Magic The Gathering - First Page: Elf

There are so many times having an Elf that taps for one mana and costs one mana is useful. This card is a force to be reckoned with because it really isn't worth countering, and yet it works well in so many combination plays. Llanowar Elves was one of the first cards I had in my possession and it is still one of my favorites. If you are playing Commander, other cards to consider that are like this one are Boreal Druid, and Fyndhorn Elves.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Review of Skyshroud Ranger ***

Excellent if you want mana coming out of your ears!
Some decks simply require a lot of mana. If you are playing a deck with 50+ mana in it this is a great mana accelerator. Consider that you have 8 cards on your first turn, and it is likely that 50% of them are going to be mana cards. Playing Skyshroud Ranger enable you to really get things going by allowing you to play an extra mana on your turn. What’s more some cards enable you to search for 2 or more mana, but only one of them can be played on your turn without this card’s ability. By your fourth turn, it is likely that you will have 6 mana, but without a card like Skyshroud Ranger you will only have been able to play 4 of them, while if you do have this card, you can really get the action going fast with high cost mana cards by having played 6+ mana, especially if you have a card like Cultivate in your deck.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Review of Elvish Visionary **

Has Certain Special Uses

I like this card for my Momir Vig deck. Momir Vig isn’t that great of a commander in my opinion. Momir Vig enables for one to search for a card if he or she plays a green creature, and take a creature card to their hand if a blue creature is played. Elvish Visionary capitalizes on Momir Vig. The green ability of Momir enables the search ability. However, that ability usually isn’t much help as it telegraphs to your opponent what is coming next, so he can plot his strategy accordingly. The green ability of Momir Vig means that one is not able to take the card to their hand by itself on that turn, usually, but Elvish Visionary throws in a curve by enabling you to take the card that you have just searched for to your hand. And, since Elvish Visionary doesn’t cost a whole lot of mana, you might even be able to play that card that you searched for on the same turn, especially since a Momir Vig deck works well with elves. Suddenly, Momir’s mediocre ability becomes actually quite cool with a card like Elvish Visionary.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Review of Farhaven Elf: ** Okay As 1. An Extra Elf 2. Mana Accelerator 3. Multiple Landfalls

This card really isn’t that great. Three mana is a lot to pay for its ability. Generally, if you cast a 3 mana spell, you should expect to get 2 or more mana in return, each turn, and in the case of Farhaven Elf it is only certain that you will get one extra mana each turn.
I took it out of my deck. It does have some redeeming value though. It is both an Elf and it allows you to search your library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. And, having an Elf scenario is a good idea, especially if you are playing a mono green deck. This card works well in decks that have Landfall cards. If two or more lands fall on a turn, the Landfall ability normally goes off more than once. This card is good for use in a multicolor deck. It is also a druid, and I don’t have any cards that work well with druids. However, in my opinion Elves and Druids are primarily for early to mid-game play, so if you have Elves in your deck, it probably doesn’t make sense to have Druids, and if you have Druids in your deck it probably doesn’t make sense to have Elves.

Review of Argothian Elder: **** Excellent If Used in an Elves Mana Acceleration Scenario

In my opinion the one of the best parts about having a mono green deck is that green is awesome at mana acceleration . By turn five, I am usually able to play cards that cost 10 mana, game winning cards, because of cards like Argothian Elder. If you can get something that can untap or beef it because it is an Elf in even better! This card goes really well with cards like Copperhorn Scout, Joraga Treespeaker or Elvish Archdruid. And, it is much better than the card, Farhaven Elf, that I am switching it in for.

I have 21 Elves in my commander deck, and I think that is a good number. These elves are used primarily for the purpose of mana acceleration. Even on the first turn of the game my mana acceleration is kicking in. This enables me to play enormous monstrosities later in the game. When I refer to monstrosities, I am referring to cards would not normally be able to be played until later in the game, or at all.

Also, the card Argothian Elder may go up in value as it becomes increasingly hard to get one. For example, starcitygames.com didn’t have one when I looked. When Star City doesn’t have one, then I can be assured that the local probably won’t have one either. I didn’t find many at amazon.com. This makes it so one has to look for it in obscure places on the internet, so if you really want this card, beware of scamers