I’ve opened some packs of Lord of the Rings on stream before, in fact I did it twice. You can checkout the videos on Malts and Meeples. But let’s talk about the different products, things to know about the set, and maybe what products you should consider getting. Just to spoil a little bit, overall, I think this is a very fun Magic the Gathering set.

The Different Products (with Grades)

Commander Decks

I won’t dive into what Commander is at this point, I think it’s worth talking about the packs because there are four of these decks. You can get a Hobbit deck, Elf deck, Riders of Rohan deck, and a Sauron deck. All of these decks have solid value if you pick them up. The Sauron deck is the strongest, it sounds like. The Hobbit is the weakest, except against Sauron. The other thing you get is a mini collectors pack.

This is a solid value purchase, though it’s a bit spendier. And in terms of value, you do get solid value. But I think for a lot of people, it’s a great way to get a character that you want. Each deck is going to give you several of the iconic characters which is a ton of fun as well.

Grade: B+

Starter Deck

Another way to pull out some of these fun cards is going to be the starter decks. And it is a way to get the characters you’re interested in, in a more standard style of deck. Again, I won’t go into the differences of types of Magic the Gathering but this is going to be a more consistent way to play out cards.

This one is one of the strongest values in terms of price. The Starter Deck is going to be a cheaper entry point, and you get two decks to play with. And one of the big things is that this does have an MSRP. That’s a knock on the Commander Decks, there is no MSRP, so the Starter Decks are going to have a more consistent and specific value. The only downside is no pack of any sort.

Grade: A

Collector Booster (Box/Packs)

There is one primary reason that you might have bought, or might still being buy collectors packs. One of the big things about this set was that it was the 1 of 1 One Ring. Plus then serialized rings for Elves, Dwarves, and Humans are in there as well. So the biggest money cards and getting a ton of foil cards, the Collectors Box and Packs are the way to go.

The downside is that there is no MSRP, even if there had been, I doubt that you’d be able to find them at that price. The price is still high even though the 1 of 1 One Ring has been found. There are just a lot of value cards in the packs that you can find, but it’ll cost a lot.

And normally I’d be harder on this in terms of price point. I get why it went so high. One of the big reasons is that there are other packs to talk about what I’ll be getting to. So the collectors packs are specifically for the collectors.

Collectors Booster Box Grade: C
Collectors Booster Pack Grade: C+

Booster (Box/Packs)

Let’s talk about more packs with the standard booster boxes and packs. This is going to be how you can get a good variety of cards, as well as the fancier Showcase cards and full art cards as well and even art only cards. This is really digging into the set as a whole.

The downside is that this is a smaller portion of those high end cards. You still get foils. And this is the only spot to get those art cards. For a lot of people those might not matter as much, but as someone who is playing as well as collecting, it’s certainly interesting to me to grab those cards.

The an upside is that the price point is much better. To get that variety of cards, this one hits that mid level price point for a pack, but a price point that is much lower than the collectors and more in line with the draft boosters.

Booster Box Grade: B+
Booster Pack Grade: B

Draft Booster (Box/Packs)

Let’s go to the last two packs before we get to the bundles. The draft packs are built more for that, drafting. They aren’t going to give you as many or really any of the fancy cards. The ones that are meant for collecting versus playing. And I like these packs a lot for that, but I don’t like them as much as the regular booster packs.

The main reason I don’t like them as much is that you aren’t that likely to randomly stumble into a card. There is no, I got a foil showcase card experience for it. You get the great pulls from the set, but it does lean more towards the common cards that you can get. So I think that this is great for drafting, not great if you just want to get a pack or two.

Draft Booster Box: C+
Draft Booster Pack: D

Jump Start Booster (Box/Pack)

The last booster box is one that I wasn’t familiar with, but one, now that I kind of enjoy the concept of. This is like the draft booster box where you just want to start playing. But instead of drafting cards, spending the time making sure you get a good deck, this is more grab and go.

You grab two booster packs, shuffle them together and you are ready to start playing. That speed to play is amazing so one that I really think works well. You still get the chance to play with some fun cards, but even less of the really collectible ones. And it’s worth noting too that a box is going to give you a lot of repeat cards. But for a cheaper price point, it’s not too bad.

Jump Start Booster Box: C+
Jump Start Booster Packs: C-

Gift Bundle

The Gift Bundle is another one of those that doesn’t have a set MSRP. So the price of this box is all over the place. There is a pretty solid reason to buy it, though. Because you get a scene with Mount Doom and the destruction of the one ring. Four cards that all go together to make that image.

Financially, it is also pretty solid. You get a collector pack in there, solid potential. And you get that one ring card. The Gift Bundle is going for about $100 right now, if you can find one. But the one ring is about half that value. And between a sealed collectors pack and the box and die itself you likely could make your money back on it and just keep the packs. But that’s a very specific scenario where you wouldn’t want to open it.

This is, however, another one of those collector value products. If you’re not a collector, you are paying a premium for a few cards that are purely collectible and a few packs. There is a newer bundle without the collectors pack, so that is going to be a better value, though, elements might not be worth as much inside it, such as the die and box.

Gift Bundle: B+

Pre Release Bundle

Finally, we have the prerelease bundle. And there are some more coming out later, but those are later and I’ll talk about them in November. But the Pre Release bundle is going to give you a Pre Release card, some with solid value, and some draft booster packs.

Because that’s what you get, this is a much cheaper product than the other gift bundle. But it requires that you get the right pre release card to really be worth it. Otherwise you are getting a few draft boosters. Again, solid if you are planning on drafting, but from a collectible stand point, it’s a pretty big miss. Your pre release card, maybe is collectible, and is more than the normal version of that card, but it still might be a $1 card.

Pre Release Bundle: C

Lord of the Rings – Magic The Gathering

Let’s wrap up by talking about the set, real quickly, overall. Because I think this set does work on two levels. Because Lord of the Rings, the trilogy, is the basis for so much of our fantasy now, it blends into Magic the Gathering. There is no trying to shoehorn a character in, there are already dwarves and elves and halflings (Hobbits). So it’s a set that is playable and collectible which I think is a tricky balance to hit.

Now, obviously there is the 1 of 1 One Ring to talk about. And I think time will tell if it was a smart idea for Wizards of the Coast to use that concept. In this case, I think it works well. It makes sense that there is a one off card in the boosters somewhere because there is the One Ring. But if Wizards tries to build upon this and add in that concept more consistently, then I think it is a bad thing for the hobby overall.

But overall, this is a set that I really like. And it is a set that I want to play as well as collect. I think when you can hit both of those, it makes it a strong contender as a game.

Have you enjoyed this set?

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