Top Commander Decks Featuring Great Hall of the Citadel

In TCG ·

Great Hall of the Citadel card art from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Why Great Hall of the Citadel Shines in Legendary-Spell EDH

If you’re planning a commander table that hums with color, texture, and a hint of Middle-earth lore, Great Hall of the Citadel is the kind of cornerstone you circle on your mana-fix map 🧙‍♂️. This land from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth isn’t flashy in the traditional sense—no colored mana rocks popping off the battlefield, no tectonic mana dumps—but it carves out a very specific and incredibly satisfying lane: you get unlimited potential to fuel legendary spells across colors. Its ability to tap for colorless, plus the special mode that grants two mana in any combination of colors when you pay one, and only to cast legendary spells, invites a deck built around a singular, flavorful constraint: cast big legends, faster and smoother than your average five-color ramp folio 🔥.

What makes this land particularly tasty for EDH is its set identity. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth frames legendary beings and moments in a way that begs for multi-colored, superpowered finales. Great Hall’s text—“{T}: Add {C}. {1}, {T}: Add two mana in any combination of colors. Spend this mana only to cast legendary spells.”—turns mana into a strategic constraint rather than a mere resource. It’s a clever, design-forward balance: you’re not ramping into any spell; you’re unlocking the ability to accelerate toward legendary spell plays that define the deck’s trajectory 🧩. And with the card’s flavor text from Bilbo, “Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king,” the synergy feels like a narrative invitation to a table where epic legends crown themselves at the right moment 🎨.

From a gameplay perspective, this land is a permission slip for big, colorful dreams. In practice, you’ll see Great Hall slotted into decks that want to lean into “legendary matters” or overflow with legendary spells that bend the game toward a climactic finish. The lack of mana-cost restrictions on the Hall’s bypassed colors means you can, in theory, cast legendary spells across any color identity you’re piloting. The upside is legibility and fluidity at the table; the potential challenge is building a reliable mana base that can fix five colors and still work with your other spells. It rewards thoughtful land drops, not just raw acceleration 🧭.

“Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king.” — Bilbo

To the modern EDH player, that line isn’t merely flavor; it’s a reminder that you can rebuild a boardstate around a decisive, legendary surge. A common EDHREC footprint around Great Hall—rank around 1,600-something in the general EDH ecosystem—speaks to its niche appeal: not the first pick for a kitchen-table five-color monster, but a sly, reliable accelerator for legends that want to close out games with style. And given its colorless production can morph into multicolor fissures, you’ll often see five-color identity commanders or green-inclusive builds leveraging the Hall to push late-game spells that require every color in your wheel 🎯.

Designer-wise, Great Hall artfully bridges flavor with function. Campbell White’s illustration anchors the theme with a stark, majestic presence. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set itself is a six-color experiment in crossovers, and Great Hall fits neatly into a storytelling framework that invites players to imagine a citadel where every color of the spectrum is a doorway to a legendary moment. The card’s common rarity helps it appear in casual circles, while its utility remains a talking point in more competitive circles. The practical takeaway? If you like the idea of paying one mana to unlock five-color potential, you’ll likely slot Great Hall into several of your commander lists this year 🏰💎.

Two practical deck-building directions

  • Five-color legendary-spell ramp — Build a deck whose commander and supporting cards demand access to every color, and use Great Hall to power big, legendary finishers. Prioritize fixing, tutors for legends, and protection that keeps you from being blown out before you land the final blow. Your curve will be deliberate; your finish will feel cinematic 🧙‍♂️🎲.
  • Legendary-spell tribal with a splash of control — Pair Great Hall with a commander that thrives on casting multiple legends, while adding a splash of countermagic and utility spells. The Hall’s mana flexibility pairs nicely with tempo turns and value plays, letting you pivot from ramp into a hard-hitting legendary period that ends games with a flourish ⚔️💎.

Beyond raw numbers, this land invites you to rethink mana as a story device. In a world of legendary creatures that stand tall on the battlefield, having the right mana at the right moment is like having a plot twist you control. The Hall doesn’t just accelerate; it centers the narrative around the power of legends, a theme many players find irresistibly thematic and nostalgically satisfying 🧙‍♂️.

As you shuffle toward your next table, imagine the chair-side desk setup that keeps your strategy legible and your game plan calm. A trusty desk stand or simple accessories can help you stay organized while you map out your legendary turns—the kind of practical detail that makes a long game feel effortless. On that note, a quick plug: a sturdy phone stand keeps your notes and sideboard right at hand, so you can stay sharp as you plan the ultimate Hall-fueled finish—modern convenience meets mythical flavor 🔥.

Phone Stand for Smartphones 2-Piece Wobble Free Desk Decor

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Great Hall of the Citadel

Great Hall of the Citadel

Land

{T}: Add {C}.

{1}, {T}: Add two mana in any combination of colors. Spend this mana only to cast legendary spells.

"Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king." —Bilbo

ID: 219c7b57-b62b-42d1-85d9-4b57624a3f54

Oracle ID: b3e28bcf-0ed0-4406-b615-68ddc55b349a

Multiverse IDs: 617084

TCGPlayer ID: 499027

Cardmarket ID: 717027

Colors:

Color Identity:

Keywords:

Rarity: Common

Released: 2023-06-23

Artist: Campbell White

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 1650

Penny Rank: 1360

Set: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (ltr)

Collector #: 254

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — legal
  • Timeless — legal
  • Gladiator — legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — not_legal

Prices

  • USD: 0.18
  • USD_FOIL: 0.28
  • EUR: 0.22
  • EUR_FOIL: 0.44
  • TIX: 0.03
Last updated: 2025-11-16