MTG Lord of the Rings has taken me back in time. Although I first fell in love with Middle-earth via a dusty old cassette recording of The Hobbit, it wasn't until Peter Jackson's films that things truly clicked. From that moment on, I was obsessed; I spent countless hours combing through books and behind-the-scenes material for every scrap of lore I could find, and Games Workshop's take on the franchise became one of the best board games in my collection, because of how it sketched outside lines established by the movie trilogy. However, all things have to end sooner or later. After consuming almost all the stories, asides, and tidbits from Tolkein's world, I gradually forgot what it felt like to 'discover' this universe for the first time. These new cards, though? They helped me remember.
It seems as if those dedicated to stewarding all adaptations of Tolkien's work agree. Our own Rollin Bishop had a chance to talk with MTG Lord of the Rings senior art director Ovidio Cartagena, and the latter said that Middle-earth Enterprises had "thought long and hard on the visuals, diversity, the style, the characters. They came to the conclusion that this was a faithful adaptation." Having now gone hands-on with the set, I couldn't agree more – it's like rediscovering the different corners of this world all over again, redrawn for a new generation.
