10 Elves to Include in a Thranduil, the Elvenking Deck

Thranduil, the Elvenking is one of the most exciting new commanders from the upcoming The Hobbit set. He lets us play with the blue-green elves from Tales of Middle-Earth and join them with fan-favorite black-green Elves from Magic's in-universe history.

Thranduil is the legendary, Elf-oriented version of Necrotic Ooze, as he gets all the activated abilities of all Elf cards in our graveyard. He also helps fill the graveyard up, with a handy draw and discard effect whenever another legendary Elf enters under our control.

Lore-wise, his abilities are spot-on. Thranduil is not a bad guy, he's just, let's say … a bit too proud. He trusts himself more than anyone else, so disposing of potential allies makes a lot of sense.

As a Magic card, he enables a lot of strategies to build around him, and he is already considered a possible contender for cEDH for the combo possibilities.

But here, I'm interested in the casual play shenanigans we can do with him. So which Elves should be part of Thanduil's entourage?

Thranduil’s Host

Llanowar Mentor is a one-mana Elf that discards a card, fills the graveyard and creates a Llanowar Elves token. This card is so good and is so unbelievably underrated. It synergizes perfectly with Thranduil, preparing the ground graveyard for when he comes into play — and fantastic with the overall gameplan. If I see it in my opening hand, it's a keeper.

On turn three (or two — it's an Elves deck, after all), we should already have our engines going. Trystan, Callous Cultivator is one of the strongest options to keep them humming.

Trystan mills three cards whenever he enters or transforms — a repeatable self mill/blink card that only gets better after Thranduil is in play, as it triggers the commander and draws us two cards. The life gain and burn effects are just icing on the honey-cake.

Originally printed in 2010, Fauna Shaman still keeps its place as an auto-include in many decks. It's no different here as the synergy with Thranduil is awesome! Fauna Shaman is a repeatable engine that puts a creature into the graveyard, while it allows us to tutor for another one. Can it get better than this?

Among the many options available for Fauna Shaman to discard, a solid pick is…

Thranduil is well served with the amount of self-mill and discard cards from Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Iron-Shield Elf is very on theme and probably an instant staple; an uncommon two-mana creature that gains indestructible by discarding a card. Getting rid of Thranduil won't be easy with it  in the yard.

With the discard package taking shape, I'm starting to consider more discard synergies like Monument to Endurance for extra spiciness.

Let's not leave Lorwyn before talking about Twilight Diviner. This one doesn't want to be in the graveyard – while in play, it increases the value of a Reanimator gameplan and gets more out of our dead Elves. Its surveil effect is cohesive with Thranduil's strategy, but what stands out is the ability to get a token copy of a reanimated Elf. It will shine even brighter with more Reanimate effects, like Harald Unites the Elves or Cauldron of Essence.

Twilight Diviner interacts with the commander in a nice way: providing the creature we bring back is legendary, the legend rule will make you sacrifice either the original or the copy it creates. We can send the original back to the graveyard and Thranduil will trigger twice, netting us 4 cards.

This strategy can be taken further if we include cards like Lazav, the Multifarious, Likeness Looter, and Body Double. This is a Sultai deck after all — nothing really goes to waste.

Some of the best legends here require mana investment to activate their abilities, and that is the case with Ezuri, Renegade Leader. He’s great on board, but also a perfect discard target for Thranduil.

While his regenerate cost is just one green mana — as a back-up for Iron-Shield Elf — things can get out of hand pretty quickly with his second ability, which gives all your Elves +3/+3 and trample until the end of turn. Given the right circumstances (mana creatures like Priest of Titania and perhaps an Elvish Champion while Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is on board), that ability can end the game on the spot.

There are some other ways to take advantage of Ezuri, like with…

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord is a card I haven't seen much in play, despite its latest reprint in Tarkir: Dragonstom Commander. He's a Zombie Elf that gets +1/+1 for each creature in our yard and can self-recur at the cost of sacrificing a Swamp and a Forest. His first activated ability, though, is what makes him stand out; for three mana, he can sac another creature and burn our opponents for an amount of life equal to that creature's power. That's peak synergy with Ezuri, Renegade Leader, and a potential instant-speed wincon.

I think his popularity will start to rise again once Thranduil comes out. Also, did you know he is Abomination of Llanowar's dad?

This spot has a tie of sorts.

The ability to untap creatures will become very relevant in a Thranduil deck as most abilities he'll copy require him to tap to activate. Both Seeker of Skybreak and Devoted Druid can make the commander to be untapped and add another layer of value.

The difference of choosing either (or both) is in the power level you'd like to make your deck.

Think of a scenario in which we want to buff Thranduil and make an opponent lose by commander damage. Immaculate Magistrate and Timberwatch Elf can do that easily. When untapping them (or Thranduil, once he’s learned their abilities from the graveyard), the question that remains is, “Is doing this once enough to win, or do I need to do it infinitely?” Seeker of Skybreak is the answer to take it easier, and Devoted Druid is the choice to push the deck to the edge of Bracket 3, if not 4. There is no right answer, and it should adapt to your play style and your group.

It's almost a philosophical question. By adding similar effects, would you want to be a threat by including Unstoppable Plan or the threat if you cast Intruder Alarm?

Nadier, Agent of Duskenel may be a suspicious option for Thranduil. Yes, it's legendary, but it costs six mana, doesn't have any triggered abilities and doesn't really want to be in the graveyard. Why would he earn a spot?

Well, Thranduil is shaping up to be a remove-on-sight Commander. No opponent will want to see him do his thing as he can bring the game to a close really quickly. This is where the concept of including “lightning rods” comes into play: distract our opponents with other creatures that are just as annoying to deal with.

Nadier is dangerous because when he dies or gets bounced, we get a bunch of 1/1 Elf tokens equal to his power. The ability to give himself +1/+1 counters whenever a token we control leaves is cute, but he more easily benefits from the very common buffs given by staples like Elvish Archdruid or Ezuri, Renegade Leader. He’s also the perfect target for Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord or The Hobbit's very own Elrond, Moon-Reader.

Sometimes a deck shouldn't be completely reliant on the commander, and Nadier fills many of the same roles nicely.

So, what do we do with so many Elf tokens?

Lathril, Blade of the Elves is the face of playing with Elves in Commander. She has a straightforward gameplan that wins games fairly. She was my first precon and a commander deck I keep wanting to get back to rebuilding.

Lathril is a perfect discard target for Fauna Shaman (or an Entomb): put her in the yard, then tap Thranduil and another 10 Elves to drain our opponents — and thank Nadier for setting things up. It’s simple, powerful, and less obvious than having her in the command zone.

Honorable Mention

This version of Tyvar is not technically an Elf, but works wonders with our commander.

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler not only grants pseudo-haste for ability activations, he also can untap a creature, or mill three cards and bring a low-mana value Elf back to the battlefield. The synergy is so good with Thranduil I wouldn't mind if we had a reskinned, Hobbit-themed version of him.

Parting Notes

For a long time, Golgari Elf decks have allowed us to access the graveyard. Mill and Reanimation themes are common, but the addition of blue from Thranduil, the Elvenking gives it a fresh take on those themes – and pairing it with Elves makes it particularly strong. Thranduil also opens possibilities for Elf Legends, Blink, Tap / Untap … or combining all of that with activated abilities

I'm excited to see what unique builds will come out of this new commander and I'm even more excited to grab a copy of the card for myself and build my own deck.

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