(Galadriel, Elven Queen | Art by Axel Sauerwald)

Hello friends, and welcome back to EDHREC for another Precon Primer from your friends in the Scrap Trawlers. It’s time for nerd worlds to collide, as Magic: the Gathering is bringing us a full set themed around the Lord of the Rings books. And because nerds also love playing Commander, the set has four precons packed with a lot more than just three hairs and some rope.

Today we’re looking at the Elven Council deck, led by Galadriel, Elven-Queen.

All Shall Love Me and Despair

Galadriel is a 4/5 blue and green Elf Noble. The giant box of text on her card is a triggered ability that happens at the beginning of your combat, but only if an Elf entered your battlefield this turn. With this trigger, each player votes for dominion or guidance. More votes for dominion gets you a Ring temptation and a +1/+1 counter on your Ring-bearer. More votes for guidance, or a tie, draws you a card.

That’s it.

Not your typical “blink once to draw a card” Simic legend here. You gotta really work to make… well, anything happen. And that anything isn’t terribly exciting, if I’m being honest. The Ring Tempts You is such a layered mechanic that it’s really hard to tell at this point how good it’s going to be (my prediction is: just okay). But otherwise just getting a single +1/+1 counter or a card in hand seems pretty…underwhelming. I expected more from Galadriel. Swap this for the Simic version from the main set, Galadriel of Lothlorien, and you’re quite a bit closer to the value I’d expect from her.

But I think the whole point of the deck is that it’s a “Council,” so she’s going to rely on the other creatures in the deck, particularly the legends. And this deck has an unprecedented five alternate commanders (usually there’s just two), so let’s take a look at those.

Here's the full decklist:

Rock the Vote

Sitting with Galadriel on this Council are three Elves and two Wizards. Let’s check out the Elves first.

Cirdan the Shipwright, a 3/4 Elf Noble with vigilance, kicks off the Secret Council voting whenever he attacks or enters the field. Each player secretly votes for a player. Players who got at least one vote draw. Each player who received no votes gets to put a permanent from their hand onto the battlefield for free.

This is my type of commander. Not because it’s good (it probably isn’t), but because it’s fun. I love the head games you have to play with this guy. Do I vote for somebody else so I get a free permanent? What if someone else votes for me though? Who’s more likely to have big permanents in their hand? I should probably make sure they get a vote. And so on… Also, while the card says the votes are secret, there’s nothing to really stop you from playing politics. “Vote for me and I won’t attack you next turn,” or something along those lines.

Like I said, this commander is definitely for me.

Elrond of the White Council, on the other hand, not so much. I tend to frown upon commanders whose only ability is an enter-the-battlefield trigger, because, unless you’re in a dedicated blink deck, that trigger’s just not going to happen often enough for value. Exceptions can be made, of course, if the trigger is really powerful or silly (ex: Torgaar, Famine Incarnate).

The problem here is that Elrond’s ability is actually pretty bad. For fellowship votes you get one of their creatures permanently. That seems decent, unless they have a 1/1 Goblin token. That won’t be of much use to you. For each aid vote, you put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. The drawback here is that you can’t play Elrond for any real value if you don’t have creatures to pump. And he's completely useless after a board wipe, because your opponents can just vote for fellowship and give you nothing.

Also, you do vote as well, but why on earth would you vote fellowship for yourself? So it’s not really much of a vote for you, which makes me just not want to play him.

Erestor of the Council doesn’t initiate a vote, but has a bit of a group hug effect based on the vote outcomes. If opponents choose the same as you, they get a treasure. If they don’t, you get to scry.

I’d like to say this is an interesting way to sway the outcome of votes, but the problem here is that Cirdan and Elrond’s votes are done in secret! And there are only four other voting cards in the deck besides the Elves on the Council. So…not terribly useful.

Let’s see if the Wizards pack more punch.

As befitting of the lore, Radagast is here, but he’s kinda just doing his own thing. Not even remotely interested with the Elf synergies going on in the deck, Radagast, Wizard of Wilds is far more content to make you some Bird and Beast tokens whenever you cast a spell of MV five or greater. This is great for a token deck, but honestly, who elected this guy onto the Elven Council?

Gandalf, Westward Voyager is also interested in big MV spells, giving you potential copies of those spells you cast if your opponents’ top cards match the type of that spell. Otherwise you just draw a card. This is another example of a commander that gets worse in the late game when there are fewer players. I think the best place for him, rather than on an elven council, is in the 99 of an Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty deck. But still, there’s a lot of fun things you can do with this variant of Gandalf. Just remember to pack your Twinning Staff.

With Radagast and Gandalf both interested in 5+ MV spells, it’s important to note how many are actually in the deck. Including Gandalf, there are 16 cards that will trigger these Wizards, plus three X spells that could be five or more. The difficult thing about decks that want high-MV spells is that you want as many big spells as possible, but you also don’t want to have too many, because it kills your mana curve and your deck doesn’t do anything for the first few turns. It’s a tightrope that can be difficult to walk.

Gifts of Galadriel

Let’s see what other new goodies this deck is providing. First up we’ve got three new legendary green Elves. Arwen, Weaver of Hope is like Renata, Called to the Hunt, but much better. She supplies +1/+1 counters equal to her toughness when your creatures enter the battlefield. No stipulations on creature type or token/non-token. They just get counters. So obviously making Arwen bigger is going to be important.

Haldir, Lorien Lieutenant, who was a Hydra in another life, can pump your Elf armies for an alpha strike. And Legolas Greenleaf gets bigger when a legendary creature enters your battlefield. Neither of these is particularly exciting as a commander, but could find homes in the 99.

