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Magic: The Gathering Card Comments Archive

Dungrove Elder

Multiverse ID: 220210

Dungrove Elder

Comments (68)

SirMalkin
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0) (3 votes)
Hexproof and a CMC of 3? Yeesh. Better hope my brother doesn't get his hands on a set of these for his treefolk deck.
Keino
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0) (5 votes)
Excellent limited beater. Draft this baby up as soon as possible!
Tigerguy786
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0) (2 votes)
It's an almost strictly better Molimo. It's not like the difference is that big of a deal in GREEN. I like it.
MasterOfEtherium
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0) (7 votes)
No This Is Wood Elemental On CRACK Untouchable Like Elliot Ness
Jesseman
★☆☆☆☆ (1.4/5.0) (5 votes)
Damn, slap mythic on him and give it trample, imo.
Lash_of_Dragonbreath
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0) (2 votes)
This guy is awesome, I love hexproof creatures, and the first deck I'll build when M12 is out is based on hexproof and auras, but strangely it's hard to find a place for this buy in it because it's not monogreen.
Would do really well in monogreen or in treefolk tribal, though.
Deco_y
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0) (5 votes)
For the reduced casting cost, in a color KNOWN for mana ramp, and just as useful ability...

Strictly better then Nightmare.
busdude
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0) (2 votes)
One of my favorite cards in M12, this guy is a house.

With the new Garruk which I think is very strong, this guy and other green creatures like Thrun, I think a mono-green could be somewhat viable post rotation.
EndOsiris
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0) (8 votes)
@Deco_y

No, it's not "strictly better" than Nightmare, because nightmare has Flying.
stille_nacht
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0) (2 votes)
basically shroud, almost always a fatty, and CMC 3.

wizards really hates control huh? :/

this and autumn veil will kill UB control next year...
Elleran
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0) (4 votes)
Immune to Jitte. Great Treefolk tribal card. Combos with Forests.
Eternal_Blue
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0) (2 votes)
even if it was only a 3/3 (assuming you had 3 forests upon casting), it'd still be ahead of the curve with hexproof as well. this is clearly powercreep, though nowadays powercreep could more aptly be described as merely reducing the mana cost by 1 for rares and 2 for mythics. not exactly creative designing but the masses will buy boosters.
AngelPhoenix
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0) (4 votes)
Um, yeah, this is definitely better than Nightmare. It's HALF the cost, you can't spot remove it, you CAN pwoer it up (give it flying, trample, whatever), and on top of that, green has much more ways to get more lands (forests) out more quickly than black can do with swamps, especially in older sets ( Nature's Lore anyone?).

In any case, this guy is diesel. Running 4 of these will make it REALLY hard for you opponent to attack you (they'll always have to be blocking) and between Titanic Growth and anything at all you can find to give this guy trample, he's a big, stubborn, early, continuous threat.
HuntedWumpusMustDie
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0) (1 vote)
...somebody better tell Dungrove Elder that leaves make terrible shields.
auriscope
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (1 vote)
Looks ****ing amazing foil.
Alsebra
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Jesseman - Why not give him trample yourself? It's not like green has trouble giving its non-beefy members a way to whack your opponent...
aznxknightz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Thrun?
Meet Dung!
Kirbster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My goodness, Wizards is really desperate for green to be good, huh?
Kitty_the_Kat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Yeah.. Once Zendikar and M11 rotate, mono-green beatdown looks like its gonna get rediculous. Between the ramp and the Hexproof that get being thrown around in here, things could get interesting. Although I am having trouble finding many good 1 - 2 drops outside of the basic Llanowar Elves or Birds of Paradise, then again dropping them early means you're dropping this guy sooner. Albeit weaker, but he'll get stronger. Beast Within can take care of anything that looks at you funny, Doubling Chant can double up on all your creatures late game (or mid game assuming your mana creatures are still alive), which brings me to my next card. Noxious Revival can recycle anything you wish to reuse for no mana at all, and considering that you're on the offensive at turn 2, you can afford that 2 life.

And lastly, Garruk, Primal Hunter would top out your deck's curve, giving you tons of draw from your now fat Elders or possibly pumping out a steady stream of 3/3s. Whichever is the most relevent.

Thrun, the Last Troll would be a nice drop in that deck as well.
StreamHopper
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0) (44 votes)
People yell "powercreep" every time Green gets something good. Heaven forbid I get something that makes Green a viable color again. Green has good creatures people. Get used to it. If Green didn't have good creatures, it would be like Black without removal, Red without burn, Blue without counters, and White without... Well, white is kind of all over the color-wheel these days. Ajani, Elspeth, and Gideon need to get their shit together, seriously.

Either way, Green deserved this, and I don't think it's powercreep at all. People yelled powercreep at Leatherback Baloth, and it never saw standard play. People complain that everything dies to doomblade, and when Wizards finally prints something that doesn't die to doomblade, people call it overpowered. It has come to my attention that you're all a bunch of whiny kids who don't know what you want, and you can all go to hell.

Sincerely, Garruk

PS: Except for Vampire Nighthawk. That was some serious Bull-shit, Sorin, don't expect anymore invitations to my parties.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can't wait for standard to be all about the stompy again!
WateryMind
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0) (5 votes)
HEY! HEY!

Blanchwood Armor

You know you want to! :D
endersblade
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0) (3 votes)
Still not going to replace my Dauntless Dourbark.
Zoah
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0) (1 vote)
This is strictly better than Sacred Wolf... Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this... But why would they do that? Sacred wolf was creative and flavorful with a cool aesthetic, this is a big ugly tree monster. Sorry, another big ugly tree monster.
You could stick the picture could be just as easily used for a remake of Blanchwood Treefolk. And the flavor text dose nothing to enplane why he has hexproof. This would all be fine, but Sacred Wolf was one core set ago! You can't already make that obsolete.

I put together my first green deck that I'm proud of... I loved the flavor and I loved the mechanics. And I thought it was balanced... Now there's a card out there that's strictly better, and everyone is going to be putting it in their shiny new Hexproof decks... Making my flavorful, if modest deck bland and forgettable.
Jeremydav
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0) (5 votes)
@Endersblade: man, any treefolk deck needs both dungrove elder and dauntless dourbark. 4x each.
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0) (17 votes)
Wood Elemental, but without the suck.
Anggul
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0) (2 votes)
@StreamHopper

No.

The idea with green is that you can get strong creatures out quickly with mana-ramp and efficient creatures. Being able to kill them with spells is what the other colours need to be able to do to deal with them, otherwise they'll just be overwhelmed with ease in no time at all. Giving it hexproof means that this can't be done, and due to green's ability to play lots of land very quickly, you'll have a massive creature which can't be targeted by removal, not even soft removal.

That's not being green, that's being over-powered.
ddong
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0) (2 votes)
Even with all the people out there yelling overpowered, I doubt it would see any competitive play. Mono green is just not that great, in fact I think its just about the worst colour by itself. It's the only colour which can't deal with the opponent's threats. Blue counters it, red burns it, Black destroys it, white exiles it. Green, well green just sits for a while and hope the opponent blocks with it or something. Powerful, but not gonna be competitive unless green really actually gets something that breaks it in half.
fanofmagic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
rockish...
Arachibutyrophobia
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (1 vote)
by definition, it's powercreep. Gray Ogre. nuff said.

although I agree with a lot of you, green deserves this.
CrowJonSnow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (1 vote)
was playing against a mono-black kill deck, which kept Doom Bladeing, Grasp of Darknessing my guys. Dropped Dungrove elder later in the game, when I had 10 forests out.
then played 2 Rampant Growths
win

edit: i played against my friend w/ the mono black kill deck again. it was really late in the game, and he had a bunch of deathtouch creatures out, and 2 Royal Assassins, so i couldn't attack without losing my field. was nearly out of cards, but had all my lands (23) out.
dropped dungrove elder, 23/23. then gave him loxodon warhammer
26/23, trample, lifelink, hexproof
i also had Vigor out, so deathtouch was useless
JaxsonBateman
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0) (5 votes)
If monogreen makes its way into Innistrad standard and beyond, this guy is going to be their flagbearer. Heck, even in a 2 color deck he's potentially a 2/2 on the turn you drop him, and still growing, which is pretty good for a hexproven creature.

In monogreen though - just wow. As of M12 standard he blunts a lot of the creature based assault from RDW, which is pretty significant for a 3 drop. He also combos very well with the Garruk, as your opponent can't remove your large creature (that is powering up Garruk's -3 draw) in response, thus allowing you to get up to 5 cards for 5 mana if you played Garruk off of 5 forests. That's card advantage out the wazoo - and it's in green no less!
BuffJittePLZ
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@StreamHopper: The issue with Leatherback Baloth and this card is the effect it has on draft. I have seen someone draft a mono-green deck and win EVERY time this hit the table. It is just too powerful for that format at it's rarity level.
bkarcher42
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Strictly better than Wood Elemental.
Bantman543
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0) (4 votes)
ok just built a deck and played it a fnm with this and garruk i drew 10 cards in green also i put metalmorphs in it to cuz what is better than one dungrove eldar is 2 dungrove eldars at one point i had 6 dungrove eldars at 14 each lol so who ever told me he wont see play in standard i told him i will draw 10 he scooped 2 turns later

update that count now is 12 what is just stupid is this guy plus prime time and prime hunter just playing primetime is 2 forest swing this is not fair if u cant i was waiting for a nice fight thing but i will take splinterfright
dontmess17
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
i dont think it would have been really that broken, not to mention to give it flavor, if it had something like "tap all forests you control: give dungrove trample until end of turn"
i mean yeah, it would break things open, but only to a point - say, tapping all 4 before the Overrun next turn or something
ppill
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0) (3 votes)
Dungrove Elder, I'd like you to meet Strata Scythe.
EternalPhi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is nuts in Wolf Run Green. Running Green Sun's Zenith and Primeval Titan makes this card both accessible and incredibly powerful. You have to hope you have something really big, something with deathtouch, or a board sweeper, and i wouldn't hold reservations about using one to get rid of this card alone. Hexproof makes it dumb.
HeartbreakerStudios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The promo art is WAY better.
infernox10
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm glad that standard has become a place where a card like this actually shines.
I remember when if you didn't play Caw-Blade and its variants, you weren't likely to win. ._.
With IND, I can't pinpoint a dominant deck type.
G/W tokens is doing exceptionally well, Wolf Run Ramp is high up there, Control decks (B/U, W/U) are good at keeping them in check, etc. etc....
I'm glad that plenty of decks have a chance to do well.
non1337
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
And people thought Nightmare was strong. Green is competitive now. In fact, obscenely powerful.
badmalloc
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Awesome card. I built a deck around him. Check it out:
http://birdsofparadise-mtg.blogspot.com/2011/12/elder-zenith.html
Basically, double your trees with Green Sun's Zenith and pulverize with Overrun.
P3numbra
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (1 vote)
One card does not make a color overpowered. One must think actually what everyone else has that green does not, Red, Black, and White have board wipes in addition to other things, death touch sacrifice, ect. Blue has counters, what does green have to deal with hexproof? their only hope is to outrace. So you could say that they gave one of the best hexproof creatures ever to the only people who CAN'T deal with it.
Mike-C
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Think he's not GREAT? Ask Nightmare what he thinks. Would you pay ALL that extra mana just for the Neurok Hoversail? And if so, you lose the swiftfoot Boots any way (which didn't include the haste anyway). Its not that this guy is SO great on T2 or T3 when he hits.. But T5 or T6 when you should only have 1 badass, you'll easily have 2. Play him, play 4 of him. There might be better card examples, I just couldn't think of any 1-3 cmc green cards off the top of my head that gave hexproof and flying. Point is, he's sick nasty. Yes I'm aware that the haste is irrelevant in this case as he will have more than likely hit the board already.. But when he dies and you drop Elder #2, you get to utilize ALL features of a TRUE bad@ss.
the_sixth_degree
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
How does this card interact with Infect? One of my friends plays 3 of these, and he reasons that because it's P/T is EQUAL to your forests, the -1/-1 counters would be nullified instantly. For some reason, that sounds wrong to me.
bluedarky
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0) (2 votes)
@the_sixth_degree no the -1/-1 counters would act as normal as only it's base P/T is based on the number of forests the controller controls.
adrian.malacoda
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@P3numbra

actually green has deathtouch too. From what I can tell its primary color is black and its secondary is green.
Thundergods
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This and Overwhelming Stampede plus a couple of Birds of Paradise and some beacon of creation tokens equal good game buddy! I have gotten so many double and triple kills against my friends.
Superllama12
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
While I'm normally not one to complain about powercreep, I have some real issues with this card. Timbermaw Larva was really cool because it could get to huge sizes quite easily. This can get to about the same size with the same amount of effort, yet it's cheaper, and has protection in the form of hexproof and always being the same size, while Timbermaw Larva has no shroud/hexproof and is usually a 2/2, being very vulnerable to all types of removal. This is generally strictly better than Timbermaw Larva because of these benefits, and the only difference is their rarities. While I understand that they wanted green to be constructed worthy this year, I think that they may be obseleting the larva a bit much for my tastes
Specter_Fanatic13
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In my Treefolk deck, Dauntless Dourbark is my finisher, but this guy ends up winning me most of my games. Equipping this with Rancor or Loxodon Warhammer is simply terrifying.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (1 vote)
Strictly better than Wood Elemental. By....alot. :P

In related news, I was going over to Isengard with my good cousin Radagast for tea, like we always do on Sundays....it wasn't there anymore. Someone had cast Bludgeon Brawl on the Clock of Omens, because I saw some twisted bits of metal and wheels sticking out of the Tower of Orthanc. I noticed that Darksteel Citadel was the only thing left standing in the wake of such massive destruction, as the Dam of Isen River had been Jokulhaups'ed as well.
-Gandalf
WarioMan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So this exists with Rancor in Standard (for a short time) and permanently in Modern now. Epic? I think so.
nopemx6
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Well olde friend, we've had a good run in Standard. Especially with Rancor these past few months. It's gonna be hard losing you. I'm going to be thinking about you every time i have 3 untapped Forests... Anyway, time to build that Treefolk EDH or Modern or Extended or Casual deck. :) <3 <3 <3
merlin34
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is just phenomenal. Drop him Turn 2 off of a T1 elf or bird, Turn 3 play Nature's Lore (one of the best ramp spells for monogreen ever), slap a Rancor or two on it, and assuming you hit your land drops, swing with a 6/4 (or 8/4) trample on Turn 3. Then watch your opponent weep.

My friends say it's OP when I play it against them. I'm inclined to agree.
Chogori27
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I've had this guy pop out on turn 5 with Blanchwood and Trollhide and swing for 16. It's definitely one sided fun when that happens.
Radagast
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Solid! The only drawback is the commitment to running almost mono-green, which tends to be light on removal. But there are ways around that, so enjoy the killer treefolk! Excellent for smashing opponents, other creatures, Isengard, etc.
Mode
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0) (2 votes)
"Wood Elemental, but without the suck."
@Totema: More like "Wood Elemental, except not at all."

"Strictly better than Wood Elemental. By....alot. :P"
@DarthParallax: As weird as it might sound, Dungrove Elder is not strictly better than Wood Elemental:

Imagine you have five forests.
If you play Dungrove Elder, you'll still have two mana open and a 5/5 with hexproof.
If you play Wood Elemental and sacrifice a forest, you'll have no mana open, one land less and a vanilla 1/1.
BUT if your opponent casts Acid Rain, your Dungrove Elder will die, and your Wood Elemental will survive.
(Acid Rain and Wood Elemental are both from Legends, so maybe that's just nature providing this poor creature at least some form of natural resistance against certain cards from the same set...)

That, of course, doesn't change the fact that you wasted the potential of five mana as well as a land to get a damn 1/1 (that you can also get these days for paying nothing at all), but hey - you keep it in this marginally neglectible case, as opposed to the elder!

Still by any means, you REALLY want to play Dungrove Elder instead of this abysmally bad prime example of a card you should never, ever use, no matter what.
2-Bravo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not sure how relevant this is, but Return to Ravnica has a convenient combo creature called Realmwright. It can make your lands count as any basic land type in addition to what they already are. Although it works really well with Crypt Ghast for the black mana ramp, you could just as easily use it to make the Elder much larger. The only concern I can see here is that Realmwright is a fragile blue 1/1 creature, and his effect only lasts for as long as you can keep him on the battlefield. If you can keep him safe from removal, though, he could work wonders.
PonchoGrande
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ah, I love this guy.
In my Kamahl, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa EDH, this guy + Garruk, Primal Hunter often equals in me decking myself. It's pretty boss.
Throw in a Boundless Realms and a Rancor and watch this guy wreck face.
Kontrah
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lash_of_Dragonbreath:

I have something similar, mono-green running Silhana Ledgewalker, Dungrove Elder, Quagnoth. The auras are Blanchwood Armor + Keen Sense (I don't have Rancor). Vines of Vastwood and Stonewood Invocation keep my other non-hexproofs alive.
TexasDice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have two copies in my Duels of the Planeswalkers Sealed Pool and Wizards should feel really bad for making this possible.
The_Erudite_Idiot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is that you Gaea's Liege? You traded your disruption for more beatdown? And now you force more combat interaction? Much simpler design.

What happened to your antlers? I am glad the artist restricted his color palette to give a sense of artistic continuity to match the mechanical and flavor continuity.
Youre
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy bullied Wood Elemental in high school
bertuccia32
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0) (2 votes)
@ddong you're a fool, my friend, if you think mono green has no way to deal with threats.

Black may have removal, white life gain, red burn and blue counters, but green has BEASTS.

Sure. You can go around talking about how bad green is, about how long it takes to get going, about how it hasn't got any proper removal or evasion, etc etc etc.

But I'd like to see how your argument holds up against an army of 15 Avenger of Zendikar plant tokens made 20/20 tramplers with an Overwhelming Stampede and a soulbonded Wolfir Silverheart and Worldspine Wurm.

Yeah, green hasn't got anything.