one of the best elf cards you can get. good with ambush commander
SavageBrain89
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Probably one of the most powerful commons ever printed. In any elf deck, once this is in play, winning for the opponent no longer becomes an option.
Laguz
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Unimaginably broken in an Elf deck. It's cards like this that make you wonder if Wizards actually playtests anything. It was all too common to gain around 30 life a turn with this beauty in play alongside wirewood lodge, seeker of skybreak, wirewood symbiote and a few more pointy-ears.
This card is so incrediablly powerful in an elf deck. Of course, has anyone ever imagined what would happen if a player were to play this, Ambush Commander, and Elvish Promenade?
Thats alot of health.
GrimGorgonBC
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
If you see this on the table....destroy it asap!
ArchangelTsuya
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
My friend rolls a vintage elf deck and kicks everybody's balls with this card, so I turned to milling XD
ClockworkSwordfish
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Incredibly broken and a annoying. I hate Elf decks. Only a vague sense of nostalgia prevents me from rating this a 0/5 despite how amazing it is.
EvilCleavage
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Is this card only available in the elves vs. goblins deck??
MDStrawHat
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
The Elf in the picture looks like such a hippie. Should be called "Woodstock Elf".
SleetFox
★★★★☆ (5.0/5.0)(11 votes)
Life gain is worthless, so this card sucks.
...Is the mentality I was expecting to see here. Thankfully it seems like most commenters here realize that a life gain effect this cheap and strong basically means you don't need to block. This card is fantastic.
Sironos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Man, this should have been a rare, making it a common is simply ridiculous, what were wizards thinking?
Bulhakas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Revelation666: I know exactly how you feel. A friend of mine plays this with seeker of skybreak, the land which untaps elves and that other elf that gives a creature +X/+X for each elf in play. That's all his deck does. And he usually wins against anyone not packing massive creature removal. The only thing lower than this is a deck with 20 lands, 36 counterspells and 4 prodigal sorcerers (I've seen that too).
Revelation666
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(3 votes)
I know people that religiously run elf deck's because it requires no thought/strategy to put together and everytime they drop 1/2 of these with some seekers of skybreak I want to reach across the table and slap them. I don't want to put Pyroclasm or Volcanic Fallout in all my decks dammit!
high_tide_niv
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
if you ever see this with priest of titania and well of lost dreams. play brain freeze
TheSwarm
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
There should be 4 of these in every elf deck, its disgusting how broken it makes elf decks. I've lost only once with my elf deck, but I barely ever play it cuz it is soo monotnous. Ok, im gonna draw, damn, not overrun, gain 80 life with my 20 elves and 4 wellwishers, your turn. It makes for some terrible games.
HuntingDrake
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
No Cla ss? Would make a fine Shaman.
Weary_PSI
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Life gain is almost never a smart use of your time and cards...except for stuff like Wellwisher, which can net you an insane amount of life over the course of the game.
Probably a little broken, but I would love to see life gain of a slightly lesser magnitude return at some point.
dark_hero
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When I started playing Magic I was a total Timmy. I'd use tons of walls and lifegain until I could hardcast cards like Jareth, Leonine TitanorSabertooth Nishoba. One day my friend asked to play a match, so I ask what kind of deck he has. He says it's an Elf deck and I laughed. Well needless to say I was shocked that puny little weaklings would let him gain 30 life a turn and still bash my face in.
littlebeast
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Holy crap. I just played a game where someone used this to get to 267 life.
Run Well of Lost Dreams to draw your deck, it's not like you wouldn't have the mana.
Magnor_Criol
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
"When Wellwisher enters the battlefield, if it's under your control, you're a bad person who deserves to be kicked repeatedly in the shins."
bioporn
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The epitome of (non-combo) elf decks. Unbelievably powerful when you're ahead; does very little if you're losing.
Gabriel422
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Actually Sparksmith is the more broken one in the same cycle, being the super card advantage machine it is. But Wellwisher does get really absurd too.
GTGMaximo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The big problem with this card, as I mentioned on the Onslaught printing, is that it doesn't say 'number of elves you control. So if you're not careful and this creature gets Mind Controlled or the like and you don't have an answer in your hand when you need it, this card will screw your game faster you can imagine.
Superllama12
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Revelation666: Yeah, that's why I hate elf decks...also, I find them boring as hell
divine_exodus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why not just use Nissa Revane? Double the life gain!