Onto the nonlegendary creatures! First up is an Elk. Why an Elk? No clue. Mirkwood Elk is a pretty powerful recursion engine for decks looking to recover some dead Elves. Slap this exact ability on a legendary Golgari or Abzan Elf, and you would’ve had a pretty nice stew going. Alas…

I am a fan of Mirkwood Trapper though. Protecting yourself while boosting attacks against your opponents is a nice effect. It’s sad that it’s only one creature each time, but I guess we can’t have everything we want.

Next up is artifacts and enchantments! Model of Unity is a three-MV mana rock that lets you and opponents who voted with you scry 2 after every vote. This is an interesting way to tempt people to vote with you, but, again, it’s not as beneficial when the votes are secret. Song of Earendil is a bit pricey, but that third stage effect can close out the game if you’ve got big enough creatures to swing through. Personally, I’d rather just run Archetype of Imagination.

Then there’s Lothlorien Blade, which, like Mage Slayer, makes the equipped creature dish out some damage when it attacks. Unlike Slayer, this deals the damage to a creature the defending player controls instead of that player. The Blade is definitely sweet for taking out potential blockers, or utility creatures that wouldn’t normally be used to defend. The Equip cost is a bit much outside of Elf decks, though. But that didn’t stop Colossus Hammer, now did it?

Last we have instants and sorceries. Raise the Palisade is a home run for your creature type-themed decks. It’s much cheaper to cast than Kindred Dominance, even if its effect is less permanent (and will probably cost a lot less to purchase).

Trap the Trespassers seems decent on first pass. It’s a cheap and effective way for the table to deal with a problematic attacker for a couple turns. But where the real value lies is in the fact that it doesn’t target. That’s right, drop as many stun counters as you want on that voltron commander wearing Swiftfoot Boots.

Galadhrim Ambush is Arachnogenesis we have at home. It costs one more, and the tokens don’t have reach. But Arachnogenesis just shot up to a price that is very unaffordable for most people, so Ambush is probably a nice consolation. And it’s sure to be a new staple in Elf decks.

Travel Through Caradhras seems like a trap card to me. It sounds great, until it’s sitting in your hand for a whole game because there’s nothing in your graveyard. However, if you’re playing a Golgari self-mill deck, this could certainly be worthwhile. Windswift Slice seems like a cute removal spell, but far cuter with something like Esix, Fractal Bloom in play.

Sail into the West has me scratching my head. I’m pretty sure it’s just not good. The fact that it exiles itself. The fact that the discard and draw is optional. Yeah, I just don’t like it.

An Elfball…That Votes?

So how does the deck play? The average mana value is an easy 3.31, and the deck is stacked with 15 ramp spells and 14 card advantage spells. So there’s absolutely no trouble with getting cards out onto the field. With multiple playtests, I was regularly able to get Galadriel onto the field by turn three, with two other Elves with her by turn four.

The most prominent strategy to get to a win is with Elf aggro. Get as many Elves out as you can, and swing in for victory with Overwhelming Stampede or Haldir, Lorien Lieutenant’s activated ability.

You’ll be fine with a starting hand with just one ramp spell and three lands. Two of each is fine as well. The ramp in the deck is thankfully all cheap, unless you count Travel Through Caradhras (I wouldn’t).

Other than that, my only other suggestion is that if you can start with Arwen, Weaver of Hope as early as possible, she’s going to be a powerhouse. Just make her the Ring-bearer whenever Galadriel triggers a vote and keep giving her +1/+1 counters so all your other Elves come in swole.

So how does the voting play into it? That’s a great question. Unfortunately I don’t have a great answer for you, because I’m not sure. The deck feels like the designers put the story before the strategy. Meaning that they wanted the deck to be led by a “Council” of Elves and Wizards, and that because it’s a council there should be voting.

Except this all leads to another precon with an identity crisis (a problem that has become less common in the past couple years). The deck clearly wants you to win by swinging in buffed up Elves, but so much of the voting lends itself to a group hug strategy. And I’m having a hard time seeing how aggro and group hug strategies coalesce. Or why we’re throwing in Wizards that care about big spells when Elves are generally cheap. Or why Radagast is making Bird and Beast tokens in an Elf deck. Or why there’s a freaking Colossal Whale in the deck (WTF?)

Conclusion

Yeah, that’s a no from me.

Verdict: Buy the singles

There are things I appreciate about this deck. The low curve with lots of ramp and draw make the deck highly playable. But the identity crisis is confusing. And frankly, all six of the potential commanders are lackluster, at least with the deck we have here. Gandalf is the only legend that stands out as being strong, and Cirdan could potentially be a lot of fun, if not powerful.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the voting mechanic, but it’s hard to get on board with this when the Tivit, Seller of Secrets deck from New Capenna did it so much better. And the Lathril, Blade of the Elves deck from Kaldheim did Elves so much better.

The one saving grace for the deck is the value of the reprints. And what value! We’ve got Heroic Intervention, Rejuvenating Springs, Asceticism, Lightning Greaves, Swan Song, Elvish Piper, and Genesis Wave. All in one deck! It’s almost enough to make this a "Buy", to be honest. But with this printing, these singles are all going to be a lot cheaper for the next few months. So just buy the cards you like, unless they somehow add up to more than the deck’s price.

Alright friends, we’ve got the primer out of the way. But we are not done with Elven Council yet - not even close. Next up, go check out my upgrade guide to see if I can make this deck make sense by changing just a few cards for a few bucks.

From me, Andy, and the rest of the Scrap Trawlers, take care. And remember to budget…before you buy it.