Wood Elves

Wood Elves Lite Guide

Starter 1999 Uncommon
Mana Cost: {2}{G}
Type: Creature — Elf Scout
P/T: 1/1
Wood Elves Text:
When this creature enters, search your library for a Forest card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
Artist: Rebecca Guay
Collector Number: 153
Release Date: 1999-07-01
Art crop

Strategy Guide

Last updated 2025-06-28
TL;DR Summary

Wood Elves is a versatile and potent creature that excels in green midrange and token strategies. Its primary strength lies in its ability to search for Forest cards upon entering the battlefield, allowing players to accelerate their land development and ramp into larger creatures.

Typical uses include:

  • Accelerating land development with additional Forests
  • Enabling the casting of large or expensive green creatures, such as Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves
  • Providing a soft lock by generating an overwhelming amount of tokens

In Commander decks, Wood Elves is often used in combination with other ramp and acceleration spells to rapidly develop the board and pressure opponents. Its low mana cost and ability to create additional lands make it an attractive choice for green midrange and token strategies.

Card Mechanics & Interactions

Wood Elves is a 2G creature that serves as a token generator and forest accelerator. Its ability to search your library for a Forest card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle is particularly noteworthy in Commander games.

When Wood Elves enters the battlefield, its ability triggers. You'll search your library for any Forest card (e.g., Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic), even if it's not a basic land or has different mana value requirements. This means you can play a non-basic Forest like Kodama's Reach or Ranger-Captain of Eos.

Strategic Applications

Wood Elves is a versatile creature that fits well into various green-based Commander archetypes. Its ability to search for a Forest card when it enters the battlefield makes it an attractive addition to decks focused on ramping up mana quickly or playing to the board with creatures.

Some common archetypes that benefit from Wood Elves include:

  • Necrotic Ooze-style decks, which utilize a mix of graveyard recursion and token generation
  • Golgari Grave-Trove-inspired decks, which focus on ramping up mana and playing to the board with creatures
  • Atraxa-style decks, which emphasize playing large creatures early in the game

In terms of its role on the battlefield, Wood Elves serves as a flexible scout creature that can help establish a foothold for your green-based strategy. Its power and toughness may seem modest, but it provides a low-maintenance presence that can be used to develop board control.

Wood Elves also pairs well with other ramp cards like Stomping Ground or Rampant Growth, allowing you to accelerate your mana development while maintaining flexibility in your land base. Additionally, its ability to search for Forests means that you can play around problematic enchantments or planeswalkers by replacing them with more favorable lands.

As a whole, Wood Elves offers a reliable and efficient way to ramp up your green-based strategy while providing opportunities for interactive play on the battlefield. Its versatility makes it an attractive addition to a wide range of decks focused on playing to the board with creatures and developing a strong mana base.

Advanced Techniques

Wood Elves is a versatile and dynamic card that can bring a unique twist to any green-based Commander deck. When it enters the battlefield, it triggers a search for a Forest card, allowing you to ramp into more powerful spells or create a fleeting advantage on the board.

Synergy with Llanowar Elves

Pairing Wood Elves with Llanowar Elves creates an explosive combination that can quickly accelerate mana development. By playing both cards early in the game, you can search for and play multiple Forests, enabling you to cast more expensive spells like Blossoming Wildgrowth, Overgrown Tomb, or even Mox Opal. This synergy is particularly effective in ramp-heavy decks, where maximizing mana efficiency is crucial.

Abuse of Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Wood Elves can also be used to take advantage of Yavimaya's ability. By playing Wood Elves and searching for a Forest, you create an opportunity to put Yavimaya onto the battlefield without needing to pay its mana cost upfront. This allows you to tap into Yavimaya's powerful abilities, including its landfall trigger and the potential to generate additional mana.

Combining with Ecofriendly

In green-stacked decks featuring Ecofriendly, Wood Elves can help fuel the spell's ability to put creatures onto the battlefield without needing to pay their mana costs. By playing Wood Elves early and searching for a Forest, you can enable the triggering of Ecofriendly's ability, allowing you to ramp into even more powerful spells or create a formidable board presence.

Forest- Cycling with Rampaging Baloth

Wood Elves can also be used in conjunction with Rampaging Baloth to create a self-sustaining cycle of Forests. By playing Wood Elves and searching for a Forest, you can then play Rampaging Baloth, tapping it to generate additional mana. This allows you to continually replenish your hand with new cards and maintain an efficient mana development curve.

In summary, Wood Elves is a dynamic card that offers a wide range of synergy options when combined with other green-based cards. Its ability to search for Forests can be used to accelerate mana development, fuel powerful spells, or create a self-sustaining cycle of Forests.

Common Mistakes

Wood Elves: Timing and Synergy Mistakes

Wood Elves can be a tricky card to play around, especially in Commander. Here are some common mistakes players make:

  • Incorrect timing: Many players forget that the Oracle Text of Wood Elves triggers when it enters the battlefield, not when they cast it. This means that if you cast another creature or spell before putting Wood Elves on the stack, its ability will trigger right away.
  • Missing Forest synergies: The most obvious play with Wood Elves is to pair it with a Forest to get a free Forest card and potentially some extra value from cards like Elvish Archdruid or Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. However, players often forget to include enough Forests in their deck or neglect to add other Elf creatures that would benefit from the new Forest.
  • Underplaying the potential: Wood Elves can be more than just a simple 1/1 creature. Players often overlook the potential for comboing it with cards like Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise to ramp into bigger threats or generate card advantage.

Common Mismatches

Some combinations that players often get wrong include:

  • Pairing Wood Elves with Llanowar Elves, which can lead to an overabundance of Elves in the deck, making it difficult to cast bigger spells.
  • Combining Wood Elves with Krenko, Mob Boss, which creates a mess of small creatures and mana issues.

Key Takeaways

To play Wood Elves effectively, keep these tips in mind:

  • Make sure to time its entry correctly, taking into account any other spells or creatures you've cast that turn.
  • Include enough Forests and Elf creatures in your deck to maximize the potential synergy with Wood Elves.
  • Don't be afraid to think outside the box and experiment with unusual combinations – just be aware of the risks involved.
Conclusion

Wood Elves is a solid inclusion in many Commander decks, particularly those focused on green ramp and token generation. Its ability to search for and put a Forest onto the battlefield can help accelerate mana development and create a more consistent draw step.

In combination with cards like Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves, Wood Elves can provide an additional boost to mana acceleration, allowing players to cast more complex spells earlier in the game. Additionally, its ability to search for Forests makes it easier to maintain a steady stream of green sources, which is essential for many green-oriented commanders like Ezuri, Renowned Leader or Atraxa, Praetors' Voice.

The card's power and toughness are somewhat modest, but this is mitigated by its ability to generate additional value through its mana acceleration. In a deck with an established ramp strategy, Wood Elves can be a valuable addition that helps maintain momentum and consistency.

Players should consider including Wood Elves in decks that:

At its current price point (approximately $3.62 USD), Wood Elves offers a reasonable value for its mana cost and potential impact on gameplay.