Top 15 cards from LotR for Duel commander

15. Mount Doom

The first card on the list is Mount Doom. This new legendary land will be a staple in pretty much all rakdos decks and may replace Sulfurous Springs in any decks that play it. It doesn't have the option to tap for colorless mana if you are low on life but it gives you the option to slowly burn down your opponent. 

Lands are pretty hard to remove and outside of cards like Bloodmoon and land destruction, your opponent will have a hard time stopping you from slowly burning their life total. The third ability is pretty much only useful in commander so I don't think it's relevant but it's a solid land for decks such commanders such as Juri, Master of the Revue and Gut, True Soul Zealot.

14. Palantír of Orthanc

One of the more "spicy" choices for the list is Palantír of Orthanc. This card may seem a bit slow but it can give you a lot of value throughout the game if you are playing a control deck. It can help you fix your draws and give you card advantage at the same time. Artifacts aren't as easy to remove as creatures so it can stay on the board for quite a long time if ever being removed.

Palantír of Orthanc is especially good in decks that can use the cards in their graveyard if their opponent decides not to give you card draw. Aminatou, the Fateshifter is in my opinion the best commander for this card as it wants a ton of cards in their graveyard to reanimate them and drawing cards also isn't a bad thing for the deck.

13. Flame of Anor

Another weirder choice is Flame of Anor. It may not be as powerful as other cards on the list because you need to control a wizard to get most of the value from the card. 

The most likely home for this card is Balmor, Battlemage Captain as he himself is a wizard and the deck also contains a ton of powerful wizards. Another home may be Niv-Mizzet, Reborn as Flame of Anor provides both removal and card draw on one card, plus it's also a dual-colored card.

12. Minas Tirith

Yet another powerful land from this set is Minas Tirith. The ability to draw cards without actually using cards from hand is extremly good for any aggro deck, especially a white one. It has the obvious downside of needing to have a legendary creature to enter untapped but this isn't that hard if you are playing a cheap commander. 

This card will likely shine in decks with a cheap aggro commander such as Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Isamaru, Hound of Konda. Minas Tirith is especially good in Yoshimaru decks as it's a legendary permanent giving him a +1/+1 counter. It's probably the best legendary land from this set and it may become a staple for white aggro decks in the format.

11. Saruman, the White Hand

Saruman, the White Hand has the possibility to become a pretty solid control commander. It gives you access to great colors and is rather cheap for a control commander. His ability to give your orc army ward 2 makes it so your opponent has to pay quite a steep price to get rid of it only for it to come back next turn.

Saruman's 5 toughness also makes him quite hard to remove and be able to take a lot of popular removal spells such as Flame Slash or Lightning Bolt. He is especially good with cards like Deadly Rolick and Force of Will as he creates a giant token for basically free. Attacking when Saruman is on the board with no tokens is also pretty hard as these tokens get summoned at instant speed. All of this combined could make Saruman a great choice if you are looking for a new control commander.

10. Aragorn, the Uniter

Aragorn, the Uniter is a commander full of value. The access to 4-color allows you to play pretty much all the best creatures and other spells in the format. He rewards you for playing every single card even if the card is countered. Aragorn gets even better with cards that are more than one color as it triggers more than one ability.

Aragorn, the Uniter may find a home in the command zone as a powerful 4-color commander or in other decks with lots of colors. We may see him in decks like Golos or Niv-Mizzet, Reborn....

9. Frodo Baggins

Frodo Baggins is yet another cheap and powerful commander. He can power up your creatures as soon as he comes down on board and will only get better and better as the game goes on. 

Frodo shines in decks full of legendary creatures as he can progress The Ring really quickly. That's why it will probably find a home in Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful decks that play the naya version. He is also a potential aggro commander himself but not having access to red would harm the deck a lot as you couldn't run burn spells and powerful red legendary creatures like Kari Zev, Skyship Raider and others. 

