The beloved story of The Lord of the Rings™ collides with fantastical battles in games of Magic: The Gathering with the upcoming release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™. Your community will venture on their own journey from the Shire, exploring the world of Middle-earth in a whole new way.

Take a look at the upcoming dates for the season below.

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Key Dates

Distributor Selection Deadline: April 7, 2023

WPN Premium Deadline: March 31

Scheduling Opens: March 14

Marketing Poster Delivery, North America and Latin America: Beginning June 9, 2023 

Promo Kit Delivery: Beginning June 9

Prerelease: June 16 – June 22

Release: June 23

Launch Party: June 23 – 25

Magic Celebration Event: July 7 – 9

Friday Night Magic: June 23 – August 25, 2023

Commander Nights: June 26 – August 31

Store Championship: August 5 – August 13

Commander Party: July 21 – 23

R.R. Donnelley Ordering Window (select U.S. and Canada WPN Premium stores): May 4 – May 18

Event scheduling opens today, so check out the Events Calendar and open Wizards EventLink to get your events on the books right away.

WPN Magic Celebration Event Details

The Fellowship joins The Gathering in a big way this summer: WPN stores around the globe can host a The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth themed Magic Celebration event from July 7 – 9. This event will bring brand-new and long-time players together to enjoy games of Jumpstart in a familiar setting from the epic fantasy novels written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In advance of the event, you'll receive printed flyers to help you start promoting the event to your customers during The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Prerelease. The flyer will invite your community to do three things:

• Download the Magic: The Gathering Companion App and register using their Wizards Account.
• Register for the WPN Magic Celebration event at your store using their Wizards Account.
• Play three rounds of Jumpstart using two The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Jumpstart Boosters at your store during the Magic Celebration event.

The first 30 players at each store’s Magic Celebration event who complete the steps above will receive a limited edition The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth themed dice set. Each set includes three six-sided dice inside a commemorative velvet drawstring bag.

There are three possible collectible colors your players may receive, each matching the three Spindown counter dice players can collect from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Bundle, Bundle: Gift Edition, and Prerelease Packs.

WPN Premium stores that receive their designation before March 31 will have access to the following benefits for the Magic Celebration Event:

• 90 sets of dice, enough materials to host 3 events
• A Photoflyer camera and kit for store associates to take players’ photos as a souvenir

The souvenir photo frames will include a social media hashtag for easy sharing, along with a QR code reminding players to sign into the event using their Wizards Account on the Magic Companion App.

As an additional reward for joining the event using their Wizards Account, players will receive a bonus Magic: The Gathering Arena code. The code will be delivered to the Arena in-game inboxes of registered WPN Magic Celebration event players by July 31, and will be redeemable only in select regions.

Encourage your community to bring friends and family along for the event; be sure to hand out Bring-a-Friend promos to any of your community members who bring a new player to the event. Plus, you can hand Welcome Boosters to new players embarking on their first Magic adventure.

Commander Party Comes to All WPN Stores

Commander Party was previously a WPN Premium-exclusive event, but starting with The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, we're expanding the availability of this event to every store in the WPN. During a Commander Party, your players will play an immersive story event that adds additional rules to a typical Commander game in the form of Faction cards. Each Faction card gives players at the table unique abilities during the game.

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Commander Party is a one-night event that you can schedule from July 21 – 23. For even more details on how to run this Commander Party, head to our full announcement article.

30th Anniversary Promos for Prerelease

Our 30th Anniversary celebration continues with even more promo cards that'll help you throw a bigger Prerelease celebration than Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday. The 30th Anniversary promos arriving with your The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth promo kit are as follows:

• Tarmogoyf (printed in Japanese)
• Glen Elendra Archmage
• Acidic Slime
• Terastodon

Keep in mind that both the Japanese-language Tarmogoyf and Glen Elendra Archmage are available at very limited print quantities. Save each promo for something special at your store, such as your top player at one of your Prerelease events.

Buy-a-Box Promo: Lórien Brooch (Trailblazer's Boots)

All throughout Prerelease week, you can encourage players to pick up a full Sealed display of Magic product to earn a traditional foil copy of the Buy-a-Box promo: Lórien Brooch (Trailblazer's Boots).

Give this promo to your customers for sales of the following:

• Set Booster Display
• Draft Booster Display
• Collector Booster Display
• Jumpstart Booster Display

We hope you're prepared to introduce Magic: The Gathering to your game community through the beloved story and characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Don't delay—start having conversations and collecting pre-registrations as early as possible once you schedule your events in Wizards EventLink.