MTG The Hobbit exclusive reveals Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver and Eagle of the Great Shelf

Made by elves and wielded by a dwarf, this iconic sword might work best put in the hands of a SOLDIER

When you stop and think about the coolest swords in the history of Middle-earth, Sting probably comes to mind, along with Aragorn’s reforged Anduril, Flame of the West. Both feature prominently in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But The Hobbit features some truly epic blades as well, namely Glamdring and Orcrist, two legendary swords forged in the First Age that are discovered by Thorin’s company in a trolls' lair. Gandalf also wields Glamdring throughout the War of the Ring, which explains why it appeared as an equipment card in the previous Magic: The Gathering x Lord of the Rings crossover. But now, The Hobbit's other iconic sword is finally coming to Magic, too.

Polygon can exclusively reveal the brand-new equipment artifact for Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver coming in the upcoming set for The Hobbit, which is slated for release on Aug. 14. Erikas Perl illustrated the art for the standard printing, depicting Thorin holding it aloft in a cave as it glows blue. Francisco Badilla illustrated the borderless variant (he also did the borderless version of The Arkenstone in The Hobbit).

Orcrist is a three-mana colorless legendary artifact that costs three to equip and gives its wielder +2/+2 and trample. Whenever the equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, you choose a creature type and create a treasure token for each creature you control of that type. Considering the emphasis on treasure, Orcrist feels like a perfect fit for red-leaning dwarf typal decks, but it feels carefully designed to fit nicely in with just about any typal strategies. (Elves like swords and treasure, too.)

In the First Age of Middle-earth, Orcrist was lost during the Fall of Gondolin. Thorin didn’t find it until thousands of years later, but he wielded it up until his death during the Battle of Five Armies at the end of The Hobbit. He was buried with the sword placed atop his tomb. So when anybody talks about Orcrist, it’s always considered Thorin’s sword.

It’s fitting then that Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver synergizes fairly well with at least two versions of Thorin already revealed for The Hobbit set. There’s Thorin, Mountain-king and Thorin, King of Durin’s Folk. Thorin, Mountain-king already has trample, and when he enters, you can attach any number of equipment to a creature you control. Then you deal damage equal to that creature’s power to another target creature. So Thorin wants a lot of equipment on the board when he lands on the battlefield to do a huge burst of damage. But he’s just one piece of a wider dwarf-heavy strategy that emphasizes treasure tokens in Magic's upcoming The Hobbit set.

Meanwhile, Thorn, King of Durin’s Folk makes it so that whenever he or another dwarf enters, you create a treasure token. He also buffs other dwarves with +1/+0 for each artifact token you control. So while wielding Orcrist and attacking consistently enough to deal damage to an enemy player while you keep putting dwarves on the board, you’re going to generate a lot of treasure tokens that just keep buffing your dwarves. Notably, this version of Thorin is only available as part of the Crack the Plates scene box.

While it may be Thorin’s famous sword, you could make Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver work really well in any kind of typal deck, especially because treasure tokens help you with ramping up your mana generation. If I’m lucky enough to pull one, I’ll definitely slot it right into my Jenova, Ancient Calamity Commander deck focused on +1/+1 counters and mutants. But Orcrist is arguably even better for something like the Final Fantasy 7-themed Limit Break precon, where Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER cares a lot about equipment and treasure tokens. But only if you shift it a bit to focus on humans, soldiers, or mercenaries. (Among those options, soldiers is probably your best bet.) It would also work extremely well in this ninja typal deck created by another Polygon employee.

Polygon can also exclusively reveal yet another card from The Hobbit: Eagle of the Great Shelf. It’s a 2/5 with flying that costs four colorless and one white to cast. It gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each creature you control whenever it attacks. As a bird soldier, this great eagle is looking pretty good for this theoretical Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER deck full of soldiers. But it’s a really solid addition to typical go-wide white strategies that involve getting an army of smaller creatures on the board.

Orcrist may belong to Thorin, but the way Universes Beyond works in Magic, nobody respects the boundaries of canon. Whether you’re assembling an army of dwarves, mutants, or SOLDIERs, the Goblin-cleaver can transform any fellowship into a mountain of treasure. And if Cloud Strife winds up wielding Orcrist in one hand and Mjolnir in the other while a Great Eagle flies overhead? That’s just Universes Beyond working as intended.