Let’s Analyze The Lord of the Rings Limited!

Introduction

Hi guys it’s Marcio again and today I’ll talk about my first impressions of the new set: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.

Later on, I’ll give you some insight into what I think it’s good to do in this format if you have any tournaments ahead of you or just to play at your local store.

The Ring Tempts You

We will start taking a look at the new ability “The Ring Tempts You”.

I thought this was gonna be a bonus ability that you wouldn’t chase much and be happy when you get some but wow…I was completely wrong about it.

I think the good to very good decks and what breaks them much is your ability to get fast and consistent to tempting the second level of the ring where you actually make your creature a 《Merfolk Looter》 for the rest of the game. You also can maneuver in a way that sometimes you manage to make your creature unblockable depending on the board state.

The player that is doing that, has a huge advantage on the game, as he keeps filtering through their deck and you keep your card flowing much better, playing more spells than your opponent. Who would know playing more spells than your opponents can make you win Limited games right?

If you can get all the way to level 4 of the ring, you just turned your creature into a must-kill threat otherwise it will get the game over in no time. But keep in mind, what really makes the ability shine is level 2 as I commented before.

Another bonus that some people tend to forget is that your Ring Bearer becomes a legend. That is very relevant as there are a lot of cards in the set that cares about legendary creatures, such as 《Nasty End》, legendary instants, 《Errand-Rider of Gondor》, and others.

Color Rank

Now that we broke the most important ability let’s go through some colors and see what’s good in Lord of the Ring Limited:

We start with the King of the format: Black!

Black

Black’s strength is uncontested, with a lot of depth on the commons and uncommons, making it by far the best color in the format. The problem is that the cat is out of the oven: Everybody is aware of its strength. So be aware if you are drafting it because it might be hard to support too many players in a draft pod.

Here are some highlights of the color:

《Claim the Precious》

A 《Murder》 at sorcery speed is already a fine card but making you tempt the ring pushes this card to one of the best commons of the format if not the best!

《Dunland Crebain》

Do you remember 《Eldrazi Skyspawner》 or the 《Preening Champion》 from March of the Machines? Well, they were all stars there, and this card is the best creature you can get at common: A 2B for a 1/1 flyer that makes a 2/2 body or pumps an already Amass creature is exactly what you want on your black deck.

《The Torment of Gollum》

Well…at the pre-release, I started calling this 《Grief》 of course is an overstatement but wow this card delivered and more. I had it as a very good card but now I’ve put it even above because this card is just bonkers: 3B for 2 power that takes your opponent’s best card plus gives you perfect information is just premium so, don’t sleep on this one!

《Uruk-hai Berserker》

Another card that tempts the ring. At first sight, I had him as a whatever 3/2 now knowing that my decks succeed or break if I can consistently tempt the ring or not. The card keeps growing on me.

《Easterling Vanguard》

Perfect 2 drop that gives you a fine body to trade and leave an army token behind.

《Shelob’s Ambush》

A sleeper in my opinion. At the beginning of the format, I was not a fan of a 1 mana trick. But it’s perfect to ambush ring bearers or trade up your small creatures against your opponent’s best ones.

《Troll of Khazad-dûm》

All land cyclers are very good but this one I’m particularly fond of: An almost unblockable creature that comes in the color that has another common (《Sam’s Desperate Rescue》) that can get it back after you already cycled it: Sign me up.

And talking about 《Sam’s Desperate Rescue》…This is a card that I wasn’t playing much until I understood how high I should be prioritizing getting tempted by the ring.

《Lash of the Balrog》 is another card that in another set maybe would be just a serviceable removal spell. But there are so many creatures that you don’t mind sacrificing on black that is a must-include in all decks.

As you can see I could go on and on with black commons and I’ve already mentioned a lot of cards that I don’t mind having in my decks. That’s how high I’m valuing it on this set, and I believe it will pair well with any of the other colors.

Red

Let’s dive into Red now, a color that goes perfectly with black and might be the best color combination in this format. Red has 2 very good combos: Red White Humans and Red Black Amass so, let’s break it down!

《Rally at the Hornburg》

This card seemed like sorcery 《Raise the Alarm》, fine but nothing special. But it’s a powerhouse in the R/W humans deck and probably your most wanted common.

Giving haste to all humans make some nasty one-shots in this format with 《Erkenbrand, Lord of Westfold》 or with 《Théoden, King of Rohan》, making the card good in both early or late game. By far the best red common for this archetype.

《Relentless Rohirrim》

Here we have an example of another card that without the words tempt by the ring would only be mediocre, but as it has, it’s one of the best 4 drops in red. Remember that all my card evaluations will go toward things that make you tempt the ring consistently.

