The 19 Best Commanders in MTG’s The Hobbit Ranked

Thorin, Mountain-king | Illustration by Javier Charro

2026 has been running hot with good commanders. That might be a side effect of so many sets, many of which are Universes Beyond and thus loaded with legends, but the year has stood strong with excellent entries.

Now that The Hobbit’s full spoiler has dropped, it’s time to see where it falls and evaluate the legendary creatures it’s given us. From halflings to dragons to elves to dwarves, there’s a range of powerful commanders to toy with.

How Many Commanders Are There in The Hobbit?

Smaug the Magnificent | Illustration by Francisco Miyara

The Hobbit has a surprisingly tame 79 commanders across its main set, scene cards, classic artist reprints, and nine legendary creatures exclusive to Collector Boosters. Of the 79, 16 are reprints, so there are only 63 new commanders… which is a terribly high number now that I think about it, but Marvel Super Heroes’ 300 something commanders might have broken my brain. Still, it’s nice to have a slightly more relaxed list this time around.

I’ve ranked the most exciting new commanders from the set with an eye towards both power and style; a commander that does something novel and new can outrank a commander with a similar power level but more standard abilities. I also consider how they rank against their peers in their archetypes and factor that into the ranking.

#19. Azog, Moria’s Ruin

Azog, Moria's Ruin can be Ravenous Chupacabra in the command zone but is more often a sacrifice outlet that pops your creatures and creates sacrifice fodder. The trick to make this work is flicker/recursion effects like Conjurer's Closet or Unearth to recycle the enters ability. This is certainly one of the tamer options, though.

#18. Belladonna Took

Mono-white isn’t exactly lacking for token commanders, but Belladonna Took might muscle its way into their ranks. It’s super cheap and it draws cards, so it can only be so bad. Once you get three tokens entering, the game should be over swiftly, especially with an engine to trigger it regularly.

#17. Bolg, Erebor’s Reckoning

Bolg, Erebor's Reckoning plops a chunky goblin lord in the command zone. The 3-point power swing is incredibly convincing at ending games when you lean into a wide board of goblins. Reducing the size of your opponents’ creatures is great tech against most mana dorks and tokens, plus it opens up powerful combos with cards like Maha, Its Feathers Night and Massacre Girl, Known Killer.

#16. Thranduil the Strategist

Thranduil the Strategist is a solid commander for an oversaturated archetype. Most elves already tap for mana, so you’re looking at it as a landfall commander, and “Landfall: Make a token” is markedly worse than “Landfall: Draw a card” on other Simic commanders (). There’s merit to using it to enable landfall combos with cards like Intruder Alarm and Elven Raft-Steerer, so I won’t ignore it completely, but it’s outclassed by the top-tier Simic commanders.

#15. Gandalf, Shadow’s Foe

I generally find landfall commanders dull, but making the landfall commander mono-blue (or just not green) is a great start. Gandalf, Shadow's Foe has the strong “Draw a card” text without making every spell you cast cantrip. Drawing three when it enters makes this a prime target for flicker effects, and I can’t help but wonder what nonsense players can get up to with land untappers like Tiller Engine and Amulet of Vigor.

#14. The Sackville-Bagginses

The Sackville-Bagginses are perfect for players who aren’t up to any good and have an eye for their opponents’ spoons. As sacrifice commanders go, this one’s quite interesting as a very cheap win condition. This space is typically occupied by sacrifice outlets like Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER and Rakdos, the Muscle, but a token-themed Blood Artist (that sees Treasure and other non-artifact tokens die) has potential.

#13. Elrond, Moon-Reader

While Elrond, Moon-Reader has that dreaded once-per-turn restriction, it’s reasonable on such a strong ability. It’s also not a huge hurdle because lots of creatures in blue have activated abilities that cost no mana. Tap your Aphetto Alchemist, draw a card. Cast Swan Song off Ornithopter of Paradise, draw a card. I wouldn’t even be concerned about using the activated ability on Elrond itself, though it couldn’t hurt to have a few permanents worth flickering.

#12. Bard, King of Dale

Doubling a resource typically sets the foundation for a decent commander. Bard, King of Dale doubling both card draw and tokens is an astonishing amount of value that pushes you towards a token-themed good-stuff pile, preferably with cards like The Queen of Dale and Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards that blend the two concepts. While this is strong, 6 mana keeps it from being truly broken.

#11. Smaug the Magnificent

One of the first cards previewed from the set, Smaug the Magnificent has a very appropriate love of Treasure. You don’t even need to spend it; all this dragon wants is a great horde to fuel its attack trigger. Throw in some burn support like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus and Reckless Fireweaver and replicate the Desolation of Smaug at your local game store!

