I’m going to take a run at doing the impossible: fitting every card I love from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth into my suite of 76 (non-precon) Commander decks. This will be a labor of love which I know I can’t actually accomplish, but like attempting to turn ourselves into the best version of said self we can be, it’s worth the work. Normally, I average around 30-something cards from the new set into the Deck Suite, which doesn’t count those that go into anything new that I’ll build. Realistically, I might hit 50, although the raw number of legendary creatures in the set will have significant impact on how things shake out.
The purpose of updating the Suite (not every deck gets an upgrade; some get multiples) is twofold. First, the practice simply keeps decks fresh. Second, it gets me immediately jamming saucy new cards without having to go through the more time-consuming process of building a new deck. Additionally, cutting time in the present, I normally don’t decide which cards I’ll take out until I physically update the deck. If there’s something obvious, or I know there’s something I’ve been waiting to put into another deck, I’ll make the decision right away. This update will include the cards of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander, since I consider both part of one big update project. I’ll sort by color for easy reference.
White
Into: Halloween with Karador
An outstanding card that will go into a signature deck, Boromir does double duty of protecting the team if need be and also adding one to the graveyard count for (re)casting Karador, Ghost Chieftain. Boromir’s first ability, countering opponents’ spells for which no mana was spent to cast, becomes more of an outstanding bonus than a feature.
Into: Kros Alt Wincon
For this one, I looked for a deck that can proliferate as well as one which hasn’t been drawing cards in a fashion I feel it needs to. Enter Kros, Defense Contractor, which wants to get around to those alternate win conditions. It’s the only deck in which I play Approach of the Second Sun, so a little extra card draw is appropriate.
Into: Budget Ardenn and Ludovic
It makes some sense to put Éowyn into Isshin Triggers Me, but there isn’t enough Equipment to take advantage of her last ability. The deck I have with the heaviest Equipment commitment is the $50 version I made to go on Shuffle Up and Play. Since Éowyn is an uncommon and I still have several dollars to allocate, we have a nice match.
Into: Halloween with Karador
I’m happy that brothers can be together in the same deck and that Faramir simply works in the deck. We’re actually likely to need one or two more things that tempt us to make having the mechanic really do anything strategically. Creatures will certainly die on our turn, so Faramir works without needing any temptations.
Into: Trostani’s Angels
As I mentioned in the review of the new cards of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander, Field-Testing Frying Pan is going into a deck that gains life in huge swathes. One trigger from Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice when Serra Avatar enters the battlefield and someone will be quite lethal. There’s plenty of flying in the deck; I might want to consider adding additional ways of being not blocked or getting trample to ensure the Panned-up creature doesn’t just get chump blocked.
Into: Alesha’s Knights
With a nice spread of both legendary and nonlegendary creatures, the Knights deck gets the White Tree. I predict that ward 1 is going to be more important than folks realize. It looks like a shrug-worthy thing. When someone’s mana is super-tight, that one is going to be something to reckon with. At a late-game point it’s likely to have less impact, but in the critical early-game, we’ll be able to run stuff out there with a little more freedom.
Into: Hofri’s Spirit Forge
I’ve been looking for some non-loop ways for Hofri to win some games, and this Gandalf version is going to help that. There are enough legendary and artifact spells, many of the creatures have triggers, and cards like Warstorm Surge also trigger when legendary creatures enter the battlefield. It’s a hot card that should be good fun to play. Gandalf was going into Breena Will Do It to You because it has a sufficient number of legendary and artifact spells, but nearly none of them have triggers to double.
Into: Hofri’s Spirit Forge
Continuing some changes with Hofri, there are enough creatures with enters-the-battlefield triggers to make Gilraen a valuable team player. From Karmic Guide to resetting Kiki-Jiki, Mirror-Breaker for another go at something, the value chain is quite long.
Getting Reprieve into a deck is less about finding the perfect fit and more about just playing the card. I can’t imagine a deck that can’t make use of it. Merieke is one of my five oldest decks, so I figured that getting the Reprieve would be a nice reward for long, distinguished service.
