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Sauron, the Dark Lord

First printed in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (2023)

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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.

7/6

Illustrated by
Kieran Yanner

Legality

Rulings (20)

  • Each time the Ring tempts you, you must choose a creature if you control one.
  • Some spells and abilities that amass Orcs may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't amass Orcs.
  • In the rare case that you control multiple Army creatures (perhaps because you played a creature with changeling) while you amass Orcs, you choose which of your Army creatures to put the +1/+1 counters on. If that creature isn't an Orc, it becomes an Orc in addition to its other types.
  • The Ring gains its abilities in order from top to bottom. Once it gains an ability, it has that ability for the rest of the game.
  • If you don't control an Army, the Orc Army token you create enters the battlefield as a 0/0 creature before receiving counters. Any abilities that trigger when a creature with a certain power enters the battlefield, such as that of Mentor of the Meek, will see the token enter as a 0/0 creature before it gets +1/+1 counters.
  • Amass abilities are now written as "amass [subtype] N." Previous cards with amass have received errata to say "amass Zombies N."
  • The Ring can tempt you even if you don't control a creature. In this case, abilities that trigger "whenever the Ring tempts you" will still trigger.
  • As the Ring tempts you, you get an emblem named The Ring if you don't have one. Then your emblem gains its next ability and you choose a creature you control to become (or remain) your Ring-bearer.
  • Some cards refer to the "amassed Army." That means the Army creature you chose to receive counters, even if no counters were placed on it for some reason.
  • To amass Orcs N, if you don't control an Army creature, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token. Then you choose an Army creature you control and put N +1/+1 counters on it. If that Army isn't already an Orc, it becomes an Orc in addition to its other types.
  • Some spells and abilities that cause the Ring to tempt you may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. The Ring won't tempt you.
  • Each player can have only one emblem named The Ring and only one Ring-bearer at a time.
  • Amass Zombies works the same way, except you create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token if you don't control an Army. If the Army creature you chose isn't already a Zombie, it becomes a Zombie in addition to its other types. By combining cards with amass Orcs and amass Zombies, you can end up with an Orc Zombie Army.
  • If the creature you choose as your Ring-bearer was already your Ring-bearer, that still counts as choosing that creature as your Ring-bearer for the purpose of abilities that trigger "whenever you choose a creature as your Ring-bearer" or abilities that care about which creature was chosen as your Ring-bearer.
  • In the rare case that you control multiple Army creatures (perhaps because you control a creature with changeling) while you amass Goblins, you choose which of your Army creatures to put the +1/+1 counters on. If that creature isn't a Goblin, it becomes a Goblin in addition to its other types.
  • Amass Orcs works the same way, except you create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token if you don't control an Army. And if the Army creature you chose isn't already an Orc, it becomes an Orc in addition to its other types. By combining cards with amass Orcs and amass Goblins, you can end up with a Goblin Orc Army.
  • Some spells and abilities that amass Goblins may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't amass Goblins.
  • To amass Goblins N, if you don't control an Army creature, create a 0/0 black Goblin Army creature token. Then you choose an Army creature you control and put N +1/+1 counters on it. If that Army isn't already a Goblin, it becomes a Goblin in addition to its other types.
  • Some cards refer to the "amassed Army." That means the Army creature you chose to receive counters, even if no counters were placed on it for some reason.
  • If you don't control an Army, the Goblin Army token you create enters the battlefield as a 0/0 creature before receiving counters. Any abilities that trigger when a creature with a certain power enters the battlefield, such as that of Mentor of the Meek, will see the token enter as a 0/0 creature before it gets +1/+1 counters.

Prices

MTGO price: 0.006 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).

In Limited on MTG Arena

Win rates in Arena drafts and sealed, retrieved from 17Lands (CC BY 4.0).

Win rates of Sauron, the Dark Lord in Limited
Set GIH WR vs set IWD Games
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR), Premier Draft 61.6% +6.1 +11.9 8825
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR), Sealed 62.5% +5.8 +8.7 688
GIH WR
win rate of the games in which the card was in the opening hand or drawn
vs set
points above or below the average win rate of all decks in the set
IWD
improvement when drawn: GIH WR minus the win rate when the card stayed in the library
Games
games in which the card was seen

Commander In 4 of 6520 decks (0.1%), most in Omnath, Locus of All

Share of decks
0.1%
= vs previous 30 days
2026-08-17: 0.0% 2026-08-24: 0.1% 2026-08-31: 0.1% 2026-09-07: 0.1% 2026-09-14: 0.1% 2026-09-21: 0.0% 2026-09-28: 0.0% 2026-10-05: 0.2% 2026-10-12: 0.1% 2026-10-19: 0.0% 2026-10-26: 0.0%
Weekly, last 90 days
Decks
4
4 main, 0 sideboard
Avg. copies
1.0
in the main deck
Win rate
–
0 top 8 (challenges only)

Archetypes by metagame share

Archetype Meta Play it
Omnath, Locus of All 0.0% 100%
Sauron, the Dark Lord 0.0% 100%

Played together with

Card Together Lift
Talisman of Dominance100%10.9
Fellwar Stone100%2.9
Exotic Orchard100%2.6
Dark Ritual100%2.5
Arcane Signet100%1.6
Command Tower100%1.2
Sol Ring100%1.0
Starting Town75%1.9
Polluted Delta75%1.0

Best win rate

No challenge results yet.

Challenges only: MTGO publishes only the 5-0 league decks.

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