If you feel nostalgia for the era of elven glory and want to relieve it under the mighty Lady Galadriel, then Simic Elf Tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can lead the mightiest and the fairest elves to a new epic era!
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy and flavor and of course power. On top of that you can find many unique cards that support a tribe and can be great budget options as those cards work only on a specific tribal deck and are bad to unplayable to any other deck. That’s why I will try building and presenting a series of decks for all those who share the love for tribal decks.
Elves are one of the oldest tribes in MtG and the characteristic race for the color green. With the release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth, Lothlórien elves came to MtG and we got some iconic characters from LOTR and a Simic Elf Tribal precon with Voting and Scrying sumthemes, named Elven Council.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth Commander deck Elven Council, may be a good starting point for building Simic Elf Tribal, but I believe that none of the precon commanders are optimal and the best Galadriel is not found in the deck. Galadriel of Lothlórien can be a powerful commander but we will need to remake the deck to match her majesty, dumping Voting subtheme and focusing mainly on Simic Elf Tribal and Scrying, with a Landfall subtheme and the new the Ring tempts you keyword action that synegizes with Scry and Landfall through our commander. Although you can call it a precon upgrade, you can start from zero and buy singles. The optimal building option depends on the price and availability of the cards.
The iconic “Lady” of the woods Galadriel of Lothlórien, although she has not direct Elf tribal support, is a great option to lead Simic Elf Tribal as she has synergy with Scry and many of the LOTR elves have great Scry synergy. Simic (
) color identity, is ideal for Landfall/Ramp strategy and the Ring tempts you keyword action can be turned into Scy 3 which in turn can be turned into extra land drop. Galadriel is an amazing Ramp engine and that combined to card filtering make her one of the greatest Elves in MtG. Elves were always creatures that help in mana production/Ramp so Galadriel is a fitting Queen.
Synergy Diagram
I always like to make a simple synergy diagram in order to deeply comprehend the potential and the strategy areas that are supported by the commander when I choose top-down building.
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best Elves. Our priority is to add the ones that have synergy with Scry and the Ring tempts you strategy.
- Add Elf tribal support. There are many cards that support Elf tribal since it is one of the oldest and most supported tribes of the game.
- Add Scry support/synergy cards. Scry leads to potential extra land drops with Galadriel of Lothlórien so we get both great Ramp and card filtering. In addition, many of the LOTR elves have Scry synergy, so it adds great consistency to our deck.
- Add Landfall support/synergy. Since our build is meant to provide us with extra lands, some Landfall synergy cards provide us with great value.
- Add the Ring tempts you strategy cards. Since the Ring tempts you strategy leads to Scry 3 with Galadriel of Lothlórien which in turn leads to extra land drops we can get great value from that strategy.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that support many of our strategies and that is easy since those strategies collide.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Simic Elf tribal theme.
The deck:
Simic Elf Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
34 Lands
14 Ramp: Galadriel of Lothlórien , Sol Ring , Arcane Signet , Elvish Archdruid , Elvish Mystic , Arbor Elf , Wood Elves , Paradise Druid , Marwyn, the Nurturer , Elven Chorus , Rashmi, Eternities Crafter , Priest of Titania, Eladamri, Korvecdal, Elvish Harbinger
10 Target Removal: Reclamation Sage , Beast Within , Windswift Slice , Lothlórien Blade , Mystic Confluence , Dissolve , Shower of Arrows , Masked Vandal, Glorious Gale , Frilled Mystic
2 Board Wipes: Raise the Palisade , Devastation Tide
1 Graveyard Recursion: Mirkwood Elk
1 Graveyard Hate: Scavenger Grounds
3 Tutors: Prime Speaker Vannifar , Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Elvish Harbinger
7 Protection: Heroic Intervention , Galadhrim Ambush , Mystic Confluence, Dissolve , Asceticism, Bombadil’s Song, Frilled Mystic
16 Card Draw: Elrond, Master of Healing , Elven Farsight (1/2), Preordain (1/2), Opt (1/2), Birthday Escape (1/2), Galadriel, Elven-Queen , Mirror of Galadriel , Staff of Domination , Eladamri, Korvecdal (kinda), Mystic Confluence , Lifecrafter’s Bestiary , Arwen’s Gift, Elven Chorus (kinda), Beast Whisperer , The Temporal Anchor, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Momir Vig, Simic Visionary, Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
6 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Elvish Warmaster , Lost Isle Calling , Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant , Overwhelming Stampede , Cultivator of Blades , Galadhrim Brigade
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are very good. The only score below the optimal low average is on Graveyard Recursion category, but we see 5 categories that are above the optimal max average. We see Card Draw at 16, protection at 7 and Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions at 6 to be highlights of our deck.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Galadriel of Lothlórien is our commander and with all the deck build around her, she is an amazing ramp engine as she can easily cause extra land drops.
Elvish Archdruid is a great card for Simic Elf tribal since he is an Elf lord that buffs other Elves by +1/+1 and with 
he can procuce a mass quantity of , equal to the number of elves we control. In addition, it is a part of a two card infinite combo with Staff of Domination that results in nfinite green mana, infinite lifegain, infinite lifegain triggers, infinite card draw and infinite draw triggers. The combo can be explained in detail here (EDHREC)
Elvish Mystic, Arbor Elf and Paradise Druid are typical mana dorks and they play an important role in our ramp strategy. Paradise Druid costs 
more, but is the only one that can produce mana of any color and has build-in protection so it is important in Simic Elf tribal.
Wood Elves fetch a Forest into play on EtB. It is a staple in green decks that need heavy ramp and it is even better in Simic Elf tribal.
Elven Chorus is an amazing card in our build since it turns all our creatures into mana producers but also let us look at the top of our library any time and cast creature spells from the top of our library which synergizes greatly with scrying and Galadriel of Lothlórien. With scry, it can lead to extraordinary value: we can either place and cast creatures from the top of our library or place and drop lands into play with Galadriel.
Rashmi, Eternities Crafter has also great synergy with scrying and Galadriel of Lothlórien, as it cares for the top card of our library (whenever we cast our fist spell each turn) and with the card filtering of scrying, it can provide us either with a free cast or with card draw,as we see fit. It is also a Simic Elf, so it fits greatly in Simic Elf tribal.
Marwyn, the Nurturer is decent by herself in Elf tribal decks as she grows on Elf EtB and by we add an amount of equal to her power. Moreover, she is a part of a two card infinite combo with Staff of Domination that results in infinite green mana, infinite lifegain, infinite lifegain triggers, infinite card draw, infinite draw triggers and infinite untap of creatures we control. The combo can be explained in detail here (EDHREC)
Eladamri, Korvecdal works wonders in our Simic Elf Tribal since its first abilities have high synergy with Scry strategy as both are tools of top deck manipulation. With its third ability, on our turn, by paying , and tapping two untapped creatures we control, we can ramp a creature from our hand or from the top of our deck onto the battlefield for free. A top pick for our build!
Priest of Titania is a great addition for every Elf Tribal deck since it can a great amount of equal to our elves in play. A card we can’t left out of our Simic Elf Tribal.
Target Removal
Windswift Slice is a nice thematic removal that has the potential to create 1/1 green Elf Warrior tokens. Although it is not an optimal removal, the Elf tokens can make up for it, due to synergy with Simic Elf tribal.
Reclamation Sage and Masked Vandal are elves and have artifact or enchantment removal on EtB so they are easy picks for our Simic Elf tribal.
Lothlórien Blade is an equipment that makes the equipped creature deal damage equal to its power to target creature on attack trigger. It has reduced equip cost for Elves and it fits the flavor of the deck since it is an elven blade.
Our counter spells have great synergy with our deck. Dissolve has Scry 1 so it can activate a land drop with Galadriel of Lothlórien, Glorious Gale if cast on a legendary spell triggers the Ring tempts you, so it may also lead to a land drop with Galadriel, while Frilled Mystic is a Simic Elf, so it naturally fits in Simic Elf tribal. Mystic Confluence is the most generic of the four, but our ramp strategy can provide us with enough mana to cast it early and gain multiple value, as it is flexible and can work as removal, protection and card draw.
Shower of Arrows is an average removal spell, but it has Scry 1 and synergizes well with Galadriel as it can also cause a land drop.
Board Wipes
Raise the Palisade is an one-sided board wipe for tribal decks, so I guess it will become a staple for any creature tribal deck that has access to blue color. It greatly fits the flavor of our deck too.
