Table of Contents
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony… no wait, we’ve just left Avatar. Why am I talking about Elements? Oh yes — the Dance of the Elements Commander deck.
product::magic-the-gathering-lorwyn-eclipsed-commander-deck-dance-of-the-elements
Welcome back, as we dive into another upgrade guide. If this is your first time here, the format is simple: I’ll be adding 10 new cards, explaining why they deserve a slot, and outlining what to cut to make room.
But what happens if your wallet was actually a shape-shifter and ran off with all your money? No worries. As always, this guide sticks to a tight budget. The goal is to pick up all 10 upgrades for under £10.
Let’s see who’s really in charge of this period of Elements.
The Commanders
The face commander is [[Ashling, the Limitless]].
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/1/ashling-the-limitless
Ashling gives us some interesting options. She effectively colour-fixes all our Elementals by giving them Evoke for {4}. Evoke does come with the downside of not keeping the creature around, but this is where [[Ashling, the Limitless]]’s second ability comes in.
This lets us create another temporary copy to attack with, which we can then pay {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} to keep around permanently. On top of that, a large number of Elementals have enter-the-battlefield triggers, allowing us to really double dip on value.
The Alt Commander
The alternative commander is [[Mass of Mysteries]].
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/3/mass-of-mysteries
This is also a great option as a commander. [[Ashling, the Limitless]] is better for the current build, but it’s closer than it might first appear. Giving another Elemental Myriad lets us generate even more enter-the-battlefield triggers.
The main issue is that the creature needs to be able to attack to benefit from Myriad. This means you have to hard-cast an Elemental beforehand to get immediate value. The problem is that most of the good ones cost five mana or more, which puts [[Mass of Mysteries]] in a slightly awkward spot on the mana curve.
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Upgrade 1
IN: Brighthearth Banneret
https://scryfall.com/card/mor/88/brighthearth-banneret
[[Brighthearth Banneret]] is one I fully expected to see in the deck already. It’s a staple from older Elemental builds, thanks to the cost reduction it provides for Elementals. While it also discounts Warriors, this list isn’t running any, so that part is largely irrelevant here.
There isn’t much else to say about the card, but one important interaction is worth highlighting. The cost reduction also applies to Evoke costs, as you are still casting the spell. That extra bit of efficiency goes a long way in a deck that wants to chain Elementals together.
OUT: Forest
Wizards are back to their old tricks, packing far too many lands into the deck, so I’m shaving a few. [[Forest]] is the first to go, as it has the highest count in the mana base.
Upgrade 2/3
IN: Maelstrom Nexus + Up the Beanstalk
https://scryfall.com/card/arb/130/maelstrom-nexus
https://scryfall.com/card/woe/195/up-the-beanstalk
I’ve grouped these two upgrades together as they’re both pure value cards: [[Up the Beanstalk]] and [[Maelstrom Nexus]]. Up the Beanstalk replaces itself on entry, then draws you additional cards whenever you cast a spell with a mana value of five or higher.
Evoke is still casting the card, and it doesn’t change the mana value, as that is fixed. A card’s mana value is what’s printed in the top right, with any X being whatever value is chosen while casting it. For example, if we Evoke [[Ingot Chewer]] for {R}, it was still cast and still has a mana value of 5, meaning we get the trigger from [[Up the Beanstalk]]. Unfortunately, the token created by [[Ashling, the Limitless]] isn’t cast, so we don’t get additional value there.
Speaking of casting spells, [[Maelstrom Nexus]] is my other addition for much the same reason. Cascade also works off the mana value of the card, not how much mana you actually spent to cast it. This lets us cheat on mana and Cascade for a much bigger number.
Using [[Ingot Chewer]] again as an example, we can Evoke it for {R} but still Cascade into a nonland card with mana value four or less. Both of these cards are simply extra gravy for doing what the deck already wants to do: casting big Elementals as efficiently as possible.
OUT: Swamp + Plains
Two more lands are cut to bring the land count down to something more reasonable, leaving us on 37 lands. While this might feel a little low given that the curve includes a couple of spells at seven and eight mana, [[Ashling, the Limitless]] helps discount these costs.
