Lord of the Rings: Masterpieces

Set Info

Packaging:

7 cards / 36 packs / 8 boxes / case

Manufacturer:

Topps

Released:

October 2006

Base Cards in Set:

90

Chase Cards:

9 Silver Foil Art Cards (1:4)
6 Etched Foil Cards (1:6):
9 Bronze Parallel Foil Art Cards (1:36)
9 Gold Parallel Foil Art Cards (1:484)
9 Refractor Parallel Foil Art Cards (1:45,000)
6 Rafael Kayanan Original Art Cards (1:68,000)
Original Artist Sketch Cards (1:18)

• Review
• Checklists
• Box Breakdown

Review

I have been hotly anticipating this set. I missed out on the Lord of the Rings Evolution Set which had to first sketch cards for Lord of the Rings. The box prices on that set went through the roof as it was an instant sell-out. Luckily, there weren't that many awesome sketches in that set so it could have been really disappointing. When Topps released the info for the set I was floored. 2 sketches per box and a ton of other inserts. You can't go wrong with that. I don't care how many crappy sketches you get, you get TWO in each box. When a site came out that started posting the type of sketches that were coming out? OMG, there were some spectacular sketches. It looked like it would be easier in this set to get colour sketchs and full blown artwork. Topps did the smart thing and commissioned a ton of artists to do work that was reasonable. No crazy 2500 sketches like in Star Wars Heritage. Most artists had 100-300 sketches which meant they could really put an effort into some of these sketches.

A lot of people have been complaining about how they didnt' get some good sketches. Y'know what? I didn't get a Katie Cook, Davide Fabbri or a Christian Dalla Vecchia and I really wanted to get a few of those. These artists produced the most sketches are were most likely to be pulled. Art is subjective and I guess many people don't appreciate the art. I did get lucky with some great colour sketches so I'm not complaining. The sheer amount of chase cards was amazing. The boxes were packaged with 36 packs but you had the potential of 9 foil art cards, 6 etch cards, 2 sketches, 1 bronze parallel and the possibility of a gold, refractor or original art card. That's a 1:2 packs for chase cards folks. How sweet is that? I like this trend of having more chase cards.

One final note is that the base cards in this set are simply gorgeous. The artwork people have done for Lord of the Rings is amazing. I love the Electronic Arts art and the newly commissioned work. This card would have been successful without that many chase cards but it did have that many chase so it's even better. So forget all the whiners who didn't get their "colour" sketch cards, if they wanted it that badly, buy one on Ebay. Topps has definitely got my attention back with two good releases in Star Wars Evolution Update and now this set. I've included a link to the sketch card web site below as well.

Lord of the Rings Sketch Card Gallery

Checklists

Base Set
#	Card Title
01	The Lord of the Rings Masterpieces
02	Gandalf
03	Frodo
04	Gimli
05	Legolas
06	Aragorn
07	Éowyn
08	Sam
09	Galadriel
10	Bilbo
11	Gollum
12	Saruman
13	Peace and Harmony
14	Evil Never Sleeps
15	The Dark Rider
16	Gandalf's Ally
17	Night of the Watcher
18	Taking on the Terror
19	Forest and the Fortress
20	A Terrible Fate
21	Concept: Minas Morgul
22	City Under Siege
23	The Power of Grond
24	Gandalf vs. the Nazgul
25	Lair of the Spider Monster
26	Of Flames and Fury
27	Mammoths on the March
28	Attack of the Mûmakil
29	Challenge of the Witch-King
30	Allied with Aragorn
31	A Light Upon Darkness
32	Slopes of Mount Doom
33	The Crack of Doom
34	Flight of the Fell Beasts
35	Gandalf Prevails
36	The Grey Havens
37	Gandalf
38	Frodo
39	Elrond
40	Aragorn
41	Legolas
42	Gimli
43	Galadriel
44	Arwen
45	Éowyn
46	Arwen's Crusade
47	Battlechant
48	Dol Guldur
49	Day of the Dragon
50	Winged Fury
51	Army of the Dwarves
52	Dwarven Stronghold
53	Elrond's Legions
54	Heroic Elves and Dwarves
55	Attack of the Giants
56	The Goblin Camp
57	The Goblin Spider
58	Deadly Encounter
59	Trolls of Moria
60	March of the Inhumans
61	Lair of the Orc Spider
62	A New Dawn
63	Troll Trouble
64	The Witch-King Rises
65	Gandalf
66	Frodo & Sam
67	Gimli
68	Gollum
69	Sméagol
70	Arwen & Frodo
71	Saruman & Wormtongue
72	Treebeard
73	"You Shall Not Pass!"
74	The Three Women
75	Wormtongue & Theoden
76	The Young Baggins
77	A Hobbit Obsessed
78	Merry and Pippin
79	The Warrior Dwarf
80	A Being Transformed
81	Dark Sorcery
82	The Ringbearer
83	The Wizard
84	The Betrayer
85	Sauron's Ring
86	The Wretched
87	The Searchers
88	Saruman's Champion
89	The Future King
90	Masterpieces Checklist

