The Hobbit - The Most Fun Commanders & Decklists!Now that The Hobbit is out, we can finally explore the piece of the story that was left out of The Lord of the Rings. When the last Universes Beyond sets came out, I could only say, "I don't know much about this world, what a shame," but I do know a little bit about Bilbo's adventures, if only a little bit.Please note that we didn't rank the legendary creatures below in any particular order. This is not a ranking or a top-anything list.The Chief WargThe Chief Warg is a straightforward Golgari commander for Big Mana strategies. It rewards you for simply attacking while controlling a threat with 4 power or greater. As we can easily enable Ferocious with green and black, this card will naturally create a card advantage for us throughout the game. Like so, this commander is a consistent way to get resources but doesn't force you to use a certain setup to get the most out of it. You can lean a bit into "good stuff" strategies with it.Cards like Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma, Garruk's Uprising, Guardian Project, Old One Eye and Hunted Troll will all help you keep large creatures on the battlefield both for your attacks and for The Chief Warg's ability itself. This ability is also great with its Menace, which makes simple blocks difficult.This commander is an interesting option for players who like Golgari decks that focus more on combat and less on midrange. Something that leans heavily into big bodies and relies less on the traditional graveyard lines that are easy to find in green and black.The Sackville-BagginsesThe Sackville-Bagginses is almost like a Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER but from the Shire: a Monoblack commander that allows you to deal damage constantly by sacrificing tokens. You'll take advantage of Treasures, Foods, Clues, and any other token that already does something when sacrificed to get twice as much value. Its ETB ability gets this plan started, as it turns a creature or artifact into a card draw and a Treasure, while its second ability punishes opponents for each token you sacrifice over the course of the game.Cards like Deadly Dispute, Fanatical Offering, Marionette Apprentice, Academy Manufactor, and Skullclamp will fill you with resources so that you can progress the main game plan without relying directly on combat. This commander is simple, but it leans really well into the different approach to tokens for black decks these days. With it in play, things these types of decks already want to do become fun win conditions. You'll never be bored with it.Thranduil, the ElvenkingThranduil, the Elvenking is a Sultai Elves commander that somewhat focuses on legendary Elves. It turns each new important creature that enters play into a way to draw and filter cards. Drawing two cards and discarding one whenever another legendary Elf enters play will keep your hand full and also fill the graveyard with creatures that may become relevant to its main ability later on.This is what makes this commander quite interesting. Its main ability gives it all the activated abilities of the Elves in the graveyard, so we can build a sort of toolbox strategy around it with cards that create mana, such as Elvish Archdruid and Priest of Titania, or a combo engine like Devoted Druid. The more different Elves end up in the graveyard, the more options you'll have for this commander. The result is an Elves list that doesn't focus that much on going wide and is, instead, more interested in taking advantage of its pointy-eared creatures in other ways.Thranduil, Sindarin LiegeThis set also gave us another version of the same character: Thranduil, Sindarin Liege. This is a much more straightforward Simic option for Elves that is both a lord and a way to create creatures through Landfall. Each land creates a new 1/1 Elf that immediately gets the commander's buff, so fetch lands, ramp, and effects that put multiple lands onto the battlefield each turn will all widen our board.This commander also has an Adventure side that will help you set up this plan before Thranduil even enters play. It puts lands in your hand and fills the graveyard at the same time. In this case, strategies that keep the deck running through ramp, tokens, and card advantage are best, and the result is an Elves deck with a Landfall angle that is quite different from the traditional versions of either archetype.Beorn the FierceAfter many, many years, WotC finally gave us another option for Bear decks: Beorn the Fierce. It is both a Lord and a card-advantage engine. Its main ability gives your Bears +2/+2, so small creatures are a lot more threatening with it in play.In addition, you don't need to build your deck exclusively around Bears or cut other creature types simply because they aren't Bears. This legendary creature can turn any creature into a Bear at the beginning of combat, so you can add utility pieces without giving up the main synergy.The usual furry options, such as Ayula, Queen Among Bears, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma and Wilson, Refined Grizzly, fit this commander really well, while its ability to draw two cards whenever we control three or more Bears fixes one of the biggest problems creature-focused decks face.Belladonna TookBelladonna Took is my favorite commander from this set, but she is also quite straightforward. She rewards decks that can put several tokens on the battlefield in a single turn. The first time her ability resolves, we gain 1 life, the second time, we draw a card, and the third time, we put a +1/+1 counter on each creature we control. Each new token therefore gives us a little bit of value over the course of the turn.The interesting part is that Belladonna doesn't state a specific type of token, so creatures, Treasures, Foods, Clues, and any other token will activate these effects. This means we can be considerably flexible with her builds: we can either go for a traditional creature-based go-wide strategy or take advantage of permanents that create utility artifacts throughout the turn, finding different ways to get to her last effect consistently.Myrel, Shield of Argive fits this plan very well, as it creates several creatures during combat, while Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation triples the tokens you create, so it makes the whole process more automatic. This way, any token effect will trigger all three abilities. From there, Belladonna becomes a machine, always giving something back in strategies that naturally want to fill the board. Drawing cards is her most crucial ability, as it allows us to ignore this color's biggest weakness without giving up the iconic simplicity of Monowhite decks.The Great GoblinThe Great Goblin is a red/black commander that combines two things Goblins already like: swarming the board and dying in droves to create some kind of advantage. Whenever we put one or more counters on a Goblin, Orc, or Army, it deals direct damage to an opponent. It's a way to ping opponents without relying solely on combat, and it makes counters much more aggressive.Its second ability completes this plan nicely. Any other Goblin, Orc, or Army that dies lets you use the top card in your deck as an extra card until the end of the next turn. Like so, this commander can hold its own in longer games without running out of gas as quickly, especially because we naturally use these creatures to trade cards in combat and as sacrifices or blockers. Goblin Bombardment and Skirk Prospector will be quite helpful with this commander, as they let us control when our own creatures die and turn those bodies into damage or mana before we lose them.This commander brings together two strategies that usually appear separately: counter-based growth and aristocrats. But it doesn't force us to completely abandon the aggressive plan Goblins are known for. The fact that the text also includes Orcs and Armies also allows us to build something less traditional.Bilbo, Thief in the NightFinally, we come to the Modern and Legacy nightmare, Bilbo, Thief in the Night, a Monoblue commander that works really well when you cast spells in less conventional ways. It discounts their costs and turns the graveyard into an extension of your hand. Whenever Bilbo attacks, he lets us cast an artifact, instant, or sorcery from the graveyard, so discarded, sacrificed, or simply previously used cards can create value again when he's in play.The discount also works especially well with Flashback, Rebound, Foretell, and other non-traditional ways to cast spells, so it's a lot more flexible than it seems. Cards like Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Mystic Forge are great with this commander, while you can recycle cheap artifacts with Bilbo himself without exiling them like you'd do with instants and sorceries.Final ThoughtsConsidering the several versions of Smaug and the strange Universes Beyond choices we're getting, we're slowly moving toward a world where we could build a Rule 0 commander with the Partner mechanic, Doctor Strange, Surgeon, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in its Star Trek version, and some version of the big dragon. An idea I may try someday...What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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