Draft Deck Meta

Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Draft Deck Metagame

Draft deck metagame only consists of decks with the maximum number of wins (3 wins in Traditional and 7 wins in Quick and Premier drafts).
Select an archetype to see the popular cards used in winning decks of that group.

Four Color (Non-black) card breakdown - 10 decks, 0.36% of meta

Creatures

3.0 This is a pretty solid food payoff. The Watchdogs can quickly become a problem, and the fact that they gain Vigilance can really help out in a race. I’m giving this a 3. 1.2 1x in 20%

4.0 There are many ways to make tokens in this set, and lots of Food and Food payoffs, so Peregrin’s ability to give you more Food and cash in that food for cards is pretty impressive. The stats are underwhelming to be sure, but this is a very real value engine 2.9 1x in 20%

2.0 This has passable base stats and an ability that will actually do something sometimes. It is nice to be able to have a Disenchant in your main deck without having to pay much of a cost. 2.2 1x in 20%

3.0 This starts with solid stats, and there are enough legendary creatures in this set for this to attack as a 5/5 or 6/6 a decent chunk of the time. 0.9 1x in 30%

3.0 If this always costs 6 mana, it would probably be a 1.5. There are some other birds to give vigilance too, and a 6-mana 4/4 with Flying and Vigilance isn’t a disaster, though it also isn’t something that will always make your deck. The good news is, paying 4 for this is pretty awesome, and that’s fairly easy to do in a Blue-White deck. The bad news is, you probably had to spend some extra mana to draw that extra card, so that probably still means this won’t be coming down on turn 4 all that often, instead, it will be something that helps you double spell on turn 6 or so. Your ringbearer may help you draw that extra card too 1.5 1x in 30%

4.0 This has solid base stats and a really strong landfall effect. He can always give the boost to himself, which means he can rumble as a 5/5 with First Strike, something that is formidable on virtually every board state! He can also spread the love around, of course, which is great because it can enable you to attack with more of your creatures 2.1 1x in 30%

3.0 The stats aren’t good, but being able to get a food token any time you don’t have one seems pretty nice, especially if you have something to sacrifice it to every turn. You can also just sacrifice it to gain life every turn too, of course. 2.7 1x in 30%

3.0 This card has a really strange design. A two mana ⅓ that has the ring tempt you is a solid enough card, but the fact Frodo forces things to block him is really weird, especially because the very first effect you get from The Ring is that your creature can’t be blocked by creatures with more power than it has. So uh..in other words, Frodo will be very difficult to block most of the time anyway, thus forcing things to block him doesn’t really matter very much. The Ring does eventually give you some effects that like it when your opponent blocks, but again – if Frodo is your ring-bearer, very few creatures will be able to block him anyway. This doesn’t make the card bad at all, because the Ring is a nice thing to get going, or a nice thing to upgrade…just a very strange design 3 1x in 30%

3.5 Bilbo is going to be tough to block most of the time, since once the Ring tempts you a single time, your ring-bearer becomes very difficult to block. This means getting treasure out of Bilbo is fairly easy, and its great that even if he goes down, he makes sure you can get an additional effect and choose a new ring-bearer. 3.9 1x in 40%

1.5 A two mana 0/3 defender doesn’t tend to be very good, but this does a reasonable job of filtering your mana 0.6 1x in 40%

2.5 The stat-line is ugly, but the ETB ability will often be enough to drastically alter combat. +1/+0 and First Strike together makes a whole lot of your board into effective attackers. Of course, you do need to have a significant board for it to really make a difference, but that’s not the biggest ask by the time you have six mana. The fact it has Plainscycling is really nice, because in the early game this is going to feel really bad in your opening hand, especially when you need to get your hands on some more land drops. 2.5 1x in 40%

2.5 A 6-mana 5/7 with Reach that gives you a treasure isn’t a terrible late game play. In fact, it is the kind of body that can help you stablize, especially because the Food can gain you life! And if you draw it early and need a land drop, you can always cycle it away 2.4 1x in 60%

2.0 A 6-mana 6/4 with Trample isn’t very good, but offering +2/+0 and Trample to something else when it attacks can result in some pretty potent attacks. Adding Mountcycling for only one mana to the mix is a big deal though, as it means you can use this to help you hit a land drop early, and if you get it later in the game it can come down and impact the board 2.4 1x in 60%

