Archivist of Gondor
Archivist of Gondor: Creature - Human Advisor, Tales of Middle-earth Commander. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {2}{U}
- Mana value
- 3
- Type
- Creature - Human Advisor
- Colour identity
- Blue (U)
- Power / toughness
- 2/3
- Rarity
- Rare
- Set
- Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC)
- Released
- 2023-06-23
- Collector number
- 18
- Artist
- Wisnu Tan
- Commander rank
- 10,002 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Build around this card with Grover
About Archivist of Gondor
Archivist of Gondor is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare blue creature from Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC), a Commander product released in June 2023. It is collector number 18 in that set, with art by Wisnu Tan. It costs {2}{U} (two generic and one blue mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. It is a 2/3 creature. Its colour identity is blue. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander and Oathbreaker. Tales of Middle-earth Commander is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.28 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-03).
Card text
When your commander deals combat damage to a player, if there is no monarch, you become the monarch.
At the beginning of the monarch's end step, that player draws a card.
"If indeed you look only, as you say, for records of ancient days and the beginnings of the City, read on!"
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.28 (as of 2026-11-03).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Archivist of Gondor by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Legacy | Legal |
|---|---|
| Vintage | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
Other printings of Archivist of Gondor
The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC) #420 | Rare | 2023 |
| Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC) #101 | Rare | 2023 |
Official rulings
Five official rulings apply to Archivist of Gondor, newest first.
- There are two inherent triggered abilities associated with being the monarch. These triggered abilities have no source and are controlled by the player who was the monarch at the time the abilities triggered. The full texts of these abilities are "At the beginning of the monarch's end step, that player draws a card" and "Whenever a creature deals combat damage to the monarch, its controller becomes the monarch."
- The game starts with no monarch. Once an effect makes one player the monarch, the game will have exactly one monarch from that point forward. As a player becomes the monarch, the current monarch (if any) ceases being the monarch.
- If the monarch leaves the game during another player's turn, that player becomes the monarch. If the monarch leaves the game during their turn, the next player in turn order becomes the monarch.
- If combat damage dealt to the monarch causes that player to lose the game, the triggered ability that causes the controller of the attacking creature to become the monarch doesn't resolve. In most cases, the controller of the attacking creature will still become the monarch as it is likely their turn.
- If the triggered ability that causes the monarch to draw a card goes on the stack and a different player becomes the monarch before that ability resolves, the first player will still draw the card.
Similar cards
Other creature cards with a blue colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.
In these precons
Archivist of Gondor is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.
Mentioned in these guides
These guides mention Archivist of Gondor.