Magic: The Gathering reveals deck archetypes for Lord of the Rings Commander decks

Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Lord of the Rings expansion will feature four multi-colored Commander decks. While the full details have not been unveiled, the deck names and colors were revealed, as were a few cards that could be contained therein.

Sadly, none of the face Commanders (principal commanders of a Magic: The Gathering deck) have been unveiled. That will probably occur when the official spoilers begin in May 2023. However, if you are curious about the decks' names and colors they will be sporting, look no further.

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Four Commander decks and two creatures revealed for upcoming Magic: The Gathering’s Lord of the Rings expansion

Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth will feature many familiar faces and legendary locations from across Middle-earth. There will be four Commander decks alongside the booster packs for this expansion.

Some cards will be reprinted, but players can look forward to printing and using most new cards in these decks. These will likely be alternate versions of cards already in the Lord of the Rings set for Magic: The Gathering.

Commander decks

• Riders of Rohan: WRU (White, Red, Blue)
• Food and Fellowship: GBW (Green, Black, White)
• Elven Council: UG (Blue, Green)
• The Hosts of Mordor: RGU (Red, Green, Blue)

Unfortunately, information about many of these decks is pretty limited at this time. However, some things about these Commander decks are known. Sauron will represent the forces of Mordor, and Elrond will be taking part in the Elven Council deck.

However, one thing is evident in the Magic: The Gathering expansion for Lord of the Rings. In the Food and Fellowship deck, Frodo and Samwise will have the Partner ability in the form of Sam, Loyal Attendant, and Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit. Creatures with “Partner,” when they come into play, can put the partner card into their hand from their library and shuffle.

Sam, Loyal Attendant, was revealed, and he creates a Food Token every turn at the beginning of your combat. These can be sacrificed to gain life, and as long as he’s in play, activating your Foods’ abilities cost one mana less. The way it is worded, it sounds like Food tokens might have new abilities within the Lord of the Rings expansion.

Sam, Loyal Attendant, in Magic: The Gathering (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Sam, Loyal Attendant

• Mana Value: 1GW
• Type: Legendary Creature - Halfling Peasant
• Rarity: Mythic Rare
• Keyword: Partner with Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit
• Stats: 2 power, four toughness
• First Ability: At the beginning of combat, create a Food token on your turn.
• Second Ability: Activated abilities of Foods you control cost one less to activate.

Not much is known about the Commander decks, but one of the Commander cards was revealed, and it’s another of the Wizards of Middle-earth. Radagast, Wizard of Wilds, who was a part of the Hobbit films, is a Blue/Green legendary. He will be helpful in various decks that are fans of generating free creatures.

Radagast, Wizard of Wilds in Magic: The Gathering (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Radagast, Wizard of Wilds

• Mana Value: 2GU
• Type: Legendary Creature - Avatar Wizard
• Rarity: Rare
• Keyword: Ward 1
• Stats: 3 power, five toughness
• First Ability: Beasts and Birds you control have Ward 1
• Second Ability: Whenever you cast a spell with a mana value of 5 or greater, choose one -
• Create a 3/3 green Beast creature token
• Create a 2/2 blue Bird creature token with flying

More information will likely come to light starting on May 30, when the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth spoilers begin for this Magic: The Gathering expansion. The complete set will release on June 23, 2023.