Bilbo's Gambit | Art by Randy Gallegos

Short answer: yes, mostly.

Hot off the preview press for The Hobbit is Bilbo's GambitBilbo's Gambit, one of the most unique pieces of interaction that white has gotten in a very long time. Part silence effect, part counterspell, all value, Bilbo's Gambit is exactly the kind of card that has the cEDH world asking itself: "Just how good is this card?"

Let's dive in.

What Does Bilbo's GambitBilbo's Gambit Do?

For , Bilbo's Gambit is an instant that returns target spell to its owner's hand. Additionally, it has "gift a Treasure", meaning that you can have an opponent create a Treasure token upon Bilbo's Gambit's resolution. If you do, Bilbo's Gambit gains the additional effect of preventing players from casting spells for the rest of the turn.

Starting with the part of this card that's always live, Bilbo's Gambit is effectively a ReprieveReprieve that doesn't draw a card, bouncing a spell of any card type back to hand. That's an impressive effect, especially considering how bouncing a spell can be tantamount to countering it given the pace of cEDH these days, but at two mana it sits among the most expensive pieces of interaction in cEDH. Granted, it is neither blue nor red, and white barely gets any counterspell-adjacent effects at all, so that premium is understandable, but understandable doesn't always mean justifiable.

Moving to the exciting part of this, let's start with the promise. Gifting a Treasure may not sound like much immediately — especially considering that the Treasure is created as part of the same effect that SilenceSilences everybody — but think about how many times players have been just one mana shy of snagging a victory. By gifting a Treasure, you're either making the bet that whatever you're protecting on the stack will win you the game if it resolves, or that whatever you're bouncing back to hand is so lethal that making the next win attempt potentially easier is worth it.

Either way, those are some pretty dire straits.

Why Bilbo's GambitBilbo's Gambit is a Trap

So, what is it about Bilbo's Gambit that pushes it from a considerable card to a deckbuilding trap? Well, it all boils down to the actual play patterns this card is optimized for. Counterspells are good, and Silences are good — by attempting to be both, Bilbo's GambitBilbo's Gambit is kind of neither.

First off, consider the actual value of Bilbo's Gambit at baseline — a two-mana pseudo-counterspell. For most cEDH decks — even the most color constrained — that is a really tough rate to justify, especially considering it is the version of this spell that is going to be cast the majority of the time. Outside of the windows where you're defending your own win or desperately trying to stop someone else's, most stack battles actually involve cooperation among players to some extent. With that in mind, would you rather have the flexibility that the Gift represents, or the guaranteed card off of ReprieveReprieve?

Secondly, it's important to read the additional effect here carefully — Bilbo's Gambit stops everyone from casting spells, not just your opponents. This makes it a pretty tricky card to time, effectively rendering it the last card you want to cast if you're trying to win or the first card to cast if an opponent is pushing. It also means that it's essentially useless when it comes to stopping some of the strongest decks in the meta from winning — resolving the second effect of Bilbo's Gambit while an opponent controls a Kinnan, Bonder ProdigyKinnan, Bonder Prodigy is just begging for a lethal amount of Kinnan flips to be put onto the stack.

The Decks That Want Bilbo's GambitBilbo's Gambit

Still, Bilbo's Gambit isn't an outright unplayable card. Cards are cEDH traps because they are just close enough to being good that they only reveal their real issues after players try and test them out. For some highly-specific strategies, however, those same qualities can actually be their biggest advantages. Enter: Oswald FiddlebenderOswald Fiddlebender.

Oswald Fiddlebender is representative of exactly the kind of deck that is going to not just get by with Bilbo's Gambit, but actively love it. Oswald wins entirely through activated abilities, something which a fully-resolved Bilbo's Gambit doesn't care about in the slightest. In fact, it's the exact opposite of the Kinnan case from earlier — while most decks will need to be wary about accidentally enabling activated abilities, Oswald Fiddlebender is itself one of those strategies, so what more could it ask for than a piece of interaction which also works as a fully-abusable SilenceSilence?

Similarly, this is a card that just might make the cut in Sisay, Weatherlight CaptainSisay, Weatherlight Captain. That deck — like Oswald — wins entirely through activated abilities. The only question, however, is whether Sisay has the slots for a piece of interaction that costs this much mana. As a five-color deck, Sisay is in no short supply of low-to-no cost spells like SilenceSilence, Force of WillForce of Will, and more.

Wrap Up

At the end of the day, Bilbo's GambitBilbo's Gambit is a card that absolutely deserves to be tested across cEDH decks. At the same time, however, it also warrants some particularly strategic thinking. How often are you winning through activated abilities, and how does that stack up against your opponents? Is giving an opponent a Treasure really worth it to Silence yourself, too? Bilbo's Gambit asks a lot of questions, and I'm very excited to see how cEDH answers them.