Everything We Know (So Far) About MTG’s Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth

One (serialized) Ring to rule them all.

Perhaps the biggest supplemental release of the year, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the next entry in the highly-popular Universes Beyond sub-brand. We’ve already seen Stranger Things, Street Fighter, Fortnite, and Warhammer 40,000 in cardboard form — and now Universes Beyond is entering a new yet exciting territory with the popular literature created by J.R.R Tolkien in collaboration with Middle-earth Enterprises. Releasing June 23, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the first within the sub brand to offer a complete range of products, including Boosters, Bundles, Prerelease Kits, and Commander Precons to support this exciting release.

With all eyes (or maybe it’s the one massive eye glaring upon Mount Doom) slowly focusing on the high-fantasy release, let’s dig into what we know about The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth so far.

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Release Dates, Previews, and Event Schedule

The announced schedule for LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth is as follows:

  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Debut and Previews Begin: May 30, 2023
  • Card Previews: May 30–June 9, 2023
  • Commander Previews and Decklists: June 8, 2023
  • Complete Card Image Galleries: June 9, 2023
  • In-Store Prerelease Events: June 16–22, 2023
  • MTG Arena Digital Release: June 20, 2023
  • Global Tabletop Release: June 23, 2023
  • Launch Party Events: June 23–25, 2023
  • Bundle: Gift Edition Release: July 7, 2203
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth In-Store Celebration Events: July 7–9, 2023
  • Commander Parties: July 21–23, 2023
  • Store Championships: August 5–13, 2023
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Code: LTR
  • The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Set Code: LTC

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth’s global release falls on June 23, with the MTG Arena debut dropping a few days before on June 20. While previous Universes Beyond releases, such as Warhammer 40,000 Commander Precons, didn’t offer much with exclusive events, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth will have its own Prerelease on June 16 to celebrate the upcoming release. As for Previews, these begin on May 30 and will end on June 9, with the complete card gallery going live shortly after.

Another exciting aspect of this collaboration is the cards featured in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth will share Modern legality upon release. Many Magic players are comparing this set to Modern Horizons, where these cards are straight-to-Modern legal with applications in Legacy, Commander, and Pauper, with extended usage for MTG Arena formats such as Historic and Alchemy this time around. As for the Tales of Middle-earth Commander cards — these are Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Commander legal but won’t appear on MTG Arena. However, this does mean the LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth cards won’t be Standard or Pioneer legal upon release.

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Previews

Mount Doom

Market Price: $19.80

The Shire
Gollum, Patient Plotter

With the First Look occurring over at Wizards of the Coast’s Twitch channel, previews have begun to kickstart the next entry in the Universes Beyond range. First revealed was Gandalf the Grey, who falls into the Izzet pairing with other Gandalf cards likely to appear in the release.

Gandalf the Grey

Universes Beyond: The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-Earth

Gandalf the Grey - Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Magic: The Gathering

Market Price: $13.84

Another exciting card is Tom Bombadil, the five-color Legendary card for the release, which focuses on Enchantment Sagas and storytelling, which is a fitting design for the popular character.

Tom Bombadil

Universes Beyond: The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-Earth

Tom Bombadil - Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Magic: The Gathering

Market Price: $29.89

Then, of course, Frodo and Samwise appear in Tales of Middle-earth as Frodo, Sauron’s Bane and Samwise the Stouthearted with the likelihood there will be multiple different printings of these characters to show story progression as the expansion references the literature. So, expect to see characters such as Gandalf the White when previews begin on May 30. In addition, a handful of Uncommons revealed such as Reprieve and You Cannot Pass.

Reprieve
You Cannot Pass!

You can’t have a Lord of the Rings release without the most important item — The One Ring.

The One Ring

Universes Beyond: The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-Earth

The One Ring - Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Magic: The Gathering

Market Price: $55.51

Offering a bunch of abilities, The One Ring could be an excellent target for Karn, the Great Creator as you can wish this into your hand from the sideboard. As the flagship Mythic Rare from Tales of Middle-earth, it is bound to see play in formats and flavorful Commander lists.

the one ring lotr

Applications aside, there’s a very special printing of The One Ring that will only appear in English Collector Boosters , which has a serialization of one out of one. With this, this printing of The One Ring will become one of the most valuable and rarest Magic: The Gathering cards in existence. Who knows if the card is ever opened and it’s publicly known, but there are numerous offers for the card if it does from the more finance-focused Magic players already.

sol ring lotr human elven dwarven

It doesn’t end there, as there will be Serialized Elven, Dwarven, and Human Sol Rings in High Elves, Quenya, in Tengwar letterform. In total, there will be:

  • 300 Serialized Double-Rainbow foil Sol Ring (Elven)
  • 700 Serialized Double-Rainbow foil Sol Ring (Dwarven)
  • 900 Serialized Double-Rainbow foil Sol Ring (Human)
  • 3,000 Non-foil Sol Ring (Elven)
  • 7,000 Non-foil Sol Ring (Dwarven)
  • 9,000 Non-foil Sol Ring (Human)

You can open these in Tales of Middle-earth Collector Boosters of any language, including the non-foils. 

