A beginner’s guide to Magic: The Gathering’s new Lord of the Rings set

polygon.com:

In one of the most ambitious crossovers in the history of trading card games, the world of J.R.R. Tolkienhas finally unfolded through the lens of Magic: The Gathering, with the launch of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.

Tales of Middle-earth is a complete Magic set, made in partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises, the current rights-holders of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy of novels. The setadds more than 260 brand-new cards to Magic, and features characters, places, and iconic moments from Tolkien’s books.

For prior fans of Lord of the Ringswho might be new to Magic (and potentially intimidated by the 30-year-old game’s seemingly endless card pool), Tales of Middle-earth offers several beginner-friendly products that are designed to introduce the game while also sustaining fun battles with your favorite elves, orcs, and halflings.

We’ll touch on some of the different products best suited for beginners. And, we’ll offer some ideas on how to take those products one step further by applying deck-building best practices to make games more thematic, consistent, and exciting. But if you just want to buy them, we have all of the options listed out right here.

The most entry-level product to come out with Tales of Middle-earth is the aptly named The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Starter Kit. The $19.99 Starter Kit features two ready-to-play, pre-constructed decks that embody the battle between good and evil, Gondor and Sauron. If you love Lord of the Ringsbut have never played Magic before, this is likely the best product to get you started.

Based on the cards that comprise the Starter Kit’s decks, we can tell that Magic’s designers also sought to highlight some of the different