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Sakura-Tribe Elder

Creature — Snake Shaman

Sacrifice this creature: Search your library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
common
Set
Commander 2011
Price
$1.12
EDHREC rank
#106
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Sakura-Tribe Elder card art
Sakura-Tribe Elder fetches a basic land and replaces itself on the board — two functions stapled to a two-mana body that dies on demand. Zimone, Mystery Unraveler values it precisely because a creature that sacrifices itself on your terms is a repeatable trigger waiting to happen, and at two mana the cost is never a reason to leave it out.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Zimone, Mystery Unraveler

Zimone, Mystery Unraveler

79.6% of decks · synergy 0.61

Zimone, Mystery Unraveler triggers off creatures entering and leaving, so Sakura-Tribe Elder's built-in sacrifice mode is a free activation — ramp and an ETB/death trigger stapled together at two mana.

02
Brenard, Ginger Sculptor

Brenard, Ginger Sculptor

62.1% of decks · synergy 0.55

Brenard, Ginger Sculptor makes a Food token copy of any non-token creature that dies under your control, so Sakura-Tribe Elder cashes out as a land, then immediately leaves a golem behind.

03
Meren of Clan Nel Toth

Meren of Clan Nel Toth

82.9% of decks · synergy 0.54

Meren of Clan Nel Toth accumulates experience counters whenever a creature you control dies, and Sakura-Tribe Elder is one of the cheapest ways to convert two mana into a land, a counter, and a free recursion target.

04
Yedora, Grave Gardener

Yedora, Grave Gardener

73.3% of decks · synergy 0.50

Yedora, Grave Gardener turns every non-token creature death into a face-down Forest entering the battlefield, so Sakura-Tribe Elder sacrificing itself is both a ramp spell and a trigger that immediately replaces the land it fetched.

05
Ghired, Conclave Exile

Ghired, Conclave Exile

57.1% of decks · synergy 0.49

Ghired, Conclave Exile rewards going wide with tokens and copying creatures, and Sakura-Tribe Elder fills the early ramp slot while serving as a sacrifice outlet that curves cleanly into Ghired's four-mana cost.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Sakura-Tribe Elder is a Commander staple — a two-mana creature that ramps and blocks, then sacrifices itself, which covers three different jobs in a single card slot. In Pauper it competes at common with Rampant Growth and wins the nod in creature-heavy builds where death triggers and sacrifice outlets matter. In Legacy and Vintage it sees essentially no play; the formats are too fast for a two-mana do-nothing-immediately creature. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander case closely — curve and resource density matter, and Sakura-Tribe Elder earns its slot there too.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.12 cheap tier

At $1.12, Sakura-Tribe Elder sits in the cheapest tier of Commander staples — it has been printed repeatedly and supply is deep, so the price is stable rather than climbing. It's one of the highest-value pickups in green ramp: nearly every green Commander deck can use it, and you will never overpay.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.