The 18 Best Cards for Standard in MTG’s The Hobbit

Head of the Hunt | Illustration by Andrea Piparo

Hello planeswalkers! Let’s journey back to Middle-earth and even back in time from the highly received The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth MTG set. We’re going to dive into some hobbit holes, epic battles, and riddles in the dark. This new and anticipated addition to the Universe Beyond family should bring a dragon’s treasure load of new and intriguing cards.

Today, we’ll speculate on which of these Hobbit cards are going to make the biggest splashes in Standard. With a vibrant and ever-changing Standard metagame, it’s important to look ahead and try to find what may give you the next big advantage. And let’s just have fun looking at a wonderful crossover set!

What Cards from The Hobbit are Standard-Legal?

My Precious | Illustration by Valera Lutfullina

Only cards in Play Boosters that bear the HOB set code are Standard-legal. The cards released under “The Hobbit Commander” as box toppers, scene cards, or Collector-booster exclusives won’t be Standard-legal and will only be playable in Eternal formats.

#18. Head of the Hunt

I don’t think black got much Standard support from this set, but Head of the Hunt should provide some interesting interactions. At 4 mana, it sits right behind Unholy Annex and plays at flash speed for ultimate flexibility. I can see this card supporting an attack-heavy black/Dimir () creature deck as an insurance policy.

#17. Thranduil’s Decree

With the rampant ramp in Standard at the moment, no big spell sounds completely unreasonable. Thranduil's Decree is a wildly expensive counterspell with a huge upside. You steal the permanent spell you counter with this and play it for free on any future turn. Considering it isn’t hard to ramp to 6 mana in the first four turns, I can see this card frustrating some strategies.

#16. The Sackville-Bagginses

Oh, The Sackville-Bagginses are up to something! This interesting black creature should have some great interactions with token decks. Whether it’s Treasure created by this card, or some sort of Weapons Manufacturing combo, it should be quite fun. I can also see a great starting play of Spyglass Siren, followed by this card, into Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.

#15. Settle the Wreckage

I believe that white is getting a serious competitive boost from The Hobbit! Settle the Wreckage is a great aggro-killer control card. Giving an aggro opponent a ton of lands is most likely not going to bite you if you remove their board presence. This should be ready for Jeskai (), Mardu (), and maybe even a few new color combos.

On the reverse side, white also gets a great defensive card in The Eagles Are Coming!, which I almost included.

#14. Belladonna Took

Belladonna Took is a card that can help White Tokens back into the meta. It’s cheap enough and provides a ton of benefits if you can reliably create tokens each turn. You may want to run a noncreature token deck, but I believe Belladonna Took provides enough upside to be included, especially with an Elspeth, Storm Slayer.

#13. Thorin, Mountain-king

I should also include a little speculation about what new decks may enter the Standard metagame. Thorin, Mountain-king may make equipment decks competitive again. This card provides a nice auto-attachment along with some removal when it enters. I foresee some bounce strategies from Boomerang Basics combined with equipment cards like Mjölnir, Hammer of Thor and Chainsaw. This card may also benefit from a new land, The Lonely Mountain, and fellow dwarf Dáin Ironfoot.

#12. Thranduil’s Company

Elves might be making a Standard comeback, and unsurprisingly it’s thanks to Thranduil. All of the versions of the elf king have value: Thranduil, the Elvenking, Thranduil, Sindarin Liege, and the card I want to highlight, Thranduil's Company. This mid-curve elf allows you to ramp up your land plays and give a serious landfall boost with those extra lands.

#11. Glóin the Mighty

Red already has a ton of ramp in Standard with cards like Tablet of Discovery and Spider Manifestation. Now Glóin the Mighty should bring a nice turn-3-to-5 interaction. The adventure allows you to remove small creatures like Llanowar Elves and Burnout Bashtronaut. Once on the battlefield, this card then gives a good bit of ramp every turn. It’s not as safe as the Tablet, but it could definitely see play.

#10. Riddles in the Dark

Riddles in the Dark should make an immediate impact because of its instant speed. At 3 mana, it competes with Flow State, Stock Up, and Consult the Star Charts. All of those cards have certain advantages over this one, but the instant speed will allow some versatility to control the game. Use counters and removal when needed, and if not, let’s play some Riddles in the Dark.

#9. Bilbo’s Gambit

Bilbo's Gambit is a white instant that may seal games for aggro and control alike. When you gift a Treasure, you can stop a spell from your opponent and shut down spells for the rest of their turn. This seemingly one-time effect is all an aggressive deck or control deck may need to stop a board wipe, or to finish with their deadly wincons.

#8. The Arkenstone

The Arkenstone should make it into several Selesnya () decks for its adventure alone. Seek the Heart allows you to fetch a legendary creature such as the already popular Jennifer Walters, Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker, or the big guy, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant. Fetching a legendary combo piece and providing a draw advantage to keep pace with Unholy Annex should give this card great upside and lasting power in the format.

#7. My Precious

“…What it’s got in it’s nasty little pocketsses?” My Precious is a solid equipment card that may find itself in multiple decks, but it leans the most towards aggressive black decks. I’m thinking Mardu Discard can leverage the sac-draw while being aggressive and then keep a Iron-Shield Elf protected with indestructible and hexproof.

#6. The Great Goblin

The Great Goblin should be an interesting addition to the not-top-of-the-meta goblin decks. Don’t get me wrong, you still see goblins in Standard from time to time, but it’s pretty easily countered. The Great Goblin should provide aggressive ping damage and extra card advantage. I also like this card with Molten-Core Maestro and blight effects like Boggart Mischief. Bolg's Company would be a great addition to Rakdos () goblins as well.

#5. Uncover the Moon-Letters

I’m glad that white got a bit of a power boost in this set, but Izzet colors () should still be king in Standard. Uncover the Moon-Letters is a killer enchantment that fits into most curves perfectly. Once on the battlefield, you should gain such a wide draw advantage that games should easily snowball in your favor, if you can afford the time to play this.

#4. Radagast of Rhosgobel

“Not a bad fellow as Wizards go, I believe.” Radagast of Rhosgobel is a great creature ramp card that also provides value on opponents’ turns. Most creature-centric decks I know look to crush opponents hard or fast on their turns, but Radagast grants flash and the cost reduction to make creature decks much more versatile. I’m quite excited for this card.

#3. The Queen of Dale

White just got a great card for responding to all the spellslinging and noncreature decks in Standard. The Queen of Dale provides draw and token creation through the recruit mechanic whenever an opponent plays their first noncreature spell each turn. This should be a solid early response to Stock Up, especially alongside Caretaker's Talent. It would provide some protection, as one Burst Lightning and this card is toast.

#2. Smaug the Magnificent

“I only wished to have a look at you and see if you were truly as great as the tales say.”  Smaug the Magnificent will fit nicely into Standard dragons and aggressive red decks. A cost of 4 mana, Treasure ramp, haste, and direct damage all lead to this card being well-positioned for an often aggressive Standard. Not as deadly as a Thor, God of Thunder, but along the same lines.

I almost included Desolation of Smaug as a not-as-good Avengers Disassembled, unless you have a dedicated dragon build in Standard.

#1. Bilbo, Thief in the Night

Bilbo, Thief in the Night should sneak right into so many Izzet and Jeskai Standard decks immediately. Bilbo and Gran-Gran can work together to reduce the casting cost of your spellslinger strategies in multiple areas of play. I especially think that Bilbo, Thief in the Night will play well with Tablet of Discovery, and bringing back spells from the graveyard will create superb lines of play.

Bonus: Mono-Green Ouroboroid in Standard

Ouroboroid | Illustration by Samuel Perin

Elves, goblins, humans, dwarves, and possibly wolves should have decks built around them for Standard. I’m going to take a few The Hobbit cards and add them to an already established deck. I took a Mono-Green Ouroboroid deck created by medvedev from mtggoldfish.com and tweaked it a bit.

The aim is to ramp up mana ridiculously with mana dorks and Badgermole Cub, and then pump them lethally with Ouroboroid or Craterhoof Behemoth. The main keys to reliability and efficiency are the mana dorks, Badgermole Cub, and the versatile Nature's Rhythm.

This deck was pretty good before the new set, but I believe Radagast of Rhosgobel and Dancing from Dark to Dawn add even more advantage. Radagast reduces the cost of creatures in the middle curve, but more importantly it can change the timing of casting to give slightly more protection. Dancing gives an alternate power boost if the correct cards aren’t drawn or are removed.

Wrap Up

Thorin, Mountain-king | Illustration by Javier Charro

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” And now once again your decks can be filled with them. Thank you for checking out my speculation on how this set will change or aid the Standard format. Overall, I don’t think this set is going to “break” Standard. It has some decent cards and definitely boosts white, but I think it won’t have the kind of influence that Secrets of Strixhaven had on Standard.

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Stay safe, and remember the road goes ever on!