“Food and Fellowship” LOTR Precon Upgrade | The Command Zone 538 | MTG Lord of the Rings Commander

[@commandcast]

What do you think of the “Food & Fellowship” precon? Any cards we missed? Any cards we suggested to take out or add that you disagree with?

[@timmylle]

Give your food haste ... Like Fastfood? :D

[@ebhoverman18]

Scurry oak would be a great add as well. Combos with Rosie Cotton

[@Illidatch]

As it's already been said: great video, but I am a bit sad that the more flavorful and unique commander pair was disregarded in favor of a pretty standard abzan go wide build with a lifegain subtheme. Especially since Food Matters is such a slam dunk for a Hobbit Commander deck :)

[@halihalo21]

@@Illidatchagree and in my opinion there are many strong cards in the new expansion to easily play around food instead of tokens. its insane how much value Gandalf the white gives you in this deck.

[@fajenthygia5760]

I've been working on Wernog/Othelm (with alters to resemble the Terre D'Ange novels) and every card you added is already in that deck. I'd add Cranial Plating, Rite of Oblivion, and Inspiring Statuary. Personally, I'm buying this and splitting the cards between that deck and Biolante-Soul-Sisters.

[@daanvanderlinden2484]

Seems like everyone is saying the same with wanting to see Frodo & Sam for me personally aswell. Maybe they can make another upgrade video with our demand? Vote + on this

[@Bogart745]

Having played the deck, Sam and froto are so much worse than merry and pippin that I can’t see a world in which I play Sam and froto with this precon.

[@carsonglenn1389]

@@Bogart745Personally, I play Sam and Frodo in lower power pods because I like the flavor of it more, but Merry and Pippin are just objectively better.

[@TheTriptamineDream]

There are a handful of really good upgrades videos already out there, 90% are with the face Commander's. I've not seen any with Bilbo, though.

[@MikeConstantinou]

Would love to see an upgrade focusing on Frodo and Sam!!

[@thetogtube2]

This🧙‍♂️

[@JoseAlberto-Jugo]

I respect wanting to make the best deck out of the possible commanders, but I am also sad because the most *flavorful* option (Sam and Frodo) is the one that most people probably want to build or see an upgrade for. We have seen a lot of go wide token decks, I personally wanted a lifegain/food oriented upgrade for a change. Great video nonetheless!

[@ryansprenkle6356]

Yeah....they do this all the time and I'm kind of over it. "I removed all the sea monsters and made it a generic lands deck".....ok so you removed the most exciting part of the deck...cool.

[@docando402]

Yeah and using over half of the 50 dollar budget on one card

[@brandonspivey5282]

Tbh the most flavorful option is Merry and pippin If you want it to be a full-on food deck. I mean FFS these are the same two knuckleheads who almost got frodo Sam and themselves killed for some tomato sausage and nice crispy bacon

[@minine6508]

Would have liked to seen the deck built around the face commanders. Unique mechanics could lead to an interesting build, these upgrades just seem like “put in good White token cards, put in good Green token cards, put in good black token cards, ship it.”

[@TheSpunYarn]

I'm on team Frodo + Sam personally. I think that direction feels unique, and can still have a lot of room for growth in an upgrade video.

[@KingRorix]

I'm going to be honest, I'm pretty disappointed this didn't use Frodo and Sam for the commanders. Go-wide tokens has been done to death, and Frodo and Sam provide card advantage and ramp, respectively, in the command zone. Merry and Pippin are strong, no doubt, but this had the opportunity to be an upgrade to one of the more unique approaches we've seen from a precon in a while.

[@rayzur1076]

exactly what im saying

[@jgicantfindaname]

I honestly think Sam and Frodo are just stronger commanders anyway. Sam generates food passively on the turn you play them. Frodo will draw 2 discard 1 consistently, much easier asks then trying to get token artifacts on the opponents turn to maximize Merry. Cheapening food eating has way more potential than a summoning sick overrun.

[@moneyman88440]

Whoever you play as your commander definitly keep the other set in your deck they help eachother pop off hard.

