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Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth - cEDH Card Reveal

June 6, 2023

In a few days, we will have the full details for the commander decks for this set. Until then, a card has been revealed that has gotten cEDH players excited! This mono-black orc archer which costs 1 generic and 1 black pip and reads "Flash, Whenever Orcish Bowmasters enter the battlefield and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, Orcish Bowmaster deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1."

Not only does this card have the ability to stop decks that wish to draw their whole library and win with Laboratory Maniac, as well as just slows down decks that need to draw a lot of cards or run Rhystic Study (which is just any blue deck these days).

As cEDH isn't an official Wizards of the Coast recognised format, any card that can or might have some cEDH playability gets the community very excited! However, Orcish Bowmaster is only a 1/1 creature that is prone to remove and even an opponent casting an Orcish Bowmaster. Despite such, I do see the appeal and have heard players within the community excited to sample this in their decks. The only thing I feel is that this card is going to be another Faerie Mastermind, where players felt it was a strong and good card, but not now after the initial hype you can see the price of this card drop drastically.

My overall opinion is that this card is just okay. I definitely think it will see some play, and will definitely be a strong card against a decent number of matchups, as drawing cards is always a strong and powerful mechanic and punishing opponents for that is a great way to put them in a worse position. I don't think it will hold its weight against other black staples such as Opposition Agent and Dauthi Voidwalker, as at times I feel this card may just be a dead card in your hand as dropping it too early leaves it prone to removal, and dropping it too late doesn't stop many combos.