Riders of Rohan precon upgrade guide

Three of the 31 other creatures in this box aren't Humans, and Éowyn's trigger only counts Humans.

Éowyn, Shieldmaiden costs {2}{U}{R}{W}. When your beginning-of-combat step starts she makes two 2/2 Knights with trample and haste, but only if another Human entered under your control that turn, and then she draws you a card if you control six or more Humans. The box's three non-Humans are Gimli of the Glittering Caves, Grey Host Reinforcements and Dearly Departed. Each is a fine card on its own, and none of them is a Human to count. The upgrade makes all 33 creatures Humans, and it gives the deck more ways to put one on the battlefield before combat.

The mana is the second finding. She needs all three colors, and the box has 20 red and 20 blue sources against the 24 the calculator wants for a one-pip spell on turn two. Four of the 38 lands always enter tapped. Three shocklands move it part of the way for $26.94, and they're the part of the list I'd buy last.

What are the best Riders of Rohan upgrades?

Draw first, then Humans, then the mana. Prices are October 2026 market prices at the cheapest released printing, which can be a promo.

1. Mentor of the Meek ($0.18). Whenever another creature with power 2 or less enters, pay {1} to draw a card. Both of Éowyn's Knights are 2/2 and every Human token the box makes is 1/1 or 2/2, so one combat trigger can draw you two cards for {2}, on top of the one she draws.
2. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar ($2.55) and Hanweir Garrison ($1.72). Each makes Human tokens that enter attacking, one per opponent for Adeline and two for the Garrison. They arrive too late for that turn's Éowyn trigger, but they count toward the six Humans on the next one.
3. Skullclamp ($4.90). Equip {1} gives +1/-1, so a 1/1 Human token dies at once and draws two cards. The box makes five of them with Increasing Devotion.
4. Thalia's Lieutenant ($0.48), Hero of Bladehold ($0.60) and Mind Stone ($0.21). A two-drop Human that puts a counter on every other Human, a four-drop Human with battle cry, and the seventh mana rock. Details are in the cuts.
5. Hallowed Fountain ($6.90), Sacred Foundry ($10.28) and Steam Vents ($9.76). Argued in the mana section. All three are reprinted in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, so wait if you can.

Seven spells out, and three of them were never Humans

Dearly Departed is a 5/5 flier for {4}{W}{W}, and it's a Spirit. Its real text works from the graveyard, where each Human you control enters with an extra +1/+1 counter. The box has no discard outlet and nothing that sacrifices another creature, so it reaches the graveyard by dying, after you've paid six mana for it. Grey Host Reinforcements is a 1/1 Spirit Soldier with flying and ward {3} that grows by the number of creature cards it exiles from a graveyard, and Gimli is a Dwarf with double strike for {2}{R}. None of the three lights Éowyn.

Four more go because of what they cost for what they do. Call for Aid takes every creature an opponent controls until end of turn, but it bars you from attacking that player that turn, and it's {4}{R} for a one-turn effect. Taunt from the Rampart goads every opposing creature and keeps them from blocking until your next turn, and it's another five-drop sorcery that adds nothing to the board. Flamerush Rider copies an attacking creature for a combat, and its {2}{R}{R} dash asks for double red in a deck with 20 red sources. Heirloom Blade gives +3/+1 for equip {1} to one creature, which is fine, but Crown of Gondor already covers the equipment slot and can make you the monarch too.

The curve is where this shows. Cards costing five or more fall from 14 to 10, and the average mana value from 3.31 to 3.1.

The seven that come in, and what each does for the trigger

Thalia's Lieutenant is a two-mana Human that puts a +1/+1 counter on each other Human when it enters and another on itself each time a Human follows it. Cast in your first main phase, it lights Éowyn like any Human, and the counters make every later arrival bigger. Hero of Bladehold is a Human Knight that attacks as a 3/4 with battle cry. Its two tokens are Soldiers, though, so they don't count toward the six. Mentor of the Meek costs {1} per card on top of its own mana, and in return every Knight Éowyn makes can draw a card.

