Decks & lists

Chief of the Wilds

Bilbo, Luckwearer // Burglar's Plot

Chief of the Wilds

The whole deck is built around putting +1/+1 counters on your creatures, making a board that can go wide and/or tall, and making holes in your opponents defenses. There are a handful of cards with ferocious and similar effect that gain to benefit from casting big creatures and spells. By using fight/bite spells and giving your creatures menace, you can control the board in a way that leaves opening to be exploited. Additionally, there are a few options to make creatures unblockable. Cards like Seismic Tutelage result in game ending threats quickly (basically turning any of your creatures into a hydra in a turn or two). While other cards like Primal Vigor and Garruk's Uprising help overwhelm opponents with a wide but low board. I originally built the deck around The Chief Warg and it can be subbed in as an alternative commander if you want a more draw heavy deck. I set myself ~$100 budget and originally limited myself to LotR, Hobbit, and Foundations. After which I filled holes and padded using the rest of magic's library, including some cards I would love to see reprinted. If I were to make any more changes, it would be to the mana base. Ditch some of the basics and replace them with better lands, but I couldn't in good faith put a bunch of $10+ lands into this.

Bard, Heir of Girion

Rally the citizens of Lake-town and turn the tide of battle with Defenders of Esgaroth! Led by Bard, Heir of Girion, this Blue-White Commander deck converts tactical card draw directly into a formidable battlefield presence. Harness the new 'Recruit' mechanic to summon a relentless swarm of town guards to defend your life total until your "draw-two" engines and hand total become the biggest threats in the game. Outmaneuver your rivals with endless card advantage, shield your token army with classic protection spells, and command a desperate defense that escalates into an overwhelming, legendary triumph!

Gollum, Riddle Master

It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills. It comes out first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.

Gollum, Riddle Master

Gollum, Riddle Master

The Great Goblin

Chief of the Wilds

This deck is about making loads of wolfs and beefing them up to swing at your opponents!

Thorin, King of Durin's Folk

Gandalf, Party Guest

Dwalin, Weaponmaster

Gollum, Riddle Master

That which is unseen, that ends life and kills laughter

Chief of the Wilds

I constructed this deck with multiple things in mind - clear theme, beginner friendly gameplay, and concept. My intention was to keep this deck at around the $100 price point as much as possible, while also letting the deck achieve it’s main objective - drop wolves, buff them, and let them “run wild” all over the place. It has a decent amount of ramp, removal, and anthem to help the deck tell its story over a good 10-12 turn game. The question is this, Team Tolarian: “Will you let the wolf inside you run wild?”

Thranduil, the Elvenking

Dwalin, Weaponmaster

Dwarven Equipment typal, make sure everyone is well equipped and recover lost arms.

Bilbo, Thief in the Night

This is a mono-blue deck focused around milling artifacts, instants, and sorcery cards to play at a lesser cost with the help of Bilbo, Thief in the Night alongside other rogue creatures.

The Queen of Dale

Tried my best to make a deck that could work with in-universe flavour, made a little hard by the fact that I haven’t read the books. The focus of the deck is to slowly recruit an army of human soldiers, weather through dark times, and eventually charge forward with tenacity and various wide buffs to show the other four armies the power of the Kingdom of Men. It is mainly built around The Queen of Dale being the commander, but Bilbo, Unexpected Adventurer can be used as a sub commander for a recursion theme. A couple cards were put in to give a few ‘reprints’ for cards that might not get one outside of The Hobbit while trying to stay within a $150 budget.

Smaug the Magnificent

Treasures and dragons :)

Bard, King of Dale

This deck is an unconventional Azorius Combo / Self-Mill / Tribal Mill build, whose main goal is to use Hare Apparent to generate a massive number of tokens, then convert them into Advisors and end the game by milling all opponents’ libraries. The strategy begins with self-mill. Cards such as Mesmeric Orb, Hedron Crab, Millikin, Deranged Assistant, Faithful Mending, Ledger Shredder, and Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy allow you to quickly fill your own graveyard. Losing cards from your library isn’t a problem, quite the opposite, in fact, because Hare Apparents in the graveyard become fuel for the explosion to come. Once there are enough creatures in the graveyard, the deck utilizes mass recursion effects, primarily Raise the Past, Rally the Ancestors, and Ascend from Avernus. Bringing back multiple Hare Apparents at once triggers an avalanche of Rabbit tokens, allowing you to create a massive army of tokens in an instant from a seemingly empty battlefield. Another piece of the puzzle is Arcane Adaptation, Leyline of Transformation, and Maskwood Nexus. Thanks to these, Rabbits gain the Advisor type, allowing them to be used in conjunction with Persistent Petitioners. As a result, the vast number of tokens created earlier ceases to be merely an army it becomes fuel for activating Petitioners and grinding down opponents’ libraries. The deck also features additional tools for utilizing creatures and the graveyard. Altar of Dementia allows you to turn Rabbits into additional mill, and recursion enables you to reuse key creatures multiple times. Thanks to this, the deck can cycle through the following sequence: Self-mill → Hare Apparent in the graveyard → mass recursion → a huge number of Rabbits → Advisors → Persistent Petitioners → milling opponents. The most important thing is that the deck doesn’t have to win through combat. The massive horde of Rabbits is primarily a resource needed to power the mill engine. Opponents can have a huge advantage on the battlefield and still lose if the deck manages to pull off a single large recursion and accumulate enough Advisors.

