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

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)

---

Bag End Porter

Rating: 2.5/5

It won’t be hard to have this attacking as a 5/5 or a 6/6 early on with potential to be more. Even by todays standards that is pretty beefy for a four drop.  

Bombadil’s Song

Rating: 1.5/5

Only gaining Hexproof and the +1+1 being until end of turn feels like this should only cost one mana. There is the temptation thrown in, but still not something that I want more than one of.

Brandywine Farmer

Rating: 1.0/5

How much do you really value food tokens? Is it worth playing a 1/1 for three mana? I would tend to think not.

Celeborn the Wise

Rating: 2.5/5

Celeborn is pretty bad on defense, but can potentially light it up on offense when he feels like it. I’ve decided to end my days of picking on James Harden and instead will call that a Trae Young card. If he was all around great, I could have called him Cele-Bron, but here we are.

While the number of elves attacking doesn’t matter, the number of other scrys does. If that’s a central theme of your deck with plenty of payoffs and enablers then this can actually be really good. If this is your only elf and you have nothing else related to Scry, this should be on the bench.

Chance-Met Elves

Rating: 2.0/5

You’re taking a bit of a chance when you play this elf. A 3/2 for three lines up really poorly in this format so you really need to get some scrys off to make this worth playing. If you have ways to trigger it on both your turn and theirs, then it can be pretty decent.

Delighted Halfling

Rating: 3.5/5

While this is an amazing commander card, it’s also really solid limited card. A one mana ramper can put you way ahead of your opponent even if it is just colorless mana. Turning into a Birds of Paradisefor any legendary spells that suddenly can’t be countered is pretty disgusting.

The 1/2 body is even solid as far as blocking certain ring bearers. All around great card.

Dunedain Rangers

Rating: 2.5/5

If it always gave you a temptation on landfall, then this would be way higher. It still ensures that you almost always have a ring bearer while having a decent body to bash with. Interestingly enough getting landfall isn’t always a guarantee because you will usually be pitching extra lands to your ring bearer’s looting effect.

Elven Chorus

Rating: 2.0/5

It’s going to be rough dropping this on turn four, but once this chorus gets going it can take over the game. This format seems slow enough that you should be able to get away with it. I would highly recommend playing Scry cards with this to keep hitting gas.

Elven Farsight

Rating: 1.5/5

Card selection is nice and all, but every time you miss with one of these it is a disaster. Poor Floridamun missed on Invasion of Pyrulea so many times in MOM and that typically had more targets than this will.

You really need to have a high density of creatures to consider this, I would just lean towards not though.

Enraged Huorn

Rating: 2.0/5

I like the big trampling body and the ETB temptation. Not a fan of paying five mana because you’re very limited on how many cards you can play in that slot.

Entish Restoration

Rating: 1.5/5

Way back in the day, Harrow was a great card. These lands come into play tapped so you can’t even do the old play this into a bear sequence. The slowness must be coming from the Ents, they take forever to do anything.

To get anything out of the extra text would require you to be playing your big creatures before your ramp spells, not exactly the optimal plan. I would run this if I am playing a crazy 4-5 color deck, otherwise it can stay home.

Ent’s Fury

Rating: 2.5/5

The pump matters a lot because this is a fight, not a bite. It’s a reasonably priced removal spell even though it is sorcery speed.

Fall of Gil-galad

Rating: 3.5/5

You really can’t drop this on turn two even if you played a one drop because it’s too easy to end up getting nothing out of this spell. I’m much more comfortable playing it as a double spell on turn four or five.

I like that all of the steps are relevant here. The last step is an interesting one because you can either try to get an even trade that draws two or take a free kill on a smaller creature. You can even make it an off brand Village Rites by having your 1/1 fight one of your bigger creatures.

Fangorn, Tree Shepherd

Rating: 1.5/5

Woah, that’s a big tree. Are you really going to pay seven mana for something with no enter the battlefield effect that doesn’t even have trample. While a 4/10 vigilance seems impossible to attack through, it does nothing against flyers or most ring bearers. How does this not have reach?

