While lots of you have moved on to Commander Masters, I'm still digging into Lord of the Rings and uncovering hidden gems and fun decks for casual EDH. I first cracked open a J.R.R. Tolkien book way, way back in the late 1970's so I've been waiting for a long time for this and I'm going to squeeze The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth for all it's worth!

I was thinking recently that it would be a real treat to get a set of five decks themed around the Battle of the Five Armies that occurs at the end of The Hobbit (the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy). I have little interest in Peter Jackson's terrible film series, but I grew up with and loved the book and the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated film. The climactic battle in that story is between an army of Dwarves, Humans, Elves and Goblins, each of which wants to loot the Dragon Smaug's vast hoard of gold and treasure. A deck with thirteen unique legendary dwarves, a wizard and a hobbit might be the thing to finally put dwarves on the map as a cohesive, playable tribe in Magic.

You might have noticed that I only mentioned four armies. The fifth army was an army of birds. Earlier in The Hobbit they had rescued our heroes from certain death at the hands of the Goblins who live under the Misty Mountains. While it's unlikely that today's card is the same "Lord of the Eagles" who saved Bilbo and the Dwarves, Gwaihir the Windlord is still one of the most exciting Bird commanders we've seen in a while.

The fact that Gwaihir the Windlord is in Azorius is a huge benefit and gives this Bird Noble access to the format's best interaction and removal. Gwaihir costs a hefty six mana, but costs 2 less if I've drawn two or more cards this turn. He has flying and vigilance and gives other birds I control vigilance.

That might not seem like much. Gwaihir doesn't have a terribly high ceiling in terms of power (deck power, not power/toughness), but this card can helm a fun and capable casual EDH deck that will definitely be capable of winning games.

Bird is the Word

The first thing to know is that I'll be playing a lot of Birds in this deck. Birds are less of a combat threat than other flyers like Dragons or Sphinxes, but can still put pressure on any tablemate who can't deal with flyers.

I saw two possible approaches to building Gwaihir. The first is to just play whatever I felt like playing, so long as the card has the Bird creature type and brings something to the deck. The other approach would be to look at the art on each card and only include ones that feel like they would fit into the world of the Lord of the Rings.

I decided not to do a "double feature" column this week, with two lists to show two different approaches to the deck. I admire any deckbuilder who gives themselves that sort of self-imposed restriction, but I chose to not worry so much about the art on my Bird cards.

That meant I could run these guys.

Not only am I willing to run legendary creatures from Magic: the Gathering in this list, I'm also running Birds that are feathery humanoids with wings. A biped with wings, feathers and a bird's head is pretty far from what J.R.R. Tolkien had in mind when he was writing about an army of Eagles, but this is a game and I want to make sure this deck is capable of keeping up with other decks.

Biped birds open up this deck to all kinds of great cards. Aven Mindcensor, Ledger Shredder and Kangee of the Spheres are great cards for a deck like this. I can also throw in a cost reducer like Warden of Evos Isle and the best Bird Monk ever printed, Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker.

Hey, at least I'm not running Shabraz, the Skyshark.

Ah - who am I kidding... of course I'm running Shabraz!

When you abandon all sense and just run whatever goofy stuff you want, sometimes the goofiest options become auto-includes. Please forgive me, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Shabraz gets a +1/+1 counter and I gain 1 life when I draw a card. That's too good to pass up.

There are plenty of traditional Birds in Magic that might fit in well in Middle-earth but this would be a significantly weaker deck if it was really limited to just Eagles, Hawks and so on.

Empyrean Eagle gives my flyers +1/+1. Wingmate Roc will give me a White Bird creature token and gains me some life when it attacks. Pilfering Hawk can let me draw and discard so long as I've got a snow type mana source. I decided to go all in on snow, running both Snow-Covered Plains and Snow-Covered Islands, in no small part because of the Snow creatures I can run in this Birds deck.

