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There’s no better way to crack packs than by putting the cards to work instantly in a draft format. The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set forMagic: The Gatheringmay be a crossover product, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune to this quality of Magic.
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Despite being from a different setting, many of the limited archetypes found in Middle-earth have been seen before in previous set releases. However, there are also a number of new and entirely unique archetypes that play with mechanics including Food tokens, scrying, and amass. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the forces of Middle-earth you’ll be wielding according to the color pair you draft.
Azorius (Blue/White): Go-Wide Control
This color pair is built around creatures that providebonuses for drawing extra cards. Some of these bonuses include +1/+1 counters, tokens, and more. The more defensive nature of this color pair lends itself towards a control strategy where you’re looking to gum up the board with a bunch of creatures, then outvalue your opponent with draw spells and creature triggers.
Eventually, you’ll findan anthem effectthat will turn your defensive board into one capable of alpha striking the opponent for a huge chunk of damage. Alternatively, you canuse equipment to extract extra valuefrom your tokens and force unfavorable trades. Cards to look out for include Faramir, Field-Commander, Hobbit’s Sting, Knights of Dol Amroth and the signposts,Prince Imrahil the Fair and Gwaihir the Windlord.
Dimir (Blue/Black): Mill Control
One of the most fun decks to play and most infuriating strategies to lose against,mill is especially formidablein limited formats where everyone’s decks are only 40 cards deep.The Dimir strategy in Middle-earth relies oncountering the opponent’s key spellswhilst simultaneously chipping away at their library using cards like Surrounded by Orcs and The Mouth of Sauron.
There are no shortage of draw spells in blue in this set to keep the gas coming, and they’re complimented quite nicely by the suite of removal found in black.Treason of Isengard works very well alongside Surrounded by Orcsto give you a recursive win condition that also makes for some nice big blockers. Other cards useful for this archetype aredraft signpost The Mouth of Sauron, Bewitching Leechcraft, and cards capable of stalling for time such as Hithlain Knots and Isolation at Orthanc.
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Rakdos (Red/Black): Amass Aggro
This is the color pair of Middle-earth’s Orc forces and the mechanics of Rakdos here represent the Orcs found in the stories of Middle-earth quite well thanks to amass. The army token made fromamass spells will either lead to a storm of small armies or a single giant onewhich is exactly how Orcs tactics are depicted in the books. Aside from the signpostsMauhur, Uruk-hai CaptainandUgluk of the White Hand, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for Goblin Fireleaper, Olog-hai Crusher, and Mordor Trebuchet.
This aggressive deck goesall-in on turning its creatures sideways and reducing the opponent’s life totalbefore they have a proper chance to field a defense. As mentioned above, you’ll want tobe particularly careful with when you cast your amass spellsas dumping them onto the board too early can make a super juicy target for opposing removal. However, this strategy in particular doesn’t have all the time in the world to wait around, sochoose your moment wisely.
Gruul (Red/Green): Ferocious Aggro
Ferocious is a term from Khans of Tarkir that referenced cards with a special trigger that only activated if you controlled a creature with power four or greater. Whilethe ferocious tag is missing here, the mechanic is exactly the same.Big creatures are in short supply in this set, but the ones that are around can be found in this color pair. Some of the best cards for this pairing areEnt’s Fury, Warbeast of Gorgoroth, Quickbeam, Upstart Ent, Dunedain Rangers,andStrider, Ranger of the North.
Unfortunately,Gruul always seems to struggle in draft due to its lack of staying poweragainst decks with access to card advantage, unconditional removal, chump blockers, and evasive creatures. Green’s reliance on fight spells in particular as their source of removal leads to a sort of “win-more” strategy that’s usually better off avoided.
You can easily be blown out by an instant speed spell if you cast a ferocious card with only one creature with power 4 or greater on your board while an opponent has open mana.
Simic (Blue/Green): Elf Scrying Midrange
Here’s one of the entirely new archetypes mentioned at the beginning of this article. Simic is home to Middle-earth’s famous Elves, and they are quite fittingly interested in looking ahead to the future throughthe scrying mechanic.Every time you scry with some Elves on the battlefield, you’ll be rewarded with various boons including +1/+1 counters, temporary power boosts, and other triggers. Aside from the signpostsLegolas, Counter of KillsandArwen Undomiel, look out forCeleborn the Wise, Chance-Met Elves,andElrond, Lord of Rivendell.
Scrying at instant speed can be particularly good as activating your elven scry triggers on the opponent’s turn can catch them unawares and turn your scry spells into pseudo-combat tricks.
