Magic.
We love a good Top 20 here at Card Kingdom, so here’s our take on Elves. Each Elf on this list has been chosen on multiple vectors; fame, infamy, popularity, impact, and power, to name a few. We’re sure you’ll recognize your favorites.
TOP 20 ELVES IN MAGIC
TIRELESS PROVISIONER
Tireless Provisioner released in Modern Horizons 2, a set which ended up with a number of banned cards due to sheer power level. It’s a beloved set, though, because so many of the new cards are fantastic designs and fit right into players’ decks or cubes. Tireless Provisioner is a riff on Tireless Tracker, and functions like a Lotus Cobra on layaway.
While its Modern hype has dropped off since Glimpse of Tomorrow decks were in vogue, It sees play as a staple in a lot of cEDH decks, where making a Lotus Petal twice for a fetchland is a big tempo play. It’s otherwise a monster in any Commander landfall deck.
ROFELLOS, LLANOWAR EMISSARY
Ah, Rofellos.
Rofellos has been on and off the Commander Banlist many times. It went on alongside Coalition Victory in 2007, came off again with Crucible of Worlds in 2009, went back on as a “Banned as Commander” card in 2010, before being firmly banned when Banned as Commander was eliminated as a category in 2014.
Rofellos grants a huge mana advantage, and it’s easy to see why he was so popular (and ban worthy) over the years. I still get asked if we’ll unban this card in Commander. Do you think it’s fair in 2024?
NISSA, RESURGENT ANIMIST
March of the Machine: Aftermath was a troubled set. The pulls were all over the place with it being such a small set, and frustratingly for some, a good number of the harder-to-pull cards were actually… good.
Nissa has helped to establish an Omnath, Locus of Creation deck in Modern, which has kinda fallen off since the emergence of Nadu. Once Nadu (hopefully) goes, we should see a resurgence of this archetype. Ha.
If you want a peek at how a three-mana Lotus Cobra that also finds you Omnath or Solitude works, check out Sato Hisao’s Top 8 list from a July event at Hareruya.
ALLOSAURUS SHEPHERD
What elves really needed was a one-drop that stops your elves being countered. So, naturally, we got one – complete with a late-game mana sink overrun effect. It should be noted that Allosaurus Shepherd is in contention with mana dorks for your turn 1 play, but you can’t deny the power of this card, first released in JumpStart.
While it’s popular in Commander and cEDH, it’s showing up regularly in Legacy Elves lists with new hotness Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and Eladamri, Korvecdal.
EDRIC, SPYMASTER OF TREST
Edric is an Elf icon. He debuted in the very first Commander product, Commander 2011, in the Riku deck. Players quickly flocked to him due to his balance of politics and card draw, and to this day, Edric decks are still very powerful in Commander. They often utilize a swathe of cheap evasive creatures, hoping to draw into a Craterhoof Behemoth or other game-winning effect.
DERANGED HERMIT
Deranged Hermit is iconic. It features in cubes the world around, and though its time in Nic Fit and other Legacy decks has long since passed, it now finds a home as one of the more popular creatures in the Premodern format, where players can still enjoy classic deck The Rock.
It’s so iconic, it even got a throwback card in Modern Horizons with Deep Forest Hermit.
ALLOSAURUS RIDER
Allosaurus Rider was a largely forgotten card from Coldsnap – a card considerably worse than, say, Fury of the Horde, from the same cycle – until Neoform was printed in War of the Spark. This cemented Allosaurus Rider as a combo card, because you could reasonably get it out Turn 1 and still have the mana to Neoform into Griselbrand thanks to Chancellor of the Tangle if you had the nuts draw.
Despite Nadu’s grip on the format, the deck has evolved to take advantage of Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant, which is pretty damn cool.
BLOOM TENDER
Bloom Tender’s infamy lies largely in the fact it was a super-expensive Commander mana dork for the longest time. Until Double Masters, it had only been printed in Eventide. Bloom Tender excels in Commander where it can tap for three, four, or even five mana, and can be enabled by your Commander adding most or all of those colors to its condition.
JAHEIRA, FRIEND OF THE FOREST
Jaheira is a Baldur’s Gate icon. She’s appeared in multiple games in the series, and was back for Baldur’s Gate 3. She appears here in her younger years as a Harper for the fantastic Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate set, which if you haven’t drafted, is an absolute blast.
Jaheira is also iconic for being one of the most powerful mana-enablers in modern Commander. She turns all of the incidental artifact tokens – Clues, Food, even Treasure – into Mox Emeralds while she’s in play. It doesn’t take a veteran to understand how powerful that is.
