Amass in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Pedro Furtado (djorso) 10 days ago Collecting, Deckbuilding, MTG Cards

Last updated on August 10, 2026

Orc Army | Illustration by Veli Nyström

How do you represent a full-scale army in a paper card game? You can’t just throw 1,000 miniatures onto the table or greenscreen it in like they do in the movies. You certainly can’t create a real-world coalition and have people larp as your fighters. That would just be ludicrous.

Magic’s solution was the amass mechanic, introduced in War of the Spark and tweaked in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and The Hobbit. Amass represents an entire army with just one token that grows over time. Let’s make Uncle Sam proud and join the army to break down amass and rank its best cards!

Table of Contents show

What Are Amass Cards in MTG?

Sliver Army | Illustration by Maxime Minard

When you amass, you put +1/+1 counters on an Army token you control equal to the amass number. If you don’t already control an Army token, you create a 0/0 Army with that many +1/+1 counters instead.

Amassing a new creature type on top of an existing army adds that creature type to the army. If you control a Zombie Army and then amass orcs, you end up with a zombie orc army.

Amass was introduced in WAR but later changed to be more specific. The first wave of amass cards all created a Zombie Army, but with the addition of “amass orcs” in LTR, the original mechanic was changed to “amass zombies.” This allows different sets to represent armies that match the flavor of that set.

The History of Amass in MTG

Amass was first created for War of the Spark in 2019. At that time, the mechanic was flavored to match the invading Nicol Bolas’s Lazotep zombie armies.

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) and The Hobbit (HOB) brought along new army types, orcs and goblins respectively. Commander Masters created the Sliver Army with Lazotep Sliver’s amass slivers ability.

Amass is firmly in the black section of the color pie because it creates a black army token, but it has a little splash in red and blue. Amass is a Grixis mechanic themed after Nicol Bolas and Sauron, both Grixis () characters.

Amass Goblins

Amass Orcs

Amass Zombies

Other Amass Cards

Lazotep Sliver

Best Amass Cards

Best Amass Goblins Cards

#5. Bolg of the North

Bolg of the North is a big creature that’s doing a lot of different, synergistic stuff. You can use it as a sacrifice outlet to kill an opposing threat, but if you deal excess damage, you get a creature back. So, you could sacrifice a 3/3 Goblin Army to kill a 2/1 creature, and you’ll get your army back as a 2/2 for free.

#4. Bothersome Noisemaker

For every player out there who wished Young Pyromancer was a goblin that made Goblin tokens, here’s Bothersome Noisemaker. It adds some redundancy to spellslinging decks, and it pairs very well with burn spells. The amass goblins ability won’t always create a new token, but you can use it either as a combat trick or after combat, when your army just died and you’re in a reinforcement phase.

#3. Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted

By itself, Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted is already two 3/3 creatures. I’ve praised army lords before, and sometimes, armies become big but lack evasion. This card prevents that, and you’ll be happy going wide or tall with armies.

#2. Along the Crooked Way

Along the Crooked Way is a cheap Gravedigger effect which also gives you lasting value if creatures keep leaving your graveyard, like Insidious Roots. Plus, giving your orcs and goblins menace with its activated ability makes sure this card slides into many typal decks across formats, such as Standard and EDH.

#1. Rhovanion Rampager

Rhovanion Rampager is an interesting two-for-one threat. It's basically a 3/2 that dies into a 3/3 token. But sometimes, you’ll sacrifice some creatures and grow this creature into something bigger, and its death reward will be much stronger. Just beware of those -5/-5 cards.

Best Amass Orcs Cards

#5. Saruman, the White Hand

A cool aspect of Saruman, the White Hand is that it amasses orcs, but it also gives a bonus to goblins, which conveniently plays well with amass goblins. This is a Grixis spellslinging card at heart, and it’s nice to pair with aristocrats cards so you can keep sacrificing the armies Saruman creates.

#4. Sauron, Lord of the Rings

Sauron, Lord of the Rings is objectively the most powerful amass card, but it’s also an 8-drop. It’s a massive 9/9 trampler with amass orcs 5 and a free Zombify effect, so what’s not to like? Even if your opponents kill your Sauron, you already got a lot of value.

#3. Barad-dûr

Barad-dûr stands out as a black land that’s easy to include, and one that’s also a mana sink. In a long game, you can use this land to keep amassing orcs as long as a creature dies, so it’s perfect in an aristocrats shell.

#2. Sauron, the Dark Lord

Sauron, the Dark Lord is a very pushed Grixis card and one of the most popular commanders on EDHREC with over 35,000 lists posted online. For starters, it’s a 7/6 creature with very relevant ward protection, and each time you cast any spell, you get to amass orcs 1. You also have incentives to deal damage to opponents using armies, so overall, this Sauron design represents very well-spent 6 mana on a huge card that gives you a lot of resources and value.

#1. Orcish Bowmasters

Orcish Bowmasters can be considered a development mistake, although it hasn’t been banned in any Constructed MTG format yet, but it’s a Game Changer in EDH. It basically punishes players for playing X/1 creatures, and it’s excellent to flash in response to a card draw effect. Bowmasters is a very efficient creature as a 1/1 that creates another body and pings, while getting bigger as the game progresses. And it’s not even legendary.

Best Amass Zombies Cards

#7. Lazotep Reaver

Lazotep Reaver sees a lot of play in environments where you need cheap and consistent sacrifice fodder. A 1/2 that enters play and already creates another 1/1 is a synergy card that you’ll find in aristocrats decks and zombie decks, and in Pauper/Peasant environments.

