Modern Set Review - The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth

Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth hits stores with this weekend's Prerelease. Unlike other sets in the Universes Beyond series so far, this collaboration was done through a Booster Set, where its cards will also be legal in Modern, as well as Pauper and Legacy.

In today's article, we'll evaluate the main cards of the new set for Modern!

Static "out of game" mechanics are new to Modern. The only ability that precedes the recently released The Ring Tempts You is the Dungeon mechanic, from Adventutes in the Forgotten Realms, which had no impact on the format.

In other eternal formats such as Pauper and Legacy, these non-interactive abilities brought dangerous and problematic precedents to the Metagame, such as Monarch's dominance in Pauper until the point where main decks were too fast, while Initiative was so strong that bans were required on both formats.

However, the Ring differs from Initiative in that once a card with Initiative or Monarch comes into play, the ability will work on its own, whereas the Ring requires its ability to trigger multiple times to do its job. - as with Dungeons, using multiple cards with this ability means making a lot of deckbuilding concessions.

Therefore, I believe that this new ability will only have potential in Modern if the cards that trigger it are good enough, and fit into some established strategy. Some of the best examples of this would be Call of the Ring, an enchantment that grants all the Ring's triggers by itself, and also offers card advantage by keeping creatures in play to be Ring bearers.

The problem is that the Ring, by itself, does nothing, and at least one of its four abilities has little relevance in the competitive landscape. Therefore, we need cards that can gain benefits when used alongside these effects.

The best options are creatures that punish the opponent by not being blocked. Threats like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer generate a lot of value when dealing damage to the opponent, and can benefit from the Ring's first ability with ease. Another category that also takes advantage of being the Ringbearer are creatures that have abilities when attacking, such as Dreadhorde Arcanist, as these benefit from having a clear path in combat.

Frodo, Sauron's Bane is the absolute payoff for this mechanic, as it guarantees immediate victory the moment it deals combat damage if you complete all steps of the temptation. However, his mana investment and lack of built-in protection or other qualities make him a very vulnerable target for any opponent interaction.

As the mechanic doesn't do much on its own, and requires a certain level of compromise, I'm somewhat skeptical of its potential in Modern today, and its presence in the format will depend on how viable its main cards are compared to the rest of the Metagame.

The Battle of Bywater is a useful card for aggressive archetypes that need to deal with bigger creatures. Its power threshold of three is essential in the current Metagame, as it deals with Murktide Regent, Dragon's Rage Channeler, the Crashing Footfalls tokens, Grief, Fury and Solitude, while allowing the survival of the main threats played in aggressive white decks today, such as Esper Sentinel and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

Costing three mana on Thalia archetypes is a downside, but the card offers excellent qualities for a possible resurgence of creature-based archetypes.

Boromir, Warden of the Tower is another useful card for white creature-based decks. In Modern, it serves as a permanent Counterspell against Living End and Crashing Footfalls, as well as blocking cards such as Force of Negation, Force of Vigor, Mox Amber, and the ability to cast the MH2 Elementals for free.

Boromir competes with Lavinia for the essential spell-locking slot against a dozen archetypes, while also offering other abilities that make it more useful in other situations, like protecting your threats from a sweeper.

In general context, Lavinia seems like a more efficient card when you only need one card to hold a specific strategy for a few turns, like in Hammer Time, or when we have a deck like Amulet Titan and Tron in the Metagame, while Boromir is more interesting for strategies that seek a more proactive stance, or that resort to a toolbox.

Dawn of a New Age is a powerful value engine for those same creature decks mentioned above. However, because it needs creatures to be in play to gain counters, plus the fact that we can only remove one counter per End Step, it's closer to a "win more" effect than a core card for these archetypes.

Flowering of the White Tree is a strange card to evaluate, as its ceiling is a mixture of Coppercoat Vanguard and Honor of the Pure for legendary creatures, while its floor is the same of an Honor of the Pure for all creatures - a card that hadn't seen play in Modern for at least a decade.