As always, Simic is also home to some of the biggest creatures in the format, though they don’t come at a giant size immediately. Instead, you’ll have to continuouslytrigger your Elves with scrying to grow your board to the large size that’s typical of creatures found in this color pair.RELATED:MTG – Combos From Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth
Orzhov (Black/White): Tokens Midrange
The Orzhov color pair thrives on spitting out tons of tokens from various sources and either using them forsacrifice fodder or as an aggressive force that slowly ticks away at your opponent’s life totalwhile you use removal to clear their bigger creatures.White and black always have the best unconditional removal in a given format,and you’re going to need all you may get to keep your opponent from sticking a ring-bearer.
Be careful not to overplay your amass cards as it’s usually much easier for the opponent to deal with a single big creature token versus a continuous stream of smaller ones.
Altogether, this seems like one of the less synergistic color pairs as it can be difficult to identify exactly what role your tokens are playing. Nonetheless,if you’re able to manage to pick up enough removal you’re going to be just fine.The signpostDenethor, Ruling Stewardis an absolute house in this deck andShadow Summoningmakes for a great pickup too. Try and get your hands onBitter Downfall, Gollum, Patient Plotter,andShire Shirriffas well.
Izzet (Red/Blue): Spells Matter Midrange
Izzet is almost always the spells matter color pair where you’llbe rewarded for casting tons of instants and sorceries.There are a lot of bounce spells in this set, and they’ll be best put to use in this color pair as they can provide additional incremental value. The twokey cards you need for this archetype are Fiery Inscription and Gandalf’s Sanction.
Both of these spells give you a victory outlet for castinginstants and sorceries that might otherwise simply fizzle out into nothing productive.You’ve also got some nice, evasive creatures in cards like Nimrodel Watcher and fliers found in blue that can carry your damage the extra distance. Aside from the all important spells above you’ll want to supplement them with cards likeRanger’s Firebrand, Smite the Deathless, Erebor Flamesmith, The Bath Song,andLorien Revealed.
Golgari (Green/Black): Sacrifice/Reanimation Midrange
No limited format would be complete without a proper sacrifice archetype, and Golgari is here once again tomake the masochistic dreams of players who prefer to kill their own creatures come true.This is also the color pair that cares the most aboutreturning cards from your graveyardto your hand which fits perfectly with sacrifice effect. Some great cards for this archetype are the signpostsOId Man WillowandRise of the Witch-King,as well asVoracious Fell Beast, Nasty End, Revive the Shire,andMushroom Watchdogs.
Amass in particular synergizes amazingly with sacrifice spells as the small tokens made from amass spells are perfect fodder.
While not as typical as the card advantage found in blue,there’s no shortage of card draw in black as long as you’ve got creatures available to put to the sword.There’s also some great removal to be found in sacrifice triggers from cards like Old Man Willow, especially considering that the size of the creatures in this format is on the smaller side as a whole.
Boros (Red/White): Humans Aggro
Boros is typically themost aggressive color pairin limited formats, and Middle-earth is no different. The game plan here is to hit fast and hard with Humans that provide aggressive boons to one another such as double strike, increased power, and more. Great cards to pair withErkenbrand, Lord of WestfallandTheoden, King of RohanincludeRally at the Hornburg, Protector of Gondor,andNow for Wrath, Now for Ruin!
The nice thing about the Boros color pair is that you also have access to the format’spremier removalthrough efficient burn spells in red as well as enchantments and exile effects for bigger creatures in white.You’ll need a critical mass of Human creaturesto take full advantage of all the benefits this color pair provides though, sobe careful to draft this color pair if there are others in the pod interested in it.
The Ring tempts you is particularly good in more aggressive strategies as it rewards you for attacking consistently. This makes aggressive strategies more favored than normal.
Selesnya (Green/White): Food Token Aggro
This is fittingly the color pair of the Shire folk due to their meager stature and their fondness for food. While food tokens are typically useful in more controlling strategies as they provide a source of lifegain,the Halflings from Middle-earth gain power and toughness bonuses from having food available on your side of the battlefield.Some of the best commons and uncommons you can find in this pair consist ofFrodo Baggins, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Eastfarthing Farmer, Bill the Pony,andButterbur, Bree Innkeeper.
As a result, the value of food tokens is turned on its head, and the Selesnya color pair actually makes for a more aggressive deck. Many games of draft can come down to a race to the finish as to who can deal 20 damage first, sothe extra buffer of life that food tokens allow is a great boon to have in the late game when you start to run out of gas.
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