Hello awesome Commander fans! Today we've got my first Commander deck built around Tales of Middle Earth. We are building an Orzhov colored Saboteur deck around this powerful fun one-drop:

It's the Sauron's Bane version of Frodo! This costs one and drops on the first turn. With two mana you can spend two mana to make him a 2/3 with lifelink. Then swing and gain two life and deal 2 commander damage. Then later he becomes a Saboteur with the combat damage trigger to tempt your foe that you punched and then if that happens four times or more, they lose, so that's a win-con on a stick. We are leaning into other damage triggers called "Saboteurs," as well as ways to make them harder to block with evasion. There are 162 creatures with the "when this deals combat damage to a player" in our color identity, so we'll have loads of great options!

Ramp, Rocks, Lands

Let's kick off this section with mana rocks, which we don't have many of since we have a one-drop Commander and want to use his ability on turns 2 and 3 typically. These all make the mana we can use for both sides of our Frodo's abilities. The Hierarchy Talisman works well for that, as well as Orzhov Signet and Arcane Signet. I rarely run the Mox in my brews, since this zero-drop only taps for colors equal to your legendaries. But here you can drop it after Frodo and have a faster drop of mana on the first turn!

Alright, now let's turn to White dorks that grab Plains! Deep Gnome Terramancer has flash and then when a foe's land ETBs without being played, we fetch out a Plains and then put it onto the battlefield tapped, so that's ramp on a Bear. Cartographer's Hawk has a combat damage trigger, hence it being here. If you punch someone who has more lands than you, you can choose to ramp out a Plains from your library tapped, and bounce this to your hand. Note that these can get duals.

The Dragon is a five-drop 5/5 with flying, on curve. It's here to plainscycle for two mana and then you can eternalize it on the fourth turn as a 4/4, which Passage can make unblockable. I am also running Access Tunnel for smaller things, which we have, and then I even tossed in Shizo, Death's Storehouse. Three evasions for my team in my land base.

Let's add in these cards from the same set as Frodo with tapping of their mana, and they arrive untapped if you control a legendary dork. Since we have one first turn, they seemed safe additions. The W one can be tapped with two to draw a card, but only if you attacked with two or more dorks this turn, card flow in W tapping form that's pretty easy with a deck with this many attackers. The Black tapping one can be tapped to amass X Orcs this turn, but only if a dork died, pretty easy after combat!

Godless Shrine is a Plains and Swamp here for getting both colors with my White Plains fetching. Then you can pay two and get it untapped, so it's great turn 1. Most of my lands ETB untapped, usually, although there are exceptions like Bojuka Bog or my other duals. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is also arriving untapped and can be channeled for no more than 3 mana to shoot an attacker or blocker for 4 damage. I am running Takenuma, Abandoned Mire as well.

Key Orzhov Saboteurs

Now let's turn to some Saboteurs in my colors. Ink-Eyes is a ninjutsu 6-drop with a nice 5/4 body that regenerates for two mana. When she deals combat damage to a foe, you Zombify them! A mana free Zombify effect that will let you keep on keeping on with the mana is nasty here. The Menace three-drop 1/2 will force a discard equal to the damage taken! Pump it up with equipment, nasty. Also note that menace is evasion here. You can also eternalize this for six to make a 4/4 to force all of the discards. I am also running others in the discard genre like Hypnotic Specter and Scythe Specter.

Let's finish this section with these two mono-Black three-drops with menace! The former has a nice sized 3/2 body. When she deals combat damage? You recur a key dork to your battlefield from in your graveyard that died this turn, so she's a more restrictive Zombify for you. The latter one is just a 1/3. When it deals combat damage you exile a card from your foe's hand. It's better than discard! Then you can play them so drop lands or cast things. Nasty card flow stapled to exiling discard. Great!

Synergies and Winning Conditions

Now let's turn to synergies and win-cons! When I saw that Frodo was an attacking win con one-drop in Orzhov colors, the first card I thought of was Vorpal Sword! This one-drop, two equip piece of equipment gives +2 power and deathtouch. Then when you spend 8 mana, it's a literal win con since the player taking damage this turn will die! Nasty! We have Cabal Coffers and Urborg, so that mana is doable. I also am running Demonic Tutor for that. Then the Conviction is a nasty synergy here with its six-drop enchantment ways. It gives your dorks double strike permanently, so that's double the triggers for your attack team, over and over again! Nasty stuff. Don't sleep on the lifelink which here will be loads of life gained combined with double strike!

Check out this flying pair! The Vampire is awesome with a six-drop, hard to cast, and then rocking a 6/5 body. When your stuff smashes face, you'll gain that many +1/+1 counters, which will scale very fast into wins. This is awesome with True Conviction. The Elder is a 7-drop 7/10 flyer, when it smashes face you'll make 1d20 1/1 flyers. Then you can really punch face with a ton of those to overwhelm defenses and get in the hits! I am also running the Black Elder Dragon one too.

