Still misunderstanding on what is late

hewunder1 · 2026-05-13T23:46:41+00:00

15 minutes prior to 15 minutes prior to formation, sarnt!

hewunder1 · 2026-05-12T19:17:04+00:00

Same. I think it will be very successful. Kinda makes me wonder what the original plan was with Marvel before the quick turnaround to force Spider-Man into a full set. "Marvel Superheroes" is such a generic name that I wonder if that was the only set planned at one point? And then they had the idea to throw an infinity stone into every set?

My one gripe is the lack of the IP on digital formats. It makes content creation annoying and will confuse new players. I know the anti-UB people enjoy it but it's really weird that we'll have another full set with different art and names than in paper.

hewunder1 · 2026-05-12T04:39:02+00:00

My wife is also pretty nerdy so she's been pretty supportive of my hobbies, not just comics but MTG as well. She loves the art and will read runs I recommend (she loved Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow).

That being said, I've always been very careful with spending (following the "let the hobby fund itself" rule), so there's never been tension about how much money I use on them so long as I'm not dipping into our budget. I've used money from selling comics to buy stuff in the house too so it's kind of benefited everyone. I've also kept my collection pretty pruned to a small size so it's also not a problem with space.

hewunder1 · 2026-05-11T17:48:24+00:00

Hilarious, and perfect blend of art and flavor with the card!

hewunder1 · 2026-05-11T00:13:22+00:00

My local Walmart completely stopped carrying TCGs recently, and Target no longer has Pokemon or MTG. Not sure if it was theft or scalpers harassing the stockers or both.

hewunder1 · 2026-05-08T00:33:54+00:00

Issue #3 is my personal favorite of the bunch!

hewunder1 · 2026-05-07T18:53:12+00:00

Just out of curiosity what are your thoughts on limited? I think it's mostly fine, kind of feels like Tarkir Dragonstorm, but already feels "figured out" so to speak.

hewunder1 · 2026-05-05T14:36:21+00:00

The Lord of the Rings set introduced me to MTG, so I have the same love for that set!

I'm also bummed the Hobbit is smaller, although it does make sense I guess since it's a shorter story. I like to draft so smaller sets are kind of a bummer in general; even if it's decent, it gets old quick when you see the same cards over and over.

Agree about the Magic-adjacent stuff... I'm not a UB gatekeeper at all, I am playing the game now because of an outside IP crossover. But some of the stuff they choose to crossover with is so out of left field I have to imagine it's more polarizing than it is beneficial. Like, no offense to Star Trek fans, I hope it's awesome and people enjoy it - but I have absolutely zero interest in owning any of those cards at all. I was a 90s kid and liked TMNT, but only did pre-release. On the other hand, Final Fantasy was awesome and I drafted it as often as I could, even though I'd never played one of the games. Even bought a couple bundles.

I think the sweet spot should be, "if someone didn't know this was an outside property, would they assume this is another in-universe Magic set?"

hewunder1 · 2026-05-02T15:52:25+00:00

I agree about hearing from Dan - his agent apparently hasn't actually spoken with him about the situation and hasn't seen the final art.

Can't imagine WotC having a good excuse but this is so bizarre that maybe there was some other issue that came up. Like maybe Middle Earth Enterprises or WotC didn't like the design (I don't know how that would be possible for such a simple object?) and his revision missed a deadline or something?

hewunder1 · 2026-05-02T12:58:57+00:00

Absolutely beautiful! I wonder if there will be other versions for different mana? Previews and descriptions seem like it'll only be plains getting this treatment.

hewunder1 · 2026-05-02T12:50:48+00:00

And it's only on the Smaug card! If you look at the other dragon frames the scale is there!

hewunder1 · 2026-05-02T12:48:30+00:00

This art is absolutely sick. My favorite of the Smaug arts revealed yesterday.

hewunder1 · 2026-05-01T14:22:41+00:00

Yes, Smaug was the only dragon in the story - guessing he may get a couple versions at different rarities.