In practice, this means we only really have [[Balasphmaus Act]] sitting at nine mana, which already has a built-in discount, and [[Kindred Summons]], a card you actively want to cast later once you’ve established a board of Elementals.
[[Plains]] and [[Swamp]] are the two lands I’m cutting here, as they represent the lowest density of coloured pips across the deck.
Upgrade 4
IN: Flamekin Harbinger
https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/167/flamekin-harbinger
[[Flamekin Harbinger]] is similar to [[Brighthearth Banneret]] in that I was fully expecting it to be in the deck already. Both come from the original Lorwyn block — Lorwyn and Morningtide respectively.
Flamekin Harbinger is simply a cheap tutor, both in terms of mana cost and current price. In this deck, it functions much like a [[Sylvan Tutor]] or [[Worldly Tutor]], as almost all of our creatures are Elementals. That said, it isn’t a game-changer in the same way Worldly Tutor is.
One important thing to avoid is overpaying and Evoking it out with [[Ashling, the Limitless]]. If you do, you’ll be forced to shuffle away your first tutor target when you get the copied [[Flamekin Harbinger]], completely defeating the point of tutoring in the first place.
OUT: Hoofprints of the Stag
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/64/hoofprints-of-the-stag
I’m cutting [[Hoofprints of the Stag]]. While it’s an interesting card — and technically an Elemental thanks to the Kindred supertype — waiting for four card draws and then paying three mana just to make a 4/4 Elemental is very mid by today’s power level.
It does highlight just how far power creep has come, as this is another original Lorwyn-era card. Rather than jumping through hoops for a single 4/4, I’d much rather have [[Flamekin Harbinger]] tutor up a stronger Elemental that’s ready to make an impact on the very next turn.
Upgrade 5
IN: Wake the Dead
https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/197/wake-the-dead
[[Wake the Dead]] is my spice pick, and very much a sleeper card. While it doesn’t fit into every deck, the right shells can abuse it extremely well — and Dance of the Elementals is one of them.
With so many enter-the-battlefield triggers, we get a huge amount of value straight away. If we also have [[Ashling, the Limitless]] in play, things get even better. Wake the Dead has us sacrifice the creatures, which in turn gives us additional token copies from Ashling. Ashling doesn’t care why the Elementals are sacrificed — only that they are — which is exactly what Wake the Dead asks us to do.
This means we get to keep the token copies until our next end step, where we also have the option to pay and keep some of them around permanently.
Traditionally, [[Wake the Dead]] is used as a surprise blocker spell, cast after an opponent has declared attackers but before blockers are declared. Here, we get that defensive utility and the upside of keeping some token copies around for longer.
One additional rules note worth knowing: even if a player chooses not to attack, the combat phases still exist. If an opponent does something in their first main phase and then tries to move straight to ending their turn, you can stop them by stating you want to cast [[Wake the Dead]] during a combat phase. They’ll still get their second main phase afterwards, but they can’t skip past combat without giving you that window.
OUT: Cavalier of Thorns
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/100/cavalier-of-thorns
I wouldn’t fault you for wanting to keep [[Cavalier of Thorns]] in the deck, but I need to make room by trimming some of the least impactful top end. The triple green mana cost is also a real drawback in a five-colour deck.
While we can cheat this a little with Evoke, we generally want our creatures to stick around and help build a board presence. If you do decide to keep Cavalier of Thorns in the list, there is an important interaction to be aware of with the token copies created by [[Ashling, the Limitless]].
When a token copy of Cavalier of Thorns dies, you will still get the death trigger. However, because it’s a token, it ceases to exist as it leaves the battlefield. This means you can’t exile it for the trigger, and you won’t get to put a card back on top of your library. You can only do this with the actual Cavalier of Thorns.
The same wording applies to [[Greenwarden of Murasa]]. You’ll still get the enter-the-battlefield trigger from token copies of both cards, but the death trigger won’t fully resolve in your favour.
