Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more!

Pojo's MTG
MTG Home
Message Board
News & Archives
Deck Garage
BMoor Dolf BeJoSe

Columnists
Paul's Perspective
Jeff Zandi
DeQuan Watson
Jordon Kronick
IQ
Aburame Shino
Rare Hunter
Tim Stoltzfus
WiCkEd
Judge Bill's Corner


Trading Card
Game

Card of the Day
Guide for Newbies
Decks to Beat
Featured Articles
Peasant Magic
Fan Tips
Tourney Reports


Other
Color Chart
Book Reviews
Online Play
MTG Links
Staff



This Space
For Rent

Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Sakura-Tribe Elder
Image from Wizards.com

Sakura-Tribe Elder
- Champions of Kamigawa

Reviewed Aug. 31, 2016

Constructed: 4.00
Casual: 4.38
Limited: 4.38
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.25

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 - Horrible  3 - Average.  5 - Awesome

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Sakura-Tribe Elder
 
Magic players love cards that do more than one thing, modal spells and the like, and we shouldn't be surprised that they love cards like Sakura-Tribe Elder that do more than one thing at the same time. Getting a defensive speed bump and mana fixing and acceleration all at once is worth much more than two mana, which seems to be reflected in Wizards' more recent designs. It's funny that I've almost never seen one stay on the table for more than one consecutive turn, but the Elder has been the cornerstone of more decks than anyone can count over the last decade. 
 
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer; 4/5
EDH/Commander: 4/5
James H.

Sakura-Tribe Elder

 

Champions of Kamigawa, and the block the set belongs to, is infamous for cards that are either painfully underpowered or absurdly overpowered. Sakura-Tribe Elder is one that actually is a fair, balanced card overall. It provides a warm body early on that can block, and it has the powerful ability to accelerate mana. This is actually surprisingly relevant even in more expansive formats, particularly with the Prime-Time Valakut deck, Scapeshift decks, or any deck that relies heavily on a lot of colors.

 

Sakura-Tribe Elder is not going to be an all-star, but it's a powerful tool in the decks that run it. It gets Prime-Time to five lands faster, it fixes mana, and it even provides a blocker early against aggressive builds. It's unlikely to return to Standard anytime soon, due to being tied to Kamigawa thematically (as one of the orochi, Japanese-inspired snake people), but it can continue to pull its weight wherever it's legal.

 

Constructed: 4

Casual: 4.75

Limited: 4.75

Multiplayer: 4.5

Commander: 4.5


Copyright© 1998-2016 pojo.com - Magic the Gathering Card Reviews
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.