The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth arrives in the world of Magic: The Gathering (MTG) who, as a good archetype of fantasy card games, presented us with the cards of the game. This is also thanks to the answers given to us by Ovid Cartagena, Senior Art Director for the game which, we discovered, in addition to being a passionate insider is also an avid fan of the world of Tolkien.
Below in the article, you will find both the interview and the mechanics, as well as the galleries dedicated to the expansion.
What difficulty did you encounter reproducing Lord of the Rings events and items in the world of MTG?
All the game expansions or the worlds that we are going to touch in general present challenges: in this case in particular none, except perhaps having an extra eye given the depth and importance of the theme that we were going to revise.
What inspired you to reproduce events and moments?
We were able to move freely in the world of the three main books of the story, so The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were our starting and ending points. There are no references to anything else, we have not explored anything other than those three elements which, in any case, are so rich that there was no need to go further.
What types of cards are in the set?
The set shows both the heroes you know, like Galadriel, Frodo e Aragorn to name a few, both enemies of course, such as i Nazgul, Orcs e Sauron. We worked hard on the dedicated character designs of these characters, for example Sauron is represented with a Palantir stuck in his armor before he was defeated, Frodo appears in different versions depending on the historical moment in which he is encountered and so on.
In terms of variants, which ones exist and how do they behave on an aesthetic level?
As you will see in the images, we have worked a lot on the design not only inside the card, but also on the “edges” of the latter. Indeed we have the variant called “Ring”, or rather a variant that has the writing engraved on the One Ring around the image itself. There is a variant of this type for each main character, like Samwise Gamgee, Frodo, Merry, Legolas and so on. There is also the set of cards that make up the Battle of the Pelennor Fields composed of 18 borderless cards, deliberately printed like this to reproduce an epic scene.
Where is the One Ring located?
L’Single Ring owns four variants of its image, the standard version can be found in all packs of the expansion, while the alternative version defined Promo it can be found in Bundles, Gift Bundles, Collector Boosters (English only) and Collector Boosters (other languages). The third variant defined Extended Art only found in Gift Bundles, Collector Boosters (English), and Collector Boosters (other languages). Finally the one you will all be looking for, the unique variant (yes, there will only be one in the world) defined Serializedwill only be found in Collector Boosters (English) and Gift Bundles…hopefully not at the bottom of a river!
Mechanics of Temptation
The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth introduces the mechanic of Temptation of the ring and, as per the table below, when a creature or card activates the Temptation effect, you will get a Ring emblem that will increase in power based on how much you have been Tempted. Temptation is a powerful weapon that it goes attached to a creature which becomes fact Ring bearer.
Before leaving you to the complete gallery of cards, we remind you that by pre-ordering the expansion on MTG Arena you will have the Pet of theUnique Ring in 3D which will accompany you in the game.
Artwork
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Carte
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MTG ARENA
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Dedicated game plan
