Elven Passage is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. You may behold an Elf. If you do, untap that land. (To behold an Elf, choose an Elf you control or reveal an Elf card from your hand.)
Complete guide
Elven Passage turns a land drop and 1 life into a basic land from your library. That land normally enters tapped, but beholding an Elf lets you untap it during the same ability’s resolution.
What Elven Passage Does
Elven Passage has one activated ability: tap it, pay 1 life, and sacrifice it to search your library for a basic land card. You put that card onto the battlefield tapped, shuffle, and then may behold an Elf to untap the land you found. To behold an Elf, either choose an Elf permanent you control or reveal an Elf card from your hand. Choosing a permanent this way does not tap or sacrifice it, and revealing a card does not discard it. You can choose an Elf that is already tapped. Elven Passage has no printed mana ability. Its search ability uses the stack, so players can respond to it.
Resolving the Ability, Step by Step
1. Activate the ability when you have priority. Tap Elven Passage, pay 1 life, and sacrifice it immediately as costs. Opponents cannot respond before those costs are paid. 2. Players may respond. You do not choose or reveal your Elf yet; beholding happens during resolution, not as an activation cost. 3. When the ability resolves, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Because you are searching a hidden zone for a card with a specified quality, you may fail to find one even if a suitable card is present. 4. Shuffle your library, whether or not you found a card. 5. You may behold an Elf. If you do and you found a land, untap that land. If you found no land, you can still behold an Elf, but there is no land for this instruction to untap. Players do not receive priority between these steps. In particular, they cannot respond between your beholding an Elf and the land untapping.
Common Mistakes
Beholding checks the Elf subtype—not a card’s name, artwork, or references to Elves in its rules text. Neither Command Tower nor Exotic Orchard has the Elf subtype, so neither qualifies based on its printed characteristics. An Elf card already revealed in your hand can be revealed again to behold it. Also, once an Elf has been beheld, later changes to that card or permanent do not undo that fact. The searched-for land enters tapped even if you plan to behold an Elf. Untapping happens afterward; it does not change how the land entered. Finally, sacrificing Elven Passage is a cost. If its ability is countered, the land remains sacrificed and the life payment is not refunded.
When to Play It: Two Gameplay Examples
Activate Elven Passage when you want access to a particular basic land, especially if you can behold an Elf and use that land immediately. If you cannot behold one, activating before your next turn can let the fetched land untap during your next untap step. Example 1 — Alongside Command Tower: 1. You control untapped Elven Passage and Command Tower in a Commander game. 2. Activate Elven Passage, paying its costs. Command Tower stays on the battlefield; it cannot be found by this search because it is not a basic land card. 3. Resolve the ability, find a basic land, and shuffle. If you reveal an Elf card from your hand, untap the fetched land. 4. Once you have priority again, you can activate that land’s mana ability and Command Tower’s ability separately. Command Tower’s color options still depend on your commander’s color identity, not on the land you fetched. Example 2 — Alongside Exotic Orchard: 1. You control untapped Elven Passage and Exotic Orchard. 2. Activate Elven Passage and find a basic land as the ability resolves. 3. Shuffle and decline to behold an Elf. The fetched land remains tapped. 4. You can still activate Exotic Orchard’s mana ability. Its color options depend on lands your opponents control; fetching your own basic land does not add a color to those options.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Elven Passage
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If a card in your hand is already revealed (perhaps because it was revealed to pay a cost of a spell that's still on the stack or due to the effect of a card like Telepathy), you may reveal it again to pay the cost of another spell or ability that requires you to reveal a card from your hand.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Effects that say "If a [quality] was beheld" only care if a card of that quality was revealed or a permanent you control of that quality was chosen. No matter what happens to that card or permanent after that, it was still beheld, and any additional effects that depend on that card or permanent being beheld will still happen.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect refers to a "[subtype] card," it refers only to a card that has that subtype. For example, Elven Chorus is not an Elf, despite referencing elves in its name and featuring elves in its art.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Tifa Lockhart + Scale Up + Elven Passage
- 1Cast Scale Up by paying
, targeting Tifa. - 2Play Elven Passage.
- 3When Elven Passage enters, Tifa triggers, doubling its power until end of turn.
- 4Activate Elven Passage by tapping and sacrificing it, searching your library for an applicable land and putting it onto the battlefield.
- 5When the land enters, Tifa triggers, doubling its power until end of turn
- 6Deal combat damage to an opponent using Tifa. That opponent loses the game due to being dealt 21 or more combat damage by your commander.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Tireless Provisioner + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Tireless Provisioner and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Tireless Provisioner trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding
. - 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying
, returning it from the battlefield to your hand. - 7Resolve the Tireless Provisioner trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Scute Swarm + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Scute Swarm and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Scute Swarm trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding .
- 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying , returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7Resolve the Scute Swarm trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Mole Man, Moloid Master + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Mole Man and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Mole Man trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding .
- 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying , returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7Resolve the Mole Man trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Rampaging Baloths + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Rampaging Baloths and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Rampaging Baloths trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding .
- 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying , returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7Resolve the Rampaging Baloths trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Tireless Tracker + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Tireless Tracker and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Tireless Tracker trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding .
- 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying , returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7Resolve the Tireless Tracker trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Sapling Nursery + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Sapling Nursery and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Sapling Nursery trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding .
- 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying , returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7Resolve the Sapling Nursery trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Kodama of the East Tree + Ghost Town + Springheart Nantuko + Elven Passage
- 1Fetch a land using Elven Passage.
- 2When the fetched land enters, Springheart Nantuko and Kodama trigger.
- 3Resolve the Kodama trigger, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
- 4When Ghost Town enters, Kodama and Springheart Nantuko trigger.
- 5Holding priority, activate Ghost Town's first abiltiy by tapping it, adding .
- 6Activate Ghost Town's second ability by paying , returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7Resolve the Springheart Nantuko trigger from step 4, creating a token.
- 8When the token enters, Kodama triggers, putting Ghost Town from your hand onto the battlefield.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Elven Passage
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