The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth MTG crossover is likely to be the most successful set in Magic’s history. Announced during the last shareholder meeting for Hasbro was the surprising stat that Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the second set in Magic’s history to surpass $200 million dollars in sales. Modern Horizons 2 was the only other set to do this.
Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth may also be the first set in Magic’s history with two separate releases! Despite having its official release back in June, the Holiday Release for Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is just a week away!
Despite some players having to wait, we already know all of the contents for the new Lord of the Rings holiday release. This means stores are free to start opening up product to give players a taste of what’s to come.
Today, one box opening was far from normal. One of the biggest draws to the MTG Lord of the Rings product has definitely been the serialized cards. After all, the one-of-one serialized Ring went mainstream, eventually ending up in the hands of renowned MTG player and rapper Post Malone for over $2 million dollars.
One WPN store located in Goderich, Ontario named MTG North opened thousands of dollars worth of MTG cards for a lucky patron in just two packs! The #1 Serialized Gandalf has already been found!
A Strong Start
Revealed yesterday on the MTG North Youtube channel was an absolutely jaw-dropping opening. Alongside opening a Surge Foil extended art The One Ring in the first pack of the box, the #1 serialized Gandalf, the White appeared in the second.
These new serialized Lord of the Rings cards, referred to as borderless Poster cards, offer a collection of 20 mythic rare cards from the original set of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth in a new Secret Lair-esque artwork.
Notably, this treatment, while only available in the Special Edition Collector Boosters, is not exclusively available in serialized treatments. You can also find traditional foil and nonfoil borderless Poster cards in the Special Edition Collector Boosters that are not serialized. The chances, per pack, of finding one of those is much higher. You have about a 22.2% chance to find a nonserialized borderless Poster card in a Collector Booster pack. Your chances of finding a serialized are are 0.1% according to Wizards of the Coast’s collecting Lord of the Rings article.
While serialized cards tend to have an expensive price tag attached, there are a subsection of specific numbers that get an even larger premium. Generally, #1, the last number of a serialized batch, and other notable numbers like 69 and 420 can retail for a larger sum than other copies. This makes this particular Gandalf, potentially, very expensive. Thanks to its powerful ability, Gandalf, the White is also quite powerful in the Commander format.
For those curious about which cards can be opened in the new border Poster serialized treatment like the above Gandalf, here is the list of cards getting the borderless Poster treatment:
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The One Ring
The One Ring
Indestructible
When The One Ring enters, if you cast it, you gain protection from everything until your next turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life for each burden counter on The One Ring.
{T}: Put a burden counter on The One Ring, then draw a card for each burden counter on The One Ring. -
Dawn of a New Age
Dawn of a New Age
This enchantment enters with a hope counter on it for each creature you control.
At the beginning of your end step, remove a hope counter from this enchantment. If you do, draw a card. Then if this enchantment has no hope counters on it, sacrifice it and you gain 4 life. - Arwen, Galadriel Queen
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Gandalf, the White
Gandalf, the White
Flash
You may cast legendary spells and artifact spells as though they had flash.
If a legendary permanent or an artifact entering or leaving the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time. -
Mount Doom
Mount Doom
{T}, Pay 1 life: Add {B} or {R}.
{1}{B}{R}, {T}: Mount Doom deals 1 damage to each opponent.
{5}{B}{R}, {T}, Sacrifice Mount Doom and a legendary artifact: Choose up to two creatures, then destroy the rest. Activate only as a sorcery. -
Tom Bombadil
Tom Bombadil
As long as there are four or more lore counters among Sagas you control, Tom Bombadil has hexproof and indestructible.
Whenever the final chapter ability of a Saga you control resolves, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a Saga card. Put that card onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. This ability triggers only once each turn. -
Storm of Saruman
Storm of Saruman
Ward {3}
Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, copy it, except the copy isn't legendary. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A copy of a permanent spell becomes a token.) -
The Watcher in the Water
The Watcher in the Water
The Watcher in the Water enters tapped with nine stun counters on it. (If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.)
Whenever you draw a card during an opponent's turn, create a 1/1 blue Tentacle creature token.
Whenever a Tentacle you control dies, untap up to one target Kraken and put a stun counter on up to one target nonland permanent. -
Shadow of the Enemy
Shadow of the Enemy
Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard. You may cast spells from among those cards for as long as they remain exiled, and mana of any type can be spent to cast them.
- Witch-King of Angmar
- Hew the Entwood
- Spiteful Banditry
- Last March of the Ents
- Radagast the Brown
- Aragorn the Uniter
- Saruman of Many Colors
- Sauron, the Dark Lord
- Anduril, Flame of the West [tooltips]Glamdring
- Palantir of Orthanc
There is no word on this Gandalf being listed for sale yet, but Lord of the Rings serialized cards continue to fetch quite the penny. While the one-of-one Serialized Ring is definitely an exception, other serialized cards from the first set launch continue to fetch prices as high as $5000. You can read more about the new art treatments found in the Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth holiday release here.
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