MTG Lord of the Rings crossover set, Tales of Middle Earth is slated for release in Autumn 2023, Wizards of the Coast revealed at its Wizards Presents 2022 event on August 18. One of its more unusual gimmicks, revealed in the stream, is a massive artwork depicting the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, split across 18 different Magic: The Gathering cards.
The collage, a piece by Magic artist Tyler Jacobson, shows the epic battle raging right outside the walls of Minas Tirith towards the end of the War of the Ring. It’s been split across 18 cards from the set (and cleverly drawn so that every 63 x 88mm stretch of the piece makes sense as its own card).
We’ve not been told what each card in the collage will be, but below you can see how the artwork will be partitioned – so if you’re a devoted fan you can have some fun figuring it out and piecing the card’s identities together. In the foreground, that’s clearly Gimli, Legolas, and the rest of the heroes, while in the background the riders of Rohan and Oliphaunt cavalry each get their own card.
In the skies, meanwhile, it looks like there’ll be cards for the Witch-king, Fellbeast wyverns, and a swarm of giant bats. The only part we’re not very sure about is the two cards over on the top right. Maybe those are both mountain land cards? Anyhow, check it out for yourself:
The MTG Lord of the Rings Tales of Middle Earth set follows the story of Frodo and pals in their struggle against the dark lord Sauron in Magic card form. It’ll be a draftable, booster-based set, and much like the MTG Warhammer 40k crossover, there’ll be a number of Secret Lairs available.
This Universes Beyond Lord of the Rings set will also be going up on MTG Arena after its physical launch, in the form of a large Alchemy release. Check our guide to the MTG LOTR release date.