Aragorn, the Uniter Commander Deck Guide

Last updated on September 22, 2023

Aragorn, the Uniter | Illustration by Javier Charro

Magic’s Lord of the Rings crossover offers lots of exciting deck techs to dive into. The set has plenty of exciting commanders that let you bring your favorite LotR characters to the battlefield.

Perhaps none are as iconic as Aragorn, King of Gondor, once known as the ranger Strider. Aragorn got several iterations throughout the main set and the Commander decks, but today I’m focusing on the one that excited me the most upon spoiling: Aragorn, the Uniter.

Let’s dive in!

The Deck

Minas Tirirth | Illustration by Arthur Yuan

Aragorn was crowned King of Gondor at the beginning of the Fourth Age, when the time of Men as the magical races saw their influence on the world diminish. It’s only fitting that this deck showcases such a king as a Human list building out powerful synergies.

This deck has far more going for it than a simple typal synergy. There’s two prominent sub-themes: tokens and legendary creatures.

The tokens strategy goes hand in hand with the human one. Almost every token producer in the deck creates Human tokens of one variety or another. These tokens help your human synergies shine while those synergies make your tokens even stronger in a lovely feedback loop.

The legendary synergies are mostly symptomatic. The past couple of years have seen an increase in creatures printed with the legendary supertype, and legendary creatures are a central theme of Lord of the Rings. This gives you plenty of material for a couple of good, synergistic cards.

All of these factors come together to craft an assertive creature deck. You’ve got multicolored cards to trigger your commander, plenty of ways to go wide, and an abundance of abilities that let your armies topple the darkest forces! None of which would be possible with the human noble leading the charge.

The Commander

There were several routes I considered taking for Aragorn, but I settled on this one because it’s flavorful for the character and an interesting way to build on one of its synergies.

Aragorn wants plenty of multicolored cards so that every spell triggers as many of its abilities as possible. This deck has tons of multicolor cards to enable this, although it’s biased towards white cards because that’s the ability you should focus on most.

Creating a Human Soldier Tolkien token creature whenever you cast a white spell makes Aragorn, the Uniter one of your most consistent token producers. It’s the ability you want to trigger most often, though you’re happy to see all the abilities trigger.

The green triggered ability is the next most important. +4/+4 is a massive stat boost. When used on Aragorn, that makes it a 9/9 capable of taking out an opponent with commander damage in just three attacks. It also lets you turn any of your 1/1 tokens into a significant threat your opponents can’t ignore for long.

The red and blue abilities are the ones you’ll use the least. Dealing three damage each time you cast a red spell is a fantastic way to push the last bit of damage you need and helps you to navigate cards like Ensnaring Bridge or Ghostly Prison. The scrying ability helps keep the top of your deck clear of lands but is the ability your assertive creature deck is least interested in exploiting.

Token Producers

You can’t rely on Aragorn to rally an army alone, so you’ve got several other cards that create tokens.

Hero of Precinct One functions similarly to your commander, generating tons of 1/1 Human tokens for playing the spells you want anyway.

General Ferrous Rokiric makes non-Human tokens, but their increased size makes up for the lack of synergy.

Faramir, Steward of Gondor pulls double duty as a token producer and legendary creature payoff. You’ve got plenty of cards to get the monarchy from this Noble and will always have a few tokens around to help protect it.

Torens, Fist of the Angels distributes Human Soldier tokens that grow on their own without needing your enhancement effects.

Neither Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, nor Anointed Procession technically make tokens on their own but their token-doubling ability is vital to let this deck compete against decks casting flashy spells.

Éowyn, Shieldmaiden, is one of your best follow-ups to Aragorn, the Uniter because it’ll trigger that same combat. Hitting that six Human threshold is simple in a deck with this many token producers.

Call the Coppercoats produces a surprise board state right before you untap. Getting to strive this for an extra player or two is often enough to take out a player or two on your next turn.

March of the Multitudes doesn’t make Humans, but it’s one of the best token producers in the deck. The longer you hold this, the more impactful it is. Since your creatures and lands can pay for this, it’s possible to cast this for X=15 or more.

