Players Delighted as MTG Copies Beloved Yu

May 29, 2023

Before getting into Magic: the Gathering later in my life, I played a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Part of the reason for this was definitely the impact that the anime had on me as a little kid, but my friends (and some of their parents) were also invested in the game, making it easy to jump in.

As a kid, my favorite thing to buy when trying to expand my Yu-Gi-Oh! collection was tins. Aside from a mishmash of packs, tins gave me something to put my cards in but, more importantly, gave me a rare and valuable promotional card.

Well, after a long wait, it appears that MTG is finally getting a tin! These appear to potentially have a similar experience to the Yu-Gi-Oh! tins, offering a few packs and promotional reprints. Sadly, unlike the Yu-Gi-Oh! reprints which can offer meta-adjacent reprints to make the game more accessible, these reprints just look pretty, but they are somewhat desirable.

Starting September first, select Walmart stores will have the three above MTG tin designs available for purchase. For those who do not have a Walmart in their area, these will also be available on Walmart.com and at Meijer stores while supplies last.

As far as the contents, what one receives is pretty typical for a TCG tin. Since this is Lord of the Rings themed, players will receive three Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth set boosters and two promotional cards. If you enjoy playing Elves in Commander, these promotional cards are likely to tickle your fancy.

Guaranteed in each Lord of the Rings tin is the above two promotional cards. Both of these have unique treatments, featuring Llanowar Elves in a foil old border treatment and Lathril, Blade of the Elves in an Etched Foil treatment.

Neither of these are all-star reprints like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, but they both should have their adorers. Llanowar Elves sees a heavy amount of Commander and Pioneer play thanks to its ability to ramp players as early as turn one. For those who want to add some bling to their decks, this foil is a nice pickup.

Lathril, Blade of the Elves is a rather popular Commander. According to EDHREC, Lathril, Blade of the Elves is the most popular Elven Commander by a wide margin. There are 17597 recorded decks using Lathril at the helm in comparison to Marwyn, the Nurturer who appears to be the second most popular Elven Commander at 3686 decks.

Another perhaps overlooked fact is that this will be the first time that Lathril sees a reprint. Before this, Lathril only ever saw a printing in Kaldheim’s Commander decks. Considering the amount of demand for this card, however, Lathril currently only has around a $2.80 price tag. That said, there are reports from players having to pay premiums for this card because of how inaccessible it is.

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Besides many players pointing out the similarities between this MTG tin and Yu-Gi-Oh! ones, there is definitely a subsection of MTG players happy to see that Lathril is getting a reprint. Even though this card is not the most expensive one in the world, it does seem like supply is a barrier to some interested players getting copies of Lathril.

We currently do not have any confirmation on what prices players should expect to pay for these tins. In fact, the price for these tins is one of the most commonly asked thing by players in regards to this product. There are some suggestions that these tins will be retailing for $20ish, which would honestly be an ok price for them.

Set Boosters on average are going for about $5.50 at the time of writing, putting the value of the packs in this tin at $16.50. Paying a bit extra for two promotional cards and a fancy tin may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I can see the appeal, especially considering these tins will only be available at big box stores, which usually has a larger markup. Do keep in mind that if your tins are worth more, $20 is about the expected value for these tins when factoring in Lathril’s current secondary market price.

Finally, some players are annoyed that this promotion is only limited to the U.S. and Canada. This isn’t uncommon with niche MTG products like this one. For Canadian and American players interested in these tins, be sure to keep a lookout for these at your local Walmart. For those outside of North America, getting these may be rather difficult.

Considering that this appears to be MTG’s first foray into the TCG Tin product, its not surprising to see that these are lacking in comparison. Should the price for these be $20, the value one gets in exchange is not too bad.

While the reprints do have an audience, which is an improvement to past products with set reprints, they could be better. TCG competitors like Yu-Gi-Oh! use tins to reprint high-demand cards that have a major impact in the game’s competitive format. It would be the equivalent of having The One Ring appear in a bundle. The card itself likely to retain value, but it could become much more accessible overall.

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