Ethereal Elk
Creature — Elk Spirit
Trample
When this creature enters, you may search your library and/or graveyard for a card named Vivien, Nature's Avenger, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Core Set 2020
- Price
- $0.22
- EDHREC rank
- #27484
Ethereal Elk enters as a 4/4 and turns any land you control into a 4/4 elk creature until end of turn — a meaningful board presence and a mana-denial threat packed into one card. At five mana for a temporary effect with no recursion built in, it earns its slot only in decks that specifically reward animating lands.
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 |
Ethereal Elk is a Commander card through and through — the formats where it's legal outside EDH (Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage) have no interest in a five-mana 4/4 that temporarily animates one land. In Commander, it finds a home in landfall and land-animation strategies where turning a land into a creature doubles as a combat trick, a Craterhoof Behemoth target, or a trigger engine. Outside of dedicated land-matters builds, it doesn't make the cut even there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.22 bulk tier
At $0.22, Ethereal Elk is deep bulk — easy to pick up in trade binders or as a throw-in. Bulk rares with narrow application don't trend up, so treat this as a cheap role-player for the right deck, not a hold.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.