It’s a big week for Lord of the Rings and Magic: The Gathering fans as this week’s WeeklyMTG is all about the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set.
Host Blake Rasmussen once again walks everyone through all the precious details for LotR:ToMe (is there a better acronym out there? Absolutely, let’s go with LTR) so let’s go over what we know.
Check out yesterday’s sneak peak for more cards, including Gandalf and The One Ring!
The Lord Of The Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Characters
As the first Universes Beyond booster release, the design team has put a lot of time and effort into crafting LTR into a set that will be great for both MTG and LotR fans. While the set will be Modern-legal, it does not have the same power level as sets like the infamously powerful Modern Horizons 2.
That’s not to say there aren’t going to be powerful cards, but it likely won’t have the same impact on the format as Modern Horizons 2.
One final note on the set, there are no Planeswalkers in the set. At all. Not even a Planeswalker card for Gandalf the White when he returns after his triumph over the Balrog at the Endless Stair at the peak of Celebdil.
Frodo, Sauron’s Bane
Cards can come in two variants in addition to their regular printings: the Showcase Ring Treatment and the Borderless Scene bundle promos. The Showcase Ring Treatment is meant to show the character in a place of uncertainty around the ring. The one of Frodo, Sauron’s Bane depicts him putting on the ring to evade a Nazgûl.
There are seven scenes that will include cards of the Borderless Scene promo variety. The scene with this version of Frodo also includes Samwise the Stouthearted, Gollum, Patient Plotter, and The One Ring, with each card fitting together to create a larger depiction of an event. This scene shows the final moments before Frodo throws the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom.
Frodo, Sauron’s Bane is a card that grows with the more mana you sink into him, but also takes a darker turn much like he does—just like his arc in the books. Eventually, Frodo requires you to sink three black mana to his final ability, making him a 2/3 Halfling Rogue with lifelink and a chance to completely win the game if certain ring-related conditions are met.
There will be multiple cards depicting one character, showing them as they progress through their story. Rasmussen revealed only a few cards during the first look but if a card seems less impressive than you imagine your favorite character being, there’s a good chance there’s a better version in the main set.
Samwise the Stouthearted
Samwise the Stouthearted takes on the support role fully, returning a permanent that entered the graveyard this turn to your hand, then the ring tempts you. What exactly does being tempted by the ring do? We don’t know! The spoiled Frodo, Sauron’s Bane card had the same effect on it but players will have to wait until it gets closer to the set’s release to find out.
A possibility for what it means to be tempted by the ring is that it will set you on the track of a separate card like the venture into the dungeon mechanic. There may even be multiple temptation tracks you could follow but we’ll have to wait and see to know for certain.
The Shire
The Shire is legendary land that enters the battlefield untapped if you control a legendary creature is pretty darn good. While creating a food token might not be the biggest payoff, there are plenty of possibilities for players to experiment with.
Rasmussen also revealed that each land (see below) will have a rare and mythic version, though we only got a look at the rare version today.
Mount Doom
Another legendary land, Mount Doom has a growing scale of abilities that help you control the board. While it does ping you one life if you want to tap it for mana, it also lets you dish out damage to each opponent. Finally, you can wipe the board of all but two creatures if you sacrifice it and a legendary artifact. Having a board wipe on a land is certainly a helpful ability so keep an eye out on this land.
Gollum, Patient Plotter
The uncommon Gollum, Patient Plotter card is a neat little sacrifice engine that tempts when it leaves the battlefield. Even if your Gollum is destroyed or enters the graveyard for any reason, you can bring it back to your hand for a relatively small cost.
You Cannot Pass!
A one-mana removal spell for anything that blocked or was blocked by a legendary creature is wild in Commander. You can blow up a creature after blockers are declared but before damage is dealt, helping you to get around creatures with deathtouch or that might just be too strong for your Commander. It’s important to keep in mind that you can use it to blow up a creature your opponent controls even if you’re not involved in combat at all.
Reprieve
Reprieve is a wild spoiler that basically gives white a version of Remand. It doesn’t directly counter the spell but does likely give you a turn to build more of a board presence without your opponent messing around with your cards.
