MTG Lord of the Rings Political Precon May be the Best of them All!

Call them the Quendi, Eldar or simply Elves, the Lord of the Rings Commander decks have been spoiled. This time we’re looking at Elven Council. A tribal blue green deck, Elven Council features an Elf shell mixed in with powerful Legendary Creatures and staple Commander spells. Let’s see how the deck works and what are the stand out cards.

No Muss, No Fuss Commander

Let’s get one thing straight. Galadriel, Elven-Queen Galadriel, Elven-Queen Will of the council — At the beginning of combat on your turn, if another Elf entered the battlefield under your control this turn, starting with you, each player votes for dominion or guidance. If dominion gets more votes, the Ring tempts you, then you put a +1/+1 counter on your Ring-bearer. If guidance gets more votes or the vote is tied, draw a card. is not here to be your friend, give you free cards, or share the power of Middle Earth. No, she’s here to give you value…if the other players at the table are alright with that.

This deck features an absolute pile of Will of the Council, Secret Council and Council’s Dilemma effects, so if you’re not interested in voting, diplomacy and, table talk this would be a deck to avoid. Galadriel is the obvious choice over Gandalf, Westward Voyager Gandalf, Westward Voyager Whenever you cast a spell with mana value 5 or greater, each opponent reveals the top card of their library. If any of those cards shares a card type with that spell, copy that spell, you may choose new targets for the copy, and each opponent draws a card. Otherwise, you draw a card. (A copy of a permanent spell becomes a token.) because, let’s face it, she’s an Elf in an Elf Tribal deck and Gandalf is not.

Besides that, Gandalf will end up giving your opponents free cards which is a big disadvantage to his copy effect. If you’re unlucky and don’t get the copy effect, all he does is draw you a card. All of this only happens if you cast a spell that is five or more mana and the deck does not have many in the first place. Keep in mind copying a Legendary will result in one dying so a lot of the time you can’t even get extra value.

Commanders with a somewhat random effect are inherently unreliable. Combine this with the fact that you get no value from cards that are mana value four or less; which make up the majority of the deck. All of this is to say that, for this precon, Gandalf may not do it justice as a Commander.

Similarly, Cirdan the Shipwright Cirdan the Shipwright Vigilance
Secret council — Whenever Círdan enters or attacks, each player secretly votes for a player, then those votes are revealed. Each player draws a card for each vote they received. Each player who received no votes may put a permanent card from their hand onto the battlefield. has a built in Show and Tell Show and Tell Each player may put an artifact, creature, enchantment, or land card from their hand onto the battlefield. voting mini-game but the inherently unreliability of the card is a strike against it.

How Does Elven Council Win?

An interesting aspect of Elven Council is that it does not need specific cards to win. You can go all in on one Ring Bearer like Legolas Greenleaf Legolas Greenleaf Reach
Legolas can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.
Whenever another legendary creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on Legolas.
Whenever Legolas deals combat damage to a player, draw a card. . Because of his innate ability, once The Ring Tempts You, Legolas will be fully unblockable and this is completely by design. He has built in card draw and powers up from your legendary Creatures and anthems. The deck also features both Whispersilk Cloak Whispersilk Cloak Equipped creature can't be blocked and has shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {2} and Lightning Greaves Lightning Greaves Equipped creature has haste and shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {0} so you have extra protection.

If you don’t “Voltron” one Creature, the entire deck is full of pump effects that go both wide and tall like Overwhelming Stampede Overwhelming Stampede Until end of turn, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control. , Arwen, Weaver of Hope Arwen, Weaver of Hope Each other creature you control enters with a number of additional +1/+1 counters on it equal to Arwen's toughness. and Haldir, Lorien Lieutenant Haldir, Lorien Lieutenant Haldir enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
Vigilance
{5}{G}: Until end of turn, other Elves you control gain vigilance and get +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on Haldir. among others. So, whether it is one unstoppable super Elf or a whole board of them, attacking is your primary win condition. Even with nothing on board, a huge Genesis Wave Genesis Wave Reveal the top X cards of your library. You may put any number of permanent cards with mana value X or less from among them onto the battlefield. Then put all cards revealed this way that weren't put onto the battlefield into your graveyard. or Sylvan Offering Sylvan Offering Choose an opponent. You and that player each create an X/X green Treefolk creature token.
Choose an opponent. You and that player each create X 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens. can instantly rebuild your game.

So Elven Council has a game plan but how does the deck deal with everyone else? Control, and great cards.

