Published on the now defunct Grimmoire.com, September 21, 2002
Wellwisher: Elves Are Back in a Big Way!
by Ron Vitale
I attended the Onslaught prerelease and had a great time. Unlike the Judgment prerelease which was in an extremely small room with smelly teenagers, the Onslaught prerelease location had plenty of room and good competition. Being unable to make the first day, I attended the Sunday event and talked with several of the Players there. Many had attended the day before and owned a good many cards. I felt a bit intimated, knowing that I hadn't memorized the entire Onslaught list, but happy in knowing that I was familiar with some of the cards people were talking about. Of course, I heard the usual names of bombs being dropped as Players talked about how great Exalted Angel was and other such cards, but I overhead a bit of conversation that caught my attention. In between rounds, I heard someone mention: "And he had 200 life with Wellwishers out and Clones."
I thought about this phrase that I had heard and couldn't believe that in a limited environment someone would be able to get to 200 life in a match. Then in the second round of the tournament, I played my red, green, and a splash of blue deck, obtaining 30 life. I had only one Wellwisher in the deck! I couldn't imagine what would have happened if I did have a Clone or four Wellwishers.
For those of you who haven't seen too much of Onslaught yet, elves are back and in a big way. Let's take a look at the Wellwisher common and I'd like to make an argument for its upcoming importance in the Standard environment that will go into effect in November.
Here's a breakdown of the card:
Wellwisher
1G
Creature-Elf
Tap: You gain 1 life for each Elf in play.
Wellwisher: Elves Are Back in a Big Way!
by Ron Vitale
I attended the Onslaught prerelease and had a great time. Unlike the Judgment prerelease which was in an extremely small room with smelly teenagers, the Onslaught prerelease location had plenty of room and good competition. Being unable to make the first day, I attended the Sunday event and talked with several of the Players there. Many had attended the day before and owned a good many cards. I felt a bit intimated, knowing that I hadn't memorized the entire Onslaught list, but happy in knowing that I was familiar with some of the cards people were talking about. Of course, I heard the usual names of bombs being dropped as Players talked about how great Exalted Angel was and other such cards, but I overhead a bit of conversation that caught my attention. In between rounds, I heard someone mention: "And he had 200 life with Wellwishers out and Clones."
I thought about this phrase that I had heard and couldn't believe that in a limited environment someone would be able to get to 200 life in a match. Then in the second round of the tournament, I played my red, green, and a splash of blue deck, obtaining 30 life. I had only one Wellwisher in the deck! I couldn't imagine what would have happened if I did have a Clone or four Wellwishers.
For those of you who haven't seen too much of Onslaught yet, elves are back and in a big way. Let's take a look at the Wellwisher common and I'd like to make an argument for its upcoming importance in the Standard environment that will go into effect in November.
Here's a breakdown of the card:
Wellwisher
1G
Creature-Elf
Tap: You gain 1 life for each Elf in play.
This might seem like a crappy common, but think about its implications. Years ago Players utilized Exodus' Soul Warden to come up with some creative decks. Although Soul Warden normally had a bull's eye on it and any creature removal spell instantly went its way, Players still used the card in decks. For a common, Soul Warden could be extremely effective. And for any opponent who didn't have creature removal--she might as well just scoop and go on to the next round. The white weenie could pack a punch. But the drawback on Soul Warden was that you had to bring a creature into play to get the life. If someone kept countering your creatures, then you were up the creek with the proverbial paddle.
Yet here we are now a few years later and green has this awesome common card. Each turn you can gain life. How can you beat that? For the skeptical out there, let's do the math. We'll do a simple three turns of Magic:
Turn one: drop out a forest and Birds of Paradise
Turn two: Put out a land, a Llanowar Elves, and a Wellwisher Turn Three: Play another land, put out Llanowar Elves, Birchlore Rangers, and a Taunting Elf. Then tap the Wellwisher and gain 5 life...
That's five life a round you can gain. Not counting your cloning any of the Wellwishers, putting more of them out, or playing a match in which your opponent has elves. Granted, one Shock can ruin all of your hopes and any chances of gaining a ton of life, but the current standard environment does provide some excellent opportunities for keeping the elves alive.
On doing a quick count in Seventh Edition and in Onslaught, I've come up with 22 different types of elves to play with starting when Onslaught cards cycle into the Standard environment (and one land and a really good artifact for a total of 24). That's a pretty good amount of cards. Let's take a look at them:
Elvish Champion
{1}{G}{G}
Creature -- Lord
2/2
All Elves get +1/+1 and have forestwalk.
