Our picks
Top pickFood and Fellowship (Frodo and Sam)
Best to play: the most-built commanders of the four and cheap, popular upgrades
- Pro: 21.0% win rate in 219 tracked games of unmodified precons, level with Riders of Rohan and The Hosts of Mordor
- Pro: Birds of Paradise, Essence Warden, Toxic Deluge and Sanguine Bond inside
- Pro: The six most-played upgrades cost about $14 in total
- Con: Slow: it wins by gaining life and grinding, not by attacking early
Price
~$979 Nov 2026

Elven Council (Galadriel)
Best value: the cheapest deck, with the most card value per dollar
- Pro: About $65 sealed for about $112 of cards (1.73x)
- Pro: Heroic Intervention, Swan Song and Raise the Palisade are worth about $41 together
- Pro: The eight most-added upgrades cost about $3.30 in total
- Con: Weakest out of the box: 15.36% win rate, 84th of 92 precons tracked
Price
~$659 Nov 2026

The Hosts of Mordor (Sauron)
Most valuable cards: reanimator with Reanimate, Living Death and Cavern-Hoard Dragon
- Pro: Cavern-Hoard Dragon ($20.65), The Black Gate, Reanimate and Relic of Sauron
- Pro: Two very different commanders: Sauron (reanimator) or Saruman (spells and Orcs)
- Con: The most expensive deck, and sealed costs about what the cards are worth
- Con: Notion Thief is a Game Changer, so the deck starts at Bracket 3
Price
~$1269 Nov 2026

Riders of Rohan (Éowyn)
Simplest to play: Humans go wide and attack
- Pro: The most games tracked of the four (542) at a 20.43% win rate
- Pro: Gimli of the Glittering Caves, Vanquisher's Banner, Herald's Horn, Shared Animosity
- Con: The least card value of the four (about $87)
Price
~$779 Nov 2026
The Short Answer
Of the four LOTR Commander decks, the best to play is Food and Fellowship (Frodo and Sam). Out of the box, it, Riders of Rohan and The Hosts of Mordor win at statistically similar rates on Playgroup.gg (19.6–21.0% on 9 November 2026), so the pick rests on the rest: it's the most-built commander of the four on EDHREC, and its most popular upgrades cost about $14 in total.
For value, buy Elven Council: about $65 sealed for about $112 of cards. It's the weakest deck out of the box, so plan to upgrade it. The Hosts of Mordor has the most valuable cards but costs about $126, the same as its cards. Riders of Rohan (about $77) is the simplest to play.
This page covers only the four Commander decks from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (set code LTC), released on 23 June 2023. For the booster set, the One Ring and the rest of the product line, see our Lord of the Rings MTG guide.
The Four LOTR Commander Decks: Colours, Commanders and Prices
Food and Fellowship
- Colours
- Abzan (W/B/G)
- Commanders
- Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit + Sam, Loyal Attendant
- Sealed (9 Nov 2026)
- $96.52
- Cards worth
- $102.72 (1.06x)
- Stock win rate
- 21.0% (219 games)
- EDHREC decks
- 27,924
Riders of Rohan
- Colours
- Jeskai (W/U/R)
- Commanders
- Éowyn, Shieldmaiden; alt Aragorn, King of Gondor
- Sealed (9 Nov 2026)
- $76.94
- Cards worth
- $86.59 (1.13x)
- Stock win rate
- 20.43% (542 games)
- EDHREC decks
- 15,726 (Éowyn), 6,731 (Aragorn)
The Hosts of Mordor
- Colours
- Grixis (U/B/R)
- Commanders
- Sauron, Lord of the Rings; alt Saruman, the White Hand
- Sealed (9 Nov 2026)
- $126.13
- Cards worth
- $124.80 (0.99x)
- Stock win rate
- 19.55% (397 games)
- EDHREC decks
- 4,930 (Sauron), 11,966 (Saruman)
Elven Council
- Colours
- Simic (G/U)
- Commanders
- Galadriel, Elven-Queen; alt Gandalf, Westward Voyager
- Sealed (9 Nov 2026)
- $64.61
- Cards worth
- $111.57 (1.73x)
- Stock win rate
- 15.36% (140 games)
- EDHREC decks
- 2,514 (Galadriel), 1,210 (Gandalf)
How to read it. Sealed is the TCGplayer market price of the sealed deck. Cards worth adds up the TCGplayer market price of all 100 cards, using the exact printings in the deck (foils at foil prices); every card in all four decks had a price. It leaves out the random 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack in each box. Both come from our weekly precon data, fetched on 9 November 2026 from a tcgcsv snapshot of TCGplayer market prices dated 8 November. Stock win rate is from Playgroup.gg, which tracks games between unmodified precons; in a four-player game an average deck wins 25% of the time. EDHREC decks is the number of decks on EDHREC led by that commander on 9 November 2026.
