The Lord of the Rings has come to Magic: The Gathering, and it’s time to take familiar favorites on a whole new journey there and back again. In the upcoming set, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, players have the chance to join the Fellowship in adventures filled with valor, courage, and second breakfast. Play your favorite moments of the third age or turn Middle-earth on its head and surrender to the temptation of the Precious. Either way, Middle-earth is in your hands.
The set has two primary launch windows—June 2023 and a holiday launch in November 2023—and is the first full set release as part of Universes Beyond, bringing the iconic world of J.R.R. Tolkien to life within the Magic frame. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is modern legal and comprised of Draft, Set, Collector, and Jumpstart Boosters, four Commander decks, a Starter Kit, a Bundle and Gift Bundle, Scene Boxes, and Secret Lair drops. For more information on which specific products are coming in June 2023, check out this article on DailyMTG.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth will also come to Magic: The Gathering Arena with all of the same cards as the tabletop release. The set will be legal in Alchemy and Historic formats and receive the same support as a full release, including a preorder, Mastery Pass, and cosmetics.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Set Code: LTR
Website: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
Preorder Now: Online at Amazon and at your local game store
First Look: March 14
Debut: May 30
Prerelease: June 16
MTG Arena Release: June 20
Tabletop Release: June 23
Holiday Release (more details to come): November 3
The next Magic: The Gathering announcement is that a first-of-its-kind Commander Masters Arrives on August 3, 2023.
Commander Masters is the first Masters set tied explicitly to the Commander format and will arrive on August 4, 2023. This set is a must-have for collectors and players looking to add beautiful and powerful cards to their Commander decks.
As a Masters set, Commander Masters is comprised of both reprints as well as new, powerful cards. There will be four preconstructed decks that each feature ten new Magic cards, including brand-new commanders and Set Boosters, Draft Boosters, and Collector Boosters.
Here’s a list of all four preconstructed decks:
Eldrazi Unbound (Colorless)
Enduring Enchantments (White-Black-Green)
Planeswalker Party (White-Blue-Red)
Sliver Swarm (White-Blue-Black-Red-Green
And finally, starting today, MTG Arena is introducing a feature called “preferred printing,” where players can pick a favorite basic land as their default basic land. This new feature also allows players to pick any favorite card on MTG Arena that has multiple versions with different artwork. Players can pick a favorite by clicking the heart icon, which will set it as their default/preferred version of the card.
Today’s update also includes a quality-of-life improvement – an improved collection view – where cards with multiple versions will now “collapse” into one spot in a player’s collection, which they can expand to view all versions of the card. By default, the most recent version will be “on top,” but it will update to a preferred printing if one is selected.