I've been working through my LoTR precon decks, picking interesting commanders and using them as starting points for building new decks. Last week I took a dive into the Hosts of Mordor precon and built a deck around Saruman of Many Colors. The proverbial other shoe that will drop out of that precon deck is a Sauron deck, but I'm going to switch gears for a week and tackle the Elven Council precon.

A look through the Elven Council decklist was an initial turn-off for me. I looked at all of those voting cards and realized that I would want to imprint Illusion of Choice on Isochron Scepter so I'd always be the one making the decisions. I then realized that I would still need to explain each card's vote mechanic to the table, if only because that's the responsible way to play EDH, and then I'd need to remind everyone that I would be taking their votes so none of that mattered. That would make me sound and feel like a jerk. It might seem amusing but I'm sure the humor would wear off pretty quickly.

My next step was to look outside of the precon at other Simic cards that might be fun to build around. I'd pull in cards from the precon and think about restricting myself to LoTR cards, or at least avoid using Magic lore legendaries. It didn't take me long to find my general, as the Elven Council deck has a scry subtheme which is barely noticeable but which pairs well with other cards in the Lord of the Rings set. I ended up building around this Elf Noble.

Elrond, Master of Healing is a 4/4 with no keywords but a really interesting party trick. Whenever I scry, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on up to X target creatures, where X is the number of cards looked at while scrying this way. Turning scry into +1/+1 counters sounds interesting and I can think of a bunch of nonlegendary cards outside of the LoTR card pool that love having +1/+1 counters put on them.

The bottom half of Eldrond's text box tells me that whenever a creature I control with a +1/+1 counter on it becomes a target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, I'll get to draw a card. Drawing a card is great, but in my experience my tablemates usually only target things I really don't want to lose. A single card is a small comfort if I was swinging a lethal attacker at an opponent, but it's better than nothing.

My build path was simple, but intriguing. How many cards do I have in my collection in Eldrond's colors that will let me scry? How many good +1/+1 counter targets can I scrape together? How "all in" should I go on the scry mechanic and will I find the right balance to end up with a fun, playable deck?

This ended up being a build where instead of making a list ahead of time, I simply went through my commons and uncommons and made a big pile of cards with "scry" on them. I then built the deck in an 8 x 8 pattern with eight slots of eight cards each. I devoted a full three slots to cards with scry because plenty of them were going to serve other purposes. After I thought I was done, I ended up making a few minor adjustments as I had too many creatures and not enough interaction, and ended up with a deck!

Before we get to the decklist, let's look through some of the key cards I put into the list.

Scry Me a River

It ended up being relatively easy to run around two dozen cards with scry in this list, and most of them will let me scry at least 2 cards. I tend to overestimate how well a strategy like this will play out, but I'm still optimistic that I will be able to put out a decent number of +1/+1 counters on my creatures.

There were a few very good cards in the precon that let me scry. Elven Farsight costs one mana and will have me scry 3, reveal the top card of my library and draw if that card is a creature card. Preordain will have me scry 2 and draw a card. Opt will have me scry 1 and draw a card.

One of my first priorities was to run cards that would give me repeatable scry triggers. An instant or sorcery can be used one and then it goes in the bin. Permanents should eventually let me layer additional scry triggers on top of one-time scry triggers in a single turn.

Aqueous Form not only lets me swing through blockers with the enchanted creature, it is also a dependable source of scry triggers. It's only scry 1, but if I put it on a creature that got a low power, it may be seen as a minor nuisance rather than as an actual problem that needs to be dealt with. Sigiled Starfish is a staple in decks that care about scrying. All it does is tap to scry 1, but as a 2-mana 0/3, "Scryfish" can come down early and do a lot of work without really bothering anyone.

Crystal Ball fits in nicely in the world of Lord of the Rings. In that lore, there are spherical stones called Palantirs that can be used to communicate, and which were used by Sauron to corrupt and influence Saruman and Denethor. Crystal Ball might not be a Palantir, but it can tap for 1 mana to let me scry 2. The LoTR card Palantir of Orthanc seems like it would be a logical fit for this deck. The Palantir would let me scry 2 and might draw me a card or push out some damage, but I couldn't not run that in my Saruman of Many Colors deck. Since my Palantir was spoken for, Crystal Ball will stand in for a Palantir, though to be honest I don't recall Elrond actually having one in the story.