Our ranking below is for playing the decks. The top three win rates are within about 1.5 points of each other, which is inside the sampling error for 219 to 542 games (about ±2.8 points for Food and Fellowship), so win rate only separates Elven Council from the rest. After that we weighed how many players build the deck, how cheap it is to improve, then price. If you want to part a deck out or upgrade it heavily, read the value numbers instead.
Each section below lists the deck's key cards by role. For every card in all four 100-card decklists, see Wizards' official decklists (published 8 June 2023).
1. Food and Fellowship Precon (Frodo and Sam)
Commanders: Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit ({W}{B}, 1/3) and Sam, Loyal Attendant ({1}{G}{W}, 2/4), who have Partner with each other Colours: white, black, green Sealed: $96.52 · Cards worth: $102.72 · Stock win rate: 21.0%, 48th of 92 precons
The plan in two lines: Sam makes a Food at the start of combat on each of your turns and makes Food cheaper to use, so you gain 3 life every turn. Essence Warden and the Food feed your life total, and that life turns into cards (Frodo, The Gaffer, Well of Lost Dreams) and damage (Sanguine Bond), while board wipes keep you alive.
Frodo has vigilance. When he attacks, if you gained 3 or more life that turn, the Ring tempts you; once the Ring has tempted you twice and Frodo is your Ring-bearer, he also draws a card on those attacks (when you've gained 3 or more life that turn). It's the only one of the four decks led by two commanders, and it has a second partner pair inside, Merry and Pippin, Wardens of Isengard, which you can swap in.
Food and Fellowship decklist highlights
- Food makers: Sam himself, Gilded Goose, Tireless Provisioner, Farmer Cotton, Savvy Hunter, Orchard Strider, Rosie Cotton of South Lane, Pippin, Warden of Isengard, Field-Tested Frying Pan, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
- Food payoffs: Feasting Hobbit (devours Food for +1/+1 counters), Banquet Guests (costs less for each Food)
- Life sources: Essence Warden (1 life whenever another creature enters), Prosperous Innkeeper (the same for your creatures, plus a Treasure)
- Lifegain payoffs: Sanguine Bond, The Gaffer, Well of Lost Dreams, Dawn of Hope, Gollum, Obsessed Stalker, Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant
- Card draw from tokens: Mentor of the Meek, Trading Post
- Removal and wipes: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Go for the Throat, Anguished Unmaking, Mortify, Toxic Deluge, Fumigate, Fell the Mighty
- Ramp: Birds of Paradise, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Chromatic Lantern, Farseek, Cultivate
- Big finishers: Treebeard, Gracious Host, Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles, Woodfall Primus, Great Oak Guardian (most builders cut the last two; see Upgrades)
- Lands (38 in all): Woodland Cemetery, Sunpetal Grove, Isolated Chapel, Brushland, Canopy Vista, Sandsteppe Citadel, two snarls (Necroblossom, Shineshadow), 14 other nonbasics and 16 basics
Most valuable cards in Food and Fellowship
Birds of ParadiseLTC 235: $11.93 on 9 Nov 2026
Essence WardenLTC 242: $11.50 on 9 Nov 2026
The GafferLTC 12: $6.98 on 9 Nov 2026
Toxic DelugeLTC 209: $6.01 on 9 Nov 2026
Sanguine BondLTC 208: $5.92 on 9 Nov 2026
After those: Tireless Provisioner $4.57, Well of Lost Dreams $3.41, Sol Ring $3.06, Farmer Cotton $2.70, Anguished Unmaking $2.40, Treebeard $2.15 and Swords to Plowshares $1.88. The commanders are cheap: the foil Frodo is $0.40 and the foil Sam $0.50.
Value: $96.52 sealed against $102.72 of cards, or 1.06x. Only $72.53 of that is in cards worth $1 or more, so you'd lose money parting it out. Buy it to play.
