Finally, The Hobbit is out, letting MTG players draft and crack packs to their heart's content. Between several powerful staples and interesting Commanders, the set offers plenty of noteworthy cards. On top of that, there are some seriously expensive pulls capable of easily paying back a Play Booster all on their own.
To help you know what to keep an eye on, we’ve rounded up the ten most expensive cards from MTG The Hobbit as of mid-August. This list is based on the regular-frame versions found in Play Boosters, since they’re the most common, but for the sake of completeness, we’ve also included the collector booster poster card versions for comparison. Plus, The Hobbit has just released, so it's worth keeping in mind that these prices are highly dynamic and could swing wildly, completely shaking up the rankings.
10 | Fateful Discovery
The mana cost of Fateful Discovery is quite high, but triggering it is an absolute joke, especially considering it works with tokens. Alongside Commanders like Urza, Chief Artificer, it can create completely broken synergies and quickly spiral out of control.
Beyond slotting directly into artifact-heavy decks and Treasure strategies, Fateful Discovery is destined to find a home in plenty of Commander decks. At around €5, the price still feels low compared to the card's actual potential—it wouldn't be surprising to see it climb over time.
9 | Dancing from Dark to Dawn
In Magic, we’ve already seen countless variations of the "Landfall – create a creature" effect, but Dancing from Dark to Dawn is probably one of the best ever printed. The creatures it generates are 2/2 Bears, which sets up neat synergies with legends like Ayula, Queen Among Bears. You can also exploit the usual combos with cards like Kodama of the East Tree and bounce lands.
What really sets this newcomer apart, however, is its first ability, which lets you bank extra counters over the course of the game and abuse utility creatures like Evolution Witness on demand. There's no shortage of combos here either, including infinite mana loops with Cloudstone Curio and Crystalline Crawler. Between the raw value it provides and its potential as a combo engine, its current price tag is a very fair reflection of its real worth.
8 | Bard, King of Dale
Considering how incredibly popular token doublers are in Magic: The Gathering, it’s no surprise that Bard, King of Dale has already turned a lot of heads. But Bard doesn't stop there: in most situations, he also doubles your card draw. Exploiting both abilities requires next to no effort, especially alongside cards like King T'Challa.
The only real bottlenecks for Bard, King of Dale are his mana cost and color identity. Both are significant factors—particularly the latter—and will likely cap the card's maximum value. Still, it's simply too powerful to remain a bulk card for long.
7 | Beorn the Fierce
The competition isn't exactly fierce, but Beorn the Fierce is almost certainly the best new Commander for a Bear Typal strategy. Huge stats and an anthem effect would already make for a solid starting point, but it's the ability to draw cards that really pushes him over the top.
Beorn is also intriguing because he can turn non-Bear creatures into Bears, allowing you to run utility staples like Eternal Witness and Scavenging Ooze. This lets you keep capitalizing on typal synergies without having to rely solely on Maskwood Nexus as a fixer. Outside of that niche, he's unlikely to see play, but within it, he's strong enough to easily justify his price tag.
6 | The Arkenstone
As the ultimate glittering MacGuffin of The Hobbit, it’s only fitting that The Arkenstone is one of the most expensive cards in the set. The Adventure side is already a solid tutor for Commander, capable of grabbing value engines like Delney, Streetwise Lookout or utility creatures like Loran of the Third Path.
The real draw, though, is the five-mana artifact side, which is excellent in Token decks like those led by Baylen, the Haymaker, as well as creature-heavy decks in general. This versatility has earned it a respectable price tag, which should hold up well over time as exciting new legendary targets are printed.
5 | Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver
Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver looks like an absolute auto-include for typal decks in Commander, especially those that can go incredibly wide. Commanders like Krenko, Mob Boss and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl can abuse this card to ridiculous degrees, easily generating double-digit Treasures on every single attack. Pair it with token doublers like Doubling Season and Academy Manufactor, and things will get out of hand incredibly fast.
Even outside of typal decks, Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver looks highly appealing, serving as a natural addition to Treasure strategies led by Vihaan, Goldwaker. It also boasts serious combo potential, enabling infinite combat steps with Aggravated Assault and infinite turns with Time Sieve. Its striking similarities to an expensive staple like The Reaver Cleaver make its near-€10 price tag anything but a fluke.
4 | Smaug the Magnificent
Smaug gets not one, but two excellent Commander options in The Hobbit, as well as a fantastic addition to the 99 with Smaug the Magnificent. Whether you're running a Dragon Typal list like The Ur-Dragon or a Treasure deck like Magda, Brazen Outlaw, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a slot for this monster.
Standard is pretty fast right now, but the combination of ramp, removal, and an efficient body offered by Smaug might still be enough for him to find a home there. Even in a world populated by Badgermole Cub and Stormchaser's Talent, he just seems too pushed for red decks to ignore. As the premier version of one of the set's most iconic characters, his spot above the €10 mark is well deserved.
3 | The Queen of Dale
It's pretty clear by now that Wizards is designing certain cards with cEDH directly in mind, and The Queen of Dale is a prime example. In the vein of popular engines like Mystic Remora, she offers a steady stream of card selection as players interact. She also puts bodies on the board, helping cast cards like Diabolic Intent and triggering Commanders like Tymna, the Weaver and Marneus Calgar.
Outside of cEDH, The Queen of Dale has real Constructed potential, where she could find a home in Standard Selesnya Gearhulk decks. She might even push deeper, perhaps serving as a setup piece in Modern Goryo's Vengeance to quickly bin Atraxa, Grand Unifier. A price tag around €14 isn't cheap, but a card with such obvious staple potential rarely tanks in the long run.
2 | Bilbo, Thief in the Night
The new mythic incarnation of Bilbo looks like a serious contender in multiple formats, with potential in both Commander and Constructed. In the former, his cost-reduction ability synergizes beautifully with Commanders like Green Goblin and Glarb, Calamity's Augur. It also enables several combos, such as drawing your entire deck with Sensei's Divining Top and The Reality Chip.
In Constructed, his role as a sort of Dreadhorde Arcanist could easily secure him a spot in Standard Izzet decks. Re-casting cheap interaction like Boomerang Basics and draw spells like Flow State gives these decks some highly welcome resilience. We might even see him break into older formats, perhaps as a piece in Modern Prowess. With this wide range of applications, €20 a copy feels like the natural price for such a versatile card.
1 | Gleaming Splendor
Looking like an unholy mashup of Smothering Tithe and Faerie Mastermind, Gleaming Splendor is one of the most obvious new Commander staples we've seen in a long time. Whether you're playing in Bracket 2 or at a cEDH table, it should easily generate multiple Treasures every turn cycle, considering how common card draw is in modern Commander. Costing just two mana, it also comes down much earlier than similar tax effects like Monologue Tax.
This ability alone would likely be enough to make Gleaming Splendor playable, but the card also offers a neat political draw ability. You can use it to strike deals with opponents or simply trigger your own Treasure production when needed. It even acts as an infinite mana sink, allowing you to mill out the entire table and snatch an instant-speed win that's incredibly difficult to stop.
Given its sheer efficiency, it's hard to imagine a white Commander deck from here on out that won't at least consider running it. With that in mind, its price tag near €30—making it the most expensive new card from MTG The Hobbit in its base version—is simply a logical consequence.