Avatar_of_Wurms
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I actually overpowered one of these things with a single creature. After my opponent had activated Nissa Revane's ultimate. Admittedly, his deck kinda sucked(this was the only good elf in it), but that was a boatload of life to brute-force through. Him not being able to get through to me due to my army of 8/8 forests helped allot.
Concerned_Bystander
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@ Revelation666 and Superllama12
I understand your views on Elf decks although I can't really agree with them, when I was a new player going up against guys who had been playing for years I found Elves to be a good starting point. I was able to build a deck quite quickly and (more importantly) cheaply that that was competitive and enabled to me to join in the game and enjoy it instead of just having my backside repeatedly handed to me.
I confess I still have that Elf deck, although as I have gotten better at the game I have fine tuned it from time to time to keep it as good as it can be, and I've never had to fork out a fortune to get the cards to do so. I don't often use this deck deck now, I only pull it out when I'm having a bad streak and want a quick, (almost) sure win. This lack of play time has led to that deck taking on an air of infamy and most of my mates fear it, which I like.
A friend of mine got to over 1,200 life with this 4 of this thing... *shudder* Not the best game I played.
patronofthesound
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I cant believe they passed up the opp to give this new art.
Also, it wouldve been a lot better for all if this card had never been printed.
Nagoragama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's name, wellwisher, is a misnomer. It wishes you nothing but hate.
Aquillion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
As cool as this is, it's fundamentally a Win More card. By the time you have a billion elves on the field, chances are you're already in a position to win; something like an Winter Blast to finish things would be more valuable. It's very hard to picture a situation where this could turn a game around.
(And chances are, if things do go south, your bloated life total will only protract things and won't save you. Usually the danger to an elf deck is something that kills all your elves at once -- even having hundreds of life probably isn't going to help you at that point.)
Dagtar
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
find a elf spawner and this card = infinate life
TheAlpha
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This with a few other elves including Copperhorn Scout is extremely effective (especially in the early game) for giving yourself a huge health reserve. Tap her for health, then attack with your other elves (including Copperhorn Scout), then as she untaps as a result of Copperhorn, tap her a 2nd time. It gets out of control (for your opponent) if you have multiple Wellwishers who are well protected.
Kragash
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Calling this card "broken in an elf deck" is disengenuous, especially considering it's a creature that needs to be out for a full turn before it can start doing its magic. It's powerful... but players have opportunities to respond to this.
If this card is broken, then what is Heritage Druid, Quirion Ranger, and Wirewood Symbiote? Those 3 cards do some instant speed shenanigans in an Elf deck like you wouldn't believe.
Comments (38)
Sure, stuff like infest and pyroclasm was around, but caller of the claw was, too.
Thats alot of health.
...Is the mentality I was expecting to see here. Thankfully it seems like most commenters here realize that a life gain effect this cheap and strong basically means you don't need to block. This card is fantastic.
Would make a fine Shaman.
And then I killed him in two turns.
(Elves-on-elves, I had Elvish Guidance, Arbor Elf, and Ursapine.)
I need 4.
Admittedly, his deck kinda sucked(this was the only good elf in it), but that was a boatload of life to brute-force through.
Him not being able to get through to me due to my army of 8/8 forests helped allot.
I understand your views on Elf decks although I can't really agree with them, when I was a new player going up against guys who had been playing for years I found Elves to be a good starting point. I was able to build a deck quite quickly and (more importantly) cheaply that that was competitive and enabled to me to join in the game and enjoy it instead of just having my backside repeatedly handed to me.
I confess I still have that Elf deck, although as I have gotten better at the game I have fine tuned it from time to time to keep it as good as it can be, and I've never had to fork out a fortune to get the cards to do so. I don't often use this deck deck now, I only pull it out when I'm having a bad streak and want a quick, (almost) sure win. This lack of play time has led to that deck taking on an air of infamy and most of my mates fear it, which I like.
On this card however, along with Rhys the Redeemed, Wirewood Lodge, Seeker of Skybreak, Elvish Promenade etc, it is just plain broken (love it, I have 4).
Also, it wouldve been a lot better for all if this card had never been printed.
(And chances are, if things do go south, your bloated life total will only protract things and won't save you. Usually the danger to an elf deck is something that kills all your elves at once -- even having hundreds of life probably isn't going to help you at that point.)
If this card is broken, then what is Heritage Druid, Quirion Ranger, and Wirewood Symbiote? Those 3 cards do some instant speed shenanigans in an Elf deck like you wouldn't believe.