4.5 If you can get your mana to the point where you can cast Aragorn, he’s pretty nuts! Virtually any spell you cast will give you a powerful effect – multicolored ones will feel particularly insane - and you get an above-rate creature. There is definitely enough fixing in Green for casting Aragorn to be doable, too. I think this allows him to sneak into the lower bomb range. He has to be killed, and almost no matter what you do with your mana when you untap, your opponent is going to be in trouble 4.1 1x in 80%
Instant, Sorcery

1.5 Giving up a real creature for this is not very good, as you end up 2-for-1ing yourself, but if you have a treasure or food, or expendable body to sacrifice, this will do a decent job. Its nice that it can go after the opponent, and that will sometimes close out games. Still, it takes enough set up to actually be worthwhile that you’re not always going to play it 2.7 1x in 20%

3.0 This is nice removal. You always trade 1-for-1 with it, and because it is an Instant, sometimes you’ll be able to really get your opponent if you cast it in response to a trick or something. 1.8 1x in 20%

1.5 This type of effect usually isn’t anything special, as 9 times out of 10 you’d rather just be adding to the board, and the fact that this is almost a blank card in the early game is an issue. Using it to get back a bomb or some other powerful permanent is definitely nice, and the Food makes it a little more attractive, but this seems like the kind of card that just doesn’t make the cut most of the time because it doesn’t usually do enough 0.3 1x in 20%

0.5 This has two modes that aren’t useful often enough, and while the fact that you can choose between them helps offset how narrow each effect is, we’re still looking at a card that won’t do anything meaningful far too often. This feels like sideboard material. 1.2 1x in 20%

2.5 A three mana 2/2 that gives you a treasure is decent, as is a three mana spell that puts two counters on something and gives you a Treasure. It is always nice having fixing and ramp in Red, as it doesn’t always have access to it 2.5 1x in 20%

2.5 The stats boost here isn’t great, and that means there are a more narrow number of creatures who can win a previously unwinnable combat with the help of Bombadil’s Song. It makes up for that some by also being capable of blanking removal spells and tempting you with the ring, so in the end I think you get a reasonable return on your investment 0.9 1x in 20%

2.0 Having two legendary creatures in play is very doable in this set, but you also shouldn’t always expect to be able to cast this for three. At four mana it is definitely a little bit clunky, but at least you can see up to 4 cards – which is a ton in Limited. 1.7 1x in 20%

2.5 This is a surprisingly powerful draw spell for green. You get to see up to four cards and you should be able to make sure you draw a creature most of the time when you play it. On top of that, Scrying is something you’re going to want to do a lot of when you’re playing Green. It doesn’t effect the board, but this feels like it is going to do such a good job of making your draws smoother and more consistent for so little mana that I’m tempted to go all the way up to a 3 0.2 1x in 20%

2.5 This offers some quality fixing while also helping you up your deck’s Food count, something that certainly matters in Green 1.8 1x in 30%

3.5 This looks like a nice removal spell for Green. +1/+1 + Fight for two mana is a good enough rate for this to be a nice card, so the 4 toughness or greater upside is enough to push this into “premium removal” range. You do always need to be careful with fight spells and choose a spot where you don’t risk getting completely blown out – like if your opponent removes your fighter in response – but there are plenty of windows where casting this will have a big impact 2.3 1x in 30%

4.0 As usual, Red has a really good Common removal spell. Two mana for 3 damage at instant speed is always premium, so the fact this can exile the things it kills and shut down indestructibility is just gravy 4 1x in 30%

3.0 Red X spells are basically never an efficient form of removal, and this particular one can’t hit players, which is a little sad. But still, it is a removal spell that scales as the game goes on, just as your opponents creatures are also getting larger, so it works out okay. Also, the fact this can pick off an X/1 or 2 on top of the other creature you kill is pretty awesome, and depending on how many of those are around, this would actually feel efficient. 4.6 1x in 30%

3.5 This card would be awesome even without the Wizard upside. Three mana to do 5 damage to a creature is premium, and it offers additional options! If you do have a Wizard it can feel truly insane, as drawing 2 and killing a creature, or destroying an artifact for three mana is nuts! 1.7 1x in 40%

2.0 5 mana to draw 3 at sorcery speed is often a little too clunky to be something every deck wants, but the fact this can island cycle earlier in the game helps make up for that a fairly significant amount. When you do have the time to cast this, the card advantage it can give you is pretty sweet too. The only problem is sometimes tapping out and not adding to the board can mean you’re going to die 2.7 1x in 50%
Enchantment, Artifact

