Best MTG Commander Rares for the 99 in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth

Wizards of the Coast designed The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set for Limited, Modern, and Commander, with the Magic: The Gathering Commander format gaining a variety of great cards to slot in among the 99 within a player’s deck. 

Dropping into local game stores on June 16 was The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) Modern-legal set, showcasing chase cards worth big bucks on the secondary market and a healthy variety of Mythic Rare and Rare cards that can improve existing Commander decks. Over 250 cards are in the regular set, along with four preconstructed Commander decks, providing MTG Commander players with an abundance of new cards to tweak decks with. 

Best LTR cards to slot into existing MTG Commander decks

Not included in the overall list but worthy of a shoutout are the legendary lands included in the LTR set. And deserving a shout-out as well are Mirkwood Bats and Fiery Inscription, even though they are lower rarity cards. 

From Equipment to mana dorks, here are the best Lord of the Rings cards that players should slot into their MTG Commander decks. 

Flame of Anor

Flame of Anor slots into the 99 of a Commander deck specifically within spells matter wizard tribal builds. The Instant offers one of three modal options under normal circumstances but steps up when its controller has a wizard in play, providing two of the three options. 

Horn of the Mark

Providing card advantage at a cost of only two mana of any color is Horn of the Mark. The legendary Artifact is a solid card that gets a boost in value by being able to trigger multiple times. As long as a player has four creatures attacking, two to one opponent and two to another, then the ability on Horn of the Mark triggers twice—which is pure value in a go-wide MTG Commander deck. 

Raise the Palisade

Raise the Palisade is a great new addition to tribal commander decks. The five-drop Sorcery in Blue bumps all creatures back to hand that aren’t of the chosen creature type. Raise the Palisade loses value as games run long since mana typically isn’t an issue and players can replay what was bounced. But the Sorcery is really strong during the mid-game stages. 

Grey Host Reinforcements

As a UW solider and spirit jank master, I love Grey Host Reinforcements. The spirit soldier exiles a player’s graveyard (which can be your own) upon ETB and can scale in power based on the number of creature cards exiled. Even if only three creature cards are exiled, Grey Host Reinforcements is then a 4/4 with Flying and Ward three that cost four mana to play. Sign me up. 

Related: MTG Lord of the Rings’ shocking Planeswalker to Legendary change: the pressures of art and card design

Elven Chorus

Elven Chorus is a four-drop does it all in Green. The Enchantment lets its controller look at the top card of their library, allows them to cast creature spells off the top of the library, and turns all creatures on the battlefield into mana dorks that can tap for any color. Elven Chorus is a bomb within the right kind of Commander deck, despite its 3G casting cost. 

Dawn of a New Age

Dawn of a New Age is a solid card draw engine that only costs two mana to cast. Originally I had the Enchantment marked as a sleeper, but many in the MTG community are coming around on it. Even if Dawn of the Age only gets two counters, the Mythic Rare provides way more value than a two-mana Enchantment typically would.

Delighted Halfling

Taking over the LTR set as the supreme mana dork is Delighted Halfling. The one-drop in Green is packed with value and slots right into any MTG Commander deck. Delighted Halfling does have a legendary stipulation, but makes up for the downside by preventing the cast spell from getting countered. 

Orcish Bowmasters

Tearing the meta up in Limited and Commander is Orcish Bowmasters. The value from the orc archer is about as good as it gets. Card draw is huge in the Commander format and Orcish Bowmasters wants to take advantage of it. The Rare also has Flash, deals damage, and creates a 1/1 for only two mana. 

Last March of the Ents

Slotting into “big butt” toughness matters and Green stompy Commander decks is Last March of the Ents. The eight-drop Lord of the Rings Mythic Rare top-end finisher can’t get countered and puts creature cards drawn onto the battlefield. Last March of the Ents will end games in most cases, making it worth the price of 6GG to cast.