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

You should make a Extra turns only with the decks you have upgraded, for us to see them in play.

My suggestion for an upgrade would be Harmonic Prodigy. Since Saruman is a wizard, Harmonic Prodigy will allow us to Amass X twice whenever we cast a noncreature spell!

00:00 - The Command Zone is Hiring! 01:00 - Intro 04:51 - Main Topic Discussion 05:42 - Sauron, Lord of the RIngs 07:51 - Saruman, the White Hand 09:58 - "The Hosts of Mordor" Deck Stats 13:26 - Who Should You Run as the Commander? 14:38 - Reprint Value 19:03 - Notable Reprints 22:24 - Best Cards in the Deck 29:17 - Cards to Add 43:55 - Splurge Cards 45:20 - Cards to Take Out 53:38 - How the Deck Plays 55:05 - Outro 58:06 - Ladee Danger and New Zealand

I kept Sauron as my commander and one of the funniest upgrades I got is cairn wanderer. A five mana shapeshifter/changeling with the effect that it basically gets all the important keywords from cards in your own grave. Since its a changeling, its also an army. So you can buff it and, for example, if you have a cavern hoard dragon in your grave, it gets flying, trample and haste.

I love the energy Ladee and Rachel bring to the table together. This is absolutely fantastic.

😂😂😂 hilarious josh and Jimmy introduce yet another episode of Rachael's command zone..... Now what this woman has done is incredible.... Become absolutely irreplaceable.... 👏 Bravo Racheal

I personally switched out the precon commander with Sauron, the Dark Lord. Took out the gutter snipe and made the deck into a ring tempting deck. I’ve played it once so far and it was a blast! Can’t wait to slowly upgrade it more and more!

I wish they would also do a Budget/Non budget upgrade with just LOTR cards for these precons as well. I know a lot of people are just doing LOTR upgrades to these.

"stats are back on the menu boys!" :D Best line!

Surprised they didn't mention that Lier also turns off Saruman's ward effect.

This is a wonderfully constructed upgrade guide and I do believe it would make for a much more fun-to-play deck than the one that comes out of the box, however, it kinda sucks to take out the face commander from the precon, specially when that commander is Sauron, Lord of the Rings, and this is a Lord of the Rings set! I would love to see an upgrade for Sauron himself just to see how that reanimate/big creatures strategy would work with him in the command-zone!

Rachel has been such a boon. She literally has chemistry with EVERYONE. Such a treasure. Token.

This is hands down the best thumbnail in the history of commandcast

Sauron the dark lord is a really simple shoe in for a less expensive mana cost and makes it really easy to do what the deck wants

A wonderful upgrade guide. In line with the theme you're going for, you could also add an Arcbond. You time it right its a complete blowout in this style of deck

Dreadhorde Invasion is a cool enchantment for the upgrade too. Due to the amass ruling, the big army Sarumon makes will be a zombie and have lifelink on the swing.

I legit made a deck for both the commanders with Sauron being reanimator and Sarumon being spell slinger. Excited to play test them!

Commander: Saruman, the White Hand Add: Angrath, Captain of Chaos Widespread Brutality Maskwood Nexus Archmage Emeritus Wizards of Thay Primal Amulet Anhelo, the Painter Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Syr Konrad, the Grim Honorable Mentions: Rise of the Dark Realms Rhystic Study Remove: Shiny Impetus Basalt Monolith Subjugate the Hobbits Monstrosity of the Lake Sauron, Lord of the Rings Rampaging War Mammoth Inferno Titan Troll of Khazad-dûm Voracious Fell Beast Knollspine Dragon

I'm not sure if they get the full main set info before making these videos or just the commander decklists, but for these LoTR upgrades especially, I would have loved a section for cards from the main set that work great in the deck (since they can't factor them into the upgrade due to them not having prices yet, especially reasonable/not-prerelease prices).

Ladee Safety and Rachel Wrecks with the deck techs

I know y'all didn't want Subjugate the Hobbits in the deck but I do think it has some synergy. You get to Amass 7, which by itself is massive. It would decimate most, if not all token strategies. Also, what do y'all think of having Ovika in the deck? I know the CMC is really high but it can create tons of Goblins- which Saruman likes - and they all have haste.