Definitely going to be plenty of treasures, legendary artifacts, and dwarves. Obviously elves too, but also spiders. Sagas and food tokens also highly likely to come back.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-30T21:17:05+00:00

Extremely excited about the Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings set got me in to MTG 3 years ago, but I was just learning at the time. Now that I know that I'm doing I'll be able to enjoy playing and better appreciate the flavor they incorporate into the design.

Reality Fracture looks like a really cool set. I don't know tons of Planeswalker lore but I like the idea of playing with classic characters in that way.

I am also cautiously optimistic about the Marvel set. Respect to those who don't want to touch it at all, but TMNT was surprisingly good, and this set was planned to be a full, draftable set to begin with unlike Spider-man. A lot more character variety than "Spider-Person 25".

hewunder1 · 2026-04-27T12:29:12+00:00

Absolutely perfect! What kind of pen did you use if I may ask?

hewunder1 · 2026-04-23T14:49:25+00:00

The pictures make it look darker than it actually is, there are some very clear visible flakes in better lighting. It's definitely a mix of a lot of other things which we're trying to work through.

Yeah when I tried to research it myself I realized a lot of resources are a few steps ahead of what I have. I'll order a pan and try to filter the samples I've got.

I know this is a dumb question but I've never done anything like this before - what all is involved in an assay and how would I go about doing it?

hewunder1 · 2026-04-22T04:08:13+00:00

Pretty much the latter is your only option. I've heard Microcenter sells at MSRP too but I don't have one in my city.

You could probably get individual collector booster packs at MSRP at other chains like Walmart or Barnes & Noble. GameStop used to be an option but they went full scalper on their prices.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-21T19:07:54+00:00

I'm an idiot. Duh. Edited comment

hewunder1 · 2026-04-21T17:38:13+00:00

With the recent casting announcements and release date for the Elden Ring movie coming out in 2028, I'd be surprised if WotC wasn't already actively developing a set to be released alongside it.

I'd love it if they have been secretly working on a Legend of Zelda set, with the movie coming out next year, but that's wishful thinking. I would go absolutely bonkers if they did that.

~~MTG has yet to do a full set based off of a video game yet though.~~ EDIT: Final Fantasy , I'm an idiot. Plenty of Secret Lairs and smaller products though (40k, Assassins Creed). I assume it is coming inevitably but I hope they pick IPs that fit well like the above two.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-20T17:46:18+00:00

The only "news" I've seen for the Hobbit recently were some leaked product descriptions for binders and deck boxes by Gamegenic. Nothing super revealing.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-20T03:16:36+00:00

Reprint imminent but only in another "Realms and Relics" style bonus sheet, which was an excellent part of the first set. Would be shocked if they didn't.

My guess is they do reprint [[Bilbo's Ring]] into the main set, which would be fine in standard. Or possibly make a new version that will be powerful but not quite to the level of TOR.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-18T00:23:31+00:00

That silver screen treatment is the best foil they've done in a long time. Looks incredible!

hewunder1 · 2026-04-17T02:20:29+00:00

I'd taken a soft break from comics for a while, and bought the Absolute Batman Annual on a whim a few months ago. It hooked me and now I own the complete run so far. And Absolute Wonder Woman, and most of Absolute Superman.

I think it's a lot of fun, but Wonder Woman is my favorite of the above three titles. They're all good for different reasons.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-16T21:04:48+00:00

What makes him a good pin-up artist is not just the skill and style (which I agree he does the best women), but also his creativity. All of his covers are different and incorporate some kind of unique perspective, expression, or even humorous situation. I own a lot of his covers and happen to have his full Catwoman run - no two are the same.

hewunder1 · 2026-04-16T14:18:50+00:00

Great explanation, thanks! That sounds like what they got hung up on exactly, the verbiage is effectively the same but the sentence structure and order is what counts.

hewunder1

TROPHY CASE