When going through my precon decks trying to figure out how I wanted to rebuild them into new and interesting decks, I decided I would largely restrict myself to using cards from the Lord of the Rings expansion set. It seemed like a good way to force my decks to be slightly more casual. Having at least a few lower-powered decks is a great way to make sure you can hang with newer players and not blow them out with overpowered synergy, combos or just an oppressive game experience that they won't enjoy. Not all new players need the "kid gloves" treatment, but I've found myself wishing I had a weaker deck with me more than a few times.

Today's column will have two lists for you. The first is a casual Humans build that does pull in cards from outside of Lord of the Rings, but only cards that aren't legendary, well-known characters from Magic lore. The second list will be an exploration of what a high powered or maybe even fringe cEDH Aragorn, the Uniter list might look like. They will be very different decks and I may build and play both eventually.

Before we dive into the decks, let's look at our commander.

Aragorn, the Uniter costs four mana, but a tough casting cost is uniquely challenging in terms of making sure we can get the right colors as early as possible. Mana dorks in this list will need to tap to produce more than just one or two colors and will need to be human to fit into the casual list.

This Human Noble is a 5/5 with a triggered ability for each of his colors. When you cast a White spell you create a 1/1 White Human Soldier creature token. When you cast a Blue spell you scry 2. When you cast a red spell he deals 3 damage to target opponent. When you cast a Green spell, target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.

These abilities give me a wide variety of directions to go in. A Humans or Soldiers build like the casual list I built out of my 3-color precon deck will lean into White to make as many creatures as possible. A combo build is more likely to lean into red, as that represents a wincon in your command zone with enough cast triggers. Blue and Green could have some interesting possibilities, with scry giving you card selection and a temporary +4/+4 to help with a more combat oriented strategy.

Gather the People

I built my list out of the Eowyn, Shieldmaiden precon deck. It's a fine casual list, but I like to do my own thing and figured it would make for a good starting point for a four-color casual list that would be my own invention, not something some at Wizards of the Coast built for me. Adding Green added better ramp and opened up all kinds of possibilities. Restricting myself to other LoTR cards and non-legendary cards from the rest of Magic would help me keep the power level down.

After dropping out potential combo pieces like Zealous Conscripts and Combat Celebrant, which were just begging to have Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker shoehorned into the list, I went through my commons and uncommons and found some fun additions. I started by grabbing Eternal Witness and Timeless Witness for recursion, and Avacyn's Pilgrim, Borderland Ranger, Humble Naturalist, Noble Hierarch and Sylvok Explorer to help me get my colors.

Next I went looking for interesting Humans with an eye for cards that cared about Humans. When you look at these cards, remember that with my commander on the battlefield each of them also brings at least one cast trigger from Aragorn, the Uniter.

Coppercoat Vanguard gives other Humans under my control +1/+0 and ward 1. I'm also running Veteran Armorer, a Human that gives other creatures I control +0/+1. Hamlet Captain is a Green uncommon from Eldritch Moon that gives other Humans I control +1/+1 until end of turn whenever he attacks or blocks. Getting more bodies on the field is important in a deck that very much wants to go wide, so Daysquad Marshal fits in nicely. It has a doppleganger in the precon in the form of Protector of Gondor. This card and its LoTR functional reprint are 3/3 Human Soldiers for three and a White that create a 1/1 White Human Soldier creature token when it enters the battlefield.

Courageous Outrider will enter the battlefield and let me look at the top four cards of my library. I can reveal a Human card, put it in my hand and put the rest on the bottom of my library. Militia Bugler does much the same thing, letting me look at four cards and then pick a creature card with power 2 or less to put in my hand.

Court Street Denizen might be a sleeper hit in this list, letting me tap target creature an opponent controls whenever another White creature enters the battlefield under my control. I'm going to be making a lot of White Human Soldier creature tokens, and that should mean a lot of tap triggers.

I did grab a few cards out of the LoTR set that weren't from the Eowyn, Shieldmaiden precon. I passed over a few cards that didn't make sense in terms of the lore, such as Haradrim Spearmaster. The Haradrim fought on the side of Sauron in the War of the Ring and were never fully incorporated into King Aragorn II Elessar's reunited Kingdom. Maybe in a post War of the Ring Middle-earth, they would bend a knee to King Aragorn, but they just didn't feel right to add to the deck.

Westfold Rider I would have expected to find in the precon list. This 3/1 Human Knight costs just two mana and can sacrifice to destroy target artifact or enchantment at sorcery speed. It is joined by Cathar Commando, a 3/1 Human Soldier from Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, which has flash and can be sacrificed to destroy target artifact or enchantment for one mana.

Descendants' Path has me reveal the top card of my library on my upkeep and if it's a creature that shares a creature type with a creature I control, I may cast it without paying its mana cost. A whopping 32 of my 33 creatures are Human, so I should have a chance to see the Path give me a creature for free. It's not a game-breaking card by a long shot, but the copy I had is a foil and the art on my version is the one with people on it so it fits in thematically.