While it also makes a bunch of green mana, what are you going to do with it in limited after you already managed to play this.

Galadhrim Bow

Rating: 2.5/5

A decent combat trick that sticks around as an equipment even if they kill the creature. The untapping is sneaky good and no one sees reach coming.

I’ve always liked reach equipment because it makes it hard for them to steal a win after you’ve stabilized the ground with your big green monsters.

Galadhrim Guide

Rating: 2.5/5

The thing about the scry deck is that you’re digging to other scry cards that are also getting you value for your triggers. I prefer the enters the battlefield scry to the attack trigger on a card like Celeborn the Wise even if that has more long-term potential.

Generous Ent

Rating: 3.0/5

This is large and in charge, pumps the brakes on flyers, gives you an extra game piece, and cycles away for a Forest early if that’s what you need. That’s pretty generous if you ask me.

Gift of Strands

Rating: 2.0/5

What would it take to make the old +3+3 aura for four playable? How about flash? Yeah, that’ll do it. Imagine how mad they will be when they try to Smite the Deathless your creature and you’re just like “It got bigger…”

Don’t think this is the usual joke that these auras tend to be, that’s a lot of stats to be hanging around after it is used as a trick. You even get a scry two out of the deal too.

Glorfindel, Dauntless Rescuer

Rating: 2.0/5

I hate the base stats and even if you have a scry it’s just ok. If you manage to have it line up right then you can do the force block to eat something, but they should be able to see that coming and play accordingly. You can trigger it multiple times a turn so that might be the path you need to take to get there with this.

Last March of the Ents

Rating: 1.5/5

At it’s best this is going to be something like a draw six (fine, ten if Fangorn, Tree Shepherd is somehow in play) that puts a few creatures into play. At it’s worst, it’s a do nothing for eight mana. On average it will probably be drawing somewhere around 3 cards, not really what you want to be getting out of something that pricy.

While it’s not necessarily good, I’m not going to say it’s entirely unplayable because it does have some upside in the right deck. It’s a build around that’s not worth building around, but if your deck is already there, it’s fine.

Legolas, Master Archer

Rating: 4.0/5

If you were not aware that Legolas enjoys a good battle, this card is nutso with fight (or bite) spells. As long as you have a few other spells that target something, this will get out of hand quickly leaving Gimli far behind in the count to languish in his shame.

Long List of the Ents

Rating: 1.5/5

This is fine to just drop on turn one and name Brushwagg. Luckily you name the creature type after drawing for the turn so you don’t have to guess what you should name. I would want at least three, but preferably more counters out of this to be happy with playing it.

It is a God-awful late game draw though.

Lothlorien Lookout

Rating: 1.5/5

You have to be really lacking on two drops before you turn to this. It could be a decent ring bearer, but I have low expectations for it.

Many Partings

Rating: 2.5/5

The card of many things. It thins your deck, fixes your mana, and gives you an extra game piece all for one mana. You do want green to be the main color in your deck to play this, don’t get crazy and splash it.

You can directly replace one non-green land with it. You don’t want to cut a Forest because it makes it less likely that you can cast this.

Meriadoc Brandybuck

Rating: 3.5/5

A bear that makes a food when it attacks seems great. You can even send another hobbit in to the red zone to get a food the turn you play this. I’ll always be happy to have Merry be part of the party.

Mirkwood Spider

Rating: 2.0/5

I’ve always liked the one mana deathtouchers because they typically trade up or severely alter your opponent’s attack plans. It can also block and kill the majority of opposing ring bearers. Imagine if the story ended because Frodo got too close to a random Mirkwood Spider.

Mirrormere Guardian

Rating: 1.5/5

Death triggers are almost universally worse than enters the battlefield triggers. However, the problem with a 4/2 is normally that they have to block it because it takes a huge chunk out of their life total. This encourages an easy trade to get the trigger. On the other hand, you end up trading this for a random 2/1. Sad trumpets.

