<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Óin the Brave" href="#" target="_blank">Óin the Brave</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/colin_boyer/">Colin Boyer</a></em></p>
<p><em>The Hobbit</em>, the beloved prequel to the massive <em>Lord of the Rings</em> trilogy, is a much smaller tale in comparison to the world-spanning trip to Mount Doom. Thorin's Company, the group of travelers that<em> The Hobbit</em> follows, might be a larger group of individuals, but has a fraction of the depth and identity compared to the future Fellowship of the Ring years later. <em>The Hobbit</em> is the little brother to the giant that is <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>, and this set along, with its mechanics, feels like it. Yet that's exactly as it should be, as <em>The Hobbit</em> was meant to be a much smaller and more condensed story, and this story is a perfect on-ramp for more players to get into <em>Magic: The Gathering</em>.</p>
<p>So let's dive into the nice introductory mechanics of this small set that's sure to give the perfect Hobbit vibes to all who wander!</p>
<h3>Storied</h3>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thorin Oakenshield"></div></div></p>
<p>Storied is one of the cooler and more flavorful mechanics =we've seen among any of the Universes Beyond sets! When you play a card with storied, it continues to check your board looking for three or more artifacts, legendary permanents and/or Sagas. Once it's confirmed that you have three of these in any combination, you as the player gain an <em>enduring story</em> for the rest of the game.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kíli the Resourceful"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bifur, Melodic Rider"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Óin the Brave"></div></div>
<p>Once you have an enduring story, you never lose it, much like the city's blessing mechanic from <em>Ixalan.</em> If you stop having three artifacts, legendaries or Sagas out, you will still have an enduring story once you earn it once, and the legendary creatures with the storied mechanic like Thorin Oakenshield can be the first page to that story, since he's legendary himself.</p>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Balin, Loremaster"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bombur, Gentle Dreamer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ori, Keeper of Songs"></div></div></p>
<p>There are nine cards with the storied mechanic, and each of them are also all of the enduring story cards as well, so just get <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Balin, Loremaster" href="#" target="_blank">Balin, Loremaster</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ori, Keeper of Songs" href="#" target="_blank">Ori, Keeper of Songs</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thorin Oakenshield" href="#" target="_blank">Thorin Oakenshield</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> out at the same time and you'll earn storied plus three different enduring story abilities.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fíli the Pathfinder"></div></div>
<p>This is the general mechanic for the Dwarves in this set, who are the creature type in the most need of support amongst all of the ones included in <em>The Hobbit</em> set, but that's not to say that's not the only support they're getting.</p>
<h3>Hone Counters</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sting, Bilbo&#039;s Sword"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dwalin, Weaponmaster"></div></div>
<p>Hone counters are only referenced on two cards in this set, but they could speak to a very exciting mechanic in the future. Hone counters are placed on Equipment and give the equipped creature +1/+0 on top of whatever other bonuses the equipped creature is getting. This is a super cool counter that can change the general view on Equipment throughout all of <em>Magic</em>, since they have long been mired by the "two for one" conundrum. These counters stay on the Equipment themselves, so even if the creature they are attached to gets removed, they still keep the Hone counters. Very much like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Chainsaw" href="#" target="_blank">Chainsaw</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> from <em>Duskmourn</em>, Equipment will turn into one-shots as long as they stay on the field, just waiting for someone worthy to pick them up.</p>
<h3>Recruit</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bard&#039;s Company"></div></div>
<p>Speaking of creature support, Humans are a big part of the <em>Lord of the Rings</em> franchise and <em>The Hobbit</em> is no different, although they do take a bit of a backseat this time around. However, the Humans that do show up here give a home to the recruit mechanic which, when triggered, has you draw a card, then discard a card, and if that discarded card is a nonland card, make a 1/1 Human Soldier. This sounds a mighty lot like connive from sets as recently as <em>Marvel Super Heroes,</em> and it's still amazing here!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Great Gilded Boat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Long Lake Nuisance"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Celebrate the Mountain-king"></div></div>
