Related Articles
After MagicCon Minneapolis earlier this month gave a few small teases about the upcoming set, this week’s WeeklyMTG livestream saw Wizards Of The Coast drop a motherlode of information on Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth set, with over 120 cards and card variants revealed.
The reveal showed 126 cards in total, with every Magic: The Gathering color and card type represented. The only new mechanic coming from this set is The Ring Tempts You, where a creature becomes the Ring-Bearer and gains abilities whenever a card includes that line of text. However, two other mechanics from Magic’s past will feature in the set as well:
Amass, which lets a player create a creature token and power it up every time a card reads “Amass X.” In LOTR’s case, players will amass Orc Army tokens.Sagas, which are enchantments that have one action when the enter the battlefield, and then during the controlling’s players upkeep, they gain a lore counter and perform another action. Once all actions on the card have been completed, the Saga is sacrificed.
The set focuses on the book versions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous trilogy, with original artwork depicting scenes from across the three books. Some cards combine to create a panorama of particularly climactic moments, with one example using 18 cards to showcase the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Below, we have every card revealed by Wizards Of The Coast during the event in one place, with the lot separated into galleries by color and listed in alphabetical color order (sorry, WUBRG enthusiasts). As for when you’ll be able to purchase the Lord Of The Rings: Tales From Middle-earth set, the full release schedule is as follows:
Card Previews: May 30-June 9Commander Previews and Decklists: June 8Complete Card Image Galleries: June 9In-Store Prerelease Events: June 16-22MTG Arena Digital Release: June 20Global Tabletop Release: June 23Launch Party Events: June 23-25Bundle: Gift Edition Release: July 7In-Store Celebration Events: July 7-9
Magic: The Gathering Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth Preview Cards
Black
The most notable cards here are the nine different variants of the Nazgul card, which represent the nine shadowy wraiths that hunt Frodo. In a break from traditional MTG rules, players are allowed to have up to nine copies of Nazgul in a deck–including Commander, which usually only allows a single copy of nonland cards–which will give a considerable bump to Wraith-type creature decks.
Blue
Only three blue cards have emerged from this preview, but there’s one Enchantment card that could offer spellslinger decks some added potency. Storm of Saruman, which costs four generic mana plus two blue mana, gives you the ability to copy the second spell you cast during your turn, no matter what it is, and choose a separate target for that copy. Imagine a double High Tide making your Islands produce three mana for a turn, or two Urza, Lord High Artificers at once thanks to the “the copy isn’t legendary” text. It’s expensive, but in the right Commander deck, it will wreak havoc.
Green
Green has a lot of quality cards coming out of this preview–Galadriel, Gift-Giver’s token generation has tremendous value, as does Legolas, Master Archer’s tremendous damage output. However, the card that most intrigues us is, surprisingly, at common rarity.
Galadhrim Bow is an Equipment card costing two generic mana and one green, and it has Flash–which means it can be played at any time or during any player’s turn. Normally, attaching Equipment cards to creatures cost mana, but not only is the first attachment free, it also untaps the creature it attaches to, making it available for attacks or blocks again. Oh, and all of that happens before the bow gives the attached creature +1 to power, +2 to toughness, and the ability to block flying creatures thanks to Reach. We’re thinking of this following a card like Colossification in our mono-green decks, and it has us very excited.
Red
Red’s preview cards mostly center around Goblins, Orcs, and the Amass mechanics, but the card that catches our eye is Eomer, Marshal of Rohan. Eomer is a 4 power/4 toughness legendary Human Knight creature that costs two generic mana and two red mana to cast. He has haste–which means he can attack the turn he is played instead of having to wait a turn–and he also has the ability to generate multiple combat phases simply by being on the board. Red decks thrive on dealing damage to opponents as quickly as possible, so a card like Eomer giving them another combat to do so is a major boon.
White
The previewed white cards include a number of famous faces and moments, with Frodo, two separate Gandalf cards, and a card called You Cannot Pass all among the revealed cards. However, as soon as we saw the card for Bill the Pony, we immediately fell in love.
Bill is a 1 power/4 toughness legendary horse which costs three generic mana and one white mana to cast. He immediately generates two Food tokens–artifacts that let you gain three life if you pay two mana of any color and sacrifice it–upon entering the battlefield, and then you can sacrifice one of those Food tokens to allow one of your creatures to inflict damage equal to its toughness in combat for that turn. If you target Bill, for example, he’ll deal four damage instead of one. Food tokens were once part of one of the most terrifying decks in all of Magic–look up Oko, Thief of Crowns if you’re interested–and with cards like Bill here, they could be making a comeback.
Multicolored
The multicolored preview cards are basically a who’s who of LOTR, with names like Aragorn, Eowyn, Sauron, Samwise Gamgee, and even the Balrog all making an appearance. However, we’re choosing to highlight Pippin, Guard of the Citadel for two reasons: One, his Ring Showcase variant has some of the best artwork of any card in the entire set; and two, he’s a low-cost creature–only one blue and one white mana puts him in play–with the ability to protect any of your other creatures from a specific card type. Not only that, but the Vigilance mechanic means he can attack during your turn without being tapped, and then use his tapped ability during an opponent’s turn as needed. Pippin will be an instant add to any blue and white decks with heavy creature focuses.
Colorless
We’ve highlighted The One Ring before–specifically the one-of-one serialized version that some lucky player will pull out of a Collectors Booster–so here we’re going to show how this set is adapting some existing MTG cards into the LOTR universe. Bridge of Khazad-dum is a reprint of Ensnaring Bridge, which first debuted in 1998’s Stronghold set. While the card has seen a few other reprints since then–most recently in 2020’s Double Masters–this new LOTR version will be the first time it’s been legal in the Standard format since 2003’s Eighth Edition. Its ability to keep your opponent’s mightiest creatures from attacking so long as you don’t have many cards in your hand is one that can be easily manipulated, and we expect control decks to start peppering these in.
Land
The basic lands of a new set are always a treat to behold, but with a set like this one, it’s the specialty lands that we’re most focused on, as they feature major locations from LOTR lore. Our favorite is Barad-dur, which not only can produce one black mana, but it can also turn one dead creature into an Orc Army token as large as you can pay the mana for. An ability like that seems fitting for Sauron’s stronghold, and if the Amass mechanic takes off, we expect Barad-dur to be a big reason for it.
