FleetChromeSorcererDiviner's Lists

Thorin, King of Durin's Folk

Aug 23, 2026

This is one of four decks I constructed for this challenge, with the goal of creating an entire board game within the framework of Magic: The Gathering. Here is a YouTube Video I made for this challenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX_FYXDmWq4 The four decks are designed to stay together and play against one another as a self-contained environment. They’ve been lightly tested and are by no means perfect, but I’ve tried to create a fair, combat-centric, beginner-friendly experience that captures the world and story of The Hobbit. I spent a frankly unreasonable amount of time trying to recreate story moments, characters, locations, and interactions between all four factions—including rereading The Hobbit (okay, listening to it on Audible) to make sure the decks collectively touch every chapter. The goal isn’t simply to build four thematic Commander decks; it’s to make the four decks interact in ways that allow the story to emerge naturally while you play. If you’re only going to judge one deck, I’ve selected the Dwarf deck, because I think it best showcases the story of The Hobbit through both its playstyle and its win conditions. The deck begins, appropriately, with 13 Dwarves, a Hobbit, and a Wizard, and I made sure the entire Company is represented. The primary plan is to equip the Dwarves and fight your way toward Erebor, but if simply swinging with equipped Dwarves doesn’t get the job done, the deck wants to assemble a sizable pile of Treasure and eventually use Smaug the Magnificent to end the game in suitably cinematic fashion. I even included The Arkenstone as a way to summon Smaug for the final confrontation. The backup win condition is Hellkite Tyrant, which, importantly, isn't legendary and therefore can't be summoned by the Arkenstone. That interaction also demonstrates why these four decks were designed as an insulated environment rather than four unrelated Commander decks. The Bard deck was built to make The Black Arrow a meaningful thematic answer to the Dwarves' dragon endgame, while the Bolg deck contains dragons of its own. That creates an environment where destroying a dragon can genuinely save the game, allowing moments from The Hobbit to emerge naturally through gameplay rather than simply appearing as references printed on the cards. Below is a link to all four decks; this challenge was incredibly rewarding, and I am going to build these 4 decks and invite friends who aren't Magic players to give it a go. Please if you think this project is cool, I would love any feedback. I have added a brief description to each deck and how they interact thematically. https://archidekt.com/decks/25246541/thorins_company_an_unexpected_party https://archidekt.com/decks/25255892/bolgs_company_the_clouds_burst https://archidekt.com/decks/25264385/bards_company_gathering_of_the_clouds https://archidekt.com/decks/25295332/thranduils_company_flies_and_spiders