<p>Blue and white are in their <em>second draw matters</em> era right now and this mechanic shows that. There are a myriad of commanders that care about players drawing a second card, like my take on <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="King T&#039;Challa" href="#" target="_blank">King T&#039;Challa</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> that you can find <a href="https://archidekt.com/articles/edhrec/king-tchallas-multiversal-diplomacy/king-tchalla?utm_source=edhrec">here</a>, and a ton more in the EDHREC <em>Draw Matters</em> category <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/card-drawhttps://edhrec.com/tags/card-draw">here</a>. Drawing for an additional time will already trigger enough things throughout <em>Magic</em> but let's not forget how discarding select cards can be just as helpful too. Discard a nonland card and you earn a token with two very powerful creature types in the form of <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/humans">Human</a> and <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/soldiers">Soldier</a>, long supported archetypes both in and outside of the <em>Magic</em> Multiverse.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Queen of Dale"></div></div>
<p>Recruit is quite a strong ability and it has some powerful legs to stand on with Queen of Dale being as cheap as she is for such a powerful effect.</p>
<h2>Returning Mechanics:</h2>
<p>Now the above were all of the new mechanics for <em>The Hobbit,</em> but we do have two returning ones that are pretty perfect for the story and also some more connective tissue with the previous set.</p>
<h3>Adventure</h3>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Arkenstone"></div></div></p>
<p>Adventure has been around for a long time, so we'll do a quick refresher here. Cards with Adventure have two halves, a permanent and an instant or sorcery side. The card is just about always treated as its creature side when referring to library searching or hand discarding and so on, and once the card is physically on the battlefield, you're always just looking at the effects on the permanent half.</p>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="My Precious"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thranduil, Sindarin Liege"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Beorn, Reluctant Host"></div></div></p>
<p>However, when you're able to cast spells at the appropriate time, Adventure cards can be cast for the noncreature side instead, following all of the same rules for casting instants and sorceries. The change here is that once the card resolves, instead of going to the graveyard, you instead place it into exile. From exile, you may only cast it again for the permanent side, completing the adventure that the card went on.</p>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gollum, Silent Slinker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Most Decrepit Old Bird"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="An Unexpected Party"></div></div></p>
<p>I mean I truly cannot imagine a more fitting mechanic for <em>The Hobbit</em> being the wonderful tale of adventure that it is. Cast <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gandalf, Goblins&#039; Bane" href="#" target="_blank">Gandalf, Goblins&#039; Bane</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> on the Flameshape side for some added card options, then cast him on the creature side to take advantage of those cards too. Perfection!</p>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gandalf, Goblins&#039; Bane"></div></div></p>
<h3 lang="en">Amass</h3>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted"></div></div></p>
<p lang="en">Amass is the last of the mechanics for <em>The Hobbit</em> and this one is very specifically a love letter to all of the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sauron, the Dark Lord" href="#" target="_blank">Sauron, the Dark Lord</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> <a href="https://edhrec.com/commanders/sauron-the-dark-lord">decks</a> out there. Amass is the mechanic for the forces of evil in the Tolkien world, as it allows you to make a bigger and bigger creature token that helps you take over the battlefield. Whenever you are told to amass, if you have not already, you create a 0/0 army token with whatever creature type is described on the card, then you add X +1/+1 counters into that token equal to the amass amount.</p>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fearsome Goblin Pair"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Great Ugly-Looking Goblin"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Misty Mountains Raider"></div></div></p>
<p lang="en">What makes this mechanic even more interesting is that if you already have an Army token created, you don't make a new one, you just add the appropriate counters onto the one that's out there. You won't regularly have multiple armies out at once, usually just the one you've made and so you keep on putting counters on that one token over and over again for free, which ends up being a problem for your opponent to deal with while you keep doing whatever your deck does on top of that.</p>
<p class="card-text-title" lang="en"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bolg of the North"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Azog, Moria&#039;s Ruin"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Down, Down to Goblin-town"></div></div></p>
<p lang="en">Amass the armies of the Dark Lord and stride forth!</p>
<h3 lang="en">Conclusion</h3>
<p>There we have it, short and sweet, much like <em>The Hobbit</em> is. A few very cool and interesting mechanics for a nice introductory set that keeps players excited for the <em>Lord of the Rings</em> world being in <em>Magic: The Gathering</em>. From deck upgrades for older decks, to brand new builds for your favorite characters, this set is for the Halfling in all of us! Tune in next time for our dive into the mechanics of <em>Reality Fracture</em>!</p>


adventure

The Storied Mechanics of The Hobbit

Too-Specific Top 10 - The Adventure of the Flip Split Saga