The Hobbit Commander Set Review

The Hobbit, the smash follow up to Tales of Middle-earth releases August 14, with prereleases running from August 7. It’s time to check out the set and separate the wheat from the chaff with our Commander Set Review. 

You can find other recent set reviews here:

• Marvel Super Heroes
• Secrets of Strixhaven
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Lorwyn Eclipsed
• Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar Jumpstart

Card Kingdom’s Set Reviews focus on the cards that bring the most value to your collection as a deckbuilder. If you notice something missing, chances are we’ve skipped over it because it’s just a bit niche, or doesn’t hold a candle to the other cards in the set. We want you to grab the strongest cards with the most potential. 

With that established, a quick foray to look at Dwarves before we get stuck in. 

DWARF SUPPORT

So, before we get into the set review proper, a quick aside to mention the sheer amount of Dwarf support in The Hobbit. If you want to brew a Dwarf deck, or simply add to an existing one, then you’re in luck. In a Dwarven vacuum, these cards are well worth a look – but otherwise, I can’t really recommend picking many of them up. The same is roughly true for many of the other narrower typal cards in the set (like Along the Crooked Way, for example), so if they’re not covered in this Set Review, it means they’re a little niche. 

For more on the revival of Dwarves in the set, Tom wrote about how they’re at the height of their powers.

HOBBIT SET REVIEW: WHITE

Kicking off our review proper is Belladonna Took, a boon to any token deck playing white. While the obvious shout-out here is Adeline, Resplendent Cathar (who seems to be holding fast as the ceiling of this strategy in mono-white), this Took can be taken and slotted into any number of decks that spam tokens onto the board. While creating three tokens is sometimes a big ask, you’re kinda fine with capping out at drawing a card for making two tokens – which unlocks a great deal more decks.

Next up, Bilbo’s Gambit gives a Silence effect stapled to a Reprieve. While not as powerful as either effect singularly, getting both parts of the effect on one card could make it seriously viable in cEDH. 

Gleaming Splendor, on the other hand, looks to be the two drop that’ll be more popular in Casual Commander. People are basically always drawing a second card every turn if they can, so getting multiple treasures a turn cycle on a two-mana card is fantastic. Oh, and keep in mind that it has an outlet for infinite mana stapled right to it. This’ll make it a damn popular little card. 

Kili the Resourceful is basically a Puresteel Paladin that could be your Commander, if you wanted. While I’d still take the Mirrodin Knight first, in most equipment decks I’d be more than happy to take Kili as well. A powerful new pickup for equipment builds. 

The Queen of Dale promises to be one of the more popular cards in the set thanks to that new riff on Connive, Recruit. Recruit has a higher ceiling than Connive in my opinion and should help white decks develop a board and sculpt a hand more than perhaps any white two drop has ever allowed before. 

Rounding out white’s rare and mythic cards is Roads Go Ever, Ever On. White two-drops in this set are kinda cracked, and though this one is arguably the least impressive of the lot, it’s still really quite good. It guarantees your next two land drops and eventually gives you a power boost to enable attack trigger stuff. Later in the game, it’s not entirely dead either, as that Plains boost could see you barreling in for a fair amount. 

For more on why we think white is feeling powerful right now, you can head over here. 

White’s Commons and Uncommons are very balanced around Limited, so few stand out for Commander as such. That said, The Mountain–king’s Return is the one we’re excited to try out, and there are decks that could utilize Eagle of the Great Shelf and Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills. 

HOBBIT SET REVIEW: BLUE

Bilbo, Thief in the Night is a handy two-drop for spellslinger decks. While he’ll function better alongside flashback and impulse draw, he’s still a strong engine regardless. Combine him with Rogue synergies like unblockable to really take advantage.

Elrond comes down early to give you card draw for activating abilities of your creatures, which is pretty sweet. Later in the game, he offers a compelling activated ability of his own: saving two of your creatures from removal or a wrath, or just to rebuy their enter-the-battlefield effects. While seven mana seems steep, he’s kinda built for Simic decks and running alongside mana dorks. 

Fateful Discovery is kinda cracked, right? “Whenever an artifact enters draw a card” is a hell of a line of text and makes this a slam dunk for basically any artifact deck – though those that make tokens are set to benefit the most. Whether your discovery is a swarm of Thopters or the packets of Doritos at the bottom of your bag, you’re happy to draw off of any of them. 

The Lord of the Eagles is intended as a sizeable threat for “flying men” decks to deploy in the mid game to command the board. Whether as a blocker to tussle with mid-range threats, or as a great tip of the spear to grant double strike or other buffs, this 8/8 bird is a really strong role-player.

Flickering lands in blue? It’s an interesting direction that I think is worth following. While we’re only seeing the source of this new design space now, the downstream effect might be even better – making Roll-Roll-Roll-Roll a speculative pickup for that reason alone. Let’s be real, though – it’s also three mana for four flickers. Great deal. 

Uncover the Moon-Letters is a hell of a draw engine, perhaps even better than Fateful Discovery in a good number of decks. Look at it like Greater Good but for noncreature spells, and you’ll start to realize how good it can be.

Wizard’s Staff is our doubler of the set, and it aims to double up your Wizard triggers. Beyond being a pretty ‘wizard’ equipment, it stands to boost the power of everything from Vivi Ornitier to Talrand, Sky Summoner. At Equip {3} it fails the “check” for being regularly equippable outside of equipment  decks, but  being five mana in total means it is actually a viable equipment to double any busted  Commander’s triggers. 

Blue’s Commons and Uncommons fare a little better than White’s, with both Bilbos being great early game drops, and Elven Raft-Steerer offering a landfall untap ability that can slot into some combos.

HOBBIT SET REVIEW: BLACK

Gollum, Riddle Master is a solid two-drop to roll-out in the early to mid-game. It stands a good chance of triggering all three times, provides a roadblock of a blocker, and replaces itself. It’s not the craziest card in the world, but it can be re-used easily from the graveyard.

Green-black Wolf decks are now more of a thing with HOB, and Head of the Hunt provides its best impression of Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. Having Flash makes this a lot more playable, as it can drop in to trade with something while leaving behind a 2/2 wolf token.

Inside Information might be one of the most fun big-mana payoffs in the set. It lets you case a bunch of cards from an opponent’s library ala Hedonist’s Trove or Villainous Wealth while being able to use your life total to pay  for them. It’s another welcome payoff for lifegain decks that allows them to have those big, tempo-switching turns. 

The Master of Lake-town is probably going to be played predominantly as a second Mindcrank in black decks that care about that sort of thing. If your gameplan for this is coming up short, he at least had deathtouch and draws a couple of cards when you trade him off. Good redundancy for combo decks. 

The Sackville-Bagginses are decent and give half of the popular Nadier’s Nightblade – the better half, the half that deletes opposing life totals. Cantripping when it enters  and enabling sacrifice synergies gives it a little more playability considering it can only suck the life out of one opponent at a time. 

Supper for Spiders is a lot cheaper than Thrilling Encore, that’s for sure. While it’s a slam dunk for Shelob decks and others that care about Food tokens, it’s still pretty good as a way to profit from board wipes, as it’ll give you a bunch of artifacts with good static abilities – provided that’s the kind of creature your opponents are running. 

Black’s Commons and Uncommons are pretty forgettable, but I do like Reverent Howl. An instant speed Night’s Whisper is great, especially when in a pinch it can allow you to buy an extra turn on the board with a surprise burst of life in an otherwise fatally-calculated combat step.

HOBBIT SET REVIEW: RED

Dain Ironfoot is a fabulous upgrade to the two mana Reyav, and though some decks will undoubtedly want both, I am quite sold on paying one extra mana to generate an equipment that allows me to benefit immediately from the double strike ability. It makes Dain at his floor a 3/4 double strike for three mana, which is pretty dang great. 

Desert Were-Worm isn’t a card I’d ordinarily be super high on, given we have more than enough extra combat effects already. That said, this one is a Dragon, which gives it many more homes than the average extra combat card of the set. Dragons can be tutored by Magda or Sarkhan’s Triumph, just sayin’. 

Desolation of Smaug is essentially a free Anger of the Gods when you’re playing a Dragon typal deck, which is… really good? Considering it can also fix your colors when you’re playing The Ur-Dragon, it feels like someone on the design team loves The Ur-Dragon. Ur-Dragon Changelings loves this one even more.  