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Upgrade 6
IN: Nulldrifter
https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/13/nulldrifter
Say hello to the bigger, more tentacly cousin of [[Mulldrifter]] — [[Nulldrifter]]. Both share the same Evoke cost of {2}{U}, and both are excellent sources of card draw.
Normally, I’d argue that Nulldrifter is the better of the two, as you draw the cards on cast. This means it doesn’t even need to resolve for you to get value. However, with [[Ashling, the Limitless]] in play, enter-the-battlefield effects are king.
The main upside to Mulldrifter is its higher mana value, which means better Cascades off cards like [[Maelstrom Nexus]] and [[Maelstrom Wanderer]]. It’s also a slightly bigger body, but that isn’t really why we want these cards in the first place.
This is where I’d usually drop the “why not both?” meme. Overlapping effects are how you improve consistency in Commander. Even though the format is singleton, repeating key effects — especially card draw — goes a long way toward smoothing out how the deck plays.
OUT: Belonging
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/5/belonging
[[Belonging]] is… fine. A 6/6 body for six mana that comes with three 1/1s passes the vanilla test, and Encore is a nice option, but eight mana is a big ask. At that point, I want to be much closer to winning the game.
The real issue is that the 1/1s don’t actually do anything meaningful here. We aren’t a token deck, and while we are a Kindred list, the tokens are Shapeshifters with Changeling and we don’t have any lord-style effects to buff them.
In Dance of the Elements, these tokens are mostly just speed bumps and chump blockers at best. [[Belonging]] feels far more at home in an Elfball-style deck — [[Rhys, the Redeemed]] being a great example. That kind of deck is built around tokens, runs plenty of lords, and generates absurd amounts of mana, making the Encore cost trivial to pay.
Upgrade 7
IN: Grave Sifter
https://scryfall.com/card/cma/112/grave-sifter
[[Grave Sifter]] is a slightly risky inclusion, but I think the upside is worth it. It’s effectively a [[Creeping Renaissance]] limited to creature types, with the downside being that it affects everyone at the table.
The idea here is that Dance of the Elements is likely the only Kindred deck, meaning we should be getting far more value back than our opponents. If you want to play it safe, Creeping Renaissance is definitely the cleaner option. I just really like the flexibility of being able to Evoke out [[Grave Sifter]] with [[Ashling, the Limitless]].
Yes, this does give everyone two choices to return two creature types, but ideally there won’t be much overlap. First, Evoking it gives us a discount on casting [[Grave Sifter]]. More importantly, it gives us that second trigger, letting us return Grave Sifter to our hand and store it for later.
This gives us a way to loop the card on future turns, repeatedly buying back all those valuable Elemental enter-the-battlefield triggers.
OUT: Vernal Sovereign
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/135/vernal-sovereign
[[Vernal Sovereign]] runs into a similar issue as [[Belonging]] — it’s very medium. It isn’t bad, but it also isn’t doing anything particularly exciting, and with these upgrades I’m trying to maximise the value of every card slot.
Vernal Sovereign is the better of the two, as it can make tokens that scale. The problem is the average mana cost of the creatures in the deck. With so many high-cost Elementals and Evoke often not leaving us with permanent creatures, the tokens it creates are rarely as big as you’d want them to be.
That’s why I’m recommending [[Grave Sifter]] over it. Grave Sifter plays far better with our game plan of sacrificing Elementals and naturally having a larger-than-normal graveyard.
Upgrade 8
IN: Pyre of Heroes
https://scryfall.com/card/khm/241/pyre-of-heroes
[[Pyre of Heroes]] fills a similar role to [[Birthing Pod]], but it’s far more budget-friendly, which is why I’ve gone with it here. It also helps that Birthing Pod would eat up almost the entire upgrade budget on its own.
Being able to sacrifice a creature to tutor up another with mana value one higher is extremely powerful in a Kindred deck. It’s a shame that both Pyre of Heroes and Birthing Pod are limited to sorcery speed, as it would be incredible to respond to an Evoke trigger by sacrificing the creature and upgrading into something that sticks around.
