Book of Mazarbul
Enchantment — Saga
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — Amass Orcs 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on an Army you control. It's also an Orc. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first.)
II — Amass Orcs 2.
III — Creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain menace until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $0.33
- EDHREC rank
- #9289
Book of Mazarbul enters, draws you a card, generates two Treasure tokens on death, and replaces itself with a 2/2 — that's three discrete payoffs stapled to one artifact, and the only real cost is waiting for it to die. Outside of dedicated Tolkien-themed builds headlined by Saruman, the White Hand, it's too slow and conditional for competitive tables, but in casual Commander it consistently overdelivers for a bulk rare.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Saruman, the White Hand
Saruman, the White Hand cares about casting noncreature spells with amass, and Book of Mazarbul feeds both sides of that engine — the entry draw keeps the spell chain moving, and the Treasure tokens accelerate into the noncreature spells that grow Saruman's Orc Army.
Sauron, the Dark Lord
Sauron, the Dark Lord rewards you for casting Ring-tempted spells and swarming with Orcs, and Book of Mazarbul's death trigger deposits two Treasures and a 2/2 Dwarf token that can be sacrificed or traded into Sauron's army-building gameplan without any additional investment.
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 |
In Commander, Book of Mazarbul is a role-player, not a staple — it earns its slot in Tolkien-flavored builds and artifact-sacrifice shells where the death trigger is reliably triggered rather than left to chance. Legacy and Vintage are legal but irrelevant; the card does nothing close to what those formats demand, and it will never see a competitive register there. Modern is technically legal and equally unplayable outside of the most casual kitchen-table games. Commander is the only format where its three-for-one value profile at a three-mana investment makes sense, and even there it belongs in decks that specifically exploit artifacts entering and leaving the battlefield.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.33 bulk tier
At $0.33, Book of Mazarbul sits firmly in bulk territory — pick it up without thinking twice if the deck calls for it. Bulk rares with narrow tribal or thematic homes tend to stay cheap indefinitely, so there's no urgency and no risk either way.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.