Token Enhancers

All these 1/1s are great, but they won’t win the game alone, so you’ve got plenty of effects to buff your tokens.

Jetmir, Nexus of Revels gives a beautiful impression of Craterhoof Behemoth, except this is far more castable and triggers Aragorn multiple times. Keeping this around for a turn or two wins fast.

Narset, Enlightened Exile is a delightful inclusion that pushes tons of damage. You easily trigger prowess once or twice a turn before its attack trigger. Your various pump effects make Narset even stronger, letting you get bigger spells for free.

Gandalf, White Rider keeps up the trend of buffing your creatures’ power. Most of your cards are cheap, so casting several spells a turn is perfectly reasonable. The scry is a nice bonus to ensure you draw relevant cards.

Erkenbrand, Lord of Westfold is basically a second Gandalf since most of your spells either are humans or produce humans. It can even get double the triggers or more. If you control this and Aragorn when you cast a white human, you get one trigger from Aragorn's token and another from the creature you cast entering the battlefield.

Impact Tremors doesn’t enhance the tokens themselves but distributes plenty of punishment around the table. Once you get rolling, this enchantment represents at least three or four direct damage each turn that adds up quickly once you start attacking.

Champion of Lambholt is another one that indirectly supports the tokens. You’ll have so many creatures entering play and buff effects that this practically says, “Your opponents cannot block,” which is a great line of text for an aggressive deck.

You have an Overwhelming Stampede because sometimes you need a big Overrun to close out the game. You can find board states where this gives +10/+10 or higher pretty reliably, so it’s something to look out for (and maybe flashback with Narset).

Legendary Payoffs

Getting so many legendary creatures in one list was mostly incidental but opened the door to powerful synergies within the deck.

Delighted Halfling is one of the most anticipated cards from the new set and does a lot for this list. Most of your creatures become uncounterable in addition to fantastic mana fixing.

Decks playing aggressively to the board need ways to protect it from board wipes and the like. Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard can’t help your tokens but keeps your value engines online against pretty much anything but Farewell.

Who doesn’t love drawing cards? Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain gives you a steady stream of card advantage. Most of your creatures and artifacts start cantripping with this in play, which can turn Jhoira into removal bait. Don’t fret; that just means less removal for your other game-winners.

Another hyped card from the crossover set is Flowering of the White Tree. This strictly better Glorious Anthem buffs all your creatures while providing your legends with extra power and a little defense. Flowering is the biggest reason to be running so many legendary creatures.

Human Synergies

What benefits do you get from running so many humans? Unsurprisingly, plenty of power!

Coppercoat Vanguard provides your humans with a blanket buff and ward. It stacks well with Flowering of the White Tree because it effectively gives your legends ward 2. It also protects and buffs most of your tokens.

Katilda, Dawnhart Prime provides huge bursts of mana by allowing your humans, including tokens, to produce mana. It’s also a fantastic mana sink that takes over the game in a few turns.

Katilda and Lier give your deck some subtle spellslinging ability. The best cards to get back with this are Temporal Mastery, Mass Appeal, and Overwhelming Stampede.

Thalia's Lieutenant is undoubtedly familiar to those who remember a pre–Modern Horizons Modern. This card represents an incredible amount of power regardless if you play it early to grow a large beater or later to grow your entire team.

Théoden, King of Rohan distributes double strike, which pairs nicely with all your power buffs. It’s fantastic with Aragorn because a single green spell can make your commander a 9/9, meaning double strike lets it take out a player in two attacks.

Boromir, Gondor's Hope offers another source of card draw. This deck plays with few artifacts, but plenty of humans for it to grab.

Mass Appeal is a card I’d never seen before but performed incredibly well. It's often a draw five for , and it takes little effort to be far better than that.

Sigarda, Font of Blessings has a dual role in this deck. It’s a valuable protective piece requiring your opponents to have two removal spells and lets you play most of your creatures off the top of your library for a bit of card advantage.

Disruptive Pieces

You have lots of expected removal like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile, but I want to highlight some of your other disruptive pieces that impede opponents while protecting our board.