[@aymanmz]

Was hoping for Sam and Frodo as the commander, cause they really make the deck feel nice to play, even if you aren't necessarily sure how you're going to win

[@williammorales3362]

Look for grazzet mtg, he made a pretty fun frodo and sam build

[@Chris_Knight7]

You can so easily win with Vito, Marionette Master, Sanguine enchant, Dina, Aetherflux... Playing the other two feels wrong, they're good but they're doing the same as every other deck. Frodo and Sam are better imo plus Frodo is like a Tymna with Sam

[@aymanmz]

@@williammorales3362 oh will do! I like his upgrades usually

[@Cy_in]

Arguably Frodo and Sam are better because they have card advantage. I think building around the original heros is a great way to go and makes it even more unique to create around and extort the ring

[@rayzur1076]

i agree

[@cameronh5559]

The ring emblem is bendable so that you can tear the ring art off and give it to your ring bearer. That way you can tell who has it and still have all the abilities in an open area East to read

[@thesamuraiman]

I kinda like it. You can even lay it on top, if you want.

[@Wickerman713]

i'll be using my actual ring as a token lol whippin out the preciouses

[@Parthet]

I disagree with the commander choice. I would go with Frodo/Sam. The wincon there is The Ring triggers. It is something new and different. We’ve seen so many go wide token strategies by now.

[@PiquantPan]

“Oh boy, i get to attack with an unblockable 1/3 that pings the table for 3 and draws a card” - it’s a fun and smooth experience for a low-key game of commander, might be fun to see how it plays against all the precons in a pod, but overall Frodo and Sam don’t seem to have the juice to keep up against even a moderately tuned deck

[@yoda9240]

I’ve tested out the deck and Frodo is mainly there for card advantage, his damage is very minimal. It’s the Mirkwood Bats, Gollum, and Sanguine Bond type effects that win the game for this deck when Sam and Frodo are in charge.

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@PiquantPan Way to mention none of the ring triggers mentioned

[@rayzur1076]

agreed

[@PiquantPan]

@@OhNoTheFace that’s literally where the “ping the table for 3” section of my comment came from, keep your brain damage to yourself

[@colbylindley4865]

Was really excited for Frodo and Sam because it seems really unique but still fun. Token is probably the best but Frodo/Sam is probably the way I’ll go, wouldn’t mind next time u do a precon upgrade to do the face commanders as well as an alternate/better commander

[@harrisonwissel-littmann9015]

It is great to see all the support Abzan has been receiving lately!

[@damienjohnson3450]

I agree and I like that it's not just a strict power boost, but new types of decks.

[@jeffmay4253]

Absolutely, more commander options and having them all have very distinct abilities and play styles makes it more fun and unique at a table

[@ShredAimlessly92]

Any deck that’s Abzan and isn’t a +1/+1 counters deck automatically has my attention.

[@damienjohnson3450]

@@ShredAimlessly92 Exactly!

[@Birbbato]

I like Frodo a lot more because a 2 mana creature that's dealing 10 damage to the board and churning 2 extra cards in my deck every turn to hit my win cons just feels a lot stronger than a "win con" with summoning sickness that's completely dependent on board state. Gonna be keeping Frodo and Sam.

[@thegeardude]

Saaaame. I respect what choice he wanted but Im also gonna be playing Frodo and Sam for the pure advantage and food being able to keep your life count high. Gonna churn through so much of your deck every turn that youll find your wincons in your 99

[@Birbbato]

@@thegeardude Plus, killing Frodo or Sam doesn't get rid of your advantages! Any food will trigger Frodo and Sam will still be making food in Frodo's absence (Plus the ring benefits don't go away). Merry and Pippin NEED each other, and the game plan with requires mana investment and summoning sickness. You shoot Pip down and he's offline for 2 turns.

[@Parthet]

I’ve seen enough go wide token decks

[@thetogtube2]

Agreed that I want to see and play with Frodo and Sam… but the other M&P seem stronger.

[@BlackOpsShortClips]

Few alterations Sam and Frodo become gods. Put in a lot of token doublers and life drainers (especially when you gain, ie Sheoldred, Vito and Alcalotz) build up 7 food tokens, play Sam = 40 life lost to an opponent.

[@STBSeb]

I'd love to see a similar video for all these LOTR decks where the upgrades come strictly from in-universe cards!

