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Lluwen, Exchange Student // Pest Friend

Lluwen, Exchange Student // Pest Friend

Legendary Creature — Elf Druid // Sorcery

Lluwen wants a deck that gains life over and over and gets rewarded for it. It also works in a deck built around Druids or Elves.

  • Mana cost2 genericblackgreen
  • Black, Green ()
  • Power / toughness3 / 4
  • RarityUncommon

Lluwen enters prepared. (While it's prepared, you may cast a copy of its spell. Doing so unprepares it.)

Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Lluwen becomes prepared. Activate only as a sorcery.

//

Create a 1/1 black and green Pest creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, you gain 1 life."

Build a deck with Lluwen Find it in the app

Archetypes
Themes

Cards That Fit Lluwen, Exchange Student

Picked for what they do in Lluwen's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Lluwen's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

plan6

The 6 Cards

Does what Lluwen, Exchange Student does6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Lluwen, Exchange Student

explain how Lluwen works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

A creature with a prepare spell can't become prepared more than once at the same time. For example, Emeritus of Ideation is on the battlefield and is prepared. When it attacks, its last ability triggers. When that ability resolves, its controller may still exile eight cards from their graveyard, but doing so won't cause Emeritus of Ideation to become prepared a second time or create a second copy of Ancestral Recall in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

A creature without a prepare spell can't become prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

A preparation card is a creature card in every zone. For example, while it's in your graveyard, Emeritus of Ideation is a blue creature whose mana value is 5. It can't be the target of Zealous Lorecaster's triggered ability ("When this creature enters, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.").

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

As an effect causes a creature with a prepare spell to become prepared (including effects that state that a creature "enters prepared"), that creature's controller creates a copy of that creature's prepare spell in exile. That copy remains in exile for as long as that permanent is on the battlefield and is prepared. That creature's controller may cast that copy as long as it remains in exile. As they cast it, that creature stops being prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Being prepared isn't a copiable value. If a permanent becomes a copy of a prepared creature, it won't be prepared. That permanent will have the alternative characteristics, though, and some other effect could cause it to become prepared later.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Casting a copy of a prepare spell from exile isn't casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to a copy of a prepare spell cast from exile.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Creating a copy of a creature's prepare spell in exile ignores copy exceptions applied to that creature that would affect the copiable values of that spell. For example, say a player casts Croaking Counterpart (a sorcery that says "Create a token that's a copy of target non-Frog creature, except it's a 1/1 green Frog.") targeting Goblin Glasswright. The token copy of Goblin Glasswright will enter prepared as a 1/1 green Frog creature, but the copy of Craft with Pride in exile will still be a red sorcery. The copy of Craft with Pride won't be green, a creature, or a Frog, and it won't have power or toughness.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If a prepare spell with one or more targets has no legal targets when it tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. Since the spell was cast, the associated permanent will still not be prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If a prepared creature loses all abilities, it won't stop being prepared, and nothing will happen to its alternative characteristics or to the copy of its prepare spell in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If a prepared creature stops being a creature, it will still be prepared, and the copy of its prepare spell will remain in exile. That permanent's controller will still be able to cast it. The same is true if a prepared creature becomes a copy of something else, even if it's then a permanent without a prepare spell.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If an effect causes a creature to become unprepared, a prepared creature stops being prepared and the associated copy of its prepare spell in exile ceases to exist. If it wasn't prepared at that time, nothing happens.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative prepare spell's name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Only the current controller of a prepared creature can cast the copy of its prepare spell in exile. It doesn't matter who owns that creature or who controlled it when it became prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Preparation cards can only be cast with their base characteristics.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

While copies of spells in zones other than the stack cease to exist when state-based actions are checked, this does not apply to copies of prepare spells in exile that were created as a creature became prepared.

15 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Lluwen, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryBGPlayers write colors as letters: B for black, G for green.LifegainLifegain decks gain life over and over and use cards that reward each gain with extra cards, creatures or damage to opponents. Everyone starts at 40 life in Commander, so the extra life also keeps you safe while you set up.Open the Lifegain pageLifegain EngineGains you life again and again, on a trigger that keeps happening, rather than once. You start at 40 life in Commander, so life is something to spend as well as a cushion, and a card like this sets off every card that rewards you for gaining it. Soul Warden, Trostani, Selesnya's VoiceOpen the Lifegain Engine pageLife GainGains you life, once or over and over. Soul Warden, The Great Henge. In Commander life is something to spend, not just a cushion, and many of these cards also set off others that reward gaining life.Open the Life Gain pagePreparedSome creatures come with a spell printed alongside them. While the creature is prepared, you may cast a copy of that spell, and doing so uses up the prepared state until something prepares it again.Open the Prepared page