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Goblins vs. Elves. A classic face-off between two creature types. Both of these are very well known for how lightning-fast they are and how much of a snowball they can cause. With very similar playstyles, it begs the question: which one is better? This article will look at popular Goblin and Elf commanders, comparing them and seeing which ones stand out on top.
Introduction To Goblins vs. Elves
Before we look at Goblins and Elves and their commanders, first, let’s go over their primary traits that each creature type is known for.
Starting with Goblins, they tend to focus on flooding the battlefield with tokens, using cards such as Goblin Instigator and Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin to do so. With these Goblins, they usually sacrifice them for various effects, including mana generation with Skirk Prospector or removal with Goblin Trashmaster. Goblins tend to play an “overrun” strategy, and if that fails, fall back on a burn strategy.
Looking over to Elves now, this creature type is known for being able to generate a ton of mana. Most mana dorks are Elves, such as Llanowar Elves and Elvish Mystic. They are also known for having low mana values and low stats, trading those away for being able to generate a ton of mana quickly. Unlike Goblins, Elves tend to win by ramping into a powerful spell such as Craterhoof Behemoth or Preposterous Proportions as opposed to winning with cards exclusively in its creature type.
Goblins vs. Elves: Best of the Best
When it comes to Goblins and Elves decks, both have a most popular commander. Krenko, Mob Boss is easily the most popular Goblin commander. For Elves, that title goes to Lathril, Blade of the Elves. Both of these are the most popular for a reason; they’re also the best. First, we’ll look ath the decks individually and then compare them to see which is better.
Krenko, Mob Boss
With a Krenko, Mob Boss commander, it’s all about making as many Goblin tokens as possible. Krenko, Mob Boss is the main way to do this, as it can create dozens of tokens with one effect activation. You can do it immediately with haste enablers like Goblin Chieftain and Goblin Warchief. These also give your Goblin tokens haste, so you can swing out with all the tokens Krenko, Mob Boss creates.
Something Goblins are very good at is consistency. There are combos built into the archetype, and Goblin Matron and especially Goblin Recruiter are great for tutoring. The latter of which can be paired with Muxus, Goblin Grandee to ensure that every card seen with its trigger will be a Goblin. These cards are great for finding specific Goblins you might need from your deck for any given gamestate. This consistency is what makes Goblin decks so powerful.
With how many creatures that are put on the battlefield constantly, you can bring in permanents that deal burn damage when creatures enter. Impact Tremors and Witty Roastmaster both achieve this, and the effects stack if you have both. If this burn damage isn’t enough, you can also push toward victory with Goblin Bombardment. Since most Goblins have low power, Raid Bombardment gives a little extra burn damage when they attack (on top of whatever combat damage they wind up dealing).
A sample decklist can be viewed below. The deck is very fast, and if your opponents don’t have answers for
Commander
Creatures (32)
Instants (5)
Sorceries (7)
Artifacts (14)
Enchantments (8)
Lands (34)
100 Cards
$317.08
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Although most useful Elves are Green, Lathril, Blade of the Elves gives you access to Black as well. The extra color gives you access to some solid Elf support cards including Prowess of the Fair and Ruthless Winnower. Unlike other Elf commanders, Lathril, Blade of the Elves has built-in burn damage, so you don’t have to just rely on combat to close out games. Likewise, Skemfar Shadowsage does the same. This utility might seem minor, but just a few extra Black cards boost up Elves’ consistency.
On top of Lathril, Blade of the Elves doing a lot of token generation, other Elves help to contribute. Elvish Warmaster brings another Elf token when one enters, and Lys Alana Huntmaster creates an Elf token whenever you just cast an Elf spell. Galadhrim Ambush can create a ton of Elf tokens when you attack with a ton of creatures, and can even keep your Elves safe since only Elves can deal damage when you cast it. You don’t even have to be the one attacking to get the tokens, so it can be used defensively against a wide swing against you.