5.0 Well, this is really good. The base stats boost honestly isn’t bad for the casting cost and equipping it, but the fact you generate two 1/1s every time you attack with something equipped with this is nuts, especially because those 1/1 flyers are then good places to stick the Equipment and keep it going! This makes any creature into a major threat, and the fact it can just move around and wreak havoc means your opponent is going to have a very hard time beating this. I think its a bomb. 5 1x in 10%

4.0 You definitely need to have a board for this to do its thing, but even if you only have two or three creatures, you end up getting a 2 or 3-for-1 for only two mana and you even gain some life when all is said and done. Because you do need to have some stuff going on it can be pretty awkward in the early game, but by the middle part of the game this is going to be capable of giving you insurmountable card advantage. 4.6 1x in 10%

3.5 Paying three and getting Chapter 1 is going to feel pretty underwhelming, but the Book ends up delivering some really nice value over the next two turns. You end up getting way more than three mana’s worth of value, even if you do end up having to wait for it. Eventually your Army becomes more formidable, and Chapter III will do an excellent job of making almost any board a problem for your opponent. It is a little awkward that the Book itself doesn’t really help you go wide, but it does at least add one body to the board. Overall, I think this looks like it is going to end some games in favor of aggro decks 4.3 1x in 10%

3.0 A three-mana mana rock that can tap for one mana of any color usually isn’t very good in Limited. If a format turns out to be more ramp or multicolor heavy it gets better, but Manalith on its own definitely isn’t very good. This does have additional upside, but both are pretty narrow. The life gain part especially so, since you need to both have 5 or less life and something to gain you life. It will happen sometimes, but not very often. I’m more interested in the Phial drawing extra cards, as that’s where the real power is. Most games that go relatively long result in you having an empty hand, and it also means that you’ll probably be able to play both things you draw a lot of the time and keep on drawing extra. So, early this is an almost-passable mana rock, and then in the late game it can grind you out a win, and maybe gain you some extra life 4.5 1x in 10%

3.0 Obviously, this doesn’t work super well against Armies, since they will have counters to remove that allows this to untap, and there are other +1/+1 counters in the set too. However, I do think this will effectively lock down most creatures in the set, and it isn’t like if they have +1/+1 counters this goes away entirely anyway, because they have to keep removing counters from it to untap it. Obviously you want to use it on things that don’t have those counters at all, I’m just saying that even in the worst case it can be a problem for your opponent. I think this actually gets pretty close to being premium removal because it is so cheap, but even ignoring the whole +1/+1 counter part of the card, this doesn’t ever fully deal with a creature. 1.2 1x in 10%

3.0 Scry 2 on every end step is a pretty decent effect, though getting it out of a card that doesn’t really impact the board is less than ideal, and overall I think maybe the Palantir is just too slow to be great. The first couple turns when your opponent goes with the mill option it will likely do very little, and then once they can’t safely choose that option anymore they are likely to give you cards, but you also have to be pressuring your opponent in some way for them to be that concerned about their life total. It definitely has an impressive ceiling as a value engine, but it will take too many turns to start doing something meaningful to be great. 4.9 1x in 10%

3.0 This is solid removal. Three mana Pacifisms tend to be fine, though they aren’t usually amazing because they don’t entirely get rid of 100% of creatures, since they don’t stop things like activated or triggered abilities. Enchantment-based removal also isn’t great against things like bounce or flicker effects. Still, this does shut down most creatures for a fairly reasonable cost. 2 1x in 10%

2.0 +3/+0 and Menace is enough to make just about anything into a threat, but even in a set with this many legendaries, you aren’t going to be able to always count on that. After all, they only appear at Uncommon or higher, and when this isn’t granting menace it seems pretty bad, especially when you take the casting and equip cost into account. 0.5 1x in 10%

3.5 2 to play and 2 to equip for the stats boost and Haste alone is pretty close to a playable card, so the fact it also offers pseudo-vigilance and upside against some of the most plentiful creatures in the format makes this very nice 3.7 1x in 10%

2.5 This seems pretty solid. Scry 1 + Draw 1 when it ETBs is nice, and it is nice that it is Food – not only because it can gain you life, but because the format has lots of payoffs for Food – as well as things like Historic and Artifacts more generally, which it helps you with. The Scry and the extra draw also works well with decks in the format 1.3 1x in 20%

