There and Back AgainHello, everyone!We are nearing the release of the next Magic: The Gathering set—specifically, the highly anticipated The Hobbit —which continues the stories from The Lord of the Rings franchise introduced to the game in 2023.Beyond its strong ties to classic fantasy lore, this set will be legal in all formats; in contrast, the Lord of the Rings set was legal only in Modern and other formats that allow cards from all released sets.With the launch scheduled for August 14th—and pre-release events kicking off a week earlier, on August 7th—let’s take a look today at the set's mechanics!The Hobbit MechanicsAs usual, The Hobbit features both existing and new mechanics, as well as a new type of token.Let’s talk about the token, the existing mechanics, and wrap up with the new mechanics!Hone CountersHone Counters are counters that are placed specifically on Equipments.Basically, each Hone Counter on an Equipment means the creature equipped with it gains +1/+0 per counter. In other words, if you have 3 counters, for example, the equipped creature gains +3/+0 in total.It is important to note that this is not an ability of the Equipment itself, but rather of the Hone Counters. This means that if the Equipment is destroyed, it loses the Hone Counters when it is put into the graveyard.AdventureAn ability that first appeared in the Throne of Eldraine set, Adventure is a way to combine a permanent card with an instant or sorcery spell.Adventure cards have a main side, which is the permanent—usually a creature, though in our example above, it is an artifact. However, when you have a card that has an Adventure side, you can choose to cast the Adventure spell attached to it instead of the main side!If you do so, upon resolution, the card is placed into exile, and you can then cast its main side, following the normal rules for casting that type of card.In other words, if you have My Precious in your hand, you can either pay and cast the artifact itself, or—if you wish—pay and cast Allure of Power, the card's Adventure side. If you choose the latter, the card is exiled upon resolution, and you can then cast My Precious, an artifact, during a main phase while the stack is empty.AmassAmass is an ability first introduced in War of the Spark. The ability always comes with a creature type and a number—in our example above, Amass Goblins 2.When an Amass ability resolves, one of two things happens:If you do not control an Army creature, you create a 0/0 Army token and put a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number specified in the Amass ability. Note that since it is a single ability, the token won't die immediately despite being 0/0, because it receives the specified counters at the same moment. In other words, in our example above with Amass Goblins 2, you would end up with a 2/2 Goblin Army token.If you already control an Army—usually because you previously resolved an Amass effect and that token is still on the battlefield—you simply add a number of +1/+1 counters to that token equal to the number specified in the Amass ability. Returning to our example, let's say you already control an Army token with three +1/+1 counters. When Amass Goblins 2 resolves, you put two +1/+1 counters on the token already on the battlefield, resulting in a 5/5 creature.Note that Amass does not target! If an opponent removes your existing token in response to the Amass ability, then when Amass resolves, you fall into the first scenario: since you do not control an Army, you create a token and add the specified counters.RecruitRecruit is one of the new mechanics in the set, although it feels somewhat familiar—it can be seem as a variation of Connive, as we’ll see below.When a Recruit ability resolves, the controller draws and discards a card; if the discarded card was not a land card, the controller creates a 1/1 white Human Warrior token.This explains the resemblance to Connive, which works almost the same way, except that Connive places a +1/+1 counter on the creature, whereas Recruit creates a 1/1 token.It is worth noting that lands with an Adventure side still count as land cards! Therefore, they will not generate the token when discarded for Recruit. Similarly, cards like Dryad Arbor or Urza’s Saga are lands—even if they possess other types as well—so no token is created in those cases either.StoriedThe second new ability, Storied, can also be thought as a blend of the City’s Blessing and Metalcraft mechanics.Basically, Storied is a static ability that indicates a specific condition: controlling three or more artifacts, legendary permanents, and/or Sagas. Once this condition is met, you achieve the status of having an enduring story, thereby gaining certain bonuses on cards that feature the Storied ability.Using our example above, Balin, Loremaster is legendary himself, so you need only control two other permanents—which can be other legendary permanents, artifacts, and/or Sagas—to immediately establish an enduring story. This status lasts for the rest of the game; once achieved, it no longer matters whether Balin or any other Storied card remains on the battlefield—you retain the status of having an enduring story.ConclusionIt’s always great to see that mix of existing and new mechanics whenever a new set comes out; there is clearly a design effort to tie various mechanics to the world being portrayed and to ensure everything flows smoothly and intuitively during gameplay.Expectations for The Hobbit are high, given that the first The Lord of the Rings set is considered one of the game's best. Fortunately, everything we've seen so far points to this follow-up being a huge success as well!I hope you enjoyed this article! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below.Cheers, and see you next time!
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