Heirlooms of Erebor
deck Dwalin, Weaponmaster
Heirlooms of Erebor is a red-white Equipment deck built around Dwalin, Weaponmaster and The Hobbit’s new hone mechanic, but it approaches Equipment differently from a traditional Voltron deck.
Rather than piling every weapon onto one enormous commander, the Equipment themselves are intended to become the stars of the deck.
Whenever Dwalin enters or attacks, he places a hone counter on each Equipment you control. Every one of those counters permanently improves that weapon, giving its wielder an additional +1/+0. Over the course of the game, an otherwise unremarkable Bonesplitter, Explorer’s Scope, Dwarven Shortsword or even Well-Worn Spatula can slowly become one of the most dangerous objects on the battlefield.
The result is an armory that develops alongside the player.
A creature may carry a weapon for a few turns, fall in battle, and be replaced by another Dwarf who picks up the same blade — but the weapon keeps the hone counters Dwalin has accumulated on it. The creatures are the wielders; the Equipment are the permanents with history.
That idea is pushed further through several unusual counter interactions.
Resourceful Defense allows the counters from a destroyed permanent to be passed onto another permanent, meaning that the history invested into one weapon does not necessarily disappear when it is lost. A heavily honed blade can be destroyed only for its accumulated hone counters to be inherited by another weapon.
Nesting Grounds can move individual counters between permanents, while Volt Charge, Throne of Geth and Karn’s Bastion allow the armory to proliferate. Once several Equipment have been honed, a single proliferate effect can effectively sharpen the entire collection at once.
Gavel of the Righteous is an especially unusual interaction. Because it rewards its wielder for every counter placed on the Equipment, its hone counters contribute both their normal hone bonus and Gavel’s own counter-based bonus. Its native charge counters and Dwalin’s hone counters can then grow together through proliferate.
The deck also makes use of The Hobbit’s Storied mechanic as a secondary theme. Equipment are artifacts, Dwalin and many of the Dwarves are legendary permanents, and cards such as Forging the Tyrite Sword provide Sagas, so earning an enduring story happens naturally as the armory develops.
Once that story has been earned, cards such as Kíli the Resourceful, Óin the Brave and Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills gain additional utility. Most importantly, Bifur, Melodic Rider causes the triggered abilities of Dwarves to trigger an additional time. Since Dwalin is a Dwarf, one Dwalin attack can then hone the entire armory twice.
The strangest part of the deck comes from Bludgeon Brawl.
Bludgeon Brawl turns noncreature artifacts into Equipment, dramatically expanding what Dwalin considers part of his armory. Mana rocks, Treasure tokens, The Arkenstone, and even artifact lands such as Great Furnace, Ancient Den and Rustvale Bridge can suddenly be equipped to creatures.
And because they are now Equipment, Dwalin can hone them.
A Treasure token may begin as nothing more than a piece of the hoard, but repeated Dwalin triggers can turn it into a genuine weapon. Even a mana rock or an artifact land can accumulate hone counters and eventually be carried into combat.
The joke also reinforces the deck’s central theme:
to a Dwarven weaponsmith, almost anything can become a weapon if you work on it long enough.
Despite these interactions, the deck does not depend on Bludgeon Brawl. Without it, Dwalin still steadily improves a conventional collection of Equipment. Bludgeon Brawl instead acts as a hidden second mode that transforms the wider artifact package into part of the armory when it appears.
The deck deliberately avoids relying on expensive, naturally overwhelming Equipment. The goal is not to begin the game with the most powerful swords in Commander. Cards like Bonesplitter, Explorer’s Scope and Well-Worn Spatula are included precisely because hone gives humble objects somewhere to grow.
As the game progresses, the focus gradually changes from forging the armory to arming the Company.
Cards such as Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist and Thorin, Mountain-king help redistribute Equipment between creatures, while Akiri, Fearless Voyager, Jor Kadeen, First Goldwarden and Nahiri, Forged in Fury specifically reward spreading those weapons among multiple attackers rather than concentrating them onto one Voltron threat.
Eventually, cards such as Reckless Crew and Goldwardens’ Gambit provide a group of new wielders for the weapons that have spent the game accumulating power. Dáin Ironfoot rewards the final equipped attack with double strike, while Hexplate Wallbreaker can create an additional combat, giving Dwalin another attack trigger and one final round of honing before the Company attacks again.
Even removal is intended to reinforce that structure. A creature wipe may destroy the current wielders, but the weapons and their hone counters remain on the battlefield. Forge Anew, Reconstruct History and Buried Ruin can recover important artifacts, while Dwalin’s low mana cost allows the smith himself to return quickly and continue working.
The deck therefore follows a simple progression:
Build the armory.
Hone the weapons.
Preserve their history.
Pass them from Dwarf to Dwarf.
Then arm the Company and march from beneath the Mountain.
Heirlooms of Erebor is ultimately an Equipment deck where the creatures may come and go, but the weapons remember every turn spent at Dwalin’s forge.
