Sauron, the Dark Lord
Legendary Creature — Avatar Horror
Ward—Sacrifice a legendary artifact or legendary creature.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, amass Orcs 1.
Whenever an Army you control deals combat damage to a player, the Ring tempts you.
Whenever the Ring tempts you, you may discard your hand. If you do, draw four cards.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BRU
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- The Hobbit Commander
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #3347
Sauron, the Dark Lord lands on the battlefield and immediately starts taxing opponents' hands and rewarding your own spell-slinging with 9/9 Nazgûl tokens — the impact is immediate and punishing. Eight mana is the real ceiling here, but in a deck built around Sauron, Lord of the Rings, that cost becomes manageable faster than it looks.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Sauron, Lord of the Rings generates The Ring temptation triggers constantly, and Sauron, the Dark Lord plugs directly into that engine — every spell cast while the Ring is in motion threatens to drop a 9/9, turning incremental advantage into a board that closes games.
Saruman, the White Hand
Saruman, the White Hand copies instants and sorceries, and each copy counts as a spell cast — Sauron, the Dark Lord turns that cascade of copies into a stream of 9/9 Nazgûl tokens that overwhelm the table before opponents can stabilize.
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 Sauron, the Dark Lord does its real work — eight mana is sustainable in a 40-life format with access to ramp, and the token generation snowballs fast enough in multiplayer that opponents have to answer it immediately or lose the board. In Legacy and Vintage, the card is technically legal but competes against a field where eight mana means the game should already be over, so it sees no meaningful play in either format. Modern is the same story: the format's clock is too tight and the competition at that mana value is too steep for Sauron, the Dark Lord to carve out a role.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available in the current feed for Sauron, the Dark Lord, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a live number before buying. Given the card's strength as both a commander and a high-end threat in Lord of the Rings builds, demand from Commander players tends to keep copies from sitting in the bargain bin for long.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.