An interesting proposal for it is in a list that cares about legends, alongside cards like Skrelv, Defector Mite, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, as well as Aether Vial or Delighted Halfling to bypass Counterspells.

However, a Legend-based list requires several creatures that generate value on their own, whereas this enchantment does very little on its own and, being legendary, also suffers from the high probability of becoming a dead draw or just more fodder to play with Solitude.

The best plays with Forge Anew involve reanimating a Kaldra Compleat or Colossus Hammer and equipping it to one of your creatures for free. Added to the extra consistency this card brings to Hammer Time, it's likely the archetype will try out a few copies of this card in its maindeck in the coming weeks.

The fact that Forge Anew is an enchantment is a double-edged sword for Hammer, as it doesn't offer a target to equip its artifacts, while also being just as difficult to deal with as a Sigarda's Aid , as well as having greater resilience to cards like Prismatic Ending.

Honorable mention. Frodo, Sauron's Bane is the absolute payoff for the Ring mechanic should it become competitively relevant in Modern.

Unfortunately, the activation cost of its abilities makes it somewhat restrictive on many archetypes, and the fact that it doesn't generate any immediate value and still requires a mana investment makes it often a poor copy of cards like Figure of Destiny and Hexdrinker.

Honorable mention. I think that Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines already occupies the space that would belong to Gandalf the White in Modern. The fact that it has Flash has some advantages over its predecessor, but its ability only triggers for legendary permanents and artifacts, making it less useful when played alongside Elementals, and other famous ETB effects in Modern.

Reprieve is a useful variant of Remand for Modern, with the advantage that it doesn't counter the spell, but returns it to its owner's hand. Therefore, its ceiling and access to this card outside blue gives it a higher ceiling than its predecessor, including the possibility of decks like Azorius Control opting for its inclusion, if necessary, since it functions as a pitch to Solitude.

In Mono White, I don't see it as an instant staple. For most of them, cards like Surge of Salvation already do the job you normally want from this kind of answer, but Reprieve can be useful in situations where you want to stop a specific play for long enough, such as a sweeper that would kill your creatures (this card can "counter" Supreme Verdict), or a combo that would end the game.

A notable element in this set is the support that the strategies received for Modern, with new pieces of interactions and combos. Rosie Cotton of South Lane is another one of those cards, and closes an infinite combo loop with Scurry Oak.

Because Rosie puts a +1/+1 counter on a target creature every time a token comes into play, its controller can choose to put this counter on Scurry Oak, whose ability will trigger, create a Squirrel token, which will trigger Rosie's ability once more, creating an infinite loop.

Unlike previous combos of Scurry Oak with Heliod, Sun-Crowned and any Lifegain effect when a creature comes into play, Rosie sets up a two-card combo next to the new creature, which adds a lot to the consistency of combo strategies with Collected Company and similar cards in these colors, which have been absent from the format since Modern Horizons 2 came out.

While none of them are impressive on their own, reducing the number of parts needed for the combo, or establishing an interconnection between them, as Scurry Oak does with Rosie and Heliod, creates a more solid and consistent shell for these archetypes, and opens up the potential for such archetypes to return to the competitive Metagame.

Samwise the Stouthearted have the potential to pop into creature/permanent-based archetypes to fall back on at key moments, while putting yet another body on the battlefield.

Using it after a Force of Vigor on Colossus Hammer, or to return a creature that has been destroyed by an Unholy Heat are viable options, not counting the possibility of returning to your hand out cards that sacrifice themselves, such as Urza's Saga, to ensure a new land cycle.

As a cantrip, Birthday Escape is one of the best and cheapest Ring mechanic enablers in Modern. Its value is low compared to the most common cantrips in the Metagame today, such as Consider and Serum Visions, but turning one of your creatures into the wielder has advantages that can make it a viable option on archetypes like Izzet Prowess - since you can take advantage of the mechanic to, after the blockers phase, perform a sequence of spells to deal lethal damage to the opponent.

In decks like Izzet Murktide, Consider still seems like the best option as long as we can't take full advantage of this new ability.

