Wood Elves MTG Card
Card sets | Released in 25 setsSee all |
Mana cost | |
Converted mana cost | 3 |
Rarity | Rare |
Type | Creature — Elf Scout |
Power | 1 |
Toughness | 1 |
Text of card
When Wood Elves comes into play from your hand, search your deck for a forest and put that card into play. Shuffle your deck afterwards.
Cards like Wood Elves
Wood Elves is a card that firmly establishes its worth in green decks within Magic: The Gathering. It is akin to cards like Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves in its ability to accelerate mana. However, Wood Elves offers a singular benefit – it directly fetches a Forest card from your deck and puts it into play. While Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves provide a temporary mana boost, Wood Elves ensures a permanent addition to your land base.
Farhaven Elf shares the same land-search mechanic, but with a more flexible option to search for any basic land type. In contrast, Wood Elves is restricted to finding a Forest card. Furthermore, Sakura-Tribe Elder presents a slightly different twist by allowing you to sacrifice it at any time to search for a basic land, giving you control over the timing of the land boost.
To sum up, though cards like Farhaven Elf and Sakura-Tribe Elder offer nuances that distinguish them, Wood Elves holds a unique niche. By immediately ramping up your mana with a Forest, it is not just a card that complements green strategies in MTG, but is a staple for its efficiency and synergy with land-based gameplay.
Cards similar to Wood Elves by color, type and mana cost
Decks using this card
MTG decks using Wood Elves. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.
# | Name | Format | Archetype | Event |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gruul Aggro | Canadian Highlander for Duals - Tundra Guaranteed - Proxies Allowed |
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Landing a Wood Elves onto the battlefield translates to not only a creature presence but also the immediate benefit of searching your library for a Forest card. This effect sets you up for subsequent turns, ensuring you’ve got the lands needed for future spellcasting and strategies.
Resource Acceleration: Wood Elves help you ramp up your mana resources. By fetching that extra Forest, you’re effectively advancing your mana curve, enabling you to play more impactful spells sooner than your opponent may anticipate. This can give you a serious edge, especially in the early to mid-game stages.
Instant Speed: While Wood Elves doesn’t technically operate at instant speed, its enter-the-battlefield effect is a staple in strategies that look to maximize the use of creatures with similar abilities. It synergizes with cards that allow you to cast creatures as though they had flash, thus potentially surprising your opponents and disrupting their plans at crucial moments.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Though Wood Elves allow you to search for a Forest card and put it onto the battlefield, it doesn’t have a discard requirement. This section does not apply to the Wood Elves card as there is no additional cost in terms of card discard.
Specific Mana Cost: Wood Elves has a casting cost that includes one green mana. This restricts it somewhat to green-themed decks or multi-colored decks that can reliably produce green mana. It may not be as versatile for decks that do not focus on green mana or for those that don’t support a dual-color strategy including green.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Some players might find the three total mana cost (one green and two of any color) for a creature that merely fetches a Forest card a bit steep. In a mana curve, they might prefer lower-cost creatures for the early game or ensure more impactful plays for three mana investment.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Wood Elves is a utility card that earns a spot in various Green-based decks, as it allows you to search for a Forest card, ensuring you’re not falling behind on land drops. Not limited to basic forests, it can also fetch dual lands that have the Forest type, optimizing your mana base and opening up your ability to play multicolored spells on curve.
Combo Potential: Upon entering the battlefield, Wood Elves can be the linchpin in setting off landfall triggers or acting as a catalyst in elf-themed synergies. This can significantly enhance strategy execution, especially in decks that leverage these interactions for powerful effects and board presence.
Meta-Relevance: As the gameplay leans towards ramping strategies or elf tribal builds, Wood Elves remains a pertinent choice. It ensures a smooth acceleration in the early to mid-game phases, which can be critical when facing decks that capitalize on explosive starts or overwhelming resources.
How to beat
Wood Elves is a staple in green decks for its ability to ramp up mana by searching for a Forest card and putting it onto the battlefield. This creature effectively thins your deck, increasing the odds of drawing non-land cards in later turns. To counteract the advantage Wood Elves provides, consider cards that disrupt your opponent’s mana base or remove creatures from the game as they enter the battlefield.
