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    Sauron, the Dark Lord
    Commander Guide

    Sauron, the Dark Lord Commander Deck Guide

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    Sauron, the Dark Lord turns opponents' spells into an Orc Army and Army combat damage into opportunities to replace your hand.

    Last updated: October 20262 min read

    What Sauron, the Dark Lord does

    Sauron, the Dark Lord turns opponents' spells into an Orc Army and Army combat damage into opportunities to replace your hand.

    At six mana, Sauron asks you to spend the opening turns developing your mana rather than rushing into combat. Once he's down, every spell an opponent casts triggers amass Orcs 1. When an Army you control connects with a player, the Ring tempts you, and Sauron lets you discard your hand to draw four cards. That choice matters: you can keep a useful grip or trade spent resources and awkward cards for fresh options. His ward asks for a legendary artifact or legendary creature, making targeted answers costly without making him untouchable.

    The appeal is having combat pressure and card flow on the same commander. Anger helps your creatures attack sooner, while Mayhem Devil and Bastion of Remembrance give the supporting sacrifice-and-death package ways to pressure life totals beyond combat.

    How Sauron, the Dark Lord plays

    Early on, make land drops and develop mana. Fellwar Stone helps work toward Sauron's six-mana cost, while Brainstorm improves your immediate options. Keep an answer available rather than spending everything just to add another creature.

    In the middle turns, resolve Sauron and let opponents' spells build your Army. Look for a safe attack into a player to trigger the Ring. Discard your hand only when four new cards are worth more than what you're holding.

    Win through repeated Army attacks backed by incremental damage. Mayhem Devil punishes sacrifices, and the budget build's Bastion of Remembrance drains opponents as your creatures die. Save removal for blockers or threats that would stop that plan.

    Build Sauron, the Dark Lord from your collection

    The builder starts with Sauron, the Dark Lord as your commander and fills the 99 from cards you own.

    Build Sauron, the Dark Lord from your collection

    Key staples

    Synergy pieces

    • Anger

      Anger

      Keep it in your graveyard with a Mountain under your control to give your creatures haste, including a newly created Army.

    • Ophiomancer

      Ophiomancer

      Supplies a deathtouch Snake on each upkeep if you have none, giving you a blocker while your Army attacks.

    • Flusterstorm

      Flusterstorm

      Contests an instant or sorcery with a payment-based counter and storm copies, making it useful during a busy spell exchange.

    • Rakdos Charm

      Rakdos Charm

      Offers graveyard exile, artifact destruction, or damage to each player based on the creatures they control.

    • Bastion of Remembrance

      Bastion of Remembrance

      Adds a Human Soldier and makes each of your creatures’ deaths drain every opponent for 1 while gaining you 1 life.

    • Buried Alive

      Buried Alive

      Puts up to three creature cards directly into your graveyard, including Anger to set up haste with a Mountain.

    • Spark Double

      Spark Double

      Can copy Sauron without being legendary, adding another set of his triggered abilities and entering with an additional +1/+1 counter.

    Staples in these colors

    • Sol Ring

      Sol Ring

      Provides two colorless mana toward Sauron’s generic cost, helping you reach your six-mana commander sooner.

    • Arcane Signet

      Arcane Signet

      Produces blue, black, or red mana to help cover Sauron’s three colored requirements.

    • Fellwar Stone

      Fellwar Stone

      Adds mana in a color an opponent’s land could produce, with its usefulness for fixing depending on the table.

    • Chaos Warp

      Chaos Warp

      Answers any target permanent by shuffling it away, though its owner may reveal a replacement permanent.

    • Negate

      Negate

      Counters a noncreature spell outright, letting you stop a threatening play rather than relying on Sauron’s ward.

    Card images and card data courtesy of Scryfall. Magic: The Gathering is © Wizards of the Coast. ManaBuilder is unaffiliated with Wizards of the Coast.

    The numbers

    • 10 Draw
    • 13 Ramp
    • 37 Lands
    • 24 Theme
    • 1 Wipes
    • 14 Removal
    • 1 Commander

    Draw

    Count
    10

    Ramp

    Count
    13

    Lands

    Count
    37

    Theme

    Count
    24

    Wipes

    Count
    1

    Removal

    Count
    14

    Commander

    Count
    1

    Reference build for Sauron, the Dark Lord: 100 cards including the commander.