Scroll of Isildur deserves an honorable mention for its ability to steal artifacts for a few turns, in addition to holding the game and offering card advantage. This saga doesn't seem like an instant staple to me, but it is interesting enough to deserve some testing on the Sideboards.

Honorable mention.

Council's Deliberation has a good interaction with some cantrips that, despite not being so present today in Modern, were once good staples: Opt and Serum Visions.

Coupling an "extra draw" to these cards (especially Serum Visions) can give it a home in the blue-based archetypes.

Stern Scolding is one of the most efficient counterspells Modern has received in recent years. The long list of cards this spell counters for one mana include Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Grief, Stoneforge Mystic, Seasoned Pyromancer, Esper Sentinel. Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Dragon's Rage Channeler, Monastery Swiftspear, Shardless Agent, Ledger Shredder, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Solitude, among other creatures that are usually present in the format.

As with Spell Pierce and Spell Snare, its presence in the Metagame will depend on how susceptible the most played cards in the main decks are. However, Stern Scolding manages to maintain good resource and mana parity against most of the format's top threats, which could earn it the title of Staple.

Call of the Ring is probably the best Ring mechanic enabler for Modern. Because it only requires one piece to trigger all abilities, this card allows you to take advantage of the keyword without creating too many deckbuilding concessions.

In addition, for two mana, Call of the Ring allows you to generate card advantage at the cost of two life each turn, which makes it an interesting option for Midrange or aggressive decks that can guarantee at least one Rinbearer per turn.

Its biggest problem, however, is that it needs a creature to generate value, while doing absolutely nothing on its own. The main comparison to it in the format today would be with Dark Confidant, or another two-mana permanent that generates resources on its own, and Dark Confidant hasn't been a Modern staple for a while.

Like the card above, Gollum, Scheming Guide has an effect that we can compare to Dark Confidant, and which also requires a specific and/or conditional set up to work.

Given that he's a creature, and we've learned not to underestimate recurring card advantage without a drawback, maybe he'll prove more efficient than Confidant in that regard, and would even gain a slot as an efficient two-drop, if not for one other card from the same set.

Honorable mention. Sacrificing your Ringbearer to draw three cards might give Nasty End some use in Modern, but if even Deadly Dispute isn't a very established card in the format, I don't think a more limited and conditional version offers enough value.

Orcish Bowmasters is why I don't think Gollum, Scheming Guide can see play in Modern: not only is it better against the current Metagame, it's also efficient at countering the opponent's own Gollum.

I did a detailed review of Orcish Bowmasters for Modern in another article, and I stand by every opinion and analysis presented therein.

It's most likely one of, if not the most powerful cards in the set.

Honorable mention. Cast into the Fire exiles troublesome artifacts such as Kaldra Compleat and The One Ring, while also functioning as a split damage ping between two X/1 creatures. Its flexibility can give it some Sideboard slots.

Honorable mention. Display of Power can copy any number of spells on the stack, and that includes Storm's spells after the ability triggers resolve. That is, it functions as extra copies of Grapeshot in this archetype, which has also been absent from Modern for a few years now.

Outside this role, Display of Power can also copy certain opponent's spells at Instant-Speed. There are a variety of spells with this same effect in the format, including some more efficient ones like Narset's Reversal, so I have low expectations about its potential.

The most important text of Fear, Fire, Foes! is the fact that it doesn't allow turn damage prevention. That is, it bypasses the protections of cards like Sanctifier en-Vec, Burrenton Forge-Tender and Auriok Champion, in addition to dealing with several of the opponent's creatures, if they run a high number of cards with one toughness.

Fiery Inscription is another card that smells like Storm the moment you read its abilities. While this enchantment seems useful in this strategy, it also harks back to Aria of Flame, another three-mana card that rewards you for playing many spells, and which never saw much play outside the old Izzet Phoenix.

An archetype where Fiery Inscription seems more interesting to me are the spellslinger decks that manage to pressure the opponent, but have difficulty getting back into the game when they hold the initial pressure, such as the Prowess archetypes, which can take advantage of this card's ETB trigger.

