Elspeth Resplendent
Legendary Planeswalker — Elspeth
+1: Choose up to one target creature. Put a +1/+1 counter and a counter from among flying, first strike, lifelink, or vigilance on it.
−3: Look at the top seven cards of your library. You may put a permanent card with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield with a shield counter on it. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: Create five 3/3 white Angel creature tokens with flying.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Planeswalker Championship Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #5039
Elspeth Resplendent enters at five mana and immediately puts a +1/+1 counter plus a relevant keyword on your best creature — lifelink, vigilance, reach, or flying depending on the threat — while threatening a board-filling ultimate in short order. Falco Spara, Pactweaver decks in particular treat her as a card-advantage engine, stacking counters to unlock free casts off the top of the library.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Falco Spara, Pactweaver
Falco Spara, Pactweaver uses counter density as currency for free spells, and Elspeth Resplendent feeds that engine every turn — her +1 puts a keyword counter on a creature, which Falco immediately converts into card advantage.
Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion // Master Chef
Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion // Master Chef doubles the counters hitting the board, so Elspeth Resplendent's modest +1 counter suddenly lands as two, accelerating both the loyalty clock and the creatures she buffs toward meaningful power thresholds.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Elspeth Resplendent is a mid-tier planeswalker — solid in counters-matter and go-wide token strategies, but five mana is a crowded slot and she rarely dominates a table the way faster threat-dense options do. In Pioneer, she saw fringe play in midrange shells that could protect her, though the format's pace often punishes five-mana do-nothings without immediate board impact. Modern has largely passed her by; the format's speed means a planeswalker that doesn't stabilize the board on entry is a liability. Legacy and Vintage are nonstarters for Elspeth Resplendent — the power bar is simply too high.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Current pricing data for Elspeth Resplendent isn't available in this snapshot, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for live numbers. As a rare planeswalker with narrow competitive demand, she typically sits in the budget-to-mid range — worth picking up if a counters-matters Commander build needs her, but don't expect a premium ceiling.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Falco Spara, Pactweaver
- Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion // Master Chef
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.