Commander Deck Tech - Galadriel of Lothlórien (UG Elves)

If you are a fan of The Lord of the Rings, of the Elven tribes (just like me), and are looking for a consistent and fun deck using both themes, you have come to the right place!

In this article, we'll briefly analyze the goals of the precon deck, Elven Council, using parts of its goal to elaborate a deck tech for Elves with the theme and mechanics from this LotR edition, aiming at a strategy which performs best in this theme and colors.

Firstly, we observe the build intended by the precon deck Elven Council, which really didn't meet the expectations as a consistent deck, ending up a bit fragile and unstable when compared to the other precon decks in the LotR set. Let's take a look at the following list:

This precon aims at being an Aggro deck, with the type of strategy which uses creatures, in this case dedicated to the Elven typal, to create a numerous battlefield regarding the number of creatures, and add its static effects and other abilities to uphold the game mode.

We can see that in the cards Elvish Archdruid, Elvish Warmaster and Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant. This deck also briefly uses effects of the Scry mechanic with Celeborn the Wise and Mirror of Galadriel, and uses Control mechanics, such as counters, removals and protection, as we can see in Swan Song, Windswift Slice and Heroic Intervention.

Furthermore, this precon shows us a new mechanic with the combination of the colors : Will of the Council and Secret Council, such as, for instance, in the cards Galadriel, Elven-Queen and Elrond of the White Council, and in the well-known Plea for Power, which came as a reprint. This mechanic is indeed fun, but it opens up too many doors for decision options during your matches, both to the player controlling the deck and the opponents, which really influences the results of the effects of the cards played with this mechanic or effects which have synergy with them.

This strategy presents itself as very complex and not at all sustainable in this deck's total dynamic, which is why we won't use it as this article's goal.

Nothing is lost, everything is transformed

After this brief analysis regarding the precon cards, we consider that approximately more than a third of the deck will be used for the build of the following deck tech. Some cards will be essential, such as:

With that, we'll follow approaching a deck tech which tries to stabilize the game in a horizontal and consistent way, using the cards quoted above and many others, branching out the deck and using some mechanics proposed by the precon as much as it is possible. Of course, it is also possible to build this deck through singles, so you're welcome to opt for whatever you feel is most comfortable.

After our brief analysis, the question remains: what will we do so that the elves in the renowned world of LotR show all their power and dexterity while front lining our Commander tables?

As a first step, we choose as commander Galadriel of Lothlórien, which presents great potential and synergy with the goal. We will, then, elaborate a list using as a central point the Scry mechanic, abandoning the Voting goal in the precon deck.

Scry

In this topic, we'll point out cards that use this simple yet very functional mechanic, which guarantees advantages when it comes to decision-making throughout the matches.

We'll divide this part presenting and commenting on a few cards which trigger the ability in question, observing the possible synergies with the list.

We start with the pieces which have this static mechanic, that is, which will always activate Scry with no cost, or as a consequence of other effects:

Both cards have a similar effect, as they activate Scry every time creatures enter the board, only being different in their other abilities, as one provides card draw when your creatures are targeted by spells controlled by the enchantment controller, whereas the other provides power and resistance increase to green creatures on the battlefield.

These ones, in turn, present the static effect of Scry, but with a very fitting bonus, with which Thassa, as its second ability, creates combat advantage, not allowing its opponents to block creatures of their choice.

As for Lifecrafter's Bestiary, it enables additional card draw when casting your creatures. We stress that these cards not only connect well with the commander, but they also have a direct relation to the Aggro archetype in this deck.

These cards have an active connection with the Aggro context, having triggers for the Scry ability when they attack, and granting strategic advantage during combat.

Next, we will also see cards which connect to the deck's flow due to the game's speed development due to the use of lands added to the commander's ability:

Here I'll give special attention to Retreat to Coralhelm, which is particularly powerful in its trigger, as anytime lands enter the battlefield we'll activate Scry or the untapping creatures ability, which directly connects to the elves which create mana, amplifying and assuring even more sustainability on the battlefield. Another great synergy with this valuable enchantment is the card Scouting Trek, which has the potential of bringing onto the battlefield all basic lands in your deck in a single play.

To finish this topic, we'll observe cards which have as consequence triggered effects due to the use of Scry in the list:

These cards trigger power increase effects on themselves or on other creatures due to the use of Scry, so they have great potential for the Aggro strategy this deck has as focus, besides their other effects.

The Rings Tempts You

In this topic, we'll mention some cards of the innovative LotR theme with the ability called "The Ring Tempts you", which are:

All these have strategic value with the commander due to them triggering her first ability and amplifying the Scry effect. Elrond, Lord of Rivendell is certainly the most potent one with the deck's theme, as it has the tendency of repeating The Ring Tempts You effect throughout the turns, assuring stability when using this ability.

Putting the Strategy to Work

Considering the mechanics added to the commander, Galadriel of Lothlórien, we create a synergy which speeds up the game, causing your deck's lands to come on board more rapidly, and enabling, this way, powerful combinations in the colors green and blue which take advantage of a horizontal board, and also regarding permanent cards:

We have the opportunity to answer due to the excellent arsenal of blue and green support cards which aim at keeping stability, control, and finding opportunities to take the reins of victory, such as:

Check out the list below with further details:

Galadriel of Lothlórien Decklist

There are two essential points which we must observe.

Firstly, there's the use and control of your top card in the deck, which becomes essential for your strategy to work, as it provides the advantage of better predicting your actions and decision-making in the game, making them safer and enabling access to more cards, besides the ones in your hand.

This game mode becomes viable due to the gain and manipulation of the "tempo" which Magic has, implicitly, in its rules, such as in the example below:

The second important point is that we have good interactions between the typical elves typal presented in this build and the opportunity for cards with Landfall mechanics, such as:

And counters:

This way, we amplify the options to customize this goal in any way the player prefers.

And, taking advantage of the opportunity, I'll give an honorable mention to Elrond, Master of Healing as a possible alternative commander due to its elevated potential and synergy.

Concluding the development of this deck tech, we must observe this deck's ways to victory, which, as it is a strategy which involves Aggro, are expected to finish with massive attacks which end your opponents. Example:

Other viable options are the plays using combos, which weren't totally included in the deck building, but I'll leave suggestions for an alternative way to victory with the following cards combined:

Or even:

Online Version

This one is for you, Magic Arena player! Yes, we didn't forget you! Here goes a revised version of the list with viable and optimized replacements to use the same tech presented in this article, because, as we know, online, we'll play the Historic Brawl format due to the unavailability of Commander, and we'll have a few changes in deck building when compared to the IRL version.

Budget Version

And, last, but not least, we have the optimized version of this list for Budget players, dedicated to all who enjoyed this deck tech, and are looking to play it a bit more budget-friendly.

In a brief consideration, in this version we lost some very expensive and potent cards:

However, in the replacement process, we find cards of great strategic value:

Cards which can also be implemented in the first version for different ways of playability and win condition.

I must say it is stimulating and pleasurable to extract from a central idea the best options, optimizing a deck's strategy, elaborating and refining even more functional strategies. I believe this is one of the biggest successes in Magic: the range of cards and possibilities which expand themselves when joined by great ideas. In this deck's build, I feel it performed much better than the precon version, and has an exponential enhancement potential.

But what about you, readers? Did you enjoy this content? What was your favorite interaction? Would you do anything different and more innovative? Don't forget to leave your comments, critiques, suggestions and opinions down below in the comment section so that we continue to grow and learn together. See you soon!