[@chrismarlow9585]

Tomer plans to do this on the MTGGoldfishCommander channel

[@taylorjohnson5148]

i agree... but damn academy manufactor is so good here haha

[@blemski]

Came here to say this as well

[@RAWxxx07]

Same here

[@ThePhoenixSlayer]

Just some tips for those looking to build around Frodo and Sam (Just because I love them, I'm going to do it, no matter what every YT video I've watched so far says! XD): 1) Obviously, some of the additions and cuts in this video should be ignored. Examples being, Frying pan, Leader, etc. Basically everything that cared about anthems is less useful in the Frodo/Sam variant. 2) I agree with the high-curve cuts. I've basically cut out every single cycle card they mentioned. I also cut Toxic Deluge as it kinda destroys your board as well, which I don't like, but I replaced it with The Battle for Bywater, basically another asymmetrical boardwipe that also gives you food. 3) I exchanged Birds of Paradise for a Delighted Halfling as I was focusing on the Halfling tribal subtheme of the deck. This was purely for thematic reasons, but if you are doing this, I would suggest adding an Heirloom Blade to keep the Hobbit chain going. You could also experiment with some Voltron options 4) Lastly, I replaced Harmonize (NOOOOO!!!) with Call of the Ring. This makes you zoom through the Ring even faster, and even when the Ring is fully leveled, it gives you ANOTHER extra card each time Frodo attacks, given that you pay 2 life (which you have plenty of). Can you guys think of an other cards that benefit when the Ring tempts you? I'd like to hear what the commentsection thinks of these changes, and I'd love some more suggestions for card additions, specifically for Frodo/Sam as your commanders.

[@k9commander]

When it comes to the ring, these are my recommendations. Are there any equipment that give the lure (opponent's creatures must block) ability? It works well with the third ring ability. All their weak creatures must block and get sacked by the ring after combat. The equipment that halves life after hit may also work. It would need testing. Non-ring related The Academy Manufactor, Gyome and Agent of the Iron Throne recommendations were good.

[@ThePhoenixSlayer]

@@k9commander I like some of your ideas! The three that you mentioned were exactly those that I did actually add to the deck from this video. Firstly for some of my cards I cut down the mana base to 36, as I feel that 38 is too much for our low mana curve. I switched out the Evolving wilds and a Forest for The Shire and Gingerbread Cabin, to have some more food producers. I also realized that with some of the heavier food-consuming creatures, making one or two foods a turn might not be quite good enough, so I exchanged some cards for cards that are nearly just as good, but make food (Example: I switched out Farseek for Many Partings, which tutors for a basic only, but it makes a food, and its only one mana) I also added more hobbits that make food (Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck), and added Samwise Gamgee for more continual food production. and this works better in the Frodo deck since with Pippin you don't really want to be spending the Food on anything else, but still want to profit from their ETB's. I like your idea of making Frodo "must be blocked", but I rather went a little in the "can't be blocked" route for the ring's last ability, which I think is a bit more powerful. Adding an Exquisite Blood to the deck then turns the drain into "gain 9 life" as well. The Exquisite Blood also helps if you want to go the boring route and win with Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood. To make Frodo unblockable I just added a Whispersilk Cloak, to also give shroud against any targeted removal. With this strategy in mind I also added Frodo, Sauron's Bane. By the time he hits the battlefield, the ring is most likely already at full power. You can upgrade him for lifelink, which fits with the deck, and his last upgrade just turns him into an insta-kill machine. Getting the Cloak on him would be ideal then. Lastly, I also added Lembas, as it is food, and it gives you some more card draw. It can also help if you possibly nearly drew through your entire deck without somehow winning, this can keep you alive from carddraw, as it goes back into your library. As you can see, a lot of my upgrades are sub-optimal, but I tried to keep as many cards in the deck still from the LOTR set. I think in my final product I have 4 non-LTR cards.

[@JoseAlberto-Jugo]

After seeing the chef thumbnail I though I was going to get the Bilbo eating or Sam cooking version of the deck, not the same go wide with tokens version

[@Deum-Immortalem]

I'm definitely going with Frodo & Sam lifegain/food & ring tempts you seems much more flavorful & fun I also want to keep it on theme so I'll only be upgrading the deck with LOTR cards from the main set this is the deck I'm most excited for.