Blizzard Strix is a 3/2 flyer with flash who will let me exile another target permanent and return it at the beginning of the next end step if I control at least one other snow permanent. Frost Raptor is a 2/2 flyer who can be given shroud for the cost of 2 mana, both of which must be from snow permanents.

The biggest reason I wanted to run snow lands and snow permanents is for Rimefeather Owl. This Bird has power and toughness equal to the number of snow permanents in play. It can also let me pay mana to put an ice counter on target permanent and give it the Snow supertype. Rimefeather Owl could get pretty big, and if any tablemate is also playing Snow lands it could get huge.

Vigilance and Convoke

Gwaihir the Windlord gives my Birds vigilance. That means they don't have to tap when they attack. Vigilance and flying are a great combination of keywords and will let me chip away at anyone without reach or flying blockers while still having blockers up when I pass the turn.

One of the best ways to take advantage of having creatures with vigilance is to play cards with convoke. Convoke is a keyword that allows my creatures to tap to help cast a spell. Each creature can help pay for a mana in its color, so a white creature can tap to help pay a white pip, a blue creature can tap to help pay for a blue pip, and both can pay colorless costs. It doesn't quite turn them into mana dorks, but it's a great way to cut down on casting costs.

The big question is whether there are cards worth playing that have convoke. If they are instants I'll want to cast them on the end step before my turn. Otherwise I'll want to cast them in my second main phase after going to combat. There are a few instants I chose to include.

Cut Short can destroy target planeswalker that was activated this turn or target tapped creature. Devouring Light can exile target attacking or blocking creature. Meeting of Minds will draw me 2 cards. These are all reasonably costed and provide the sort of core functionality every deck needs. I'm also running Chant of Vitu-Ghazi, a fog spell with an insane casting cost of 8 mana, two of which must be White. I'll also gain a little life, but this may well end up getting cut or swapped out for Holy Day, a 1-mana fog. I really don't mind experimenting with "bad" and overcosted spells, but I won't leave them in for very long if they prove to be as much of a "meh" as I suspect they will be.

Temporal Cleansing will put target nonland permanent into its owner's library second from the top or on the bottom. It's a sorcery so I won't be able to catch an opponent about to shuffle their library, but removal is important and I'm sure this will see use. Hour of Reckoning is another sorcery that should be familiar. It will destroy all nontoken creatures, and joins Wrath of God and Fumigate in this list as ways to wipe the board. If I can save my board with Unbreakable Formation or Flawless Maneuver, I'll be set up to try to push for the win.

Flockchaser Phantom may not be a Bird, but when it attacks the next spell I cast this turn will have Convoke. I've got one last spell with Convoke in the list in Obelisk of Urd, an artifact that will have me choose a creature type when it enters the battlefield. Creatures I control of the chosen type will get +2/+2, which is a significant boost when most of them start out at around 3 power and toughness.

Gwaihir's Feathered Friends

I ended up playing a pretty good mix of interaction and removal in this list, in no small part because I'm in white and blue and it feels wrong not to. When I added in removal with convoke I didn't replace other removal spells, so I should have a decent chance at protecting myself. My card draw has a bit of a combat focus to it, with cards like Biden of Thassa, Coastal Piracy and Reconnaissance Mission giving me draw when my creatures deal combat damage. With a huge focus on flying creatures, that should be easy enough to make happen.

Your goal with this deck is to create a decent army and either wipe the board while protecting your own creatures or draw into a way to turn them into a major threat. Coat of Arms is probably your best bet, and is what you'd tutor for if you got Inventors' Fair on the field and used it to get an artifact out of your library. Coat of Arms gives creatures +1/+1 for each creature on the field they share a creature type with. Just beware that it can backfire on you because it affects all creatures, not just your own.

