Sméagol, Helpful Guide Commander Deck Tech

Enter the Realm of Sacrifice and Temptation

Deep within the shadowy realms of Middle-earth, a force of cunning and insatiable hunger has arisen. Guiding over 4,000 decks, Sméagol, Helpful Guide from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth leads the way to victory, one temptation at a time.

Sméagol's strategy lies within aristocrats and Landfall. What ties these two themes of aristocrats and Landfall is Sméagol's second ability, which puts a land card onto the battlefield tapped under your control from an opponent's graveyard.

Sméagol's second ability triggers when the Ring tempts us, which we can tackle in two ways, either through Sméagol's first ability by sacrificing a creature every turn or having the Ring tempt you through other cards. Sméagol is an excellent way to ramp up, and consistently triggering his second ability will put us ahead of the rest of the table in terms of lands.

The Precious

This deck functions the best with a package of the Ring tempts you cards just in case we don't have anything to sacrifice and trigger Sméagol's first ability or if you want to trigger Sméagol multiple times in a turn. Remember, in the words of Sméagol himself, "We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious!"

The best Rings tempt you cards for this deck are Dúnedain Rangers, Call of the Ring, and Nazgûl. Nazgûl, in particular, is an excellent card because we can have up to nine copies in the deck, and with Sméagol on the battlefield, Nazgûl turns into a ramp spell. When Nazgûl enters the battlefield, the Ring tempts you, and Sméagol's second ability triggers getting a land from an opponent's deck.

Call of the Ring also works well with Sméagol because we get tapped land from our opponents every upkeep, and it has a card draw tacked on. If we choose a fodder creature likely to die as our Ring-bearer, Call of the Ring's card draw ability will activate.

Dúnedain Rangers can be a powerhouse in the deck, having the Ring tempt you whenever a land enters the battlefield. Dúnedain Rangers also have a combo with Sméagol, Bloodghast, and a sacrifice outlet, like Ashnod's Altar.

• Play a land card, triggering Dúnedain Rangers and Bloodghast.
• Bloodghast will return from your graveyard to the battlefield.
• With Dúnedain Rangers, the Ring will tempt you; choose Bloodghast to become your Ring-bearer.
• Sméagol triggers.
• Sacrifice Bloodghast to your sacrifice outlet in this scenario, Ashnod's Alter
• Resolve the Sméagol trigger
• Target opponent reveals cards from the top of their library until they reveal a land card.
• Put that card onto the battlefield tapped under your control and the rest into their graveyard.

Bloodghast's Landfall ability triggers again when the land from Sméagol's ability enters the battlefield. You can loop the process by starting over from step 2. This combo allows you to put all land cards from your opponents' libraries onto the battlefield under your control and nearly mill them out. It's a great way to close a game, though you need a few moving pieces.

Sacrificial Offer Ring

Firstly, we need creatures to sacrifice to activate Sméagol's abilities. There are a few ways to do this, like token-generators, such as Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, Zendikar's Roil, or Compy Swarm.

Another option is sacrificing a creature that can recur itself, such as Gollum, Patient Plotter, or a classic Reassembling Skeleton.

Any aristocrat deck also needs sacrifice outlets; these can be more of personal preferences. A few of my favorites are Carrion Feeder, Viscera Seer, and Warren Soultrader.

The Pay-Offs

With all the sacrifice effects in the deck, our primary way to win is by capitalizing on them. There are tons of different types of sacrifice payoffs, but I'll focus on two types: card draw and drain effects.

Our primary source of card draw is through payoffs like Grim Haruspex, Midnight Reaper, and Morbid Opportunist, which all trigger when creatures die and consistently net us a handful of cards throughout the game.

Our other payoff for sacrificing creatures is aristocrat effects. When a creature dies, aristocrat effects, like Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Poison-Tip Archer can drain the table. These effects seem like a small amount of damage, but having a few drain effects on the battlefield can quickly finish a game.

The best aristocrat card in this deck, which I highly recommend playing, is Syr Konrad, the Grim. Syr Konrad triggers whenever a card is put into the graveyard from anywhere, including the library. This works well with Sméagol's ability, which mills your opponent's library until they hit a land. Any creatures milled over from your opponent's library will trigger Syr Konrad. Additionally, he triggers when any creatures die, whether they belong to you or your opponents.

Landfall Triggers

Along with sacrifice synergies, Landfall triggers play a role in fueling Sméagol's value engine. You should get at least one extra land drop with Sméagol each turn, probably even more if you have any extra ways to make the Ring tempt you.

Cards such as Scute Swarm and Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer provide additional value whenever lands enter the battlefield. Continuously triggering Landfall abilities can generate an absurd number of creatures to beat down with or sacrifice for more value.

You can also use Landfall cards to produce mana. Lotus Cobra, Tireless Provisioner, and Nissa, Resurgent Animist should all be able to make multiple mana a turn; all great ways to play your spells quicker.

Synergistic Removal

Our decks have a major theme about sacrifice; intertwining it with every part of the deck will make our gears smoother. Opting for more creature-based removal that can sacrifice itself is a great way to make the deck more consistent and synergistic.

As for creature removal, Fleshbag Marauder-like edict effects are great ways to remove a creature from each opponent and sacrifice one of your creatures.

My favorite is Accursed Marauder, which, in most cases, is a better Fleshbag Marauder because it costs one less mana and specifies nontoken creatures. Plaguecrafter and Demon's Disciple are also good choices.

Sometimes, edict effects aren't going to cut it, and spot removal is a better option, but there are options for creature-based spot removal. For example, Cavalier of Night has a Bone Splinters effect tacked onto it. Grist, the Hunger Tide, also has that same Bone Splinters effect for its -2, except it also hits planeswalkers. Shriekmaw is another excellent piece of spot removal because it sacrifices itself with evoke.

Caustic Caterpillar and its other Insect friend, Haywire Mite, are mana-efficient options for artifact and enchantment hate.

Similar to synergistic removal, it's a good idea to make our ramp spells sacrifice a creature in some way. There are definitely fewer ways to do this, but Sakura-Tribe Elder and Wight of the Reliquary are good choices.

At least your graveyard is full? Nah...

With so many strategies revolving around graveyards running amuck in Commander, like Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and Karador, Ghost Chieftain, to name a few, it's a good idea to pack in some graveyard hate. Every deck should run graveyard hate, but why do we care so much?

We don't want our opponents to get any value off Sméagol's second ability, which mills an opponent until they hit a land card. Throughout the game, Sméagol's ability mill ability can defiantly start to add up, and it honestly sucks if someone says they're happy after you milled them.

My top two picks are Dauthi Voidwalker and Endurance because of their incredibly synergistic ways of removing graveyards, as they can sacrifice themselves. Soul-Guide Lantern and Bojuka Bog are other mana-efficient ways to exile graveyards.

We could also steal creatures from our opponents' graveyards. The creatures milled by Sméagol are free real estate for recursion spells. Animate Dead, Necromancy, and Reanimate all let you recur creatures from your graveyard and your opponent's graveyard.

The Precious is Ours

Assuming everything goes according to plan, looking back, there are quite a few moving pieces; we will have a formidable engine formed. Our engine with Sméagol in the center is draining out the table, drawing cards, and ramping, all powered by our temptation for the precious Ring. Whether you're drawn to the Ring's allure or sacrificing creatures for gain, Sméagol provides a rewarding and versatile Commander experience.

Smeagol, Helpful Guide