Llanowar MTG Card

Accelerate your game with Llanowar’s mana ramping, crucial for casting powerful spells early on. Instant speed Llanowar cards offer strategic flexibility, allowing players to respond reactively. Despite their strengths, Llanowar cards can limit deck diversity and may come at a high cost.

Planechase Planes (OHOP)
2009-09-04 - Number 22

Llanowar - Planechase Anthology Planes (OPCA)

Planechase Anthology Planes (OPCA)
2018-12-25 - Number 48

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Rarity	Common
Type	Plane — Dominaria

Text of card

All creatures have ": Add to your mana pool." Whenever you roll chaos, untap all creatures you control.

Cards like Llanowar

Llanowar Elves is a cornerstone of mana acceleration in Magic: The Gathering, often compared to birds like Avacyn’s Pilgrim and Elves of Deep Shadow. The Llanowar Elves charm lies in its singular green mana cost and the reliability of tapping for that mana with no additional cost or downside. Avacyn’s Pilgrim also taps for a single mana, albeit a white one, and presents a similar efficiency for decks that lean towards white mana.

Elves of Deep Shadow edges into the conversation, providing a similar one mana of a different color – black – but at the expense of one life per use. This slight cost affects the player’s life total but expands color accessibility for multicolored decks. Another counterpart, Fyndhorn Elves, matches Llanowar Elves’ functionality identically, offering an alternative with the same benefits minus the name recognition.

Evaluating such alternatives highlights Llanowar Elves as a consistently desirable choice for decks requiring a quick ramp in green mana, showcasing why it has remained a staple since its introduction in MTG. Its balance of cost and effect without drawbacks makes it a benchmark in mana dorks across the game.

Elves of Deep Shadow - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Llanowar card series offers various abilities that can lead to increased card draw or selection, ensuring you have the resources you need to stay ahead in the game.

Resource Acceleration: Many of the Llanowar cards are famed for their ability to rapidly ramp up your mana base, allowing earlier access to more powerful spells and giving you an edge in the race for board dominance.

Instant Speed: Certain variations of Llanowar magic cards can be played at instant speed, offering the strategic advantage of reacting to an opponent’s actions during their turn, which can be a game-changer in tight situations.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: When deploying this forest-dwelling card, players often face a drawback if the card necessitates discarding as part of its cost. This can be particularly taxing during the late game when hand size is crucial, potentially leaving you at a disadvantage when you’re running low on cards.

Specific Mana Cost: Llanowar cards generally require green mana, which could restrict them to green-centric or green-inclusive decks. This limitation impacts deck diversity and can be a stumbling block for players who are aiming for a range of colors in their deck compositions.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Llanowar cards offer a boost, their value may be contested by alternatives that provide similar or better advantages for less mana. In fast-paced games, the mana cost can set you back, especially when matched against decks constructed for efficiency and speed.

Reasons to Include Llanowar in Your Collection

Versatility: Llanowar Elves is a classic card that can seamlessly integrate into numerous deck archetypes. As a one-drop creature that taps for mana, it can accelerate your gameplay, enabling you to cast more powerful spells ahead of time.

Combo Potential: This elf not only stands out for its ability to quickly ramp up mana but also works well in combos. It’s a staple in green-based combo decks that require a fast and reliable mana boost to execute their winning moves.

Meta-Relevance: In ever-changing metagames, having a consistent one-mana producer like Llanowar Elves can be critical. It’s particularly effective in formats where speedy mana acceleration is a cornerstone of competitive play.

How to Beat

The Llanowar card series in Magic: The Gathering boasts a reputable presence, with Llanowar Elves being a classic example, known for its fundamental mana acceleration. This basic but powerful ability to tap for green mana can be a linchpin for many strategies, leading to faster and more impactful plays. Ramp like this can propel a player ahead in the game, making it a priority to address on the board.

Handicapping the mana acceleration Llanowar provides is key. Board control spells, such as Wrath of God or Doom Blade, can keep these creatures in check. Timely removal can nip any burgeoning mana advantage in the bud, ensuring that your opponent doesn’t pull too far ahead. Cards that prevent creature abilities from being activated, such as Pithing Needle, are also effective, as they specifically target the essence of Llanowar’s advantage without needing to remove the creature from the board. Consider also spell-based disruption, like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, that can remove crucial cards from your opponent’s hand before they can be played, keeping you one step ahead.

Understanding the tactics to control or remove Llanowar creatures promptly can mean the difference between an opponent’s accelerated play and a manageable game state for you.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Llanowar MTG card by a specific set like Planechase Planes and Planechase Anthology Planes, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Llanowar and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Llanowar Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2009-09-04 and 2018-12-25. Illustrated by Kev Walker.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2009-09-04	Planechase Planes	OHOP		22	2003	Planar	Black	Kev Walker
2	2018-12-25	Planechase Anthology Planes	OPCA		48	2015	Planar	Black	Kev Walker

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Llanowar card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2009-10-01	A face-up plane card that’s turned face down becomes a new object with no relation to its previous existence. In particular, it loses all counters it may have had.
2009-10-01	A plane card is treated as if its text box included “When you roll {PW}, put this card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top card of your planar deck off that planar deck and turn it face up.” This is called the “planeswalking ability.”
2009-10-01	If an ability of a plane refers to “you,” it’s referring to whoever the plane’s controller is at the time, not to the player that started the game with that plane card in their deck. Many abilities of plane cards affect all players, while many others affect only the planar controller, so read each ability carefully.
2009-10-01	The controller of a face-up plane card is the player designated as the “planar controller.” Normally, the planar controller is whoever the active player is. However, if the current planar controller would leave the game, instead the next player in turn order that wouldn’t leave the game becomes the planar controller, then the old planar controller leaves the game. The new planar controller retains that designation until they leave the game or a different player becomes the active player, whichever comes first.