The Gandalf I chose to include was Gandalf the White. He is an Avatar Wizard, not a Human, but it was an easy choice to make an exception for him. This 5-drop creature has Flash and will let me cast legendary spells and artifact spells as though they had flash. He'll give me an extra enter-the-battlefield and leave-the-battlefield trigger for artifacts and legendary permanents I control. This list has plenty of legendary permanents and artifacts for Gandalf the White to work with.

Aragorn, Uniter of Humans

This build has some cards I've wanted to put into decks for a while but haven't found the right fit. Camaraderie is a Green/White sorcery that has me gain X life and draw X cards where X is number of creatures I control. It also gives them +1/+1 until end of turn, and feels perfectly on theme for this list. Horn of Gondor and Horn of the Mark are both included. The former taps for 3 mana to create X 1/1 White Human Soldier creature tokens where X is the number of Humans I control. The latter will have me look at the top five cards of my library and put a creature card into my hand whenever I attack with two or more creatures. Each is fantastic for this deck in its own way.

Aragorn, the Uniter | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Aragorn, the Uniter

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1 Beregond of the Guard
• 1 Borderland Ranger
• 1 Boromir, Gondor's Hope
• 1 Cathar Commando
• 1 Coppercoat Vanguard
• 1 Courageous Outrider
• 1 Court Street Denizen
• 1 Daysquad Marshal
• 1 Eomer, King of Rohan
• 1 Eowyn, Shieldmaiden
• 1 Erkenbrand, Lord of Westfold
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Faramir, Steward of Gondor
• 1 Frontline Medic
• 1 Gandalf the White
• 1 Gilraen, Dunedain Protector
• 1 Goldnight Commander
• 1 Hamlet Captain
• 1 Humble Naturalist
• 1 Lossarnach Captain
• 1 Militia Bugler
• 1 Noble Hierarch
• 1 Prince Imrahil the Fair
• 1 Protector of Gondor
• 1 Riders of Rohan
• 1 Sylvok Explorer
• 1 Theoden, King of Rohan
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Veteran Armorer
• 1 Weathered Wayfarer
• 1 Westfold Rider
• 1 Wose Pathfinder

• Instants (6)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Hunter's Insight
• 1 Lost to Legend
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Unbreakable Formation

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Call for Aid
• 1 Camaraderie
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Raise the Palisade
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Taunt from the Rampart

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Descendants' Path
• 1 Flowering of the White Tree
• 1 Rising of the Day
• 1 Shared Animosity

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Crown of Gondor
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Glaring Spotlight
• 1 Heirloom Blade
• 1 Herald's Horn
• 1 Horn of Gondor
• 1 Horn of the Mark
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 Vanquisher's Banner

• Lands (37)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Great Hall of the Citadel
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Secluded Courtyard
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Training Center
• 1 Windbrisk Heights
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills

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I took apart my cEDH Najeela, the Blade Blossom deck to free up many of the lands I used when putting this list together. I don't proxy and can only maintain so many four or five color decks, and I wasn't playing Najeela. Our cEDH night at the LGS fell apart due to lack of interest, and it made more sense to use those lands for this build than to make this deck with a bad mana base.

I think this should play well at casual tables, and might be a bit strong for metas that don't run very many boardwipes. I got a game in with this list and found it had some trouble bouncing back again and again from boardwipes. That means it likely needs more draw, but as a first draft I think it's a solid starting point for a no-combo casual go-wide deck that's hoping to win its games in the trenches.

Shifting Gears

As I built my casual version of this deck, I found myself wondering what kind of nonsense I might get up to if I was willing to combo, so I decided to pull out all the stops. I don't just mean loading in Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. You might as well just run Kiki-Jiki in the command zone if that's your idea of fun. I meant looking closely at what Aragorn, the Uniter brings to the table and building a wincon-centric high-powered deck for him.

The key part of my combo plan is to win the game using Aragorn's red casting ability to deal 3 damage to target opponent. Doing that once is a nuisance, but doing that as many times as you like will probably win you the game. That means we're looking for combos, and combos mean we're looking for tutors. Tutors and combos mean we're looking for interaction, removal, and all of the trappings of a cEDH or at least a fringe cEDH deck.

Infinite Red Cast Triggers

One of the secrets of high-powered and cEDH deckbuilding is to be very focused on your wincons. This deck wants to create infinite red cast triggers so Aragorn can kill the table. Fortunately, there are some cards that can help us with that.

