Hot off the heels of March of the Machine previews, we have gotten more announcements regarding products that are making Commander players squee with joy. Wizards of the Coast has announced two more sets that are coming down the pipeline: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth on June 23rd and Commander Masters on August 4th.

Despite it coming sooner, we know less about the Lord of the Rings set, but here’s everything we’ve got so far.

     1. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth

The cards from this Lord of the Rings set is a straight-to-Modern set that will be legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Commander. It will be a draftable set with a Prerelease (!!!) and of course Set/Collector boosters as well.

Coming with this set is four Commander decks that will include twenty (20) new cards PER DECK! This isn’t Warhammer 40k Commander decks level, but it is still an impressive amount of new Commander cards on top of likely cool Lord of the Ring themed versions of Commander staples. That’s 80 new Commander-focused cards coming to the legal card pool and that’s not  counting the draft set.

Maybe this is what will get me to watch these movies. Universes Beyond doing its thing!

      2. Commander Masters

This one is juicy! Commander Masters is largely a reprint set, but also promises to have new cards in a draft format, likely reminiscent of Commander Legends.

We’ve already gotten a few reprints teased: Jeweled Lotus, The Ur-Dragon, and Capture of Jingzhou as three mythics in the set.

All three have a foil-etched treatment and the Lotus and Dragon have new borderless art they’re describing as Frame Break and Profile Borderless respectively. This set also comes with four Commander decks but this time with ten (10) new cards per deck. The good news is that we know more about these decks and it’s very exciting. The four decks are:

  • Enduring Enchantments – An Abzan deck that we can only assume is all about enchantments. Likely Auras given the face commander is speculated online to possibly be Anthousa from Anthousa, Setessan Hero, who was a monogreen legend with Heroic, an ability that triggers when you cast a spell targeting your creature with Heroic. This is also the first Enchantment focused Commander for this colour combination!
  • Sliver Swarm – A five-colour Sliver deck that feels pretty self-explanatory. If you haven’t heard of Slivers, they are a particularly popular creature type that gives Slivers a ton of abilities, creating increasingly powerful creatures. Sliver Queen, First Sliver, Sliver Legion, Sliver Hivelord, and Sliver Overlord are the original five legendary Slivers that have a ton of decks under their belts. I would hope that all those eligible for reprint get reprinted, as they are very expensive. I’m eager to welcome a new five-colour Sliver legend to the pantheon. They’re not my playstyle but I’ve always considered trying them out. As someone who loves to buy all the precons to play them against each other, I’m looking forward to this!
  • Eldrazi Unbound – Speaking of creature types I’ve never built but am eager to try out in a precon setting, Eldrazi make an appearance in the Commander precon decks, bringing us not just our first printed-for-Commander Eldrazi, but our very first COLOURLESS PRECON DECK! The amount of amazing colourless utility lands that will hopefully be reprinted in this deck makes me excited on top of all the new Eldrazi and existing ones. It That Betrays? Don’t mind if I do! Ulamog is on the box art, so we’ll see what they bring to the table, but given how devastating each iteration of theirs is, I have no doubt we’re about to see some shenanigans.
  • Planeswalker Party – Finally, I get to say these words out loud and in written-form: COMMODORE GUFF IS GETTING A CARD! One of my favourite planeswalkers from the Magic stories in the Invasion storyline is going to be leading the Jeskai Planeswalker Party deck and I cannot wait to see what they do with him. Guff is an ancient planeswalker who lived in a library that had every book – even books that told the future. I can’t wait to see how they handle this flavour in the design. The name Planeswalker Party seems to hint at super friends strategy, but given the word Party taking on new meaning since Zendikar Rising, there’s no telling what it could be. Maybe Guff conjures a party for the stories he’s reading? Maybe it’s just planeswalkers having a good time? Guff is one of my most anticipated legends and it’s not even close. Since we got Gix and Ashnod (two Ashnods) and they were cool but not commanders I want to build, I really hope Guff is cool as hell and people discover this character that I think is hilarious.

Get ready for pre-orders, guys. These sets are going to be hot, hot, hot. March of the Machine, Lord of the Rings, and Commander Masters? Get ready for a crazy Spring and Summer.

Get all your board game news from The Bag of Loot! www.thebagofloot.com
Get all your board game needs from Three Kings Loot! www.threekingsloot.com