Hoping to provide some constructive feedback here: I'm pretty upset that you didn't go with the face commander for the upgrade. I understand that a 4 MV commander is much easier to get out than 8. But I feel most people buying this deck are doing so to run Sauron. Either because they want the big bad evil guy in their command zone. Or they want to cast it and get that huge effect. It's just very disappointing and I think that sometimes when you don't use the face commander, you aren't factoring in why people are buying the deck. Basically you're telling them to buy the deck and run the boring sidekick to Sauron. No one wants to be Robin. Everyone wants to be Batman.

The second time I played this deck, I had anger in the graveyard, Sauron came out, milled a scourge of the throne, due to a card an opponent had that game, I took out the rohan / gondor deck from more than full health in a single round, Sauron had 11 power first swing, 13 the next, meaning the Orcish siegemaster had 11 + 13 power in a single round with Trample xD I also in the first game got the Balrog out in turn 4. XD

I personally like Embercleave in this deck, since we're already splurging. With Saruman out, it turns into a Flash speed 6/6 that becomes a 7/7 with double strike and trample!

Ladee: "im an art s-cker, if its got cool art on it, i'm all about it" OMG SAMEEEEEE this edition its so beautiful😭😭😭 i want them all

Unfortunately, this video feels like you guys took the easy way out. Not everyone plays commander to play the most on curve commander. You had a chance to build around a huge, fun, and fair commander that new players love. You guys constantly talk about homogeneous play and how you would like more distinct deck types and cards. But here's another boring spell slinger deck to anger your friends. I'm hoping you guys will revisit this deck.

Hope Rachel does an episode for her in world upgrades!

If Cruel Ultimatum isn’t in the upgraded deck, I’m going to be very disappointed 😂

It took three attempts but i finally won with this upgrade in a three player pod against Be'lakor, the Dark Master + Szarekh, the Silent King and it was a blast. The last 2-3 turns having Lier, Disciple of the Drowned as the MVP. Thanks for the great work doing the research for these upgrades.

Damn was really hoping for a sauron deck, not a spell slinger.

Don’t know if this was taken into account, but there was an errata made on the war of the spark amass cards to now read amass X zombies instead of just amass X, meaning that you would have to amass two different armies, a zombie one from the war of the spark cards and an orc one from the lotr cards.

While I appreciate the upgrade, it bums me that Saruman was chosen, no one buys this precon to play as Saruman, we all want to play as Sauron. It would be much cooler to see this upgrade trying to make Sauron somehow work instead of putting Saruman as the commander (which fells like the easy way out). Kinda flavorless to play as the second big bad guy, a bit dissapointed with the choice, but understandable nonetheless.

Cycling also gets them into the yard for the reanimator theme of the precon.

It's very rare to find an ad break that not only doesn't bore me to death, but even makes me giggle, and Liberator's Factor endorsement had me cackling 😂

treasure nabber worked so great the first time i played this deck, turn 4 commander was brutal... i was the threat from then on

Ladee with the cannonically correct shirt

Hope to see a game with the upgraded decks please !!! Also ladee love your hair !! Rachel you stay being funny af

10:10 Stats are back on the menu, boys 😎😎😎

I know out of the box this deck feels unfocused, but it is very good a adapting to what ever is happening. It is a blast to pilot and when be better had the upgrade stayed with the face commander.

All will be One is a great add. Let's you ping a target for the your amass value. I would also take out Everflowing Chalice since it just doesnt amass (mana value 0). Army of the Damned is a fun finisher if you also have the War of the Spark cards which amass zombies and give them evasion. And a great non budget add would be the Ozolith as well

Many people want to see the upgraded decks in extra turns to see the gameplay. I believe this would be great guys!

"you don't know me for playing grixis, but you do know me for being a baddie" 😂

Cycle to reanimate it. Easy to get stuff in the grave. Amazing job in this upgrade.

I actually won using a combo Sauron with the Balrog. Granted, it was hard to keep casting Sauron every time he died, but he kept bringing the Balrog back out with him (didn't use the exile effect), and together, they were just oppressive

The queen herself, Ladee!

I like Lier a lot, but it is a bad idea in this deck. It turns off Ward. Ward counters spells if the ward cost is not paid.

