Magic: The Gathering's upcoming The Lord of the Rings crossover contains several scene cards that, when placed next to each other, form a larger picture of The Battle of the Pelennor Fields. However, according to Wizards of the Coast, "a card was swapped out of a scene in error after the art had been approved".
Originally, the plan was to have Théoden, King of Rohan in the centre of the battle, as seen in the card pictured above. As such, WotC commissioned artist Tyler Jacobson to create the entire scene and its cards, but it was later decided that Théoden should be swapped out for Éomer, Marshal of Rohan.
"Due to an internal miscommunication, the card title, mana cost, and rules text were swapped after the art had been approved, and the scene went to print depicting Théoden, King of Rohan as originally commissioned," WotC wrote on the official Magic: The Gathering website.
This means that the Éomer card and his appearance in the scene depict the wrong character, Théoden, but the non-scene versions of both cards depict the right characters. You can see that non-scene Éomer, Marshal of Rohan card below, with the exact same stats as the wrongly pictured Théoden one (Éomer being a 4/4 Human Knight with Haste).
"We don't believe this takes away from the breathtaking work of Tyler Jacobson, and we hope it doesn't remove any of the joy that will come from assembling this massive scene," Wizards of the Coast ended its blog post.
Previews for MTG's Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth rolled out yesterday and will continue throughout next week until the set releases on June 23. These gave us a look at Food tokens, War of the Spark's returning amass mechanic, Legendary matters, a new mechanic called "The Ring Tempts You", alternate art styles, the nine Nazgûl, The One Ring, and more. While it all rolls out in June, the Special Edition Collector's Booster, four Scene Boxes, and a second Jumpstart set will arrive on November 3.
Beyond Magic: The Gathering, The Lord of the Rings has been expanding further into video games with the recently released Gollum. While it's the worst-reviewed game of 2023, with developer Daedalic Entertainment expressing that it "deeply regrets" its quality, reports have surfaced that it is working on another game. So, it looks like we'll be back to Middle-earth under its guiding hand sometime in the future, but in the meantime, the wonders of J. R. R. Tolkien's defining fantasy world will be on full display in its first MTG crossover.