If you like to amass a huge army of Orcs, empowered by the powerful magic of Saruman, to conquer your opponents, then Orc Tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can gather a massive army under the banner of the White Hand.
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy and flavor and of course power. On top of that you can find many unique cards that support a tribe and can be great budget options as those cards work only on a specific tribal deck and are bad to unplayable to any other deck. That’s why I will try building and presenting a series of decks for all those who share the love for tribal decks.
Orcs is an old tribe that firstly appeared in Magic in Alpha with Ironclaw Orcs and Orcish Artillery. Although there were some notable Orcs in the history of Magic, tribal support was almost nonexistent. With the release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth , in the face of Saruman, the White Hand Orcs found their true leader and Orcs got some great cards and a bit of tribal support. I expect the tribe to get much more support in the future, either with the next Middle Earth releases, or with other MtG sets.
Saruman, the White Hand is a Legendary Avatar Wizard that has a grixis (
) color identity, support both Goblins and Orcs by giving them ward
and has a special ability Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, amass Orcs X, where X is that spell’s mana value. (Put X +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. It’s also an Orc. If you don’t control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first.) He is a powerful spellslinger that creates Orcs and empowers them by casting spells.
Saruman, the White Hand can be focused on different builds, like spellslinger, Amass tribal, Orc tribal and Goblin tribal. In our build we’ll focus on a triple hybrid build around Orcs, noncreature spells and Amass tribal. Multiple strategies can often lead to a non consistent deck, but here we have a common ground: Orcs. With a proper balanced build we can make a powerful deck around Orcs, since both casting noncreature spells and Amass Orcs spells lead to creating an Orc Army and empowering it. With Orc tribal, we’re going both tall and wide.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth Commander deck The Hosts of Mordor, may be a good starting point for building Orc tribal, even if the dominant theme of the deck is split between grave recursion and spellslinger and not Orc tribal (Still it includes many Amass Orcs and Goblin and Orc cards). Although you can call it a precon upgrade, my build is more a precon remake than an upgrade so you can start from zero and buy singles. The optimal building option depends on the price and availability of the cards.
Synergy Diagram
I always like to make a simple synergy diagram in order to deeply comprehend the potential and the strategy areas that are supported by the commander when I choose top-down building.
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best Orcs. Our priority is to add the ones that have any synergy with noncreature spells and Orc Armies (token and +1/+1 strategies).
- Add Orc tribal support. There are only a few cards that support Orc tribal so they are almost an auto-include in the deck.
- Add spellslinger strategy support. Since with Saruman, the White Hand, all our spells have Amass Orcs we can run many noncreature spells so that we benefit both from the spells themselves and create and empower Orc Armies.
- Add Amass tribal support. Cards with Amass can support our Orc Armies. Our main focus is Amass Orcs cards but some great Amass (zombie) cards can also work and empower our Orc Armies.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that support many of our strategies and that is easy since those strategies collide.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Orc tribal theme.
The deck:
Orc Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
35 Lands
10 Ramp: Relic of Sauron , Arcane Signet , Sol Ring , Burakos, Party Leader , Patchwork Banner, Treasure Nabber , Rakdos Signet , Izzet Signet , Gorbag of Minas Morgul , Cutthroat Negotiator
14 Target Removal: Wake the Dragon , Foray of Orcs , Feed the Swarm , Merciless Executioner , Goblin Cratermaker , Fall of Cair Andros , Saruman’s Trickery , Orcish Bowmasters (ping+), Crush Dissent, Orc Sureshot (ping), Fling , Soul’s Fire, Kazuul’s Fury , Gruesome Scourger (planeswalker)
3 Board Wipes: Subjugate the Hobbits , Widespread Brutality , Blasphemous Act
4 Graveyard Recursion: Summons of Saruman , Treason of Isengard , Sauron, Lord of the Rings, Wake the Dragon (self-recursion)
1 Graveyard Hate: Bojuka Bog
0 Tutors:
5 Protection: Saruman, the White Hand , Lazotep Plating , Saruman’s Trickery , Orcish Medicine , Crush Dissent
11,5 Card Draw: Desolate Lighthouse , Relic of Sauron , Sauron, the Dark Lord , Commence the Endgame , Moria Scavenger , Deep Analysis , Faithless Looting , Thrill of Possibility , Consider (1/2), Gorbag of Minas Morgul, Moria Marauder, Plargg and Nassari (kinda), Cutthroat Negotiator
7 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Assault on Osgiliath , Fling , Kazuul’s Fury , Port Razer, Soul’s Fire, Gruesome Scourger, Isengard Unleashed
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are good. With the exception of Tutors category, there is no other score below the optimal low average and we see 5 categories that are above the optimal max average. We see Finishers at 7 and Protection at 5 to be highlights of our deck.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Burakos, Party Leader can be a great value engine if it survives a few turns in the battlefield, as we can continiously create Treasure tokens by attacking. Saruman, the White Hand is a Wizard, so it is very easy to get X=2. There are also many Warriors among the Orcs so X=3 is quite possible, while Rogues in our deck are rare so there is a small chance for X=4 (with Burakos as a Cleric).