Tom Bombadil
Saga Commander players can rejoice with this five-color God Bard Tom Bombadil. Tom gains indestructible and hexproof if you have four or more lore counters on sagas you control.
But the curious character doesn’t stop there. The first time a saga’s final ability resolves each turn, you reveal the top card of your library until you find another saga and put it directly into play.
Curiously, the Showcase Ring card doesn’t show a moment of temptation for Tom as he is not affected by the ring’s influence in the story.
Sam, Loyal Attendant
Sam, Loyal Attendant is a potential Commander that partners with Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and generates Food tokens at the start of each of your combat steps, and then reduces the activation costs of all food cards you control by one.
While we don’t yet know what the partner Commander version of Frodo does, it will likely focus on doing something else with your food tokens.
Radagast, Wizard of Wilds
One of the mythical five wizards of Middle-Earth, Radagast, Wizard of Wilds generates tokens when you cast spells with mana value of five or greater. With a little protection in ward one, and sharing that protection with your beast and bird creatures, you can quickly generate an army that can’t easily be beaten.
Serialized Sol Rings
One of the more surprising reveals from the stream is the inclusion of a Collector Booster-exclusive Sol Ring based on the other rings from Lord of the Rings. These serialized and non-serialized Sol Rings feature unique art for each race gifted rings in Lord of the Rings and will be limited in number.
These cards have a flavor text, all written in the elvish language of Quenya, which is a sample from the poem that was inscribed on the One Ring. Each version includes a limited number of non-foil, non-serialized cards, and an even rarer number of double rainbow foil serialized cards.
For the Elves there are 3,000 nonserialized cards and 300 serialized ones. Dwarves will have 7,000 nonserialized and 700 serialized ones, with humans getting 9,000 nonserialized and 900 serialized cards.
There is of course a special serialized card for The One Ring, printed in the Black Speech of Mordor and unites the rest of the poem with the rest of the Sol Rings. There is only one copy of this card that will be printed, and can only be found in a Collector Booster.
Promos And More
Box Toppers are making a comeback in Tales of Middle-earth in a series called Realms and Relics. These box toppers are considered part of the Commander portion of the set, so they don’t affect the legality of the connected cards in the Magic universe. Some of the box toppers include:
- The Party Tree / The Great Henge
- Bridge of Kazahd-dum / Ensnaring Bridge
- Valley of Gorgoroth / Wasteland
There is also a buy-a-box promo for the set which is:
- Buy a box promo – Lorien Brooch / Trailblazer’s Boots
Product Details And Commander Decks
Like other full sets, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth will come with Collector, Set, Draft, and Jumpstart Booster packs and boxes, a Gift and Regular bundle, a starter kit, and four Commander pre-constructed decks.
While we don’t yet have a look at the Commanders leading the decks, some more information was revealed about the decks themselves. The Commander decks and themes are:
- Riders of Rohan: White, Red, and Blue Humans theme
- Food and Fellowship: White, Black, and Green Food theme
- Elven Council: Blue and Green Elven scry theme
- Hosts of Mordor: Blue, Black, and Red Sauron theme
There are reprints in the Commander decks but they will have new Lord of the Rings artwork. It sounds like it will be similar to how the Warhammer 40k cards had completely original artwork for their cards but we will have to wait for more information.
Starter Kit Cards
The starter kit has two new cards included with it, giving us our first Sauron card reveal. Those cards are:
Important Dates
The reveals and events for The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth don’t end today! Check out the schedule for the set below:
- May 5-7: MagicCon: Minneapolis
- May 30: Tales of Middle-earth Previews Begin
- May 30 – June 9: Card Previews
- June 8: Commander Previews and Decklists
- June 9: Complete Card Image Gallery Reveal
- June 16 – 22: In-store Prerelease Events
- June 20: MTG Arena & MTGO Digital Release
- June 23: Global Tabletop Release
- June 23 – 25: Launch Party Events
- July 7: Bundle Gift Edtion Release
- July 7 – 9: In-store Celebration Events
- July 21 – 23: Commander Parties
That’s everything revealed in this edition of WeeklyMTG, next week everyone is taking a short rest from streaming so there won’t be a WeeklyMTG but stay tuned for all your The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth news!