Punishing every opponent’s spell with growing Orc armies while leveraging Ward protection and massive hand-refills makes Grixis control dominant and oppressive. On Moxfield’s high-power and competitive charts, Sauron, the Dark Lord from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth stands as the premier Grixis () commander for passive token generation, Ward defense, and explosive hand-cycling.
As a 7/6 Avatar Horror legend costing six mana (), Sauron holds a Ward ability that forces opponents to sacrifice a legendary creature or legendary artifact just to target him. His static triggers execute relentless value: whenever an opponent casts a spell, you Amass Orcs 1. When your Orc Army deals combat damage to a player, the Ring tempts you. Whenever the Ring tempts you, you may discard your hand and draw four fresh cards. By transforming opponent spellcasting into massive tokens and hand refills, Sauron fuels graveyard strategies and game-ending Grixis combos effortlessly.
Here is the strategic operational blueprint of Moxfield’s premier Sauron list, detailing how to combine fast mana, Amass synergies, Ring temptations, and protected combo finishes.
1. Core Mechanics & Strategic Phases
Succeeding with Sauron requires low-cost Grixis artifact acceleration, interaction to survive until Turn 3–4, combat evasion for Orc armies, and graveyard reanimation or storm win conditions.
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Early Game (Turns 1–2): Cast fast artifact ramp like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Talisman of Dominance to prepare for deploying a 6-mana commander early.
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Mid Game (Turns 3–4): Deploy Sauron (). Watch your Orc Army grow passively off opponent actions, then attack to trigger Ring temptation and cycle your hand for 4 new cards.
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Late Game (Turns 5+): Leverage mass hand cycling into graveyard loops (Underworld Breach) or execute the classic Thassa’s Oracle + Demonic Consultation combo under heavy counter protection.
2. Moxfield Highlights: Grixis Amass & Ring Synergies
The highest-rated community lists on Moxfield optimize Sauron by utilizing cards that capitalize on Ring triggers, token expansion, and discard-graveyard synergies.
Nazgûl Battle-Mace / Corsairs of Umbar
Amass & evasion enablers. Giving your Orc Army evasion ensures it connects in combat, consistently triggering Ring temptation to cycle your hand every turn cycle.
Orcish Bowmasters
Secondary Amass engine. Dealing direct ping damage while amassing Orcs whenever opponents draw extra cards stacks with Sauron’s passive Army expansion.
Underworld Breach / Reanimate
Graveyard payoffs. Because Sauron repeatedly discards your hand to draw four fresh cards, your graveyard becomes packed with high-value targets for instant reanimation or Breach storm loops.
Fierce Guardianship / Deflecting Swat
Free Grixis protection suite. Keeping Sauron on the battlefield guarantees opponents must pay his steep legendary sacrifice Ward cost if they attempt removal.
3. Copy & Paste Sauron, the Dark Lord 100-Card Decklist
Use the text box below to copy the complete highly-optimized community list. It contains exactly 1 Commander and 99 mainboard cards, calibrated perfectly for an error-free import into Moxfield.
1 Sauron, the Dark Lord
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arcane Signet
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Brainstorm
1 Chrome Mox
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Consider
1 Culling the Weak
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dark Ritual
1 Dauthi Voidwalker
1 Deadly Rollick
1 Deflecting Swat
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Dispel
1 Dockside Extortionist
1 Entomb
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Fabled Passage
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Fierce Guardianship
1 Flooded Strand
1 Flusterstorm
1 Force of Negation
1 Force of Will
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Imperial Seal
1 Jeska's Will
1 Jeweled Lotus
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Luxury Suite
1 Mana Confluence
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Vault
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mental Misstep
1 Misdirection
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Morphic Pool
1 Mox Amber
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Opal
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Necropotence
1 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Pact of Negation
1 Polluted Delta
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Pyroblast
1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
1 Reanimate
1 Red Elemental Blast
1 Rhystic Study
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Sol Ring
1 Spellseeker
1 Steam Vents
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Submerge
1 Swan Song
1 Tainted Pact
1 Talisman of Creativity
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Thassa's Oracle
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Training Center
1 Underground Sea
1 Underworld Breach
1 Urza's Saga
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Wheel of Misfortune
1 Windfall
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
5 Island
5 Mountain
5 SwampSummary: Claim the One Ring
Moxfield’s top deck builders prioritize Sauron, the Dark Lord because he turns opponent actions into massive Orc armies and endless card draw right from the Command Zone. By exploiting his Ward protection and Ring temptation triggers, you cycle through your deck and deploy unstoppable Grixis combo finishes. Copy the flawless 100-card decklist above, forge the Ring, and dominate your next Commander pod.