For top-end game enders, you have a variety of cards. Once you have a big battlefield, dropping a Craterhoof Behemoth generally means it’s game over. You can use Beastmaster Ascension to give all your Elves a massive +5/+5 stat boost. You do need to attack to get quest counters on it, but just five attacks needed make it trivial. Even if they’re only 1/1s, if you have a big enough battlefield, Triumph of the Hordes is great since it gives all your creatures infect, so they just need to deal 10 damage to take someone out of the game. If all else fails, you have Overrun and Preposterous Proportions as a few extra stat-boosting cards to win through combat.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. The deck takes advantage of how great Elves can ramp and flood the battlefield. Then, you close out games with stat-boosting effects or with Lathril, Blade of the Elves‘ ability.
Commander
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (36)
Instants (8)
Sorceries (10)
Artifacts (8)
Lands (34)
100 Cards
$434.54
Krenko vs. Lathril, Who Wins?
Both Krenko, Mob Boss and Lathril, Blade of the Elves are the best at what their archetype does. Krenko, Mob Boss is a mono-colored commander, so you never have to worry about having the wrong colors, unlike Lathril, Blade of the Elves.
A big difference is Lathril, Blade of the Elves isn’t reliant on your commander, while Krenko, Mob Boss is. Sure, you can win without it under specific scenarios, but it’ll just be much harder. With Lathril, Blade of the Elves, you can win games without ever actually casting your commander. Elves are more self-reliant, whereas Goblins are more synergistic with other Goblins.
When comparing the two, the winner would have to go to Krenko, Mob Boss, but it’s a very close battle. The consistency that Goblins offer is unmatched, and you’ll find yourself less stalled out unlike Elves which can dump a bunch of mana dorks down, but sometimes that’s all you can do. Goblins at least have effects that are useful for future turns. Elf creatures are a tad weaker on average, whereas most Goblins are immediately useful with effects.
Goblins vs. Elves: Commander-Focused
These Commander decks are ones that have a heavy emphasis on your commander. They are built around the effects of your commander in order to power up the rest of your creatures. For Goblins, Zada, Hedron Grinder is the representative. It plays a more Spellslinger strategy to pump up your creatures. In this archetype of Elves, they have Voja, Jaws of the Conclave. The deck is a mixture of Elves and Wolves, but primarily Elves that lead to massive stat boosts thanks to the commander.
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Zada, Hedron Grinder offers a unique form of a Goblin deck. Rather than strictly focusing on creatures, it instead focuses on spells that target a single creature. Since Zada, Hedron Grinder can copy spells to target all your creatures, it uses Goblins’ ability to flood the battlefield with tokens. On top of Goblins, you have cards such as Young Pyromancer and Stormsplitter to create even more tokens with how many spells are being cast.
The primary gimmick of Zada, Hedron Grinder is to use cards that target a single creature and draw a card. Examples of these cards include Renegade Tactics, Accelerate, and Ancestral Anger. This ensures that you will always have action in your hand, and you’ll never run out of spells to cast. You cast these on Zada, Hedron Grinder, which is then copied to all your creatures, so every creature you control equates to a card being drawn for each one.
You draw a ton of cards, so you want ways to play them. Single-target spells that create Treasure tokens are great. Examples of cards like these include Ancestors' Aid, Reckless Ransacking, and Sudden Breakthrough. The best Treasure token generator goes to Storm-Kiln Artist, since it makes Treasure tokens both on spells being cast and spells being copied. With how much copying the deck does, you can generate a ton of Treasure tokens.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. Zada, Hedron Grinder can lead to incredibly explosive turns as soon as it hits the battlefield. So long as it doesn’t get removed, you will probably win the game the turn it untaps if you just have a few other creatures, it’s that scary of a commander.
Commander
Creatures (30)
Instants (26)
Sorceries (8)
Lands (33)
100 Cards
$183.46
Voja, Jaws of the Conclave
Voja, Jaws of the Conclave is a very powerful commander that boosts up your battlefield of Elves. The more Elves you have, the more counters are going on your creatures, and your Wolves help to draw you cards, something Elves can normally struggle with. Since it wants both creature types, cards with changeling are especially strong. Springleaf Parade can potentially give you a ton of Shapeshifter tokens if you have mana to invest. Mirror Entity can give all your creatures all creature types for just one mana (it’ll just make all your creatures 1/). If they have counters though, you can spend zero mana on this.
