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The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Instant-Speed Tricks

by Sameer Merchant // Jun 16, 2023

This is a list of all the instant-speed tricks in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth. Each color is sorted by converted mana cost.

White and Blue each have a creature with flash at Common and another at Uncommon. Blue also has Deceive the Messenger at Common and Saruman's Trickery at Uncommon, both of which can produce a 1/1 Orc Army at instant speed. Black has two creatures with flash, both at Rare, but also has a Common that can produce an Orc Army at instant speed. Red and Green have no way to produce surprise blockers.
Black has no instant-speed removal at Common in the set. It has Gollum's Bite and Bitter Downfall at Uncommon, and Orcish Bowmasters and Isildur's Fateful Strike at Rare.
Red has three instant-speed removal spells, all at Common and all costing 1R. Cast into the Fire does one damage to each of two creatures, and the others do three or four damage to a single target.

Color	Mana Cost	Card	Type	Oracle Text	Notes
Colorless		Mithril Coat	Artifact	Flash Indestructible When Mithril Coat enters the battlefield, attach it to target legendary creature you control. Equipped creature has indestructible. Equip {3}
White		Eagles of the North	Creature	Flying When Eagles of the North enters the battlefield, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain first strike until end of turn. Plainscycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for a Plains card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
		Escape from Orthanc	Instant	Target creature gets +1/+3 and gains flying until end of turn. Untap it.
		You Cannot Pass!	Instant	Destroy target creature that blocked or was blocked by a legendary creature this turn.
		Hobbit's Sting	Instant	Hobbit's Sting deals X damage to target creature, where X is the number of creatures you control plus the number of Foods you control.
		Slip On the Ring	Instant	Exile target creature you own, then return it to the battlefield under your control. The Ring tempts you.
		Reprieve	Instant	Return target spell to its owner's hand. Draw a card.
		Samwise the Stouthearted	Creature	Flash When Samwise the Stouthearted enters the battlefield, choose up to one target permanent card in your graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn. Return it to your hand. Then the Ring tempts you.	2/1
		Lost to Legend	Instant	Put target nonland historic permanent into its owner's library fourth from the top. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
		Second Breakfast	Instant	Up to two target creatures each get +2/+1 until end of turn. Create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
		Soldier of the Grey Host	Creature	Flash Flying When Soldier of the Grey Host enters the battlefield, target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.	2/2
		Gandalf the White	Creature	Flash You may cast legendary spells and artifact spells as though they had flash. If a legendary permanent or an artifact entering or leaving the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.	4/5
Blue		Lorien Revealed	Sorcery	Draw three cards. Islandcycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for an Island card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
		Deceive the Messenger	Instant	Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn. Amass Orcs 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on an Army you control. It's also an Orc. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first.)	Amass 1
		Stern Scolding	Instant	Counter target creature spell with power or toughness 2 or less.
		Glorious Gale	Instant	Counter target creature spell. If it was a legendary spell, the Ring tempts you.
		Hithlain Knots	Instant	Tap target creature. Scry 1. Draw a card.
		Soothing of Smeagol	Instant	Return target nontoken creature to its owner's hand. The Ring tempts you.
		Council's Deliberation	Instant	Draw a card. Whenever you scry, if you control an Island, you may exile Council's Deliberation from your graveyard. If you do, draw a card.
		Borne Upon a Wind	Instant	You may cast spells this turn as though they had flash. Draw a card.
		Dreadful as the Storm	Instant	Target creature has base power and toughness 5/5 until end of turn. The Ring tempts you.
		Grey Havens Navigator	Creature	Flash When Grey Havens Navigator enters the battlefield, scry 1.	3/2
		Saruman's Trickery	Instant	Counter target spell. Amass Orcs 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on an Army you control. It's also an Orc. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first.)	Amass 1
		Isolation at Orthanc	Instant	Put target creature into its owner's library second from the top.
		Gandalf, Friend of the Shire	Creature	Flash You may cast sorcery spells as though they had flash. Whenever the Ring tempts you, if you chose a creature other than Gandalf, Friend of the Shire as your Ring-bearer, draw a card.	2/4
		Press the Enemy	Instant	Return target spell or nonland permanent an opponent controls to its owner's hand. You may cast an instant or sorcery spell with equal or lesser mana value from your hand without paying its mana cost.