Relic of Sauron is a great mana rock for grixis color fixing and also helps in card draw. Feels like a new grixis staple to me.
Treasure Nabber steals mana rocks (until the end of our next turn) from our opponents when they use them. Saruman, the White Hand protects Goblins too, so it becomes harder to be removed. Although not an Orc, it fits the flavor of the Armies of the White Hand.
Gorbag of Minas Morgul is a great sac outlet for our deck since we may sacrifice any number of our Orcs that deal combat damage to a player, either for card draw or for creating Treasure tokens. Works great with expendable small Orc Army tokens and is quite flexible. Great Orc tribal support!
Cutthroat Negotiator can be a great ramp source in commander with the potential of creating up to four tapped Treasure tokens for each time it attacks in a 4-player game. In addition, after that, all players draw a card which is welcome in some cases.
Patchwork Banner is one of the best cards for Tribal builds as it combines ramp and tribal support. Being both a mana rock and a Tribal Anthem gives us amazing value for its mana cost. Of course it is a top pick for our Orc Tribal!
Target Removal
Foray of Orcs is a sorcery with Amass Orcs 2 which can practically be Amass Orc 6 with Saruman, the White Hand. Then it deals damage equal to the amassed Army’s power to target creature an opponent controls. Its synergy with our deck makes it a great inclusion.
Merciless Executioner is not an optimal choice for removal, but it is an Orc so we have tribal synergy.
Goblin Cratermaker is flexible since by paying 
and sacrificing it, it can either remove small creatures or eldrazi titans target colorless nonland permanents (like artifacts).
Fall of Cair Andros is a very expensive removal option as by paying 
it deals 7 damage to target creature. But its real purpose is its other ability: “Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt excess noncombat damage, amass Orcs X, where X is that excess damage.” It can be a great source of Amass Orcs and it is a part of a 2 card combo with Blasphemous Act that results in near-infinite +1/+1 counters on an Army token and near-infinite damage to all creatures. The combo can be explained in detail here (EDHREC).
Saruman’s Trickery and Crush Dissent are our counterspells and both have Amass synergy. Saruman’s Trickery is the best among them since the reduced mana cost is more important than Amass, but both work great with Saruman as we get extra Amass Orcs.
Orcish Bowmasters is already one of the most sought-after cards of the LOTR set and for a good reason. There is much potential in this card as it can ping enemies to death. Of course the fact that it is an Orc and also provides Amass Orcs, makes it an auto include in Orc tribal. Apart from the combo potential, it can easily remove smaller enemies from the board which is important for clearing the way to our Orc Armies (that are also empowered by it). Amazing card and top synergy with our deck!
Orc Sureshot is nowhere near Orcish Bowmasters in terms of power and synergy, but since our deck is an Orc tribal with many creatures, we can easily trigger it and potentially remove small creatures, which is very important for clearing the way to our Orc Armies.
Wake the Dragon is quite expensive for artifact removal (kinda) but the fact that it can create the 6/6 dragon token with an additional Amass Orcs 6 with Saruman, the White Hand and the Flashback recast for 
can really give us great value.
Board Wipes
Subjugate the Hobbits is expensive but it can be amazing as we can mass control each noncommander creature with mana value 3 or less.
Widespread Brutality has amazing synergy with our deck since it can easily remove all non-Army creatures and clear the way for a big hit with our Orc Army.
Blasphemous Act is a great removal and a commander staple, but it is referred here for the combo with Fall of Cair Andros mentioned above.
Graveyard Recursion
Summons of Saruman has Amass Orcs X, Mill X cards and you may cast an istant or sorcery spell with mana value X or less from among them without paying its mana cost. Great synergy with most of our strategies and on top of that it has Flashback 
, Exile X cards from your graveyard which can also be used to cast it again for more profit.
Treason of Isengard help us return an instant or sorcery spell from our graveyard on top of our library and has Amass Orcs 2 so it has great synergy with our deck.
Of course Sauron, Lord of the Rings fits greatly our theme since it has Amass Orcs 5. In addition on cast, we mill five cards and return a creature from our graveyard to the battlefield. Moreover with a body of 9/9 and Trample he is a huge threat. If all that were not enough, on opponent commander death, the Ring tempt us. Although expensive, he is a great value card!
Protection
Our commander Saruman, the White Hand provides Orcs and Goblns ward which is very strong against target removal.
Lazotep Plating let us and permenents we control gain hexproof at instant speed until end of turn and it combanies the excellent protection with Amass 1 so it has great synergy with our build.
