Over the years, Magic the Gathering has become a pretty streamlined game. With the recent emphasis on Universes Beyond crossovers, a lot of people continue to show interest in the game that otherwise might not.
As such, it’s not uncommon to see MTG products being sold in more mainstream retail stores. This, of course, includes stores like Walmart and Target, but MTG’s reach continues to expand.
Recently, Costco started selling unique Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander deck bundles. These items have become rather popular. This is especially true for The Hosts of Mordor Commander deck bundle, which seemingly sold out rather quickly.
While The Hosts of Mordor bundle definitely offered the most value, there’s still some financial gains to be had with some of the other bundles. Before we dig deeper with a financial analysis, though, we first need to take a look at what each of the LOTR Commander deck bundles offer.
Costco LOTR Commander Deck Bundles
Currently, Costco is offering LOTR Commander deck bundles at $59.99 a piece, regardless of which Commander deck is included. While The Hosts of Mordor is not available, the other three are still offered on Costco’s website. That said, you could get lucky and find any of the four deals at your local Costco.
Each bundle comes with a few key products. Obviously, first is the respective Commander Precon. Then, players will also receive two LOTR set boosters. Finally, there are four promo cards included.
The promos are the same in each Commander deck bundle. Gandalf, White Rider is worth a little over $1, as is Gollum, Scheming Guide. Meanwhile, Frodo, Determined Hero and The Balrog, Flame of Udun are each worth under 50 cents. As such, the promos don’t add a ton of value to the bundles, but they’re nice bonus inclusions, nonetheless.
The Elven Council
Considering that The Hosts of Mordor Commander deck bundle is currently not for sale, that means the most lucrative of the bunch is probably The Elven Council bundle.
According to TCGPlayer market price, each LOTR set booster is worth roughly $8. With two of those and the promos in the mix, you’re looking at about $20 in value that is included outside of the Commander deck itself.
That means in order to get your value’s worth out of the Costco bundle, the Commander deck in question would need to be at least $40. The Elven Council Commander deck has a market price of roughly $44. Importantly, though, the value of the Elven Council deck mostly lies with a few key cards, which might be easy to sell individually.
At the top of the list, we have three specific cards. Raise the Palisade currently sits above $9. Swan Song is worth about the same. Add Heroic Intervention at $10 into the mix, and you’ve got a decent chunk of value right there.
It’s a bit strange to see the Elven Council Commander deck on sale for $44 on TCGPlayer at the moment, given that the deck holds roughly $70 in card value. If you’re looking to purchase a Costco bundle, this may still be your best bet.
Riders of Rohan
By contrast, Riders of Rohan is a rather poor investment. The deck is also selling for close to $44 on TCGPlayer, but the cards in the deck only add up to $50 this time. On top of that, there are few high-end cards that will be easy to sell off.
Door of Destinies sits at just over $6, and Forth Eorlingas! is closer to $7. However, no other card cracks the $4 mark. This is far from ideal if you’re looking to sell off a lot of the pieces.
Food and Fellowship
This brings us to the final option: Food and Fellowship. This Commander deck bundle is a bit hard to evaluate compared to the other two. On the surface, it feels like a decent purchase. After all, the Food and Fellowship deck by itself has a market price of $60 on TCGPlayer. Theoretically, that would mean that the two set boosters and promos are just free equity.
The problem is that, unlike the Elven Council Precon, Food and Fellowship gets its value from $1-$2 cards that might be tough to get rid of if you open the deck up. There are some decent inclusions like Toxic Deluge at $5, but no Heroic Intervention-level cards to speak of.
With this in mind, you probably want to try to sell the entire Commander deck at once if you’re trying to make money off the Costco bundle purchase.
The Hosts of Mordor
Notably, if you’re able to get your hands on The Hosts of Mordor Costco bundle for $59.99, this would be a slam dunk buy. TCGPlayer has the deck listed at $76. The deck includes absolute bangers like Cavern-Hoard Dragon and The Black Gate at $11 each. There is also a decent amount of value elsewhere from cards like Relic of Sauron and beyond.
While The Hosts of Mordor deck bundle is unavailable online, you may still be able to pick one up at your local Costco branch. Prices may vary, but if you’re able to nab one at $59.99, this is by far the best Commander deck bundle to buy.
At the end of the day, it’s cool to see this product on sale at such a prominent store. These bundles could make great gift packages, too. So, if you know an MTG and LOTR fan, consider picking one of these bundles up.
