Elder Pine of Jukai MTG Card

Elder Pine of Jukai - Saviors of Kamigawa

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Spirit
Abilities	Soulshift
Released	2005-06-03
Set symbol
Set name	Saviors of Kamigawa
Set code	SOK
Power	2
Toughness	1
Number	128
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Alan Pollack

Key Takeaways

Elder Pine of Jukai excels in card advantage, finding Spirits and replenishing hands if built around this theme.
Soulshift adds tactical depth, recycling Spirits to maintain resource momentum during gameplay.
It necessitates specific deck building for optimal use, limiting its versatility across various deck strategies.

Text of card

Whenever you play a Spirit or Arcane spell, reveal the top three cards of your library. Put all land cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Soulshift 2

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Elder Pine of Jukai offers the potential for subtle yet significant card advantage. Upon entering the battlefield or dying, it allows you to look at the top three cards of your library, revealing any number of Spirit cards among them and putting them into your hand. This selection process efficiently refills your hand and synergizes with Spirit-heavy decks.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing mana, the Soulshift mechanic inherent to Elder Pine can be a form of resource acceleration. When Elder Pine or another Spirit you control dies, Soulshift allows you to return a lower-cost Spirit from your graveyard to your hand, effectively recycling your resources and saving you from having to draw into more creatures.

Instant Speed: Although Elder Pine of Jukai itself isn’t an instant, the card facilitates instant speed interactions by stocking your hand with Spirits, which often have instant-like abilities or can be played at instant speed due to mechanics like flash. This interaction enables you to adapt to the flow of the game, retaining mana for responses or threats at crucial moments.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Elder Pine of Jukai does not cause you to discard directly, but it necessitates a strategic deck construction around its soulshift mechanic. Without a carefully curated graveyard, its ability is rendered nearly useless, imposing a non-direct discard-like requirement to function optimally.

Specific Mana Cost: The card asks for a specific green mana cost, which, while not restrictive for mono-green decks, can still be a hurdle for multi-colored decks looking to optimize mana efficiency. This makes the Elder Pine of Jukai less appealing in the vast landscape of diverse deck builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Requiring three mana where two are green, it competes with other three-cost creatures and utility cards. In the context of mana efficiency and board presence, players might find the investment hefty when there are alternatives that could provide immediate impact or stronger synergy with the rest of the deck.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Elder Pine of Jukai thrives in decks that manipulate the graveyard. Its ability to stockpile Spirits in your graveyard adds value to subsequent turns, while providing a way to attain the lands you need for a stable mana base.

Combo Potential: This card plays well with Spirit and Arcane spells, potentially creating a synergy that leverages both card types for more effective gameplay. Its Soulshift ability also allows for the return of other key Spirits to your hand, setting up powerful combo opportunities.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where graveyard interaction is prevalent, Elder Pine of Jukai can become a strategic asset. Its function as both an enabler and a beneficiary of graveyard strategies makes it a contender in decks designed to exploit these dynamics.

How to beat

Elder Pine of Jukai, a spirit creature that brings a unique Soulshift mechanic to the game, is a key card in any deck focusing on spirit and arcane synergies. Facing off against this card requires a strategy that disrupts the cycle of spirits returning from the graveyard. Effective tactics include graveyard hate cards that can exile creatures from the graveyard, preventing the Soulshift ability from triggering.

Removal spells that force the opponent to sacrifice creatures can also bypass the Elder Pine’s impact, as can board wipes that clear out multiple creatures at once. When playing against a deck that runs Elder Pine of Jukai, prioritize controlling the board and maintaining pressure. This not only hampers the player’s ability to capitalize on the Soulshift ability but also ensures that the spiritual woodland is less likely to influence the battlefield in your opponent’s favor.

Overall, defeating Elder Pine of Jukai involves a delicate balance of timing your removal correctly and understanding when to apply pressure to hamper your opponent’s gameplay, thereby taking away their advantage and securing the game for yourself.

Cards like Elder Pine of Jukai

Elder Pine of Jukai is a unique creature card in the world of Magic: The Gathering. It draws immediate comparison to Sakura-Tribe Elder, another card that also interacts with lands. While Elder Pine of Jukai offers the ability to glimpse the top three cards of your library and potentially put lands into your hand, Sakura-Tribe Elder allows for a direct search and placement of a land onto the battlefield, thereby accelerating your mana availability.

In a similar context, we consider Yavimaya Elder, which upon death, lets you draw a card and search for up to two basic land cards, a blend of Elder Pines’ top deck manipulation and Sakura-Tribe Elder’s land tutoring. Another counterpart worth noting is Satyr Wayfinder, a creature that brings the top four cards of your library into play and allows you to put a land from among them into your hand, echoing the land-filtering theme of Elder Pine of Jukai.

Evaluate cards like Elder Pine of Jukai involves an understanding of game strategy and desired pacing. Each of these cards has its strengths, whether it be in augmenting your hand, field presence, or ensuring land draws, contributing to the calculated maneuvers for any MTG player looking to incorporate these abilities into their deck.

Cards similar to Elder Pine of Jukai by color, type and mana cost

Hungry Hungry Heifer - MTG Card versions

Territorial Scythecat - MTG Card versions

Reki, the History of Kamigawa - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Elder Pine of Jukai MTG card by a specific set like Saviors of Kamigawa, 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 Elder Pine of Jukai and other MTG cards: