Now that Universes Beyond Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit is out everywhere, I put together five hidden gems players can add to Commander decks just in time for Second Breakfast.
Whenever a new Magic: The Gathering set launches, there are instant fan-favourites that take the tabletop by storm. We are talking massive fallout-inducing bombs, and in The Hobbit’s case, Smaug, The Magnificent, and cards like Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver rule the roost as highly sought Mythic rares that instantly take your commander deck to the next level. But considering how easy these cards are to spot (by price and instantly board-changing card effects), mentioning them as potential additions is redundant. Everyone considers the set’s top cards for commander, and everyone knows Smaug brings the heat (literally and figuratively) for treasure and artifact decks.
While this Universes Beyond set also has an extensive list of reprints, these cards are reprinted with new artwork from card designs featured in the first Universes Beyond The Lord of the Rings set, and I could probably list five cards just from those reprints and call it a day (yes, The One Ring is still incredibly viable in every deck).
But these cards are far from diamonds in the rough, and fans will have undoubtedly considered adding them to the 99 in their commander decks (like the reprints for Marvel Super Heroes). The following list is the cards that fit in the middle of all the big excitement: the reliable cards that have versatility and can buy you another play or two down the stretch of a particularly gruelling game.
This list is for the true Magic: The Gathering The Hobbit hidden gems. While The Arkenstone is an almost auto-add to any deck, it already costs a small fortune, and everyone knows about it. The same goes for Gleaming Splendor, The Queen of Dale, and Elrond, Moon-Weaver; these cards are instant bangers, and they are not hidden. What’s listed below are the true diamonds in the rough, cards that may have been overlooked when running for Elevenses.
The versatility provided by the following five The Hobbit cards, combined with their current low projected prices on marketplaces, makes them worth a look when constructing your next deck.
Thrór’s Map
After the Madness/Mayhem focus from Marvel’s Universes Beyond sets (Spider-Man and Super Heroes), Thrór’s Map is just another card that provides significant value to decks, especially those that lack land ramp and could use cheap card draw and card discard. For the same cost as Sylvan Scrying, you can deploy a permanent that does the same thing on ETB and gives you extra value in the stretch.
On top of being able to cheat out cards with a commander like the Grixis Green Goblin, you can also deploy Thrór’s Map in any artifact deck that is stunted in the land ramp department. If you don’t need the secondary effect, you can also use a card like Eviscerator’s Insight to sacrifice this map and grab two-card draw in the meantime. Lastly, in any Urza-helmed deck, the cheap artifact presence buffs the rest of your creatures just for existing, and in a pinch, you can get one card over your opponents for just two mana.
Great Fierce Bee
In any deck that revolves around creature sacrifice/death, the Great Fierce Bee adds a whole new level of consistency and allows you to play turns in advance, considering you know far more about “what’s next” than your opponent with a constantly triggering scry mechanic. But it goes even further than that.
In popular mill decks (like The Wise Mothman, and Teval, The Balanced Scale), the Great Fierce Bee can save you from milling a card you really need by letting you know what the top card of your deck is when a creature dies, you can then save the needed card by putting it on the bottom of your deck, or, you could mill a necessary card by knowing its there and simply leaving it for the next mill cycle. This can save cards like a back-pocket Toxic Deluge, or a Phage, The Untouchable from being tossed into the graveyard.
The Great Fierce Bee is an auto-add in mono-block decks that reward the player for creature death, which is nearly all of them. With Dictate of Erebos, this bee allows you to scry twice for a single creature death (considering two could die at once), and in Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER decks, for each creature death you can hurt opponents with damage and know what’s coming next with one creature hitting the graveyard.
Smaug’s Fury
This instant is a jack of all trades and provides serious value from The Hobbit set. In any Izzet deck that rewards spell-slinging, Smaug’s Fury could be considered an auto-addition, especially where Vivi Ornitier and Stella Lee, Wild Card are concerned; this allows both of those creatures to contend with flying threats on block, and first strike can guarantee you survive the encounter even against deathtouch.
In decks that promote aggressive strategies like Storm, Force of Nature, an unblocked attack can turn into a kill with commander damage by storming +3 numerous times, or by playing this instant in response to an opponent declaring no blockers. On the other hand, when an opponent is trying to do severe damage with a card like Archon of Cruelty, you can use this card as a low-value way to stop that threat and escort the Archon to the graveyard. Smaug’s Fury has an incredible amount of versatility from The Hobbit and can turn the tide in an instant.
Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills
This is basically Ghostly Prison -1. With the current influx of Legendary cards from The Hobbit (and other Universes Beyond sets), it’s pretty simple to achieve the ‘Enduring Story’ status, especially considering Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills himself is a legendary and counts towards the three required for the status to take effect.
Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills may be one of the best commander cards for The Hobbit, considering it can combo with ‘stacks’ effects like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, and Ghostly Prison/Propaganda. In mega-aggressive token decks, the Lord of the Iron Hills can stop a 50+ token charge by taxing the opponent trying to end you, and in the early game, paying one mana per attack can be a serious detriment to mana-starved opponents trying to make an impact. At the proper moment, Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills can suffocate an opponent, and he only costs two mana to do so.
Key To The Side Door
Key To The Side-Door is the best uncommon card in The Hobbit for Commander, and you don’t even need to regard the secondary effect. Considering Commander is a singleton format, and there aren’t any legendary cards in MTG that allow you to have “more than one” in a deck, the secondary effect on Key To The Side-Door is fundamentally useless.
However, the first effect is so strong, and this card is so cheap to cast, that it becomes a must-add in decks that go for the throat with commander damage, especially those that give two combat steps. Key To The Side-Door claims “Target creature can’t be blocked this turn,” which means you can easily win in one turn with cards like Balthier and Fran, or Karlach, Fury of Avernus.
Commanders and Creatures that require combat damage for their effects to trigger will absolutely love Key To The Side-Door, and Sneak and Ninjutsu effects are assured while the Key is in play. Considering commander damage is a popular win condition for many commanders, Key To The Side-Door should be just as popular.
That wraps up the Top 5 Hidden Gems from The Hobbit Universes Beyond set! Of course, this is not the entire list of viable cards from The Hobbit, just the ones I’ve already added to my decks with the release of The Hobbit. The Hobbit events are happening all week, so fans can head to the official WoTC website to check for any Second Breakfast (I guess that’s Brunch?) reservations near them.