Check out this pair of equipment and dork. The Spike costs 3, equips for 3 and then gives it deathtouch, nasty with double strike. Then when it smashes face, your foe will lose half of their life, bringing them down quickly. The dork is a three-drop 1/4 also with deathtouch naturally. When it smashes face, your foe loses life equal to your creature count in your graveyard. Nasty pair here! My favorite of the life loss punch tricks is Emissary of Despair. When this three-drop 2/1 with flying smashes face, they lose life equal to their artifact count. With all of the Treasure, Clue, artifact dork tokens, and more all over, that could be quite a bit. They'll likely sacrifice as many as possible to reduce that smashing.

Let's finish our synergy section with this creature duo. Angel of Destiny costs 5 and has just a 2/6 size with flying and double strike naturally for the Spike. When any dork deals combat damage to a foe, you each gain that much life. So, if you dealt 10 damage to your foe, they'll gain 10 and you will too. Then if you have 15 or more life than your starting at 40, the ones who took damage from her die. Since we are winning with Frodo's natural ability and the have Vorpal Sword as a cool backup, this will work quite well as backup win con. Remember the lifelink from True Conviction here! Filth is a four-drop 2/2 with Swampwalk. When it's in your graveyard and you control a Swamp, your team gets swampwalk, so that Urborg works very powerfully here.

Answers

Now let's turn to answers. My answers to answers include this three-drop 3/2 with flash and vigilance! When it ETBs you can phase out any number of other dorks you control to save them from combat damage, removal, or bouncing. I am also running the obvious Teferi's Protection and Flawless Maneuver. After Vorpal Sword, Ashling was the next card I thought of from this deck. It's a four mana 4/4. When it deals combat damage to a foe, you can force them to sacrifice target creature they control, so it gets past indestructible tricks and you choose the target too. I also tossed in the ninjutsu Ninja Throat Slitter that also turns combat damage into creature removal.

Now let's turn to removal. I have several backup instants and sorceries of the Vindicate persuasion that'll hit most or all things, like Generous Gift and Utter End. Then I have these two mana overload options that can be mass removal. Damn will destroy any dork and overloads for four to destroy them all. Winds of Abandon will exile a dork and give them a land, so it's a slower Path to Exile. It can be overloaded for six to exile them all that you don't control, but the first will hurt your stuff, but for four mana is a nice removal spell that leaves behind your equipment for another round of smashing.

Card Flow

Let's finish with some card flow. The Sword costs three, equips for two and gives two protections and +2/+2. When you smash face, and that's likelier with those colors unable to block, you Shock a target and draw a card. I am also running Sword of Forge and Frontier that exiles two from your library and lets you play them this turn as Impulsive draw. Other card flow from equipment here is Skullclamp and Rogue's Gloves.

Gix is a powerhouse in multiplayer. When this three-drop 3/3 on curve is on the battlefield, all damage dealt to your opponents by dorks will draw a card and lose a life too, and it's a may effect. Your foes will do so as well, and they'll attack each other to draw all of the cards. For seven mana you can discard X cards to exile them from the top of an opponent's library and can cast them so it's double card flow.

Let's finish with a mono-Black Mythic pair! Rankle, Master of Pranks is heavily played in Commander with her 4 mana, 3/3 flyer with haste that has three combat damage triggers. You can have everyone discard, draw and lose a life, or sacrifice a dork. It's board control, card flow, and discard, all in one! Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion is a three-drop 3/2 with four ninjutsu. When it smashes face? You exile the top card of every library and then can cast one for mana free, just lose that life equal to its cost. Nasty card gaining over time!

Ready for my decklist?

Frodo Saboteurs | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Frodo, Sauron's Bane

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Ancient Brass Dragon
• 1 Ancient Gold Dragon
• 1 Angel of Destiny
• 1 Ashling, the Extinguisher
• 1 Cartographer's Hawk
• 1 Deep Gnome Terramancer
• 1 Dreamstealer
• 1 Emissary of Despair
• 1 Filth
• 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
• 1 Graveblade Marauder
• 1 Guardian of Faith
• 1 Hoard Robber
• 1 Hypnotic Specter
• 1 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1 Kheru Mind-Eater
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Moira, Urborg Haunt
• 1 Nashi, Moon Sage's Scion
• 1 Necropolis Regent
• 1 Needle Specter
• 1 Rankle, Master of Pranks
• 1 Scion of Darkness
• 1 Scythe Specter
• 1 Space Marine Scout
• 1 Throat Slitter
• 1 Timeless Dragon
• 1 Tomb Blade
• 1 Virtus the Veiled

• Instants (5)
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Utter End

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Damn
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Vindicate
• 1 Winds of Abandon

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 True Conviction

• Artifacts (20)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Goldvein Pick
• 1 Key to the City
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Manifold Key
• 1 Mask of Memory
• 1 Mox Amber
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Prowler's Helm
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Rogue's Gloves
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Sword of Forge and Frontier
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Vorpal Sword

• Lands (39)
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Barad-dur
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Silent Clearing
• 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1 Sunlight Marsh
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Vault of Champions
• 1 War Room
• 9 Plains
• 10 Swamp

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And there we go! So...what did you think of my take on Frodo, Sauron's Bane? I hope you enjoyed it!