Into: Jared’s Revels
Assuming our mana is correct, the general order will be Xenagos, God of Revels, then Kodama of the East Tree (depending on what’s in hand) and then Old Gnawbone. In Chapter III, we go for glory (not Glory, which is in a different deck).
Blue
Into: Aminatou’s Demons
The Commander Rules Committee (RC) preview card, Borne Upon a Wind in this deck is about sneaking Liliana’s Contract in at end of turn of the player on our right. Our Demons and the enchantment are thereby exposed for the smallest amount of time. In the worst case, we can wait and flash in one of the deck’s 38 creatures. Perhaps we already have Liliana’s Contract but only three Demons. There’s less chance of waste since Borne Upon a Wind also draws a card.
Into: The Brass Fleet
While the link is to an actual list, I have been threatening to rebuild the thing since somewhere around when Commander 2017 came out. It’s on my project list and would have been done in the last six weeks or so, but…well, sometimes life has other plans. Regardless of how the deck gets rebuilt, Corsairs of Umbar and its ability to get a Pirate through to deal combat damage will be one of the deck’s central features.
Into: Dreaming of Intet
There are important sorceries in the deck, plus this Gandalf is just a card we want to play. While casting Time Stretch as an instant is funny, casting a kicked Rite of Replication as an instant will be a big, crazy blowout—in other words, just the kind of play we’re looking for in our Commander games.
Into: Jenara Proliferate
With a proliferate theme to include eight planeswalkers, Goldberry is going to get a workout alongside Jenara or whichever Bant alt-commander(s) I bring along. I’m going to put a copy of Luminous Broodmoth into the deck as well because it’s a different kind of counter. While Jenara suggested the theme of the deck, swapping it in from the snooze-fest Chulane, Teller of Tales, her ability doesn’t fuel the deck. We’re free to play whichever of the 25 other Bant commanders available to us. I can’t wait to move around loyalty counters in response to someone swinging in to take out one of those planeswalkers. I’m going to enjoy playing around with the card.
Into: Swarmlord of Hydras
With multiple creatures worth untapping, such as mana producers Selvala, Heart of the Wilds; Gilanra, Caller of Wildwood; and Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea, Ioreth is going to help us build ever-larger Hydras. Or a giant Comet Storm, whatever floats your boat.
Into: Zombies of Tresserhorn
It’s unlikely that we run into too many other Zombie decks, so Lord of Tresserhorn is a reasonably safe choice. We can use Raise the Palisade offensively to clear away all the blockers for our alpha strike, or we can clear the field of creatures that outclass ours (which can happen with Zombies). Either way, it’s going to be useful.
Into: The Threat of Yasova
As much about starting the temptation chain as grabbing a creature, we’ll want to think about even more cards which tempt us. We have ways of making Rangers of Ithilien larger so that it can grab even bigger creatures. They’re in the deck because that’s what they also do for Yasova Dragonclaw. We have a sufficient number of sacrifice outlets in the deck to do something with the creature if we’re about to lose it.
Into: The Threat of Yasova
If we’re going to borrow stuff, let’s really borrow it. Unlike most of the other cards in the deck, Subjugate the Hobbits is taking control for good instead of until end of turn. It’s not unreasonable to imagine that we can average taking at least two creatures from everyone on a healthy battlefield.
Into: Thassa, Sea Goddess
As I mention in my review, opinions are divided on this card. I’m a fan. Because of Thassa’s ability, The Watcher in the Water is going to get through. We have enough instant card draw to create plenty of Tentacle tokens, further filling our oceans with goodies.
Black
Into: Halloween with Karador
Here’s where we get our temptation engines up and running. The deck also has sufficient lifegain to offset paying two life to draw a card whenever we’re thus tempted.
