Hello, everyone! I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel Show, and today we're looking back at one of the first Universes Beyond products that came as a full set with The Lord of the Rings. For this list, we're focusing on cards that make a splash when they come down and are such obvious choices to add that people will ask why you aren't running them. This list only covers cards from the draftable set rather than the precons. With the ground rules out of the way, let's jump right in with our honorable mentions!

Honorable Mention) Sting, the Glinting Dagger

If you have a deck with a strong activated ability like Krenko, Mob Boss, this is a must. Not only do you get haste, but it untaps every single combat, meaning you get an extra four activations! Krenko cranks!

Honorable Mention) Lotho, Corrupt Sheriff

Usually used in higher-power-level pods where an extra treasure token can really make a difference, Lotho is a great mana producer for just White and Black. It was used more before the Dockside ban, but it's still an effective ramp piece today.

Honorable Mention) Cavern-Hoard Dragon

This card got a lot better since Dockside Extortionist is no longer around. Being able to acquire mass amounts of treasure tokens at one time is never a bad idea.

Honorable Mention) Lorien Revealed

A Pauper superstar and a very underrated card in its own right, Lorien Revealed can either be a late-game draw of three cards or a simple Island to hand for one mana. Though neither option is amazing, in a one- or two-color deck, this is great to have, and I don't think it sees enough play.

Now with our honorable mentions out of the way, we move on to number ten!

10) Mithril Coat

Mithril Coat asks the question, "What would happen if we just power-crept Darksteel Plate right out of Magic?" The answer is you get a very powerful equipment. The indestructible effect on Mithril Coat is incredibly relevant because it potentially requires multiple removal solutions to get rid of your best creature, which can be a tall order. Having flash can also force an opponent to waste a removal spell.

9) Samwise Gamgee

Sam, the true hero of The Lord of the Rings, is well represented in this card. It's very easy to obtain a large amount of Food from this effect, and being able to save the Food for bringing back your best historic cards makes this a great build-around card in the 99 of decks that care about artifacts or historic cards in general.

8) Boromir, Warden of the Tower

It's interesting to see Wizards of the Coast combine a stax effect and a protection spell, but I'm here for it. It's extremely helpful in Human tribal decks and a great silver bullet against decks that like to cheat mana value.

7) Sauron, the Dark Lord

This might become the new generic Grixis "good stuff" commander for casual play. Creating tokens by taking advantage of sac outlets between each spell can really generate a lot of value, and the miniature wheel effect is nothing to turn your nose up at either.

6) Forge Anew

I could almost hear the collective excited squeal of every White equipment deck player when this card came out. You get recursion, flash enablement, and zero-cost equipping on the same card for three mana? I need like 10 of these.

5) Last March of the Ents

As if there weren't enough broken things to do for eight mana in Green already, we now have Last March of the Ents. In a deck with Green, the minimum you'd expect to draw with this effect is perhaps five. From there, being able to drop creatures in for free is truly brutal for your opponents. Imagine the relief of seeing Last March cast instead of Craterhoof Behemoth, only to have the opponent drop in that same Craterhoof to get around countermagic.

4) Horn of Gondor

So imagine Krenko, Mob Boss but on an artifact that doesn't care about summoning sickness, plus a creature type--Humans--that is one of the most supported in all of Magic. This card is crazy powerful, and every time I've played it, it's had a huge impact.

3) Delighted Halfling

This card is great. Getting effectively what is a Birds of Paradise that can protect your legendary creatures, including commanders, on the stack is definitely a high-impact mana dork. I can't say enough good things about it. Having two toughness is also very relevant when playing against my next card.

2) Orcish Bowmasters

Wizards of the Coast reached out of the clouds and provided a simultaneous hate card on mana dorks and other small creatures, plus damage output against decks running cards like The One Ring and Rhystic Study. It's an incredibly annoying creature to play against, but since it's somewhat quiet at lower-power tables, I don't think there's much threat of a ban. Our final card, however, might be a different story.

1) The One Ring

We're already seeing this card take over other formats like Modern and cEDH, if you consider that its own format. This card is extremely powerful. Not only do you get protection for the turn--which, if you have a way to repeat, can lead to infinite protection--but the amount of card advantage it can produce is next level. The best part about this card is that it's colorless, so literally any deck can play it, which is why this is the top card in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set.

And there you have it! These are the top ten cards for the Commander format from Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. Until next time, happy gaming!