Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings: Tales from the Middle-Earth is a treasure trove of cards that are great for Commander. It introduced an absurd number of new cards that can serve as your new Commander and hundreds of new cards that can be part of the 99. Many websites have already highlighted the most powerful cards in the set, so that's not what we're doing today. We're focusing on fun. Forget about power level – these new cards from Lord of the Rings: Tales from the Middle-earth are the most fun to play as your Commanders in EDH.

Top 10 Most Fun Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings: Tales from the Middle-earth Commanders for EDH

10. Lord of the Nazgul

Any Commander deck that allows you to put multiple copies of the same card is always going to get a good response, and building a deck filled with nine Nazguls is both flavorful and exciting. The Nazguls are cheap to bring out to your deck and they synergize well with each other. However, the deck you're building around the Lord of the Nazgul will require a lot of control instant and sorceries to make sure that your Nazguls remain healthy until their Commander arrives. This deck is like a long-winded Exodia where you try to build a battlefield with nine wraiths on the field, protecting your creatures at all costs. The coolest part in playing this deck is when you finally attach with your horde of Wraiths and someone tries to blow out your entire field with any spells, you can always use instants to counter their defense, pumping your Wraiths in the process. Note as well that you don't really need to put down all the Nazgul on the battlefield: any Wraith will do, and even the Wraith Tokens that the Lord of the Nazgul itself generates count towards the nine that you're building up to.

9. Shelob, Child of Ungoliant

If the previous entry was about Wraiths Tribal, this one is a Spiders Tribal. Spiders have always been underwhelming in Magic the Gathering and are almost always relegated to guard duty as creatures with high toughness and reach that could block pesky fliers. However, Shelob, the mother of spiders in Lord of the Rings, makes your Spiders stronger, allowing them to actually be on the offensive for once. Arming all of your creatures with deathtouch AND ward makes them hard to deal with and hard to defend against. The additional mechanic where Shelob turns the creatures you kill each turn with your Spiders into Food is a nice touch but not really necessary to make the entire deck work, but the Food you generate in the long run can also help you survive board wipes and rebuilds.

8. Frodo, Sauron's Bane

Frodo, Sauron's Bane is a sneaky little Hobbit. First of all, it's a cheap card that doesn't draw a lot of attention from the rest of the table. Frodo doesn't register as a threat immediately, but if you could place some protection on this card once it gets on the field, it instantly becomes the greatest threat on the table. Imagine dealing with a Frodo that already reached its Scout state, equipped with Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots, ready to strike. If the Ring hasn't reached four or more temptations yet for that Frodo owner, then that's fine, right? But even the lowest temptation is already a threat: if Frodo becomes the Ringbearer, then he can't be blocked by anyone because of his low Power value. But Temptation can be quickly turned up from zero to four with instants that you could cast as combat tricks to instantly remove another player on the table with Frodo's mechanic. Being able to execute that sneaky little attack will teach your opponents not to take the unassuming little Hobbit too lately, and will always be a fun way to sneak a win.

7. Gandalf the White

“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.” Gandalf the White embodies that completely with this very flavorful card. Being able to Flash in your Commander is always a great feeling, but blessing the rest of your deck with Flash as well makes this a completely fun Commander to use. Legendary spells are plentiful not only from the latest Lord of the Rings set but also from deep into Magic the Gathering's history, so there are a lot of cards that you can slot into this deck that would make it powerful. Urza's Ruinous Blast at instant speed? Gandalf got you. Flash in any White Legendary Creature? Possible. Finally, the best part about Gandalf the White is it's also a Panharmonicon for Legendaries on a stick, allowing you to double triggers as Legendary Creatures enter the battlefield. Slot in Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines into this deck as well and you've got some really powerful and really fun interactions in your hands.

6. Gandalf, White Rider

 

Do you know what's NOT fun? Having to cast your Commander with Commander Tax. Hence, the only reason why we're putting Gandalf, White Rider on this list is because he's a Commander that can completely evade Commander Tax. It's not very powerful, but it's versatile enough for players to build nice decks around. Just make sure that he doesn't actually get milled while he's in your deck!

5. The Watcher in the Water

 

Here's one Lord of the Rings: Tales from the Middle-earth Commander that will rarely see its full potential. Costing 5 CMC and entering with nine stun counters makes this one of the slowest creatures to ever drift into the battlefield. However, it's one of those cards that will get the attention of everyone on the table once it's cast. It might not receive much attention at first, but as it slowly removes stun counters from itself, it becomes a ticking time bomb. If you love reacting to opponents as they try to remove your winning piece, then this would make an enjoyable experience for you. Being in blue also ensures you have access to a plethora of spells that can help protect your 9/9 Kraken. Then, every game will be a question of whether or not you get to attack with your huge Kraken. What would you put in your deck to protect your Commander?

4. Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

 

Imagine this scenario: The field is full of creatures and each player is already ready to partake in what could be the biggest brawl ever in the history of Magic. But then one unfun player casts a board wipe. No one can respond, and every creature on the field dies. Many players worry about board wipes. Not a lot of decks can rebuild fast enough before they get overwhelmed by their opponents. This could mean the game is over for many players. But then, you have Lobelia Sackville-Baggins as your Commander, and you can have her help you rebuild right after such a scenario by giving you the resources to cast spells from your hand the fastest on the table. Having this card around will make your opponents think twice about that board wipe, and it's fun to have that kind of power over your opponents.

3. Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

Gain Life decks don't get a lot of respect these days. Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant will make everyone respect infinite life decks once again. Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant's ridiculous requirement of having 111 or more life is a fun and flavorful mechanic, as he ends up “inviting guests” from your library and placing them all on your battlefield. How fun is that? While being able to resolve this is very unlikely for you, finally getting to trigger Bilbo's effect after many arduous games will definitely give you and your entire play group a Birthday Celebration to remember.

2. Gollum, Scheming Guide

I love sub games in Magic, and Gollum, Scheming Guide introduces a nice one to every game where he's a Commander. Having your opponents guess whether or not the top card of your library is either a land or a nonland card is a fun little interaction that will spice up your EDH games. Meanwhile, the effects of this mechanic and Gollum's pitiful 2 Power value makes it unlikely that your opponents would even consider it a threat. Just be a pesky little hobbit and bother players on your table to play this little guessing game until they get annoyed enough to finally Smite Gollum, so he would finally stop asking stupid little questions.

1. Tom Bombadil

And finally, we're talking about the card that inspired this entire list. Sagas have always been an interesting part of Magic the Gathering, but have always been underutilized, until now. Just like the Tom Bombadil in the books, though, no one really knows how to make this deck work. It's fun, it's confusing, but it's also full of potential. Being able to cheat out Sagas to the battlefield is also a great way to interact with the board – there just isn't any other card in Magic right now that lets you do that. Partner Tom with Goldberry, River-Daughter and you'll have a way to manipulate the progress of the Sagas. With Sagas starting to be more popular these days and Tom Bombadil having access to all colors, there are a lot of different fun ways to construct this deck, and this is a kind of deck that has enormous longevity as Magic will continue adding Sagas into the game.

And that's it for our list of our Top 10 Most Fun Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings: Tales from the Middle-earth Commanders for EDH. In case you're worried that these cards will break the bank, don't worry. Not all of them can be found in our list of Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings: Tales from the Middle-earth most expensive cards.