Now that The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is out on Magic: The Gathering Arena, there are plenty of new events, rewards, and cards to explore.
Lord of the Decks
One of the coolest things Magic has released to celebrate a new set are the narrative-based Story Decks for Alchemy, Historic, and Historic Brawl games. A set of seven curated decks, these decks focus on characters or events from The Lord of the Rings books. The decks are only comprised of Tales of Middle-earth cards and are a fun way to explore some of the mechanics of the set.
Among these decks are an Alchemy deck called Hobbit’s Journey, depicting the travels of Frodo, Samwise, and even Gollum as they make their way to Mount Doom. While the deck might not win many ranked games for you, it is a fun way to approach deckbuilding for casual games.
A complete list of these story decks can be found here, but don’t be afraid to build your own! You can just as easily build a Fellowship of the Ring-themed Brawl deck around Aragorn, the Uniter, bringing together the best cards to unite Middle-earth. For an extra challenge, you can always try to only use cards released in Tales of Middle-earth, or ones that always have a white color identity to get as many 1/1 tokens off of Aragorn as you can.
Arena Open: Tales of Middle-earth Edition
The first Arena Open since Tales of Middle-earth dropped is happening this weekend, giving players only a few days to prep for the event. Starting July 1, players can compete in Best-of-One and Best-of-Three Sealed events to earn a Day 2 invitation and from there, a chance to win up to $2,000 and other rewards.
Day 1 starts at 6 a.m. PT and requires players to earn seven wins in the Best-of-One event, or four wins in the Best-of-Three to make it to Day 2. If you have a poor sealed pool or get stomped by someone who opened five playable mythics, don’t worry, you can always jump right back in and test your luck again. Once you qualify for Day 2 you can’t earn more, so take the time to brush up on your draft skills for Day 2.
Day 2 is split into two drafts starting at 6 a.m. PT on July 2. You have to earn either a 3-1 or a 4-0 record to proceed to the second draft, where it’s a single elimination event unless you earned that coveted 4-0, in which case it’s a double elimination for you.
If you can walk away with two or more wins, you’ll be earning a cash reward and an invitation to the August Qualifier Weekend, otherwise, you’ll earn a hefty amount of gems.
Competing in this event will set you back either 25,000 gold or 5,000 gems for each entry, and no matter how well you do, you’ll walk away with a unique Dragon Hoard sleeve.
Events, Drafts, and More!
Midweek Magic
- June 27–29: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Phantom Sealed
- July 4–6: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Constructed
- July 11–13: Historic Brawl
- July 18–20: Standard
Drafts
- June 16–29: Phyrexia: All Will Be One Quick Draft
- June 30–July 11: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Quick Draft
- July 11–18: The Brothers’ War Quick Draft
- July 17–25: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Premier Draft
- July 18–August 1: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Quick Draft
- August 1–5: Dominaria United Quick Draft
Everything Else
- June 20–July 18: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Sealed
- July 7–14: The Two (Command) Towers