    Sample decks

    Budget build (~$60)

    For the budget build, start with Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Fellwar Stone to establish mana for Sauron. Ophiomancer gives you a defensive body without requiring your Army to stay home. Bastion of Remembrance rewards creature deaths and creates another body when it enters, so combat losses can still cost opponents life. Use Sauron’s optional discard to put Anger into your graveyard when you have a Mountain, then keep attacking with your Army. Hold Negate for a dangerous noncreature spell and use Rakdos Charm according to the board. Your main route is combat pressure backed by incremental life loss.

    Decklist · 100 cards

    Commander (1)

    • 1 Sauron, the Dark Lord

    Artifacts (11)

    • 1 Sol Ring
    • 1 Arcane Signet
    • 1 Fellwar Stone
    • 1 Mind Stone
    • 1 Talisman of Dominance
    • 1 Talisman of Creativity
    • 1 Talisman of Indulgence
    • 1 Dimir Signet
    • 1 Rakdos Signet
    • 1 Izzet Signet
    • 1 Bident of Thassa

    Creatures (25)

    • 1 Solemn Simulacrum
    • 1 Morbid Opportunist
    • 1 Ophiomancer
    • 1 Viscera Seer
    • 1 Woe Strider
    • 1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan
    • 1 Mayhem Devil
    • 1 Nadier's Nightblade
    • 1 Witty Roastmaster
    • 1 Molten Gatekeeper
    • 1 Pawn of Ulamog
    • 1 Mahadi, Emporium Master
    • 1 Young Pyromancer
    • 1 Third Path Iconoclast
    • 1 Loyal Apprentice
    • 1 Siege-Gang Commander
    • 1 Grave Titan
    • 1 Anger
    • 1 Curiosity Crafter
    • 1 Psychosis Crawler
    • 1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
    • 1 Reassembling Skeleton
    • 1 Bloodghast
    • 1 Juri, Master of the Revue
    • 1 Ogre Slumlord

    Instants (13)

    • 1 Brainstorm
    • 1 Frantic Search
    • 1 Deadly Dispute
    • 1 Big Score
    • 1 Fact or Fiction
    • 1 Chaos Warp
    • 1 Abrade
    • 1 Rapid Hybridization
    • 1 Reality Shift
    • 1 Terminate
    • 1 Bedevil
    • 1 Rakdos Charm
    • 1 Negate

    Sorceries (8)

    • 1 Faithless Looting
    • 1 Night's Whisper
    • 1 Syphon Mind
    • 1 Feed the Swarm
    • 1 Blasphemous Act
    • 1 Chain Reaction
    • 1 Decree of Pain
    • 1 Army of the Damned

    Enchantments (5)

    • 1 Dreadhorde Invasion
    • 1 Bastion of Remembrance
    • 1 Rising of the Day
    • 1 Warstorm Surge
    • 1 Shark Typhoon

    Lands (37)

    • 1 Command Tower
    • 1 Exotic Orchard
    • 1 Path of Ancestry
    • 1 Evolving Wilds
    • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
    • 1 Fabled Passage
    • 1 Bojuka Bog
    • 1 Myriad Landscape
    • 1 Sulfur Falls
    • 1 Dragonskull Summit
    • 1 Sunken Hollow
    • 1 Smoldering Marsh
    • 1 Drowned Catacomb
    • 1 Shivan Reef
    • 1 Underground River
    • 1 Sulfurous Springs
    • 1 Choked Estuary
    • 1 Crumbling Necropolis
    • 1 Temple of Deceit
    • 1 Temple of Epiphany
    • 1 Temple of Malice
    • 1 Canyon Slough
    • 1 Fetid Pools
    • 1 Foreboding Ruins
    • 1 Frostboil Snarl
    • 1 Sunken Ruins
    • 1 Cascade Bluffs
    • 1 Rogue's Passage
    • 1 High Market
    • 1 Island
    • 4 Swamp
    • 3 Mountain
    Build this from your collection

    Upgraded build (~$485)

    For the upgraded build, use Buried Alive to place Anger in your graveyard and establish a Mountain before relying on haste. Once Sauron is in play, Spark Double can become a nonlegendary copy: each opposing spell then triggers both copies’ amass abilities. Army combat damage also triggers both commanders, giving you more opportunities to replace your hand. You don’t have to accept every discard, so keep strong interaction rather than cycling automatically. Flusterstorm handles instant-and-sorcery exchanges, Negate covers noncreature spells, and Chaos Warp answers troublesome permanents. Build a threatening Army while keeping enough mana available to contest the answers that matter.

