#universesbeyond

Despite a lot of apprehension from the Magic community toward Universes Beyond initially, I think both of the major forays between Warhammer and now The Lord of the Rings feel like home runs to me. The Warhammer decks are spectacular and some of the coolest out of the box precons to date, and the spoilers for Tales of Middle Earth look fantastic from the art to the card design. For me however, there is one glaring problem in one of the single most important elements: the One Ring.

The design of this mechanic just seems backwards compared to what it does in the media. Now, I’m not going to lie and tell you I know the books forward and back. I know there are many details I’m unaware of in the books regarding the powers the ring gives it’s wearer, but the basics are pretty simple. It makes the wearer invisible, but wears the ring-bearer down both physically and mentally. Major short-term upside, but with equally major long-term detriment. So why is this mechanic exclusively positive?

Let’s break it down. I think the first emblem you receive when the ring tempts you is perfect. Any unassuming creature becomes the legendary ring bearer with the ability to get past your opponent’s defenses undetected. Perfect from both a LotR stand point and a Magic combat stand point. Chefs kiss!

The second ability is also fine, I think the ring only providing an advantage strictly for combat would be too under powered for the mechanic to see play anywhere outside of limited, and drawing cards is the most powerful thing you can do in Magic, albeit weak card draw. I like this too.

The third ability is where I start to get a little lost. Forcing your opponent to sacrifice blockers that are literally guaranteed to have less power because of the first ability is both lacking in tangible flavor, and also just not very strong. The first and third abilities are a bit at odds with each other, and I think it would have been better if they just made the creature completely unblockable in the first place. I give this one a D.

The fourth emblem makes absolutely no sense. By the time your creature grants you the fourth emblem, it will likely have been the ring-bearer for a while. You would think there would be some kind of negative effect from prolonged possession of the ring, but instead it gains a completely one sided hit to your opponents life on top of the first three abilities. There is just no negative to being the ring-bearer, which is a hard pivot from the psychological and physical torture we see Gollum, Bilbo and Frodo experience. F-

I also do not understand why it is so easy to move the ring from creature to creature. Every time the Ring tempts you, you have the option to move the ring-bearer power to another creature. This also feels completely at odds with the lore. Every time anyone lost possession of the ring, it became their sole purpose in life to get it back. But now it can just bounce between your creatures and it’s all kumbaya?! It just feels so wrong. I will play devil’s advocate and say maybe they wanted you to feel like Sauron wielding the Ring at the peak of his power, but it just does not deliver the desired flavor.

I’d like to offer my version of the mechanic. Firstly, instead of the Ring effecting the player I want it to stay focused on the creatures, so I will revise “The Ring Tempts You” into the following:

Will of the Ring - If there is not a permanent named The One Ring on the battlefield, create a legendary token artifact equipment named The One Ring and equip it to this creature, and this creature becomes the Ring-bearer. Otherwise, this creature fights the Ring-bearer. If it wins the fight, equip The One Ring to this creature and it becomes the Ring-bearer.

And now for the Ring: