Hello! I’m back to review some more cards from the Tales of Middle-Earth Lord of the Rings set. These cards will be non-legendary as I alluded to in my last article, which goes into more detail about some of the legends of the set. While we have no commanders to speak of this time, some of these cards will become almost legendary in their own right by being staple cards to certain strategies or all around good. Let’s get going!

White

The Battle of Bywater

This card reminds me a lot of Fell the Mighty and Citywide Bust, though the latter uses toughness rather than power. At three mana this card is fantastic in certain decks with lower powered creatures, but specifically in commander we’re looking at decks like Arcades the Strategist and Doran the Siege Tower where the low power is played to an advantage. Beyond that you get food tokens for the creatures that you control who survived, and that’s just extra because the effect was already a good one, and one that will often be a one-sided board wipe.

 Flowering of the White Tree

If you know me from anywhere else, I’ve had some words about this card. Frankly, it’s TOO good for the cost. Legendary creatures are almost regular ones, especially in this set. There are even archetypes focused on legendaries in other formats! To say this will go places seems like an understatement as it just does too much for too little.

All that is to say you should probably get one for the collection/decks you have. In commander, it offers your leader protection and buffs every else you put to the field. Outside the “problem” of it being too good is probably just the memory exercises.

Forge Anew

This card is an excellent one equipment centric deck with built in recursion, “flash” for equip costs on your turn (the Swiftfoot Boot shenanigans!) and cost reduction for equip costs. I would complain about the power level here too if it weren’t so narrow. Still, it is a very good card that will slot well into equipment decks.

One does wonder though if the equipment decks are becoming saturated with enough of these effects, where would they go from here? We do have to remember that this is Modern legal, but through the lens of Commander I think the question is valid.

Reprieve

Alright, so this card isn’t too good in Commander, right? Using it to save your bacon for a turn is fine and all, and you do get a card out of it. I’m going to use this card just to point out something; this is White engaging with the stack. White does actually have some counter magic but it’s few, far between and not specifically the best. Where the strength lies in those are in abilities like Chancellor of the Annex.

What Reprieve does however is not so much counter as delay, and I don’t think we’ve really seen this in White before using stack interaction. While I don’t think this will make it into many commander decks (unless you use it to combo with your own stuff somehow), and I think the color expansion is worth a mention.

War of the Last Alliance

In an effort to keep this article at a reasonable length, I’m going to limit myself to five picks for each mono color. For the last pick I give you the War of the Last Alliance, a tutor in White for legendary creatures. This has been something White has expanded into since around Innistrad, and has been getting more of at a steady pace. There isn’t much to say here that isn’t on the card, but if you run specific legends you need outside of your commander, like a secret commander, this card will fetch it for you. Of course, it’s also good in legendary tribal, and its last chapter can help end the game.

Blue

Borne Upon the Wind

Another instant makes the list with Borne Upon the Wind. While it doesn’t allow you to cast at instant speed for the rest of the game, it does for one turn at a good cost and draws you a card. Similar effects cost about as much, and sometimes offer a range of surprises your opponents won’t enjoy. I can also see this as the leading edge of some combos that are slower only because of speed restrictions like Sorcery or summoning sickness. This card won’t go everywhere, but I think it will be very useful where it does.

Lorien Revealed

I don’t know what it is about landcycling I like so much, but I ALWAYS pay attention to a card that helps me fix my mana with upside. … I think I answered my own question… Anyway, this card is a pretty standard 5 mana draw 3 in Blue, but it also allows you to get an Island-type land early game by cycling it away. Blue has a hard time ramping outside of artifacts, but even then who doesn’t want more mana available? I’d treat this first as a ramp ability and card draw second with it being extra gravy.

My only question is why is the somewhat better landcycle ability in my opinion cost less than the one that gets basic lands…

Lost Isle Calling

It wouldn’t be a set without a 50% chance for an extra turn ability or spell, but how good is this one? Pretty good actually! We just had a new batch of proliferate from March of the Machine, and there are cards older still that would help us get those counters up. On top of that the counters increasing gives us more cards when we eventually activate the ability to get that extra turn.

Honestly the hardest part of this might be that first counter getting put on there outside of dedicated scrying decks. Those decks won’t even need to proliferate. I have a good feeling that you will see this card at some point at the table.

