You're An Angry Elf: Building Your Lathril, Blade of the Elves Commander Deck

Greg Montique
Apr 4
3 min read

So you’ve decided to build a Lathril, Blade of the Elves Commander deck. Excellent choice! Elves are the gift that keeps on giving—literally, they multiply like bunnies and overwhelm opponents with sheer numbers. Plus, there’s something incredibly satisfying about watching your opponents panic as your tiny forest warriors become a terrifying army.

Elf with blue skin and green armor brandishes a sword in a mystical forest. Card text details abilities and stats: 2/3. Mood: epic.

But how do you build a Lathril deck that isn’t just a pile of green creatures? Well, fear not! This guide will give you a solid foundation, some spicy tech, and a few strategy pieces to get you going.

The Game Plan: What Does Lathril Want to Do?

Lathril is a 2/3 Elf Noble with Menace for 2BG (Black-Green). The keys to her power are her abilities: whenever she deals combat damage to a player, she creates that many 1/1 Elf Warrior tokens. Then, she has an activated ability that lets you tap ten Elves to make each opponent lose ten life, while you gain ten life. Think Liliana but with pointy ears and an army that's alive (for now).

The Core Strategy

Make a ridiculous number of Elves - Because elves get lonely, you'd better give them 50 friends.
Swing with Lathril early and often - More tokens = more fun.
Buff your Elves - You’ll need them to be more than just 1/1s, enchantments, artifacts, and other creature effects help you out here.
Keep a few tricks up your sleeve - Your Elves may be tiny, but what you can do with them can be devastating.

Five Must-Have Cards for a Lathril Deck

Now that we’ve got a game plan, here are five absolute must-have cards for your Lathril deck:

An elf druid wields a glowing staff in a forest. Card text: "Other Elf creatures you control get +1/+1." Green and earthy tones dominate.

1. Elvish Archdruid

Elvish Archdruid is an auto-include in any Elf deck. Not only does it buff all your Elves, but it also taps for mana equal to the number of Elves you control. And in a deck that floods the board with pointy-eared friends? Yeah, you’re about to have more mana than you know what to do with.

Elf druid in a forest with a hawk on arm, surrounded by animals. Text: "Beast Whisperer," "Creature – Elf Druid," "draw a card."

2. Beast Whisperer

Every time you cast a creature spell, you draw a card. And since a Lathril commander deck is generally about 75% creatures, you’ll be chaining spells together like Legolas chains together kills. Running out of cards? Not today!

Elf warrior in green armor and crown, wielding a sword against a mechanical backdrop. Text details card abilities and stats. Mystic mood.

3. Eladamri, Korvecdal

Eledamri is one of the early Elf bosses. This version lets you peek at your top card and cast that card if it's a creature. A pretty big heads up and an effective planning bonus. But his second effect is where you hit pretty big.

Since you are creating a ton of tokens, all you need is one free mana and 2 untapped creatures, and you can put a creature from your hand or the top of your library directly onto the battlefield. That's maximum effect for little effort.

A focused elf with glowing green daggers on a dark card titled "Elderfang Venom." Text details enchantment effects for attacking elves.

4. Elderfang Venom

This enchantment gives all your attacking Elves deathtouch, which means even your measly 1/1s trade with giant creatures. But the real kicker? When one of your Elves dies, each opponent loses 1 life. You’re essentially weaponizing your Elf army into a ticking time bomb.

Card image of Eladamri, Lord of Leaves, in a forest with vibrant foliage. Text describes abilities and quote. Mood is mystical and bold.

5. Eladamri, Lord of Leaves

In the words of Grammy award-winning recording artist DJ Khalid, "Another one!". First, Forestwalk. Green is a popular commander color due to mana ramp and big stompy things. Making all of you elves unblockable because your opponent likes trees? Win.

On top of that, all of your elves now have hexproof, stopping those pesky red ping spells and black target removal. Nature truly is healing.

Bonus Tips for Maximum Elf Domination

Run plenty of mana ramp - Elves make mana like it's their full-time job, so cards like Llanowar Elves are great early plays.
Protect Lathril - Give her protection with cards like Swiftfoot Boots so she can keep making tokens.
Add token multiplication - Since you are basing a deck around Elvish offspring, cards like Doubling Season or Parallel Lives quickly turn 1 token into 5.

Shuffling up your Lathril Commander Deck

Building Lathril, Blade of the Elves is all about multiplication, devastation, and domination—with a touch of elvish charm. Whether you’re swarming the board, draining opponents, or laughing in the face of board wipes, Lathril is a powerhouse commander that’s as fun as it is devastating.

So go forth and summon your unstoppable Elf horde. And remember: the more Elves, the merrier!