The attacking-token makers have one limit to know about. Windbrisk Heights asks whether you attacked with three or more creatures, and a ruling says a token that entered attacking doesn't count, because you never declared it as an attacker. They still fire every "whenever a Human enters" ability in the box, which is the next section.

Two tapped lands out, three shocklands in

The tapped lands that leave are Tranquil Cove and Wind-Scarred Crag, which gain you 1 life each. The Cove makes blue or white and the Crag red or white. Hallowed Fountain and Sacred Foundry make the same colors as the two lands they replace, and they enter untapped if you pay 2 life. Steam Vents takes a Plains' slot and makes the blue and red the box is short of. White drops from 29 sources to 28 and stays comfortable for single {W}, but the {W}{W} check by turn three slips from 80.4% to 78.5%, which is the cost of the Plains. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Hero of Bladehold join the double-white cards and Dearly Departed leaves them, so the list of spells wanting {W}{W} goes from 7 to 8.

The gains are in the colors that were short. Red and blue go from 20 sources to 21, so the chance of a one-pip spell on turn two goes from 84.8% to 86.3% in each, and {R}{R} for Court of Ire by turn five goes from 70% to 72.9%. That's not a solved mana base, since the calculator wants 24 sources for the turn-two check. Always-tapped lands fall from four to two, Windbrisk Heights and Path of Ancestry, and I kept both. The Heights is a hideaway land for a wide board, and the Path makes any of the three colors and scries when the mana pays for a Human.

I left Exotic Orchard in. It only makes colors an opponent's land could make, but the report counts it as a source of all three, and cutting it instead of the Plains left red and blue at 20 with white no better. Secluded Courtyard stays too. Name Human on it and it makes any color for a Human spell.

What the Humans set off when they arrive

Four cards in the box trigger on a Human entering: Beregond of the Guard (+1/+1 and vigilance to your team until end of turn), Lossarnach Captain (tap target creature an opponent controls), Erkenbrand, Lord of Westfold (+1/+0 to your team) and Théoden (double strike on a target creature). Éowyn's two Knights enter together at the beginning of combat, so with all four out, one trigger taps two blockers, adds +2/+2 and +2/+0 to the team and gives double strike to two creatures, before anyone is declared as an attacker. The Knights have haste, so they join in.

The nearest thing to a guaranteed trigger is Lossarnach Captain himself, who makes a 1/1 Human Soldier at the beginning of your upkeep. That token has entered before combat on every turn he survives, and it's a Human for her count as well. Combat Celebrant is the other piece worth knowing. If you exert it as it attacks, it untaps your other creatures and gives you an extra combat phase, and every combat phase starts with a beginning-of-combat step. No ruling covers it, but the extra step should check her condition again, and a Human entered this turn is still true. That would be two pairs of Knights in a turn and a second draw if you hold six Humans.

Counting to six is less work than it looks. Éowyn is a Human Knight, and her own two Knights are created before the count, so you need three more. 33 of the upgraded deck's 33 creatures are Humans, and the box already makes tokens that are Humans with Increasing Devotion (five), Visions of Glory (one per creature you control), Forth Eorlingas!, Oath of Eorl and Riders of Rohan.

Thirteen monarch cards stay, and so does the wrath

Thirteen cards in the box can make you the monarch, and I cut none of them: Aragorn, King of Gondor, Archivist of Gondor, Champions of Minas Tirith, Court of Ire, Crown of Gondor, Denethor, Éomer, King of Rohan, Faramir, Steward of Gondor, Fealty to the Realm, Forth Eorlingas!, Oath of Eorl, Palace Jailer and Throne of the High City. That's why only two of the adds are draw engines. Four of them have conditions: Archivist of Gondor and Crown of Gondor need no current monarch, Faramir a legendary creature with mana value 4 or more, and Forth Eorlingas! combat damage to a player.

The monarchy only draws while you keep it, because any creature that deals combat damage to the monarch takes it. Champions of Minas Tirith looks like a cut at six mana, and it stays because it guards the thing the other twelve are building. It's a 4/6 that makes each opponent pay {X}, equal to the cards in their hand, before they can attack you while you're the monarch. Fealty to the Realm costs five and is an Aura, but it makes you the monarch and hands the monarch control of the creature it enchants, which must attack each combat and can't attack you.