Devastation Tide is a board wipe with Miracle cost that synergizes greatly with our scry strategy since we can use top deck manipulation to cast it for its Miracle cost.
Graveyard Recursion
Mirkwood Elk costs a lot for a target graveyard recursion spell, but with our ramp strategy that shouldn’t be a problem and it has a respectable body and Trample. Both on EtB and on attack trigger it returns target Elf card from our graveyard to our hand. In addition we gain life equal to that card’s power, which is a nice bonus.
Graveyard Hate
Scavenger Grounds is a staple for graveyard hate.
Tutors
Prime Speaker Vannifar can be a repeatable tutor: by and sacrificing another creature at sorcery speed, we search our library for a creature card with mana value equal to 1 plus the sacrificed creature’s mana value, we put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle. Moreover, she is a Simic Elf, so she naturally fits in Simic Elf tribal.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary has great synergy with our deck since it works wonders in a Simic deck with top deck manipulation. Whenever we play a green creature spell, we are tutoring creatures on top of our library and whenever we play a blue spell we reveal the top card of our library and if it is a creature card we put it into our hand. By casting a Simic creature we tutor any creature into our hand. In addition it is a Simic Elf, so he naturally fits in Simic Elf tribal.
Elvish Harbinger is is a great addition for every Elf Tribal deck as it acts both as an Elf tutor (on ETB) and a mana source. A top pick for our build!
Protection
Galadhrim Ambush is an amazing instant spell that creates X 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens, where X is the number of attacking creatures and in addition it prevents all combat damage that would be dealt this turn by non-Elf creatures. Amazing synergy and utility for our Simic Elf Tribal.
Bombadil’s Song is a nice protection instant that grands target creature +1/+1 and hexproof until end of turn. What makes it great for the deck is that it triggers the Ring tempts you, which in turn synergizes with our commander for an extra land drop.
Card Draw
Elrond, Master of Healing is a Simic Elf with Scry synergy that let us put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to X target creatures, where X is the number of cards looked at while scrying and has “Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you may draw a card.” With our scry strategy he becomes an amazing piece of our build, buffing our creatures and providing card draw.
Elven Farsight, Preordain, Opt and Birthday Escape are cheap spells that draw a card, but they have much more power in our build, as all have great synergy with Galadriel of Lothlórien and the Scry can lead to an extra land drop. Birthday Escape has no direct Scry but the Ring tempts you lead to Scry 3 with Galadriel.
Galadriel, Elven-Queen is the former leader of the precon, but she plays better in the 99. She has synergy with the better version of herself Galadriel of Lothlórien since now the Ring tempts you can lead to extra land drop while card draw is always important. Because her trigger is on Elf EtB, she works great in our Simic Elf tribal.
Mirror of Galadriel has great synergy with our deck since Scry can lead to extra land drops with Galadriel of Lothlórien and card draw is always welcome. The ability costs less to activate for each legendary creature we control and our build has many legendary creaures so we should always get a big discount. Greatly fits the flavor of our deck too!
Arwen’s Gift has Scry 2 and draw two cards and can be cast for less often in our build since we run many legendary creatures on Simic Elf tribal.
Lifecrafter’s Bestiary is a great source of card draw for creature-heavy decks and its scry 1 makes it ideal for our build since it can lead to extra land drops with Galadriel of Lothlórien.
Beast Whisperer offers great card draw on tribal creature decks since most of them are creature-heavy decks and it is even greater in Simic Elf tribal since it is an Elf.
The Temporal Anchor costs a lot but once it gets on board it is a powerhouse for our build. Scry 2 at the beggining of our upkeep can lead to extra land drops, but it also gives us kinda card advantage every time we Scry and that is very often in our build.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest is a great card for card draw and politics, since it tempts our opponents to attack each other in order to gain card draw. He is a Simic Elf, so he is a natural choice for our Simic Elf Tribal.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Elvish Warmaster is a great Elf token creator as he creates a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token on Elf EtB (but this ability triggers only once each turn). His last ability is a finisher move, as with 
, at instant speed Elves we control get +2/+2 and deathtouch until end of turn.
Lost Isle Calling has Scry synergy and can lead to an extra turn which most of the times turns the table to our favor.
Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant is great for mana dump as he can get huge and by paying at instant speed our Elves can also get huge and gain vigilance until end of turn. Cultivator of Blades is different yet so similar to Haldir. It has lower potential but the buff is free on attack trigger. With many Elves in play both can prove lethal.