Food and Fellowship upgrades
The cards EDHREC users add most often to Frodo and Sam decks that aren't in the precon, on 9 November 2026, with the cheapest non-foil printing on Scryfall that day:
| Card | In Frodo + Sam decks | Cheapest non-foil |
|---|---|---|
| Peregrin Took | 87% | $0.35 |
| Samwise Gamgee | 79% | $1.18 |
| Academy Manufactor | 69% | $8.43 |
| The Shire | 66% | $1.87 |
| The Battle of Bywater | 61% | $1.97 |
| Meriadoc Brandybuck | 57% | $0.21 |
| Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator (The Hobbit Eternal, 2026) | 53%* | $6.51 |
| Call of the Ring | 52% | $3.64 |
*Of the 10,354 decks built since Bilbo was released in August 2026 (5,443 decks). Across all 27,924 Frodo and Sam decks it's 19%. EDHREC counts the other cards against all decks.
The first six cost about $14 together. Peregrin Took adds a Food every time you make tokens, and Academy Manufactor turns each Food you make into a Food, a Clue and a Treasure. To make room, the precon cards EDHREC users cut most are Hithlain Rope (kept in 6% of decks), Landroval (7%), Woodfall Primus, Eagles of the North, Great Oak Guardian and Orchard Strider (each in under 12%: none of them makes EDHREC's creature list, which stops at 12%), Generous Ent (14%), Butterbur (14%), Trading Post (18%), Call for Unity (19%) and Pristine Talisman (20%).
Buy it if: you like lifegain and tokens, you want the deck most players build, or you want to upgrade cheaply.
2. Riders of Rohan Precon (Éowyn)
Commander: Éowyn, Shieldmaiden ({2}{U}{R}{W}, 5/4 first strike) Second commander: Aragorn, King of Gondor ({1}{U}{R}{W}, 4/4 vigilance, lifelink) Colours: white, blue, red Sealed: $76.94 · Cards worth: $86.59 · Stock win rate: 20.43%, 51st of 92
The plan in two lines: play a Human every turn, and at the start of combat Éowyn makes two 2/2 Human Knights with trample and haste. Then pump the team with anthems (Shared Animosity, Marshal's Anthem, Vanquisher's Banner) and attack.
Once you control six or more Humans, Éowyn also draws a card each turn she triggers. Aragorn makes you the monarch when he enters, and while you're the monarch, nothing can block when he attacks. That makes him the better commander for a faster, card-drawing aggro deck.
Is Riders of Rohan really a Rohan deck?
Only partly: the deck is Rohan and Gondor together. Alongside Éowyn, Éomer, Théoden and Erkenbrand, it has Faramir, Boromir, Denethor, Beregond, Prince Imrahil, Champions of Minas Tirith and Crown of Gondor.
Riders of Rohan decklist highlights
- Human token makers: Forth Eorlingas!, Riders of Rohan, Increasing Devotion, Visions of Glory, Oath of Eorl, Lossarnach Captain, Prince Imrahil the Fair, Sunset Revelry
- Anthems and support: Shared Animosity, Marshal's Anthem, Vanquisher's Banner, Herald's Horn (makes your chosen creature type cheaper), Door of Destinies
- Combat: Combat Celebrant (an extra combat), Zealous Conscripts, Gimli of the Glittering Caves, Unbreakable Formation, Taunt from the Rampart (goads everything your opponents control), Village Bell-Ringer, Selfless Squire
- Finisher: Call for Aid (take an opponent's whole board for a turn)
- Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Banishing Light, Fiend Hunter, Palace Jailer, Supreme Verdict, Earthquake
- Card draw and monarch: Aragorn, Champions of Minas Tirith, Éomer, King of Rohan, Faramir, Steward of Gondor, Court of Ire, Palace Jailer, Archivist of Gondor, Crown of Gondor, Throne of the High City
- Ramp: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Progress, Thought Vessel, Wayfarer's Bauble
- Lands (38 in all): Glacial Fortress, Sulfur Falls, Clifftop Retreat, Battlefield Forge, Prairie Stream, Windbrisk Heights, Throne of the High City, Secluded Courtyard, 11 other nonbasics and 19 basics
Most valuable cards in Riders of Rohan
Gimli of the Glittering CavesLTC 32: $13.37 on 9 Nov 2026
Vanquisher's BannerLTC 289: $5.80 on 9 Nov 2026
Herald's HornLTC 280: $5.18 on 9 Nov 2026
Shared AnimosityLTC 226: $4.78 on 9 Nov 2026
Door of DestiniesLTC 277: $4.54 on 9 Nov 2026
After those: Taunt from the Rampart $4.05, Thought Vessel $4.02, Forth Eorlingas! $3.65, Supreme Verdict $3.09, Sol Ring $3.06, Combat Celebrant $2.06 and Swords to Plowshares $1.88. The foil Éowyn is $0.40.