Mushroom Watchdogs

Rating: 2.5/5

These are such good bois especially if you keep them happy with treats. Notably, this can be done multiple times a turn, so they can go from Chihuahua to Great Dane with a swiftness.

Great with food producers such as Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper or just a bunch of Selesnya cards in general.

Peregrin Took

Rating: 2.5/5

Making double the food is a perfect ability for a hobbit. Pippin also combos with Meriadoc Brandybuck so all is right in the world.  

While the card draw might seem pricy, with this out it is more like 1.5 food to activate it. I don’t think a food token is worth .75 of a card so that is a fine exchange rate. I know you are missing out on potentially nine life, but when you are pressing your advantage you don’t really care about that. It’s a nice ability to have if you need it.

Pippin’s Bravery

Rating: 2.0/5

One mana for potentially +4+4 is a lot of stats. I want to compare it to For the Family from Streets of New Capenna which required four creatures instead of sacrificing a food. There were plenty of times where my opponent didn’t block a random 2/2 and I just cast two of those to kill them.

Sacrificing a food is a bit more of a cost compared to having four creatures, but there are plenty of incidental food tokens you end up with in this set.

Quickbeam, Upstart Ent

Rating: 3.5/5

Watch out, angry Ent incoming and he’s bringing an Overrun with him. This is monstrous, but the extra four power and toughness on some suddenly trampling creatures can really put a hurting on. Plays especially well with Bag End Porterwho is swinging for a minimum of seven trample damage with this.

This also triggers off of Enraged Huorn, Generous Ent, Old Man Willow, or even Fangorn, Tree Shepherd if you are getting spicy.

Radagast the Brown

Rating: 3.5/5

This is an excellent ring bearer blocker because it’s got such a giant butt compared to its power. That’s not really the reason to be playing this, but clogging up the ground is a solid addition to something that wants to generate long term card advantage.

Avatar Wizard isn’t exactly a common type so depending on what you already have out it is likely that it can grab a card right off the bat. Depending on how things work out, it might just form a train of new creatures for you.

Revive the Shire

Rating: 1.5/5

I would rather play Sam's Desperate Rescue because it’s cheaper and in most cases I value a temptation over a food token. Maybe if I have good sagas to get back or a lot of food synergies.

The Ring Goes South

Rating: 0.5/5

I don’t care where the ring is going, but I can tell you this card is going to the person I am passing to. I can usually come up with corner case decks for almost every card, but the only times I’ll ever pick this is when I want 20 gems.

Shortcut to Mushrooms

Rating: 1.0/5

You can really sum this card up as “you can do better”. It does trigger off of sacrificing food. Great, now I’m picturing a bunch of Hobbits in cult robes chanting around an alter with a roasted turkey on it. I may have hit that point of fever dream delirium.

Back to the card though, you can find ways similar to food to ensure you get a trigger, but it really doesn’t do enough to be worth a card.

Shower of Arrows

Rating: 1.5/5

Not enough of any of these types to run this in the main. Great sideboard card though.

Stew the Coneys

Rating: 3.0/5

Even at three mana, an instant speed bite spell is a very good playable. This one even tosses in an extra food for your efforts.

I’m looking at this picture and based off of my knowledge from Tangled, Smeagol is about to have a very bad time.

Wose Pathfinder

Rating: 2.5/5

Mana dorks that cost two have been up and down in modern limited because two into four isn’t nearly as devastating as one into three. They also don’t typically do much later in the game.

This one produces any color so it enables you to play some of the nutty multicolored cards running around.

While the late game activation is crazy expensive, it still gives you something to do with it later on. It’s even an instant speed pump so they have to respect it on blocks.

---

Wrap Up

Would you be surprised if I told you that Green has a bunch of really solid creatures up and down the spectrum of size? If so, then let me introduce you to my class, General Concepts of Magic: The Gathering. Seriously though, I would rank Green as the worst color in the set that I would only want to be in when it’s wide open.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow with my limited review of artifacts, lands, and multicolor 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.

You can also find me at:

• Discord
• Twitch
• Twitter