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Artifacts and Lands | Enchantments | Instants and Sorceries| Legendary Creatures | Non-legendary Creatures | The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Reviews

Who Will Be The True Lord of the Rings?

Welcome to Too-Early Top 10, where we list the nonsense that's currently on top, despite the fact that we know it's going to change! (Did you know that Glóin, Dwarf Emissary is currently only helming six decks, despite being one of the best artifact commanders ever printed?)

No longer spoilers, leaks, or even pre-release cards, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is out there now, both the main set and the Commander decks. This begs the question, what are the best commanders from the set?

Top 10 LotR Legends

1. Boromir, Warden of the Tower
2. Peregrin Took
3. [REDACTED] (On actual list)
4. Witch-king of Angmar
5. Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
6. Rosie Cotton of South Lane
7. Samwise Gamgee
8. Gollum, Patient Plotter
9. [REDACTED] (On actual list)
10. [REDACTED] (On actual list)

Hang on, that can't be right. There's no doubt that Boromir, Warden of the Tower is getting some cEDH buzz, but that's for being an efficient Stax piece that can also protect your stuff, not for being at the helm of a deck. Where do we find the juicy stuff that actually has some decks made around it?

Oh right, that's my job.

Too-Early Top 10 LotR Commanders

Sorry, normally I don't do this kind of thing, and for good reason: You see, we know that the commanders that are on top right now from the new set, they're not going to be the commanders on top here in a few months. It's just too close to spoiler season, and the stuff that got spoiled first will have had more decks made, while the commanders with less colors will be left to the wayside for a while until they're either found to be better than they appeared on first read or they do something in 60-card constructed formats to popularize them. In other words, this is a wholly useless exercise... that I can't wait to get into.

Who cares how things are going to be in a couple of months? I want to know what people are excited about now, fresh off the presses!

Criteria: Commanders from either the main set or the Commander decks of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score, although in this case we are going by how many decks the commanders lead, rather than total inclusions.

10. King of the Oathbreakers

(Helms 201 Decks, Rank #1,371; 22 Inclusions, 0% of 29,173 Decks)

How would you like to be immortal? Well, we can't do that, but King of the Oathbreakers can do the next best thing: Let you play a deck where all your Spirits are immortal! Can dead things be immortal (I guess Vampires already covered this subject)? In any case, King of the Oathbreakers protects both itself and all of your other Spirits from targeted effects. You still have to worry about board wipes, sacrifice effects, and targeted removal originating from abilities rather than spells, but considering the King protects himself as a Spirit Noble, that first ability is still going to frustrate a bunch of tables. As for the second ability, players aren't stupid, and they're not going to target your things just to have their spells fizzle out and for you to get a free Spirit. With that in mind then, you're going to want to abuse some of the new phasing tech that's been slowly filtering into the format:

Top 10 Orzhov Phasing Effects

1. Teferi's Protection
2. Robe of Stars
3. Oubliette
4. Out of Time
5. Divine Smite
6. Ferris Wheel
7. ...

All right, so the well isn't so deep quite yet. While the right choice is always to include Teferi's Protection if you can afford it, Robe of Stars and Out of Time are really the only other slam dunk options here, as the rest are more designed as removal options. Even Out of Time is going to give you conniptions if you go wide, by the way. For those of you that haven't played it, it tends to come down as a three-mana board wipe and put ten-plus counters on itself, which is a lot longer than the average game of Commander lasts at any power level. In other words, playing King of the Oathbreakers as your Spirit lord is a great idea, just don't expect that second ability to be all that useful all that often.

9. Gandalf the Grey

(Helms 224 Decks, Rank #1,327; 180 Inclusions, 0% of 148,891 Decks)

You know how I mentioned that this list would have a lot of stuff that was on it just because it had been spoiled a while ago? Well, I'm not saying that Gandalf the Grey doesn't have a full smorgasbord of things that Storm decks want to do printed on him, but he was spoiled in March of this year, over three months ago. I myself dabbled in a brew trying to blink him repeatedly to get things going, but the bitter truth of it is that even with the Gandalf name, most folks are barely paying more attention to him than it takes to find out that five mana is a lot for a Storm commander that stops working halfway through your Storm turn. With the abundance of spellslinger commanders available that are much cheaper than Gandalf that are generally more reliable/less finicky, along with the other more exciting Gandalfs out there, I wouldn't bet on seeing a huge bump in the numbers here.

8. Frodo, Sauron's Bane

(Helms 208 Decks, Rank #1,361; 248 Inclusions, 0% of 160,391 Decks)

Frodo, Sauron's Bane was spoiled around the same time as Gandalf the Grey, but it took much longer for us to find out what Tempted by the Ring actually did. Even without reading the entirety of both sides of The Ring token, however, you already have a pretty good idea of what you're going to want to do with Frodo. In essence, he's a Voltron commander without the need for all those Auras and Equipments. Simply add mana and hold a fistful of protection and removal cards, and you should be threatening to kick people out of the game in no time at all. The things that are particularly notable for the deck, however, are those protection and removal spells that also get you to the end of The Ring token.

Top 10 Tempting Protection/Removal Cards

1. Boromir, Warden of the Tower
2. One Ring to Rule Them All
3. Claim the Precious
4. Ringwraiths
5. Samwise the Stouthearted
6. Sam's Desperate Rescue
7. Gollum's Bite
8. Slip On the Ring
9. The Black Breath
10. ...

Unfortunately, it seems that Wizards was also aware of just how good Tempt cards would be with Frodo, so most of these options either work at sorcery speed, make you start all over, or both. As it is, however, there are still some standouts: Boromir, Warden of the Tower will both make your opponents play fair and also give you a chance to react at instant speed. Claim the Precious might be sorcery speed, but it is straight-up removal that can get a blocker out of the way while you're upping your "target opponent loses the game" counter. And finally, Gollum's Bite is instant speed removal early that can tick things up for you as you're closing things out.

All in all, this one I would expect to see a bit more excitement than Gandalf. Frodo has the words "player loses the game" on it, and allows you to play control with your one-mana commander. That sort of thing is sure to continue to appeal to a lot of folks, before you even get around to the fact that Frodo, Sauron's Bane might just be the best Nine Nazgûl commander out there!

7. Saruman of Many Colors

(Helms 264 Decks, Rank #1,252; 43 Inclusions, 0% of 346,157 Decks)

As a seasoned Will Kenrith player, I should have a bit more faith in Saruman of Many Colors than I do. He's also a six mana commander that allows you to storm off with an additional card type besides your normal instants and sorceries, right? Well, sort of. Triggering on the second spell you cast each turn means that you're probably not going to win with Storm specifically in most cases, as you're going to want to take breaks to maximize your free spells. What this instead means is that you're going to be playing more of a control build littered with cantrips throughout to cast as your first spell, and then large impact instants to cast as your second spell. Alternatively, you could just play every Vedalken Orrery and go in deep on enchantments and sorceries as well, but if you're looking to cast a six mana commander and then only take advantage of his ability on your turn, you're probably playing too slow for the average table these days.

Which is unfortunate, because Esper Enchantress sounds awesome! So for those of us who are looking to press the issue and play Saruman of Many Colors despite him being kind of a middling commander for either spellslinger, enchantress, or both, there is still the option of enchantments you can play at flash speed...

Top 10 Esper Instant-Speed Enchantments

1. Dictate of Erebos
2. Necromancy
3. Dictate of Kruphix
4. Dress Down
5. Ophidian Eye
6. Omen of the Sea
7. Swift Reconfiguration
8. Eel Umbra
9. Benevolent Blessing
10. Dictate of Heliod

This list is by no means all-inclusive, there are a lot more playable options further down, but it does give you an idea of what an enchantment-based Saruman deck would probably be looking to do. You're still going to struggle with finding ramp in Esper that synergizes with your deck, but even playing a two-mana rock with Leyline of Anticipation during your opponent's upkeep will make your Counterspell or Lunar Force count as your second spell for the turn, so all is not lost.

6. Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

(Helms 403 Decks, Rank #1,057; 331 Inclusions, 0% of 284,562 Decks)

Throw good and bad out the window, Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant is delightful! Having the ability to go all-in on lifegain without having to worry about a win-con because you have one in the command zone is amazing, whether you decide to go with combo creatures, Craterhoof Behemoth, or Felidar Sovereign. Forget counting to 11 with Godo Helm, I want to count to 111 with Bilbo!

5. Lord of the Nazgûl

(Helms 633 Decks, Rank #853; 372 Inclusions, 0% of 678,555 Decks)

Okay, okay, the best Nine Nazgûl commander probably isn't Frodo, Sauron's Bane, it's probably the commander with Nazgûl in its name. Then again, why would you stack your deck with nine creatures that don't synergize with your commander's need to spell-sling? Lord of the Nazgûl looks like it's a full flavor package, but at the end of the day it's going to be a control deck that wants to throw as many spells as possible onto the stack so that it can untap and swing in for ludicrous amounts of damage. So maybe I should have stuck to my guns and had Frodo claim his true title as Lord of the Nazgûl, because this guy is going to morph into a much different build over time for a lot of folks.

4. Aragorn, the Uniter

(Helms 717 Decks, Rank #799; 178 Inclusions, 0% of 204,277 Decks)

There are a lot of people out there that don't like the "do a thing for each color" type of design, but I have to admit that it's my favorite. Combine that with my penchant for wanting to play multi-color spells, and it's no surprise that Aragorn, the Uniter is one of my favorite cards of the year.

Not to make a list out of a list, but I'm absolutely going to do just that by ticking down what the most popular card in each multicolor combination is and what additional effects casting it will do for you with an Aragorn in play:

Gruul: Rhythm of the Wild gets invited to the party, giving a creature +4/+4 and dealing three to your opponents face for seven extra damage, all before you even start throwing down hasty and/or large creatures that will do even more!

Boros: Boros Charm not only saves your team, it adds a 1/1 to the roster and punches your opponent in the face for even thinking about it! (Or just punches them in the face for seven to win the game.)

Izzet: Let's be honest, you'd be crazy to put Niv-Mizzet, Parun in a four-color deck. If you did stroll down the list to Expressive Iteration, however, then you'd get to Bolt your opponent before scrying 2, looking at the top three to put one into your hand, one on the bottom, and impulse drawing the last. That is a whole lot of card going on there.

Selesnya: Mirari's Wake is already enough of a beating in the late game, but boosting a creature +5/+5 and adding a 2/2 to the battlefield before you even start to tap lands for double the mana? Total game-changer.

Simic: Growth Spiral will guarantee that land drop with a scry 2 before you draw, then use the +4/+4 as an instant speed combat trick! Seriously, combat with an Aragorn on the table is going to be just impossible for opponents.

I could go on with the three-color options, but I think you get the idea. Aragorn might not look like the immediate problem, but he is absolutely a commander that you cannot let live in any deck casting multicolor spells, and that's before you even get into the various silly things you can do with creatures that can return themselves to hand on cast like Shrieking Drake and Whitemane Lion. What's that, there's an entire mechanic from Planeshift revolving around two-color creatures that return creatures to hand? I rest my case.

3. Sauron, the Dark Lord

(Helms 726 Decks, Rank #795; 212 Inclusions, 0% of 314,212 Decks)

If you already had trouble keeping Sauron and Saruman distinct, Wizards didn't do you any favors here by making yet another six-mana, three-color commander with a difficult ward condition and an ability that triggers on spells being cast.

Upon reminding myself of which is which, however, I must admit that I am more impressed by Sauron, the Dark Lord than I am with Saruman. Six mana to get a nigh unkillable 7/6 that will make a massive token that will wheel you every turn seems like a pretty great deal. Add in that its doubtful that you won't have some other Tempting shenanigans in your decklist to ensure that you always have a full grip and an even fuller graveyard, and it's not going to be difficult to find ways to win once you get to six mana.

2. Shelob, Child of Ungoliant

(Helms 863 Decks, Rank #724; 102 Inclusions, 0% of 27,015 Decks)

Outside of the Lord of the Rings fanboy inside of me that is doing backflips upon seeing Shelob depicted on a Magic card, what Shelob, Child of Ungoliant is doing to me most is reminding me of seeing Spiritmonger spoiled for the first time back in 2001. At that point, a five-mana 6/6 with any upside seemed nigh unthinkable, much less one that protected itself as well. Well, here we are in 2023 with a six-mana 8/8 that not only has deathtouch and Ward 2, but also gives it to your team. That by itself would have made it the best Spider commander ever printed, but there's a whole other paragraph that hits a flavor win out of the park by letting your Spiders use deathtouch to trade up for a Food! But wait, that's not all! Those Food tokens will keep the abilities of the dead creatures they represent, meaning it won't be long before we start seeing 1/2 Spider tokens fighting Dockside Extortionists to make hordes of Treasure!