Gwaihir the Windlord | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Gwaihir the Windlord

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Archetype of Imagination
• 1 Aven Mindcensor
• 1 Blizzard Strix
• 1 Cartographer's Hawk
• 1 Empyrean Eagle
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Flockchaser Phantom
• 1 Frost Raptor
• 1 Gustcloak Savior
• 1 Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
• 1 Jubilant Skybonder
• 1 Kangee's Lieutenant
• 1 Kangee, Sky Warden
• 1 Keeper of the Nine Gales
• 1 Ledger Shredder
• 1 Meneldor, Swift Savior
• 1 Pilfering Hawk
• 1 Rimefeather Owl
• 1 Shabraz, the Skyshark
• 1 Steel-Plume Marshal
• 1 Thieving Magpie
• 1 Warden of Evos Isle
• 1 Watcher of the Spheres
• 1 Wingmate Roc

• Instants (16)
• 1 Aetherspouts
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Chant of Vitu-Ghazi
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cut Short
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Devouring Light
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Meeting of Minds
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Unbreakable Formation

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Airborne Aid
• 1 Alrund's Epiphany
• 1 Fumigate
• 1 Hour of Reckoning
• 1 Temporal Cleansing
• 1 Wrath of God

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Coastal Piracy
• 1 Gelid Shackles
• 1 Reconnaissance Mission
• 1 Rhystic Study
• 1 Winter's Rest

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Bident of Thassa
• 1 Coat of Arms
• 1 Coldsteel Heart
• 1 Extraplanar Lens
• 1 Obelisk of Urd
• 1 Replicating Ring
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (39)
• 13 Snow-Covered Island
• 13 Snow-Covered Plains
• 1 Boreal Shelf
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Glacial Floodplain
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Nimbus Maze
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Sea of Clouds

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This is a very fair deck, designed to be able to compete at low and mid power tables. If you wanted to tune it up, I suspect you'd load in some better wincons than "go to combat and hope for the best". That might mean Approach of the Second Sun or some combo in White and Blue. This list could benefit from faster mana, free counterspells and a few Praetors, but I don't see that making a lot of sense for this commander.

If this list is above your budget, you could definitely cut a few corners and still have a fun, playable creature-type-focused list. You might drop out the snow theme and focus more on traditional birds than the flying biped bird-folk that I've sprinkled through this first draft.

Final Thoughts

My plan has been to alternate between Commander Masters columns and LoTR columns for a few weeks until we've gotten to the part of the 2023 calendar filled with WOE. Wilds of Eldraine, that is. It's a good plan, but I made the curious decision to let fate dictate which Commander Masters legends I would tackle.

I'm not terribly excited about reprints, though I am glad many newer players are, so when I opened a solid-background portrait-style Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, I was excited to write about it and build it in paper. The deck was built on a shoestring budget and has been fun to pilot in the few games it has seen so far.

After that column went up, I was ready to open more packs and find my next column. I just needed another portrait style legendary creature. As I purchased my next pack at the LGS I call home, I related my story of finding that lime green Shirei and turning it into last week's column. I then made the classic blunder - I actually said out loud something like "I just hope I don't open another portrait-style Shirei."

I fumbled the pack in my hands, pinched the shiny foil wrapper and pulled open the top, ready to pull out a glorious little pile of hopes and dreams, most of which would eventually get sorted into boxes and binders Opening boosters can be a sucker's game, but I'm a sucker, I wanted to support the store and opening packs is actually pretty fun.

What wasn't fun was sorting through those new Commander Masters cards and coming across yet another lime green Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker.

Life is funny sometimes. I stared at it for a moment and probably dropped a few words I can't share with you here. It wasn't the worst luck ever, but it sure wasn't what I was hoping to find.

I immediately passed this Shirei on to someone else in the store who was interested in it. It was only worth a dollar and I was encouraged by a friend who pointed out that I had also opened a Deadly Rollick in that pack and it was worth more than I had paid for the booster. That was comforting, but next week's column is still to be determined.

Opening CMM boosters until I find another portrait style legend is probably a fool's game. You can tune in next week to find out if I'm a fool or if I gave up and picked a non-portrait legendary creature to write about. My fingers are crossed, and hopefully it won't take too many packs to find my next column.

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