The Hobbit is all set to be a magnificent follow-up to Tales of Middle-earth. It’s a gorgeous Standard-legal set with some really exciting cards to test out. Here are our top-selling The Hobbit cards so far – the spiciest, most powerful, and most in demand cards of the set.
HOT REPRINTS AND GORGEOUS TREATMENTS ARE OUR HOBBIT BEST SELLERS
We can’t talk about The Hobbit without talking about the brilliant showcase frames and reprints. While other cards have sold more in quantity, if you look at the dragon’s share of sales so far, these treasures are our most sought-after cards. Smaug the Magnificent’s showcase frame version is a sight straight from a storybook, while those who missed out on picking up the iconic One Ring the first time around in Tales of Middle-earth have been snapping up reprinted copies during pre-sale season. The other gem that’s caught the eye during pre-sale is the Mox Amber reprint with Dwarven Runes. It’s a gorgeous card for sure.
Rounding things out, we have Bilbo, Thief in the Night. The showcase version is again pre-ordering for quite a bit more than the standard frame, but the card itself is powerful and features the titular Hobbit protagonist of the set. We’ll cover more on the ins and outs of the card as we go through our Top 10 Best Sellers.
THE BEST SELLING HOBBIT CARDS OF THE WEEK SO FAR
Now, let’s look at the sheer number of cards ordered, and why you might want to jump on the bandwagon.
10. BEORN, THE FIERCE
Bears are an ever-popular creature type for Commander players, and that love can be seen in the affection shown towards Graham Stark’s Bear Force One deck. While Ayula, Queen Among Bears has thus far reigned supreme, the king might finally be here to take the crown. That said, Beorn is more of a finisher than a starter, so might just end up in the 99 instead. Two drop Commanders are just that good.
9. THE SACKVILLE-BAGGINSES
The Sackville-Bagginses is a pretty decent card for two mana. You can sacrifice a creature or artifact when it enters to draw a card and make a treasure, and when you sack a token, an opponent loses a life. Separately these aren’t that exciting, but together, they add up to an interesting two-drop for a treasures or artifacts deck. There’s a reason Nadier’s Nightblade tends to pop off and win games out of nowhere, and while these annoying Hobbit-in-laws aren’t quite in the same league as say, Vein Ripper, they can still delete a player in the right build.
8. THROUGH THE FOREST GATE
If you’re wanting a bunch of landfall triggers, then look no further than Through the Forest Gate, which should get you a solid six to eight triggers provided you run enough lands. That said, the average Commander player is not going to be running nearly enough, especially if they’re already tutoring them out of the deck earlier in the game with the likes of Three Visits and Cultivate.
Scapeshift this is not – and nor is it Reshape the Earth – so if you’re after specific lands, you might be better placed elsewhere. If you’re just after triggering landfall a bunch of times though? This is gonna be great.
7. THRANDUIL, THE ELVEN KING
I wrote about how cool Thranduil was last week, and suffice to say, this Sultai elf has brewers pretty intrigued. Is he better than Maralen? Or Lathril? Well, you best get testing to find out. For more on how to break Thranduil with cool synergies, head on over to our article.
6. SMAUG, THE MAGNIFICENT
It’s quite clear that everyone is going to want a piece of the other main character of The Hobbit, and Smaug does not disappoint. Though he comes in a few flavors, it’s Smaug the Magnificent that has garnered the most pre-orders so far. A hasty 4/3 Flying is a good top-end threat in some potential Standard formats, especially with a burn-based attack trigger. All things being equal, though, it’s Commander where this card will shine the most. Combining it with Ancient Copper Dragon, Old Gnawbone and other treasure makers will make for quite the calamity.
5. BILBO, THIEF IN THE NIGHT
Anyone remember Dreadhorde Arcanist? Well, that card is banned in Legacy. While the Zombie Wizard did let you cast spells for free, Bilbo is still a pretty great side-grade. It has built in cost reduction, and on attack, gives you the chance to cast instants, sorceries and even artifacts. That means recasting eggs and baubles and what have you, as well cards like Swords to Plowshares or Ancestral Recall. This might even be good enough for Vintage, right?
Even if you don’t play those formats, it’s a hell of a Cube card.
4. MY PRECIOUS
Equipped creature has hexproof and can’t be blocked is a hell of combo of text, and on a card that’s better to use than Whispersilk Cloak? No wonder it’s seeing a lot of interest. While the RW and UW equipment decks can’t make much use of this, you will be able to jam it in any deck playing black, which is still a lot of decks that want this effect. Getting a little card draw, as a treat? Love it.
3. ORCRIST, GOBLIN-CLEAVER
Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver is very much the answer to “how can white decks have explosive turns, like other colors?”. If you’re doing Soldiers, Clerics, Angels, Knights or Spirits, you have a scalable Reaver Cleaver here. It even works in multi-typal decks, and while I am most excited for it in white decks, it’s gonna be pretty insane for Goblins and other non-white creature types, too.
2. BELLADONNA TOOK
White decks are kinda getting hooked up this set, though. Our second most popular card right now is Belladonna Took. She cares about tokens entering under your control, and grants lifegain, card draw, and counters on your whole team. That’s quite the tempting offer and should make her strong enough for multiple formats. Dropping her and following up with Hop to It or Gleeful Demolition is quite the prospect in 1v1 Magic. Otherwise, I’m slamming this into Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.
1. BILBO’S GAMBIT
Our bestselling pre-sale card so far goes to Bilbo’s Gambit, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a Reprieve that trades off replacing itself with being stapled to a Silence. That’s a damned powerful spell, and one that is exciting for basically any format of Magic, whether 1v1 or multiplayer. It’s also one of those cards that you’re likely to need multiple copies of and likely to go up in price the more popular it gets, meaning it’s a speculative purchase, too.
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Those are our most in demand The Hobbit cards so far. What are you most excited about? Let us know on socials.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.