Black		Troll of Khazad-dum	Creature	Troll of Khazad-dûm can't be blocked except by three or more creatures. Swampcycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
		Shelob's Ambush	Instant	Target creature gets +1/+2 and gains deathtouch until end of turn. Create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
	/	Bitter Downfall	Instant	This spell costs {3} less to cast if it targets a creature that was dealt damage this turn. Destroy target creature. Its controller loses 2 life.
		Gollum's Bite	Instant	Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. {3}{B}, Exile Gollum's Bite from your graveyard: The Ring tempts you. Activate only as a sorcery.
		Nasty End	Instant	As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Draw two cards. If the sacrificed creature was legendary, draw three cards instead.
		Orcish Medicine	Instant	Target creature gains your choice of lifelink or indestructible until end of turn. Amass Orcs 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on an Army you control. It's also an Orc. If you don't control an Army, create a 0/0 black Orc Army creature token first.)	Amass 1
		Orcish Bowmasters	Creature	Flash When Orcish Bowmasters enters the battlefield and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, Orcish Bowmasters deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1.	1/1 and Amass 1
		Lobelia Sackville-Baggins	Creature	Flash Menace When Lobelia Sackville-Baggins enters the battlefield, exile target creature card from an opponent's graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn, then create X Treasure tokens, where X is the exiled card's power.	2/3
		Isildur's Fateful Strike	Instant	(You may cast a legendary instant only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.) Destroy target creature. If its controller has more than four cards in hand, they exile cards from their hand equal to the difference.
Red		Oliphaunt	Creature	Trample Whenever Oliphaunt attacks, another target creature you control gets +2/+0 and gains trample until end of turn. Mountaincycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for a mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
		Rush the Room	Instant	Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. If it's a Goblin or Orc, it also gains haste until end of turn.
		Cast into the Fire	Instant	Choose one — • Cast into the Fire deals 1 damage to each of up to two target creatures. • Exile target artifact.
		Gimli's Fury	Instant	Target creature gets +3/+2 until end of turn. If it's legendary, it also gains trample until end of turn.
		Improvised Club	Instant	As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact or creature. Improvised Club deals 4 damage to any target.
		Smite the Deathless	Instant	Smite the Deathless deals 3 damage to target creature. That creature loses indestructible until end of turn. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead.
		Display of Power	Instant	This spell can't be copied. Copy any number of target instant and/or sorcery spells. You may choose new targets for the copies.
Green		Generous Ent	Creature	Reach When Generous Ent enters the battlefield, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.") Forestcycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for a Forest card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
		Pippin's Bravery	Instant	You may sacrifice a Food. If you do, target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn. Otherwise, that creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
		Bombadil's Song	Instant	Target creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains hexproof until the end of turn. The Ring tempts you. (A creature with hexproof can't be the target of spells of abilities your opponents control.)
		Galadhrim Bow	Artifact	Flash When Galadhrim Bow enters the battlefield, attach it to target creature you control. Untap that creature. Equipped creature gets +1/+2 and has reach. Equip {2} ({2}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
		Shower of Arrows	Instant	Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or creature with flying. Scry 1.
		Entish Restoration	Instant	Sacrifice a land. Search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, instead search your library for up to three basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
		Stew the Coneys	Instant	Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to target creature you don't control. Create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
		Gift of Strands	Enchantment	Flash Enchant creature When Gift of Strands enters the battlefield, scry 2. Enchanted creature gets +3/+3.
Multi-Color		Friendly Rivalry	Instant	Target creature you control and up to one other target legendary creature you control each deal damage equal to their power to target creature you don't control.
		Flame of Anor	Instant	Choose one. If you control a Wizard as you cast this spell, you may choose two instead. • Target player draws two cards. • Destroy target artifact. • Flame of Anor deals 5 damage to target creature.
		Sauron's Ransom	Instant	Choose an opponent. They look at the top four cards of your library and separate them into a face-down pile and a face-up pile. Put one pile into your hand and the other into your graveyard. The Ring tempts you.