Value: $76.94 sealed against $86.59 of cards, or 1.13x. Counting only cards worth $1 or more it's $59.14, the lowest of the four. It's the deck with the least to sell, but the second-cheapest to buy. The best card to sell is Gimli: most Éowyn builders cut him (see below), so he's worth more to you as $13.37 than as a deck slot.
Riders of Rohan upgrades
The cards EDHREC users add most often to Éowyn decks that aren't in the precon, on 9 November 2026, with the cheapest non-foil printing on Scryfall that day:
| Card | In Éowyn decks | Cheapest non-foil |
|---|---|---|
| Horn of Gondor | 69% | $2.55 |
| Adeline, Resplendent Cathar | 55% | $2.96 (a promo printing) |
| Boromir, Warden of the Tower | 52% | $4.39 |
| Coppercoat Vanguard | 49% | $0.26 |
| Éowyn, Fearless Knight | 47% | $1.00 |
| Minas Tirith | 42% | $5.69 |
| Bard, King of Dale (The Hobbit, 2026) | 42%* | $3.98 |
| Flowering of the White Tree | 38% | $8.45 |
| Riders of the Mark | 38% | $7.58 |
| Mass Appeal | 37% | $0.56 |
| Faramir, Prince of Ithilien | 37% | $0.38 |
| Thalia's Lieutenant | 37% | $0.52 |
| Kindred Discovery | 32% | $5.47 |
*Of the 5,100 decks built since Bard was released in August 2026 (2,117 decks). Across all 15,726 Éowyn decks it's 13%.
Mass Appeal and Kindred Discovery fix the deck's main weakness, which is running out of cards. The precon cards cut most often are Gimli of the Glittering Caves, Grey Host Reinforcements and Dearly Departed (each in under 13% of decks: none of them makes EDHREC's creature list, which stops at 12.8%), then Denethor, Stone Seer (kept in 13%), Fealty to the Realm (15%), Earthquake (16%), Humble Defector (17%), Court of Ire (20%), Archivist of Gondor (22%) and Heirloom Blade (25%).
Buy it if: you like attacking, you like tribal decks, or you want a deck that's easy to learn. It's also the deck with the most games tracked on Playgroup.gg (542), so its win rate is the most reliable of the four.
3. The Hosts of Mordor Precon (Sauron)
Commander: Sauron, Lord of the Rings ({5}{U}{B}{R}, 9/9 trample) Second commander: Saruman, the White Hand ({1}{U}{B}{R}, 2/5) Colours: blue, black, red Sealed: $126.13 · Cards worth: $124.80 · Stock win rate: 19.55%, 61st of 92
The plan in two lines: fill your graveyard with big creatures, then bring them back with Reanimate, Living Death and Sauron himself. Meanwhile, build one large Orc Army with amass cards.
When you cast Sauron, you amass Orcs 5, mill five cards, then return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield, before Sauron even resolves. Whenever a commander an opponent controls dies, the Ring tempts you.
Sauron or Saruman: Who Should Lead Hosts of Mordor?
More players pick Saruman. On EDHREC on 9 November 2026, Saruman, the White Hand led 11,966 decks, about 2.4 times the 4,930 led by Sauron. Saruman costs four mana instead of eight. Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, he amasses Orcs equal to that spell's mana value, and he gives your Goblins and Orcs ward {2}. A Saruman deck plays more instants and sorceries and attacks with one huge Army. A Sauron deck is a slower reanimator deck that wants to reach eight mana.
Hosts of Mordor decklist highlights
- Reanimation: Reanimate, Living Death, Extract from Darkness, Too Greedily, Too Deep, plus Goblin Dark-Dwellers (recasts an instant or sorcery with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard, such as Reanimate)
- Self-mill and looting: Faithless Looting, Forbidden Alchemy, Deep Analysis, Thrill of Possibility, Relic of Sauron
- Big creatures to bring back: Cavern-Hoard Dragon, Inferno Titan, The Balrog of Moria, Scourge of the Throne, Knollspine Dragon, Rampaging War Mammoth, Monstrosity of the Lake
- Orcs and amass: Orcish Siegemaster, Grishnákh, Brash Instigator, Summons of Saruman, The Mouth of Sauron
- Spell payoffs: Lord of the Nazgûl (a 3/3 Wraith for every instant or sorcery you cast, which suits Saruman)
- Interaction: Arcane Denial, Fact or Fiction, Feed the Swarm, Hostage Taker, Notion Thief, Languish, Decree of Pain, Blasphemous Act
- Ramp: Sol Ring, Basalt Monolith, Relic of Sauron, Mind Stone, Everflowing Chalice, Worn Powerstone
- Lands (38 in all): The Black Gate, Sulfurous Springs, Underground River, Drowned Catacomb, Dragonskull Summit, Sulfur Falls, Sunken Hollow, Smoldering Marsh, Choked Estuary, Foreboding Ruins, Frostboil Snarl, 8 other nonbasics and 19 basics
Buried Alive and Entomb are not in this deck. They're popular upgrades.
Most valuable cards in Hosts of Mordor
Cavern-Hoard DragonLTC 31: $20.65 on 9 Nov 2026
The Black GateLTC 80: $10.14 on 9 Nov 2026
ReanimateLTC 206: $9.94 on 9 Nov 2026
Relic of SauronLTC 79: $8.84 on 9 Nov 2026
Living DeathLTC 203: $6.49 on 9 Nov 2026
After those: Lord of the Nazgûl $5.76, Basalt Monolith $5.22, Arcane Denial $3.51, Sol Ring $3.06, Notion Thief $3.05, Sulfurous Springs $2.71 and In the Darkness Bind Them $2.27. The foil Sauron is $0.66.
Value: $126.13 sealed against $124.80 of cards, or 0.99x. It's the only one of the four that costs more than its cards. Counting only cards worth $1 or more it's $97.72. If you want only the reanimation package, buying Reanimate, Living Death and Cavern-Hoard Dragon as singles costs about $26 in their cheapest non-foil printings on Scryfall on 9 November 2026 (about $37 for the LTC copies on TCGplayer).
What bracket is Hosts of Mordor?
Notion Thief is on Wizards' Game Changers list (checked on Scryfall on 9 November 2026), so the deck starts at Bracket 3. Take it out to play at Bracket 2. Playgroup.gg also lists it with one Game Changer.
Hosts of Mordor upgrades
For a Sauron build: the cards EDHREC users add most often to Sauron decks that aren't in the precon, on 9 November 2026, with the cheapest non-foil printing on Scryfall that day (Exotic Orchard, a generic mana land at 26%, left out):
| Card | In Sauron decks | Cheapest non-foil |
|---|---|---|
| Sauron, the Dark Lord | 42% | $14.20 |
| Barad-dûr | 37% | $1.78 |
| Victimize | 31% | $0.65 |
| Witch-king of Angmar | 30% | $5.47 |
| The One Ring | 29% | $103.10 |
| Animate Dead | 28% | $6.07 |
| Talisman of Dominance | 27% | $0.43 |
| Dark Ritual | 26% | $0.25 |
| Mount Doom | 26% | $6.78 |
| One Ring to Rule Them All | 25% | $1.45 |
| Buried Alive | 25% | $2.68 |
The One Ring ($103.10 non-foil; a foil LTR copy was $96.62) and Orcish Bowmasters ($36.59, LTR) are the big-budget picks. Both are Game Changers, so they keep the deck at Bracket 3 or higher. The precon cards Sauron builders cut most often are Siege-Gang Commander (kept in 19% of decks), Revenge of Ravens (19%), Goblin Cratermaker (22%), Guttersnipe (23%), Bitter Downfall (26%), Boon of the Wish-Giver (26%) and Shiny Impetus (26%).
For a Saruman build, which more players choose, the list is different. The top additions in Saruman decks are Barad-dûr (54%), Saruman's Trickery (53%, $0.18), Foray of Orcs (53%, $0.21), Flame of Anor (49%, $2.21), Orcish Medicine (49%, $0.21), Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain (47%, $0.19), Widespread Brutality (47%, $0.83) and Counterspell (44%, $2.22): about $8 for all eight. Wizard's Staff is in 46% of the Saruman decks built since its release but 15% of all of them, and Exotic Orchard, a generic mana land, is at 44%. Sauron, the Dark Lord (39%) and Orcish Bowmasters (38%) come soon after. Saruman builders cut the reanimator package: Cavern-Hoard Dragon is kept in 9% of Saruman decks, Living Death in 9%, Hostage Taker in 8% and Basalt Monolith in 7%, and Inferno Titan, Knollspine Dragon, Scourge of the Throne, Rampaging War Mammoth and Monstrosity of the Lake don't make EDHREC's Saruman creature list at all (under 7.4%).
Buy it if: you like graveyard decks and big, splashy turns, or you want Saruman as a spells commander. Know that you're paying about card value for the sealed deck.
4. Elven Council Precon (Galadriel)
Commander: Galadriel, Elven-Queen ({2}{G}{U}, 4/5) Second commander: Gandalf, Westward Voyager ({3}{G}{U}, 5/5) Colours: green, blue Sealed: $64.61 · Cards worth: $111.57 · Stock win rate: 15.36%, 84th of 92
The plan in two lines: ramp with mana Elves (Elvish Mystic, Arbor Elf, Elvish Archdruid, Paradise Druid) into big spells like Genesis Wave, Hornet Queen and Overwhelming Stampede. Voting cards (Galadriel, Erestor of the Council, Elrond of the White Council, Círdan the Shipwright, Plea for Power) draw cards and add value along the way.
At the start of combat on your turn, if another Elf entered under your control that turn, every player votes. If dominion wins, the Ring tempts you and your Ring-bearer gets a +1/+1 counter. If guidance wins or the vote ties, you draw a card. Gandalf rewards casting spells with mana value 5 or more: each opponent reveals their top card; if any shares a card type with your spell, you copy it and each opponent draws, otherwise you draw a card.
Elven Council decklist highlights
- Mana Elves: Elvish Mystic, Arbor Elf, Elvish Archdruid, Paradise Druid, Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves
- Elf payoffs and card draw: Elvish Visionary (draws a card when it enters), Elvish Warmaster, Elvish Piper, Arwen, Weaver of Hope, Legolas Greenleaf, Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant, Galadhrim Ambush
- Big spells: Genesis Wave, Hornet Queen, Colossal Whale, Overwhelming Stampede, Mystic Confluence, Raise the Palisade
- Protection: Heroic Intervention, Swan Song, Asceticism, Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak
- Removal: Beast Within, Lignify, Reclamation Sage, Trap the Trespassers, Devastation Tide
- Lands (38 in all): Rejuvenating Springs, Flooded Grove, Hinterland Harbor, Vineglimmer Snarl, 8 other nonbasics and 26 basics
Most valuable cards in Elven Council
Heroic InterventionLTC 249: $16.61 on 9 Nov 2026
Swan SongLTC 197: $12.61 on 9 Nov 2026
Raise the PalisadeLTC 23: $11.46 on 9 Nov 2026
AsceticismLTC 233: $6.85 on 9 Nov 2026
Galadhrim AmbushLTC 38: $6.80 on 9 Nov 2026
After those: Arwen, Weaver of Hope $5.18, Lightning Greaves $4.84, Rejuvenating Springs $4.40, Elvish Warmaster $3.26, Sol Ring $3.06, Lórien Revealed $3.03 and Overwhelming Stampede $2.88. The foil Galadriel is $0.34.
Value: $64.61 sealed against $111.57 of cards, or 1.73x, the best of the four. Even counting only cards worth $1 or more it's $86.22, still more than the deck costs. It's the only LOTR precon where that's true.
Why it ranks last: Galadriel needs another Elf to enter every turn, and the deck spends many slots on big spells instead. On Playgroup.gg it won 15.36% of 140 games, 84th of the 92 precons tracked. It's also the least-built of the four on EDHREC: 2,514 Galadriel decks and 1,210 Gandalf decks.
Elven Council upgrades
The cards EDHREC users add most often to Galadriel decks that aren't in the precon, on 9 November 2026, with the cheapest non-foil printing on Scryfall that day:
| Card | In Galadriel decks | Cheapest non-foil |
|---|---|---|
| Elrond, Lord of Rivendell | 48% | $0.21 |
| Galadriel of Lothlórien | 47% | $0.33 |
| Thranduil, Sindarin Liege (The Hobbit, 2026) | 43%* | $0.27 |
| Imperious Perfect | 43% | $0.47 |
| Elrond, Master of Healing | 41% | $0.34 |
| Priest of Titania | 41% | $1.16 |
| Llanowar Elves | 39% | $0.29 |
| Arwen Undómiel | 39% | $0.25 |
| Rivendell | 36% | $1.41 |
| Marwyn, the Nurturer | 36% | $5.81 |
| Legolas, Counter of Kills | 35% | $0.18 |
*Of the 588 decks built since Thranduil was released in August 2026 (255 decks). Across all 2,514 Galadriel decks it's 10%.