In those cases, the new enchantment would come into play in games where having more reach with your spells is needed, as it would guarantee two damage to any draw + Burn sequence the list runs. However, this card is significantly worse in variants with Dragon's Rage Channeler, and those that rely on Underworld Breach for value with multiple Mishra's Bauble casts.

Given that this combo costs less mana to make and generates more card advantage, Fiery Inscription is unlikely to prove more efficient in the long run.

Moria Marauder is a useful addition to Goblin decks if they need to follow an aggro-oriented approach rather than a combo-oriented one. It doesn't seem to me to do enough to get the archetype back into the Metagame, as not even Rundvelt Hordemaster solved their main problem today.

In Modern, Ranger's Firebrand is a trap. A bad Shock will still be bad even if your deck is focused on Ring mechanics, unless it becomes such a prevalent presence in the Metagame that we need to close the four slots of the ability early.

Delighted Halfling is by far one of the most powerful cards in the set for any format in which it will be legal. In a vacuum, she looks like a more conditional version of cards like Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch, but since she's a 1/2 creature and her mana ability doesn't allow the spell to be countered , sets a great precedent for a dozen strategies.

The first deck that will really benefit from it is Golgari Yawgmoth, which already sought to reduce the number of mana dorks with low toughness to have better chances against Fury. Despite not having as many legendary cards in the list, Delighted Halfling allows you to cast Grist, the Hunger Tide and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician over Counterspell, which often means starting the sacrifice loop and ending the game or burying the opponent in card advantage.

Delighted Halfling can also work on other Goodstuff archetypes, perhaps alongside Aragorn, the Uniter, Teferi, Time Raveler, Wrenn and Six, and Omnath, Locus of Creation. Or even in strategies with creature combos, alongside Samwise Gamgee or Rosie Cotton of South Lane.

Honorable mention.

Legolas, Master Archer has some useful interactions alongside targeted removals like Fatal Push and the like, given that you can deal with an opponent's threat with the removal, and use Legolas' trigger to kill another smaller creature.

Its 1/4 body also means that it serves as an effective block against many flying creatures in the format today.

Aragorn, the Uniter is one of the most powerful cards in LotR, but also one with a vast range of competitors in Modern decks that might want it: Goodstuff strategies.

Aragorn fits well into the coreof these archetypes, as his ability triggers for each color on spells cast: a Wrenn and Six means a Lightning Bolt on the opponent and +4/+4 on a creature, while Teferi, Time Raveler means a 1/1 token in play and Scry 2.

Its abilities also improve some cards that are not currently played in Modern, such as Trace of Abundance, which offers some protection against Blood Moon, while, alongside Aragorn, it creates a 1/1 token, deals a Lightning Bolt to the opponent and grants +4/+4 to another creature.

That is, Aragorn, the Uniter benefits greatly from the theme of multicolored cards, and also from some of the main staples of Modern. However, it needs to be in play for some of these cards to add value, and doesn't offer any advantage by himself, making him less efficient than Omnath, Locus of Creation the moment it comes into play, and even decks like Niv-to-Light might just want a copy of it, despite having countless multicolored spells.

In the end, I think most Goodstuff lists will still opt for Indomitable Creativity and Omnath, Locus of Creation, but Aragorn, the Uniter is strong enough to create a new variant of this strategy, perhaps alongside General Ferrous Rokiric in a more aggressive shell, with Mantis Rider, Bloodbraid Elf and other cards with multiple colored costs.

Arwen, Mortal Queen is another card that interacts with combos in Modern. In this case, Arwen allows you to perform the combo with Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista without the need to cast it with X = 2, and costing two mana less to execute all the steps, since that its ability will give a +1/+1 counter and Lifelink to Walking Ballista, in addition to making it indestructible until end of turn.

Since she has an indestructible counter, she's an excellent early backup for the turn where you want to close the combo.

