MagicTheGathering.fyi

Samwise the Stouthearted

Legendary Creature — Halfling Peasant

Flash
When Samwise enters, choose up to one target permanent card in your graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn. Return it to your hand. Then the Ring tempts you.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
uncommon
Set
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
Price
$0.36
EDHREC rank
#4801
Buy on TCGplayer
Samwise the Stouthearted card art
Samwise the Stouthearted flickers a legendary creature for one white mana the moment any permanent enters — a triggered response that generates recursive value at almost no cost. Paired with Frodo, Sauron's Bane he keeps the ring-bearing engine looping, and alongside Ratadrabik of Urborg he turns each flicker into a free token copy of whatever legendary just returned.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Frodo, Sauron's Bane

Frodo, Sauron's Bane

89.5% of decks · synergy 0.87

Frodo, Sauron's Bane runs Samwise the Stouthearted in nearly 90% of builds because every permanent entering triggers a flicker that re-tempts the ring, stacking corruption counters and advancing Frodo's power level without spending additional cards.

02
Ratadrabik of Urborg

Ratadrabik of Urborg

55.5% of decks · synergy 0.53

Ratadrabik of Urborg grabs Samwise the Stouthearted because the flicker trigger fires before the token-generation window closes — returning a legendary to the battlefield creates a second enter event, which Ratadrabik converts into a free zombie token copy of that legend.

03
Gandalf the White

Gandalf the White

53.4% of decks · synergy 0.51

Gandalf the White cares about permanents entering tapped, and Samwise the Stouthearted supplies a stream of those triggers by bouncing and replaying legendary creatures repeatedly across the turn cycle.

04
Samwise Gamgee

Samwise Gamgee

40.8% of decks · synergy 0.40

Samwise Gamgee generates Food tokens whenever a creature enters, so Samwise the Stouthearted's flicker loop feeds a constant stream of Food production — each returned legendary is a new creature entering, which means a new Food and fresh life to spend.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Samwise the Stouthearted earns its slot — the legendary density in most tribal and synergy decks means the triggered flicker fires constantly, and a one-mana legendary creature is trivially easy to recur or protect. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but essentially invisible; the formats move too fast and too efficiently for a value-engine creature built around entering-trigger loops to compete with the raw power available. Oathbreaker offers a similar environment to Commander and the same logic applies: dense legendary synergy shells will find use for it, but it won't show up outside those specific archetypes.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.36 bulk tier

At $0.36, Samwise the Stouthearted is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in or from a common box at any local store. Given that it sees play in nearly 90% of Frodo, Sauron's Bane decks and over half of Ratadrabik of Urborg builds, that price reflects supply more than demand, and it's unlikely to climb while reprints remain plentiful.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.