The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Limited Set Review: Black

Hey everyone! The shadows out of Mordor have been growing longer and it is time for us to rise up to destroy the evil forces of Sauron. Well, I guess we could also be playing for the other team as well, but either way we’re heading into Middle Earth for a fabulous adventure.

As a long time lover of Lord of the Rings, I am extremely excited to spend a couple months drafting this set. I am slightly less excited about how much my wife is going to spend on boxes of them, but it makes her happy so it’s all good.

Now let’s start checking out how these cards are going to play out in limited.

Here’s the usual grading scale:

• 5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Tovolar's Huntmaster, The Meathook Massacre, Starnheim Unleashed)
• 4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Alrund's Epiphany, Grand Master of Flowers)
• 4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Froghemoth, Morbid Opportunist, Skullport Merchant)
• 3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Magic Missile, Cathartic Pyre, Battle Cry Goblin)
• 3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Usher of the Fallen, Search Party Captain, Dragon Turtle)
• 2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Mourning Patrol, Steadfast Paladin, Goblin Morningstar)
• 2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Contact Other Plane, Mindleech Ghoul, Timberland Guide)
• 1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Secrets of the Key, Spiked Pit Trap, Village Rites)
• 1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Secret Door, Mystic Skull, Funeral Longboat)
• 0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. (You See a Guard Approach, Bramble Armor, Compelled Duel)
• 0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. (Mimic, Change of Fortune, Curse of Shaken Faith)

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Bitter Downfall

Rating: 3.5/5

That first line is tricksy making you think this is another one of those janky cards that kills something that has been dealt damage, but it’s just a nice bonus that occasionally comes up when you want to turn a 1/1 token into three mana.

Splashable instant speed hard removal that makes them lose two life is great at four mana and your opponent is going to be pretty bitter when they die to a removal spell.

The Black Breath

Rating: 1.5/5

This is a premium side board card against some decks, but depending on how the meta shakes out this could end up main boardable.

Call of the Ring

Rating: 4.0/5

You’ll be on the fast track to a fully powered ring bearer when you drop this early. It even replaces itself as soon as you choose a ring bearer (albeit at the cost of two life).

There is a distinct lack of lifelink running around so you won’t be able to draw cards off of this forever unless you have a steady supply of food going. Luckily the card draw is optional so you won’t just die to it.

It’s a cheap engine that ensures you’ll be “doing the thing” over and over again.

Cirith Ungol Patrol

Rating: 2.0/5

This is pretty versatile by being a massive body that can also help play the long game by sitting back and sacrificing a random 1/1 token for a new card and an order of fries. Between Amass and Rally at the Hornburg there are plenty of ways to turn this into a card drawing machine.

I’m sure some of you remember how miserable it was to play against Bushmeat Poacher in Ikoria. This is a slightly more expensive version with a much bigger body. That cost is prohibitive to playing multiples, but I’ll be sure to grab that first one to top my curve.

Claim the Precious

Rating: 3.5/5

I understand this being sorcery speed because they weren’t going to just print a strictly better Murder at common. Being able to kill anything for three mana with something thrown in is well worth it. Feel free to claim a bunch of these during your drafts.

Dunland Crebain

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s a reverse Preening Champion which is unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view of things) much worse with the bigger part chilling on the ground. It’s still a fine card that combos well with sacrifice effects like the previously mentioned Cirith Ungol Patrol.

A 1/1 flyer is a surprisingly strong ring bearer because there isn’t much that it going to be able to block it.

Easterling Vanguard

Rating: 2.0/5

Another card that plays well with sacrifice effects by giving you two shots with it. The value of this will vary based on what you’re matched up against. If you get to trade this for a two drop and get a 1/1 out of it, that’s pretty great. If you’re just trading it for a 1/1 token or losing it to something like The Black Breath it’s just ok.

Gollum, Patient Plotter

Rating: 2.5/5

Every time you think you’ve gotten rid of him; Gollum keeps on coming back to terrorize the neighborhood. There are plenty of fodder creatures that you wouldn’t mind sacrificing and you end up getting a temptation every time Gollum takes one for the team.

Gollum’s Bite

Rating: 3.5/5

This is a strictly better Disfigure which has typically been a premium removal spell. There are a lot of smaller creatures so this will put in some real work. The ring temptation is certainly pricy, but its just a bonus on top of a card you would be picking early anyway.

Gorbag of Minas Morgul

Rating: 2.0/5

It sounds good when you think it is a bear that lets you turn your amass orc army or one of the various other orc/goblins into new cards or treasures.

The problem is that they each have to actually connect with their face first. That means you are typically ahead on board and don’t want to be giving that up to draw cards unless you are digging for something in particular.

I will be referring to him as Gorbage of Minas Morgul every time I draft him though.