Bard, Heir of Girion

Bard, King of Dale

Share in the prosperity of Dale, rebuilt after the desolation of Smaug and thriving once again. King Bard doubles not only your extra card draw, but also all your tokens, making the new Hobbit Recruit mechanic an exceptional fit for this deck. Under Bard's leadership, swiftly recruit and draw your way into a massive board of humans and overwhelm your foes! | Enlist the help of feathered friends with Bard's ability to speak to birds to empower your armies as well! From extra card draw to buffs and massive evasive damage, this selection of aerial compatriots will help pave the way to victory. | If the King of Dale is too slow for your tastes, you may opt to take a more aggressive approach and use Bard, Heir of Girion instead. This bard will enable the deck's sub-theme of 'second draw' with more reliable triggers every combat. | Notable reprints include: Raise the Palisade, Moonshaker Cavalry, Queen of Dale, Flowering of the White Tree, and Clever Concealment. Clever Concealment and Moonshaker Cavalry could both benefit from LotR-styled artwork, perhaps Bilbo hiding from Smaug and the Army of the Dead, respectively. | With the assumption that this deck would be a precon, several notable utility cards were purposefully omitted, with the express purpose of allowing the player to focus the deck around whichever strategy they enjoy best while also keeping the deck simple, functional, and as close to the theme as possible (which is why I did not include cards like Skullclamp, Annointed Procession, Gleaming Splendor, Chivalric Alliance, Watcher in the Water, etc).

Gandalf, Party Guest

Smaug the Impenetrable

A group of adventurers hear a tale of a mountain filled with treasure. What awaits them instead is Smaug, a dragon hibernating in his hoard. When Smaug awakens, he punishes the plunderers with dragonfire, then takes to the skies to remind the world of his terror. Play small outlaws to generate Treasure, then use that Treasure to ramp into Smaug. Cards like The Sackville-Bagginses and Hedron Detonator help whittle down your opponent's life totals, while the Fight spells help generate more Treasure by abusing Smaug's Indestructible. Wincons include Crackle With Power, Revel in Riches, Murkwood Bats (and similar effects), and Smaug himself. Wanted to include The Last Agni Kai but it would need a Universe Within reprint.

The Great Goblin

This Hobbit Rakdos Precon turns the encounter with the armies of Goblin Town into a ruthless value engine, growing your creatures with counters, pinging opponents, and sacrificing The Great Goblins loyal subjects to gain advantages and win the game. I kept the overall price of the deck decently priced for a precon that shouldn't be no more than $50 MSRP and added some cards I'd like to see added to precons like legendary lands and surveil lands and cards from other precons and sets that dont have alot of printings.

The Notary Hobbits

Smaug, Wicked Worm

Tom, Bert, and William

Gandalf, Party Guest

Wizard kindred to play big spells for free with commander

Smaug the Magnificent

Hobbit Precon - [[Smaug the Magnificent]] Mono-Red Dragons and Treasures. This deck aims to generate a large amount of Treasure tokens, strengthening Smaug's attack trigger to remove key threats and burn down opponents, while also leaning into the Dragon creature type as a subtheme. It features Dragon cards that either generate or benefit from Treasures, such as [[Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge]] and [[Goldspan Dragon]]; cards that generate Treasure tokens and synergize with Treasure like [[Xorn]] and [[Alchemist's Talent]]; and cards that synergize with Dragons like [[Desolation of Smaug]] and [[Dragon Tempest]]. [[Hellkite Tyrant]] serves as a thematic alternative win condition. Cards from sets not in the Middle Earth setting would be given updated art and potentially given Flavor Names, as is often done for UB precons, such as [[Tome of Legends]] to "Bilbo's Book". Total card value is kept at roughly the $150 range including the Commander, and the deck aims to be at the Bracket 2 Precon level, with no Gamechangers or infinite combos.

Bard, King of Dale

A commander deck comprised of only Universes Beyond The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings sets and commander cards. Using Bard, King of Dale as the commander, crafted with both lore and functionality in mind, this deck plays like most recent pre-cons with some awesome synergy utilizing card draw and token production to give you massive card advantage to overwhelm your opponents. So take up arms Lake-town, stand in bravery against our enemies, for today we make our Last Stand!

