how many cards are in the mtg lotr set Amazon.com: Magic: Gathering The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth Booster Box The Lord of the Rings:

So sometimes you just needed to pour 2-5 life into your own Beast and hope for the best

There may be some fringe Standard possibilities in some kind of Overlord of the Boilerbilges Combo deck, but for the most part, I see this one mainly making moves in multiplayer.

When choosing the base creature - get something that poses a similar threat instead of something not just looks alike

There's some decent value at the uncommon level with cards like Slip Out the Back and An Offer You Can't Refuse

To make matters worse (or better, depending on your viewpoint), Agent Frank Horrigan is indestructible on attacks, making it well worth your 7-mana investment

Something along the line of a scannable code on cards to verify authenticity would get the job done, but implementing the program would be costly, and it wouldn't help with all the cards that are currently in print (barring some sort of mass-exchange program, which would be even more prohibitively expensive)