Scroll of Isildur

I largely judge sagas on their first ability to see if it has an impact I like when it enters, and the Scroll here makes a good first impression. Why yes, I’d like your Sol Ring. That’s not the only thing it can steal though as the first ability doesn’t have a clause defining what it can target besides artifact. I’d also like your Blightsteel Colossus, thank you.

Outside of the first ability the card then helps defend you by tapping stuff down and then drawing you cards. Sagas can be a bit slow, but this one seems to be worth the cost easily.

Storm of Saruman

So here we have the “do the thing twice” White and Blue have been getting, but with a large upside. This essentially lets you double up on the second spell in a turn you cast. I like the ceiling on this, and the ability also means you get to keep the thing it copies even if the other gets tripped up by a counter.

The enchantment also has Ward 3 because interaction is bad (*continues to grumble*)

Black

Call of the Ring

We have a new upkeep draw in black with some upside. The Ring Tempts You has been panned somewhat as a mechanic that doesn’t hurt you, but flavor aside the benefits it provides the creature you select as the Ring-bearer and therefore yourself is good, and better if you have the full list of abilities from being tempted. Otherwise it gives us an optional draw if we pay two life. I think most people would since Black Market Connections sees some play, and this gives upside regardless.

Mirkwood Bats

Oh boy, this list had to mention these flying mammals (are they also in Middle-Earth or is that a regular world thing? *shrugs*). Seriously enabling game-ending scenarios, this card is a sure thing in any deck that cycles through large amounts of tokens, and treasures have been mentioned in the rounds of conversations on the internet.

Like Flowering of the White Tree, I’d say this card is too good and should’ve been different. Also like the White Tree, I would get one for the collection or your decks if able but at least it’s a… common!? You will definitely see this card and it will be very affordable.

Nasty End

Here we have a play on the sac a creature, you get a thing in black. This time it is card draw, and we’ve seen this before. We do get a bonus if we sacrifice a legendary creature for a total of three cards. What I really like about this card is that it is instant speed and has a low cost. Likewise this card being Black means that sacrificing your creature is probably something you want to do at some point anyway. This card is all upside really, and adds redundancy to decks that already run this effect.

One Ring to Rule Them All

The Ring Tempts You makes another appearance in this section with a little milling on the side if you have a Ring-bearer.

The next chapter though is why I picked the card. It has a built-in board wipe that you can build around. While I don’t think it will hit much in certain decks and metas, it will hit enough stuff to kill token armies and large amounts of mana dorks, which can still change a game After that, the last chapter triggers and frankly is a bit of a no go with things like Bojuka Bog, but by that time I get what I want.

Orcish Bowmasters

Like the Mirkwood Bats, I’m sure you’ve seen some talk about these Orcs. I can come down anytime, do a lot of damage and make a massive token. Potentially.

Outside of wheel decks in commander, I think a lot of the hype is for other formats. Still, the card made my list because it IS a good card and if I could put it in my Xyris deck, I would. Not as abusable as Mirkwood Bats, but still very strong.

Red

Display of Power

This card has a very high ceiling but low-ish floor. On the bright side, the floor is about where I would expect this to be if it didn’t say “any number” in the text. For the low cost of 3 mana, you can copy an entire stack of spells if they are instant and sorcery spells, and choose new targets. This probably will be best used during a counter war to turn something to your favor, but there is a world where you might help something nasty resolve through counter magic as well.

That’s what I like about the card here. The “any number” doesn’t really matter as much as the flexibility it provides. Luckily there was some forethought and they made this spell unable to be copied to prevent infinite stack shenanigans, though only from this card. Who’s to say there isn’t another way?

Fiery Inscription

Guttersnipe in a more resilient kind of card. Then they added the Ring Tempts you Mechanic, and it’s a straight upgrade all around. There isn’t much to say about this card other than that, and if you have a spellslinger deck that has a burn suite that triggers off spells, you’re getting this card. I know I’m getting one for Feather.

Hew the Entwood

This can be powerful in the right deck but certainly won’t go everywhere, which is something I like in card design. Landfall, land matters and artifact centric decks in Red might love this card. I do have some reservations about how effective it will be, but I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt and therefore I added it to this list.

Moria Marauder

This bugger makes it to the list because it provides Goblin decks with some impulsive card draw, and with double strike he gives you two if he can connect. We’ve seen some similar things before, even on gobliins with double strike. This will fit right in and do a lot of work there.

