When I found out there was going to be a The Hobbit expansion, I was really happy. I reread the book (it had been quite a few years since the last time, and I no longer remembered many of the little details) because I wanted to be able to appreciate all the cards; not just those featuring the main characters, but also the Sagas and instants that often reference smaller actions or events. Well, to be fair, I have to confess that this time I didn’t actually read it: I listened to the audiobook instead. (By the way, if you do the same, I recommend the narration by Miguel Ángel Jenner. I listened to Javier Gutiérrez’s version, which is very good except for one detail: to my ears, the little voices he gives the dwarves sound ridiculous.) But the truth is that once the spoilers started coming out, my hype deflated a little… I couldn’t really say why…
Anyway, I’ve already started playing Drafts of The Hobbit (HOB) —a couple of them so far—and my appreciation for the cards is on the rise again. I don’t think this will be a set that adds many staples to formats like Standard or Modern, but for Limited it feels like a very polished, well-rounded set! Both of my first two Drafts ended up in the same place: a Boros base full of dwarves and Equipment. The first deck ended up Mardu, the second was straight Boros, but the idea was basically the same.
The mechanic I’ve played with the most so far is Storied. If at any point during the game you control three or more legendary creatures, Sagas and/or artifacts, you are considered to have an enduring story, and all your cards with storied benefit from it. Once this ability is active, you keep it for the rest of the game even if you stop controlling those permanents, and cards like Bifur, Melodic Rider (which Untapped.gg rates as just a C- on its tier list) can turn that accumulation of small synergies into a serious threat.
First Draft: Mardu Dwarves.
The first deck already made it pretty clear which direction I wanted to explore. The base was essentially , with plenty of cheap dwarves, Equipment and legends, but I ended up adding for cards like Stir Up Trouble , Gollum, Silent Slinker // Meager Meal and Dreaded Bat-Cloud .
The core of the deck, though, was made up of cards like Dáin, Lord of the Iron Hills , Nori, Teller of Tales , Dori, Bearer of Friends , Dwalin, Weaponmaster and Bifur, Melodic Rider , alongside Equipment such as Dwarven Shortsword and Crude Bent Blade . Between legends, artifacts and the odd Saga, the deck had plenty of ways to build up synergies while developing the board. I was also very happy to have a Settle the Wreckage , which saved me in one game…
The start was spectacular: 5-0. The first five games weren’t exactly crushing wins (in one, my opponent never found their fourth land, and in another Settle the Wreckage completely turned around a game that looked lost), but things were looking very good… And then I hit the wall.
Three consecutive losses turned that 5-0 into a final 5-3. It’s one of those sequences that makes the result feel a little worse than it really is: winning five games in a row is a great start, but finishing with three straight losses leaves a bittersweet aftertaste.
Second Draft: Boros Dwarves.
The next day I went back for another one and, almost without meaning to, ended up drafting an even more focused version of the same deck.
This time there was no splash: straight Boros, with 8 Plains , 8 Mountain and Iron Hills . The plan was even clearer: fill the deck with dwarves, legends and Equipment, turn on Storied, and apply pressure.
There were plenty of familiar faces from the first Draft: Dori, Bearer of Friends , Nori, Teller of Tales , Dwalin, Weaponmaster , Bifur, Melodic Rider and Dwarven Shortsword .
This time they were joined by cards like Thorin Oakenshield , Sting, Bilbo's Sword , Glóin the Mighty // Easy Pickings and two copies of Magnificent End . And on top of that, this time I managed to pick up an A+ bomb:
It’s amazing how much impact a single card can have. In the second game, for example, after losing the first one, we both flooded pretty badly, but on turn 9 I played An Unexpected Party // At the Door
for X=5 and my opponent conceded. In game 5 I didn’t draw my third land until turn 5, but in the end the same play for X=3 gave me the win.
The run was almost the exact opposite of the first Draft. I started 1-2, without feeling like I was doing anything particularly spectacular, but from there the deck started picking up momentum: five consecutive wins took me all the way to 6-2 before I lost the final game and finished the Draft at 6-3.