    Decklist · 100 cards

    Commander (1)

    • 1 Sauron, the Dark Lord

    Artifacts (17)

    • 1 Dimir Signet
    • 1 Izzet Signet
    • 1 Rakdos Signet
    • 1 Lightning Greaves
    • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
    • 1 Skullclamp
    • 1 Wishclaw Talisman
    • 1 Helm of the Host
    • 1 Strionic Resonator
    • 1 Ashnod's Altar
    • 1 Mindcrank
    • 1 Sol Ring
    • 1 Arcane Signet
    • 1 Fellwar Stone
    • 1 Basilisk Collar
    • 1 Panharmonicon
    • 1 Bolas's Citadel

    Instants (13)

    • 1 Dark Ritual
    • 1 Brainstorm
    • 1 Frantic Search
    • 1 Demonic Consultation
    • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
    • 1 Swan Song
    • 1 Flusterstorm
    • 1 Counterspell
    • 1 Snuff Out
    • 1 Chaos Warp
    • 1 Arcane Denial
    • 1 Negate
    • 1 Abrade

    Enchantments (6)

    • 1 Mystic Remora
    • 1 Black Market Connections
    • 1 Animate Dead
    • 1 Goblin Bombardment
    • 1 Phyrexian Arena
    • 1 Propaganda

    Sorceries (11)

    • 1 Ponder
    • 1 Faithless Looting
    • 1 Windfall
    • 1 Buried Alive
    • 1 Reanimate
    • 1 Irenicus's Vile Duplication
    • 1 Feed the Swarm
    • 1 Toxic Deluge
    • 1 Victimize
    • 1 Vandalblast
    • 1 Exsanguinate

    Creatures (15)

    • 1 Faerie Mastermind
    • 1 Wonder
    • 1 Anger
    • 1 Spark Double
    • 1 Ophiomancer
    • 1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
    • 1 Urza, Lord High Artificer
    • 1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
    • 1 Veyran, Voice of Duality
    • 1 Blood Artist
    • 1 Mirkwood Bats
    • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat
    • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
    • 1 Viscera Seer
    • 1 Academy Manufactor

    Lands (37)

    • 1 Command Tower
    • 1 Exotic Orchard
    • 1 Path of Ancestry
    • 1 Flooded Strand
    • 1 Watery Grave
    • 1 Steam Vents
    • 1 Blood Crypt
    • 1 Xander's Lounge
    • 1 Luxury Suite
    • 1 City of Brass
    • 1 Reflecting Pool
    • 1 Sulfur Falls
    • 1 Drowned Catacomb
    • 1 Shipwreck Marsh
    • 1 Stormcarved Coast
    • 1 Haunted Ridge
    • 1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
    • 1 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway
    • 1 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
    • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
    • 1 Rogue's Passage
    • 1 Island
    • 1 Swamp
    • 1 Mountain
    • 1 Reliquary Tower
    • 1 Evolving Wilds
    • 1 Bojuka Bog
    • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
    • 1 Myriad Landscape
    • 1 Fabled Passage
    • 1 Windswept Heath
    • 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
    • 1 Demolition Field
    • 1 Temple of the False God
    • 1 Dragonskull Summit
    • 1 Sunken Hollow
    • 1 Smoldering Marsh
    Build this from your collection

    Sauron, the Dark Lord FAQ

    Frequently Asked Questions

    No. Sauron's ability is optional. If you choose to discard your hand, you draw four cards; if you decline, you keep your hand and don't draw from that ability.
    Yes. You can choose to discard your empty hand and still draw four cards.
    No. His trigger checks for an Army you control dealing combat damage to a player. Sauron's supplied creature types are Avatar Horror, not Army.
    No. Sauron triggers when the opponent casts the spell, not when it resolves. Countering that spell doesn't remove the amass trigger.
    No. Ward applies when an opponent's spell or ability targets Sauron. Blasphemous Act doesn't target; it deals 13 damage to each creature. For a targeted answer, the ward payment is sacrificing a legendary artifact or legendary creature, not paying mana.

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