Repeatable scry is great, but I've also got a lot of one-shot cards with scry stapled onto them. A few are instants and sorceries, but lots of them are enter-the-battlefield triggers on creatures.

Track Down will scry 3 and let me reveal the top card of my library and draw it if it's a creature or a land. It's one mana more expensive than Elven Farsight, which is the precon and will have me scry 3, reveal the top card and will let me draw if it's a creature. I'm also running a bunch of cards that just have scry and "draw a card" on them. Serum Visions, Scour All Possibilities, Preordain, Deliberate and Tel-Jilad Justice, which tacks scry 2 onto a card that lets me destroy target artifact.

Augury Owl costs 2 mana and will have me scry 3 when it enters the battlefield. It's joined by Faerie Seer, Omenspeaker, Sage's Row Savant, and Overwhelmed Apprentice, which will have each opponent also mill two cards. The scry dorks with flying are particularly good, as I'll be looking for places to put those +1/+1 counters and having big flyers is always nice.

The best of my scry creatures is probably Cryptic Annelid. This Worm Beast is a 1 power, 4 toughness Worm Beast which will have me scry 1, scry 2 and the scry 3 when it enters the battlefield. With Elrond on the field I'll be paying 4 mana and getting an additional 7 power on the battlefield if I have at least 3 creatures to get +1/+1 counters.

Targets for Elrond

Elrond, Master of Healing is only going to be as good as his targets for putting out +1/+1 counters. I could put them on him, but he isn't likely to become a serious voltron threat even with Aqueous Form attached. What I'm looking for are creatures that will give me a ton of value when they get +1/+1 counters put on them.

Gyre Sage taps for mana equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it. Kami of Whispered Hopes from March of the Machine would fit in here nicely too, but my copies of that card were all spoken for. If I were to move this deck towards making big mana, I would definitely want to throw in Genesis Wave, which is in the precon deck.

Mycoloth and Bloodspore Thrinax are both in this list. They have the devour mechanic, meaning that when they enter the battlefield I can sacrifice creatures to put +1/+1 counters on them. Mycoloth has devour 2, so for each creature it devours it will get 2 +1/+1 counters. At the beginning of my upkeep I'll create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token for each +1/+1 counter on Mycoloth. Bloodspore Thrinax only has devour 1 and it will have each creature I control enter the battlefield with an additional X +1/+1 counters where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on Bloodspore Thrinax.

This deck also runs Arwen, Weaver of Hope and Master Biomancer. The former is from the precon deck and will have my creatures enter with +1/+1 counters equal to her toughness. Master Biomancer will do the same thing but for his power, not his toughness, and those creatures will also gain the creature type of Mutant.

I can cast the Hydra face down as a 2/2 creature for three mana and then pay its morph cost to flip it face up. When it flips face up it will get five +1/+1 counters, but if it already has +1/+1 counters on it, those counters won't fall off. Morph does not cause a creature to leave the battlefield. It transforms not unlike a double-faced flip card. Hooded Hydra is just a Hydra, but when it dies I'll create a 1/1 Green Snake creature token for each +1/+1 counter on it.

All of these are good or very good targets for Elrond, but one of the best is likely going to be Fathom Mage. This 1/1 Human Wizard has evolve so it will get a +1/+1 counter when a creature with greater power or toughness enters the battlefield under my control. The big deal and the reason I'm running a few tutors in this deck is that I'll also draw a card every time I put a +1/+1 counter on her. She will be a prime target for this deck as card draw helps to make sure you don't miss land drops, you have interaction, and you might even draw into your wincons.

Speaking of wincons, Herd Baloth is probably the single best target in the deck. Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on Herd Baloth I get to create a 5/5 Green Beast creature token. If I've got Elrond and Herd Baloth on the field and cast the Cryptic Annelid I showed you earlier, I'll pay four mana, scry 1, scry 2, scry 3 and end up with an additional 17 power on board in the form of three 4/4 beast tokens, a 1 power Cryptic Annelid and six +1/+1 counters. With the amount of scry I've loaded into this deck, Herd Baloth could get out of hand pretty easily.

Elrond, Master of Scrying

This list has its fair share of staples and I definitely did not try to focus too much on playing cards from the Lord of the Rings set. Any time a commander is begging you to dive deep into a specific mechanic or strategy it can be hard to maintain that kind of restriction. Playing cards from outside of LotR was necessary to set the deck up to really do what I wanted it to do.

