The time has come for us to cast aside the trappings of modernity and to sink into the familiar embrace of a world filled up with Dragons, Wizards, Hobbits, Dwarves, and Elves. The magic in Magic is back, baby. Even though I'm generally not a fan of Universes Beyond releases, I have a soft spot in my heart for the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings were my gateway into a lifelong interest in medieval fantasy so I've been looking forward to this set since it first appeared on the 2026 Magic set release schedule.

I expected I might start my dive into The Hobbit with a column about Gandalf, Smaug, or one of the thirteen brave, vertically challenged adventurers who go on a very long walk from Hobbiton all the way to the Lonely Mountain. As it turns out, the first card that caught my eye was an Elf -- and a very important one at that.

Who is Thranduil, the Elvenking?

Thranduil, the Elvenking is never mentioned by name in The Hobbit. He is mentioned in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings as King of the Woodland Realm and as father to Legolas. Thranduil is an Elf Noble with some really interesting party tricks -- far beyond just capturing and imprisoning random Dwarves.

This self-important Elf has all activated abilities of all Elf cards in my graveyard, and whenever another Legendary Elf I control enters, I'll draw two cards and then discard a card. One of the most interesting things about Thranduil is that he is only the third Sultai Legendary Elf. The first, Leovold, Emissary of Trest, is banned in Commander. The second, Maralen, Fae Ascendant, is a bit of a menace. My hope is that Thranduil, the Elvenking, is built to combo and should be able to play in higher powered EDH pods, though I don't yet know if he can be built to compete at the cEDH level.

How To Win With Thranduil

My first thought was about how I might try to break Thranduil, the Elvenking wide open. This isn't a card like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, where all you need to do is add mana for things to get crazy. Thranduil requires a little help to get him to do ridiculous things.

What I really want is for him to gain the activated abilities of any card in my Graveyard, even if it doesn't have Elf printed on its type line.

Ashes of the Fallen is a two mana Artifact that will have me choose a Creature type when it enters play. Each Creature card in my graveyard will have the chosen Creature type in addition to its other types. Arcane Adaptation is a three-mana Blue Enchantment that will also have me choose a Creature type when it enters play. This Enchantment will have my Creatures become the chosen type, along with Creature spells on the stack and Creature cards I own that aren't on the battlefield. That means Creatures in exile, in the command zone, and most importantly, in the graveyard. I'll be choosing Elf when either of these essential support cards hits the battlefield.

Once I've got one of these in play, I just need to get the right cards into my graveyard. With Thranduil able to gain the activated abilities of any Creature in my graveyard, all kinds of nonsense can happen.

Farmstead Gleaner is a Scarecrow who only untaps if I pay two mana, but when I use his activated ability to untap him, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on him. Gyre Sage is an Elf Druid with Evolve, so she'll get a +1/+1 counter whenever a Creature with greater power or toughness enters play under my control. They tap to generate Green mana equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on them.

Neither of those Creatures' triggered abilities matter when they're not actually in play, but being able to tap Thranduil to make mana, untap him to get a +1/+1 counter, tap again to make mana, and untap him again, can eventually make infinite mana. I'll need just three extra mana to get the party started, as he will initially tap for 0 mana, and then will tap for one mana after he gets his first +1/+1 counter.

Infinite mana doesn't win games on its own, but with a card like Walking Ballista, I can put a zillion counters on it and then machine-gun the table for the win. I can pull that off if Ballista is in play or in the graveyard if I've used my clever trick to turn it into an Elf (in addition to its other types).

Having extra Creatures lying around is important in most Elf decks, though it's often as a way to turn a Craterhoof Behemoth into a winning alpha strike. I'm not running Craterhoof in this list, though I wouldn't blame you for throwing it in. This deck wants Creatures in the graveyard, but to win the game there will still be times when I'll need to go to combat.