Elvish Lyrist
{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
{G}, {T}, Sacrifice Elvish Lyrist: Destroy target enchantment.
Elvish Piper
{3}{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
{G}, {T}: Put a creature card from your hand into play.
Llanowar Elves
{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
{T}: Add {G} to your mana pool.
Wood Elves
{2}{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
When Wood Elves comes into play, search your library for a forest card and put that card into play. Then shuffle your library.
Birchlore Rangers
G
Creature - Elf C
Tap two untapped Elves you control: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Morph G (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
1/1
Bloodline Shaman
1G
Creature - Elf Wizard U
T: Choose a creature type. Reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a creature card of the chosen type, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.
Every creature of the forest has a name, and she knows them all.
1/1
Elven Riders
3GG
Creature - Elf U
Elven Riders can't be blocked except by creatures with flying and/or Walls.
"Wirewood cannot hide great size. Only with speed and skill can we survive here."
3/3
Elvish Pathcutter
3G
Creature - Elf C
2G: Target Elf gains forestwalk until end of turn.
In harsh times, the strongest currency is cooperation.
1/2
Elvish Pioneer
G
Creature - Elf Druid C
When Elvish Pioneer comes into play, you may put a basic land card from your hand into play tapped. "Destruction is the work of an afternoon. Creation is the work of a lifetime." - Kamahl, druid acolyte
1/1
Elvish Scrapper
G
Creature - Elf U
G, T, Sacrifice Elvish Scrapper: Destroy target artifact.
"The stories tell of a distant time when machines overran the forests, destroying everything that lived. That time will not come again."
1/1
Elvish Vanguard
1G
Creature - Elf R
Whenever another Elf comes into play, put a +1/+1 counter on Elvish Vanguard.
"Our lives are woven together like the trees' branches over our heads, forming a canopy that protects us all."
1/1
Elvish Warrior
GG
Creature - Elf C
"My tales of war are the stories most asked for around the fires at night, but they're the ones I care least to tell."
2/3
Everglove Courier
2G
Creature - Elf U
You may choose not to untap Everglove Courier during your untap step.
2G, T: As long as Everglove Courier remains tapped, target Elf gets +2/+2 and has trample.
2/1
Heedless One
3G
Creature - Elf Avatar U
Trample
Heedless One's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Elves in play.
"Channel your vitality through me."
*/*
Symbiotic Elf
3G
Creature - Elf C
When Symbiotic Elf is put into a graveyard from play, put two 1/1 green Insect creature tokens into play. The elves arriving in Wirewood had no homes, let alone weapons, but they knew that the forest would always provide.
2/2
Taunting Elf
G
Creature - Elf C
All creatures able to block Taunting Elf do so.
The safety of the village depends on the beast thinking with its stomach.
0/1
Voice of the Woods
3GG
Creature - Elf Lord R
Tap five untapped Elves you control: Put a 7/7 green Elemental creature token with trample into play. The ritual of making draws upon the elves' memories and pasts. And elves have long memories and ancient pasts.
2/2
Wellwisher
1G
Creature - Elf C
T: You gain 1 life for each Elf in play.
"Close your ears to the voice of greed, and you can turn a gift for one into a gift for many."
1/1
Wirewood Elf
1G
Creature - Elf C
T: Add G to your mana pool.
"The land belongs to nature as far as our eyes can see. The higher we climb, the more we can see."
1/2
Wirewood Herald
1G
Creature - Elf C
When Wirewood Herald is put into a graveyard from play, you may search your library for an Elf card. If you do, reveal that card and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
1/1
Wirewood Savage
2G
Creature - Elf C
Whenever a Beast comes into play, you may draw a card.
"She is truly Wirewood's child now." - Elvish refugee
2/2
Land:
Wirewood Lodge
Land (uncommon)
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
G, T: Untap target Elf.
Artifact:
Riptide Replicator
X4
Artifact (rare)
As Riptide Replicator comes into play, choose a color and a creature type.
Riptide Replicator comes into play with X charge counters on it.
4, T: Put an X/X creature token of the chosen color and type into play, where X is the number of charge counters on Riptide Replicator.
Now that you've had a chance to sink your teeth into the cards above, you're most likely thinking: Stomp. Stomp. Stomp! You and every other Magic Player out there is going to whip up an elf deck, put a ton of creatures out, and then go at it. But, why not switch things up and try a unique deck? From my way of thinking, I see three possible decks with elves:
Stompy deck of old. Tons of elves to give you lots of mana and then big creatures. (Need I mention the Heedless One?)
Blue/Green elvish deck with Opposition
Alternate win condition: Test of Endurance
Instead of falling into the same pattern as everyone else, why not beat the Metagame and build a deck around Wellwisher, Clone, and Test of Endurance? Can it be done? Yes, I believe it's possible. And better yet, you can drive your opponent nuts by winning through an alternate win condition. Say what you will about Battle of Wits decks, they were fun to play because they were different.
So here's a breakdown of a simple Test of Endurance deck.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wellwishers
4 Clones
4 Heedless One
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Champion
4 Test of Endurance
4 Counterspell
3 Riptide Replicator
2 Diabolic Tutor
2 Complicate
4 City of Brass
7 Forest
4 Brushlands
1 Wirewood Lodge
3 Tarnished Citadel
4 Grand Coliseum
This is an untested deck that I just threw together extremely quickly. I expect that deck builders can take this idea and run with it, but I think the basic idea is there. Essentially, you need lots of elves, plenty of mana to counter stuff, and the win condition. If you don't get a Wellwisher, then you just simply beat your opponent down with a Heedless One. After I tinker with the deck, I might suggest dropping out some cards and adding fetch cards, more counters, or the amazing Voice of the Woods into the deck. Basically, there's plenty of room to play around with the cards here. Depending on whether you want to have a more aggressive deck, then you would take certain creatures out and put bigger ones in. Or, maybe you want to be more defensive, then there's plenty of cards in the new Standard to complement this theme (what about: Sylvan Safekeeper?).
With the Wellwisher entering Standard in November, I have a feeling that we'll all be seeing a lot more of this card in the coming months. If you're not playing with one, then be sure to have a way to deal with it or you've lost. Elves are back in a big way: You better stock up on dice for life counters because you're going to need them!
Yet here we are now a few years later and green has this awesome common card. Each turn you can gain life. How can you beat that? For the skeptical out there, let's do the math. We'll do a simple three turns of Magic:
Turn one: drop out a forest and Birds of Paradise
Turn two: Put out a land, a Llanowar Elves, and a Wellwisher Turn Three: Play another land, put out Llanowar Elves, Birchlore Rangers, and a Taunting Elf. Then tap the Wellwisher and gain 5 life...
That's five life a round you can gain. Not counting your cloning any of the Wellwishers, putting more of them out, or playing a match in which your opponent has elves. Granted, one Shock can ruin all of your hopes and any chances of gaining a ton of life, but the current standard environment does provide some excellent opportunities for keeping the elves alive.
On doing a quick count in Seventh Edition and in Onslaught, I've come up with 22 different types of elves to play with starting when Onslaught cards cycle into the Standard environment (and one land and a really good artifact for a total of 24). That's a pretty good amount of cards. Let's take a look at them:
Elvish Champion
{1}{G}{G}
Creature -- Lord
2/2
All Elves get +1/+1 and have forestwalk.
Elvish Lyrist
{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
{G}, {T}, Sacrifice Elvish Lyrist: Destroy target enchantment.
Elvish Piper
{3}{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
{G}, {T}: Put a creature card from your hand into play.
Llanowar Elves
{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
{T}: Add {G} to your mana pool.
Wood Elves
{2}{G}
Creature -- Elf
1/1
When Wood Elves comes into play, search your library for a forest card and put that card into play. Then shuffle your library.
Birchlore Rangers
G
Creature - Elf C
Tap two untapped Elves you control: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Morph G (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
1/1
Bloodline Shaman
1G
Creature - Elf Wizard U
T: Choose a creature type. Reveal the top card of your library. If that card is a creature card of the chosen type, put it into your hand. Otherwise, put it into your graveyard.
Every creature of the forest has a name, and she knows them all.
1/1
Elven Riders
3GG
Creature - Elf U
Elven Riders can't be blocked except by creatures with flying and/or Walls.
"Wirewood cannot hide great size. Only with speed and skill can we survive here."
3/3
Elvish Pathcutter
3G
Creature - Elf C
2G: Target Elf gains forestwalk until end of turn.
In harsh times, the strongest currency is cooperation.
1/2
Elvish Pioneer
G
Creature - Elf Druid C
When Elvish Pioneer comes into play, you may put a basic land card from your hand into play tapped. "Destruction is the work of an afternoon. Creation is the work of a lifetime." - Kamahl, druid acolyte
1/1
Elvish Scrapper
G
Creature - Elf U
G, T, Sacrifice Elvish Scrapper: Destroy target artifact.
"The stories tell of a distant time when machines overran the forests, destroying everything that lived. That time will not come again."
1/1
Elvish Vanguard
1G
Creature - Elf R
Whenever another Elf comes into play, put a +1/+1 counter on Elvish Vanguard.
