The Hobbit Is A Set Of Boosts For Niche Strategies

I’ve actually read the book, so it’s surprising to me that I’m not more excited for The Hobbit. I even get some of the general references, like the thing with the very overpowered arrow (in the story, the card isn’t good). I guess it’s that I was more a fan of fantasy stories set in our world, like Percy Jackson, when I was a kid.

My low interest might also be because this set is a low-power one. I combed through all the cards, and there were some fun Commander options, but because these lists are based on how they’ll fare in Standard, I didn’t have to narrow much down. And ranking this list was basically me looking at a bunch of niche cards and then deciding which ones were the most versatile.

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Gleaming Splendor

This is a sideboard card. Against certain decks, it will literally do nothing, and you don’t want to waste three mana only to also give your opponent some benefit. But if you happen to be fighting another Control deck (and Control got some amazing tools in The Hobbit), this is an excellent way to deter opponents from racing ahead on card advantage.

Elven Passage

See what I mean about the best The Hobbit cards being niche? Fabled Passage is an incredible card that can go in almost any deck (even monocolored decks sometimes use it), and this is that, but only for Elves. If you’re playing Elves and your deck is multicolored and/or uses Landfall cards, then this is an auto-include.

Dwalin, Weaponmaster

I hate equipment-based decks and equipment-based cards. Not because I lose to them a lot or anything, but because they’re not very enjoyable (for me) to play. I also think they’re often quite weak or slow. But Dwalin is an exception to my bias. This card quickly makes every decent equipment on the board into excellent equipment. I’m sure Dwalin will find a home in some deck.

Cantankerous Keepers

Oh, look, another good Elf card from The Hobbit set. Who would’ve guessed? You play this card when you already have Elves but want more Elves. And if you’ve ever played the average Elf deck, then you know you always have and want more Elves (unless they board wipe you).

The Sackville-Bagginses

The ranking for this one was tough—it might be better than the Gandalf card, and it could be worse than the Elf card. But I put this here because Treasures do seem to be a frequent card type in current Standard, and dealing damage for each one used is enough to win games.

Gandalf, Golbins’ Bane

I’ve played enough Red/Blue spell decks to know a decent card for that archetype. I wish Gandalf got permanently bigger when you cast a spell, but that would likely make him too powerful. I see a deck pairing this with Molten-Core Maestro (go check out my Secrets of Strixhaven top ten list for my opinion on that monster) and the usual one-cost stuff for a fun ground-based beatdown. I also love that Adventures are back and that they still feel so synergistic.

The Queen of Dale

Low-to-the-ground creatures that dissuade the opponent from doing stuff are usually pretty good. The recruit ability lets you shape your hand and build a small army, all during your opponent’s turn. For more proactive Control builds, this is such a good include.

Belladonna Took

I cannot imagine how out of hand this The Hobbit card could get if it wasn’t Legendary. We already have some pretty good token support, and this one can do so much. Sure, the life gain isn’t that big of a deal, but drawing an extra card every turn and then making your army hit harder is worth the effort to activate those abilities.

Settle the Wreckage

This is a reprint. A fairly old one, too. But if you’ve never had it used against you, then you have no idea how brutal a Settle is. I used to play Red a lot, and it basically ended the game. Run this in a Control deck and never attack into four or more open mana if you’re an aggro deck.

Riddles in the Dark

Standard now has a pool of non-rotating cards that includes a reanimation spell,and now we have this card? If you’re using it for card draw, it’s solid. If you’re using it to put stuff into your graveyard, it’s great. There’s an old Magic card called Gifts Ungiven that enabled a ton of combo decks—and this is that card again. I love weird combos, and I love powerful combos, and I love cards that make your opponent have to make a dangerous guess, and Riddles in the Dark is all of that and a cool reference to one of the more memorable scenes in The Hobbit. It’s easily the best card in the set.