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Faeria - Card Spotlight - Wood Elemental
Card Spotlight returns after the release of the Oversky Expansion. In this series we will investigate how the Oversky has shaped the Faeria landscape. Expect to read about old and new cards and discover what decks they can feature in. Included in every article is a video of one of these decks in action!
Wood Elemental
Wood Elemental is one of the most talked about card in the game. The Oversky introduced Wild Lands, a new way to summon creatures and build decks. Land acceleration has become an important part of the game. It’s necessary to building lands which are a big requirement for the powerful Oversky cards.
These two cards have been a big part of shaping the current meta-game. The high land cost might look intimating at first but Green has a lot of land acceleration cards to help meet these requirements. Wood Elemental is a staple in any Oversky deck that needs a lot of lands.
At first glance the card is a 4 cost 3/4 Taunt creature that develops a forest. Wood Elemental only requires one forest to play which is a huge deal for a land ramp deck. This means you can play Wood Elemental on turn one with Explore, ramping out two Forests in your first turn. Wood Elemental also dodges popular removal like Flame Burst and Wind Soldier with its bulky 4 Life. Here is a list of the benefits of a turn one Wood Elemental with Explore:
- Two Forests
- 3/4 Faeria Harvester
- Requires a combination of removal to destroy. Choking Sands and Fire Bomb are clean answers but still an even trade in Faeria value.
- Taunt near Orb for Rush
Wood Elemental is a tier ahead of the other elemental cards when it comes to power-level. Water Elemental is next in line with Jump. What sets Wood Elemental apart from the rest is the 4 Life and Taunt for the Rush match-up. Wood Elemental usually partner up with Living Willow and Feed the Forest. This can be a difficult tasks for small Yellow Haste creatures to overcome.
This is why we saw Yellow Tempo and Maceman make a huge impact on the recent Monthly Cup. Maceman can clear a Wood Elemental and live to tell the tale. This is incredibly valuable because the popular Blue Green Ramp decks only run Frog-Tosser as removal.
Why play Wood Elemental?
Wood Elemental is a solid choice for any Green deck and any deck that requires a lot of lands. If your deck has any Green or Wild cards then Wood Elemental provides you with so many benefits. During my Oversky Island Review I constantly highlighted the Blue Green Ramp deck because of it’s power level. The last island added The Tree of Everlife into the list which gives the deck a reason to build ten lands.
This version is based on ESofDawn’s Monthly Cup winning list. I’ve taken out the Tiki Caretakers and added two additional Crystal Flowers. Your goal is to ramp out lands as quickly as possible to enable your Crystal Flowers, Frog-Tossers and Azure Skywhales. Once you have board control you can drop The Tree of Everlife to finish off the game.
This next list is my Mono Green Tree of Everlife deck. It focuses on developing ten forests while controlling the board with bulky creatures. Once the Tree of Everlife triggers your Green creatures in hand will become massive! Thyrian Golem becomes a 12/17 and Verduran Force becomes a 14/14!. This deck is really fun to play and if you like Mono Green I’d go as far to say this is the evolution of the archetype.
You can watch me play this deck in the video below.
Conclusion
Wood Elemental is quite possibly one of the best cards in the game. It’s a card that never stops being useful due to the high land requirements of the more powerful Oversky cards. If you’re building a deck with Forests and a lot of Wild Lands then you should 100% include this card.
