The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth holds a lot of records for an MTG set. It’s the first-ever Draftable Universes Beyond set, for instance. Alongside this, the set also contained what has become the most expensive MTG card ever printed. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s also the first MTG set to ever get released twice.
Unlike every other MTG set, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is getting a second Holiday Release. Launching later this year, this second release contains new cards, new art treatments, and new collectibles. Since this has never happened before in MTG, it’s safe to say we’re in unprecedented times. Thankfully, we’re here to be your guides through that.
Throughout this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release. So, without any further ado, let’s dive into exactly that!
What Is The Lord of the Rings MTG Holiday Release?
First things first, we should go over exactly what The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release even is. Technically, it’s all explained in the name, since the set is the titular holiday release, however, it’s not quite that simple. Rather than being a 100% new set, the Holiday Release is more like a supplemental addition, designed to celebrate the holidays.
So, to lay things out as clearly as possible, The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release contains three, technically six, new products. These products are the four new Scene Boxes, Jumpstart Volume 2, and the new Collector Booster: Special Edition. Each of these products will contain either new cards or new art treatments.
Alongside containing new content, the Jumpstart Volume 2 and Collector Booster: Special Edition packs will also contain reprints. In total, only The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release contains 29 brand-new cards. Five of these, from Jumpstart Volume 2, are Modern Legal. The rest, from the four Scene Boxes, are all Commander/Eternal legal cards.
MTG Lord of the Rings Holiday Release Date
Unsurprisingly considering The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release is far from normal, the release date is somewhat unrothadox too. Thankfully, this is a good thing for simplicity’s sake, as there’s only one date you need to pay attention to. With the set already revealed and every card previewed, the only date you need is the globe release date. So…
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release: November 3rd, 2023
As a note, since The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release only contains supplemental products, it will not have any prerelease events. Instead, upon the release date, these products will simply show up on store shelves for you to purchase.
The Lord of the Rings Holiday Release MTG Spoilers
Due to the nature of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release, Wizards has been very forthcoming with product content. Thanks to this, we’ve already seen all of the 29 brand-new cards appearing in the set as well as all the new art.
To give you a quick rundown on all the important bits, The Lord of the Rings Holiday Release has some seriously powerful cards. As mentioned before, these are primarily found within Scene Boxes, which each contain six preset cards. Out of the 24 new Scene Box cards, the most powerful by far is Legolas’s Quick Reflexes.
Arguably the best protection spell ever printed, this card is likely destined to be a staple within Eternal formats. Beyond this powerful card, there is plenty more to look forward to from the quartet of Scene Boxes. One card, for instance, features the beloved Annihilator mechanic, which is as strong as the name suggests.
Alongside the new cards from Scene Boxes, there are also five new Modern-legal Jumpstart cards. For better or worse, we don’t expect any of these cards to significantly impact the Modern format in any way. That being said, however, they’re still new cards, and that’s surely worth getting a little bit excited about at least.
Last but not least on the new content front, there are also the art treatments to discuss. The more ubiquitous of these is the new Showcase Scroll frame, however, MTG players aren’t too happy about this style. The same is somewhat true of the Rock Poster Cards, which while absolutely stunning, are a little hard to read.
Thankfully, MTG players aren’t having the same problem with the Brothers Hildebrandt Cards which are deservedly being lauded for their good looks.
The Lord of the Rings Holiday Release Products
In order to make things as clear as possible, to close out this article, we’ve got a rundown of all the new products in The Lord of the Rings Holiday Release. Detailing where you can find the new cards and art treatments in list formats, hopefully, this section will help you make informed purchasing decisions.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Scene Boxes
Four unique Scene Boxes are available. Each box contains:
- Six brand new Eternal-legal MTG cards
- Six Art Cards featuring the Scene Card artwork
- Three Set Boosters
- Paper display easel
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart Volume 2
Jumpstart Volume 2 contains five more pack themes to mix and match with. Each one of these new themed packs contains a brand-new modern-legal MTG card. The five new pack themes are: Mortals, Cunning, Orcish, Riders, and Elven.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart Volume 2 packs contain the following:
- 20 Magic: The Gathering cards
- 2 Rare or Mythic rare cards (one brand new)
- 2 Foil Lands
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Collector Booster: Special Edition
The most unique product from The Lord of the Rings Holiday Release the Special Edition Collector Boosters contains a lot of new content. This includes a brand-new foiling technique, as well as reprinted Surge Foil cards. Here’s everything you’ll find inside these prized packs.
- 2 Non-foil showcase Scrolls of Middle-earth commons
- 2 Silver foil showcase Scrolls of Middle-earth commons
- 2 Non-foil showcase Scrolls of Middle-earth uncommons
- 2 Silver foil showcase Scrolls of Middle-earth uncommons
- 1 Non-foil showcase Scrolls of Middle-earth rare or mythic rare
- 1 Silver foil showcase Scrolls of Middle-earth rare or mythic rare
- 1 Surge foil full-art Middle-earth map land
- 1 Non-foil borderless Scene Box rare or mythic rare, or 1 extended-art rare Jumpstart card
- 1 Surge foil extended-art rare or mythic rare
- 1 Surge foil Booster Fun card, or a surge foil or serialized Realms and Relics card
- 1 Silver foil or non-foil Brothers Hildebrandt card, 1 traditional foil or non-foil borderless poster card, or 1 serialized borderless poster card
- 1 Double-faced surge foil token
Read More: Upcoming MTG Secret Lair Superdrop Promises Insane Foil Value
