Magic: The Gathering’supcoming crossover set with Lord of the Rings will be launching this June, according to Hasbro’s CEO Chris Cocks in a question-and-answer session with investors.
Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is the first fully-fledged booster product to come out under Magic’s ‘Universes Beyond’ crossover brand, was previously given a vague “Q3 2023” date at last year’s Wizards Presents.
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Revealed in the latestHasbro Investor’s Call for Q4 2022, CEO Chris Cocks answered an investor’s question regarding the coming year for Magic, and whether it can expect to grow as rapidly as it did previously. In his answer, Cocks mentioned Tales of Middle-earth as one of the highlight products of the year, and compared it to last year’s Warhammer crossover, saying “As big of an IP as Warhammer is, we’re going to be going out with the OG of fantasy with Lord of the Rings come this June”.
This would place Lord of the Rings as the set immediately followingMarch of the Machine: The Aftermath, a mini-set launching this May. This is the first time Universes Beyond – Magic’s brand of crossovers that included partnerships withWarhammer, Fortnite, and Street Fighter – has received a full set that will be legal in Vintage, Legacy, Commander, and Modern.
While we currently don’t know a lot about Tales of Middle-earth, it was revealed at last year’s Wizards Presents conference that it was feature three panoramic scenes, that can be constructed by putting 18 cards together. We also recently saw thedebut of a new card type in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, meaning we could be seeing more of ‘battles’ in the set, although this has yet to be confirmed.
In the call, Hasbro identified Universes Beyond as one of its most promising brands, with last year’s Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks in particular requiring three reprints, and stores allegedly struggling to hold onto stock. In 2023, Magic will be receiving Universes Beyond crossovers with both Lord of the Rings and Doctor Who, with the latter receiving four Commander decks some time in the second half of the year.
As well as Lord of the Rings, Cocks also give a release window for the upcoming Steam release forMagic: The Gathering Arena, with it being targeted for Q3 2023, alongside “reinventing the new player experience” ahead of a wider launch on consoles some time in 2024.