Orcish Medicine is a cheap trick that let target creature gain either lifelink or indestructible until end of turn. It is a way to protect our Orc Army and it also has Amass Orcs 1 so we get Amass synergy too. Fits the flavor of the deck too!
Card Draw
Commence the Endgame let us draw two cards, then with Amass X where X is the number of cards in our hand. Great synergy and it comes at instant speed and it can’t be countered.
Sauron, the Dark Lord is a powerful card that is hard to remove (has Ward-Sacrifice a legendary artifact or creature), let as Amass Orcs 1 whenever an oppontnt casts a spell and whenever an army we control deals combat damage to a player, the Ring temps us. Moreover, whenever the Ring temps us, we may discard our hand and draw four cards. Overall, it is an amazing draw engine and has great synergy with Orc Armies. Our Dark Lord could not be something less.
Moria Scavenger has 
, Discard a card: Draw a card which is fine and if the descarded card was a creature card, then Amass Orcs 1. Overall a flexible card and combined with Deathtouch and haste has great utility.
Moria Marauder, although a Goblin, has Orc (and Goblin) tribal support since whenever an Orc (or Goblin) deals combat damage to a player, we can exile the top card of our library and play that card this turn. Because we are going both tall and wide, the impulse draw it offers can be significant.
Plargg and Nassari let us cast two free spells stolen from our opponents at the beginning of our upkeep, and casting spells with Saruman, the White Hand on the battlefield gives us also free Amass Orcs X. We can get amazing value from it and the protection Saruman offers helps it stay in the battlefild.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Assault on Osgiliath has both Amass Orcs and Orc (and Goblin) support, since it offers double strike and haste until end of turn. With enough creatures and a massive Orc Army, it can be a finisher move.
Fling and Kazuul’s Fury can be used to sacrifice our huge Orc Army to make a devastating hit. They can even hit creatures, but mostly they are used to be finishers and hit at instant speed the face of a player. Soul’s Fire does not require a sacrifice but has similar utility.
Port Razer can give us an extra combat phase whenever it deals damage to a player and untaps each creature we control. It is a great offensive tool and if we manage to get additional combat phases by hitting with it more players, it can even be a game finisher.
Gruesome Scourger on EtB deals damage to target opponent (or planeswalker) equal to the number of creatures we control. With a creature-heavy presence (which is quite possible in Orc tribal) it can become a finisher.
Isengard Unleashed is a great finisher and has amazing synergy with both our Orc Tribal theme and our spell support. We have various ways to give our Orcs Menace and/or Trample and every hit with triple damage can be devastating. Moreover, it has Flashback so it can be cast again and we can get multiple value. In addition, it synergizes with both our Fling variants and our damage and draining spells and it can be absolutely terrifying. Of course it greatly fits the flavor of the deck, since it really unleashes its power!
Other synergy pieces
Great Orcs
Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain has Army, Goblin and Orc support as it gives an additional +1/+1 counter whenever we put one +1/+1 counter on them. It has great synergy with Amass.
Orcish Siegemaster is a great Orc (and Goblin) support card since it offers other Orcs (and Goblins) trample, which is very important in our deck since it gives us a way to pass through the emeny defences with our Orc Army. His high toughness make him hard to remove and with trample and his last ability (Whenever Orcish Siegemaster attacks, it gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control) he can also become a huge threat.
Mer-Ek Nightblade has Outlast and gives each creature we control with +1/+1 counter on it, deathtouch. It gives all our Armies (max 2 Armies: Orc Army and Zombie Army) deathtouch, making even the smallest Army great for defence and we have no problem to sacrifice them, since we can easily create more with our build.
Uglúk of the White Hand gets a +1/+1 counter whenever another creature we control dies. If that creature was a Goblin or Orc, it gets +1/+1 counters on Uglúk instead, something that will happen very often on Orc tribal (we even run some Goblins too).
Dire Fleet Ravager has an aggro EtB as each player looses a third of their life, rounded up. It also has Menace and deathtouch which are always useful keywords. Because of our aggro strategy, it fits our deck and gives our fling spells a higher chance to become lethal.
Frenzied Saddlebrute is expensive for a mass haste effect, but it is an Orc, it has haste itself and also urges our opponents to attack each other as they also get haste against any other than us.
Warg Rider is an amazing card for Orc Tribal as it offers Menace to all our Orcs and Goblins which is a form of evasion. Evasion is very important for our Orc Army, which can be huge since Warg Rider has Amass Orcs 2 at the beggining of combat of our turn. Great tribal card and amazing art and flavor!
Other
Harmonic Prodigy has great synergy with Saruman, the White Hand since Saruman is a Wizard and as a result we get double triggers on Amass Orcs from our commander.