Gandalf, Goblin’s Bane is an epic looking card – how does it hold up? Well, the Adventure gives you two extra cards to play with as long as you control a Wizard, which is a good start. When he’s in play, he grows temporarily and pings each opponent when you cast noncreature spells. I’d say that makes him a pretty decent three-drop all things considered.

Last Light of Durin’s Day is something you can plonk down early in your Dragon decks and enjoy a free tutor into play later in the game. It pushes you toward running more Mountains in the manabase (whether Basic or Non-Basic typed lands) which is only a good thing, as it moves people away from five-color piles. Obviously much better in decks with a base of Gruul, but still a cracking card, nonetheless. 

Smaug the Magnificent is a little on the smaller side for a headliner Dragon – at least on first impressions. When you consider how many Dragons in Magic have similar stats – and how having him be playable lower on the curve is necessary for such a big part of the story – it feels much more reasonable. A flying haste 4/3 that makes treasures and rewards hoarding treasures with burn damage. Smaug is undoubtedly better than he looks, and I am looking forward to playing him. 

Thorin, Mountain-king offers another payoff card for spamming Equipment on to the board. As much as the payoff for this is usually “you can equip them all and swing with a creature”, it’s nice to also have alternative payoffs, as sometimes you won’t have the mana or breathing space to necessarily “do the thing”. Thorin lets you sling a bunch of equipment onto your chosen champion, while also burning away a blocker. It’s a nice one-two punch. 

Red has two standout Uncommon and Common cards. Dwarven Mauler isn’t quite Fervent Champion but is nonetheless a stellar one-drop in a similar vein. Ragged Short Spear is a Thrill of Possibility on an Equipment, which further explores which flavors of this spell we have in red. Next stop, on a Planeswalker? 

HOBBIT SET REVIEW: GREEN

Beorn the Fierce is a heckuva contender for best Bears Commander. While the likes of Ayula will always be attractive at two mana, Beorn’s got hands. He buffs your board and grants things trample, and also gives you more cards. That’s a lot of value packed onto a five mana 6/6, which makes it a pretty great card.

Dancing from Dark to Dawn puts one of green’s strongest +1/+1 counter engines onto an enchantment – an enchantment that also spawns 2/2 Bear tokens when you hit Landfall. One of these effects is great (and indeed just the “make a 2/2” was at five mana back in Magic Origins!), and both combined makes for quite the win condition. This’ll buff your board like nobody’s business. 

The Notary Hobbits is essentially three Hobbits in a trenchcoat. Summoning them gives you three dorks that ostensibly tap for at least nine mana in total, provided they aren’t removed before you can untap (or they have Haste). If you’re in a deck already playing a bunch of Hobbits, this is an even more sizable burst of mana which you can use to crack into all of that Food you’ve been stockpiling – or, you know, cast big spells. 

Radagast of Rhosgobel is a nice side grade to Yeva, Nature’s Herald, exchanging multiple creature spells in a turn for discounting that spell by two generic mana instead. I happen to think that’s really good, and well worth losing the ability to put multiple creature spells into play on an opponent’s turn. 

Of the non-rares, we’re most keen on Woodland Weavemaster as another solid mana dork for Elf decks that do +1/+1 counters things, and Warg Tactics, which combines a one-shot protection effect with the ability to snipe down a Dragon, Angel, or other pesky flyer. 

HOBBIT SET REVIEW: MULTICOLOR, ARTIFACTS AND LANDS

On to the gold cards now, and Bard, King of Dale doubles up on doubling effects, because double the doubling is double the fun, right? Twice the pride, double the fall, in my mind – there’s no way you’re untapping with this thing in play if your opponents have anything to say about it. That aside, it’s an absurd Azorious card, and well worth the six mana investment. 

Chief Warg’s Company spawns a 2/2 wolf every upkeep you take, which is a great deal for three mana. It’s also a 5/3 trampler, which is great for the very Golgari-favored power-matters aspect of card draw. Another reason to consider GB Wolves, though RG Werewolves is still probably the better deck.

Dwalin, Weaponmaster is a sweet two-drop. The fact you get to double dip on hone counters means you get them on later equipment that join your board, too, which brings the card up quite a few notches on the potential scale. While I’m not convinced on this card in the command zone – because it incentivizes you to run worse cheaper equipment and lacks the power of other RW Equipment Commanders – it’s still phenomenal, and I’m likely going to have my mind changed when I see it across the battlefield. 

