Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Bilbo, Retired Burglar!

Bilbo is a three mana 1/3 when he enters or leaves the battlefield, the Ring tempts you and whenever Bilbo deals combat damage to a player, you create a Treasure token.

While the Ring tempts you is not the most intuitive mechanic, it does have a lot of benefits attached to it. The first is that it makes the Ring-bearer unable to be blocked by creatures with a higher power, can draw a card then discard a card, if it is blocked then the creature blocking it is sacrificed at the end of combat, and when the Ring-bearer deals combat damage to a player then each opponent loses 3 life.

Since Bilbo is low enough power that if we make him the Ring-bearer then we can get damage through pretty reliably, which means we can make a decent number of Treasure tokens as well as potentially win via Commander Damage. So our goal is to fast track to the highest mode of the Ring tempting us to get Bilbo in to start getting us a bunch of Treasures.

The first part of the plan is to get to maximum Ring temptation, so any cheap cards that can have the Ring tempt us are what we need to look at.

Birthday Escape is as cheap as they come, with the added bonus in that it also draws you a card. Ranger’s Firebrand is also the other cheapest option in terms of mana value, and that one is also a Shock so it can serve as a cheap removal spell.

If we want to get a bit cute with some removal that also happens to have the Ring tempt us, then Breaking of the Fellowship is a bite spell that targets a creature an opponent controls and has it deal damage to another creature that they control, which is helpful in allowing us to get rid of a useful utility creature or a strong creature that happens to have low toughness.

Glorious Gale is a creature counter spell that if it counters a legendary creature then the Ring tempts us, Inherited Envelope is a mana rock that also has the Ring tempt us, Soothing of Sméagol bounces a creature, and Horses of the Bruinen bounces two creatures and scries 1.

For the ultimate flavor way to have the Ring tempt us, then There and Back Again has the Ring tempt us and prevents a creature from blocking as long as it remains on the battlefield, puts a Mountain from our library onto the battlefield, and the creates Smaug, a 6/6 red Dragon with flying and makes fourteen Treasure tokens when it dies.

While we can help Bilbo get damage through via the first effect of being the Ring-bearer, we can use some insurance if we play ways to get Bilbo stronger.

Break Through the Line is a solid pick in this regard because it can be a consistent way to give Bilbo haste and the ability to unable to be blocked this turn, which means we can potentially get an early hit in to start making Treasure tokens or we can make a relatively safe attack.

Enter the Enigma and Slip Through Space are sorcery speed ways to give our creature unblockable and they also happen to each draw us a card to help replace themselves, Artful Dodge gives unblockable while being able to be cast again via Flashback, and Infiltrate is an instant speed way to give Bilbo unblockable.

Once Bilbo does become unblockable then we can add a couple of combat tricks like Temur Battle Rage to give Bilbo double strike to make us two Treasure tokens or Psychotic Fury which also give a creature double strike while also drawing us a card.

Thieves’ Fortune is also an interesting card for us to play because we get to utilize Bilbo being a Rogue to make it cheaper to cast because of Prowl, and it allows us to look at the top four cards of our deck and put one into our hand and the rest onto the bottom of our library.

Speaking of Prowl, we can also cast Knowledge Exploitation to let us tutor an instant or sorcery from an opponent’s library and cast it for free, or Notorious Throng to get us some extra Faerie Rogue tokens and potentially getting an additional turn if we cast it for its Prowl cost.

Once we have our own little Treasure hoard, then we should have ways to utilize it to our advantage other than casting big spells.

Magda, the Hoardmaster helps us in making Treasures once per turn if we commit a crime, and we can sacrifice three Treasures to make a 4/4 red Scorpion Dragon with flying, and if we have a bunch of Treasures to spend then we can get a ton of these tokens on deck ready to fly.

Speaking of Dragons and Magda, there is also Magda, Brazen Outlaw which gives our other Dwarves +1/+0, creates a Treasure token whenever a Dwarf is tapped, and allows us to sacrifice five Treasures to tutor for a Dragon or artifact card and put it onto the battlefield.

As far as what we tutor, that really depends on what we have available to us. If we have a ton of Treasures and want to go for a potential win, then Hellkite Tyrant is an option because it allows us to steal all artifacts a player controls and if we have twenty or more artifacts at the beginning of our upkeep then we win the game.

If we want to increase our Treasure output then the The Reaver Cleaver is an option to give Bilbo the ability to generate additional Treasures equal to the combat damage that he deals to a player of Planeswalker.

If we want full on flavor and value, and if you have access to it, then The One Ring can help us draw a ton of cards while also giving us a turn of protection to help us stabilize ourselves or even just Bilbo’s Ring, which gives equipped creature hexproof and can’t be blocked as long as its our turn and when the equipped creature attacks alone then we draw a card and lose 1 life and can be equipped to a Halfling for 1 mana.

Bilbo is a value Commander in that we can generate a decent number of Treasure tokens while keeping him difficult to interact with. While he can be cleared by board wipes and targeted removal if we don’t have the answers, what makes Bilbo a sneaky strong Commander is how much chip damage we can get in with him until it starts to slowly become a problem for our opponents, and hopefully by then they don’t realize that they are close to losing by Commander damage until it is too late.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual