Witch-king of Angmar
– LOTR: TALES OF MIDDLE-EARTH
Date Reviewed: June 7, 2023
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.88
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 4.75
Multiplayer: 3.63
Commander [EDH]: 3.75
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
J.R.R. Tolkien actually provided surprisingly little description of many of the characters in his novels – even important ones. For example, the only real detail we get about Theoden’s appearance is that he has white hair. In spite of that, this card’s art came out very close to what the Witch-king looked like in my mind when I first read the novel. I even imagined the fell beast as having a long snout, more like a pterodactyl than a sauropod (as in the Peter Jackson movies).
This card’s stats are not the most efficient you’ll see, but it does manage to bring some of the fear the Witch-king was known for. That combat damage trigger is based on the longtime multiplayer staple No Mercy, and while it is ironically a little more merciful, your opponents will have to be careful about what they can and can’t afford to lose every time they damage you. You also get the “Ring tempts you” abilities as it goes on (see the picture I’ve attached), and while selecting the Witch-king as your Ringbearer means he won’t get much use out of the first Ring ability, he’s a good candidate for all the others, especially once you factor in the ability to make him indestructible. I’d say this is another of the cards more intended for casual play than tournament Magic, but he’s capable of doing a lot of damage in those settings.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5
In the mythos of The Lord of the Rings, Sauron gave out 19 rings as ostensible tokens of friendship and camaraderie, nine of which went to human kings and lords. Those nine kings fell under the influence of their respective preciouses, and they would come to serve Sauron himself as the Nazgûl, also called ring-wraiths; following the loss of the Precious Supreme (The One Ring), their job was to track it down and reunite it with Sauron. The leader of the Nazgûl is known as the Witch-king of Angmar, and that’s where our review begins today.
David was kind enough to include an image of “The Ring” mechanic, specifically how the precious tempts you. Each time the ring tempts you, you get to choose one creature to be the Ring-Bearer, granting it all of the effects of the Ring. The “legendary matters” mechanics of Tales of Middle-Earth make the overall package pretty powerful, though your opponent has to play into you to get the temptation going with this card, so I’m sure it’s worth more evaluation later. It’s still a decent suite of effects if you have a creature that can carry it into battle, and that’s a good start.
As for the creature itself…the Witch-king of Angmar is rather brutal. In addition to being able to swoop and protect itself in a pinch with indestructibility, it also punishes opponents who attack into you. Their creatures may still hit, but they will lose one, and they have to choose one that actually connected with you. That might force some interesting games of blocking to get the sacrifices you want to happen to happen. And the Witch-king is a 5/3 with evasion, and the conditional indestructibility helps it a lot.
To be fair, Witch-king of Angmar shines best when paired with a pack of Nazgûl, but even alone it can wreak plenty of havoc. It’s a fast clock with a decant punisher effect; I think it might be a bit too slow for Modern (not stone-cold unplayable, but might take a bit more finagling to work), but it’ll do just fine in more fun games, and it can be a rather solid way to underscore how swooping is bad.
Constructed: 3.25 (can be vicious against certain decks, but I think it’s very much a match-up dependent card)
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5 (there’s very specific removal that will reliably work on the Witch-king, and your opponents might have trouble keeping creatures around; probably not unbeatable, but very nasty)
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4 (I imagine we’ll have plenty of Witch-king decks in Commander)
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