Into: Kresh Into the Red Zone
There are enough legendary creatures in the deck to warrant playing a legendary spell. This one merits the title. Commander players like to draw cards. I don’t mind relieving them of their burdens.
Into: Maarika, the Most Brutal
In the Maarika, Brutal Gladiator deck, we have big, splashy effects like Avenger of Zendikar and more modest ones like Marionette Master. However it shakes out, Mirkwood Bats will be wrecking life totals in very short order.
Into: Mimeoplasm Millmeoplasm
Sometimes we just get a card that’s built like there was a deck in mind for it all along. For Chapter I, Lord of Extinction or Consuming Aberration can be my Ring-bearer, right? Even if we use something a little less wild, Chapter III is going to be a back-breaker for many decks, especially after we’ve cast a Traumatize or some such.
Into: Queen Marchesa, Long May She Reign
Another card that is more about getting played instead of where we’re playing it (since we don’t have too many Wheel shenanigans in the suite). In the end, it came down to knowing that in addition to their normal card draw, opponents are going to draw the occasional extra card via Marchesa introducing monarch into the game.
Into: Aminatou’s Demons
A different Demon for a different day, the smaller version of Shelob is no less useful. She’ll take a little mana to reanimate things, but that’s to be expected given the repeatability.
Into: Kresh Into the Red Zone
Kresh is constantly battling. The Witch-king of Angmar threatens to make Kresh more dangerous and deadly by adding counters. The deck likes to also reanimate stuff from the graveyard, so the ability to discard a card to make the Witch-king indestructible fits further into the plan. Good stuff all around.
Red
Into: Karrthus and His Dragons
We’re not splitting atoms here. Awesome Dragon card for the Dragon deck. That Dragon card then fuels more Dragons. I doubt we ever pay full price for Cavern-Hoard Dragon, but knowing the numbers Toby has recorded for would-be Dockside Extortionists on our stream, we might be paying more than we’d like. Even then, nine isn’t actually too much for a 6/6 with flying, trample, and haste.
Into: Alesha’s Knights
As previously mentioned, this is an Alesha deck for now. It will likely keep mostly the same list, updated here, but go back to Syr Gwyn as the commander. Then Alesha will be in line to head up Mardu Second Breakfast.
Into: You Did This to Yourself
Blasphemous Act, Chain Reaction, Solar Blaze, and more are waiting to amass a few Orcs for us. When I say “a few,” what I really mean is quite a few. Those sorceries (Star of Extinction also works) are going to result in something huge. It’ll be cool for Ruhan to have a bit more offensive power as well as reflexive ability.
Into: Saskia, Who Does Not Yield
Like Saskia, Gimli likes to get in there and battle. We want to then give our opponents a choice—take damage from unblocked creatures or take less damage by chump blocking. I’m fine with it going either way, since the latter option gets creatures out of the way for subsequent combats.
Into: Kresh Into the Red Zone
It’s been a bit since Kresh has gotten any real overhaul and I don’t want to change up things too much. A beefy creature with a cycling ability to destroy artifacts fits right in. The best part is that the ability is harder than a spell to counter and can happen as an instant. Then later we reanimate and start bashing.
Into: Maarika, the Most Brutal
Fourteen Treasure tokens. You know, like a normal card. The deck that creates fourteen Treasures is also the one that has Mirkwood Bats in it. That’s 28 damage to everyone right there. People are getting savaged.
Green
Into: Karador Next 99
For those of you not familiar, the Next 99 Project is the brainchild of former SCG writer Abe Sargent. Simply put, it’s building a second deck with the same commander—and we can’t repeat any cards save for basic lands. In the past I’ve also let that be any lands that don’t have abilities besides producing mana, but I’d like to swing around to get the whole thing clean. The downside is that with some many new and exciting commanders coming out all the time, I don’t want to revisit the old ones, I want to build around the new ones. The Karador, Ghost Chieftain Next 99 is about the +1/+1 counters, so Arwen is an excellent fit.
Into: Trostani’s Angels
There’s some possibility that Assemble the Entmoot is going to be a win more card. I’ll take the risk. Three Treefolk with triple-digit power will always be welcome on my side of the table.
Into: Najeela Secretly Winota
This Halfling is so delighted because she’s going to get lots of work in the near future. She’ll be in my strongest deck. Then I’ll do my best to not violate the compact of putting in only one copy—although if I end up with more than one premium copy of the card after opening packs, compromises are on the table.
Into: Adun’s Toolbox
Can I be endlessly amused if Ghalta, Primal Hunger is my Ring-bearer? Actually, I really like the idea of the nearly unblockable Adun taking on that role, making him even more useful than normal. The Ring mechanic does what good mechanics like monarch do—moves the game forward. Instead of having incentive for just sitting and waiting for certain cards or combo pieces, the game is more active. I don’t necessarily want ten-minute games; I also don’t want four-hour slogs. Landfalling into temptation means we’ll have our card full in no time, given that the deck likes to move creatures in and out of the graveyard and thereby often not having a Ring-bearer if we don’t want.
Into: Animar’s Swarm
Turn 2 ramp doesn’t work for this deck, much preferring a creature in that spot. Entish Restoration is going to pay Turn 4 or Turn 5 dividends because we’re quite likely to have the requisite four-power on the battlefield—although if it’s a Treefolk, why not four toughness instead? Also, “Look, The Kaiser!” (sneaks a Delighted Halfling into the list as well). “No? Sorry, my mistake.”
Into: Yidris Rotisserie Draft
Stay in school, eat your vegetables, be kind to people, and play your damn Fogs. There are even a few Elves in the deck. It’s not a requirement; I just want the team to be able to swing for the crackbacks.
Into: Purple Hippos and Maro Sorcerers
I get shudders every time I hear the card name because I can hear John Rhys-Davies’s voice saying it in Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King (2003). On top of that, it’s a big, very Timmy card. My current version of the Phelddagrif deck is about drawing cards, so Last March of the Ents fits the bill. With a number of Maro Sorcerers, we’ll also have some pretty extreme powers and toughnesses—or just kill people via Psychosis Crawler.
Into: Animar Next 99
Legolas is a great Ring-bearer since he’s tough to block once the skulk ability is online. He’ll keep getting larger due to the healthy number of legendary creatures in the deck and offer us the benefit of card draw from swinging in, often because Animar is what will really need to be blocked.
Into: Maarika, the Most Brutal
One last bit of retooling for the Maarika deck should make it a little more deadly. I look forward to creating the smorgasbord of Foods, which will start killing people via Nadier’s Nightblade and its cousins.
Multicolor
Into: Karador Next 99
Our favorite couple gets on with the deck’s theme of counters, then adds some lifegain. That’s a winner in my book. Plus, I never get tired of seeing that very powerful image.
Into: Jenara Proliferate
Going over this card, my internal voice kept saying “Goldberry in a Bant deck, one time!” I was rewarded and can’t wait to slide around all those different kinds of counters.
Into: Ruhan Next 99
The purpose of Bilbo being in the deck is to get the temptation count up. Eventually, we’d like Ruhan to carry the Ring because, well, there’s no great reason, just that it’d be cool. The deck is more aggressive than its You Did This to Yourself counterpart, more fitting to Ruhan himself.
Into: Lavinia Blinks
This Boromir’s ability to sculpt our hand some will get us to the deck’s jankiest cards, like Portcullis or Preston, the Vanisher. Or Strionic Resonator, which I’ve recently had an alter done for. Can’t wait until you see it.
Into: Ikra and Sakashima
Cirdan seems full of shenanigans and Ikra and Sakashima is my most shenanigans-laden deck. Nothing else plays Endless Whispers. I can’t understate how much I love this card and really do want to play it all the time.