[@k9commander]

Perfectly understandable. If you decide to add non LotR cards to the deck, I'd still recommend Gyome, Academy Manufactor, and Agent of the Iron Throne. Gyome is more food synergy that can give indestructible. You can also feed your opponent's creatures to tap them down for a full assault. Academy Manufactor makes a treasure every time Sam or any of your cards make food. The treasure can be used to pay for the reduced food cost even when you're tapped out. The clue is extra. Agent deals damage to your opponents every time you crack a food (or treasure or clue) for each of your commanders.

[@yoda9240]

I’m doing this as well, my current plans for my upgrades are Bilbo’s Ring, The One Ring, Delighted Halfling, Elanor Gardener, Lotho, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, Samwise Gamgee, Saradoc, The Shire, and The Battle of Bywater. I’ve done some testing on Cockatrice and Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, and The Battle of Bywater are monsters in this deck.

[@Deum-Immortalem]

@@yoda9240 I've got a lot of those in my cart just waiting awhile till prices go down more but definitely gonna check out battle of bywater & peregrin took.

[@yoda9240]

@@dontatmetillyouvebeenoutside I like your ideas, I was mainly looking at food but there are three cards that can trigger off the tempting each turn (not including the Nazgûl). Aragorn's counters on Frodo is an interesting idea. Frodo already has vigilance, and lifelink will only be 1 life per turn. Deathtouch makes him a good blocker and first strike once he already has deathtouch makes him a great blocker. Is it worth putting Aragorn in your deck to get two first strike deathtouchers? It is for me. I think Gollum is a great include because I like land. Having more land is always good. Sadly, he also fills up the graveyard, which makes Crypt Incursion better and is bad other than that. This deck doesn't really struggle with mana most of the time, but he's still better than some of the cards I still have in the deck, so I will probably add him. Faramir is the third one that works, you didn't mention him, he will give a 1/1 each turn. I will go through and see if there's anything I want to cut to add him but he's not super flavorful or impactful so I probably won't.

[@richardnieves8491]

Just finished doing this! And let me say I’m in love with my food and fellowship deck. All cards in it from lotr set.

[@ronyheat91]

definately going with frodo and sam as the commanders. Still think it will be strong, and its more "FOOD" centric than Merry and Pipin.

[@SHJANNONYO]

It's also worth noting that there are a ton of awesome cards from the main set that would work great in this deck

[@bodhibrandsma3450]

I don't feel really invested with these upgrades. Especially with the choice of Merry and Pippin as commanders. Frodo and Sam seem sooo much more interesting to me.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

I was surprised that a skullclamp was not a consideration with Merry.

[@MascalchiPlay]

Most of the budget is directed to make token strategy good and card draw, which Frodo already does. Probably not the best idea to use Mery/Pippin as commanders.

[@MascalchiPlay]

Playing tokens is great, but idk, there’s so many token commanders out there. The food value engine sounds more fun to me.

[@JustforKikX]

I bought this precon today, and I gotta agree with everyone else; Sam and Frodo are just way cooler and more original. The deck also really supports food so Sam/Frodo are super supported. I appreciate the effort in this video, but I feel it was a miss.

[@martinprybylski2392]

Really appreciate the bigger budget. The 10 dollar ones just weren't enough

[@magicorthodoxy]

I would love to see upgrades within the LOTR set - to keep it pure

[@rnajarro11]

this is probably one of the first sets ive seen where i feel the upgrades are pretty minimal to make this into a monster of a deck!

[@kandjar]

Love those videos; I really like the $50 budget upgrade idea except… if the $50 is just for one card 😅… if feels unnecessary, the honorable mention was fine in that case. I also disagree (just personally) with the choice of commander; even though I agree that the choosen commanders are more appropriate for efficiency; i think Frodo and Sam were more unique and therefore more interesting to focus on. Again; just to reiterate and end on a good note: I really really love these videos ❤, such high quality content!! Thanks a lot for making them!!!

[@herbhaley5895]

When the Chromatic Lanturn was revealed, a tear slowly rolled down the cheek of Josh Lee Kwai as he silently said, "When will they ever learn?"

[@keelangilmour2511]

I’m glad you guys chose Merry and Pippin. Sam and Frodo seem pretty lacklustre. I think you made the right choice

[@Haruki6669.]

