Last updated on August 7, 2026
Bilbo, Thief in the Night | Illustration by Nia Kovalevski
With The Hobbit prerelease this weekend, the spotlight belongs on everybodyโs favorite burglar, Bilbo Baggins. Between this set and The Lord of the Rings, there are legendary Bilbo cards. Hereโs how to build all of them as commanders.
#7. Bilbo Baggins, Burglar
3-mana for a cantrip creature isnโt where you want to be in Commander. If you insist on Bilbo Baggins, Burglar, stack the deck with flicker effects. Displacer Kitten canโt be terrible with permanent access to a cantrip, right?
#6. Bilbo, Luckwearer
Bilbo, Luckwearerโs unblockability enables ninjutsu, which in turn facilitates recasting the adventure. Bounce effects like This Town Ain't Big Enough serve two purposes: Resetting Bilbo and redrawing your traded permanents, assuming you gave away something decent and not Steel Golem.
#5. Bilbo, Retired Burglar
Steady access to treasure is nice, though Bilbo, Retired Burglar doesnโt redeem the low-rarity Bilbos. The ring tempts you gives Bilbo skulk so it gets through enemy lines. A little double strike, maybe an extra combat, and you have a dragonโs hoard to retire on, and Izzet () doesnโt lack for ways to spend it.
#4. Bilbo, Unexpected Adventurer
Bilbo, Unexpected Adventurer represents a huge jump in power but Iโm not sure about it as a commander; thereโs no obvious way to break this. For now, I assume the few deck leaning on this mono-white commander takes the value pile path, relying on high-quality cards like Esper Sentinel and Loran of the Third Path that Bilbo keeps in play.
#3. Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator
Now weโre getting somewhere. Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator makes Treasure alongside Food, which is a meaningful advantage. Itโs a shame that this is the only Bilbo from The Hobbit without blue; this would be an amazing Simic () commander. But mono-green still has tools.
Green isnโt shy about food production. With cards like The Cabbage Merchant, Gilded Goose, and Revive the Shire, Bilboโs pantry will be plentifully stocked and youโll be rolling in Treasure.
Green artifact payoffs are scant but not nonexistent. Stridehanger Automaton floods the board and Sarinth Steelseeker filters your draws. Displaced Dinosaurs loves making two historic tokens for every one you should, and Jaheria, Friend of the Forest makes any token tap for mana.
You can double down on Bilboโs innate ramp with cards like Inspiring Statuary, Krark-Clan Ironworks, and Bag End Banquet. Add good top-end like The Ten Rings and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and you have a solid deck.
#2. Bilbo, Thief in the Night
I nearly overlooked Bilbo, Thief in the Night as a wonky Snapcaster Mage until I realized the cost reduction applied to more than the attack trigger; thatโs not even the exciting part of the card!
Bilboโs best use is as a combo enabler. Cost reduction meshes perfectly with common artifact combo cards like Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Mystic Forge. Sensei's Divining Top is a must-play to draw your deck and make enough storm to win with Aetherflux Reservoir.
For the combo-averse, look towards cards like Urza, Lord High Artificer and Sai, Master Thopterist that want you to cast lots of artifacts, then use Bilbo and Future Sight effects to cast little trinkets like Aether Spellbomb for free.
#1. Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant
Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant is the clear winner, and the current most popular Bilbo build on EDHREC. Which is fair, as it has the best abilities and the most support.
Youโll want the usual lfegain cards, like Soul Sisters, to get your engines humming. I recommend leaning into creature-based lifegain to get the most from green in Bilboโs color identity.
I prefer more aggressive lifegain payoffs like Enduring Tenacity and Blossoming Bogbeast close the game fast, but donโt neglect utility cards, such as card draw from The Gaffer or recursion from Celestine, the Living Saint.
The deck opens itself to many, many combo lines. Since you want all the โwhen you gain life, target opponent loses life cards,โ Exquisite Blood is an option. Samwise Gamgee
enables numerous combos, which are mostly creature-based so you can assemble them off Bilboโs activated ability. Heliod, Sun-Crowned works overtime as a lifegain payoff and potential combo outlet.
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