I genuinely do not understand how an IP this strong can be handled this way.
A lot of players and collectors were waiting for this set in particular. I marked my calendar as soon as it was announced. The Hobbit is not some random crossover that needs to be forced into Magic. It is a fantasy IP that fits MTG perfectly, just like the beloved LOTR set already proved.
That is why the product treatment makes no sense to me.
Instead of making it a full large set like Avatar or Final Fantasy, it is getting the TMNT/Spider-Man treatment. For The Hobbit. How?
After LOTR showed how strong serialized chase cards can be, I expected this product to lean just as much into that. They could have done (again) 10–20+ serialized cards tied to major characters, locations, artifacts, or iconic moments.
Instead, the main limited chase is an unserialized dragon with some vague “around 500” supply. That is a much weaker collector hook than actual serialized cards.
I was ready to put serious money into this release. Not for scalping or hoarding, but for collecting and playing all the events around me and for griding Arena and MTGO. But now I will probably just buy a gift bundle, play a Prerelease, and call it a day.
So honestly, how does this end up feeling this underutilized?