"Our lives are woven together like the trees' branches over our heads, forming a canopy that protects us all."
1/1
Elvish Warrior
GG
Creature - Elf C
"My tales of war are the stories most asked for around the fires at night, but they're the ones I care least to tell."
2/3
Everglove Courier
2G
Creature - Elf U
You may choose not to untap Everglove Courier during your untap step.
2G, T: As long as Everglove Courier remains tapped, target Elf gets +2/+2 and has trample.
2/1
Heedless One
3G
Creature - Elf Avatar U
Trample
Heedless One's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Elves in play.
"Channel your vitality through me."
*/*
Symbiotic Elf
3G
Creature - Elf C
When Symbiotic Elf is put into a graveyard from play, put two 1/1 green Insect creature tokens into play. The elves arriving in Wirewood had no homes, let alone weapons, but they knew that the forest would always provide.
2/2
Taunting Elf
G
Creature - Elf C
All creatures able to block Taunting Elf do so.
The safety of the village depends on the beast thinking with its stomach.
0/1
Voice of the Woods
3GG
Creature - Elf Lord R
Tap five untapped Elves you control: Put a 7/7 green Elemental creature token with trample into play. The ritual of making draws upon the elves' memories and pasts. And elves have long memories and ancient pasts.
2/2
Wellwisher
1G
Creature - Elf C
T: You gain 1 life for each Elf in play.
"Close your ears to the voice of greed, and you can turn a gift for one into a gift for many."
1/1
Wirewood Elf
1G
Creature - Elf C
T: Add G to your mana pool.
"The land belongs to nature as far as our eyes can see. The higher we climb, the more we can see."
1/2
Wirewood Herald
1G
Creature - Elf C
When Wirewood Herald is put into a graveyard from play, you may search your library for an Elf card. If you do, reveal that card and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
1/1
Wirewood Savage
2G
Creature - Elf C
Whenever a Beast comes into play, you may draw a card.
"She is truly Wirewood's child now." - Elvish refugee
2/2
Land:
Wirewood Lodge
Land (uncommon)
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
G, T: Untap target Elf.
Artifact:
Riptide Replicator
X4
Artifact (rare)
As Riptide Replicator comes into play, choose a color and a creature type.
Riptide Replicator comes into play with X charge counters on it.
4, T: Put an X/X creature token of the chosen color and type into play, where X is the number of charge counters on Riptide Replicator.
Now that you've had a chance to sink your teeth into the cards above, you're most likely thinking: Stomp. Stomp. Stomp! You and every other Magic Player out there is going to whip up an elf deck, put a ton of creatures out, and then go at it. But, why not switch things up and try a unique deck? From my way of thinking, I see three possible decks with elves:
Stompy deck of old. Tons of elves to give you lots of mana and then big creatures. (Need I mention the Heedless One?)
Blue/Green elvish deck with Opposition
Alternate win condition: Test of Endurance
Instead of falling into the same pattern as everyone else, why not beat the Metagame and build a deck around Wellwisher, Clone, and Test of Endurance? Can it be done? Yes, I believe it's possible. And better yet, you can drive your opponent nuts by winning through an alternate win condition. Say what you will about Battle of Wits decks, they were fun to play because they were different.
So here's a breakdown of a simple Test of Endurance deck.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Wellwishers
4 Clones
4 Heedless One
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Elvish Champion
4 Test of Endurance
4 Counterspell
3 Riptide Replicator
2 Diabolic Tutor
2 Complicate
4 City of Brass
7 Forest
4 Brushlands
1 Wirewood Lodge
3 Tarnished Citadel
4 Grand Coliseum
This is an untested deck that I just threw together extremely quickly. I expect that deck builders can take this idea and run with it, but I think the basic idea is there. Essentially, you need lots of elves, plenty of mana to counter stuff, and the win condition. If you don't get a Wellwisher, then you just simply beat your opponent down with a Heedless One. After I tinker with the deck, I might suggest dropping out some cards and adding fetch cards, more counters, or the amazing Voice of the Woods into the deck. Basically, there's plenty of room to play around with the cards here. Depending on whether you want to have a more aggressive deck, then you would take certain creatures out and put bigger ones in. Or, maybe you want to be more defensive, then there's plenty of cards in the new Standard to complement this theme (what about: Sylvan Safekeeper?).
With the Wellwisher entering Standard in November, I have a feeling that we'll all be seeing a lot more of this card in the coming months. If you're not playing with one, then be sure to have a way to deal with it or you've lost. Elves are back in a big way: You better stock up on dice for life counters because you're going to need them!
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