Is Yavimaya Elder good in Commander?

Yavimaya Elder

Creature — Human Druid

When this creature dies, you may search your library for up to two basic land cards, reveal them, put them into your hand, then shuffle.
, Sacrifice this creature: Draw a card.

CMC: 3
Mana cost
Color identity: G
Rarity: common
Set: Magic Online Theme Decks
Price: —
EDHREC rank: #3245

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Yavimaya Elder is a three-mana creature that replaces itself with two basics on death and draws a card on demand — the kind of value engine that makes land-centric commanders tick. Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor and Zimone, Mystery Unraveler both run it above a 25% inclusion rate for exactly that reason: it's cheap, it stacks value twice, and it dies into something useful every time.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor

25.2% of decks · synergy 0.25

Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor cares about lands entering and counts on hitting them every turn, and Yavimaya Elder delivers two basics on death — keeping the land-drop engine fueled well past the mid-game.

Zimone, Mystery Unraveler

26.6% of decks · synergy 0.24

Zimone, Mystery Unraveler rewards stacking extra lands in hand and on the battlefield, so Yavimaya Elder's dual fetch plus optional card draw lines up cleanly with everything the commander wants to do.

Borborygmos Enraged

24.1% of decks · synergy 0.23

Borborygmos Enraged pitches lands as direct damage, which means Yavimaya Elder's two-basic death trigger is effectively two free Lightning Bolts waiting to happen.

Six

25.3% of decks · synergy 0.22

Six generates value from creatures entering and leaving, and Yavimaya Elder is a three-mana creature that naturally wants to die — the two-land fetch and optional draw both trigger off the same loop.

Yedora, Grave Gardener

25.1% of decks · synergy 0.22

Yedora, Grave Gardener turns creature deaths into land drops, and Yavimaya Elder enters that loop naturally: it fetches two basics when it dies, then Yedora puts it back as a Forest to fetch again.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	not legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	legal
oathbreaker	legal

Yavimaya Elder is a Commander staple first and everything else a distant second. The combination of a death trigger that fetches two basic lands and an activated draw ability gives it more raw value than most three-drops in a 100-card singleton format where board wipes are routine and replaying gas matters. In Pauper it sees fringe play as a grindy value piece in green midrange, but the format's faster clock means the death trigger doesn't always fire on schedule. Legacy and Vintage are legal but irrelevant — neither format gives a 2/1 for three the time it needs to generate its payoff. Commander is where Yavimaya Elder belongs, full stop.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

444 decks