Exclusive Card Reveals for MtG - The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth
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Join the Fellowship
After the mayhem of the Phyrexian series, it is a welcome relief to get away from it all and head to the peaceful village of Hobbiton and enjoy a quiet breakfast (or second breakfast) followed by some hunting for mushrooms or socializing with other hobbits from the Shire.
Well, it won't exactly be a totally relaxing atmosphere, given that players will be taking part in the journey of the Fellowship, but it will be interesting to see what characters, locations and mechanic will take place in the new, Magic the Gathering set - Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth which releases on June 23.
Thanks to our friends at Wizards of the Coast, we at Hooked Gamers have been given the opportunity to reveal two exclusive cards for the new set – Orcish Medicine and Soothing of Smeagol
Card: – Orcish Medicine
Spell type: Instant
Spell Cost: one black land plus one land
Spell: Target creature gains you choice of lifelink or indestructible until the end of a turn.
Amass Orcs 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on an Army you control. It’s also an Orc. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first)
Card: – Soothing of Smeagol
Spell type: Instant
Spell Cost: one blue land plus one land
Spell: Return target nontoken creature to its owner’s hand. The Ring tempts you.
Spell narrative: Frodo's heart sank. This was too much like trickery, and certainly what he did would seem a treachery to the poor treacherous creature.
New mechanics
As indicated by the two exclusive cards, the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set has several new mechanics.
The Ring
As seen above with Soothing of Smeagol, the Ring tempts you. On the first occasion that the Ring tempts you, players are given an emblem named The Ring. The Ring has four abilities that will activate each time that the Ring tempts you – starting from the top and working your way down the list. Players must choose a Ring Bearer to hold the Ring, and the abilities affect the chosen creature.
Amass Orcs
Amass is actually a returning mechanic, but with an Orcish twist. The Orc Army is basically a creature token that can have several counters placed on it. Amass Orc will add counters to an Orc Army you already have, or create a new Orc Army token creature.
Returning mechanics
Food Tokens
Food tokens are artifact tokens that allow the user to spend two mana and tap the token to sacrifice the token and gain three life. There are several cards within the set that also have actions assigned to sacrificing a food token.
Landcycling
This activated ability will have a different name depending on which lands you are playing. The ability allows players to pay the mana cost to discard the card so that they can search their library for a land card to put into their hand.
Sagas
Each Saga enters the battlefield with a lore counter on it, causing the first ability—the chapter I ability—to trigger. As your first main phase begins, add another lore counter and the next chapter ability triggers. This continues until the last chapter ability has finished. Once that happens, players sacrifice the Saga.
Stun Counters
Stun counters prevent a card from being untapped. Instead of being untapped during the untap step or because a spell or ability tries to untap it, a stun counter is removed from the card. Essentially, it is like a 'lose-a-turn' counter.
As a fan of the novels by Tolkien and the movies directed by Peter Jackson, this is a set I have been waiting for and can't wait to see more of the cards and put them to the test. For those wishing to attend a pre-release event at their local WPN store to check out some of the new cards, visit https://locator.wizards.com. And for more information regarding the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth set, head on over to the official site.
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