Magic: The Gathering is a fantasy trading card game that is always welcoming new players, and products such as Jump-Start boosters and starter decks are a fine entry point. To bring in LotR fans, the game is releasing the incredible Tales of Middle-earth set, but this set may actually appeal more to enfranchised MTG players than curious newcomers.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth is designed to appeal to LotR fans and convince them to become MTG players. The set is well-made and has great art and flavor, but the set actually succeeded too hard and became too complex for new players, requiring them to juggle a lot just to play the game.
Tales Of Middle-Earth Is Too Complicated For Newer Players
Every Magic: The Gathering expansion set will have a small handful of mechanics and themes for players to explore, and this works well for enfranchised players who are used to juggling several gameplay strategies at once. Still, there's an upper limit for this, and some MTG expansion sets have been criticized for simply doing too much, creating a complex and cluttered gameplay experience. In 2020, the Kaldheim expansion set did too much at once; even veteran players found it tiring to juggle all that. This made Kaldheim one of the game's worst sets for bringing in new players, and now Tales of Middle-earth is shaping up the same way.
For the sake of authentic Tolkien novel flair, Tales of Middle-earth does some of everything, and it's too much for new players. This set has a strong "legends matter" theme that requires players to remember the legend rule and get value from their legendary creatures, a theme previously seen in the Champions of Kamigawa block. Tales of Middle-earth also features sagas, an unusual card type that functions like enchantments, along with tribal support for Wizards, Orcs, Hobbits, Treefolk, and Humans. This set also has "the Ring tempts you," which calls for an emblem with complex effects that totally transform how combat works and a cycle of legendary utility lands.
Tales Of Middle-Earth's Design Is A Problem
All this is too much for even the most dedicated LotR novel and movie fans since their deep knowledge of the lore may not help them juggle so many diverse gameplay effects, many of which are uncommon in the game. Tales of Middle-earth is not a beginner-friendly product with a LotR coat of paint — it's an expert-level set that only draws in LotR fans with its Tolkien flair and not much else. In fact, Tales of Middle-earth may be a trap for new players, bringing them in with familiar lore and then saddling them with a complex, multilayered set of cards they're not ready to handle. Tales of Middle-earth is more like Kaldheim and Time Spiral than Core Sets or Jump-Start boosters in gameplay terms.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth should be immensely rewarding for experienced MTG players who are used to these advanced gameplay strategies. However, newer players will feel left behind unless they have veteran MTG friends to help them. This will be especially true for games of booster draft Limited, one of the best ways to play with this set, so Tales of Middle-earth feels less accessible than ever. Such complexity should have been saved for this product's four Commander decks, which could have all the sagas, legends, and tribes players could ever want. At the same time, the main set should have been more streamlined for new players' benefit, with LotR's story only being a cosmetic to bring in new fans. That would have created a more balanced set that any MTG player could enjoy.