The 30 Best Cards in The Hobbit Ranked

Bard, King of Dale | Illustration by Xabi Gaztelua

The Hobbit is the only written material from Tolkien's catalog that I’m actually familiar with, though it’s admittedly been long enough since I’ve read it that the references in the MTG set don’t quite click with me. But I put a lot of respect on Tolkien’s name, and The Lord of the Rings was a satisfying set for me.

All that to say I’m happy to return to Middle-earth and the unexpected journey we’ll get from this small set. We got some all-timers from LTR three years ago; let’s see if we’ve got the same quality this time around.

Best Reprints from The Hobbit

Wood Elves | Illustration by Andreia Ugrai

Normally I’d take this section to rank the best returning cards in the set, but I have to treat The Hobbit a little bit differently. There are no Commander precons this time around, so there aren’t many spaces for reprints to exist outside the set’s dedicated box toppers, also called “classic artist cards”.

The thing is, while I could rank the best of the best here, they did an astounding job of just pulling 40 amazing cards from the original set and its accompanying Commander product, so much so that I’d just be ranking all 40 of them here. Rather than do that, I’ll just leave you with this note that all the classic artist cards are useful, heavily-played cards, and they’re all welcome reprints, even if they’re not in the main set.

Other than those, there’s also Wood Elves and Settle the Wreckage, which are both solid reprints.

Best New Cards from The Hobbit

#30. Bag End Banquet

All-in food decks will surely have an appetite for Bag End Banquet. Maybe it’s the second coming of Radiant Lotus and won’t live up to the hype, or maybe it’s just a strictly worse Gilded Lotus. Either way, food decks will gobble it up.

#29. Chief Warg’s Company

That’s just a ton of stats on Chief Warg's Company. It can always block, and after one turn cycle, you’re up 7 power on board for just 3 mana. The downside of doing nothing if it eats a Pinecone Strike right away is real, but it hardly even has a downside in dedicated wolf decks. The curve of Nighthowl Pursuer into Desolation Prowler into Chief Warg’s Company is Constructed worthy.

#28. Balin, Loremaster

It’s dwarves or bust with Balin, Loremaster, but in decks that can drop a bunch of dwarves into play at once, with, say, Reckless Crew or Belonging, you can take a huge chunk out of each opponent’s life total by just wheeling a bunch of times in a row.

#27. Beorn the Fierce

I want to rate Beorn the Fierce much higher, but there’s no shortage of 5-mana battlecruisers in green, and it’s not clear to me that this is better or worse than something like Elder Gargaroth, or Vorinclex, or Verdurous Gearhulk, or Defiler of Vigor. It’s a big chunky bear though, so that might be all the convincing you need.

#26. Elven Raft-Steerer

Retreat to Coralhelm on a stick has all the same combos as the enchantment, usually involving creatures that tap to put lands into play and something like Simic Growth Chamber to establish a loop. Throw in Hawkeye's Bow and the loops with Elven Raft-Steerer become a wincon.

#25. The Misty Mountains Cold

In a dedicated Treasure deck The Misty Mountains Cold is easily a 3-mana 6/6 flier that makes a Treasure, and anywhere else it’s a delayed 6/6 flier that makes a few Treasures as you wait. Seems fine either way.

#24. Chief of the Wilds

Doubling abilities on wolves makes Chief of the Wilds a compelling wolf commander already, but adding in the bit about battles is super novel. Getting four lands off Invasion of Zendikar or removing two threats with Invasion of Innistrad sounds good to me, and presumably we’ll have more battles coming in 2027 when Battle of the Five Armies releases.

#23. Riddles in the Dark

This is one of the better divvy cards we’ve seen. It doesn’t have the Ring-tempting text of Sauron's Ransom, but being instant speed lets Riddles in the Dark compete with equally powerful draw spells like Stock Up and Consult the Star Charts.

#22. Gollum, Riddle Master

If you get all three triggers on Gollum, Riddle Master, you paid 2 mana for a 4/2 that drew a card, and you’ve drained your opponent for 2 life. That’s strong without being broken, and very nice in Commander if you can slip this in on the play and choose even before opponents start to deploy their mana rocks and ramp spells.

#21. The Arkenstone

No particular part of The Arkenstone reads all that powerfully, but the combined effects add up to something strong. Tutor, anthem, and card draw in one card is a lot of compartmentalization, though none of it is highly efficient. Which is a negative for playability, but a positive for the health of Commander.

#20. Smaug the Magnificent

This is the Smaug that got the Headliner treatment, so you’re expecting something grandiose. And Smaug the Magnificent lives up to the name. I’m not blown away, since you need to build up your Treasure trove before it really does anything, but it’s a menacing haste threat once you’re sitting on a pile of gold.

#19. Elrond, Moon-Reader

The activated ability on Elrond, Moon-Reader is a bit too expensive to make that the primary gameplan, but just drawing when you activate your first ability every turn is enticing. That could be something as simple as tapping an Elvish Mystic for mana. It’s got a similar scope as Loki, God of Mischief, which has been quite good so far.

#18. An Unexpected Party

Dwarves sure do love An Unexpected Party, but there are some typal decks that would have no problem ignoring the adventure and running this as a +2/+2 anthem for their type of choice.

#17. The Great Goblin

Again, it’s hard to rate the typal cards too highly, so we’ll stick The Great Goblin here. This is a Rakdos () goblin commander with a lot of combo potential, and you get a lot of extra card draw as your orcs, goblins, and armies bite the dust.

