For those who enjoy cracking Booster Packs, the return of box toppers in The Hobbit should be a welcome sight. While there are bound to be some duds among the 40 reprints, so far, a good portion of the choices have been pricy staples. As we progress through spoiler season, it looks like the bangers just keep coming, as we have some more strong selections to share.
MTG Palantir of Orthanc
As a colorless source of card advantage, Palantir of Orthanc is quite a versatile Commander card. While it does take some time to ramp up influence counters, in decks with lots of big spells, your opponent may soon feel obligated to let you draw and not risk losing a bunch of life.
Plus, there are a handful of ways to get more mileage out of Palantir in the early turns. By Proliferating counters onto the artifact, for example, you can easily force your opponent to start giving you cards sooner. Palantir gets even better in decks like The Capitoline Triad and Disa the Restless that also reward you for Milling cards.
With its utility and flexibility in mind, it isn’t surprising that Palantir sees play in 108,000 decks according to EDHREC. This tool’s consistent demand combined with its mythic rarity and lack of reprints has helped it maintain a $22 price tag, making it a great box topper selection.
MTG Aragorn, the Uniter
While no particular mode on Aragorn, the Uniter is impressive by itself, the upside of getting multiple triggers per multicolor spell is powerful. Spells like Omnath, Locus of Creation that match Aragorn’s color combination make for perfect inclusions in the 99. In conjunction with trigger doublers like Annie Joins Up, things start to get out of hand quickly.
Despite how simple this legend is as a build-around, players seem to love it. The card is even among the top 50 over according to EDHREC. As such, even with virtually no competitive demand, Aragorn still holds a $7 value.
MTG Anduril, Flame of the West
As far as equipment go, Anduril, Flame of the West fits in a surprisingly wide range of Commander decks. From trigger doublers like Cloud, Midgar Mercenary to token decks like Baylen the Haymaker, tons of popular Commanders can maximize this card. Samut, Vizier of Naktamun wears Anduril nicely, turning your attacking Spirits into card draw elements. While this equipment only has a reprint value of $5, it will be plenty popular regardless.
MTG Saruman of Many Colors
In games that go long, Saruman of Many Colors is capable of generating lots of value. With the help of Consuming Aberration and other strong Mill effects, it isn’t hard to give yourself some solid options of spells to cast via Saruman’s trigger.
At the same time, though, you really need to be able to cast a beefy second spell each turn cycle to get your money’s worth. This setup cost coupled with Saruman’s hefty mana value causes this Commander to lose a lot of luster. With minimal appeal in the 99 of other decks, this legend appropriately sits below $1, making it one of the weaker box toppers to open.
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