Gothmog, Morgul Lieutenant

Rating: 3.5/5

I originally had this whole thing here about amass versus individual tokens comparing this to Protector of Gondor. I’ll be honest, I missed the last line of text at the bottom which takes this from mediocre filler all the way up to all-star uncommon.

Outside of your amass token suddenly mattering a lot more, it also gives any other tokens you have floating around deathtouch. That makes this an amazing combo with Rally at the Hornburg and anything else that drops token creatures.

It’s also two bodies out of one card in the color with a sacrifice theme. Great all around card, just be careful about them killing this midcombat after you line up some token blocks.

Grima Wormtongue

Rating: 2.5/5

True to form, Wormtongue is so irksome to be around that even your food doesn’t taste right (hence why it doesn’t give you three life).

It’s an annoying blocker that slowly pings away at their life total while magically turning ring bearers (or other legendary creatures) into orcs.

Grond, the Gatebreaker

Rating: 3.0/5

Normally there’s a pretty big tax on a vehicles effectiveness because of having to crew them, but there are a ton of cards that amass in this set. As long as you have some of those, then you’re ready to fire Grond up.

Grond is in the business of smashing faces and business is good.

Haunt of the Dead Marshes

Rating: 2.0/5

While you don’t have a ton of self-mill running around for a one-way trip to value town, there are plenty of things that this can trade for before it keeps coming back like an unwanted in-law (seriously it would be great if my father in-law never showed up again). It’s also great sacrifice fodder for one of the plethora of sac effects running around.

Isildur’s Fateful Strike

Rating: 2.5/5

Even though Legendary creatures are prevalent, not being able to cast this unless you have one can be a huge drawback. It’s going to be pretty rare that you get extra cards off of this and if you somehow do it’s because their hand is stacked. It’s basically going to be a difficult to cast removal spell.

Lash of the Balrog

Rating: 3.0/5

Even though this is sorcery speed and five mana, I still like it more than the legendary one we just talked about.

You can convince the Balrog to give you a deep discount on his services if you are willing to sacrifice a creature. Luckily there are plenty of things running around that you don’t mind sacrificing for the cause.

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

Rating: 3.0/5

Lobelia is a spoon stealing witch! (Editor’s note: I’m sure it was witch that Josh meant to write so I went ahead and fixed it for him) Certainly not what you would expect out of decent respectable hobbit folk.

Despite my feelings about a certain thieving hobbit, I actually really like this card. The three toughness gives you a good opportunity to eat something in combat or you could wait until after you trade to give yourself a huge early boost from treasures.

March from the Black Gate

Rating: 3.0/5

This is a fine way to start a growing army, but you need another way to start a new one if it gets dealt with. One trick you can do is attack, put the amass on the stack, and sacrifice it so that you get a new one right away for more shenanigans.

Mirkwood Bats

Rating: 2.5/5

I’ve seen a lot of discourse about this card in commander, but it can be a pretty decent limited card as well. While the body isn’t quite what you want for four mana, all of your food and treasure tokens hitting your opponent for two (one on the way in, one on the way out) can add up quickly.

Mordor Muster

Rating: 2.5/5

It’s Elvish Visionary that we have at home. Still a fine card, but preferably I have ways to sacrifice the 1/1 for more value before it starts hanging out with the wrong crowd in an orcish army.

Mordor Trebuchet

Rating: 2.5/5

You might be surprised that I like this card so much. It blocks a ton of stuff and you should have plenty of Goblins and/or Orcs to keep triggering it. This is doing an extra two in the air every time and then you can even sacrifice it for more value to something like Nasty End during end of combat step.

A good thing to compare it to is to decay tokens in midnight hunt, this gives you a flying one every time you attack with one of the aforementioned critters.

Morgul-Knife Wound

Rating: 1.5/5

This type of removal is almost always disappointing. It doesn’t completely nullify the creature so they can have it stick around if it is still useful. Even if you just put it on a random bear, there are plenty of sacrifice effects hanging around for them to use.

Nasty End

Rating: 2.5/5

This provides a prime opportunity to say “Oh that’s just nasty” every time they try to kill your ringbearer and you draw three cards instead. While you aren’t getting a treasure like Deadly Dispute, the potential for a third card is pretty huge.

Nazgul

Rating: 3.0/5

My good buddy Sierkovitz (whose content you should check out, right here, on MTGAzone.com) already did the math and unfortunately, you’re not going to end up with nine of these in your deck.

What you are going to end up with is starting out as a 2/3 deathtouch with potential to grow and a ring temptation thrown in. Pretty solid and they get better in multiples.

Oath of the Grey Host

Rating: 3.5/5

Could the Grey Host Durdle anymore? What are they, hourly?

Giving each player a food token is a pretty lame way to start off. Then like a schoolyard bully it takes away the three life they got from that food and you get a whole whopping treasure token out of the deal. Still you already got two game pieces out of it at this point.

Then the fireworks start when you finally get three 1/1 flyers out of the deal. That’s huge in a format where they are amazing ring bearers. Five game pieces out of one card is a pretty great deal.