8. Merry, Esquire of Rohan

We continue the trend of cheap legendary creatures with Merry, Esquire of Rohan. She is a fast attacker who can also draw you cards and gain first strike if equipped. Attacking with at least one more legendary creature isn't that hard which means that she will draw you at least one card during the game. 

If equipped with popular equipment cards such as Skullclamp or Shadowspear, she becomes an extremly good beater. This will make her a solid card in any aggressive deck in boros colors like Yoshimaru or Gut.

7. Pippin, Guard of the Citadel

Another powerful legendary creature is Pippin, Guard of the Citadel. He has the ability to protect your creatures in a rather unique way. Choosing a card type rather than the color is really good against control decks that play a lot of colors or creature decks that play very little removal spells. 

Vigilance also makes it useful as an attacker and ward makes it a lot harder to remove on curve. Pippin is quite strong and will see play in tempo decks such as Raffine and Dennick.

6. Aragorn, King of Gondor

Aragorn, King of Gondor is probably one of the most powerful legendary creatures from this set. Having the monarch in the command zone is extremely good and he also gives you access to 3 powerful colors which are able to easily protect him. 

Thanks to vigilance and lifelink he is good at both attacking and blocking. He can also easily take back the monarch as he denies enemy blockers and can do it freely thanks to vigilance. Lifelink helps you stay alive against aggro decks if they are not able to deal with him. Aragorn's full potential unlocks if you are able to protect your monarchy as he makes it so your opponent cannot block at all which allows him to easily chip away at the opponent's life total while increasing yours. Aragorn is looking like a really strong control commander thanks to his great abilities and colors...

5. Stern Scolding

One of the strongest blue cards from LotR is Stern Scolding. This cheap counterspell can counter pretty much any 1 or 2-drop in the format. It counters nearly all popular aggro commanders in the current metagame, whether it is Yoshimaru, Raffine, Feldon or even Grist. (It also counters the new Saruman...)

This could make it a powerful addition to blue control and tempo decks alike. Decks like Dennick, Tivit and many others could be a home for this card and I think that we will be seeing it quite a lot... 

4. Reprieve

And here is yet another counterspell, this time in white. Reprieve is basicly a white version of Remand which is already a popular counterspell in various control decks. This means that control decks could slot this card in as a second copy of the card if they are also playing white. 

It could even see play in some aggresive and tempo decks of the format. Reprieve is so good it will probably see a lot of play and decks like Tivit, Dennick and Raffine will be more than happy to include it.

3. Orcish Bowmasters

Orcish Bowmasters is one of the most powerful and expensive cards from the set. It heavily punishes your opponent for drawing extra cards and giving you a scaling token as a bonus. The card is probably worth it even if your opponent doesn't play card draw as you still get two 1/1s and get to deal 1 damage at instant speed. 

Orcish Bowmasters is extremely good in and against Raffine as the deck draws a lot of cards and it can destroy a lot of their board or burn them out. Raffine will also play it because it gives them a more than one body which allows Raffine to connive even more.

2. Flowering of the White Tree

Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is getting a lot of powerful cards in the set but this is truly the best one. Flowering of the White Tree buffs your whole board and gives them ward which makes it very hard to kill any of your creatures. It also buffs any other nonlegendary creatures you may have on the board.

The sheer strength of this card in Yoshimaru makes it undoubtedly one of the best cards of the set. Flowering of the White Tree will be a staple in Yoshimaru decks and may also make its way into other aggro decks...

1. Delighted Halfling

And the best card in my opinion from the set is Delighted Halfing. This card is probably one of the best, if not the best mana dork ever printed. It has one more toughness than other mana dorks and can tap for any color of mana. Legendary spells cast using that mana also cannot be countered which is extremely good as control decks will have to find another way to deal with them. 

Delighted halfling is basically a Cavern of Souls on legs and will be run in many green decks. Decks like Grist, the Hunger Tide and Naya Yoshimaru will easily slot this card in. This card just seems really good and I am sure we will be seeing a lot of it for the years to come...

Author: Tomas Solovic