Wizards of the Coast has given us our first real look at next year’s Lord of the Rings crossover with Magic: The Gathering, and it’s going to include some very, very big art.
Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth is the first time a Universes Beyond crossover has been a full-blown draftable set. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, one of the most impressive parts of the set is its introduction of “Borderless Scene” cards.
As shown during the Wizards Presents conference, Borderless Scene cards work both as individual art pieces, and can also be pieced together to form a much larger scene. While this is somewhat like War of the Spark’s panoramic view of Ravnica on basic lands, Tales Of Middle-earth is taking it further.
While not featured on every card in the set – instead, serving as one of its alternate ‘showcase’ frames – Wizards has already confirmed there will be multiple scenes to collect throughout the set which depict key moments from the Lord of the Rings series. However, the one it showed off is a detailed and chaotic look at The Battle of Pelennor Fields across 18 full-art, borderless cards.
No mechanics were revealed for Tales Of Middle-earth, but it was confirmed that this set wouldn’t be constrained purely to tabletop. Alongside the physical release, which will be Modern and Eternal-legal, an Alchemy version will also be hitting Magic: The Gathering Arena. This will see a full season in the game, complete with avatars, pets, and a mastery pass.
Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth was one of the first crossovers to be revealed following the announcement of Magic’s cross-promotional umbrella brand, Universes Beyond. Unveiled in the 2021 Magic Showcase alongside Street Fighter and Fortnite – both of which are now released – it caused some concern when it was first announced due to it being legal not just in eternal formats like Commander, Vintage, and Legacy, but also in the popular Modern format.
Whether this will have the mechanical depth of last year’s Modern Horizons 2 – which had a massive impact on Modern – or a weaker set leg Commander Legends: Battle For Baldur’s Gate won’t be clear until we start seeing actual cards for it later in 2023.
Magic: The Gathering’s Lord Of The Rings – Tales Of Middle-earth launches for tabletop and on MTG Arena in Q3, 2023.