Silver Foil Art Cards (1:4)
#	Card Title
01	Aragorn
02	Legolas
03	Gimli
04	Gandalf
05	Frodo
06	Sam
07	Pippin
08	Merry
09	Boromir
Etched Foil Cards (1:6)
#	Card Title
01	Sam, Frodo, Gollum
02	Gandalf
03	Merry, Boromir, Pippin
04	Gimli
05	Aragorn
06	Legolas
Bronze Foil Art Cards (1:36)
#	Card Title
01	Aragorn
02	Legolas
03	Gimli
04	Gandalf
05	Frodo
06	Sam
07	Pippin
08	Merry
09	Boromir
Gold Foil Art Cards (1:484)
#	Card Title
01	Aragorn
02	Legolas
03	Gimli
04	Gandalf
05	Frodo
06	Sam
07	Pippin
08	Merry
09	Boromir
Refractor Foil Art Cards (1:45000)
#	Card Title
01	Aragorn
02	Legolas
03	Gimli
04	Gandalf
05	Frodo
06	Sam
07	Pippin
08	Merry
09	Boromir
Rafael Kayanan Original Art Cards (1:68000)
#	Card Title
01	Sam, Frodo, Gollum
02	Gandalf
03	Merry, Boromir, Pippin
04	Gimli
05	Aragorn
06	Legolas

Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level A (1:1653)
#	Card Title
-	Russ Walks
-	James Hodgkins
-	John McCrea
-	Justin Chung
-	Jeff Zapata
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level B (1:146)
#	Card Title
-	Brian Rood
-	Dave Dorman
-	Dave Fox
-	Dennis Budd
-	Gabe Hernandez
-	Jeff Chandler
-	Joe Corroney
-	Juan Carlos Ramos
-	Kyle Babbitt
-	Mike Lilly
-	Mike Oeming
-	Otis Frampton
-	Otto Dieffenbach
-	Steve Oatney
-	Thomas Denmark
-	Renae De Liz
-	David Rabbitte
-	Chuck Zsolnai
-	Jerry Vanderstelt
-	Joanne Mutch
-	Josh Howard
-	Len Bellinger
-	Steven Miller
-	Mary Huang
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level C (1:122)
#	Card Title
-	Brandon McKinney
-	Brent Engstrom
-	Joseph Booth
-	Michael Duron
-	Patrick Hamill
-	Rich Mollinelli
-	Tess Fowler
-	Walter Rice
-	Cat Staggs
-	Ray Dillon
-	Amy Pronovost
-	Jim Kyle
-	Jon Ocampo
-	Allison Sohn
-	Sean Pence
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level D (1:163)
#	Card Title
-	Darla Ecklund
-	Jake Myler
-	John Watkins-Chow
-	Keith Phillips
-	Lee Kohse
-	Paul Gutierrez
-	Colleen Doran
-	Connie Persampieri
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level E (1:314)
#	Card Title
-	Tom Hodges
-	Kevin Graham
-	William O'Neill
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level F (1:265)
#	Card Title
-	Roberto Flores
-	Matthew Goodmanson
-	Jessica Hickman
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level G (1:248)
#	Card Title
-	Sarah Wilkinson
-	Leah Mangue
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level H (1:89)
#	Card Title
-	Katie Cook
-	Ryan Waterhouse
-	Grant Gould
-	Robert Teranishi
Sketch Cards (1:18) - Level I (1:59)
#	Card Title
-	Howard Shum
-	Christian Dalla Vecchia
-	Davide Fabbri