1.5 If you need fixing, there are worse ways to do it. In total, you end up spending one more mana than you get back, but the fact that they replace themselves helps soften the blow. Still, it doesn’t really feel like this is a card that will make the cut in all of your decks or anything 1 1x in 20%

3.5 This does something the turn you play it, which is pretty important! Once you attack and Scry 2, you’ve got a pretty solid shot at revealing a creature that this will let you cheat into play. You’ll wiff sometimes, but in your typical 15-creature deck, you’re normally going to find what you’re looking for. Of course, the creature isn’t always going to be something that its amazing for you to have to put into play tapped and attacking, but an extra body is usually going to be welcome if you already had a good attack. I think this will do enough to be pretty good overall, even if sometimes it won’t quite pan out the way you want it to 4.1 1x in 30%

1.5 Manalith doesn’t tend to be very good in Limited. Using up a card just for inefficient fixing and ramp can be rough, though adding “The Ring Tempts You” to the mix probably does enough for this to be fixing you turn to when you’re desperate 1.5 1x in 40%
Planeswalkers
Lands

2.0 This seems like it will be able to add at least one color of mana to your mana pool by the middle stages of the game, and that’s not bad on a land that also Scries and has the potential upside of tapping for more colors. Still, there will be some awkward situations where you can only get colorless mana out of this, and that’s kind of rough 0.8 1x in 10%

1.5 This can certainly help you splash some powerful legendary creatures, but I’m a little skeptical. Most of these lands that normally only produce colorless, but can produce colored mana for a certain type of card end up not being worth it. Producing only colorless for the majority of cards in your deck can be a liability for your mana base, so it ends up sort of canceling out any upside you might get out of it when you have your legendaries around. You’re going to want to go after different fixing than this most of the time 2.4 1x in 40%

2.5 This can’t grab you a land for no mana the way Evolving Wilds can, but the fact it can tap for mana in the mean time makes up for that. 1.8 1x in 50%
Top Rated Cards

4.0 Even if you have no equipment, Eowyn would be a pretty nice card. First Strike and Vigilance are both very useful keywords to gain access to, and she can even give them to herself, so her three mana 2/4 body combined with that is a nice deal! White decks in the format will often have Equipment around to make her even better too. 3.9 1x in 10%

4.0 A three mana ¼ Reach isn’t a terrible starting point, especially since you can grow Legolas by targeting it with stuff. That isn’t always something that comes naturally in Limited, but Green does tend to be the best at that sort of thing since their removal often targets their creatures and they have access to good combat tricks. Its also pretty neat that he chips in for at least one damage every time you target something your opponent controls. This can mean picking off an X/1 while removing another creature, or helping you do enough damage to finish a creature off 4.8 1x in 10%

4.0 So, provided you have at least one other creature in play, she’s a three mana 1/1 that gives you a food token and puts a +1/+1 counter somewhere. That’s a decent rate, especially because creating more tokens means you can really go crazy with +1/+1 counters. I like the baseline, and the upside here is massive. 4.5 1x in 10%

4.0 This is a 4-mana 3/3 Flyer that is pretty impossible for your opponent to kill. If you do put them in a bind where they have to make it phase out in order to avoid dying, that’s pretty sweet, since it will just come back and bring a friend along for the ride. Of course, if you have other spirits around it gets even better, but even without them this is a fairly efficient flyer that your opponent is going to be hard-pressed to permanently deal with 4.5 1x in 10%

4.0 A 5-mana 5/4 Haste is decent, so the fact this can spit out a 1/1 a decent chunk of the time is pretty nice. Since Eomer himself has 5 power, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be making that first token the turn you play him, which is great. 4.6 1x in 10%

4.0 There are many ways to make tokens in this set, and lots of Food and Food payoffs, so Peregrin’s ability to give you more Food and cash in that food for cards is pretty impressive. The stats are underwhelming to be sure, but this is a very real value engine 2.9 1x in 20%

4.0 She won’t always be able to remove something when she comes down, but when she can’t, she’s probably one of the larger creatures on the battlefield, so that isn’t a bad fail case. When she does exile something you’re going to feel amazing. A 4-mana ¾ with Haste that is also a removal spell is pretty insane! 4.6 1x in 20%

