Five new Magic: The Gathering cards were shown at MagicCon Vegas on Sept. 22 for the second drop of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart set.
Players will get another chance to crack MTG Jumpstart packs with the holiday release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth on Nov. 3. Five new Jumpstart themes were added for the LTR Holiday release: Mortals, Cunning, Orish, Riders, and Elven. And with five more themes came five new Rare Jumpstart cards, one in each of the MTG colors. Each new card has a normal and extended art variant.
Eagle of Deliverance LTR Holiday Jumpstart
Found in the Mortals LTR Jumpstart pack, Eagle of Deliverance is a six-drop 5/5 Mono-White bird with Flying and a solid ETB trigger. Drawing cards is a nice late-game effect if a low-powered creature is around. But the bird soldier doesn’t have Flash, which reduces its value slightly outside of Jumpstart gameplay.
- Mana cost: 4WW
- Type: Creature—Bird Soldier
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 5/5
- Keyword: Flying
- ETB ability: When Eagle of Deliverance enters the battlefield, put an Indestructible counter on another target creature you control. Draw a card if that creature’s power is two or less.
Minas Tirith Garrison LTR Holiday Jumpstart
Leading the Cunning LTR Jumpstart pack is Minas Tirith Garrison. It is a four-drop in Blue that synergizes with cards in hand. The human soldier also grants humans to tap for their controller to draw a card.
- Mana cost: 3U
- Type: Creature—Human Soldier
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: X/5
- Passive ability: Minas Tirith Garrison’s power is equal to the number of cards in your hand
- Ability: Whenever Minas Tirith Garrison attacks, you may tap any number of untapped humans you control. Draw a card for each human this way.
Mirkwood Channeler LTR Holiday Jumpstart
Mirkwood Channeler pumps up creatures in the Elves LTR pack and may see play outside of the Jumpstart format. The elf druid is a tad expensive at 3G for a 3/3 but it makes up for it by providing a target elf at the start of combat on your turn with Trample and +X/+X, where “X” is the number of Forest lands you control.
- Mana cost: 3G
- Type: Creature—Elf Druid
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Ability: At the beginning of combat on your turn, a target elf you control gains Trample and gets +X/+X, where “X” is the number of Forest lands you control.
Riders of the Mark LTR Holiday Jumpstart
Charging into combat through the Riders LTR Jumpstart pack is Riders of the Mark. The human knight has a cost reduction for each human you control, along with powerful keywords like Haste and Trample. Riders of the Mark returns to hand at the beginning of your end step if you attack with it but replaces itself with 1/1 human soldier tokens to reduce its cost for the next turn.
- Mana cost: 6R
- Type: Creature—Human Knight
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 7/4
- Keywords: Trample and Haste
- Cost reduction ability: This spell costs one less to cast for each human you control
- Ability: At the beginning of your end step, if Riders of the Mark attacked this turn, return it to its owner’s hand. If you do, create a number of 1/1 human soldier tokens equal to its toughness.
Warg Rider LTR Holiday Jumpstart
Warg Rider powers up the Orcish LTR Jumpstart pack. The Orc gives all other Orcs and goblins Menace and is an Orc token engine using Amass at the beginning of combat on your turn.
- Mana cost: 4B
- Type: Creature—Orc Warrior
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/3
- Keyword: Menace
- Lord ability: Other Orcs and goblins you control have Menace
- Ability: At the beginning of combat on your turn, Amass Orcs two.