The first eight cost about $3.30 together, and most of them are Elves, which is what the deck is short of. The precon cards cut most often are Colossal Whale (kept in 16% of decks), Radagast, Wizard of Wilds (17%), Hornet Queen (19%), Wose Pathfinder (22%), Gandalf (27%) and Seeds of Renewal (28%).
Buy it if: you want the most cards for your money, you plan to upgrade, or you want the protection spells (Heroic Intervention, Swan Song) for other green and blue decks. Don't buy it to play unmodified against other precons.
Which Is the Best LOTR Commander Deck for You?
want the best deck out of the box
- Buy
- Food and Fellowship
- Why
- Joint-best stock win rate (21.0%, level with Riders of Rohan and Hosts within sampling error) and the most-built commanders
are new to Commander
- Buy
- Riders of Rohan
- Why
- Play a Human, get two Knights, attack. Most games tracked (542) at 20.43%
want the most cards for your money
- Buy
- Elven Council
- Why
- $64.61 for $111.57 of cards (1.73x)
plan to upgrade on a small budget
- Buy
- Elven Council or Food and Fellowship
- Why
- Top upgrades cost about $3.30 and about $14
like graveyard decks
- Buy
- The Hosts of Mordor
- Why
- Reanimate, Living Death, Sauron's cast trigger
like casting spells
- Buy
- The Hosts of Mordor, with Saruman
- Why
- Each noncreature spell grows your Orc Army
want lifegain or tokens
- Buy
- Food and Fellowship
- Why
- A Food every turn, Sanguine Bond, Essence Warden
play at Bracket 2
- Buy
- Any but Hosts, or Hosts minus Notion Thief
- Why
- Notion Thief is the only Game Changer in the four decks
By faction
- The Shire and the Fellowship: Food and Fellowship (Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Bilbo, Gollum, Treebeard)
- Rohan and Gondor: Riders of Rohan (Éowyn, Aragorn, Théoden, Éomer, Faramir, Boromir)
- Elves and Wizards: Elven Council (Galadriel, Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen, Legolas, Círdan, Radagast)
- Mordor and Isengard: The Hosts of Mordor (Sauron, Saruman, Lord of the Nazgûl, Gríma, Shelob, the Balrog)
Are the LOTR Commander Decks Worth It? Set of 4 vs Singles
On 9 November 2026 the four decks cost $364.20 sealed on TCGplayer and held $425.68 of cards. Almost all of that $61.48 gap comes from Elven Council, which is worth $46.96 more than it costs. The other three together are worth $14.52 more than their sealed price.
If you want all four, TCGplayer's Set of 4 listing had a market price of $313.28 on 9 November 2026, about $51 less than the four decks bought separately. Against $425.68 of cards, that's a $112.40 gap, or 1.36x.
If you want specific cards rather than decks, singles are usually cheaper. The five most valuable cards in each deck cost:
| Deck | Top 5 cards | Sealed deck |
|---|---|---|
| The Hosts of Mordor | $56.06 | $126.13 |
| Elven Council | $54.33 | $64.61 |
| Food and Fellowship | $42.34 | $96.52 |
| Riders of Rohan | $33.67 | $76.94 |
The commanders themselves are cheap as singles: the foil face commanders sold for $0.34 to $0.66 each on 9 November 2026. If you only want to build around one of them, buy the commander and the cards you want, and skip the sealed deck.
What's in the Box, and When They Came Out
All four released on 23 June 2023, alongside The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth; Wizards published the decklists on 8 June 2023.
Each deck has 100 cards (two of them traditional foil commanders), a foil-etched display commander, 10 double-sided tokens, a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack (1 special-treatment card of rare or higher and 1 traditional foil special-treatment common or uncommon), a Helper card, a Life Wheel, a strategy insert, a reference card and a deck box, according to the product description on the TCGplayer listings. The sample-pack cards are random, so our card values don't count them. Wizards says the display commander is printed on thicker cardstock and is not legal for play, so play the traditional foil.
Are the LOTR Commander Decks Still in Print?
No new print run has been announced. The last re-release was the October 2024 Deluxe Commander Kits, and the original decks and the kits are still sold by stores and on the secondhand market.