If I had to guess, I would say that the ring perforation is so you can put the top half attached to the bearer, and the bottom half set aside with a counter on it so you know what abilities the ring has

[@mrnoobgaming6051]

Half the budget on one card? Didn't fix the decks problem getting black mana early? Butchered both the theme and flavor of the deck? Token strategy but took out the frying pan that makes 2 tokens? Took out two cards that fix the mana thru landcycling for 1 mana? I got to say this was so bad it makes me question command zone as a whole and I've been looking into other content creators.

[@SamuraiMTG]

Love the channel, love the hosts, but I have to say this was rough to get through and I stopped at like 30 min. This unfortunately felt so dry and slow I couldn't finish. To be frank I got bored, something just felt off. I'll eventually come back around to finish though!

[@noaharterburn2690]

The Ring explanation card is perforated so that you can rip off the top “ring” portion and place it on your creature to delineate it as the ring bearer. You can then keep the “rules” portion somewhere easier to pickup and read.

[@Timbuktu-qt2lj]

Great video, love the $50 budget better than the $10 budget. $50-$100 is more appealing than anything lower.

[@OhNoTheFace]

Except when they allow over forcing a deck to a meh go wide token with sub par commanders.

[@MushieDude]

Damn.. y’all took such a fun precon and made it so boring. Nobody wants to run Merry and Pippin. 😕

[@brustus8722]

I feel like the food precon was the only one really focused on actually supplying cards for the theme of the deck and its main theme not supplying new cards for a subtheme that turns out suboptimal kinda like the voting mechanics in the simic deck and how they could have been cool but they should have given us more cards that vote and less cards that care about elves or vice versa

[@DustinBean-h9o]

[COMMANDER] 1 Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit 1 Sam, Loyal Attendant [CREATURES] 1 Banquet Guests 1 Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant 1 Birds of Paradise 1 Delighted Halfling 1 Elanor Gardner 1 Essence Warden 1 Farmer Cotton 1 Feasting Hobbit 1 Frodo, Sauron's Bane 1 Gilded Goose 1 Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles 1 Lobelia, Defender of Bag End 1 Mentor of the Meek 1 Meriadoc Brandybuck 1 Merry, Warden of Isengard 1 Mirkwood Bats 1 Motivated Pony 1 Orchard Strider 1 Peregrin Took 1 Pippin, Warden of Isengard 1 Prosperous Innkeeper 1 Rapacious Guest 1 Rosie Cotton of South Lane 1 Samwise Gamgee 1 Samwise the Stouthearted 1 Savvy Hunter 1 Shire Shirriff 1 Sméagol, Helpful Guide 1 The Gaffer 1 Tireless Provisioner 1 Treebeard, Gracious Host [ARTIFACTS] 1 Arcane Signet 1 Chromatic Lantern 1 Commander's Sphere 1 Field-Tested Frying Pan 1 Sol Ring 1 The One Ring 1 Trading Post [INSTANTS] 1 Anguished Unmaking 1 Crypt Incursion 1 Go for the Throat 1 Mortify 1 Path to Exile 1 Swords to Plowshares 1 Teferi's Protection 1 Vampiric Tutor 1 Worldly Tutor [SORCERIES] 1 Cultivate 1 Dusk // Dawn 1 Farseek 1 Fell the Mighty 1 Fumigate 1 Grim Tutor 1 Imperial Seal 1 Many Partings 1 Night's Whisper 1 The Battle of Bywater 1 Toxic Deluge [ENCHANTMENTS] 1 Assemble the Entmoot 1 Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit 1 Sanguine Bond 1 Smothering Tithe 1 Sylvan Library [LANDS] 1 Access Tunnel 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Cabal Coffers 1 Canopy Vista 1 Command Tower 1 Exotic Orchard 1 Forbidden Orchard 4 Forest 1 Fortified Village 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Godless Shrine 1 Graypelt Refuge 1 Isolated Chapel 1 Murmuring Bosk 1 Necroblossom Snarl 1 Path of Ancestry 3 Plains 1 Rogue's Passage 1 Scattered Groves 1 Shineshadow Snarl 1 Sunpetal Grove 3 Swamp 1 The Shire 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1 Vault of Champions 1 Verdant Catacombs 1 Woodland Cemetery 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

[@steventognolini7961]

I disagree with everyone!! I’m team Merry and Pippin!! I’ve always liked them better. They’re funny and happy. They match the lighthearted vibe of this deck more. I’ve always felt Frodo was whiny and lacking in personality. I’m glad you chose Merry and Pippin. All the other commander upgrade videos I’ve seen are for Frodo and Sam. It’s nice to have some representation.

[@mizzlchieizzl]

the Ring is perforated so you can break it off and put it on a creature as your ringbearer : ) neat idea but you can also use a toy ring : )

[@StretchyPlays]

I'm going to try to only put cards from the main set into these decks. If I want to up the power a bit more I might add cards from other sets that still fit the theme, like elves and stuff. Would be nice to get a video going over which cards from the main set are best in the commander decks.

[@dennis7156]

aahh yes.. take the FOOD precon and make it into a go wide creature token deck instead, -5/5 toasters on this episode!

[@fosterark]

I am mad ready to get this deck into my hands on Friday!

[@digdoug31]

My first thought on the thumbnail was: Wow, y'all got Remy himself to upgrade the Ratatouille deck!

[@Someoneelse415]

I'm a fan of the larger budgets for these decks. Also really liked when you threw in a few higher priced options that are good fit.

[@christopherfreeman1666]

I actually enjoy putting Bag End Porter into this deck because of how easy it is to get legendary creatures onto the battlefield. Either way you do it, each of the four legendary "hero hobbits", so to speak, are SO incredibly easy to get onto the battlefield, and if you have Bag End Porter in your hand that allows you to have one tanky dwarf already. It's certainly not as effective as going wide with your halfling tokens, but it is a fairly synergistic card to implement.

[@Pullituz]

I started to be really weird player, I just don't see Phyrexians with Hobbits 😂 even how card synergies together. I have started to build really thematic decks. Fairytale, high fantasy, sci-fi, horror etc. And I can't stand people who plays Transformers, Rick etc decks :D

[@NoahTakai]

I'm gonna build my Starscream deck now just for seeing this comment

[@liamthompson951]

I think Lotho and the Battle of Bywater from the main set would be great includes here.

[@Flyboy245]

I was less than thrilled with the $10 budget. It seemed too low, in that it was too low to me, and not applicable for how I build decks. After watching this video with a $50 budget, and seeing that mondrak is $28 (which could be prohibitively expensive) , I realized just because it doesn’t apply to me, doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply to someone else. But cool upgrade. If I did this, I might do bilbo, just cause it’s very thematic

[@rayzur1076]

This is disappointing, I wanted to see what you guys could do with Sam and Frodo. Everyone was excited for them as partners, it’s not always about “most optimal.”

[@dorsalfin22]

Abzan food/lifegain, AND an Abzan enchantress deck coming later this year? Ty WOTC!

[@tactiCole_]

I really appreciate you guys talking about general power level when we talk about which commanders to use, but I think this is one of the rare cases where 90%+ of the player base will want to play frodo/sam. Also would utilize a lot more of the LotR set cards because of the ring tempting mechanic, which means you won't be putting old cards in out of flavor. I know people will always want the one(s) you didn't pick but would love to see maybe a shorter deck tech for probably the two most beloved characters in LotR.

[@alexanderpayne4652]

While I'll always miss having Josh and Jimmy together, I think you too are my favorite co-hosts right now! You seem to get each other's humor and interests (combos, wacky cards, fun flavor, etc) and I think your knowledge of MTG is more thorough (and accurate) then any other hosts. The combination makes for a really enjoyable show! Also, the lack of the Sam and Frodo option didn't bother me at all (I don't usually really use these upgrade guides anyway - I just like to listen to you talk about the cards!).

[@drunkgerbil9962]

So boring to not choose Frodo and Sam 😴 Just look up generic go wide stuff. CZ has been missing with their content more and more lately.

[@Aldissimo90]

Was really hoping for you to upgrade the deck just with cards of the set to keep the flavour intact. Instead you went with... Academy manufactor and a phyrexian dominus.

[@SasoriRules2011]

While I'm, sadly, not super stoked for any of the Universes Beyond sets, this deck seems like a ton of fun.

