The Most Exciting MTG Lord of the Rings Spoilers

Magic: The Gathering is melding with the iconic world of Lord of the Rings on June 23rd. Getting closer to release means spoilers! Two days ago, via the "Join the Fellowship" release video (which can be found here), we looked at a nice chunk of new cards, many of which are pretty exciting. So, I'll review the most exciting MTG Lord of the Rings spoilers today. You can find a full list of spoilers here, if you're interested.

The Best/Most Intriguing Spoilers

Orcish Bowmasters

This card is insane. When this enters the battlefield, you'll ping an opponent for one damage and create a 1/1, and that's the baseline, even if no cards are being drawn - That's already a decent rate of value. And that's the floor for the card. If you flash this in as someone is about to draw cards, you'll get an additional trigger for each card. So, if there's even an Opt on the stack, you'll now be amassing two and dealing someone two damage.

Imagine someone casts this in response to a Wheel of Fortune effect in Commander. They'd be looking at easily making a 22/22 token and having 22 damage to throw around. Furthermore, once it has entered the battlefield, it'll continue to sit and trigger whenever opponents draw outside of their draw step. This is going to be a powerhouse in both EDH and Modern alike.

Forge Anew

Forge Anew does three things, all of which are nigh broken where powerful equipment is concerned. First, it lets you reanimate an equipment from your graveyard to the battlefield. Then, it allows you to equip things at instant speed, so long as it's your turn. And lastly, it reduces your equip costs to zero. Talk about a total package.

As a modern player, several ways to use this become apparent quickly. This is yet another way for Colossus Hammer decks to play around Chalice of the Void on one. With Forge Anew, having a hammer countered isn't the end of the world because you can put it directly into play and slap it on something for free.

There are plenty of other powerful options (like reanimating Kaldra Compleat or Embercleave. And the list of significant targets that this does crazy things with in commander is nearly endless. I expect this card to make quite a splash in several formats, and I think it's one of the better LOTR spoilers for Modern.

Delighted Halfling

You very well may be looking at the best card in the set here. It's a one-mana mana dork that can produce any color of mana as long as you're using it to cast a legendary spell, and that spell can't be countered. Note the word spell and not creature. This means all Planeswalkers, legendary equipment, artifacts, enchantments, sorceries, and creatures will all be uncounterable when cast with this.

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At this point, it's a cross between a Birds of Paradise and a Cavern of Souls for legendary spells, which is fantastic. The cherry on top is that it produces colorless mana even if you don't have a legendary creature. This adds so much versatility to the card and assures it'll never be on board and unable to contribute mana to spells. Oh, and it's a 1/2. So it can attack into/block and trade with 1/1 creatures in combat and survives pings.

In commander, this will be super valuable for casting commanders through counterspells and will see play in every legendary tribal deck until the end of time. In Modern, it's going to pair incredibly well with commonly played legends like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and Wrenn and Six.

Frodo, Determined Hero

Frodo here is made to be suited up with equipment. When he enters the battlefield, you can attach a two or three-mana equipment you control to him for free. I've seen people complain that this intentionally excludes powerful cards like Colossus Hammer, Skullclamp, and Kaldra Compleat. However, I think it's a nice change of pace.

It's still great with all of the "swords of" cards, and the restrictions facilitate mixing things up from the "go-to" cards people would pair this with. Aside from being able to slap two-three CMC equipment onto himself, he also grants himself immunity from damage as long as it's your turn. This ensures he'll always be able to attack into opposing boards and live.

It's not the Hammer piece some players wanted, but I'm glad he's worded the way he is for Modern. As far as Commander goes, I think it's a great commander. And again, I like the restrictions here. You'll miss things like Skullclamp, Commander's Plate, Shadowspear, Helm of the Host, and Basilisk Collar. But Sword of the Animist, Sword of Hearth and Home, Sword of Feast and Famine, Loxodon Warhammer, Robe of Stars, Lion Sash and Blackblade Reforged are all fair game and great options.

Aragorn, the Uniter

Aragorn is amazing because he rewards you for simply playing spells. The more colors those spells are, the more value he generates. For example, if you cast a Manamorphose with him in play, you'll get a +4/+4 pump to a creature and to deal three damage to an opponent. A Boros Charm would net you a 1/1 token and three damage. Are you countering something with Dovin's Veto? Now you get to scry and add a 1/1 to your board. You get the point - Everything you cast once Aragon is in play, is better.

Shadowfax, Lord of Horses

Shadowfax is amazing on many levels—first, the reminder text for haste. Haste usually doesn't come with the reminder text. However, in Return of the King, Gandalf says, "Run Shadowfax, show us the meaning of haste." So, someone over at WOTC did just that and literally put the meaning of haste right onto Shadowfax. If that's not flavorful, I don't know what is. LOTR fans will be laughing about this for quite some time.

Aside from that clever bit of design, Shadowfax has a somewhat unique ability. It's almost like that of Ilharg, the Raze-Boar with a few key differences. With shaddowfax, you can only cheat creatures with lesser power into play. So, with no buffs, you can put a three CMC or lower creature into play, tapped and attacking.

The way I see it, you have two options with this setup. The first would be to increase the power of Shadowfax so that you can cheat bigger things into play. The second would be to cheat things into play that have low power and powerful ETB triggers. At five CMC I think this will be much better suited for Commander than Modern. Regardless of the format, Shadowfax was way too cool, not to mention here. And hey, you can always do horse tribal too.

Conclusion

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the most exciting/best cards from the most recent MTG Lord of the Rings Spoilers batch. I hope you've enjoyed going over them with me. I'm excited to get my hands on some of these new cards and start brewing in Modern. What cards are you most excited to brew with?