Tales of the Middle-earth, the big crossover of Magic the Gathering and Lord of the Rings, is bringing us a bunch of products. However, one of them is like no other, and that’s the MTG LotR Starter Kit, which will be the main focus of this article. We’ll explore its contents, and answer all questions that you might have about it.
With that said, let’s get right to it.
MTG LotR Starter Kit Contents
Each Tales of the Middle-Earth Starter Kit contains:
- two ready-to-play 60-card decks
- 1 learn-to-play guide
- 2 cardboard deck boxes
- 2 codes to unlock both decks to play online in MTG Arena for 2 players
Each of the two decks comes with 1 foil mythic rare card, and with 4 regular rare cards. Some cards also appear in the main set, some are exclusive to these decks, and some are reprints. However, all cards (even the reprints) will be set within the Middle-earth, which is great for all Lord of the Rings fans.
We currently don’t know the full decklists yet. Once we do, we’ll update the article with them, so make sure to check back soon. Nevertheless, we already know the two key cards from each deck, so let’s take a look and speculate about what you might see in each deck.
Aragorn and Arwen Deck
The first of the two decks is white and green. Its key card is Aragorn and Arwen, Wed. If we assume that the card will show us the direction of the deck, we can expect two different themes, both of which are usually quite popular among new players: +1/+1 counters and life gain.
You can use +1/+1 counters to make your creatures bigger. There are a lot of cards in MTG that have further synergies with them, but their common use is simply to improve the quality of your creatures.
The other theme is life gain, this is a strategy that relies on you gaining life. If you have more life, that means that your opponent will have a harder time winning. Furthermore, there are cards that give you additional rewards whenever you gain life. We will see if any of those will be included in this deck, but it’s certainly possible.
Decklist
| Creatures (24) 1 Aragorn and Arwen, Wed 1 Frodo, Determined Hero 1 Gandalf, White Rider 1 Galadriel, Gift-Giver 3 Knight of the Keep 1 Westfold Rider 1 East-Mark Cavalier 1 Eastfarthing Farmer 2 Protector of Gondor 1 Rosie Cotton of South Lane 1 Landroval, Horizon Witness 2 Mushroom Watchdogs 2 Wose Pathfinder 2 Bag End Porter 1 Generous Ent 1 Meriadoc Brandybuck 1 Peregrin Took 1 Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper Instants (3) 1 Second Breakfast 1 Stew the Coneys 1 You Cannot Pass! Enchantments (2) 2 Banishing Light Sorceries (2) 2 Many Partings | Lands (26) 2 Shire Terrace 2 Graypelt Refuge 11 Forest 11 Plains Artifacts (3) 1 Dúnedain Blade 1 Galadhrim Bow 1 Bilbo’s Ring |
Sauron Deck
Of course, who better to oppose Argorn, than Sauron himself. This deck represents the bad guys’ team. There will probably be some Orcs, Uruk-hai, and possibly even Nazguls in this deck.
Sauron has a powerful enter-the-battlefield effect. You get to steal an opponent’s creature of your choice until the end of the turn. If you have some sacrifice effects in the deck, which is quite likely, they might never get it back.
It also has an activated ability, which buffs your creatures, and makes the opponent lose two life. If you have enough mana, you can actually use it multiple times in a single turn. Your opponent will have to defeat Sauron quickly, before he takes over. This part is certainly lore-accurate.
Decklist
| Creatures (23) 1 Sauron, the Lidless Eye 1 Gollum, Scheming Guide 1 Witch-king, Bringer of Ruin 1 The Balrog, Flame of Udûn 3 Goblin Assailant 2 Easterling Vanguard 2 Dunland Crebain 2 Mordor Trebuchet 1 Snarling Warg 1 Gothmog, Morgul Lieutenant 1 Voracious Fell Beast 2 Olog-hai Crusher 1 Oliphaunt 1 Goblin Fireleaper 1 Grishnákh, Brash Instigator 1 Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain 1 Uglúk of the White Hand Enchantment (1) 1 Fires of Mount Doom Sorcery (6) 2 Feed the Swarm 1 Swarming of Moria 1 Fire of Orthanc 2 Foray of Orcs Instants (3) 1 Nasty End 1 Shelob’s Ambush 1 Cast into the Fire | Lands (26) 4 Evolving Wilds 11 Swamp 11 Mountain Artifacts (1) 1 Mind Stone |
Is MTG LotR Starter Kit Worth Buying?
So, should you buy the Lord of the Rings Starter Kit? Typically, with questions like this, a lot depends on the product’s price. As it turns out, Starter Kit excels at that, with a very budget-friendly price.
It’s actually the among the cheapest MTG LotR products. It’s also the best product if you only care about the number of acquired cards per dollar spent. So, where’s the catch? Well, this product has a predefined list of cards that you get inside it, most of which won’t be worth much on the secondary market. This way there is basically no reason to buy multiple of these.
However, even if a defined list of cards hurts the “value” of the cards, it’s actually amazing for casual players, beginners and LotR fans too.
Since the decks aren’t so complex, they are great to learn the game. Plus, you have everything you need for a two-player game. There aren’t many other products that let you do that.
If you’re a casual player, you’re getting two decks, which can be used as a self-contained board game. If your friend comes over and doesn’t have a deck, you can pick this up, and you’re ready to enjoy some pure Magic.
Of course, the product gets even better, if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan. Then you’ll get to enjoy all the flavor of the cards.
The Verdict
So, all things considered, this is a great product for a whole lot of people. If you’re on the verge of whether to get this product or not, you should probably go for it. It’s a great product to get into Magic, or to simply have some LotR themed Magic cards. On top of that, it’s one of the cheapest MTG products, so you won’t burn a hole in a wallet.
MTG LotR Starter Kit – FAQ
Before we wrap up, here are some frequently asked question about this product. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, leave us a comment below. We’ll get back to you, as fast as we can.
Yes, it is. It’s designed with a new player in mind, so it has less complex cards, so it will be easier to learn the game.
When you redeem a code from Lord of the Rings Starter Kit on Arena, you get a copy of each of the two decks. (All the cards in the two decks, in the same amounts.) The code can be redeemed on two different accounts.
That depends on what you want. If you want something to start your MTG LotR collection with, or if you just want to get lots of Magic cards set in Middle-earth, this is a nice product to get. However, if you’re looking for some rare and valuable cards, this product isn’t meant for that.
If you mean the types of basic lands, you can expect Plains, Swamps, Mountains, and Forests – so everything except Islands.
If you mean the design of the basic lands, these will be regular basic lands, albeit LotR-themed. The full art map lands probably won’t appear in this product.
While we currently can’t say for sure, they probably will be. Whenever Wizards release a product with two decks, they try to balance them, so they are fun to play against one another.
Conclusion
That’s the end of our MTG LotR Starter Kit Guide. Now you should know everything there’s to know about it. Anyway, if you want more information about other Middle-earth products, check our MTG LotR Products Guide. On the other hand, if you want to find the cards that appear in the main set, you can check our MTG LotR Spoilers page.
Until next time, have fun, and enjoy playing with your new cards.