Is The Balrog of Moria good in Commander?

The Balrog of Moria in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

The Balrog of Moria lands as a 7/5 trample, haste, menace that also excavates your graveyard on entry — immediate board pressure plus card selection in one package. The catch is the milling cost to cast it, but in any deck running Sauron, Lord of the Rings or other Amass synergies, you're feeding the engine while threatening lethal.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Sauron, Lord of the Rings

73.8% of decks · synergy 0.69

Sauron, Lord of the Rings rewards every Orc entering the battlefield, and The Balrog of Moria's mill-to-cast trigger fills the graveyard while the Balrog itself arrives as a massive hasty threat that demands an immediate answer.

02

The Balrog, Durin's Bane

38.4% of decks · synergy 0.37

The Balrog, Durin's Bane wants as many Balrog cards as possible to maximize its own triggered abilities, and The Balrog of Moria slots in as a thematic second copy that pulls double duty as a standalone finisher.

03

Sauron, the Dark Lord

34.3% of decks · synergy 0.30

Sauron, the Dark Lord generates the Army tokens and Amass payoffs that make large Orcs matter, and The Balrog of Moria's combination of haste and self-mill feeds both the combat plan and any graveyard recursion in the 99.

04

Be'lakor, the Dark Master

19.5% of decks · synergy 0.15

Be'lakor, the Dark Master triggers off every Demon entering the battlefield, and The Balrog of Moria is a Demon that arrives swinging — drawing a card on entry while adding a top-tier attacker to a wide threat base.

05

Akul the Unrepentant

15.0% of decks · synergy 0.13

Akul the Unrepentant leans on evasive, high-power threats with built-in board presence, and The Balrog of Moria's trample plus menace makes it nearly unblockable in the mid-game while milling toward threats Akul can exploit from the graveyard.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	not legal
pioneer	not legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is the primary home for The Balrog of Moria — the mill-on-cast is a feature rather than a drawback in a format built around graveyard synergies, and a 7/5 with trample, haste, and menace closes games fast once it resolves. The card is technically legal in Legacy and Vintage, but seven mana is a non-starter in those formats where the game is often decided by turn three. Oathbreaker offers a middle ground where The Balrog of Moria can function in slower, more synergy-driven builds, though its power level is tuned for the longer Commander game.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$4.08 cheap tier

At $4.08, The Balrog of Moria sits at the cheap end of mythic-quality seven-drops, making it an easy inclusion for any black deck running graveyard or Orc synergies. The combination of a unique creature type, strong in-Commander utility, and Tolkien IP keeps the floor stable — this isn't a card that gets reprinted every other set.