This is definitely not a downgraded version of Sakura-Tribe Elder. For the same initial investment, it comes into play as a 2/2 which gives it some--albeit small--potential to wreak damage or kill an opponent's turn 1/2 creature. While Sakura-Tride Elder is relegated to chumpblocking, the Dawntreader Elk can actually serve a dual purpose in decks that may want mana ramp, but not at the cost of leaving themselves totally vulnerable.
Guest1741897132
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Strictly better than Rune-claw bear :P
Also. It's a patronus!
RAV0004
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(3 votes)
I feel like having it cost G to play and G to activate could have been cool, and actually make it as useful as the elder. make the p/t 1/2 just to mirror. Still, fits great in Elder decks as a proxy (because Your Karador EDH can only have one sakura tribe elder anyway).
Art is Gorgeous. John Avon is getting better, and it shows.
majinara
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(8 votes)
Commander Review: it's so-so. If you have a deck that tries to run as many creatures as possible (or tons of reanimation), then this would fulfill both the criterias of a creature and of mana ramping. In any other deck though, it's not worth it. For three mana you can get much more than a single basic land, and the 2/2 body will nearly never matter in Commander. 1.5/5
RJDroid
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
My initial thoughts of this card were, "So, this is basically a bigger Sakura-Tribe Elder, but you have to pay to do the land search? Pfft, lame! Why didn't they just do a functional reprint?" Then I took into consideration Innistrad and Dark Ascension's focus on creatures dying, and morbid. A reprint of STEve would be insane in limited, because you would have the power to control morbid at will, with no additional mana investment, which would probably go against Wizard's idea of having to make an effort to trigger morbid. With this Elk, you have to manage your resources carefully. Should I leave a Forest and Swamp open and bluff that I might have Tragic Slip in hand? And then I appreciated the subtle nuances of this design, which almost made me forget the stupidity of recent mythics that win the game with no strategy needed other than casting it.
2.5/5
Mightyass
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
This card is awesome! You either go first turn Birds/pilgrim/llan, second turn this, block, fetch, profit. = Rampant growth with life gain, or against control just slam it and bang, bang, bang, two lifes a turn and if they ever want to kill it, you just gained card and mana advantage. Seems almost better than both Sakura Tribe Elder and Viridian Emissary
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Nice one!
I won two games thanks to it in the pre-release. Once I just sacrificed it to activate morbid and blast my opponent's last 5 life with a Brimstone Volley, once I attacked with it and another, bigger critter (which my opponent blocked and killed), which brought him to 3, then sacrificed the Elk to get my missing Swamp and kill him next turn with Bump in the Night.
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(6 votes)
This card is fantastic. People who jump to 'downgraded STE' are not thinking clearly.
I'm not saying that STE is broken and needs to never be reprinted. But just because something is 'fair' doesn't mean that a weaker version of it is 'crap'. Sakura Tribe Elder was SO fantastic, that even this Elk is quite good.
Bird of Paradise Lost G Flying G, T: add one mana of any mana to your mana pool. 1/1
would be nuts. and if you're honest, you know it would be nuts. Elk is cool. I like Elk.
Also, snake-people are ugly. this could see the light of M13, if WotC wants to be nice to us :)
blindthrall
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
CARL!
If you don't get it, look at the last line on the card.
Also, good for a pauper landfall deck.
Artifice101
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Valakut would have -killed- for this guy over Khalni Heart Expedition. He's a relevant topdeck, he ramps, he block/sacs, he attacks/carried equips, and he doesn't tap to activate. I like him a lot.
Pair this with Ghoultree and Fling in Standard? #goofycomboisgoofy
AlphaWolfs
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I don't see why people really complain about this. Sure, there are better flat out Mana ramps then this guy, and this guy is rather depressing with the fact that he has to die to activate his effect. But lets face it, that is just showing the less experienced people compared to the more experienced people. Morbid is a new ability, and people really don't know the true value of it... Morbid cards nice, and this is just a : activate Morbid with a sweet little bonus on the side.
I'm giving this a 4.5/5 for the fact that this card can, and will see combo's I bet most people wont even think of, but at the same time its weak outside decks that don't focus on dying or morbid effects. I won't be using it though, only because the simple fact is I have no need to use it in any of the colors I need currently use.
phyrexiantrygon
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I like it. at the very least, its rampant growth in creature form. At the best, its rampant growth at creature form that allows you to get those last point of damage on a brimstone volley because of morbid.
Radagast
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Nice artwork on a decent card - it's a bear or a land. Good interaction with the set, too.
Powercat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I can't say whether this is card has much of a place in competitive constructive, but it definitely is worthwhile in limited formats. Its body is as big as you can expect for a common of its cost, you can get value out of it even when it dies, and it is easily able to activate morbid abilities and to pump the many green creatures in the block that like to count creatures in your graveyard.
Tiggurix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@DarthParallax: Don't diss on snake people. I like snake people (and regular snakes), but yeah, I like this elk too!
