The dark forces of Sauron arise in Magic: the Gathering's Tales of Middle-earth, from the terrifying Ringwraiths to the loathsome Gollum. On top of these classic Tolkien characters making their Magic debut, scenes from the books (and movies too) have become exceptional cards compelling fans to march to Mordor to grab them. Metaphorically. By, y'know, spending money on boosters.

Related: MTG – The 9 Best White Cards In Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth

But which of these blackest cards should the black mage train their all-seeing eye towards? There’s no need to seek Sauron’s guidance because we’ve got the top ten black cards from Tales of Middle-earth right here.

10 Nasty End

Nasty End provides something that every player wants: card advantage. Sacrifice one creature (preferably one that was already going to die anyway) and get yourself two cards. You’ll even get a bonus card if that creature was legendary, of which you’ll find plenty in Tales of Middle-Earth.

What makes Nasty End worth considering is just how many creatures can turn a playset into a long-term card advantage. Pair Nasty End with Ringwraiths, Gollum, Patient Plotter, or best of all, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, and watch your hand grow while your opponent despairs.

9 Gollum's Bite

Black should always have a good instant removal spell on-hand, and Gollum’s Bite is probably the best in Tales of Middle-earth. Kill any critter with two or less toughness regardless of regeneration or indestructibility, and then have the Ring tempt you. Getting rid of a problematic critter has never been easier.

That second ability is what makes Gollum’s Bite stand out. Being tempted by the Ring is almost always a net benefit, so you’ll want to be tempted as often as possible. Why not while also removing an opposing creature?

8 Ringwraiths

Speaking of how great it is to be tempted by the Ring, Ringwraiths return from your graveyard every time the Ring tempts you. Given how often that can happen in Tales of Middle-earth, Ringwraiths are basically a 5/5 body that your opponent can't get rid of short of exiling it.

Better than merely having a persistent creature, Ringwraiths also give an opposing creature -3/-3, potentially turning this card into repeated removal too. Having your opponent lose three life if it's a legendary creature is a neat bonus, but not as great as everything else Ringwraiths can do.

7 Gollum, Scheming Guide

Black mages love to play tricks on the mind, and Gollum, Scheming Guide provides an excellent outlet to mess with your opponent's head. Whenever Gollum, Scheming Guide attacks, you get to look at the top two cards of your library, put them back in any order, then have your opponent guess land or non-land for the top card. If they guess right, Gollum goes home empty-handed, but if they guess wrong, you draw that card and Gollum becomes unblockable.

It's a 50/50 chance to get a card and some damage out of Gollum just through its effect, and there are ways to ensure the top of your deck always has at least one land and one non-land card. Whether you're the kind of black mage to go to those extremes just to enable a former halfling's shenanigans is up to you.

6 Call of the Ring

As mentioned previously, being tempted by the Ring is a net benefit, and being tempted all the time just makes that benefit grow while keeping it away from your opponents. Call of the Ring adds a card-draw effect to re-assigning a creature as the Ring-bearer, at the cost of two life.

That card draw is no Phyrexian Arena, but it's also nothing to be scoffed at, especially with the various ways you can regain life in Tales of Middle-earth. Plus, constantly being tempted by the Ring has its own benefits that don't even require any loss of life.

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5 Shadow of the Enemy

Yes, Shadow of the Enemy requires a lot of mana to make work, but there are plenty of ways to get a lot of mana even in Tales of Middle-earth (Smaug would like to give you 14 treasure tokens, just as an example). And once Shadow of the Enemy is cast, you can access to every creature in every player's graveyard.

Maybe not a game-ending spell for Standard or limited play, but in Commander? Shadow of the Enemy can break a game wide open. Definitely something blue mages will have to save a counterspell for.

4 Isildur's Fateful Strike

Instant-speed removal is all well and good, but Isildur's Fateful Strike should really be considered a discard card first and foremost. Cutting your enemy's creature down is great, but cutting their hand down to four cards is even better. Plus, those cards are exiled, so you'll never have to deal with them again.

The card advantage you can get from Isildur's Fateful Strike is bananas. If they have seven cards in hand, then this one card will knock four away from your opponent. That's a huge swing for four mana and definitely something a black mage should seek out in Tales of Middle-earth.

3 Witch-King of Angmar

Angmar is a legendary wraith noble that does a lot of things. First, it's a rattlesnake that'll ward off attacking creatures in multiplayer games. Second, it's a source of Ring temptations, further convincing enemies to stay home rather than attack. Third, he's a five-power critter with evasion, and fourth, he can discard cards on a whim to become indestructible.

That's a lot for a five-mana card to do all at once. And that incredible value means that you should really consider Witch-king of Angmar in a number of different decks throughout a number of Magic's formats.

2 Orcish Bowmasters

Another card that does a lot is Orcish Bowmasters. Opponent's generally like to draw more than one card per turn, which allows Orcish Bowmasters to pump out free damage and amass more orcs. But even if your opponent never draws an extra card, an instant-speed two-power that can also remove a one toughness creature is fantastic on its own.

Orcish Bowmasters provides exceptional value for just two mana and will likely see play in every black sideboard if not their main decklists throughout Tales of Middle-earth.

1 One Ring To Rule Them All

If you needed any convincing that your Tales of Middle-earth deck needs enchantment hate, then One Ring To Rule Them All should be more than enough. First, you get tempted by the Ring, which turns one of your creatures legendary. Then, every other creature dies on this Saga's second turn. And third, every opponent loses life equal to the creature cards in everyone's graveyards--an effect only made better by the milling performed when you were tempted by the Ring.

This card can win games, and even if it doesn't, it's at least a big swing. Expect to see this enchantment appear in a lot of decks even outside of Tales of Middle-earth.

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