Everybody, on three
CORE SET REPRINT!!!!!
Posted By:
Superllama12
(3/13/2012 4:24:25 PM)
People tend to rate cards down in special sets (Duel Decks, Commander, etc) because they personally wanted something they didn't already own reprinted, or they don't like the new art (if applicable). That's why if you want to see what people really think of a card from a gameplay point of view, you gotta see the original printing's comments.
Posted By:
RazzmatazzTheGreat
(8/7/2011 10:22:27 AM)
What's that? You rated me less than 4? My hair is a tree, your argument is invalid.
Posted By:
Pinto331
(2/25/2012 11:57:19 PM)
The best green draw spell. I looked em up. Search 'Community Rating > 4', Green, Rules Text= Draw Cards.
Magus of the Library and Sylvan Library are arguably stronger, but Magus is really just a Library of Alexandria shout-out, so I don't count it, and Sylvan Library is not a creature, so I like Y. Elder for fitting Green's flavor better: We've recently seen a ton of 'just good stuff' creatures with extra abilities, and I think it's going a bit too far, but Green should always have Creatures that can do the work of Spells.
As for the other cards, the Dredge Mechanic turned out to be too strong, so those cards don't count the same way Magus of the Library doesn't count: 'needs Development'. (Magus also isn't all that Green-flavored)
If you take into account, in ADDITION to Tournament Worthiness-- Mechanics are Flavorful, Friendly for Fun, and Overall Balance, then this card sits somewhere either a little better than or a little worse than Solemn Simulacrum, and neither Artifacts nor ... (see all)
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(5/24/2012 9:25:58 PM)
@Doom_Lich: No, you don't. You pay {2}, sacrifice him and the ability goes on the stack. His "dies" trigger hits the stack, then resolves (assuming no one Stifled it or something), and you dig for two lands and shuffle. Then the draw ability resolves.
Posted By:
VirusVescichetta
(3/27/2013 3:07:32 PM)
Any Green EDH deck should probably make room to run this. You can Natural Order sacking him to get a creature plus two lands. Uril decks can hook up Pattern of Rebirth to him, then make him kill himself for a creature plus 3 more cards. Or you can simply get a +2 any time you have 
open (maybe an unused Sol Ring?). This guy is very playable.
However, he's playable because he's pretty broken. (What else would you expect from Urza block?) Alone, he's a 3 mana +2 that only requires waiting a turn to use, and he ensures that you have your land drop for two turns. Have more mana open? You can do it right away. That's not even including the numerous other ways to abuse his death effect. Let's hope cheap Green creatures don't end up getting much more useful than this.
I'll give him a 4/5 for usability, but I'm considering lowering that score because of balance issues.
Posted By:
Brawler_1337
(4/18/2013 6:16:44 PM)
@Cactmoore
I thought I was the only one! Some kind of Ian McKellen-torso-head-animal-tree monstrosity...
Posted By:
ArelMCII
(5/18/2013 6:45:41 PM)
yay, card advantage.
Posted By:
Arachibutyrophobia
(7/13/2011 2:03:34 PM)
a 3.8 would mean that someone gave this a rating less than 4. which is incorrect.
Posted By:
luca_barelli
(7/20/2011 3:30:43 PM)
@luca
I am seeing a lot of good cards from Commander set being rated below 4 for some reason (and M12 as well). I kinda suspect there are people intentionally lower the ratings of thee cards. That's the only explanation on why a great card like Yavimaya Elder would be rated so low in this version while above 4.5 on the other two.
Posted By:
Cyberium
(7/30/2011 1:33:17 AM)