Premium Cards

Not only does Elven Council have the cEDH proven Swan Song Swan Song Counter target enchantment, instant, or sorcery spell. Its controller creates a 2/2 blue Bird creature token with flying. it also features a lot of cards straight off the EDHREC Top 100 list. The deck is full of cards that are known to be good and see tons of play.

Many of these individual cards are on a higher level than what comes in the other LotR pre-cons. There are also strong cards like Devastation Tide Devastation Tide Return all nonland permanents to their owners' hands.
Miracle {1}{U} (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.) to reset the board state and a one sided bounce spell Raise the Palisade Raise the Palisade Choose a creature type. Return all creatures that aren't of the chosen type to their owners' hands. to cement your winning position. Heroic Intervention Heroic Intervention Permanents you control gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. and Asceticism Asceticism Creatures you control have hexproof.
{1}{G}: Regenerate target creature. (The next time it would be destroyed this turn, instead tap it, remove it from combat, and heal all damage on it.) helps beat wipes and removal.

Pound for pound this deck has more credible answers and protection than any of the other LotR decks. It sprinkles in just enough voting mechanics to appear to be diplomatic but really it’s buying time for the best cards to appear. Speaking of the best card…

Read More: Jeskai Lord of the Rings Commander Deck Threatens Multiple Combat Steps!

Instant Speed Wheel of Fortune

Another draw seven card, also known as a “wheel” because of the card Wheel of Fortune Wheel of Fortune Each player discards their hand, then draws seven cards. , Sail into the West Sail into the West Will of the council — Starting with you, each player votes for return or embark. If return gets more votes, each player returns up to two cards from their graveyard to their hand, then you exile Sail into the West. If embark gets more votes or the vote is tied, each player may discard their hand and draw seven cards. is an exciting card. In a four player game, you only need one other player to agree as it happens on both winning or a tie, so it’s going to work more often than not. The other outcome, getting two other cards back, is alright but the table can easily unify against that line if they see a combo coming. That means only the draw seven effect is worth considering.

Given that this card is in blue, many players will consider the effect with a card like Narset, Parter of Veils Narset, Parter of Veils Each opponent can't draw more than one card each turn.
−2: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a noncreature, nonland card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. so that only you draw seven cards. At first glance it seems unlikely that you would be able to get away with this, however, think critically.

If one of the other players has no cards in hand, why would they not want to draw one card? This combo would not hurt them at all while helping you and crippling the other two players. With a little bit of diplomacy and the right timing, this combination will happen a lot more than you would think. Plus, it’s got a boat on it, you know how much we’ve wanted one of those.

Rating Elven Council

On a purely thematic level, Elven Council seems like a poor attempt at a diplomacy focused deck. Realistically, it needs many more cards that function like Erestor of the Council Erestor of the Council Whenever players finish voting, each opponent who voted for a choice you voted for creates a Treasure token. You scry X, where X is the number of opponents who voted for a choice you didn't vote for. Draw a card. and Model of Unity Model of Unity Whenever players finish voting, you and each opponent who voted for a choice you voted for may scry 2.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. to make voting the primary payoff and I would wager that games where you happen to play those two cards early will be drastically different than games where you don’t.

Tivit, Seller of Secrets Tivit, Seller of Secrets Flying, ward {3}
Council's dilemma — Whenever Tivit enters or deals combat damage to a player, starting with you, each player votes for evidence or bribery. For each evidence vote, investigate. For each bribery vote, create a Treasure token.
While voting, you may vote an additional time. (The votes can be for different choices or for the same choice.) is a good example of a Commander for this style of deck, it’s a shame the colors do not work together at all. Furthermore, there are a couple of cards like Radagast, Wizard of the Wilds that are neither voting based or an Elf so they seem very out of place for the deck.

Does that mean the deck doesn’t function? No, not at all! It’s chock full of strong cards for Commander and some of the cards like Elrond of the White Council Elrond of the White Council Secret council — When Elrond enters, each player secretly votes for fellowship or aid, then those votes are revealed. For each fellowship vote, the voter chooses a creature they control. You gain control of each creature chosen this way, and they gain "This creature can't attack its owner." Then for each aid vote, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. are singularly powerful even without an additional payoff.

It’s a bit different than other Elf Tribal decks and a little bit unfocused, but that just means enterprising players will modify the deck into a better direction. Certainly there is a lot of potential for a large number of the new cards, and there is very good value to a Commander player if you don’t own some of the staple cards that come in the deck. All in all, it’s a very decent buy and hopefully a fun game play experience.

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