March from the Black Gate
Enchantment
When this enchantment enters and whenever an Army you control attacks, 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.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #5992
March from the Black Gate puts two Army tokens into play and pumps every Orc you control by the number of Orcs you have — at five mana, that's a board-wide anthem stapled to a token doubler that can close games on the spot. In any deck running Sauron, the Dark Lord, this is a finisher, not a support piece.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sauron, the Dark Lord
Sauron, the Dark Lord generates Orc Army tokens as a core function, so March from the Black Gate arrives as both a token producer and an immediate, often lethal, board-wide pump — two tokens entering means the anthem fires with your full board count before combat even begins.
Saruman, the White Hand
Saruman, the White Hand cares about amassing Orcs through multiple trigger sources, and March from the Black Gate adds two bodies while scaling the pump off a board that Saruman has spent the game building — the synergy is straightforward but the ceiling is high.
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 where March from the Black Gate belongs — the Orc tribal payoff structure only reaches critical mass in a 100-card singleton format where you're building around a dedicated commander and can assemble enough bodies to make the pump lethal. In Legacy and Vintage, five mana for two tokens and a conditional anthem is far too slow against efficient threats and disruption, and Orc tribal has no competitive infrastructure in those formats. Oathbreaker is a legal option but the 20 starting life total makes the one-turn swing easier to manufacture, so March from the Black Gate can occasionally show up there in the right shell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, March from the Black Gate is firmly bulk — zero barrier to entry for anyone building Orc tribal in Commander. Bulk rares tied to a specific tribal theme rarely climb unless the archetype breaks out, so treat this as a cheap pickup for the decks that want it, not a hold.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.