All the cards in Magic: The Gathering‘s The Hobbit set have been revealed. And as I perused the set looking for interesting mechanics, fun card synergies, or just cool art, I had a realization: they made Bilbo Baggins hot. There have been cards featuring Middle Earth’s number one burglar before, but they featured him as the older, distinguished gentleman he was in Lord of the Rings. He’s younger in The Hobbit, and MTG’s artists have illustrated him accordingly, turning Bilbo into a stone-cold silver fox.
I think it’s the sexy lil’ gray streak of hair that really nails the “Oh no, he’s hot” of it all. It’s a bit of debonairness that Martin Freeman just didn’t have. But these are blue cards, and all right-thinking people hate blue cards and their players, so let’s see what he has across the color whee —oh shit.
He’s just so handsome! Bilbo’s dwarven companions clean up nice too, including Fíli, Kìli, and Bofur, looking different from their movie counterparts, but it’s amusing that in Thranduil’s cards, he just looks like Lee Pace again.
I know a lot of Magic players are annoyed with the game right now, either with the seemingly relentless cadence of releases or the fact that most of them are IP crossovers, slowly morphing the game into Fortnite but cards. But The Hobbit gets a pass, and not just because of hot Bilbo. The previous Lord of the Rings set was really well done and The Hobbit is looking the same. J.R.R. Tolkien’s world really meshes well with MTG‘s sword-and-sorcery vibes, and I hope my friend group can snag a box for our monthly draft night.