Drannith Magistrate is an overly hated disruption spell that drops a roadblock in front of players that depend on their commander to win the game. It also interrupts other strategies like cascade or cast from exile decks like Prosper.

Esper Sentinel either slows your opponents down or fills your hand with extra cards. You’re happy either way.

Thalia, Heretic Cathar is great for this deck. It makes blocking tricky for your opponents while forcing them to play off-curve. It’s especially strong against other 3- or 4-color decks with greedy mana bases.

Mother of Runes and Pippin, Guard of the Citadel both give you protection at instant speed. This is often to protect Aragorn while it’s in play but gets used offensively to make threats unblockable.

Teferi, Time Raveler may be the most annoying planeswalker ever printed, but it’s so damn good at what it does. It protects you from interaction on your turn because you cast your game-winning spells like Overwhelming Stampede and Jetmir, Nexus of Revels, and it protects your spells from countermagic. It even buys some time against problematic permanents like Sphere of Safety or Propaganda.

Boros Charm is a protective spell that gives your team indestructible or gives Aragorn or another large creature some cheeky double strike for a win.

Tamiyo's Safekeeping gives a single permanent protection.

You’ve also got Clever Concealment and Teferi's Protection as protective pieces. Ways to phase your board out are increasingly important defensive pieces as Wizards keep printing wraths like Temporary Lockdown and Farewell that exile the board instead of destroying it.

The Mana Base

Your mana base is straightforward. As a 4-color deck with tons of multicolor cards, you don’t have much room for frills and fancy lands with effects. You have a robust selection of fetches, Triomes, and shocks to ensure you can always find your mana.

The triomes are especially important with Three Visits and Nature's Lore as ramp and fixing spells.

There’s still room for a still fun in the mana base. You have an Otawara, Soaring City to get some interaction that’s almost impossible for your opponents to deal with.

You also use another card from the new set that’s sure to become a white staple: Minas Tirith. This deck can attack with two creatures as easily as it passes the turn, and it has plenty of legendary creatures to keep this untapped. While you can make good use of this card here, every white deck wants a copy.

The Strategy

Ramp out Aragorn, the Uniter. Cast spells. Profit!

That’s really the gist of the deck. You aren’t wholly dependent on your commander to play the game, though. Getting down something like Torens, Fist of the Angels or General Ferrous Rokiric fills a similar role.

You need to get one of these token-generating engines down early to start casting spells and building your board. As you’re fleshing out the board, find ways to buff it. Your spells are pretty cheap, so don’t be afraid to keep hands with plenty of lands and little ramp; much of this deck’s ramp is more for mana fixing anyways.

This deck is all about value, so look for an opening hand that generates some. This value could come from the board presence generated by Aragorn, or it could come from steady card advantage from cards like Bennie Bracks, Zoologist or Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. It could even come from denying your opponents value with your stax pieces like Thalia and Magistrate.

Protective elements are another piece to look for. If Aragorn isn’t a target at first, it’ll become one once the table sees the value it produces. Another benefit from those disruptive pieces is that they’re lightning rods for removal. Nobody wants a Thalia or Teferi hanging around too long, so they’ll eat some removal. This deck has many redundant value pieces, it’s hard for your opponents to have enough spot removal to clear them all.

Which is why Commander players run board wipes. Playing around board wipes can be tricky. If you have a protective spell like Clever Concealment or Dovin's Veto, you’re probably good to run your spells out unless you suspect multiple board wipes.

If you don’t have good protection, you’ll want to play enough cards to affect the board without dumping all your resources at once. The best way to deal with a wrath is to pressure whoever is holding it enough that they need to use it right away instead of waiting until you’ve played everything in your hand. If you can stick to three good threats and hold three more in your hand until after the wrath, they’ll have destroyed three of your cards instead of all.

Keep an eye out for Voltron lines. This isn’t a Voltron commander list, but Aragorn becomes quite large, and you have ways to make it larger. It’s not insane to have it attack for ten or more commander damage if you have some of your anthems and cast a green spell. You can use some of your protective pieces more proactively to force through some damage, especially Mother of Runes. Even if you can’t find a kill with commander damage, a 10/10 isn’t something you can just ignore.

