Sets (LTR) The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Gollum can be anything from amazing to unplayable, depending on the casting cost. One observant individual noted that Gollum's collector number is higher than Aragorn & Arwen's, so maybe it's {W/B}?

Aragorn & Arwen seem sweet for a slower cube, like Penny Pincher.
 
Sweet designs from what we see. And wizards is at it again trying to maximize the difficulty of categorizing cards. Is Frodo a mono white card? Or an Orzhov gold card?

Here's to hope we see more, much more hybrid mana in this set.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Looking at the border, Gollum is 100% {W/B} hybrid!
You sure? The pinlines are only black, and the left and right side of the card are the same texture
Compare:
1677524888013.png
It's possible the universes beyond frame looks different (we don't have any universes beyond hybrid cards yet I think) but I don't really see it changing the left/right look different aspect
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
You sure? The pinlines are only black, and the left and right side of the card are the same texture

It's possible the universes beyond frame looks different (we don't have any universes beyond hybrid cards yet I think) but I don't really see it changing the left/right look different aspect
I was pretty confident, thinking it surely had to be the custom frame, but you are completely right about the pinlines. Those are clearly mono-black. If you look at Aragorn & Arwen's border, you can see the same border pattern, with stripes running diagonally. Very weird that the collector's number doesn't match. Maybe it's the buy-a-box promo then?
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Is this not just the universes beyond frame looking kinda weird?
Yeah, that is what I was saying! Wat I thought was black and white, is in fact black with the universes beyond diagonal stripes looking like white, but those same diagonal stripes are visible on Aragorn & Arwen. The only thing that doesn't explain is Gollum's high collector number.
 
The border of Gollum looks just like the black border from the warhammer/universes beyond cards, including the holo stamp. As Chris said, we don't have examples of hybrid cards with that border, but we do have some lands with the usual two-color pinline. As most people seem to do, I assume Gollum will cost {B}.

Don't promo cards have different collector numbers? Also it doesn't appear as xxx/xxx but just xxx so it is probably a promo.
 
I assume Gollum will be a 2/1 for {B}
Me too; he seems pretty mediocre at any other price point.

Unfortunately, the people who did the development for this set are the "casual play design team," who are notorious for over-costing cards and nerfing things into oblivion to keep them from being impactful. They're basically trying to balance around casual EDH. Obviously, there are some cases where that translates to cards being very good in 1v1, but I fear this set is "vanilla" enough that the changes will be mostly nerfs instead of appropriate costing.


So, let's just hope Gollum costs {B}. I really like the way they translated the "riddles in the dark" chapter from The Hobbit into a card. That's arguably my favorite part of the book!
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Somebody make a 'The One Ring' design before the real one leaks.
The One Ring {1}
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
Equip {2}
Equipped creature has hexproof, can't block and can't be blocked except by Nazgûl.
You can't equip The One Ring to another creature as long as it is equipped to a creature.

Alternatively...

The One Ring {1}
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
Equip {1}
{2}: Equipped creature phases out. If it was attacking, it deals damage equal to its power to defending player.
You can't equip The One Ring to another creature as long as it is equipped to a creature.
 
The One Ring {1}
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
Equip {2}
Equipped creature has hexproof, can't block and can't be blocked except by Nazgûl.
You can't equip The One Ring to another creature as long as it is equipped to a creature.

Alternatively...

The One Ring {1}
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
Equip {1}
{2}: Equipped creature phases out. If it was attacking, it deals damage equal to its power to defending player.
You can't equip The One Ring to another creature as long as it is equipped to a creature.
Hmm, I miss the part where the ring chooses to abandon its owner/tries to seduce another one. Maybe:
The one ring 1
Legendary artifact enchantment- aura
Enchant a creature you own.
Whenever enchanted creature becomes blocked roll a 6 sided dice for each creature blocking it:
1: attach ~ to the blocking creature.
2: destroy blocking creature.
3/4: ignore block
5: do nothing
6: remove enchanted creature from combat

if the blocking creature is destroyed/ignore block is chosen for all blockers then enchanted creature deals damage as though it was not blocked.

Whenever ~ becomes unenchanted add 2 -1/-1 counters to the creature it was enchanting.
do something similar for blocking, add something else for Nazgûl and you are there.
 
The One Ring {1}
Legendary Artifact - Equipment (M)
At the beginning of your upkeep, mill the top card of your library, you get 1 poison counter and you lose 1 life.
Equipped creature gets +2/+1.
Equip {1}
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
I love that they got Devon Rue to do those basics. They're the person that does the big fantasy maps for Critical Role, super on theme choice :D
 
How could I forget indestructible on my The One Ring design :p

I only hit the legendary colorless artifact, the mythic raritet and the life loss.
 
I mean it makes sense although I personally also thought it would be an Equipment (Which by the way always begin with capital)

Artifacts are Equipments for the players. Tools at our disposal. Like Bag of Holding.

Equipments are tools at the disposal for our summoned units.
 
Thank you

In my head, this is how it has always been. To expand upon that I will pull some additional examples from key periods in the timeline.

The first Magic set

Tools for the player

The first Equipment set

Tools for the player

Magic score Set 2010

Tools for the player

Today

Tools for the player
 
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