The Balrog, Durin's Bane is on the threshold between unplayable or absolutely broken. A 7/5 body for two mana with Haste, which is unblockable by most creatures, and which punishes the opponent for killing it, has enough value to do some damage to Modern. The question is how to get to that point.

Balrog is the type of card you want to play fast and try to win the game with it before your opponent can recover. Its ability interacts with any permanent sacrificed by any player, this includes Fetch Lands, Treasures, and cards that sacrifice other creatures and/or that sacrifice themselves for an effect.

Cards like Strike it Rich, Wild Cantor, Deadly Dispute, Goblin Bombardment, Crack the Earth and Smallpox are good ways to get the Balrog into play early and at a cost. low, but most of them are pretty mediocre on their own in Modern.

In general, The Balrog, Durin's Bane seems like the type of card that can leverage Tier 3 strategies, but due to its lack of recursion, I don't think we're facing a new Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis.

On the one hand, Flame of Anor is comparable to Esper Charm and Maestros Charm when it comes to cost efficiency and abilities. Three mana for any one of its effects is a bit much by Modern's standards today, although I can imagine Izzet Murktide running it, should they ban Expressive Iteration at some point.

Today, however, this spell requires a considerable number of Wizards to function, and Modern has a decent amount of them, including Dreadhorde Arcanist, Soul-Scar Mage, Vendilion Clique, Snapcaster Mage and Dark Confidant, where most of these cards no longer represent the top of the power level chain in the current Metagame.

The question is whether Flame of Anor is worth the deckbuilding concessions to play these creatures over more efficient spells, and while this is my favorite Tales of Middle-earth card, I'm skeptical of its competitive potential.

If a legend-based strategy with Flowering of the White Tree comes up in the format, Merry, Esquire of Rohan is the perfect follow-up to an effective one-drop such as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, as it will offer immediate card advantage if the opponent doesn't have an efficient answer in the first turns.

Pippin, Guard of the Citadel competes with Giver of Runes and Skrelv, Defector Mite in protecting key pieces, and the fact that it costs two mana and is in two colors doesn't help.

However, the fact that it provides protection against card types is different from protection against a specific color, and using it to get rid of multiple blockers, or limit possible opponent interactions, are decent options for Modern.

In addition, Pippin protects himself with Ward 1, and he can also attack and activate his ability during combat, to protect another creature.

Honorable mention. Ringsight can add to the consistency of some archetypes that need specific cards, but since it needs a creature in play, and would still make it legendary to have its effect, I don't imagine many decks resorting to it.

Rise of the Witch-King can become a Sideboard option for mirror match between archetypes that run a relevant number of large creatures, such as Archon of Cruelty. Sacrificing your opponent's Archon, a creature of theirs, and returning your bomb to the battlefield is a game-changing play.

Samwise Gamgee is another combo card that Tales of the Middle-earth offers for decks, this time alongside Cauldron Familiar and a sacrifice outlet, such as Viscera Seer.

Samwise's ability makes you create a Food token whenever a non-token creature comes into play. Since you can sacrifice a Food to return Cauldron Familiar from your graveyard to play, you can sacrifice it, use the Food created by Samwise to return Cauldron Familiar to the battlefield, and create another Food token, creating an infinite loop that also results in infinite damage.

Among the cards with potential for Modern, Samwise is the one that has most excited the community so far, and there are already several versions of this strategy on social media, some seeking to take advantage of Collected Company and tutors to find the pieces, while others seek to adapt the Asmo Food decks to accommodate the new combo.

Particularly, I believe that the Asmo Food versions will be the ones that will create the best home for Samwise and Cauldron Familiar, merely because they allow attacking from already unconventional angles, and because of their already proven potential to support other combinations of cards, such as Goryo's Vengeance and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, while complementing it with a fair and interactive game plan.

Honorable mention.

Smeagol, Helpful Guide is the nightmare of any list that runs only Spell Lands from Zendikar Rising, such as Belcher and All Spells. Fortunately, his ability only triggers on the opponent, so I don't think there's any combo with Smeagol in Modern.

