Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit Releases With Rare Gold Smaug Chase

Magic: The Gathering is heading back to Middle-earth with the release of Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit, a new set built around Bilbo Baggins’ adventure, Smaug and other characters and moments from The Hobbit.

The set is available now and includes Play Boosters, Collector Boosters, Bundles, Gift Bundles, Draft Night products and two Scene Boxes.

For collectors, one of the biggest chases is the Gleaming Gold Smaug the Magnificent card. Wizards of the Coast says approximately 500 copies of the special Smaug card were printed. The English-only card can be found in Collector Boosters of any language and is mechanically identical to other versions of Smaug the Magnificent.

Collector Boosters also include other premium treatments such as Surge foils and Dwarvish Language cards, along with the chance to pull the Gleaming Gold Smaug. The set also includes several card treatments tied directly to The Hobbit, including classic book-cover cards, panoramic Scene cards, Riddles in the Dark cards and Dragon Hoard frames.

Two dedicated Scene Boxes are part of the release. The Crack the Plates Scene Box contains six mechanically unique foil cards that combine to form a larger image inspired by the memorable gathering at Bilbo’s home. The Treasures of Smaug Scene Box also contains six mechanically unique foil cards, with the cards joining together to depict the treasure beneath the mountain.

Play Boosters are designed for both deck building and drafting, while the Draft Night product provides an all-in-one Pick 2 Draft experience for four players.

The standard Bundle includes Play Boosters, accessories and foil full-art Seasonal Hobbit lands. The Gift Bundle adds a Collector Booster, full-art Surge foil Seasonal basic lands and a special spindown.

Wizards is also supporting the release with in-store events beginning in August. Standard Showdown runs from August 14 through September 24, while additional Commander and Magic Presents events are scheduled through September.

Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit is available through local game stores, TCGplayer, Amazon and major retailers including Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart, as well as digitally through MTG Arena.

Much of the early attention is likely to center on whether one of the roughly 500 Gleaming Gold Smaug cards emerges from a Collector Booster.