Our first full week of MTG The Hobbit spoilers draws to a close today, and what an adventure it’s been. In just a few short days, Wizards has revealed plenty of new Commander bangers, and several potential constructed playables as well. In addition to the new stuff, the Box Topper reprints are coming in hot, too, bringing back most of the top-tier hits from Lord of the Rings.
MTG Mithril Coat
Mithril Coat is probably one of the best Commander protection options we have access to in the format right now. Coming down with Flash lets you effectively ‘counter’ removal spells aimed your way, and the fact that it’s Indestructible itself makes it very tricky to remove. This makes it a phenomenal tool for kill-on-sight Commanders like Kaalia of the Vast, or Equipment strategies like Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER.
Factor in how common non-Commander legendary creatures are these days, and Mithril Coat has a ton of utility, making its inclusion in 404,000 decks by EDHREC numbers unsurprising. For this reason, Mithril Coat is very expensive right now, going for $33 on the low end, with fancier variants going for as much as $44.
MTG Galadriel, Light Of Valinor
– Mana Value: 2GWU
– Type: Legendary Creature – Elf Noble
– Rarity: Mythic Rare
– Card Text: Alliance — Whenever another creature you control enters, choose one that hasn’t been chosen this turn —
– Add {G}{G}{G}.
– Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
– Scry 2, then draw a card.
– Stats: 3/3
The Lord of the Rings introduced a ton of wildly popular Commanders to Magic, and Galadriel, Light of Valinor is one of the best. Offering three potent Alliance abilities, Galadriel rewards you for going wide, making it one of the better Elf Commanders out there. It even opens up some spicy infinite combo lines, letting you draw your entire deck with Emiel the Blessed and Biomancer’s Familiar, for instance.
Thanks to this, Galadriel is very popular as a Commander, with 15,728 players running the card. Given this, and its limited availability as a precon Commander, Galadriel’s current price tag of $23 makes a lot of sense.
MTG Flowering Of The White Tree
Blowing all of the previous white Anthem effects out of the water, Flowering of the White Tree is a prime example of Magic’s power creep issue. On top of bolstering powerful go-wide decks like Baylen, the Haymaker, the extra legend protection is incredible in Jodah, the Unifier decks.
Outside of Commander, Flowering of the White Tree even sees scattered use in Modern and Legacy, in decks like Death and Taxes. The card definitely does its best work in multiplayer Magic, however, appearing in a whopping 168,000 Commander decks. Thanks to this popularity, Flowering of the White Tree is an $11 card, and a welcome reprint for The Hobbit Box Toppers.
MTG Sauron, The Lidless Eye
While it’s certainly nowhere near as good a Commander as Sauron, the Dark Lord, Sauron, the Lidless Eye is still very much playable in the 99. It’s a great addition to Theft decks like The Beast, Deathless Prince, for example, and also excellent with sacrifice-happy Commanders like Rakdos, the Muscle. These homes aside the card is a bit of a niche one, mind you, only showing up in around 9,210 lists in total.
Despite this lack of popularity, Sauron, the Lidless Eye is actually reasonably pricey at around $9.50. This is down to the card’s low availability, as previous printings were only available in Starter Kits or Collector Boosters. While this new Box Topper version won’t be super common, it may still bring the price down a bit as a result.
MTG The Gaffer
Appearing only in The Lord of the Rings’ Food and Fellowship precon and Collector Boosters, The Gaffer didn’t catch too many eyes right away. Over time, however, it has proven itself to be a serious draw engine, putting in work in Lifegain decks like Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and Hope Estheim. Since it can draw on opponents’ turns, too, Food strategies like Ragost, Deft Gastronaut are especially fond of it.
The original printing of this legend is around $7, with fancier variants getting as high as $14 in some cases. While it’s not the most valuable reprint in the world, The Gaffer is still a welcome sight as a Box Topper, as precon exclusives like this have a habit of creeping up slowly over time.
MTG Arwen, Mortal Queen
Arwen, Mortal Queen is one of the more unique MTG legends of recent years, letting you make any creature you like Indestructible for good. This is a fairly mediocre effect on a Commander, as reflected by Arwen’s low play rate as one, but it’s excellent in the 99. From counter Commanders like Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice, to removal magnets like Voja, Jaws of the Conclave, over 28,000 decks have added Arwen to their ranks.
This consistent play has earned Arwen a solid price tag, too, with base copies currently sitting at around $7 on the low end. Though this means it’s not a huge hit for the Box Toppers lineup here, it’s nice to get a borderless version of this card that isn’t the hyper-expensive Poster variant.
MTG Minas Tirith
The Shire and Rivendell were already revealed as The Hobbit Box Toppers during the set’s Debut, so it’s not too surprising to see Minas Tirith here as well. This is probably the best member of Lord of the Rings’ legendary land cycle, seeing play in 271,000 Commander decks at present count. Go-wide Aggro decks, like Arabella, Abandoned Doll and Edgar Markov, are particularly fond of the card.
Minas Tirith even sees some play up in cEDH, with decks like Winota, Joiner of Forces and Yoshimaru Partner brews running it. At just $6 it’s not a huge reprint money-wise, but it’s still nice to see again, given how tricky reprinting named locations like this will likely be in future.
MTG Elven Chorus
Pairing Cryptolith Rite with Vizier of the Menagerie, Elven Chorus does an awful lot of what green wants to do in Commander. It’s fantastic in go-wide creature decks like Lathril, Blade of the Elves, and even makes it into some Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy lists in cEDH. Factor in a range of infinite mana and combat combos with cards like Aggravated Assault, and this is a serious multi-tool for green in the format.
Despite all of this power and flexibility, Elven Chorus is actually surprisingly affordable at around $4. This makes it a fairly unexciting hit, especially with bangers like The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters among the Box Toppers, but it’s a very playable card at least.
MTG Arwen, Weaver Of Hope
Speaking of low-value but highly playable Box Toppers, Arwen, Weaver of Hope is another perfect example in this category. As a Mono-Green Commander, Arwen is a solid option, offering plenty of combos with the likes of Basking Broodscale. It fares even better in the 99, where it helps push go-wide Commanders like Voja, Jaws of the Conclave to terrifying new heights.
Useful as it is, Arwen isn’t exactly one of the big-ticket cards from Lord of the Rings, weighing in at just $3 right now. The Showcase Scrolls variant is, notably, up around $16, mind you, so the markup on this gorgeous Danny Schwartz version could have similar potential.
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