Tribes are for people who don't like to think much about deck construction before playing a deck that can do well.
Slivers and (tribal) elves probably did a good job of doing away with a lot of players who played and enjoyed Magic prior to Tempest.
It's one thing to play with 3 or 4 Llanowar/Fyndhorn Elves, Sylvan Ranger, or Elvish Visionary in order to get fast mana; ensure sufficient mana (especially in multi-colored decks); or play a cheap, crap combat creature that keeps your hand up and keeps your deck rolling.
It's another thing to play with a bunch of all of those, a bunch of these, and a bunch of Elvish Champions. That doesn't take much thought - and all of a sudden you're producing oodles of quick mana with a small-but-growing army of medium-to-big creatures in only a few turns.
Magic became cool not because players could win by matching types and rarities, but because it was a fun game that rewarded intelligence, knowledge, memory, and creativity. It was because yo... (see all)
Posted By:
humor_love
(8/8/2011 12:45:07 PM)
Only if there were more elves in M12.... damn you, spiders for taking our spot!
Posted By:
Narim
(7/24/2011 5:44:03 AM)
It's curious how long it's taken elves - traditionally enormously powerful in most fantasy media, if burdened by diminished numbers - to see some version of potency in Magic...and to do so as a mob. Weird stuff, but I like it.
Posted By:
Hanksingle
(8/29/2011 4:50:26 PM)
This guy is Imperious Perfect's boyfriend. He bought her an Umbral Mantle and then they went to have lots of 3/3 elf babies.
Posted By:
adrian.malacoda
(3/3/2012 12:54:29 AM)
^^ I got one in a booster! SO HAPPY!
Together with Llanowar elves this is the backbone of an elf deck. It does to elves what Honor of the Pure does to White Weenie, AND gives you mana.
Posted By:
Lash_of_Dragonbreath
(7/22/2011 5:30:31 AM)
perfect staple for any elf tribal.
Posted By:
GracefulAssassin14
(7/27/2011 6:15:26 PM)
Really glad to see this guy returning for M12. His potentially huge mana ramp is perfect Genesis Wave:
http://birdsofparadise-mtg.blogspot.com/2011/07/elf-wave.html
Posted By:
badmallocx
(7/29/2011 9:15:42 PM)
This is the king of manaramp in elves.
You want to play him as early as POSSIBLE. Every turn following that, for your 1-drop elves, you get whatever mana you put in straight back, because the 
you spent to play it gets plugged straight into the Archdruid.
I'm working on a deck that focuses on using its elves to ramp out to Wurmcoil Engines, Steel Hellkites, and Primordial Hydras. This has literally happened:
T1: Forest, Llanowar Elves
T2: Forest, Elvish Archdruid
T3: Forest, Copperhorn Scout, Copperhorn Scout, Llanowar Elves (tapping all three forests). Then tap the Archdruid and the first Llanowar Elf to play Steel Hellkite. On turn 3.
Posted By:
TherealphatMatt
(9/2/2011 9:52:20 PM)
@humor_love ALL tribes are weak to board wipes. The beauty of magic is that everything has a weaknesses and stregnth. I would classify tribes as aggro decks. Left unchecked the aggro builds up and overwhelms you. I think this style of play is fine, and theres numerous differnt ways to construct an elf tribal.
Posted By:
TheWrathofShane
(8/23/2011 7:06:10 PM)
@TheWrathofShane Last I checked, the only deck that isn't weak to Day of Judgment was the Indestructibility kind of deck.
Posted By:
sniper_ix
(8/24/2011 9:38:11 PM)