MagicCon: Atlanta 2025 — ‘Magic: The Gathering’ Takes Us “There And Back Again”
by Anton Kromoff
Welcome to the table,
I love Magic: The Gathering. From playing totally wrong at a well-worn picnic table while marveling at Wall of Bone and Nevinyrral’s Disk to building my first rat deck and wrecking house in a way that felt unfair, to finishing my full sets of the Dungeons & Dragons themed MTG set Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, I have loved this hobby for over twenty years.
It is always fascinating to me when I see MTG showing up outside of the hobby. Occasionally you will see someone make a joke in a sitcom or a poster hanging in the background of a scene of a movie. On one really weird occasion, I was even asked in a corporate office of a global company “Are there other types of Magic? Do they do other things that gather?”
Arguably, in my lifetime at least, the set that has had the most reach outside what one could consider traditional channels though. That’s due in no small part to one Austin Richard Post, known professionally as Post Malone. That would be the Magic: The Gathering The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set.
The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth was one of those sets that had universal appeal. Much like the One Ring, it called to the fans of MTG but it spoke to a massive fanbase with individuals that grew up reading the books, or watching the animated movies, or watching the live action movies, or playing the video games, or collecting the LEGO.
It also had a single gold foiled The One Ring card with etched text written in the original Elvish Black Speech from Tolkien’s Lore. A card Austin, who is an avid fan of MTG, paid a reported 2 million dollars for when it was finally discovered.
All of the press around this set, the universal fan appeal, and the general hype that was created had some of us at the table almost certain that more Tolkien themed MTG cards would eventually come and I am happy to say that offically I can say we are indeed about to return to Middle Earth with Magic: The Gathering ‘The Hobbit.’
Now I grew up with elder nerds in the comic shop being super into The Lord of the Rings lore. I was frankly lost in most of it. It felt very inaccessible at times. The language and names, if spoken wrong, could cause grown adults to stop their game of Warhammer Fantasy and argue over inflection and intention of words from books written before even they were born.
I was, however, a big fan of what felt like the way more accessible The Hobbit and the epic Rankin/Bass animated movie. This, of course, means I am thrilled to see this new set announced as Gandalf, Thorin, Bilbo, and the iconic Lonely Mountain have been name-dropped already.
There has also been mention of secrets and old and new things that have yet to be revealed…
If the art above is any indication I want to get a poster of whatever that card art is. Gollum and the One Ring is breathtakingly haunting and seriously, no hyperbole, not only some of the coolest MTG art I have ever seen, but one of the coolest pieces of fantasy art I have ever laid my eyes on.
I will keep you posted as more news on this set comes out, but right now, I’m almost certain, provided the world does not totally fall apart, this is going to be one of the biggest sets in the history of the hobby.
Until next time, I’m crying as I type this… because I am so overwhelmed by so much that is going wrong in the world both personal and globally … but … in these dark dark times I look to the east … and hope that the light will come.
Man … playing a game of Magic with Post Malone would be one of those things that made someone’s lifetime. That would be a real adventure.