Into: Animar’s Swarm
The deck has been in need of some rework because the creature count has crept over 50. Even for someone who loves creatures, we’ve passed the knee in the curve. I like having possibilities but may have diluted the pool a little too much. Doors of Durin gives us a free attack creature, which isn’t going to hurt my feelings at all. I don’t even care about the Dwarf/Elf thing.
Into: Zegana and a Dice Bag
There isn’t any scrying in the deck; Elrond is here to draw cards when Commander RC compatriot Scott inevitably activates Maze of Ith. It’s there for all the targeting, but mostly Maze of Ith.
Into: Roalesk Proliferate
The voting cards are most excellent here. I was initially medium on the second ability until I reread it, seeing that the whole team gets the bonus. I’ll without a doubt take it.
Into: Haktos with Gavin Verhey
Right before COVID closed down the world, Gavin Verhey was visiting. We decided to build a deck together, with Haktos being the result. Yes, Éowyn is a Knight, but we don’t have to default to a theme deck just because of a creature type. Her ability to exile something for good slots into this more aggressive deck, giving Haktos a much better chance of connection on the turn Éowyn enters the battlefield.
Into: Dreaming of Intet
The deck likes copying big spells like Crackle Power and it’ll also be happy to copy Cultivate. The other abilities are useful enough, but it’s the copying that has me jazzed about the grey version of Gandalf.
Into: Animar’s Swarm
Focus, focus, focus on the creatures that we most want to cast with Animar and then use the other spell slots to help find them. I’m not going to reduce it to a combo deck or anything, and going wide will still be a strong option right alongside those commander damage kills.
Into: Satoru’s Shadow Ninjas
A creature that can’t be blocked is solid in a Ninja deck, although I almost miss the days when we had to sometimes play questionable cards to get the effects we wanted. Grima is good on his own, and I’d play him in nearly any color-appropriate deck. Here, where he adds extra value, he becomes a no-brainer.
Into: The Altar of Thraximundar
Generate some Wraiths with which we can either attack or sacrifice for value, then we’re on for that big finish. It’s an on-battlefield trick, and it’s one they’ll have to do something about before getting completely faced. Is it enough to make me want to take out Sneak Attack? (Fred Willard voice) I don’t think so!
Into: Karazikar Goad is GOAT
If we can’t directly goad you, we’ll do something equally nasty courtesy of Lidless Gaze. At the worst, we can just leave the cards exiled, which we’ll want to do in the case of combo pieces or other things the opponents’ decks center around.
Into: Oldest Stickfingers
One of my most favorite recent decks, Old Stickfingers, finally gets a card! I didn’t want to just jam in something, but one that makes sense. In addition to also being old, Old Man Willow helps Old Stickfingers by upping the graveyard count.
Into: Sefris Dungeons Upgraded Precon
I’ll swap out one of the other ten upgrade cards in order to get Pippin into the mix. There are numerous circumstances under which he’s going to keep something from getting blocked, which is full of upside for us. It doesn’t have to be anything related to the dungeon; it can just be to block something huge or counter targeted removal.
Into: Prossh (Was Karrthus Next 99)
Note that we can return any permanent, and also note that we had to have sacrificed a creature in order to do so. We’re not limited to returning what we sacrificed. I just had to put Rise of the Witch-king into a deck with Sepulchral Primordial in it for the occasional very wild result.
While the best lands still have mana abilities, like Cabal Coffers and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Sharkey means that fellow RC member Jim LaPage will never hurt anyone with Shivan Gorge on my watch.
Into: Haktos with Gavin Verhey
Leaning into the aggression, we’ll be happy to have Shadowfax put cards like Angel of Jubilation, Balefire Liege, or Boros Reckoner onto the battlefield. It’s not complicated, but it’s effective.
Into: Mimeoplasm Millmeoplasm
Helpful Sméagol helps big Ooze mill people out, he does. My favorite scenario with the deck is killing everyone in a different fashion—one by (commander) damage, one by mill, one in some other way that I’ve cribbed by copying their own creature(s). It’s another deck that I probably want to tighten up a little instead of just vomiting out options.
