Wizards of the Coast revealed product line details for Magic: The Gathering – Universes Beyond – The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, which will hit stores for prerelease on June 16, 2023 with the full set release on June 23, 2023.
The much anticipated LotR-themed Magic set is on its way to market, slightly earlier than initially expected (see “‘The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth’“). There are a few new points of interest for this set as far as product configurations are concerned. The first point of interest is the addition of a themed Starter Kit to the line. This product is essentially a LotR version of the traditional entry level product that WotC recently brought back to retail in 2022 (see “‘Magic: The Gathering – 2022 Starter Kit’“).
The other notable nugget of information released in the product line details was in regards to serialized cards. On the Collector Booster box, WotC has placed a tag that reads “May Include Serialized Ring Card.” This indicates that this set will likely contain low print run serialized cards similar to cards fans were able to pull from in The Brothers’ War set (see “The Brothers’ War’ Product Line“).
As far as what a “Ring” card could be, there are a number of Ring cards that already exist in Magic (Sol Ring, Rings of Brighthearth, etc.). Speculatively, it is possible that these existing Ring cards could be printed with special art and/or card treatments as ultra rare serialized cards, which would be a natural fit for the product. After all, Mark Tedin, the artist behind the original Sol Ring, has been art altering Beta Sol Rings at conventions for decades to look like either The One Ring or the Eye of Sauron; it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to make in-print versions of altered Rings cards for fans.
The new product line for this set is as follows:
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Starter Kit. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Starter Kit eases new players into the new theme of the set with two ready-to-play decks and tools to help teach them the basics. Each kit comes with 2 ready-to-play 60-card decks (lands included), 4 double-sided tokens (2 with each deck), 2 deck boxes, a how-to-play guide booklet, 2 double-sided reference cards (Turn Order/Attacking & Blocking), and 2 code cards for two people to unlock both decks and play online in MTG Arena.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Collector Booster Packs and Displays. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Collector Booster Boxes include 12 Collector Boosters. Each Collector Booster features 15 Magic: The Gathering cards and a traditional foil double-sided token. The cards will be a combination of 5-7 cards of rarity Rare or higher, 3-5 uncommons, 3-6 commons, a land card, and the token. Every Collector Pack features a total of 8–10 traditional foil cards. These boosters also may include the serialized Ring cards.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Draft Booster Packs and Displays. Draft Boosters for this set include 15 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth cards and a token/ad card or Helper card that is optimized for the draft format. These come in displays of 36 packs. Each pack comes with one card of rarity rare or higher, 3 uncommons, 10 commons, a land card, and the token/ad card or Helper card. Traditional foil borderless mythic rare cards are found in fewer than 1% of these boosters, and traditional foils of any rarity replace a common in 33% of these boosters.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Booster Packs and Displays. Set Boosters will contain 12 Magic: The Gathering cards, an Art Card, and a token/ad card, Helper card, or card from “The List” (found in 25% of packs). Packs include a combination of 1-4 card(s) of rarity rare or higher, 3-7 uncommons, 3-7 commons, and a land card. Traditional foil borderless mythic rare Planeswalker cards are found in fewer than 1% of these boosters, and a foil-stamped Signature Art Card replaces the Art Card in 10% of boosters. Also, Traditional Foil lands replace basic lands in 20% of these boosters. Set Booster Boxes contain 30 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Boosters and a Box Topper.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart Booster Packs and Displays. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart Booster Boxes have 18 Boosters. These packs contain 20 Magic cards that are all based on a specific constructed deck theme, and two Jumpstart packs can be shuffled together to make a deck. Each pack has 2 rare cards and 2 traditional foil land cards.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Bundle. The bundle comes with 8 The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Boosters, 20 foil basic lands, 20 non-foil basic lands, 4 traditional foil alt-art cards, a storage box, an oversized Spindown life counter, and 2 reference cards. These bundles will ship in cases of 6.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Gift Bundle. This bundle is intended as a present for LotR and Magic fans alike. It features a Collector Booster, 8 Set Boosters, 20 foil basic lands, 20 non-foil basic lands, 4 traditional foil alt-art cards, a storage box, an oversized Spindown life counter, and 2 reference cards. These bundles will ship in cases of 6.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Decks. The Commander Decks are 100-card ready-to-play decks that feature 98 non-foil Magic: The Gathering cards and 2 traditional foil Legendary cards. The contents of each box include the deck, a foil-etched Display Commander, a two-card Collector Booster Sample Pack, 10 double-sided tokens, a Helper card, a Life Wheel, a special die, a strategy insert, a reference card, and a deck box. They come in case configurations of 4 decks per carton.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Prerelease Pack. Prerelease Packs are made specifically to use during prerelease events. These packs include 6 Draft Boosters, a traditional foil year-stamped Rare or Mythic rare card, a traditional foil year-stamped card from a pool of 6 Prerelease Promo cards, a Helper card, a MTG Arena code card (only available in select regions), a deck box, and a Spindown life counter.
For more information on future releases of Magic products, check out ICv2’s 2022 calendar (see “‘Magic: The Gathering’ Release Calendar For 2022/2023“).
Click on Gallery below for packaging images of the products!
Source: ICv2
