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Magic: The Gathering might have its own universe full of lore, deep history, and hundreds of characters to encounter, but even it can’t compete with Tolkien and the depth of his Middle-earth setting. Instead, Wizards of the Coast decided to just bring Middle-earth itself to MTG, with the crossover set Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.
This set has already captured the attention of not just MTG players, who are awaiting a new Modern-legal set full of powerful cards, but also Tolkien fans wanting to see their favourite characters adapted in a new way. Here’s everything you need to know about Tales of Middle-earth.
What Is Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth?
Lord of the Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth is a full set for Magic: The Gathering. This is the first time, a Universes Beyond crossover has taken the form of a full set, rather than just tie-in Commander decks like Warhammer 40,000, or Secret Lair drops like Fortnite, Street Fighter, and Stranger Things.
Like many MTG sets, Tales of Middle-earth is designed to be drafted or played in constructed formats, and will be sold in booster packs and bundles. However, it is set outside of the regular MTG continuity and instead adapts key moments and characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
As it’s focused on the original work of Tolkien, Tales of Middle-earth has its own interpretation of the source material, and isn’t based on other versions, such as Peter Jackson’s movies or the Rings of Power. It is also primarily focused on The Lord of the Rings itself, rather than other Tolkien works set in Middle-earth like The Hobbit and The Silmarillion.
What Formats Is Tales Of Middle-earth Legal In?
Like most cards printed for Magic, this set will be legal in Vintage, Legacy, Commander, and Pauper. It has also been confirmed that this set is also a straight-to-Modern set, meaning the cards will be legal in Modern from day one, much like the two Modern Horizons sets.
Though Tales of Middle-earth is not a Standard-legal set, and therefore also won’t be legal in Pioneer or Explorer on MTG Arena, the set will be playable in Arena’s Alchemy and Historic formats.
What Mechanics Will Be In Tales Of Middle-earth?
So far, the main new mechanic we’ve been shown for Tales Of Middle-earth is being tempted by the Ring.
Whenever you’re tempted by the Ring, you declare up to one of your creatures as your ‘Ring-bearer’. You then create an emblem which provides you and your Ring-bearer with a number of benefits based on how many times you’ve been tempted that game:
- The first time you’re tempted turns your Ring-bearer into a legendary creature that can’t be blocked by creatures with higher power than it.
- The second time, your Ring-bearer will allow you to draw a card, then discard a card whenever it attacks.
- The third time will force any creatures blocking your Ring-bearer to be sacrificed at the end of combat.
- The fourth time you’re tempted, your Ring-bearer forces your opponent to lose three life and you gain three life whenever it deals combat damage.
These benefits are cumulative. If you’ve been tempted by the Ring four times, your Ring-bearer will have all four benefits. Every time you’re tempted after the fourth won’t add any new effects, but you will be allowed to designate a new creature as your Ring-bearer instead.
Alongside being tempted by the Ring, a number of older mechanics have been confirmed to return. There is a heavy Legendary-matters theme to the set, with the addition of legendary lands like Mount Doom and the Shire. There’s also a Food token theme, also seen on The Shire and on the Commander-only card Sam, Loyal Attendant.
We expect to see the full lineup of mechanics in the set at the debut event on May 31.
What Are Tales Of Middle-earth’s Alt-Art Showcase Styles?
So far, two different alt-art styles have been revealed for this set.
The first is the regular Showcase frame, which shows characters in a ring-shaped frame, complete with Elvish text circling the art. The art is much more abstract than the regular set, using bolder colours, simpler shapes, and often lots of silhouettes in place of the usual portraits and scenes.
This showcase frame can be found in Draft, Set, and Collector’s boosters.
The second alt-art can only be found in Collector’s boosters and booster bundles: borderless scenes. These are collections of cards that can be put together to make a larger image of a key moment in The Lord Of The Ring. 11 scenes are planned, with eight in the regular release, and three more coming in the rerelease scheduled for the Holiday period 2023.
The scenes confirmed so far are:
- The Battle Of Pelennor Fields (18 cards)
- Bilbo’s Birthday Party (Six cards)
- Mount Doom (Four cards, will also be included in bundles for the set).
What Is The One Ring?
One card from this set has received more buzz than any other, and it’s the exclusive serialised One Ring. While The One Ring will be available in booster packs as a regular card, a special, serialised alt-art version will be included in a single English-language Collector’s booster pack.
Only one copy of this card will be printed, with a unique ‘1/1’ serial number on it to prove its status as the only card like it in the world. This ensures the card will be immensely valuable, with bounties of up to $200,000 already having been put out by collectors desperate to own it.
What Are Tales Of Middle-earth’s Commander Decks?
Commander is Magic: The Gathering’s most popular tabletop format, with up to four players playing with decks of 100 cards lead by a single legendary creature, the commander. Sets almost always include a few preconstructed Commander decks to launch alongside them, and Tales of Middle-earth is no exception.
Lord of the Rings will have four preconstructed Commander decks, depicting different factions of Middle-earth. Each deck will include 100 cards, including exclusives not found elsewhere, a life tracker, a deck box, and double-sided tokens. The decks are:
- Riders Of Rohan, a blue/red/white deck focused on the horse-riding army of the same name.
- Food and Fellowship, a white/black/green deck that has two commanders as its face cards: the currently unrevealed Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit, and Sam, Loyal Attendant. This deck uses Food tokens as a major mechanic.
- Elven Council, a green/blue deck. One card we’ve already seen from this deck is Radagast, Wizard of Wilds, which cares about Beasts and Birds more than Elves, suggesting it could play more as a token deck than the normal Elfball strategy you’d expect.
- Hosts Of Mordor, a blue/black/red deck focusing on the villains of the Lord of the Rings series. We can expect there to be lots of Orcs, Ringwraiths, and, of course, Sauron himself.
When Does Tales Of Middle-earth Launch?
Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth launches MTG Arena on June 20, 2023, and will be followed by the full tabletop release on June 23, 2023. This launch will include Set, Draft, and Collector’s booster packs, a bundle containing eight Set boosters and five promo cards,
We can expect Lord of the Rings to be a big part of Magic’s year, though, as we’ll also be getting a Gift Edition Bundle on July 7, which includes eight Set boosters and one Collector’s booster, and a Holiday release on November 3.
If you can’t wait until late June for more Lord of the Rings, the preview season that shows off the set will begin with a debut stream on May 30, and previews will run until June 9.