With an untapper like Pili-Pala and a mana dork like Viridian Joiner, I can make infinite mana in any color I want. Pili-Pala untaps for two mana to generate a mana of any color. Viridian Joiner is one of a number of mana dorks I'm running that tap to generate large amounts of Green mana. They all happen to be Elves, which works with Thranduil even if I don't have Ashes of the Fallen or Arcane Adaptation in play.

With a Creature like Ezuri, Renegade Leader or Wildheart Invoker, I can pour big mana into their activated abilities if they are in play, or into Thranduil if they're in the graveyard. The former gives my Elf Creatures +3/+3 and Trample until end of turn. The latter will give target Creature +5/+5 and Trample until end of turn. With at least one Creature to attack each opponent and enough mana to make them huge, that's another way Thranduil can win the game.

Another untapper that can win the game is Knacksaw Clique. This Faerie Rogue can untap for to have target opponent remove the top card of their library from the game. Until end of turn I may play that card. If I've managed to go infinite, that means I can exile all of my tablemates' libraries and just pass turn to have them each draw from an empty library and lose the game. Knacksaw Clique requires Blue mana and my mana dorks mostly produce Green mana, but I think I'd play the deck a few times before putting in Creatures that can help to filter Green mana into other colors. Even a single Elf that can produce colored mana in the graveyard is enough to solve my color problems if I'm able to tap and untap Thranduil as much as I want.

Big Spells & Mana Dumps

If I'm able to make big mana I can always pour mana into Torment of Hailfire or Exsanguinate. These two spells let me put as much mana into them as I like. The former is a Sorcery that costs and will have each opponent lose 3 life, sacrifice a nonland permanent, or discard a card -- X times. It's a nasty wincon but Black is very at home playing those kinds of spells and it's somewhat kinder to just cast it with equal to a huge number rather than using it to knock everyone else back to the stone age while you keep searching for an actual win. Exsanguinate keeps things simple. It also costs but it simply has each opponent lose X life and you gain life equal to the life lost this way.

Another potential wincon in this list is Necrotic Ooze. It has all activated abilities of all Creature cards in all graveyards, so if Thranduil is sidelined somehow I can pursue the same basic strategy without even having to worry about making my non-Elf Creatures into Elves. This is at its heart an Elf-themed Necrotic Ooze deck, though my preferred game plan will be to win with my Commander.

The Basics of Elf Ball Decks in Commander

This deck is also running some standard combo wincons you'll see in most high-powered Elf decks. I first dabbled in this stuff when I built Marwyn, the Nurturer, and I've found that it's a very reliable way to make ridiculous amounts of mana. With Thranduil, the Elfking, it's easier than ever to have access to an Elf mana dork that can tap for tons of mana.

Whether Marwyn is in play or in the graveyard, I can use Sword of the Paruns or Umbral Mantle to make infinite mana if her power is big enough. Each of these pieces of Equipment lets me untap the equipped Creature for a cost, so if she's tapping for more mana than the untap cost, I'll be making extra mana with each activation. I could have thrown Staff of Domination into the list as well, and I did run all three in my old Marwyn deck back in the day.

Sultai Graveyard Elves

This list is running a handful of cards specifically devoted to putting key cards into the Graveyard. From sacrifice outlets like Viscera Seer and Priest of Forgotten Gods to Entomb, Buried Alive, and the powerful tutor Diabolic Intent, I should be able to reliably set up my wincons.

I didn't end up running a lot of self-mill, but I am running Hermit Druid. Most Hermit Druid decks run zero basic lands, but I thought it would be more entertaining to have three of each type available to a Sultai deck. That means an activation could mill any number of cards, from zero to dozens, and it should reliably put a basic land card into my hand to help to both set up my combos and hit my Land drops. That means I'm running a lot more nonbasic Lands than my usual deck. My heavy reliance on Green spells has me a little nervous about my manabase, but playing the deck a few times will help me figure out what needs to be tweaked for it to run well.

