Elvish Guidance MTG Card


Elvish Guidance - Onslaught
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant
Released2002-10-07
Set symbol
Set nameOnslaught
Set codeONS
Number255
Frame1997
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byGreg Hildebrandt & Tim Hildebrandt

Key Takeaways

  1. Significantly accelerates mana production, underpinning powerful spell-casting earlier in the game.
  2. Enhances deck consistency by reducing land count during draws, improving the quality of future draws.
  3. Despite its advantages, Elvish Guidance narrows deck versatility and increases vulnerability to removal.

Text of card

Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, its controller adds o G to his or her mana pool for each Elf in play.

"Old home never forgotten, new home ours forever."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Delivers an efficient way to filter through your deck by allowing you to place an additional forest onto the battlefield, thereby thinning your deck and increasing the likelihood of drawing into non-land cards.

Resource Acceleration: By providing an additional land drop with the potential for further mana generation, Elvish Guidance fuels your ability to deploy higher-cost spells earlier in the game, giving you a significant edge in mana production.

Instant Speed: Though Elvish Guidance does not operate at instant speed, its ongoing effect can be leveraged during any point in your turn, ensuring seamless integration with instant-speed spells and abilities, maximizing your strategic options during critical phases of the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While this aspect is not present in Elvish Guidance itself, players should be aware that including this enchantment in a deck means less room for instant-speed interaction or protection, which could lead to having to discard valuable cards for hand size limits or when making tough decisions during gameplay.

Specific Mana Cost: Elvish Guidance requires a specific commitment to green mana in its casting cost. This requirement can potentially restrict the card’s inclusion to mono-green or heavily green-focused decks, making it less versatile across the broad spectrum of MTG playstyles and deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that is substantial for its effect, Elvish Guidance competes with other cards at a similar mana range. Players may find that other three-mana enchantments or creatures could provide a more immediate impact on the game state or offer more utility.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Elvish Guidance is a card that can seamlessly integrate into a vast array of green-based decks. Its ability to ramp up mana production makes it particularly useful in strategies that require a boost for casting high-cost spells or activating demanding abilities.

Combo Potential: This enchantment harmoniously pairs with cards that capitalize on large amounts of mana or landfall mechanics. As a result, it opens the door to powerful combos and enables the casting of game-changing spells much earlier than expected.

Meta-Relevance: With its capability to accelerate mana, Elvish Guidance maintains relevance in a variety of metas. It’s especially potent in environments where building a substantial board presence quickly can make the difference in outpacing your opponents’ strategies.


How to beat

Elvish Guidance is an enchantment card that can significantly amplify mana generation by enchanting a forest. This can be a powerful advantage for players who utilize green mana and rely on casting high-cost creatures or spells. However, like any strong card, there are strategies to counter it. Addressing Elvish Guidance requires a good understanding of enchantment removal options within the game.

To mitigate the benefit that an opponent gains from Elvish Guidance, consider including enchantment removal spells in your deck, such as Naturalize or Disenchant, which can destroy Elvish Guidance directly. Another tactic is to use land destruction or forestwalk creatures to bypass or remove the enchanted forest, thus negating the ramp advantage. Cards with the ability to target any permanent, for example, Beast Within, offer flexibility in handling various threats, including enchantments like Elvish Guidance.

Adapting your deck to include a mix of removal tools not only prepares you for Elvish Guidance but also for a wide range of similar enchantments. By staying proactive and versatile in your deck construction, you can maintain the upper hand against mana acceleration strategies in your MTG games.


BurnMana Recommendations

Elvish Guidance is a potent tool for those who wish to solidify their mana base and enhance their deck’s capacity for summoning powerful creatures and spells. Its synergy with elf-heavy decks makes it a significant contributor to accelerating your gameplay, often tipping the scales in your favor. To effectively utilize Elvish Guidance, integrating enchantment-friendly strategies and understanding your metagame is crucial. If your MTG journey revolves around green’s lush territories and mana acceleration tactics, further exploring Elvish Guidance’s possibilities could be the edge you need. Dive deeper with us into optimizing your deck’s performance and casting efficiency with Elvish Guidance.


Cards like Elvish Guidance

Elvish Guidance stands out in the realm of ramp and mana generation in Magic: The Gathering. It draws a parallel to enchantments like Wild Growth and Overgrowth. Much like these, Elvish Guidance attaches to a land and increases its mana output. Wild Growth is less expensive to cast, but Elvish Guidance potentially offers more mana if you have numerous Elves in play.

Similarly, Utopia Sprawl presents itself as another option for mana ramp. Comparable to Elvish Guidance in that it enchants a land, Utopia Sprawl brings the advantage of choosing your mana color and only costing one mana to cast. However, it doesn’t scale with the number of creatures like Elvish Guidance does with Elves. Then we have Growing Rites of Itlimoc, which transforms into a land capable of producing vast amounts of mana based on the number of creatures you control. This flip card can outpace Elvish Guidance but requires a setup to transform.

Appraising these cards, Elvish Guidance secures a strong position within the green mana acceleration family, favored especially in Elf-themed decks for its scalability and synergistic potential.

Wild Growth - MTG Card versions
Overgrowth - MTG Card versions
Utopia Sprawl - MTG Card versions
Wild Growth - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Overgrowth - Stronghold (STH)
Utopia Sprawl - Dissension (DIS)

Cards similar to Elvish Guidance by color, type and mana cost

Kudzu - MTG Card versions
Wanderlust - MTG Card versions
Thelon's Chant - MTG Card versions
Maddening Wind - MTG Card versions
Cycle of Life - MTG Card versions
Dense Foliage - MTG Card versions
Hall of Gemstone - MTG Card versions
Momentum - MTG Card versions
Ancestral Mask - MTG Card versions
Broken Fall - MTG Card versions
Lure - MTG Card versions
Food Chain - MTG Card versions
Howling Moon - MTG Card versions
The Dragon-Kami Reborn // Dragon-Kami's Egg - MTG Card versions
Squirrel Nest - MTG Card versions
Alpha Status - MTG Card versions
Lifegift - MTG Card versions
Blanchwood Armor - MTG Card versions
Rites of Flourishing - MTG Card versions
Raking Canopy - MTG Card versions
Kudzu - Limited Edition Beta (LEB)
Wanderlust - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Thelon's Chant - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Maddening Wind - Ice Age (ICE)
Cycle of Life - Mirage (MIR)
Dense Foliage - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Hall of Gemstone - World Championship Decks 1998 (WC98)
Momentum - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Ancestral Mask - Eternal Masters (EMA)
Broken Fall - Battle Royale Box Set (BRB)
Lure - Tenth Edition (10E)
Food Chain - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Howling Moon - Innistrad: Double Feature (DBL)
The Dragon-Kami Reborn // Dragon-Kami's Egg - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Promos (PNEO)
Squirrel Nest - World Championship Decks 2002 (WC02)
Alpha Status - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Lifegift - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Blanchwood Armor - The Brothers' War (BRO)
Rites of Flourishing - Future Sight (FUT)
Raking Canopy - Shadowmoor (SHM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Elvish Guidance MTG card by a specific set like Onslaught, 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 Elvish Guidance and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Elvish Guidance has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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