With an army of orcs, goblins, wraiths, and monsters, the Hosts of Mordor is a powerful new addition toMagic: The Gathering’s Commander format. You’ve got two choices in commander, but with no offense to Saruman, you’ve gotta put Sauron at the head of your dark regiments.
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The Hosts of Mordor is an aggressive reanimator deck with reprinted cards like Reanimate and Living Death bringing your dead armies back again and again, but it also has powerful board-sweeping spells in Blasphemous Act and Decree of Pain. There are, however, several new cards specific to the Hosts of Mordor that should draw any Magic fan’s attention.
10Orcish Siegemaster
Besides bringing dead things back from the graveyard and blowing up the world, the Hosts of Mordor also likes to amass big armies of orcs to trample over an opponent’s board. Orcish Siegemaster helps those armies by giving them trample while also getting more powerful as you drop larger creatures later on.
Just consider how big Orcish Siegemaster gets as soon as Sauron, Lord of the Rings hits the field. That’s a 9/5 trampling orc on the swing for just three mana. And before then, it’s a 0/5 wall. That’s flexibility and value in a card that’ll fit neatly into both orc and goblin-themed Commander decks.
9Relic of Sauron
Yes, it’s a mana rock, but it’s a very good mana rock. The Relic of Sauron comes into play untapped, provides two mana in any of your commander’s colors, and if you don’t need the mana, you can draw and discard cards. That helps both your reanimator strategy by providing an easy way of ditching cards into your graveyard, but also just helps refill your hand in the late game.
Relic of Sauron will be an easy pick for all Grixis-colored Commander decks regardless of any Lord of the Rings theme.
8Grima, Sarumon’s Footman
Being unable to be blocked is already a very potent ability in Commander, but what sets Grima apart is how it allows you to look through your opponent’s library in search of instants and sorceries.
Playing a potential bombshell spell for free is great, and so is just being able to look through your opponent’s deck just to see what you’re up against. Knowledge is just as powerful as spells in Magic, and Grima helps you with both.
7In The Darkness Bind Them
Getting a bunch of menacing wraiths is already fairly strong, but the crescendo of this saga lets you temporarily steal a creature from each opponent, providing you with the perfect opportunity to strike. Combine those wraiths with Lord of the Nazgul to turn your army into a game-ending amount of power.
But even without that, don’t discount how often In the Darkness Bind will have The Ring tempt you. Being tempted both provides escalating benefits to yourself and prevents other players from receiving those benefits, which can be substantial.
6The Black Gate
Rogue’s Passage is a staple of many Commander decks just for being able to give your commander a clear path to an opponent’s life total. The Black Gate does the same thing, but it also provides black mana and gets your critter past your opponent’s defenses for less mana.
There’s not much of an argument to be made here other than it’s just a better Rogue’s Passage. However, Rogue’s Passage is already very strong, and now you have two. That should be good enough for everyone.
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5Corsairs of Umbar
A great Commander card is one that starts out innocuous but winds up being a potential killer. Corsairs of Umbar is precisely that sort of card. It arrives as a 3/3 for four mana, but what it lets you do later is amass an ever-growing army of orcs that can’t be blocked.
We already know thanks to Orcish Siegemaster that having lots of big dumb orcs is something the Hosts of Mordor loves, and Corsairs of Umbar makes sure there are both lots of big dumb orcs, but they get to rampage wherever they please.
Shelob is another card that becomes more dangerous over time, but it also provides exceptional utility even as it grows to become a larger threat.
Exiling opposing creatures shuts down any of your enemy’s reanimation plan (a very common strategy in Commander), and then Shelob provides you a choice: you’re able to either let that creature hit your opponent’s graveyard to make Shelob bigger and draw a card, or you can pay a little extra to play it for yourself. Either way, Shelob provides potent value.
3Too Greedily, Too Deep
The Hosts of Mordor has a lot of great board-sweeping effects, but the best of them is probably Too Greedily, Too Deep. Reanimate a big critter from any graveyard, and then it deals its power in damage to every other creature, likely leaving your chosen creature alone atop a heap of bodies.
We should emphasize that Too Greedily, Too Deep doesn’t specify which graveyard you reanimate from, so you can just as easily swipe a dead creature from your opponent’s graveyard to wipe the board with as you can your own.
2Subjugate the Hobbits
Blatant Thievery it ain’t, but Subjugate the Hobbits does seem likely to steal quite a few creatures. For some Commander decks, it might steal an entire army. But even if your opponents aren’t playing elves or knights or goblins, there are just a lot of creatures with a converted mana value of three or less, and Subjugate the Hobbits steals all of them.
1Sauron, Lord of the Rings
This is probably to be expected, but Sauron, Lord of the Rings has quite a lot going for him. First, you amass five orcs, which means you’re already getting 14 power for just eight mana. Second, you mill five cards and then return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield, potentially providing even more power. And third, whenever an opposing commander dies, The Ring tempts you. And who would make a better Ringbearer than good ol' Sauron?
Sauron is a big swing every time you play him, which makes it an exciting card and a great commander for the Hosts of Mordor.
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