Magic the Gathering is set to Planeswalk to Middle-earth, as Wizards of the Coast gears up to join the Fellowship of the Ring this June. Today, WotC gave the first official preview of the cards in the upcoming set, including some fo the different versions and stylings of the cards themselves.
The set, which is called The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, is set during the days of the War of the Ring, bringing many familiar faces from Tolkien's legendarium to the venerable card game. Today Wizards of the Coast revealed some of the cards in the set, as well as some of the different collectible styles and frames the cards will be in, including a full art, fully-Elvish script The One Ring card.
In fact, to highlight the rarity and unique nature of The One Ring, Wizards of the Coast has only printed a single, serialized version of the card, making it possibly the rarest card in the world when it finally releases. Assuming it's ever found. I hear Saruman says it likely rolled down the Anduin into the sea, never to be seen again.
However, The One Ring isn't the only Ring created central to the Lord of the Rings Story. You know, "Three Rings for the Elven Kings..." that sort of thing. So Wizards of the Coast is giving another iconic Ring a specialty treatment: Sol Ring. These will release with alternate art formats with both double rainbow and non-foil versions to collect, each with amounts corresponding to the amount of Rings created (3 for the Elves, 7 for the Dwarf Lords, 9 for Mortal Men.)
Via today's Press Release:
Available in all languages of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Collector Boosters are versions of Sol Ring themed after the Rings of Power crafted for the Elves, Dwarves, and mortal men of Middle-earth. These feature the language of the High Elves, Quenya, in Tengwar letterforms. A limited number of both double rainbow foil and non-foil versions can be found, though double rainbow foil versions will be serialized with different total counts:
- 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)
We also got a glimpse at some of the characters themselves, including Sam, Sauron, and Tom Bombadil himself, each with their own unique, flavorful effects. We're also seeing alternate art versions of existing Magic cards, such as Modern staple The Great Henge being given the treatment as The Party Tree, while Ensnaring Bridge is fittingly the Bridge of Khazad-dum.
You can check out the full details on the official website. Spoiler season starts on May 30th with the set releasing digitally on Magic the Gathering Arena on June 20th, while the global tabletop release will be on June 23rd.
