Revealed: Magic’s Lord of the Rings cards inspired by the Bakshi cartoon

Peter Jackson’s interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy looms large in our cultural consciousness. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is an important part of culture. Magic the Gathering’s latest set, The Lord of the Rings, Tales of Middle-EarthWizards of the Coast says to Polygon they were hard-pressed to go beyond that. But there is one classic version of those stories that Wizards chose to embrace: Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 The Lord of the RingsAnimated feature films. Titles Middle-earth Adventures: Part 2Today, Secret Lair Drop’s special alternate art card drop is available. Polygon has your exclusive first look — plus an interview with the creatives who helped bring it to life.

Wizards of the Coast

“We were all excited that the Bakshi film was in bounds for this project,” wrote principal art director Tom Jenkot in an email interview. “It’s such a beautiful movie and it has some amazing technical aspects like the rotoscoping of the characters from live footage of actors and the beautiful color wash backgrounds. For longtime fans, it was the first visualization of Lord of the Rings.”

Bakshi’s work also helped to inspire Jackson’s interpretation of Tolkien’s work in his own live-action films. Fans of certain ages will never forget the lush landscapes of Middle Earth. At Wizards it was all about the image.

“For the particular scenes/shots on the cards, we worked with the Tolkien Estate and poured over many key scenes and landscapes from the film and aligned them with amazing cards,” Jenkot wrote. “We balanced the selections between key characters and key locations to show off all the beauty of the film.”

The Magic of the Word’s Secret Lair program started off in 2019 as a massive experiment offering unique alternate art on existing cards — some of them highly sought-after reprints of powerful cards. The unique runs were only made available for a short time and then on demand to satisfy everyone’s needs. But senior business manager Emily Floyd notes Secret Lair’s popularity has required some serious expansion.

Wizards of the Coast

Wizards of the Coast

“Secret Lair has seen phenomenal growth over our four years,” Floyd wrote over email. “We’ve made a lot of recent improvements for the customer experience. With more consistent and longer sales windows, the store is ‘always on’ — so there’s always something for the Secret Lair fans when you visit our site. We’ve adjusted our production timelines so that customers can get their drops faster; in many cases, you’ll get a shipping notification within a day or two after your order. Our team is always working to keep the Secret Lair customer experience fresh.”

Wizards of the Coast

Additionally, Secret Lair cards aren’t only available online anymore. In 2023, special Secret Lair sets and promotional cards have been made available at MagicCon events — like the one recently held in Minneapolis.

“Experimentation and expression: these are the key pillars of Secret Lair,” Floyd wrote. “We take these qualities into account with every Drop design, every business decision, every weird and unexpected piece of art or snippet of flavor text.

“When it comes to bringing you weird and awesome ways to celebrate Magic the Gathering, we’re just getting started.”

Middle-earth: More AdventureSecret Lair Drop is on sale for $29.99 starting Monday. The foil version costs $39.99.