Deluxe Commander Kits (October 2024)
Wizards re-released each deck in October 2024 as a Deluxe Commander Kit: the same deck plus 2 Lord of the Rings Set Boosters and 4 promo cards (Frodo, Determined Hero; Gandalf, White Rider; Gollum, Scheming Guide; The Balrog, Flame of Udûn). Scryfall dates the kit promos 16 October 2024. TCGplayer market prices on 9 November 2026:
| Deluxe Commander Kit | Market price | Deck alone |
|---|---|---|
| The Hosts of Mordor | $221.88 | $126.13 |
| Food and Fellowship | $177.77 | $96.52 |
| Riders of Rohan | $138.12 | $76.94 |
| Elven Council | $110.53 | $64.61 |
No new print run has been announced since the kits: neither TCGplayer's product listings for the set nor MTGJSON's deck list showed one when we checked on 9 November 2026. The Hobbit (14 August 2026) added new Middle-earth legends such as Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator, Bard, King of Dale and Thranduil, Sindarin Liege, but no Commander decks (its sealed products are boosters, bundles, scene boxes and Welcome Decks), so these four are still the only LOTR precons. We also found no official MSRP in Wizards' or Hipsters of the Coast's announcements, so we don't quote one; use the current market prices above. Hipsters of the Coast's 30 May 2023 preview named Radagast as Elven Council's second commander, but Wizards' final decklist gives Gandalf, Westward Voyager as the second foil commander. Radagast is in the deck as a non-foil card.
Common Misconceptions
- "The Hosts of Mordor has Buried Alive and Entomb." It doesn't. Neither is in the LTC set. Buried Alive is a popular upgrade ($2.68 cheapest on 9 November 2026), and so is Entomb ($16.07).
- "Hosts of Mordor is the strongest deck." It has the most valuable cards, but on Playgroup.gg its stock win rate (19.55%) is no better than Food and Fellowship's (21.0%) or Riders of Rohan's (20.43%); the three are level within sampling error.
- "Riders of Rohan is all Rohan." It has more named Gondor characters (Aragorn, Faramir, Boromir, Denethor, Beregond, Prince Imrahil) than Rohan ones (Éowyn, Éomer, Théoden, Erkenbrand).
- "The display commander is a bonus playable card." It's not legal for play.
- "Sauron is the commander everyone plays." On EDHREC, Saruman leads about 2.4 times as many decks.
Conclusion: Start With Frodo and Sam
Food and Fellowship is the LOTR Commander deck to buy if you want to play it: a stock win rate level with the best of the four, the most popular commanders, and about $14 of upgrades to make it better. Riders of Rohan is the easiest to learn and the second cheapest.
Buy Elven Council for value, at about $65 for about $112 of cards, and plan to add Elves. Buy The Hosts of Mordor for its reanimation cards and big turns, knowing that at about $126 you're paying what the cards are worth.
Citations & Resources
- Wizards of the Coast: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander decklists (8 June 2023)
- Hipsters of the Coast: Lord of the Rings Commander decks preview (30 May 2023)
- MTGJSON: The Hosts of Mordor decklist, Food and Fellowship, Riders of Rohan, Elven Council, deck list (opened 9 November 2026)
- tcgcsv.com: TCGplayer market prices (fetched 9 November 2026; snapshot dated 8 November)
- TCGplayer: Food and Fellowship product listing and box contents, Set of 4, Deluxe Commander Kit (The Hosts of Mordor) (9 November 2026)
- Scryfall: Tales of Middle-earth Deluxe Commander Kit promos (released 16 October 2024), The Hobbit Eternal (released 14 August 2026)
- Playgroup.gg: Commander precon win rates (updated 9 November 2026)
- EDHREC: Frodo and Sam, Éowyn, Shieldmaiden, Sauron, Lord of the Rings, Saruman, the White Hand, Galadriel, Elven-Queen, Aragorn, King of Gondor, Gandalf, Westward Voyager (9 November 2026)
- Scryfall: Tales of Middle-earth Commander card text, Game Changer flags and upgrade prices (9 November 2026)
Related Guides
- Magic: The Gathering × The Lord of the Rings: Complete Guide: the booster set, the One Ring and every LOTR product
- The Hobbit Collector Booster Box EV: what a box of the newest Middle-earth set returns
- MTG Commander Precons: Every Deck Since 2023, Priced: this week's price and card value for 80+ precons
- MTG Commander Decks: The 13 Best 2025 Precons, Ranked: the newer precons
- The Ring Tempts You, Explained: the mechanic on Frodo, Sauron and Galadriel
- MTG Game Changers List and Commander Brackets: why Notion Thief matters
- MTG Universes Beyond: Every Crossover Set: every licensed set, LOTR included
- Marvel Magic: The Gathering Guide: the Marvel sets and precons
- Magic: The Gathering Fallout Guide: the other Universes Beyond Commander set

