I really need to disconnect myself from r/magicTCG. Not because of the people there - I don't even give them the time of day - but because of the new Lord of the Rings set.
It's clear that there was a team of designers who were passionate about Lord of the Rings and poured their love for the series into the new set, but fucking hell. I'd be a hypocrite to say I don't want to see third-party IPs in the silly cardboard game; my idle fantasies of designing custom cards with IPs I like on them would say otherwise. But I would enjoy it so much more if this was a giant closed-loop fanmade project, some folks' custom draft cube, with no monetary value behind it and no effect on Magic's greater ecosystem. Cue tapping Spongebob to attack. Many of the cards here are pushed crazy hard. The whole serialized One Ring thing smacks of obtuse corporate greed; imagine taking a symbol warning against one's lust for power and turning it into a symbol of acclaim and status. Guess we just let the bourgeoisie tempt us into financial bloodsport? Regardless, it hurts to see what could've been an interesting little project tainted by Hasbro's shitty, predatory business tactics.
These cards will never be reprinted.
They will break your games in half.
You will be priced out of using them.
It hurts.
