Pointed Discussion

this can be surprisingly useful in Tribal elves when most of you pumped elves don't have trample.

I remember when I first saw this card I thought it was the stupidest thing ever

it's actually not so bad looking at it now :P

Strictly better than Defiant Elf

nevertheless this is still a crappy card, a 1/1 with trample for one mana, or a 6/6 with trample for 9 mana?? r u guys insane? silvos the rogue elemental or whatever is an 8/5 with trample and regenerate for 6 mana

The strength is flexibility. You can't expect both of the cards it can be to be up to par, or why play anything else?

i love the principle here. both extremes are so, well, extreme.

I don't think herbalsupplement has ever heard of elfball.

Not bad, but, well...

Bramblewood Paragon.

This card is fraggin awesome. Don't care about what a bunch of nubs rate it. It's a 1/1 trample, and that's an easy fix in green. Most trample comes on auras or somewhat spendy creatures. This guy DARES your opponent to block him and then you merely add one of the many many green instants that boosts size. If I didn't have a hatred for elves this guy would be a must.

Once you get a couple lords out this gets better, as you'll only have so many tramplers (depending on the deck) so a +4/+4 trample elf is a delicacy. This also ensures if the game carries on too long that it's not a "dead" card. You can make him a 6/6, not too shabby when you would've had a 1/1 on the same card..

If this card were blue, it'd be terrible. Red? Alright, but compared directly with suicide elementals (which are generally better.) White, terrible, the buffs aren't there. Black? Would also be excellent. (Buffs, lack of implicit trample, would've been a zombie.)

Expensive kicker is kind of dumb. I could justify a kicker cost of 5 to pay for the counters, but 8 is just plain bad. Even with the kind of acceleration an elf deck provides.

Trample 1/1. Now I have seen everything! Oo

Forget the kicker. Think this only as a elf that can trample and you get realise what this can do.

@blurrymadness: Wait, what?! No buffs in white?! Are you mad (har, har), my good sir?!? White is much, much, much better than black at creature buffs, aside from black's Hatred and the like!

8 mana? My Priest of Titania doesn't break a sweat.
But I will agree this card is hardly usable on its own.

1/1 Trampler is hilarious.

6/6 Trampler for obscene mana is hilarious.

Ergo, card is hilarious and I have no problem with it.

Know what? Who cares. You guys are focused on his cost, but Defiant Elf still sees play. Throw in Coaort of Arms and Joraga Warcaller, and you're good to go. The kicker is just gravy.

Hey I ran Defiant Elf, put Alpha Status on him. This card is much better for that, gives you the kicker option late-game, or if you have a strong mana elf or something.

Defiant Elf is still good if your not hording mana elves and just using forests. Then you will almost never have 9 mana. Its still better to have the option just in case, but I like defiant elf artwork better.

I really like the idea. The "two extremes" kind of idea is cool and I'm glad they used it for one of the kicker creatures. That being said... I don't think hacking one or even two mana off the kicker cost would be outrageous. No, neither half of the average kicker card should be hyper-efficient to make up for the fact that it's versatile. Still, though....

for a 1/1 with a combat ability that probably won't come up isn't much but of course, that's not all the card is about. Let's say it's generally par for the course - he can still deal a couple early points of damage, then maybe chump-block something later on, neverminding any nice tribal interactions. If you draw him late in the game... paying for a 6/6 trampler is, again, solid but not outrageous - especially in green. You'd appreciate it in the late game even though more efficient fatties exist. But... nine mana? Now that's asking a lot. I realize he's a common, in the colour of mana ramp and just one half of a kicker card, but even in green a lot of decks don't stack up to nine mana. Only in decks dedicated to racking up mana, like elfball, can you rely on that regularly - in which case you'd rather just use something like Joraga Warcaller.

Long story short, Llanowar Elite is basically a Defiant Elf who makes for interesting conversation.

I run him in my Stonebrow, Krosan Hero EDH deck as a 3/3 trample attacker for .

There are several reasons that this card is awesome:
Name: The most badass of all Lanowar elves, apparently. Still a 1/1.
Picture: These guys look like they're about to go mess someone up, despite being a 1/1
Stats: On drop elf with trample. It's not like it's going to stay a 1/1, and it means I don't have to waste another card just to give it trample.
Kicker cost: It's just there as a joke, and it's a funny joke.

A strictly less funny Defiant Elf.