Hobbit Previews Go Forward This Wednesday

Posted on July 29, 2026

The Hobbit preview season is slowly starting to wind down with fewer cards trickling through. Nevertheless, there's still some new stuff to enjoy today.

You may even encounter a few surprises along the way.

The New Cards

To start, let's have a look at the main set cards we saw for the first time today.

First up is Smaug, Wicked Worm.

This marks the third version of this mighty Dragon we've seen after Smaug the Magnificent and Smaug the Impenetrable. Both of those versions continually make you Treasure tokens, showering you with riches the longer the game goes.

While the other two keep making Treasure, this one's a bit more greedy, only giving you Treasures when he enters the battlefield. He gives you a bit more mileage for those Treasures, though.

Any time you use them to cast a spell, you can draw a card for just one life. That's a pretty solid set of abilities on a body that's priced to move as a 5/5 Flyer for .

You're more likely to get the most out of this version of Smaug in Commander than Constructed. If you can, you should definitely try to find ways to flicker him to max out on your Treasures.

Next is Along the Crooked Way, a Rare Black Enchantment. As it enters, you get to return a Creature from your graveyard to your hand. Doing so then triggers its second ability, allowing you to Amass Goblins 1.

The real value is in the second ability, which can create a very large Goblin Army in the right deck. Bloodghast is still in Standard until early 2028 and continually comes back to the battlefield as you play more Lands. If you have a way to continually sacrifice it, it can easily make Along the Crooked Way quite potent.

Even if you ignore the Amass Goblins part of the card, it can have some extra utility in a Goblin Commander deck. Even with no other reanimation effects, you still get a Creature back, make a token, and then can give all your other Goblins Menace every turn. Not a bad deal.

If you're looking for a good way to repeatedly sacrifice for some value, Rhovannion Rampager is a great way to do so.

This 3/2 Wolf stands solid on his own, but whenever he attacks, you may sacrifice a Creature. Any time you do, the Rampager grows in counters. Whenever he dies, you'll get to Amass Goblins equal to his power.

The most peculiar card previewed today is easily Getaway Barrel.

Most of the cards revealed these past few weeks were powerful, bombastic gamepieces. With Getaway Barrel, though, you need to really work for it. It wants you to find a way to destroy it but doesn't come with a way to blow itself up.

If you can find a way to sacrifice it, you can sneak a massive Creature onto the battlefield. However, it also requires a certain kind of deckbuilding to pull off. If you include, say, Umbral Collar Zealot as your sacrifice method, it's entirely possible you get stuck with a second copy from the ability.

If you use something like Fanatical Offering instead, you can limit your Creature count. Doing this lets you try to sneak in something like a Valgavoth, Terror Eater or Summon: Bahamut with minimal effort.

Elf fans rejoice! A new Elf Lord enters Standard with the reveal of Thranduil, Sindarin Liege.

This marks the fifth Creature currently in the format that grants all Elves +1/+1. With others like Morcant's Loyalist, Imperious Perfect, Elvish Archdruid, and Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen, there's sure to be a fun deck to build here.

Thranduil is one of the better versions of this effect; he not only powers up your Elves but also creates 1/1 Elf tokens. Since he only requires you to play your Lands to make these tokens, it's much easier to pull off than with something like Imperious Perfect.

While he's a clear slam-dunk with his counterpart, Thranduil, the Elvenking, he's even great to run in the Command Zone. After all, who doesn't love swarming your opponents with little tokens and making them huge?

Last but not least is Dwarven Mattock. This small Equipment is perfect if you're all-in on Dwarves, as it lets you equip a Dwarf right when it comes into play. The stat boosts of +2/+2 and Ward 1 are great, making it perfect if you can make it pay off.

The typical Equip cost of is far less exciting, but can be worth it in Limited. It also has some fun play alongside Fervent Champion for fans of the card in Pioneer.

Variant Prints of the Day

Next, let's take a look at some of the cool Booster variants for some cards.

As preview season starts to wind down, we aren't seeing as many of these.

The big one today is the special Book Frame treatment for Smaug, Wicked Worm. Even more cool is the special Surge Foil version that can make it look even more special in your deck.

The only other two new variants are this pair of Extended Art frame treatments for Gigantic Big Bear and Getaway Barrel. Players can find these, along with Surge Foils, exclusively in Collector Boosters.

Unexpected Legends

The big surprise of today's previews came when nine never before seen Legendary Creatures appeared in the Card Image Gallery.

Each of these cards have the Extended Art frame and are part of the Eternal Legal Cards set, despite their exclusivity.

Most interestingly, Bilbo, Unexpected Adventurer, Thorin, Company's Leader, and Chief of the Wilds all mention Battles.

Soon after these cards appeared, Wizards offered a little bit of an explanation. Non-foil extended art versions of these cards can be found in Collector Boosters, but regular-framed foils will come in the Battle of Five Armies Co-Op Kit planned for 2027. Also adding,

"We'll share more details about the Battle of Five Armies Co-Op Kit in the future. But if you want a hint at what it will include: it's interesting that Bilbo, Unexpected Adventurer references battles, isn't it?"

The Battle of Five Armies Co-Op Kit was previously revealed during the First Look.

Conclusion

This has been a surprising day of previews. The main set cards were interesting, though they were few. More importantly, the unexpected Legendary Creatures from the Eternal Legal Cards set are super exciting.

There is only one more official day of previews and then the final Card Image Gallery update comes Friday.

Ahead of the full release, check out the full selection of singles, sealed products, and supplies and lock in your orders now. Prerelease is coming on August 7th with orders shipping that same day.