Deceive the Messenger
- Mana cost
- {U}
- Type
- Instant
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth #47 (common)
- Price
- $0.15 USD
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.
Amass Orcs 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter 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.)
Deceive the Messenger has 2 printings, first in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (2023). EDHREC ranks it #14,269 among Commander cards. It appears most in Sauron, the Dark Lord decks (2,806 on EDHREC). It has 7 official rulings.
Legality
- commander: legal
- legacy: legal
- vintage: legal
- pauper: legal
- modern: legal
- pioneer: not legal
- standard: not legal
- brawl: legal
Commanders that run Deceive the Messenger most
Deck counts from EDHREC.
- Sauron, the Dark Lord: 2,806 decks
- Saruman, the White Hand: 1,419 decks
- Jalira, Master Polymorphist: 403 decks
- The Mouth of Sauron: 61 decks
- Saruman the White: 61 decks
- Bilbo Baggins, Burglar // Take a Glance: 3 decks
- Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards
- Wasp, Shrinking Savior
Often played with Deceive the Messenger
Cards that show up in the same decks on EDHREC.
Rulings
- : Some spells and abilities that amass Orcs may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't amass Orcs.
- : Some cards refer to the "amassed Army." That means the Army creature you chose to receive counters, even if no counters were placed on it for some reason.
- : In the rare case that you control multiple Army creatures (perhaps because you played a creature with changeling) while you amass Orcs, you choose which of your Army creatures to put the +1/+1 counters on. If that creature isn't an Orc, it becomes an Orc in addition to its other types.
- : Amass abilities are now written as "amass [subtype] N." Previous cards with amass have received errata to say "amass Zombies N."
- : To amass Orcs N, if you don't control an Army creature, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token. Then you choose an Army creature you control and put N +1/+1 counters on it. If that Army isn't already an Orc, it becomes an Orc in addition to its other types.
- : Amass Zombies works the same way, except you create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token if you don't control an Army. If the Army creature you chose isn't already a Zombie, it becomes a Zombie in addition to its other types. By combining cards with amass Orcs and amass Zombies, you can end up with an Orc Zombie Army.
- : If you don't control an Army, the Orc Army token you create enters the battlefield as a 0/0 creature before receiving counters. Any abilities that trigger when a creature with a certain power enters the battlefield, such as that of Mentor of the Meek, will see the token enter as a 0/0 creature before it gets +1/+1 counters.