With how many counters are being spread around, you can take advantage of various cards. The best is Shalai and Hallar, which makes it so every creature getting a counter will trigger it for tons of damage going to any opponent. Rishkar, Peema Renegade turns all your creatures with counters into mana dorks. You can even make a one-sided board wipe with Damning Verdict once all your creatures have counters.
There are a few Wolves and Wolf generators included in the deck, too. Hollowhenge Overlord doubles up all your Wolves every upkeep. Six mana is normally a lot, but with how easily Elves can ramp, you can cast it rather early. Most of your creatures are Elves, so Wolf-Skull Shaman can make Wolf tokens more often than not. Wren's Run Packmaster can be a mana sink that turns excess mana into Wolf tokens.
A sample decklist can be viewed below. Voja, Jaws of the Conclave is a commander that snowballs quickly. With just a few Elves on the battlefield, you can constantly put +1/+1 counters on all your creatures just by attacking.
Commander
Creatures (41)
Instants (9)
Sorceries (7)
Artifacts (7)
Lands (34)
100 Cards
$352.32
Zada vs. Voja, Who Wins?
Both Zada, Hedron Grinder and Voja, Jaws of the Conclave are very powerful commanders. They are both well-known for just how much of a snowball effect they can cause if they aren’t answered. But, which one of them is stronger?
Zada, Hedron Grinder tends to have far more explosive turns, while Voja, Jaws of the Conclave usually has more of a slow-burn. Both of them can usually win the game the turn you decide to get aggressive, but Zada, Hedron Grinder is more efficient at one-shotting opponents if they don’t have answers for you, giving it the slight edge in the aggro game.
However, without Zada, Hedron Grinder on the battlefield, the deck falls apart a bit. On the other side, Voja, Jaws of the Conclave only needs one attack to get a ton of value of it. And unlike Zada, Hedron Grinder, Voja, Jaws of the Conclave has ward , making it harder to remove once it hits the battlefield. It is more self-reliant, and with how high the ward cost is, usually forces an opponent to dedicate an entire turn to dealing with it.
It is because of this self-reliance that Voja, Jaws of the Conclave takes the win. While Zada, Hedron Grinder is very strong, it relies on the commander just a bit too much. Meanwhile, a Voja, Jaws of the Conclave can win without ever casting it. Even if you get Voja, Jaws of the Conclave‘s effect off only once, that in many cases will be all you need. You’ll have a big battlefield of Elves, so the one attack turns all of them into massive threats with huge stats so long as it attacks once. If Zada, Hedron Grinder is removed, the deck almost stops functioning.
Goblins vs. Elves: In Conclusion
In the eternal battle of Goblins vs. Elves, there are times it feels like it’s a tie. However, this isn’t going to end in a tie. Ultimately, just barely, Elves take the title. They just have a tad more resilience compared to Goblins. Elves are able to protect themselves more consistently, whereas Goblins are very weak to board wipes (especially in Mono-Colored builds). Even a mono-colored Elf deck has a huge suite of protection spells.
It’s important to note that the battle of Goblins vs. Elves is incredibly close, and there are fair arguments for why one creature type is stronger than the other. While Goblins are more efficient at flooding the battlefield, Elves’ ability to ramp can push them over the edge in the midrange/late-game. Goblins tend to need Goblins on the battlefield, but Elves don’t need Elves on the battlefield. However, if you keep Goblins around when you start to activate various effects, they snowball much more efficiently than Elves, and can make dozens, if not hundreds, of tokens later in the game.
Elves currently win the Goblins vs. Elves fight, but it’s a battle where the tide can easily change with new Goblin cards, or Elves can make the gap bigger with new Elf support. The gap is currently very narrow, but who knows what the future holds. Until then, in the topic of Goblins vs. Elves, Elves get to claim the title of the better of the two.