Grishnákh, Brash Instigator is a Goblin with EtB Amass Orcs 2 and after that we can gain control of target nonlegendary creature an opponent controls with power less than or equal to the amassed Army’s power. We untap that creature and it gains haste until end of turn. With our Amass Orc strategy, we should be able to steal anything. We could also fling it to the face if we feel evil enough.
Guttersnipe is a staple for spellslinger decks and Saruman can even help protecting it as it is a Goblin.
Corsairs of Umbar has great Orc (plus Goblin and Pirate) tribal support as with paying : Target Goblin, Orc, or Pirate can’t be blocked this turn. This is very useful on targeting our Orc Army which can easily become a huge threat. In addition, whenever Corsairs of Umbar deal combat damage to a player, we amass Orcs 3, so we get even Amass Orc support.
Gothmog, Morgul Lieutenant has Amass Orcs 1 on EtB and gives creature tokens we control deathtouch. Like Mer-Ek Nightblade it gives all our Armies (max 2 Armies: Orc Army and Zombie Army) deathtouch, making even the smallest Army great for defence and we have no problem to sacrifice them, since we can easily create more with our build.
Saruman the White has Ward so he may stick in the battlefield, and supports our spellslinger and Amass Orcs strategies since whenever we cast our second spell each turn, we amass Orcs 2. It is natural that with Saruman we can easily Amass a great Orc Army!
Ovika, Enigma Goliath has great synergy with our deck since it can generate massive amounts of 1/1 red Phyrexian Goblin creature tokens with our spellslinger strategy and that helps us go wide. Those tokens are Goblins so they are protected by Saruman, the White Hand and they gain haste. They can even benefit from Gothmog, Morgul Lieutenant and gain deathtouch. Great utility card!
Angrath, Captain of Chaos has Amass synergy but also gives our creatures Menace, which is always important in a creature-heavy deck and it has great synergy with our Armies since they need at least two creatures to be blocked.
Dreadhorde Invasion is a nice utility card that has great synergy with our Amass strategy since we lose 1 life and amass Zombies 1 at the beggining of our upkeep and can turn our Orc Army into a Zombie Orc Army that gains lifelink as long long as it has 6 power or greater.
March from the Black Gate is an enchantment that has on EtB and whenever an Army we control attacks, amass Orcs 1. Our build is aggresive so we expect to attack with our Armies and get value on each of our turns.
Book of Mazarbul has Amass synergy and on III it gives our creatures +1/+0 and Menace until end of turn, which might not be a finisher move, but helps a lot with our aggro strategy.
Ferocity of the Wilds gives all of our Orcs (and other non-Human creatures) +1/+0 and trample. Trample is very imporntant for our Armies, since they are part of our going tall strategy and need a way to bypass the enemy blockers.
Fiery Inscription is a nice way to drain enemies by casting instant and sorcery spells as they are delt 2 damage per cast. On EtB the Ring tempts us too which is a nice bonus.
Storm of Saruman is a great enchantment that can copy the second spell we cast each turn except the copy isn’t legendary and we may choose new targets for the copy. It even has build-in protection with Ward so it is hard to be removed.
Barad-dûr has 
,:Amas Orcs X as long as a creature died this turn. Nice Amass mana dump and it greatly fits our build.
Rogue’s Passage is great for making our Army unblockable and that could even prove lethal for our opponents.
Let’s see some more statistics about our deck. Some important info to care about is the mana curve and the card type distribution, as it can help us understand better our deck and may indicate where there is space for improving it.
Mana Curve
The mana curve seems very close to the average curve with only exception the more drops on 4 drop position and some less on 1 drop position.
Card Type Distribution
The Orc Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme with 30 creatures. Due to our spellslinger strategy Sorceries follow at 12, Instants at 10 and Enchantments at 7. Artifacts are low at 6, and Planeswalkers at 1. No Battles are present for the time.
Of course statistics and comparative analysis are great tools but they don’t always tell the whole truth, since many factors like synergy and combo pieces are hard to be measured numerically. For example in this deck, with all the deck build around Saruman, the White Hand and the massive amounts of Amass Orcs, the true potential of the deck is not reflected in statistics as our Orc Army benefits from both the Orc tribal part and the spellslinger and the Amass strategy part since they all collide.
Update v1 (The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release)
Update v2 (Bloomburrow)
Now you can buy the whole deck list with a click of a button!
Great news! Now you can buy the best custom Orc Army tokens made by Mystic Tokens to accompany your Orc Tribal deck! Moreover, there are special themed Treasure Tokens that will make your treasures feel epic! Buy now on Cardmarket at a special price!
If you liked the deck, don’t forget to revisit the article after every major new release as I will try to keep my decks updated and examine any potential upgrades. If you want to keep being updated, you can follow mtgbudgetcommander.com on social media (facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, linkedin, reddit, tumblr, medium).
If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.
Always love your decks and your deep-analysis!
Thank you for your words my friend, your support is much appreciated!