It does also support orcs, which I am having trouble gauging. The tokens are created via the Amass mechanic, which means you only get one at a time, but I do like this card leaves room to be good later as the game is expanded since orcs are also featured in the Magic IP.

Spiteful Banditry

This card has been compared to The Meathook Massacre, and it’s easy to see why. While it is a bit less powerful, there is much to appreciate here. The first thing is that as a Red X spell it actually hits flyers, which isn’t something red always gets.

Second, it can create treasure tokens as creatures die though it only triggers once each turn. Honestly, I think the restriction is fine and had to be there. While everyone would love to make about 20 mana when they cast the spell AND wipe the board, no one wants someone else to do that to them. Would taste like diet Hullbreacher.

Green

Bombadil’s Song

Protecting something is always good, and so is hexproof. This card gives it to us, but also helps us assign or change our Ring-bearer while pushing the abilities along to get more benefit. It’s low cost also allows you to do other things in the turn you might cast it, or easily leave the mana up.

Delighted Hafling

When this was previewed very early on, it made some initial waves. Mana dorks have always been pretty good in commander I hear and this one is no different. It can tap for colorless mana normally which isn’t the best, but the obvious shining point is that it protects you commander from counter magic by using its second mana ability while producing any color. Since many commander decks need their commander to function or function better, you will absolutely see this card, though I’m not sure it will be cheap to buy. Time will tell if my Xyris gets another card.

Elven Chorus

This card allows for a lot of things, but on its own it’s just good. Being able to move things out of the way or use them earlier than normal is, well, great. Besides that though it makes all your creatures mana dorks that tap for any color of mana, helping you cast spells off the top of your deck if they are creatures.

I think the most important part of the card though is that it fixes your mana via your creatures. While the card in whole is very good, this ability on its own is fantastic. Many cards in this set add gravy to things they already did well, and this card fits in with those.

Entish Restoration

Do you like Harrow? Do you like big creatures? Then Entish Restoration is the card for you! As long as you have a creature with power 4 or greater, you can sacrifice a land to get three more lands onto the field tapped. Is it a strict upgrade? No. Is it good for redundancy? Yes.

My only question is why wasn’t this based on toughness. Bit of a fail there but power makes it more useful overall.

Last March of the Ents

This massive 8 mana spell is worth every pip paid. While it does need a rather large toughness creature to get the most out of the effect, its ceiling is potentially you pick up your deck and drop all the creatures from it onto the table. On top of that, it can’t be countered, so you’ll be getting something out of it unless someone destroys all your creatures. The card could be fairly ridiculous.

Multicolor

Next is the multicolored section, and I want to preface this with the fact that most of the multicolored cards in this set are legendary. Therefore in this section I selected 3 nonlegendary cards for good general use, with the others being too narrow or well tread effect in my opinion.

Flame of Anor

While this card does mention the wizard creature type specifically, I want to include it for the flexibility it provides. It’s an instant that can draw you or someone else 2 cards and has some narrow removal, although at cost 5 damage for 3 mana is pretty good. If you control a wizard, the card is very cheap for any combination of those effects.

Ringsight

While this card does have the downside of needing a legendary creature to work best, it is a fine tutor effect for UBx decks. You do have to reveal the card you get, but the trade off is the Ring Tempts you. Besides, how many people in Commander are going to remember what you got if you wait a few turns?

Rise of the Witch-King

This card is a great Edict effect, though it still suffers from some of the same drawbacks, namely opponent choice. Why I like this card is that it gives you a slight upside to trade something from your field for something from your graveyard. This card’s real effectiveness will vary a bit by meta and deck, but I think overall it’s a good card especially if you care about things being sacrificed, LTBs or ETBs triggers.

Colorless

Barrow-Blade

This is another section where the majority of the cards are legendary, but I think there is a clear nonlegendary winner here. Barrow-blade makes combat a lot easier for the equipped creature against blockers, and makes it a better blocker too. Outside of keywords, it can take away other static or triggered abilities making your ability to do or cast things easier or at all. I’d probably pair it with forcing a block or attack to get maximum effectiveness.

Sailing West

That’s it for this review. A lot of these cards are good general use cards and I think many will find homes in decks. The flavor of the set is strong and the cards are as well, but let me know if you have any nonlegendary card in mind that I missed and you think deserves better. Until next time, safe travels friend.