Smaug, Wicked Worm

I believe Smaug is a fair commander precon that can get out of control with the right upgrades. This deck is about the greed for gold and the power/demise that comes with it. Also precons should have: - A least 1 good land: Luxury Suit - Value cards: 6 cards > 5 dollars - Possibilty for fun ending: Blast-Furnance H. and Deep Shaker Titan - Weird 2nd Commander: The Balrog -Politics: Curse of Opulence

Bard, King of Dale

This precon is based around the recruit mechanic (draw and human tokens) by going wide. I tried to stick with only Middle-earth and in-universe sets. Bard felt like a worthy precon face commander, especially with all of the cool "when you draw your second card" creatures from the Hobbit/LotR sets. I have a small splash of bird creatures to get a bit of flying in the deck, but the main strategy is drawing your deck and winning with card advantage and your wide field of tokens.

Smaug, Wicked Worm

This deck is very simple, you make a lot of treasures and try to use them to kill your opponents. I figured that if they made precons they absolutely would have to make one based on Smaug and I love the theme of possibly killing yourself by losing too much life for value. I tried to keep it around precon singles prices for universes beyond decks. Whether this wins or not ill be trying it out with my local play group (putting some more money into the land base of course, or proxies)

The Great Goblin

I like goblins and burn...mostly burn

Bard, King of Dale

A commander deck comprised of only Universes Beyond The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings sets and commander cards. Using Bard, King of Dale as the commander, crafted with both lore and functionality in mind, this deck plays like most recent pre cons with some awesome synergy utilizing card draw and token production to give you massive card advantage to overwhelm your opponents. So take up arms Lake-town, stand in bravery against our enemies, for today we make our Last Stand!

Bard, King of Dale

A commander deck comprised of only Universes Beyond The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings sets and commander cards. Using Bard, King of Dale as the commander, crafted with both lore and functionality in mind, this deck plays like most recent pre-cons with some awesome synergy utilizing card draw and token production to give you massive card advantage to overwhelm your opponents. So take up arms Lake-town, stand in bravery against our enemies, for today we make our Last Stand!

The Sackville-Bagginses

The Sackville-Baggins Estate Sale Theme: Treasures, Food, trinkets, sacrifice, and the auction/liquidation of Bilbo's possessions Bracket 2

Tom, Bert, and William

A deck for eating foods(creatures) and drawing cards. Provides large creatures to beat your opponents while keeping you healthy with (tasty?) treats.

Galion, Elvenking's Butler

Galion, Elvenking's Butler will make sure your court is victorious.

Chief of the Wilds

Ramp up, wolf up and let the menacing Chief let lose. There is a "two wolfs in you" joke in the deck but i'm not that smart to find it. -TCC Deckbuilding contest entry. By Pablo Prado from santiago, Chile.

Bard, King of Dale

Draw second card each turn and reward yourself with tokens. Once Bard, King of Dale arrives on the battlefield, you draw and create tokens even more!

Radagast of Rhosgobel

Pilot this commander deck with either Radagast or Beorn the Fierce. Cost reducers and ramp to cast big creatures ahead of your opponents and secure victory in true green fashion! I really love the bears in this set!

Glissa, the Traitor

Gollum, Riddle Master

"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?" Answer: Your opponents trying to figure out how to cast spells without giving you free cards. This deck turns Commander night into Gollum’s treacherous game of riddles. Drop Gollum early, make your opponents guess between Odd and Even, and tax their favorite mana curves. When Gollum runs out of answers, don't pay Commander Tax—just kill him, flicker him, or throw him in the dark, only for him to crawl right back out fresh, reset, and demanding another answer.

Bard, King of Dale

Reclaiming Dale is a Humans and Soldiers deck built around Bard, King of Dale’s ability to double both card draw and token production. The deck uses Recruit, “draw your second card” payoffs, and steady token generation to rebuild Dale’s army and overwhelm opponents through combat. Bard, Heir of Girion is a second, optional commander for this deck. This option offers a more "aggro" playstyle than the value engine you get from Bard, King of Dale. Both are very viable and fun options for this deck that pay tribute to the legendary novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.

The Great Goblin

Bilbo, Thief in the Night

Gandalf, Party Guest

Gandalf and friends throw one helluva party.

Bilbo, Thief in the Night

This deck is intended to exhibit a multitude of aspects of the story in The Hobbit. With various characters he may have met such as Port Inspector and Elvenking's Harper as key includes in the deck. Many instants and sorceries represent key points in the story such as Bilbo's Surge of Brilliance with the riddle and the Moment of Truth when taking down Smaug with the black arrow. Multiple objects of note also appear in the list such as the Tome of Legends Bilbo wrote about his adventures and the Mystic Forge of the Dwarves. The land base has Smaug's Treasure Vault and Secret Passage to represent Bilbo's escape from the lonely mountain. My intention was that I could think of a passage from the book as flavor text for each and every include, while preserving a burglar-themed play style.