Elementals are one of Magic's weirder creature types. They often represent abstract concepts, like the recent Incarnation cycle in Lorwyn Eclipsed. This means they rarely get to come together in a typal deck like Elves or Humans might. Still, there have been plenty of individually powerful ones over the years.

Stigma Lasher

A big player in Mono-Red decks of the original Lorwyn era. This was part of David Larsson's GP Copenhagen winning deck in 2008. Wither makes it great into other creatures, and competitive players know how strong the Screaming Nemesis ability can be against control.

Wildgrowth Walker

Speaking of cards that are good on multiple vectors, Walker could put aggro decks out of their misery very quickly while also providing a must-kill threat against control. With its best friend Jadelight Ranger, this made for a very strong turn two into turn three combo in Standard at the time.

Regal Force

Before Craterhoof Behemoth came along, Regal Force was the top-end of elf typal decks in many formats. Drawing a ton of cards and providing a decent-sized body, Regal Force won multiple Grand Prix in Extended but saw play in Standard and even Legacy, too.

Runaway Steam-kin

This steamy little two-drop was a runaway success in Standard for its entire tenure. It won multiple GP as part of Mono-Red decks, and performed well in many, many other tournaments. If you ever ever got to untap with this and an Experimental Frenzy, the game was usually over.

Cavalier of Thorns

Most of this cycle saw some amount of play in Standard, but Cavalier of Thorns has had the most staying power. It was a strong card in Standard decks, but it continues to be a crucial part of Mono-Green decks in pioneer to this day.

Vengevine

This card has a unique history. It saw some Standard play, winning GP Sedai back in 2010. Upon rotation, it disappeared off everyone's radar, only to make a huge splash in modern when its best friend Hollow One was printed. Suddenly it was appearing all over the place, winning events and top-8ing even more while Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis was around.

Voice of Resurgence

A control player's nightmare during its time in Standard. Voice was everywhere for a while. Even after it left that format, it continued to have success in modern up until Birthing Pod got banned. Even then, it still saw sporadic play as a hard-to-deal with threat, but its glory days are long gone.

Omnath, Locus of Creation

In a similar vain, four-colour Omnath went from being a good Standard creature to an excellent modern one. It was better in the larger card pool because of the fetch lands, of course, both smoothing out the mana base and easily triggering Omnath's abilities. This one still seems some play, but is nowhere near the powerhouse it used to be.

Brine Elemental

Well-known content creators, Paul Cheon and Luis Scott Vargas won tournaments with this card in the same year with quite different decks. Cheon's control list used the Brinester to shut opponents out of GP Krakow in a controlling combo deck. LSV, meanwhile, won US Nationals with a Chord of Calling, toolbox deck.

Modern Horizons 2 Elementals

In my initial notes for this section, I wrote "everywhere all the time forever." I could almost leave it there. This entire cycle has been played to a greater or lesser extent, in a variety of formats. Fury even got banned in modern, it was so ubiquitous, but the rest still get played all over the place.

Reveillark

This one saw limited play in its Standard format, but was part of the best deck in modern for quite a while. Yeah, it's another Birthing Pod card. This was usually the most expensive card in the deck, providing incredible value whether it was cast, evoked, or podded.

Beza, the Bounding Spring

Winner of Pro Tour Aetherdrift, this has been a control staple for most of its life in standard. Interestingly, it hasn't won an awful lot of tournaments, but winning a PT counts for a lot. It stabilizes against aggro decks, draws cards in the mirror and does just fine against midrange decks. A solid all-rounder.

Whisperwood Elemental

This card won a lot of games. I don't just mean the deck it was in, but that this card, specifically, ended a lot of games. The card advantage and reach this thing provided in Standard was too much for a lot of other decks to deal with. It made sweepers and sorcery-speed removal look ridiculous, while pumping out an endless supply of bodies.

Shriekmaw

I have to admit, I was expecting to see Mulldrifter here, but it has nowhere near the competitive pedigree Shriekmaw has. This bad boy not only won Worlds in 2007, but was in almost every deck in that top eight. It went on to see play in Modern, usually in Pod decks, often as a singleton, where it won even more tournaments.

Risen Reef

I remember this card being all over Standard for a while, but its success rate isn't actually that great. It won some third party events, like Red Bull Invitational and the like, but this was largely during the MPL/Covid era, which makes it hard to compare to Pro Tours and GP. Certainly, the card was very popular, and it has been played in modern at times.

Deceit

The jury is still out on this cycle as whole, but Deceit is already an undeniable tournament staple. It won the first Pro Tour it got to be part of, showed up in several other top decks at the same tournament, and is already making a splash in modern, too. Wistfulness and Vibrance did pretty well at PT Lorwyn Eclipsed, too, but Deceit is the one that is appearing in the widest variety of decks and formats.

Conclusion

Elementals have been having a bit of a glow-up in contemporary Magic. After years of being a generic, occasionally-good creature type, they've really come into their own in recent times. They were the best-performing typal deck at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed and they have received more and more cards that are powerful on their own, regardless of tribal synergies.