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Lore

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth will reference lore and characters from the famous literature, The Lord of the Rings, where it will highlight the struggles The Fellowship faces to destroy the Ring and Sauron at Mount Doom. Expect to see pivotal characters from the literature (and movies), such as Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Saruman, Gollum, Aragorn, Tom Bombadil, and Sauron appear in the release.

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Mechanics

While we don’t know many of the mechanics in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth yet, it’s likely we’ll see something referencing The Ring and how it can corrupt players who own it in-game. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see something similar to Initiative or Monarch, where you have an additional game piece to signify you are the Ring-wearer, that offers bonuses or negative effects depending on the cards in play. Going further, Food tokens will return with the hope of the art featuring po-tay-toes or Lembas bread.

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Products

Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth – Collector Booster Box

Universes Beyond: The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-Earth

Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Collector Booster Box - Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Magic: The Gathering

Market Price: $358.99

Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Jumpstart Booster Box

Market Price: $119.43

Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Set Booster Box

Market Price: $194.62

Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Draft Booster Box

Market Price: $191.05

Unlike previous Universes Beyond releases, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth features Draft, Set, Jumpstart, and Collector Boosters with Prerelease Kits, Bundles, and four Commander Precons available on the June 23 release date. In addition, a second release will occur in November, offering Gift Bundles and Secret Lair drops to support the high-fantasy release.

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Products

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Deck – The Hosts of Mordor

Commander: The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-Earth

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Deck - The Hosts of Mordor - Commander: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Magic: The Gathering

Market Price: $67.87

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Deck - Food and Fellowship

Market Price: $68.43

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Deck - Riders of Rohan

Market Price: $69.37

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Deck - Elven Council

Market Price: $68.33

As mentioned earlier, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth will feature four Commander Precons — Elven Council (Blue/Green), Food and Fellowship (White/Black/Green), Riders of Rohan (White/Blue/Red), and The Hosts of Mordor (Blue/Black/Red) will support The Lord of the Rings release on June 23. As per Commander Precon releases, these will include a Collector Booster Sample Pack, a two-card pack that will feature cards you can open in Collector Boosters from Tales of Middle-earth, but there won’t be a chance to open the fabled and serialized The One Ring as this can be opened in an English Collector Boosters only. Revealed from the Commander expansion is Radaghast, Wizards of the Wilds and Sam, Loyal Attendant who appear in the Elven Council and Food and Fellowship Commander Precons respectively.

Sam, Loyal Attendant

Market Price: n/a

Radagast, Wizard of Wilds

Market Price: n/a

With the Commander Precons, there will be twenty new-to-Magic cards featured, all of which will be Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Commander legal. With each Draft, Set, and Collector Boosters Display includes something called Realms and Relics Box Topper cards, which are reprints with a The Lord of the Rings twists.  

The Party Tree - The Great Henge

Market Price: n/a

Bridge of Khazad-dum - Ensnaring Bridge

Market Price: n/a

Valley of Gorgoroth - Wasteland

Market Price: n/a

The Great Henge, Ensnaring Bridge, and Wasteland are some of the Box-Toppers you can open with more likely to be announced soon. In addition, you can open these Box-Toppers in non-foil and Surge Foil, a treatment first seen in the Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 release.

LOTR: Tales of Middle-earth Frames and Card Treatments

Gollum, Patient Plotter (Borderless)
The One Ring (Borderless)

Market Price: $108.33

The Shire (Borderless)

Market Price: $19.95

With the Tales of Middle-earth First Look happening on Wizards of the Coast Twitch Channel a while ago, there’s a range of amazing card treatments to highlight the world that is Middle-earth. As per many Magic: The Gathering releases, the Borderless fame returns highlighting the most prominent The Lord of the Ring characters and settings

Gollum, Patient Plotter (Showcase)
Gandalf the Grey (Showcase)

Market Price: $19.98

Samwise the Stouthearted (Showcase)

The Showcase treatment for Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is called the Showcase Ring frame, where the frame depicts the Black Speech inscription from The One Ring around the card artwork.

Plains (0273)

Universes Beyond: The Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-Earth

Plains (0273) - Universes Beyond: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth - Magic: The Gathering
Island (0274)
Mountain (0278)
Forest (0281)

As for the Basic Lands, these full-art cards display the artwork of Pauline Baynes, who illustrated one of the first maps of Middle-earth. These cards can be found in Draft, Set, and Collector Boosters.

mtg card borders minas tirith pelennor fields lotr

Lastly, the release will feature Borderless Textless Scene Cards, which will illustrate recognizable scenes from the literature. For example, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (outside of Minas Tirith) is one of these and will consist of eighteen cards to collect to create the complete image.