Lord of the Rings - Black/White Tokens In Modern

The LOTR/MTG crossover set, Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth, shook Magic: The Gathering and the Modern format up quite a bit. The One Ring is seeing play in everything imaginable and Orcish Bowmasters has made staples like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer start to see less play. But does it have the power to bring back a classic Modern midrange strategy? Let's find out. Today, I'd like to showcase a B/W tokens build using several new cards from the Lord of the Rings set.

Orzhov Tokens With Tales Of Middle-Earth

Black/White tokens is a classic in Modern and one that I still play today, even though it's not as well positioned as it used to be. So, when I saw the old dog playing some new tricks, I knew I had to get in on it. That said, you can see those new tricks above. Shadow Summoning is the two mana "make two flying tokens" card the deck has always wanted and never had. While Dawn of a New Age functions almost like a painless Phyrexian Arena that lets you draw an extra card each turn.

The Battle of Bywater is a new addition to the sideboard. At three mana, it's a cheap, largely one-sided board wipe that can generate a ton of food tokens and gain a lot of life if you've got a giant board. Let's look at the complete deck list with the new cards out of the way.

Deck List

Black/White Tokens By Meryn MTG

• Visual
• CMC
• Compact
• Export

Main 60 cards (22 distinct)

Lands - 23

Side 15 cards (6 distinct)

Main 60 cards (22 distinct)

Lands - 23

Side 15 cards (6 distinct)

$€Tix

Main 60 cards (22 distinct)

Creature (1)
1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia			$2.000.02
Planeswalker (1)
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor			$1.99€1.600.03
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (35)
2 Bitterblossom			$17.99€17.490.77
3 Dawn of a New Age			$2.580.02
2 Fatal Push			$23.27€18.99
4 Intangible Virtue			$0.20€0.25
2 Kaya's Guile			$1.18€1.620.02
4 Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort			$4.11€3.980.03
4 Lingering Souls			$0.40€0.240.03
1 Path to Exile			$1.14€1.13
4 Raise the Alarm			$0.150.04
4 Shadow Summoning			$0.15€0.060.03
4 Spectral Procession			$0.44€0.440.03
1 Vanishing Verse			$2.29
Land (23)
4 Concealed Courtyard			$1.33€0.900.15
1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
2 Godless Shrine			$10.99€9.470.06
2 Isolated Chapel			$2.00€1.560.02
4 Marsh Flats			$19.790.73
4 Plains			$0.150.03
2 Shattered Sanctum			$16.00€12.801.72
4 Windswept Heath			$20.50€13.884.28

Side 15 cards (6 distinct)

2 Hushbringer			$0.91€0.600.06
3 Damping Sphere			$0.90€0.580.53
3 Rest in Peace			$17.55€24.50
2 Stony Silence			$2.82€2.450.20
3 Thoughtseize			$11.50€14.663.02
2 The Battle of Bywater			$0.99€0.680.02

Export

MTG Arena Format MTG Online File download Text List Registration PDF

How The Deck Works

As the name implies, it's all about churning out tokens. And Orzhov does best with things like Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, and Bitterblossom. Then, you can pump them all up with Intangible Virtue. The deck thrives on value and preys on control and other midrange strategies that have trouble dealing with flashbacks and having to use removal on 1/3 of your card.

The deck also has access to some of the best interaction and disruption in the game. Having access to Fatal Push, Path to Exile, Vanishing Verse, Kaya's Guile, and Thoughtseize allows it to answer a variety of the format's biggest issues and play well against aggro and combo builds.

Conclusion

Orzhov is my favorite color combination, and tokens is one of my favorite decks. If you've never played it, give it a try. It's really fun and often surprisingly good when piloted with care. When each new set comes out, I always check the spoilers for token producers, and LOTR didn't disappoint.