Galadhrim Brigade is a great addition for every Elf Tribal deck since it has Squad , thus we can create multiple copies of it as long as we have enough mana (and in Elf Tribal decks mana is usually not a problem). Each copy buffs other Elves we control with +1/+1 so if we get enough, our army can get a huge buff and it becomes a potential finisher. In our Simic Elf Tribal it fits perfectly since we have many creatures and huge ramp potential. Of course it greatly fits the flavor of the deck too, since the natual place of Galadhrim Brigade is next to Lady Galadriel. Love the art too, an amazing card!
Other synergy pieces
Great Elves
Arwen, Weaver of Hope buffs Elves on EtB with a number of +1/+1 counters equal to her toughness. Our build does not focus on counters, but even one permanent buff on her can work wonders. It’s funny that she has synergy with her other card Arwen Undómiel. She greatly fits our LOTR theme too.
Imperious Perfect is a great Elf support card as it works both as an Elven Lord buffing other Elves we control with +1/+1 and as an Elf token creator (by paying , at instant speed, it creates a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token).
Master Biomancer buffs our Elves when they EtB with at least two +1/+1 counters. It is a Simic Elf, so it greatly fits in our Simic Elf tribal.
Elrond of the White Council on EtB causes players to vote and it results either to steal some of their creatures or to buff our own. Although we have dumped the voting strategy, Elrond is one of the few voting cards that can stand alone in our Simic Elf tribal.
Landfall Synergy Cards
Rampaging Baloths can benefit the most from our extra land drops and can flood the board with 4/4 green Beast creature tokens. Retreat to Coralhelm on land drop, can make us Scry 1 and can cause additional land drop which can lead to another circle. Amazing synergy with Galadriel of Lothlórien!
Scry Synergy Cards : 26 cards
Galadriel of Lothlórien, Arwen Undómiel, Lothlórien Lookout, Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, Elvish Mariner, Glorfindel, Dauntless Rescuer, Celeborn the Wise, Elrond, Master of Healing, Legolas, Counter of Kills, Elven Farsight, Preordain, Shower of Arrows, Arwen’s Gift, Mirror of Galadriel, The Temporal Anchor, Lost Isle Calling, Sylvan Anthem, Retreat to Coralhelm, Crystal Grotto, Path of Ancestry, Rivendell, Temple of Mystery, The Grey Havens, Zhalfirin Void, Dissolve, Opt
From the Scry synergy cards, the ones that cause Scry, work wonders with our commander Galadriel of Lothlórien since whenever they cause Scry they can cause an extra land drop. The ones that are Elves have extra tribal synergy.
The Ring Tempts You Cards : 5 cards
Let’s see some more statistics about our deck. Some important info to care about is the mana curve and the card type distribution, as it can help us understand better our deck and may indicate where there is space for improving it.
Mana Curve
The mana curve shows there are plenty 3-5 drops with a big spike at 3 drops. There drops at positions 1, 2 and 6 are close to average and we notice an absence of high mana drops ( positions 7+). Our deck strategy does not depend on high mana drops to finish the game but on going wide.
Card Type Distribution
The Simic Elf Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme with 37 creatures. All other categories have a small presence with Instants at 10, Sorceries and Artifacts at 7 and Enchantments at 5. No Planeswalkers or Battles are present for the time.
Of course statistics and comparative analysis are great tools but they don’t always tell the whole truth, since many factors like synergy and combo pieces are hard to be measured numerically. For example in this deck, with all the deck build around Galadriel of Lothlórien, the true potential of the deck is not reflected in statistics as extra land drops give us supreme ramp and Scry strategy provides us with great card filtering and top deck manipulation.
Update v1 (The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release)
Update v2 (Modern Horizons 3)
Now you can buy the whole deck list with a click of a button!
Great news! Now you can buy the best custom Elf tokens made by Mystic Tokens to accompany your Elf Tribal deck! Buy now on Cardmarket at a special price!
If you liked the deck, don’t forget to revisit the article after every major new release as I will try to keep my decks updated and examine any potential upgrades. If you want to keep being updated, you can follow mtgbudgetcommander.com on social media (facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, linkedin, reddit, tumblr, medium).
If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.
