Commander blueprint · The Hobbit

How to build Beorn the Fierce

Beorn the Fierce makes one of your creatures a Bear at every combat, and nothing on the card ever turns it back. This build treats the Bear count as a number that only climbs, and spends each trigger on the creature most worth adding to it.

Art by Nia Kovalevski

A creature Beorn turns into a Bear stays a Bear

The trigger's second sentence says the creature becomes a Bear and gives no end point, and an effect with no stated duration lasts for the rest of the game. So the type sticks after Beorn has gone, and the trample counter does too, because counters stay on a permanent until something removes them. Only the +2/+2 needs Beorn on the battlefield. If he is destroyed, the Bears you made are still Bears, and when you recast him from the command zone the bonus returns to all of them at once and the next combat can draw straight away.

What does reset a conversion is the creature leaving. A converted creature that dies, returns to hand or is flickered comes back as a new object with only its printed types, so it has to be converted again. That is the case for spending the early triggers on creatures that stay put. Ohran Frostfang, Tireless Tracker and Beast Whisperer are worth a trigger. Sakura-Tribe Elder, which sacrifices itself for a land, is not.

Cast him before combat, even though he cannot attack that turn

The trigger needs Beorn on the battlefield when combat begins, not able to attack. Cast in your first main phase, he converts a creature that same turn, and if you already had one other Bear the count reaches three and you draw two before he has swung once. Cast after combat, the first trigger waits a full round. So on the turn he comes down, play him first and attack with whatever else can.

Two rules decide where to point it. The trigger says up to one target, so on a turn with nothing worth converting you can choose no target, and the check for three Bears still happens. If you do choose a creature and an opponent removes it in response, the trigger has lost its only target and does nothing at all, the two cards included. When the conversion is what brings you to three, aim it at the creature an opponent is least likely to spend removal on.

Roaming Throne named Bear doubles every Bear's triggers, Beorn's first

Roaming Throne is a four mana artifact creature. As it enters you name a creature type and it becomes that type as well, and from then on, whenever another creature of yours with that type has an ability trigger, it triggers one extra time. Name Bear and Beorn's combat trigger resolves twice. Two creatures become Bears each turn, each copy checks for three Bears separately, and with the count in place that is four cards a turn rather than two.

It doubles every Bear's triggers, which is the best reason to convert creatures that have them. Ohran Frostfang gives your attackers deathtouch and draws a card whenever one of your creatures deals combat damage to a player, and once it is a Bear each of those draws comes twice. Deathtouch beside a trample counter also means a blocker soaks up a single point and the rest goes through. Beast Whisperer draws two for each creature spell. The Earth King fetches a basic land for each big attacker, and twice that once converted. Elder Gargaroth gets two of its three modes every time it attacks or blocks. The printed Bears get the same treatment without a trigger spent on them: Ayula, Queen Among Bears chooses twice when another Bear enters, Owlbear draws two, Lumra, Bellow of the Woods mills and returns lands twice, and Surrak and Goreclaw gives each nontoken creature two +1/+1 counters.

Maskwood Nexus makes the Bear cards work on every creature

Beorn converts one creature a turn, two with the Throne. Maskwood Nexus does every creature at once. It is a four mana artifact that makes the creatures you control every creature type, along with the creature spells you cast and the creature cards in your hand, library and graveyard. With it out any three creatures make the draw, the +2/+2 covers the whole board, and the Bear cards in the list stop caring what anything was printed as. On a turn with nothing better to do, three mana and a tap on the Nexus make a 2/2 Shapeshifter token with changeling, which is a 4/4 Bear while Beorn is out.

Those cards are the reason to play it. Herald's Horn takes one mana off each creature spell and Vanquisher's Banner draws a card for each, where without the Nexus they only see the seventeen Bear cards. Path of Ancestry scries whenever its mana pays for a creature. Three Tree City named Bear turns two mana into a green for every creature you control. Kindred Summons counts your creatures and puts that many creature cards from the top of the library onto the battlefield at instant speed, and Celestial Reunion puts whatever creature it finds straight onto the battlefield once you can behold two, which with the Nexus means any two. Ayula, Queen Among Bears triggers on every creature that enters, not only on Bears.

A 2/2 Bear enters as a 4/4, and the power-four cards see it

Beorn's bonus applies the instant a Bear is on the battlefield, so the abilities that check power as a creature enters see the bigger number. Wilson, Refined Grizzly arrives as a 4/4 with reach, vigilance, trample and ward. Garruk's Uprising draws for each creature that enters with power 4 or more, which with Beorn out is nearly every Bear in the deck. The Earth King's land search and the attack trigger on Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma both look for power 4 or more as well.

Goreclaw's discount is the exception. It reads the creature spell on the stack, and a spell is not yet a Bear you control, so a 2/2 Bear costs full price however large it is about to be. The discount still takes two off Beorn himself, Surrak and Goreclaw, Elder Gargaroth, Evercoat Ursine and the other creatures printed with power 4 or more.

