Wizards of the Coast officially unveiled Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit at MagicCon Amsterdam today, and the set arrives on tabletops worldwide August 14th. The "There and Back Again" debut panel kicked off spoiler season with the first wave of cards, and Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf, and Smaug all made the cut.
Between the panel and Wizards' own first-look articles, roughly 30 cards are already public. Previews run through July 30th, with the official card image gallery updating on weekdays and the complete set going up July 31st. The panel itself streamed live on the official Magic YouTube channel.
The big four arrive with two cards apiece. Bilbo gets "Bilbo, Thief in the Night" and "Bilbo, Luckwearer", Thorin shows up as both "Thorin Oakenshield" and the mythic "Thorin, Mountain-king", Gandalf pulls double duty with "Gandalf, Party Guest" and "Gandalf, Goblins' Bane", and the dragon lands twice as "Smaug the Magnificent" and "Smaug the Impenetrable".
Beyond those, the early cards cover "Elrond, Moon-Reader", "Thranduil, the Elvenking", "The Arkenstone", "The Lonely Mountain", "Sting, Bilbo's Sword", and all three trolls sharing a single card as "Tom, Bert, and William". And yes, "The Eagles Are Coming!" is a real card, exclamation point and all!
Tolkien's book is coming up on 90 years old, and this is its first dedicated Magic set. The whole novel is in here, mechanics included. Adventure cards return, with "Bilbo, Luckwearer" carrying its own "Burglar's Plot" Adventure, while reveals like "An Unexpected Party" and "My Precious" split two story beats across one card. It fits the book: Bilbo was hired as the company's burglar, after all. His riddle contest with Gollum gets its due too, since "Riddles in the Dark" made the first batch, and "The One Ring" itself resurfaces in the set.
There's even a "Sauron, the Dark Lord" card in the mix, a villain the novel only ever hints at as the Necromancer!
2023's The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth became one of the best-selling Magic sets ever printed, and this release picks up that thread directly. Forty mythic rares from the 2023 set return as traditional foil box toppers, and reprints like "Mox Amber" are sprinkled through the early reveals. And unlike Tales of Middle-earth, which was Modern-legal, the main Hobbit set is fully Standard-legal, a first for Tolkien cards in Magic. These cards head straight into the game's main competitive format, not just Commander night.
The chase card is a Gleaming Gold version of Smaug, limited to approximately 500 copies worldwide and pulled only from Collector Boosters. Remember the serialized one-of-one "The One Ring" from 2023, the card Post Malone famously ended up with? Wizards clearly hasn't forgotten what a good treasure hunt does for a Middle-earth set. The rest of the Booster Fun slate includes ten book-cover-art cards, twenty-five cards in a Dragon Hoard frame, and five mythic rares printed entirely in Dwarvish! Full-art Middle-earth Journey lands round it out, plus four seasonal Plains you can only pull from Prerelease Packs and Bundles.
The rundown:
- Prerelease events: August 7th through the 13th at local game stores
- MTG Arena release: August 11th
- Global tabletop release: August 14th
- Play Boosters $6.99, Collector Boosters $37.99, the Bundle at $69.99, and Draft Night at $119.99 (twelve Play Boosters plus a Collector Booster)
- Scene Boxes ($41.99): three Play Boosters plus six foil scene cards that piece together into a panoramic scene
- Main set: 60 commons, 55 uncommons, 53 rares, and 15 mythic rares, plus dual and basic lands
Pre-orders are already live at local game stores, TCGplayer, and Amazon, and Gen Con attendees can play the set early with on-site access July 30th through August 2nd.
The Hobbit wasn't the only crossover news out of Amsterdam, either. A Stardew Valley Secret Lair drop was revealed at the same show and goes on sale July 27th, with the Star Trek set already locked in behind it for November 13th. The crossover calendar is packed through the fall!
Are you in for a Hobbit prerelease next month? Which of the early reveals has your attention so far?
Sound off in the comments below!
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