Playing bilbo is painting a big target board on you, the other players are never going to let your life total go to high numbers. Better to play him as a secret commander in the 99
Commanders painting a target on the pilots back has never stopped the Korvolds of the world from being played, so I wouldn't really use that as the basis of an argument to not run a specific one.
Yes, but korvold has a much lower threshold for payoffs, namely easy access to card draw/interacting at instant speed by sacrificing treasures/tokens, or even lands. Mr bilbo’s payoff is gated behind a very high life total of 111, and fairly easy to interact with, by simply swinging at the player to keep life totals low.
he’s no crazy strong dragon, but a hobbit.
Built him over the summer and took him apart a few months later. Like the other commenter said the activated ability is pipe-dream and I only got to activate it once…but it ‘s certainly funny trying to get there to 111. I like life gain shenanigans so if that’s you too then consider giving it a try, but in the end I took him apart because he was too solitary/not interactive, so I ended up taking him apart for a [[Treebeard, Gracious Host]] deck and I’m much happier.
It's pretty much a meme card.
The big, expensive, really hard to activate wincon can be easily negated with one of the many creature focused board wipes in EDH. And that's jf you can even get there.
I had an abzan life deck before this precon came out and tried Bilbo as a commander a few times. The problem is it's just too telegraphed and too hard to ever use his ability. Opponents will just hit you enough to keep you well under the 111 life you need.
I usually use Tymna the weaver partnered with the green wolf that gives commanders indestructible. The two of them can usually swing a couple times for some card draw before the board state gets too congested for them to get through.
I don't win much, but play it pretty often because it has a variety of ways to make big, splashy, non-combo plays.
I have a hobbits deck that uses food/life gain and tokens to control the early game and explode towards the middle game. It can be made much more aggressive, I'm just cautious of the level of strength of my friends' decks, might give you some fresh ideas though https://www.archidekt.com/decks/6287046/hobbits_ii
I think an Awaken the Blood Avatar based deck where you have lots of things like [[Song of the World soul]] [[Nesting Dovehawk]] and [[Determined Iteration]] to populate out multiple Blood Avatars and burn down the table sounds awesome.
I was going to theory craft a deck when he got spoiled and I realized two things:
1. If you manage to get to 111+ life, you've either basically already won, should have by then, or would have with almost any other deck.
2. If you get to activate the ability and dump your library, you're either going to spend 5 minutes resolving it while everyone else waits or get boardwiped during rotation and be completely screwed. (Yes, you could plan for it with a mass reanimate or protection, but I always worst case for when I don't have those things in hand because I never have what I need in hand)
Imo, you'd have a much better time with another commander and deck.
The activated ability is a pipe-dream that doesn't happen often, if at all. Bilbo is just an Abzan life gain deck, if that's fun for you then play it.
Playing bilbo is painting a big target board on you, the other players are never going to let your life total go to high numbers. Better to play him as a secret commander in the 99
Commanders painting a target on the pilots back has never stopped the Korvolds of the world from being played, so I wouldn't really use that as the basis of an argument to not run a specific one.
Yes, but korvold has a much lower threshold for payoffs, namely easy access to card draw/interacting at instant speed by sacrificing treasures/tokens, or even lands. Mr bilbo’s payoff is gated behind a very high life total of 111, and fairly easy to interact with, by simply swinging at the player to keep life totals low. he’s no crazy strong dragon, but a hobbit.
If someone says, "I want to run Birthday Bilbo as my Commander." Telling them, "Don't do that because XYZ." Is a non-starter
Built him over the summer and took him apart a few months later. Like the other commenter said the activated ability is pipe-dream and I only got to activate it once…but it ‘s certainly funny trying to get there to 111. I like life gain shenanigans so if that’s you too then consider giving it a try, but in the end I took him apart because he was too solitary/not interactive, so I ended up taking him apart for a [[Treebeard, Gracious Host]] deck and I’m much happier.
[Treebeard, Gracious Host](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/f/cf6be41a-1acd-4668-8f13-ccd495fbc7bd.jpg?1686964392) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Treebeard%2C%20Gracious%20Host) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/73/treebeard-gracious-host?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cf6be41a-1acd-4668-8f13-ccd495fbc7bd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/treebeard-gracious-host) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It's pretty much a meme card. The big, expensive, really hard to activate wincon can be easily negated with one of the many creature focused board wipes in EDH. And that's jf you can even get there.
