Overview

The Hosts of Mordor is built around two mechanics: Amass Orcs and The Ring Tempts You. Casting Sauron, Lord of the Rings is a burst of value on its own: amass Orcs 5, mill five cards, then return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. He then arrives as a 9/9 with trample, and whenever a commander an opponent controls dies, the Ring tempts you. The rest of the deck keeps feeding the same Army token with cards like Saruman, the White Hand, Summons of Saruman and Corsairs of Umbar, while the Saga In the Darkness Bind Them adds Wraith tokens and extra Ring temptations.

The Grixis colour identity covers everything this plan needs. Blue provides card draw and counterspells such as Fact or Fiction and Arcane Denial. Black supplies removal and Shelob, Dread Weaver, which exiles opposing creatures as they die and turns them into card draw or a stolen threat. Red adds the heavy hitters, including Inferno Titan, Cavern-Hoard Dragon and Wake the Dragon, that give the Orc Army backup. Relic of Sauron helps pay for it all, tapping for two mana in any combination of blue, black and red.

Key Cards

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Saruman, the White Hand
Amass Engine · Protection
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, Saruman amasses Orcs X, where X is that spell's mana value, so every removal spell, counterspell, sweeper or card-draw spell you cast grows your Army. Goblins and Orcs you control also have ward {2}, which includes the Army token itself.
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Lord of the Nazgûl
Token Maker · Spells Matter
A 4/3 flyer for five mana that gives your Wraiths protection from Ring-bearers. Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you create a 3/3 black Wraith creature token with menace, and if you control nine or more Wraiths, your Wraiths become 9/9 until end of turn. With plenty of cheap instants and sorceries in the deck, it keeps making bodies while you play your normal game.
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Shelob, Dread Weaver
Removal · Reanimation
Whenever a nontoken creature an opponent controls dies, Shelob exiles it. From there, you can pay {2}{B} and put one of those exiled cards into its owner's graveyard to give Shelob two +1/+1 counters and draw a card, or pay {X}{1}{B} to put an exiled creature card with mana value X onto the battlefield tapped under your control. She turns every creature that dies on the table into card draw or a stolen threat.
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In the Darkness Bind Them
Wraiths · Ring Tempts
A Saga that creates a 3/3 black Wraith with menace on each of its first three chapters, and the Ring tempts you on each of those chapters too. Chapter IV lets you gain control of up to one target creature from each opponent until end of turn, untap them, give them haste, and tempts the Ring a fourth time.

Playing the Deck

The early game is about ramp and setup. Mana rocks like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet and Relic of Sauron pay for the deck's expensive top end, and cheap Orc and amass creatures such as Moria Scavenger and Corsairs of Umbar start the Army growing. Sauron, Lord of the Rings costs eight mana, so the goal is to reach it with a creature worth returning in your graveyard.

The mid game is where the Army becomes the main threat. Saruman, the White Hand grows it with every noncreature spell, Summons of Saruman and The Mouth of Sauron add more counters, and Shelob, Dread Weaver quietly wins the removal war by exiling every creature that dies so you can draw from it or steal it later.

The deck closes with big threats and tokens: Sauron himself as a 9/9 trampler, The Balrog of Moria as an 8/8 with trample and haste, and Wraith tokens from Lord of the Nazgûl and In the Darkness Bind Them, with Blasphemous Act and Languish available to reset a board that has gotten ahead of you.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths: The deck stacks several engines that reward simply playing out a normal game rather than assembling a combo: Sauron's cast trigger, Saruman's amass on every noncreature spell, Shelob's exile-based reanimation and Lord of the Nazgûl's Wraith tokens. It also has plenty of card draw, ramp and sweepers, so it recovers well from a slow start.

Weaknesses: A large share of the deck's combat power sits in a single Army token, so exile or bounce effects aimed at it undo several turns of amass triggers. Sauron, Lord of the Rings is a very expensive commander at eight mana, and many of the deck's other threats are expensive as well, so it can stumble if its ramp is answered.

Want to improve it? See the The Hosts of Mordor upgrade guide: 3 cheap swaps with the data behind each one.

Verdict
The Hosts of Mordor is a grindy, engine-stacking Grixis deck with a clear plan: grow an Orc Army, tempt the Ring, and steal value from every creature that dies. Its commander delivers a huge burst when cast, and the supporting cards, from Saruman and Shelob to Lord of the Nazgûl and In the Darkness Bind Them, reward patient play. It suits players who enjoy ramping into big plays and answering the table as they go.

Want to build a fully optimised Ring Tempts You upgrade? Let the Oracle find the best synergies.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What cards are in the The Hosts of Mordor decklist?
The The Hosts of Mordor precon is a 100-card Commander deck led by Sauron, Lord of the Rings. The full The Hosts of Mordor decklist, with every card, current prices and a button to copy the list into your deck builder, is on this page.

Who is the commander of The Hosts of Mordor?
The Hosts of Mordor is led by Sauron, Lord of the Rings, a blue, black and red commander.

Which set is The Hosts of Mordor from?
The Hosts of Mordor was released in 2023 as part of Tales of Middle-earth Commander.

How can I upgrade The Hosts of Mordor?
We have a step-by-step upgrade guide for The Hosts of Mordor that lists specific cards to cut and add, with the reason for each swap.

Full Decklist

All 100 cards from the out-of-the-box Hosts of Mordor precon, enriched with current prices. Click any card to expand it.

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