Into: Isshin Triggers Me
While goading everything keeps the damage headed towards other players, it also opens the pathway for Isshin’s creatures to double up on those attack triggers and get in some serious damage.
Into: Kaalia’s Demons
In addition to its built-in ability, Kaalia of the Vast offers a second alternate way to get the Balrog out onto the bridge. It won’t take too many Treasures to get the Balrog onto the battlefield very early and start bashing. Then, if someone kills it, we get to blow up an artifact or a creature. Winning all around.
Into: Rith’s Soldiers
Double strike is deadly. Double strike and six mana with a Rith, the Awakener that’s going to get through means making a bazillion Saprolings. If we’re fortunate enough to have Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun on the battlefield, we might be able to tap it for enough mana to give the team an extra +3/+3 once or twice via Kamahl, Fist of Krosa.
Artifact and Land
Into: Isshin Triggers Me
The Horn is a bargain-basement deal at only two mana. We’re going to put our fair share of creatures into hand off it, and an unfair share with Isshin, Two Heavens as One on the battlefield. The deck has 34 creatures, counting the commander, so whiffs will be few.
Into: Isshin Triggers Me
The hits keep coming for Isshin, and in this case, it really is a hit. It’s a little spendy to equip because there are no Elves in the deck, but considering the damage it will do, paying five is a small inconvenience. It might have been more efficient to put the card into a deck which has Halvar, God of Battle or something similar, but I simply couldn’t resist the double triggers.
Into: Ruhan Next 99
Aggro decks sometimes have trouble drawing cards, so Minas Tirith becomes part of a bigger effort to keep our hand as full as possible. We’ll use it to have enough action in our hand to keep up the pressure, battling with Ruhan (since we pretty much have to) and something else to open Minas Tirith’s libraries.
Into: Karazikar Goad is GOAT
The decision tree here was simply, which commander do I really want most to protect? It came down to one that’s more expensive than average and that we don’t care to have to recast. Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant fits the bill. The deck is also thick with legendary creatures, so Mithril Coat is strongly likely to find a target when we flash it in.
Into: Kresh Into the Red Zone
Although getting ourselves out of a tricky spot is always nice to have a battlefield sweeper online for, the play here is to have a battlefield full of creatures, one of which is Kresh, the Bloodbraided. When Kresh is one of the two creatures we keep, it’ll trigger for all the rest of the things that went away, becoming monumentally huge and lethal.
Into: Oldest Stickfingers
More games-within-the-game. The Palantir of Orthanc sitting in the Old Stickfingers decks is going to pay full time benefits. Milling, which buffs up Stickfingers, and drawing a card are both excellent outcomes. Plus, every time we activate it, we get to quote the line, they are not accounted for, all the lost Seeing-Stones! We can also call it Palantir of Orthanc Manipulator.
Into: Jund Myths and Legends
Shire Terrace is just a straight-up replacement for Terramorphic Expanse as far as I’m concerned. Nothing tricky about it at all.
Into: Zombies of Tresserhorn
The Zombie deck plays Patriarch’s Bidding, which means we really don’t want other people to have graveyards. Stone of Erech takes out the Bidding-relevant cards and then can nuke another’s completely should they try some noncreature recursion. I considered putting the card into Glissa, the Traitor instead so that we could recur it and get the card draw, but there are enough redundancies for that in the deck already.
Into: Kresh Into the Red Zone
Sometimes, we just need Kresh to get through for a single hit. We can open The Black Gate and find mission accomplished.
Into: Trostani’s Angels
The lifegain from the deck is more than enough and then some to mitigate any amount of life loss we’re going to get from The One Ring. Big card draw, here we come.
That’s 74 cards, easily the most I’ve ever put into the Deck Suite from a single set—and that was even skipping over any card I was on the fence about, as well as the stuff I know I’m going to use for building new decks. It’s fitting. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander are epic sets. The Deck Suite merits an epic level update. It looks like we got everything that we wanted.
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