Combos and Interactions

This deck is as honest as one could expect. You’re not plotting any nefarious infinite loops or prison locks. You just want to deploy a large board and throw tokens at your opponents. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few tricks up your sleeve.

One little interaction is with Call the Coppercoats and March of the Multitudes. You can use Call to ramp up your March.

As long as you’re making more tokens with Call than you’re paying (which is ideal), you get additional tokens. For example, target an opponent with five creatures with Call the Coppercoats without strive. You’ll make five tokens that convoke March of the Multitudes for five mana instead of the three you would have spent. It’s a small synergy, but every token matters in a deck like this.

You also have the combination of Berserk and Aragorn, the Uniter to get some sneaky wins.

Berserk is unironically one of the best removal spells in the deck. You’ll often want to use it to target an opponent’s creature that's attacking something other than you. We’ll get to deal extra damage to something and destroy another threat.

When used with Aragorn, it promises huge damage. Assuming you target Aragorn with its triggered ability for casting a green spell, it’ll hit for 18 trampling commander damage. That’s plenty to deal with a player who took a hit early in the game. It’s also easy to find the last three points of damage to take out a player in one fell swoop, or it can just be 18 damage to close a game.

Aragorn would die to the Berserk, but that’s a sacrifice I’m often willing to make when it takes a player out of the pod. You can also protect Aragorn with one of your reactive spells like Tamiyo's Safekeeping if you want.

Rule 0 Violations Check

This deck doesn’t really violate any rule zero conversations. Some players really don’t like stax pieces like Teferi, Time Raveler and Drannith Magistrate, but this is hardly a dedicated stax deck. It just has a few speedbumps for the pod to navigate.

Budget Options

Let’s start by addressing that mana base. You can trim away the fetches and shocks to save tons of money, substituting for lands like the Temple lands and Pathways. The influx of tap lands makes the deck a little slower. As for the triomes, those are really important mana fixers. At the very least, one or two with the Forest subtype are needed for Nature's Lore and Three Visits (either of which could be swapped for Farseek as another budget swap).

Esper Sentinel gives you human synergies and card draw but sees tons of play in Eternal formats that keep the price up. Mystic Remora is a fine substitute.

Bennie Bracks, Zoologist is another valuable card draw engine. This one can get subbed for Tocasia's Welcome.

Anointed Procession doesn’t have a great budget replacement as a token doubler. Other options could be enchantments that make tokens every turn, like Outlaws' Merriment or Assemble the Legion.

Flowering of the White Tree always costs more than Glorious Anthem, making the latter a strong budget option over the former.

Teferi's Protection offers such good defense in many spots but could be replaced with Heroic Intervention to at least keep your board safe.

Temporal Manipulation can become Time Warp for about half the price and nearly no difference. I just kept running into Deflecting Swat.

Other Builds

Aragorn, the Uniter is a deck that offers tons of diversity. There are so many different ways to build this. One path you can take is to fully commit to the multicolored bit. Get in cards like Knight of New Alara, Omnath, Locus of Creation, and Fallaji Wayfarer over many of the human typal or legendary cards to get the most value from Aragorn possible.

It wouldn’t take much for this to be a devastating stax deck. You have a few pieces, but these are the perfect colors for all the stax pieces like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Deafening Silence, and Archon of Emeria. But black is a combination with plenty of prison options like Teferi, Time Raveler, and Knowledge Pool to lock things up with.

A third option is to go hard into a combo deck. Aragorn works beautifully alongside infinite loops like Squee, the Immortal + Food Chain or Dockside Extortionist with Temur Sabertooth or Cloudstone Curio to win on the spot.

Commanding Conclusion

Éowyn, Shieldmaiden | Illustration by Craig Elliott

The union of Middle-earth and MTG has brought some of my favorite card designs in recent years. It’s a brilliant marriage of storytelling and mechanics. Even if a few cards have fallen flat, the set looks incredibly exciting.

Aragorn, the Uniter was the first of many commanders I was excited to brew with, and I’m pleased with how this human typal list turned out. What commanders do you want to brew with? What version of Aragorn is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below, or over in Draftsim's official Discord.

Stay safe, and don’t get tempted!