Thranduil, the Elvenking | Stephen Johnson | Commander

• Commander (1)
• 1 Thranduil, the Elvenking

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Bloom Tender
• 1 Circle of Dreams Druid
• 1 Elvish Archdruid
• 1 Elvish Harbinger
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
• 1 Farmstead Gleaner
• 1 Fauna Shaman
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Gilder Bairn
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Hermit Druid
• 1 Knacksaw Clique
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Marwyn, the Nurturer
• 1 Merrow Grimeblotter
• 1 Merrow Wavebreakers
• 1 Necrotic Ooze
• 1 Pili-Pala
• 1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1 Priest of Titania
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Regal Force
• 1 Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Tyvar, the Pummeler
• 1 Vile Entomber
• 1 Viridian Joiner
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Walking Ballista
• 1 Wildheart Invoker

• Instants (13)
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Entomb
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Scour for Scrap
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Withering Torment

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Dread Return
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Rishkar's Expertise
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Torment of Hailfire
• 1 Unmarked Grave

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Arcane Adaptation
• 1 Guardian Project
• 1 Vampiric Rites

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Ashes of the Fallen
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Paruns
• 1 Umbral Mantle

• Lands (35)
• 3 Forest
• 3 Island
• 3 Swamp
• 1 Blooming Marsh
• 1 Botanical Sanctum
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darkslick Shores
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Opulent Palace
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Seat of the Synod
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Three Tree City
• 1 Tree of Tales
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 Vault of Whispers
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Vivid Creek
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Vivid Marsh
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Wirewood Lodge

Buy This Deck Export text

I think you could have a fun Elf typal deck with Thranduil, the Elvenking at the helm even if you dropped out all of the combo pieces and tried to play a much fairer game. You'd fit in at lower powered tables and you could probably still run an Ashes of the Fallen or Arcane Adaptation strategy with an assortment of Creatures with weird activated abilities and have a great time. I expect even with zero Game Changers this list would be too much for a lot of lower bracket pods.

Thranduil in cEDH

To push up into even higher-powered play, this list would probably want to streamline its gameplan and run more tutors, more interaction, and at least a few Game Changers. I suspect you could reliably lean on infinite mana to go into a Walking Ballista wincon. In cEDH, the game isn't about variety, it's more about efficiency and consistency, so I'd think you would try to shape the list around always hitting the most reliably wincon possible. Thranduil will probably see fringe cEDH play, but I don't know if it will lean on untappers for its game plan.

Final Thoughts

This brew was wrapped around untappers because the untap/tap mana combo fits in nicely with what Thranduil brings to the game, and because I find it much more interesting than just brewing up yet another Elf combo deck.

That said -- there's nothing wrong with yet another Elf combo deck. I played Marwyn, the Nurturer for years until I shifted her over to Golgari colors to have access to better tutors. Shifting a strong Green or Golgari deck over to Sultai to have access to Blue is a very sensible plan, and there's really no reason to run any untappers at all. I just love to build around odd old cards and Ashes of the Fallen is one that I've long wanted to get some use out of.

I suspect there are weirder and maybe more powerful things you could do with just the right Creatures in the bin and turned into Elves with Ashhes of the Fallen or Arcane Adaptation. I may well build this list and I'll be keeping an eye out for neat stuff you can do with those type-changing support cards. I considered running Arcanis the Omnipotent as a way to draw more cards, and I'm sure there are other cards with less of a reliance on Blue that might help with that. Ultimately, I wanted to keep my focus on Elves and I think I did that, but if you were to lean even more heavily on changing Creature types, you could wind up with a very different and much more interesting deck.

I'm probably going to take my current Golgari Elves deck and try to run it under Witherbloom, the Balancer. I expect that will be a strong combination for an already broken Legendary Dragon. That may end up being a steppingstone for that deck before reworking it to run under Thranduil, the Elvenking, assuming I'm lucky enough to open one in a booster pack.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!