I feel like THAT version of sauron should have had "can't be countered" on it

The buying every card just to have them is literally me rn. I love LotR so much! I just want to be able to look at em!

Well... in the Food and Fellowship deck upgrade you guys went with a token overrun strategy... instead of using the unique food deck. Now you choose to do another grixis spellslinger, worst than Anhelo, instead of upgrading SAURON's deck... and remove him from his own deck. I'm worried about what will come next...

I played magic for the first time last night with friends. You mentioned subjugate the hobbits. I played it and essential stole every creature on the table. Including a hobbit with a 26/26 token. Wiped two players out in one turn following 😎

Love to see you two in charge of this episode ❤

I think the idea is that as long as you can amass orcs, the deck is so diverse you can deal w anything

'Subjugate the Hobbits' is an interesting one, if your playgroup loves token decks then this is a game-closer (won me the first play), but if not it's a bit too situational with a deck without tonnes of draw power. 'Monstrosity of the lake' on the other hand is actually amazing (especially with Reanimation cards), as it will give you two turns to close the game or give an answer/time for if someone has exploded.

Hire ya boi as Best Boy Electric. You can see I conduct myself with the utmost professionalism.

I kept Sauron as my commander. With all the mana rocks available if you get them out you won’t have a problem bringing him out early or atleast 2-3 times. Then with each time he comes back you get the army + a creature from graveyard. It’s an 8 cost for 9/9, 5/5 army and something else nasty. Plus it’s SAURON! How can you not play it 😂

It's interesting that, so far, no precon upgrade has kept the face commander. Looking forward to seeing if the trend continues with the last one!

Love the thumbnails I hope ya find someone good

I have been planning on building this as spell sling with the white hand since it was spoiled. anhelo and goblin bombardment are really good support cards tobtake advantage of your orcs to fauder off for extra value between spells or extra spells. I really feel like building with the army as the wepon is kinda the trap, building with them as a recursive resource to spend is such a better plan mabey its hard with 10 cards. But when i play my deck the only reason i want a army token bigger then a 4/4 is if im flinging it at someones face because remaking them is so much better then just adding counters and when you can take advantage of the free sacrifice every spell its so good...

No man may kill Sauron, but this Lady can

A job with this channel seems like a really cool spot.

Honestly, I think 50 bucks is too much of a budget, _especially_ since these decks are already a bit more expensive than regular set decks. If I've already spent more than usual on the deck itself, I don't really wanna put another 50 dollars down to get it up to speed, right? 10 dollars was maybe a little tight, but I liked the 30 bucks budgets.

Wow they took out Sauron. They took out Sauron. They. Took. Out. Sauron.

When they added Maskewood Nexus I was shocked that they didn't mention Vadrik, Astral Archmage! He's also a spell reducer but imagine how big you can make an x spell after storming off with a Vadrik "Army" that progressively increases the discount!

Love the bigger budget.

Shiny impedes was a pretty solid card when we pinned the pre ons against eachother. My opponent created a 20/20 making unblock-able so then I goaded it which caused me to win the game.

based on the advice on upgrading the deck I have gone fully down the isengard legion route. Lots of amassing armies that get huge buffs from wizard support.

Anyone else feel the missed opportunity from Ladee Danger to say that she went "there and back again" when talking about Hobbiton at the end step?😅

I'm thinking the best upgrade budget is $20 to $25. About half of the cost of the average precon cost.

im still stunned from the Sauron drop

“Shtats are back on the menu boys” 😂😂😂

These are some pretty good cuts. I'm going to try to put all 9 nazzies in the deck and then have the other three decks with the one ring in it for game night.

“Looks like stats are back on the menu boys!”

I will make Sauron, The Lord of The Rings, as my commander. My deck will focus on stealing my opponent stuff and making them suffer.

I rebuilt with hosts of Mordor and used Sarumon the White Hand to make a full amass deck.

Rachel Ladee episode!!!!!!!!!

Why dont you guys put the updated decklist in the notes????

Subjugate the Hobbits is an amazing card. I've played this deck three times and it was a win con twice. But, you combo it. It turns all those pesky lil tokens into your army. Elves, squirrels, goblins, zombies, myrs, etc. Match it up with any pump spell in red, and BOOM!!!!

Subjugate the hobbits was so good! It stole me so many tokens!

I also changed the default sauron but I replaced it with the sauron with ward sacrifice legendary arifact/creature. With tons of self mill and a little regular mill or everybody mills. Sacrificing the army for damage or more mill. And more reanimation. Put two infinite combos with gravecrawler/phyrex alter (or alter of dementia)/ agent of the iron throne (with some other similar cards) also got worldgorger dragon + reanimation spells like animate dead and my theme was taxes for casting spells so not only does sauron make an army whenever you cast a spell but with rhystic study I can draw and there's a black card I put in (don't know the name think its 3 black black) but whenever an opp cast a spell they either take 5 dmg or discard a card. And im hoping to find some more cards to add for more taxes but that's all I've got so far. So any suggestions for cards that are either red blue or black that say "whenever an opponent cast a spell _______ happens" let me know need some suggestions

It’s funny that they include Lier, as EDHREC just included comments in latest video from Rachel about how this interacts with ward. It would effectively nullify all the ward 2 on your Goblins and Orcs.

Depends on what the job is Jimmy got real passive aggressive when Rachel started. lol

suggestion: make a thematic upgrade guide with only cards of the set

It’s called the hosts of Mordor not the host of Isengard. I agree Saruman is a cool commander and probably more powerful, but if your playing the lord of the rings decks it’s probably because you love lord of the rings not because you want the most power.

I tossed in ragavan, ameboid changeling, izzet chemist, twinferno, and the 2 drop blue unblockable spell slinger that copys spells from all will be one will be tossing in a dockside eventually

Once again waiting for the Riders of Rohan deck upgrade

Note his trigger is not creature spell. This means any mana rock any enchantment and any plainswalker as well as any instance and sorcery.

18:53 One Rachel to find them... one Rachel to add to cart, and in credit debt, buy them...

Subjugate the hobbits is great with token, monstrosity of the lake, is real good to cycle, and I've gotten the full use of it 5 times, 2 casting it for 5 and paying 5 on etb, 3 cycling it early game and reanimate then 5 on etb

robe of the archmage is on theme and works

Most people probably don't realize how flavorful cutting Sauron out of the Saruman deck actually is. I don't really believe either one of the hosts actually have read the books. lol

Not leaving Sauron as the face commander? Disappointed

I’m planning on getting this deck, mixing it with my zombies deck, focusing on getting out my goulcaller gisa and amassing the army token really big really fast between orcs and zombies, tapping gisa and turning that army into many zombies that can be given fun things like deathtouch, hexproof and flying. Also switching out the commander for Sauron, the dark lord.

I think that, with Sauron, this could be a control with a reanimate sub theme. Just making a very grind match, making your opponents waste all they resources. Them, in the endgame, you just play this behemoth, putting in the board a 5/5, your most hideous creature from the grave and, of course, a 9/9 with trample. I believe that's why it has so much spot removal and globals

I really want to apply for their Art Department position because that is directly in my career path and I have a boat load of experience working in literally both of the places that the application information talked about. (Musical Theater and Haunted Attractions) But I don’t think I would be able to move to LA and start anew there. LA just isn’t for me. Which is very unfortunate but I wish them good luck with finding someone. Who ever they find will be an awesome addition to their team.

Spoiler alart the didn't go with Sauron as the commander fells bad fail =(😢 but the alt commander is very cool and powerful.

In what space can you actually play the huge creatures and keep Sauron? Commander is so focused on value that the flavor of this 9/9 imposing creature is cut.

If you arent down for casting the 8 cmc commander then what are we doing ? Curse of opulence, blood money, grim hireling, pro facebreaker, spiteful banditry, stinging study, breach the multiverse, demonstration technique, sheoldred, sheoldred whispering one. Cmon ladee i thought you were the fun one at the command zone ! Oh and if you keep the reanimation theme… cavern hoard dragon is the best card followed by the balrog.

Im sorry. I have to go for the flavor wins. Im putting all the Blasphemous acts and huge spells that allow for redictions in casting to make the absolute most giant army possible and then laughing maniacally as it smashes face.

Casting Widespread Brutality when you have Saruman on board also kills Saruman.