The Hobbit marks Magic’s second dive into the worlds of Tolkien. This time, it’s Standard legal.

Let’s take a look.

We’ll go on an adventure through each color, and the supplemental products surrounding the set. If any singles catch your eye, be sure to check out Three for One Trading, or pick up some sealed product too!

Bilbo’s Gambit is already getting the nod for competitive play. If you gift a treasure, you get a Silence effect tacked on. It’s reminiscent of Reprieve. Another off-blue counterspell from Middle-Earth. Of note, “Gift a Treasure” required an opponent is given a treasure token. You can counter Johnny’s spell and give the treasure to Timmy. Be careful, Bilbo’s Gambit stops all players casting spells. Not just your opponents. Use it with caution if you’re casting it during your own turn.

The Eagles are Coming! is a fantastic protection spell. For two mana you can return a creature to your hand. Then you make a 4/4 with flying at the end step. But we’re here for the kicker effect. This lets you return any number of creatures you own, to your hand. Then you get a 4/4 for each card returned. In a fair capacity you can bounce your board, make a bunch of tokens, and recast them for value. It reminds me of Paradoxical Outcome, but of course not as broken.

The Queen of Dale is a great role-filler card. She recruits whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn. The effect is simple. The value you accrue is huge. Esper Sentinel draws a card. The Queen of Dale is not Esper Sentinel. But it’s strong. Graveyard decks looking to discard, token decks that need bodies, or aristocrats looking to activate Skullclamp are all going to love this card.

Some effects are simple. Elven Raft-Steerer taps or untaps a creature whenever a land enters under your control. I love this effect. It plays well with mana dorks, or powerful activated abilities. Alternatively, it can make combat tricky for opponents. A fetchland becomes a combat trick.

Bilbo, Thief in the Night is out obligatory “two drop blue creature that might break legacy”. Bilbo cheats on mana as long as you’re not casting spells from your hand. His second ability lets you play an instant, sorcery or artifact from your grave this turn. Whether it’s a cantrip or a Wurmcoil Engine, this is one of the cheapest ways to get utility from your graveyard.

A new spell to try out with Bilbo is Riddles in the Dark. For three mana you look at the top four cards of your deck. You make a face up and face down pule. An opponent chooses one pile for you to keep. The rest is put in the grave.

Fact or Fiction immediately comes to mind. Epiphany at the Drownyard might be more apt. Regardless, you’re playing mind games. Fact or Fiction lets you choose the pile to keep. Riddles in the Dark has a chance missing the card you want. Knowing your opponent, and how to bluff will be key to this.

Head of the Hunt is an aggressive take on exiling graveyards. It turns exiled cards into 2/2s. Flash makes this especially nasty. Play this into a board wipe to recover with an army of tokens. It’s also a great bit of hate against any graveyard deck.

One downside: It only hits creatures that die. That means mill, or non-creature spells still go to the bin as normal.

Inside Information lets you exile cards from your opponent’s deck, and cast them using your life. Black can make lots of mana incredibly quickly. I like the versatility. You don’t need to cast all those cards. If you got infinite mana you can exile the opponent’s entire deck. You can cast a handful of those cards, then let the opponent die during their draw step.

The Master of Lake-town is Mindcrank in the Command zone. Life loss causes mill. When he dies you draw a card for each graveyard with 7+ cards. This is a fantastic mill machine. There are countless ways to keep the mill going. Syr Konrad, the Grim is your best friend. He deals damage whenever a creature is put into the graveyard. Whether it’s combo or grindy value this commander is incredibly powerful.

Red continues to get land synergies. Last Light of Durin’s Day is great. Whenever a Mountain enters, you get a counter. Once you hit six counters, sacrifice this enchantment and put a dragon directly into play. This is a great early play that rewards you for curving out. It doesn’t need to be basic Mountains. You can play a Stomping Ground, Volcanic Island, or Elegant Parlour. Worst case scenario Durin’s Day has mountaincycling.

Smaug the Magnificent is a great threat. When he attacks, deal damage to anything equal to the number of treasures you control. On your upkeep, Smaug makes a treasure token. Smaug reminds me of Glorybringer, it’s a decent body that can put out huge damage over a game.

Most decks have incidental treasure generation. Smaug will serve you well in any deck. But, pair it with Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Goldspan Dragon for massive damage.

Thorin, Mountain-King cheats equip costs. When he enters attach any number of equipment to target creature. When you do, deal damage equal to that creatures power.

So much potential.

Play a Colossus Hammer turn one. Lizard Bladesto follow up. Turn three Sword of Vengeance. Play Thorin and equip it all to him. Deal 15 damage with his trigger, then swing for 15 double strike. The best bit, you don’t need haste. You can play on turn three, then Thorin turn four. Attach all the equipment to your three drop. Great redundancy!

The Notary Hobbits is a lot of mana for very little. When it enters you get two non-legendary copies. They each tap for colorless mana equal to the number of halflings you control. Five mana to generate nine. Delighted Halfling sees a lot of play. She makes our trio tap for 12 mana collectively. In a token deck Peregrin Took and Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator could be great inclusions that help up your halfling count.

If you’re looking to spend all that mana, Through the Forest Gate is great big spell. Look at the top twenty cards, put any lands among them into play. It’s big and silly, not much to say, I love it. Pair it with Dancing from Dark to Dawn, or Beorn’s Hospitality for a lot of landfall triggers.

Part in Friendship is a reverse Birthing Pod. When a creature died, you reveal off the top until you hit a creature with equal of less mana value. It’s much more fair than Pod, but I like the design space. Run this in an aristocrats shell to get triggers on your opponent’s turn too.

There are a handful of notable reprints found in collector boosters. You can pick up a box from Three for One Trading, or a box of play boosters if that’s more your thing. Personally, I like to buy singles so lets see some of the best ones!

The One Ring in case you haven’t heard of it is one of most broken artifacts ever printed. It draws an ungodly amount of cards over the course of a game. The indestructible artifact has been banned in Modern, and is a gamechanger in Commander. This is a must have for any deck. If you can untap it multiple times in a turn, then it’s practically game over.

The only bad thing about Delighted Halfling is that it isn’t an elf. I think that was a tactical decision. Elf players have it too easy. The halfling gives you any color of mana but it can only be used on legendary spells. But as an upside that spell cannot be countered. It’s a mini Cavern of Souls. CEDH decks love it.

Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff always creeps up in price. The two drop gives you a treasure whenever a player casts their second spell in a turn. This grows surprisingly fast! Even if your opponents don’t feed into it you can still generate treasures yourself by casting two spells.  I love the new art too from debut artist, Doug Kovacs. He also drew Raise the Palisade from this cycle of reprints. He has a clear style. I hope he returns with more art in the future.

Going from a new artist to a veteran. Mark Poole gives us a look at Rivendell. It’s not the most powerful card in the world. I just wanted an excuse to highlight this artwork. Mark Poole has given us Birds of Paradise, Counterspell, and Ancestrall Recall. His rendition of Rivendell is beautiful. It’s a nice effect too. Scry 2 for two mana is a great mana sink.

Going outside Middle Earth reprints we have a couple cards written in Dwarven script. The most exciting is Mox Amber. It’s a zero cost artifact that adds one mana of any color among legends you control. It’s a staple. If you run a cheap commander Mox Amber is a great accelerant. While this reprint is incredibly rare, I’m sure you’ll be delighted to pull it!