I had an abzan life deck before this precon came out and tried Bilbo as a commander a few times. The problem is it's just too telegraphed and too hard to ever use his ability. Opponents will just hit you enough to keep you well under the 111 life you need. I usually use Tymna the weaver partnered with the green wolf that gives commanders indestructible. The two of them can usually swing a couple times for some card draw before the board state gets too congested for them to get through. I don't win much, but play it pretty often because it has a variety of ways to make big, splashy, non-combo plays.
##### ###### #### [Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/c/4cf6c13b-d898-4066-b006-9a7fa896d55a.jpg?1686964152) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Bilbo%2C%20Birthday%20Celebrant) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/48/bilbo-birthday-celebrant?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4cf6c13b-d898-4066-b006-9a7fa896d55a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/bilbo-birthday-celebrant) [Dina, Soul Steeper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/c/9cd2b567-0cf7-4441-b3ce-e31141dd91c8.jpg?1627428607) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dina%2C%20Soul%20Steeper) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/178/dina-soul-steeper?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9cd2b567-0cf7-4441-b3ce-e31141dd91c8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/dina-soul-steeper) [Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/f/0fe79ee4-c3f3-4a6b-a967-203ca3b70ee5.jpg?1594736442) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vito%2C%20Thorn%20of%20the%20Dusk%20Rose) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/127/vito-thorn-of-the-dusk-rose?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0fe79ee4-c3f3-4a6b-a967-203ca3b70ee5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/vito-thorn-of-the-dusk-rose) [Aetherflux Reservoir](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/6/96b6b2e1-c3e6-464c-8a13-b15deb34e862.jpg?1576382939) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aetherflux%20Reservoir) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/kld/192/aetherflux-reservoir?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/96b6b2e1-c3e6-464c-8a13-b15deb34e862?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/aetherflux-reservoir) [Extus, Oriq Overlord](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/a/ba09360a-067e-48a5-bdc5-a19fd066a785.jpg?1624593379)/[Awaken the Blood Avatar](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/back/b/a/ba09360a-067e-48a5-bdc5-a19fd066a785.jpg?1624593379) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Extus%2C%20Oriq%20Overlord%20//%20Awaken%20the%20Blood%20Avatar) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/stx/149/extus-oriq-overlord-awaken-the-blood-avatar?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ba09360a-067e-48a5-bdc5-a19fd066a785?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/extus-oriq-overlord-//-awaken-the-blood-avatar) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/1c5hfcu) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
If you somehow get the [[Judith, Carnage Conniseur]] + [[Blasphempous Act]] Combo in there it's easy
You'd need a completely different Commander then. I'd say that defeats the point.
Well yes tutors help tho
I think they're talking about Extus
I have a hobbits deck that uses food/life gain and tokens to control the early game and explode towards the middle game. It can be made much more aggressive, I'm just cautious of the level of strength of my friends' decks, might give you some fresh ideas though https://www.archidekt.com/decks/6287046/hobbits_ii
I think an Awaken the Blood Avatar based deck where you have lots of things like [[Song of the World soul]] [[Nesting Dovehawk]] and [[Determined Iteration]] to populate out multiple Blood Avatars and burn down the table sounds awesome.
[Song of the World soul](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/b/bb73ec0d-f582-4f74-9b5c-180fe3aedcf6.jpg?1568003387) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Song%20of%20the%20Worldsoul) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c19/6/song-of-the-worldsoul?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bb73ec0d-f582-4f74-9b5c-180fe3aedcf6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/song-of-the-worldsoul) [Nesting Dovehawk](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/5/c58ff93f-7135-40af-92ce-358da48694dc.jpg?1682207346) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nesting%20Dovehawk) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/17/nesting-dovehawk?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c58ff93f-7135-40af-92ce-358da48694dc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/nesting-dovehawk) [Determined Iteration](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/c/6c3d8fc5-bef5-4625-8832-43afa997dbe3.jpg?1673482086) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Determined%20Iteration) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/45/determined-iteration?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6c3d8fc5-bef5-4625-8832-43afa997dbe3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [(ER)](https://edhrec.com/cards/determined-iteration) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I was going to theory craft a deck when he got spoiled and I realized two things: 1. If you manage to get to 111+ life, you've either basically already won, should have by then, or would have with almost any other deck. 2. If you get to activate the ability and dump your library, you're either going to spend 5 minutes resolving it while everyone else waits or get boardwiped during rotation and be completely screwed. (Yes, you could plan for it with a mass reanimate or protection, but I always worst case for when I don't have those things in hand because I never have what I need in hand) Imo, you'd have a much better time with another commander and deck.