This card could have stopped at any particular line of text and still been amazing, so it's not exactly shocking to see it here near the top of the list. In fact, in the long run I would actually predict that Shelob will be the most popular commander from this set, which is shocking to think about when you think about how many grand names are repeatedly in it. She's big, lethal, hard to kill, and most importantly, flexible. Sure, whatever build you make will have to include some Spiders or Spider-makers somewhere in it, but after that the sky is kind of the limit. The various Food tokens allow you to play an artifact deck, a lifegain deck, or a token deck, or you can rely on all of those various camps and the abilities of your opponents' creatures to play control. You can take all the deathtouch and combine it with fight abilities to keep your opponents boards empty to win through commander damage with your 8/8. The sky would be the limit, except you can't see it because you've just woken up in a cave, wrapped up in webs.

1. Tom Bombadil

(Helms 1,484 Decks, Rank #502; 16 Inclusions, 0% of 46,699 Decks)

If Shelob is going to take the number one spot, it's got a hill to climb to catch up with Tom Bombadil. As one of the most lamented characters to end up on the cutting room floor in the The Lord of the Rings movies, one of the only dedicated Saga commanders ever made, and the only one to be five-color, there are a ton of reasons to fall in love with Tom even before you see his creature type is "God Bard".

Even better, he instantly makes for an interesting build depending on how you read his text box. While most people's initial inclination will be to windmill slam every Saga they can find in all the colors of Magic into a deck, you'll note that his abilities only half-incentivize playing a lot of Sagas. While going 40 deep on the various enchantments that count up will more or less guarantee Tom has hexproof and indestructible, they make his second ability more of a crapshoot. That's all well and fine, Commander is built on variance, and Golos showed us that there's no shortage of players who enjoy spinning the wheel and seeing what comes up. If you're more into streamlined building, however, then there is an opportunity here with access to all five colors to instead play a lot of tutors and/or card draw that will let you get a specific set of Sagas out that should win you the game.

Playing just two Sagas in the deck; one that allows you to more easily cast Tom Bombadil, and another that has a crazy impactful ability, is another route you can go. For my money, the best combination of the two is Song of Freyalise and The World Spell. This allows you to play a ton of cheap creatures that can then tap for any color to play Tom Bombadil down early once you get your hands on Song of Freyalise, which then get bigger just as you lay down The World Spell to either find or outright play a haymaker that will end the game like Craterhoof Behemoth, Hullbreaker Horror, Vilis, Broker of Blood, or Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant. That may seem like a lot of hoops to jump through, but with all five colors of tutors, ramp, card draw, and interaction, it's actually a pretty doable build.

The question is, would you rather have a streamlined build that efficiently plays the same way every time, or a crapshoot that will deliver who knows what? I know I'm in the latter camp, but I think there's enough that like the former that you may see something like Song into Spell before long.

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Honorable Mentions

With 121 possible commanders in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, we've barely scratched the surface with our measly top ten. Keeping in mind, then, that all these numbers will change anyhow, why not take a look at every commander that's currently helming more than 100 decks?

11. Éowyn, Shieldmaiden - 200
12. Saruman, the White Hand - 184
13. Sméagol, Helpful Guide - 180
14. Sauron, Lord of the Rings - 163
15. Galadriel of Lothlórien - 159
16. Gandalf the White - 143
17. Fangorn, Tree Shepherd - 142
18. Galadriel, Elven-Queen - 125
19. The Balrog, Durin's Bane - 123
20. Legolas, Master Archer - 119
21. Aragorn, King of Gondor - 118

I said going in that this top ten was always going to end up being wrong, and looking at the other contenders currently climbing the ladder makes me even more sure about that. At the very least, commanders from the precons like Éowyn, Shieldmaiden, Sauron, Lord of the Rings, and Galadriel, Elven-Queen always end up near the top of lists, if for no other reason than a great way to get into Commander is to buy a precon and then start upgrading it. Even if you're building from scratch, however, it's hard not to see the appeal of Amass Orcs with Saruman, the White Hand, stealing your opponent's lands with Sméagol, Helpful Guide, scry matters with Galadriel of Lothlórien, mono-white artifacts anytime with Gandalf the White, not seeing the mana for the trees with Fangorn, Tree Shepherd, finding out what seven times three is with The Balrog, Durin's Bane, casting pump spells on your opponents creatures to kill them with Legolas, Master Archer, or doing essentially whatever you want with Aragorn, King of Gondor.

And I doubt it ends there. Rest assured, you'll see several of the other hundred legends not mentioned here across the table from you before long, too.