Steinhauser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In limited, this is the ONLY reliable green morbid enabler (that isn't rare). That's super important, because green has some very powerful morbid cards that are underwhelming when morbid isn't active - Festerhide Boar, Ulvenwald Bear, Gravetiller Wurm.
Oh, did I mention it's also an efficient way to get your splash lands? I'm almost sure I did, oh yes...
Shieldman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wait, I don't get the flavor here. He goes off in search of unspoiled lands, and when he finds it, he's promptly eaten by the zombies who got there first?
MasterOfEtherium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
SUPER AWESOME, ELK ARE TIGHT. DRUIDS S U C K
GrimjawxRULES
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Kinda comparable to Sakura-Tribe Elder, really. You're trading the free sacrifice ability for +1/+1; now the question is just whether you want more beatdown or more utility. I personally find this rather much to my liking.for my mono green casual aggro deck. Works for early beatdown and is easily converted to mana once/if the need arises.
LordOfTheFlies87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Gorgeous. Reprint forever, please.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I use him over Viridian Emissary for my utility slot. The key difference is that I can pop him whenever I wish. When playing with the elf, without a sacrifice engine, its up to the opponent if I get my land or not. Its a little bit more reliable, in some situations the elf can better. Playing with aggressive decks, the elf is almost always better.
Wurmcaller
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Love the ramp, love the 2/2 body, love the art. I know everybody keeps mentioning Sakura-Tribe Elder, but this can actually be a decent blocker early on. And if you drop this early, is it really that hard to keep a land open to sac this at the end of the opponent's turn or for chump blocking?
MindAblaze
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm trying decide which of these 2 drop green ramp creatures are best, I like this guy. Sakura-Tribe Elder is obvious. But then there's Viridian Emissary and Sylvan Ranger. I particularly like the ranger, with an etb effect. I've found the emissary works nicely as a chump in EDH, or to sac so he fills the 'yard nicely. But so does this guy, and the elder. I'm just not sure.
Edit: @Darth I don't think that would be nuts. It's a more fragile mana cycler.
It would be better as
Llanopeace elves
: Add to your mana pool
Block mechanic x: if ______ happened this turn, instead add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Seems like reprinting Sakura-Tribe Elder under a different name is an IMPOSSIBLE TASK for WotC. For some idiotic reason, they insist on trying to reinvent the wheel, with cards like this.
Seriously. Stop it. Just reprint the Elder already.
cardswithoutsleeves
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Kind of sad that this is the best ramp card in standard right now
Twilly05
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I loved using this guy in my black/green undying deck. I'd slap an undying evil on him to use his ability twice, and activate morbid, twice. I thought he was useful as hell.
Comments (32)
Nah.
Also. It's a patronus!
Art is Gorgeous. John Avon is getting better, and it shows.
1.5/5
Then I took into consideration Innistrad and Dark Ascension's focus on creatures dying, and morbid. A reprint of STEve would be insane in limited, because you would have the power to control morbid at will, with no additional mana investment, which would probably go against Wizard's idea of having to make an effort to trigger morbid. With this Elk, you have to manage your resources carefully. Should I leave a Forest and Swamp open and bluff that I might have Tragic Slip in hand?
And then I appreciated the subtle nuances of this design, which almost made me forget the stupidity of recent mythics that win the game with no strategy needed other than casting it.
2.5/5
I won two games thanks to it in the pre-release. Once I just sacrificed it to activate morbid and blast my opponent's last 5 life with a Brimstone Volley, once I attacked with it and another, bigger critter (which my opponent blocked and killed), which brought him to 3, then sacrificed the Elk to get my missing Swamp and kill him next turn with Bump in the Night.
I'm not saying that STE is broken and needs to never be reprinted. But just because something is 'fair' doesn't mean that a weaker version of it is 'crap'. Sakura Tribe Elder was SO fantastic, that even this Elk is quite good.
Bird of Paradise Lost
G
Flying
G, T: add one mana of any mana to your mana pool.
1/1
would be nuts. and if you're honest, you know it would be nuts. Elk is cool. I like Elk.
Also, snake-people are ugly. this could see the light of M13, if WotC wants to be nice to us :)
If you don't get it, look at the last line on the card.
Also, good for a pauper landfall deck.
Pair this with Ghoultree and Fling in Standard? #goofycomboisgoofy
I'm giving this a 4.5/5 for the fact that this card can, and will see combo's I bet most people wont even think of, but at the same time its weak outside decks that don't focus on dying or morbid effects. I won't be using it though, only because the simple fact is I have no need to use it in any of the colors I need currently use.
Oh, did I mention it's also an efficient way to get your splash lands? I'm almost sure I did, oh yes...
Reprint forever, please.
Edit:
@Darth
I don't think that would be nuts. It's a more fragile mana cycler.
It would be better as
Llanopeace elves
Block mechanic x: if ______ happened this turn, instead add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
1/1
Seriously. Stop it. Just reprint the Elder already.