#6. Mindless Conscription

Mindless Conscription gives you a 3/3 token when it enters, and each time you draw three cards, you get to amass 3 again. It’s a nice payoff for drawing a bunch of cards, and it gives you some outlasting power.

#5. Enter the God-Eternals

Enter the God-Eternals does a lot of different stuff, and the end result is that you get a pseudo-Flametongue Kavu that gained you some life. The decision on who to mill can be a bit difficult in 1v1 games, but if you’re playing this card, you’ll probably want to mill yourself.

#4. Commence the Endgame

Commence the Endgame is a powerful Mulldrifter-like card with flash that saw some play as a control card in Standard. Since UB often has a draw-two theme and a zombie theme, this card fits a lot of decks, especially draw-go ones.

#3. Eternal Skylord

A staple in zombie decks, Eternal Skylord gives all your zombies flying, which is perfect to take all those 2/2 tokens to the skies. Between Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Army of the Damned, there’s no shortage of ways to create them, but I wouldn’t play this card if I had only normal zombie cards.

#2. Gleaming Overseer

Like Eternal Skylord, Gleaming Overseer’s value is basically being a nice zombie lord. A hexproof enabler is going to slot well into any EDH deck that has an expensive zombie commander, and menace is excellent when you have a lot of 2/2 tokens, especially if you grant them deathtouch.

#1. Dreadhorde Invasion

Originally heralded as the second coming of Bitterblossom, Dreadhorde Invasion is slightly weaker but still a strong card in zombies. Getting to amass zombies for free each turn is good, and you can choose to go wide or tall based on the number of aristocrats synergies you might have. And considering that this is a 2-drop enchantment, if you cast it early, you’ll accrue these resources for the rest of the game.

Does Amass Target?

No, amass itself doesn’t target as a general rule. For example, a card that just says amass 2 doesn’t have a target.

However, amass cards can have a target as part of other abilities, like Callous Dismissal or Orcish Medicine. In these cases, if the spell doesn’t have a legal target while resolving, it fizzle and you don’t amass an army.

What Happens If You Destroy or Kill the Army in Response to Amass?

Removing an army in response to an amass effect will simply cause the amass resolution to create a new army token to place counters on.

What Happens When You Create a Copy of an Amass Army?

When you make a copy of an amass army, you’ll have two armies of the same type in play. Then, whenever the game tells you to amass, you’ll choose where you put the counters. Keep in mind that copying an army will often result in creating a 0/0 creature, since the +1/+1 counters don't carry over, so your copy might die without lords or anthems in play.

How Does Amass Work with Token Doublers?

The token doublers only affect the creation of the first army token.

Let’s say I need to amass 3 on an empty board, and I have a card that doubles all created tokens. I’ll create a 0/0 army token and put three +1/+1 counters on it, but I’ll also create another 0/0 token. This new token will die because it won’t receive any +1/+1 counters. The new token doesn’t receive the +1/+1 counters because you’re only doubling the token produced, and not the amass effect that placed the +1/+1 counters.

Has the Original Amass Zombies Mechanic Received Errata?

Yes, the original amass mechanic received errata. When the amass mechanic was created in War of the Spark (WAR), the mechanic simply read as “Amass N”.

When The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR) introduced amass orcs, cards from WAR received errata to have amass zombies and differentiate them from the orcish token makers.

When amass goblins was introduced in The Hobbit, the rules were already compatible with amass goblins, so there was no need for further rules alterations.

Best Amass Payoffs

Amass is a very flexible mechanic that goes wide and tall, so there are distinct payoffs for each case, and it also has a relevant typal component with orcs, goblins, and zombies.

In WAR, one of the benefits of playing amass zombies was proliferate, mainly in green, blue, and black. Green also had +1/+1 counter synergies to match our armies.

Typal is a big payoff, considering that zombies and goblins are the essential black and red creatures. It’s also interesting that some amass zombie cards also give zombies a benefit, like Gleaming Overseer.

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver is an excellent zombie sacrifice outlet, and you can throw in some army cards.

Sacrifice and aristocrats are interesting payoffs. If you have a card that can reliably amass, like Dreadhorde Invasion, you have something to sacrifice every turn.

If your army is big enough, you can always Fling it or take advantage of the size of the creature for various purposes.

The Great Goblin is a tailor-made card for the amass mechanic. Each time you put a +1/+1 counter on your armies (when you amass, essentially), you’re dealing 2 damage to your opponent.

Armied and Dangerous

Zombie Army | Illustration by Tomasz Jedruszek

Amass is an interesting and flavorful mechanic. It’s excellent in Limited as a mechanic that bridges different archetypes, while in Constructed, you can pull off pushed designs. Sometimes the difference between having a 4/4 and 6/6 army isn’t that great, but token generation added to +1/+1 counters fits a lot of decks.

Do you like amass as a mechanic? Let me know in the comments section below, or let’s discuss it over on the Draftsim Discord. And for more on MTG's mechanics, tune in to Draftsim’s YouTube Channel, The Daily Upkeep.

Until next time, stay safe!

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Pedro Furtado (djorso)

Pedro started playing Magic way back when in Fourth Edition. After a long hiatus, he now plays mostly MTG Arena Standard and Limited. His biggest MTG regret is trading a bunch of Force of Wills for Serra Angels.

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