Commander Deck Tech: Theoden, King of Rohan

Aggression and synergy exploited to the fullest! Theoden, King of Rohan is a Boros () commander who seeks victory through the Typal synergy between Humans.

Having a 2/3 body, Theoden, King of Rohan has the triggered ability to bestow Double Strike (which causes the creature to deal damage twice, the first damage being done on the first strike step and the second in the normal damage step) whenever a human creature (himself included) enters the battlefield under your control.

This Deck Tech's focus will be on abusing this ability and trampling our enemies with quantity and/or power.

If you are eager to know more about the Double Strike keyword, click here.

The deck's main stance will be aggressive from the start, seeking to fill the board with creatures and attack opponents from the start of the game.

We seek to end the game as quickly as possible through combat damage through the synergy generated by its various creatures, or by one capable of ending the game alone (the famous bomb)!

The Commander

As expected, our commander has a huge emphasis on the strategy we use.

Despite functioning as a power-up piece for our creatures, Theoden, King of Rohan can increase the amount of damage applied by them in a completely explosive way, being the main finisher of our strategy.

Main Cards

Incorporating the idea of quantity on the battlefield to the fullest, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar can create a human-type token for each opponent at the time of the attack (being more effective the more opponents you have) that come in attacking these respective opponents.

In addition to having power equal to the number of creatures you control, this combo makes Adeline, Resplendent Cathar a ticking time bomb early on, already giving many bodies for strategy and being a huge body from the beginning that, together with our commander, you will almost always have Double Strike.

Being an exceptional lord, Coppercoat Vanguard is a piece responsible for increasing damage, while providing protection for humans in general. It covers two important aspects at once, accelerating our objective and protecting our main creatures.

Protection

Being possibly the most delicate point of the strategy used by us, specific and global removals tend to be our most difficult obstacles in the quest for victory. Therefore, it is crucial to have some ways to protect ourselves.

Being one of the main forms of protection that the deck has, these cards are responsible for acting in different aspects during the game - either applying taxes or punishments like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Coppercoat Vanguard or saving creatures from sweepers with Boromir, Warden of the Tower or Legion's Initiative.

They are the ones that guarantee consistency and resilience, protecting us from removals and opponent interactions.

Removals

Despite not being the focus of our strategy, eventually we will need to get rid of some problematic piece on the opposing battlefield - either to clear the way or to avoid being obliterated by opponents while we don't assume a more threatening position in the game.

While Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares are cards capable of dealing even with indestructible creatures that opponents control, Abrade manages to remove artifacts as well and Chaos Warp gets rid of whatever permanent is holding us back, it's an exceptionally effective spot removal package.

Austere Command pulls this effectiveness to the maximum, and can be a card with a global effect that only affects the opponents, if it is applied in the most profitable way.

Token Generation

No less important than protecting ourselves and impacting our opponents' field is having a significant volume in ours. Choosing to generate tokens is the most practical and powerful solution we have available, due to the great synergy between Theoden and Humans.

Whether it's spawning creatures and therefore commander effects punctually per turn with Cemetery Protector, or causing an explosion of quantity with Horn of Gondor, these cards represent a huge portion of our winning power. They are what ensure that we have bodies actively on the battlefield, and make it possible to apply pressure on opponents at all times.

Enhancers and Finishers

Although we can generally outwit opponents through sheer numbers, our creatures may not always be large enough to deal lethal damage. To help with this function, we have some pieces that act as great finishers in the deck:

These are some of the main ways to end the game in our favor, turning small creatures into gigantic bombs. Cards like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite increase our power while lowering that of our opponents, while Aurelia, the Warleader gives us more combat phases.

Card Draw

The weakest aspect of aggression-focused decks is often the ability to draw cards, and it's important to dedicate a portion of deck building to remedying this.

Being the most expensive card on the list, Esper Sentinel is also a strong source of advantage and synergy in our strategy, and being a human (which at this point must have already proved to be absurdly relevant) makes the card interact with the other strategies in the deck, while giving us the possibility to draw cards for each non-creature spell cast for the first time by an opponent, in case they doesn't pay the tax.

Covering the sinergy, just like Sentinel, Mentor of the Meek is a piece capable of transforming every other creature with power 2 or less that enters our battlefield in card advantage.

Both cards reward us for playing creatures and work similarly to Mentor of the Meek, but in this case, it is not necessary to spend mana, even though they only activate their effects once per turn.

How do we start the game?

Our strategy has an aggressive archetype based on constant synergy between creatures.

From the beginning of the game, it is important to look for hands that can, as quickly as possible, establish a threat on the battlefield from mana curve 2 or 3.

It will always be necessary to have a good read on your starting hand and the decision to keep it or not.

How do we win?

Our way of winning is based on dealing damage to opponents, which can present a challenge against certain decks that involve more board control and removals.

The secret to doing well during the game is knowing the moment and the opponent you should attack first, balancing aggression and resource plays on your board.

Knowing the cost of the cards we listed above, we also considered some more affordable options for a “budget” version of the deck.

Right away it is noticeable the departure of Esper Sentinel and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, which are cards of absolute potential in our main roster, and this is strictly due to our budget.

But don't be fooled, despite having some slower aspects compared to the original list, such as the draw advantage and the aggressiveness of some cards, the bases are almost identical, equally exploiting Theoden's aggressiveness and ensuring continuity of access to cards in hand.

In the budget version, we have a greater focus on winning by numbers thanks to pieces like Dictate of Heliod, which makes a sweeper the worst nightmare here, as it has a little less ways to guarantee resources.

Theoden, King of Rohan is really a bomb that arrived at Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth and brings with it the best qualities of its color combination, along with a compelling effect for creatures of the human type.

A powerful and frightening deck from the beginning of the game, when mastered, with it will certainly do some damage to the tables it falls on.

Hope you had fun and see you in the next article!