[@positivecontacts]

The perforated ring token is so you can obscure the abilities of the ring that aren’t yet active. Alternatively you can put the ring on the ring bearer and mark the ability list another way. You can also put the ability list inside your ring bearers sleeve and edge it up another level each time the ring tempts you.

[@SirLogos]

Kinda stopped watching once Frodo and Sam weren't chosen. Go wide has been done before.

[@goelandz878]

I really liked the challenge to make Frodo + Sam work, slightly disappointed they wasn't chosen. I personally end up with a food matter, token matter (that synergies with food), graveyard matter subtheme. I could also go toughness matter but it would require much more card to change. With recurring creature to make use of the loot option such as Ovalchase Daredevil, deathless knight.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

You can probably feel the seething hatred from your opponents when playing a dockside extortionist versus this deck.

[@spencerwaters9645]

The perforation is to remove the ring and cover the ring abilities. Sliding it down as you gain more of them to uncover them.

[@ajsmith8387]

Played the pre-con last night for the first time, loved it and found it pretty powerful out of the box. Love the "food matters" theme, haven't played with Food like that before, ever. Excited to see what Command Zone had to offer to upgrade that theme and find interesting ways to double tokens, double lifegain, etc. Maybe some big creatures to toss in so "Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant" could go crazy after some lifegain shenanigans. Saw that they decided not to go with Frodo and Sam, and I'm not gonna finish the video. Always a bummer when the face commanders aren't explored in these guides, but this one especially is just disappointing.

[@walterwiffles7384]

Sadly Merry and Pippin aren't realy about food wich is part of the style, but great video nevertheless! They just get sacrificed for any other reason and could be any tokens instead of food. I like the lifegain aspect of the front commanders. Prob. not as strong but there are enough cards to play around life gain and that might be fun. Wich is why I chose this deck over the other 3 :D Fits right beside my other food deck with Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar. And yes, I practiced the pronunciation :D

[@patrickstephenson958]

Ravenous squirrel 🐿️ don't sleep on it, he's hungry.

[@RainBurner13]

I’m probably gonna focus on the food theme, gonna be fun!

[@avandaughrity2114]

BTW, for my "the ring" card, i did take off the ring, so that way whenever the ring rempts me, i can just put the ring on top of whoever my ring bearer is. Makes it easy to see who the ring bearer is and i keep the bottom half of the card on the side for easy access.

[@jimmyb2655]

my playgroup played the precons, it was a really fun game. The hobbits were poppin...but the food tokens actually killed the table...I won, Sauron, that dragon is insane! it came out for 2, haste, then hit mr hobbits for 6 in the air and made 12 treasures since he had 10 foods a sol ring and another artifact. cavern hoard dragon, great card, new dockside lite.

[@Owl4Hagrid]

Thanks for doing this. I would have liked to see Frodo and Sam as Commander and “any” upgrades to be cards from the LOTR set.

[@stephentaylor451]

Really excited for this deck!

[@tubad23]

The ring token is perferated so you can tear it and use the top as a marker for who your ring bearer is

[@laurenslinkwolf]

quick adition to it, you can also use the effect of Gyome to tap down monsters attacking you ;-)

[@kiwi_commander]

What do you mean Mondrak doesn't fit in a Middle-Earth themed commander deck? It's just the Mouth of Sauron!

[@TheRedKnightOfPain]

I just noticed you could probably build a really interesting selesnia equiptment/artifact deck with marry

[@sybrrr]

I just thought I would suggest a few cards you didn't mention. A lot of cards from the Commander 2021 Green/Black lifegain precon are good for this. I especially like Ezzaroot Channeler. Inspiring Statuary is great with all those food tokens around. Fangren Marauder is awesome! How about an extra 5 life whenever you sac a food? (or whenever anybody sacs a food, treasure, clue or blood token for that matter) Accomplished Alchemist, Witch of the Moors, Marionette Master, Trail of Crumbs to name a few more.

[@dikei4559]

Was a little bummed at first when i saw it wasnt sam and frodo and it seemed like it would be a pretty standard "just lower the curve" type of upgrade path but i gotta say y'all had a looooot of fun with this one and it really showed and i had fun watching, great job especially to jamie and rachel

[@jokesonyou91]

I really dont like half the hobbits being in the black color pie.

[@MikeConstantinou]

Would love to see an upgrade video that only uses cards with the Lord of the Rings artwork.

[@MarvelOfRain]

Here is the problem with Merry and Pippin. The Food does not play into their strategy. You need 4 to do anything and you must ask yourself: “Why play Food generating cards in the token deck if you could just play more token makers?” Also the gameplan and how to stop it is so obvious - kill Pippin before he can untap and the deck does nothing. Frodo and Sam on the other hand are so happy in grindy game and love the extra time the Food gives them - it allows Frodo to generate value and eventually a clock as well.

[@leemiller6977]

I love how Jamie pronounced Toxic Del-uge correctly. Flavorwise, totally on point. Nice one, good sir! And I believe the other word is pronounced as heeth lane even though it is spelled Hithlain. Also caught the fact that you said " or something of that ilk " Keep em comin' Jaime!

[@leemiller6977]

P.S. You cannot find hardly any of the LOTR main set cards or these cards from the precon decks on Card Kingdom. Somebody better start unloading some copies...LETS GOOOOOO!!!

[@trevorwilliams5144]

I went life gain strategy and I’m running things like archangel of thune, more life gain on creature etb and I have several overrun effects based on life gain. I will admit I forgot that I would have two commanders for the backgrounds. I may consider switching to Mary and pippin with some untap strategies since my strategy doesn’t really need frodo

[@mxd6202]

Nice guide ! You also could have included mirkwood bats who could be so broken in this deck

[@kylejones5518]

It comes in the deck

[@smellyleopardd]

Tbh I would much rather have seen Frodo & Sam as commander.

[@Wickerman713]

i need jimmy's decklist from the liquid IV ad lolol, for research purposes :)

[@peanutthegallery7380]

Video was cool and I always enjoy the breakdowns but I would have like to of seen an upgrade guide With Sam and Frodo as the commanders.

[@nsaneg00n74]

Use cranial plating on frodo with all the food and make him unblockable with some lands in the deck

[@OhNoTheFace]

Blowing over half the budget on one card to force a done to death go wide token strat was an interesting choice

[@jonathanw4432]

Can you guys do in universe upgrades on all of the Lotr precons??

[@MareczqZglos]

I was not happy when you choose other duo as commandres... then when you told life gain is not good idea ... but when i sow Bilbo on cutting list... Iam out :D

[@DefinitelyNotTroll69]

White Plume Adventurer is unless if you don't complete the dungon 42:11

[@MattGarrison616]

What other two cards would you remove if you were to add Seedborn Muse and Smothering Tithe?

[@erikohman2294]

With Sam, gingerbrute is finally broken.

[@AvaricioDues]

Me who owns both Anointed Procession and Mondrak. “Oh yeah, it’s all coming together.”

[@catbruvs7083]

I honestly didn’t have a problem upgrading this one. There’s just really weak etbs.

[@MadHatter2k4]

I like the way you went with it 😊

[@lesternomo6578]

i just realized the 3rd ring bearer ability is kinda crazy, like if you use a creature with a lure effect or just lure its just a board wipe against one player, even better if the creature has indestructible

[@jeanmich6190]

Don't have the budget for moondrak but I have doubling season😊, should do the trick

[@Jbastardov]

The video is great quality as always, but the direction of going with the alternate commanders is off. You grab an interesting and way more unique food/lifegain with a new Tempt mechanic strategy and went with the way more common and done tokens strategy. It's a great build but I'll rather focus on making something quirky fun with Frodo & Sam.

[@Dirtycook0430]

Which commander do you have on field and which do you put in deck? Jw

[@brett5569]

$50-$75 precon upgrades are the best

[@targetdreamer257]

So there is a strange effect that I notice. The bottom of the microphone that Jamie Block is using has this strange dubbed in look, the part over the image on his shirt. Like it is an old version of a green screen where you can see the edge of the thing against the screen. Or is just me that sees it?

[@Galaxoid]

Is there something I'm missing? White Plume only untaps Pippin on opponent's upkeep. I can't then tap Pippin to create a food, it's not my turn. At the beginning of my upkeep, Pippin untaps anyways, so what is the purpose?

[@ehsanrahee7411]

I'm trying to keep the Tolkien flavour in all the precon upgrades I do. So all my upgrades have to just be from the rest of the set. It would be cool to see some ideas on that.