commander · Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Hosts of Mordor (LTC).
A Grixis reanimator and token deck led by Sauron, Lord of the Rings — discard cards to fuel the graveyard, tempt the Ring to build an unstoppable Nazgûl army, and reanimate the biggest threats.
The Commanders
Hosts of Mordor is a Grixis Commander deck built around Sauron's dark armies. The plan is threefold: use discard effects to fuel a graveyard, create Nazgûl tokens through the Ring temptation mechanic, and reanimate creatures from the graveyard to overwhelm the table. The deck rewards aggression and punishes opponents who ignore the incremental Ring-bearer upgrades building in the background.
Sauron, Lord of the Rings is a 9/9 that tempts each opponent with the Ring at the beginning of combat on your turn. In a multiplayer game with three opponents, that's three Ring temptation triggers per turn — meaning Lord of the Nazgûl creates Nazgûl tokens aggressively. Sauron also forces opponents to discard a card when he attacks if they control their Ring-bearer. He makes opponents choose between being Ring-tempted or discarding, and he wins either way.
Saruman, the White Hand is the control-oriented alternative. Saruman copies the first instant or sorcery an opponent casts each turn. Against spell-heavy pods where opponents' interaction outpaces your threats, Saruman turns their removal into your removal and their card draw into your card draw.
Key Cards
Lord of the Nazgûl
Whenever the Ring tempts you, create a 3/3 black Wraith token with menace. With Sauron tempting each of three opponents per turn, you get three Nazgûl tokens per combat. Lord of the Nazgûl converts the Ring mechanic from a personal buff into a board-flooding engine. Each Wraith has menace and must be blocked by two creatures, so a board of six or seven Nazgûl is extremely difficult to answer without a board wipe.
The Balrog of Moria
A 7/5 trampling hasty demon that enters only from the graveyard — you must discard it or put it in the bin some other way, then cast it from there. The deck runs a dense discard package specifically to enable this. Once The Balrog enters, it forces each player to sacrifice a creature or planeswalker when it attacks. It strips defenders before damage and swings through for seven trample damage the turn it arrives.
Shelob, Dread Weaver
Shelob has deathtouch and ward two life. Whenever she or another Spider you control deals combat damage to a player, that player mills three cards. When a creature card is put into any graveyard from anywhere, exile it and create a 1/2 black Spider token. Shelob mills opponents, blocks recursion, and builds a board of Spiders simultaneously. She's resilient to removal and punishes anyone who tries to build a graveyard strategy against you.
Living Death
Each player exiles their graveyard, sacrifices all creatures, then returns all creatures they exiled this way to the battlefield. In a deck that fills its graveyard with The Balrog of Moria, massive Eldrazi, and reanimation targets through Faithless Looting, Living Death rebuilds your board while destroying opponents' boards. You get back your biggest threats — opponents often have very little in their bins compared to you.
Reanimate
One black mana to return any creature from any graveyard to your battlefield, with you losing life equal to its mana value. In a deck with consistent lifegain from other sources, the life loss is a fair trade. Reanimate lets you steal the best creature in any graveyard — including opponents' creatures after a board wipe. Against creature-heavy pods, it's effectively a one-mana spell that puts a Balrog or better directly into play before anyone can respond.
How to Play
Fill your graveyard in the first three or four turns through Faithless Looting, Thrill of Possibility, and similar discard effects — The Balrog of Moria specifically needs to enter from the graveyard. Get Sauron in play and start tempting each opponent every combat: each trigger builds your Nazgûl army through Lord of the Nazgûl. Use Living Death or Reanimate to deploy massive threats at the moment opponents are least prepared.
Win through two paths: flood the board with Nazgûl tokens that are nearly impossible to block profitably thanks to menace, or reanimate The Balrog of Moria to strip defenders and swing for lethal trample damage. The deck rewards knowing when to switch between the token strategy and the reanimator strategy depending on what the table presents.