The Lord of the Rings is a beloved fantasy classic that has greatly influenced virtually every major name in fantasy. Including Magic: The Gathering. So the announcement that the world’s most famous card game was going to make a collection featuring J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters seemed like the perfect mix. It’s not just that the audience for both franchises overlapped to some extent, but the beautiful artwork that Magic cards are known for could give us a new glimpse into the world of The Lord of the Rings like we’ve never seen before. And now that they’ve finally started to unveil them, the result is even more impressive than expected.
With a video of just over twenty minutes explaining the collection, its contents and showing some of the cards, Wizards of the Coast has already shown 120 of the more than 300 cards that will complete this collection called The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth. So far we have already been able to see mythical characters such as Aragorn, Legolas, Gimly, Gandalf or Saruman, as well as Frodo and of course the One Ring, which even has its own game mechanics: the one ring tempts you.
Given the importance of the franchise, The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth will get special treatment in terms of the quantity and quality of the products they will be releasing. For those who are new to Magic: The Gathering they will release a Starter Kit and Jumpstart booster packs, two ways to start playing without having to build your own deck beforehand. For those who already have some experience or want to get into a non-competitive mode, they will release four commander decks, a format where up to four people can play at the same time, with decks themed around humans, hobbits, elves and Sauron’s forces. Finally, franchised Magic players will have draft and collection booster packs, as usual, and collectors will have the aptly named collector packs, which contain cards with special artwork and borders, giving the cards a unique look.
As if this were not enough, they have also wanted to make this collection feel even more unique by making several special editions of the cards. There are editions of some cards that are numbered, there being a limited quantity of them with an exclusive illustration, there being one of them that stands out above all the others: the unique ring.
In Elvish, with a special treatment and with a unique unit existing in the world, it may only appear in English collector’s packs. There is only one unique ring card with this illustration and the text in Elvish in the whole world, which will give its owner even more the feeling of being in possession of a unique and special object. Especially since it is likely to end up being the most expensive card in Magic history.
While cards from the set will continue to be unveiled until June 9, The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth set will be released on June 23 and will be legal in all formats except Standard and Pioneer. In addition, the cards will be playable a little earlier in Magic: The Gathering Arena, being available on June 20 at around 17:00. All this makes for a great opportunity to get into the world of Magic: The Gathering for all those who are curious and like The Lord of the Rings, if only for the sheer gorgeousness of the card art and the care and fidelity with which they have treated J.R.R. Tolkien’s story from Wizards of the Coast.
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