The Great Goblin gets a shout here because it’s such a huge pickup for Sauron decks and Goblin decks, of which there are plenty of different  builds that all synergise really well with this burn engine that lets you see more cards. A fantastic three-drop –  I can’t say more than that, to be fair.

Smaug, Wicked Worm is like Dockside Extortionist, if Dockside was five mana, a lot slower, but could also draw you cards. Given it’s a legendary creature that makes mana and helps you draw cards, it’s an obvious shoe-in as a new Commander option, as the meta in Bracket 3 and upwards does tend to push players to run this sort of do-all card. Either way, it’s a great include in existing Rakdos treasures decks, and Dragon decks. 

Thranduil, the Elvenking is a really strong new Elf Commander, and might well come for Maralen’s crown as the best option in Sultai. His card draw ability keeps you churning through your deck, with a handy outlet to throw powerful Elf cards in the yard for him to profit from. For more on the best ways to break Thranduil, check out our guide. 

Thranduil’s Company is a sweet extra land drop Elf for UG Elf decks. Sure, it asks you to have another Elf in play, but that’s pretty easy all things considered. The Landfall ability is a pretty powerful way to push damage through as you develop your board.

Tom, Bert, and William take the Duskmourn tech of coming back as a non-creature permanent and still offering the same textbox and run with it. A five-mana card that’s somewhat adjacent to Greater Good makes for quite the compelling Commander. Whether in the ‘zone or in the 99, I feel like this is the sleeper hit of the set.

Adversaries Thorin and Thranduil are the pick of the Uncommons, with Thorin’s board-shielding Ward trigger and Thranduil’s laundry list of Simic Elf value really wetting the whistle.

As for artifacts, this set has some real heaters. The Arkenstone is a far more attractive Vanquisher’s Banner that isn’t even restricted to a typal deck. It buffs your board and gives you another card on end step – while having a handy Adventure mode that fishes out a powerful legend from your library. It’s not The One Ring (which we’re thankful for!), but it’s still solid. 

Glamdring, Foe-hammer is kinda bonkers, really. For two to play and two to equip, you get to cost reduce all of your instants and sorceries by the power of the equipped creature. That’s already good enough without even considering the Adventure part of the card, which honestly feels more necessary to keep this in blue decks than anything else. That said, Gleam of Death is a perfectly good spell to cast, so I’m high on this card. Really high. 

My Precious isn’t quite The One Ring, but it is a very powerful equipment. If you’re in black, you get to essentially use an instant speed Skullclamp effect as an adventure, and then play a better Whispersilk Cloak, which doesn’t have that Shroud downside. A very powerful equipment, especially in black decks featuring damage triggers that can half your life total (or make you lose the game!).

Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver is a ritual for typal decks, which is awesome. You get to make a boat load of treasure tokens for developing your wide board, and in doing so, cement your advantage. It’s a boon for white decks in particular, but there’s really nothing stopping any deck in any color running this. 

Sting, Bilbo’s Sword might just be better than Blackblade Reforged in the average deck, you know. That Flash and auto equip is strong, and you’re looking at least four or five hone counters, which makes for a +5/+0 buff for two mana. It could well be much, much more though – I like those odds. 

As for Uncommon and Commons, the standout has to be The Black Arrow, which is perfect to annoy the insufferable Dragon players in your LGS. 

Rounding out our set review are two lands. The first is Elven Passage, which asks you to Behold an Elf – if you can, you get to turn this Evolving Wilds into a Prismatic Vista. That’s kinda nice, and though narrow in Commander, still makes for another good Fetchland option for Elf and Changeling decks.

We arrive, at last, at The Lonely Mountain, which basically makes a 2/2 Dwarf for {R} and tapping it in Equipment decks. That’s a really, really cheap 2/2, especially considering you might be running Sword of Feast and Famine or Pip-Boy 3000 to untap your lands. This gives an incidental 2/2 for just doing your gameplan, which can be fetched. Sweet!

END STEP

And so, our tale comes to a close, and Bilbo returns to the Shire. That’s The Hobbit Commander Set Review over with. Equipped with this knowledge, you can make like Bilbo and stop the Sackville-Bagginses from making off with your rightful plunder. Grab the best cards in the set, and enjoy.