Supreme Verdict and Earthquake look wrong in a deck that wants a wide board. Verdict destroys every creature and can't be countered. Earthquake deals X to each creature without flying and each player, which includes your Humans. I kept both as the reset for a game that has already gone wrong. Verdict takes your own creatures with it, Éowyn included, so I'd pull it out only when your board is the one losing.

Which creature type to name

Four cards in the box ask for a type: Door of Destinies, Vanquisher's Banner, Herald's Horn and Secluded Courtyard. Name Human on all four. After the swaps every creature is a Human, so there's no trade, and the next-largest type is Soldier with 10, which would miss the commander herself. Vanquisher's Banner draws a card whenever you cast a Human creature spell, and the tokens don't count because they aren't cast. Herald's Horn takes {1} off generic mana in each Human spell and sometimes hands you the top card of your library at upkeep.

Five cards I passed on, with prices

Anointed Procession ($60.63) is the card I most wanted to add. It doubles every token you create, so Éowyn's two Knights become four and Increasing Devotion makes ten. It's not a Game Changer, and it's two thirds of the box's $91.70 on one enchantment, so it sits at the end of the buying order. Esper Sentinel ($57.28) is a Human one-drop that draws you a card whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, unless they pay, and the price is the only reason it's out. Rhystic Study ($65.20) is a Game Changer, and it would move the deck into Bracket 3.

Cathars' Crusade ($4.51) is cheap enough that its absence needs a reason. It puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control whenever a creature enters, which is two counters on everything each time Éowyn triggers, but it's another five-mana enchantment right after I trimmed five-drops. If you'd rather play one more, it's the one I'd try first. Raugrin Triome ($15.63) makes all three colors and enters tapped.

Thirty-three Humans out of thirty-three creatures

The deck stays at 38 lands. Creatures go from 32 to 33 counting Éowyn, and the ones that are Humans go from 29 of 32 to 33 of 33. Mana value falls from 3.31 to 3.1. Sources of red, blue and white go from 20, 20 and 29 to 21, 21 and 28. Bracket 1 stays the floor, because all ten adds are free of Game Changers. The adds cost $37.58 in all, and $26.94 of it is the three shocklands.

The upgraded decklist

Éowyn and the 99 with all ten swaps made, sorted by card type. Hovering any name shows the card.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist Playtest the upgraded deck

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

FAQ

Do the tokens from Adeline or Hanweir Garrison set off Éowyn?

Not on the turn they arrive. They enter after attackers are declared, which is after the beginning of combat where her condition is checked, so they can't be the Human that entered this turn. They do count among the six Humans she wants when she resolves, so next turn's trigger finds them already on the table.

Can Combat Celebrant give me a second Éowyn trigger in one turn?

It should. Exert it as it attacks and you get an extra combat phase, every combat phase begins with a beginning-of-combat step, and her condition (another Human entered under your control this turn) is still true. No ruling on either card spells it out, so treat it as my reading of the rules. If it holds, that's two Knights more and a second card if you control six Humans.

What do the ten Riders of Rohan swaps cost?

$37.58 at the cheapest released printing of each card, in October 2026 prices. The three shocklands are $26.94 of it, and the other seven cards are $10.64 together. If you only buy the seven, you get the Human count and the draw, and the mana stays as the box shipped it.

Do Hero of Bladehold's Soldier tokens count as Humans for Éowyn?

No. Hero of Bladehold is a Human Knight, so casting it before combat lights her, but its two attacking tokens are 1/1 Soldiers. They don't count toward the six Humans, and they enter after her condition is checked anyway.

Is Dearly Departed worth keeping for its Human counters?

Only if you want a 5/5 flier for six. Its counters work from the graveyard, and nothing in the box discards a card or sacrifices another creature, so it gets there by dying after you've paid for it. It's also a Spirit, so it never lights Éowyn.

Which creature type do I name for Door of Destinies and Vanquisher's Banner?

Human. After the swaps all 33 creatures are Humans, and Soldier, the next-largest type, has 10 and misses Éowyn herself. Vanquisher's Banner then draws a card whenever you cast a Human creature spell, though not for tokens, which are never cast.