4.0 Even if you don’t think about the Threaten effect, a three mana 1/1 that makes a 2/2, or alternatively puts 2 counters on an Army you already have is a pretty nice rate. With the threaten effect in the mix it gets even better, especially if you’re in Black/Red and you have some cheap sacrifice outlets 3.9 1x in 20%

4.0 She has decent base stats, and getting to Scry 3 when the ring tempts you is a pretty big deal. Once you are Scrying that much it feels pretty close to drawing a card, because you gain so much control over your next few draws. And on top of that she also lets you effectively draw cards and ramp when you Scry! She seems like a very accessible value engine 3.3 1x in 20%

4.0 As usual, Red has a really good Common removal spell. Two mana for 3 damage at instant speed is always premium, so the fact this can exile the things it kills and shut down indestructibility is just gravy 4 1x in 30%

4.0 This has solid base stats and a really strong landfall effect. He can always give the boost to himself, which means he can rumble as a 5/5 with First Strike, something that is formidable on virtually every board state! He can also spread the love around, of course, which is great because it can enable you to attack with more of your creatures 2.1 1x in 30%

4.5 Mind Control effects are always insanely strong, even one like this one that’s a little restrictive. If you pay 4 mana and get this 3/3, steal a 2/2, and the Ring Tempts you, you’re going to be getting a lot of impressive value. Sure, you don’t necessarily keep the creature forever, but the turn you play this it will do a ton, and if your opponent can’t deal with the Rangers quickly they probably lose. 4.6 1x in 10%

4.5 If you can get your mana to the point where you can cast Aragorn, he’s pretty nuts! Virtually any spell you cast will give you a powerful effect – multicolored ones will feel particularly insane - and you get an above-rate creature. There is definitely enough fixing in Green for casting Aragorn to be doable, too. I think this allows him to sneak into the lower bomb range. He has to be killed, and almost no matter what you do with your mana when you untap, your opponent is going to be in trouble 4.1 1x in 80%

5.0 Well, this is really good. The base stats boost honestly isn’t bad for the casting cost and equipping it, but the fact you generate two 1/1s every time you attack with something equipped with this is nuts, especially because those 1/1 flyers are then good places to stick the Equipment and keep it going! This makes any creature into a major threat, and the fact it can just move around and wreak havoc means your opponent is going to have a very hard time beating this. I think its a bomb. 5 1x in 10%

Rakdos	5390 matches	652 decks
23.25% of Metagame
Orzhov	2421 matches	300 decks
10.70% of Metagame
Izzet	2318 matches	291 decks
10.38% of Metagame
Boros	2325 matches	285 decks
10.16% of Metagame
Dimir	1877 matches	240 decks
8.56% of Metagame
Golgari	1623 matches	196 decks
6.99% of Metagame
Selesnya	1365 matches	164 decks
5.85% of Metagame
Gruul	890 matches	112 decks
3.99% of Metagame
Simic	884 matches	106 decks
3.78% of Metagame
Azorius	653 matches	81 decks
2.89% of Metagame
Abzan	435 matches	55 decks
1.96% of Metagame
Grixis	411 matches	52 decks
1.85% of Metagame
Jund	376 matches	47 decks
1.68% of Metagame
Mardu	365 matches	44 decks
1.57% of Metagame
Naya	322 matches	38 decks
1.36% of Metagame
Esper	209 matches	25 decks
0.89% of Metagame
Bant	174 matches	21 decks
0.75% of Metagame
Jeskai	139 matches	17 decks
0.61% of Metagame
Mono Black	127 matches	15 decks
0.53% of Metagame
Sultai	108 matches	14 decks
0.50% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-black)	78 matches	10 decks
0.36% of Metagame
Mono Red	55 matches	7 decks
0.25% of Metagame
Mono White	60 matches	7 decks
0.25% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-blue)	50 matches	6 decks
0.21% of Metagame
Mono Blue	38 matches	5 decks
0.18% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-red)	29 matches	4 decks
0.14% of Metagame
Mono Green	36 matches	4 decks
0.14% of Metagame
Temur	32 matches	4 decks
0.14% of Metagame
Five Color	9 matches	1 decks
0.04% of Metagame
Four Color (Non-green)	8 matches	1 decks
0.04% of Metagame

Decks by color

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Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Draft Deck Metagame

Four Color (Non-black) card breakdown - 10 decks, 0.36% of meta

Creatures

Instant, Sorcery

Enchantment, Artifact

Planeswalkers

Lands

Top Rated Cards

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