Balin, Loremaster
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
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What it does
Storied (If you control three or more artifacts, legendaries, and/or Sagas, you have an enduring story for the rest of the game.)
Whenever Balin or another Dwarf you control enters, you may discard your hand. Draw X cards, where X is the number of cards discarded this way. If you have an enduring story, Balin deals X damage to each opponent.
Rulings
8 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2026-06-29
If your third legendary, Saga, or artifact permanent enters the battlefield and then one of those permanents leaves the battlefield immediately afterwards (most likely due to the "legend rule" or due to being a creature with 0 toughness), you get an enduring story before it leaves the battlefield.
- 2026-06-29
Once you have an enduring story, you have it for the rest of the game, even if you lose control of some or all of your storied permanents. The enduring story designation is on the player and can't be removed by any effect.
- 2026-06-29
You may choose to discard your hand even if your hand contains zero cards.
- 2026-06-29
If you control three legendary, Saga, and/or artifact permanents but don't control a permanent with storied, you don't get an enduring story. For example, if you controlled three artifacts, lost control of two, then cast Thorin Oakenshield, you won't have an enduring story.
- 2026-06-29
A single permanent can only count once toward the three legendary, Saga, and/or artifact permanents needed to get an enduring story, even if it has more than one of those qualities. If you control one permanent that is a legendary artifact and a second permanent that is a Saga, you will only have two of the three permanents required to get an enduring story.
- 2026-06-29
The decision to discard your hand is made during the resolution of the ability, so there is no opportunity for an opponent to respond between choosing to discard your hand and drawing cards.
- 2026-06-29
A permanent is any object on the battlefield, including tokens and lands. Spells and emblems aren't permanents.
- 2026-06-29
Storied isn't a triggered ability and doesn't use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your third legendary, Saga, and/or artifact permanent, but they can't respond to you getting an enduring story once you control that third permanent.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes Balin, Loremaster, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smaug the Magnificent | 2 | 0 | — |
| Thorin, King of Durin's Folk | 2 | 0 | — |
| Sauron, the Dark Lord | 1 | 8 | 0% |
| Dáin of the Ancient Halls | 1 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Boros 3 decks
- Mono-Red 2 decks
- Grixis 1 deck
Balin, Loremaster price history
The The Hobbit #87 printing, as Scryfall reports the TCGplayer market. Updated nightly. Click any version below to chart its price.
Every recorded price change
| Date | Non-foil | Foil |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 12, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.46 |
| Oct 11, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.47 |
| Oct 10, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.40 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.40 |
| Oct 8, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.42 |
| Oct 7, 2026 | $0.25 | $0.37 |
| Oct 6, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.37 |
| Oct 5, 2026 | $0.32 | $0.35 |
| Oct 4, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.34 |
| Oct 3, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.35 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | $0.28 | $0.37 |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.36 |
| Sep 30, 2026 | $0.31 | $0.37 |
| Sep 29, 2026 | $0.32 | $0.38 |
| Sep 28, 2026 | $0.28 | $0.34 |
A row is recorded only on nights the price moved, so each price held until the row above it.
Every version of Balin, Loremaster
2 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them. Click a card's art to chart that version's price above.
Extended Art
The Hobbit
- Normal
- $0.81
- Foil
- $0.89
The Hobbit
- Normal
- $0.29
- Foil
- $0.46
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Balin, Loremaster. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.
Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.
