As Wizards of the Coast continues to test new ideas to make subsequent products feel as special as possible, we are beginning to see the novelty of each set combine to bring us the upcoming Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Prerelease. While the Sealed-illegal Prerelease promos are a bit of a controversial bonus, we are also seeing some more exciting adjustments from Wizards’ experiments with Phyrexia: All Will Be One. It appears that the rare Prerelease Lord of the Rings Spindown will be making a return!
The Phyrexian Spindown
Those who attended the Phyrexia: All Will Be One Prerelease may remember that a bizarre extra element was added to the experience. Players were quick to notice that one particular Spindown was not only rarer than the others but also looked very different. The Phyrexian Spindown available in Prerelease kits was an incredibly cool opportunity for Phyrexian fans considering it offered a direct translation for Phyrexian numerals in Wizards’ custom language. Because the die was a rather rare collectible, thanks to it only being available in about one of fifteen Prerelease packets, it could also be exchanged for a decent chunk of cash if you find the right buyer.
During Phyrexia’s Prerelease season, the Phyrexian Spindown was about $50 according to eBay sales. Most of the die’s value has been retained, but it sells for a little less than it used to nowadays.
The Chase Prerelease Lord of the Rings Spindown
Now that the Lord of the Rings Prerelease is upon us, players are starting to look at the details of the event with a bit more scrutiny. Alongside the return of unplayable promo cards, which ultimately is a good thing as long as communication is properly established at the beginning of the event, we are also seeing the return of the chase Spindown die. This one doesn’t appear to be as rare as the last one, however.
Unlike the Phyrexian Spindown, the new Spindown is available in one of ten packets instead of one in fifteen. Described by Wizards of the Coast as “a special spindown featuring gold lettering on translucent green“, it definitely has the potential to have an elven feel to it. At this point, however, we don’t actually have a visual example of what the die is supposed to look like. As soon as Prerelease weekend happens, however, this should change.
Because this Spindown appears to both be more common than the Phyrexian one and does not offer unique numerals, chances are that this die may have a lower price point than the previous collectible Spindown. That said, the Lord of the Rings novelty could have some value attached to it, making this particularly difficult to predict. Either way, having a chase die to find adds a bit of intrigue to the Prerelease experience.
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Reports of Cracking Dice
Unfortunately, as we addressed in a recent article overlooking some discovered product defects, it appears these Spindown die are not without their problems. Redditors have reported that both Spindowns from Phyrexia: All Will Be One and March of the Machine seem to have cracks appearing on them as time passes.
It’s somewhat unknown if the $50 chase die from Phyrexia: All Will Be One is also suffering these cracks but, if this defect proves to affect the new Lord of the Rings chase Spindown, it could affect the secondary market value of the product. It is completely unknown if this defect will reappear in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth product, but it is something to keep an eye on.
If you want to read more about this, and some other product defects, we covered it here. Should you continue onto this article in the first few days that this was written, you may notice that many of the quoted links to Reddit may not be working. This is due to a large-scale protest currently happening on the platform.
Will The Click-Wheel Reappear?
Even though the Phyrexian Spindown dice were a big hit for MTG collectors, they were a far cry from how well the Phyrexian Click-Wheel Life Counter was. First released as a part of the Commander Anthology product, Click-Wheel Life Counters are considered one of the best ways for Commander players to keep track of their life totals. The items are rather sturdy, allowing it to retain your life total should they be knocked over with ease. This cannot be said for the Lord of the Rings Spindown dice, which are bound to land on a different number if they are accidentally bumped. This is the biggest reason why, in competitive rules enforcement level tournaments, dice are discouraged for life total use.
Unfortunately, it does not appear that Click-Wheel accessories will be returning as a part of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, but with how well this promotion went over as a part of Phyrexia: All Will be One, it’s tough to believe that we will not see these return once again in the future.
If you want to find a Click-Wheel Life Counter for yourself, TCGplayer currently sells the Phyrexia: All Will Be One version for about $30, which is a huge price reduction for the initial $100 they were going for. Alternatively, if you don’t care about the appearance of the Counter and want to save a bit of money, the Commander Anthology Spindowns tend to go for $21ish.
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