Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Gollum, Riddle Master
Gollum, Riddle Master
Legendary Creature — Halfling Horror · {1}{B} · Black commander
As Gollum enters, choose odd or even. (Zero is even.)
Whenever an opponent casts a spell with mana value of the chosen quality, choose one that hasn't been chosen —
• Put a +1/+1 counter on Gollum.
• Each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
• Draw a card.
Build a Gollum, Riddle Master deck →
What Gollum, Riddle Master actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · cast_spellWhenever an opponent casts a spell with mana value of the chosen quality, choose one that hasn't been chosen —
- AbilityAs Gollum enters, choose odd or even.
What a Gollum, Riddle Master deck needs
Plays as drain. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- drain and life-loss payoffs (the damage is not combat damage)
- counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
The Gollum, Riddle Master deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 17× Life loss that is not combat damage — each opponent loses life, repeatably
- 13× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 11× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Gollum, Riddle Master
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Life loss that is not combat damage — each opponent loses life, repeatably
- Zulaport Cutthroat2 mana
- Leechridden Swamp0 mana
- Marionette Apprentice2 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
- Mirkwood Bats4 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
- Bastion of Remembrance3 mana
- Bontu's Monument3 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Chalice of the Void0 mana
- Not of This World7 mana
- Kozilek, the Great Distortion10 mana
- Blood Funnel2 mana
- Dash Hopes2 mana
- Null Elemental Blast1 mana
- Void Mirror2 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Blightbelly Rat2 mana
- Scheming Aspirant2 mana
- Glistening Sphere3 mana
- Walking Ballista0 mana
- Forge of Heroes0 mana
- Hangarback Walker0 mana
- Stonecoil Serpent0 mana
- Opal Palace0 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
- Cut Down1 mana
- Erebos's Intervention1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
- Brotherhood Regalia2 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana