Barad-dûr
Legendary Land
Barad-dûr enters tapped unless you control a legendary creature.
: Add 
.
, : Amass Orcs X. Activate only if a creature died this turn.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $4.51
- EDHREC rank
- #1807
Barad-dûr enters tapped and stays tapped unless you control a legendary Ring-bearer — but when that condition is live, it produces three mana of any color, which is an absurd rate for a land. The catch is real: outside of a dedicated Ring-tempting shell with Sauron, the Dark Lord at the head, it's often just a comes-into-play-tapped do-nothing, and that cost is too steep to pay for a maybe.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sauron, the Dark Lord
Sauron, the Dark Lord is the natural home for Barad-dûr — Sauron himself is legendary and gets tempted by the Ring the moment he deals combat damage, so the land's three-mana activation is online as early as turn five with no extra setup required.
Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge
Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge runs a dense legendary-matters package, and Barad-dûr slots in as a land that pulls double duty — it's legendary itself, so it triggers Shanid's menace anthem while also providing burst mana once a Ring-bearer is established.
Saruman, the White Hand
Saruman, the White Hand builds around the Ring tempting you repeatedly, which means a Ring-bearer is reliably in play by the time Barad-dûr is untapping; the three free mana accelerates Saruman's copy-spells gameplan without spending a card slot.
Reyhan, Last of the Abzan // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is legendary by definition and grows every time a legendary permanent enters, so Barad-dûr unlocks immediately as a mana source while also feeding Yoshimaru's counter engine — Reyhan, Last of the Abzan then redistributes those counters when creatures die, making every legend in the deck do double work.
Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Sauron, Lord of the Rings tempts you with the Ring whenever it attacks, so a Ring-bearer is essentially guaranteed each combat — Barad-dûr converts that passive trigger into three mana of any color, which pairs cleanly with Sauron's high casting cost and expensive activated abilities.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only format where Barad-dûr is worth building around — the legendary Ring-bearer condition is easy to satisfy in a 100-card singleton deck designed to tempt you with the Ring, and three-mana lands are broken enough in that context to justify the slot. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, the land is unplayable: those formats move too fast to spend turns waiting for a legendary Ring-bearer, and better mana acceleration exists at every price point. Oathbreaker could theoretically support it if the signature spell or planeswalker is a Ring-tempting piece, but the card sees essentially zero play there in practice.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$4.51 cheap tier
At $4.51, Barad-dûr sits at the high end of "cheap" — reasonable for a build-around land with a narrow but powerful upside in the right shell. It's a staple in Sauron, the Dark Lord decks where it earns its slot, but don't expect the price to climb significantly given how little it does outside that specific archetype.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Sauron, the Dark Lord
- Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge
- Saruman, the White Hand
- Reyhan, Last of the Abzan // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
- Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.