Theoden, King of Rohan is a useful addition to Humans, and significantly speeds up the clock of your creatures as others come into play. It looks lethal next to cards that grow gradually, like Champion of the Parish, or with cards that already have high power and toughness, like Mantis Rider.

As it doesn't offer any protection and its ability to create many tokens depends on the equipped creature being legendary, I believe that Anduril, Flame of the West loses space in Modern due to the existence of the Swords in the format, with these already well absent from the Metagame (apart from a few point copies of Sword of Fire and Ice in Hammer Time).

Honorable mention. I think Horn of Gondor falls short when it comes to helping Humans in attrition or removal-heavy matchups, as their token creation ability is tied to the number of creatures in play, while three mana is too much of a high price to pay in a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben deck.

On the other hand, Horn of the Mark seems more efficient in this regard, and far less linear than its predecessors. A better Goblin Ringleader and the like trigger to any creature makes it a decent Sideboard option in matchups where we can pressure the opponent in the first few turns, as this artifact ensures that you don't lose your breath too quickly.

Of the various options LotR has given to improve the creature decks against Modern's current removals, Horn of the Mark seems the most efficient option.

As I mentioned in my Card Review, The One Ring is a card with a lot of potential in Modern, but it depends on certain situations to work in the current Metagame.

It interacts well with cards like Emry, Lurker of the Loch (where it creates an infinite loop alongside Grinding Station) and Urza, Lord High Artificer (where it can be sacrificed with Thopter Foundry and resorted with other effects), as well as being a useful addition to Karn, the Great Creator's toolbox, as Tron often only needs a turn or two to win an unfavorable game.

Other interactions with The One Ring involve Teferi, Time Raveler, which can bounce the artifact to recast it, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, which turns its draw ability into a powerful value machine.

For me, The One Ring is the set's biggest unknown: it's strong enough on its own, and with a power level on par with what Modern offers today, and even if played just to protect its controller, it does so with excellence, which can guarantee its space in Control and/or Goodstuff decks alongside Teferi, Time Raveler.

Palantir of Orthanc is another one of those "mind game" effects that, in practice, gives a free Preordain to its controller. This type of effect seems strong enough for Modern, and it won't surprise me if we see this artifact present in Control lists in the future. His only problem is the fact that he is Legendary, and has a much more linear role than Planeswalkers in these strategies.

I believe that Relic of Progenitus and Unlicensed Hearse are still the most efficient options for artifacts against graveyards in Modern.

If Samwise Gamgee's combo with Cauldron Familiar becomes relevant in the competitive scenario, I think Grafdigger's Cage already does a good job of "locking" the opponent, despite the possibility of sacrificing Stone of Erech in response to removal to exile the opponent's Graveyard.

The legendary lands were another one of my highlights.

Among them, Mount Doom stands out for its lack of conditions to use its main ability, in addition to entering the battlefield untapped, Minas Tirith is noteworthy for offering a draw effect coupled to a land for white decks, and The Shire has potential in possible Food archetypes that may emerge with this new set.

That's all for today.

Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth looks far less threatening to the Modern's Metagame than any of the Horizons set, and that's a good thing: Players like stability, and such a sudden change so close to a RCQs and a Pro Tour season would not only pose risks to the format's health, but also a great deal of frustration for those wishing to compete.

This doesn't mean that LOTR lacks good cards - on the contrary, it includes several pieces that can appear in already established decks, become staples of multiple archetypes, or even bring new strategies to the competitive scene, but all done in a way that doesn't break Modern in half again.

Another relevant point is that most cards that look like instant staples, like Orcish Bowmasters, Forge Anew, Delighted Halfling and Stern Scolding have generic names, that is, the company was careful to avoid that a powerful card being stuck to a brand name for the franchise, although others such as Aragorn, the Uniter, and The One Ring all fit as potential enablers of new strategies in the future.

I conclude, in this article, that the addition of this product to the Universes Beyond series is likely to do more good than harm to Modern and Magic as a franchise.

Thanks for reading!