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.