#16. Thranduil, the Elvenking

We just got Maralen, Fae Ascendant this year, and there’s already a new Sultai () elf commander knocking at the door. Thranduil, the Elvenking goes in a completely different direction though, focusing on legendary elves, and presumably playing best as a combo commander where you piece together a couple activated abilities into a single win condition.

#15. The Master of Lake-town

Mindcrank in the command zone is most of what The Master of Lake-town has to offer, but that’s certainly enough to pull people towards their new favorite mill commander. Solid second ability, too, though that’s not really why you’re running the card.

#14. Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator

Even scuffed Academy Manufactor is still a good card. Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator isn’t nearly as busted, nor as ubiquitous, but food decks will happily pick up extra Treasure tokens for just doing what they wanted to do anyway.

#13. Bothersome Noisemaker

The comparisons between Bothersome Noisemaker and Young Pyromancer are interesting, because this ability isn’t strictly better than what Young Pyro does. You can never go wide while amassing, so to want Noisemaker, you’ll either want to make a large army token and protect it or surround it with sacrifice outlets to keep using the armies as you make them. That makes it fundamentally different from Pyro, which usually just wants to grow a board of 1/1s. Noisemaker’s a rock solid spellslinger/sacrifice enabler, but not a strict upgrade over the competition.

#12. Fateful Discovery

Is Fateful Discovery the latest busted artifact payoff, or is it more akin to Inexorable Tide? No restriction on what kinds of artifacts or how many leads me to believe this might be truly broken, but 5 mana and its lack of immediate impact should keep it in check.

#11. Dancing from Dark to Dawn

Might as well cover another 5-mana do-nothing. Dancing from Dark to Dawn gives us a recognizable landfall trigger and a pretty strong cast trigger, but it still probably requires you pass the turn with a scary-looking enchantment on board and just hope no one messes with it. There’s still some strong output here, especially if you can hold off and cast a creature directly after this.

#10. Bilbo, Thief in the Night

The cost reduction on Bilbo, Thief in the Night just affects so many cards, whether that’s the spells Bilbo is actually flashing back, or other flashback, foretell, or adventure cards. There’s some snowball potential here with cheap interaction, like a Dreadhorde Arcanist that makes you pay for the spells it targets. Recasting artifacts is a welcome addition, too.

#9. Bard, King of Dale

We did it folks, we found the most Commander card that ever Commandered. Bard, King of Dale doubles draws and tokens, which is twice as much doubling as most doublers double. Pack a Regicide or two because this is a king you’ll definitely want to kill.

#8. Smaug the Impenetrable

If I remember correctly, Smaug’s weakness was a split in his scales where he was vulnerable, but Smaug the Impenetrable’s weakness is that no one’s going to want to play against it because all it does is combo, combo, combo. Pyrohemia, Chain Lightning, Mayhem Devil, so on and so forth. This Smaug was made for winning, and that’s just what it’ll do.

#7. The Sackville-Bagginses

Sackville indeed. There’s a hint of Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER in The Sackville-Bagginses, and I’ve got high hopes for this halfling in dedicated token decks.

#6. Dragon’s Desire

Ah, the card that Dockside Extortionist always should’ve been. You’ve always gotta have an eye on big red rituals like this, even if Dragon's Desire is dependent on your opponents. But what decks aren’t running a ton of artifact tokens these days?

#5. Inside Information

Kind of like a Bolas's Citadel for an opponent, or a painful take on Villainous Wealth. Inside Information is equally powerful and risky, and you’ll likely need to support it with lifegain and extra ramp. Honestly, casting this for just X=2 or 3 doesn’t even seem that bad, since it probably snags your next land drop and a “free” spell or two.

#4. Gleaming Splendor

Another entry in the line of piggyback enchantments that pay you off for your opponents’ overindulgences in card draw. I like the political angle on Gleaming Splendor, letting you form an alliance with another player while still coming out ahead, though you could never activate the ability and still get some good use out of this enchantment.

#3. Necklace of Girion

I feel like Magic’s doing a great job of making 3-mana rocks relevant again. I mean, just look at Necklace of Girion. It’s a ramp piece that’ll also net you quite a few +1/+1 counters over the next few turns, for no additional mana investment. Best in mono-green, but I could see this popping up in 2-color decks, too.

#2. My Precious

Whispersilk Cloak is still a heavily-played card, and My Precious adds a few more layers the that equipment. Among them is a black adventure that restricts where you can play this card, plus a life payment on the equip cost that stops it from being a strict upgrade to Cloak. However, hexproof instead of shroud is a big deal, and getting Altar's Reap in your deck for free is totally fine, too.

#1. The Queen of Dale

The Queen of Dale is an easy standout from the set. I don’t want to overstate how good it is, but consistent recruiting against spell-heavy decks sounds good, since it grows out your board and shapes up your hand at the same time. I expect to see a lot of this card, though I don’t expect it’ll be a powerhouse, just a good value engine.

Wrap Up

The Arkenstone | Illustration by Gaboleps

Just like when the last episode of the cartoon aired in 2018, Adventure Time is over. The Hobbit has a lot of compelling cards for a small set. There’s just enough typal influence to interest those folks, and generically strong cards across the truncated product line-up. Also tons of valuable reprints if you plan to splurge on Collector boosters.

I also don’t see anything that’s immediately broken, which warrants a sigh of relief after Lord of the Rings brought us The One Ring, Orcish Bowmasters, and the 1-mana landcyclers. Plenty of power we can enjoy playing with without having our new cards blacklisted at Commander night.

What are you looking forward to from The Hobbit? How did they do on capturing the book as a Magic set? Let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out the Draftsim Discord. And if you want more, be sure to check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

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