《Smite the Deathless》

Just a premium removal the clause of removing the creature is very important and making a creature lose indestructible can be one of your only shots against a very lucky opponent that opened a 《Witch-king of Angmar》!

《Warbeast of Gorgoroth》

A card that is mostly under the radar but has impressed me is this 5 drop that leaves Amass 2 behind, making all your creatures with 4 power or more do the same.

《Oliphaunt》

The land cycler of this color is also a very good creature, paired with black it just stomps the competition literally.

《Improvised Club》

This card has been finishing a lot of games for me. 4 damage to the face is a lot and you have a lot of random things you can sacrifice especially in black as we said before.

《Rohirrim Lancer》

Tiny 1 drop carries the ring better than anything you could imagine and it got the plus side when it dies tempts the ring for you making it very desirable.

《Erebor Flamesmith》

This one gets the honorable mention because it fits in the 2nd most successful archetype for me which is Blue Red spells, the most important 2 drop in that deck is obviously this one.

《Swarming of Moria》

This set has a lot of cards that reference older ones, and this one I called 《Fable of the Mirror-Breaker》. I’m obviously joking, not being near the powerhouse of that card but just a very solid 3 drop that ramps you by giving you a treasure and a fine body.

With this one, we’ve finished the red color. I think it’s also very good in the format and goes well in 3 of the best-performing archetypes Black Red, Red White Humans, and Blue Red Spells.

White

Moving to white we see less card quality but still some good interactions when you pair it correctly with some of the other colors.

《Errand-Rider of Gondor》

This one goes from good to very good (when it becomes a 《Rogue Refiner》), either way, is by far the best white card from my experience.

《Protector of Gondor》

Two bodies in one card are always great, especially because it combos very well with the uncommons of the humans archetype: 《Erkenbrand, Lord of Westfold》 and 《Théoden, King of Rohan》.

《Fog on the Barrow-Downs》

This is a card I thought would be good and has been very disappointing. First of all, making the creature a spirit makes it worse to put on a amass creature as the player will just start a new army with the next amass spells. Second, there are a lot of sacrifice spells as we talked about, making the extra body very desirable.

《Eagles of the North》

Not as great as the other 2 land cyclers but still very serviceable: a 3/3 fly that gives +1/+0 and first strike can make some headaches to your opponents in combat, making it impossible to trade profitably.

《Banish from Edoras》

Another passable removal is that you play 1 to 2 at most, becoming very clunky after the first copy. But it does have some very good upside on exiling, especially against some of the format’s best cards.

《Took Reaper》

This two drop is my creature of choice for that point of the curve, I only do not have it higher for not being a human. Still, being tempted by the ring when he dies makes it up for it.

As you can see the commons and card quality got worse as we have less commons to talk about. White is almost never your main color but it’s a good support color.

Blue

Blue is a tricky color and I think is one of the worst ones, being mainly a support color too. It pairs well with green on the Scry deck and black…but let’s be honest: Everything goes well with black.

《Willow-Wind》

One of the best commons in Dominaria (《Cloudreader Sphinx》) was just a massive disappointment in this set. Playable but not really close to the power level it was in Dominaria unfortunately.

《Birthday Escape》

The best blue common for me escaped my initial eye because I thought tempting the ring wasn’t too important. Only costs one mana, cycling through your deck, and plays great in multiples.

《Pelargir Survivor》

Another card that is good in the blue-red spells or just a blue-black deck: a decent body in 1/3 that makes mana to your spells a fine card plus you get a mill 3 ability I’ve never milled anyone but who knows!

《Deceive the Messenger》

Again a super fine one-mana trick in the Blue Red Aggro spells deck. This format can be really fast sometimes and this one just gives a lot of the lost tempo back.

《Isolation at Orthanc》

I prefer this one to 《Soothing of Sméagol》, even with soothing tempting the ring. Not bouncing an Amass army is a huge problem for the latter.

《Lórien Revealed》

Another land cycler that plays very well when you are on parity or ahead making this a brutal 《Concentrate》.

《Ithilien Kingfisher》

A card that could have been awesome but 1 toughness in this format is hard, so I’m not as high on it as I would be in other formats.

All the other blue cards are underwhelming but have their spots. I will give you a list of cards that impressed me more than I initially expected 《Dreadful as the Storm》 and 《Hithlain Knots》. Both cards have good spots for them but aren’t premium or high picks.

Green

Last but not least we go green!!

People say it is the worse color, I’m still trying to understand it correctly. The only archetypes that have been successful for me with this color are Green White Foods or Green Black.

《Bag End Porter》

If you know me you all know I love big beefy creatures, and a 3G 4-4 is already fine stats. Adding its ability to become a bigger creature in a legendary format and sign me in! The good thing about green is the creatures are big and large and normally in all other colors the creatures are kinda tiny.