#10. Beorn the Fierce

Beorn the Fierce is a fascinating bear commander because the 99 doesn’t need to be all-in. Its combat trigger makes bears, so you don’t need to warp your deck around the type. It’s still worth playing the good ones, like Ayula, Queen Among Bears and Wilson, Refined Grizzly and so on, but I’m intrigued by a typal commander that doesn’t force you to start with 30 creatures of the same type, regardless of power.

#9. Bilbo, Thief in the Night

Bilbo, Thief in the Night works best as a combo commander that pairs its cost reduction with cards like Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Mystic Forge, or The Reality Chip. One of the strongest things to do here is combining Sensei's Divining Top loops with a cost reducer in the command zone. Whenever this pops up, expect it to be fairly unfair, though very honest about it.

#8. Dáin of the Ancient Halls

Dáin of the Ancient Halls gives dwarves a more aggressive spin than Thorin, King of Durin's Folk with its attack trigger, which ensures all your opponents get a taste of dwarven steel in combat. That kind of broad-board damage is critical for making aggro work in Commander. It’s probably a little weaker than Thorin because making Treasure is so strong, but you should respect and fear this commander when it’s played across from you.

#7. The Great Goblin

The Great Goblin unites amass cards from disparate sets under a single banner, though you should expect its decks to focus on goblin synergies with an aristocrat spin. Goblin token producers plus sacrifice outlets stays winning with this commander drawing cards as they die. Something I really enjoy is the variety; you can go straight and narrow or delve into combo strains.

#6. Tom, Bert, and William

Tom, Bert, and William seems incredibly messed up considering how close it is to Greater Good. is admittedly so much more than , but so is discarding one card instead of three—practically everything you sacrifice puts you up cards. You lose on using the free sacrifice outlet for infinite loops but that’s a small price to pay for such consistent card advantage. Oh, and your opponents need to exile it or kill it twice. Should the trolls turning to stone really be an upside?

#5. Thorin, King of Durin’s Folk

Thorin, King of Durin's Folk stands out as the set’s premier dwarf commander. The immediate comparison is Magda, Brazen Outlaw, the de facto best in slot. Thorin isn’t particularly close as the weaker commander, but I wouldn’t consider it a poor commander. It produces an incredible amount of Treasure, aided by white’s flicker effects. Boros () is a great color combination because it lets you pull on synergies like equipment and vehicles that dwarves care about from time to time.

#4. Gandalf, Party Guest

At a glance, I didn’t think much of Gandalf, Party Guest’s legendary wizards shtick until I hit Scryfall and saw over 100 options. Many of them are quite strong, too; Ral, Monsoon Mage, Vivi Ornitier, Kykar, Wind's Fury… many of the best spellslinger cards fall under Gandalf’s purview. Mix that with the ability to cast instants and sorceries for free and you have a pretty strong wizard commander. Not the best—Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is neigh impossible to top—but definitely a runner up.

#3. Smaug, Wicked Worm

Smaug, Wicked Worm has been compared to Dockside Extortionist, and the comparisons fall short; it costs too much and the Treasure entering tapped puts too much of a restriction on combo lines. But it still holds its own as a commander. Practically every EDH deck has a few artifacts lying around, so it makes plenty of mana. And the card draw is a killer payoff for, uh, taking basic game actions! I’m especially interested in using Smaug with Saw in Half and other cards that maximize its enters ability.

#2. Thranduil, the Elvenking

Thranduil, the Elvenking starts very strong with its colors because it enablers elves from the most sets possible; Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth cast elves as a blue-green archetype, which was both appropriate for Tolkien’s depiction of the race and tricky for players of a traditionally mono-green or green-black archetype. Thranduil gets the best of all.

Then we get the actual textbox. Thranduil serving as a backup to your best elves like Priest of Titania and Circle of Dreams Druid is significant, and it even works with infinite combos for cards like Devoted Druid. Tearing through your deck as legendary elves enter is a fun bonus to find your win faster and keep the gas flowing. I’m surprised 2026 had an elf commander to challenge High Perfect Morcant, but this might be the stronger commander.

#1. Smaug the Impenetrable

How many ways can you burn your commander? This is the bold question Smaug the Impenetrable asks. It’s a very combo-oriented commander thanks to cards like Chain Lightning, Pyrohemia, and Pestilence, though you could simply go for big numbers with Blasphemous Act or Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought to turn The Sackville-Bagginses into a win condition. Wait, that still feels like a combo….

Commanding Conclusion

Dáin of the Ancient Halls | Illustration by Manuel Castañón

I’m pretty content with the commanders from The Hobbit. Though there are still lots of low-rarity, unexciting legends, there aren’t an overwhelming number of them, and the commanders we got are various flavors of powerful and exciting. I hope Wizards didn’t go too far with handing out Treasure, but it’s so central to The Hobbit that it gets a pass.

Which commanders from The Hobbit do you plan to build? Are you happy with the legends? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more coverage on The Hobbit, check out Draftsim’s YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!