Even so, we’re still sacrificing a creature, which means we’ll get a trigger from [[Ashling, the Limitless]] and create another token copy of the sacrificed Elemental.
OUT: Titan of Industry
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/117/titan-of-industry
[[Titan of Industry]] falls into a similar category as [[Cavalier of Thorns]]. It’s an excellent card with strong enter-the-battlefield abilities. All four modes are relevant, and being able to choose the best two for the situation gives it a lot of flexibility.
That said, like Cavalier of Thorns, it suffers from having triple green pips in its mana cost, which is a real strain in a five-colour deck. That’s the main reason I’m cutting both of them here.
If you were only going to keep one of the two, I’d personally lean towards [[Titan of Industry]]. Being able to put shield counters on Ashling for protection, while also answering problematic artifacts or enchantments — or simply making 4/4 bodies for blockers — gives it the edge.
Upgrade 9
IN: Strict Procter
https://scryfall.com/card/stx/33/strict-proctor
[[Strict Procter]] is a bit of a curveball. On the surface, it looks like a strange inclusion. Elementals are all about enter-the-battlefield triggers, so why would we want to stop them?
This comes back to a recurring theme throughout the deck: Evoke. Evoke looks like a static ability — just an alternative way to cast a creature — but it also includes a triggered ability. When the creature enters, if it was Evoked, you then have to sacrifice it.
This is where [[Strict Protector]] shines. While we’ll still have to pay {2} if we want the good enter-the-battlefield trigger, it lets us avoid paying for the Evoke sacrifice trigger and keep the Elemental around.
There will still be times where you want to sacrifice the creature, which is obviously a bit counterintuitive with [[Ashling, the Limitless]]. However, this acts as a very solid backup plan in games where Ashling has been shut down. Even paying {2} on top of the Evoke cost is usually far cheaper than hard-casting the creature anyway.
OUT: Abundant Growth
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/97/abundant-growth
[[Abundant Growth]] just isn’t great. Yes, it fixes colours and replaces itself, but I’d much rather that slot be a stronger, more impactful card.
Fixing is important, especially in a five-colour deck, but there are plenty of budget-friendly options available. Filter lands like [[Twilight Mire]] are solid — I’ve talked about these before in the Blight Curse blog. Even the Odyssey filter lands, such as [[Viridescent Bog]], are available for pennies.
They may be boring and not particularly on-theme, but sometimes you have to eat your vegetables and fix the mana properly. That said, it’s still preferable to playing [[Abundant Growth]].
Upgrade 10
IN: Greater Good
https://scryfall.com/card/bbd/201/greater-good
As I mentioned in the [[Pyre of Heroes]] section, there’s a timing window where we can really abuse Evoke. This is where [[Greater Good]] comes in. Because it isn’t limited to sorcery speed, we can respond to the Evoke sacrifice trigger and sacrifice the creature to Greater Good instead.
This lets us squeeze extra value out of something that was already going away anyway. Since most of the Elementals have three or more power, we’ll either be filtering cards or coming out ahead on raw card draw. Just remember that Greater Good has you discard three cards regardless of how many you draw.
Skip this if you don’t care for additional rules clarification. If you get an Elemental token from [[Ashling, the Limitless]], you won’t have to sacrifice it to the original Evoke trigger if you’ve already done the trick with Greater Good. The same applies if you flicker the creature using something like [[Cloud Shift]].
This is because the token — or the creature re-entering the battlefield — is considered a new game object. It has no connection to the original Evoke trigger, so that trigger won’t apply to it.
OUT: Realmwalker
https://scryfall.com/card/ecc/114/realmwalker
[[Realmwalker]] can be a strong card, but the numbers just don’t quite line up here. While we are running 32 Elementals, that still only gives us roughly a one-in-three chance of revealing an Elemental on top of the library.
Being able to cast creatures with Evoke from the top does add some value, but without any reliable way to manipulate or clear the top card of the library, it’s inconsistent. In this deck, I’d much rather have the guaranteed card draw from [[Greater Good]] than the occasional cast-from-the-top value Realmwalker provides.
Greater Good is also far more likely to see us multiple cards over the course of a game, making it the more reliable option overall.
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Non-budget Upgrades
If you’re looking to push the deck beyond the £10 budget, these are some strong non-budget options worth considering. I won’t go into detail on each one here, but all of these cards synergise well with the core game plan and offer clear power upgrades.
https://scryfall.com/card/blb/183/lumra-bellow-of-the-woods
https://scryfall.com/card/who/751/the-master-multiplied
https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/1/morophon-the-boundless
https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/7/ephemerate
https://scryfall.com/card/lci/258/roaming-throne
https://scryfall.com/card/mh3/297/urzas-incubator
https://scryfall.com/card/a25/196/animar-soul-of-elements
https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/32/solitude
https://scryfall.com/card/kld/226/panharmonicon
https://scryfall.com/card/ecl/74/sunderflock
These are the kinds of upgrades you’d look at once you’re happy with how the deck plays and want to increase its overall power, consistency, or ceiling beyond a strict budget build.
Final Thoughts
Dance of the Elementals is a strong deck straight out of the box. As with any Kindred deck, it’s limited by how well supported the creature type is, with some of the more niche tribes inevitably getting left behind. One day Bushwag Kindred will be a thing.
Elementals have historically been one of the harder creature types to build around, largely being confined to the original Lorwyn block. More recently, however, we’ve seen a steady trickle of new Elementals, with [[Grief]] probably being the most famous example after being banned in multiple formats. With the addition of Lorwyn Eclipsed, the deck certainly has legs and plenty of room to grow.
I see two major downsides to the current build of Dance of the Elementals. The first is the mana base. This is always a weak point in preconstructed decks, but it’s made worse here by being a five-colour list. While it isn’t flashy, sometimes you just have to eat your vegetables and upgrade the lands.
The second issue is the creature mana curve. The deck is very top-heavy. Early on, the plan is usually to get [[Ashling, the Limitless]] onto the battlefield and start Evoking Elementals. The problem is that these creatures don’t stick around, which can leave you open to attacks.
Later in the game, you’re often choosing between Evoking for value or hard-casting creatures to keep bodies on the board. If you manage to reach the proper late game, you’re golden. Being able to Evoke and then pay to keep the token copies around will quickly let you overrun the table. The challenge is getting to that point.
In bracket two, this is generally fine and much easier to achieve. As you climb the brackets, though, games get faster and hitting nine mana becomes far less reliable. At that stage, you’d need to change the fundamentals of the deck, but that’s outside the scope of this guide.
One final thing before I go — the Wizards QA department strikes again. There are not one, but two errata updates for [[Ashling, the Limitless]]. Neither is particularly major, but they’re worth knowing about.
The first change limits the Evoke-granting ability to Elemental permanents. This is because instants and sorceries can’t exist face up on the battlefield. Previously this wasn’t an issue, as all cards with Evoke were creatures. Ashling now grants Evoke to any Elemental, which again wasn’t a problem — until the release of Lorwyn Eclipsed and [[Ashling Command]], an Elemental instant. Being able to Evoke that would have broken the rules.
The second errata changes the wording from “have” to “gain” on Ashling’s first ability. Magic is an extremely literal game, and wording matters. This change only affects one specific scenario: if you cast an Elemental for its Evoke cost and Ashling is removed in response.
Previously, that spell would no longer have Evoke, meaning it wouldn’t trigger the sacrifice clause on entry. This interaction wasn’t intuitive, so Wizards updated the wording. Now the spell gains Evoke and will still have it even if Ashling is removed.
The same logic applies to [[Zinnia, Valley's Voice]], although in that case it’s a straight buff. Your creature will keep Offspring, whereas before you would have simply paid {2} extra if Zinnia was removed.
With that, we’ve come to the end. Good luck, and most importantly, remember to have fun!
If you're picking up any Lorwyn Eclipsed products, booster boxes, commander decks or anything Magic: The Gathering we’ve got you covered here at Gathering Games.
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