(Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit | Art by Axel Sauerwald)

Welcome back! This is Lenny from the Scrap Trawlers with a second helping of the Food and Fellowship deck from Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander. We showed you the deck in the last article, now the upgrade is on the menu. Before that, let's serve up the original deck list as an appetizer.

Munch Ado about Nothing

Before we get started, let's go there and back again with our commanders. Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit is a 1/3 with vigilance for two mana. When he attacks, if you've gained three or more life this turn, the Ring tempts you. You also draw a card if the Ring has tempted you twice or more this game. Sam, Loyal Attendant is a 2/4 for three who makes a food token each combat on your turn and reduces the cost of abilities you activate on foods. Together they fuel the hybrid token/life gain deck that makes up the rest of this precon with cards or with food tokens.

There are certainly comparisons to be drawn to other commanders that care about food, such as Gyome, Master Chef or Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, but Sam and Frodo reward you for using food for its intended purpose. I think Tymna the Weaver is a better comparison as she is card draw in the command zone. Sam and Frodo are a decently powerful commander pairing and make for a smooth game experience, but I don't think they're enough of a problem to draw removal.

For this upgrade, I'm keeping Sam and Frodo as the commanders, but I think it'll will work just fine if you wanted to use Merry, Warden of Isengard and Pippin, Warden of Isengard instead. The core strategy doesn't need to change, but I think quite a few cards in this deck are there to showcase characters and moments in Tolkien lore, while not adding much to the deck. These could make room for some great food and lifegain cards that would have made sense to include in the deck, but I suspect were excluded because they didn't fit in with the source material. I think that was the right call for the product, but now that we're upgrading we have no obligation to worry about the theme.

It Goes to Elevensies

Many of the cards we're adding are going to turn up the heat for our opponents. Agent of the Iron Throne is going to trigger often in a deck that's so focused on sacrificing artifact tokens, and with two commanders it's going to be twice as effective. We can also drain our opponents by gaining life with Indulging Patrician and Dina, Soul Steeper. For the most part, Nykthos Paragon is going to be putting three +1/+1 counters on each of our creatures. That may seem far below the ceiling of the card, but those counters are going to add up fast. Finally there's Blossoming Bogbeast. With just one food sacrificed, the Bogbeast is going to give our team +5/+5 and trample when it attacks. That's often going to be enough to take out at least one player.

We've also got some cards to add that synergize with the deck's food production. Academy Manufactor is a powerhouse in this deck. With Sam making a food each turn, alongside numerous other cards doing the same, this Assembly-Worker will rack up a hoard of treasure and clues in no time. It's easy to see why 64% of Sam and Frodo decks on EDHREC have already adopted this card. Trail of Crumbs will let us dig deeper into our deck each time we sacrifice a food. Peregrin Took gives us extra food and lets us trade in three food to draw a card. Gyome, Master Chef adds to our buffet and gives us the option to use food to protect our creatures or remove blockers.

Rounding out our additions, we have a couple odds and ends. With this deck being weak to effects that stop life gain, Mortality Spear is a flexible removal spell if you don't want to throw down the cash for Assassin's Trophy. Scavenging Ooze is graveyard removal that can also gain life and attack or block if needed. With over 25 historic spells in the deck, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle will have plenty of chances to bring back the many three mana value and under creatures in the deck.

At the time of writing, these cards come to a total of $8.04 so you should have plenty left over for extra guacamole.

Gone in Sixty Second Breakfasts

Many of the cards in the deck were added for flavor reasons, so they're easy cuts when we want to trim the fat. First of all we're cutting most of the Treefolk. Generous Ent and Orchard Strider do make food tokens, but we have better ways to accomplish that than paying six mana for mediocre creatures. I'm not thrilled with the prospect of giving an opponent a bunch of small creatures that can block my commander, so Sylvan Offering is out. Woodfall Primus was the only one I came close to keeping, but I opted for a cheaper and more flexible removal effect.

Some of the effects in the original deck that power up our creatures leave a lot to be desired. Call for Unity is entirely too slow for my liking. It only gets a counter once per turn cycle, and since it happens at your end step your creatures won't benefit from it the turn you play it. For one more mana I'd rather play Nykthos Paragon, have it do nothing, then use a food to get three +1/+1 counters next turn. Speaking of underwhelming buffs Eagles of the North provides a measly +1/+0 and first strike on a 3/3 flyer. At six mana this feels more like a draft card than something to reach for when making a stronger Commander deck. Great Oak Guardian is more interesting thanks to flash, but that isn't enough to make it worth keeping.

Finally we have those cards that don't quite deserve their own section or space in the upgraded deck. You should absolutely be playing graveyard hate, but Crypt Incursion isn't it. It'll stop decks looking to recur their creatures, but it's powerless to stop anything else. Mentor of the Meek is just awkward to play around since you need a specific type of creature and extra mana to draw one card. It would be better suited to play with Merry and Pippin as the commanders, where you can reliably make low power creatures. Even then there are better options, so this one gets cut. Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper is fine as a food producer, but unless you're using all your food each turn, he won't do anything for you. Hithlain Rope is a fun new card for group hug decks, and I like that it can be ramp or draw, but that's something we can get a lot more of with Academy Manufactor

Now that we've got our adds and cuts, let's sink our teeth into the upgraded deck list.

Pudding on the Ritz

What about those high end delicacies? The cards you want to add when you want to splurge? Exquisite Blood forms a notorious combo with Sanguine Bond, but aside from that it's a powerful effect that will set off the deck's numerous life gain matters cards. Archangel of Thune will make your creatures huge in no time with all of the life gain in this deck. The same can be said of Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest with all of the tokens this deck can sacrifice.

The last card I want to mention is Mox Amber. Normally I try to avoid ramp and mana bases in these upgrade articles because that's the easy part, but with a two-mana commander, this card becomes a much better option. Furthermore it gives a better chance to have four mana on turn three, which means you can cast Sam and have mana to sacrifice a food token so Frodo can start being tempted by the Ring right away.

Chews Your Own Adventure

After the changes, I think we have a much more synergistic deck here. Leaving the deck as is to maintain the theme isn't such a bad thing, but if you want the deck to pack a bit more punch, this is a route you can take. If you're looking to upgrade and stay on theme, I'd recommend checking out the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set for more cards. There are great cards that would support this deck in that set such as Meriadoc Brandybuck and Samwise Gamgee.

We've got more precon primers and upgrade guides coming your way soon, so keep an eye out, and as always, budget before you buy it.