I ended up including Worldly Tutor and Green Sun's Zenith. The former lets me search up any creature and put it on top of my library, and the latter is an X spell that lets me search up a green creature with a mana value equal to or less than X and put it directly onto the battlefield. Last but not least, I threw in Evolving Door, which will let me pay 1 mana and sacrifice a creature to tutor up and exile a creature with one more color in its color identity than the sacrificed creature. In short, I can sacrifice a mana or scry dork, exile Fathom Mage and cast it from exile. I could also go get Quandrix Cultivator or Master Biomancer. I'll add more 2-color creatures if I play the deck and find I need more than just those three.

Elrond, Master of Scrying | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Elrond, Master of Healing

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Arwen, Weaver of Hope
• 1 Augury Owl
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Bloodspore Thrinax
• 1 Consecrated Sphinx
• 1 Cryptic Annelid
• 1 Cultivator of Blades
• 1 Delighted Halfling
• 1 Elvish Mariner
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Faerie Seer
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Fathom Mage
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Herald of Secret Streams
• 1 Herd Baloth
• 1 Hooded Hydra
• 1 Master Biomancer
• 1 Mycoloth
• 1 Omenspeaker
• 1 Overwhelmed Apprentice
• 1 Paradise Druid
• 1 Quandrix Cultivator
• 1 Sage's Row Savant
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sigiled Starfish
• 1 Wood Elves
• 1 Wose Pathfinder

• Instants (11)
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Deliberate
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Opt
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Tel-Jilad Justice
• 1 Worldly Tutor

• Sorceries (11)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Elven Farsight
• 1 Green Sun's Zenith
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Scour All Possibilities
• 1 Serum Visions
• 1 Step Through
• 1 Track Down

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Aqueous Form
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Psychic Impetus
• 1 Retreat to Coralhelm
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Season of Growth

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Crystal Ball
• 1 Evolving Door
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Steward of Elements

• Lands (37)
• 13 Forest
• 13 Island
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dreamroot Cascade
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Grove
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 The Grey Havens
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

Buy This Deck Export text format

To tune this deck up, I think you would want to load in the Ivy Lane Denizen combo. That means playing Scurry Oak and Ivy Lane Denizen and trying to make an arbitrarily large army of 4/4 Beasts or 1/1 Squirrels. A haste enabler like Concordant Crossroads would help so you can just tutor up your combo, build your army and swing on the same turn rather than having to wait. You might also throw in Deadeye Navigator combo so you can make infinite mana, flicker some of your ETB scry dorks, and make the army you have arbitrarily large.

If the more expensive staples in this list and the power level look like too much for you, that's fine. You can drop out Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and the more expensive cards and throw together a perfectly serviceable scry-focused Elrond deck without breaking the bank. Herd Baloth and Fathom Mage are both under a dollar and cards that let you scry aren't exactly in high demand. The list I've shared in this column isn't that expensive but you can cut corners and still have a fine budget Commander deck.

Final Thoughts

I was able to play this list in a game last week and it was pretty fun. I got out Fathom Mage and Herd Baloth but never got the chance to really abuse them. I made a few misplays, not keeping mana up for my face-down Hooded Hydra, but I also managed to not really be "the problem" until the end when I was able to judiciously use politics, removal and a bit of luck to come out on top.

My one regret in assembling this list, which only occurred to me when I was working on another deck that I'll write about soon, is that I did not include Cold-Eyed Selkie. That Merfolk Rogue has islandwalk and draws you cards when it deals damage equal to its power. Selkie feels like it doesn't really fit in a list built around Elrond but I'm running Hydras and a starfish, so I should probably just move it over. Easy card draw isn't something to pass over and Cold-Eyed Selkie would be a fine target for those +1/+1 counters.

If you're in a combo meta or want this to be a higher-powered deck you really should go all in on those Ivy Lane Denizen combos. I expect with enough tutors this could be a pretty serious deck, possibly even edging up towards fringe cEDH. I think it would be fun but you'd probably find yourself digging for the same wincons again and again. Today's more casual list is more likely to see games play out very differently based on what you draw.

Next week I expect to have another "double feature" column, with two lists built around Cirdan the Shipwright. One list will be a traditional group hug deck and the other will be a rare foray for me into real budget deckbuilding. Can I build a deck under $30? As it turns out, I can!

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