The Hobbit MTG Commander Guide: Our Favourite New Legends

Welcome to the first Arkhaven Commander Guide! Every major Magic release we'll be highlighting the cards that catch our eye, talking Commander decks, standout cards and everything in between!

Few Magic sets have generated as much excitement as Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Now Wizards of the Coast is returning to Tolkien's world with The Hobbit, bringing a whole new cast of legendary creatures and plenty of exciting Commander options.

The first journey to Middle Earth added a lot of powerful Commander cards and The Hobbit looks to be no different. We love Commander at Arkhaven, so it’s always exciting to see what future goodies are in store for your decks. With the pre-release done and dusted, we thought we'd highlight our top Commander picks!

With that said, let’s get right into it!

Bard, King of Dale – Double the Draw, Double the Tokens

It’s hard to argue with a card that doubles your value. Even harder to argue with one that has two instances of double. Now put that card in the Command Zone and you’re really cooking with gas.

Bard, King of Dale does exactly that, giving you additional cards on every draw after your first, as well as double the tokens! Pair him with token doublers like Mondrak, Glory Dominus or Exalted Sunborn and you’re bound to leave the table with a headache. If you love having your combo piece in the Command Zone, this might be one to look into!

And if tokens and cards aren’t your thing, oversized weapons are next on the agenda. 

Thorin, Mountain-King – Weaponized Equipment

This is one of those Commanders that you glance at but don’t read, then find yourself on the receiving end of a steamrolling. There are some extremely powerful equipments from throughout Magic’s history, and many strong Commander options to boot.

It’s hilarious to picture a massive collection of equipments on board all attaching to the one creature, bombing the best creature on an opponent’s board, before swinging in for absurd amounts of damage. Put in cards like Colossus Hammer and Blackblade Reforged, among many others, and your opponents will be in a world of hurt. Cards like Pain For All and Repercussion then let you hit opponents directly, pairing well with any number of additional burn spells at your disposal.

Bring on the equipment burn!

Thranduil, the Elvenking – Elves, Need I Say More?

Get your removal ready for this guy everyone, Elves have a new toy and it is one powerful addition. Elves are one of those notorious Tribes where they’ve been around so long there’s too many good ones. While people might still opt for classic Commanders like Lathril, Blade of the Elves and Eladamri, Korvecdal, Thranduil offers a fun new playstyle for the overwhelming Tribe.

For starters, you gain value from your Elf cards with activated abilities whether they’re on the battlefield or have been the target of a hasty removal spell and are sitting in your graveyard. You also gain value from running your legendary Elf staples with extra card draw. The only drawback is that Thranduil can only use one of the activated abilities before he’s tapped. Nobody would dare make copies of him…

At a base level, simple cards like Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid will already give you plenty of value, especially if you’ve got similar abilities to stack on top. Then you’ve got Tyvar, the Pummeler and his activated ability. The Hobbit is even full of new and exciting pointy-ears to complete your Thranduil deck. EDH players beware; Elves are more powerful than ever.

Our next pick is a big fan of Elf decks. Or should I say blowing them up…

Smaug the Magnificent – You Can Never Have Too Much Treasure

Smaug is one of the characters I’m sure everyone had on their wishlist of cool cards to build around. While Smaug the Magnificent is a great include for any of your gross The Ur-Dragon decks, there’s a lot to love about running him as your Commander. He’s not as expensive as many powerful dragon counterparts, he gives you a boost with treasure every turn, and he’s great at putting a stop to any opponents trying to build a board state.

Magic has no shortage of Treasure generators, and Smaug turns your treasure-hunting enterprises into hitting your opponent in the face with too much damage to process. I’d recommend any of the damage doublers or triplers Mono Red has to offer, but it’s simply not necessary. Chuck in The Reaver Cleaver, Ancient Copper Dragon and any other treasure generators and you’ll blast opponents away with one tap of your Commander. ‘Nuff said.

The Great Goblin – Move Aside Krenko

Speaking of blasting opponents away, The Great Goblin is here to Shock everyone to death just by PLAYING your Tribal deck. Krenko, Mob Boss can make you a horde of goblins on top of everything else you’re playing. Impact Tremors will ping your Commander pod as they all enter. Goblin Bombardment will let you sacrifice those goblins and continue the burn. This is already great stuff.

Then add Metallic Mimic. Suddenly every goblin is entering with counters, meaning triggers for every single one. Damage, damage, damage. Keep in mind this is before you factor in that The Great Goblin also triggers off Blight counters, as well as the Amass Orcs mechanic from the first Middle Earth set. The Hobbit even features cards with Amass Goblins, like Bothersome Noisemaker and Bolg of the North. In summary:

GOBLIN CHAOS!

Tom, Bert, and William – Everything Tastes Like Chicken

With our final pick, we’ve got the iconic troll trio. Putting big creatures into your graveyard is one of the trademarks of a Golgari deck. Having your Commander as your sacrifice outlet and card draw in one is a great way to fill your bin and make sure your hand is packed with the necessities. You’ve got great Aristocrat cards like Blood Artist and Pitiless Plunderer to give you value off your sacrifices. And with access to Chatterfang, Squirrel General, or any card that benefits from sacrificing and pinging opponents, like Forsaken Miner, you can ping your opponents constantly for the win.

Or lean fully into reanimator. Xu-Ifit, Osteoharmonist gives the creature you keep sacrificing back every turn. The Skullspore Nexus creates a fungus dinosaur creature equivalent to each creature you sacrifice. Then, pop Doctor Doom, Unrivaled and grab the win with an empty library! Plus, it takes two pieces of removal to get Tom, Bert, and William off the board. Unless they Exile it…

Conclusion

So there you have it! While I did skip a few, these are the Commanders that stood out most. What Commander are you building first? Let us know when you come by next, as we’d love to hear what caught your eye!

 We look forward to seeing what despicable decks The Hobbit adds to the Commander pool. I most certainly will be contributing to that…

We'll be stocking boosters, bundles and plenty more when The Hobbit is released, so keep an eye on our website or visit us in-store! Good luck, have fun, and may all your pulls be good ones!

Happy collecting!