Magic: The Gathering – Reviewing ‘Tales of Middle-Earth’ Commander Decks
Middle-earth is a land of mighty heroes and terrifying villains and now, for a small fee, you can add their power to your cardboard arsenal!
Tales of Middle-earth, one of the most highly anticipated Magic releases of all time, is finally out for sale. While most of the focus has been on the hunt for the coveted One Ring, the set is surprisingly powerful from a gameplay perspective. Since the prerelease last week several game-changing cards have started to make the rounds. Online deck-brewing sites are crawling with Hobbits and Ringwraiths. And, as with every set release, LTR was accompanied by a group of prebuilt commander decks.
I wrote up a review of the face commanders some time ago. Now that the decklist has been fully released we can look at how they might perform out of the box. While decks are rarely bangers unmodified a few of these don’t need MUCH help to be incredible. These are the faces that shaped the fate of Middle-earth; it makes sense they hold great power. Check out the decklists here.
Riders of Rohan
Representing the human forces of the last battle this deck is a surprisingly powerful human tribal deck. Humans are one of the most popular tribes in EDH and this deck can produce them with startling speed. Like the kingdom of their namesake the Riders of Rohan deck wants to play a high aggression and rewards you for attacking. There’s also a monarch subtheme and the secondary commander Aragorn can move blockers out of your way if you hold the monarchy. With just a few tweaks to add more creature production, extra combats, or even some Impact Tremors will take this deck from a five to a nine.
Food and Fellowship
Moving next to the shire we have a pair of partner commanders who want what anyone wants: to ignore the world’s troubles with some good food. As incredible as the food is this deck also punishes your opponent every time you eat. There are many cards in the deck that smack your enemy whenever you make or sacrifice a token or drain your opponents whenever you gain life. But as strong as Frodo and Sam are, the secondary commanders Pippin and Merry might be the better option. Merry invites soldiers to the party whenever you make food while Pippin can turn your food tokens into an Overrun effect. There’s nothing like a good meal, and no one makes food like a Hobbit.
Elven Council
So we’ve had knights, we’ve had food, but what about…politics? Galadriel, the most beautiful and influential of all the elves in Middle-earth, has called a council and you’re in charge. Whenever you have an elf enter the battlefield (the most straightforward ask in Magic), you can vote for either card draw or a more powerful Ring-bearer. The deck wants to make big elves that can’t be stopped and it allows you to vote multiple times, sometimes in secret, and gain various benefits every time you do. The deck needs some work to find its stride but it’s still plenty of fun out of the box.
The Hosts of Mordor
We’ve had three decks with heroic leaders and lovable characters and now it’s high time we get a villain in here! Sauron’s deck unleashes the hordes of Mordor and Isengard on your enemies, and the more you’re willing to sacrifice, the stronger your armies will become. This is easily the most straightforward, and perhaps the strongest, of the preconstructed decks and requires the least amount of work to make it succeed. In typical Grixis style everything comes at a cost but it’s more than worth it. Sauron stood against all the armies of Middle-earth for some time and there’s a reason for it.
Grab the decks for yourself here!
