one of the first, yet also one of the only archers that's not a shooter. on the other side, in alpha weren't multiple creature types on one card, and The Grand Creature Type Update took care of that only a bunch of years later.
Andrew25
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(5 votes)
Elvish Archers is an okay card, the only things that make it good is that its converted mana cost is only 2 (perfect for a fast deck) and first strike which makes up for its lousy defense.
ratchet1215
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(7 votes)
Certainly a functional card, but I don't think it's anywhere near flashy or evocative enough to warrant being rare. This is common material...a good common, yes, but common nonetheless.
Volcre
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(7 votes)
I cant believe that this is a rare...
bhunji42
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(8 votes)
I think its Rare because green didn't have a lot of First Strikers and It's a Savannah Lions for an extra 1 that gives it first strike.
Doing a quick search for green first strike shows just over a page of green cards that have or give/gain first strike, if you remove all the gold and look at only mono green cards you have 12 cards, 11 creatures one enchant creature(Mammoth Harness) only 5 of the creatures natively have first strike and 2 of those are legends, the other 6 have some condition that needs to be met for first strike to be gained...
Temple_Garden
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
The rarity is because first strike is an off colour ability. Back when 7th edition was released there were a lot of old cards which had off colour abilities. From eighth edition onwards WotC starting removing all the off colour functions from any of the core set cards, which is why this guy didn't get reprinted.
achilleselbow
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(11 votes)
Hey, even with all the powercreep, these guys will still kill Garruk's Companion and live to tell about it.
Saikuba
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Remember when this guy was a great 2-drop?
Narim
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I have a question - if I use them with Greatbow Doyen, do they get the bonus since the card itself is not labeled as a archer, but Wizards decided to add a subtype to this card?
Ibn_Shisha
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Narim, it will get the bonus unless somebody has R&D's Secret Lair out.
This should have been printed as uncommon in 7th. Look at Longbow Archer in the same set, with an additional (green) ability, for the same cmc (granted more color intensive), a tribal creature type just as useful, higher toughness, and a lower rarity.
That being said, i'm still going to use this in my mono-green deck. Rarity doesn't matter when it comes to utility. And please remember that this was first printed as a rare in Alpha as one of only three creatures to have first strike.
Henrietta
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The only printing of Elvish Archers without the original flavour text. I like the original flavour text more but I was glad to see this had new flavour text because I was getting tired of seeing the two idiots who spammed the other seven printings with the exact same posts.
Anathame
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
4 for being efficient... and an ELF?!
JUMPIN JESUS
Duskdale_Wurm
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
First strike is rare for green. I understand why it's rare.
LunarAvenger
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I still don't see why it is rare just because first strike in green is rare.
SirZapdos
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Say what you will about Seventh Edition, but at least their artists actually respected the pluralized name, showing multiple archers instead of just one. Same goes for the 7E printing of Llanowar Elves as well.
ApathyVoc
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'd love to see a reprint of this powered up a bit to keep up with the creature curve as of late. Maybe something like two green mana for a 2/1 first strike reach elf
Comments (19)
Doing a quick search for green first strike shows just over a page of green cards that have or give/gain first strike, if you remove all the gold and look at only mono green cards you have 12 cards, 11 creatures one enchant creature(Mammoth Harness) only 5 of the creatures natively have first strike and 2 of those are legends, the other 6 have some condition that needs to be met for first strike to be gained...
That being said, i'm still going to use this in my mono-green deck. Rarity doesn't matter when it comes to utility. And please remember that this was first printed as a rare in Alpha as one of only three creatures to have first strike.
JUMPIN JESUS