Best colors for Elf Decks in MTG

Key Takeaways

• Green and white are good for spamming tokens with Elves, providing removal and doubling the number of creatures.
• Green and Blue offer control elements and powerful cards from Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings.
• Mono green gives pure Elven power with straightforward strategy and abilities like Ezuri, Renegade Leader.

Elves are one of the most important creature types in Magic: The Gathering. With thousands of creatures out there of the same type, in every color in the game, you may be wondering what color or combination of colors you want to use when building your deck.

Since there are quite a few nuances that come with deck building, we've looked at some of the most reliable ones to help you streamline your process. Here's everything you need to know about your options for building your next Elf Kindred deck.

5 Green And White

Spam The Elves

Elves are a very versatile type of creature, lending themselves to a variety of play styles. If you're of the symbolic persuasion, you can't go wrong with green and white. You get a lot of token boosters with cards like Anointed Procession and Doubling Season, along with a few ways to make Elf tokens.

Cards like Elven Ambush double the number of your creatures, while Lys Alana Huntmaster makes your Elf creatures spell two for one, giving you an Elf token every time you cast an Elf card. Even if you don't solve the spell, the Huntmaster still gives you the clue.

You can also get in a few removals thanks to White's ability to wipe boards and target removal that Green can't run on his own. While mass removal is a bit against the game plan, it's always nice to have one in your back pocket when the game isn't working.

4 Green And Blue

A Classic Powerhouse

Green and blue are the strongest color combinations in Magic and if Elves doesn't invest heavily in color pairings it can still make for a powerful deck. The main force behind this chapter comes from the many blue and green Elf cards released in the Universe Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set.

This series has taken popular characters like Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen and Cirdan and given them powers that match their characters from the books. Many of these cards have to do with voting mechanics, allowing you and your opponent to vote on different outcomes, almost always in your favor.

Because you have access to blue you get various control elements between counterspells, extra turn effects and bonus card draws. While you may not have the pure power of other color combinations, you get plenty of gas to back it up.

3 Green, White and Blue

A relatively new entry in what Elvish decks can look like, this color combination can be found in Commander, with the release of Galadriel's own, Light of Valinor. This three-color legendary creature does a lot, with abilities that push the first three creatures that enter battle under your control every turn.

Whenever a creature enters your control, you can add three green mana, add a +1/+1 counter to each creature you control, or scrape two and draw a card.

Since you get these effects three times per turn, you'll want to make sure you have a few to cast creatures at a fast rate. Whether it's from creatures like Imperious Perfect, which can make a 1/1 Elf token whenever you want, or Kindred Summons, which can cast Elves directly from your deck.

2 Mono Green

The original Elven colors

You can't go wrong with building a straight green staircase. You can tap into pure Elven power with the right deck strategy. Everyone in Elf decks tends to follow a single strategy, play Elf creatures and bosses or tunes until you reach critical mass and then hit your opponents in a single turn.

There are a variety of ways to go about this strategy, and every few years it becomes more viable in various forms as Elves rotate in and out of Standard. The deck archetype got a boost with the release of Modern Horizons 3 with Eladamri, Korvecdal, which allows you to manipulate the top card of your deck and add creatures directly from it or your hand.

These decks end with Ezuri, Renegade Leader, which gives your Elves +3/+3 for five mana and stomp. Since you don't need to tap Ezuri to use this ability, you can just throw all the extra mana into it, give your Elves a boost of +9/+9 or more, and then take it your opponent with a single attack.

1 Green And Black

A little evil never hurt anyone

The strongest color combination for your Elf deck will be adding black color to your items. More often than not these decks are your typical mono-green Elf strategy while throwing in black for a few special cards.

In Commander, you may control Lathril, Blade of the Elves. He is the most popular Elf commander and it's easy to see why. When he hits another player in battle, you make multiple Elf tokens. Then you can tap Lathril and ten other untamed Elves you control so that each opponent loses ten life and you gain ten life.

No matter what type of deck you're building, you should be running cards like Shaman of the Pack into your deck. This card has opponents die equal to the number of Elves you control in play. Casting multiple copies of it or being able to return it to your hand and cast it again can take out your opponent in a single turn with enough Elves.