As we’ve known for some time, the MTG set for The Hobbit doesn’t have any Commander precons. While this is somewhat disappointing, Wizards does still have a few treats for Commander players in store. Not only are there plenty of enticing main set cards and compelling reprints, but the pair of new Scene Boxes contain some spicy new staples, too.
MTG Crack the Plates Scene Box
Unsurprisingly, given what we’ve already seen from Hobbits, there’s a lot of Food Typal support in this Scene Box. Bag End Banquet is, rather aptly, the perfect example of this, but the card itself is just okay. While you can definitely make tons of mana with this, at six mana itself, it’s not exactly the fastest mana rock.
Thankfully, if you do want to cast it, Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator can help you get there. By letting you create Treasures alongside any Food, this Bilbo is a surprisingly potent ramp engine. While you might not want to run it as your Commander, realistically, this card should be a Food-themed staple going forward.
To combat all of the new Food support going around, Wizards has also given players Ori, Plate Stacker. As a selective board wipe for your opponents’ artifacts and enchantments, Ori will do real work in some games, but it is expensive. Even when factoring in the life gain, paying seven mana for this effect does feel a bit much.
Once again, however, Wizards has also provided a slight solution ot this high-cost problem in Fíli and Kíli, Joyous. Offering instant ramp to power out your other Dwarves, this card is bound to be a Dwarf Typal staple going forward. Both of these cards, in fact, are bound to be played in Thorin, King of Durin’s Folk, especially since the flavor is on point.
Curiously, while it makes sense that Gandalf, Party Guest is in the Crack the Plates Scene Box, it’s doing its own thing entirely. Caring about combat steps and controlling legendary Wizards, Gandalf provides a unique, if different, Commander experience. Thankfully, if you do want to roll with the Dwarves, there is one last Dwarf at the table.
MTG Thorin, King of Durin’s Folk
In Mark Rosewater’s Teaser for The Hobbit, we were promised Dwarf Typal cards, and Wizards has already delivered. Not only does Thorin, King of Durin’s Folk fuel your game plan with consistent treasures, but he rewards you for hoarding them, too. By saving this resource, you can quickly create an incredibly scary board, but even then, Thorin is just getting started.
Thanks to being Boros, Thorin, King of Durin’s Folk lets you play almost all of the best Dwarfs in MTG already. While many of these naturally benefit from having Treasures in play, this deck can also lean into equipment synergies. Since going down this route also increases your artifact count, it’s really hard to go wrong with Thorin.
MTG Treasures of Smaug Scene Box
For a horde of gleaming gems and gold, the Treasures of Smaug Scene Box is a weirdly mixed bag. While this Scene Box does contain some soon-to-be Commander staples, most of the cards are just okay. This is especially true for Bilbo’s Burglaring, as stealing three artifacts for six mana is very situational.
The same is also true for Long-Lost Lances, which, while strong, is unlikely to see tons of play. On the surface, giving all of your equipped creatures First Strike and Vigilance is amazing, but, realistically, equipment decks tend to go tall. While Long-Lost Lances may still find a home within these lists, it really wants a go-wide equipment archetype that doesn’t hugely exist.
Thankfully, cards like Dragon-Cursed Halls are a lot more generically useful. While it’s not the best card in MTG, being able to essentially turn spare mana into a treasure each turn is great. You can expect to see a lot more of this card in decks with a lot of evasion, especially Ninjutsu-focused lists.
Similarly, while it can be pretty generically powerful, Dragon’s Desire seems like a shoo-in for Spellslingers lists. Here, this sorcery offers an insane ritual effect which should almost always provide positive mana, regardless of your opponent’s strategy. With copy effects naturally pushing this card even further, it’ll definitely be one to watch out for.
Likewise, while it is limited to green-focused decks, Necklace of Girion is just a good card. It’s not the most efficient mana rock in MTG, but providing steady buffs to your creatures is always welcome. While green doesn’t exactly have a shortage of ramp pieces, this is definitely a nice addition to the arsenal.
MTG Smaug the Impenetrable
Rounding out the Treasures of Smaug Scene Box, Smaug himself is a very interesting new legend. Capable of creating treasures when damaged outside of combat, you can really abuse this Smaug having indestructible. Naturally, this opens up tons of Treasure synergies, using cards like Xorn and Academy Manufactor.
While Smaug can create tons of tokens, you’ll need plenty of burn and self-damage sources to get the party started. Thankfully, there is no end of options for this is Rakdos, but Mayhem Devil is definitely one of the best. Since it’ll trigger off sacrificing a Treasure, you can use it to ping Smaug, which creates a new treasure to sacrifice again.
While on its own this combo doesn’t really do much, adding in Xorn gives you both infinite mana and damage. Thanks to this, while it might seem a bit weird initially, Smaug the Impenetrable is definitely a Commander to look out for.
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