Unless you've been living in some sort of fantasy world, far away from Magic: The Gathering over the last few weeks, you've probably seen the hype surrounding the new Lord of the Rings crossover into Magic: The Gathering, which releases on June 23 2023.
New details are slowly trickling out, including card lists for the new Starter Decks, details surrounding the special single print of The One Ring, and the names of the four upcoming commander decks.
The set is based on Tolkien's books, will be straight-to-modern, and will feature four Commander Decks, two Starter Decks, Jumpstart Boosters, Draft Boosters, Collectors Boosters, Gift Bundles, and a Secret Lair drop which will not be based on the books, but instead will feature artwork based on the 1978 animated film.
To help add to the hype, we've been given the privilege of exclusively revealing a new card in the set - Display of Power.
Display of Power
Display of Power is a red card costing 3 mana (2 of which must be red). It's an instant which can't be copied and lets you copy any number of instant and/or sorcery spells that you can target. You can then choose new targets for the copies.
It features flavour text from the book, quoting Gandalf speaking about the attack he endured atop Weathertop. Fans of the series will be very familiar with the reference in question, in which Gandalf the Grey is attacked by Nazgûl (the amount of Nazgûl appears to be in debate).
The battle is described as a series of bright flashes jumping from the hilltops, as seen by Frodo. The artwork then is fitting - a flash of light seen from a distance, with a number of blurred creatures swarming around. The card itself comes in two prints, one "standard" and one borderless art card.
At first glance, there is a whole swathe of potential uses for this card. It affects any instant and sorcery cards, irrespective of where they come from - meaning you can copy your own cards and effectively multiply their effect. You can also choose new copies for the targets, meaning that you can spread your damage out or concentrate it on one bigger target.
It has defensive potential too - you can copy removal spells or counterspells to deal with threats on the field, or you can copy defensive spells cast by your opponent for use yourself.
There are also a lot of combo potentials - cards that gain effects each time a spell is cast will thrive off a card like this, particularly if you're able to grab multiple instants and sorceries at once. Note that Display of Power lets you copy any number of instants and/or sorceries.
There's also the mana cost to think about - it's a 3 mana card, but it copies cards of any mana cost. This means you can essentially double up your big mana spell cards for significantly less cost, giving you awesome value.
Display of Power offers not just power, but also versatility, and is a great-looking card to boot.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth releases on June 23 2023, and is available wherever you usually get your cards.