One Ring to Rule Them All

Rating: 3.5/5

The problem with a wrath that they can see coming is that they have time to prepare. It lets them make their best nonlegendary the ring bearer so it doesn’t die. It gives them time to all in attack or sacrifice their non legendaries since they know they are going to die anyway.

A sweeper is still a sweeper though. The third step is also relevant since it can kill them on the spot or at least hit for a healthy chunk.

Orcish Bowmasters

Rating: 3.0/5

Optimally you play this in response to them playing a card draw spell so you can get an extra trigger right away. In a lot of cases, it is two bodies for two mana that pings something when it comes into play that makes them hesitant to play card draw.

Orcish Medicine

Rating: 1.5/5

The real question on this is whether the Amass Orcs 1 is worth the extra mana more than what you would want to pay for getting only one of these abilities on a trick. I want to say that it is fine as a one off because of the versatility. The instant speed 1/1 can be a nice surprise blocker sometimes, but don’t forget that it has to go on your army if you already have one.

Sam’s Desperate Rescue

Rating: 1.5/5

We’re going old school with a Raise Dead here, but it’s playability really depends on what you have to get back from your graveyard because there are plenty of other cheap ways to be tempted.

Sauron, the Necromancer

Rating: 3.5/5

Not quite as powerful as you would expect from Sauron, but he’s still a serious problem if they don’t deal with him. I would recommend having ways to protect him or instant speed removal to blow them out on double blocks so that he can keep growing his army of wraiths.

Shadow of the Enemy

Rating: 1.5/5

There are certainly going to be times that this outright wins the game. Most people are going to focus on those and say “This card is so stupid”. There are also going to be times that your options are to stare at it or pay six mana to have the right to cast a couple of dorks. Those people will also be saying “This card is so stupid”.

Since cards are novels these days, I wanted to clarify that this only hits creatures. It would be much better if it could hit spells. It is also target player so it can target yourself as well, but it is only the creatures in a single graveyard.

If the format ends up being slower, then it’s fine to play a slow card like this that can turn a game on it’s own. If early tempo ends up mattering more then this ends up being an unplayable dumpster fire. It has a ton of potential in the right situation, but with a pretty big delta in what it can do.

Shelob’s Ambush

Rating: 2.0/5

I actually like this trick a lot and I wouldn’t be surprised if I had to bump it up later. It only costs one, deathtouch ensures you kill almost anything, and the +2 in the butt can save your creature. You even get a food token out of the deal.

Snarling Warg

Rating: 2.0/5

I’d normally be down on a four-drop similar to this, but it lines up well against most of the other creatures in the format. The menace gives you plenty of opportunity to do something such as Shelob's Ambush to send your opponent straight to Frown Town.

The Torment of Gollum

Rating: 2.0/5

Back in War of the Spark, Toll of the Invasionwas a card that started out undervalued and ended up being really good later. This gives you an extra +1/+1 for an extra mana so I’m expecting decent results, but not on the same level. I wouldn’t want to play too many of them because the value of a discard goes down fast as the game progresses.

Troll of Khazad-dum

Rating: 2.5/5

This troll must be extra menacing since it takes three creatures to block it. That’s a lot of potential for some in combat shenanigans such as the previously mentioned deathtouch trick. I continue to love the one mana land cyclers in this set.

Uruk-hai Berserker

Rating: 1.5/5

While I hate the 3/2 for three body in this set, the ring temptation is just enough to make this occasionally playable in some decks.

Voracious Fell Beast

Rating: 3.5/5

This is a massive flyer for this set that forces a sacrifice and gives you a food token (as long as they had a creature). While it costs six mana, so was Goremand and this doesn’t make you sacrifice a creature.

Witch-King of Angmar

Rating: 4.5/5

This is going to be agonizing to play against.

It’s very difficult to kill because they can just discard a card.  It’s hard to ignore it and kill them because you are sacrificing something every time you deal damage (plus they get a temptation). Oh, and it’s a massive flyer that is just beating you down.

You just have to have Eowyn, Fearless Knight to come in for the ultimate flavor win on this. Actually, Smite the Deathless and Banish from Edorasdeal with it nicely too. Even the janky enchantment removal slows it down. I mostly wanted to complain about it.

On top of that, Shire Shirriff puts the brakes on it and if the thought of that hobbit putting the freaking Witch-King in a tiny hobbit prison doesn’t make you laugh, I don’t know what will.

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Wrap Up

Black looks fantastic and will easily be one of the best, if not the best color in the set. A wide range of removal and sacrifice shenanigans backed up by value cards everywhere. I feel like I will be drafting this heavily early.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow with my limited review of red for Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. Until then, stay classy people!

Fine…I guess I will add that I’ll see you LTR! I’m pretty ashamed of that one, but I have a brand to uphold here.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.

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