The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LOR) has grown to be a seminal Magic: The Gathering set, in that it marked a seismic shift in the game's history. It was the biggest selling set of all time for a number of years, and its success fundamentally changed Magic, leading us into the current Universes Beyond era.

The Hobbit (HOB) has some pretty big shoes to fill, and at first glance, the cards look like a continuation of the flavorful offerings we saw with The Lord of the Rings.

Best Cards in The Hobbit

While not as powerful as its predecessor (which is good because this one is Standard legal), there are some standout cards in The Hobbit that should see some considerable play. These are the top ten cards in the set:

1. Elven Passage
2. Down in the Valley
3. Bilbo, Thief in the Night
4. Inside Information
5. Thorin, Mountain-King
6. The Great Goblin
7. Wizard's Staff
8. The Queen of Dale
9. The Sackville-Bagginses
10. Elrond, Moon-Reader

Let's take a closer look at each of these cards.

10. Elven Passage

This isn't the most powerful card on this list, but it is the best candidate to see play forever in The Hobbit. Elves is one of the most well-loved, and consistently played, kindred types in the game's history, and this will slot into every version of that deck in every format.

What Elven Passage does is it fetches a Forest for a turn one Llanowar Elves, or finds your Companion color, all while triggering any Landfall synergies you've added in along the way. It doesn't even have to be limited to a strictly Elf deck, as this is a great complement to Fabled Passage in the current Landfall build. This is subtle, but it will be an important card in the format.

9. Down in the Valley

This card is easily dismissed at first glance. A common criticism is that this doesn't even get a Land into play, it just sticks one into your hand. But that's by design. Down in the Valley lets you use that Land to get an Elf, and the most important thing is that the second Chapter Ability doesn't go away at the end of the turn.

You'll keep making Elves with every Land drop as long as this stays in play. Curving this into Icetill Explorer will let you create an army of Elves and could fuel a more Elven version of the current Landfall deck. With a Fabled Passage, or Elven Passage, this can be a color-fixing army in a can.

8. Bilbo, Thief in the Night

Bilbo, Thief in the Night is going to create a couple of different decks and is one of the more versatile threats in the set. The fact that it reduces the casting cost from anywhere other than your hand allows it to interact very, very well with a ton of existing high-powered cards.

It will pair very well with Quantum Riddler, since it reduces the cost of cards that have been Warped. Additionally, Flashback decks will want to consider this. It may spawn a new Izzet or Jeskai archetype that focuses on casting cards from Exile. Lots of room for this to be great, particularly for such a low cost.

7. Inside Information

We've seen similar cards, like Outrageous Robbery, sneak into the sideboard of Standard decks, but Inside Information is worth considering in the main. Golgari Ramp decks may spring up around this, as it's not hard to imagine that you cast this and lock down the game on the spot.

Sure, paying seven life to cast your opponent's Jeskai Revelation is going to hurt, but you get half that life back. Green even has a few ways to boost your life along the way so you can minimize the drawbacks. Of all the cards in the set, it feels like this one will lead to the most flipped tables thanks to weird, unexpected board states.

6. Thorin, Mountain-King

It feels like the Play Design team has been trying to make an Equipment deck playable for the last few years, but they keep coming up short. Thorin, Mountain-King feels like another card that gets the deck one step closer, and overall, the Dwarves from The Hobbit might finally get the deck over the hump (Kili the Resourceful almost made this list as well).

Thorin represents a sizable body, has Trample, and acts as a Flametongue Kavu if you have an Equipment on the battlefield. At this point, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary should just be classified as an honorary Dwarf for Equipment decks.

5. The Great Goblin

The Great Goblin has a playable body for its mana cost, but he will be able to close out games with his Static Abilities alone. The first ability is an easy way to deal a ton of damage with a mass +1/+1 Counters strategy.

With a couple of extra Goblins (Goblin-town Flunkies is a great option) and something like Practiced Offense, you can blast your opponent for a ton of damage before you even get into the combat step. Then, you can also sacrifice those Goblins to dig out of a tight spot. This one could see play in multiple formats. Keep an eye on this one with Champion of the Weird as well.

4. Wizard's Staff

Wizard's Staff has a ton of raw power, but its playability hinges on the format having a high density of playable Wizards. Right now, there looks to be enough that this could be a strong card for the format. Slotting this into the existing Slickshot Show-Off Izzet decks is the obvious starting point, but there are enough of a variety of Wizards that this could branch out into other strategies.

It's important to remember that this doubles any trigger, even those that have nothing to do with the Equipment itself, or even the combat step. For example, slapping this on a Dark Confidant will give you a way to fill your hand. Ward is a Triggered Ability, so putting this on anything with Ward makes it much harder to kill.

3. The Queen of Dale

One of the reasons that The Queen of Dale is one of the strongest cards in the set is how it interacts with the already Standard All-Star card Practiced Offense. Discarding Offense to generate an extra Creature while building up counters gives White decks a powerful source of incremental value.

The first qualifier limits this ability to once per turn, preventing the interaction from getting out of hand. Even with that restriction, The Queen of Dale could become a solid-to-great role-player in White decks going forward.

2. The Sackville-Bagginses

Like the previously mentioned Equipment deck, it feels like the design team is pushing for a Sacrifice deck further and further with every new set release. The Sackville-Bagginses does double duty here, acting as both a way to Sacrifice a Creature for value (and to trigger any other Sacrifice effects a deck may have) while also providing an additional avenue for incremental damage.

There are so many ways to make tokens right now that it would be easy to see this coming down and whittling away at your opponent's life total until it demands an answer. The Sackville-Bagginses requires such a small investment while offering such a large reward that it could realistically break into decks across multiple formats.

1. Elrond, Moon-Reader

While both Goblins and Wolves have a higher density of good cards in the set, the best card in the set is arguably an Elf. It's just weird that it's not in Green. If Elrond, Moon-Reader sits in play for even a couple turns you should be able to bury your opponent in card advantage.

The fact that this lets you tap mana Creatures, like Llanowar Elves, and still get the draw trigger means you shouldn't have much trouble triggering this on both your turn and your opponent's turn. This card provides so much power that it will likely see play in multiple decks and probably in multiple formats.

Honorable Mention

Giant's Boulder

Giant's Boulder may seem like an odd choice at first glance, but if you played Modern during the height of Arcum's Astrolabe's rampage, then you can understand why this card is setting off alarm bells.

Now, Scry 2 on entering is very different from drawing a card, but it is still a fairly strong ability to tack onto a mana fixing one-drop Artifact. Giant's Boulder is easier to cast than Astrolabe and it has a late game ability tacked on. History has told us to be wary of a seemingly innocuous card like this.

Conclusion

After the latest ban list announcement, The Hobbit looks to drop into the most wide-open Standard format we've had this year. It will take a bit for the dust to settle, so we might not see these cards popping up immediately, but the power is here, and the set should have a noticeable impact on Standard.