The core list

Beorn and ninety nine more. Bought at the lowest price each card sells for in paper, the list costs $471, and none of it is a Game Changer. Each name in the list opens its card when you point at it.

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The budget rung swaps the multipliers for more Bears

Ten swaps bring the list down to $141 from the core's $471. What it gives up is the pair of cards that multiply Beorn's work, Roaming Throne and Three Tree City, along with Green Sun's Zenith and Finale of Devastation, two of the three tutors. It pays with Bears. Mother Bear, Striped Bears, Bosco, Just a Bear and Beorn, Reluctant Host come in, so this version has twenty Bear cards where the core has seventeen, and the three Bears for the draw arrive sooner.

Each of the new Bears is bigger than its printing suggests. Striped Bears is a 4/4 that draws a card with Beorn out, and Mother Bear is a 4/4 for two that, once it has died, can be exiled from the graveyard for two more Bears. Beorn, Reluctant Host is a 7/7 trampler beside the commander, and its Adventure half gives you an extra land drop first. Maskwood Nexus and Kindred Summons both stay, since neither costs much, so the late game still has its big turn. Craterhoof Behemoth becomes End-Raze Forerunners, a flat +2/+2 with vigilance and trample for the team instead of a bonus that grows with the board.

At bracket 4 the tutors go looking for Roaming Throne

Seven swaps take the list to bracket 4, at $831 and with five Game Changers. Roaming Throne is an artifact creature, and Green Sun's Zenith and Natural Order only find green creatures, so neither can fetch it. Finale of Devastation can, and the rung adds three more cards that do. Worldly Tutor puts it on top of your library at instant speed. Eldritch Evolution sacrifices any creature with mana value 2 or more and puts the Throne onto the battlefield. Chord of Calling does the same with X at four, and creatures you tap can pay for it. Natural Order goes for the other half of the plan, trading a converted mana creature for Craterhoof Behemoth.

Ancient Tomb and Mana Vault are there to cast Beorn a turn or two early, and The One Ring adds a growing stack of cards to the two or four he draws each turn, while its protection covers the turn you cast it. The card left out is Gaea's Cradle, which would make more mana in this deck than in almost any other and costs more on its own than this whole rung. Three Tree City named Bear does a smaller version of its job for a fraction of the price. At this rung the deck is fast and finds its finisher on demand, which is the point where a casual table stops enjoying the seat across from it.

FAQ

Does a creature stay a Bear after Beorn the Fierce leaves the battlefield?

Yes. The trigger makes it a Bear with no end date, so it stays one for as long as it stays on the battlefield, and it keeps its trample counter. Only the +2/+2 leaves with Beorn, and it comes back for every Bear the moment he returns.

Does Beorn the Fierce count as one of the three Bears?

Yes. His type line reads Bear Shapeshifter Warrior, so you need two other Bears when the trigger resolves, and the creature that same trigger has just converted is allowed to be one of them.

Do changelings count as Bears for Beorn the Fierce?

Yes. Changeling means the card is every creature type, so Realmwalker, Masked Vandal, Chomping Changeling, Mutable Explorer and Chameleon Colossus all count toward the three and all get the +2/+2. Realmwalker named Bear also lets you cast Bears off the top of your library.

What happens if the creature Beorn the Fierce targets is removed?

The trigger does nothing, the draw included. It had one target and that target is gone, so the ability does not resolve at all. If you already control three Bears and the cards matter more than the conversion, choose no target, which the card allows because it says up to one.

Is Beorn the Fierce the same card as Beorn, Reluctant Host?

No, though both come from The Hobbit and both are legendary Bears. Beorn, Reluctant Host is a 5/5 Human Bear Shapeshifter with trample for five, and its Adventure, Till and Tend, gives you an extra land drop. The two have different names, so both can be on the battlefield together, and the budget rung plays Reluctant Host in the ninety nine.

What creature type should Roaming Throne name in a Beorn the Fierce deck?

Bear. That doubles Beorn's combat trigger, so two creatures convert each turn and you can draw four cards, and it doubles the triggers of every other Bear, including each creature he has already converted. The Throne becomes a Bear itself, so it counts toward the three as well.

What bracket is this Beorn the Fierce deck?

Bracket 3 by intent, though no card in it sets a floor. Nothing in the ninety nine is a Game Changer. Craterhoof Behemoth and three tutors are what lift it past a 2: Green Sun's Zenith, Finale of Devastation and Celestial Reunion. The budget rung cuts Craterhoof and two of the tutors, and the bracket 4 rung adds five Game Changers, which puts its floor at 4.

How much does a Beorn the Fierce deck cost?

$471 as listed, buying the cheapest paper printing of every card, and just over half of that is six cards: The Great Henge, Roaming Throne, Boseiju, Who Endures, Finale of Devastation, Green Sun's Zenith and Three Tree City. The budget rung cuts all six and costs $141, and the bracket 4 rung costs $831.