Cards like Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares efficiently handle the Wood Elves without allowing the opponent to get a land. In other strategies, leverage board wipes like Wrath of God to address a swarm of creatures if Wood Elves are used as part of a larger creature-heavy tactic. If you can prevent or delay your opponent from expanding their mana base or take advantage of their ramp-up strategy by using land destruction methods, you can mitigate the Wood Elves’ impact and maintain control of the game’s pace.
Ramping is a fundamental part of MTG strategies, and Wood Elves exemplify this with their straightforward yet powerful effect. Matching this with smart removal or land disruption can be key to ensuring they don’t tip the scales in your opponent’s favor.
BurnMana Recommendations
As you weave your way through forests of MTG’s intricate ecosystem, Wood Elves stands out as a fine thread in the tapestry of green mana strategies. Sow the seeds of victory by integrating this efficient creature into your deck, securing land stability and synergy with landfall or elf synergies. Your journey to triumph can be rooted in the knowledge you cultivate here. Join us in a deeper exploration of MTG tactics and deck-building wisdom. Embrace the versatility of Wood Elves and other strategic staples to grow your prowess across the battlefield. Learn more and cultivate your path to becoming an adept player in the verdant realms of MTG.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Wood Elves MTG card by a specific set like Portal and Exodus, 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 Wood Elves and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Wood Elves Magic the Gathering card was released in 21 different sets between 1997-05-01 and 2023-06-23. Illustrated by 5 different artists.
Show/hide all sets# | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1997-05-01 | Portal | POR | 195 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Rebecca Guay | |
2 | 1998-06-15 | Exodus | EXO | 130 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Rebecca Guay | |
3 | 1999-07-01 | Starter 1999 | S99 | 153 | 1997 | Normal | White | Rebecca Guay | |
4 | 2001-04-11 | Seventh Edition | 7ED | 284★ | 1997 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
5 | 2001-04-11 | Seventh Edition | 7ED | 284 | 1997 | Normal | White | Christopher Moeller | |
6 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 36094 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Rebecca Guay | ||
7 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 62527 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Josh Hass | ||
8 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 289★ | 2003 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
9 | 2003-07-28 | Eighth Edition | 8ED | 289 | 2003 | Normal | White | Christopher Moeller | |
10 | 2005-07-29 | Ninth Edition | 9ED | 283 | 2003 | Normal | White | Christopher Moeller | |
11 | 2005-07-29 | Ninth Edition | 9ED | 283★ | 2003 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
12 | 2006-01-01 | Gateway 2006 | PGTW | 1 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Rebecca Guay | |
13 | 2006-01-02 | DCI Promos | PDCI | 1 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Rebecca Guay | |
14 | 2007-11-16 | Duel Decks: Elves vs. Goblins | DD1 | 18 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
15 | 2010-11-08 | Magic Online Theme Decks | TD0 | A91 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Rebecca Guay | |
16 | 2014-11-07 | Commander 2014 | C14 | 226 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
17 | 2014-12-05 | Duel Decks Anthology: Elves vs. Goblins | EVG | 18 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
18 | 2015-11-13 | Commander 2015 | C15 | 212 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
19 | 2016-09-02 | Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis | DDR | 25 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Josh Hass | |
20 | 2017-06-09 | Commander Anthology | CMA | 170 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Christopher Moeller | |
21 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 1101 | 2015 | Normal | Borderless | Omar Rayyan | ||
22 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim Commander | KHC | 80 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Josh Hass | |
23 | 2022-04-29 | New Capenna Commander | NCC | 321 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Josh Hass | |
24 | 2023-04-21 | March of the Machine Commander | MOC | 316 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Josh Hass | |
25 | 2023-06-23 | Tales of Middle-earth Commander | LTC | 263 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Inka Schulz |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Wood Elves has restrictions
Format | Legality |
---|---|
Commander | Legal |
Legacy | Legal |
Paupercommander | Legal |
Modern | Legal |
Oathbreaker | Legal |
Pauper | Legal |
Premodern | Legal |
Vintage | Legal |
Duel | Legal |
Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Wood Elves card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
Date | Text |
---|---|
2004-10-04 | Because the "search" requires you to find a card with certain characteristics, you don't have to find the card if you don't want to. |