SELVALA, HEART OF THE WILDS
Speaking of iconic multiplayer draft environments, remember Conspiracy: Take the Crown? The sequel to the hugely popular Conspiracy set, CN2 featured one of Magic’s most famous elves, Selvala. Selvala at the time, and even today, is a strong creature in Commander. Beyond just giving a bunch of value, her tap ability makes for a wonderful way to go infinite with a way to untap her.
LATHRIL, BLADE OF THE ELVES
Speaking of Commander, no Top 20 Elves in Magic list would be complete without the most popular Elf Commander in the format: Lathril, Blade of the Elves. Lathril offers multiple routes to victory, combining go-wide with life gain/drain. She offers access to the two best colors for Elves.
FAUNA SHAMAN
Fauna Shaman has long been a popular creature, and it’s easy to see why: she’s one of the closest approximations to Survival of the Fittest available. The aforementioned reserve list card is banned in Legacy, and so Fauna Shaman, for these two reasons, has been super popular.
Tutoring in Commander and Duel Commander is great, but it’s in 1v1 formats where Fauna Shaman truly can shine. Recently she’s seen a spike in play due to the Amalia Life combo deck in Pioneer.
BLOODBRAID ELF
Ah, Bloodbraid Elf. What a Magic card!
Bloodbraid Elf is a Modern staple, and has featured in countless decks that abuse the Cascade mechanic. Classic Jund is one thing, but it has been used with cards like Crash of Rhinos and Shardless Agent to get plenty of value into play.
Nowadays, it’s in 5c Domain lists, and was in the powerful Cascade Beanstalk until Up the Beanstalk was banned in Modern. It’s still a cube staple.
GLISTENER ELF
Bogles is a deck that strikes fear into the hearts of all. Glistener Elf has a firm home in Pauper Bogles these days, but it’s just always been a great card to build around. Whether that’s in Modern Infect, Legacy Infect, or Pauper, Glistener Elf is a classic Elf card.
It’s honestly kinda neat that this card has been so good for so long, through so many formats.
LEOVOLD, EMISSARY OF TREST
And now to something decidedly less cool. Leovold, Emissary of Trest is a disgusting design when it comes to Commander, and it’s very easy to see why he’s ban worthy. He draws you cards when people try to remove your stuff, and he limits opposing card draw. The cincher is, he’s a three color Commander that does this from the Zone.
Leovold is less famous than straight up infamous.
DEATHRITE SHAMAN
The first “planeswalker” on the list, and probably more of a Planeswalker than the creature version of Nissa we covered earlier. Deathrite Shaman is so good, so powerful, that it has been banned in both Modern and Legacy. Let that sink in.
What made this card ban worthy was the fact that it’s a monstrous turn 1 play, but can also swing a game late, thanks to the ability to lower life totals and massage your own without even going to combat. What truly made this card ban-worthy is actually fetchlands, but that’s another topic…
PRIEST OF TITANIA
Format all-star Priest of Titania gives you a lotta mana for your lotta elves. With classic Rebecca Guay art and taking names these days in Pauper, cEDH and Premodern, its effectiveness in Legacy and Modern is only kept in check by Orcish Bowmasters.
Priest of Titania remains a fan-favorite for Cube and Casual Commander too.
ORACLE OF MUL DAYA
Now we’re starting to get into the elf-iest of the elf-est cards there are, and while the top two are firmly set in stone, I would actually go as far as to say that Oracle of Mul Daya is also one of the most iconic elves ever printed, despite it not being played competitively in any format for quite some time now, given Amulet decks got given way more new toys in the last few years with cards like AFM’s Karn.
Muly-Duly (mooley-dooley) is iconic because it’s an historic cube staple. It’s iconic because in Commander, for many years, it was at the epitome of value – and in many decks, still is.
WOOD ELVES
Wood Elves take the number 2 spot? I think they would.
*ahem*
Wood Elves has been a Commander staple since forever, as it gets untapped Dual or Shocklands, and it can get Triomes nowadays too. It can be recurred, looped, and flickered to your heart’s content. While it has been all-but power crept from 60-card formats, it still sees plenty of play in Commander and Cube.
And if you want that iconic Rebecca Guay art? Well, there’s a 30th Anniversary Promo available, in foil. Lovely.
LLANOWAR ELVES/ELVISH MYSTIC
The most iconic Elf in Magic is Llanowar Elves, and by extension, Elvish Mystic and Fyndhorn Elves too.
Llanowar Elves is where it all began. It established Elves as green, and all about mana generation. Llanowar Elves and its contemporaries are at the core of every Elf deck in every format, and you could argue that without them, the archetype just wouldn’t be the same.
END STEP
And there you have it – the most iconic Elves in Magic. Obviously we couldn’t talk about everything in just 20 cards, so if there’s something we missed, why not let us know on X. Doubly so if you have some cool stories about playing Elf cards.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer, and member of the Commander Advisory Group. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.