In high powered and cEDH games it's not uncommon for a Dockside Extortionist to create more than enough treasures to allow you to bounce it with Temur Sabertooth and recast it. In this build I don't even have to create positive mana so long as I can keep casting him again and again. Capsize is a more expensive solution that can bounce a permanent to its owner's hand and be bought back for an additional three mana. I'll get infinite Blue and Red cast triggers if I go the capsize route, but I'll have to be looking across the table at a lot of artifacts to pull it off.

Mana cost is an easy way to tell if a deck is viable in cEDH. Mana Geyser and Reiterate can go infinite if I can cast Mana Geyser, cast Reiterate to copy it, and also pay the buyback cost so I can do it again and again and again. I'll have to be looking across the table at lots of tapped lands, and I'll need a whopping 11 mana to kick it off, but it will do the job. That high mana investment means it probably isn't a cEDH combo, at least not in today's cEDH.

Painter's Servant can be used to make all of my spells red. A storm list built around Aragorn and this artistic artifact creature might be a really neat build, but I'm suggesting we pair it with Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal. Infinite castings of Dramatic Reversal will let me scry through my deck as long as I like, but if those castings have been painted Red, it will also let Aragorn kill the table.

Is This cEDH?

I know enough about cEDH to know that against today's top decks, you're not going to get very far with a wincon of Mana Geyser and Reiterate. That said, Dockside Extortionist combo is playable even if Temur Sabertooth at four mana feels a little expensive to me. I feel like this list has the trappings of a cEDH deck but would probably be high-powered or fringe cEDH at best. It's possible I'm selling myself and this list a bit short and it's just a solid cEDH build, but I tend to round down when evaluating my own decks.

Aragorn, the Destroyer | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Aragorn, the Uniter

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Archivist of Oghma
• 1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1 Barrin, Master Wizard
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Bloom Tender
• 1 Delighted Halfling
• 1 Dockside Extortionist
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Ledger Shredder
• 1 Misthollow Griffin
• 1 Noble Hierarch
• 1 Painter's Servant
• 1 Protean Hulk
• 1 Snapcaster Mage
• 1 Spellseeker
• 1 Squee, the Immortal
• 1 Temur Sabertooth
• 1 Tribute Mage

• Instants (24)
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Capsize
• 1 Chain of Vapor
• 1 Chord of Calling
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Deflecting Swat
• 1 Dovin's Veto
• 1 Dramatic Reversal
• 1 Eladamri's Call
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Fierce Guardianship
• 1 Force of Negation
• 1 Force of Will
• 1 Mystical Tutor
• 1 Noxious Revival
• 1 Pact of Negation
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Reiterate
• 1 Silence
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Veil of Summer
• 1 Worldly Tutor

• Sorcery (8)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Eldritch Evolution
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Finale of Devastation
• 1 Mana Geyser
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Wheel of Fortune
• 1 Windfall

• Enchantment (8)
• 1 Carpet of Flowers
• 1 Food Chain
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Mystic Remora
• 1 Pattern of Rebirth
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Underworld Breach

• Artifact (10)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Birthing Pod
• 1 Chrome Mox
• 1 Cloudstone Curio
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Isochron Scepter
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Mox Diamond
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (30)
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Forest
• 1 Gemstone Caverns
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Island
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Secluded Courtyard
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spire Garden
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Training Center
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills

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I chose not to run dual lands or Timetwister in this build but if you were seriously trying to make this into a cEDH deck you'd probably want to proxy those cards. Most cEDH metas are fine with proxying expensive cards as they are more interested in exploring the highest levels of power in our format than worrying about what cards players can afford to purchase.

One of the core principles in cEDH is that if your commander isn't the optimal choice for what you're trying to accomplish, you should probably switch commanders. I expect a more experienced cEDH deckbuilder might be able to point to a better choice than Aragorn, the Uniter and might suggest you just build that other deck instead. This list is an experiment in seeing how easily Aragorn, the Uniter can be "broken." I think it can be, and I might even try this list or a version of it eventually either online or in paper, once I've played my Humans version enough times.

Final Thoughts

Whether you lean more towards casual play or find yourself more interested in decks with a bigger focus on winning at all costs, I hope you found today's double feature a fun read.

I think a deck that is somewhere in between these two extremes is what I'll enjoy playing. If a deck is too casual I sometimes find that I underestimated my tablemates and get blown out. If a deck is too focused on combo and high-powered strategies, I tend to feel bad if I win, even if my tablemates are really fine with how the game went.

That is the ultimate challenge in this deeply weird format. It's about winning, but it's about fun, so it's also about other people winning. You don't really want to win too much, but if you're like me and you're outcome-oriented, it can be hard to enjoy yourself if you're constantly losing. I think on some level most of us are usually trying to build decks and engage in the format in ways that both we and the people we play with enjoy.

I'd like to be able to say that in nearly a decade of playing EDH I've found the answer, but the truth is that every meta and every game is different and you just have to do your best to have fun and play with both your enjoyment and the enjoyment of your tablemates in mind.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!